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As Eight took in the delightful sight of her plentiful friends both old, relatively speaking, and more recent, she smiled at the group who sat around the table in her hideaway aboard the Maw.
Back in her old life, before she was pulled into the Nowhere and its many horrific nightmares turned real, Eight could vaguely recall how there was a holiday in which such a gathering was celebrated, though the specific name for it escaped her. But regardless of that fact, she was thankful for her friends presence and the opportunity to give them a meal she was was more than happy to offer.
And which her friends were also willing to reciprocate!
Mono and Seven were both sitting beside her near the middle of the table, and where their most troublesome member had yet to join. Surprisingly, Six demanded earlier that she be allowed to take the lead in preparing their meal alone for once. And although Eight rightly held some reservations, given Six's typically... objectionable behaviors, she'd relented, seeing as how the new group of children in colored cloaks as large as her own were present only because of their acquaintance with the yellow clad girl.
To say that Eight was shocked beyond belief to discover how Six apparently had an entire social circle outside of herself, Mono, and Seven would certainly be an understatement.
They were however a somewhat odd assortment of children themselves. Not at all due to the apparent physical deformity of their humpbacked member with unnatural eyes that glowed under the dark cover of her sheet. Or that they all hid half of their faces from one another too, almost like Mono used to do. But rather, same as Six, their tastes were particularly odd...
Nonetheless, Eight was happy to meet with their leader, a jittery boy in a brown cloak who flinched at the slightest gust, the aforementioned humpback girl, and a pair of siblings in green cloaks. One who was a very young boy, and the other his older sister whose blonde hair was long enough to reach the floor.
They each came bearing makeshift plates of food to share.
Yet... Eight's happiness died on her tongue, once she realized the generous portions of meat layed out on their plates was all the same and that of a badly burned, chopped up leech. Unlike her companions who took one glance and refused to partake, she put on a brave face, and like with any good host, received their contribution with grace.
Not everyone was fortunate enough to eventually stumble upon a haven within a literal Hell, close enough to a storeroom from where they could crawl through vents and steal. Eight remembered her own struggles just fine and wouldn't judge others over what they needed to do to survive. That being said, the warning from the colored cloaks leader didn't put her mind at ease.
"If you find any bandages inside what we brought just ignore them. Serves this monster right for ignoring what got our friend killed so we could serve it up in turn."
...At least Eight's other guest wasn't nearly as weird.
Save of course for the peculiar coincidence that his name, Huit, also meant Eight in a different language than hers. And while convincing him to leave the relative safety of the Maw's nursery proved to be a bit of a chore, the scraps of bread crusts he brought along were definitely more agreeable in comparison.
As Eight continued to ponder the edibility of the spread before her, Six, in unusual fashion, practically skipped out from their own smaller kitchen than the main one used to serve the Maw's cannibalistic Guests, and declared that her meal was ready to be served.
"Welcome to dinner!"
But as everyone excitedly looked over at what she carried, their faces quickly fell with disgust. Lying on Six's oversized tray was the seemingly bloated corpse of a pitiful nome. Only, the smoke wafting off its roasted flesh surely wasn't escaping gas, given the rat tail hanging out of its stuffed belly.
Six struggled to lift the tray atop the table since nobody was willing to lift a finger and help. But using her stolen magics of shadow from the Maw's former Lady whom she'd murdered, she levitated and plopped it down with a loud clatter that was almost as noisy as her rumbling stomach.
Wasting no time, Six pulled herself up onto a chair and reached over, digging her hand inside the nome to scoop out a mouthful worth of meat, ignoring the near-blistering heat. Blood ran down her chin as she obnoxiously smacked her lips, and Six met everyone's horrified eyes before giving a sinister grin and reaching in again
"Rat and nome... When in 'rome,' am I right!?" she cackled in her typically cruel, unrestrained way, recalling how the Maw's Guests also ate their fill.
Seven was livid, but ever the decent friend, Mono dragged him away right as it seemed the boy might lunge across the length of the table and fight an unwinnable battle against the soul consuming demon.
"Eh, c'etait vraiment désagréable. Je retourne à la creche. Profitez le pain."
"Yeah, we'll take our chances with the leeches. Let's do this again in the future Six. Maybe sometime never."
Six nodded and gave a thumbs up.
Thus, everyone with any sense of not remaining behind to become violently ill immediately fled, leaving Eight alone, squinting and pinching the bridge of her nose. Clearly, Six intended to spoil their meal from the very beginning and keep all the servings for herself.
But despite Six's gluttonous reputation, she wasn't some bottomless pit. And as a result, Eight was stuck with the conundrum of what to do with all the leftovers that would soon spoil, yet no one else would eat?
It was such a ridiculous inconvenience. The sort that constantly threatened to drive her insane!