oversleep | ( FOLKMORE. ) IC CONTACT

_{[ wao......... that's a big tv... ]}

do you live with a lot of people?

Technically I live by myself. Although Natsume is over a lot.

But he falls asleep watching movies.

_{[ Hmm... only Junpei and maybe Natsume? Not bad. ]}

ok.
i'll come over sometime.
ty.

[ What a cute conversation!

Junpei enjoys his new television, even falling asleep on his couch one night with it on, snuggled under a blanket in the dark beneath its glow.

It’s a rare night Natsume isn’t around, so his sleep is a little restless ... ]

_{[ Well. A big TV like that is going to attract any teenager who rarely leaves the house, so he's going to head to Junpei's burrow (perhaps they exchanged addresses at the Familiar Party.) He doesn't go anywhere without his knife, and it's some god-awful hour at night when he's barely been able to sleep.

At first, he tries to just let himself in, and if the door is locked, he'll get distracted by the TV through one of the windows and simply just.. stand in the window and watch the TV from there... for now. ]}

[ A nightmare comes, as it does when he’s alone.

A dark alley. He doesn’t want to keep walking forward. He knows it’s dangerous. Yet his feet keep moving him deeper in.

No, no. You can’t. You’ll run into him again.

Step by step, each one making his anxiety spike. Until a shadowy figure starts to form. No.

No. No. No! ]

No!

[ He shoots up, awake. Out of the alley. In his burrow. Eyes catching the slightest hint of movement out the window, and ... ]

AAAAAAAIIIIE!

[ He falls off the couch, crashing to the floor in a tangle of ears and blankets. ]

_{[ Sunny can only just watch the spectacle before him with the most expressionless face, but his eyes do grow slightly when Junpei yells like that and fumbles to the ground. Not to mention, the knife is in plain sight. His free hand taps at the window though. ]}

... ?

[ For a few seconds, the anxious prey animal instincts are in control, Junpei frozen with his head beneath the blanket.

As he absorbs what he just saw, there’s a realization there was something familiar about the face in the window.

Slowly, he lifts the blanket, heart pounding in his chest as he pushes himself to rise to his feet.

There, in the flickering glow of the television, he squints. ]

Sunny?

[ He’s about to walk over to the door when he notices the knife. An eyebrow raises ... and he points to it with a confused look. ]

_{[ Yes, this is his knife. Do you wanna see it? That's what he thinks Junpei is asking and simply just holds it out on proud display on the other side of the window. It looks shiny. Unused. ]}

???

_{[ Do you like it, Junpei? ]}

[ ... actually, the way Sunny is acting about the potential weapon does kind of put him at ease. He doesn’t know why, and it absolutely shouldn’t, but it does.

He shuffles towards the front door, unlocking it and opening it wide enough to stick his head out, blanket still covering most of his head like a shroud.

Not wanting to wake his neighbors (as if he hadn’t just screamed bloody murder) he whisper hisses at the boy. ]

... Sunny ... why aren’t you in bed?

_{[ The second he is whispered to is when he skitters to the other side of the burrow to to the door and nudges himself inside, wiggling through and past Junpei and going straight to the big TV. ]}

I wanted to see the television.

_{[ The real reason: nightmares, but you know. ]}

[ There are a couple surprised sounds of protest as the boy just ... becomes a liquid and wiggles his way into his house. Junpei watches in disbelief as the boy is drawn to the TV like a moth to a bulb.

He opens his mouth, intending to inform Sunny that it’s too late for company and he’s very tired ... but ... the words die in his throat and he finds himself closing and locking the door with a sigh instead.

That done, he’ll plop himself back down on the couch. ]

... if you’re going to watch, you’re going to have to stay until at least morning. Are you OK with that?

_{[ Junpei sits on the couch, but Sunny is still examining the big television in surprise and shock. His mouth is hanging open slightly as he turns to look at Junpei. ]}

... Am I really allowed to watch this TV?

_{[ He's not answering his question, but Sunny feels like he's undeserving to be gifted such a grand opportunity. For a hikikomori, this is a really big deal. ]}

[ Sitting soon becomes laying, a yawn escaping Junpei’s mouth before he answers. He really had been stone asleep before the annoying nightmare had formed.

And hey. Maybe Sunny being nearby would be enough to keep any more from popping up. As good an excuse as any, and not as vulnerable a thing as feeling protective of the kid.

He nods his head tiredly. ]

Sure. It’s not like I have school or a job to go to in the morning. Just as long as you don’t care if I fall asleep.

You don't have to go to school anyway.

_{[ Sunny helps himself to one of the blankets that are on the floor and drapes it around his body with expertise, shuffling into a little circle as it drags around his body, making a pristine blanket burrito around.

The social recluse is a pro at making himself comfortable. ]}

Careers are a scam.

Edited 2022-08-09 02:05 (UTC)

I stopped going to school before I even came here.

[ He shifts to lay on his stomach in the rabbit relaxation position, grabbing the nearby pillow to lay his head on. ]

And we earn spoons just by ... talking to people so there’s no reason to hold an actual job. Which suits a fairytale land I guess. But I know some people who still attend the schools here.

Do nothing. Be nothing.

_{[ He's lying down on the ground now, becoming one with the floor in his cozy burrito state. ]}

Life sucks then you die.

_{[ .. ah. ]}

[ Junpei might be an endless well of cynicism, but that’s a little much even for him. He scoots over to the edge of the couch to look down at Sunny, expression serious. ]

Sometimes life really sucks, and then you really die ... and a magical fox carries you off to a new life ... where things suck. Until they don’t. But then they might again ...

_{[ He has a feeling that Junpei is looking at him and he turns to look over his shoulder at the other teenager. Does he feel bad about saying that? Possibly. But it doesn't show on his face, expression unreadable like always. ]}

... That's reality.

_{[ Then he turns his head back to the television, opening up to Junpei about something he's not really told anyone before. ]}

Which is why I avoid it all costs.

[ The statement is allowed to hang in the air for a bit, the silence filled by whatever is on TV. At this point it’s an infomercial selling some amazing device that helps you hatch your eggs in half the time. (Hatch your eggs?)

You would think a fairytale land of magic and wonder wouldn’t have infomercials.

But you’d be incorrect to the tune of 4 easy payments of 99 spoons.

Finally, Junpei speaks again. ]

But you can’t. Not really. It’s always happening around you. To you.

_{[ And Sunny is watching the television as if it's the most fascinating thing right now. ]}

I do, though.
Almost everyday.

_{[ Idly, Junpei may see him fidgeting at the blanket that is wrapped around him. ]}

[ Junpei is at a bit of an impasse.

He does like to get into a good philosophical discussion. It was a source of pride for him at one point; his cynical views on life and humanity that he’d cultivated. One of the components that had dragged him deeper into the last bad ‘friendship’ choice he’d made was finally finding someone else who would discuss such things with him. He’s absolutely itching to pick at what Sunny has said, to challenge it.

... but. He’s not as confident in his opinions as he once was, or at least tried to pretend to be. There’s a delicacy to this situation, and he isn’t one hundred percent sure he has the capability of handling it.

So, instead, he reaches out to gently rub one of the cat ears on top of Sunny’s head. Like he had at the fire not too long ago. And says nothing. ]

_{[ That's a pity. Sunny would love nothing more than to have a long, philosophical discussion. He read a lot. Typically things on the internet.. wavering opinions on many things.

However, he doesn't mind being touched since his ears are out and just begging to be petted, so he blinks and glances back at Junpei for a moment before settling his eyes back on the grand television.

Junpei doesn't want to talk abut his safe space? His dissociated dreamworld he had fabricated to ensure everything was going to be okay like Basil told him so long ago? That's fine. Junpei is quiet, and maybe that's how Sunny came to like him so much. He leans into the touch slightly, but otherwise, he also says nothing. ]}

[ The quiet is held for a number of minutes, sleep wrapping its tendrils around Junpei and trying to pull him back into its restful world.

But the itch remains at the corner of his mind, bothering him as he stares at the back of the other boy's head.

The corner of his mouth twitches.

He can't. ]

... what do you mean, exactly?

I avoid reality almost everyday.

_{[ Sunny repeats himself, a little surprised he's being open about this to Junpei. He's been surprising himself a lot lately-- maybe there is something about this place trying to improve his character. ]}

Because reality is too cruel to live in.

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