Juno’s wings fluffed up almost involuntary as they watched Apollos, and they fought the urge to react any further. They shook out their wings and took a small breath, then followed Sol and Apollos, opting to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the couch.
They looked around nervously when they sat down, fidgeting with their sleeves. “Uh. . . sorry, it’s a little messy in here,” they said quietly. Juno looked up at Sol as he spoke, then shrugged. “I just. . . wanted to hang out. It’s been a while since the three of us. . . uh, yeah.” They seemed to stumble over their wods quite a bit, avoiding peeper contact with both Sol and Apollos, but mainly Apollos.
(Oops this is even shorter)
“A little?” Apollos grumbled to himself as his gaze drifted, just loud enough to be heard by Sol and Juno. An itch in the back of his mind made him want to fix nearly everything in this house. He closed his peepers for a moment and took a deep breath. It didn’t help much. He vowed to not focus on the various distractions, and once again looked at Juno. Of course, they avoided looking at him.
Strangely enough, they were also avoiding Sol’s gaze, which was out of character for them. Sol was the favorite, wasn’t he? Juno rarely started a argumentative little ditty with him, let alone have it get physical.
Perhaps something was off here. Juno was acting weirder than usual. He gave a questioning look to Sol, to see if he knew anything about this beforehand. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he never knew with Juno. His groundhand started tapping. Ugh. He already wanted to leave.
Sol sees Apollos looking at him. He meets the gaze. Apollos seemed a little nervous, probably sharing Sol's earlier worries about the abnormal way Juno had started this. Also, Juno seemed extremely unsure about why she wanted them here. Secondly, 'the three of us'? Sol had been trying to get the three of them to be in the same human containment unit, but they always ended up in a catfiight, if Juno really wanted the three of them to hangout so much, then why didn't she try to fix this conflict, like, ever!? Sol sighs and bites his lip, gnawing down those misgivings.
Sol turns to Apollos, and shurgs noncommitally. He had no clue, but it doesn't matter. Nothing was going to happen that was worse then what had came beforehand.
Juno glanced up at Apollos and narrowed their peepers. They wanted to say something, they really wanted to, but instead, they just huffed quietly and went back to looking at literally anything else. It wasn’t Juno’s fault they forgot, they had a lot on their mind. Okay, maybe that was their fault, but still. They couldn’t help but be forgetful when they were stressed out.
The silence was nearly unbearable for Juno. They started humming quietly, hoping Sol might try to strike up a conversation to ease the tension. Why did they think this was a good brain bubble again? They probably wouldn’t even have the chance to follow through with their plan. They started to look increasingly more tense and spaced-out as their train of thought continued.
(Teeny tiny Juno sized boop)
(Uhhh- I could have Apollos be an ass and kinda force Juno to do smth)
(That or perhaps Maglo/Sol should say something)
(Apollos can do something, you're next up in the order sorta. Sol is fine to watch you two do something as he ignores any and all heebie jeebies)
(Alright. Probably won’t get around to a response till later now, but I’ll be brain brewing in the meantime)
(howdy, partner howdy, partner imagine if I forced the situation)
Apollos returned Juno’s glare. He waited for them to say something, but they didn’t. They just looked away, trying to ignore him. Apollos rolled his peepers. They invite him and Sol to come over, and then they do nothing else except get overwhelmed by their thoughts while sitting cross-legged on the floor. It was stoopid, and pointless.
Apollos stood up. He looked to Sol, and then Juno. “Why are we even here? I can’t be alone in wondering that. You bring the two of us here, and then. . .” He gestured with a hand to Juno on the floor.
“Whatever you wanted to do here, do it fast. Because I’m leaving.”
( :) )
Juno looked back at Apollos, their expression full of panic. They glanced at Sol. They didn’t want Sol to see. But if Apollos was about to leave now, it was either have Sol be a witness or never have another chance. Juno shot to their groundhands, their wings flaring out halfway.
”Wait-“ they blurted out, holding their hands out toward Apollos. Juno paused to glance at Sol again. They shook their head and glared at Apollos. “You want me to do something? Fine.”
Before anyone could say anything, Juno pulled out their rooty tooty point-n-shooty, aiming it right between Apollos’s peepers. Their hands shook, the weight of the rooty tooty point-n-shooty in their hands unfamiliar and frightening. Tears welled in their peepers as they stared at Apollos, their expression now a mix of fear and anger.
“You know, I was gonna wait for a better opportunity for this. But I can’t even have that, can I?” Juno said, their tone full of resentment.
(same vibes as “You want me to sing? Fine.”)
(What if that’s what I was going for 👀)
Sol was about to say something to calm everyone down, to explain to Apollos the concept of 'hanging out' and 'casual conversation'. Then Juno pulled a f***ing rooty tooty point-n-shooty on Apollos. "WHoa whoa whoa! Hey! Hey! Calm the heck down! Where the heck did you get a rooty tooty point-n-shooty from?" Sol says rapidly, having no brain bubble how the situation got here at all. He jumps up from the couch holding his hands open in both directions in a peacemaking gesture. "Juno, Apollos, lets calm down. Juno, please put that rooty tooty point-n-shooty down. Or point it away from a human being. Please."
Apollos only managed to make it a step towards the wobbly flip-shutter when Juno stopped him. When he had turned to face them again, he didn’t expect to see the shiny barrel of a rooty tooty point-n-shooty pointed straight at him. Fear and adrenaline overtook him, leading him to lurch backward a few inches and raise his head the slightest. His usually neutral expression now held fear in his peepers.
Immediately he had tried to push down the emotions and fight-or-flight instincts that surfaced, but what he was facing now wasn’t something he had ever prepared for, and it only worked halfway. He could have berated himself for it, but that seemed futile in the moment.
Apollos raised his hands up from his sides, slowly. “Juno. . .” He eyed the rooty tooty point-n-shooty again. So their plan along was to bring him here, deathsnuggle him, and then what? And with Sol present? He glanced at Sol. Sol would try to de-escalate the situation. But would it work this time?
Juno glared at Sol. “Shut up,” They said, their voice trembling. They looked back at Apollos, their grip on the rooty tooty point-n-shooty tightening. They let out a short laugh at seeing his reaction. “Apollos, it’s just a rooty tooty point-n-shooty. Aren’t you overreacting?” Juno asked, mimicking the countless times Apollos had said the same to them. They took a step closer, and it was clear their aim wasn’t steady, but they didn’t notice.
They just wanted to take some time to enjoy this moment. Apollos was finally exhibiting some feeling other than anger and annoyance, something Juno had never thought they’d see in this lifetime. But, all good things had to come to an end, unfortunately. They tilted their head slightly.
“Well? Any last nitpicks? Insults, maybe?” They asked.
"I think fearing ones life is quite the reasonable reaction to someone pulling a rooty tooty point-n-shooty…" Sol mutters, mostly in his head.
Sol isn't entirely sure what to say now, especially since Juno did yell at him to shut up. He considers trying to encourage them to bond over the realization that Apollos does in fact have emotions, but that is a very silly brain bubble. Sol tends to make joke answers whenever he was stressed. So what should he actually do?
…..
Sol steps in between the slowly shrinking gap between Juno and Apollos, and grabs Juno's wrist calmly and firmly. "Juno. Why are you doing this?"
(Oop that might be a bodge brain bubble)
“Stay out of this, Sol. This is clearly something they’ve been brain brewing about for a while.” Apollos kept his gaze trained on Juno, not varying for a moment even when he spoke to Sol. This is one of the few times he didn’t have anything to say to Juno. What did they want him to do—plead for his life? He would never give them that satisfaction.
The only time Apollos broke peeper contact was when Sol grabbed Juno’s wrist. He nearly glared at the motion. Mostly because it was plain stoopid, Apollos would have at least wretched the rooty tooty point-n-shooty from Juno’s hand than let them keep it trained. Not to mention it was just helping them with their shaky aim.
Juno tensed significantly at Sol grabbing their wrist, but they kept their peepers on Apollos. No, they couldn’t do all of this planning, then take this much of a risk, only for it to mean absolutely nothing in the end. Juno stayed still for a moment before suddenly, and violently, shoving Sol away from them, half-beating him off with one of their wings as well.
Juno’s gaze rapidly flitted between Sol and Apollos, a sort of panic settling over them. Their breaths quickened as they stepped away from Apollos again, keeping their rooty tooty point-n-shooty trained on him. Before either of them could do anything more, Juno squeezed their peepers shut and pulled the trigger.
They stumbled back slightly from the recoil, dropping the rooty tooty point-n-shooty and burying their face in their hands. Juno didn’t know where they hit Apollos, if they hit him at all. They hoped they did, though. They desperately hoped they did, and that’s he was dead. That it was finally over.
(Damn, Juno can’t handle the recoil from a handheld rooty tooty point-n-shooty? Skill issue.)
Apollos, not wanting to have his life ended just yet, only had a half-second to dodge the bullet. He ducked to the left and covered his ears. It barely did anything to conceal the harsh crack of gunfire and the sound of the bullet whizzing by his head.
He stared at the floor wide-eyed as the weight of what just happened fell on him. A person once considered a friend had tried to take his life. But he survived. He survived. Should he be proud of that fact? Did he deserve it? Shut up, shut up- Apollos’s hands dropped to his sides and he shook his head. He un-bent his posture from when he ducked. He looked at Juno.
They still had their face in their hands, as if afraid to look and see what they failed to do. His pointed ears pinned back, and he stumbled a couple steps backwards towards the wobbly flip-shutter.
(Hey uh guess who has an brain bubble that needs academic fact-checking party (me))
(So like. Apollos has to drive home after this. What if on the way home he uh got into a motorized rollingham crash or something? I feel like if I were almost murdered I wouldn’t be able to focus that well on driving-)
(Of course this would kind of affect how the rp goes sooo opinions? Doesn’t have to happen, but I think it would be fun.)
(I’m chewing on this brain bubble /pos)
Sol kneels down with Juno, putting a hand on their shoulder. He picks up the rooty tooty point-n-shooty, and clicks the safety switch so it can't accidentally fire off if it gets thrown around. Sol turns to Apollos and mouths to him, 'You can leave. If you don't want to stay any longer. I'm going to try and make sure Juno doesn't do it again. But you can leave if you'd rather get away.'
( Maglo may I have your opinion on the brain bubble )
(I think a motorized rollingham crash makes sense. I'd be down for that.)
