rain, blood, rivulets, runner, daughter, home, you
Regardless, Wilbur likes to come here a lot. It’s a pretty place, a few minutes walk from Pogtopia; it’s right in the wilderness, no buildings or houses or people around. Just grass, and dirt, and a few tiny flowers, and a lot of trees, and a big blue sky. Well, sometimes blue. Sometimes it’s kinda grey, and cloudy, and other times it cries small cold raindrops that splat into your eyes and make your clothes all damp and uncomfortable.
Wilbur doesn’t care if he gets wet, though. He’ll just come here anyway.
~~~
After several seconds of trying, Wilbur gives up, relaxing once more into this odd state of being. He realizes that his cheek hurts along with his neck, because his face is pressed firmly against this thing. It's probably stopping the blood flow right there.
AND!!!
For a moment, Wilbur's vision goes dark, and it takes several rasping breaths and hard blinks to rid it of black spots. Tommy is bleeding. There's blood on him. His eyes are closed. He's bleeding. He's completely still. He's bleeding. His eyes are closed. He's not moving. There's blood on him. There's blood on Tommy.
~~~
Nothing for rivulets!
~~~
Nothing for runner, either!
~~~
Dang. Nothing for daughter :0
~~~
After a few hours, Niki had stepped back, placed her hands on her hips, and looked around. She quite liked the place, if she was being perfectly honest. It felt cozy, similar to a home. It didn't feel like a company or an enterprise, devoid of emotion. No, it felt real. It felt personal. It felt like hers.
~~~
"You're so dramatic," Phil chokes out, chuckling.
AND!!!
"I'm fine," Wilbur assures, brushing off the hand that Phil didn't even realize had moved towards his son's chest. "I can stand on my own, Phil. You don't have to hold my hand."
~~~
Actually I’m gonna share a whole snippet from a story I genuinely forgot I’d started working on so aksvajdgsksgsh here ya go ⬇️
~~~
"Oh, mate... do you need water?" Phil glances at the table, finding a half-full glass of water just as Wilbur answers, "No."
"Are you hungry?"
Wilbur sighs again. "No. I just- Phil?"
"Yes?" Phil finds himself holding his breath.
Wilbur gazes at him for several seconds, and Phil notes with satisfaction that his eyes are no longer pink. His pupils are the usual rich-brown color that they aught to be.
Wilbur gives a slight shake of his head. "I want to go."
Phil stares. "You- go?"
"I want to get off of this couch. I want to get out of this cabin. I want to go, Phil. I want to-" Wilbur thrusts a hand forward, face twisting. "I want to go far away from this cursed land of snow, and never come back. I want to go outside."
Wilbur ends his rage-filled monologue, staring at his hands laid across his chest. His nostrils flare.
Phil watches him for a moment before dipping his head, beginning to shake with laughter.
Wilbur whips his head around to glare at him. "What?"
"You're so dramatic," Phil chokes out, chuckling.
"Wha- I've been confined in this place for weeks!"
"It's been four days, Wil."
Wilbur's eyes widen. Phil laughs harder.
"Only... only four days?" Wilbur questions, and Phil's laughter starts to subside when he hears how uncertain Wilbur sounds. "It hasn't even been a week? Only four days?"
"Yep." Phil nods. "A fever can really mess with your perception of time, can't it?"
Wilbur nods, at a loss for words. He stares back at his hands.
Phil chews on his lip. "You're feeling better, though. Right?"
"I guess."
Phil reaches forward, resting his palm on Wilbur's head. His son goes very still.
"You don't have a fever anymore. Still a little warm, but you're definitely getting better," Phil says, pulling his hand away. Wilbur relaxes instantly.
Phil feels a stab in his heart.
"Feeling- you said I'm better, right? So I can leave?"
"No."
Wilbur lets out a noise that sounds suspiciously like a whine. "But I'm better! You said so yourself, Phil! I'm doing better, see? Look, I can... I can stay at Tommy's, and he can keep on eye on me! Right?"
"No," Phil repeats, a small smile appearing on his face. "I'm not letting you leave until you've made a full recovery, Wilbur."
"But you said-"
"I said you're getting better. I never said that you were better. You still have a ways to go, mate."
Wilbur groans, letting his head fall onto his pillow in dramatic fashion. He squeezes his eyes shut. "I don't think I can survive like this much longer."
Phil chuckles, but his brow furrows with concern. "You're not going to be like this much longer. A week, at most."
"A week?" Wilbur's eyes snap open, and he cranes his head around to stare at Phil. "No. You're joking. Please tell me you're joking."
Phil opens and closes his mouth. "I mean... I'm not. You had a really bad infection, mate. You can't just heal from that overnight."
Wilbur stares for a couple seconds longer before laying his head back on his pillow, gazing up at the ceiling. He looks haunted—no. He looks scared.
Phil sighs. "It'll be okay, Wil. You'll get through this. Alright? Just trust me on that. You'll be fine."
Wilbur tries to hide it, but Phil can see how his breathing picks up; how his chest rises and falls with increasing speed; how his nostrils flare; how his eyebrows knit together in quick, barely perceptible movements.
Wilbur's starting to panic. And Phil doesn't know why. It's not like he's being held hostage or anything; he's just on bedrest. Nothing more. He's not trapped. He's not stuck. He's not-
Oh.
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