cultor | (open & closed) sunny july event catch-all

[Everything about this city is wrong. Animals of unknown species prowl with too many teeth, mouths full of tendrils, claws too sharp. Even the plants are unfriendly, toxic mold pouring from ominous spores that cling to buildings and crawl out of sewers.

[It isn't safe. And it's getting colder.

[Curious, then, that one should find a boy sleeping, right there on the sidewalk, amidst the growing chaos. It's quiet on this side of the street for now, but it certainly won't stay that way. Perhaps you yourself were on the run when you stumbled across him, curled up in a tiny ball, a dirty towel tucked around him like a blanket.

[The boy shivers, but doesn't seem to wake.]

Edited 2025-07-01 19:35 (UTC)

[ Ivan cranes over the child, studying his placid, sleeping face for any sign of expression, even just his eyes rolling back and forth behind eyelids. Is he still dreaming of that place? With the collapsing moon, and some other parts that were almost something nice? There, there were ways of conjuring what once was. This cold world he's come-to on the other side of it offers none.

Unequipped to be soft, maybe, but never so cruel, Ivan would wake Sunny if he seemed at all like he wasn't enjoying his slumber. Even as a creature swoops down and caws murderously, perching crookedly on a street sign with all seven eyes glaring, Ivan simply chooses to stoop down and start to scoop up the entire swaddled bundle of the boy.

He should move him soon, before that thing tries to carry him off— ]

[It became to much. That's all.

[Sunny wasn't built for a world like this. When the nightmare ended, and he woke up, only for a new nightmare to begin, Sunny shut down like an overheated computer. There are only so many things you can do when demons hide around every corner, lurk beneath every surface, crawl out from your very own eyes and ears like insects from a corpse; sleep.

[Sleep. Nothing can harm you, so long as you aren't aware of it. Just sleep. Dream. Go somewhere else. Everything is okay...

[Everything is not okay. He's lifted, and he isn't really sleeping at all. His body goes tense, but he doesn't make a sound, doesn't open his eyes. He tries to keep his breathing even, to play dead if that's what it takes. He doesn't know who's lifted him off the ground, where they're taking him, what they intend to do...

[Sleep. Just sleep. Sunny finds himself clinging to the body that carries him. He doesn't have to wake up yet. Just sleep.]

[ As Ivan maneuvers Sunny's body into both of his arms, he feels the tug of fingers anchoring themselves in his coat, but he doesn't think much of it. That someone would be pretending to be asleep while nature glares at their throat is unthinkable, after all.

The flying creature flaps down onto the asphalt when Ivan turns his back to begin seeking out a more suitable location for Sunny's slumbering. For every few steps his feet move forward, it takes a limping hop.

Like all things that don't live in groomed garden-cages, Ivan knows that it's probably hungry.

Soon, more of them start to descend from the sky, joining the first creature in audience. He hurries along a little faster, coming up to a broken display window belonging to a store. He steps through the jagged ingress with a mixture of obstinance, and of care. Behind him, another horrible, croaking caw sounds, and he turns sharply, the pointed toe of his shoe dragging through the rubble and kicking shards of broken glass at the cantankerous creature. ]

Edited 2025-07-03 02:25 (UTC)

[Through it all, Sunny is protected. He can hear the descending birds, the clatter of glass against cement, more squawking. He dares not open his eyes. He could only be dreaming (within this dream (within this dream (within this dream))), and he really isn't pretending...

[Just sleep. Will he be taken somewhere safe? Whatever holds him is no doubt scarier than those screeching birds. Sunny is at Ivan's mercy.]

[ The glass scares the gaggle backward.

What really stops them in their tracks, however, is the threshold itself. They don't seem keen on following their quarry into such a dark, enclosed space. Will they leave eventually? Surely, but Ivan realizes half of the way through the staring match between their multitudinous red-stained eyes and his own two: he's gotten himself stuck. They'll just have to wait each other out.

The crunching underfoot transfigures into a squishing sound, as treading deeper into the building means moving over the top of some kind of pale mycelial matter. It exists as a ghostly sheet that's long gobbled up most of the shelves and the merchandise with them. Because it's soft, it's pleasant enough to lean back upon. Ivan collapses in the most sheltered spot he can still see the street from. Sunny sinks into his lap in the process, prompting him to inspect him again, how unbothered the child is by all of the commotion.

His voice is drafty and deep, like lullabies. ]

You're quite the sleepyhead.

[They come to a stop, and Ivan speaks. Sunny recognizes his voice. They've met once before, in the dream before this one. Sunny's eyes open, and he finds he's pressed into Ivan, curled up so small that he really does look like a child.

[He freezes, his hands still balled up tight around loose fabric. That terrible sensation - this is really happening - washes over him again like a wave, and he shuts his eyes tight.

[Just sleep. He can't. Calm down. Calm down, calm down.

[Out of nowhere, he startles, releasing his grasp on Ivan's shirt and rolling off of his lap, onto the ground. It's dark inside the abandoned store, making it look ten times larger and a hundred times smaller than it actually is; he's afraid to look around. Sunny's heart races in his chest, and he holds up a shaking palm, his feeble apology.]

Just don't go outside, for now.

[ Ivan, of course, has already had the pleasure of recognizing Sunny. The boy had been wearing his mask a bit haphazardly before, so it was easy. Other than his own face no longer being hidden, Ivan looks largely the same as he did before, with the exception of a single key—and perhaps unsettling—difference: his white suit is stained by a vast amount of dried blood.

He acts as though he's fine, enough to switch from sitting to scooting a little ways toward the closest shelving unit on his knees, once his legs are no longer burdened with the weight of another human being.

Smiling is said to help others relax, so he does that. ]

Those birds want to eat us.

[He's afraid to look around, so he looks at Ivan.

[Ivan is covered in blood.

[Where to look, then? Sunny's eyes stay wide open, glue to Ivan's face, that reassuring smile.

[Those birds want to eat us.

[Sunny can still hear them cawing from outside, and he flinches. It's getting hard to breathe. Is something in here with them?

[He startles again, another delayed reaction. This time, when he throws his hands up, it's so he can cower behind them, scooting away from Ivan on the tile floor, kicking up spores as he goes. Sunny coughs.]

Relax, try this.

[ Ivan covers his mouth with his elbow, shooting Sunny a serious look over it as he demonstrates, and then points at this pose with his free hand for extra emphasis. Breathing in those spores might be bad! If he hyperventilates they'll enter his lungs even faster, and then who knows what will happen. It could be a slower, more agonizing death than being pulled apart by beaks, like when strays got sick and deteriorated until they died if they ate the wrong thing.

Ivan thinks for a moment about how terrified Sunny is now, and also about how seemingly scared he also was the first time they met, which had been over something that seemed so small then. ]

Is it your first time away from your owner, Sunny?

[ It would explain a lot, if he's never felt hunted, if maybe he's never even dealt with this much dirt and grime. It probably makes the world seem so much more unwelcoming to someone who's never seen it before—and it is, that's the truth. ]

Edited 2025-07-05 22:47 (UTC)

[Sunny is hesitant to leave Lortel's side, which is strange. He's never liked being alone, but he has gotten quite used to it, so...why should it matter if he's alone now? Things are a bit scarier than usual, but they've always been scary.

[At any rate, he can't stay glued to his red-haired friend 24/7, as much as he'd like to. They make it to the penthouse, and Sunny is left to look around on his own. The space is...sizable, with plenty of rooms to peek into (and plenty of healthy hesitation to do so). Sunny can easily imagine the space when it was more luxurious.

[Now, it's dark, overrun with shadows, but so is every place in this hollowed out husk of New York. Sunny tries to keep calm as he moves through, barely peeking into each room. Eventually, he makes it to what must be one of the bedrooms. The door is halfway open. Some rare boldness overtakes Sunny and he pushes the door open all the way, unsure if he'll see something inside.

[No. Just that boy he's met twice now. Sunny flinches anyway. Immediately, he raises his hand in apology, but otherwise seems frozen, unable to back out now that he's standing there.]

[ noah had settled himself in a corner. he had managed to find a decently sized piece of wood and a little cutlery knife, which he is using to carve. sunny might recognize the shape it is trying to take.

at sunny's appearance, noah looks up and gives him a warm smile. ]

Hey. It's good to see you.

[ layers of warmth and music in his voice, in his words. ]

[The knife may have alarmed him a little bit at first sight, but he settles a little when Noah greets him. He tries to figure out what the other boy is carving as he ventures a few shy steps closer. He gives Noah a short wave, nodding his head. Nice to see you too. If only he had the words. He doesn't even know the other boy's name yet.

[He...points to the wood carving project, tilting his head to the side, a question.]

[ he smiles, holding it up. ]

It's not great, but I'm hoping it'll be a passable flute.

[ noah has never had to make his own before. maintaining the flute, caring for it, handling . . . these were all things crys passed onto him. but the making of the flute . . . the castle handled that.

is it stupid to do this? maybe. noah's not even sure he could truly play after — after —

"It's been fun, Noah" ]

[Sunny should have known. He remembers in bits and pieces, as he often remembers things; searching for a flute, finding something else, a battlefield, corpses, and that song...

[Sunny has to tell himself to calm down, focus. Noah has never been anything but nice...

[But Sunny doesn't know much about flutes. All he can do is give Noah a shaky thumbs up. It's looking good.]

Thanks. I've never done this before.

[ he turns his gaze back to his flute, to give sunny some time to compose himself. noah is starting to get the idea why sunny reacts strongly and he can't mind it. it is, after all, what it should be. it should be normal.

it's a touch lonely, but that . . . that is something he'll have to get used to. his soul have been cleaved.

noah holds the flute up, blows through it and sighs. ]

And I don't think it'll work either.

[Sunny picks up on Ivan's warning about those spores. He tugs the collar of his vest up and uses the fabric to cover his mouth and nose. He tries to breathe slow, but it's difficult. He needs to calm down, focus.

[Ivan asks about... Sunny's owner? The boy shakes his head, fervent - he doesn't have one! But he realizes that it will seem like he's merely answering the question as it's posed. He shakes his head again, unsure of what else to do.]

[ Sunny shakes his head enough to say no several times over, but that just doesn't fit Ivan's observations of him at all. "No, no, no, no, I've definitely been outside before" is not a claim someone who can barely calm down should be able to confidently make. Maybe if Ivan waits, an image will come tickle his inner thoughts, anything else to give the answer additional context.

After several too-long seconds of expectant staring, it seems safe to say that it's not coming. ]

I guess we can't do that weird thing anymore.

[ Fortunately-unfortunately, he has another idea. Leaning over, he starts running a finger through the slop on the floor. Ivan isn't half the artist that Till was, but thanks to the silver-haired boy's special talent he's seen how it's done. The first shape is a big blob with a bunch of squiggly appendages. Though his segyein guardian had only two legs, this is what more of them looked like. Next, he adds a small stick figure beside it, lastly connecting them with a line, a leash.

ＮＯ ? he writes. ]

[Sunny comes to take a seat on the edge of the bed, facing Noah. He leans over just the tiniest bit to try and get a good look at the flute. Have the holes already been drilled in? What does it take to make a flute make music?

[He doesn't know, so he merely watches Noah. Maybe an encouraging nod will do. He shouldn't give up. Keep going.]

[ should it be embarrassing to come here for the express purpose of … well, this?

probably.

she doesn’t care, though. and also, it’s better than making out where Noah can stumble on them.

trying to pretend her heart isn’t racing like crazy, Lortel doffs her coat, setting down the bag she used to carry a (if not clean, then usable) blanket with them. this she pulls out now, spreading it over the pile of pillows.

flopping onto the pillow pile once this is done is all she can do to keep from—

nope. she looks at him, and flustered heat bursts into life in the murmur. Lortel presses a hand to her face, her gaze skating off to one side. she removes her veil and tosses it to flutter down where it will. ]

… come here. This is alright, isn’t it…?

[ she’s nervous. ]

[Sunny isn't entirely sure what to expect, but he does have a pretty good idea of why they came here this afternoon. He tries not to think about it too hard for too long, lest he should start to panic, run as far as he can; on the other hand, he thinks there isn't a universe in existence where he'd deny her. Lortel is beautiful, clever, commanding, and so terribly sweet. Sunny gets the impression - and it is, perhaps, self-indulgent - that he's among the few who actually get to see her sweet side. He isn't unhappy about that.

[But he's never done anything like this before. Lortel is the only girl he's ever kissed. As he lies beside her on the blanket, reality feels very, very real.

[If they aren't sleeping anymore, that makes her his dream come true. He wishes he were bold enough to show her how alright it is, to pull her in for a kiss just like something out of a romance novel. Unfortunately, he's only Sunny. The best he can do, for now, is to wiggle in close, take her hand, and nod. It's alright. It's more than alright.

[He can feel her nervous heat through the murmur and returns it, though the undercurrent is undeniably eager (ever the teen boy). It's a daring move, him bringing her knuckles up to his lips and pressing a soft kiss.]

[ a thundering rush of heat that thrums with her heartbeat. Lortel shifts a little on the pillows, beaming in the wake of his kiss to her fingers. ]

I love how sweet you are to me, [ she murmurs, utterly charmed. breath by breath she relaxes, though her heart doesn’t slow down at all. once he’s beside her, she’ll curl the blanket over both their bodies so they can get warm. she’ll tuck in close, bumping her forehead to his and tangling their hands together.

being around him makes her feel better. she couldn’t help but notice it. this attachment she has to him feels… special, different, in a way she finds hard to put into words. all she knows is that sometimes she’s needed him more than she’s wanted him.

eerie. strange, not necessarily in a pleasant way.

but she likes him, and he’s hers. and he likes her too, seemingly. if she had to feel this way with anyone, then at least it’s him. with a close-lipped smile she presses a kiss to the tip of his nose. ]

Am I still your dream girl, Sunny? [ even with her claws and endless conniving? ]

[It's as much the claws and conniving that draw him to her as it is her smile, her racing heart, exposed. Sunny's heart is racing too, and there's nothing he could say other than 'yes'. It surges through the murmur like a wave that swallows Lortel up. Their foreheads are still pressed together, but he nods. He nods and he makes sure she knows.]

[ his eagerness for her kills her. her heart may as well burst, the way it throbs.

she’s never … dated anyone, before. not that that’s what this is!! she thinks!!!!! but still, even … this, whatever it is they’re doing, is all new to her.

Sunny is the first boy that’s ever wanted to kiss her.

flushed nearly the same color as her hair, Lortel huffs at herself and leans in to kiss him. it’s brief; she breaks off after just a moment. her hands are trembling. ]

… you can kiss me, you know, [ she whispers, shy. ]

[ he smiles faintly at that. ]

You don't have to get close if you're scared of me. I won't mind.

(open & closed) sunny july event catch-all

(open) week 1: I am caught, tangled in

no subject

cw: bugs, gross descriptions

no subject

if u ever need more please lmk >:3b

we gucci

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw: human trafficking, poor conditions - blanket warning for thread

(closed to noah) @ the penthouse

no subject

correct me if I'm wrong on the name thing?

you're good!

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw: human trafficking

no subject

closed @ the library

cw: blanket warning for sensual -18 content, just in case

sobs ty they’re fine…………………

no subject

no subject

no subject