[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

[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. ]