[labyrinthium] IC inbox

[nolube]

Text | Voice | Action

Comments

[nolube]

[Adam rubs his face with a hand. Deep inhale.]

…Yeah, I get it. It was either that or leave me there to bleed out, right?

[sadpoem]

It hurt.

[nolube]

Hurt me a hell of a lot too.

[He did straight up die!]

[sadpoem]

[A sharp little glare, teary-eyed.]

That's what I mean. [Adam was hurting. He was suffering. He's Omori's friend. Omori promised to keep death far away; he couldn't, so he made it come quicker.

[But it hurt Omori too. Adam didn't entirely mistake his meaning.]

[nolube]

[Ah…oh…he’s really torn up about this, isn’t he?

He can’t really make it better, he can’t say it was all fine and none of it matters.]

Hey, at least you didn’t leave me alone.

[His voice is quieter, more sincere. That - at least - meant a lot to Adam.]

[sadpoem]

[Omori nods, wiping at his eyes again. He's done crying - not built for that sort of thing, really, though sadness, depression, misery have always been programmed in...]

I won't.

[nolube]

Thanks.

[He prays it doesn’t happen again. He knows it probably might.]

Same goes here.

[sadpoem]

[Omori stares up at Adam. He's far less expressive than Sunny, who can't be described as "expressive," anyway, even on a good day; still, there's something to that gaze, questioning.]

We're friends. [As if...to confirm.

[Even after that, Adam isn't walking away? It was so easy for everyone else...they didn't even know Sunny was a murderer...]

[nolube]

Yeah. [With some reassurance.] We’re friends.

[sadpoem]

[Omori nods. They're friends. Adam's better than any of them. Adam understands.]

I'm just trying...to protect him.

[nolube]

[He lets out a long exhale.]

Yeah. I know.

Does he know how much you do for him?

[sadpoem]

[Quiet, angry:] No.

He hates me.

I hate him too.

[nolube]

I don’t get it.

[He says, with a fold of his arms.]

If I hated a guy, I wouldn’t bother like you do.

[sadpoem]

[Softly, with such uncharacteristic tenderness, with such deep, deep devotion:] He's my boy.

[He hugs himself, cradling Sunny with his own arms, one now mangled beyond all recognition. Omori rocks gently in place, because Sunny feels better when he does.]

[nolube]

[He’s never heard Omori speak like that before. His feelings for Sunny are clearly a big deal; though, admittedly, not something he understands.

But it’s not like he needs to, he supposes.

He points to the mangled arm.]

What happened there?

[sadpoem]

[Omori's eyes fall to the arm. Sunny's kept it covered with long sleeves, for the most part, since it happened; Omori has felt infinitely more shame - not argued this. But tonight, he'd rushed into a t-shirt and shorts on his way to find Adam.

[He cradles the arm; glares at it. Something stews deep inside of him. It's Aubrey's fault for pushing him away, and Sunny's fault for being weak, even Adam's fault for throwing him off course, but...

[No. Omori knows that the blame is his.]

Wolves. [He couldn't beat them.]

[nolube]

What the fuck? You got attacked by wolves?

[He’s been staring at the arm. He pulls his gaze away.]

Jesus, at least you’re lucky you didn’t die.

[sadpoem]

Eaten. [The arm, healed by the crystal but unable to be put back together in the right shape with chunks missing.]

Aubrey saved him. [He sounds very bitter when he says that…

[…but, his hand is curled against his chest, squeezing and releasing open air. He doesn’t seem to notice.]

[nolube]

Aubrey’s one of…

[Your? Definitely not.]

His friends, right?

[sadpoem]

I guess. [It's a vicious, petulant answer; he sounds like he wants to spit on the ground. His hand stops flexing. He lowers it down into a fist, the other joining.]

He shouldn't trust her. She left him all alone. They all did.

[nolube]

Need me to talk to them?

[It’s not a serious suggestion, but…he is an adult, he guesses. Shit, is this what adults do?]

[sadpoem]

[…?]

What would you tell them? [Wait.

[He sits up a little straighter.]

Give them a message.

[nolube]

Yeah?

[Tell him little buddy.]

[sadpoem]

[Omori frowns a moment, thinking. It's not typical for him to be so expressive; right now, he looks young and hurt, just like a child. He takes in a breath through his nose.]

Tell them...that I never told them to leave Sunny alone. [That matters. He made that compromise.] Tell them to stop touching me. Tell them to stop hurting him.

[At some point, the message becomes more direct. Little fists ball up the fabric of his shorts.] I protect him. I'm the only one that has. I've been here longer than they think. If I'm there, it means he doesn't want to be.

I know what's best for him. They need to listen.

[Has Adam - has anyone - ever heard Omori talk this much? He looks worn out.]

[nolube]

[Adam listens, actually taking this seriously.]

Got it. I’ll tell them.

[He means it!]

Quick question - who are his friends, again?