Cas rubbed at his eyes, exhaling shakily. "No one fucking wants me for anything but my body. My dad never wanted me, and I ran away when I was twelve. He apparently died a year later and I lived on the streets until I turned eighteen last year, and then I got this apartment. I-I can't hold a job, I can't pay my rent, all my boyfriends have just pretended to care about me so they could use me as their fucking sex toy, and then they all left. The only one who cares about me is my fucking cat. I can't live alone anymore. I can't deal with this shit anymore. I have tried to do this so many times now, and this is the first time I would have succeeded. Why did you stop me?" He asked weakly. He looked broken and empty, and he clearly didn't care anymore. He didn't want to be here anymore.
The female figure listened carefully to his story. Of course, she’d heard similar stories all her immortal life but not all sounded as hopeless as this one did. She turned when the question was given. She went silent for a moment…
”You still have hope for yourself. Even if you don’t want to think so,” she said after a short while.
”You want… you need someone who would be there for you, right?” she asked in her cold demeanor. Who can really her for not being super genuine, she is the goddess of death after all and going through these kinds of conversations ever since humans existed was a nuisance in itself.
Cas drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them tightly. "I-I… well… yeah, of course I want that, but I know I've got no chance… who would want to genuinely date someone like me anyway? I'm obviously a mess in like, every way, I'm poor, I can't do basic skills, I just… I'm useless. I'm honestly useless to anyone and everyone, and that's the truth. I have nothing to offer other than my problems and my winning personality, which apparently aren't that popular. I'm not sure who you are, really, not I really don't think there's much you can do to help…"
The figure listened patiently. The boy didn’t want to give himself a chance… she had to change that. She turned to the boy and smiled softly.
”What if there was someone who’s willing to do that? What if there was someone who’s willing to go through all of that distress with you? Would you consider living again?” she asked, hoping to both heaven and hell that the boy’s answer would be as she wanted, other wise she would have to utilize plan B which she didn’t want to.
"W-Who would be willing to do that?" Cas asked softly, rubbing at his teary eyes. "I… I-I mean… I guess if someone was really willing to put up with me, I could try to give it a go…" He sighed, fidgeting a bit with nerves. "I just really don't feel like I can come back from this… obviously it's gotten really bad…" Cas stared blankly at the floor. "Nix must've run out to get help… he'll probably be back soon. Unless he took my advice and left me, but I really hope he didn't since I'm apparently not allowed to die."
(Would she have healed the wounds or just stopped them from bleeding?)
(As for right now, she’s stopped them from bleeding out)
”He would,” she answered as another cloud of smoke appeared. This time, instead of a menacing and perhaps fearsome figure, the person who walked out was a young-looking, light blonde boy, with low to no energy remaining in his eyes it seems. Or maybe it’s because he was tired as given by the yawn he gave after walking through the portal.
”Now, here’s the deal,” the goddess of death figure turned back ”He will be here to provide you comfort the best he can, you… well, you just have to try to live happily with him and I know that it’s hard, but please do try,” the female figurine stated.
(Aight)
Cas looked up at the stranger, paling again. He didn't understand how or why people were suddenly appearing in his apartment, or why they wouldn't just let him die. "U-Um… Nix is going to be back soon… he'll probably have someone with him. Since I've still got these, they'll probably take me to a hospital, possibly a mental hospital. I'm… not sure how they'd react to seeing you guys here. I can't afford medical bills or a mental hospital or anything…" Cas sighed, looking down at the deep gashes in his arms. "These would definitely need stitches…"
The female figure nodded to his words, exchanging looks with the new boyish figure who nodded in return.
”No need to think about that just yet,” the female figure stated before standing up and completely disappearing.
The boyish figure sat in front of Cas, rocking back and forth a bit before extending out his hand.
”Hi… what’s your name?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. His eyes were sparkling, even if it didn’t have irises. His skin was healthily toned, even if it was sheer cold.
Cas hesitated before shaking the stranger's hand, shivering a bit at his cold skin. "U-Um… Casper, technically, but I prefer just Cas…" Nix soon returned to the apartment, surprisingly alone. He hadn't been able to get anyone to come. He headed into the kitchen, eyeing the pool of blood warily for a second before jumping over it to curl up in Cas's lap. Cas breathed a shaky sigh of relief and hugged Nix tightly. "Um… what's yours?" He asked quietly after a few seconds.
The boyish figure turned to Nix, only to find that his magic indeed worked since, one, Nix seemed to have just phased through him and two, he didn’t seem to notice the figure’s existence.
”Hypnos,” he answered, smiling brightly at the scene in front of him and sitting patiently for Cas to calm down.
”You have a really cute name, Cas,” he added before returning to his silence, letting him enjoy the moment before any further questions were to be asked.
Cas flushed and held Nix a bit tighter, looking away shyly. "W-Well, I guess there's the one good thing my parents did for me, then…" Nix nuzzled against Cas affectionately, clearly relieved that he was still alive. Talking to himself was a new one, but considering Cas's mental state, it didn't really strike him as anything too out of the ordinary. "Why do you guys want to help me?" He asked softly. "Why wouldn't you just let me go?"
Hypnos turned to the boy, smiling.
”Unlike most people dealing with the same problem, you have a chance. We, who are working with fate, want you to take it,” he answered calmly. Noticing how Cas’ grip has tightened around Nix, the god’s personification reached his hand out to touch him. Despite being nonexistent in the real world, Hypnos provided a warm, delicate touch on Cas’ hand.
"Why do I have a chance? If I had a chance, I feel like I would have already blown it… I'm pathetic. Everything I've ever tried to do has failed." Cas sighed shakily and closed his eyes. "I've tried to do this before, but it took me so long to build up the courage to go deep enough… will I still need to go to the hospital to get these stitched up? I really don't wanna be sent to some kind of mental hospital, as much as I probably need it…"
Hypnos looked at the stitches, slowing moving his hand to touch them. He closed his eyes for a bit as the stitches had, somehow, pieced themselves together. Soon, the boyish figure would open his eyes and give Cas a rather friendly grin with his mouth opening just slightly.
”Better?” he asked.
Cas tentatively ran his fingers over the stitches, quivering a bit. "Um… y-yeah… I think so. Thank you…" He sighed and tugged the sleeves of his hoodie down over his arms. "I'll have to clean up all this blood now…" He looked around at the pool of blood he was sitting in. "And wash these clothes like, five times…" Nix crawled up onto Cas's shoulder to try and comfort him.
The boyish figure smiled lightly when the last of his words came out.
”I can help you with the clothes, don’t worry,” he mentioned, looking down at the pool of blood. It wasn’t a nice sight to be sure but it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen such things before. He had many times in the past.
"Thanks… sorry I'm such a mess. And that you have to deal with me now…" Cas sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Um… do you like, need to sleep? I'm not entirely sure if you're a real person… I only have the one bed, sorry…"
”Ah, no worries. I’m more than just a human but that’s not important… and don’t feel bad about me being here, I wanted to be here,” the boyish figure claimed with a bright smile as his eyes were closed. He slowly stood up and looked around. A small grin forming on his lips. He was going to have to get used to this new environment.
"But why? I have a feeling this won't exactly be an easy job for you…" Cas sighed, pulling himself to his feet and looking down at all the blood soaking through his clothes. Nix wandered over to Hypnos and sniffed him suspiciously. He clearly wasn't too fond of strangers.
(Ah yes… I thought I’d replied…)
Without hesitation it seemed, Hypnos bent down to pick up the cat.
”It isn’t about difficult. It’s that I want to do this job. I’m not the protagonist here after all,” he smiled a bit, looking at the black cat he had in his hands. He’d sensed something from the cat, knowing somewhat that the creature wasn’t exactly what it seemed to be.
(Np ^^)
Nix hissed softly when he was picked up, but he didn't squirm or try to attack Hypnos. Cas watched the two nervously. "Careful… he doesn't like strangers much. Especially when I'm in this state." He sighed quietly. "He's my emotional support cat… or… therapy cat, I guess? He's trained to help me with this shit. He does a pretty good job, actually…"
”Ah! I see…” Hypnos cried out before he looked straight into the cat’s eyes.
”He has quite beautiful eyes…” Eventually, the boyish figure would let the cat down and let him roam around.
He returned his attention to Cas, looking at him up and down.
”Let’s get you cleaned up first, shall we? You might want to change clothes…”
"Mhmm…" Cas nodded a bit and sighed, just hesitantly standing in place. "Um… yeah. I will… I'll go do that. I'll be right back." Cas left the room with Nix by his side. He was in there a while, and it was strangely quiet. Nix was laying on Cas's chest to calm him, keeping his face close to the boy's so that he could easily be seen. Cas seemed to have panicked once he was alone, struggling to process what the hell was going on here. Strangers magically appeared in his apartment to tell him he's not allowed to kill himself because he has 'potential', which he thought was total bullshit, and now this random guy is living with him? He couldn't afford food for himself, much less a second person.
Hypnos stayed outside, knowing well that privacy was privacy. He looked around the room, gravitating around to see Cas’ likes and dislikes as they are. This, as his sister has said, was going to be a hard job for him. Nevertheless, it wasn’t like he rejected the job. He knew it was hard and challenging, that was why he accepted it and wanted to give it a try.
