Squirrel98

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

@Estylwen Ahh okay. I somehow switched it in my head to a being full stat 😅 Sorry for the misunderstanding

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

@Estylwen Wait, she's dead? 😅 How is she dead already?

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

Amanda Lewis
@Estylwen@Lexisheeps

---

Amanda was shocked to see another stuffed animal in the room, but that wasn't all. Both of them spoke. They actually spoke. And they spoke in the voice of her beautiful son. Why was this happening? Did Nigel turn into one of those dolls? But then which one? Were they simply teasing her? She didn't have a long time to think about that as water started filling the room. Whatever was controlling the environment, it needed her to make a decision, to make a choice. She needed to take a risk. However, the fear started getting to her and making her feel weak in the knees. She walked up to the unicorn sitting with the food. It sounded friendly, as if it really cared about her. Maybe she should trust it? Slowly, Amanda's hand reached for the sandwich next to the stuffed animal. As she wasn't a very trusting person, she felt the need to check what was inside it, even though it looked like regular jelly. What she discovered, made her unable to hide her fears like she had been doing until then. Blood... and spiders. Two of her worst fears. Those combined with the fact that Nigel was in trouble and that she was all alone with these talking stuffed animals... She couldn't deal with it for a moment. She started shaking her body as if the spiders were crawling on her, then distanced herself from the food and the unicorn and crawled up in a ball, crying.

'What are you doing, Amanda? You aren't a kid anymore. Act like the adult you are. You are stronger now. Nigel needs you.' She said to herself, trying to get herself to stop crying and stand up. It was however the water filling the room that made her snap back to reality. Right. She needed to make a decision now. Hesitant and shaking, she inspected the rest of the food. She took apart everything, making the sandwiches and waffles into mere crumbs. The crumbs that she deemed to be safe, she started eating. She didn't want to, but she needed her strength and who knows how long it would be until they would offer her food again.

Okay, now what? She needed to choose one of the exit doors. The unicorn was with the exit door in the cafetaria and the worm was with the exit door at the end of the hallway. She needed to choose one, but both of them sounded like her little son. The unicorn talking about how they loved her, the worm who had hidden himself until then and everyone knows that kids love hide and seek. 'You tried to trick me into eating that sandwich, didn't you?' Amanda whispered to the unicorn. The worm had done nothing wrong yet. It only hid himself for her. Maybe she sould trust it more then? Or it was simply waiting for the right time... Both of them sounded suspicious, so she couldn't help but trust her gut for this one. That is why she started walking down the hall, towards the worm and the exit door there. Her hand reached for the door knob and started to feel if the door was unlocked.

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

@Estylwen@Lexisheeps I'll try to post tomorrow :-)
I already have her reactions in mind

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

@Estylwen Yes, now I see it! Thank you :)

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

@Estylwen I don't see the zeroth post with the Hunger Counter. Does it still need to be posted or am I just not seeing it?

Rising Stars: A Fairy Tail AU

Matthew Whitney

Demographics

Gender:
Male

Age:
20 years

Birthday:
6 August

Candy Hair Magic

Magic Level:
B-class

Spells

Hair Whip

The user manipulates their hair, as if it were an actual whip and makes it durable enough that it can be used to attack their target.

Advanced Hair Whip

The user elongates their hair and fires several bundles of hair straight at the target.

Absorb

The user's hair absorbs any liquid that is in contact with it. It has been said that one should never absorb oil or alcohol, because it would damage their hair.

Hair Claw

The user wraps their hair around their own arms and forms it into claws with which they strengthen any physical attacks they might use on their target(s).

Candy Rain

The user shoots small pieces of their hair at their target(s) and turns their structure into something similar to cotton candy. This makes it seem as if cotton candy is raining horizontally towards the target(s). Due to the stickiness, this attack may be used to stick targets to an object or each other or to stick body parts together. Multiple targets may be immobilized.

Candy Wrap

The user elongates their hair and shoots it towards the target in order to wrap itself around the target and immobilize them. The user can transform the hair into a cotton candy like structure to enhance the effect of this move. However, with beginner or average wizards this attack will weaken when used on several targets at once.

Candy Floor

The user spreads individual hairs all over the floor and turns them into a cotton candy like structure in order to stick the target(s) feet to the ground and immobilize them. This move is hard to evade, since it is hard to notice the individual hairs, although the move is sensitive to wind breezes.

Candy Wall

The user forms a wall out of their own hair, transforming it to have a cotton candy like structure. It protects the user and its allies against physical attacks and may even protect against some magical attacks, although the magical attack will probably damage the hair.

Surrounding Candy Wall

This is an advanced version of the Candy Wall that completely surrounds the user and its allies.

Candy Platform

The user elongates their hair and transforms it into a cotton candy like structure in order to form a platform in the air, connected to the ground, on which they can stand.

Candy Vine

The user elongates their hair and transforms it into a cotton candy like structure in order to swing themselves around with it like Tarzan does with vines in the jungle.

Personality

Personality:
Matthew is a very optimistic and honest guy, who will try to help anyone - although he doesn't often know what to do and thus might ruin plans or destroy stuff if not given proper directions. Whenever someone tells a story or simply talks about something to him, he will listen intently and probably stare a lot, which might make them uncomfortable. This is his way of showing genuine interest in others. Throughout his life, he often got away with stuff because of his good nature and his habit of complimenting people all of the time. However, he can be quite lazy or try to talk his way out of actually working for his money.

Strengths:

1. He easily sees the good qualities of other people and recognizes them by complimenting them often.
2. Since he absolutely adores cute animals, he will do anything to protect them and not let them get hurt due to problems between humans.
3. He has a very curious nature, which makes him into a good listener.
4. He can be very enthusiastic about basic things.

Weaknesses:

1. He needs to make sure that his sugar intake is high enough to transform his hair into a cotton candy like structure. Although, since the hair is not actual cotton candy, it won't be as sensitive to liquids.
2. It costs him more magical energy to turn his own hair into a cotton candy like structure than using simple hair magic.
3. Since he absolutely hates fighting, he will do anything to prevent it (acting too lazy to work, trying to talk his way out of battling, etc.).
4. He forgets that his hair only turns into a cotton candy like structure instead of actual cotton candy. He will try to eat his own hair at times and then be disappointed when it doesn't taste like candy.

History

Matthew Whitney was born to Samantha Martin and Ronald Whitney, two important figures in the local branch of a huge crime ring. Samantha and Ronald were mostly absent during Matthew's childhood, which is why his education and upbringing was left to their not-so-empathetic assistents. He was mistreated and basically taught to fight for his own life or he simply wouldn't survive in that world. The plan of the family and their assistents was that Matthew would follow in their footsteps, but his heart was too good to allow that to happen. The mismatch between his environment and himself caused him to cry a lot and generally be unhappy all of the time. His punishments were to go without food or water for a very long time, nearly enough to kill him, and then they would show up with the bare minimum to keep him alive just in time. It was actually his magic that protected him and helped him survive during this time.

With his Candy Hair Magic, he became able to hide things like canned food, bottled drinks or objects inside his own hair. The cotton candy like structure helped to stick the items to his hair, so they wouldn't move out of their places when he moved himself. Even though it was hard for him to get his hair to the same length every time after using his magic, his environment never found out about his magic. His acting skills also improved greatly, since he had to act as if he was almost dying while having enough food hidden to not feel weakened or hurt at all.

The police was able to bring their branch down by going undercover. Most members were arrested, the lives of some other members were ended in the process. Rarely, such as the case with Matthew, members were let go with a simple warning. Due to his good nature, they realised he was only unlucky with the environment he grew up in and thus they put him into a foster family. Even though he lived with his parents in Fiore, the foster family they send him to was in Pergrande. The reason behind this was to put him as far away as possible from possible other members of the crime ring being near the branch.

Writing Sample

This morning was not really different from the previous ones, but Matthew felt different nonetheless. He stood up immediately after his alarm rang - like usual - and put on his best clothes. Like he did every single morning, he looked at himself in the mirror for a while. 12 years. That's how old he was when he started living with the foster family. It had been 8 years already. He simply couldn't believe it. 8 whole years ago, he left his toxic environment to come live with this adorable family who treated him the way he felt he deserved. He could still remember the days with his biological family as if they happened yesterday, but he chose to ignore them.

After going down the stairs, he was almost instantly attacked by his two younger siblings, Emma and Timmy Davis. They were fraternal twins, 6 years old. His foster parents were already done with breakfast and ready to leave for work. His father James Davis was an accountant, while his mother Lola Anderson was a kindergarten teacher. They had very different personalities, but got alone very well nonetheless. Matthew felt like this was his opportunity to talk to them about his future. All his teachers congratulated him with how fast he picked things up after being placed in the foster family. They said he was behind in every single subject due to the upbringing from his biological parents, but that he was a very fast learner. Recently, he finally achieved his secondary school degree. It was time for Matthew to start a new chapter in his life. Since he needed his parents' advice on how to proceed, he decided that it was time for him to be completely honest to them... about everything. This was the first time since being placed in the foster family that he told anyone about his magic and to his surprise, his foster parents were very enthusiastic and accepting about it.

Samantha and Ronald didn't look like it, but they had connections with some of the War Mages within the country. They decided that using his magic for a good cause would be a nice way to let go of the past and work on the future. Matthew thought about it for a moment and although using his magic once again scared him, he agreed with the duo. This time, he would have to lie. He wouldn't have to fight for his life. He wouldn't have to hurt people who didn't deserve it. He could be honest about everything and nobody would be there to punish him for it. However, there was a huge mismatch between the behaviour and values of the War Mages and himself. They weren't exactly welcoming to him, since he was considered to be filth that Fiore wouldn't keep, and so they didn't want to waste any time on him. After Matthew told Samantha and Ronald about the unfortunate encounters, they mentioned the Rising Starborn wizard guild in Rembrandt. This seemed to be way more interesting to Matthew. People who probably treated each other like family and did what they thought was right. It seemed too good to be true. This was something he really wanted to try out.

Matthew took his bernese mountain dog Belle and decided to rent an apartment the dog could stay at while he went to introduce himself to the people in the guild. It might have been a stupid idea to rent a place to stay at before being accepted, but he did impulsive stuff like that once in a while when he found a new passion.

Rising Stars: A Fairy Tail AU

Evangeline Twister

Demographics

Gender:
Female

Age:
19 years

Birthday:
15 January

Tear Magic

Magic Level:
C-class

Spells

Tear Creation

This spell allows the user to create more tears at a faster pace by focusing their magical energy on their eyes. Being able to use this move helps the user to use other spells, which normally take a larger build up, quick. This spell requires magical energy from the user without doing any damage, so it's only useful in combination with other spells that also require magical energy.

Tear Hardening

This spell makes the tears of the users hard as a little ball. This allows the user to save up their tears and later store magical energy in it to enhance the burning sensation for a planned Tear Gun attack or to enhance the healing properties as to always be ready to use Tear Cure. Since the tears with stored up magical energy can be passed to other wizards, allies can perform Tear Gun or Tear Cure themselves by using their own energy to activate the magic inside. This spell also allows the user to have reserve tears to act quicker in combat. This spell uses a large amount of magical energy without performing damage.

Tear Gun

The user can make their own tears lose contact with their skin to then launch them like bullets from a gun. When the tears hit the skin of the target, they will give an irritating feeling due to the dehydrating effect. Depending on the strength of the user, the tears can even give off a burning sensation. The strongest wizards with this kind of magic can even use this spell to burn away the skin of the target and thus bring them to their knees. Even more cruel is when the target swallows the tears, allowing them to burn on the inside, causing internal damage. The spell is quick and precise. The damage largely depends on the user's strength and only hits a small portion of the target's body.

Tear Slicer

This spell is an advanced version of the Tear Gun. Instead of tears being shot towards the target like bullets, the tears form blades that are thrown at the target and burn their way through the target's skin as to immitate a sword's strikes. This spell is quick, precise and easily does more damage than Tear Gun. Since this is an advanced spell, only stronger wizards are able to use it.

Tear Wave

The user creates a wave of tears that flows in the direction of one or several targets. With this spell as well, the damage of the spell can go from a soft irritating feeling to a major burning sensation depending on the strength of the user. The spell can hit a target all over their body instead of one body part and it can even hit several targets at once. The damage largely depends on the user's strength and it takes a lot of build up to create a wave large enough to use.

Tear Wall

The user creates a wall of tears that protects itself and/or allies against magical attacks. Only the strongest wizards can make the wall strong enough to protect against physical attacks as well. Although weaker users might slow down the physical attack, giving themselves and their allies more time to evade. The spell can protect several people against magical attacks. Physical attacks possibly still go through, either at the original speed or slowed down, and it takes a lot of build up to create a wall large enough to use.

Tear Ball

The user creates a ball of tears that absorbs the energy of magical attacks. Another way to use this spell is to throw a magical attack off course by physically hitting the attack with this spell. This spell is a weaker version of Tear Wall. This spell is quick to use and protects anyone against magical attacks. Physical attacks possibly still go through and the region protected is smaller than with Tear Wall since the ball form is smaller than the wall form.

Tear Armour

The user rubs their tears over their body to create an armour that protects against magical attacks. Only the strongest wizards can make the wall strong enough to protect against physical attacks as well. The spell protects the user from magical attacks and is quick to use. Physical attacks still go through. It is possible to use this attack on allies, although this would need magical energy to be stored in the tears and this can require build up.

Tear Cure

The user can store magical energy inside their tears in order to give them healing properties. They can either be rubbed over painful muscles and wounds or be swallowed by the user or allies. The spell can heal both the user and their allies. What can be healed by this spell largely depends on the user's strength and magical energy needs to be stored inside the tears for the spell to work.

Tear Relief

This spell is a weaker version of Tear Cure. Pain, sleep, hunger and other sensations can be repressed for a period of time, which allows the user and the targeted allies to focus on the battle they are in. The spell does not require much energy to be performed, which makes it easier to perform on multiple targets. The problem that causes the sensation is not solved. The length of the repression is largely depended on the strength of the user.

Personality

Personality:
Evangeline is not the most extraverted person, but one cannot say that she is insecure either. She knows her own value and tries to move towards her goals. At the moment, her goal is to become a strong mage at an established guild and she truly believes that she has a chance of being accepted. When she finds people who love her, treat her right, treasure her, she will stay loyal to them. She would help them, sacrifice herself for them, basically do anything they ask of her. She has a very strong fortitude.

Strengths:

1. Her vision is exceptional, which means that she can see longer distances clearer than average humans.
2. She can go longer than an average human without sleep and only needs several hours to recharge due to higher sleep quality.
3. She is very loyal, being willing to sacrifice herself for anyone who treats her right.

Weaknesses:

1. Her pain tolerance is high, which is useful in battle, but it causes her to often ignore injuries.
2. She regularly needs to use eye drops, because she has a tendency to overuse her magic.
3. Since she needs to be able to cry on the spot any day any time, she has to keep reminding herself to the bad stuff that happened in her life.

History

Evangeline Twister was the only child born to famous actress Piper Moore and up-and-coming actor Frederick Twister. Both of her parents made their lives about being on stage and providing entertainment to the rich and thus Evangeline was expected to continue this tradition. However, from a young age it had become clear that the girl had other interests. All she did with her time was read books. It bothered Frederick the most of all, but what neither of the parents knew, was that Evangeline was trying to learn more about types of magic that could enhance an actress' performances. The magic type that seemed most useful to her of all in this specific domain was Tear Magic. She had an obvious talent for it as she quickly used it to her advantage. It made her into a way better actress and even though she still wasn't fascinated by the art of acting out a character, she was finally able to make her parents happy.

It wasn't until her 18th birthday that she started asking herself more questions about what she wanted to do with her own life. It certainly wasn't acting. She tried going back to the books she once read and that's where she realised what her passion was all along: being a wizard. Acting was absolutely not her thing, but using her Tear Magic certainly was. She had used the magic to cry quicker, shine brighter, but the magic could also be used in combat. And as an actress, Evangeline had mastered the art of crying whenever she wanted. Of course she tried to convince her parents first, convince them to allow her to join a guild. However, that talk went exactly the way she expected it. They hated the idea, everything about it. They didn't feel like she would be a good fit in a guild. They didn't think that she could use the magic to fight. They thought the magic would be too inconvenient to ever use it in battle. Evangeline didn't believe their words to be true. She needed to find happiness on her own, as a mage in a guild. That's why she started travelling, in order to find a guild that could accept her.

Writing Sample

A cold winter breeze danced around her as Evangeline stood before the doors of the headquarters of Fiore's corporate magic guild. Her body was shaking, but she couldn't tell if it was the temperature or the nerves getting to her. After she had finally gathered all of her courage, she entered the building, confidently walking towards the administration office. On her way, she gazed upon the wizards who had already joined the guild to see what they were like... and they disappointed her. They weren't at all like the wizards she had read upon in her books. She ahd read about guilds being like family, wizards standing up for each other, sacrificing themselves for one another. These wizards were more like the politicians she had learned to hate, only thinking about themselves and about the money in their pockets. However, as she didn't want to judge people without knowing them, she proudly continued her walk to the administration office and joined the back of the waiting line.

Upon arriving at the woman's desk, Evangeline didn't get the reaction she was hoping for. The woman didn't ask her questions about who she was and why she came. No, the woman recognized her as the daughter of Piper Moore and Frederick Twister. Apparently, her parents had used their connections to get their daughter banned from joining a wizard guild. Evangeline tried to convince the woman to change her mind, but the only thing she heard back was that this was bigger than the woman herself. She couldn't do anything to help Evangeline. Her parents had gone out of their way to force their daughter to come back home. Why were they obsessed with her continuing their legacy? Why? Evangeline couldn't understand the need to force others into following one's own dreams and goals. She should be allowed to do what she wanted when she wanted. She had recently become an adult after all.

Since Evangeline had no desire to go back home and give her parents what they wanted, she decided to live on the streets for a while. The lack of money and a job, made her apply for any job that one didn't need to be qualified for. Because of her parents' obsession with entertainment, she didn't have a proper degree or anything. They didn't think it was necessary, because they had already decided what Evangeline would do with her life. Eventually, she got a job as a waitress in a small tavern. She was good at her job. She liked working there and she earned enough money to buy healthy food, water, clothes to keep her warm. Her wage was even high enough for her to rent a small appartment near her work place.

However, a couple of months later, she was fired out of nowhere. When she started begging her boss for her job back and demanding to know the reason for being fired, her boss revealed that her parents had convinced them. She couldn't believe her own ears. How did they even know about her job? She certainly hadn't told them about it. Did they have connections with people from such a small tavern? It wasn't likely. One of the customers might have told them about it then. They must have paid her boss to fire her as another way of forcing her back home. Of course Evangeline knew the money her parents had made off of her acting skills. She understood their motivations. But she refused to give them what they wanted. That's why she started living on the streets again, since the owner of the appartment didn't want to continue renting to someone who couldn't get a job.

Anywhere she would go, it would be the same thing. That's why she had to leave Fiore. Her parents were famous, but not famous enough to be known in another country. If she would leave Fiore, she maybe could even get a job as a wizard like she wanted! Naturally she didn't really know where to go as her knowledge about geography was limited due to her lack of a proper education. However, she was allowed in a nearby library where she spent weeks reading. Reading had always been her favorite thing to do. In the past she read mostly about art and entertainment as to make her parents happy. The only reason they allowed her to read upon magic, was because she told them it would help her with her acting, which it did. Now she could read about anything. That's why she was there every day for the whole day during those weeks. She read about a lot of different subjects, but never forgot that she was there to learn more about other countries.

When she had finally decided that she would go to Pergrande, she didn't waste a single moment. She said goodbye to the people she had met at the library and immediately walked towards Pergrande. Upon arriving at the border, she realized that the guards were checking her like any other mage. They clearly had no idea about who her parents were and that thought comforted her. After passing the check, she went to the town of Rembrandt. Maybe she couldn't rent a place to stay yet, but she might get a job at the local guild.

Matthew Whitney

Demographics

Gender:
Male

Age:
20 years

Birthday:
6 August

Candy Hair Magic

Magic Level:
B-class

Spells

Hair Whip

The user manipulates their hair, as if it were an actual whip and makes it durable enough that it can be used to attack their target.

Advanced Hair Whip

The user elongates their hair and fires several bundles of hair straight at the target.

Absorb

The user's hair absorbs any liquid that is in contact with it. It has been said that one should never absorb oil or alcohol, because it would damage their hair.

Hair Claw

The user wraps their hair around their own arms and forms it into claws with which they strengthen any physical attacks they might use on their target(s).

Candy Rain

The user shoots small pieces of their hair at their target(s) and turns their structure into something similar to cotton candy. This makes it seem as if cotton candy is raining horizontally towards the target(s). Due to the stickiness, this attack may be used to stick targets to an object or each other or to stick body parts together. Multiple targets may be immobilized.

Candy Wrap

The user elongates their hair and shoots it towards the target in order to wrap itself around the target and immobilize them. The user can transform the hair into a cotton candy like structure to enhance the effect of this move. However, with beginner or average wizards this attack will weaken when used on several targets at once.

Candy Floor

The user spreads individual hairs all over the floor and turns them into a cotton candy like structure in order to stick the target(s) feet to the ground and immobilize them. This move is hard to evade, since it is hard to notice the individual hairs, although the move is sensitive to wind breezes.

Candy Wall

The user forms a wall out of their own hair, transforming it to have a cotton candy like structure. It protects the user and its allies against physical attacks and may even protect against some magical attacks, although the magical attack will probably damage the hair.

Surrounding Candy Wall

This is an advanced version of the Candy Wall that completely surrounds the user and its allies.

Candy Platform

The user elongates their hair and transforms it into a cotton candy like structure in order to form a platform in the air, connected to the ground, on which they can stand.

Candy Vine

The user elongates their hair and transforms it into a cotton candy like structure in order to swing themselves around with it like Tarzan does with vines in the jungle.

Personality

Personality:
Matthew is a very optimistic and honest guy, who will try to help anyone - although he doesn't often know what to do and thus might ruin plans or destroy stuff if not given proper directions. Whenever someone tells a story or simply talks about something to him, he will listen intently and probably stare a lot, which might make them uncomfortable. This is his way of showing genuine interest in others. Throughout his life, he often got away with stuff because of his good nature and his habit of complimenting people all of the time. However, he can be quite lazy or try to talk his way out of actually working for his money.

Strengths:

1. He easily sees the good qualities of other people and recognizes them by complimenting them often.
2. Since he absolutely adores cute animals, he will do anything to protect them and not let them get hurt due to problems between humans.
3. He has a very curious nature, which makes him into a good listener.
4. He can be very enthusiastic about basic things.

Weaknesses:

1. He needs to make sure that his sugar intake is high enough to transform his hair into a cotton candy like structure. Although, since the hair is not actual cotton candy, it won't be as sensitive to liquids.
2. It costs him more magical energy to turn his own hair into a cotton candy like structure than using simple hair magic.
3. Since he absolutely hates fighting, he will do anything to prevent it (acting too lazy to work, trying to talk his way out of battling, etc.).
4. He forgets that his hair only turns into a cotton candy like structure instead of actual cotton candy. He will try to eat his own hair at times and then be disappointed when it doesn't taste like candy.

History

Matthew Whitney was born to Samantha Martin and Ronald Whitney, two important figures in the local branch of a huge crime ring. Samantha and Ronald were mostly absent during Matthew's childhood, which is why his education and upbringing was left to their not-so-empathetic assistents. He was mistreated and basically taught to fight for his own life or he simply wouldn't survive in that world. The plan of the family and their assistents was that Matthew would follow in their footsteps, but his heart was too good to allow that to happen. The mismatch between his environment and himself caused him to cry a lot and generally be unhappy all of the time. His punishments were to go without food or water for a very long time, nearly enough to kill him, and then they would show up with the bare minimum to keep him alive just in time. It was actually his magic that protected him and helped him survive during this time.

With his Candy Hair Magic, he became able to hide things like canned food, bottled drinks or objects inside his own hair. The cotton candy like structure helped to stick the items to his hair, so they wouldn't move out of their places when he moved himself. Even though it was hard for him to get his hair to the same length every time after using his magic, his environment never found out about his magic. His acting skills also improved greatly, since he had to act as if he was almost dying while having enough food hidden to not feel weakened or hurt at all.

The police was able to bring their branch down by going undercover. Most members were arrested, the lives of some other members were ended in the process. Rarely, such as the case with Matthew, members were let go with a simple warning. Due to his good nature, they realised he was only unlucky with the environment he grew up in and thus they put him into a foster family. Even though he lived with his parents in Fiore, the foster family they send him to was in Pergrande. The reason behind this was to put him as far away as possible from possible other members of the crime ring being near the branch.

Writing Sample

This morning was not really different from the previous ones, but Matthew felt different nonetheless. He stood up immediately after his alarm rang - like usual - and put on his best clothes. Like he did every single morning, he looked at himself in the mirror for a while. 12 years. That's how old he was when he started living with the foster family. It had been 8 years already. He simply couldn't believe it. 8 whole years ago, he left his toxic environment to come live with this adorable family who treated him the way he felt he deserved. He could still remember the days with his biological family as if they happened yesterday, but he chose to ignore them.

After going down the stairs, he was almost instantly attacked by his two younger siblings, Emma and Timmy Davis. They were fraternal twins, 6 years old. His foster parents were already done with breakfast and ready to leave for work. His father James Davis was an accountant, while his mother Lola Anderson was a kindergarten teacher. They had very different personalities, but got alone very well nonetheless. Matthew felt like this was his opportunity to talk to them about his future. All his teachers congratulated him with how fast he picked things up after being placed in the foster family. They said he was behind in every single subject due to the upbringing from his biological parents, but that he was a very fast learner. Recently, he finally achieved his secondary school degree. It was time for Matthew to start a new chapter in his life. Since he needed his parents' advice on how to proceed, he decided that it was time for him to be completely honest to them... about everything. This was the first time since being placed in the foster family that he told anyone about his magic and to his surprise, his foster parents were very enthusiastic and accepting about it.

Samantha and Ronald didn't look like it, but they had connections with some of the War Mages within the country. They decided that using his magic for a good cause would be a nice way to let go of the past and work on the future. Matthew thought about it for a moment and although using his magic once again scared him, he agreed with the duo. This time, he would have to lie. He wouldn't have to fight for his life. He wouldn't have to hurt people who didn't deserve it. He could be honest about everything and nobody would be there to punish him for it. However, there was a huge mismatch between the behaviour and values of the War Mages and himself. They weren't exactly welcoming to him, since he was considered to be filth that Fiore wouldn't keep, and so they didn't want to waste any time on him. After Matthew told Samantha and Ronald about the unfortunate encounters, they mentioned the Rising Starborn wizard guild in Rembrandt. This seemed to be way more interesting to Matthew. People who probably treated each other like family and did what they thought was right. It seemed too good to be true. This was something he really wanted to try out.

Matthew took his bernese mountain dog Belle and decided to rent an apartment the dog could stay at while he went to introduce himself to the people in the guild. It might have been a stupid idea to rent a place to stay at before being accepted, but he did impulsive stuff like that once in a while when he found a new passion.

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

I wrote my first post :) This weekend will be a little busy, so I won't have time to do the second until Monday probably.

Backrooms: The Thing that Breathes

Amanda Lewis
@Estylwen@Lexisheeps

---

If only she had chosen another place for her son to stay at while she worked. If only she had brought herself to find a father for her child, then one of them could have stayed home with Nigel. If only, if only, if only. Amanda could think of several ways to have prevented this situation. However, now it was too late. She did wish that she had hugged him one last time. Even though she still saw Nigel that morning, she could hardly remember what his warm embrace felt like. She needed him with her to feel safe. This wasn't safe. She felt a failure as a mother that she needed her child to feel safe herself. It was selfish of her. What wasn't selfish was her running into a building, following the screams of her helpless child. She needed to be strong for him. She needed to find him. That's why she wouldn't show any sign of weakness to whatever danger was waiting for her. This would grant her the biggest chance of actually finding the boy that was probably crying for his mother somewhere.

Inside the building she couldn't see Nigel or anything or anyone that reminded her of the place she had left her child at that morning. The smell was strong and the floor was so bright that it almost blinded her. Her fear of not being with her son or anyone else for that matter and Nigel's scream that kept repeating in her mind were both starting to get to her. But it was too soon to give up. It was too soon to show any kind of weakness. She just got there, and for all she knew maybe she could leave at any moment. It wasn't Halloween yet, but maybe they had planned an activity of some sort. To scare the parents? It wasn't likely, but she wanted to think that way.

Slowly, being highly alert, she walked towards the cafetaria. Inside was more than enough food for her to stay there for a longer period of time. How long were they planning to keep her there? An eternity? Was she supposed to stay there... alone... for all of eternity? She couldn't take that. She needed to find Nigel and leave. For all she knew, the food could be poisoned. Amanda immediately decided to leave the food there until she could no longer bare the feeling of hunger. She noticed the 'employees only' door that turned out to be an emergency exit, but that could be a trap. It had to be a trap, it was way too easy. In front of the door she noticed a stuffed animal. Did one of the children leave it there? It wasn't Nigel's, but maybe one of the other children was here? In that case, she couldn't leave that child alone. 'Hello?! Is anyone here? Did anyone leave this here?' She looked around. There were shadows and squeaks, but no people. She was still all alone, without anyone to comfort her with their presence.

'So what are you doing here? Did someone leave you here all alone?' She whispered to the stuffed animal. Her hand softly rubbed the unicorn's head as she showed a little smile. 'I wish my childhood had been happily enough to share it with someone like you.' She whispered as she turned her back. Where was she supposed to go? The exit door was too suspicious. There was a hallway connected to the cafetaria and it seemed that it also had a door with an exit sign at the end. That was too suspicious as well. And then which exit door was the correct one? Were both of them correct? Or maybe neither? Maybe she should inspect the classrooms?