The Stage is Set

What a painful, playful start pt.1

Play Date - Melanie Martinez

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Reaper sits, processing everything said as Cross sits in his lap eating a muffin Geno packed. He squeezes Cross a little tighter, as everything starts to hit him. Reaper feels his breath stutter as he tries to calm down. Stars above, when they find Ink, he's never letting either of his baby brothers go. His soul can't take this. He croons softly to Cross as he nuzzles against him, wrapping his wings around them as they process everything. He looks around to see Lust finishing off healing the rest of them. Cross hasn't asked for healing, saying that Ink had already healed him. Reaper assumes it was around then Ink left that mark on Cross's face. That mark screams of protection. Cross will be protected no matter what, but that doesn't leave Reaper feeling happy yet. What does that mean for Ink?

Dream holds Blue close as he mimics Reaper by wrapping his wings around Blue. Dream leans against his brother as they quietly talk. Nightmare has to help Dream eat, as he does his best to hold Blue in one spot. Blue seems to be a flight risk still, something keeps pulling him to rush to where Ink is. There is so much anger in his soul, too much to be normal. As much as the twins want to help regulate Blue's emotions, Dream's aura is shot from whatever Shattered had done to him. He's low on magic to even form arrows. He would turn his anger into arrows if Dream could, but that would be dangerous for everyone involved. Too much anger in his arrows causes them to be unstable when shot. Nightmare could help take over, but the staff also drains his magic. They need to eat to restock their magic. Nightmare takes another bite of his sandwich before holding it out to Dream to take a bite out of.

Dream pulls a face, needing to generate even a little positivity from anyone. Anyone, but he hungers for positivity from Blue. Blue's positivity has always been the strongest since he's fallen for him. He tries to distract Blue from his anger, just enough for Dream to get a taste of positivity. A taste of Blue's positivity is all he needs; just a small trickle for him to feed on. Enough to heal and to share with Nightmare. He knows how much Nightmare hates to feed off of anger and heartbreak. When they talked, Dream remembers that Nightmare confessed he used to love the taste until he fell in love for the first time. Then he changed, and the taste choked him and made him weak. Moreso when he is fully skeleton.

Dream pouts, "Gross, Night. All your germs are on that side, turn it around."

Nightmare arches a browbone, "Really Dream?"

Dream huffs, noticing that he's now got Blue attention. "Yes! You swap spit with the silly geese over there and with Ink!" Said duo gives out a weak cry of offense, "I don't want those germs, I'm a taken man."

Nightmare relaxes hearing Blue's chuckles, "Oh sure. You sound really mature right now."

Dream sticks out his tongue, gaining more warmth as he slightly feeds off of Blue's weak positivity. He sends a weak wave of it to Nightmare through their bond. "You can't say that when I'm the-"

"Heal?"

The question has them freezing. Cross sits up immediately, he stares at the dripping form of Ink. Solid black, thick paint as the figure seems almost hunched over. Reaper holds Cross close, not allowing him any room to run off. Dream and Blue stare. Dream winds his arms around Blue, holding him down. Nightmare, Killer, and Error all quietly gasp as they take in the sight. Lust stares in shock at the shape the paint blob is in. The blob looks around again, looking over all of them. It tilts its head to the side, no emotion is expressed. Those empty sockets linger on Blue for a second, and in that moment, something changes. A flicker of emotion before returning blank. That heartbreak was noticed by everyone.

"Heal?" The blob's voice echoes down the hall. It sends a shiver down Reaper's spine.

Something is very wrong here.