thecrossinglogs | Good Morning

Good Morning

WHO: Sunny and OTA (one closed prompt for Kel)
WHAT: Sunny’s acting a bit different. For the better? He’s certainly more relaxed!
WHERE: Communal housing/around
WHEN: The morning after the sleepover, before the next Crossing
WARNINGS OOC, this thread does contain the results of Sunny’s memory wiping his previous fight with Kel, so general memory fog, confusion, etc. He’s alright otherwise and actually calmer than previous, but figure that needed stating. Other than that, CWs will be added in subject headings.

OTA [One More Day, the Sun Reaches My Bed] - CW: memory wipe

Once the commotion of the sleepover settles and everyone makes their way (mostly) to bed, Sunny follows suit. He isn’t allowed to sleep under the table, no, instead having to join whatever conglomeration of nearness the group mattress setup has, but that’s… it’s fine.

Even if he would rather hide again.

…he’s been hiding for the majority of the night, unaware of what to say to Kel. Frieda had given him some good advice prior, helped him try to figure it out but…

Sunny’s fear was greater than his bravery.

Maybe someone can try to approach him about his downcast expression before he falls asleep. Maybe he gives you a small wave goodnight.

And as he laid down on his own mattress (having brought it out to the pile, he couldn’t settle on the others), he had a lonely ache fill him.

I miss being friends.

He missed the ease of it, of knowing that Kel would be there no matter what doors might try to separate them. But still… there was no going back, was there? Kel knew and as long as Sunny knew that…

Don’t worry. It was a brush against his mind, gentle, sterile, as he closed his eyes. I’ll handle it. Like always.

Sunny felt like responding, but he was too tired. It would just have to wait. And as he fell back into the comforts of sleep, one more memory was added to that dark lightbulb in his mind. Wiped from the pages of his notebook.

OTA [Time to Rise and Shine]

The next morning, everyone might notice that Sunny… well, he isn’t Happy per se, but he seems more comfortable compared to the past week.

Where last night he was hiding, he isn’t going out of his way to avoid anyone. Where he had refused to speak since the fight, you might even get a small “…hi” in response. It might be the morning fog crowding his brain - the shyness is still there, but he seems Neutral compared to his previous state.

The reason for that? Well… he doesn’t remember.

And that’s fine. Instead, Sunny keeps close to the communal housing, helping clean up a bit from the sleepover. He does wave if someone approaches him.]

Closed to Kel [Memories of the Past. The Good and the Bad.] - CW: Memory confusion

It’s odd. Really odd.

Sunny can be found outside, sitting on the ground with his notebook open and leafing through the pages. There are messages here, drawings here, that he doesn’t remember putting in. But it’s the public notebook so… maybe they are someone else’s.

(It’s Sunny’s handwriting. It wouldn’t be the first time something was sketched or destroyed without a second thought. It’s fine.)

But it is something that causes the smallest of frowns.

Kel might wander upon Sunny like that, planted firmly on the ground and concentrating on his notebook intently…

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[Kel had the big sleepover to keep himself busy, that was a THING... but now? After some cleaning and finishing the last slice of pizza that only left him nostalgic toward their past life...? He was left alone with his thoughts once more.

He went looking for Basil, just for what felt like a couple of hours, he tried to keep himself busy with some fishing that led him nowhere and then... then he found it. An orange, annoyingly beeping 'thing' that reminded him of Home so much. He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, Tadamochi between his hands and head lowered, but... he couldn't keep giving Sunny space, right? He did for four years and not only Basil ended up with a criminal record, but they both died...

It was pitiful enough seeing Sunny hide all the night like a rat, this couldn't continue.]

Let's do it...

[He needed to talk with Mari as well, figure things out with the girl as well, but for now... he focused on finding Sunny. And when he did, he didn't hesitate to approach, even if it was clear something was... off? He had an unnatural awkwardness to the way he tried to move near him (thank gods he wasn't hiding in a hole this time, huh?)- he had that kind of aura of a kid that just broke a vase? Who did something wrong? The lovely, warm approach of someone visiting another for breaking up and not knowing how to start a conversation. Overall, something that hardly seemed to match the persona Kel loved to show around.]

... hey.

[Not even a complete greeting as he kept both hands in his pockets and glanced to the side, unsure on how to open the 'sorry I reminded you of the day you killed your sister' conversation.]

[It didn’t take much for Sunny to perk up at the sound of Kel’s voice. He looked away from his notebook, taking in how Kel was standing, and…

What was with the awkwardness?

Kel was open with his feelings (at least he presented that way, all sunshine and bright), and Sunny was good at reading composure so… was the other nervous about something?]

…Hi…? [Sunny’s voice is small, confused still by Kel’s reaction. And it sounds hoarse again, dry and scratchy like he hadn’t talk in a while and-

That was weird too.]

[There was something... different, there? At least Sunny wasn't running away from him right now, which was a big improvement over the last few.... days? Weeks? Who even knew how much time passed in that shitty place they had to now call 'home'.

It was rare for Kel not to be chipper and happy looking, but things had to be dealt with- he couldn't handle a crossing if Sunny rejected his presence, how was he supposed to help both his friends if one of them kept running? His weight shifted between one leg and the other a couple of times before he decided to actually make a move.]

I... peace offering!

[He reached in his pockets, taking out the stupid plastic toy he recovered and placing it under Sunny's nose. This mess started with a present and maybe another one was going to help? Mari and Sunny were his main motivator to keep going, he had to compromise there.]

I think we need to talk... because we're all stuck here and we have to at least try to work together, Sunny. Even when things are... what they are.

[Sunny was completely unaware of the inner turmoil Kel was facing in this moment, so he just sat kind of limp noodle…

Until the other shoved something in his face, then his eyes widened and-

Oh!]

Peace… offering…? [He sounds confused about that, but there is something in his gaze that almost… lights up(?) in recognition at the object.] Pet rock… where-?

[He had to take a moment to cough. It was odd, really, but maybe the Desert air was still clinging to his lungs. Also, what was this about trying to work together? He thought they already were??]

[He flopped down at the other's side, strangely leaving a generous amount of distance between the two after leaving the TodoMochi between his fingers. Was... Sunny playing dumb? Right when Kel finally decided to be honest and open for real after smiling like an idiot for what felt like months?]

I mean... last time felt like we had a fight...

[Which terminated with Sunny fainting and Kel being distraght about it. He walked away fromthe bed only when he saw the other stir on the mattress...]

Huh... while I was... [oh, this was no network and no one really knew about that name beside Mari and Nagiro. Sunny... Sunny knew who Kel was looking for, right?] While I was looking for Basil. I don't think he's actually here, though.

[A long, long pause followed, there. At least a rather long one from Kel's point of view... it took him courage to continue.]

This place. It's messing up with us. I don't trust the Ferryman either and... it's a mess, okay? I don't even know where to begin with this.

[Last time…? Sunny tries to think on the last time he had spoken to Kel. It was since arriving in the Marsh, he knew that. And the shirt that he kept nearby - the ‘I <3 Mari’ shirt - had to have been gifted to him at some point.

But…

The specifics weren’t there. Sunny was sure it was just from the days running together. It really was difficult to tell time here.

And yet. Kel was bothered by this, for some reason.]

Basil…? [The thought spiked a small amount of fear in him - fear leftover from the fight that landed him here, sure, but also fear for his friend (despite what happened, they were all still friends, right? Because they didn’t know the Truth, they could still be friends. Even if Sunny had been trying to save Basil from the both of them).

But… how else would the Pet Rock have gotten here, if Basil hadn’t dropped it…?

He tried to put aside the worry for now.] Look for him…? [Almost like he’s offering to help. Maybe… maybe Sunny should go into the mist. He’s been avoiding it so far - not after that last attempt with Frieda and the giant spiders - but if Basil was out there…]

Trust… Ferryman… [Maybe, with Kel’s words, that was where they had erred. Sunny trusted the Ferryman completely. Potentially too much. And if Kel didn’t…] …keep us… safe…

[Last time indeed.

Mari had a matching shirt and she could probably tell Sunny 'hey, guess who gave it to me' but Kel wasn't... getting too deep into that. For now he focused on the Basil part and even if he did his best to sound warm, reassuring, there was no reaching for Sunny's body like he always did. No arms sling around one's shoulders, no hair being ruffled.]

I keep seeing him in the mist. But I'm almost certain it's an illusion to lure me out because I want to see him again.

[The why? Complicated, actually. He has questions, so many of them, and where Suny seems to push everyhing away maybe Basil would give him some answers. That was the temptation at play, wasn't it? Not just someone he considered dear, but also someone who could possibly help handling all that shit.

In the end, he nodded. He didn't want Sunny to search around, but he could make him feel useful, right?]

I already did with Nagito, but an extra person on the boat could help. He just shows up in the distance and keeps running away even if I call for him...

[It's easier to talk about that than bringing up the Ferryman, at least.]

Are they really keeping us safe, though? Cryptic answers and all, we just know we lose things that make us at every step, we know we're surrounded by ghosts that may have been like us before and we march between the skeletal remains of what feels like 'home' without being really home. Who left all those tracks, Sunny? Where are the people who came here before us? [He's trying to talk openly, even if he's still dancing around the subject of... worse stuff. Oh, his mistrust will only increase when he will realize Sunny doesn't *remember*] I don't remember half of my house, Sunny. And I'm almost sure I never gave it away. It's... not what I gave up last time, right?

[Sunny could certainly understand conflicted feelings. He had a load of them himself. Just because he was feeling… unsure about Basil didn’t mean he wished the other any harm. (Not Sunny, anyway.)

And the more Kel talked, the more he realized he didn’t have those answers. Not really. Sunny flipped another page in the notebook, simply for something to do, something to stall, something to allow him brain to think.]

[The people who came before-] Aren’t here. Left… [To continue the journey, probably. And on what Kel had given up… Sunny shakes his head.] Hobbeez. [He does look for some sort of sign, a spark of recognition, maybe. While Sunny himself couldn’t remember Neighbor’s Room, not really, he still had a drawing that Nagito and the skeleton had helped him fill in.]

[He does not trust the Ferryman and he's not hiding it from anyone. People left... but then-]

Where? God, Sunny, look around- we're a handful of people in ghost towns and we keep losing people. Yashiro is missing, you know? And... and there are things we lost, Sunny. That we shouldn't have lost.

[He's looking down at his hands, feeling frustrated by their current situation. Why all the cryptic answers, why not just wiping them away like clean slates? For the first time in what feels like forever, he takes in a deep breath, filling his lungs and letting out a big sigh. But he doesn't really need that, does he? Nor he feels warmth in his body unless he stops to think 'oh, wait, that's how my skin should feel like' or any heartbeat.]

So... not my house. [A long pause] But then there's stuff I know you didn't give away too. And stuff I don't remember choosing to give- [A pause.] Mari made it clear I should remember someone but I don't remember this person. At all. Was he afriend? An enemy? My fucking husband? Hell if I know. But I wouldn't give people important away so easily, would I?

[He sounds frustrated before bringing up one of his actual worst fears.]

How long before I forget you two, Sunny? Or Basil and Aubrey... or everyone else? What are we turning into? Who are we supposed to become?

[Sunny can feel it - the literal waves of stress and frustration that Kel tries to hide. Even if it’s not really directed at him, he does scoot a step away… just because distance always made this sort of thing easier.

He isn’t running, not really, not this time - you should - but he does hug his knees to his chest, his notebook tucked there like some sort of artificial reassurance.

Sunny didn’t have those answers either. He knew logically that Kel wasn’t demanding them of him but…] There’s no way back… [It’s maybe as complete of a sentence as he has spoken in a long time, without a pause, though mostly because it’s softer.

Even if they were here falsely (Sunny deserved to be someplace like this, with terrible people, he knew that. Not Kel), even if the people around them disappeared… what could he do about it?

Yashiro was gone? Sunny had been too absorbed in his own… what? Fear? For what reason, he didn’t know, but he just knows that he didn’t notice and now that girl that was nice to him was no longer here. Lost.

Just like they could be.]

Don’t. [Forget. Some things were better off forgetting. He had told Kel that once. But… they couldn’t forget each other, right?] Make new memories here. [That’s how they would remember. That was what Kel had said.]

[He does see the other push back and he forces himself to calm down.

Look at this situation, they aren't even talking about the serious shit yet and Sunny is already retreating behind his own knees like they could give any of them actual comfort.]

I know... I knew that even before dying. When I made my choice, though, I didn't expect things to be... like this.

[A choice made in seconds, perhaps, but still a choice. To reach, to grab, not to die... yet here they are. but he sees Sunny retreating, he sees him clamming away and he knows he shouldn't talk like this.

We can make new memories, plenty of them, I'm... doing my best in that sense. Me, Nagito and Frieda organized the party to have more, but- I don't think I could handle you or Mari looking at me and not recognizing me. Even if I know we'll be friends again.

[A pause as he nudges the conversation toward the more difficult topic.]

Even when things are bad, even when we do bad stuff, you're still my best friend, Sunny. you will always be.

[Had any of them expected something like this? Living in a small town with a church that gave a very different image of the afterlife had certainly meant that Sunny hadn’t.

It’s why he wondered if this was a dream so often (or part of why, anyway).

It was so nice here. There were scary things too, like giant spiders and wraiths and Crossings… but the people they were with were kind.

That fear though… that lack of recognition. Sunny wondered which he feared more: that, or blatant anger. If everyone simply forgot him (the way he had pulled into himself and ‘forgotten’ reality during those four years), he wouldn’t have to see them pull away. To have them hate him for what he had done.

Sunny could at least believe, in this moment, that Kel could still proclaim what he said. That they were friends. Because he didn’t know.]

Like… Spaceboy and Rococo…

[It looks like people are starting to sleep. Which makes sense, since it's a sleepover. Nagito stands there, uncertain, as people settle down. Then--

Quietly, carefully, he starts cleaning up. Putting away unused plates and utensils, cleaning away food, gathering trash. If he can have everything tidy by morning, that's a success, right?

He does have to creep by the mattresses fairly regularly, though, sorry about that.]

[Normally, when wrapped in the thrall of dreams, Sunny would be an extremely deep sleeper. One might say that he would be dead to the world, so enthralled in his imagined adventures.

Not this time. (Mostly because Sunny hadn’t been able to dream here. It wasn’t Nagito’s fault.)

So when he hears the other shuffling around in the dark, his eyes hesitantly open.

Oh, it’s just Nagito.

His gaze remains locked on the other, watching.]

[Nagito notices Sunny's eyes surprisingly quickly; he smiles apologetically and whispers to him so as not to wake anyone else.] Sorry, Sunny-kun. Am I being too loud?

[Sunny shakes his head, sitting up somewhat. It really wasn’t Nagito… he just still had nerves, which made sleeping difficult.

It wasn’t just the close proximity that everyone was in - the teen had grown somewhat used to their presence - but his own fears kept him up. As usual.

By habit, he reaches for his notebook… and then realizes that Nagito won’t be able to see writing in the dark, right? Well… that’s a conundrum…

Several awkward moments of silence follow before Sunny decides to get up, near silent, and follow Nagito around while the other does chores.

Is it weird?? Maybe. Especially without context, though when they do get to a bright enough area, Sunny pulls out his notebook and writes.]

Can’t sleep. Help?

[Kel just expected to burn in Hell, in the very literal description of one at least. You know, devils and burning brimstone, pitchforks too- not deserts and swamps for sure.

And if Sunny and Mari were there, it couldn't be Hell recardless. Intent mattered when considering a person's sins, right? And he knew Mari was 'perfect' and Sunny never wanted to hurt anyone, so... not Hell.

Kel knew and Kel embraced the fact that things were shit, he just... wanted to help. And wanted things to get better, eventually, he just didn't know how to do that.]

Like Spaceboy and Rococo. Name a more iconic duo than those two...

[He forgot most of the essays involving them, but they still had a super special place in his heart- even if he was never going to tell anyone how deep his passion for them went and how hard he shipped those two. Sunny and everyone else could just focus on the friendship side of that and, well, considering his relationship with Sunny... that was more accurate anyway.

Even if touching Sunny was no longer as natural as he wanted, it still brought back that unpleasant feeling of 'falling', he did his best to smile and reach to place a hand on the other's shoulder.]

We go through the good and the bad together, right?

[It was like those three days on loop again-

Except they weren’t in Faraway Town, far from it, and things kept moving on faster than Sunny could process.

(It was just a dream. It was always easier to think that, even if this place lacked the certain color swap palette of his own.)

And oh good… Kel remembered at least that much. He hadn’t been sure if the other would forget those beloved characters alongside Hobbeez, but it seemed like there was some recognition.

It made Sunny… it wasn’t quite happiness, but like a weight might have lifted off of his shoulders, for a small amount of time.]

Right.

[And, maybe a little shyly, Sunny holds up his hand.

…high five?]

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Good Morning

Memories of the Past. The Good and the Bad.

Here we go ^^

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One More Day, the Sun Reaches My Bed

Wishes I had an icon for this XD

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