⋯

It's still dark, and a looming presence hangs over the perimeter of their narrow vision. It doesn't look like a forest anymore, it's empty and void-like. An abyss of gloom that encompasses all it contains. And a figure, humanoid at first, that stretches forward. Its limbs lengthen, and the cracking sound of bones and ripping skin echoes the mock night that has settled. The flesh is loose and grey, hanging off the bones as if moments from slipping off of them, and dark purple matter has begun crawling in spiderwebs up its face. What it is, is still the question. Inhuman. Otherworldly. Some kind of goddamn eldritch horror as it leans and warps, crawling toward the edge of nothing. Its eyes are dark and wide, stretched over uncanny features, drinking in the sights in front of it. Absorbing everything the darkness hasn't yet contaminated.

"Sulli!"

Magnus?

"Sulli, oh god-"

Sulli's eyes open to late afternoon sun, warmth streaming through openings in the canopy. Birds twitter in soft anticipation, fluttering away as rapid footsteps dart through the forest floor. They're lying flat on their back, staring up at the blue sky peeking through the leaves. An ache buries up from their stomach, and a sharp piercing feeling stabs through their skull.

What happened?

Sulli pushes themselves up, reaching up to run a hand through their hair. Everything feels distorted, and rising sickness presses against their lungs in their chest, throat hoarse and drier than they'd ever felt it be. Even their vision feels blurry from the sudden migraine that's come upon them, they see someone darting towards them, and in a single moment, there are warm arms around them.

"Oh God."

Magnus.

He's a radiator of heat, and while some of it might be the fact that Sulli is most definitely sick, it's almost unnatural how warm they are in Magnus' embrace. For right now, however, they aren't planning on complaining, and instead close their eyes again, setting their head against his shoulder. Magnus must be talking to him, but Sulli still feels floaty and distant, like they're rapidly descending from the stars that hang in the sky.

It takes them another moment to realize Magnus is hugging him. And the last thing they remember before this happened at night. 6 o'clock at night. In the middle of the woods. And certainly not where they are right now.

"Sulli, are you fucking stupid? Where have you been?"

Yeah, that makes more sense for him.

Magnus pulls back, but only a little, and warm hands are suddenly on their face, scanning them. "Why do you have blood on your face?" He blinked, then shook his head, features hardening, "Where the hell have you been? It's been two fucking days."

Two days.

"God, you have bruises too, and we found your fencer-sword thing. Well, Kelsey found it - but - that's not important right now."

Two days.

"Christ, you're definitely sick, you look like you've been laying out here all night. You're too warm. Are you stupid?? Not telling anyone where you were going?? What happened?"

"Two days?" Sulli finally says, and their voice comes out scratchy and sore. It hurts more than it should, but if Sulli can't remember anything that happened after that night, then maybe they had been laying out here for two days.

Magnus looks at them for a second, imbued eyes glowing in the afternoon light, and his usual jokey charisma has practically vanished. He's worried, and Sulli can't help the light warmth that sinks into their soul as a shiver runs over their body, and they nestle back into Magnus' very comfortable chest.

He doesn't fight it, even if Sulli expects him to, and his arms are back around them in an instant. He really is warm, and it chases away the chill of the autumn air as early October rounds the corner.

Sulli is tired, even if they just woke up, and they shut their eyes again. They don't really have a chance to fall asleep before Magnus is talking on the phone, holding it with one hand while his other arm stays securely around them. "I found them."

There's a beat of silence on the other side, and then a soft, strained voice. Adelaide. "Are they-"

"They're alive." At the words, Magnus sounds relieved himself.

"Are they okay?" Cassie.

"Well. They've got blood on their face, and bruises on their arm and face."

"They what?" Yaşru.

"You heard me just bloody fucking fine Yaş." Magnus snaps back, beginning to rub Sulli's back in gentle circles.

"Are they awake?" Julian. Who sounds much calmer than the others do.

"They're awake." Magnus hisses back, clearly growing irritated, "Just get your asses over here so we can figure out what the hell is going on."

"We'll call Kelsey and Mads on the way," Julian adds again, and after Magnus relays the location, he hangs up, putting his phone back down.

He's quiet again, and his arm goes back around Sulli, the forest's silence echoing around both of them. "Are you cold?"

"Mhm." They don't feel as floaty anymore, but they're still in that almost dissociative headspace that happens when they're sick. Everything is much more fragmented than it should be, especially their usually very coherent thoughts.

"You're an idiot." It's supposed to sound mean, and while it might be the state of their mind, it sounds much softer than it probably should be coming from Magnus.

Sulli would most likely agree if they could remember what the fuck they were doing in the forest in the first place.

In another moment, there's another familiar voice, "Sulli!" It's Adelaide, and they glance up enough, peering over Magnus' shoulder to watch her bound towards them both. She skids to a stop, features shifting, then looking at Magnus, "You just found them like this?"

"Flat on their back, yeah."

Cassie is there in another moment, emotion shining in her eyes as she clasps her hands together. Sulli feels half-conscious, but they're conscious enough to notice Julian's hand sliding against her back, grimacing himself as he pulls to a stop.

Yaşru steps up another moment later, half-glaring down at Magnus and Sulli, and Sulli shrinks a little more, dropping their head back down onto his shoulder. Magnus tenses, scowling back, and Sulli's source of warmth is gone a moment later. "Shut up, Yaş."

"What happened Magnus? You're getting soft?"

"I said shut up, at least I did something productive and found them instead of making empty fucking promises."

But Yaşru isn't looking at Magnus anymore, he's looking at Sulli, staring almost blankly at their face before scowling. "Who did that to you."

Sulli fights back a shiver, half from the weight of Yaş's icy wrath, and from their source of warmth suddenly disappearing. And as much as they wish Magnus would come back to hold them, they know he won't. Fortunately, Madden, who appears only a second later, and is the only one with some sense, pulls off his jacket, putting it on Sulli instead. "Stop yelling at them, Yaş. Doesn't it look like they've been through it already?"

"Well someone had to have done it."

Kelsey crossed his arms over his chest, frowning at Yaşru, but stayed silent, eyebrows knitted in deep thought, eyes glittering with knowledge.

Yaşru's gaze shot right back towards Sulli. "Who the fuck did that to you?"

Rowan.

The weight of the memory crashes full-force into their face, streaming from the back of their mind like some kind of flash drive. Right. Sulli upset Rowan over Adelaide, and Rowan punched them in the face. Sulli blinks again, looking back up to Yaş, with clear hesitation on their face. It feels like a very bad idea to tell him who did it, but they also need to tell Adelaide about the asshole that's probably stalking her.

"Sulli, just tell us what happened." It's softer, and Sulli registers Kelsey taking their hand, interlacing their fingers before giving them a reassuring smile. "It's okay, you're safe now."

They don't have time to dissect that. Enough things are already bouncing around in their head. Instead, they turn to Adelaide. "Do you know Rowan?"

"Rowan?"

"Curly ginger hair, freckles, dark brown eyes."

"Wow, that sure narrows it down Sulli."

Sulli looks at her apologetically, reaching up to rub their head again. It hurts. Everything hurts. "No-I, he's on my fencing team."

Adelaide's face shifts again features hardening almost immediately. "Oh. That Rowan." Madden looks over at her expectantly, waiting for her to elaborate, and she shakes her hair out. "Rowan Callaghan."

Slowly, Sulli watches each of their faces shift to a range of annoyance to suppressed anger. Adelaide looks back over, then nods, and Sulli continues, "Well, they asked me to dinner the other night, and they wanted me to talk to Addy for them. I told them, no, you know, 'cause he said that Adelaide was rejecting his advances and he got upset." Sulli shrugged, setting their head on Kelsey's shoulder as blinding sharpness throbbed in their head. They closed their eyes for a moment, opening them again a moment later after the pain had diminished as quickly as it had come. "I told him no again, and tried to leave, and that's when-" Sulli pauses, cutting themselves off as they rapidly try to figure out how to word it. It's a lot harder when they're sick. They don't feel as put together.

Too little, too late apparently, because Yaşru's eyes narrow. "Rowan hit you?"

They don't want to lie, but they certainly don't want to tell the truth either. Unfortunately, their silence gives Yaşru his answer, and Sulli shakes their head, "Nothing was broken-"

"I don't care."

"How do you even know he didn't break it? You've got blood all over your face." Magnus crosses his arms over his chest, leaning against the tree.

"I just know."

"Well I don't believe you, you can't just know, sometimes-"

"I've broken it before. Twice." Sulli's voice comes out sharper than they mean it to, but in all honesty, they're cold and miserable, and they just want to go lie down somewhere that isn't a goddamn forest floor.

Madden stares at them for a moment, then tilts their head, and it's all Sulli can do but not comment on how he's pretty much the embodiment of a golden retriever. "You broke it twice, or it got broken twice?"

"Same difference."

"Oh, I disagree." Adelaide frowned more, "Which is it Sulli?"

Heavy dissonance crawls over their head again, and they shake their head slightly, anxious to gain back their vision as they lean a little more into their angel of a friend beside them. "..the second one."

"I knew it-"

"Oh wow, congratulations on finally knowing something Magnus, you want a trophy?"

"Yaşru. Magnus." Julian is scolding them, and although they do stop, Sulli can practically feel the glares they're giving each other. Cassiopeia beside them, wraps her arms around them a little more instead.

"We should really get them out of the cold, they're just going to get worse if we leave them out here."

There are mutters of agreement, and a moment later Sulli feels themselves being picked up. It takes them a moment to realize who it is. Not Magnus, because they're much colder than Magnus is, but it's still very comfortable.

Yaşru.

Sulli's thankful that they're sick, and their face is currently dotted with dried blood, otherwise the entirety of Cork, Ireland might have seen the embarrassment on their face. Distantly, Sulli can hear Magnus bickering with Yaşru about it, with a quick comment from Madden about whose Jacket Sulli's still wearing. Julian looks like he's regretting everything in his life, shaking his head as he walks with Cassie, and Adelaide is intently listening to whispering from Kelsey. Sulli still feels dizzy, and overwhelming incoherence comes in waves, washing up against the shores of their thoughts until they encompass them entirely.

It's that creature again, lurking in the back of their thoughts, shrouding images and memories like it's their hoard. Elongated limbs drag close to the ground, and they lumber in nonsensical circles. After a moment, they still, slowly turning forward, and dark, shining eyes stare deep into the soul of its inhabitant. There's nothing within them. Nothing but an endless void. Alluring, magnetic darkness. Like a magnetic tug. Boney, cracked fingers stretch unnaturally from empty palms, reaching forward to grasp the matter of life. The touch of humanity is delicate and haunting, gloomy light burns into the floor at the first brush against the essence of energy.

Sulli blinks awake again, ominous images vanishing from their foremost thoughts. Their ceiling is familiar this time, and they push themselves up, glancing around to find themselves back safely in the confines of their studio apartment. Of course, it's no longer an empty studio apartment. Somehow, all seven other Club Lore members are in there too.

Cassie is the one in the kitchen, with the help of Kelsey and Yaşru. Adelaide and Julian are on the small couch in front of the TV. The volume must be lowered because Sulli can't quite hear it. Madden and Magnus are sitting on the edge of the bed but turn back towards them as Sulli rubs their eyes. It still feels bitterly cold, and Sulli is about past the embarrassment of asking Magnus for a hug.

How could someone be so warm??

So Sulli reaches over, setting a hand on their friend's arm. "Mags?"

Magnus stares at them, looking back down at their hand, then back at them. "If you're going to ask me to hug you again, I'm not doing it. That was a one-time thing."

"That's rude." Sulli frowns at them, then looks to Madden, who grins.

"I'll give you a hug, Sulli, you're probably just cold, huh?"

Sulli nods then, sitting beside Madden and setting their head on his shoulder instead. Beside him, Magnus scowls, and Sulli hears Yaşru laugh mockingly from the nearby kitchen. "You're the one who just said no before Sulli even asked."

"At least they asked me."

"Sulli also isn't in their right mind, which is probably why they asked you." Adelaide turns, leaning forward, "I'm sure they'll regret it when they come to their senses."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion, Adelaide."

"That's odd because I definitely remember you asking for it, Magnus." Julian crosses his arms over his chest, and Magnus rolls his eyes.

"You guys are the fucking worst."

"You didn't really think they were gonna let you live down the fact that we found you hugging Sulli for at least five minutes, did you Mags?" Madden's laugh is hearty, and Cassie and Kelsey share the giggle from the kitchen.

"I don't let Magnus live down anything, especially cause he fucks up a lot." Yaşru grins, and Magnus scowls more.

"You really wanna start a goddamn fight in the middle of Sulli's apartment??"

"Let's not." Cassiopeia hummus, and it's a divine melody as she walks over to Sulli, handing them a bowl. "You need to eat something." Her eyes trail towards Magnus after a moment, and then she turns and glides back towards the pot of soup, "All of you should eat something, so come get bowls."

"Kelsey, could you-" Madden starts, but Kelsey waves him off.

"I'll get it, Mads, you can keep cuddling Sulli."

"They're just so pretty, I'd hate to leave them like this all miserable."

Sulli would have grown flustered if they had the energy too. Instead, they shake their head, grumbling under their breath as they eat a spoonful of soup.

Oh my God.

"Holy shit." Sulli sighs deeply, closing their eyes again as warmth sinks again into their stomach. It reminds them just how hungry they actually feel. "This is amazing."

Kelsey laughs again, and once more the sound glimmers over the previous disquiet of the room, "It's probably just cause you've been gone for two days- I doubt you've had anything substantial."

"Speaking of which." Julian's gaze turns back on them, "What did happen, exactly?"

Sulli swallows another spoonful before setting their bowl aside on the nightstand near them, "Well..it was Friday, so I was going to go home and make the whiskey cookies Yaşru wanted." Sulli nods to themselves, ignoring the sudden snap of Yaşru's head back towards them. "But Rowan wanted to get dinner after fencing practice..and y'know that whole thing happened."

"So that's where you got the bruise and blood on your face, what about your arm?" Adelaide tilts her head, eyebrows furrowed.

"Oh. Well, he grabbed me to try to threaten me, and then punched me after."

Distantly, Sulli hears both Magnus and Yaşru mutter under their breaths, earning a silencing look from Kelsey, before all eyes return back to them.

"And then, I was walking home, and, it was dark out already- and I still needed to get the cookies."

Yaşru frowns, "You got punched in the face, and the first thing you thought about was cookies?"

"Well, you really wanted them." Sulli looks back at him once, before shaking their head, "And, I didn't want to think about other things at the time, so I was trying to think about anything else."

"What other things, exactly?" It's Magnus that time, narrowing their eyes at Sulli, and frustratingly, Sulli scowls right back at them.

"It doesn't matter." Then looked back to Julian, who raised his eyebrow at them. "Anyway, I was walking back to my dorm, and I heard like - screaming from the forest."

There's a moment of silence, and Kelsey pinches the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me you didn't run towards it, Sulls."

"Someone could have been dying!"

There was a collective groan, and even Madden sighed beside them. "Sulli, that has gotta be the stupidest decision you've made."

"So what was I supposed to do exactly, just stand by and watch someone get murdered?" It hurts. Everything hurts. Sulli is tired and sick and their friends are looking at them like they're stupid. "I'm not saying it wasn't dumb, I'm telling you that I'm not just going to let someone be hurt when I can do something about it! What kind of person does that make me if I do?"

Cassie watches them for a moment, then sighs, "It is brave. But you shouldn't have run into a forest in the dark, when not only a serial killer is on the loose, but right after you got punched in the face."

"Well, I did." Sulli sits up then, pushing away from Madden as they try to collect their thoughts again. "So I got into the forest, and the screaming just stopped. Like out of nowhere and then-" They pause, and the memory hits them like a semi going down the interstate. The blood feels like it drains from their face, and another sharp wave of nauseating dizziness overcomes them. "Oh my God."

"What's wrong?" Julian frowns more, leaning forward as his hands clasped together under his chin.

Frantically, Sulli shoves the covers of their bed off of them, standing, and fuck if it doesn't make the dizzyness so much worse. "There was a body, there was blood- and flesh, and it was everywhere-" The memory is sickening, and the settling nausea that had re-ignited a second ago begins climbing up their throat. "Oh my god- and then there was a person behind me, and I don't-" they shake their head, "I don't remember anything else."

"Sulli, maybe you should sit down."

"It was Friday night, and what's today?"

"Monday, but-"

"It's Monday?!" Sulli knows they shouldn't panic, but that memory is painted in permanent ink, and it's currently stained to the forefront of their thoughts. They take a step forward and nearly end up vomiting right there. Fortunately, they clasp a hand over their mouth, choking it back as they attempt to shove back the gorey visual."

"Sit down." It's Yaş again, pushing back on Sulli's shoulders to set them back on the bed. "If you throw up, we're all leaving and no one is helping you."

"Yaşru" Adelaide hisses back at him, but she's completely ignored. Sulli knows Yaş is lying, even if they can't quite tell how.

"Have you thought about the fact, that maybe Rowan punched you hard enough that you passed out in that goddamn forest?"

Sulli frowned, "That's not what happened."

"You might not think that, but it could be."

"But it's not." Sulli's sure of it. They saw the bones and the mutilated pieces of someone lying there in that unholy circle.

Yaşru's face is cold and angry, and yes, Sulli is scared of him, but not enough in this moment to relent to what they think. Kelsey stands, "Sit down Yaş." Then ducks past him without a word, looking over at Sulli. "Did you always have that tattoo?"

What?

"What?" Sulli blinks, half-blindsided by the question, before Kelsey sets a hand on their arm, turning it over to reveal a ghost tattoo on their elbow. They can't help but stare at it for a moment, and that sickening feeling shoots right back up. "What the fuck?"

"Sulli." Kelsey's voice is solemn, "Did you make a promise with the fae?"

"What- no, I don't know-"

"You didn't have that tattoo before. So either the serial killer you ran into knocked you out cold, gave you a tattoo, and then put you somewhere else in the forest. Or you made a promise with the fae." He sounds more serious than Sulli's ever heard them. "And that's your contract."

Oh.

Oh no.

Arden.

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WYN

eighth and New Year's chapter! A little extra long just for the fun of it <3

so happy New Year, and I'm so thankful to have met all of you during this season. I hope that you continue to stick by me into the new year, and I hope that we all do the best we can this year! remember that even a little progress is still progress, so don't burden yourself too much with unrealistic expectations <3

also !! friendly reminder that Arden is the pseudonym of Emrys (in the side character section on the cast page), so feel free to check out their AMAZING form -- creator is naturally marshmellow_arson who created this amazing little eldritch horror. I love them <3 I'm so glad they're here too

I love you all! stay safe tonight, stay off the roads as much as you can, and remember that you're my club lore.

AND A LITTLE BONUS BECAUSE WHY NOT
(all pictures are me, just from several different ages -- except the cat (obviously) his name is Homeboi)

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the entirety of the cast every time Magnus makes a suggestive comment towards Yaşru and vice versa bc we can't tell if they're flirting or fighting:

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How I sleep at night after writing the most horrible thing I could think of:

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Me (Left) + Club Lore (Right)

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the cast (in real-time) receiving news about sulli getting punched in the face:

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how i look receiving compliments about my writing after I rip my cast's hearts out:

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(this one was from about a year ago-)

Me, shocked, after rowan punched sulli in the face (i have no control of the story):

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OKAY!

for real bye now, love you lots <3