A sound invaded my dreams, distant at first, but steadily growing until my eyes suddenly opened. Wherever I was, it was dark enough that I couldn’t make heads nor tails of my surroundings, and whatever I was laying on was flat and hard, felt like wood. My arms ached and I tried to move them, but they wouldn’t budge; a firm tug made me realize they were tied together behind my back, and try as I might, I couldn’t free them. My legs, too, were restrained with loops of twine, secu

Doll-Maker Soup
“Oiiiiii! Aaaliiiiiice!” The voice of a young woman pierced through the tranquil spring afternoon air, much to the dismay of the other woman that was enjoying her afternoon on her balcony in it. Maybe if she didn't respond, it would go away. “Aliiice! C'mon, open up! I know you're in there!” The voice was closer this time, accompanied by the sound of its owner knocking on the second woman's front door. The voice and its owner clearly weren't doing as the w

Fired!
“Hyaaaaaaahnmm...” Being a gate guard is hard work. Well, no, that's not entirely true. It's generally very boring, uneventful work. You usually just sit there all day and do nothing. Still, that was Hong Meiling's job, and it was a job she did well. Ish.
The redheaded youkai woman let out another yawn, glancing back to look at the clock. Five days a week, eight hours a day, it was her job to stand guard outside the front gate to the grounds of a large mansion that housed a pa

Cooking
204: An Introduction to Live Cooking
The
idea is a pretty simple one. Seemingly since the dawn of history,
people have played an important part in the food supply. It's a world
where death is not permanent, and the idea of people as food is not
only accepted, but commonplace, and so naturally businesses and even
entire industries have formed around it. There are restaurants that
serve people to other people, people that make a living from being
food, and markets that supply the former wi

Harvest
Moon Festival
By:
Teruyo
Mokou
yawned. To say that the silver-haired girl wasn't a morning person
was an understatement, and of course the remedy was another sip of
hot coffee. While her morning had been an uneventful one so far,
Mokou was a woman with a purpose.
"Hmm...
I should go hurt that moon bitch," she mused. "She
certainly deserves it." But first, coffee, and Mokou leaned
against a thick bamboo reed to finish the strong, black drink.
Unbeknownst to Mokou, said