thevoidsdarkhorse | Heart Game (Continued)

Heart Game (Continued)

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Y-yeah, I---

[The tears pricking the corners of his eyes betray him. He exhales sharply, pressing a hand to his face.]

I'm... fine, I'm sorry. I'm fine... Just tired.

....

[And then he's being hugged.]

[And there is warmth, peace, a soothing feeling of 'things will be fine in time.']

It's okay.

It's safe here.

[Nice feelings yay. Except he's tired, he can't get those powers up to keep him balanced, and

well. hah.]

N-no, get away---!!!

[There's a stifled scream as he instantly recoils, shoving her away from him, ankles grinding messily for traction against the ground to gain some distance. No no no no no get away get away get away help HELP -- his arms are back over his head, shielding him, trembling fiercely.]

[She squeaks as she's shoved away. And...at least it's easy to move. Void is weird movement.]

....ah....

[She's still for several moments. Then she sits down on the ground across from him and hums.]

[Fireflies begin to gather around him, offering up those good feelings, and the humming sounds a bit more, well, like music.]

[And POOF, a blanket appears around him.]

[If only you knew how important music was back home, Roxy.

It takes him a few moments to snap out of it, his hands carefully lowering, tears flowing freely now without his acknowledgement.]

I-I...

[...

There's a mumbled swear under his breath, his expression darkening as he pulls the blanket tight around his shoulders. Focus, calm down, stop freaking out, stop being an idiot...

...

It's only when he's regained that composure, wiping at his eyes with his wrist, that he finally turns toward her, apologetic and concerned.]

...Sorry about that.

Are you alright?

[Music is always important.]

[Still gonna have fireflies hovering around you.]

Sorry, I...was kinda hoping it was okay. My mistake.

And I'm fine.

Are you okay? You don't look so good.

Ah... yeah. Yeah. My body just reacts sometimes.

[A weak laugh, palms up.]

I'm fine, though, I swear. Please, don't worry about it. Might be hard to believe, but I actually had a handle on things for a while earlier.

As long as you're alright, that's what matters.

You shouldn't swear if you don't mean it. [Frowns.] Probs worse to do in a heart.

I'm...getting there. A sixth person should make it all right.

[Opens his mouth for a rebuttal... only to close it, pausing for a long moment. His expression falls, softens away from that cheery wall.]

I do mean it, Roxy. Don't dismiss that.

You and I are just a lot more alike than I thought, you know?

Hard to believe it when you seem to be forcing yourself too.

....honestly, I was wondering when you'd figure it out?

[A slight recoil at that first remark, though he doesn't respond to it. He's too tired, she can believe what she wants, because he can't do his normal bullshit dance right now.]

Hey, ouch. I didn't have much left to figure out after we got stuck outside the baths.

It just always came up in some pretty... heated ways, you know? Makes it kind of hard to bring it up casually anyway, much less when it's always under pretty gross circumstances.

Plus... well, it's not always good material to talk about. So I didn't want to assume anything.

[She huffs.]

If you dun wanna assume, you should ASK, silly.

I know, I know...

My stupidity aside... knowing all this makes me determined to do what I can for you now. Brothers in arms kind of thing, even if it sounds kind of cheesy.

I'm just sorry I didn't do what I could sooner.

Not cheesy. Sounds kind of familiar. [WHY DO YOU THINK SHE WORRIED SO MUCH FOR YOU. This. This is why.]

...well, you can help now. I still need a bit more to be stable. [A sadder smile.]

[Maybe I figured out why and VIOLENTLY REJECTED HELP because walls and piss poor coping

He returns the smile, though with a little more of a spark, an unspoken equivalent to a ruffling of her hair. Being sad is for losers. Let's focus on something not so sad, shall we? So he gathers the blanket close as he pushes himself to his feet.]

I'd be happy to. Where would you like me to start?

[This is probably true. '-']

[So healthy.]

[But she moves over to pick up one of the green cubes and she tosses it over to him.]

[Catching it easily, though he gives her a questioning look in return.]

I need a new base. They...they were the old base.

[She's looking at some broken shapes. The colors are going to be familiar. Basically the exact shades of those pesterchum chats, plus a purple.]

But I can't have it just be one or two people, too unstable. The more I have, the more give there is for me to change the base if I need to, to still support everything.

Goes along with your friends being so important to you, right?

[That smirk strengthens a bit, rueful but honest. Acknowledging the loss, the sight of what looked to be her friends from home, and letting it be for what they could do now. Dwelling on it too heavily was what got the other room in such a mess, after all.]

What do I need to do, then, to help build that base up? Anything special?

[Nods.] They're important. They always will be, but I can't use them as bases for my hope anymore. And we need it with how bad the rest got.

[She looks at him and gestures to the cube.] I need feelings. Your hopes and dreams for me, why you want to help. The more specific, honest, and strong the feelings are, the better.

Why you want to help me specifically especially.

[Okay, he has to laugh at that.]

Should be easy enough, right? Seeing what I got stuck with thanks to Nix.

[A tug at the Heart on his shirt.]

Do you want me to talk it out, or just do whatever feels natural?

Talking is the easiest to do, but if the feelings are strong nuff and you're channeling it right, it can go into the cube. Only one to do that so far is poolboy though.

...your poolboy.

He's hearty and been doing shit all over to get in though.

...Poolboy?

Who the hell is poolboy?

Oh, I guess you didn't get the memo.

Cascade Haru. [Because Rin keeps using BOTH NAMES at her and Cascade is a tool who doesn't introduce himself and she doesn't like using names people don't give her.]

He's got like a super waterboner.

Oh, Cascade--!

[Pfffft okay the nickname makes a LITTLE more sense now.]

Yeah, he's new. I wasn't aware you guys had met.

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