Quiet.

Quiet.

That's all White Space ever was.

Endless, empty, and quiet, save for the sound of Omori's scribbling away at his sketchbook, gentle pencil strokes providing a bit of solace in the Space's deafening silence. What he was drawing wasn't anything special, just another study of his creator. Said creator was the only person Omori knew how to draw up from memory, given how many memories Omori saw of him just staring at himself in the mirror in his new home.

He'd gotten an eyepatch shortly before moving. If he came back here, though...Omori doubted the idea of the eyepatch coming along with him.

It was nothing to worry about, anyway. His Dreamer—No, just Sunny—had no need for White Space anymore. It wasn't somewhere for him to belong. It's done its duty.

He didn't need Omori anymore, either.

...Although that was difficult for Omori to accept.

Omori quietly set down his pencil and sketchbook, having finished up with his study. It was simple, really. Just a plain sketch of Sunny with minimal shading. Omori wasn't the best artist, unless he was referencing off of the memories he unfortunately shared with Sunny.

He stood up from his spot, with Mewo quietly stepping over to join him by his side. As for himself, he stepped over to where the door to his Neighbors' Room stood, his hand hovering over its doorknob.

It's always been here, never once disappearing since the moment Omori came back into existence. He'd considered going outside his home and visiting Headspace again...but he was always too afraid to.

...Okay, "afraid" likely wasn't the best word to describe it. He didn't feel a need to leave. His friends were most likely dead, and whatever may be happening out there wasn't of any importance, even if time has passed.

"Waiting for something to happen?" his cat mewed from his side, looking up at him.

She had always said that exact line, over and over in the past. It was nothing new—

"You can't sit here forever, you know."

—Well. That was new.

"Eventually curiosity's going to take you over, don't you think?" Mewo asked, a bit of amusement in her voice.

"Are you taunting me?" Omori replied, his own voice quiet. Not as monotone as it used to be, he noticed.

...That was probably the first time he'd spoken out loud since waking up.

"I'm just saying..." the cat moved from beside him to in front of him, not once taking her gaze off him. "You haven't been doing so well. Some time outside should do you some good."

...

She wasn't wrong.

He'd been doing too much thinking and not enough of...anything else.

"It wouldn't hurt to at least check up on your best friend's flowers," Mewo said, turning to the door in front of both of them before looking back at him. "It'd be the least you could do, don't you think?"

...

"Maybe," he spoke, grabbing the doorknob and twisting it, slowly creaking the door open.

Mewo followed him as he stepped into the world behind it.

He wasn't surprised, seeing the slightly neglected state of the world outside White Space. Things were falling apart a little, and the forest looked to be a bit decayed. Not to the point where it's dying, but it didn't look as alive as it used to be, either.

He stopped his short stroll once he saw himself in the playground’s floating mirror, stunned at his own appearance, paying no mind to his memories of his old "friends" smiling behind him. He was older, yes, that was expected, but...he looked more disheveled than anything, with longer, messier hair.

He didn't expect to see a tiny light in his eyes, either. He probably shouldn't be too surprised, given his...revelations, but it was a shock to see nonetheless.

...

In short, his own appearance looked a bit unsightly to him.

With one hand, he raised the knife he still carried, and with the other, he pinched a bit of his hair. In under a second, he sliced off a clump of said hair.

Hm.

Uneven.

He tried again, with a different clump.

Uneven again.

He tried one more time.

It was a waste. Instead of getting it to look better, he just made his appearance worse, with now choppier hair.

What a pain.

"At least it's quiet right now," a thought came to him. Not his own, but rather, one of Sunny's.

Very few thoughts and memories flow into the former vessel's consciousness these days. He doesn't hear as much from his creator as he used to, as said creator appeared to have been more content with himself as of late. And he should be, of course; he'd been through enough, after all. It'd be a lie if Omori were to say that Sunny shouldn't be any better than before.

But it'd also be a lie for him to assume that Sunny was taking proper care of himself.

The thoughts that flow in from here and there are still not the happiest, Omori noticed—Homesickness was a common theme in them, and so was disappointment at the way Sunny’s friends treated him before he moved away, two of them refusing to see him off for their own reasons. This wasn't to say Sunny didn't understand why, however.

Omori knew that this would happen.

What made it surprising was how well Sunny handled it.

Omori moved on from his spot, concluding that he should just stop looking at himself in the mirror from then on, with an appearance like that.

It didn't take long for him to come upon the path of flowers, and just like he expected, they were all wilting. The sunflowers, the lilies of the valley, the gladioli, the roses, the cacti, and even the tulips...all of them withering away. The only reason they clung to life was the nature of the world they were cursed to live in. Nothing can truly die in a dream. Not until that dream ends.

"They're a lot worse than I thought..." Mewo spoke, trotting up to the sunflowers. "Poor things..."

She turned to face Omori, a glint of sadness in her eyes. "You can make it better, can't you?"

Omori remembered he could've, in the past. Sometimes Aubrey would ask to check up on the garden, and suggest for him to water the flowers while everyone looked for Basil. He never did, thinking it was only a waste of time.

Some best friend he was.

He slowly approached the patch of sunflowers, picking up the watering can set beside them.

"I can," he almost whispered, pouring water over one of the sunflowers, with it turning good as new in a couple of seconds. "It's...the least I could do."

Nothing would make up for what he did.

But doing what he refused to do in the past could work as a start for his atonement.

These flowers weren't any better than how Sunny was feeling, anyway, Omori thought as another of Sunny's thoughts passed by in his consciousness.

"I want to go home."

Sunny wasn't doing okay, Omori knew that, but he was doing better than expected. Of course, that didn't stop Omori from...worrying? Feeling concerned? He wasn't sure how to describe it.

He'd been...feeling something. Some kind of emotion.

A want. That's what it was.

A want to help.

Sunny...No, not Sunny. They weren't friends or anything. The Dreamer wasn't eating as much as he should. And while he promised a friend to go outside more often, he hadn't once tried going on at least a jog. All he'd really been doing is establishing a good sleep schedule and properly drinking water. Which was fine on its own, Omori supposed...but it wasn't enough.

One wrong move, and the Dreamer could fall back into the same habits he was stuck in before.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Mewo asked, snapping Omori out of his own thoughts.

He glanced at her for a second, a frown on his face. Then, he looked back to the flower patch, watering the final sunflower.

"...I am," he said, placing the watering can back down and moving on. "But...I don't think I could do much to help."

"Is it because of your regrets?"

He froze, a shock sent through his body.

"How do you..."

"I know a lot more than you think I do," Mewo said, hopping up onto Omori's shoulder. "And it's easy to tell how you feel just by looking at you."

He could only look at her in dismay.

"You just wanted to help," Mewo continued. "You could do better now, don't you think?"

"I'm...not sure..."

He moved on to the lilies, taking extra care with watering them. Mewo purred in satisfaction at seeing them sparkle again.

"If I could do better, I would..." Omori murmured. "But...I don't think he'd appreciate me being here, let alone trying anything."

"But it wouldn't hurt to try, would it?"

How would he even help?

The only idea he could come up with was influencing the Dreamer's actions directly, to get him to do something...which could produce disastrous results if Omori wasn't careful.

But he knew better this time, or at least, Mewo thinks he does. He's matured a little, he's aware of his mistakes, and he wants to atone.

Maybe...maybe he could help Sunny.

One more time.

Without hurting him this time.

"I'll...I'll think about it."

“The reason why buckets are effective against dragons”

I posted this on twitter and reddit already, but cross posting here just to keep it all together! 

Their casual chat.

(tw:OOC)

rhea doodles

The enlightened one