⚠️TW, 22M
I hate talking about my trauma. I'm unable to clearly remember what happened to me and it is driving me crazy. I feel like I'm lying for attention or trying to get pity somehow, I don't believe myself and I'm just trying to make sense of it all because it all just seems too crazy. Every time I think about discussing my trauma a voice tells me “Stop feeling sorry for yourself you are pathetic”, and somehow this sentiment has been working very well for me up until now. I recently watched Baby Reindeer and I got the urge for the first time to write everything down. Just while writing all of this a lot of new memories have popped up, and I’m scared and not sure what to do.
For context, I have been diagnosed with c-PTSD (my ace score is 10) nevertheless, I am doing pretty well, graduating college now with two degrees and a near-perfect GPA. My diagnosis stems from extensive physical and mental abuse at home and in several foster homes due to drug and mental health-related issues my parents and foster parents were suffering from. Most of the trauma is unrelated to the trauma I'm seeking answers for in this post. It is relevant because I have very few memories from my childhood, not that I know what amount is “normal”, but I can't remember much up to the age of 11 years old, only fleeting memories, primarily traumatic ones. For some reason, I have managed to come out of all of my trauma very well, however, I have started to struggle more lately and I feel like I'm losing control of my mental health for the first time in my life.
I have memories of being held down and groped on the school playground when I was 6, while an adult was “keeping watch”. I also have memories of being locked in a room, but I don't have any specific memories of sexual abuse. I just have this feeling that it happened, I knew what a blowjob was, what anal sex was, and everything sex-related from the age of 5. I have memories of a guy making me blow him but it was all for fun, and he was my age, but in hindsight, I've realized that we were 6 years old and that is not normal behavior at all. This incident is unrelated to the others, and I'm not sure how we ended up in that situation, but it haunts me because we were having fun and laughing about it, it felt like a joke. It feels so wrong to think about it now.
Additionally, I almost had sex with a 24-year-old guy when I was 13, I didn't realize that this was abnormal until several years later. I freaked out and asked him to stop and he stopped, and in my eyes, he was a great guy for doing this, but I've come to realize that maybe he wasn't a great guy. This happened while traveling abroad with one of my foster families, she left me at some family friend's house in a very sketchy neighborhood while she was staying with their family. I was flirting with him, and I thought it was fun to try to get him to hook up with me, so I felt like it was my fault. While writing this I'm also questioning if this is normal behavior for a 13-year-old, I'm just realizing while writing this that I've had a messed up relationship with sex my entire life. My foster mom was yelling at me once because I was crying after my dad passed away right after our trip abroad (this was 6 months after, she said I had to get over it and stop crying) instead of saying this, I told her I was upset because that guy tried to have sex with me. She became extremely infuriated and said she was going to deal with it. A couple of days later, she told me she had “finished the business” with him, and said that her brothers had “dealt” with him and that he was gone from the city he lived in forever. I still have no idea what happened to him. He stopped posting on all social media afterward. I feel extremely guilty, and I'm still not sure what happened to him. Why did I tell her this?
Besides these memories, there is one incident (I don't know if it even happened) that has been tormenting me lately. The incident I'm about to describe triggered these memories. I hate writing about this more than anything. I was falsely accused by my foster mom, in the foster home I spent the most time in (several years, and the same one that left me stranded abroad) of sexually abusing their child. For context, she suffers from bipolar disorder and she would have breakdowns daily. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I want to provide some examples of her behavior. She found porn on my foster brother's computer once and threw his computer out the front door, made him walk around a river for hours, and banished him from the house for two weeks to go live with his dad (her ex-husband, who she kicked down a flight of stairs which broke his arm).
She has not told anyone else in her family this, but she also confided in me that she was sexually abused by her uncle as a child. I feel like I need to provide context because I am extremely paranoid about being labeled as a predator, and have suffered extensively from paranoia (and still do) that people perceive me this way. I have never, and will never, and have absolutely zero urge to ever do anything inappropriate with a child. I feel like I haven't heard anyone going through this.
She took me out to a busy restaurant (the first time she ever did this) and while we were eating, out of the blue, she straight up asked me if I was sexually abusing her child. People around could hear our conversation, and their heads turned. I went into a state of shock, I was close with the child (he was born right after I moved in, three years old at the time) and viewed him like a brother.
After the shock wore off (I was 15 at the time) I just looked at her with teary eyes and said I would never do anything like that. Luckily, she immediately believed me and stated that she was suspicious because we fell asleep under a blanket together once, and she had noticed “weird” behavior from him (touching himself inappropriately, I was told later by my psychologist that this was normal behavior), and according to her because I was a foster child I had a greater likelihood of doing this. Afterward, she bought me a sweater and let me get dessert at the restaurant (this was a huge deal for me at the time, and I forgave her immediately, mostly because I was scared of her). She actually became extremely upset afterward and I had to console her.
(Side note, I was forced to live there for another year after, and she implemented specific rules for me. I was not allowed to be alone with him or be under the same blanket as him. This was extremely traumatizing, my relationship with him was ruined forever.)
On the car ride home, I was processing what had just happened and suddenly fell silent and felt an immense amount of anxiety, I felt like I was going to pass out. A memory from school, I was six at the time, of an older boy (15-16) who did extremely horrendous things to me, suddenly appeared. Feces and urine were involved. These memories are coming up again now, and I feel like I'm gonna have a panic attack every time they do.
My foster mom noticed that my mood suddenly switched, and asked me what was wrong. I told her I suddenly got flooded with all these memories of experiences I didn't know I had, and she told me that she was not surprised that her accusation triggered this. She also told me that she thought she knew what guy I was talking about (not that she did anything about it, she worked as a chef at the school while I was going there, but I was living with my parents at the time.) I have no idea if she is telling the truth, but this detail somehow made it worse.
I suppressed the memories and told myself that I was just making it up. I've done this my whole life, every time it pops up, it's not working anymore. I have this feeling a lot because I feel like what I've been through is unbelievable. That no one will believe me. I also remember that around this time, I had a complete shift in my personality. I went from being popular and outgoing to reserved and extremely shy. I became silent at school, I remember one day specifically, I didn't utter a single word all day, and I felt like I was out of my body. My teacher became so worried that she called CPS. I am not sure if this is related to the sexual abuse trauma (while writing this I still feel like I’m making it up) I may have gone through, or other trauma. I do not have a lot of other memories from this time, and I can't piece together the timeline of events. I'm not even sure what memories I have are real or not.
Another important aspect of all of this is that I had another foster brother who was the same age as me. We started having sex after I moved in at the age of 12. He would come into my room at night, without saying a word, and start doing sexual favors on me. I'm not sure and I don't remember what events if any led to this. He would make me do the same to him, even though I didn't want to, and told him no, I still did it. I didn't enjoy it and I didn't want to do it but for some reason I just did. I never enjoyed doing any favors for him, It made me feel disgusting, I hated it. We never kissed, cuddled, or did anything remotely romantic, no affection other than pure sexual acts. Was this sexual abuse? I don't understand. I'm so confused about all of this.
In hindsight, I guess I deeply suppressed it, I realized that the guy that made me blow him when I was 6, was him. We were in the same grade from 1st to 3rd grade. And now, I'm wondering if he was the one (if any) who did inappropriate things to my three-year-old foster brother. I've been suppressing all of this my whole life, and I'm shocked that I haven't realized this before writing all of this down. It happened in the same room when we were 6.
Recently, I've been feeling very depressed and anxious, and thoughts about all of this are coming back over and over again. I've noticed that I'm developing a weird relationship with sex, I can’t even put into words how I feel. Was I sexually abused or raped? How do I know what is real or not? I’m scared to go further into all of this because I don't want to uncover more memories, just while writing this I made several gut-wrenching realizations. Is there a specific type of therapy that helps with this? I just feel like it's getting worse every day. Thanks.

Please no moral knights. I’m 22, still have room for errors. I just want to know if this will fuck him up.
Dated this guy for 5 months. He admitted that he didn’t love me but still liked me enough to keep me around. Even gave me the whole “you’re amazing, you’ll find someone amazing” speech. Eventually he became obsessive towards the end when he felt that I was backing away and whenever I get close again, he’d do the bare minimum. So I told him after our last sleepover that I didn’t wanted him to contact me anymore since I still had feelings for him. He didn’t mind (like always when I wanted to end things) and hoped that we could soon enough see each other again (once the feelings were gone).
It’s been a week now with no contact and today is his birthday. He’s with family now and won’t come to his place until Monday. I still had his spare key that he gave me and a sweater of him. I bought him a gift, went to his place, placed his gift on the coffee table and took my worn underwear off to add it to his gift. Then I wrote a note, wishing him a happy birthday and saying that i put his keys in his mailbox. Also added that the undies are a souvenir since that will be his last source of my privates. Ended the letter with “So sad that you didn’t want to put any effort in keeping me in your life. What a shame since the sex was amazing. But anyway, enjoy your gifts!” And left the place.
I just hope this will do something to him. It’s not that he didn’t care about me, just that he didn’t love me. Does that also count as breaking no contact? Anyway, I just want to know how you guys would react to this.
(Btw, some may find it creepy what I did but I can assure you that he also didn’t think that Martha from baby reindeer was ‘that’ creepy so he’ll be fine)
Edit: I might add that during the whole 5 months, this man was obsessed with my body. Especially my privates. Hence the used undies

Thank you to u/mehakarin69 for the following additions:

• Killer Sans as a separate character
• Axetale Sans + Aliza (as well as their skins.)
• Last Genocide Sans as a separate character from Dusttale Sans
• Dust Sans' new base design
• The Fanon Sans taunt
• Dustbelief Papyrus as his own character
• Most of the new stages
• The Axetale Flowey skin
• The Othertale characters
• Underfell Chara
• Changes to the plot
• Lore clarifications

​
Characters

• Undertale:
  • Frisk
    • Base design: Whatever skin color looks closest to the game sprite. Closed eyes with really thick eyelashes. Short, brown, slightly messy hair. Black/Navy Blue shorts. Black socks. They have the manly bandana wrapped around their forehead, a bandage on their cheek, the tough glove, ballet shoes, and the heart locket. In addition to using the bandana in their attack animations as a mid-range attack, they also use the stick and throw their various consumable items.
    • Classic (Changes their model to an exact translation of their sprite to a 3d model. Expression is completely unchanging, with three rectangles representing eyes, nose, and mouth. Boots go all the way up the legs. No visible separation between pants and sweater.)
    • Lightner (Hypothetical Lightner Frisk design.)
    • Tenacity (Red scarf and blue jacket over their normal clothes. Gives Frisk a new intro and outro animation.)
    • Overtale (Goat Frisk.)
    • Overtale Nuvex version (Tanuki Frisk.)
    • Shifty (They have Mettaton’s haircut)
    • Prince (Underkeep boy version.)
    • Princess (Underkeep girl version.)
    • Zombie [Obtainable during Halloween event] (Green skin, tattered clothes, and eyeball hanging out of one socket.)
  • Chara
    • Base design: Chara’s design is a pretty faithful recreation, though they also have the locket around their neck.
    • Ghost (Transparent with a red filter and glow.)
    • Scary face (Completely black eyes and distorted smile that drips black fluid.)
    • Lightner (Hypothetical Lightner Chara design.)
    • Overtale (Goat Chara)
    • Underfell (Black overalls with a red heart on the front pouch.)
    • Prince (Underkeep boy version.)
    • Princess (Underkeep girl version.)
    • Vampire [Obtainable during Halloween event.] (Pale skin, fangs, black cape with red interior, dark green button-down suit, long black dress skirt.)
    • Dark Elf [Obtainable during Christmas event.] (Dark green cape and hood with yellow highlights, pointy ears, dark green light armor.)
  • Toriel
    • Teacher (Toriel in the teacher outfit she wears in the Pacifist ending and in Deltarune.)
    • Underswap (Crown and cape.)
    • Story Shift (Armor she wears in the Story Shift AU)
    • Overtale (Human Toriel)
    • Monarch (Underkeep dress)
  • Sans
    • No Jacket (Self-explanatory.)
    • White Slippers (Self-explanatory.)
    • Yellow Eye (His eye will turn yellow instead of blue in his attack animations.)
    • Overtale (Human Sans.)
    • Story Shift (King Attire from Story Shift AU)
    • Fancy Bones (Underkeep Sans outfit.)
    • Fanon (Sans wearing a white wig. Includes a special taunt where he pulls a blue glowstick out of his shorts.)
  • Papyrus
    • Cool Dude (Wearing his cool dude outfit.)
    • Scarf (Long, red scarf instead of a cape)
    • Jogboy suit (The clothes he wore in the Alphys date scene.)
    • Story Shift (Caretaker of the ruins outfit from Story Shift AU.)
    • Sir Papyrus (Underkeep Papyrus outfit.)
    • Santa Papyrus [Obtainable during Christmas event.] (Papyrus wears a Santa outfit and fake beard. His projectile attacks are now presents instead of bones, and he says “NYOHOHO!” instead of “NYEHEHE!”)
  • Undyne
    • Armor (Wearing her Royal Guard Armor)
    • Date Clothes (Dressed in the suit she wore during the Alphys Date Scene.)
    • Deltarune (Cop with no eyepatch.)
    • Overtale (Human Undyne)
    • Baroness (Underkeep dress.)
    • Android [Beat Story Shift Undyne in campaign] (Undyne’s Story Shift design.)
    • Creature from the Black Lagoon [Obtainable during Halloween event.] (Gillman face, fins on arms, large hands, webbed fingers, digitigrade feet, webbed toes.)
  • Alphys
    • Date dress (Dress she wears during the date.)
    • Teacher (Clothes she wears in Deltarune.)
    • Overtale (Human Alphys)
    • Lotus (Underkeep dress.)
    • Ghost Costume [Obtainable during Halloween event.] (Sheet over her with eye holes.)
  • Mettaton
    • News Anchor (Standard-looking news reporter clothes.)
    • Queen (Dressed similarly to Queen from Deltarune.)
    • One True Love (The dress he wears in his song “Oh! One True Love”)
    • Gothaton (Gothic clothing on Mettaton)
    • Overtale (Human Mettaton)
    • King Mettaton (Underkeep suit.)
    • Love Letter [Obtainable during Valentine's event.] (Red where black normally is, heart buckles on his shoes, heart-shaped halo, angel hair wings when in Neo mode, slightly pink hue to the grey parts, lighter pink on pink parts.)
  • Muffet
    • Buffet (Buffet is a blonde baker spider who appears in the fan comic “Cafe Frisk.”)
    • Underswap (Wearing her attire from Underswap.)
    • Royal Baker (Underkeep dress.)
  • Asgore
    • Mr.Dad Guy (Wearing Mr.Dad Guy sweater.)
    • Gardener (Wearing his clothes from the Pacifist route ending and Deltarune.)
    • Caretaker Asgore (Based on his outfit from Underswap)
    • Dr.Asgore (Based on his outfit from Story Shift)
    • Great Knight (Underkeep armor.)
  • Flowey
    • Starbucks Employee (Based on a Shenanigoons joke, which I felt should be there given how this idea came to be.)
    • Cyclops (Flowey in Horrortale.)
    • Boogie (Flowey in Story Shift.)
    • Wilted (Flowey in Underfell.)
    • Void (Gaster Flowey from Fatal Error.)
    • Robot (Flowey in Understeam.)
    • Infected (Flowey in Axetale.)
  • Asriel [Complete Story Mode]
    • Throwback (Normal clothes in God of Hyperdeath form.)
    • Boyband Asriel (Based off a piece of Concept Art of Asriel with boyband hair.)
    • Gardener (Clothes from his Mafiatale design.)
  • Genocide Frisk [Beat them in campaign]
    • Base design: Similar to normal Frisk, but with dust covering their hands, cheek, and sweater. They also have different accessories equipped. They use the real knife and empty gun in battle animations, and they wear the stained apron and the cowboy hat.
    • Classic (Same as Frisk’s Classic skin but with dust on their cheeks, hands, and sweater.)
    • fAnOn Vs CaNoN (Pink cheeks and open, red eyes.)
    • Happy Halloween [obtainable during Halloween event] (They now wear a Michael Myers costume.)
  • W.D. Gaster [Complete Story Mode on Nightmare mode.]
    • {REDACTED} (The Redacted sprite.)
    • Retsag Gnid Gniw (Upside down Gaster sprite fully realized.)
    • Everyman (The Everyman sprite from one of the Amalgamate battles.)
    • Memory Heads (Cluster of memory heads.)
  • Temmie Armor [Unlock every Frisk in the game]
    • Design: An Ironman-style suit of armor covered in Temmie's face and painted with the color scheme of Temmie’s sweater.
  • Burgerpants [$10,000,000.00 DLC (or 110% completion reward. One of the two.)]
    • Underworld (He looks the same except has a bruise on his arm which he got from bumping into a doorframe.)
    • TS!Underswap (Grillby’s branded delivery boy outfit.)
    • Burger-ley (Outfit swap with Berdly.)
  • Toby Fox [Get the Annoying Dog easter egg with every Undertale character including Burgerpants.] {WARNING: This character is insanely unfair to fight against. Use only if you do not value friendship or the structural integrity of your jaw and nose.}
• Deltarune
  • Kris [100% Completion reward]
    • Civilian (Non-Lightner form. Uses a giant pencil instead of a sword.)
    • Classic (Change skin color to match their sprite.)
    • The 13th [Avalable during Halloween event.] (Kris wearing a Jason Vorhees Costume.)
  • Susie [100% Completion reward]
    • Civilian (Non-Lightner form. Still has her axe.)
    • Punk (Black leather jacket with white undershirt and spiked wristbands.)
    • Evil Queen (Dressed like Bowsette.)
    • Containment Breach [Available during Halloween event.] (Torn-up clothes, green scales, sharp, bloody teeth, bone spikes jutting out of her back, and black hair going down to the tip of her tail.)
  • Ralsei [100% Completion reward]
    • Ralsei Dreemurr (Ralsei in Asriel’s clothes.)
  • Lancer [100% Completion reward]
    • Prince of Mischief (Bowser Jr. Scarf.)
  • Jevil [100% Completion reward]
    • Digital Circus (Swapped color palette with Pomni from The Amazing Digital Circus.)
  • Noelle [100% Completion reward]
    • Civilian (Non-Lightner form.)
    • Noelle the Red-Nosed Reindeer [Available during Christmas event.] (Gingerbread pattern dress and red, glowing nose.)
  • Berdly [100% completion reward]
    • Civilian (Non-Lightner form.)
    • Right out of High School (Outfit swap with Burgerpants.)
  • Queen [100% completion reward]
    • Metta-Queen (Outfit swap with Mettaton.)
  • Spamton [100% completion reward]
    • [BIGGEST] shot (Sparkling golden suit with dollar sign sunglasses and wads of cash jutting out of his pockets. Money particle effects appear whenever he moves, and one of his special moves is replaced with him dropping a palette of money on you.)
    • You Can (Not) [GET A REFUND] (Outfit based on Asuna’s plug suit from Evangelion.)
• Underswap
  • Sans [Beat him in campaign]
    • Rad Dude (Underswap version of the cool dude outfit.)
    • Christmas sweater [Obtainable during Christmas event.] (The sweater he wears in the Christmas Party comic.)
  • Papyrus [Beat him in campaign]
    • “THAT’S MY ATTACK!” (Change the orange parts of his design to blue.)
  • Chara [Beat them in campaign]
  • Frisk [Beat them in campaign]
    • Creepy (Frisk’s eyes and mouth are sewn shut.)
    • A true nightmare [Obtainable during Halloween event.] (Wearing a Freddy Kreuger costume.)
  • Napstabot [Win 10 battles as Mettaton]
    • T.S. Underswap (Napstabot in T.S. Underswap.)
• Underfell
  • Frisk [Beat them in campaign]
    • Flowerfell [Die to every Papyrus as Underfell Frisk] (Flowerfell Frisk’s design instead of Underfell Frisk’s. Similar moves, but their voice lines are different and their finisher cards are major scenes from Flowerfell.)
    • Collar (Red turtleneck and spiked collar around their neck with a gold chain hanging off of it.)
    • Blue and Pink (Sweater with pink, blue, and black stripes.)
  • Sans [Beat him in campaign]
    • Flowerfell [Die to every Papyrus as Underfell Frisk] (Flowerfell Sans’ design instead of Underfell Sans’. Same changes as Flowerfell Frisk.)
    • No Jacket (Self Explanatory.)
  • Papyrus [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Scarf (Wearing a scarf instead of a cape.)
    • Bad Dude (Underfell date attire.)
  • Toriel [Beat her in campaign.]
  • Underfell Asgore [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Casual (Underfell version of the pacifist ending clothes.)
  • Chara [Beat them in campaign.]
• Horrortale:
  • Aliza [Win the Betty boss fight on Insanity mode.]
    • Monster Disguise (Her disguise she wears in the comic.)
    • Horrortale Frisk? [Obtainable during Halloween event] (Aliza dressed as Frisk.)
    • Cannibal (Bloody teeth and bulging, bloodshot eyes.)
  • Sans [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Pink Jacket (Another tribute to Lythero.)
  • Papyrus [Beat him in campaign.]
  • Undyne [Beat her in campaign.]
    • Before the fall (Undyne from the intro of the Horrortale fangame, with a normal-looking eyepatch and crown, and splatters of blood across her face.)
  • Toriel [Beat her in campaign.]
• Glitchtale:
  • Chara [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Season 1 (The season 1 design.)
    • Total Hatred (Completely black with red eyes and mouth.)
    • Frisk [Beat him in campaign.] (Swap Chara for Frisk.)
  • Betty [Beat her in campaign.]
    • Amber [Beat campaign using only Betty] (Betty in her original form)
    • Hatred (Completely black with pink eyes and mouth.)
  • Sans [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Fear (Two pink eyes instead of two blue eyes.)
  • Jessica [50% completion reward.]
    • Original (Jessica’s first outfit design before the updated design.)
    • Hatred (Black eyes with blue pupils and black fluid leaking from eyes and mouth.)
    • Overtale (Skeleton Jessica.)
  • Gaster [Beat the first Error Sans boss fight.]
    • Void (Gaster’s form in the void.)
    • Original (Gaster’s season 1 design.)
• Story Shift
  • Chara [Beat them in campaign.]
    • Facing Demons (SS!Chara wearing SS!Asriel’s scarf.)
    • Reboot (Reboot Story Shift Chara design.)
    • FellShift (FellShift Chara design.)
    • Mask (Wearing a black mask with eyes and a mouth drawn on in red marker.)
    • Swap (SwapShift Frisk instead of Story Shift Chara)
    • Sweetheart [Obtainable during Valentine’s day event.] (Pink hoodie with cat ears and tail, and chocolate heart constantly in their mouth. No mouth animations.)
  • Asriel [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Classic (Wearing Undertale Asriel’s clothes.)
  • Mettacrit [Beat him in campaign.]
• Littletale
  • Littletale Frisk [Beat campaign on Unlooseable mode.]
    • Worker Elf [Obtainable during Christmas event] (Wearing a green elf costume.)
  • Littletale Sans [Beat campaign on Unlooseable mode.]
    • Elf on the Shelf [Obtainable during Christmas event] (Wearing a red elf costume.)
• Outertale
  • Frisk [Beat them in campaign.]
  • Papyrus [Beat him in campaign.]
  • Alphys [Beat her in campaign.]
  • Mettaton [Beat him in campaign.]
• Echotale
  • G!Sans [Beat twisted campaign.]
  • Echo!Frisk [Beat twisted campaign.]

(Note: Twisted campaign is an alternate version of the campaign mode with new battles and a second story that takes place alongside the main campaign. It’s also way harder. Sounds complicated, but there’s not a chance this game is ever getting made anyway, so it’s fine.)

• Underworld
  • Frisk [Beat twisted campaign.]
  • Sans [Beat him in twisted campaign.]
  • Alphys [Beat her in twisted campaign.]
  • Undyne [Beat her in twisted campaign.]
  • Muffet [Beat her in twisted campaign.]
  • Toriel [Beat her in twisted campaign.]
  • Asgore [Beat him in twisted campaign.]
• Katanatale
  • Frisk [Beat them in campaign.]
  • Sans [Beat him in campaign.]
  • Undyne [Beat her in campaign.]
    • Samurai (Dressed in samurai armor and a samurai mask.)
    • Frenzy (Dressed like Guts from Berserk.)
    • Armored Frenzy (Dressed in the Berserker armor.)
  • Gaster [Beat the twisted campaign tutorial.]
• Othertale
  • Undyne (Beat her in twisted campaign.)
  • Color Sans (Beat twisted campaign on hard.)
  • Natacarat Jester (Beat twisted campaign on insanity mode.)
• Outworlders
  • Error Sans [Beat campaign mode on Insanity difficulty.]
    • No Jacket (Self-explanatory)
    • Half-Error (halfway between Error and Geno.)
  • Geno Sans [Beat him in campaign mode.]
  • Fatal Error [Beat the true final boss (Insanity and up only).]
  • Dream Sans [Beat the Nightmare battle in campaign.]
    • Dream Papyrus (Based on a joke I sometimes make that Dream should have been a Papyrus. Replaces the model with a version of Papyrus that looks similar to Dream.)
    • The Mask (Wearing a Dream Minecraft costume.)
  • Nightmare Sans [Beat him in Dream’s campaign.]
    • Red (Dark red instead of dark green.)
  • Fresh [Beat campaign mode on Insanity difficulty]
  • Punk Frisk [Appears as the final boss of Fresh’s campaign. Beat them to unlock them.]
    • Base Design: African American with a ponytail that they dyed orange, wearing “YOLO” sunglasses like Fresh. They wear a sleeveless denim jacket, and underneath that jacket, they have a light pink shirt with an evil clown face emblazoned on it in black. They have a friendship bracelet on their left wrist, plaid tights, a denim short skirt covered in buttons, and long, black combat boots with yellow laces. They also have black lipstick, a nose piercing, earrings, and a gold canine. They go by He/She/They, so to any artists reading this who may be interested in drawing this edgy nightmare of a character, go with whatever gender you prefer.
  • Ink Sans [Beat campaign mode on Insanity difficulty.]
    • Star Sketcher (Based on one of Ink Sans’ alternate outfits)
    • Clean Brush (Based on one of Ink Sans’ alternate outfits)
  • Blueberror [Beat campaign mode on Destroy all Monsters difficulty.]
  • Core Frisk [Beat campaign mode on Destroy all Monsters difficulty.]
  • Paperjam [Beat twisted campaign on Destroy all Monsters difficulty.]
• Misc.
  • Disbelief Papyrus [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Pumpkin King [Obtainable during Halloween event.] (Disbelief Papyrus dresses as Jack Skellington.)
  • Dustbelief Papyrus [Beat him in twisted campaign.]
  • Dust Sans [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Base Design: Purple jacket with gray slippers.
    • Battle Damaged (Torn clothes and cracked skull)
    • Something old (Blue jacket and pink slippers)
    • Something new-ish (Blue jacket and gray slippers)
  • Killer Sans [Beat him in campaign.]
    • Zero Humans (Goku Black costume)
  • Last Genocide [Beat him in campaign.] (Finisher is Last Genocide phase 4.)
    • STAND PROUD (Dressed in Jotaro Kujo cosplay. Spirit Papyrus is dressed like Star Platinum.)
  • Last Breath Sans [Beat campaign on Insanity mode using only different versions of Sans.]
  • Reaper Sans [Enter the Konami code during the Error Sans fight and then beat the hardest battle in the game.]
  • X-Sans [Beat him in campaign.]
    • X-Chara (Swaps Sans for Chara and changes some attack animations.)
  • Sixbones [Beat them in twisted campaign.]
  • StorySwap Chara [Beat Sixbones on insanity mode.]
  • Seraphim [Beat him in Error Sans’ campaign on Destroy all Monsters difficulty.]
  • Axe Sans and Aliza [Beat them in twisted campaign.]
    • Beaten Down (Sans and Aliza’s outfits are damaged, and Aliza’s eye is covered with bandages.)
    • Axesanity (Sans is even more damaged than in the Beaten Down skin, and Aliza’s hood is popped and covered in dust. Aliza’s Red Butterfly attack is replaced with a Black Butterfly.)
    • Wedding Bells [Obtainable during valentine’s event.] (Sans in a suit and Aliza in priest garb. Aliza’s Red Butterfly attack is outlined with Axe Frisk’s spirit.)
  • Red [75% completion reward]
  • Papyrus.exe
  • Deigamer & Chara [Beat twisted campaign on Destroy all Monsters difficulty.]

Stages

• Undertale
  • Ruins
  • Snowdin
  • Waterfall
  • Hotland
  • The Core
  • Judgement hall
  • Throne Room
  • The Barrier
  • Mt. Ebott
• Undertale Yellow
  • Steamworks
  • Dunes
• Horrortale
  • Withered Ruins
  • Grillby’s
  • The Capital
  • Red Snowdin
• Misc
  • Schizophrenia (Dust Sans’ mind)
  • The Void
  • Omega timeline
  • Xtale

Feel free to suggest whatever characters or costumes you want to see added to this roster. My only rule for suggestions is I’m not allowing anything from Alphatale or Godverse.
Next time I post about this game concept, I will be going into detail on the controls and mechanics of the game.

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So in most Christmas movies, especially those for kids, have Santa as the main focus behind Christmas, and don't really acknowledge the holiday's religious origins. That's fine, I have no qualms about doing that. It's meant to be fun, and kids love Santa. In fact, the lack of religious mentions in those movies makes things work better, since it prevents some questions that I will be bringing up later. Violent Night fails at this, and it has been driving me insane since I saw it last Christmas.
If you haven't seen it, just google the movie. It's Die Hard, but with Santa instead of John McClane, and actively Christmas themed. The main villain even calls himself Mr. Scrooge. Santa is too old for this, he drunkenly crashes into a home of a rich family that is being robbed, and his reindeer fly off, leaving him trapped. He then learns the meaning of Christmas again through his secret communications with the youngest daughter of the family as he saves the day, slaughtering the criminals in various ways. The movie gives some insight into the past of Santa, painting him as a Norse warrior who somehow became the immortal being we know as Santa Claus, as well as the other names various cultures know him as. Also he kills a man with a Nordic warhammer, as well as a candy cane that he expertly sucks into a shiv. This movie is a lot of fun, and I have absolutely zero problems with any of the above, so you might be wondering why this has been sticking with me for so long. It's just once scene that makes this movie just mind-boggling for me.
At one point in the movie, the hostages at the home being robbed are taken by the criminals out to where the money is, and they go past a life-size nativity scene. This isn't a passing background piece that was put in for some decoration, like an angel ornament that's just there to give a Christmas vibe. There's a fight scene that takes place at the nativity, we see all the details in it. So in this world, Christianity is real. Now, I also don't have a problem with this on its face. Santa is this magical immortal being, sure, I can see how he could independently show up and do his thing on the same day. What grinds my gears is when the villain realizes that Santa is in fact the real Santa, and not some sort of Christmas-themed mercenary, he decides to kill him, and through that kill Christmas itself. Maybe in one world killing Satna, this magical man, would somehow destroy the literal magic behind Christmas, and destroy it. Somehow. Personally, I don't think that makes sense, since Scrooge doesn't believe Santa is real until he sees unavoidable proof in the form of literal magic, and no one besides the little girl Santa talks to throughout the movie believes he's real, and they all celebrate Christmas, so things would in theory just continue as normal since how would anyone ever notice the difference on a scale large enough to end the holiday? Whatever, that's not the point. The point is that Jesus exists in this world, at least in the public consciousness enough to where people have nativity scenes.
So how would killing Santa, someone unaffiliated with the person who is the centerpiece of Christmas, Jesus Christ, who the holiday is named after, affect Christmas? In fact, I think the existence of Santa only strengthens the holiday, since if an immortal Norse warrior is real, why would Jesus be any less possible? Killing the real Santa Claus, confirming magic is real to the entire world, would only make people believe in Jesus even more, right? Does Mr. Scrooge think killing Santa will somehow shake the largest religion in the world enough to permanently end one of their most important holidays, centered around the birth of the Messiah? How will he share the fact that he's killed Santa with the world? Are Santa and Jesus connected? Is Santa's ability to rise through chimneys symbolic of Jesus rising from his grave on the third day? Why is Santa, a pagan murderer, made immortal and have his whole deal line up with Jesus's? Why does Mr. Scrooge even think it's possible to kill Santa Claus? He seems extremely confident, but if Jesus is around, and if Santa has a thing that lines up with Jesus, I'd assume he can resurrect somehow, which seems fairly reasonable. Am I reading way too far into this dumb but fun movie? Yes.
Also, I desperately want to know more about Santa going from Norse warrior to beleaguered present giver. I feel like there's a lot of material for a prequel, so David Harbour, get on it. I need answers.
TLDR: Santa and Jesus confirmed to exist in the same universe makes the idea of killing Santa to end Christmas so confusing to me that it is driving me insane

I’ve noticed that about 1/3 displays in the museum won’t do anything when I activate like all of the Royal Armory ones and most Hall of Heroes displays. I am stuck and have no idea how to fix this. Load order:
-USSEP
-Simple Workaround Framework
-Legacy of the Dragonborn SSE
-Cheat Room
-Horse Camera Tweak
-Nordic UI
-Sanguis An Oblivion Font
-Unique Region Names
-The Sounds of DAWN
-JaySerpa's Quest Expansion Bundle
-The Paarthurnax Resolution
-Fishing Voiced Narrative
-Sacrosanct - Vampires of Skyrim
-Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim
-Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim
-Apocalypse/Ordinator Patch
-Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul
-Thunderchild
-Triumvirate - Mage Archetypes
-Veydosebrom Regions
-3d Veydosebrom Regions
-Lore Weapon Expansion 1K
-Serendipitous
-Amulets of Skyrim
-Additional Hearthfire Dolls
-Cloaks of Skyrim Retextured
-Aetherium Armor and Weapons Compilation
-Aetherium Ore Respawns
-Konahrik’s Accoutrements
-Awesome Artifacts - Konahrik’s Accoutrements Patch
-Kthonia’s Unique Weapon Pack
-Oblivion Artifact Pack
-LOTD / Oblivion Artifacts Pack Patch
-Summermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim
-ArteFakes - Unique Artifacts Replacer
-Awesome Artifacts ArteFakes Patcj
-Royal Armory Reforged
-PrivateEye’s Heavy Armory
-Awesome Artifacts
-Skyrim Unique Treasures
-Enhanced Blood Textures
-Blood Splatter Larger Size
-Convenient Horses
-Mythical Ages - Weather Overhaul
-SOD + Mythical Ages Patch
-Improved Shadows and Volumetric Lighting
-Natural Clouds
-Missives by Irondusk33
-Missives - Notes Retexture
-Updated - Enhanced Lights and FX
-ELFX - Enhancer
-ELFX - Exteriors
-Lamae's Gaze
-Superior Lore Friendly Hair (Saturated)
-Fia’s Eyes - Full Version
-Full Lip Tintmasks 4k
-RS Children Overhaul
-Caliente’s Beautiful Bodies Enhancer - Curvy AIO
-Movement and Behaviours Enhanced 2.0
-Verolevi Animations AiO
-Comprehensive First Person Animation Overhaul
-360 Walk and Run Standalone
-Xbox - Mage Grip Spell
-Visible Favorited Gear
-VioLens - A Killmove Mod SE
-Dwemer Spectres
-After the Civil War
-AI Overhaul 1.8.2 Scripted Non USSEP
-More to Say 9.0.2
-Kinghall Orphanage
-Song of the Green
-Shirley
-LOTD Collectors and Vendors
-Legacy Safehouse Plus
-LOTD Auri Follower Room
-LOTD Shirley Follower Room
-LOTD Museum Dome Improved
-LOTD Vanilla Player Homes Display
-LotD Plaques Replacer
-Legacy of the Dragonborn Museum Exterior Fixes
-Hearthfire multiple adoptions
-BUVARP Revamped
-Insightful Shalidor’s Insights
-Auto Unequip Ammo 4.2
-Remove Follower Level Cap
-Improved Roads
-Unique Bridges of Skyrim
-Castle Volkihar Rebuilt
-Volkihar Travel
-Talkative Enemies - A Mini Bundle
-Imperious - Races of Skyrim
-Divergence - Vanilla Pack - AIO
-Divergence - Artefakes - Patch
-Snow Whales and Flying Rays - Mihail Monsters and Animals
-Reindeer Herds - Mihail Monsters and Animals
-Baby Mammoths - Mihail Monsters and Animals
-Bantam Guars - Mihail Monsters and Animals
-Mihail’s Chickens - Fluffy Chicks - Mihail Monsters and Animals
-Blubbos Trees in Whiterun
-Happy Little Aspens Ablaze
-Northern Roads 1K
-Insignificant Object Remover
-DAWN Waters w/Natural Waterfalls
-XP32 Maximum Skeleton+Realistic Ragdolls and Force
-Alternate Perspective
-A Quality World Map - Vivid with Stone Roads 9.0

And noticed they use alot of Fjällräven gear.
The mayor really loves his Övik Nordic sweater! And I agree tho it's one of my favorite sweaters too.
And saw Raven jacket.
Did I miss any other Fjällräven gear in that show?
Also found it funny they removed the Logo on the clothing but kept the Swedish flags. 🤭

Straight from the Discord, here’s the latest news! The text is copy-pasted below:

🎉 Time To Vote! 🎉

🏝️ ✨ Hello Kitty Island Adventure has been nominated for a Webby Award! 🏆✨
Voting is super easy! Just head over to the Webby Awards website and click that vote button like there's no tomorrow! https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/games/general-games/kids-family
We're over the moon with excitement, and we couldn't have done it without the incredible support from all of you, our amazing community.
As a small development studio, every award nomination and every vote means the world to us. Your unwavering support fuels our passion for creating fun and memorable gaming experiences, and we're beyond grateful for it. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support. 💖✨

1.6.2 - Cabin Compensation

We’re submitting 1.6.2 to Apple today. When it goes live, everyone can expect to find in their inventory:

• 25 Strawberry Crates
• 100 Sticks
• A Kitchen Essentials Package that includes multiple counters, cabinets, sink, and fridges
• A full set of Colorblaze Carnival furniture, including many duplicates that weren’t available during the event
• A full set of Springtime Celebration furniture, including many duplicates
• Two Hello Kitty Floorings and Wallpapers
• 5 Clothing Stands

Depending on if you’ve had the following items in your inventory before, you will find them restored if they are missing:

• All Party Favors
• All Character Collectors Hats
• All Character Holiday Sweaters
• All Gudetama Outfit Pieces
• All Event Clothing (Colorblaze, Autumn Fashion Frenzy, Frosty Fashion Frenzy, Give & Gather, Happy Haven, Hugs & Hearts, Launch Celebration, Lighttime Jubilee, Luck & Lanterns, Springtime Celebration)

Depending on if you’ve had the following items in your inventory before, you will find additional ones in your inventory (including some duplicates that weren’t available during the event):

• Nordic Furniture
• Yummy Furniture
• Kawaii Furniture
• Hello Kitty Furniture
• Fwish Furniture
• Cottage Furniture
• Antique Furniture
• All Cooking Stations
• All Comics
• Event Furniture (Spooky Celebration, Rainy, Summer’s End, Luck & Lanterns, Lighttime Jubilee, Hugs & Hearts, Give & Gather)

IMPORTANT: For those who lost trophies or trophy pieces, those will be restored in a future update, as the code to track them is more nuanced.
Again, we understand how heartbreaking it is to have a well-designed cabin turn up empty (or, heck, even a bunch of random food on the floor). We’re looking at our internal processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again, and our sincerest apologies to everyone affected.

Common:
Eco orange maple head piece Drinks cooler White Visor 2024 glasses
Uncommon:
2022 confetti drape Black purse Inmate cap Preppy sweater Princess boots Royal capuchin cape Royal capuchin crown Royal capuchin Saber pin Ship wheel necklace Spring bunny nose Eco recycling bin Eco reusable bottle backpack Eco leaf scarf Eco solar panel Eco leaf afro Halloween evil barrel Red scarf Red envelope Luggage Morion Pink designer backpack Red purse Rose Red beanie Ruff Shiriuken Striped necktie Traffic cone White purse Holly crown Poinsettia hair clip Sleigh earring Yellow 5 panel cap Yellow designer backpack
Rare:
Adventures hood 2022 party hat 2022 party horn Black boots Black scarf Buzz off! Skateboard Cassette Chicken hat Cutlass Cyborg shades Eco hiking bag Orange pumpkin eyepatch Cranberry wings Flamenco hat Flower collar Flower crown Heart ribbon Pancake stack Dino hood Fire axe Winged medal Gold chain Green lotus Head chef Battle axe Stethoscope Writing brush Leprechaun hat Lunar new year collar Lunar new year shoes Monocle Pink heart glasses Pirate hat Reindeer antlers Respectful mustache Sailor cap Shadow aura Shadow shiryuken Shark fin Skeleton shell Fairy wings Tundra goggles Strawberry hat Windup key Elf bandana Witch hat Wizzard hat Yellow camera
Ultra rare:
Cupcake shoes Black designer backpack Black Hightower Blue butterfly wings Blue cat headphones Branch headphones Maple cape Pie wings Fez Chef hat Bow tie Walking cane Zombie bat wings Jade moth wings Jet pack Leaf wings Gold coin Monocle Aviator hat banana hat Curved bow Viking shield Mandarins hat Dumpling friend hat Volcano hat Monkey king crown Sun tome White backpack Festive beard Festive lights crown
What I'm trading is in video

Belongings ended up in the recycling/trash where residents may take whatever they want, I wasn't given notice of this trashing of belongings. Police report has been filed but it wouldn't matter to press any thing. So I am just hoping if someone ever comes across these items please let me know.
I'm not going to get into details but my belongings such as, my cats ashes wooden box, plaque with his paw print, a crystal collection that had a lot of beautiful meaningful value to me, I also lost a lot of clothing, including a sweater thats green with a reindeer with beer (my dad passed away and thats the only thing I have of his), his death certificate, lots of leggings. Theres also a dead puff peak pro. I also have documents that are missing but all I care about is my feet from when I was first born, which is on paper. I also had a blow up mattress but don't expect to get that back or anything. Personal journals. But if you are someone who has access to any of these belongings or found please let me know.
This isn't the first time my belongings got actually stolen. If you see a first generation ipod touch, and black nano ipod. Purple carhardt hoodie,
Thank you.
​
​

Who: Me, 28F When: 7 days in february/march Where: Rovaniemi (and a few hours in Helsinki) Why: I’ve never seen much snow before and I have always wanted to see the Northern Lights and have a holiday with lots of snow activities. The organised tours all looked really expensive, so I decided to DIY it. Hostel: Hostel Cafe Koti Preparation: I only booked my flight, train and hostel. I was struggling a bit with what to pack because the weather forecast kept changing and I didn’t know how cold I was going to be, because I get cold easily.
tldr: went to lapland, had a good time, did fun things, spent just under 1500 euros
edit: Here are some pictures
DAY 1: I took a morning flight to Helsinki, which arrived at 3pm. 99% of my flight went on to have a layover, but I had a few hours in Helsinki before I was taking a night train to Rovaniemi. My train wasn’t until half past 7, so I spend some time walking around the city. I didn’t think to stow my luggage somewhere, so I was just walking around with my bag, which luckily wasn’t too big/heavy. I had visited the city before (in summer) so it was nice to recognize some parts and cafes. I just walked around the frozen harbour, had a cinnamon bun and went to find some dinner. I first went to a restaurant and I had no idea where to order 😂 So after half an hour, hoping that I could flag down a waiter, I went to a different restaurant. I had dinner there but felt a bit nauseated, so I went to the supermarket to buy some food and snacks in case my appetite would return in the train. After that I went back to the train station and waited for my train - the santa express. I didn’t book a cabin, because those were really expensive for one person. Instead I had booked 2 normal seats on the train. You actually get a discount if you buy 2 seats for 1 person and that way I’d hoped to get some better sleep. The train was nice, but the cabin I was in never dimmed the lights, so you had to sleep under bright TL lights. It was also very loud in the cabin, because lots of people were still talking at 2am. I had my earbuds, NC headphones and an eye mask, but still didn’t get too much sleep.
DAY 2: After almost 12 hours on the night train, I arrived in Rovaniemi - the capital of Lapland. I walked to my hostel to drop my stuff off and had some breakfast there. They had a breakfast buffet and it was nice to be able to sit there for a couple of hours, trying to figure out what to do with the day. I ended up walking to a museum: The Arktikum. I walked along the river and kept stepping in random piles of snow to see how deep it was. People also leave their sleds near hills when they leave the city, so I got my first bit of winter fun! I wasn’t wearing my snow trousers because those were still in the luggage I’d left at the hotel, so it was a bit cold at times, but I was thankful for my last minute decision to buy snow boots! The Artikum is a science museum all about the arctic, so it was nice to learn a bit more about this area at the start of my holiday. I spent a good few hours at this museum, so when I was finished, my room at the hostel was ready. Finally time for a nap :). At 5pm, the hostel sauna was opened, so time for more relaxing! For dinner I met up with a friend who was also visiting the city. But I was still tired, so afterwards I just went back to the hostel, chatted with some roommates and went to sleep!
DAY 3: I still had some food and snacks left, so I made my own breakfast at the hotel. I was thinking of doing a husky tour this morning, but when I was checking online, it seemed like lots of places were already booked up… I didn’t think to book anything in advance, so I went to the tourist office for advice. The tourist office workers became my new friends, because I went there almost daily for advice over the next few days. They were incredibly helpful and called all around the city, trying to find a husky tour I could join. After 20 minutes they succeeded! So I immediately paid and my husky tour would leave after lunch. I also booked another tour on Sunday, which my hostel roommate recommended that only had 1 spot left. I then went to the local supermarket to get some proper food and walked around the city. The citycenter is quite small, but they have everything an average tourist would need. I then put on some extra layers and went to the tour company for the husky tour (Lapland Safaris). They gave me a big ski suit to put on and we took the bus to the husky farm. After a short explanation, we were ready to meet the huskies. We were actually not allowed to interact with the huskies before our ride, but were assured that we could pet them all we wanted after the ride. Our group had 8 sleds and each sled had 2 people and 5-6 huskies. My tour was 10km and halfway the ride we could switch riders. I went first and our huskies were very energised! I had to stand on the brakes 90% of the time because our huskies wanted to run much faster than the person before us. Time flew by and before I knew it, it was time to switch. It was nice to sit in the sled for a bit, because I was so hyped up and concentrated the first half that I honestly didn’t get to look around that much. The second half seemed to go much slower, so I had all of the time to take in the amazing scenery. The entire ride took about an hour. After the husky ride, we got to meet and pet our huskies. They still seemed to have lots of energy left but they were really sweet. We got plenty of time with them and then went inside to warm up with a drink while learning more about huskies. After this, we were allowed to walk around and meet some puppies and retired dogs. This tour was expensive (199 euros) but for me it was worth it, because a husky ride was something I really wanted to do on this trip. After the tour, I went back to the hostel and met an Australian couple. I had bought some marshmallows that morning and was planning to go to a campfire and they had the same plan. They actually had bought some hotdogs and bread, so the three of us went to have campfire dinner. The city has several spots with campfires and little huts, where everyone can make some food or warm up. On the way back to the hostel, we also found a good hill and some sleds, so of course we went sledding, which was a good way to end the night. After we came back to the hostel, we actually spent some time playing card games before finally deciding to call it a night.
DAY 4: When I was at the tourist office the previous day, they told me about a big yearly event that was going on this weekend: the “poro cup”. It’s reindeer racing: people will be on ski’s, behind a reindeer that’s trying to run as fast as possible. A few hostel mates and I took the free shuttle bus that morning to see for ourselves. When we arrived there we were amazed by how large the stadium was and how many reindeers were waiting. We were allowed to get really close to the races and it was great to see the sport up close. They also had a reindeer outside that you could pet or feed. Seeing a reindeer was on my holiday wish list, so that was one more thing ticked off! We had lunch here (reindeer soup) and took the shuttle bus back to the city. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hostel and visiting the sauna again. I got some take-out fries for pre-dinner and made some pasta with a roommate for actual dinner. I had brought a cross stitch project with me and she had a crochet project, so it was a nice relaxed evening, because I had a long day ahead of me
DAY 5: Today I had my tour to the Korouoma Canyon Frozen Waterfalls (with Nordic Odyssey). We drove about 1,5 hours to the start of the hiking trail, where we put on our crampons. Not all tour companies provide crampons, but I was really glad that this one did, because it got really slippery at times. You can definitely walk there without them, but it was just nice to have the extra grip. On the way to the waterfalls we made some photo stops, the tour had some snacks for us to eat and explained about the area. The views were just amazing. I had never seen this much snow before, so it was great to be able to be in this new environment. We were also allowed to hike up to one of the waterfalls but this was really steep. Lots of people without crampons decided to slide down, not really looking out whether they could potentially hit others :(. So we didn’t walk too far and with our crampons we were actually able to walk back down. Our tour guide told us that lots of people sled down instead of walking, but that this actually can cause injuries because people cannot stop or steer very well. After some walking, we had lunch. Our guide made everyone hotdogs and boiled water for drinks. It was nice to have some filling, hot lunch! While walking back, some people got slower and slower, so the rest of us were allowed to walk at our own pace, which gave me time to walk quickly and stop to make a snowman - by the time that the last people caught up, my snowman was all finished :). After this hike, we drove back to the city, where we arrived back around 4-5pm. I went to a bigger supermarket to buy some basic dinner food (instant noodles, frozen veggies & eggs). I had actually gotten really unlucky with the weather the week that I visited. It was cloudy 24/7 which didn’t just mean that there wasn’t much sun, it also meant we didn’t get any chance to see the northern lights. Even people who had booked tours often didn’t get to see them because it was cloudy all around the city. This evening, it looked like there might be a small cloudless window, so we hiked to a nice spot, waiting for the clouds to disappear… They never did :( But it was a nice evening hike nonetheless and we got to toast some more marshmallows. But this was my second to last night and still no northern lights.
DAY 6: This morning I looked at the weather app and it was still cloudy. The forecast expected tonight to be better (= possible northern lights), but now the forecast was just showing clouds again. I had decided to do an aurora tour this evening, but the evening before, most of my roommates who did a tour didn’t get to see any lights. Time to go back to the tourist office to ask for advice :P. The tourist office was helpful as always and told me about some more expensive, longer tours. They were able to check which ones saw the lights the day before and I picked one that looked hopeful. It was 170 euros - so up to 3 times as expensive as some of the other options, but I looked at my set budget, saw that I still had some money left, and went for it. They also had an option for 250 euros which had a guarantee - if you didn’t see the lights, you got your money back. But I weighed my options: if I didn’t see the lights, I would be a bit sad even if I got my money back. But if I did see the lights and I had the guarantee, maybe I’d still feel a tiny bit disappointed because I could have “saved” 70 euros by picking the cheaper option. So I chose the cheaper option and just crossed all fingers and toes. Rovaniemi also has some winter cycling routes (Ounasvaara), so a friend and I rented some fat bikes and planned to drive around. It was very quiet on these paths and we didn’t see many other people that entire day. It was so nice to be in the quiet of the forest!
At 5pm I looked at my phone and saw a missed call - the aurora tour company had looked at the weather forecast and it didn’t look promising. The closest spot without clouds was going to be a 4 hour drive, so they were starting the tour an hour early :o. I was still on the cycling paths outside of the city centre, so we drove back to the city, dropped off the bikes and I went to the hostel to put on all of my layers. I then went by the supermarket and the Subway to get some snacks and some dinner I could eat in the van. The tour (by Book Lapland) was advertised for 4-10 hours, but it looked like this evening was going to be a long one. At 18:30 we started driving north. After 3 hours of nonstop driving, we still hadn’t seen any stars or sky - only clouds. People in our van started to get a bit down - shouldn’t the weather have cleared up a bit? But just after 11pm we started to see stars! It took almost 5 hours of driving 380 kilometres (236 miles) but it seemed like it had finally cleared up. The van took us to the nearest parking spot and turned off all the lights and we got to enjoy the show. At first, the aurora was only in one spot and not very bright. But the longer we waited, the more it grew. Eventually, it was all around the northern sky, in green and red/purple, bright enough to see with your eyes. It was amazing to see this view of the northern lights and the thousands of stars in the sky. We got to enjoy this moment for about an hour, before it was time to drive back. After about 5 minutes of driving, the sky was cloudy again. Just before 5am, more than 10 hours after the start of the tour, I was dropped back at the hostel, ready to get a few hours of sleep in an actual bed.
DAY 7: After 3 hours of sleep, I packed my bag and checked out of the hostel. One last visit to the tourist office, to ask about the bus schedule, and it was time to leave the city. On the way to the airport, I visited the Santa Village. Everyone kept assuring me that this really was fun and it was worth a visit, so I gave it a shot. I was able to leave my bag somewhere and went to the tourist office here to ask at what time they would recommend being at the airport. They just pointed to the bus schedule, so I repeated my question but I never got a helpful answer from them. I spent almost two hours there and it still looked like an oversized themed mall to me. They had some activities - like husky or reindeer rides, but these were all just lesser, overpriced versions of things I had done before. The rest of the “village” was just shops (all selling the same stuff) and restaurants. I think this is the only thing I did this holiday that really felt like wasted time. After two hours, I got to take the bus to the airport (santa village prices: 8 euros for 5 minutes). The airport was absolutely tiny, so I was there very early. But to be honest, I liked the airport better than the Santa Village :P. I wasn’t going to be home until 7pm, so I had a big lunch at the airport and then started my flight back. I had a stopover in Helsinki, but I didn’t have to go through security again and both flights had a 10 minute delay, so it worked out perfectly.
What went right: Basically everything! I had an amazing time and got to see what I really wanted to see. The northern lights were just the cherry on top! What went wrong: Nothing really went wrong. If I had more time I would have liked to go snowmobiling. I could have possibly done that on one of my “free” mornings/afternoons, but I think that would’ve made my trip too rushed. I always need some down time on my holidays, so I think I did well prioritising rest over doing another tour. I also spent a lot of my monthly internet because the wifi kept disconnecting my phone, but that’s easy to fix by just spending 5 euros on extra internet, so if that’s the biggest thing that went wrong, that’s great :P.
Random tips or takeaways:

• If everyone is telling you something is really worth visiting, even though you think it’ll not be worth it, it might just not be worth it for you :P (looking at you, santa village)
• Rest is important
• I was originally thinking of booking 1 or 2 nights outside of the city, but that would have been too rushed for me, because the activities and tours cost a lot of energy.

Final verdict: I basically just had an amazing time! Would definitely recommend Rovaniemi for a winter holiday.
Money talk: When looking at tours, they were often around 3000 euros for a week, sometimes even excluding food or flights. I had set a soft budget of 2000 euros (so it was fine to spend more, but was hoping not to), but it ended up being cheaper! Still expensive, but cheaper than what I had budgeted :P My most expensive things were my flight (362 euros) and night train (80 euros) to get to Rovaniemi. Other expensive things were the tours (199 huskies, 160 aurora, 125 waterfalls). The hostel was 240 euros for 5 nights. I tracked my spending with a simple google spreadsheet. Overall, I spend 1425 euros on everything: 40% : 572 euros on activities 33% : 478 euros on transport 14% : 192 euros on accommodation 11% : 154 euros on food (mix of eating out, take-out and supermarkets) 2% : the rest was spend on souvenirs, luggage store and a toilet visit :P

[Poster]
[First Part] ; [Previous Part]
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Part 21 - That is not dead which can eternally lie…
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“As the kid’s say these days… bone-apple-teeth…” Zithra mumbled as he placed a hand on his forehead, his drained disguise starting to fully revert back to his Manarian self. Before it had the chance he cursed under his breath and quickly removed his jacket and tossed it away from him so that it wouldn’t disappear as well.
A loud wall vibrating thrum of relief came from his chest as his head pain wavered. His wings outwardly stretched and shook from underneath him as if he felt stiffer than a wooden board. He actively had to fight with his clubbing tail from smacking against all the nearby surfaces.
“Hmm…” Doodle hummed in mischievous approval before checking his jean pockets, “I got one last full dose of disguise magic. Not sure if we’re gonna need it, but just so y’all know.” he reported.
Mowing through her steak like a starved colony brat, Shida briefly glanced up and intensely stared at Doodle for only a moment, before focussing back on her meal.
Swallowing what must have been almost a quarter of the entire steak heavily but without much issue, she sighed in satisfaction, before speaking up,
“You boys should just rest up for now. I took a lot out of ya’, after all.”
Then she went to work quickly finishing the meager scraps that were left of her food, before pushing herself to her feet and stretching.
“I think I’ll take a bit of a digestion-walk,” she then added and started to saunter towards the door. “We can make a plan for today after that.”
“I should come with you.” Chak said a bit worried, “None of us should be alone right now, especially with how close Christmas is. Let me just grab a Terran hoodie to hide my features.”
Chak hurried past Zithra which unintentionally made her pace increase as the unmuddled encoding put pressure on her instincts. She scooped up the ‘Bat-Boy’ jacket and tossed it back onto the Manarian as she went to her bag of Terran clothes. She pulled out a hoodie that was now too large for her, but that just meant it made it more efficient to hide her Cali appearance. As for her legs, she would have to hope that baggy pants would be enough. While she was still pulling up the pants in a hazardous fashion, she hopped back towards Shida and the door.
As she arrived, the princess sort of passively noticed that Shida was still wearing her very much torn and very much bloody clothes from the attack earlier. This, however, seemed to not bother the feline in the slightest as she began to step out of the house with a lazy waive.
“Don’t wait up and rest well, you two,” she laughingly ‘ordered’ as she entered the crisp, cold air outside. “And if you need us to, you know, stay out a minute longer, just text us.”
“What?” Zithra managed to respond before the door fully shut.
Chak peeked back and up to Shida before glancing down at her garb to double check that her features were hidden as well as they could be.
“Oh… by Klat’s sins… my pants are on backwards…” she chirped in annoyance, but she shrugged deciding it didn’t ultimately matter.
Shida smirked and began to move on ahead.
“Last moment to change that would be right now,” she said as she began to gradually move in slow steps. “Right now it’s just me around.”
“Thanks.” the Cali replied before quickly dropping her pants and making the corrective adjustment and then caught up to the feline. She didn’t know why human clothes required an annoying tag to mark which side was the ‘back’, but it was annoyingly abrasive.
After they parted away from the house the princess placed her clawed hands in her hoodie pockets as something personally pressing came to her mind.
“I owe you an apology.” she informed.
“You do?” Shida asked and tilted her head sideways, clearly more interested than confused. “I mean, I’ll take it, but I’d like to know why I’m getting it.”
“I do. We promised each other that we would both make it out of here.” Chak said matter of factly, “And while I was being forced to… try to kill you, I made a resisting effort to make sure I wouldn’t, with finality in mind. I should have trusted you to stop me, but I was terrified of watching myself possibly harm you. We made a deal, and I tried to break it for your sake. So, I earnestly apologize for trying to go back on my word, it won’t happen again. We’re still in this together until the end, and no matter what we’ll both get out of here.” Chak said as she looked up to the feline with a small smile.
Shida glanced down at the princess with an incredulously raised eyebrow for a few seconds, before simply sighing.
“I’ll take it,” she repeated her earlier statement, before storing her own hands in her pockets as well. “But yeah, don’t do it again.”
-
While those two were out, Zithra was in the process of trying to relax on the couch, while Doodle had run off to do who-knows-what somewhere in the house. The elf’s nature annoyingly meant that he didn’t necessarily make any sounds that he could be tracked by if he didn’t want to, meaning not even the Manarian was aware of where the mystical being went at all times. But at least that meant the house was nice and quiet.
Or at least, it should’ve been. However, a few minutes after Shida and Chak had left, the oddest sound started to basically drill itself into his awareness.
He could barely even place it. It sounded like a vibration, but it was somehow both dull and hollow, yet constantly increased in its intensity. Originally he had planned to ignore it. And he did, for a while. However, he did not have his magical ear protection with him, and as the tone got more and more annoying by the moment, he eventually would be forced to get up either way. And if he had to stand anyway, he may as well investigate what exactly was making that irritating noise.
After laboriously dragging himself to his feet, following the sound was of course easy enough, and he begrudgingly dragged himself over to the bathroom, led by his impeccable hearing.
The sound’s clarity increased a good bit after he had opened the door, however a large part of the muffled dullness remained, and he looked around for a moment. His ears told him exactly where the sound came from, but his eyes had a harder time with trying to decipher what exactly was making it or what it meant.
Hesitating slightly, he started to walk up to the human toilet that was in the back of the room, eyeing it suspiciously. Toilets should not make this noise.
After a brief inspection and some focussing on his auditory capabilities, he made out that it was apparently coming from the reservoir at the back of the lavatory, which probably explained why the sound was so muted. However he still didn’t quite fathom what was making it.
Lifting the lid off of the box, he looked into the clear water inside of it. Something was glimmering down at the bottom of it, nearly invisible in the water and only perceivable by the faintest breaking of light that stood apart from its surroundings.
Intrigued by that, the Manarian reached inside the reservoir, grabbing the obscured item. Matching the sound he heard, it was vibrating quite heavily in his hand as he carefully lifted it…only to then immediately drop it again, because as soon as he had removed it from the water, the muted thrumming instantly turned into a high-pitched screeching noise that pierced into his ears and already slightly aching head.
With a loud “splosh” the crystalline orb dropped back into the water, and its cries became muffled again as it hit the bottom of the tank with a dull ‘thunk’.
“What the frickin’ heck!” he snarled, his arms and wings folded over his plumes protectively.
Hurrying back out and into the room with the couch Zithra dug out his phone and he sent a text to Shida and Chak.
‘Thing in the back of the toilet is making a high pitched screeching.’
Pacing in the room while thinking of what he should do next, the sound of rumbling porcelain rang out followed by a sharp shattering and splashing of water. Running as his plumes are bombarded with sound that nearly caused him to faint then and there he slammed the bathroom door shut and threw blankets at the bottom to muffle it as much as possible.
Not being nearly enough for him to think straight he moved away and stepped outside for a reprieve as he waited for a response.
“Doodle!” He shouted back through the cracked open door, “Where the fork are you!? This better not be some darn prank!” but as he finished those words he felt paranoia sink in as he realized how exposed he was at the moment. Just in case this was a way to drive him out of the house, Zithra gritted his teeth and forced himself back in.
Grabbing a thick blanket he wrapped it around his head to add a layer of audible protection. Breathing in and out he prepared himself for a few moments of agony before opening the bathroom door. Using another blanket he wrapped the orb up and dropped the heap into the bathtub. Then he twisted the knob to start filling it with water. Hunched with his eyes leaking pained tears he waited until it was fully submerged before turning the water off completely. With the sound much more sufficiently suppressed he addressed the shattered toilet, and started to make sure that it wouldn’t continuously spout water.
Dizzy from the ordeal he staggered out and closed the door, almost wanting to drop then and there. Instead he drew out his bow and waited for any more potential trouble to follow.
It took a while, and he honestly had no idea how long, as time became a rather strenuous thing to keep track off with the constant pain of that noise attached, however at some point, there was a flash in his periphery, and without much fanfare, Doodle appeared back on the scene.
Standing tall at first and having a posture like he wanted to make some sort of dramatic entrance, the bravado almost immediately dropped from the elf as he also pressed his hands over his ears and looked around in confusion, clearly wondering what that noise was.
However, seeing that Zithra didn’t exactly appear to be in any condition to address it, or even answer questions about it, the elf instead hurried towards the source, seeing if he wouldn’t be able to do something about it.
Finding the bathroom absolutely destroyed and a blanked submerged in a bathtub filled with violently vibrating water, Doodle swallowed slightly as he saw the brightly glowing source of magic hidden within.
Steeling himself, he reached into the water and unwrapped the crystalline orb, keeping it under water for the time being to spare Zithra some of the noise. However, almost as soon as his fingers had made contact with the smooth surface of the thing, the piercing sound suddenly ceased, and the previously vibrating thing lay peaceful and unmoving in his hand.
Taking that as a good sign, he slowly pulled it out of the water. And as he looked inside, he was greeted by the quite frazzled appearance of a much less composed former Misses Claus looking in from the other end, flanked by two familiar elves…the names of whom he had however forgotten. Or…at least the ‘christmasified’ versions.
“Finally,” the now much older and weaker looking woman announced. “I was beginning to think you hadn’t made it. Would’ve deserved it as well for all this chaos you caused, but for now, I’m going to be happy that I could reach you at all.”
A small smirk tugged at Doodle’s mouth. He wasn’t happy to see her at all, but her current state and cadence gave the elf assurance.
“Ms. Claus! You’re looking great as ever and yes I am still kickin’ and still knock’n boots on the side. What can this humble elf do for you?” he replied feigning a genuine excitement to hear from her.
“Save it, you insufferable wretch,” the former missus Bossman replied while forgoing any sort of her usually so prised decorum and reaching for her forehead. “Save it, and listen to me. I know that you have absolutely no interest in any kind of harmony or order, but I also know that even you are not foolish enough to sit idly by with what is currently going on, so try to pull your head out of your ass for two minutes and clean your pointy ears to listen.”
“You know me so well… but you have my attention, and possibly the attention of the entire nieghborhood’s population of dogs… go ahead, what’s so important for lil’ ol’ me to hear?” Doodle responded as his smirk completely flatlined.
Taking a deep breath, the old woman slightly composed herself by stroking a few loose strands of gray hair out of her face.
“Listen to me, Doodleberrie Spicebum, or whatever you may call yourself now. Looking at you, you have dipped a bit too deep into the magic to still be held by that moniker. But never the matter,” she began addressing him before cutting herself off with a sigh, seemingly taking quite a bit of willpower to not devolve into scolding him instead of sticking to what’s important. “Fae, I’m going to be honest with you. I have absolutely no idea what exactly you have awoken there, but what I do know is that it’s dangerous. More so than mere giants or demons. We don’t know what it is, but it’s old. Very old. Maybe older than yourself. And it has the power to match. We cannot let that…thing run freely, lest it starts to tear our world limb from limb out of sheer desire to do so.”
“Exciting isn’t it? It’s so funny that even in your position you are still subject to the fear of the unknown and strange… You’re speaking to a fae. Newsflash granny… I’m literally an aspect of that. In fact you listen to me, you corporate sock puppet tool of capitalistic greed who happily assumed and fought to keep your position of enslaving dumbed-down market-friendly magical creatures… I don’t care what scares you… I don’t give a rat’s ass what concerns you of all people. The only reason you care about the status quo is because you don’t want to lose the power over others you and those of your ilk have held. Be grateful I have not felt the need to twist your dreams, plague you with agonizing disease, or lead you into the wilds of my kind where your fragile mortal mind would deteriorate and dissolve into madness that would cause cthulhu to blush.” As the elf spoke his voice gained depth that surpassed the auditory senses, “You are out of your scope, and you are frightened. Be frightened, for this is how myths are crafted, folklore established. I’ve known many figures of history fearing the same as you of being replaced, changed, torn asunder. Tell me, mortal. What makes this time so different? Why are you and your kind the exception? You had a name before ‘Claus’ did you not? But you happily casted is aside for your new reality. Why do you fight this change? I’d love to hear your justification.”
Zithra stepped away from the bathroom as it had been gradually filled with foliage of fresh spring nature sprouting from every pipe and crevice.
“Pertly elf,” the old woman replied to him with an exhale that sounded almost disappointed. “I’m not speaking to you as Mrs. Claus right now. That title and name has been taken from me, as you know. I am speaking to you as Muireann Llewellyn. I was taken from my home many, many years ago when I became the one you once knew. And now I am tired. I have already lived longer than any human should, and I now understand why my dear Aidan has chosen to leave this world as he did. I hold no more fear for myself.” She paused for a moment to breathe deeply and look to the ground, before returning to her addressation. “But I do still fear for this world that will live on so long after I’m gone. I’ve lived in it for so many years, with all its wonders around me, so is it not right that I at least fear for it?”
She folded her hands in front of her chest as if in a Christian prayer.
“You haven’t felt it, elf,” she then said as she looked at him with firm eyes that put her deep-seeded fear onto full display, but also portrayed her determination. “Haven’t felt the pull of…whatever it is. It is not evil. It holds no malice. It is simply…I don’t even know how to describe it. It wants. It longs. But there is no desire. No greed. Nothing that I would understand. But feeling its pull on me…I shudder to even think of it. You have not…”
However, she briefly paused, as she seemed to notice something in Doodle’s expression.
“Or maybe you have…” she wondered aloud as her expression shifted into contemplation. “Maybe it has already lay hands on you as well…taken from you as well…could it be?”
“Taken, but not stolen… it’s nothing that I can’t regain in time…” Doodle admitted, “But there’s something it can’t collect from me, at least… not easily.” he added.
“You think you can resist it?” the old woman asked in almost bemused surprise, and the elfs flanking her on both sides glanced at each other in concern. “Well, maybe. Maybe you are more capable than I think. However its pull is immense. And not just for the likes of us.”
She paused again, unlinking her hands again and putting them down onto her legs as she looked at the elf in urgent forcefulness.
“You have not forgotten, have you? The forces you are competing with?” she asked him outright. “Can you resist them as well if they grow as powerful as it is? What lengths do you think the world will go to to show a being such as it the consequences of its actions? Because clearly, it has no grasp of them itself.”
“I was once a son of Yngvi. I walked the world as a Erlkönig, before that aspect partially departed into what’s now called Krampus. There’s power in me… that even I fear to tap into. Whatever remains after my boss goes back home, I can shepherd…” the steam from his confident words wain slightly as his thoughts shift, “I have not forgotten… I’m just tired of where things are, and wish to see it changed.” he admitted as his skin paled and his eye sockets expanded slightly to make his visage appear sunken and ill, his natural glamor pulled back for a peek of what lies underneath, “My boss’s magic… the Krampus’s expanding influence… I feel like I need to be here… that I need to see it through… and to push the world forward into something new… because I’m so… tired…” his glamor reconstituted and he inhaled deeply, “I’m subject to the will of change, what would you even have me do? Try to kill my boss again? Because, you can forget that line of thought right now. As you know, a fae’s loyalty by magical binding must be a powerful thing… but loyalty freely given by a fae is something even stronger.”
A scornful scoff escaped the woman’s lips.
“Even if I wanted to, I would have serious doubts in your ability to achieve that,” she freely admitted and shook her head. “As you said yourself, I’m a mere mortal. I don’t know what can be done to stop that thing now that it woke up. You know a lot more than me there. I just needed to make sure that you understood what you are dealing with. You have never been the smartest, after all.”
Her face darkened and her posture faltered slightly as she sunk back into her chair in what seemed to be a moment of pure weakness, with the elfs at her side hastily hurrying to aid her in somewhat sitting upright, as even that seemed to be above her strength at the time.
“My hours are numbered, Doodle. Maybe even just my minutes,” she said weakly. “Without me the world will go on, but it will have changed. Change is always around us. You can love it all you want, but…this might be a change that leaves nothing left to be changed after. You cannot control it. I’m not even sure if it can control itself. Do what is right. Not for me. Not for Santa. But for all that is. The magic has already changed…isn’t that enough to move forwards?”
However, before Doodle could get a reply out, the connection suddenly cut, leaving the crystal orb dead and empty in his hand…before it suddenly cracked in two.
“Bitch…” Doodle muttered before he dropped the useless artifact parts.
His mind felt like it shifted from left to right as it mulled over her words, and as much as he wanted to determine otherwise, deep down he knew she was right.
He looked down at his hands to find them shaking, from anger? No…
“Heh… alright then.” he whispered before turning around and exiting the now lushly planted bathroom.
“Doodle… What are you going to do? What was going on in there?” Zithra asked, having not heard a word spoken and now uneased by the elf’s expression.
“I’m gonna save my boss… or die trying.” he stated before snapping his fingers, causing the Manarain to fall asleep while still standing in place. He then stepped out of the front door and walked to the center of the street to prepare for the feline’s return.
-
“I’ll say…that is quite the outcome,” Shida commented from a street corner, holding a flat hand over her eyes to shield it from the light as she looked out at the quite substantial crowd of people -and also none people- that had gathered in front of the large storage hall where the floats for the Holiday Parade were still being stored until it was time for their grand reveal later that same day. Although everyone in the mass of aggressively shouting protesters would’ve seemed normal at the first glance, she could feel that some of them were different. She didn’t quite see it like Doodle did, but the magic seeping out of them was almost tangible in the air, as if she only needed to reach out and tug on it to unravel them like a cheaply made sweater when you pulled a thread. “How many do you think are those, Chak?”
“Uhm… the people? I guess about three or so hundred?” she uttered not seeing any aspect of the magic herself anymore, though she can tell the crowd was bigger than last time with who knows how many agents against them among the faces, “I’m uncertain of what we ought to do about it. There was nothing we could do last time… maybe we can ask the sheriff to disperse them again? Maybe blocking the floats from leaving would be enough reason to do so. But… that’s assuming there’s more people than… creatures. Do you see him?” she asked, referring to Bell.
Before the feline answered Chak took note of Mary’s mother getting up and a jerry rigged platform consisting of a few stacked produce crates. In her hand is the same cruddy megaphone that she soon began ranting in a similar yet even more assertive diatribe about ‘protecting christmas’ and that ‘today is their last chance to fight back against this war on their revered holiday’.
“Maybe we should go inside for now. See how everyone is doing,” Shida said, not spotting any hint of the escaped policeman as she started to move towards the storage. Although, as the old hag was lifted up to spout her nonsense, she smirked to herself, turning to Chak. “You want to see something funny?”
Not exactly waiting for an answer, the feline lifted her hand as she began to walk. To Chak, the gesture seemed random at first, before gradually, the air over Shida’s open palm began to simmer and wave with heat, ever increasing in intensity before it literally began to glow white-hot, and even then it seemed like there was no end in sight.
Remembering having seen something like this before, if only vaguely, the princess’ eyes shot up to Mrs. Light momentarily, and despite her wild ranting, the old witch’s voice was already becoming duller and duller. The crowd looked on in confusion, seemingly wondering if something was wrong with the megaphone or their ears. Light herself however seemed to notice nothing out of the ordinary and kept up her ranting, even as her voice began to completely die down out of any hearable range.
“Oh, how are you doing that?” Chak asked a bit concerned but admittedly amused by the visual of the confusion playing out with people now shouting back at Light that they cannot hear her and yet she continued on and on in silent ranting.
“Heat,” Shida replied and presented the orb of blisteringly hot plasma above her hand to the princess. “I’m collecting the heat around her. Without heat, gasses can’t move. And sound cannot travel without moving gas. Or, well, moving something. She’s in her own little echochamber right now, just how she likes it.”
Shida snorted for a moment.
“I only hope she doesn’t try to move all that much,” she then added with a not-really-concerned look at the old woman. “Shockfrozen air is sharper than any knife. Better not to try and touch that.”
Chak’s eyes widened, amusement no longer present.
“Shida, she’s a terrible person and I wouldn’t mourn her passing… but that sounds too dangerous. What if someone were to approach her to help? The very real people in the crowd are ignorant, but… they don’t deserve being injured or killed by something like that.” she pointed out before pointing at the plasma, “And that in your hand… what are you going to do with it?” she questioned, suppressing the growing panic her twin hearts are feeling.
“Easy enough,” Shida said, and without elaborating on the matter, the glowing orb began to evenly dissipate again, returning to nothing by slightly wavy, hot air before she let her hand sink again, allowing it to completely diffuse into the surroundings. “Just add cold. Simple.”
She looked up at the protest again, clearly not sharing Chak’s worry but still relenting.
“If I’m not continuously removing heat, the air thaws back out in seconds. It’s still cold, but not deathly so,” she mentioned with a shrug before depositing her hands back into her pockets. And indeed, it didn’t take long before a slightly muffled version of Light’s ranting once again filled the cold winter air.
Chak released a held-in breath.
“Okay. Thank you.” she said before gently patting the feline’s back.
Moving around, they approached the rear of the building to its back entrance. A moment after knocking it was opened by Dagon.
Before the man could even say anything, Shida was suddenly approaching him with her arms wide open, wrapping them around him for a second in a far too familiar greeting.
“Dagon,” she announced. “How is one of my favorite humans doing today? I’m sorry I left you alone with this for so long, apparently I was asleep for a long time.”
Pulling away from him again after a tight embrace, she also looked down at herself.
“Oh, and I broke your shirt…Sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” she assured him with a glance at the bloody holes ripped into her clothes.
“Uhhhh… yeah… uh… that’s fine… a shirt’s a shirt… It’s uhm… good to see that you’re awake.” Dagon awkwardly responded having been blindsided by this behavior, “Uhm, right… come in.” he invited as he stepped aside.
“Thank you…” Chak replied, her eyes falling back to a concerned glance at Shida. Dagon gave her a discrete ‘Is she okay?..’ tilt of his head as the feline strided in but before Chak could come up with an answer Shida spotted an approaching Mary who was finalizing costumes and making sure they all fit the actors wearing them.
“Dagon we need a bigger Santa hat for Clive. The current ones are chafing his head- oh… Shida, you’re up! Oh… is that blood-” she asked.
The human woman had barely finished the sentence when strong arms already wrapped around here, pulling her into the next embrace.
“Maryyyy!” Shida announced while holding her for a second. “You’re all better I see. Not a hint of magic remaining.”
Pulling away again, the feline briefly brushed over Mary’s blouse with her hands, straightening it out again after having inadvertently crinkled it with her hug-assault.
“Oh- I-” the woman stammered as no words came to her mind, as this feline had never once been so positively forward with her before, “Okay… are… are you alright? I know it’s almost over, but with everything going on I… Are we in the clear? Bell’s gone?” she managed to inquire.
“I’m feeling great!” Shida announced happily, before her face suddenly turned quite dark with an aggressive gaze, as she looked over Mary’s shoulder. “That guy on the other hand…”
Without finishing her sentence, Shida lifted a hand in a position that only Chak recognized while staring down one of the costumed people in line.
At first, everyone just stopped and observed in confusion. However after a few moments, the man in the line stepped back in confusion, his steps quickly turning into a stumble, as he frantically tried to get away from the feline who wasn’t even close to him.
Soon, high–pitched, panicked screeches escaped him, as his skin turned more and more pale, before eventually starting to straight out melt into a black, sludge-like substance. His body lost more and more of its form, however he barely seemed to notice that his arms were now more puddle than limb as he tried more and more desperately to push himself away backwards, before eventually, his cries ceased and nothing was left but a dirty puddle of dark, viscous liquid.
But not even then was Shida done, keeping her hand lifted until even the puddle began to eventually dissolve, turning into a muted glitter of glimmering lights that began to slowly float towards her hand, where they disappeared once they had settled on her skin.
“Should probably make sure the real one is okay,” Shida commented as soon as the last speck of light had hit her hand, and she let her hand sink down again, not really having the demeanor as if anything of note had happened just now, while most others looked on in absolute horror. “Did you not test him when he came in?”
There was no answer. All stood frozen in place either too shocked to process what they witnessed or were too scared to speak up as if that cold emotionless wrath would be turned on them if they gave an unsatisfactory answer.
“We did…” Dagon’s voice cracked as he finally spoke up, “But with the protesting and very limited time to get ready… We’ve been bustling. Uhm… Back to work everyone, time’s… of the essence.” he said as he wanted to break the spell of everything coming to a halt, “Someone figure out the last time someone saw Melvin and where he was going.”
Shida yawned for a moment, before turning around to Dagon.
“Alright, you need any help with anything else?” she asked casually and crossed her hands behind her head as she looked at him in mild interest.
Dagon didn’t meet her gaze as people slowly got back to work.
“Parade wise we’re on track. The only issue is the-” he cut himself off unsure if he should say it, “I’m sure the protest will be dispersed before it’s time to head out, and as long as ‘ice demons’ don’t attack again we should be fine.” he attempted a jest at the end but his voice failed to project it properly.
Shida sighed slightly.
“Relax,” she said with a slightly humorous but mostly caring tone. “It was just a mimic, alright? I’m not going out there to slaughter the protestors…well not the human ones anyway. There’s no need to pretend like I’ll explode any moment now. We’ve been killing these things for almost a week now, remember?”
“I get that. But…” he said, once again debating himself on whether to speak his mind, “I know I haven't known you for long, but I’m struggling to recognize you right now,” he admitted, “Like I said, other than that mimic you singled out, we haven’t had other issues besides the protesting. Uhm… News stations should be here in an hour and setting up for the start of the parade. Thankfully it’s too late for the mayor to pull back how we’re doing it. Just… do what you gotta do to make sure Bell and Krampus don’t try anything. After midnight, this might all be over.” the man said before walking away.
Shida just shrugged and turned towards Chak, looking at her expectantly.
“Why did you take its magic too?” the Cali asked bluntly once she was addressed.
Shida shrugged again.
“What else was I supposed to do with it?” she asked openly. “I left my gun at home. Killing it bare-handed seemed risky and messy. This was quick and clean.”
Then she lifted her hand, clearly producing something that was unseen to the princess.
“ ‘Dark Magic’,” she mused to herself as she stared at her hand, although she also couldn’t see it. She could just feel it. Feel the control she had over it at that moment. “It feels…heavy. And it strains against me. I don’t think it wants to be mine.”
“Why do you want it to be yours?” Chak pressed, her voice filled with firm concern.
Shida looked at her hand further, tilting her head as if she seriously needed to think about that.
“I’m not sure,” she finally replied. While Chak didn’t like that reply, she was at least somewhat glad the feline was being honest about it. “It’s not really bright, or shiny…collecting it isn’t all too fun either. But, if it’s magic, I guess it could be useful in big enough quantities. I’m not sure how much I want it…or how much of it I want.”
“You guess? And you don’t know why. Think carefully, Shida.” Chak gently spoke with carefully chosen words, “It’s not you. You’re not the one who ‘wants’. If you’re so unsure right now, what do you think is going to happen when you keep allowing it to ‘take’ through you? Whatever it is, how much will it dismantle who you are before you are lost to it? Shida, ple-” Chak spoke as she willingly approached her friend with compassion, but right as she reached out to touch her, the Cali disappeared in the blink of an eye. Her voice ending so abruptly that it still hung in the air after her visage vanished.
Shida took a moment to process what had happened. Then, she dropped the orb of dark magic hovering over her hand. Soundlessly it collided with the ground, however despite it being neither seen nor heard, the effect was immediate.
Spreading out over the hall’s floor like tendrils, the concrete’s look changed, turning into a shiny, almost liquid surface all over as the freed magic opened up a portal into the Krampus’ realm as it forcefully tried to return to its home.
Her face turning into a furious mask, Shida didn’t react as the portal engulfed her as it spread out under her feet, pulling her through into the dark mirror of reality.
As she opened her eyes again, she was still in the hall. The light was dimmed, and the aggressive voices of the protest outside had disappeared. Meanwhile, the floats all around her, previously decorated with jolly depictions of jovial festivities from all over the world, had turned into mocking, twisted versions of themselves, portraying reindeers that were skinned alive and hung over a fire instead of strapped in front of a sleight; or nine previously pristine candles on an ornate holder now burned down and stained with dark smudges of who knew what exactly.
“Fine,” Shida said loudly with a sigh, ignoring the grotesque scene around her as she spoke into the empty darkness. “You have my attention. You have one opportunity to get your last words out right now.”
“Try anything, and your goat-thing goes with me.” the voice of Bell rang out from every direction, “Whatever your power is, I know I can’t beat it. But I know what can.”
What started as a crack spreading on the floor erupted up a jagged uplift of black rock. Nestled in it was a red and white dagger much like the one Doodle 'donated’ to Shida, but the colors mixed and black ooze leaked out of it like sweat.
“You do the honors, and your friend lives to see Christmas morning.” Bell informed the feline as shadows of the ice-demons stretched out from the corners to flicker and dance along the walls in anticipation.
Shida picked the item up and inspected it in her hand, before evaluatingly inspecting the demons all around her.