"Hollie-ah, you're mumbling again." Taehyoung informed the younger quietly. Hollie started sharply, snapping out of whatever trance she was previously in and dipped her head in apology at the older boy.
"Sorry Oppa , I was just-"
"You don't have to lie to me, I know it's been getting worse the last couple of days since your parents' visit." Hollie visibly deflated, her cheerful façade draining before Taehyoung's eyes. She removed her legs from the couch and sat up, her shoulders slumped and her eyes averted from Taehyoung's.
"How'd you know?" Taehyoung shrugged limply, his facial expression unchanging from its sad and tired frown,
"Guess I've just gotten to know you well enough, and I could hear you crying the night you saw them. You don't have to tell me what they said, but I'm getting worried about you."Hollie raised her head to stare at her Oppa , guilt marred into his features.
"I'm sorry to worry you Oppa , you shouldn't have to do that for me, you have enough to worry about." Taehyoung sighed.
"What have they been telling you this time, the ravens?" The older brunette questioned, his anxiety for the younger still heavily laden in his tone. Hollie looked away, her eyes flitting around before settling onto a specific ceiling tile above her , staring at it with newfound panic in her eyes.
"Bad." She whispered, "Bad things Oppa . There's so many of them, sometimes I can barely tell what they're saying, but the message always comes across so clear." Hollie bites her lip and looks behind her before lying back down on the couch and Taehyoung takes her socked feet into his lap again. He was fine with it, knowing it wasn't meant to be a casual cuddling sort of thing for Hollie and more of an aid for her paranoia; he could never have her back open in times when it got bad like this. Taehyoung had always been a bit more adherent to the age gap formalities so usually he wouldn't have let anyone but his younger siblings do this to him, but something about being with Hollie made this sort of thing okay, perhaps it was because it was a coping mechanism,
"Do you think you should talk to Dr. Seokjin about it? You've been doing well lately; maybe you need a medication adjustme-" Hollie sat up abruptly with wide and scared eyes,
"No! That's what they want Oppa . I can't play into their hands anymore than I already am." Taehyoung's brows furrowed and Hollie saw the worry and fear in them, settling back into the couch.
"I thought you said you no longer believed they were in the pills. You don't have to be afraid Hollie -ah, they weren't there before and they won't be there now. If they were you wouldn't still be alive would you?"Hollie shook her head,
"No I wouldn't be, you're right. I just," she sighed, "I don't know, the hallucinations have been more vivid since my parents," Hollie paused, realizing she was going to divulge information to Taehyoung the older hadn't known yet. Hollie had already confirmed there was no raven in Taehyoung after looking through his eyes, ears, nose and mouth, so she felt it safe to continue, "Since my parents told me that my dog died. They tell me it was my fault, and in my nightmares I can see it happening, over and over again. The ravens tell me if I weren't insane I wouldn't be here, and if I wasn't here I could've been with him." Taehyoung felt a pang in his heart, empathy for the girls situation overflowing, and he put a hand comfortingly on Hollies leg.
"I know it's hard, but the ravens are wrong as always." He offered a small smile, "Hollie , what happened to your dog was in no way your fault and he's at peace now."Hollie put her hand on top of Taehyoung's and returned the sad smile, tears brimming in her eyes,
"Thanks oppa , you're the best." She said with a cracking voice before shifting her eyes to his peripherals and laying back down.
Yoongi collapsed into his bed with a thankful sigh, grabbing onto his pillow and snuggling into it. Today had been way too draining for Yoongi's taste and he had felt both good and bad emotions all in the span of an hour, which was exceedingly difficult for the schizoid to handle. Rhiannon came into the room then, blowing a sigh of relief of her own.
"What a day, huh Oppa ?" She said with an awkward sort of laughing quirk in her face. Yoongi groaned his agreement and flipped over to look at the Girl. Upon seeing her face however, Yoongi struggled with yet another emotion, one he was extremely inexperienced with and had not yet put a name to. It was somewhere between a raging anger, a violent need to protect and a sweet kiss of adoration, and the older boy had absolutely no idea how to deal with it. Yoongi must have been staring too long, because the younger blushed and averted her gaze, "Uhh- I'm gonna take a shower," she handed the blanket Yoongi had lent her back to its owner, "thanks for the blanket, it was, really nice." Without waiting to see his reaction, Rhiannon turned and walked into the bathroom. Yoongi however, felt a pleased smile on his lips for a small moment. He lay back down with his returned blanket in his hands and curled up into his regular sleeping position, a sort of half-assed fetal position, and inhaled deeply. The blanket smelled mostly the same, but there was a tinge of Rhiannon on it, a soft but sweet scent that soothed Yoongi's fried mind. It had only been a week since Rhiannon had gotten here and already the younger had warmed up to him, making the older boy talk and feel more than he ever had in the past year. Yoongi certainly wasn't used to it, and the effort tired him out most times, but other times he would feel wide awake and excited talking to Rhiannon, especially when the younger talked about her love of music, excited when she found out that Yoongi played the piano . Yoongi hadn't gone full nerd and told her about how he kinda thought it would be cool to be a self-producing rapper, but maybe at some point he would, since he loved to see the way Rhiannon smiled when Yoongi got excited about something.
