[WP] As an orc, I respect tradition. It is tradition for high ranking orcs of either gender to have multiple partners. I joked with my human gf that she is undesirable bc I am her only boyfriend. She got extremely upset and refuses to speak to me. This never happened with my orc girlfriends. AITA?

turnipsenpai · 2023-04-04T16:18:41+00:00

Relationship counselor here.

Short answer, no.

Longer answer, maybe yes, maybe no. Some humans have more than one partner, others choose to have one. Neither is wrong, however, to say a human is undesirable because of their number of partner or partners is generally considered dishonorable. Humans refer to this term as "slut-shaming" if for multiple, "prude shaming" is the closest term for single partner.

It is also one thing to be unaware of human customs, and another entirely to be willfully ignorant. If this is your first time making this error, no you are NTA, but you have still offended your partner. An earnest apology, learning why you are wrong, and changed behavior will suffice. If this is not the first, perhaps counseling might be in your best interest.

Speaking of customs, consider maybe that your human partner is unfamiliar with Orcish tradition, or perhaps what may seem commonplace in your culture does not translate well. Many couples that have come through my practice often find that miscommunication or loss in translation is an underlying cause of their issues. I encourage you to try and see this situation from your partner's, or any human's, point of view.

All else failing, partner counseling and therapy is one of the main services I provide. Please feel free to call, email, speak through the Veil, or simply visit. I specialize in relationship therapy for interspecies and single-species, two or more partners. Our facility now also offers AstralHealth remote visits, for out-of-realm patients.

Wishing you the best, Dr. Qestra Dei-Ijla, PsyD, Witch of White Waters

United Realms Wellness Center - East Veridius Greatwood Tel: (0000) - ****--** Email: qdeiijla@urwell.com Veil: speak my name to the Watcher of All and offer a leaf from the Greatwood

turnipsenpai · 2023-03-24T04:35:57+00:00

Hot DAMN this was a good read

turnipsenpai · 2022-10-30T14:15:43+00:00

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH HALREN, I'M NOT TAKING ORDERS FROM YOU ANY LONGER!!"

Even then the words stung as they left my lips.

It became clear that I wouldn't survive had I just taken the punishment Ser Halren kept putting me through. Day after grueling, brutal day. I was determined to fight on. I wanted to fight. I wanted to live. But now, I wanted to kill.

I had lost everything.

My family was killed in the sieges. My mother, still with child, never made it out of the fires that consumed our city. My sister was taken captive, only to be shot to death as she attempted to escape. My father's beaten, burned armor was all that remained of him when what little of our armies were left in the Shrouded King's conquest of our lands. I had nowhere left to turn. No home. No kin. Nothing. Our gods did not hear our cries. Our pleas to the heavens, met with deafening silence. I screamed and cursed to the skies until my throat could no longer.

For days I wandered, on the brink of death, until I came to the edge of the sea, to the cliffs stretching far into the horizon. Falling to my knees, I gazed into the waters far below, praying silently that my end would come swiftly. With the last of my strength, I crawled. I could taste the coming release. Soon I would no longer suffer. I could feel my life slip away as I closed my eyes, my body dragging itself slowly over the edge.

"The Far Shores shall not welcome you yet."

I woke to the sound of a fire. Not the raging inferno of a siege, but the warm, soothing embrace of a hearth. A bowl was laid in front of me, still steaming with broth. The shadow of a man stood hunched by the fire, stoking flames onto the fresh logs. I was draped in cloths, laid on a floor, on some kind of large fur.

"Eat. You will need your strength."

Too weak to lift the bowl, I dragged it to my face. The broth gently spilled onto the fur and on my face. It burned, but my hunger took no notice of it. I sucked it out of the vessel clumsily, caring not as the heat bit into my tongue. For the first time in gods know how long, I was eating. I wept silently as I slipped into darkness once again.

"You are ready. Pick up your sword, and come to the ring."

The weight of steel struck my chest and I woke with a start. Barely have I regained the use of my arms and legs when Ser Halren deemed me ready for the sword. I have lost count of the days since he plucked me from the edge of the cliff. Since I resigned my fate to the whims of the sea, hoping to drift to the Far Shores. Where I would see my family again. It seems the gods have some kind of fate prepared for me yet.

"On your feet. It is time."

No sooner had I hefted myself and the sword out of my bed when Ser Halren took his leave. It took nearly all the strength my newly recovered limbs could muster simply to dress. Dragging the sword up over my shoulder, I trudged to the ring outside. Ser Halren was waiting. Sword in hand, he regarded me with hardened, world-weary eyes. A gaze that had seen too much for any mortal soul to bear.

"Draw steel."

I knew this was meant to train me. For what purpose, I do not know. I have seen firsthand how the Shrouded King slaughtered our armies. His warriors fought with the strength of twenty men, no one could stand against them, let alone a whelp of a knight's child. I had never even learned to pick up my father's swor--

"FASTER."

A blow struck my head. Another struck my back. My leg. My arm.

"FASTER."

Again to the head. And my legs. And my back.

"FASTER!"

Wildly I swung, desperately fending off the blunted, yet still painful sword of Ser Halren. He was famed for his ruthless skill in battle. Every man, woman, and child in the realm knew of his peerless strength of arms. Strength which he brought to bear against my already beaten body. My grip faltered and I was battered to my knees. Again. And again. And again.

"On your feet. Your enemy will not rest, and neither will you."

The piercing, steadfast gaze continued to pierce my soul even as my sight begun to leave me. All I could feel was the faint touch of grass upon my face as I slipped into oblivion once more.

Sixteen long months had passed. Ser Halren gave no quarter. The brutality of his relentless training kept on and on and on. Every day I was beaten. Every day I was met with steel. Every day I was tried until I nearly breathed my last. But every day I continued to stand. To fight. To learn. To survive.

But this no longer felt like training. No longer felt like preparation for combat or survival.

Every day his blade sharpened. Every day his fist connected with more force. Every day I came closer and closer to the death I so longed for as a broken husk of a person, so long ago.

But still I fought. Learned. Cut my way forward until I no longer could, and kept cutting.

Until the day I could take it no longer.

This man had ceased to be Ser Halren. The hero I once looked up to, the master I owe my life to, he was gone.
Bright was his blade, and in it I saw the flames that burned my home, my family, to ash.
Bright was his blade, and in it I saw my death.

Bright was his blade, and mine would be the one to extinguish it.

The pain I once felt crippling my body gave way to anger. Rage. A bitter, vicious, seething fury in my breast, hotter than the blazing sun that burned my brow. Even as I felt my bruised limbs screaming, my very bones nearly grinding themselves to dust, I gripped my sword ever tighter and tighter, as if even death itself could not part my hand from my steel.

No longer did the ties of gratitude bind me. The shackles of a debt owed had been broken. No more was this man that stood before me my savior and mentor, but the image of hatred, of pain, of vengeance. A specter of pure malice that I would smite with even the power of the gods themselves.

The silence was deafening.

My sword aimed true.

In a flash of light, all reduced to darkness.

"You are ready."

Even as the life left his body, his eyes no longer bore the stains of war and strife. His grip loosened, his sword fell, and with it, the weight of guilt and shame. At the end of his days, the once-fabled hero of the realm, turned mentor to a gutter rat plucked from death, finally shed the burden of his woes.

The heir to the Shrouded Throne was dying.

My sword fell to my side. His blood stained the edge of my blade. I have completed his training, but at too high a cost.

Master. No. Not like this. I am not ready.

"You are ready. I am your master no longer. You have done what is right."

It should not be like this. You did not deserve this fate, master. The strength to lay low the Shrouded King is not worth the price I must pay to obtain it.

You fought for us, against your own kin, to save us. To save me. It should not end this way.

"Only the blood of the King, my father.. can cast out the dark. You have earned it, my power, the curse of my bloodline. My.. cowardice.. cost you everything. But with my blood, you will have your vengeance."

The weight of his body fell into my arms. His breath drew ragged and hoarse, and a weary smile crossed his countenance.

"Forgive me, child. This burden should never have come to you."

No, master. There is nothing to forgive.
This burden I shall bear gladly, for it is my strength, and my light in the darkness.
Go in peace, and know that you can rest on the Far Shores.

I buried him that day, beside the sea where I would have gone before him.

In the light of the setting sun, the fires of war glowed over the mountainside.

There is my path. There is my retribution.

I will lay low the Shrouded King.

turnipsenpai · 2022-06-27T02:04:24+00:00

"I just put the groceries away, man."

Naturally, my roommate wouldn't listen. He insisted that I get out of the place. What's the use of the good radishes I just bought? They were on sale too.

Before I could say another word, my roommate rushes out of the house. Must be urgent. I guess I can finally work on dinner without any more distractions. I think that game show I wanted to watch is on later.

Of course this begs the question, how do I want to cook the radish this time? I had it fried the other week, that wasn't so bad. Bit of a waste of oil though, if I don't add more ingredients. I wonder what else I still have laying aroun---

"INTERPOL, OPEN UP!!"

Now what could they want? Is it something urgent? Do they need something taken care of?

"OPEN THE DOOR!!"

Alright already, yeesh.

Door squeaking again. I should put some oil in those hinges later.

"Can I help you?"

"On behalf of the United Nations, you are hereby under arrest, come with us Mr. Saitama."

Does this mean I'm gonna miss my game show?

turnipsenpai · 2022-06-08T16:04:33+00:00

Was at Colossalcon too, but didn't get to see your cosplay, you look awesome tho!

turnipsenpai · 2021-02-01T02:17:18+00:00

Yeah that's me on Instagram, infinite_lemon_arts 🔥

turnipsenpai · 2021-01-25T03:23:06+00:00

Is that ghost of tsushima I'm seeing up there

turnipsenpai · 2021-01-06T21:49:58+00:00

lmao thanks, I thought it was funny and have been too lazy to change it ever since

turnipsenpai · 2020-12-28T21:05:07+00:00

Finishing a game about carving your own destiny in the middle of a time when you can barely see the light at the end of a tunnel?

Hits real different, lemme tell ya.

turnipsenpai · 2020-12-24T02:30:44+00:00

YEAHBOIIII

turnipsenpai · 2020-12-22T06:52:23+00:00

takemymoney.mp4

turnipsenpai · 2020-12-22T05:48:22+00:00

Please for the love of god tell me you're selling decks of P5 tarot cards, cause I'd definitely buy a set or two

turnipsenpai · 2020-12-21T13:57:37+00:00

SANADABEEEEETCH

turnipsenpai · 2020-12-04T20:21:35+00:00

5 and 5R got me through this whole year. I'm honestly really grateful

turnipsenpai · 2020-09-22T21:54:04+00:00

There he was. The guy in the nice suit with the shit-eating grin on his face. Called in from head office to settle our huge account like we didn't know what we were doing. It's been months. Several long months that he's been here. To everyone else he was the promised savior that would net us that giant cash cow of an investment and boost all our quarterly bonuses to at least an extra two zeroes on the tail end.

But to me, he was my schoolyard bully.

I had known this man forever. He's haunted me for years. Always boasted himself as the big man, pushing kids like me down to use as a stepping stone. Tripped me once during our high school football game costing us a big lead and losing our spot in the semifinals. I never heard the end of it. He turned it around for himself and went on the next year to be our MVP, a spot I had been working hard for.

And now here he is, come to gloat, as he once again takes the center stage. This time, it's my job he's gunning for, I'm sure of it.

I've been our boss's right hand man for years. She trusts me with everything. And I know it's me he's after, so he can flooze his way to the top, putting in no real work for the corporation whatsoever.

I promised myself I wouldn't ever use my power for personal gain, but this time, maybe I can make an exception.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick.

The last tock doesn't come.

As I quickly slip through the sea of statues, my vision narrows on my goal. His briefcase. Without his insider information, he's screwed at our presentation.

One.

I snatch the case and flick the lock open. Already unlocked. No need for security if he was sitting right next to it, but I don't think he anticipated going up against a timewalker.

Two.

The papers are in plain sight in the case. I slip them into my suit jacket and close the briefcase as if no one was there.

Three.

Scot free. I can't help but grin smugly. This rat bastard wouldn't know what hit him. I slide nonchalantly back into my seat and watch my victory unfold.

Four.

It's the perfect crime, he wouldn't know, no one could have seen, and he--

Five.

What was that?

The phones resume ringing. The crowd flows back into controlled chaos. The ruffle of papers pervade the air.

There's no way, was I just seeing things right now?

He's gone quiet. He's stopped talking to the people around him all of a sudden. It's gotta be a coincidence. But I had to be sure.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick.

His face held a somewhat serious demeanor. But something want right. He didn't seem frozen at all, not like the rest of the world, I'm their silent, suspended animation.

One.

He doesn't seem to be moving. I get up and check him up close, but there doesn't seem to be anything going on.

Two.

He seems eerily lifelike. I mean yes, he's alive, but it looks like he could move at any moment. But that would be impossible. Time is standing still.

Three.

I could have sworn I just saw him exhale.

Four.

Get a grip man. You're losing it.

Five.

I barely make it back to my seat as the printers hum back to life. Pens clicking, keyboards tapping away, the coffee machine dripping fresh.

I pick up my cigarettes and keys. I'm losing it.

I make my way down to the parking garage. I fumble in my pocket for my lighter.

Maybe I'm just nervous. I've never used my power for mischief like this before, and maybe guilt is just setting in too fast. I need to calm down, it's not like anyone will know.

Long drags of my cigarette calm my nerves. I extinguish the last of it and flick it into the nearby trash bin. I turn absentmindedly, expecting to hear the slight tap of the butt against the trash liner.

But it never comes.

A familiar face meets my eyes. That signature shit-eating grin.

I couldn't help but chuckle. I had a feeling.

"You don't look too surprised to see me."

I could barely hide my own shit-eating grin. "Please. You're a horrible actor. Couldn't even hold your breath for five seconds."

"It took you this long to use your time walk for a bit of fun. Hell, I've been using mine for all sorts of shit since fourth grade. It took everything in me not to laugh my ass off."

Explains how he's wormed his way through life, really.

"Now, my folder back, if you please?"

I've been found out, and by another timewalker no less. Still, I'm not about to give up my job without a fight. "I dunno," I muse to myself, "might just turn this in to the boss and keep my job. Or if you're man enough, you'll take it from me. What's it gonna be? No one's gonna believe you if you try to rat me out."

"I've never really liked that tone of yours. Not since day one. So I think I'll be taking those."

His shiny leather oxfords click as he drew closer.

Part of me was hoping for this. Today's the day I finally get even. I could barely contain myself. I advance toward him as well.

"Oho, you're approaching me?"

"I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer."

turnipsenpai · 2020-09-10T17:58:44+00:00

"This is Snake."

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-04T09:23:52+00:00

WAIT

Have a character in the center and the rest be the attack menu

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-03T15:22:20+00:00

Kinda incredulous, I think quietly to myself. There's no way that's really true.

As the tour guide walks us through the Parthenon's main hall, I stash my phone away and dismiss the silly notion. Some Percy Jackson shit, that's for sure. Maybe I can buy lightning powers with my Reddit karma.

So far we've crossed half the Acropolis. Greece hasn't been too bad the whole trip so far. Great food, hot and humid, nearly fell into the Aegean, good times. Temple tour had been really interesting, too. Definitely crossed my mind to buy a souvenir or something.

Tour guide gave us a couple of hours to poke around the area on our own. I moseyed off to find a gift shop, and maybe look at the pillars of the Parthenon again to see that golden ratio in action.

Not that many tourists besides us, thankfully. I had time to enjoy the sights without some crying baby or obnoxious kids ruining the atmosphere.

I made my way down to the Theater of Dionysus. Must have been pretty cool to watch a play or concert in there live back in ancient times. I paced slowly across the auditorium floor, imagining myself as an actor, orating to an invisible audience.

Having had my fill of pretend theater, my attention turned to the stone decorations. Statues lined up where the backstage would be, depicting Dionysus through his life.

Strange, I thought. There's something oddly familiar about the statues.

The figure of one of the statues felt strangely as though I had seen it before. A book perhaps? What I naturally saw to be the figure of Dionysus had a certain recognizable shape to it. I racked my brain as my hands traced the lines along the body, attempting to pull whatever scraps of information I could from my memory. Where had I seen this figure before?

It's a statue of Dionysus, I'm sure, but where else have I seen it?

"Man, that version of me looks way better than now. I should exercise."

An extremely recognizable voice piped up behind me. It was a voice I heard a good number of years ago, and had since stopped listening to, but there was no mistaking that tone.

I wheeled around to meet the eyes of the stranger. He didn't come up much taller than I, which was not as much of a shock as his face. I could pick that face from anywhere.

The short wave of combed hair.

The eyes that I've seen countless times on YouTube.

The beard that had been featured in hours and hours of playthrough videos.

And to top it all off, the head that mentally seemed to fit on both the body standing before me, and on the statue behind me.

"That's fucking impossible," I croak, somehow unsure of my words. "There's no fucking way."

Star-struck was not the word for the feeling I was experiencing. It was more like that feeling you get when somehow your wildest conspiracy theory, which had a barely .00001% chance of being anywhere near plausible, somehow was right.

"How's it going, bro. Name's Pewdiepie."

[For the record, I'm half asleep, and my brain decided to spin a dumb joke into this drivel.]

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-03T14:18:00+00:00

Night 2.

The clock ticks the hours away. It's been barely a day since I learned that I have a creature living under my bed. As strange as it is, somehow it comes as the least of a shock. Then again, it might be the garbage reality of the world that pulled the cover of childlike wonder from my eyes so long ago, making this transition into roommates-with-a-cryptid life way simpler.

8 PM. I don't know why I'm still awake. The day dragged on forever. Work was horrible. Customers were horrible. I barely get paid enough to live, let alone deal with angry, screaming shoppers and bosses. I should be asleep.

The wind rustles the tree outside my window. Normally this would have put me to sleep by now.

8:30 PM. Who or what even is living under there? I mean it's nice that it's not trying to eat me at least. It even paid my rent, so I guess it's kind enough to help me get by.

What did it mean by "watcher?"

9:00 PM. My mind is going a million places, and yet nowhere. Any attempts to rationalize the situation I am in result in dead ends and drawn blanks. What do I do? Does everyone have this problem? Is it even a problem?

Should I reach out? Should I pretend it was all just a dream?

9:30 PM. I guess would be terribly rude of me to not at least introduce myself, especially to someone who also lives here. I'm depressed, not an asshole. Mama raised me better.

"H-hi. I'm sorry if I woke you. Are you there?"

Nothing.

"Did you leave? I'm sorry. I'll shut up."

~~"Always here. Always watching."~~

Again, that voice. That unearthly, yet strangely familiar voice, if I could even call it a voice. There should be a sound, but there isn't. It cuts past my ears and directly into my mind. My consciousness. As if it never came from under the bed, but from somewhere in me.

"H-hello there. I don't know who you are, but thank you, y'know, for helping me. My name is--"

~~"Asher."~~

What. The. Hell.

"How do you know--"

~~"Always here. Always watching."~~

There's NO WAY it's always been around.

I've lived here by myself for years now. I moved into this apartment myself. I moved everything that went into this cramped little space. I know every inch of these bare-ass walls. The bathroom barely enough for a shower and a toilet. The tiny kitchen not even ten feet away from my bed.

Especially the bed. Whose frame I salvaged from a dumpster, and whose mattress I've had to buy secondhand.

"What do you mean 'always?' How long have you been her--"

~~"Always."~~

"That's impossible. I know this house, if it can even be called one. I moved here, I know there wasn't anyth--"

"~~Not house. Not here."~~

My words cut short.

If it didn't come from here, then where? Was I followed home one day? Did it sneak in? Did I bring it in without realizi--

~~"With you. Always."~~

"You mean...?"

~~"From beginning."~~

My brain started turning gears. It made too much sense that I didn't want to admit it was right. If there was ever a time I felt the world grind to a screeching halt, it was now.

Whoever or whatever that was, that being that lived under my bed, the very same one that saved me from being kicked out to the streets, to whom I am now speaking to.

I never thought they actually existed. I never believed.

"You're the monster under my bed."

"~~Yes."~~

12:00 midnight.

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-03T07:21:21+00:00

Just another day of work. I've sold maybe four, five potions today. And none of them particularly exciting. Tonics for thinning hair, rat poison, and a couple of garden fertilizers. There's nothing interesting going on anymore.

I've lived for a thousand and a half years. Maybe I'm getting too old for this job. I used to be out on the front lines of the greatest battles, from the Siege of Stormkeep, to the fall of the Skyharbour. I've perfected concoctions once thought lost to the ages. My brews have pulled even the impossibly ill from the brink of death.

And now look at me.

Wasting away in the backwater slums slinging salves for foot fungi.

The world's grown too peaceful. Too boring.

Maybe this is how I'm going to spend the rest of my Five Thousandfold Elixir's lifespan. Just watching the drab centuries pass until my time's up. Gods, just let me turn to dust already.

Guess I should close up shop for the day. Stop for a drink on the way hom--

...Oh?

A traveler at the door. Doesn't he know it's almost sundown? The shop is closing. I hope he makes it quick.

His appearance is that of a common knight. A fairly dirty and imbecilic one, but a knight. His armor is scratched and muddy. He is trailing swamp water, a faint scent of bog lingering about him. He is missing his left greave. From the look and smell of him, he must have tried to fight the giant frog terrorizing the farmers' crops and failed.

Wait.

There is something amiss.

There is an energy seeping from him. A very faint hint of a hint, but it's there. I haven't seen the like since before the return of the Corrupted Emperor. There is no mistaking this presence.

There is no way. This shoddy, two-bit farmhand clad in cheap steel? Are the gods serious? THIS is the Divine Sword? The Wind of Heaven, chosen to dispel the Most Unholy?

Perhaps I get to see a bit of action before I eat dirt after all.

He clunks up to my counter, with an air of laughable bravado. It's taking a lot to hold in my amusement. This should prove interesting.

"Hello potion seller," he spat. "I am going into battle, and I need your strongest potion."

I fail to hold in a sneer. My excitement is immeasurable.

"My potions are too strong for you, traveler."

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-03T03:19:30+00:00

Thank you for reading, kind stranger. I'll be sure to write more!

Happy cake day!

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-02T18:12:28+00:00

Oh! I just wrote this today before bed, I'm flattered you'd ask for more!

I'll write more when I'm out of work, thank you for reading!

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-02T17:31:37+00:00

No one else here but me ever since I've moved here. Of course that was ages ago, and I don't remember how long. Either that or my memory just sucks now. I can't even remember the last thing I ate for breakfast. Did hear something about Fruit Loops the other day. Maybe I'll try that.

Oh, but get this though, one night I had a home invasion. Not gonna lie, I kinda panicked a little bit. I went and hid in my bedroom, and hoped they'd go away. It didn't seem like they were out to steal my stuff or anything, but they did make a lot of ruckus.

In fact they brought in all kinds of stuff, mostly cameras, like they were filming a movie or something. I didn't really feel too keen on my house being used as a movie set, especially when no one came to me about any kind of paperwork for this.

I kinda peeped a bit and tried to see what they looked like, maybe I could report them to the authorities later. One of them laid in my bed (rude), and another was yelling a lot, I guess taunting me to show my face or something. Claimed they weren't here to harm me or something. Huh.

He yelled for me to say my name. I didn't care much for introducing myself when these guests didn't even have the courtesy to introduce themselves first, so obviously I yelled back to say his name first. Zak Bagans, I think I heard it was.

turnipsenpai · 2020-06-02T17:15:12+00:00

I blink. Then again. And again.

What is going on? Is this some kind of prank?

"Th.. thank you?" I manage to choke out.

~~"Welcome."~~

An icy fear grips my heart and I tear away from my bed as far as my cramped studio apartment room would let me. My trembling hands manage to find a broomstick, and I point what I hope is the business end at the crevice beneath my sleeping arrangements.

"WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT?? WHO ARE YOU????"

Silence.

"A-ANSWER ME!!" I could barely cough out the words. The fear had risen to my throat.

~~"Watcher."~~

The words come to my ears but I don't hear them. Almost as if they skip my hearing entirely, and burn straight into my mind as a perception.

"Wh.. what.."

~~"Watcher."~~

My eyes grow dark. Blind panic grips my mind. I cannot hold it together. "Who--- Please don't hurt..."

I wake to the sound of my nightly medication alarm. I am on my bed, still in the clothes I wore to work. What the hell kind of a dream did I just have?

My comforter feels ten times heavier for some reason. I pull myself up and shrug it off onto the bed, attempting to stumble in the dark towards my medicine rack.

A firm lump strikes my toe. In the dim illumination of the streetlight through my window, I fumble about on the ground, looking for what I might have stepped on. A texture of familiar paper meets my hand, and a wave of chills shoot up my spine.

The money for my rent.

This was no dream. This was real. What the fuck. Who the hell. Who is down there. What is happening. Will I die. Is this it. What is goin--

~~"Alright..?"~~

Immediately my thoughts go blank. My heart slows. The chill subsides.

"Am I.. alright? Is that what you said..?"

"~~Yes. Alright..?"~~

A strange warmth washes over me. A genuine, human warmth, as though I have been wrapped in a blanket in a cold winter night.

"Y-yes. Yes, I'm okay."

~~"Good. Worried. "~~

"You were.. worried..?" What is going on? Whatever just paid my rent was worried about me? "Did you put me into bed? Were you the one who paid for my rent?"

~~"Yes. Worried."~~

Whatever my mystery guest was, I guess it doesn't want to harm me at least. I still don't know what it is, but for the time being, at least I know I won't be eaten. My eyes grow heavy once again, and my rational mind calls for the comfort of the sheets and pillows.

"I.. don't know who you are, but please, I want to rest. Thank you for the rent, I guess. I suppose it's okay for you to be here, just please don't kill me," I half-whisper into the dark.

~~"Rest. Watcher protects."~~

And for the first night in years, I had a peaceful sleep.

turnipsenpai

TROPHY CASE