Shadowthrone Ammanas

Summary: Bow Kid finds the Subcon Law book much more interesting than she thought she would

~

Picking up and reading Snatcher’s law book had been a whim born of boredom whilst waiting for Hat Kid to return to the part of Subcon accessible to living people. Somehow though according to the clock, three hours had gone by since Bow had sat down with it.

Some of Snatcher’s laws were written in dense, presumably proper, legalese and often archaic language. Others were clearly evil petty ghost stuff. How much any of it was enforced was in question because her being here and around as often as she was broke the laws pertaining to what living people were allowed to do within Subcon Forest. A lot of the Dead Bird Studio folks’ activities whilst filming their movie, even more so.

Presumably the laws that mattered and were thus enforced depended on Snatcher’s mood at any given time. Which was about what Bow had gathered previously before anyway. He was an evil ghost, ruling over a forest populated solely by wild animals and dead people, many of whom were possessing stuffed dolls. It would be silly to expect the place to be run like a normal kingdom. That’s what made it unique and interesting.

personally, in my head she sounds like Molly from the game Devour when trying to be scary.

I don't really have a set idea for how she might sound other than older and having the ghost echo to her voice, though she has that regardless of how long she's been a ghost for. Probably she starts speaking in a similar cadence to Snatcher too due to just spending so much time with and around him.

Summary: Hat Kid tries to give DJ Grooves and The Conductor the Perfect Date TM

[A/N] A bit late of Valentine's Day but that's fine.

~

“Ta-da!” Hat Kid said as she lead the way into the dressing room Grooves had lent to her at her request.

Inside, she’d pushed everything to the side and pulled in a small round table with two chairs set on either side. A white table cloth patterned with pink and read hearts blanketed it. Atop that sat a fancy candle stick holder, the candle it housed lit with a ghostly flame. Overhead were streamers of pink and red hearts.

Conductor looked towards Grooves. Had he put her up this as some kind of prank? … His answering look of bewilderment said ‘no’. Good. He turned back to her. “Lass, what the peck is this?”

“You’re perfect Valentine’s Day date. I even asked Cooking Cat to make the food because I can’t cook. It should be done soon. I doubled checked with her before pulling you guys in.”

“You know we ain’t dating, right?” Grooves asked, putting it kinder than Conductor would’ve but that was probably for the best.

“Yes, I know that you two aren’t dating yet. Everyone’s always talking about how it’s only a matter of time though so I figure I’d help. And I chose to do it today because it’s Valentine’s Day. You’re welcome.”

“Who all counts as part of that ‘everyone’?” Conductor was going to have a talk of his own with whoever it was.

Hat Kid mimed zipping her mouth shut to indicate she wasn’t tattling. Conductor took a breath, intending to press her for more. Before he could though, the door burst open behind them.

“Happy Valentine's Day to the happy couple,” Cooking Cat said as she strolled in. She held a tray aloft on one of her paws, two cloches atop it. Walking over, she placed both onto the table with a flourish before pulling the lids off, letting the smell of whatever it was fill the room. Stepping back, she gestured for Grooves and Conductor to sit.

“Well,” Grooves said as he obediently walked over and pulled out of the chairs, “I guess I can’t say ‘no’ to free food. Thanks, darlings.”

Conductor could say ‘no’ to free food and out of principle, should. It smelled good though, whatever it was, making him hesitate.

“I’ll bring out some champagne later too,” Cooking Cat said.

That Conductor couldn’t say ‘no’ to. And so, with a sigh, he walked over and sat across from Grooves. “Thanks or whatever.”

'Life' as a Ghost 'Drabbles': Firework Prank

Back on the drabble train for my AHiT drabble fic now too.

Happy 3rd day of Halloween!

Summary: Hat kid is definitely not hurting Bow intentionally anytime soon, or at all, but this give me an idea... what if. Bow try to surprise her for reasons, maybe birthday, maybe something else (it would be pretty hard considering the never sleeping thing and the soul smelling thing, but there could be something to block that a bit... magic spell/item? Technology? And now, being a ghost, who's hunted occasionally, her reaction would probably be ATTACK. Which, honestly Bow would be fine, maybe injured but definitely not dead but that's not the point, I just want to give hat kid guilt, I heard it's good for character devolopment or something (...honestly the guilt would probably hit bow too, oh well)

~

The decorations for Bow’s attempted surprise party were of course still up upon her return to her ship. It’s not like there was anyone who would’ve taken them down after all. Bow could take them down now and would like them down but… she looked down at her bandaged arm. Fresh out of the hospital it didn’t hurt much anymore but while the fire hadn’t done nearly as much damage as it potentially could’ve, it was still going to be a while before she’d be comfortable moving it around freely again.

So instead she just frowned at the decorations for a few seconds before moving on to head for her room. Only long enough to change into something that didn’t have a burned off sleeve though. Her actual destination was the ship-to-ground teleporter. She set it to send her to Subcon Forest before activating it.

As always she landed in front of the big hollow tree near the swamp. She checked inside. Neither Hattie nor Snatcher were in. Bow moved on, turning off the path only a few paces down to start for where Hattie’s ship rested. Upon reaching it, she strode up to the door and knocked.

No reply.

She knocked again, harder this time. A bit awkward with her non-dominant right hand but she would get by.

Silence.

Hattie might not be in. She could be off doing something with Snatcher or in the village or the secret library or literally anywhere in Subcon. Bow was far too exhausted to go searching all over for her. Hattie had long since given her blanket permission to come and go from her ship as she pleased though. That might not still hold but Bow wouldn’t know for sure until they talked about it. And so, surely she could be forgiven for letting herself in to sit in the central area and wait for Hattie’s return.

Bow pressed the button to open the door. It buzzed and slid open with a pleasant ping, revealing… Hattie floating right in front of it; turns out she was in after all. To match her ceasing to go by ‘Hat Kid’ upon deciding she was no longer a kid, she’d elongated her form. That elongation was now exaggerated by droopiness that was somewhat reminiscent of over-cooked pasta. Almost anywhere other than the brightly lit doorway of her ship-home it would’ve made her look creepy but instead she just looked sad.

“I’m sorry,” both of them said in almost unison. “What do you mean you’re…” They cut off.

Bow cleared her throat and gestured for Hattie to speak. She’d come here to Hattie’s place after all and she’s the one who started it thus it was only fair Hattie speak first.

Hattie hesitated for a moment before straightening a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. How bad is it?”

“Minor enough that they let me go home immediately after treating it.” She held up her bandaged arm to show that it was more fine than not. “I might not have even needed to go to the hospital.” That part probably wasn’t true, though due more to the size of the burn on her arm then the severity of it. “So you don’t need to be sorry. I’m the one who scared you with a party popper. I’m the one whose sorry and I came to apologize.”

“I’m the one who threw a pecking fireball at you though. I just teleported up to your ship because you told me to on the phone so I should’ve known it was just you and no one was trying to attack me or whatever.”

“See? Right there! You thought I was attacking you! Because people do that to you sometimes now and somehow it didn’t occur to me that a loud bang right behind might make you think that that’s happening again.” It was supposed have been in front of her but she’d used her magic to teleport up instead of her ship’s teleporter, resulting by chance, in her coming in facing the wrong way. Another thing Bow should’ve anticipated as a possibility. “So the problem started with me being stupid and I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to be though because I’m the one who attacked you. So I’m sorry!”

“I do though because I… I guess we both do actually. We’re both sorry because we both did something that hurt the other. I forgive you. Do you forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you! That means we’re still friends then?”

Bow had never considered for a moment they might not be friends after this. At worse she’d feared that Hattie would be mad at her for a while. “Of course were still friends! Hugs?” She opened her arms.

Summary: I've had an idea for a while now. Eating Souls must be addicting right? Alongside it being what ghosts need to survive. So, what if Bow visits Hat Kid during a particularly slow season, where Hat Kid is particularly hungry and has to stop herself from eating Bow's Soul. I think that would be particularly fun, hehe.

~

The stronger Hattie grew in her ghost magics the stronger her new senses grew too. How had she ever gone through existence without being able to sense living souls? They were so obvious, how could others not feel them? Each soul was like sweet music or a delicious scent that called to her. Even wrapped up in flesh, they seemed to glow so bright and inviting.

“Why are you looking at me like?” Bow asked, pulling Hattie’s attention back onto her entire being and not just her soul.

“Like what?”

Bow frowned. “You looked kind of like you wanted to eat me or something.”

“I would never.” No matter how tasty her soul seemed, Hattie would indeed never do such a thing. “It’s just been a long time since I last ate so… I’m bit hungry. Sorry. You have nothing to fear from me though, I promise.”

“So you were thinking about it then?”

“No. I was just… smelling your soul, I guess would be the best way to put it. It’s not really smell, I don’t know how else to describe it though.” Maybe Hattie shouldn’t have revealed anything and just said she’d been lost in thought which wouldn’t have been untrue.

“Well… stop smelling it then, please. It’s creepy.”

“Okay. Sorry.” Such was impossible of course. Hattie could still ‘smell’ it. She just… wouldn’t focus on it. Which meant she needed something else to focus on instead. “You uh… wanna play video games then?” It’s what she’d come here to invite Bow to do after all.

Summary: hm, I think the logical next step is to wage war on the mafia either with Mu or by himself and just tell her later (or let it be on the news enough to reach her) + Hello yes if this was not a request I'm making it one!

~

“She still seemed upset though and it makes logical sense for her to still be upset about the Mafia. But she said she wasn’t. I’m fairly certain she was lying but I’m not sure why she’d lie about that. What is gained by lying about such a thing?”

How did Snatcher even begin to explain? He wasn’t even a good person to come to about this. Moonjumper’s perception that he was ‘good with kids’ based off his interactions with Hat Kid were mistaken. Snatcher had no idea what he was doing with her and thus had no idea how to give advice to Moonjumper about his relationship with Mu. It’s was solely Moonjumper’s fault that their relationship was rocky in the first place. It shouldn’t fall on Snatcher to tell him how to fix it. And yet he’d agreed to hear out his troubles anyway. Why? Hat Kid was a bad influence on him, making him soft. Ugh.

“It’s a dignity thing,” he finally said. “Being vulnerable is undignified so she lied about not being upset anymore.” There as no doubt more to it, namely Moonjumper having tricked her into one of his stupid games. Few people who came out of them wanted anything to do with him afterwards. As far as Snatcher knew, this was the first time Moonjumper wanted anything to do with one of his game pieces once the play was over. Mu was also the first kid he’d pulled in though which probably had something to do with it.

Moonjumper nodded as if he understood. Whether he did or not was anyone’s guess and Snatcher didn’t really care either way. “How do I make her not upset then?”

“Get rid the Mafia off her island or whatever. That should make her happy.”

“Hmm… I suppose that makes sense. That might even be a fun game.”

Snatcher hadn’t meant it as a serious suggestion, just a statement of the obvious fact that getting rid of the source of the upset would fix it. But if trying it kept Moonjumper from being obnoxious here in Subcon then it was a grand suggestion. “Yes, go do that. Haunt the Mafia with your annoying games until they fuck off back to wherever they came from.”

“You’re just saying that because you wish me to leave Subcon.”

“Yep, you caught me. You’re the one who came to me for advice on what to do so what else did you expect?” Snatcher had no real stakes in whatever Moonjumper had going on with his attempt to re-befriend Mu so he couldn’t care less. “But if you succeed it would also make Mu stop being upset. Which is what you wanted, right?”

Summary: I would like to request, sometime in the distant future, Hat Kid and Snatcher fighting a contractor as a father/daughter ghost duo!

[A/N] Hat Kid goes by 'Hattie' in this drabble because she's not a kid anymore. She probably starts going by Hat Ghost or something similar at some point which shifts to just being Hattie.

~

The contractor ran, not even trying to fight. Such folks were always the least fun. Hattie threw more magic, intentionally missing lest the show end too soon. The contractor yelped and turned to run the other direction, apparently utterly unaware that the intention was for him to at least try and fight back. Coward!

Snatcher hadn’t even made his grand entrance yet. Their plan to make the guy think he maybe stood a chance of surviving before; boom, both ghosts were here now and trying to kill him, was dead in the water. Lame!

“There’s no escape. You know that, right?” Hattie threw another ball of fire at him, changing his direction once more. “Where’d all your fight go? I thought you said you were going slay me?” He’d come here with the intent to slay her and Snatcher and then cleanse the whole of Subcon Forest. Such folk came around occasionally. Normally they fought until the bitter end.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It was a mistake I’m sorry. Please let me live.”

“Pathetic,” Snatcher said with a scoff as he rose up out of the pot next to Hattie. “I’m not sure I even want to eat your soul anymore. It probably tastes bad.”

“Yeah, it does so just let me go.”

“I’ll eat it. I don’t mind the taste of coward.” The plan had been for Hattie to eat this one. She’d won the rock-paper-scissors game for it. This not being a real fight did spoil that victory a little.

Snatcher pulled out the soul in question and tossed it her way. She caught it with ease and lifting it up over her head, she opened her glowing maw unnaturally wide. Maybe now the guy would finally try to fight.

Instead he fell to his knees. “I was never cut out for this ghost exorcist business. I’ve only ever taken out weak ghosts. If you let me live, I’ll…”

Hattie dropped the soul into her mouth and swallowed. The soul of a coward tasted just as sweet as the soul of a brave warrior. Souls only ever tasted different, depending on the species they came from but they all tasted good and brought with them that surge of energy and euphoria. It eased the sting of the ‘battle’ not being much fun.

Summary: I'd like to request Moonjumper trying (and failing spectacularly at) being a 'Dad' to Mu.

~

Getting too involved or worse, emotionally invested in mortal affairs was unwise. Given the soft spot for children inherited from Moonjumper’s current vessel, even just teasing too much at this particular connection would be particularly unwise. The game he’d played with her had been fun even if it had ended in an anti-climatic disappointment. He’d apologized and had made up for that though so now the wise thing would be to drop it and focus instead on looking for the next opportunity to cause a bit of fun havoc.

Mu looked so glum though as she wondered along the edge of Subcon Forest, right at the border between day and its permanent night. Head down, hands in pockets, shoulders slouched, all things Lucas’ memory said were signs of sorrow and/or general unhappiness that wasn’t rage. Using those emotions to manipulate her into another game likely wouldn’t go well, probably she wouldn’t even let him try. And, well, that idea wasn’t appealing anyway. The wisest thing to do would be to cleanly sever whatever threads still tied them together and move on.

Moonjumper had never been wise though. He was already shifting the world around her, sending rolling fog through it and rotating the moon directly overhead. … She was too distracted, eyes on her shuffling feet as she walked, to notice any of it. Theater without an audience was tragic.

“Hey kiddo!” Moonjumper copied the cadence Lucas when talking to his new ghost child.

Mu jumped and snapped around to face him. “It’s you! What do you want?”

How was he supposed to answer that when he didn’t really know what he wanted here? Before he could bullshit his way through dodging the question, Mu spoke up again. “Actually, I don’t care what you want. Go away.”

“So hostile. I’d thought you looked sad. I suppose I misread then?” Reading emotions on others, especially mortals, didn’t come naturally to him.

“Yeah, you did because why would I be sad? I live in a small village next to a haunted forest instead of in a cave on the island I was born on and lived my entire life on before the Mafia came. It’s much better. Fuck the island and everyone else on it, right? Who needs them? Let’s just let the Mafia do whatever they want because I’m safe and sound here.” Crossing her arms, she glared up at him.

“Hmm… from my understanding, sadness doesn’t always have a reason to be. And it’s perfectly normal and okay to be sad even without a strong reason to be.” One was supposed to be assuring when trying to make a kid feel better, right? Because that’s what Moonjumper wanted, wasn’t it? He wanted Mu to stop being sad. And she seemed not to be anymore, meaning maybe he’d somehow fixed whatever was wrong with his mere presence or had indeed misread her. She hadn’t been crying this time after all. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re trying to be… helpful or something, aren’t you?”

“I suppose I am.”

“Ugh. Look, thanks for trying or whatever but please just leave me alone. I came out here to be alone, okay?”

Summary: I know this seems random, but what about hat kid and smatcher eating sushi at the metro bc bow tried a restouramt and wanted hat kit to try it too?

[A/N] Neither Hat Kid nor Snatcher can eat real food so here's Bow making some sushi friends instead.

~

A new restaurant had opened up. Colourful flashing advertisements featuring smiling cats holding oddly shaped foods aloft with chopsticks had been posted weeks in advance. The size and abundance of said advertisements indicated its arrival to be a big deal. According to rumor the last such restaurant in the Metro area had been shut down due to sanity concerns. Which caused a bit of a stir around this new one but clearly many trusted that the issue wouldn’t repeat itself as upon Bow’s approach it was quite busy.

The doors weren’t even open yet. Turns out Bow wasn’t the only one who’d had the idea of coming a few hours early in hopes of being among the first served. Oh well, having a bunch of people to chat with would make waiting more fun anyway.

~

By the time the doors opened Bow had made friends with a group of young cats, about her age – maybe, it was hard to tell being a different species and all. And fortune be upon her, they ended up near the front of the line as it properly formed, resulting in their group being let in relatively quickly.

Inside the place was as colourful and bright as the advertisements had promised. The counter was rather large, taking up much of the center area. An armada of chef cats manned it, ready to take orders and seemingly preparing the food right there in front of the customers. Awesome!

“Have you ever had sushi before, Bow?” Gracie, a blue-gray tabby with a tuft of fur on her head dyed bright blue, asked.

“Nope. It’s supposed to be super good, right? That’s why there’s so much hype around this place.”

“It’s the best,” Mar, an all black cat with green eyes, replied, their voice excited. “And like, I know there’s lots of sushi places in not the Metro but after the last real proper sushi place down here closed a couple years ago, the underground’s just not been the same. The food carts are great and all sushi’s special, you know?”

The last member of Bow’s new friend group was a chubby calico by the name of Peaches. He leaned in for a whisper as they reached the counter. “Don’t let Gracie trick you into eating something with a lot of wasabi. She pulled that prank last time we were with someone trying sushi for the first time.”

Gracie had apparently heard though as she punched him in the shoulder. “I know better than that now, asshole. That was like five years ago. Also, just for the record, the guy was fine in the end and I apologized. So it’s all fine and good now. I’m not gonna prank you Bow, especially if you really are an alien from outer space. I don’t want to be responsible for your people deciding to invade for vengeance or whatever. We’ll show you the wonders of sushi instead, I promise.”

Summary: Maybe another chapter that plays like a horror story from the perspective of a mafia member that enters the forest? I kind of want to see how scary Hat Kid would be.

~

As a child Terry had been frightened of the dark, the thing itself as well as what might be lurking within it. He’d long since grown out of it, gaining instead a healthy wariness when not able to see one’s surroundings. Something about the way the darkness lay over the Subcon Forest though brought that fear back.

Mere minutes ago it had been broad daylight, the sun high and bright overhead. Stepping into the treeline had changed that, plunging the world into night. If Terry were to backtrack out, would he step back into daytime? … Assuming he was allowed to step out at all? If he turned back to test it though, he likely wouldn’t be able to convince himself to return. Boss would be mad, possibly enough to demote him back down to a lowly servant. He’d worked too hard for that and if he succeed here he’d gain favor. And so, he ignored his inner child, trembling in fear of what lay unseen, and continued onward down the path.

The darkness was preternatural, feeling almost like a living, thinking thing. It writhed around Terry’s meager light, pressing in closer than it should’ve been able to, eager to devour him. That was just fear talking… probably. There were things lurking in it though, dangerous things. That was a known fact. Terry was here for the sole purpose of trying to catch one. Whether the specialized vacuum he’d been provided with to complete that task would work or not, he was no longer sure. It had felt so big and powerful out there. Now though, it felt like just a normal vacuum strapped to his back.

What if he was bait? Being sent in alone to aid in being stealthy had made sense at the time but if any part of the darkness was alive, there was no such thing as stealth regardless of their numbers. And there were certainly watchers. He had no way of knowing where they might be hidden or even what form they took. They’d be watching the path though, right? So he should get off it.

Pausing, he cast the light to the left. A tall dark bush blocked the way. Brambly thorns covered it and the trees were thick and dense beyond it. An impenetrable wall of vegetation. Casting the light to the other side of the path revealed the same sight. Had the tress and bushes always been like that or had they closed in as he proceeded further in? … What if they’d read his mind and intent to leave the path somehow and wanted to stop him? In which case he should turn around and run… assuming he could.

But no, he wasn’t a coward to flee from some creepy plants. He continued going forward, casting the light back and forth. As soon as a gap appeared on either side, he’d…

Something clicked under his next footstep, the sound disconcertingly loud in the silence of the haunted woods. A moment later his feet were forced out from under him as he was scooped up by a huge something. He screamed and thrashed as it closed in on him, seemingly lifting him up and into the air. The darkness was alive and it had eaten him!

He screamed and thrashed some more. The darkness around him swayed as if laughing at his plight. His light was gone, lost or destroyed within the darkness’ maw. “Mercy! Please, mercy, I’ll do anything. Just please don’t…”

Ghostly laughter interrupted him, freezing him in place. “I haven’t even said anything yet and you’re already trying to bargain. How cute?” … That was the ghost child Terry had been sent here to capture, wasn’t it?

It wasn’t darkness incarnate encasing him but just cloth. He’d been captured in a trap. Not good but far better than the plight he’d initially thought himself to be in.

“I’m not really in a bargaining mood today though. You came here to capture me and I’m really, really not in the mood right now.” She was mad. During Boss’ prior dealings with her she’d been playful. A big enough nuisance to be worth going after, especially considering how she’d humiliated him when they’d both been still alive, but not angry or vengeful. Something had clearly changed.

“I’m sorry. I’ll just leave if you let me go.” He’d gladly go back to doing dishes in the Boss’ kitchen if it meant living to see tomorrow.

“Do you know where the Empress is?”

Terry didn’t know of any empresses let alone which specific one she might be asking about. Would it be better to lie and say he did or be honest? … If he lied, she’d likely come back for vengeance upon discovering the truth, right? On the other hand, the truth might prompt her to decide to just kill him right here, right now. There was a third option though… maybe. “I could find her for you. You’d… you’d have to let me live me though… obviously.”

The silence held long, tense, and horrible before a reply finally came. “Could you now? Willing to bet your soul on it?”

No. He was just a lowly Mafia goon with almost no ties to anyone who would even know where to begin looking for royalty if they weren’t part of the Mafia too. But if it prolonged his life… “Yes.”

“All right then. I’ll write up a contract but first…”

A coldness crept into Terry’s veins as something was pulled out of him, leaving a hollow emptiness where it had once been. His soul. She’d pulled out his soul. It wasn’t fair. Nothing ever was though, was it?

Summary: Hat Kid’s hat is suffering from wear and tear. Hat kid and Snatcher have to patch it up.

~

Thanks to having been wearing it upon death and considering it an important part of her look, Hat Kid’s natural ghost form came with a top hat shape. Awesome! It was a hat she never had to take off or wash, a permanent part of her look. She was eternally stylish, especially once she learned how to shape shift a little, letting her change the shape to different types of hats. The top hat was still her favourtie though. It was just too cool.

Upon the wall of what had once been her bedroom, she’d hung up all her non-ghost hats. They looked cool up there but she hadn’t changed them since putting them up. Like with many of the ship’s rooms, it was time to rearrange them. Give the place a new vibe and all that.

First, came pulling them down. One by one, starting at the bottom, she took them off the hooks and moved them over to the side in a neat rows. Without the need for sleep or food, she had all the time in the world, meaning she could take her time. She didn’t though. Being a ghost and able to fly made moving fast too easy to resist doing.

The last hat, hung up on the highest hook, was her signature top hat. Her favourite and thus the one her ghost ‘hat’ was modeled after. Despite that, she paused before taking it off the hook She’d been wearing it when she’d died. The angle she’d hung it at hid much of the damage if one was looking at it from the floor. Up close though, it was harder to miss. Pulling it off the hook and turning in her hands made it impossible.

Somehow she’d forgotten how beat up it was. For how bad the crash had been, it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been but that didn’t mean it was in good shape. It was crumbled and had a hole from where it had caught fire, the edges burnt. A sorry state to leave her favourite hat in for sure.

She could fix it… theoretically. Snatcher was teaching her how to sew. She wasn’t very good at it. It was hard and took more patience than she could muster at times. Knitting was a bit easier because of all the cute things one could knit without having to be a master at it. But even that she wasn’t good at, so even if it could fix the hat, her go at it would still suck. … Snatcher could fix it easy though. He was good at that kind of stuff. She’d hunt him down and ask him after she finished rearranging the rest of her hats.

Summary: Can you write about the film that snatcher permitted to do in his forest some chapterw ago? if possible

~

“We never should’ve come here,” Tammy said, modulating her voice to to dance the line between fear and anger perfectly. “We’re all gonna die because of you.”

“Shut up, we’ll be fine.” Mari was the only penguin in the main cast. Whether that made him being the asshole of the group offensive or not, Hat Kid wasn’t sure. He had volunteered though. “It’s been hours, we lost it.”

The two of them walked a few feet from the path, trudging through the underbrush, the camera crew following on the path itself. Hat Kid floated along on their other side where the camera would catch her skulking occasionally. Hopefully she looked properly scary.

“It ate Andie and Luie! It’s gonna fucking find us, especially since don’t know where the peck we’re going. Or did you forget that Luie had the map?”

“I know the way out.” Maybe Mari had wanted this role because he knew how good he was at sound like a proper cocky jerk. “So stop being so loud before it…”

Summary: oh my god im so curious now about how it pans out... could i request that?

[A/N] A followup to chapters 28 and 31

~

Intel had indicated that upon becoming a ghost, Hat Kid had settled permanently in Subcon Forest. A logical place for a ghost to be. Without being able to get a proper spy in there though – more like never being able to get one out alive to report what they’d learned – the news of her having wormed her way into Snatcher’s circle hadn’t come until after Snatcher had come looking for her.

In hindsight, maybe Empress should’ve guessed that to be the case. But Snatcher was known primarily for being territorial; entering his forest without his permission was a death sentence. He and his Subconites rarely left. Hat Kid on the other hand left all the time, leading to the conclusion that she wasn’t a proper part of that group. After her third time showing up to haunt the jewelry store – being even more obnoxious than ever – capturing her had seemed not only safe but the best way to finally deal with her. A costly mistake.

Snatcher had left for now but Empress wasn’t stupid enough to think he wouldn’t be back. She knew a thing or two about vengeance and Hat Kid would want vengeance. And if Hat Kid was important enough to Snatcher for him to come here personally to rescue her there was a good chance she’d be able to talk him into coming back for some vengeance. Leaving Empress with two options; get ready to fight Snatcher or flee. The only things she knew for sure about Snatcher though was that he was dead – and thus had nothing to lose – and powerful. Fleeing it was.

Packing up hurt. She’d spent so long and put so much effort into getting where she was now. But better to disappear than die and have her soul eaten in the process. Once the heat died down, she’d return to whatever was left. Hopefully Snatcher wouldn’t kill too many of her underlings so she wouldn’t have to start from absolute zero again.

She zipped up her single bag – it would’ve been nice to bring more but traveling light would keep her form being noticed – before hefting it up onto her back. Pulling up her hood to hide her face, she started for the window. Upon opening it, it was just big enough for her and her pack to squeeze though. Clambering down to the dark alley below was harder than it used to be – she was getting old – but she still managed just fine if a bit slower than she’d have liked.

'Summary': Could I please request Hat Kid playing with Rough Patch?

[A/N] In the interest of helping me catch up on drabble requests, I just did a sketch for this one.

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Summary: how about one were we see bow report back to wherever hat kid (formerly) and her lived and make up a lie or something?

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“She’s dead. Her ship crashed into a planet and she died.” All truths. The only lie Bow was telling was by omission. Ghosts were rare, forming only when one died under specific conditions, specifically in places high in the right kinds of energy for it (Subcon was one such place) and thus the thought Spensa had become a ghost shouldn’t occur to anyone she had to report to.

Despite that, the Commander frowned as they leaned forward on their desk, looking almost as if they knew she was leaving something out. “And you weren’t able to retrieve anything from the ship?”

“Nothing useful. It crashed into the ocean. It was too deep to make getting it back up a viable option.” There was the real lie. Bow had practiced this with Hat Kid, who’d come up with the idea as a way to explain why Bow couldn’t bring any part of the ship or the Time Pieces that fueled it back. And then she’d practiced it some more on the way over, recording it and playing it back. She sounded like she was telling the truth… probably… hopefully. “I tried. It’s why I took so long to come back but it was impossible without something made for pulling ship wrecks up off the ocean floor.”

The Commander squinted at her but ultimately sat back with a sigh. “I suppose it can’t be helped. The loss is regrettable but these exploration missions aren’t without risk. This is far form the first time someone hasn’t returned. You are dismissed.”