jesterlies | Inbox: Iyashikei

[ Feeling he has given Shadow Milk plenty of time now to rest and recuperate, Pure Vanilla will track him down. While he's gotten used to the other popping out from under his robes, he also knows the Beast has been moping around like a dejected cat as well.

Which means its time to talk, and get the other introduced to the rest of the Cookies proper. Oh sure, he's come with Pure Vanilla plenty of times, but hiding amongst his robes. ]

Shadow Milk Cookie?

[ Of course he's going to check his room. Which is pretty much Shadow Milks room now... ]

[He is not moping, he is biding his time! He is laying low, this is all very strategic! He has agreed to allow Pure Vanilla to take the lead for whatever this life might be now, powerless and pathetic as he is, so really he's being very gracious in how well behaved he's been!]

[He could be doing much, much more to the people here. He could be- but he hasn't.]

[Just because he's too tired to do much doesn't mean!! He's moping!!]

[Anyway, he's certainly taken over the room. He's added some of his own flair to it, covered it in colorful banners and such.]

Present.

[Hm, he could hide under the bed and scare Vanilla maybe. Ugh, that takes effort though, he's going to just continue floating here, lazily letting a needle stitch at another piece of fabric.]

[ The banners makes him pause for a moment, amused. Well they certainly look very... Spire Inspired (haha) but it's also quite something to see him sewing again.

Memories... all alone in the moonlight...

Then he studies the blue jester, thoughtful.

Nods. ]

How are you feeling? All healed finally?

[ It's time you get a Job, Son- ]

[He looks up just enough to slide his gaze over at the Healer.]

Oh? Are you worried? Haven't you been seeing to that yourself?

[He inks down, disappearing into the shadows again, this time a score of eyes blink open from all around him. His little sewing project drops to the bed. That phrasing... "Finally"?]

Is your patience beginning to run out, Vanilly?

Of course I am.

[ He sighs as Shadow Milk disappears into the shadows. Oh, no you don't! He stares back at the eyes now blinking at him.

Then smiles, sweet as always, and lays his hand on his chest. ]

Never. Instead, I think it's time you got out more! There are many things to see in Iyashikei, and though you have been coming with me, there's still much yet to explore!

You're kicking me out?

[What the fuck, he was right? He's actually kind of shocked??? After all that?]

No!

[ HUFF. Dearest other half, come out here- ]

This is your home, Shadow Milk Cookie! So long as we remain in Iyashikei! I merely think it's time you explore from a different point of view!

Ugh, and what point of view would that be?

[The eyes watch him very closely for a moment before he slowly rises back out of the shadows again, this time from under his bed rather than his robes.]

I follow you around all the time, what else could you possibly want?

[ There we go!

With a smile he holds out his hand to the other, the bracelet laying in it. ]

[The bracelet.]

Pass.

[Nope! Not interested! That thing... No, he doesn't want to talk about it! He starts to slither back under the bed.]

Edited 2026-03-31 05:32 (UTC)

Ah!

[ No you don't!

He makes a grab for whatever is closest to him, not about to let Shadow Milk go back into hiding! ]

Now wait a moment, Shadow Milk Cookie! I think it would be beneficial to see this place in a new light!

Maybe you should see this place from a different light instead!

[Tendrils reach out and grab hold of his ankles. Time to get pulled into the shadows, Pure Vanilla!]

Sha-AH!

[ Oh, it's a familiar feeling to be yanked into the shadows.

And not a good one.

He tries not to, sure Shadow Milk won't hurt him, but as the shadows close in he panics. Memories scream. Shadows reaching up as he falls from the Spire. Losing himself, drowning in it, until he doesn't know who he is anymore. Until he doesn't trust himself. Until he's so full of lies he floats on a river of white and his soul jam is lifeless and grey-

He instinctively reaches out to try and grab at something to brace himself, steady himself, but there's nothing but shadows.

No, no he can't be here. He can't be here again! ]

Shadow Milk Cookie!

[It's very easy to do, to just grab Pure Vanilla like this, to try and toss him into the other-realm, to do anything but acknowledge what he doesn't want to acknowledge, even if it means hurting him again.]

[But then he cries out like that and something in him runs cold.]

[No. No no no, this isn't what he's supposed to be doing.]

[Very suddenly it all shrinks back, recedes back into the shadow beneath the bed. Recoiling as if burned. The eyes there no longer look at him, but rather away.]

[ The shadows recoil and so does he. The moment they unwind from around him, he pulls back, hands scrambling around him until he finds his staff again.

His jam is pounding in his dough and he feels sick, his breathing coming rapidly. He grips his staff tightly to his chest, the eye on it wide and darting around, as he tries to calm himself down.

Five things he can see, five things he can touch.

He's still in his room in Iyashikei. He's not in the Spire. That's in the past. His memories are whole and unaltered, he's... him. He's him.

A heavy exhale as he slowly relaxes. ]

... Perhaps another day, then...

[Though Shadow Milk makes his presence as small as possible, he is still watching. He stays quiet as Vanilla pulls himself back together. He wants to scoff at how Pure Vanilla went through all that trouble to try and help him and yet even now-]

[How much would it take for him to tell him to leave, he wonders. How much would he have to push, to get Vanilla to finally give up on him? Something in him burns under his dough, a desire to hurt. To break.]

[The turmoil makes him want to be sick.]

[Instead he remains quiet, like he isn't even there. But finally, before Pure Vanilla can attempt to leave,]

...Fine, I'll do it. Just this once.

[ Indeed, though he can see the eyes still watching, it's silent and he will take that as dismissal. Shadow Milk has made his point. It's a topic to not be broached. On fear of being once more torn apart, made to feel the anguish again.

Shakily he climbs himself to his feet again, brushing his robes off. He reaches down to pick the bracelet up from where it had fallen from his hand, goes to tuck it away.

Pauses to the voice from the void.

He's silent to the agreeance to try it, unsure now if it would be a wise idea. Somehow his voice doesn't shake as he replies, cautiously. ]

No... you needn't. You've made your feelings clear on it.

[That should be relief, that Pure Vanilla has changed his mind, but all it does is frustrate him. Feel a weird pang of something that hurts in his dough that he doesn't understand.]

[He's backing off he's leaving He's giving him space You're going to keep pushing him to give up he can't stand this-]

No!

[He wishes he would crumble alone from the way his voice sounded just then.]

I'm- trying to make it right. Just crumbling humor me, okay?

[ No makes him flinch, but he doesn't move back. He grips his Staff tightly, because... it wasn't anger in Shadow Milks voice.

It was something painful. Heart-wrenchingly so.

Silently he tucks the bracelet into his robe, then steps forward and offers his hand out to the void. His voice soft. ]

Take it. Please, Shadow Milk.

[He’s met with silence again, but the eyes continue to watch, some of them sharp and calculating while others are …anguished and sad.]

[Eventually from the shadows comes …a small blue cookie hand, rather than the tendrils. He reaches out to take Pure Vanilla’s hand, though if it seems shaky, no it doesn’t.]

[ There. Taken for the first time since he offered it. What changed Shadow Milk so? The injury he came with? The story that comes with it that he doesn't yet know?

He's not sure, but he will not squander this chance.

Gently he takes the smaller hand and urges Shadow Milk to come out. ]

Come with me.

[There. Hand taken. If Pure Vanilla wants to make a big deal out of such a thing, that's his prerogative. He comes out from under the bed, and much like a child who doesn't want to admit to being wrong, he keeps his gaze anywhere but at the other.]

[The eyes in his hair will peer every so often though. Nervous almost. Unsure. Worried?]

Not like I've got anything better to do.

[ He wont make a big deal out of it, but his hand will hold Shadow Milks firmly. Not hard enough to prevent him from pulling away if he desires, but also not enough to let it slip away.

He leads him through the house and out the front door. He doesn't pull his hand away, uncaring of who sees their hands together. ]

If you're bored, we can find you more things to do! I know you like sewing, and I'm sure we can find you enough supplies to turn into clothing or stuffed animals.

[ He might kinda maybe miss the little plush someone sat in his room in the spire. It was very cute.

He leads him to the edges of Sweet Street, because going Big In Sweet Street is a Recipe For Disaster.

Gets far enough away so he can slip the bracelet on and transform, picking Shadow Milk up into his hand to carry him further away. Secluded to them. Then sets him down on something and takes his bracelet off to join him, then hold it out. ]

[After a while he gets tired of walking (more like the moment they leave the house) and so he floats instead, so Pure Vanilla can tug him along like a funny blue kite. He doesn't say anything, until he's spoken too, having been wrapped up in his own thoughts]

Hm.

[He has been taking some of the things he finds around the house and scrapping them for materials when he feels the whim to make something. Having actual supplies would be nice, he guesses.]

[As Pure Vanilla shifts into that weird human form with the bracelet, Shadow Milk allows him to pick him up and he settles in the palm of his hand comfortably. Too comfortably, probably. Once they're here, he looks around, judges the area secure enough before he ...]

[hesitation strikes him, a weird spike of anxiety that he hates. His eyes narrow on the bracelet and he snatches it out of his hand. Why does this stupid thing freak him out so much, he hates it.]

[He's better than this, he knows. He's not afraid of anything, lest of all this stupid piece of jewelry. With a sigh that could be construed as frustrated (at who?) he slips the bracelet on.]

time is confusing, in person

time??? exists

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