Needle and Thread

The Chamber of Secrets

This one's gonna be long.

[<3 <> <3< c3<]

Roxy sat on the floor of Winter's room. "So, what do you think?" She asked.

"Thi is amazing," Winter whispered. "Best cartoon ever." An explosion on screen bathed them all in green light.

"It is most entertaining," Ananda said. "So... these people do not exist?"

"Not in this dimension," Roxy replied sadly.

"Huh." Ananda yawned. "Roxy, would you like to sleep in our room tonight?"

Roxy looked at her sleepily. "Actually, that sounds nice. You okay with that, Winter?"

"Well, it's not like-- hey, what's that noise?"

Roxy paused the video. "What noise?"

"You can't hear it?" Ananda asked. "I assumed that it was part of the show. It has been getting louder for some time now."

Roxy closed her eyes for a second, listening. "I still don't hear it."

"You must not have very good hearing," Ananda remarked. "Though I do not mean offense. The sound is almost like... laughing. If laughter were high-pitched, annoying, and slightly creepy, of course."

"Do you think we should worry about it?" Roxy asked.

"Nah," Winter replied. "It's probably some monster who can't get in and is trying scare tactics."

"Perhaps," Ananda said worriedly. "Can we lock the door, just in case? It has stopped. For some reason, that is not as comforting as I thought it would be."

"Sure, I guess so," Winter said. He got up and went over to the door, only to cry out in shock.

"What is it?!" Roxy and Ananda leapt up just as Winter locked the door.

"Lyra," Winter said, pointing a trembling finger at the small window in the door.

"Oh, god," Roxy said. "Not trickster mode. Lyra, what happened to you?"

"I decided to get married!" An enthusiastic but faint voice said. "You guys haven't met Andy yet, have you?!"

[@2D3D4D]

Benny was woken from sleep by the sound of laughter. Without even trying to see what it was, he shrunk back into the tree he'd strapped himself to, and covered Nereida's mouth. She pried his hand away and whispered, "What is that?"

"Don't know," Benny whispered. "It's too dark."

"Let's follow it."

"Can't. It's heading right over a knot of monsters. If we follow, we'll get torn to pieces."

They watched as two humanoid creatures --who were, apparently, immune to the vacuum of space-- floated down through the treetops, chattering to themselves and giggling. A screech that would have made any punk-rocker jealous ripped through the night, and one of the creatures was pulled down by some unidentifiable monster.

"See?" Benny added. "At least now we don't have to worry about them oh dear God what is that." A hunk of flesh the size of a mattress flew up into the air as though it had been shot out of a cannon, trailing gobs of viscous monster blood. This was followed by several others just like it, and after a moment more the second figure returned, laughing. The both dove down, silhouetted by the moon, and continued on whatever journey they were making, leaving a trail of blood and death.

"I gotta see who that is." Nereida slid off her tether and climbed down the tree, jumping the last few feet.

Benny sighed. "Wait for me," he said, as loudly as he dared, and followed her down.