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[themuseabandonsyou]

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un: trienemybest; text - 3am early september

[droptheious]

Every time you clean something, you need to make something else dirty.

un: lyreplayer | text

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus's response, perhaps surprisingly, comes almost right away. Normally he sleeps too deeply for messages from his not-a-Fluid to wake him, but there's something unnerving about his dreams that's been keeping him on-edge and half awake since he got here. ]

I guess you can't really get rid of dirt so much as just move it around. At best you're just putting it with all of the other dirt.

[droptheious]

[Hazzah for solidarity in not being able to sleep properly. Truly, Trench has united them.]

Exactly! We never truly get rid of it. It's always there, somewhere. Waiting.

Lurking.

[themuseabandonsyou]

I'm not sure that it's lurking. I think it just kind of is.

Are you feeling okay, Varian?

[droptheious]

It could be lurking.

[Nothing is lurking.]

Not really. I can't sleep. More than usual, I feel really weird and anxious all the time and I don't get it.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh.

Do you think maybe it's because of everything that's happened recently? Even if things have turned out pretty okay, it's still a lot of things to think about at once. I've been having trouble sleeping too, and so has Eurydice I think. There's a lot to be stressed about.

[droptheious]

I don't know, I have a lot of sleep aids that usually put me right out if I use them, but none of them are working right now. I've been talking to other people and it does seem to be going around. Luz can't sleep either, in our house? But Luca and Fern seem to be fine?

[He's not sure about Reaper, Reaper comes and goes as he pleases. ]

What does it feel like for you?

[themuseabandonsyou]

That does sound like more than just regular stress.

I haven't had trouble falling asleep, but my dreams have been really strange since we got here. I wake up in the middle of them a lot, and I always remember them, but they don't make any sense. Something about birds, I think? And standing on the shore, looking out at the ocean. I think it's probably different than whatever you're going through, by the sound of it.

[droptheious]

It's not a fun time.

Yeah, I'm...not really getting sleep enough to dream. But that sounds a little like what Luz might be going through. She's saying when she dreams, it's like she's floating outside of her own body? And then she gets pulled back sharply. It's why she's struggling to sleep.

I think it might be a blood thing- do you know what yours is?

[themuseabandonsyou]

I'm not really sure. Honestly I've been kind of scared to check. All I really know is I can't see my veins anymore.

[ Which probably means it's a fairly light color, at least? Maybe. But how much does that narrow it down? ]

That might explain some things, though. Since it seems like a lot of people but not everyone are going through something like this. Eurydice's seemed kind of anxious recently too, now that I think about it. I thought it was just things being weird and hard to adjust to here, but maybe it's more than that.

Christmas Delivery

[onebadapple]

[Early Christmas morning wrapped up in a towel and nuzzled in a basket with sprigs of evergreen pines and dried orange slices will be a cherry pie.

Attached is a card with elegant writing:]

Merry Christmas, Orpheus!
I hope you stay warm and safe!
Love,
Snow White

Christmas Delivery

[lightthedarkness]

[Wrapped up in a bright red and white box is a plate of bought snowflake cookies and a <href="https://i.imgur.com/admj6w6.jpeg">music bracelet that is clearly handmade.

Attached is a note with a little rabbit doodle:]

Happy Holidays!
Love,
Usagi

Action; Backdated to Christmas

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul's fiendish delight in the holiday means he's once again broken into people's houses and used all the stealth he possesses to leave those he likes a gift or two. Sometimes, he even goes right down the chimney like a demented version of Santa Claus. He leaves Orpheus' present where he's sure he'll find it along with a short note.]

May you continue to tell many stories. Merry Christmas. ~Maul

text; un: ushiromiya (very late march)

[entreats]

Orpheus.

Are you okay?

[ She would have checked in on him earlier, if not just to make sure he was okay, that he did manage to turn back into himself sooner or later..

.. but.. well. Ange hasn't exactly had the easiest month, and it's only now that she seems to refind a bit of energy. Just enough to at least text him. ]

text | un: lyreplayer

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ It takes a long time for Orpheus to respond - first of all because he doesn't pick up his Omni at first, just lying there listening to it ping at him for several minutes before finally getting it together enough to look at it. Then because he spends another long while typing responses and erasing them before finally settling on; ]

Not really. I'm better than I was, though.

I should really thank you, for everything you said and did while I was a beast. It helped. I'm sorry for all of that.

[entreats]

[ Thankfully it's not like Ange is doing super okay either right now - nor is she very energetic in the first place, so she doesn't seem to mind the wait at all.

Especially since it's not quite long enough for her to actually get worried before she receives the message in return. And him being able to just send messages across the Omni - well, that means he's got to at least be human again.

At least that's a start. ]

You don't have to apologize. You couldn't help it.

[ It's not like they're consciously choosing to become beasts, right? Or at least, it doesn't seem that way to Ange. It's this place nudging them there. ]

You were just in a lot of distress.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ More typing and erasing and typing again as he tries to get his thoughts in order. It's tempting to blame himself, to talk about how he'd spent so much time trying to learn if there were ways to control things before they got out of hand, but what would that help? ]

You're right. I just feel bad about it. I think I might've hurt some people while I was like that. I don't remember much of what happened very clearly, but I was out there for a long time.

[ And he knows there were people guarding the shore to keep people from drowning because of him, but is it possible they could've missed someone? He doesn't want to think about it, but he has been, almost nonstop since he got back. ]

[entreats]

[ She wishes she could reassure him, say that he didn't hurt anyone at all.

But it's not like she can be sure of that. She remembers it too. The song, the influence it already had on just her, all the people she saw on the shore.. There's no saying whether or not someone actually might have drowned out there. ]

I think it's something that might be better to think about later. [ She instead sends, opting to not fully acknowledge her previous thought. There is already so much on his shoulders. ] You're already dealing with grief. That's hard enough.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Right.

[ He has a sinking suspicion that he'll just... never know for sure, if anyone drowned because of him. Sleepers tend to be pretty proactive about reporting on each others' deaths, but if any fishermen or other people scavenging out along the shore got caught up in it, he'd have no way of knowing. And that almost kind of makes it worse. ]

I guess there's nothing I could do about it right now, anyway, however sorry I am. It's just hard not to feel bad about it. It's hard not to feel bad about just about everything, right now.

[ He pauses, and adds; ]

Sorry. I don't mean to complain. How are you doing?

[entreats]

You're not complaining at all.

[ And honestly, Ange would rather focus on that than what's going on with her. How can she tell him in this state about the fact that the person who killed her family is in this place and she isn't coping with it very well?

Orpheus has enough on his shoulders already as-is. ]

You're talking about your feelings. That's good. Especially since I think not talking about that stuff gives you a chance to.. you know. [ To turn back into that monster again, she means, though she thinks it's kinder to not literally type that out that way. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

You're right.

[ And really, he wouldn't let a friend get away with trying to deflect like that if they'd just come back from a situation like his. He's just bad at giving himself the same courtesies he gives others. ]

It's just that I'm trying not to let it all overwhelm me, and it's hard to find ways to talk about it that don't just make everything hurt more. I know bottling it up helps corruption set in faster, but it just feels [ and he types and erases the next bit, over and over, before finally committing ] selfish, trying to talk about how upset I am. For a lot of reasons.

[entreats]

If it helps, you know you didn't hurt me during that entire thing. [ Since Ange imagines that's one of the reasons that it's hard for him.

After all, what if he'd complain about how hard of a time he's having to someone he hurt because of it? Surely it'd just make Orpheus feel worse. Even if Ange can't take away all reasons that make it hard for him to talk, at least that's one she can knock out of the way, she thinks. ]

So you don't have to feel bad about that when talking about this stuff to me. Sure, I was kind of drawn in by your song, but even if I hadn't been, I would have wanted to go to you anyway. I really worried once I knew something was that wrong with you, you know. I wouldn't have left you to deal with that all by yourself.

[spiritwalks]

((Continued from here.))

[Vyng reverently accepts the instrument, his thumb tracing over one of the painted flowers.]

Of course. I— I'll treasure it, Orpheus.

[As a token of his friend's affection. A relic from the Dream. And something he can remember Orpheus by, while spreading a little joy in his honor.]

Are you sure, though? [He pauses in admiring the crafstmanship long enough to meet his gaze.] About teaching me some stuff?

lost this tag whoops

[themuseabandonsyou]

Absolutely. [ says Orpheus, smiling. ] I'm not sure how far we'll get, while I'm still here? But I can give you something to build from, at least. Enough to keep learning on your own. The fundamentals aren't that different from the harp, so I'm sure you'll get it quickly.

no worries! <3

[spiritwalks]

[Vyng returns the smile. He doesn't like long goodbyes, but...one last hurrah before Orpheus leaves? He'll cherish it. Vyng will always remember the way his friend's face lights up over music, so it's a fitting note to end on.]

That would be very kind of you. I'll make sure to keep at it...even when you're squidding around out there, heheh.