.:First Party Run, Recreational Runs & More:. [closed]

[ganymed]

Who ⬤ Ganymede and Co.
What ⬤ Dungeon-crawlin', exploring, talking with people. What can go wrong?
Now featuring some potentially cw-worthy memshares, or content involving that.
When ⬤ Following first meetings, and anything related to the below subjects.
Where ⬤ Coiling Friend's Tiny Beast, ΔHidden Forbidden Holy Ground, Root Towns
Content Warnings ⬤ Mentions of drunken behavior.
Further mentions and displays of captivity, kidnapping, stalking, and subjects relating to suicide.


[ Following some enlightening discussions that have more or less blossomed into actual plans, an unlikely band of four adventurers assemble!

Names added to friends' lists, details hashed out, which means one thing and one thing only, that the next point some adventuring is happening. Though, given that it is everyone's (probable?) first time, it seems that there is no way for anybody to choose specific places or areas they might like!

Thankfully, that's what the random Area Exploration mechanic is for.

Ganymede steps forward, and just decides to select a perfect set of coordinates for everyone...



...Not! As if even he can be decisive at this point. He lets everyone know that these are the keywords they'll be working with. "Coiling Friend's Tiny Beast", that is.

So once the Chaos Gate is utilized for them to all cross over...

Welcome to the wonderful location of Coiling Friend's Tiny Beast! Apparently it's an area that has a rocky desert-like appearance that stretches out for miles on end. Not to mention, there is a wonderful-looking flesh wall that is the proper beginning of the dungeon crawling, and entry point into the actual dungeon that is bound to be teeming with treasure and creatures.

But, they're not inside that wall as of yet. ]

RESULTS: Can be viewed here, for our reference!

Comments

:>

[ganymed]

[ Ganymede feels himself go tense at the question.

He didn't expect Hani to ask it of him at all. But, maybe, with that memory being shown...it is not just what he saw. ]

Do I?

[ He doesn't laugh, though a part of him wishes he might. ]

Maybe...in some ways.

[tinged]

Oh.

[ soft and terrible. ]

... Will you tell me?

[ganymed]

Tell you? I could try.

[ How is he supposed to put what he still struggles with into words? He doesn't think it's something he wants to dump all over, even for a family member. Or, at this time, for anyone. And he'd rather pretend he hardly struggles at all. It's easier then.

But...he closes his eyes for a moment, thinking. ]

The events seem so distant in the past. But, when I think about how they happened at all, it feels as if I'm swimming upstream. That I'm pushing futilely against the current. It's like there is no other choice but to, and I know that's the case.

[ He pulls back a little and shakes his head. ]

It's like that for many people, however. And I already know that I can't expect other people to accept my baggage. The world won't welcome anything less than perfection. All these things, all of what I experienced...this is the end result. But, I understood that, at that moment. As I do now.

spams this icon that you FORCED me to make

[tinged]

Do you have to swim upstream? What happens if you follow the current downstream? Would the ocean not accept you for who you are?

[ they ask it all with a desperate note in their voice. ]

You can expect me to accept your baggage, Gani-kun. In fact, please expect it. I have space in me for it. And you can even resent me for it, if you want. If it'll help.

wow i have ZERO idea bout whatchu mean

[ganymed]

Maybe I can swim downstream. I wouldn't know where it'd take me, but it doesn't sound like I'd be moving anywhere but backwards.

As for the sea, I think it depends on the current and tide of the ocean.

[ People's perceptions and thoughts change. They're in constant flux. But no one likes a burden.

There's another moment of pause on his end, as if he's not expecting Hani to say that. That they'd be welcoming of such a thing. ]

You'd want to? Even if it might weigh you down, even a little? ...I don't think that's something I could resent you for doing.

think about why you’re in jail, CRIMINAL

[tinged]

Backwards… I think at first glance, it might seem that way. But did you know, Gani-kun, the reason why you’re struggling to swim upstream is because you’re swimming against the flow of the river?

[ hani doesn’t bother to wipe their eyes. red nose, red eyes, and a mess of scattered tears. ]

Once you reach the river’s source, you’ll find that it’s just an enclosed lake. And there’s nowhere else to go from there. That this is the river’s start, not it’s end.

[ swimming upstream only serves to take you backwards. ]

I never do anything I don’t want to do.

never.png :)

[ganymed]

[ Swimming against the flow of the river?

Maybe it's true what they're saying. It should be obvious, right? That it so happens to be the case if it was always a struggle. The thought almost gets a humorless laugh from him. ]

...Maybe I am.

But, if I'm swimming down-stream, where would they lead, then? To the sea instead of a dead end lake or pond?

[ There's a small pause, his expression growing a bit softer, looking at that expression, still streaked with tears and redness. ]

I suppose I was just so surprised, that you would. Or that anyone would.

[tinged]

The sea where you can sail with whales, into the ocean to swim with mermaids, down into the depths to watch the corals bloom for traveling sea turtles and curious humans to find their way.

[ they try for a smile, a small laugh. ]

I’m surprised, too, that I would. After all, I leave so easily. But I know, now, that I never want to let you go again.

You don’t have to stop feeling this way, but will you share them with me? The things that hurt you inside?

Don’t suffer alone.

[ganymed]

...

[ "Let go then," Are the words that begin to surface, acid on his tongue, recalling the singular room still where someone told him that...'hatred made for a wonderful way to pass time.'

But, he just said he'd never hold any resentment towards Hani for it. It isn't their fault that the world had—has—putrid people in it. Still, there will always be anger in his heart, whether he's conscious of it or not.

He wonders what, in that case, would that mean for his true result? Falling into those waters to become an eternally bitter leviathan waiting at the bottom of an ocean? ]

...Why is it so different now? Do you know the answer to that?

[ He closes his eyes for a moment, feeling on some strangely new stage that he has been assuming has already been reached. But, perhaps that never has been the case. ]

As it is, I don't know how to share those things with anyone. I never learned how.

But, I can tell you it's due to those bastards. They upturned everything ... I couldn't do anything. By the end of it, what else was I supposed to do?

I hated it...I hate the idea of being so weak. Of being nothing but a burden after I escaped. I could never change the past, but I could change the present by how I acted. About how it no longer bothered me. And still...!

[ And yet, all this time, that wasn't true at all. Even if he acts like everything is fine, he can't deny there are days where he feels as if time has stopped. Where there's an anger that sits deeper in his heart, that turns both inwards and outward. Where when he gazes into a mirror, he sees that man's eyes staring back at him. ]

[tinged]

I don’t know. Winter-kun said I care about you. But didn’t I always? Haven’t I always?

[ but hani, as ganymede knows, has always been inherently a creature of selfishness and pleasure. wandering off as they please, living life beautifully, freely.

does truly caring for ganymede now make up for the freedom that was stolen from him? no, not even close. hani understands that at least. ]

I’ve realized now that I never learned how to properly care for anyone.

[ they didn’t need to.

now, they want to. ]

We can learn together.

But I’ve never thought you were weak, Gani-kun. I didn’t know you felt this way, but I don’t believe that feeling this way makes you weak either. The weight of all these feelings is so heavy, how could you be weak?

[ganymed]

You have, but...I suppose I didn't ever expect you to display that sort of care like this. I simply thought you would never.

[ Beyond seeing what happened, being perhaps flippant in the way that he is, even if it would make most people angry. At the time, when Hani visited him in the hospital, when they spoke words that some might never consider to be appropriate, Ganymede supposes that he didn't care that they acted like that. It just meant it gave him a reason to dwell less on what happened, and it isn't like the other looked at him as a pitiful thing.

So because of that, he developed an expectation Hani would never seek answers. To never desire to. Never desire to shake the status quo, in a different way, but like everyone else.

"We can learn together."

...Hani has really changed, haven't they? Hearing that makes him believe that they can try. Not just them, but Ganymede himself. Figure what it means, to properly care for other people, and that means...Ganymede allowing them in. Though, as they continue to speak, there is even more silence on Ganymede's end. He swallows thickly, feeling the slight prick of potential tears.

And finally: ]

I'm...not? I can even be strong, like this?

[tinged]

[ hani laughs a little through their tears, wet peals like bells ringing on a rainy day. ]

I thought the same!

[ their laughter hitches into a hiccup into a heavy sob. all of a sudden, before they can prepare their own heart, hani’s tears come in earnest again. flooding drops of ocean memories.

this time, they understand a little where it’s coming from, why it’s happening. their gani-kun, known for his redoubtable stubbornness, with that lost expression, saying those vulnerable words. ah, so he can be here, with hani, and still need to be lost in the past. and it was remiss of them to never care to notice that ganymede was still trapped.

they lunge for ganymede then, throwing their arms around him to keep him close, to keep him found. ]

As you are, always. I love you, Ganymede. I’m sorry I never said.

[ganymed]

[ Ganymede isn't surprised in the slightest Hani affirmed his statement. After all, it's a simple fact he believed to be obvious.

But, above all, when those tears come, he wants to wipe them away. Hani lunging forward to encase him in an embrace; one not lacking in affection. One in which he returns without hesitation, remaining solid on his feet.

Their words trigger the feel of rainfall down the blond’s cheeks, finally, flowing freely. ]

There is nothing to forgive.

I love you well, Hani. Always.

[ Closing his eyes and holding the other tightly, firmly. ]

[tinged]

[











and then hani never learned that you should probably wipe ppl's tears when they cry. the end. ]

[ganymed]

[ HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE WIPED THEM IF HANI WAS STILL CRYING AFTER THEM HUGGING IT OUT AS A FYI...the end for real. ]