TV World doesn't feel like home. Nothing ever felt like home, not even the dark depths she once crawled from. When there, surrounded by darkness and the cold of the pit, the shivers, the nothingness, it was like not existing at all. You can't miss something you've never known. She herd of other places, other towns surrounded by tall grass, with a kingdom within. Of a city made of pixels and led, busting with life and noise.

snippiP sniffs. She's not a fan of loud noises, nor harsh lights. It's for the better she never went there. At least up here, it gets cold. So cold at night, when everyone goes to sleep or party until they can't walk straight. It's cold enough for mist to form, far away from the main building, but still ominous and silent, spreading and swallowing the red carpet and the golden statues. The audience is gone, the joy and laughter and cheering all fall silent. She prefers this way. Such a busy place she found herself in.

Her legs hang off the ledge, and she shivers again when the wind cools the blood on her skin. She thinks of snatching one of those ridiculous ponchos the Pippins around here wear, but the only one she spots from the corner of her eye is torn to pieces.

Broken glass litters the ground, a mess of paper plates and cheap drink spilled all over the fake synthetic grass. A party, or maybe a poor excuse of an orgy. She didn't know, and couldn't really care. Were they naked or dressed, when she walked in, the only thing she could focus on was her own hunger. Satiated now.

The small radio they had stolen from the main lounge now sat silent, battery probably dead and wonky. Nothing quite works in this place.

There's nothing to fill the silence.

It stretches long enough she starts to find the blood flaking off her nails curious to watch. She turns her palms, checks her now dry fingers, blinks up at the dark above her.

When she feels the nape of her neck warm and her senses suddenly alert, she knows she's not alone.

She doesn't turn.

It's just an old friend.

-?ecalp siht fo derob worg uoy t'noD - Snippip glances down to her hands again. There's a presence behind her now, burning as if hot iron is being poured over the skin. He doesn't speak, but she feels his words itching her brain. A dark, wine red cape flutters at her side, Dice Devourer towering over her. He, too, longs for solitude once in a while.

His voice is a like a buzz, a trembling hand writing in the dark. She can make up the words, even if faintly.

"Undisturbed."

-.gnol rof tsal t'now tI .dezinagronu s'tI .luftiurf s'tI .on ,ytpme ton tuB - Even she can see the cracks, the looming dread, the empty spot of someone who is no longer there. Even the ruler of this world, his shine is dull.

"Faint."

A beat. The wind howls.

"Daughter."

Her smile falters. Of course. Celeste, something she created herself. Not on her own, but something that came from her, from deep inside her body. Once a small, heavy egg who fed from her prey and blood. Something so little. In fact, she had never really wondered if she could even bear anything. With a body made to take, it was strange the mere concept to use it to give. - .leef ot drah s'tI. - It's bothersome. For someone who only ever felt hunger, whose body was only familiar with exhaustion and cold, to cradle such a small thing in your arms and feel like never letting go was...alien.

So deeply unfamiliar. But it was a day she would forever remember. When it trembled and cracked.

And when she looked up, a part of her withered when she came to sense again, and found herself alone. The room was dark, almost tidy if not for the messy bed she sat on.

There was no one at her side.

But she soon realized it didn't matter. snippiP looked down, and in her arms Celeste opened her eyes for the first time.

She wasn't really alone.

-.gniht rooP .uoy ekil tsuj eb tsum eh tub ,nos a evah uoy draeh I .si taht tahw wonk uoy tbuod I - The cape brushed against her arm, the teeth there scratching her rubbery skin. She smiled, a weird sense of companionship falling over both them. Dice Devourer shook his head, and looked down at the dark pit bellow them. The edge of TV World. She felt her eyes on him.

"Pain shall be ephemeral."

snippiP sighed. He had always been too good at reading her.

-.lliw ti wonk I

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Pub: 11 Nov 2025 06:03 UTC

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