Surprisingly, I actually scrap a lot of the scenes I write for bigger series! I scrapped a whole chapter once, and half a chapter too!
So, here are all the non-cannon outtakes (that aren't spoilers) from RI, CFK!AU and THW!
(Some of them I can't show you because they're from RI ch 10 and 11 and some are from THW ch 6. So, spoilers!)
Enjoy!
~~~~~
It took maybe an hour in full to settle down from the meeting. Walking with Killer to get dressed in some more casual clothing, with... minimal distractions as they freshened up in his quarters. A detour to the kitchen to talk to Horror while he finished packing up both the chocolate Killer asked him to make, and a couple of things for Dust. Now here he is, at the Seer's door with a basket of sweets and some chocolate of his own, tucked away in his inventory.
Cross feels a little ridiculous, standing here, but it takes him a moment to work up the courage to knock. It's silly. He's been out to the borders with Dust, gone on countless expeditions with him, but the little seer still feels like an endless deck of wildcards. Not that he tires of the spontaneity, anything but. After all this time, it's a little nice to know there's always some kind of adventure waiting for him with Dust.
He takes a deep breath and raises a hand to knock.
-- rewrite that top bit, Cross would be more excited to see him. Hint at a little romance! --
^^I left that note for myself that explained it pretty perfectly.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
"Who- o- o a- ar- ar- are yo- o- u- u?" He asks, leaning down to him a little.
It took a moment to figure out what he said, but eventually he got it. "I'm Verity."
The mortal walks around the other deer, leading his own with a grasp on the odd ropes around it's head. He looks to the fae accompanying him and then down to Verity again. "Where did you come from?" He asks.
"Oh..." Verity shies away a little as Acacia tries to talk to him.
Lucia puts his arm out, encouraging Acacia to back up and give the child some space. "Mo- o- unta- a- ai- i- n fae were hunted to ne- e- ea- ar exti- in- i- nction by the wi- i- i- in- ing- gle- e- ess..."
"Oh... That's... Awful. I'm terribly sorry. I know you've probably been told not to talk to people like me, and you should certainly listen! But I promise I wouldn't hurt you. This is my husband Lucia, and my name is Acacia." He doesn't walk closer, and he kneels down this time, so that they can see eye to eye. His strange deer leans down a little too, watching him curiously.
Verity gasps a little, a husband is someone you love a lot a lot! If Acacia was a mortal that loved this fae, surely he couldn't be too bad. "Okay!" He murmurs, still, hesitance bites at him. "You can't be too mean... Then..."
"Anyone can be mean... You're lucky you found nice people and not ones out to get you, kid," Acacia says, frowning a little. This area wasn't highly populated, but it's still ridiculously dangerous to let a fae child roam out here alone. The guards don't typically come up this far in the mountains, but their reach has been spreading lately. Maybe he should encourage Lucia to check on the fae he knows out here and ensure they're aware of the increasing reach of the guard.
"Wher- er- r- es- eres your pa- a- ar- re- e- en- nts?"
"My daddy is at home," the child answers. He can't be more than eight, he looks terribly young to be alone out here.
"Anyone else out with you?"
"No... I don't have 'nybody else."
"Oh, alright..." Acacia pauses with a little sympathetic expression before speaking again, "Well, how did you get here?"
"Uh... I saw your weird deer... And I followed them."
"Deer?" Acacia asks, looking around.
"The- he- horse- e- es," Lucia says, giving him an unimpressed look.
"Oh! Okay, hah! Well, he could've come from anywhere on that path... We don't know how to get him back... And it's almost sundown, darling,"
Acacia and Lucia talk for a while, until they agree they should house the child for the night, see if anyone comes looking before then, and ride up with them tomorrow if nobody does.
Verity got to pet the weird deer and help clean them up before putting them in the stables for the night while Lucia made dinner.
This just wasn't refined enough for me, so I did something different!
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
"I assure you it is," Someone says from the room Nightmare came from.
"You do not get an opinion," Nightmare snips quickly. Cross looks at him and then at the doorway, visibly panicked. "Calm down, that is just Dream. He is harmless."
"He is also a better cook, so you'll have a good first meal here!" Dream says from what is probably the kitchen.
Cross looks skeptically at Nightmare. "Uh... Where are we?"
"Our quarters. You and I will stay here together. Dream lives elsewhere, but he wanted to cook tonight," Nightmare explains.
"Who is he..."
"Dream is my brother. You saw him when we left the introduction room earlier. Normally the room isn't like that, but it's being renovated right now because of water damage... We really must fix that."
"The... Golden skeleton?"
Nightmare gives him a strange look, "... Yes."
"Oh..."
"If you would like to sit in your room until he goes that's okay, I can tell him to leave now too. I understand if you're not ready to talk to anyone."
"I... Don't know."
"That is okay. Oh, did you take that medicine I left you? It was supposed to help with the pain from the lights."
"That..."
"You don't have to take it, it would help you though," Nightmare explains.
"I'm not taking it." Cross says quickly, backing up a little.
Nightmare seems to find his boundary clear and simply backs up to sit on the couch, nodding. "That's okay too. Do you like that blanket?"
"Why do you wanna know?" Cross asks, watching him wearily.
Nightmare sighs, he forgets how easily newbies jump ship sometimes. Then again, Cross has been rather skittishly approachable so far. It's too early to tell whether he'll mellow out quickly or take a frustrating amount of time to warm up to being here. Night takes a sip of his coffee and then thinks about the spill on the floor.
"Just curious. There are more fluffy blankets like that one in the closet in your room, if you enjoy them. I'd suggest picking a couple that you like, cause the sheets get washed every week and you'll have to go without whichever one you choose for that week for a couple of days," Night explains.
Cross looks at him skeptically, having inched back over towards his own room. "Alright..." He says simply.
There's a long moment of silence between them.
"I'm gonna get up and clean the coffee I spilled."
"Okay."
"Are you gonna hang out in your room?"
"... Yes."
"Alright, there's some books on the shelf in there you might enjoy. They're about all sorts of stuff. And there's a journal on the nightstand if you enjoy drawing or writing."
"Nightstand..."
"The little table next to the bed?"
"Eh... Of course."
Nightmare gives him a little smile before getting up slowly, setting his coffee on the table in front of the couch. Cross slinks back into his room, still wrapped in his blanket. He doesn't shut the door all the way, he leaves it cracked like Night left it. Nightmare gets the feeling he needs to write out some rules so Cross knows what he's allowed to do. He seems a little listless in a space like this. Nightmare gets it, he does. He didn't know what to do with himself the first time he got to live in the quarters.
Nightmare walks into the kitchen and grabs a rag, sighing. Dream glances at him all sideways but ignores it for a moment. Nightmare thinks he'll be merciful for a moment, but when he drops the rag to clean up the spill with his foot Dream speaks up.
"He's a lot like you were."
"Yeah, I noticed."
Dream laughs, "remember when we first got our rooms?"
"Yeah, you just about cried your eyelights out because you thought we weren't allowed to see each-other." Night busts out laughing as he picks up the dirty rag and tosses it in the kitchen hamper by the end of the cabinets.
"Ugh, it's not my fault! Gen didn't tell us we could go into the common room!" Dream is golden as the sun, glaring at the curry he's making like it insulted him with its existence.
"Hah, yeah. At least he has the gall to test the limits..." Nightmare says, walking up next to Dream to watch him watch the curry simmer.
"Yeah, I'll admit I wasn't as eager to find trouble as he seems."
"Well, things sure have changed a lot," Nightmare teases with a grin.
"Oh shut up, I am just as well behaved as you."
Nightmare gives him a look so doubtful Dream must feel it, because he turns around to glare at him.
"Just as well! Not— I know you're not well behaved! I'm plenty well behaved!"
"What you are, is a brat," Nightmare chuckles, punching his twin in the shoulder.
"Oh piss off."
"There it is, see, this is what I mean."
"I actually hate you."
"Ah, you can try but you know you don't."
Dream sighs, nodding slowly, "I don't and it's such a shame."
They both keep talking until dinner is done, Nightmare puts the curry in bowls with some rice whilst Dream sets out some forks and cloth napkins at the coffee table. Nightmare almost makes a bowl for Cross, but pauses. He didn't react well to being given something earlier, perhaps it's best to let Cross make his own plate. He puts his and Dream's bowls on the table so he can knock softly at Cross' doorframe.
There's a little frantic shuffling before Cross' mismatched eyelights peek through the crack in the door, watching him.
"Dinner is ready. You can make your own plate now or later... Or you can make your own food if you're nervous about this food."
Cross just looks at him like he's hesitating. "Alright, later then."
"Alright, I won't bother you until Dream is gone unless something else comes up," Nightmare assures. "Also, you're allowed to close the door. Whatever is in that room is yours to do whatever you want with."
Cross' eyelights widen a little at the concept before narrowing suspiciously. He shuts the door without letting Nightmare have another word. Night can't help laughing a little at that, Cross is pretty brave for doing that so soon. Dream seems to think so too because he snorts loudly behind him.
"Hah! You did tell him it's okay!"
"Yeah, I kinda walked into that one," Night laughs.
"Yeah dipshit, now come eat your dinner before I take it off your hands."
"Blood may be thicker than water, but curry is thicker than blood, brother."
Dream just laughs at that, reaching slowly towards his bowl.
(Yes, nightmare is drinking coffee at dinner.)
I decided this was bad because there's no way they'd expose Cross to someone new and imposing so soon, especially with the drugs still in his system. That wouldn't make sense. It'd just make him more uneasy.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Remember to attain an appropriate amount of human sustenance, take your meds, and have a good hydration. Don't forget to have a wonderful day, either! Much love from a mothy friend. This is it for my time with you today, But I do hope you enjoyed this chapter you silly little butterflies.
- Arca