deercountry | (no subject)

I'm alright. [72%, 73%

he walks over, gazing around again.] Where are we? I think we were in a memory before. [but where did sunny bring them? it's

nice? maybe that's the word. it feels safe. quiet. that's nice.]

Okay. [Sunny does regard him for another moment or so, concerned, before he moves on.]

This is White Space. There isn't much of anything here. [Do not start thinking this is a cool comfortable place, Mob!!

But anyway, Sunny pauses to think for a second about what Mob said.]

That was... your memory?

It's nice. [too late...] Oh, did your power bring us here?

[he's never seen a psychic with a... pocket dimension? or something? maybe they're in sunny's head? which is a bit unsettling, in a way, but not too bad because it was sunny.]

Oh, yeah. It's okay though, it wasn't real. [he moves over to mewo, crouching to give her a pet. looking to sunny after a moment.] Are you okay? That place is pretty upsetting.

[No, it's not nice!!!!] I think so. I didn't know they could do that...

[Which raised questions about what else they could do. He glances down, not to divert his gaze, but as though he's looking through the floor to something below it.]

It felt real. [That was what mattered, wasn't it? Mewo lifts her head and gives Mob a small 'mrr' in thanks for the pets.] I'll be alright. I wasn't in there for that long.

[Unlike someone else!!] ...I'm sorry that happened to you.

Thank you. [that's said after a beat of quiet. bringing them here, away from all that- it could have gotten worse. so much worse. for him, for sunny.] You're brave, Sunny.

[for standing up in that world. for helping them escape. sunny was a good person. a good friend.

mob was grateful. he needed to make sure sunny knew it, too.

his hand pauses over mewo for a moment, thinking of- not thinking of something. everything's fine.] It was during a job. [he feels he at least owes sunny this.] An evil spirit possessed Asagiri, that girl in our- in class. I had to go into her self to try to kick him out from the inside.
The spirit made that world. [very flat.]

I got him out, she was okay.

...You're welcome. [Sunny didn't feel brave. Not at all. The entire time all he wanted to do was run away. That's what he had done, in the end. Run away. Though at least he'd been able to take Mob with him. He hadn't abandoned him, which was an improvement over how he normally was.

He moves over closer to Mob, listening carefully to what the other teen was saying.]

She was mean. [Blunt.] It was kind of you to help her. [Mob was a really good person, wasn't he? Sunny didn't know if he would have done the same in his shoes.

He sits down on the white-on-white blanket, still watching Mob.] You can talk more about it. [Since that description had been a little sparce.] People tell me I'm good at listening.

She wants to change, I think. [a very long beat of staring at mewo a little spacily. everything fine.jpg.] They made me realize a lot about bad people, and how easy it is to get trapped in that sort of thing. It's hard to snap out of it, I think. But people can and do.

[he's seen it a lot. it's nice to see.

(deep down, pressing against the walls of this place might be the raging thing that wishes it didn't always have to be his burden to bear for them until they did. if people would stop using him to figure themselves out. it scratches against the walls.)

he looks to sunny.] You are. [sunny was easy to talk to. but-] I'm not sure what there is to say. I'm just sorry you had to deal with it.

I saw one of sensei's memories but I couldn't interact with it at all. I wonder what happened...

[That's a good take on things.] Yeah... I want to imagine it's possible to become a better person, even if you've done terrible things. [Because he thinks of himself as an awful person but you know.

Sunny finds himself looking down again, but whether it's because he senses something or because he's simply aware of the fact that black space is down there, it isn't clear. Maybe it's because he can tell Mob definitely has more issues with that horrible world than he was letting on. Who wouldn't?]

Hm, how it hurt you? Venting. [He glances back up again.]

Was it a bad memory?

[sunny you are going to get suplexed with affection and admiration one of these days, mr 'bad person.' regardless mob nods.] I've seen a lot of really bad people change. It's possible. It always is.

[he didn't want to exist in a world where it wasn't.

venting, huh? he tilts his head, eyes straying to the lightbulb again. what an odd place this was.] I'm not sure how that would help. Wouldn't it just be stewing on bad things? [okay mr repression.]

Hm... in some ways. It ended well, but it was really stressful and scary for sensei at that time. Someone wanted to fight that he didn't want to fight. [daniel is such a mood, tbh] He was the only one who could do anything. It's... he's really reliable, and handled it, but I wish he didn't have to.

[It always was, huh? Mob seemed to believe it, so Sunny would try to, too. People could change. Sunny could change.]

No, I don't think so. The things are still there, even if you try to ignore them. [He rubs his thumb against the fabric of the rug.] They'll keep getting louder. [Until you couldn't ignore them anymore, and that was when things got really bad.]

I wish he didn't have to, either. Sometimes things don't work out like that, though. [He lays down, staring up at the lightbulb. This was too familiar.] I'm glad it turned out alright for him.

[mob says nothing for a beat before he shifts to lie down a little bit away from sunny, side by side. watching the lightbulb, embracing the quiet.]

Is that why you have a quiet place like this? [for things that get louder. that- he couldn't deny things eventually got too loud. but his emotions weren't normal. when they came out bad things could happen. bad things did happen. strange things. people wouldn't want to be around him, like that world.

sunny wanted to be around him there. that didn't mean he'd want to otherwise, but it does stick a little.]

That's a bit like what he said. He said it was okay to be scared when those things happened and that people here would come if you called when you were scared. [reciting, then a pause.] Sensei's a really good guy, isn't he?

Yes. [Though he was determined not to fall back into old habits. Maybe it was okay this one time, since it got them out of that horrible world.] Those Things rarely get all the way up here. [Rarely, but not never.

He turns his head to look at Mob.]

He is. I like him. [He pauses.] Everyone here seems so willing to help each other.

But they do get up here. [relatable, in a weird way. all of this, really.] There are some things you can't change, I guess.

[he doesn't sound happy about that, though the tone is very faint. if only there were things that could just... go away. gone, forever. they weren't needed.]

The spirit that trapped me, Mogami- [a beat there, looks like he's willing to talk about it a little, after a moment's hesitance.] -he wanted me to think the world was cruel and people will always use you. This place is so dangerous but people still try to help. I wish he had been lucky enough to see that side of people.

They do. [Staring upward silently for a long moment, thinking of what to say in response to that- talk about his own experience- when Mob continues. He turns his head to face him.]

Maybe he has seen it, but he couldn't bring himself to believe in it. [A pause.] The world can seem really dark sometimes. It isn't all bad, but it can be hard to convince yourself of that sometimes.

I guess so. People say it's easy to get pulled into things like that. Hating people, being angry.

Maybe they get tired of trying. But then they just become the reason other people get tired of trying. [a slow blink to the ceiling.] I hope I never get tired of trying.

[who could stop him if he did?]

You're right. When you stop trying it only hurts everyone else. [When he made a recluse of himself for four years, it had only made everyone's else situation worse. Including his own.]

I stopped trying for a long time. [Staring up thoughtfully.] But you can always start trying again.

Why did you start trying again? [a glance over.]

I'm glad you did. It's nice having you as a roommate.

My friend Kel knocked on my door. He found out I was going to move away soon. [The faintest hint of a smile appears on his face.]

I left the house to see him. So... it was him. The rest of my friends, too, after I reconnected with them. But none of it would have happened without Kel reaching out. [He was a very good lad that didn't give himself enough credit.]

[ah, support networks. mob's lips quirk very faintly.] They sound like good friends.

I hope I can meet them one day. Kel. [aubrey when she's not horrible mogami mode.] It must have been hard though, for you.

They are. [He missed them.]

I hope so too. They'd like you. [They would fucking love Mob, actually.] ...It was. But it was worth doing. Things got better.