NO FEAR [OPEN]

[tigermillionaire]

Who: Steven and anybody in the Defying Atmosphere penthouse.
What: Greg is rewarded with a slightly used pet child.
When: About 24 hours after the SC concert where he gets kidnapped.
Where: DA's penthouse in Virgo HQ.
Warnings: There is a laundry list of things wrong with this situation.

No matter the intention, the violence of being kidnapped leaves a mark on a person, and that's the lingering anxiety that Steven feels now. He was pulled away from his life once again, as terrible as it might have been. He was manhandled, drugged, and dragged off somewhere else, even as he pleaded, for fear of angering his keepers again.

There was a period of claustraphobic darkness followed by a time where blinding white is all he can remember. And then, suddenly, he finds himself here...a penthouse that is totally unfamiliar to him, and is told that he's going to be with his dad now.

He doesn't know if he can believe it, or what he should do. So, once he's left alone, all he does is curl himself up on one of the couches and wait. He's been dressed in fresh clothing, simple in comparison to anything he's made a habit of wearing - the flashes of pink cracklines are still bright on his exposed skin.

He has no control over anything anymore. He may as well stop pretending.

Comments

[panspermia]

This time, he realizes the singing is happening, though it fails to strike him as strange so much as different; a perfectly natural, musical state. For a moment he wonders if he's causing it, but no. This is just how people communicate, after all.

"Sans..."

Too many things have happened at once for Greg to dwell on these details, but the knowledge has been lying in wait in the back of his consciousness. The older man he used to be, the undead being Sans is turning into... there's no way those both could have existed, and also the friendship they shared long ago. One reality has to get ruined to make room for two more.

"Of... of course it's real. We're real. We're here."

He can't trust anything about himself anymore: not his past, not his thoughts, not his actions. It's better if no one trusts him, right now. In spite of that, he has to be able to trust something. He has to be able to trust his friend.

[exhumerus]

Sans cuts in again, continuing the song as he stands and turns to face him, a sharp look in his eye.

"That's great.
But I don't wanna play.
'Cause knowing you here touches me,
More than I can say..."

Except...he's saying it right now? The absurdity of the action, the violation of his inner life, doesn't even occur to him. He just keeps saying what he's thinking to the music, as it begins to grow heated.

"And since I'm doomed to hinder you,
You should really stay away-
And let me rest in peace."

Ah, yes. Now...now they are in the shit. The fact that he's moving to the music is subtle, but it's happening. Just as he begins what sounds like the chorus, he suddenly teleports in front of Greg, his hands tucked in his pockets.

"Let me rest in peace,
Let me get some sleep,
Let me take my love and bury it
In a hole six foot deep.
I can lay my body down,
But I can't find my sweet release-"

He turns from him then, stalking back across the room, his shoulders hunched and tense.

"So let me rest in peace."

[panspermia]

Greg gulps at air. It's a few brief words, a couple simple sentences, yet it carries so much with it. How can he respond all at once? When did things get so complicated?

"I don't know what to say... I can't force you to stay. This isn't how I thought that we might part... this isn't what I wanted at the start."

There's a cadence to Greg's words, without fully breaking the way into music. He can't organize his thoughts fast enough to give a good answer. Maybe yhere isn't one. He huddles against the wall.

"Maybe this can work out. Can't claim I don't have doubts... It's better if this could protect your heart. This isn't what I wanted at the start. "