River gently placed his own hands over Aspen’s, hoping to block out the sound just a bit more.
He could watch how the stress, the noise, was beginning to turn into near physical pain for the other. But Papyrus was watching, and Aspen endured and endured, too wary to snap in front of the giant man.
River was at a loss. From what he could tell, this game was exceptionally quiet to the point of being boring. Under normal circumstances anyway, for some of the others (…the younger part of them) were intent to just mess with anything they could get their hands on.
He took a deep breath, his light-colored eyes lowering momentarily.
“Aspen”, he said, tugging both of their hands a bit off the other’s ears. He knew they were only completely safe if they won the game, but he asked anyway. “Do you… want to stop for today?”
Aspen’s painfully furrowed brows pulled together tighter. “Never”, he forced out. “I need the wishes.”
The words had River tilt his head to the side.
“We can try again next time…”
“I need all of them.” Aspen forcefully inhaled and exhaled, steeling himself. He took his hands down and focused on River rather than the giggling and laughing and shouting and talking and noise from everywhere. “Your health. ShuShu. A new… A new body. For me. Outside. I need enough wishes for them to do all of it. We won’t skip games. It’s just this time that it’s a bit bad for me, but I can rest afterwards.”
“Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Oh, stop worrying about me.” With a pouting expression, Aspen passed by River, his face a mask of calmness that didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m on death-row. You’re the one who’s suffering for no reason.”
A soft sigh escaped River, but he didn’t reject Aspen’s kindness.
If Aspen wanted to endure for him, rejecting his gesture would be nothing but rude. He’d accept this.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
They went down in time to observe the mother leaving the house. Her husband retreated into an office room while the children went down, first cleaning up and then also watching tv.
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Papyrus himself was looking out of the window. It bothered River, but this was also his plan, so he was forced to take place not too far from the giant man.
“It makes sense to find an outsider to help the children, doesn’t it”, the man’s dark voice came from the side.
Why were people suddenly so interested in talking to him? Reality and dream, River had always been a silent side-character. An extra. When had it started that people watched him, observed him, tried to squeeze out his thoughts?
Maybe Papyrus read it on his face, or he switched the topic at random, but his next words were a perfect response to what River was wondering. “You don’t know how interesting you are, do you?”
“What?”
River’s eyes widened. They darted over to meet Papyrus’, and indeed, he could see the interest in them.
“Two things that I have learned in my life that humans love to observe are the dangerous and the odd. You… are both. So detached from everything, looking at us like we’re not like you.”
The easterner couldn’t deny that part, but he scoffed at the other. “You are mistaken if you think I’m dangerous.”
“A sick tiger is a tiger, nonetheless. No exhaustion can deny what is sleeping inside you”, Papyrus said cryptically. “Do you really think your friend there would be at your side otherwise? What predator befriends prey?”
He took a large step forward towards the two of them.
Neither of the two young men moved away. Whether the two of them were a sick tiger and a wolf, the one in front of them was definitely a dragon. They stood no chance if he decided to snap their necks, but Aspen would be ready to fight the moment Papyrus tried.
And, to River’s shock, he realized that he, too, would fight.
The children moved.
The moment was broken and Papyrus returned to his spot at the window. There was a silence around that hadn’t been there before.
Several other players had heard their exchange and were looking over, but none of the three gave them any attention.
River simply exhaled a sigh and stared out into the street, keeping half his attention on the children. He wasn’t here to think about other people, he was here to think about the Actors.
Even though those were hardly doing anything.
It was confusing. River asked Aspen to go through the rooms as much as possible while he observed the street and the other did as he asked, but returned after a while with a shaking head.
There was nothing odd here. Abuse aside, this was a normal family. No odd jobs, no hidden drugs or weapons. No weird books or tools or items.
Aspen did find a sort of report about the mother, stating that she was mentally unstable during her pregnancy, but that was about it. No hint that these weren’t her children or anything.
The shadows moved around less than any other shadows they had ever seen. It was normal for a common family, sure, but this gave them as players no hints at all as to what they were supposed to do except maybe alert some passerby to the situation of the kids.
The danger level was also ridiculously low. The children were very tolerant of anything you did in front of them, only showing minor bubbling reactions.
It was boring enough that one of the other guys even took a nap in the gray (but still warm) sunshine.
“Well this is definitely different from usual, but why?” Aspen leaned on his elbow, watching the mother return in her car. “Is something huge going to happen right at the end or will this just continue like this? For the record, I didn’t find a gas leak or anything else that might cause an explosion.”
River wasn’t going to ask why Aspen even checked for that. It was a good thought, actually.
Outside, a person – the first other one – passed by. The assumed man stopped to talk with the mother, chatting, while the kids in the livingroom once again returned upstairs, possibly to avoid their mother.
The conversation outside looked very much like casual gossip. A little laughter, a relaxed tone. They even kept a very normal distance between themselves. It didn’t look like flirting or like there was anything going on.
“You think that guy might be our help?” Aspen’s voice was muffled, his mouth half hidden behind his hand that steadied his chin. “Like, uh… Lure the kids out?”
“They won’t talk in front of their mother”, River rejected.
“I don’t like today’s case.”
Neither do I.
He didn’t say that out loud.
It was near impossible to see any sort of intrigue or hidden things in this setting. The husband came downstairs and joined the pair outside peacefully before they went back in and started making dinner.
A single person had passed by all day. Sure, some people were making a mess everywhere so the day didn’t pass exactly as it should have, but even then the differences weren’t too huge.
When the kids went to bathe – alone again – no one entered the bathroom, oddly conscious of the fact that this was a private moment even though they were only shadows. Maybe one or another would have walked in if it was an adult, but no one had any interest in children, to the point where everyone kept an eye on each other to ensure no one snuck inside.
Maybe it was the darkening sky, but even the rowdy group finally calmed. Aspen sighed, sitting on the windowsill.
“Plans?”
“Thinking.” River shook his head, allowing himself some more time to daze, deep in thought, about the whole situation.
A person is going to die so, if it’s not the childrens, the parents maybe? wow I’m starting to imagine a horror movie now X’).
Thank you for this chapter!!
I actually cannot say a single thing without spoiling the whole arc :’D
I respect 🙂 . Actually it’s just a matter of personal experience. Your story brings back some memories for me. ^^
I hope you won’t ever have any reason to resort to anything like that ever again. Have a nice day 💛🐑
Thank you. ♡
Rest assured, I managed to overcome this bad phase. Now I have found a job and a purpose in life, which has helped me a lot.
Thanks for the chapter ! In the end I could not resist reading it before the next one came out ^^’