ISO My Next Adventure

[solitarynote]

WHO: Sunny and YOU! <3
WHAT: Sunny is looking for the next Captain Spaceboy comic
WHERE: Starting in Communal Living Hut, can branch out to other areas!
WHEN: Post-Inbox thread with Kel, pre-sleepover thread, inspired by this conversation with Nagito
WARNINGS None right now but will add in Subject Headers as they apply!

While everyone else seems to be busy making preparations for the sleepover, Sunny mostly sleeps. And then, one day, a conversation he had with Nagito drifts back to him, and the teen realizes he hasn’t found that item yet.

Which prompts him to search, first around their communal living space and then branching out to the other huts. He tries to stay away from the ones marked with strands of grass (those ones walk, he says), but searching is hard work and… there’s a lot more stuff here than there was in the Oasis!

Sunny might need help… but he’s afraid to ask for help, because things feel shaky right now. He feels all out of sorts, stuck between a hazy dream and the mist-filled world he can spy outside the bedroom window.

Someone is bound to take notice eventually, right? So he shouldn’t be surprised when he hears the creak of floorboards behind him, even as his body freezes and he looks like he was caught doing something not allowed.

“… hi…”

Comments

[urtitan]

[For what it's worth, Frieda doesn't look like she's caught him re-handed in some way, instead merely smiling at him.]

Hello, Sunny. What are you up to?

[solitarynote]

[It helped that Frieda was so normal about the situation. Sunny felt that sense of guilt and surprise leak away from him into something more neutral.

He opened his mouth… talk, talk, this was Frieda… and… nope. Sunny’s voice remained firmly lodged in his throat, clamped by some sort of leftover anxiety. He’d been talking less after his confrontation(?) with Kel, scared that his words might have led to the other discovering the truth and…

Sunny took out his notepad. Writing gave him time to think, time to change things, and truly it did take longer for his answer to appear on Frieda’s device, as simple as it was.]

Looking for something. Comic.

[Frieda would remember the media that was not quite a picture book that they had talked about, right? She might have even seen some in Hobbeez when Kel gave up the memory.]

[urtitan]

[She wonders why he's writing instead of speaking... it's only the two of them here, so it can't be his usual crowd anxiety. Did he have a bad dream, or an unpleasant encounter? But for now, she puts those questions aside as she reads his response and brightens up. She indeed remembers!]

Of course! If there was a Captain Spaceboy volume in the cave and in the desert, there should be one here too, right? Would you like me to help you search?

[solitarynote]

[It was nothing against Frieda, not really, but… Sunny felt more comfortable using his notebook right now. He’s glad that, like usual, she doesn’t seem to pry, and her offer has him nodding, tinged with something pleased and yet shy.]

There’s… so much… [And it wasn’t just this hut that contained items; most of the others did too. And that wasn’t counting the ones that walked off!

Sunny was already searching through a small pile of miscellaneous objects… no book in sight, so maybe Frieda could check nearby? Any help would be better than just Sunny alone.]

[urtitan]

There is! I hope we'll still have a lot of time here.

[It's so hard to measure the passage of hours, days and weeks here... and it's not only the hope of finding the next Captain Spaceboy comic and the comforts of this swamp village that Frieda will miss, she also dreads the greater distance they'll be putting between themselves and those who got lost on the way once they move on. Shepard found her way from the cave to the desert on her own, and Thara fortunately didn't get lost in the marshes for too long, but won't it become more and more unlikely that anyone will find them again if they keep on 'crossing'?

She tries to put those worried out of her mind as she opens a dusty old suitcase... and stares in surprise.]

...

Sunny, you won't believe it!

[Sure enough, among other magazines, books and documents, there's Captain Spaceboy!]

1/2

[solitarynote]

[Sunny is oblivious to Frieda’s fears, both because they haven’t been brought up and… well… the teen trusts the Ferryman. They will find those lost. He’s been given no other reason to believe otherwise.

(And some part of Sunny still isn’t 100% convinced that this isn’t a dream. That he hasn’t thought up all these people and strange places and… yep. Not analyzing that too much.)

Still, it isn’t long at all after Frieda starts searching that he hears her surprised shout.]

…! [Sunny’s own excitement as he takes in what she holds is almost audible. He does show it physically - the way he practically hops from where he had been searching over to her, eager hands grasping the cover and-]

2/2

[solitarynote]

[What he sees on the cover almost has his heart stop:

Captain Spaceboy: Issue XX. ‘Tensions run high! The Captain and his First Mate face off! Amidst unsteady terrain, will the crew find their footing or is it all over for our intrepid space explorers?!’

Sunny drops the comic like it had physically burned him and backs away into a corner. No, no, how could it know? He’s half tempted to reach for the volume, to throw it in the River… but someone would find it then, half-washed up (Nagito had been taking enough unintentional dives into the water, he would surely find it and then-)

Everyone would know. Just like Kel..]

[urtitan]

[At first, she beams at his excited reaction, but when his expression turns from delight to dismay, her own follows suit. She picks up the dropped comic book at examines it. At a glance, she sees nothing wrong with it... but she has an inkling of why the subject of conflict in the crew distresses Sunny. Even though she wasn't there when his argument with Kel happened, she picked up on it afterwards.]

...

Are you worried that they won't be able to make up? How about I read it first?

[The implication here is that if there's a good ending, she'll tell him, and surely he'll be willing to read it together with her then... and if there isn't, well, then she'll just tacitly refrain from bringing the matter up again.]

[solitarynote]

[He’s still shaking like a leaf, eye wide. It’s a good suggestion… then Sunny wouldn’t have to go through reading it… but… what if the comic had something about him and Kel in it? What if the comic led to the Truth?

Then Frieda wouldn’t care for him anymore, and Sunny didn’t want that… so there was only one thing he could do!

The teen makes his way over to Frieda on unsteady legs, then plops down beside her (even if she’s still standing, he just can’t summon the strength right now). Taking out his notebook, he writes.]

Read together.

[Even if it’s distressing, even if he doesn’t want to… something in Sunny says that he should read it. If only to be able to avoid Frieda figuring out something he doesn’t want her to.

It’s more direct than his brain’s normal method of avoidance and hiding but… Something is telling Sunny that she can’t know. None of them can. Sunny and Kel had already been skirting around each other since, and if that was the case then no one was sure to forgive him…]

[urtitan]

[Good grief, he's really shaken, isn't he? Her expression turns sympathetic, all the more when he writes down his next message. He's facing his fear! She reaches down to rub his shoulder, plopped on the floor as he is, proud of him for being brave.]

Let me get us some pillows!

[Since they have such luxuries here, why should they not get as cosy as possible? Briefly leaving his side to gather several pillows and cushions, she soon returns and hands a couple to them. Whether he opts to sit on one and hug the other, lie on top of them on his stomach, or whatever other position, she'll match him so they can comfortable open the comic book in front of them. She doesn't rush him, letting him take in the rising tensions between Captain Spaceboy and his First Mate under duress at his own pace, though she occasionally does make little comments.]

It's no wonder the First Mate is stressed in that situation, hm? He shouldn't take it out on his Captain, but I'm sure he'll realise that himself.

[Hopefully, she isn't too optimistic there...]

[solitarynote]

[If only Sunny could be brave. But he isn’t - that’s why he’s in this situation right now. He can’t face Kel… not now… because the other said he knew that the thought of that was enough to make Sunny feel like the floor would swallow him whole again.

Sunny clutches one of the pillows to his chest, laying on his back on another and leaning partly against Frieda as they read. Her voice is soothing, melodic almost, and even her own surprises help to ease his feelings a bit. (Her patience, too, as always, as he worked through things.)

And yet…

It was much easier to forget. To pretend it didn’t happen. But then Kel came into view, and Sunny’s heart started hammering with nerves and… he just couldn’t. Not this time. Not yet

So that’s what Sunny did while they read the comic, even as his hands shook when they turned another page and the tension between the two titular characters mounted.

It’s fake. It’s fake. It’s all fake. Just a bad dream.

Frieda’s words might be optimistic, but they sound more hopeful and understanding to him. Sunny nods, still shaky, and writes something in his notebook.]

Maybe… maybe it’s the captain’s fault too…

[It was a bit of both characters’ faults, their unspoken problems, the fact they just kept going without addressing the issue - so much like Kel and him, Sunny realizes with dread - until it feels like the chasm is too great to cross.]

[urtitan]

[Reading like this is always near-therapeutic for Frieda, even with Sunny's current dilemma in the mix. Pausing to read his input, she readily nods.]

Oh, absolutely - they're equally at fault. If they honestly told each other what's worrying them, this probably wouldn't have happened!

[Rubbing his shoulder again, she turns the page, genuinely hoping that the characters will demonstrate good conflict resolution skills.]

[solitarynote]

[It stings less, knowing Frieda is talking about the comic characters, and yet…

If you talked about it, they would simply hate you, wouldn’t they?

That voice again. His worry, his fear, and yet the truth… it had gotten louder over time, more insistent.

Sunny tried to ignore it, focusing as Frieda flipped the page and…

Well… like a bruise, it had to get worse before it got better. It seemed like the first squabble was only the start. The crack that had divided their team started to widen. Provisions, what path to take through the marsh, even sleeping arrangements were all brought into question.

Sunny’s own fear grew with each new panel.

Yet… as the comic drew to a close… there was a bright light. Captain Spaceboy and Rococo had gotten separated from the rest of the crew during a particularly heavy mist, so the two were forced to sit down and talk.

”What’re we doing, Cap’n?”

“Squabbling like children… when really we should be sticking together.”

As the dreaded ‘find out what happens next’ came into view… Sunny felt like things might be alright. It wasn’t clean, the fight still left jagged pieces between the two but… they were trying.

The teen was quiet as Frieda closed the comic, clearly lost in his own thoughts.]

[urtitan]

[Even Frieda felt like she was on a rollercoaster ride (not that she'd have a concept of rollercoasters) while progressing through the comic. She might not be in conflict with anyone herself, but following the escalation was tense! All the greater was her relief when the characters eventually did talk things out. Certainly, the depiction was realistic enough in not immediately resetting things to the status quo, but it was a satisfying ending. Had the volume ended in a cliffhanger, she'd outright have made up a continuation to offer to Sunny as her prediction!

She gives Sunny time to process the story, wondering if she should actually ask him about his argument with Kel... but in the past, he's shut down over less, she she doesn't dare. In the end, she simply posits:]

Sometimes, people need to be forced to take a break from being angry to reflect on whether they really want to keep going in that direction. It's fortunate that they went astray in the mist, isn't it?

[She idly wonders if that might be the purpose of the fog in this marsh - to separate them from each other and make them face whatever person manifests for them.]

[witnessvelama]

Celehar has been drifting, admittedly. Not in a physical sense, for his presence among the huts of their little makeshift village has been quite constant since his return, but mentally. A kind of lassitude seems to overcome him, now and then. He rises each day, he puts on his coat and takes a lap of the houses, examining each for changes and unfamiliar items, but it is not for something, and it's wearing on him. Their in-between state doesn't leave dark circles under his eyes, but the tiredness carries itself in his shoulders, nevertheless.

It's on one of these lackluster rounds that he startles himself by coming across Sunny in one of the unoccupied buildings. "Mer Sunny," he says, pleasant despite the roughness of the voice. "What are you searching for?"

An easy guess, given the nature of their circumstances, but he says it in his usual mild manner.