forum Broken Dreams and Haunting Memories// Closed!// 16+

Started September 19, 2020 by @ElderGodSwimwithGamers group

tune

That same reason was why Simon was choosing not to speak unless directly spoken to. He offered the leopard a weak smile at the lick. “Thank you, friend.” He mumbled.

The leopard gently bumped his head against Simon in turn, eyes closing. He wanted to help Simon feel better, but it was hard. All of this was so much to take in…

Simon felt bad for the poor thing. The leopard had never wanted to experience the world on the level that he did now. Simon figured he must’ve been so much happier before, not having to care about much at all.

He had been. He'd been happy to be brought to the palace and taken from the zoo, he'd been happy with everyone he'd come across. Now..? He was learning what it was to fear Astral, to be afraid of every little thing he did in case he was turned back human, or worse. All he could do was try to comfort Simon, and not doing anything else at all.

They really were all just Astral’s toys, weren’t they? At the end of the day, even if Astral did change, he’d always still hold this type of power over them.

Any god would, really. It was even harder to think of them as anything but toys as they were trapped in basically a dollhouse on Astral's table. The god moved to lay down, back to them but still right there.

Simon was glad that Astral was letting them be for now. But he was still on alert for whenever the god got bored again. He always ended up getting bored again.

He did. For now, though, Astral would sleep. Who knew what he would do in the morning, but he would sleep for now, and the three mortals could be left alone.

Simon was going to stay paying attention until he was sure that the god truly was asleep though, not wanting to take anymore chances today. He sat up some more, sitting crisscross on the bed.

It took time, but Astral was truly asleep. If one listened closely enough, they could even hear his soft snores. The leopard shifted some, his upper half resting in Simon's lap as he did his best to keep Simon… not happy, but not on the verge of breakdown, either.

As soon as it seemed like Astral truly was asleep, Simon turned to look at Mia. “Are you okay?” He asked softly, still being quiet in case Astral woke up.

"I am," Mia said waving one hand slightly. "How are you doing..?" She didn't bother asking if he was okay. Even she could see he wasn't. He wouldn't be, until they could leave.

He shrugged. “Better now.” He was just glad Astral actually had put him back down when he did. “I still really don’t like all of that…” And by ‘all of that’ he just meant Astral touching him in general.

"I can understand why." Mia moved to gently hug Simon properly now, resting her head on his. Astral had no right to do what he had done to Simon, but who would stop him?

No one would. And even those who wanted to stop him really couldn’t. Simon wrapped his arms around her in return, humming softly.

Mia closed her eyes. She hated this. She hated that they were literally trapped her, that they couldn't do anything at all. That they couldn't even talk to each other, or smile, without fear of Astral hurting them.

Simon was just learning to accept that this was the way things were. But he kept up hope that there would be more times like this where Astral would feel some sort of pity for them.

Perhaps there would, perhaps there wouldn't. All they could do was wait and see. The leopard had fallen asleep as well by then, resting in Simon's lap as much as he could.

Simon was starting to relax again, a friend on each side of him. “Are you gonna be okay to fall asleep?” He asked Mia, leaning back to look up at her.

"I don't think so. You?" Mia looked at Simon, arms still around his waist.

He shrugged. “I’m honestly not sure.” It made sense that Mia wouldn’t feel relaxed enough to sleep. “I can tell you a story or something if that would make you feel better.” He offered.

"Perhaps," Mia said, shrugging some. "Hopefully we can help calm each other." Mia moved to gently rest her head on Simon's shoulder, letting out a breath as she held him.

“Okay, do you want to do that then?” He asked, running his fingers through her hair, careful not to let his hands get caught on any knots.

"Mhm…" Mia was quiet, for the moment still, eyes closing as Simon touched her hair. She wanted it all to be a dream, a horrible dream that lasted for too long. She wanted to wake up in her lover's arms, to be assured everything was okay. It wouldn't happen, though. Mia couldn't fall enough into the fantasy to believe it to be true. This was reality, and there was nothing they could do.

Simon hummed softly. “Okay then, let me think of one. A happy story. You probably already know this one but I’m gonna tell it anyway.” He settled down some. “Once upon a time…” he began.

Far away in the depths of hell, and probably a few hours later, Emile finally came to, filled with just as much rage as when he’d blacked out.
“Oh hey you’re awake.” Said a voice from somewhere next to him. Emile opened his eyes, another man looking over him. “You feeling okay? All shifted into your body and everything?”
“Greg get the hell out of my face.”
“Oh yeah you’re fine.” Greg moved out of Emile’s range in case the man actually was angry enough to hit him. “Anyway now that you’re back, I should go get Alec. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“Greg, I literally can’t feel my legs yet.” Emile replied, still very much in a bad mood.
“Then you shouldn’t have any problems staying put.” Greg snapped back with a grin.
Emile continued to glare at him until the other had exited the room. He then lay back down, letting out a long sigh, all that had happened still fresh on his mind. “Shit…”

Mia didn't mind if it was a story she already knew. She relaxed with Simon, listening without a sound.
Astral was asleep for several of those hours that passed, back to the room still. Eventually, though, he'd get up. He'd probably want to get Lily out of the lava and put her back on the table. It was no fun having this constant feeling of faint discomfort that was his body's translation of her being constantly burned by the lava.

Simon would stay up for as long as Mia did. He wouldn’t mind if he ended up being tired in the morning. It just meant he had more opportunities to sleep the next day.

Mia was asleep soon enough, towards the end of the story. She'd never been good at staying up for long, especially when she was resting with someone else on the bed. Her breathing slowed as she stayed cuddled with Simon, arms loosening some around his waist.

As much as Simon tried to convince himself he was fine, he wasn’t. He didn’t want to sleep in this room. He did actually try to fall asleep at one point but it was no use. He’d be lucky to get even two hours of sleep.

Mia had been able to forget, somewhat, that they were in Astral's room. They were still in their own room, after all, the ceiling back in place. They couldn't see out.