forum Broken Dreams and Haunting Memories// Closed!// 16+

Started September 19, 2020 by @ElderGodSwimwithGamers group

tune

Astral stretched, thinking. Now, what was he going to do with Simon? Not much, since he was still carrying his child. He smiled to himself, looking down at his nails. He could find something.

It took Simon only a few minutes to start decompressing, his muscles relaxing in the hot water. Even though his eyes were closed, and he kept his hands up on his chest, he could still just feel his body. He gave up, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. He’d just have to get used to feeling uncomfortable.

It would only get worse from here, for Simon, but that could be dealt with as it came.
Astral schemed away, hands idly fidgeting as he thought of just how he would be playing with Simon. What could he say, it was just so easy to slip into hold habits.

Simon stayed in the bath for another 30 minutes, actually going through the effort to wash his hair and get clean. He knew it would probably be awhile until he could feel well enough to do this again. Eventually, the water got cold, so Simon decided to get out. He dried himself off as the tub drained, avoiding looking in the mirror as much as he could. He hadn’t felt safe enough to turn off the lights so he didn’t even have that to help him avoid his reflection. He got dressed, trying to ignore how things weren’t as loose as they used to be. Despite all these negatives, he did feel better. He felt cleaner, closer to being back to his level of normal. He gathered his things, starting to dry his hair with a towel as he opened the door.

"Have a good bath?" Astral looked up as the door to the bathroom opened. He was standing right next to it, leaning against the wall. Who knew how long he had been there…

Simon couldn’t help but stumble back a step in surprise. “A-Astral! Hi. Sorry, you just startled me a bit.” It took him a moment to actually process Astral’s question. “Yeah I had a nice bath um…why are you here? You didn’t need to check on me already, you were just here an hour ago. Is everything okay?” He wasn’t as on his guard as he might normally be even though his surprised step backwards would make it harder to get around Astral and out of the bathroom. But when he’d last seen the god a little over an hour ago, everything was fine. Astral was even nice, somewhat. So he wasn’t too worried.

Astral was so close to doing something horrible to Simon. Still… Seeing the look on his face, how he was at least not so scared this time, it deflated the god's urges.
"I just wanted to make sure you were still okay. I worry, Simon, about you." The god moved from the wall, giving a genuine look of care to the man.

“Oh, um…” Simon looked down at his feet, rubbing at the back of his neck. He didn’t entirely know how to respond. “Thanks for worrying about me, that's very kind…but I’m doing pretty okay.” He fell silent for a moment before speaking up again. “I should get back to the room before Mia starts to worry. U-unless there's something else you wanted to talk about?" Even though Astral was pleasant for the moment, he knew first hand just how easily that could change. Better to be safe than sorry.

"I… Well, I was hoping to ask if you would like to go do something." The malice Astral had held when he first intended on coming had disappeared, and he was simply… tired. He didn't want to hurt Simon, but sometimes he felt as if he didn't have any control. It felt good to hurt Simon, in the moment, and then it was over and he was left with a pit in his stomach.
"Of course, I understand if you'd rather go back to Mia. She does worry a lot for you."

“No it’s alright, I don’t mind doing something for a little bit, but I do get tired pretty easily so I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to do.” He explained. He didn’t necessarily want to be around the god but it was better to just give Astral what he wanted, to keep him happy. “Can I drop my stuff back off at my room first and then we can go?”

Astral brightened up, just a bit. He was hoping to make up for his… outbursts so far. He wanted them to be able to pretend it was like how it was before Simon knew.
"Okay then. Though I think it would be best to meet you where we're going, so Mia and Leo don't get upset at my presence," he suggested. "Where would you like to spend some time?"

He nodded in agreement. At the very least, he didn’t want Astral to be there to see Mia panic when Simon told her where he was going. “Can we go to the garden again? I liked when we went last time. You know up until all that weird stuff happened of course.” He didn’t know why he even bothered to explain, it’s not like Astral really cared.

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Astral said, a small smile on his lips until the incident was mentioned. Had he ever even explained that to Simon? He probably should if he hadn't, while he was still in a good mood to do so.

It had never truly been explained to Simon, and honestly he’d mostly forgotten about it. “Okay great. I’ll meet you there then.” He said, quickly waving goodbye to Astral as he stepped past him and into the hall. He moved quickly to his shared room with Mia, quietly knocking on the door as he opened it. “I’m back.” He announced, looking around the room for her.

Mia was waiting in the room. She wasn't on the bed, though, busying herself with tidying the room up to keep her mind off of things.
"How was your bath?" she asked, looking up from her work with a small smile.

“It was nice. I definitely needed it.” He felt awful that he was essentially just about to bring her back bad news. “Um…please don’t stress out, everything’s fine, but I’m gonna go spend time with Astral for awhile. He seems to be in a good mood, so it should be okay.” He hoped it’d be enough to reassure her. “We’re just going to the garden, so it’ll be safe.”

Mia looked content when Simon answered, already turned back to her work when he continued. She froze, hands holding the blanket she had shaken out as it settled slowly back onto the bed.
"You…" She snapped out of it, looking quickly back at Simon as she dropped the blanket and came over.
"Simon, he looked like he was in a good mood when he… after he hurt you, too. And the garden is anything but safe here, who knows what he might do?"

Simon couldn’t meet her eyes. He knew she was right. But he also knew this was the best way to keep Astral from getting angry with him. “I-I know…but he asked and I figured it was better for me to just say yes. He’d only get mad or make me go if I tried to stay here…” he tried to justify himself meekly.

"I…" Mia knew Simon was probably right in that. "I just… who knows? He could do anything, Simon. I…" Mia fell silent, clasping her lips together before stepping over and giving Simon a quick hug.
"Stay safe," she mumbled softly, hiding her face from him.

Simon gave her a tight squeeze. “I will.” He just had to hope that all the times making her worry would actually amount to something. Maybe if he kept doing what Astral wanted, he’d start treating them a bit better. Simon rubbed her back gently. “I’ll try and make it a quick visit.” He promised, holding onto her for a second longer before turning away.

"Thank you… Leo and I will be waiting for when you do." Mia knew Simon didn't really have much control on when he would and wouldn't leave, but it was nice to pretend…

Astral was already waiting in the garden, keeping himself from growing impatient by doing small things to tend to the plants there, speaking softly to them.

Simon hurried out of their room and towards the garden, it only took him a few minutes to find the garden but he was still worried that he'd taken too long. He opened the door, carefully stepping inside. “Astral?” He called out, looking around for the god. He was a bit worried about being in here by himself, partially because of what happened last time, but also because it seemed like Astral really valued these plants, and he was worried about accidentally hurting one.

Astral stood from where he was in the garden, walking over to meet Simon.
"I'm here," he said as he did, so he wouldn't startle Simon too much. He still seemed as calm as before, his attempts to keep himself busy successful.
"So… how did she react?"

“About as well as you’d expect her to. She just worries too much.” He said. He didn’t want to get Mia in trouble, she’d already gone through too much. “So where all do we want to go now that I’m here?” He asked, maybe there were some places they hadn’t gone last time they were in here.

"Well… there are different parts of the garden if you would like to walk with me. I have most any kind of plant you could imagine." Astral smiled some as he spoke of his plants, letting his fingers run over the delicate flowers of the one closest. "They're all very special to me."