He had considered it an owed favor. It had been a long time since they actually spent quality time together as siblings – he was not counting their excursion into the Whispering Forests as ‘sibling quality time’. The ghoul had come over to assist in some of the cabinet work in the kitchen. As usual, the ghoul came with a coffee for him and a tea for herself. She had pointed out the blue masking tape wasn’t meant to keep anything up for long. She had mentioned that it looked like a horrible, jerry-rigged job on the molding. Uru had known this, he hadn’t gotten around to gluing and nailing the molding into place. She inquired why not have the gnomes work on the house like they do for everything. He insisted that he had to do this and no dirty gnome was going to come into his place to do something he was completely capable of doing. Which he wasn’t. Frustrated, the demon suggested that they were not to work on the house today. That she could choose their activity. He had realized he had made a grave mistake as soon as the words fell from his lips.

That was how Uru ended up at the Maul with Brenna, holding her bags.

“Four pairs of shoes, Brenna?” The alumni questioned carrying the, fortunately, small boxes of shoes from Mercy’s. He had stood and watch her try on a pair of heels, a pair of boots, a pair of flats, another pair of boots for winter, yet another pair of heels, three pairs of sneakers that only different in colors.

“You never know what you’ll need for your outfits. Unlike you, I have a lot of outfits that I like to wear. So yes, I bought shoes for more variety. And, before you ask, same for the handbags.” She smiled as she stayed steps ahead of the taller hellhound, her light hair bouncing with each step, her tail swaying smoothly behind her. He’d imagine it was something she had picked up from her mother, the need to look nice. The females of Cocytus were usually held in higher regard than the males. Perhaps it was because of Naerina being the alpha and thought herself the world. Brenna had always been dressed in high end clothing whose price tag minimums would one consider buying a house instead. Luckily, now that she was her own person without Naerina dressing her, she bought relatively expensive clothes, but not brands that would eat through one’s reserves of silver seeds. Today, she was wearing Black Cat brand jeans, S&M jacket, an Oozy frill top that went down to her thighs, and accessories she probably got from Pandora’s Box. “Actually-“ she begun, turning to face him.

“No.” A curt response, his stride unbroken as he passed the little ghoul.

“You don’t even know what I was going to say!” She huffed, puffing her cheeks.

“No, but I have a strong inclination of what you are going to suggest, and the answer is the same.” Uru disappeared amongst the crowd of citizens. He was tall, but there were creeple out there much taller than the hellhound. Luckily, sense of smell is a good way to find lost individuals. “Plus, I don’t like wearing clothes.”

“But you still go out and it is kind of socially acceptable that participating members of society wear clothes when they’re out in public.” She quipped, catching his arm to stay close in the sea of scents and bodies. Normally, the alumni would be suffocating in it, but he was doing this for the ghoul. He’ll tolerate it as long as he can. He could already feel the heat boiling in the pit of his stomach. “You can’t just go around naked.”

“I could never come out.” He shrugged casually. “I am sure no one wants to be blinded.” The corner of his lip turning upward.

“No, because I won’t accept that. Come on, just one outfit.” She pleaded, tugging on the hem of his jacket which she had definitely bought for him upon completing his first year as a student.

“Fine.” He conceded with a roll of his eyes to the ghoul who cheered and dragged him through the crowds to another store.


“Is this necessary?” Came Uru’s voice in the dressing room. “These shirts are tight.”

Brenna stood on the other side of the divide with not just one outfit and other clothing, no she had commandeered an entire rack. She stood with a rack of various shirts, jackets, pants, and even had shoes laid out. “You keep buying your shirts in bundles from Wailmart. No one wears plain white tees anymore.”

“I do.” The door to the dressing room swung open to the demon hound wearing a short sleeve, v-neck olive-green top and dark jeans that hugged his form well, but still appeared to flex easy enough. “It’s not bad.” He answered after a brief pause.

The ghoul eyed him carefully with a thoughtful hum. She circled him once, twice, tugged at the hem of his shirt. She noted the bit of chest hair the demon had peaked every so little in the v of the shirt. The sleeves of the top sat nicely at the junction of his forearm and biceps. Pants fit him just fine and was ultimately surprised that her brother had a booty. She didn’t like the tail-button on the pants, but the demon didn’t complain about it. He’d have to deal with it. “Right.” She snapped her fingers and an attendant was to her side in a blink. “I want that shirt in black, gray of your choice, a neutral blue, and a dark blue.” She ordered casually, her eyes trained on the pursed lips demon who was definitely glaring at her now. She reached over her shoulder, pulling out a military and a field jacket, framing it as if the alumni was wearing it. “These as well, find one in a beige or a hard sand color.” Uru protested, but it seemed the two were ignoring him. “Short sleeve henleys – the ones with the buttons right here – same colors as the shirts aaaand a light cardigan. He could use less of an edge, don’t you agree?”

“Brenna…” he murmured as the store attendant left. “That’s a lot. You said one outfit.”

“I did, I didn’t say I wasn’t going to get different colors so you aren’t always wearing the same clothes. This way, you can change clothes and still look nice. Which you do. Damien is going to be very happy when he sees you.”

Uru smiled softly whenever the monster’s name came up.


The food court was loud as ever even for individuals who had heightened hearing. Fortunately, they had been trained to be able to drown out noise and focus on what they want to hear. It helps when one lives in dorms with creeple all around. The siblings sat with their drinks, their seating area surrounded by bags and boxes. Winding down from their spending spree. Uru was going to have buyer’s remorse later with his limited amount of seeds.

“You never seem to listen to me.” Uru pointed out with a raised brow.

“That’s because you try to intimidate me into listening. Your growls don’t do anything to me, your expressive eyebrows – as thick as they are – are just adorable. Like that,” she chuckled as the demon’s eye brows went from furrowed to raised in concern. “You want everyone to think you’re all edgy and tough, but I know my brother.” Uru quietly sipped his drink, his expression curious and definitely not edgy or tough. It was easier this way. He knows creeple think he’s good looking and would flirt with him. He found it easier to furrow his brows, don a serious expression, cross his arms across his chest as it was intimidate them. They were less likely to approach him.

The ghoul snorted as if she was aware of what was going through his head. She waved her hand as if to push the thought away, “I know that when you laugh – like really laugh, you laugh with your whole body. You almost howl. I know when you smile that you duck your head like you’re trying to hide it. Like you are embarrassed to have anyone see you smile, or that you shouldn’t be allowed to. You have a nice smile, smile more. I know that you look great, so everyone probably thinks you are extremely attractive, but I know it bothers you sometimes when creeple think of you as just for your body. I know sometimes you preen to yourself at the attention. You have this half smile – a charming thing that you totally use to flirt and get your way.”

“Pfft, no I don’t!” he hissed into a murmur in case someone was listening. Surely someone was eyeing the pair of them, getting entertainment of a young ghoul ‘scolding’ the big boil. And he has not use his good looks and half-smiles that showed just enough teeth to get his way with things. Ever. Often. Much.

However, the ghoul continued, her voice lowering softer just so that only the hellhound could hear. “I know your bad days. I know when you hurt, you really hurt, you hurt so much that you can’t compartmentalize. It’s because that is hurt is inside, you cannot see it, you can’t fix it. And that bothers you. I also know when you are with someone, and they’re talking, you look at them and you listen.”

“Seems like I can’t hide anything from-“ He interjected, clearly the ghoul knew all of his nuisances.

“I know-“ She continued with a moment pause to take a sip. It was the only reason Uru was able to get a word in. “-you hate having your hands by your sides so you cross your arms. It plays nicely into your expressive eyebrows, your general social discomfort being asocial, and it emphasizes your chest and arms to appear intimidating. You enjoy your guitar which has becoming more proficient and you enjoy your piano which needs to be tuned soooo bad. And when Damien is around you are absolutely a boob. You probably has not even looked in a mirror lately because it still sits in a box in the bathroom against the wall, but your eyes are beautiful. Your eyes have been a wonderful mix of gold and blue, I haven’t seen them fully blue in a while. I noticed you haven’t had that same serious expression as often because your eyebrows are more relaxed. An-“

Uru had leaned across the table with the mentioned duck-then-smile and placed a hand on the ghoul’s head. “That’ll do. I get it.”

“Good!” She beamed, pushing the ruffling hand away. “Just know that I will totally use all of that against you some day.”

“I figured you would. But thanks for taking me out.”

“Of course, and I expect to see you in different clothes. I also ordered you a custom fit suit and tailored sweatpants because you seem to enjoy those.” The ghoul smiled sweetly.

“”You realize I am going to pay you for all of that.” Classic huff-eyeroll.

“Oh, I counted on it. That’s why I have all these receipts!”

Of course she did. Uru knew taking the ghoul to the Maul was never a good idea. The process is nice and can be enjoyable, but it is the end result, when he walks home and sits down, does he recall why he tells himself never to go there with her.