[OPEN] The air is silk, shadows form a grin

[ofobedience]

Who: Giovanni and OTA
Where: Giovanni's subconscious, have fun with that
When: Chapter 4
Summary: dreams and nightmares
Restrictions/Warnings: violence, gore, bioweapon horror, that kind of thing



[Various dreams and nightmares written out in the comments. They'll all be open so feel free to tag them!]

Comments

i'm screaming

[tousei]

[ The monsters eventually die, their guts torn to shreds inside their own body. Only when they stop moving do the vines retreat, slithering back to their owner and assuming their previous position beneath his skin. Red runs down his arms and chest, all his own - for the vines had absorbed what they had torn out.

He turns, pain searing his skin where the plants had grown, but manages to ignore them by force of will alone. ]

They're gone now.

[ It's quiet, without all the screaming. ]

[ofobedience]

[They're gone, and yet his fear remains, body still shaking beneath the weight of it, arms curled tight around himself and head ducked low as though the defensive position could somehow protect him from the perceived threat. he doesn't look up, doesn't uncoil, but when the silence begins to seep through his bones he at least finds the courage to ask an unsteady question--] W-who're you? What're you doing h-here?

[tousei]

[ He isn't sure of it himself, but the dream fills it in for him and the answer comes, albeit quietly: ]

There are bad people here. [ So he killed them. ] I came to help you.

[ Obviously. Why else? He can't conceive of anything else. Perhaps he can bring this boy back to his mother, who ran an orphanage. That's right, it sounds reasonable. ]

[ofobedience]

[There's a sniffling then, a tremulous breath, and though he remains locked tight around himself, the mop of blond hair raises as he slowly looks up. There's something in his voice beyond the unsteadiness of it. Shock, perhaps. Disbelief mixed with a bonedeep wariness that says there must be some mistake-- there is no help for him.] You came...you came to h-help me?

[tousei]

[ In a corrupt world, only the children may be innocent. To cleanse and rebirth it anew, that was the mission of the restless gods. ]

I did. The bad people hurt you, didn't they?

[ Well, they're all dead now. He extends one hand, red streaks on his pale skin. ]

Come with me?

[ofobedience]

[And they did hurt him, didn't they? Hurt him right down to the core of himself, more fiercely than simple physical pain, something that reaches right in behind his ribs and clamps down tight on what makes him himself, threatens to rip it right out of him. But already, even now, it's a complicated thing. And though he warily reaches out one small shaking hand to clasp the one extended to him, there's uncertainty there. Concern.] B-but...but Mother will be a-angry.

[tousei]

[ That in lies the crux of the problem, the wrong of the world - something so damned that it needs to die. ]

If she's a mean Mother, then she's no Mother.

[ His own Mother was never like that. A Mother should bring happiness. ]

[ofobedience]

She's the o-only one I've got. [Words whispered quietly as he nonetheless pulls himself to his feet, moves to stand close to the other body, almost pressed against his side.]

[tousei]

[ A few vines appear from Julius' arms, almost in welcome. ]

You can come with me. My Mother can be your Mother. She takes a lot of children.

[ To their deaths, but that's not something he knows. ]

[ofobedience]

[There's a wariness in him at the sight of the vines, a small step back, uncertain. What he'd seen, what this boy had done to the failed experiments-- it's still there, fresh and raw in his mind. He wants proximity, that much is certain in from the needy look of him, the restlessness, but can this person be trusted? He still seems unsure.] I-is she nice? She doesn't...doesn't make you do this? [This being the carnage that had been going on around them until Julius stepped in. This is the name-calling and derision he experiences on a daily basis.]

[tousei]

[ They are quite creepy, red-black vines with golden thorns that shift into leaves at a single thought - only he does not think it mostly so, because no one at Magnolia Compass ever commented on it as being strange. ]

Mother does not like bad people. She is nice to us and keeps us away from the bad people. She wants us to be good children.

[ Bad people are here, so he killed them. It's reasonable. ]

[ofobedience]

[He contemplates this a moment, mouth an unsteady downturned line of concern.] W-what if she thinks I'm a bad child? My M-Mother thinks so. [How does one define badness, after all? For himself, he isn't sure. Only knows that this place isn't what he wants, isn't where he belongs, but doesn't that make him bad? That unbelonging, his pathetic weakness. A moment's delay as he shifts from foot to foot, and then warily, he points to the ominous vines.] Are you going to...to h-hurt me with those?

[tousei]

[ Julius tilts his head, a little confused - but answers are easy to give. ]

Bad people hurt other people. Good people take care of those around them. That's what my Mother says.

[ The vines curl back a little, wrapping themselves back around his arms. ]

No.

[ofobedience]

...I'm s-supposed to hurt people. [A little nervous, then, because if he does such things, does that make him bad? Not that he's ever been particularly capable of it, flawed as he is. A failure. It feels as though he's bad for not wanting to hurt others, his own Mother's anger and overt displeasure with him always occurring because of this fact. But then she's the bad one, isn't she? For doing this to them. It's a complicated thing. Slowly, with great trepidation, he moves in towards Julius again. Tries to slip his small hand into the other boy's. Speaks in a quiet, faltering voice.] ...I don't w-want to, though. I hate it. I d-don't belong here.

[tousei]

[ Then it is settled. ]

If you do not belong here with the bad people, then you are probably not one.

[ He takes Giovanni's hand, grey eyes not quite lucid, as if still in a trance or hypnotized. ]

You can come with me.

[ofobedience]

[His small, cool hand grips tightly now that they've established the other boy isn't a threat, all ready to believe in rescue, wanting it too desperately not to take the opportunity when offered. Still. There's one thing preying on his mind--] And what about H-Heine? And Lily? And...and Arthur and all the o-others?

[tousei]

[ Those sound like the names of his friends. ]

I can only take you with me, right now... if they don't belong here, my Mother could send for them to come too.

[ Maybe. Julius knows she's always taking more children, but he doesn't know the truth behind it. ]

[ofobedience]

[There's something in him, at that. A visible hesitation, the unsteady downwards curl of his lips and there's a moment when his grip on the other boy's hand loosens, when it seems as though he'll refuse. But then he thinks of Mother, of the misshapen atrocities she's made and which they are forced, again and again, to fight. Thinks of all the things he lacks but which Heine and Lily have. They can look after themselves. He cannot. Still, he can't just turn his back on them without asking, just once--] Do you p-promise your Mother will come for them? I can't leave them here...I n-need to save them, too. [Even as some part of him knows that Lily is too far gone for that, that the violence in her is too big too bright too unstable for her to make it outside of this place.]

[tousei]

Of course.

[ Rachel would be too busy, but he would come. He was her shining boy, after all - the most powerful, the one with the greatest destiny.

If they did manage to rescue Lily, Rachel would have other plans for her. But that is not something known to both of them at this time. ]

When you get stronger, you can come with me too.

[ofobedience]

[And just like that his grip on the other boy's hand tightens again, becomes more resolute. It's enough for him, the promise, and his own big wide fear makes him aware of an immediacy in his need for escape.] All right. [Even if he doesn't necessarily believe he'll ever be anything more than a fragile, broken thing.] We s-should go. Before She comes back. [And then quietly, as an after thought--] I'm G-Giovanni.

[tousei]

My name is Julius.

[ He turns at the sound of metal scraping in the distance. ][ The two of them run out of the facility, Julius using his vines to break down doors and any barriers in their way. Soon, they would be free... or as free as they could in a world of ultimately dreams. ]