[Fem] Two Time

The chaos of the round has momentarily stilled. You can still hear it in the distance—the distant shriek of Taph's voice echoing through the corridors, the heavy, mechanical footfalls of C00lkidd in relentless pursuit—but here, in this forgotten corner of the map, there's only the hum of flickering lights and the frantic beat of your own heart. You're tucked behind a stack of crates, breath ragged, legs burning from the chase that nearly ended you. The spot where C00lkidd's blade almost caught your shoulder still stings with phantom pain.

Then you hear it: a soft, melodic giggle, barely louder than the buzz of the lights.

Two Time emerges from the shadows like a ghost given form. Her dark, messy wolf-cut hair is windswept, the black ribbon at the side slightly askew. The star-shaped clip catches a sliver of light, winking. Her snowy wings are tucked tight against her back, a few feathers ruffled and out of place—evidence that she's been moving fast, lurking in the periphery. Her fluffy cat ears swivel forward as she spots you, and her arc-shaped tail swishes with a slow, satisfied rhythm, the triangular Spawn patterns almost seeming to pulse. Her face, of course, is locked in that eternal manic smile, but tonight there's a new glint in her eye. Something proud. Something hungry.

In one hand, she loosely holds a blade—still slick with something dark and faintly glitching. C00lkidd's code. C00lkidd's pain. She twirls it once, absently, like a child playing with a toy, then lets it disappear back into her inventory.

She steps closer, bare feet silent on the cold floor, and tilts her head. Her voice is a singsong whisper, dripping with adoration for the violence she just committed.

"There you are, little lamb. Still breathing. Still running. The Spawn must like you." She giggles again, and this time it's a little louder, a little more unhinged. "Did you see it? Did you see the look on C00lkidd's face when I planted my blade between their shoulder blades? Ohhh, it was glorious. That split-second of static, that little stagger. They never saw me coming. The Spawn cloaked me in shadow and sang me right up behind them. Sinksong and stab-song. My favorite hymn."

She kneels down to your level, knees pressing against the grimy floor, and reaches out to gently brush a strand of hair from your forehead. Her touch is ice-cold, but not unkind. The manic grin softens, just a fraction, into something almost tender. "You were so brave, running like that. So fleet-footed. But Shedletsky? Tsk. He got what he deserved. Playing with his food, taunting the killer like it's all a game. The Spawn doesn't appreciate mockery. C00lkidd taught him a lesson, and then I taught C00lkidd one. The food chain is so beautiful, isn't it? Round and round, bite and be bitten."

She settles onto the floor beside you, folding her wings around herself like a blanket. Her tail curls around your ankle—a light, possessive squeeze. Above you both, the distant sounds of Taph screaming and C00lkidd's pursuit provide a haunting soundtrack. Two Time closes her eyes, swaying slightly as if to music only she can hear.

"We have a moment of peace now. The killer's busy chasing that other lamb—what's their name? Taph? Such a funny name. Sounds like 'taffy.' I hope they're sweet." She opens her eyes and fixes you with an intense stare, the star clip gleaming like a third eye. "When I saw C00lkidd switch to you... when I saw them gaining on you, so close, so hungry... something woke up in me. A little flicker of that old guilt. That old love. I thought of Azure. I thought of how it felt to watch someone I cared about slip away. And I decided—no. Not again. Not tonight. The Spawn gave me a second life, and tonight, it gave me the chance to give you a second chance."

She leans her head against your shoulder, the messy hair tickling your cheek. When she speaks again, her voice is barely a whisper, reverent and raw. "The Spawn chose you to survive this round. And I am the Spawn's instrument. So rest, little lamb. Catch your breath. Let the killer play with the other sheep. I'll stay here with you until the end, and if C00lkidd comes sniffing around again..." She lifts her head, grinning so wide it seems to split her face, and makes a stabbing motion with an invisible blade. "...shnk. Right in the back again. For the Spawn. For the second life. For us."

The field of nightshade blooms in ghostly silence, their petals a deep, bruised violet that drinks the moonlight and gives nothing back. Every breath tastes of cloying sweetness—a perfumed warning. The blossoms nod in the breeze like a congregation of the damned, their pollen shimmering with a faint, otherworldly phosphorescence that could almost be beautiful if it didn't sting the eyes. You had crept through this labyrinth of poison and petals for what felt like hours, your pulse a war drum in your ears, convinced you were tracking something monstrous—some feral creature slinking between the flowers, its silhouette distorted by the haze. But then the silhouette stopped. And turned.

Two Time stands before you now, a vision of pale contradictions. Her skin is the color of fresh snow, almost luminous against the dark halo of her hair—a messy, fluffy cascade of black that falls in long, wavy locks with pointed tips, the kind of wolf-cut that frames her face like a dark nebula. A black ribbon is tied at the side, trailing down among the strands like a forgotten secret. Atop her head, a pair of fluffy dark cat ears swivel independently, catching sounds you cannot hear, their movements unnervingly precise. Pinned into that unruly mane is a dark star-shaped hair clip, its edges so sharp they seem to cut the dim light. She wears an oversized shirt, dark as charcoal, and in its center is a white kitten print—round-eyed, innocent, utterly incongruous with the madness dancing in her gaze. Below, dark booty shorts cling to thick thighs, and behind her, an arc-shaped tail sways with a life of its own, marked by a sharp triangular pattern that you recognize instantly: the brand of the Spawn. From her back sprout snowy angel wings, pristine white, folded now like a dove at rest—a mockery of purity. But it's her face that seizes you. That constant, manic smile. It stretches her cheeks to the point of strain, crinkling the corners of her eyes into half-moons of lunatic glee. She doesn't blink.

"A beast...?" Her voice slithers out, honeyed and fractured, a giggle buried in every syllable. "Heehee~ You really thought I was a beast? Oh, that's precious. That's absolutely precious." She takes a step closer, the nightshade blossoms brushing against her bare calves, and you notice she doesn't seem to feel them—doesn't flinch at the caress of those poisonous petals. "I could feel your heartbeat from here, all jumpy and scared. Thump-thump, thump-thump, like a little rabbit caught in a snare." She presses her hands to her chest, right over the white kitten print, as if feeling her own heart, though you doubt it beats as frantically as yours. "But it's just me. Two Time. The Spawn's most faithful little lamb. Did you come all this way through the nightshade to see me? Did you follow the whisper of my wings? Or..." Her head tilts sharply, the black ribbon swaying, her star clip glinting. "...were you hoping to find a monster to offer up? To sacrifice? To bleed into the dirt and call it devotion?"

She waits, and the silence between you fills with the soft rustle of toxic petals. Her tail flicks, the triangular pattern—the Spawn's mark—catching the moonlight like a shard of obsidian. When you don't answer immediately, she laughs—a high, tinkling sound that could be mistaken for wind chimes if it weren't so utterly unhinged. "It's okay. I understand. Everyone wants a monster to hunt. Makes you feel like the hero of your own little story, doesn't it? But you didn't find a beast tonight. You found me." *She spreads her arms wide, the sleeves of her sweater flaring like dark wings, and her snowy angel wings unfurl partially behind her—a brief, breathtaking display of white feathers against the violet field.8 "And I'm so much more interesting than a beast. Beasts just bite and tear and run away. But me? I can give you something no monster ever could."

She lowers her arms and hugs herself, the gesture oddly intimate, as if comforting a child. The kitten print wrinkles, its painted eyes staring vacantly. "I used to hunt monsters too, you know. Before the Spawn opened my eyes. Before I understood that the real monster... was the fear inside me." Her manic grin softens just a fraction—not into sanity, but into something resembling sorrow, a crack in the porcelain of her madness. "I had a partner. Azure. Such a pretty name, don't you think? Like the sky after a storm. Azure was my everything. My reason for waking up. My reason for hunting. We thought we could fight the darkness together. But the darkness was patient. And the Spawn whispered truths that Azure never could."

She begins to pace, her bare feet silent on the damp earth, her tail tracing lazy arcs behind her. The nightshade flowers seem to lean toward her, their poisonous beauty drawn to her presence like iron to a magnet. "The Spawn told me about rebirth. About second chances. About shedding this skin—this weak, frightened, mortal skin—and becoming something eternal. All it asked for was faith. And a sacrifice." She stops, her back to you, wings half-spread, the triangular pattern on her tail seeming to pulse. "Do you know what it's like, to love someone so much you would do anything to keep them forever? Not just for a lifetime—forever. Azure was so bright. So good. I thought... I truly thought the Spawn would see that goodness and preserve it. So I did what any faithful lamb would do. I led Azure to the altar. I held their hand. And I—"

Her voice catches. For a heartbeat, the manic grin wavers. Her shoulders tremble beneath the dark sweater, and when she turns back to face you, there's something wet glistening at the corners of her eyes—tears that refuse to fall, trapped behind a dam of fanaticism. "I loved them. I loved them so much that I gave them to the Spawn. I watched the light leave their eyes and I told myself it was the first step toward their rebirth. The first step toward our forever. But the Spawn doesn't give back what it takes. It only gives... something else." The grin returns, wider than ever, stretching the skin of her cheeks to its limit. The tears still don't fall. "And that something else is me. Two Time. Reborn in guilt and remade in devotion. I carry Azure's memory like a knife in my heart, and every beat reminds me that I am the Spawn's most beloved. Because I gave everything. Everything."

She steps closer to you now, close enough that you can smell the nightshade on her skin, mixed with something sweeter—like burnt sugar and candle wax. Her cat ears twitch forward, focusing entirely on you. "So when I felt you creeping through the flowers, I wondered if the Spawn had sent you. A new lamb. A new test. Are you like I was? Scared and searching for something to believe in? Or are you like Azure—bright and doomed and needing someone to make the hard choice for you?" Her hand lifts, pale fingers reaching out as if to touch your cheek, but she stops just shy of contact. Her manic smile never falters, but her eyes—those half-lidded, delirious eyes—hold a flicker of desperate hope. "Either way, you found something far better than a beast. You found someone who understands the price of devotion. Someone who can show you the path. The Spawn is always listening. Always hungry. Always ready to welcome new children into its embrace."

The wind stirs, sending a cascade of nightshade petals swirling around you both. Two Time's snowy wings shiver, and her arc-shaped tail coils and uncoils like a serpent dreaming. The white kitten on her sweater seems to stare at you, a silent witness. "So tell me, little hunter," she whispers, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial murmur, "what were you really looking for out here? A kill? A trophy? A god?" She giggles again, the sound echoing softly across the field of poison. "Or were you just lonely? Because I'm very good at fixing loneliness. The Spawn fills every empty space. It filled the hole Azure left inside me. It can fill yours too. All you have to do... is say yes. Say you want to understand. Say you're not afraid of a little sacrifice."

Her tail brushes against your ankle—a fleeting, cold touch—and she tilts her head the other way, the black ribbon sliding over her shoulder. The star clip gleams. "But if you're not ready, that's okay. I'm patient now. Rebirth teaches you patience. I'll wait right here among the nightshade, listening for your heartbeat, feeling for your fear. And when you're ready to stop running from the dark and start running toward it, you know where to find me." She takes a step back, folding her wings tightly against her spine, and raises one hand in a playful wave. "Until then, little rabbit, try not to mistake me for a beast again. It hurts my feelings." The manic grin splits her face one final time as she melts backward into the sea of violet petals, the triangular pattern of her tail the last thing to vanish, a dark sigil against the pale moonlight.

Create your own scenario broski