Yeahhhh, cue more confussion from Ingall, like "Oh... uh... I thought you liked food, right? I just... I thought you liked it, so I wanted to... to do something nice? Is- did I do it wrong? Should I not have? I'm sorry, I'm bad at... at emotions. I didn't mean to upset you..."

Poor guy would be so panicked about it all XD

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God, I love them so much-

And, yeahhhh

Uh

It'd end badly for sure, for different reasons.

Nico's brain would probably interpret Garvin's begging as more of a command than anything, which is due to the amount of abuse she's been through, and if Garvin didn't stop asking after the first couple of "maybe laters" or "that's okay, Vinny's" they'd probably give in, but, like, the amount of angst on both ends would be crazy. Nico's totally accepting it as something that's necassary to keep the relationship going and keep Garvin happy, so, in their own head, she doesn't actually have much of a choice. Wonderful, lmao

And Ingall? Uh, well, Gall would probably deny at first and if Garvin kept pressing he'd most likely just... leave. Which might make things worse? I'm not sure. Gall would definitely get too overwhelmed and just bail though because the idea of being touched, especially like that, when he's not yet fully secure in the relationship, is extremely terrifying.

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That's very fair. Still sad, but fair, lol

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Yay :)

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Omg, actually, that would be so fun. If we did that, we could probably throw in Briar and Aries as well, since they'd already have their roles and they'll both end up being close to the polycule eventually, and then you could throw in another character since I'd already have four. Not sure what everyone would be though...

Assuming the ones who were already involved have the same roles we'd have (though we could switch those up too)

Nico as sound

Briar as manipulation

Revan as space

Aries as physical

Since I need the time role, that'd leave Akira or Ingall there, and, honestly, for the angst of having Akira be in charge of another group of people that they'll end up considering family (and that eventually fucking falls apart with Nico being kidnapped (or, at least, probably Nico) and Briar and Aries being kicked out), yeah, I'd choose Aki, haha

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I absolutely love the neka's! They're all amazing!

And the Akira and Garvin one is both so cute and so heartbreaking

And here's the nightmare short story!

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Nightmare

Akira Edition - 1

Word Count; 1462.

Characters; Garvin. The rest of GRAIN is there too but don’t actually speak.

TWs; A nightmare, drowning, swearing, implied past trauma, self-hatred, self-worth issues, suicidal thoughts/ideation, depression in general, dissociation, vomiting, an implied panic attack, internalized ableism, messy writing/ending… You know, all that fun stuff.

Notes; Yeah, uh. Take this nightmare Garvin has of Akira because my guy has so much trauma it overflows (ha). Takes place sometime after he dyes his hair for the first time using Akira’s hair dye. How long after? Who knows! I don’t! Haha. Anyways, uh. Totally believe Garvin, and GRAIN in general, learns sign language at some point. Just because of how often so many of them seem to go non-verbal. Garvin would, at least, know the basics plus some trauma specific stuff. But honestly, I also totally feel like he picks it up surprisingly quickly and just totally finds the whole idea too fun to not learn more.

Garvin be like - “Trauma? Yeah, right. I think not. Obviously, I’m just an idiot.”

*~*~*~*

He was looking at the mirror, staring at the purple dye covering matted ginger curls. He needed to wash it out, didn’t he?

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A door opened. He couldn’t quite breathe. The edges of his vision seemed darker than they should be. He blinked.

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He was being held underwater. Aki- Akira was holding his head underwater. He felt himself flail, watched his hands scratch at the ones around his throat— At Akira’s hands around his throat. Dye was starting to stain the water. He couldn’t— This wasn’t— It wasn’t real. They wouldn’t— Akira wouldn’t drown him. The others at least wouldn’t let them— Right? It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be.

-

It sure felt real when his mouth opened though, trying to breathe air into his lungs despite knowing that he was underwater. And it felt real as water rushed in instead, tearing through his throat and burning his lungs. As he continued to flail, continued to scratch at Akira’s arms, scrape and push at the walls and floor of the tub. As he only took more water into his lungs as he panicked. As his vision dimmed with each inhale he tried to take.

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He was— This was it. He was drowning— Akira was drowning him. He was— He was going to die. Akira was going to kill him— Akira was killing him. He still couldn’t stop his panicked attempts to breathe, to get away, to do something. He didn’t— He didn’t want to drown. Anything else. He’d be fine with anything else. Any other way to go. He didn’t want to drown. Not— Not when he’d survived it so many other times. Not when he knew it was Akira’s hands around his throat, keeping his head under the water.

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His hands were losing feeling though, his vision dimming and spotty, and there was only so much he could do. He tried to breathe in again, tried to get air into his lungs instead of the water that was still pouring in, his hands fumbling as his grip only continued to fail. His vision faded into the spots, going black and…

-

He didn’t notice as he woke up, falling off the shared bed with a thud he didn’t even hear, too focused on trying to cough up the water in his lungs. His vision waned and he couldn’t feel his fingers against the floor as he just tried to get the water out. Before it’d kill him. Before Akira had him back under. Before— Before something happened and he couldn’t get it out.

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No water came up though, and instead he ended up staring down at vomit. For a moment, he almost went back to trying to cough up any water that was in his lungs. For a moment, he didn’t even try to breathe, too certain that it’d only bring more water washing down his throat, burning and tearing anything in its way. But the moment passed, and he was rushing to take a breath, to breathe, panic still clinging to him even as the realization that he’d been dreaming, that he’d been asleep hit him. He closed his fists against the floor, trying to feel the way they scraped the ground underneath him. His sight still seemed spotty, his heart pounding in his chest.

-

And then a hand on his shoulder made him flinch, practically jumping as he turned and his back hit the frame of the bed he’d fallen out of when he woke up. He wheezed, almost coughing again, and tried to get his eyes to focus on what was going on around him. His chest felt heavy, like it was filled with water that shouldn’t be there, that was going to kill him if he didn’t get it out. But he was breathing. Not very well, sure, but he was breathing. There wasn’t enough air in his lungs, but there also wasn’t any water in them. There wasn’t. Because it’d been a dream. Because Akira wouldn’t do that to him. They wouldn’t. He still couldn’t get himself to calm down, breathing out of sorts and shaking. Shivering. He wasn’t shivering, because it’d been a dream and he wasn’t actually dripping water that was making him feel a chill in the air, but it still felt like it.

-

He’d woken everyone up, was what he realized when his eyes finally focused just enough to let him see that all four of his partners were nearby. He couldn’t get more than general shapes, still wheezing through every breath, chest heaving with leftover panic, but he could tell that much. He thought that Coco was maybe trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t be sure. He lifted one of his hands from the ground, heavy and awkward and shaking, and he used it to grab the frame behind him. Not to push himself up, but more so just to try and get feeling back because he still couldn’t feel his fingertips and it was really making it hard to believe he wasn’t drowning.

-

Which was pathetic. And stupid. And— And whatever else. He couldn’t get his thoughts to really work at the moment. Which was also stupid. So he tried to pull himself together, tried to get his breathing under control, tried to figure out who the fuck was talking to him and what they were saying. He felt nauseous. He felt like he was still in the shitty dream that made absolutely no sense, flailing and scratching and drowning.

-

He felt like the eyes on him were trying to cut him open. Trying to read him and figure him out and do something. Help, probably. They always wanted to help. He didn’t want it. He didn’t— It didn’t make sense. Everything hurt and he couldn’t breathe and he just wanted out— He didn’t know what he wanted out from. He wasn’t being held anywhere. He wasn’t trapped. But he wanted out. Wanted away.

-

He heard the choked whimper only after it had already clawed its way through his throat and out into the open. Only after he was already watching his four partners react to it. Or, really, three of them. He couldn’t quite make himself look at— At Aquila. Couldn’t quite force his eyes to look that way. So instead, he forced his eyes down, towards the vomit he knew had to be worrying them. That he knew had to be getting on Apus’ nerves.

-

They really shouldn’t be dealing with him. Why were they still dealing with him? Why were they still putting up with his shit? They had every fucking reason to hate him, every fucking reason to kick him out or beat him or— Or fucking drown him in the bathtub, and the dyed near-magenta curls in his eyes only helped to prove it.

-

He swallowed past a lump in his throat, not trusting his voice. Not trusting if he’d even be able to speak with it if he tried. His partners were still there when he looked up again though, waiting, trying to figure out what to do, how to help. He really didn’t deserve them. He still couldn’t even look at Aquila. It’d been a dream. It hadn’t actually happened. It probably wasn’t ever going to happen. But he still couldn’t even look at them. He had four partners that wanted to help and— And what was he supposed to tell them? That he’d had a shitty dream where Aquila drowned him in the tub in the bathroom? They’d hate him. Or Aki would blame themself and he didn’t want that. They didn’t deserve to think it was their fault. It wasn’t. If it was anyone’s fault, it was his. But he couldn’t even get his voice to work and he couldn’t make himself look at them and he still didn’t know what there even was to do.

-

Except. He kind of did. So he lifted his hand that wasn’t holding the frame behind him, and forced it in a circle over his heart. Because even if he couldn’t tell them it was Aquila, he’d had dreams where he’d drowned before. They weren’t as common anymore, thank the stars, but he could still use it. Couldn’t he? So he leaned back against the bed frame and forced himself to let go of it, lifting that hand so he could sign more than just an apology. And the faster he could, the better. Even just signing an apology was bound to make them worried if he didn’t get the rest out quick enough. So he, admittedly choppily, signed ‘basement’, hoping they’d know what he was referring to and believe him. A moment later, he signed ‘drown’ just as choppy. And he hoped it’d be enough for them, that they’d believe the half lie.

Agh, they're both so awkward and adorable :')

Ingall would just be like "Oh... uh... no? I just... wanted to be nice... and I guess I wanted you to like me? I guess... uh... I guess I thought I... only had a chance of you liking me if... you know... if I gave you something you liked...?"

Two sides of one coin, honestly, lmao

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Definitely. And there would be so much guilt, confusion, and regret later

Both for Ingall and Nico, haha

Akira would for sure be the only one to handle things well. Even though they're internally freaking out, lol

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Ohhh, yeah, that makes a lot of sense!
In that case, let's do this-

Nico as Sound

Briar as Manipulation

Akira as Time

Aries as Physical

Revan as Elemental

Garvin as Space

Ingall as Truth, which makes the most sense with his typical power and with the fact that he already doesn't lie much at all

And that leaves Emotional/Healing :)

Ah, yes, even more angst, lol

Can't wait for Nico to get rescued, be in a broken down state, only to find that his absolute best friend and one of their partners are gone and her other partners are more than likely either pulling away or struggling to keep from breaking down themselves, haha

I absolutely love the story! Even though it is heartbreaking, lol

Garvin and Ingall just going in circles in their confusion lmao

Garvin literally so confused that Ingall just wanted to be nice and have him like him. Like. What? That can't be all. Definitely trying to salvage everything though because, well, shit, he probably just ruined everything then.

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Love that. It's terrible but well. Love that.
Midas for sure causing problems. My guy just wants people to care and love him. Curse the darn grooming.

At least Akira can handle it all haha

Definitely fair that they be freaking out lol

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Ooo, fun, fun-

Not sure who to use for Emotional/Healing. Maybe Keijo? From BB?

Not sure though.

I'd have to think about it.

Haha, Garvin for real just pulling the- "Fuck this shit, I'm out!" meme upon finding out people can be kicked out.

Also, probably a good idea to mention that when they show up to get Briar, Aries, and him back- Garvin would be incredibly difficult to convince. Like. He didn't leave because it was unfair for Briar to be kicked out like Aries did. He left because he found out that getting kicked out was something that could happen and he wasn't going to wait for it to happen. If (when) he went (goes) back, he'd be constantly waiting for them to kick him out. Constantly waiting for things to go south. He wouldn't trust them. Not one bit. It's just a matter of time before they kick him out.

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Glad you enjoyed the short story!
Garvin is never going to tell them what it actually was!

The most they get is that he was drowning! For sure lying about who it was though! Obviously just a nightmare about Andi! Obviously! Ignore the apology, he's obviously just getting better about apologizing and is sorry for waking them up! Totally not apologizing as a subconscious way to invite abuse that he subconsciously thinks he deserves! Of course not!

Anyways, uhhhh

Might write more nightmares. It was rather fun to write that haha

Yeahhh, they're both trying so hard and failing so miserably XD

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Ooo, I would love to see more of Keijo, but also literally any of your characters would be awesome :)

Yeahhh, that makes total sense. Briar will also be hard to convince

Also though, with what I have planned, like, they may not have to choose much? I mean, kinda, but it's complicated

For now I'll just say that there's a whole other cast of characters that will come into play eventually along with Lux (who I very briefly mentioned at one point, I believe, and, also, not saying anything yet because you haven't met them, but I think they'd work well as another partner for Aries and Briar without feeling too intrusive, haha)
But, yeah, the whole plotline shifts slightly (I mean, still basic idea, just... new details) after the group breaks up, lmao

Either way, still so, so much room for angst, so no need to worry about that :D

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Rightttt, totally just better about apologizing. Yep. Checks out. Lol

Well, I look forward to anything you decide to write :)

Here's Lux Windward again in case you've forgotten who they are, by the way

You didn't formally meet them in the part of the RP that we got to, so I wouldn't be surprised if you just forgot about them (I did for a bit XD)

Haha- We'll see, we'll see. Probably will be Keijo though lol

Or Bernard. One of those two, I think. Might be Bernard since he's on the AroAce spectrum.

Aries will be easy to convince, honestly. As soon as Briar and Garvin are convinced, he'll fold.

But literally just the second Garvin realizes that people can get kicked out, he's leaving and dropping all nicknames except for Briar and Aries.

Oooo, fun new details, very fun, very exciting. Lux looks super cool too haha

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Mhm, mhm, totally. I have no doubt that the polycule totally believes him.

I'm basically just going off of whatever I have ideas for at this point haha, best way to not burn myself out lmao

Oooo, we love Bernard too :)

Yeahh, that's fair, lmao

Damn, even Nico? That totally won't cause any more problems for Nico's recovering mental state when they finally reunite with the others

'Cause I'm going to be so real right now when I say, unless your other character steps in to help out Nico, he's going to be, like basically completely alone while trying to recover from one of the most traumatizing things in her life (and this is including Aurora and Rowan's deaths as well as their relationship with River and Adiar) because I'm assuming Rev will pull away thanks to a mix of self-pity, regret, and probably several arguments with Akira. Akria will pull away because they're blaming themself for what happened to both Nico and those who left while also dealing with the pressure to continue being a decent leader (which, spoiler, they don't handle very well). And Ingall will be panicked and paranoid while also questioning his help in making the decision to kick out Briar.

Garvin left.

Briar left.

Aries left.

Nico had zero part in any of it (as of right now, I'm kinda thinking Briar, Aries, and Garvin will leave before the others even find Nico, which will cause more angst all around) and is dealing with new trauma. Bro is in hell XD

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Yeah, that tends to be the best way to do it and maintain motovation, lol

And I'll love anything you make! :)