Astral continued to coo and mutter soft things to the child forming inside of Simon, pausing for only a moment. He looked at Simon as he cried, moving to hold his cheeks between thumb and forefinger.
"My dear, what are you crying for?"
“I-I..” he couldn’t handle it. It was all too much. Too many things had happened today and he wasn’t at all used to it. Despite his strong desire, he quickly broke down into sobs, trying to pull his face out of Astral’s grip.
Astral watched as Simon broke down, gently letting go of his cheeks. He moved to hold Simon close to his chest. He laid Simon against the crook of his neck, gently rubbing his back.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Simon," the god said softly. "I still love you, you know. That hasn't changed."
Simon didn’t believe a word of it, he hardly even listened. This…this wasn’t love. You weren’t supposed to treat the people you loved this way, pushing them and pushing them until they cried. Sometimes not even caring when they did breakdown. But he couldn’t say any of that. So he just cried even harder, his shoulders shaking with the sobs.
Astral continued to rub Simon's back, gently humming softly.
"I'm sorry, Simon, I didn't mean to push you this much. It hurts me to see you cry…" Astral looked down at the small man as he apologized, keeping him close still. He'd be the one to comfort Simon from now on.
Simon ignored Astral’s apology. It was a stupid move but he didn’t care. Even just being awake today was hurting a lot more than it was supposed to. At least when he was asleep he could pretend that none of this was real. He didn’t seem to be calming down whatsoever.
Astral frowned for a moment, focusing on Simon. He wouldn't be as… blunt, as before. He'd work on Simon. He reached gently into Simon's mind with his own, doing what he could to help Simon sort through his emotions and calm on his own.
It helped, just a bit. But it’d probably be even more clear to Astral then how little Simon wanted to be around him, especially right now. And how terrified of Astral he really was. His sobs slowly began to subside.
Astral was still frowning when he learned these things, but he didn't take anything out on Simon. He waited until Simon's sobs seemed to be coming to a stop before gently lifting the man away from his neck, moving to gently lay him down on the bed with Mia and the leopard again.
As soon as he was put down Simon quickly huddled up against Mia’s side, instantly feeling a bit safer. He looked up at Astral quickly. “T-thank you.” He stammered out, looking away again as soon as he was finished speaking.
Mia wrapped her arms around Simon securely, keeping her eyes down. She knew it wouldn't be good if she looked at Astral, because she would be glaring at him.
"You're welcome," Astral said softly. The ceiling reappeared in Simon and Mia's room, the god still watching.
Simon fell silent, wiping the remainder of his tears off his face. After a moment he reached his hand out to pet the leopard, the feeling helping to soothe him more.
The leopard pushed a bit closer to Simon, resting his head and paws in Simon's lap. He was more than happy for Simon to try to find some comfort through him.
Simon tested out some breaths, breathing in slowly and holding it a few seconds before letting it all back out again. He kept doing this, his breathing getting more and more steady as he did so. He kept petting the leopard as a way to keep himself occupied while he did so.
Mia kept quiet, holding Simon still. She hated all of this, but she didn't dare say it out loud. They were still on Astral's bedside table, after all. He was still right there.
The leopard looked up at Simon for a moment, gently licking his hand.
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.