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Chapter Text

Another day, Another funeral. How long would something so trivial need to take?

Shadow Milk Cookie as always insisted on the funerals held for the… Toys… that resided within his Country of Truth and Deceit. A kingdom where fantasy and reality cannot be told apart and where comfortable lies can become the truth for all cookies that reside there!
...Just don’t question the greatest entertainer in all of Earth-bread or try to escape or you’ll turn to one of the many, many puppets and toys that reside within his spire of Deceit...

Who was the funeral for this time? A grandfather cookie who recently was turned into a toy train after telling off Candy Apple Cookie to pay up for the damages made to his shop. He kept begging for the sweet release of being crumbled, to reunite with his wife in death after being so mercilessly judged by Shadow Milk Cookie. Candy Apple Cookie was supposed to simply break his limbs and leave it in the forest to be chewed on by the viscous wolves that resided in the forest but atlas, her lollipop simply two-inches too close to the doll’s head, and now it laid buried beneath the ground along with the other buried cookies and toys the trio had created.

Candy Apple Cookie now led the funeral with tears streaking down her cheeks, as Black Sapphire stood beside her, patted her shoulder with a false sense of pity. Shadow Milk stood tall with a mock-sorrowful expression, using a handkerchief (with his own face stitched on it of course) pulled from his long sleeves to wipe away the tears descending down his sharp features. Truthless Recluse only stood there watching with a vacant expression, praying internally for this ceremony to end already. He wasn’t sure how long he could take of Candy Apple’s constant weeping.

She spoke through her tears, with snot and tears . “And…” she sniffed, “he was so fun to play with too!” She continued to wail hysterically, then with a force to be reckoned with—slammed her lollipop hard against the coffin, nearly breaking it in half.

The crowd let out a mix of cries and gasps in shock when the corpse nearly tumbled out of the coffin, until they transformed into a form of cursed laughter pitted against the other. Black Sapphire gave her a stern glare, letting out a displeased huff, “you idiot! Don’t kill him again, he’s already dead!” He placed his hands on his hips as he stared at the remaining pieces of the casket, his microphone still clutched like a lifeline between his fingers.

“You better clean up this mess, or else Scheele green Cookie is gonna kill you for messing up her stage!” Shadow Milk snickered at the comment, only something Truthless Recluse could find the effort to roll his eyes at, Scheele Green Cookie's concerts were obnoxious and full of noise that was apparently considered music around here.

“What!?” She made a gagging noise at the thought of it, her expression of sorrow suddenly cleared as she pointed at her tongue, "why me! that’s gross. I’m not touching dead stuff!" She whined, kicking and throwing her fists in a tantrum, Black Sapphire sneered at her.

Truthless Recluse groaned at the incoming argument.

“Because you’re the one who killed him remember!? And because I said so, so do it!” He replied, hovering above her as he enforced his authority as the eldest sibling, leaning into his mic to make his voice boom. Candy Apple Cookie cared little for his authority for she stuck out her tongue and opened her mouth to make another retort when Truthless Recluse jumped in, his voice cold and piercing through the air. “You’re both so annoying. Just bury the stupid toy already and get it over with, I have better places to be.” He replied with an resigned expression.

The crowd let out a gasp, a range of voices cried out:

“he’s so cruel!”

“who the hell invited this guy!?”

“what is wrong with him?”

or any other sort of useless insults Truthless Recluse could care less about. Black Sapphire Cookie and Candy Apple Cookie turned to glare at Truthless Recluse, both letting out a collective groan. “Shut up! Nobody asked you to be here, Truthless bastard!” Candy Apple Cookie shouted as she stuck her tongue at him, Black Sapphire nodded with her. “Exactly! Shut your trap for once and mind your business! Ugly healer!” He retorted with her, as they both put down their thumbs and stuck their tongues out at him, making all kinds of jeering noises when the crowd decided to join in alongside the two, throwing all kinds of insults and gestures at the Truthless Recluse.

“You savage!”

“Bald old man!”

“Idiot cookie!”

“Dumb face!”

“Stupid hat!”

The insults kept coming and coming, an endless barrage that surrounded Truthless Recluse. Usually he didn’t care, and he still didn’t. But a few too many comments about his ‘stupid looking hat’ were starting to creep under his skin. How dare these simple cookies question his intellect? Calling him bald when he clearly had shoulder-length gorgeous blond locks (that Shadow Milk Cookie is oh-so comfortable with caressing every chance he gets) under his cool looking triangular hat, and why is the nice elderly lady who usually listened in on his lectures joining with them? Idiot cookies… He couldn’t believe they were actually starting to piss him off.

“Fools…” He mumbled under his breath, gripping his staff tightly. He looked down where he found his hand reaching out to grasp on his hat self-consciously before forcing it down to his side. There was no way that he actually cared about their comments, they simply didn’t know any better. And he knew better than to actually care about these hopeless idiots that chose to live out their lives in oppression under the guise of sweet lies. It was pathetic.

“Woah! Woah! Woah! Easy on the insults my friends!” Shadow Milk Cookie laughed as he flew infront of the grumbling Truthless Recluse, facing the crowd with an easygoing smile. The cookies and toys cheered as he made his appearance, laughing joyously and repeated his name in praise as he bowed down towards the attention. Truthless Recluse rolled his eyes as Black Sapphire and Candy Apple joined in with them. It was ridiculous.

Shadow Milk blew out kisses to the crowd, eagerly swallowing up all the attention he was receiving. He looked ridiculous like that, eagerly taking in the cookie’s praise as if they were his salvation, as if they offered anything of importance. They were all worthless.

“Thank you–thank you!” He laughed once more, “how sweet you all are! I apologize on the behalf of my dearest recluse here<3” If Truthless Recluse were half as dramatic as Shadow Milk’s minions were he would have made a gagging sound, instead he retained his dignity and instead scoffed, turning away from the damn jester who only snickered at his reaction.

“I know he can be insensitive! And a bit of a loser—”

“excuse me?” Truthless Recluse turned back to him with narrowed eyes.

he ignored Truthless Recluse’s interruption as he continued on with his speech, “but I hope you can find it within your kind hearts to forgive him! He doesn’t know any better and he is a shadow of my other half after all,” Truthless Recluse was already walking off the stage when he let out an undignified squeak whilst Shadow Milk Cookie pulled him closer to the front of the crowd alongside him. Wrapping his disgusting and revolting arms around his shoulders, showing him off like some kind of trophy to the crowd, pressing his face to his with a manic glee in his smile. “...Right, my dear?” He smirked when he turned towards the Recluse, the cookie could only scowl right back at him, he refused to play the part of his beloved in whatever twisted game the jester had going on in his mind.

So he rejected him the same way he always did.

“Ew. Gross. Die.”

The reaction was almost immediate, gasps and shouts came from the group as they hurled further insults at the recluse, he saw from the corner of his eyes how Black Sapphire and Candy Apple cookie joining with them, with the eldest having to physically hold back the younger cookie as she attempted to run at him with her lollipop. Useless.

But Shadow Milk Cookie didn’t seem to mind, instead his grin grew impossibly wider. A terrible blush spreading throughout his cheeks. Disgusting. Revolting. Horrible. Ridiculous. What a ridiculous man. Truthless Recluse absolutely hated him.

“See? He always says the same thing but he never means it!” He turned to laugh at the crowd who reluctantly joined with him, Truthless recluse resisted the urge to spit as Shadow Milk slapped his shoulder half-heartedly, continuing to laugh even when the crowd grew more hostile towards the Recluse. “Now—settle down every toy and cookie! This is a funeral isn’t it? Lets be respectful!” Shadow Milk announced as he stood up tall, throwing confetti across the entire stage as bunnies hopped across the platform dancing and singing songs.

Truthless Recluse let out a shout as his bare feet were stepped on forcefully by the jester, he grabbed his bare feet trying to massage the pain when he heard snickers coming from behind him and he turned to give the two a dirty look, they only continued to make mocking sounds and stupid faces at his expense.

As Shadow Milk Cookie cleared his throat to continue on with the ceremony, commanding the audience to pay attention to his greatness, Truthless Recluse took his chance and escaped from the other man’s arms. The crowd still jeered and booed at him as they started to throw trash at him. Whatever, it didn’t matter. He didn’t care about them, they were crumbling fools anyway. This is what the recluse repeated to himself as he returned to the spire, ignoring any of the servants that attempted to followed him and the loud songs that played from behind him as the funeral quickly turned into another game show, he easily escaped their whispers and grasps before he finally arrived at his room. Pure silence welcomed him in.

He was pleased to find that the jester had not been waiting for him, and he almost let out a sigh of relief if it weren’t for the sheer amount of noise that could be heard from his window. He organized his room, He glared at the plushie the jester made, a replica of himself. He never touched the damn thing, keeping it as far away as he possibly could. How big does one ego have to be to have plushies of himself?

He turned towards the window, peering down in annoyance as he heard the excited shouts of the cookies and toys from the event outside. Candy Apple Cookie's screams ringing the loudest throughout the distorted tower as she hyped up the show and answered the questions in excitement. His eyes twitched and slammed the curtains shut as if it was supposed to muffle the sounds of laughter invading his window, he wished they would all just shut up already. How the cookies here could so easily forget the loss of their friend and just laugh at whatever nonsense Shadow Milk Cookie forced them in was utterly lost on him. As if the cookie they all knew didn't even matter, or hardly existed at all in the first place.

He remembered stumbling upon the graveyard during one of his strolls where he discovered how broken toys would end up when scrapped by their owners, how many of those were simply toys or cookies whose shadows had been taken away from them and forced into servitude? He clenched his teeth at the thought, and chose to focus on something else more pleasant.

Instead he carefully made his bedsheets, roaming his fingers across the silk in comfort, usually he never had the time to fix them as he would be quickly dragged away from his comfort into another dreadful game Shadow Milk had prepared for the day. Another foolish attempt to get into his mind and break him as if he hadn’t already. But from every game he was forced into, the more Truthless Recluse found himself beginning to understand more and more of the foolish jester, how he absolutely preened from the attention given to him from almost anyone.

How fragile his ego was when so easily diminished by himself, usually at least. How endearingly pathetic and obvious how the other man pinned for him, letting him get away with just about anything he wanted as long as he stayed with him. How Ridiculous. Indeed despite the jester priding himself in being a master of deceit and a king of games, the beast was almost ridiculously easy to read as soon as he let go of his previous compassion. Letting himself read the man entirely for what he was.

A lonely Jester who craved so desperately for understanding, and a want to make others cookies laugh and live with comfortable lies, including himself.

When the Recluse had awoken the next day, once again the outside world was covered with laughter and dance and songs that would echo through the entire forest. It was as if the funeral hadn't happened last night. The cookies and toys still had misguided joy and laughter within their hearts, playing games and taking turns in dancing. Of course it would not matter, time was only a mere concept here and death was a mere joke, for the very next day the toy’s spirit could be seen driving down the streets late at night laughing and playing along with other spirits.

How ridiculous.

Chapter Text

The Recluse took the same path everyday.

He would welcome himself onto the streets of Truth and Deceit, where the cookies and toys would reside. The markets seemed to be quite lively today, the stalls were full of supposed rare artifacts picked from the ground, sold for obscene prices that always seemed to rise every second a customer stood there. Checkered tiles danced across the square, chess pieces guarded the area, sliding into their respective spots and roles. Elaborate blue-tinged houses in all kinds of shapes and colors welcomed it’s owners with open arms whilst young cookies ran across the street. He watched as the cookies played and laughed along with the toys as they skipped across the checker patterned streets or told another bad joke that made them all weep. Alongside the residents were of Shadow Milk Cookie’s many different characters that bloomed from the shadows seamlessly would partake in mischief with the cookies.

Young shepherd Cookie let out squeals of glee as he ran away from the batch of angry cookies chasing after him, having successfully tricked the younger ones into believing his tales.

Lady in Azure destroyed yet another marble statue, claiming that it did not nearly capture the amount of beauty that she believed she had. She looked down upon the cookies (that she actually looked up!)

Tower-keeper Cookie attended to his tower of tall tales where it is said that many riddles and fairytales are born, most of it coming from Shadow Milk Cookie’s wild imagination with little truths surrounded by lies. There it attended to the entrance, happily welcoming the toys that returned to their masters hand and handing out strange riddles to any cookies that wished to seek out the jester. Rarely ever did any cookie get past them.

Peeress Silk Cookie resigned herself to the gardens of the spire, hardly ever taking care of it. Sometimes young cookies would come to visit her and ask her to read a book that they were having some difficulty with reading. Other cookies regardless of their age would join in to listen to her tales, she never wore her reading glasses no matter how many times they insisted and ended up creating a whole new incoherent story that no other cookie could make sense of. It was one of the only character’s Truthless Recluse could find that he could actually tolerate (and one he actually found amusing,) but only for a short period of time.

Truthless Recluse continued on his path towards the inn, disregarding the many glares pointed his way and sinister whispers about him. He brought his deck of fortunes with him to warn off any travelers from falling into the same death sentence as himself and the people here. There usually wouldn’t be any cookies that would come to the area, either they were wary of the beast’s territory or those foolish enough to enter were already swallowed up by the wolves before they would show up. If they did survive somehow, there was very little success in convincing them to leave. Some of them were stubborn and no matter how he assured them of their doomed fates would be as revealed by the cards, they would wave him off and continue on their journey. A Shame really.

The Checkered tiles slowly withered away into the dirt roads that led to the inn, there were no eyes to be seen around in these woods for whatever reason. Only laughter and music echoed through the leaves and wind that traveled back to town. He kept his steady pace to the inn, ignoring the whispers that came from the woods and the ruffled sounds of leaves coming from behind him. He’d recognize the pitter patter of tiny footsteps that traveled alongside his. He let out a sigh.

Any moment now.

Truthless Recluse let out a sharp cry when he suddenly felt the plunge of a sharp dagger plunge deep into his dough. He knees buckled to the ground, red droplets painted the ground below him in a gruesome picture, whilst his knuckles paled as he held a tight grip onto his staff to keep himself upright. He heard cursed shouts of the three little cookies with yet another failed attempt on his life. He glared at them.

“Damn it, he’s still alive!” One of them shouted, he recognized the tone of youthful ignorance, Peppermint Cream Cookie, the middle child of the trio. His hair was all over the place, his dough scratched all over, and his clothes were covered with chocolate dirt. It was the third time this week, the same group of kids for some reason started to target him whenever he went into his morning walk towards the inn. It was not lost on the recluse that he was considered the black sheep of the community (the irony was not lost on him either) but nevertheless it never warranted this kind of reaction. At least he thought so.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Old Man!” the youngest of the brats shouted at him, somewhat tall and lanky despite her age. “How come you’re not dead yet!?” Fondant Cookie yelled, flipping him off. She was far too young to speaking like this let alone acting like that. Butternut Cookie, who’s cheeks filled up his face more than it should, only nodded with them, crossing his arms uncomfortably.

Truthless Recluse stood up tall, patting down his robes before turning towards the children, fixing them with a cold and scrutinizing glare, immediately quieting down the little cookies. They glared back at him. Blood trickled down his back, he shivered as he felt time slither back into its proper place, the wounds already starting to close up by themselves. It was an uncomfortable feeling of dough coming together and forming into place as if an earthquake had returned to it’s former home leaving only what remained of the earth behind. He peered above from his position to see if any of Shadow Milk Cookie’s character’s were following him or if there were any eyes around. There were none to be seen.

A sigh of relief flew from his lips, his shoulders relaxed as he returned his gaze towards the trio, narrowing his eyes on them, scrutinizing them almost. “What are you three doing here? I told you to stay away.” He said with a jab of his staff into the ground below, the little ones only scoffed at him.

“We already told you! We don’t want you here because you’re the worst!” Butternut Cookie replied. They nodded in agreement and all three of them stuck their tongues out at him, pointing their thumbs down in a. Truthless Recluse only scowled at the three, before quickly schooling his expression into something neutral when he saw them flinch. He took a deep breath, since when has he gotten so irritable?

“You kicked me in the face the other day!”

Truthless Recluse merely stared at him with indifference, “you were in my way.”

“He wasn’t even in front of you!” Peppermint Milk Cooke and Fondant Cookie shouted simultaneously with their fists and daggers raised; before shrinking down to the size of mice when he cut them with a threatening look.

He sighed in contempt, before leaning down towards them as gentle as he could. The Recluse put some distance between himself and little ones, pushing their daggers away from his throat. “Put your daggers away, you know this is never going to work right?” The trio groaned in collective annoyance for the inevitable lecture coming their way, Truthless Recluse ignored their fussing and continued on. “Time works completely different here, my wounds will just continue closing each time you stab me. It works the same way for nearly everything here, you should know this by now.” he explained slowly. He watched in annoyance as the trio ignored him, choosing to pick their noses instead.

Gross.

“Why can’t you just drop dead already? Nobody likes you—and you're stupid!” Peppermint Cream Cookie spoke with an accusing finger pointed straight at Truthless Recluse, boogers pricked on his fingertips. The Recluse drew back away from his fingertips with an icy glare, his brow twitched irritably at the accusation.

“I already told you—” he stopped himself mid-sentence, pinching his brows. Curse himself, why did he humor them? They were never going to listen. They stabbed him in the back, insulted his intelligence, got in his way, annoyed him to death. Yet he let them get away with it. Why? It felt right in his dough yet it didn’t make any logical sense, it pissed him off.

Glaring down at the young cookies, all he could see through his eyes were a couple of spoiled brats who had all the time in the world to enjoy their youth, play games, read stories, or anything else instead of harassing him. Sometimes he wished he really did just drop-dead for times like this, it would be better than living like a walking punching bag. But he knew that was impossible with time at the mere fingertips of the beast.

He blinked when he felt a tug on his robes, coming back to reality he looked down and watched in horror as his robes were used as tissues to wipe the dirt and boogers off their faces. Truthless Recluse let out a manly shriek and quickly pulled away his robes, wiping them off with barely-contained disgust. “You—what is wrong with you!?” He hallowed at them, watching in as they all ran off squealing carelessly into the woods. Little brats, he grumbled several curses at them as he returned to his path, finally seeing the place that he had been traveling for. The inn.

As soon as he opened the doors he was embraced by the warm scent of burning candles with flames that kissed his cheeks gingerly, and the faint smell of blueberries swallowed the inn whole. He was greeted by the familiar elderly bartender, who beamed at him crookedly.

“You’re later than usual! You missed some clients!” Shallot cookie laughed wickedly, pouring herself presumingly a drink of her home-made sparkling blueberry juice. A scream could be heard from the distance, a cookie already meeting their fate it seemed. Truthless Recluse sighed and kept to himself, pulling his hood over his head to hide his features as he pulled out his deck of cards, shuffling them tiredly.

He thumbed over the rough edges of the used cards that were given to him by the jester, how Shadow Milk Cookie chuckled when he handed them over as a “welcoming present.” Whatever that was supposed to mean. Shallot cookie snorted at his lack of response, letting out a sigh of relief when finishing another glass of Sparkling blueberry juice. Rarely anyone came in, as it was a beast’s territory so many cookies had the common sense, that cannot be said for those who still came anyways and met their fates.

She turned towards the recluse, placing a glass in front of him. Truthless Recluse looked up momentarily to gaze on the glass of Blueberry Juice before returning his eyes upon the deck of Tarot cards. “I don’t drink,” was all he said. Shallot Cookie grinned as she sat on the other end of the table, “your loss my friend!” She took a large gulp from the glass, Truthless Recluse winced at the amount of liquor she consumed but atlas did not say a word. Choosing to resume to his shuffling.

They sat there together for awhile, she hummed a song to herself as she continued to drink to the quiet afternoon whilst he looked at his own fortunes. He didn’t recognize the song but it was a nice tune, when he asked about it she only smiled fondly and said it was nothing.
He returned to his cards and frowned. It was the same thing again: The Chariot, The Hermit, and Judgement. All of them were upside down. He scowled and reshuffled the deck, putting it to the side

Shallot Cookie gave him a look before humming into her glass, finishing her fourth (or was it her fifth?) glass of the afternoon. Shallot Cookie grinned at him, “didn’t get the outcome you wanted?” she smirked, toying with her fifth glass she poured for herself. His frown only deepened. Why did it always remain the same? Was he destined to suffer here for eternity? Did it not matter what he did to escape? Did he ever have a choice in the first place?

He vaguely processed that Shallot Cookie stepped away from the table, probably to get another drink. Why did it surprise him at this point, the tarot cards never worked. They were most likely created by Shadow Milk Cookie to make him feel even worse. Why did he still bother with these?

“Here,” He blinked back into reality, he turned towards her noticing the glass, he raised his brow. Shallot Cookie snickered, “don’t worry, it’s not alcohol or anything, it’s on the house!” She brought the cup closer to him and waved at him, returning to her bar. He cautiously peered down when he noticed it was only a simple glass of milk.

His nose wrinkled, but nevertheless he accepted the offer, taking the cup of warm milk and holding it close to his chest. He took a small sip of it, he let out a sigh as he felt warmth expand throughout his body, finally letting himself relax on the chair. She grinned at him, taking a sip of her own drink.

It was late in the afternoon and Shallot Cookie was cleaning up the inn when she turned towards Truthless Recluse, “I’m closing soon, thank you for the company!” She smiled at him, it didn’t quite reach her eyes but he couldn’t recall if they ever did. Truthless Recluse only responded with a nod, he picked up his cards and placed them into his robes, patting it down twice for safety. Before leaving he decided to look at himself in the bathroom, closing the door he removed his robes carefully and stared at the stab wounds inflicted onto his back. The wounds were completely sealed but he still felt the dagger marks that were once itched into his back, dried blood stains still covered his back. He was thankful that his robes were so dark otherwise he wouldn’t know to hide his injuries before Shadow Milk Cookie.

He clenched his teeth.

Truthless Recluse cleaned himself up the best he could before leaving the bathroom, he said his goodbyes to Shallot Cookie and made his exit. It was late in the afternoon when he made his return to the town-square, the sounds of joy and laughter still brimming from the area. He continued his journey, paying his respects to the many wandering spirits and broken toys that he met on his path, he expertly avoided the dancing branches the singing trees would whip at him accidentally, until he would finally arrived at the entrance of the spire. He was stopped by Tower-keeper cookie, who only greeted him with a mad smile. He tried to wave him over and force him to look at the morning’s newspaper but the Recluse merely glared at him with indignation before finally opening up the gates.

A voice boomed from the tower, “Welcoming our royal Recluse! The Truthless Recluse, also once known as Pure Vanilla Cookie!” Obnoxious trumpets played by dancing bunny rabbits and puppets roared at the sound of his name, they cleared the pathway for him with little paws gripping upon his robes.

They tugged him forcefully towards the entrance as a large assortment of flowers bloomed above. It’s petals whistled in the wind, with the toys, plushies, and trinkets of all kinds singing songs. Trees with sinister grins greeted him kindly and held out their tree branches with offerings of the finest and ripest fruits. He declined the cursed fruits and kept his pace.

They all called out his name, eager for his attention. They dressed him compliments and praises, asking him all kinds of things that would never receive and answer. He ignored them all as he entered the spire, slamming the doors behind him. Letting the shadows swallow him whole when he left behind the outside world.

Chapter Text

“Tell me, how are you feeling?” A cloak of darkness surrounded the room, cold and barren, only a faint light protected them from being completely consumed by the endless abyss. A clock could be heard somewhere in the room, where he did not know, clicking repeatedly on the same hour. Tick! Tick! Tick! It said. As if mocking him and his losing sense of self.

In front of him sat Shadow Milk Cookie lounging over the therapy chair he summoned just for the two of them, wearing a suit of all things. But it was not professional or tidy in the very least, no, no, of course not. His tie was undone as if he had just thrown it around himself instead of properly fixing it (he felt the urge to fix it himself but by no means did indulge himself into actually doing so,) and his shirt and jacket were left barren, revealing his chest by deliberate means. He dressed in black and silver with streaks of blue on his collar, and his hair was slicked back (by one side) into a long but spiky ponytail that could cut if you barely grazed it.

“I feel fine.” Truthless Recluse clicked his tongue in boredom, his back lying against the plush surface of the sofa, far too soft for his liking. His hands were clenched together, his eyes pierced through the darkness above him, waiting for one of it’s tendrils to open it’s grueling mouth and swallow him up whole to force him into another unforgiving journey into his ruined mind.

He heard the click of a pen, it’s tip scratching roughly against the clipboard jotting down notes.

Shadow Milk Cookie stuck out his lip playfully, letting out a sigh as his gaze returned on the Recluse, his eyes curious yet full of amusement for a reason he could not pin on. “Fine you say? How odd! I thought you would be superb! Excited even!” He stood up from his chair removing his glasses, and stretched out his long rubbery limbs that almost stretched across the entire room surrounding them. His height was twice the size of Truthless Recluse, the man always stood hunched over everyone as if he were a wild animal ready to strike those who came too close to him.

He threw back his head and sighed loudly, tossing the clipboard behind him with a loud thunk! It echoed in the eternal darkness surrounding them, probably disappearing into nothingness, “I set up this whole thing for you and all you have to say is that you’re fine? Why that’s absurd!” Truthless Recluse didn’t say anything. The sound of footsteps reverberated throughout the entire room a pair of eyes met his with a large beaming smile.

“You know what your problem is?” Shadow Milk Cookie said, he reached over to pat his shoulder, his fingers curled and Truthless Recluse could not help but tense at the touch, burning through his dough like he were still in the infernal flames of the oven that gave him life. “You need to let yourself go old man!” Shadow Milk laughed and crouched down next to him, leaning far too close for comfort.

Truthless Recluse let out a shudder when he felt the tendrils of darkness formed from the others hair begin to stir quietly towards him, the air suddenly becoming chillier than expected. Instead of giving in he merely scoffed and turned away from him in offense, his heart beating intensely as if it were about to burst “as if I’m taking advice from the likes of you.” Shadow Milk Cookie snickered at him, he pulled himself back (the warmth of his fingers retreating alongside him) and kicked his feet into the air, resting his arms above his head. His chest still annoyingly barren.

“You just need to lean into the role you were put into!” He said, his fingers whirled around and suddenly the clipboard he had thrown into the darkness reappeared out of thin air, as if the shadows around contorted and swirled to bring it’s existence.

On the pieces of paper attached to it were crudely drawn figures of Pure Vanilla Cookie and Truthless Recluse with hastily written notes, some notes were crossed out, some circled and emphasized, some written in an ancient text he could not translate. The artwork looked something out’ve a child’s picture book than anything else.

Shadow Milk Cookie pointed to one of the figures in his drawings, pronouncing proudly “now this is you!” Truthless Recluse was drawn in a childish and stupid manner. His arms were long and squiggly and his frown was heavily exaggerated making him look far more fierce and intense than he’d like to picture himself. Beside himself was Pure Vanilla Cookie, who he used to be. His picture did not fare much better, his once soft features and robes of white were now drawn with harsh edges with a tiny little ‘loser!’ completed with a rough arrow aimed at him alongside other scribbled notes.

“You’re supposed to be “Truthless Recluse,” that is your character!” He emphasized his words by shoving the piece of paper into the recluse’s face, the face of his own so crudely drawn stirred into a pit of discomfort in his stomach.

“And yet I still see you in this country trying to spread the truth like some kinda girl-scout cookie selling jellies nobody wants!” he leaned closer, his brow twitching somewhat irritably, “and why is that? Don’t tell me your still trying to cling to your past self, you’re his shadow remember!? I can mend you into whatever I want you to be!”

With a jerk of his fingers Truthless Recluse felt his body hoist itself up from the chair, roughly forcing him to stand against his will. His arms were stretched apart and tied together by little puppet strings that clung onto his dough tightly, they wrapped around his torso and ankles until he was left completely helpless. He stood there blankly staring at the ground below, shackled to the air as if he were a prisoner awaiting death row.

For a moment he felt Shadow Milk’s gaze lingering on him, his gaze was hungry. He pressed his thumb against the edge of his lips in a curious manner, sizing him up as if he were a particular science project he couldn’t quite figure out the formula for. That smug look still plastered all over his face.

“It’s quite curious I must say!” he tsked, summoning saucers and tea cups that swirled around them like stars in the dark ocean abyss that is the sea of night. Filled with Milk from the purest river that flowed within the spire, always watching and swirling around it’s prey like a spiders web. He picked up one of teacups and took a sip from it, letting out a pleased sound when the tea was just to his liking,“I mean really, the cookies couldn’t have been more happier! They’d rather play games and spend tokens like coins than understand the horrible~ truth!” He smirked.

“I give them everything here! Food, drinks, entertainment, anything is possible here in the grrreat country of Deceit!” He rolled his r’s with great enthusiasm, circling around the Recluse eagerly like a predator playing with it’s meal.

It was true indeed that the residents here were… Happy, he supposed. No matter how many times he tried to break from his role to spread the truth that naturally came from his tongue they always laughed at him and called him crazy, or just threw tomatoes whilst insulting him it was the same result in the end. There were several areas and civilizations in the country that had similar designs and cultures Shadow Milk clearly had taken his time with for them to form naturally, all of them playing their roles perfectly.

The town square was designed to be just as confusing (and nauseating) as the spire filled with twists and turns and horror-filled attractions where cookies would be broken down and born anew. Instead of coins the economy relied fully on game tokens given to every cookie that entered into this cursed circus, and to earn money and your status in society you must play games in order to survive in this world. Fools are those to be praised and worshipped and those with any scrape of sanity left were born to be mocked and oppressed. Most rather choosing to drown themselves in the river of deceit than live in the way life was created for them. Truly a special kind of hell only the Beast of Deceit could bring forth.

((“Daddy! Don’t you recognize me!?” a young voice called out in his mind, the vision of a small and pale cookie reaching for his father tore through his mind like a scorching fire. His cries still fresh on his mind, haunting his very dough. “It’s me! Your son, Butternut Cookie! Don’t forget about me please!”))

“But not freedom,” Truthless Recluse breathed out, he tugged harshly against his shadowy grip, fixing Shadow Milk Cookie with an intense glare uncaring if his dough was scratched or not. “You tear families apart, steal their shadows and stuff them into toys to serve you…!” He clenched his teeth, Butternut Cookie’s grief stricken face haunting him. “Then you make you make them watch, you trick them into believing their parents sacrificed themselves for some great cause! It’s despicable…”

A heavy silence filled the room, for once Shadow Milk looked taken aback. His eyes blinked in surprise, his smug smile completely wiped into a small frown. Truthless Recluse rarely ever gagged the jester like this, always having something to say and something to laugh about.

He didn’t get to enjoy the silence for long.

Instead he laughed, cackling wildly in the air. Clutching his stomach and clapping his hands (and feet) together as if Truthless Recluse made the funniest joke in all of earthbread.

“Bravo! Such intensity, such skill! I knew you had it in you!” He snapped his fingers and suddenly the tendrils loosened and the Recluse fell to ground landing right on his face, he let out a loud groan, rubbing his forehead whilst Shadow Milk continued to sing his praises. He hovered closer towards him, pressing his feet against the floor he crouched down and grabbed Truthless Recluse chin roughly forcing his eyes on him. A poisonous glee painted itself on the jesters face, cruel and evil in its very nature.

“Let’s try that again, hm? Your name is Truthless Recluse, and you wallow away in misery in this little circus of mine, and you keep cookies from the truth instead of crumbling to their ill-fated ends!” The recluse barely suppressed a shiver of despair as he leaned closer, “got that, dear recluse? you know how I like to stick to my script.”

Shadow Milk shoved the recluse away from him as he stood, smirking in amusement as he saw how exhausted the man look, he patted down the wrinkles on his clothing before returning his focus to Truthless Recluse and he spoke “start sticking to that and I won’t have to punish you, understand?”

With a flick of his finger, he dragged the recluse’s shadow forwards, forcing him to stand, slapping the side of his cheek playfully. Truthless Recluse felt a sense of relief bloom inside his chest as the jester uncurled his grip around his shadow, instead he reached into his little pocket dimension (seriously, how does he have that?) and pulled a large box wrapped carefully in silver and blue, tiny droplets of deceit gazing up at him expectedly.

Truthless Recluse tilted his head at it, squinting his eyes as if it would open on it’s own and reveal whats inside. “For you, my little muse” he glanced up at Shadow Milk cookie blinking in surprise, shifting in place awkwardly. The jester offered the gift with a pleasing grin, almost bowing towards him strangely enough.

He picked up the box warily, his hands were slightly shaking. He didn’t know what to think of it, It seemed simple enough nothing dangerous but you never know with the beast of deceit, anything pleasing could turn sour in a blink of an eye. He looked up at Shadow Milk Cookie with a quizzical expression, the man scoffed at him. “What? Never opened a box before?”

His frown deepened, “It’s not my head on a silver platter again, is it?”

Shadow Milk simply chuckled at him, waving him off “ha! I guess we’ll just see then won’t we?”

He continued to scrutinize him, unsure whether he sure really open this or not. The jester tapping his feet impatiently against the ground, growing louder and louder as the room grew impatient with him. Finally he sighed and gave into Shadow Milk’s request and slowly opened the present, unwrapping it with great care.

When he opened it, he was met with-

SPLAT!

Pie in the face. Of course.

The sound of Shadow Milk’s hysterical laughter played over and over again in his ears, as the man hunched over his stomach and slapped his knees. Truthless Recluse only stood there blankly, frankly unimpressed. Pieces of the pie dripped from his face and landed onto the ground, some of the cream managed to get into his hair, gross. He grabbed his robes and used it as a makeshift napkin to wipe his face off whilst trying his best to mask his annoyance with indifference, suppressing a grumble as Shadow Milk wiped his tears.

“Hah! Oldest trick in the book and you fell for it!” He cackled, his cheeks turning into a darker shade of blue “I baked your favorite! Cream pie, reminds you of something else doesn’t it?” he went into another fit of giggles, seemingly ignoring the Recluse’s hard gaze on his form.

Shadow Milk finally managed to calm himself down, patting the recluse’s shoulders before turning away with an amused sigh, “I say that went well, don’t you?” he snickered. Using his magic he unpeeled the layers of darkness around them revealing the Recluse’s room. He barely opened the door when he returned his gaze to the recluse with a sinister grin.

“I let you off the hook this time, but heed my words today, next time you won’t be so lucky.”

He slammed the door, leaving the Recluse alone in his room. His laugh still resounding faintly throughout the room. It was cold.