Tomio wakes up with a shout, jolting upwards where he once lied in bed, his chest heaving with each panting breath. “That nightmare again…” he mumbled out as he rubbed at his face with the palms of his hands. The anniversary of the origin of his constant nightmare is soon… He wants to stay +

“I love being alive!~”

Tomio glanced over before taking Perseph’s hand and pulled his lanky body upwards onto shaking legs. He grimaced with pain, evidently sore from the incredibly recent transformation. “…. Ibuprofen,” came the simple response.

“It is. It is when I want the memories about my family gone, when I want the memories of the things I’ve done to people gone. I don’t deserve to forget.”

“You can probably ask anyone in the village and they’d be happy to tell you the entire legend…” His lips pursed a bit. “They all revere the jikininki god, even though they think it killed a woman last year. It didn’t, mind you.” An odd choice to comment on…

The thing followed her down, though it began to shiver once the cold air hit its skin. It already was cold naturally, so this change of temperature didn’t help much. Though, once it saw the corpse, its qualms almost immediately disappeared. It crawled up to it and didn’t even so much as wait +

Tomio simply sits there and watches the musical, once more twiddling with his thumbs idly. He’s trying to completely ignore any thoughts that arise that aren’t pertaining to the movie.

Yep. It knows it’s fucked at this point. It’s finally stopped thrashing. It’s tired…

Tomio gave an amused huff, a weak smile on his face. “I understand. You do what makes you feel comfortable.” It was a little cute how Rose seemed excited to watch the musical. … That’s a completely normal thought to have, Tomio reasons. Absolutely normal and not a weird thought to have +

“I guess it isn’t in the traditional sense… Perhaps one day I can show you one of the dances I know.”

Still, there is this terrible desire to be loved. Still, there is this horror at being left behind.

Damn. He wanted to get beat up by a hot woman. Oh well! Better than nothing.

Tomio nodded his head. “I haven’t seen a musical in ages.” He hummed softly as he thought. “I wonder if nihon buyo can count as a musical of sorts? It’s a type of traditional dance where the dance tells a story along with the music… It’s one of my hobbies.”

“What, see your reflection in my eyes or something?”

Tomio fidgets uncomfortably, unsure how to feel about being stared at. “… Then, we’ll watch another. You choose this time, though. I don’t know what else to do to pass the time…”

“Ah—. Yes, it seems so…” he mumbled awkwardly. He also hadn’t even noticed it ended. He’s probably been staring at anything 𝙗𝙪𝙩 the TV. “Um— should we watch another? Or, um, find something else to do?”

On the outside it at least looks like Tomio’s paying attention to the movie. Sort of. Kind of. Tomio’s brushing off every single emotion he feels as just being lonely and unused to having someone who actually cares about him.

Tomio grinned and closed his eyes, laughing.

“Mh—.” His breathing almost immediately caught in his throat. “… I’m sorry,” he forced out, “I’ll try to stop.” Once his hand was let go, he went right back to clasping them rather tightly. Yeah, he is 𝙣𝙤𝙩 gonna be able to focus on the movie anymore. His thoughts are rampant at this point. +

Raising his hand….

Tomio jolted a bit harder than he probably should’ve at the touch. Did his heart rate electorate from the surprise, the anxiety, or just the touch itself? He can’t tell. “Ah. Sorry.” He stops the anxious habit, instead clasping his hands together tightly. He isn’t going to make a joke about his+

His gaze lingered for a moment before he turned his attention back to the TV as well. “…” He can’t focus very well now, though. Instead of twiddling with his thumbs like he was moments before, he’s picking at the skin around his fingers.

“Hm… If you say so…” he mumbled, his brows furrowing a bit. Anxiety is the only reason he has a smidge of doubt. He’s always afraid of potentially doing or saying something wrong.

“Oh. I see. I understand that…” He hummed softly, closing his eyes momentarily as he thought. “Some days I get like that as well. Some are worse than others. Though— you keep looking at me. Are you sure it’s nothing I’ve done?” He seems concerned about it.

Poor Tomio. Bro was just hungry and cold. Oh well! He was born to suffer anyways. Suffer he shall.

Tomio’s gaze finally drifted towards Rose where he’d dumbly blink at him. “… I keep feeling you looking at me.” Anxiety 6th sense? “Is everything okay? Ah— are you bored of the movie…?”

Tomio really is just bait for bullies at this point. He just has that je ne sais quoi.

it 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 doesn’t want to accept its fate even though it knows its so much weaker compared to Blue. “Hhhgg…!!” Whine, whine, whine.

Oh god. The whining got louder. This thing is weak and pathetic—.

Tomio is completely none the wiser like the oblivious idiot he is! He’s much too focused on the movie. Though, there’s an idle habit he has of fiddling with his thumbs… He can’t sit still properly.

𝘊𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘮.ᐟ ㅤ tomio vs ume in the biggest simp competition. who wins… /j

It has no idea what a rusalki is! Which scares it even more! It’s whining like a dog…

Tomio sits beside Rose, his knees pulled up to his chest. Weird sitting position, but he’s comfortable at least.

INSERT MORE THRASHING HERE…..

Poor thing doesn’t even know what it did to deserve this… It’s too stupid to understand. “Hhgh—“ It understands the words spoken though and does 𝙉𝙊𝙏 like them.

“I haven’t seen it in a while either. I don’t get the chance to watch movies very often.”

Oop. It’s trying to get away like an animal caught in a hunter’s trap. “Hguuhg!!”

Tomio smiled weakly. “Alright. I think it’ll be nice to rewatch it.”

“I would say Ponyo. The fish one.”

Rest in absolute shit, Tomio! At least the thing can’t actually die. Though, this probably just means it’ll be tortured for an eternity…

“Mm… I’m not too big of a fiction person, but I quite enjoy those Ghibli movies.”

Horrifying! The jikininki is running as fast as its lanky limbs can carry it…. Though it has dog shit stamina. It soon collapsed onto the ground, panting.

SCREECH. It’s trying to scamper off—.

“Sure. Did you have any particular movie in mind?” he asked with a tilt of his head. “Though, I won’t be able to eat any snacks, considering… Well. You know what I am.”

Live creature-thing reaction.

“I have no idea how you manage to, honestly.” he mused. “Mm… Well, as you know, most of my time is spent reading… I don’t have many two people hobbies. Writing haiku and playing the shamisen are single people activities.” Seems Tomio quite enjoys the arts.

I lower my head into my hands and sob. Oh 、but how wretched are we 、the unloved. We wither like forgotten plants in the shadow 、always yearning 、always hungry--stretching our arms forever towards a light that is always moving farther and farther away.

“You know what I mean by that, smart ass.” he rolled his eyes.

"I guess. Though, definitely not needy enough to sleep with just anyone. I have standards.”

“Ah, I could use the company.” he shrugged. “Though, I can’t say 𝙄'𝙢 very pleasant company. I’m rather boring and mundane.”