Curate, connect, and discover
I’m totally not projecting onto dew rn but what if he got just a little too overwhelmed in a busy room? All the sights and sounds and smells and textures.
What happens when he breaks?
I too project onto Dew, friend! I'm always around if you need to talk, please remember that 🖤🖤🖤
I hope you enjoy!
He doesn't want to be here.
Every voice crashes on his ears in a crescendo, the bodies start getting too close like the walls are closing in. The scents, fear and want and the bitter spice of jealousy...
It's like a vicious attack on all of his senses and he feels like he's going to explode.
The candles in the room flare, his barely contained magic starting to slip from his shaky grasp on it.
He hates the way the eyes follow him, the important people from the other Abbey's watching him with a gaze that says "we know what you used to be, now look at you..."
They judge a rage they don't even know, judge him for the nervous shift in his eyes and the way his skin buzzes as he skirts around and tries not to touch.
Their greedy lungs pull in all the air in the room until there isn't enough left to trickle down to the little ghoul and he feels snuffed out, left gasping and dwindling second by agonizing second.
He feels alone despite the crowd, feels like at any second they are going to turn on him and rip him apart and there won't be a thing he can do. It's one against an army and he won't stand a chance.
He chokes down a growl and his eyes burn and he can vaguely smell the flames in the room get just a little hotter.
Someone bumps into him and it's like a kick against his spine.
He isn't going to make it.
"And this is Dewdrop, our fire ghoul." Sisters voice is steady, bored as she and the heads of the other clergies make their rounds.
He can smell the judgement, he can see the way they observe him like a bug under a magnifying glass, like he's just some kind of specimen for them to dissect and study .
His heart is in his throat and he can't breathe around it.
"Ah, my ghoul, I've been looking for you!" Papa slides up behind him, gloved hand hovering just over Dew's shoulder. "Excuse us a moment."
"Papa-"
"We will be brief, Sister." He waves her off and extends his arm, gesturing for Dewdrop to walk ahead.
He hangs his head like he's being led to his execution. The only reason papa would pull him off would be to reprimand him, to scold him for not holding himself with dignity before their company.
He wonders if this will be the straw that breaks the camels back, if finally they've had enough of all the tumultuous emotions of an unhinged fire ghoul.
Papa slides in front of him and leads him down a winding hall, their steps and Dew's heavy, uneven breathing the only sounds around them.
He almost misses all the voices...the silence around them seems more oppressive than the over crowded room had.
Papa shoves open a door and leads the shaking ghoul behind him out onto one of the more hidden terraces.
Goosebumps rise on his arms when the cool air wraps around his overheated body and he can't make himself meet Copia's eyes.
"Dew-"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't....I tried i-"
Copia holds his hands up to silence him, to dam off the river of words spilling out of his mouth. Dew snaps his jaws shut and casts his eyes to his boots, chest heaving and head spinning.
He flinches when Copia steps into his space and unbuttons the top few buttons on his shirt, pulling it away from Dew's throat.
"Breathe for me, stellina." He rests his hands on his shoulders. "You're safe out here with me. Just breathe."
He manages a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry papa, I just...I couldn't do it anymore."
"That's ok. I was hiding in the back myself. I never did like these things."
"Just feel-"
"Judged? Trapped? Small?" Copia tilts his head with a sad little twist of his lips. "I understand, Piccolino."
It hits him in the chest, the realization that Copia had been struggling too. He presses close and scents his neck, eyes closing when his heart slows.
"Fuck those people."
Copias laugh stomps out the last of his anxiety and his shoulders release their tension when he wraps his arms around Dews slim waist.
He kisses Dews temple and squeezes him tighter, letting the little ghoul rest and breathe against him.