Red Paint: Ib

1. Take lemon candy

Biting your lip, you reached over and plucked one of the lemon candies from Ib's hand, the plastic crinkling at your touch. Eying the sweet for a long moment, you slipped it into your purse while telling your stomach to wait. "I'll eat it later," you murmured while Ib was unwrapping hers. Smiling with obvious relief that you had accepted it, Garry stood up and surveyed the room. "Good. I suggest that we stay here for a little while longer to rest before moving out."

Taking the time to inspect the room yourself, you also stood up and looked around curiously. There were four bookshelves total with one in the top left and right corners, as well as two more in the center of the room with an empty vase between them. It wasn't one of the infinitely replenishing ones so that meant that Garry had decided to heal you instead of himself or Ib- both of them still had their cuts and slightly wilted roses as well as the claw marks on Garry's face were scabbed with dried blood. Swallowing with guilt that they couldn't heal because of you, you walked over to where he was standing before a bookshelf with a curious look in his eyes. "Um... Garry?"
"Hmm?"
"I... Thank you for everything, you've been a big help." Surprise flashed across his face though he hastily hid it with a contented smile. "Of course, [Y/n], we're friends after all." His words shocked you. Of course, you saw him as a friend but more like an acquaintance. He was much closer to Meldy and you had really always seem his as that sort of person that you could comfortably be around, but despite everything that he did and no matter how friendly he was, you could never really see him as a person in your group. You'd tried to accept him, tried to open up, but somehow... It had just never worked. He was a kindhearted person and you loved him to bits even if your relationship was awkward, but hearing him genuinely say that you were friends was so shocking you found yourself dumbfounded. "Yeah," you whispered, "yeah, we are."

Pausing, you scooped up his coat and handed it to him, brushing off the imaginary dust that lingered to the shredded edges. "Oh, thanks." Garry slid his arms through it and fluffed out the collar, grinning at the side of it where your blood had previously stained it. You leaned over his shoulder and glanced at the book in his hands, Ib wrapping her arms around your waist and peering over as well. "What's that?" Closing the book so that you could see the title, he gave it to Ib. She flicked through it as he talked, "It's a book with lots of long words, it was in here. Even the title's a bit long. I believe it's a book by Guertena? It's rather interesting... A bit sad, but I can't stop reading." Guertena wrote books? "It may be a bit too difficult for you, Ib." The little girl nodded and handed the book back to him, her brows furrowed as if annoyed that she couldn't read it.

The three of you stood by the bookshelf while chatting, the desperation to just stay in this safe haven making it all the more difficult to leave. You talked about all sorts of things. The Gallery, what food you would eat if you could, fashion, (Garry was surprisingly well informed about that topic), and all too soon you had silently agreed that it was time to leave. Ib swung the door open and as you stepped out, you saw that the safe haven was really only just down the hall from where you had passed out. Talk about lucky timing!

A/N: Please note that you "took the lemon candy," this is extremely important to figuring out what ending you will get in the end, so please write that down somewhere that you can look for future reference! As always, the choices don't always go in a proper timeline sense so head on over to "Purple Gallery" to continue the story. Oh, if you found the "Hanged Garry" note, I've got a tiny bit more of story below. CODE WORD "TINY." If you didn't find that note, please disregard. If you don't, it's not exactly a life changing segment of text so if you want to be a rebel, be my guest. (Freaking show off... Just have to be a delinquent don't ya?)

Grimacing slightly, Garry rolled his neck in a circle as if working out a kink. "Are you alright?" He had been standing still and doing that for a little while and it was staring to worry you. Righting his head to its proper place, he flashed you a weak smile and rubbed the area of his neck just below his chin. "[Y/n], is there something around my neck?" Ib stopped walking and looked back, her own head tilted to the side as you reached over and tilted his head back, frowning at his pale skin in searching of anything that may be there. You retracted your hands and shrugged, "I don't see anything..."

"Huh... Must be my imagination then..."