[ The puppy looks at the contents of the plastic bag. Cheese............... the scritches momentarily distract him. He yaps--luckily, it sounds like a real dog yap because he's using dog vocal cords. Does that mean yes? Sure. Hien will take a note of it later.
Tail continues to wag, but it momentarily pauses to put a paw on Tobari's chest. Is he tired? Getting enough sleep? He tilts his head and whines after the yawn. ]
[ I can't do that because Hien would choose to sleep right away.
He watches Tobari for a moment as he's being carried to the couch. Let's see... what can he do? ]
Are you tired?
[ The voice sounds like a concerned ten-year-boy. Hien is currently borrowing the voice of a child version of himself somewhere. He'll give you your voice back, child. Just a minute. ]
[ His head is spinning. Emotionally, he's so turned off right now, but the heat mechanic is making this extremely difficult. Shit. Fuck. He mutters curses under his breath. He can be a submissive bottom, but he'll always take action when needed... even when his mind feels incredibly stuffy. ]
[ he can be a cat, fine by him. me as cats as well. but he's only mildly surprised by that statement and he's not sure what to say, so there's a brief hum of acknowledgement. ]
... thanks. [ this isn't about him though, so he can ruminate on that later. ] I know it's not the same, what you're going through right now and what happened last week. But I want to help you however I can.
[ hien is the world's hardest working omega and for what… not him fighting both the heat mechanic and second-hand oripathy.
Still, it is funny how they were in this exact position not too long ago, yet the tone now couldn't be more different. ]
Something like that. [ His voice comes out a little distant, with measured breaths in and out. How he feels now is directly reflected in Hien, and somehow, that's the only thing that's grounding him, chest rising in staccato bursts he struggles to steady. ] … Sorry. I'm always the one owing you.
[ somehow, this pang is more poignant than any other that's come before—visceral, almost hopeless. ]
... s'fine. Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you, I just thought I was going insane after everything.
[ THERE'S BEEN SO MUCH VORE AND NONSENSE. but he'll just flop on the couch, going back to cradling the pupper close and giving scritches. the way that his free time has probably just been spent with the cats around here but he's getting less free time already. ]
Might need a nap at some point.
[ the official schedules for the love interests from the game says tobari gets 4 hours of sleep a day for some reason ]
[ laughs in this week's "chastity" memory. look. it's fine... he hates pain but it's fine.
Hien suppresses the urge to cough, because he's running. He can't do that when he's running. He runs, runs, and runs and his energy is so spent from dealing with secondhand oripathy, heat mechanic, and now there's a tightness in his chest that's called anxiety. He really wonders how long this will last... Even if he reaches the manor, he doesn't think he can do much. He has something like industrial-level painkillers, and that's about it. All the first aid things are with Hak and Soo-won, if he remembers correctly. This is already a miracle, considering he can barely think. All he can think about right now is Elysium and there are multiple wolves fighting for priority dominance. ]
"I don't care that it's not the same. Stuff weighs on everyone differently. So I really..."
[ He draws in a breath. ]
"Really... appreciate it."
[ He can never get enough of hugs, but he lets Yosuke go. He seems calmer than before, and the feeling inside turns relatively stable... and then there's void. Emptiness. Hien seems fine though. ]
May I ask how you came by this information? I wasn't aware that we had any contact with our worlds here. [...] And though this may be forward of me, do you... need a hug?
"My powers that are associated with that one is gone, and I can't hear him specifically, but I hear their voices all the time whether I want to or not. And his isn't there anymore."
[ but in reality it's just me being evil and all this shit is river stuff ]
[I SUSPECTED lucien has no clue though so he has no reason not to take this at face value? hien did not answer about the hug though so lucien does not move.]
... Perhaps there is another explanation yet. It's not as though you saw or heard him die, correct?
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