[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/909715047918497815/1037211200871731300/Umbri_banner6.png[/img]


[b]Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. [/b]

[i]“Oh my God!” “Eeek!” “What is it doing?!”[/i]

[url=https://youtu.be/ZUlAytznxn4]Umbri dreamed of mac and cheese.[/url]

It was so salty it stung the eyes. There were hard bits in it, and it was served with a generous scoop of… some kind of ground meat, definitely not kosher, and it was heaven. A heaven that all the coins in the gutter afforded her. She was on up high now, dangling her leg down from a drain pipe.

[b]Thunk. THUNK.[/b]

The Rat finally finished killing its comrade. Blood ran into the sewers and reflected the cheery smile of an Ares Corp spokesperson being projected above the street. [i]Come join the neighbourhood! We’re more than colleagues at Ares Tech, we’re neighbours… and family.[/i] The Rat scampered away after performing his obituaries, scattering an alarmed crowd of so many faces she so clearly remembered, and Umbri looked over her heaped spoon at the gore below and felt nothing. Her spoon swiftly took up her vision again, only pausing when she noticed a bug leg sticking out of the cheese.

[color=#A4303F][b]“...”[/b][/color]

[i]Crunch.[/i]

[color=DC091C][i][center][b]"I don't suppose you're a hooker out of choice either."[/b][/center][/i][/color]

[i][b]“WAAAAAAAAAGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!”[/b][/i]

She sunk into a nightmare. A small, dark, stinking room, littered in the relics - diapers, milk pouches, dirty plates - of a chaotic night, or two, a week, or she didn’t know, when did Mum leave? [i]When did Mum leave her with this monster?[/i]

[color=#A4303F][b]“Please,”[/b][/color] she whispered, her voice almost gone and eyes burning red from a long strain of nights of no rest. She held up formula beside blue lips. [color=#A4303F][b]“Please, please. I don’t know. I don’t know when she’ll be home. [i]Please,[/i] I have school.”[/b][/color]

Screaming. Just… screaming. It’s all the monster did all day when it wasn’t asleep for a fitful few minutes. Screaming, and no eating. Umbri was going delirious. Did this thing know it was going to starve? The only thing in this house was food for the baby and it wouldn’t EAT IT!

Umbri turned the formula to her lips with a shaking hand and sucked it, just a little to wet them. The guilt and hate she felt all at once racked her. The baby’s shriek went higher, like she was protesting Umbri’s thievery, but - but then why wouldn’t it- why wouldn’t it just [i]eat-[/i]

[i][b]“WAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHH!!!!”[/b][/i]

The crying. The smell. The hunger. The fear. The exhaustion. It all converged until she just screamed.

[color=#A4303F][b]“I HATE YOU!” [/b][/color]She roared. Her voice cracked with youth. [color=#A4303F][b]“I HATE YOU TOO!!!”[/b][/color]

She screamed, incomprehensibly, taking revenge for all of the pain it put her through while Mum was away, then crumpled, hitting her head until she could think right - [i]She’s not coming back. She’s not coming back. Survive. Survive. [b]Survive.[/b][/i] Mac and cheese. A dead Rat on the road. [b][i]YOU SURVIVED BEFORE.[/i][/b]

She grabbed her baby sister and pulled a parka over the both of them, making a charge for the door.

[color=#A4303F][b]“Don’t do it,”[/b][/color] Umbri’s words couldn’t reach her child self as she slammed the door on her, leaving her alone in her hell. A shrill ringing came to her ears. 

[color=DC091C][i]"What's going on?!"[/i][/color] The noise was quiet at first, but it grew louder, higher. [color=CD09DC][i]"Sugar!"[/i][/color] It bled into her other senses and drowned her sight in blurs. Muffled shouts and calls slipped between the discord, but Umbri could only hear the shadow of their words.

She was on the floor, her arm tucked at her back at an unnatural angle, her legs straight and spasming out, her head jerking back and eyes rolled to their whites. A pressure clung to her jaw. The fog faded from her eyes. The shadow she heard now loomed over her; a mass of black that slowly cleared up.

[color=CD09DC][i]"Easy now."[/i][/color]

That gaunt face. Pale and purple, like lavenders drained by winter. Vivid yellow pin pricks stared at her from the shadow of his hood. She was looking towards the ceiling, but something silky kept her head from the cold, hard floor. 

[color=DC091C][i]"Is she alright? What happened?!"[/i][/color] A different voice called out, high and trembling with rage that seemed second nature. The voice that had dogged her steps since midnight.

The crags unfurrowed around Stake's gaze as he saw the light return to her eyes. He had taken off his coat, revealing the long sleeves of his black banded shirt, and his spider-like hands. They caressed her face with curling, gentle strokes. 

[color=CD09DC][b]"Her time is running out."[/b][/color]