[GRO] Deimos Somnus - Teen

[Hivestuck]

Trolls, being nocturnal creatures, had little need of artificial lighting, despite doing most of their business at nighttime by necessity as much as preference. That hardly stopped society's use of electric lights, however. Perhaps it was a side effect of trollkind's insectoid nature. The result was the clear visibility of troll cities across the landscape. Even at great distances, they could be seen glittering invitingly. Four Fronds, a popular tourist destination, was an especially noteworthy example. The lake's reflection seemed to double the neon sparkle of the prestigious waterfront property.

As beautiful as it all was, the light pollution was predictably immense. There wasn't a star visible in the sky above Four Fronds proper. Local businesstrolls liked to advertise they'd all come planetside to vacation.

The forest, meanwhile, stood in stark contrast. If one could find an opening in the dark, sloping branches, they could spy what surely must have been the entire cosmos. The trade-off of course was that the woods were nearly devoid of troll-life. Those that did roam the forests, however, were not the type of people that wanted to be found.


Only nepsah can post in this thread. Please quote the mule once the roleplay is complete.  

[nepsah]

Something had to give. Deimos had been able to work something out before, a way to trick his mind and body into sleeping. Running himself ragged, working his mind until he couldn’t think straight- neither of these things were working. He was exhausted, thoroughly exhausted to the bone and yet still when he closed his eyes the familiar sinking feeling of sleep did not come. In a fit of desperation, he’d gotten extra strength sopor slime - a truly expensive venture - but it didn’t seem to help at all. Even the most comfortable of pillow-and-blanket setups did nothing to bring sleep in. He was willing to endure the dayterrors just for a few hours of rest - fitful as it would be.

It was unbearable. Thypion was at a loss, watching his charge aimlessly stumble around his hive, bumping into walls and furniture, swearing they hadn’t been there a moment ago. He’d never felt so helpless - unable to lend a paw to ease his charge’s mind. Deimos did not usually like being touched, but he’d even gone so far as to try snuggling up to Thypion to see if perhaps it was a lack of contact that was doing it. He’d read - or was it heard? - in a book that sometimes a lack of contact with others made one… weird.

But it failed, predictably. And things had been getting worse. The shadows that moved in the corners of his eyes were no longer just in the corners. On more than one occasion he’d walked down the stairs from his makeshift observatory and come “face to face” with a shadowy intruder. Several times he’d yelped and thrown something at the figure, only to realize that he was alone. There were no shadow people making themselves at home in his hive, no intruders messing up his papers… But what was perhaps worse than seeing people was hearing them.

Whispers that sounded so real he was sure he was hearing someone speak. He ransacked his own hive, tossing things aside to make sure he was alone. The mess was horrendous, worse than he’d ever been before- but it was a sign that he’d checked, right? And because no one was there, surely he was making things up, right?

But the longer he went with only pockets of rest, the more vivid the shadow people became- the more real their whispers sounded. To make matters worse, he had purposely cut himself off from the few trolls he associated with. He’d rather be alone than appear weak- especially in the eyes of his mentor. What would she think? He would rather deal with this bout by himself than risk further embarrassment or shame that could be brought on by having any of them see him in this state. Overly sensitive and paranoid was one thing, but so tired he couldn’t tell the difference between reality and figments of his thinkpan’s imagination was another.

Thypion had begun to stay up with him. His lusus was worried for his well-being, he could still tell that much. Normally his lusus would sleep throughout the day and wake early as the sun began to set. Thypion was now pacing around the living block whenever he was in it, or circling the halls of the hive when he tried to sleep. He’d lost track of how many nights he’d actually gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep, but it had to have been a while based off of Thypion’s condition.

Eventually it was too much. Thypion had to sleep. He had laid down in front of the door to Deimos’s hive- if Deimos were more aware of himself he might realize it was an attempt to keep him inside and away from danger. When he was younger Thypion had, on numerous occasions, barely managed to keep him inside the hive during sleepless bouts. But since he was not in his right state of mind, nor thinking about why his lusus would block the door when he wanted to so badly to go outside, he sought other means. A meteor shower was supposed to happen, and he did not want to miss it. From his observatory, he would be able to see small glimpses.. But it wasn’t enough, he wanted a clear view without the trees in the way. The light from Four Fronds still polluted the sky around his hive on particularly busy nights- but he knew of a good spot far in the forest where he could see it all.

He was barely put together- one knapsack holding his supplies haphazardly placed over a shoulder, shoes loosely slipped on into place… he couldn’t maintain a straight path for very long but he was determined. His mind had been made up: he would not let a little sleep deprivation keep him from doing the things he wanted to do. He would make his body do what he wanted it to do. The back of his hive had no doors, he hadn’t thought to put one in place when he was younger (it would prevent intruders from coming in- or so he’d reasoned later) so he was left with the second floor of the hive.

His readingblock window was easiest to open. He pushed it open, then climbed precariously onto its edge. Below, the forest floor was littered with piles of leaves… all he had to do was jump into one, right? It was the perfect plan. He’d even seen it in movies. He wobbled in place, reaching out to brace himself on the window pane as he struggled to calculate where to aim himself… How far would he fly forward if he leapt..? With his free hand he rubbed at one of his eyes, grumbling to himself. It was too difficult. All he wanted to do was see some meteors overhead, not… calculate the distance he’d be jumping into a pile of leaves. This was a distraction from his ultimate goal.

He gripped his knapsack with one hand, then bent his knees and leapt from the window. One moment he was in the air, the next he was on the ground, pain shooting through his legs and the arm he’d reached out to brace himself with. He cried out, and rolled to one side as his mind struggled to catch up with where his body had ended up. Thypion was dead to the world- oblivious to his charge’s predicament outside.

He laid still for a few moments, waiting for the better part of the pain to subside before raising his arm to examine his hand. A little bloodied, but not broken. Sore, moving his wrist hurt… but not unusable. Carefully he pushed himself into a seated position with his uninjured hand to examine his legs. Same condition, hurt, but not broken. One ankle seemed to be more sore than the other… But overall, he’d be fine. Carefully he pushed himself to his feet, wobbling in place for a moment as he regained his balance and figured out which direction he wanted to go.

The clearing… Yes, the clearing deep in the forest- that was where he needed to go. He rubbed at his eyes, then wobbled off toward it. He would get to see that meteor shower, there was no question in his mind about it. He just needed to make it through the woods in order to get to it. Normally he would be more cautious about it- the woods were not some place to just waltz through on a whim. Between the hunts and traps that other residents of the forest put out, it was quite treacherous on a good night- downright deadly on a bad one. And that was before considering the strange trolls that supposedly lived in the forest.

But he knew the pathway, didn’t he? He’d walked it a hundred times, navigated without any troubles before. He knew what places to avoid- what areas would make the most noise if he traipsed through carelessly… or where the stinging nettles liked to grow best. Yes, he could navigate the forest even with as difficult as it was to walk straight.

The safe path wound its way through the trees and underbrush. Hard to keep track of on a normal night, but… harder to track at the current moment. Try as he might to stay focused, it's delicate path seemed to twist and writhe before him. The by now familiar shadow figures lingering in the corners of his eyes were beginning to appear in the distance. They were drawing closer, twisted features becoming more and more real. What if they were real? He hesitated on his next step, clutching at his knapsack as he debated continuing forward.

A sound overhead caught his attention. He looked up, eyes straining to see through the canopy of leaves overhead- but he knew that’s where the sound had come from. Little bits of light as meteors streaked by were visible in small glimpses as the wind shifted the trees… The sound came again- a whisper, but he was sure it was his name. Were they calling him…? Could… could they do that? He shook his head, rubbing at his eyes again. Stars couldn’t speak. He looked around the forest again. The shadowy figures were creeping closer, arms outstretched ending in clawed hands. They were too real to be fake- each step they took creaked as branches snapped or twisted underfoot. The sounds were too real to be a figment of his mind.

Panic set in. What should he do? He shifted his knapsack to reach inside, finding only paper and a couple pens. His hand brushed against something hard- the end of the mace he’d purchased on Busthind..? No, a marble, one of the display moons from his mobile setup. Had he imagined grabbing the weapon? The figures were closing in on him- he needed to act fast. He grabbed the marble and lobbed it at the figure. It flickered from view for a moment, but reappeared- closer and somehow more menacing than before. They couldn’t be fake.

He had to go back- get Thypion. Something. He turned, wincing as he twisted one of his ankles in a painful way. Now was not the time to let it slow him down. He took off, running despite the growing protest in his legs to stop moving so quickly-- where was his hive? Wasn’t it directly behind him? The trail he knew so well was gone- he couldn’t tell where he was going. The compass he’d normally bring with him on these ventures had been forgotten. The trees overhead were too thick to see the north star- how would he navigate his way home?

He looked back over his shoulder at the shadow creatures- they were nowhere to be found. Had he made them up? Confusion set in as he slowed to a stop, wobbling in place while he took in his surroundings. This part of the forest seemed… vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t recall when he’d been there, or how he’d gotten back to his hive. He needed to climb one of the trees- see if he could pinpoint the star overhead and follow it’s path, or at least figure out the general direction in which he needed to start moving. He dropped his knapsack, then attempted to start climbing the nearest tree. Thankfully its branches were low enough to give him something to work with.

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Back at his hive, Thypion stirred from his slumber. The hive was quiet- unusual for this time of the night. The massive lusus rose to his feet and began to pad around the hive in search of his charge. Had the little troll finally fallen asleep? Thypion could not find him sleeping in any of the pillow piles that were set up around the hive- perhaps he’d made it to his recouperacoon this time. He carefully made his way into the respiteblock, but stopped before even making it to the ‘coon. The window in the readingblock was open. Deimos never opened the windows. Thypion’s two heads exchanged glances before he backed out of the room and went straight for the door. Something was wrong.

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Deimos had made it to the highest point in the tree that he could. Overhead, specks of light as meteors blinked by the planet were making it very hard to remember what he’d climbed the tree to do in the first place. The whispering sound of his name being called arose with each burst of light overhead - they were talking to him, weren’t they? They knew he wanted so badly to be up there- amongst them, learning everything he could about the universe. He’d almost completely forgotten what he was doing until his eyes landed on the north star. He was trying to find a way back to his hive. He looked down at the ground below, then back up to the star… He just needed to go northwest to get back to his hive… yes..

Carefully he began to make his way down the tree, only slipping on the last two branches and landing with a small thumping sound. At least it wasn’t has bad as jumping out of his readingblock window… He pushed himself up, abandoning his knapsack as he made his way through the thick underbrush toward where his hive should be. Vaguely in the back of his mind he was aware that he wouldn’t have this problem if he’d let someone know how bad he’d gotten. Maybe he wouldn’t be alone like he was in the forest- maybe Thypion’s attempt to keep him inside would have worked.

He didn’t make it very far before a metallic clanging sound followed by excruciating pain in his right foot stopped him. Unable to help himself, he shrieked- this was worse than the window fall. He looked down at his leg, mind racing at the sight. A trap- meant for an animal, but it was digging into his leg just above the ankle. Sharp metal teeth were locked into place, but he wasn’t thinking straight- he needed to get it OFF of him. Panicked and blinded with pain and the tears that were forming in his eyes, he tried to kneel down and force the teeth apart. All that earned him was scratched fingers as they clumsily slid along the teeth.

He’d never been in this much pain before- was he even thinking? Was he even part of himself? He looked around, gasping for breath as he tried to stop himself from making so much noise- surely something would come eat him at this point. He spotted a stick - carefully he extended himself toward it, trying desperately to reach it without jostling his trapped foot too much but it was too far away… he needed to move closer. Each movement sent new waves of pain from the wound, it hurt so bad he thought he might black out. As welcome as sleep would be, he did not want to die out in the forest like this...

He felt the edges of the stick on his fingertips right as the pain in his leg was starting to overwhelm him. Somehow he managed to grab it, then slowly shifted closer to where the trap had been originally. Moving back to where he was did nothing for the pain- it anything continued movement had just made the trap clench tighter. Teal blood was oozing out from the wound, coating the trap and the ground underneath. He didn’t want to think about what this was going to do in the long run to his foot… would it be okay? If he were of sound mind he’d know that no, it wouldn’t- likely the bone had been crushed, but he wasn’t of sound mind and he couldn’t bear to look at it for very long to assess its true condition.

He attempted to wedge the stick into the trap, finding that it was completely useless. It snapped easily as soon as he tried to pry the trap mouth open, causing another shooting wave of pain to erupt from his leg. He cried out again, struggling to maintain even a semblance of composure as he looked around once more. Surely there was something he could use? Again the back of his mind reminded him that he wouldn’t be in this predicament if he’d just reached out.

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Thypion was searching. He could smell traces of Deimos’s scent on the wind, but traces were not that useful for tracking his charge down. He could have gone anywhere- how long ago had he left? A cry in the distance caused him to halt abruptly- both heads raised, ears flicking about to see if they could locate the source…. Silence, but soon enough, another pained cry. It sounded all too familiar.

He took off through the forest, soon realizing that the source was deep in the woods that Deimos had given up trying to navigate due to the amount of traps that had been laid there. What was he doing!? Thypion slowed to a stop, realizing the forest had gone quiet outside of its usual ambient sounds. Where was he…? Both heads began sniffing, trying to pick up on the scent-- what they did smell was not reassuring. Traces of blood on the breeze. Carefully Thypion worked his way through the underbrush, following the scent until he spotted what looked like a large teal lump on the ground. Something metallic and shiny was attached to part of-- Thypion charged forward, worry taking over his instinct as he realized what had happened.

It felt like it had been eons - the world was starting to spin. At least the pain had seemed to subside, or was he just getting used to it? Some part of him picked up on the sound of something large approaching, but the foggy weight of sleep weighing down on his head prevented him from moving to look at what it was. Vaguely he was aware of something large and white looking him over, twin noses sniffing, gently pushing him to see if he was alive. He raised a hand, half sure it was going to get bitten, half hoping it was Thypion. And then nothing. He dropped his hand, mind going blank as darkness seeped in.

Alive- but not for very long if he stayed where he was. Thypion growled lowly as Deimos went limp under him. He needed to free his charge from the trap, but doing so would be hard for a lusus his size… And that was if he could even figure out how to do it. Both heads examined the trap- clearly he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to release it… and he wasn’t willing to try and do it with Deimos being at risk of bleeding out. He was sure his charge would be upset about it later, but… Better missing a piece than dead.

The trap was just large enough for him to be able to dig a clawed paw in. The force of it had snapped the bone enough already, all he had to do was finish the job. At least the troll had passed out… if he had kept making noise, Thypion was sure he’d have to fend off other creatures. It was surprisingly easy to sever the foot- then it was just a matter of tugging the trap off the bottom of his ankle. Skin tore, but skin could be replaced. Feet could be replaced, he’d seen trolls with metallic body parts on many occasion.

Carefully, he leaned down to gently push Deimos into the mouth of one head. Once he was secured, he picked his way back to the safe(r) part of the forest. He would need to go to the city. If not to get a replacement right away, at least to get someone with hands to look after Deimos. Fortune seemed to be in his favor as a familiar scent of another troll caught his noses as he returned to the hive. Yes… he knew this smell- this troll could be trusted. The mentor that Deimos had spent so long training with would surely know where to take him. Thypion approached the troll at a quick trot before she could get too close to the hive.

If Deimos had not learned his lesson on his own, he would try to get this troll to help him teach his son that he could not continue to isolate himself in his times of need. This problem was beyond the two of them now...

Hivestuck