#and yes I did write it In so that Basil would be there when Sunny’s dad went out to cut the tree

[dannybobany]

once again TYSM for all your kind words !!! They make me explode!!!

But I just wanna say this part right here is SPOT ON. Like insanely spot on like “did you peak into my brain for that?” Spot on

Marze’s nature as a costume DOES represent Basil’s need for conformity and at the same time also represents how he has a twisted view of himself skewed by his negative thoughts- that’s just really accurate and I just wanted to say so because we are so on the same wavelength about this au it’s WILD

I think the particular sentence “he thinks lowly of himself and puts himself on par with what his trauma perceives him as” is the perfect way to describe it too

Marzenie time guysss

Here’s the Basil design!

Other versions plus a little elaboration on the design:

Cloakless + wing design versions

So for the sake of specificity I’ve been calling him “Marze” whenever I refer to the in-dream version of Basil, Same naming convention as (Hikik)Omori, but don’t be mistaken, Marze is not an individual like Omori is, Marze is a costume- just the suit that Basil wears while venturing the horrors of his mind, Marze is merely how Basil conforms himself to the world of Marzenie, none of the characters there are really human so it’d be out of place if Basil himself was (this can be viewed as a form of self-dehumanizing on Basil’s part but it’s mostly for the artists sake- the meta explanation is just as important as the in-world one)

Now for the design itself:

maybe the symbolism here is really obvious but I wanna explain it anyway, the Deer parts (antlers and legs) are representative of Basil’s general personality as a whole- he’s skittish and vulnerable yes but when forced deer do fight back, an idea that’s very important to Marzenie given it displays Basil LITERALLY fighting to survive against his inner struggles, that and the creator (me) really likes deer … so there’s that

Otherwise, the wings are Moths wings, which seems like it’s a really simple connection to Sunny and the idea that Moths are drawn to light but it’s a little more literal in Marzenie because it’s not just that Sunny is Basils sun in a metaphorical way it’s that in Marzenie he actually IS, in the world of Marzenie there is a Sun-God character that is very obviously just Sunny, which is both about bit about Basil’s view of Sunny as someone without flaw but also about just how much Basil relies on him… or rather the IDEA of him

Sun-God-Sunny is a very important presence in Marzenie because it’s his very absence that’s made Marzenie what it is, returning to that Map art I made for a moment here

Within Marzenie it’s not just that Sunny is a god but that he’s a dead/‘sleeping’ god, and in his absence the world has become cold and dark (which necessitates that lantern in the desgin above)

Yes Basil had issues before the incident but having friends and having SUNNY made that bearable and something he could have gradually put behind him, being abandoned so suddenly in such a traumatic way has thrown Basil’s mind into a state of eternal darkness, the world of Marzenie is cold and dark and dangerous, and all of this is the most literal possible representation of the damage Sunny’s absence has inflicted on Basil’s mental state

Sunny’s character in Marzenie being the Sun god is also why the center of it and the beginning of the journey is a church, the only hope Basil has anymore is that Sunny will return and they can be friends again, so he’s build an alter in his mind dedicated to this hope, this prayer

Also religious imagery is fun <3, also it’s a parallel to the church of something and how Basil’s house is at the center of Vast forest (and thus the center of Sunny’s mind, they center their places of safety around each other, even if for Basil that place is a tiny candlelit alter in the center of a dark woodland while for Sunny that Place of safety is EVERYTHING in his mind, so vastly different and yet sort of the same <- does any of this make sense? Probably not, who cares, it’s my AU and I WILL ramble as much as I like ok)

[i-love-yoi]

Hi!! I hope your day/morning/afternoon/evening/whatever time of day it is going well!

Can you please do the main OMORI cast with a S/O who is such a sweetheart and a people pleaser, but doesn’t take good care of themselves (mentally and or physically). Sorry if it’s a sensitive topic, but thank you and drink water ☺️

A S/O who treats everyone very well except themself.

It's time to drink water 💦💦💦💦 (I hope I understood your request correctly and did everything correctly. I apologize if this is not the case 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿)

TW:GN!Reader, romantic relationship, fluff/angst(?), events take place after the incident with Mari, rescuer syndrome, psychological pressure, obscene speech, It was written in Russian and translated through a translator, Russian grammar may be present.

Characters:Hero, Kel, Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Mari.

Hero

• He is very pleased to see how you help completely different people in completely different situations.

• There are not many people left in our world who are willing to spend their time, nerves and much more to help others.

• Even if you are taken away or offended, you continue to help them instead of anger or revenge.

•Although, this is both good quality and bad.

• Good for society and bad for yourself.

• You spend a part of yourself and your energy, nerves and time helping others.

You forget about yourself and give yourself completely to others.

•You should have burned out by now, but you still continue to be a lifeline for others.

• Watching all this, Hero immediately realized that you have lifeguard syndrome.

• Even if people don't need help, you insist, not wanting to back down.

•Hero has often seen you carrying heavy things for others, writing homework for others, and serving literally as a slave to others.

•He has offered you rest many times, to take care of yourself at least once, but you just refused and continued to spend yourself for the benefit of others.

• It couldn't last long.

•Hero studied to be a doctor, yes, even though he was only a freshman, but he was very good at psychology.

• He already knew one lady who was also loving and helped others, only now she is dead, and these memories still sharpened the claws of the cat on Hero's heart.

•Hero decided it was worth talking to you and becoming your therapist for a while.

•And psychotherapists are not wizards with magic pills, and sometimes they are even an enemy and a real devil for a person, but how they help.

•Yes, they can bring a person to tears, it's unpleasant, but their main task is to convey the right thoughts to a person, find out the root of the problem, and work through all the human sores through the root of the problem.

• And it doesn't matter what methods and whether a person likes it.

• The person came by himself, he understood where he was going, and understood what he wanted.

•In a doctor's career, in any case, you need a cool head not to think about others, otherwise you can go to your grave yourself.

•Hero called you to him, under the pretext of helping, and when you entered the house, he locked the door.

•Hero put down two mugs, asking what you would like.

•And already seeing how you want to get up and help, he put his hand on your shoulder, not allowing you to do it.

•It's time for you to forget and eradicate this habit.

• Pouring you a hot drink and tea for himself, he sat down opposite you, slowly sipping the fragrant liquid.

• The conversation began with a simple and easy one, in the likeness of how are you, what's new in life and much more.

• A light atmosphere of simple and easy conversation was created.

• It's time to move carefully to the problem.

•"Hey, Y/N, you do so much for others, but you don't take other people's help, why? Don't you like being helped in return?"

• There was silence, you could only hear Hero sipping his tea from a mug, looking straight into your eyes, without blinking, as if looking into your soul.

• Silence, eye contact, it was already beginning to put pressure on you and your psyche.

•Hero needed you to open up to him, show him your problem and thoughts.

• For what reason do you help others and spit on yourself?

• This is clearly not a healthy position.

•And he, as a loving guy, should help you, no matter what it takes.

• In this conversation, you can show yourself from completely different sides, and Hero would have to endure them all.

• "Well... I don't really like it... I guess I just like helping others more than accepting help in return, haha..."

•An awkward laugh escaped from your lips to somehow get rid of the nervousness and oppressive atmosphere.

•You shifted in your chair.

•Hero put the mug on the table.

•"Why are you so eager to help everyone? You spend your money, time, and nerves on everyone, but not on yourself. You do realize that this is an unhealthy position, right?"

• "Yes, of course... But I don't think she's too unhealthy, after all, I'm helping others, isn't that good?"

•"You spit on yourself, trying to help everyone else, even those who make you feel bad, you're like a litter box for them, Y/N."

• "I'm not a litter box."

• Your blood was boiling, you were insulted by your own love in plain text.

•"No, Y/N, you are exactly a litter box. You help everyone, make yourself uncomfortable, just to make others feel good. You adjust to others, just so that others feel good, this is exactly the work of the litter. What's the reason you're doing this? What's bothering you?"

• "Why the fuck would you even think that something was bothering me!? You don't know me well enough to draw any conclusions! Maybe I'm just doing this, how would you even know!?"

•Your words only encouraged Hero more, but he needed to understand everything.

•"Y/N, no adequate person in the world will leave their comfort zone just for the sake of others, and without getting anything in return. This is mostly done either for their own sake and benefit, or by people with lifeguard syndrome."

• You jumped up, hitting the table, causing your mug with a drink to fall, spilling over the table.

•"Stop imposing on me all the syndromes and sores of the world! You don't know shit about me, so it's not for you to judge!"

•Hero remained calm, looking straight into your eyes.

•"You want to feel needed. If you don't help others, you'll feel like no one needs you. You think that if you help everyone, then everyone will love you. You think that you are not worthy of all the good, and therefore you do not take care of yourself."

• Your fingers clenched, turning into fists.

• "You... you!..."

• You felt your face getting hotter and tears coming to your eyes.

• You felt betrayed and desolate.

•"Y/N, accept it at last. You don't have to help everyone forever, you have to worry about yourself first, you are more important than others and deserve all the good that you have done, doubly."

•You give up and fall into a chair, no longer having the strength to argue.

•Salty tears flow down your cheeks, leaving wet trails, and falling into your lap, and your nose is squelching.

•Hero slowly gets up from the table, comes up to you, gently and tightly hugging you, allowing you to cry into his chest.

• One of his hands was on your back, and the other was on your head.

•His hands were warm and gentle, gently stroking you to comfort you.

•"Y/N, you deserve only the best. You don't need to help everyone and get out of your comfort zone just to help others. We all love you anyway, and we love you for being there at all. Y/N we need you and we love you, and you absolutely do not need to adjust to others. Please understand this, and don't let it pass by your ears."

•Bright rays of the sun flooded the room, illuminating.

Kel

•He noticed it, but didn't pay much attention to it, like his older brother Hero.

•Kel just thinks you're a good person, that you're doing this for your own personal reasons and from the bottom of your heart.

•Honestly, he even supports you in this, trying to help you at least a little.

• However, he was clearly surprised by your vehement protests in indicating help.

•Honestly, you even looked like a three-year-old child who is trying to do everything on his own, but only shouts at the help: "I'm on my own!"

• However, over time, Kel begins to notice that something is wrong here.

•You seem obviously tired and sluggish, but you still try to do everything for everyone and refuse help.

• Kel is certainly not a master in psychology, and not a psychologist like his older brother, but he is not just dumb.

•Kel understands that there is clearly something wrong here, but he cannot tell what exactly is wrong here.

•Kel will forever offer you his help and insist on it, even if you refuse it.

•And surprisingly, he succeeds, but not exactly the way he wanted to.

• Well, for example, you carry ten bags, and after his persuasion, there are already nine bags.

• Kel doesn't like it.

•He would like you to share everything in half with him, so that you are equal and on equal terms.

• Kel will often call you for a walk or overnight stay so that you can at least get some rest.

• Although there you are always trying to help him with something, then you will help the dishes, then you will do something else.

• Of course, his mom is delighted with you, and says how good and smart you are, but Kel is not satisfied with this at all.

• He wants you to get some rest, but it turns out on the contrary that you work even more.

• Walking through the park, and while Kel was happily chatting about something, you noticed one grandmother who looked like she was barely dragging a bag of groceries.

• And just as you were about to come over to help, you were firmly grabbed by the hand.

• When you turned around, you saw no longer a cheerful, but a serious Kel.

•"Y/N, no. No need to come up and help her, let's take another walk normally."

• "What? And why not? Can't you see, Kel, that it's hard for her! Are you being selfish and won't help Grandma?"

•"Y/N, I know this grandmother. She's covering everyone here with mats, discussing everyone, and you should know what kind of weights she's lifting out of anger, clearly more than this unfortunate package."

•You looked at your grandmother in surprise again, not wanting to believe it. But at first glance she looks like an innocent old lady.

• You look at Kel again, and it's written in your eyes:"Tell me it's not true."

•Kel just grins at this, but later gets serious again.

•"Y/N, I do not know what is going on with you, but it is clearly hurting you. I've seen you help everyone else so many times, but I thought you were doing it out of kindness, but you don't forget about yourself either. However, how many times have I seen you tired, but you continue to help everyone, even if you don't like it. It feels like you don't have an awl in a very decent place. Y/N, I'm worried about you. Can you promise me to stop this case, and at least try to accept help?"

• You are standing in silence, in the middle of the park.

• The decision is yours here.

Sunny

• Honestly... He just didn't understand why you were doing it.

• No, of course he understood why you were helping others, but he didn't understand why you were doing this to everyone absolutely!

• You do good even to those who do not need it at the root, or those who treat you badly.

•It was like masochism.

• Were you masochistic?

• Although, the sight of you as a masochist is enough... Attracted him.

•Sunny always thought that people do good deeds and treat others well only for profit, with loved ones, or at least to people who really need it, and not to everyone they meet.

• You even looked like a child who was a volunteer, and he needed to do as many good deeds as possible for the sake of a volunteer badge.

•Sunny himself has never been a direct activist, well, maybe he will do something only if it is adequate and he is asked, and not he himself will ask.

• He is a passive and withdrawn boy by himself, so if you turn to him for help, you need to say it directly, and not hint at it.

• Because he just won't understand.

• And in principle, he does not know how to refuse.

•So if you almost overprotect him, he won't tell you anything.

• And honestly, he really likes it.

• He feels your care so much, and that you need him.

• At least he's not alone, just at the moment.

•He likes to see you clean his house, cook for him, praise him, and listen carefully.

• He's been missing this for so long.

• But also don't think that he will offer you help himself.

•He's just afraid of rejection, and it seems like you're doing so well yourself...

• Moreover, he is in such a great position:He doesn't do anything special, but he is looked after, caressed and given attention.

•However, still seeing how you also do with others, he is consumed by a feeling of jealousy again.

•But he will not tell you about it, he will only keep silent, keeping it to himself.

• However, he will leave you by his side, no matter what happens.

•He does not want to lose the warmth that warms him so much again.

Basil

• If you look at all the characters as a whole, he will almost be the first to realize that something is wrong with you and will worry the most.

•Although, of course, like everyone else, he had doubts from the very beginning.

• Well, like, you help people and help, what's the big deal? On the contrary, you make the world a better place!

• However, he began to see oddities.

•For example, you helped absolutely everyone, even, one might say, climbed with your help to others, even if it was not so necessary.

• And the most interesting thing is that you completely refused outside help, although it was perfectly clear that you clearly needed help.

•You also often praise others, even if they do something very terribly, and treat yourself with obvious severity.

•Basil is very worried about this, very much.

•He is afraid of losing you, you are like the meaning of his existence for him.

• He has already lost his two close friends, he does not want to lose any more people close to him.

• You once helped Basil plant potted plants.

• It would seem to be busy for five minutes.

• But you spent a lot more time on it.

• You tried to carefully get the flower out of the pot so that its soil would not fall apart.

•You wanted to make everything perfect, to help Basil one hundred percent.

• You tried to do everything perfectly, without a hitch.

• You watered all the plants with the same amount of water, well... At least they tried.

•That's why you spent so much time there.

•Basil watched as you tried to carefully carry the flower to the hole, and he sighed heavily.

•"Y/N... You don't have to try so hard to leave the whole earth intact... In any case, the flower will be completely surrounded by the earth again, as if nothing has changed!"

• "Well... It's still better if everything stays intact! At least you won't be in the red and won't spend more of the land you bought!"

•And watching you try to water all the flowers equally, he could only sigh heavily and ignore it.

• After this situation, Basil began to try to help you in some way, even if you refused to do so.

•Basil himself is not a stubborn guy, they said don't, so don't, and he won't try anymore.

• However, he helped you, but secretly.

• He does not want to be a burden or annoying, but seeing your bruises under your eyes and complete fatigue, he understands that he would rather be annoying than let you continue not to take care of yourself.

Aubrey

• To be honest, it pisses her off.

•You are like an errand boy, like a servant to others.

• No, she doesn't see straight good deeds, like the rest, they see how you are literally remaking yourself for others, and she clearly sees how uncomfortable you are from this.

• She respects you and your decisions, but if it causes you any harm, then she will have to intervene.

•She won't tolerate you being taken advantage of, even if you like it or it fills your void.

•Aubrey she was like this almost from early childhood, short-tempered, fighting for justice and for her loved ones, and then doubly everything.

• When she sees this situation, she immediately says that you have business, takes you by the hand and takes you away from this place.

• She often takes you to different places, mostly deserted, so that you have fewer such thoughts that you definitely need to help everyone and treats everyone with kindness and soul, just so that they don't hate you.

• One day, a guy was harassing you on the street.

•To be honest, it was immediately obvious that he was not in the most adequate condition.

• You didn't really understand why he decided to run over you, but apparently there was no reason, but there was.

•You stood there quietly, not even knowing what to say, and you didn't really want to say anything, otherwise you would provoke another fight, and you clearly didn't want that.

• "Hey, asshole! What do you think you're doing!?"

•A sudden voice snatched you out of the confusion of thoughts and fear.

• When you looked up, you saw that it was Aubrey, and she was clearly not so happy about this situation.

•You were about to drive her away, for her own safety, but it was too late for that.

• The two began a heated argument, which later turned into an intimidating fight.

• After that, the two of you were sitting at your house, and you washed her wounds with hydrogen peroxide, to which she hissed.

• You blew on the wound.

• "Well, well, it will pass now. And so you had to get involved in all this commotion, Aubrey?"

• "And what? Did I have to watch some bastard attack my love for nothing!?"

• "No, Aubrey, it wasn't like that... It's just that I..."

•"Fuck, Y/N, stop this circus already. Well, it was clearly not your fault. Stop taking the blame of others on yourself, taking on the sins of others. You are not Jesus to do this, for God's sake! You don't need to somehow adjust to others just to make them feel good! Stop being a litter box and learn to defend yourself already!"

•"Aubrey..."

•"You should know how tired I am of seeing you being used just because you are so kind to them. I'm worried about you, my soul aches and gets angry, seeing how you do someone else's work literally for free! Y/N, it's time to stop this. Do what you want, but I won't let this go on. Whether you want it or not. I don't want you to suffer again."

Mari

•Mari is very touched by your kindness and concern for others.

• To see how nice you are to the gator guys, the mollies, and many others, it really touches her.

• You are literally a plug in every barrel, stick your nimble nose into any problem, trying to help.

• Your activity in helping her is very touching, which she can only look at with a sweet smile.

• However, she began to notice how you spend less and less time with her, and if you manage to catch at least a minute, you either end up leaving omori gang to look for.... Well... Looking for someone, who? Well, she doesn't know.

• Or you just get so tired that sometimes you even fall asleep.

• At first, she didn't pay much attention to it.

•She understood that others needed you, people needed help.

•But over time, she began to feel lonely.

• Alone again, with a basket and a picnic blanket, watching the calm environment, alone.

• Alone.

• Loneliness.

•Loneliness clouded her, making her frown more and her soul ache.

•But she was confused, because others also need your help, but she also wants to be with you again.

• On the scales, these things were equal, and you couldn't even choose which was more important.

• Here it was either necessary to act selfishly, or to be eaten up by loneliness.

• On one of the picnics, when you managed to sit together for a while, Mari took full advantage of this time, as if it was your last meeting.

• It's time to make a choice and put the dots on and.

•"Y/N, you know, I've been feeling pretty lonely lately."

•You choked on your food a little, not even expecting these words.

•"You know, Y/N, you are always in business and at work, you hardly spend any time with me... You know, I miss you. I understand that everyone else needs your help, but I feel lonely and detached. You know... It's like walls have been erected between us. I just... I just want you to spend more time with me. Yes, I understand that you have a lot of things to do and you need to help everyone, but please, just stay with me for at least one day."

• What will you say?

[woodchipp]

Thank you for spelling out your character development, Aubrey! You really needed to because you didn't actually have it in the first place, but the game needs to pretend as if you did!

"I felt like everyone abandoned me... and abandoned MARI too..."

I'd like to note the way Aubrey phrases this line. Mari is tacked on at the end of the sentence as if she's an afterthought.

Considering how self-centered Aubrey has shown herself to be over the course of the game, it reads more as "Everyone abandoned me, goddammit! oh and there's that dead girl too ig"

It's very subtle and intricate writing when your characters rant about their foibles to the audience as if they're standing in a confessional.

"After SUNNY stopped coming to school..."

Which he did on a whim, apparently. Nowhere in the game is it stated or implied he was homeschooled or granted some special exemption.

Also... the writer... totally... isn't... overusing... ellipses...

"I just wanted to go through the photos, because... well... I guess I just wanted to see everyone happy again."

It always circles back to Aubrey and what she wants. It didn't occur to her to leave Basil's things alone since going through the album might bring up some painful memories for him. No, all that mattered is that she wanted to "see everyone happy again," even if that makes those same people miserable now.

Aubrey is an asshole.

"All of our memories together..."

Because the giant "BASIL'S MEMORIES" on the album's cover wasn't convincing enough for her, apparently.

I have already touched on this in other posts, but for the purposes of this one, I have to reiterate.

1) Aubrey's immediate reaction to a perceived slight was to basically disown her close friend of God knows how many years (even though she had no reason to blame him, nor did she let him explain himself) and make a conscious choice to start harassing him. Because that's what strong friendship is, isn't it?

2) She conveniently doesn't specify other "things like that" she called Basil, which implies she might have called him something way worse than "creep"

As you should.

You won't get to do anything about that, though, because the story is going to shift its focus to Sunny in a few minutes anyway.

Peak writing!

And now she's turned on the waterworks because the game's running short on time allotted to her "character arc", so we need to pity her as fast as possible.

I find it funny how the fact Aubrey nearly killed Basil back at their old hangout spot the day prior is not directly brought up or addressed by her at any point of her rant. Her sudden breakdown would have made more sense if it came after her admitting how guilty she actually feels about the accident because she crossed a line or something like that. Nothing of the sort happens, and all we ever get is a vague "What I've been doing is worse than what BASIL did"

BULLYING PEOPLE IS NOT A "MISTAKE". IT IS A DELIBERATE DECISION YOU MAKE.

FUCK YOU.

(also, Sunny taking a few steps back instead of trying to comfort his friend like Hero and Kel speaks more of his character than the game ever could)

"I'm going to acknowledge I'm a shitty friend, but you're not going to see me develop! What do you take me for? An important character?"

"sorry I didn't put my life on hold to keep you all from turning on each other because I'm this group's singular braincell, apparently :<"

Yes, they don't deserve an asshole like you as a friend.

Sunny and Aubrey are both friends no one deserves, actually. One is so unreliable he walked out on his bestie when said bestie was at his most vulnerable and the other harassed her friend for four years just because she assumed he wronged her

Hero's argument to convince Aubrey she does care about her friends after all omits the fact she stole one of her friends' property and then bullied said friend because of it.

Love that no one gives a shit about Basil in this game.

And you couldn't say this while you were talking to her in the church on Three Days Left because...?

>>"We should all be here for each other!" >>Sunny is due to move town the next day

fucking lmao

And that's it! Aubrey's redemption is official!

Except it literally took a single poorly-written rant. And a hug.

Because that's peak writing.

143/10 once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece would absolutely kill my sister because I couldn't watch the TV for as long as I want again

[mrskyler]

hellooo!! may i request headcannons for sunny with a reader whos very affectionate? thank youu!

✮⋆˙ Your own Sun˙⋆✮

Versão Português

「 Sunny x Affectionate! Male reader 」

[ English is not my first language, sorry for any writing mistakes ]

⌗ a/n: OMG MY FIRST REQUEST, I'M SO HAPPY! Thank you Anon for the request, I hope you like it! ‹𝟹 ( You didn't say if you wanted romantic or platonic, so I decided to do romantic. )

୭🧷✧˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀

⌗ Sunny HC's in public:

When you hug Sunny out of nowhere, especially if it's from behind, you feel him stiffen under your touch. He simply freezes in place and doesn't respond when you call his name, much less when you wave your hand in front of his eyes – trying to wake him from his trance.

Sunny's cheeks and ears turn red when you decide to show everyone that you love him; holding hands, clinging to him like a koala or calling him cute nicknames.

When this happens, Sunny immediately becomes a walking tomato and right away he can do three things:

1st - Pick up anything close to him and hide his face with it.

2nd - Hide behind something like a mailbox or a tree.

3rd - Run.

If you kiss Sunny on the cheek in public or in front of your friends, be prepared to hold him, because he will definitely faint.

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

Since Mari's death 4 years ago, your friends had become separated and it was painful to even have a simple picnic together. Knowing this, you were very surprised when they just showed up at your door one day and dragged you away for one.

When you arrived at the church door, you finally understood. They didn't want to leave Mari out, so they decided to have a picnic right next to her grave.

-

It's a sunny day and there's a slight breeze in the air. Eating a cake, you see Hero rummaging through the picnic basket looking for something. But you notice that his eyes are far away.

Maybe he's thinking about Mari.

Seeing this, you try to get his attention. "Hey Hero! Did you make this cake?" He jumps a little when his train of thought is cut off.

"H-Huh?" He looks in your direction confused, he didn't hear what you said.

You laugh a little at his reaction. "I asked if you made this cake." You say pointing with your fork at the cake in front of everyone.

He responds with a smile: "Ah yes, I made it (M/n). I used my grandmother's recipe."

"Really? It's really good Hero! You really are a great cook!" You congratulate him on the delicious cake.

He is a little surprised and gives an embarrassed smile with his eyes closed while rubbing the back of his neck. "Thank you (M/n), I'm glad you liked my cake." You return his thanks with a gentle smile.

Hero turns towards the basket and takes what he was looking for. Meanwhile, Basil tries to calm Aubrey who is cursing Kel while trying to stop him from eating his 4th piece of cake; and your boyfriend, Sunny, is sitting next to you.

You look at Sunny, who is basically leaning into your arm and has his head slightly resting on your shoulder. Which leaves you quite surprised, since he is normally very shy when it comes to showing any kind of affection in public – especially in the presence of his friends.

You close your eyes slightly, worried. Maybe he's just uncomfortable being at his dead sister's grave and is trying to look to you for some kind of comfort.

That would make sense, since earlier today when you guys put the picnic blanket down, Sunny didn't sit next to Mari like Hero. When this happened, you were surprised, but you didn't say anything and just sat next to her. You don't judge Sunny and you never could, after all, everyone goes through grief differently.

Turning your attention to your plate, you pick up the strawberry on top of the cake and with a big smile on your face, put it in your mouth. You fidget and make happy noises as you chew on it.

You didn't notice, but Sunny saw your reaction out of the corner of his eye. Looking down at his own plate, he sees the strawberry on top of his cake. With an idea in his head, his cheeks and ears turn slightly red. Then he picks up the strawberry with his fork and puts it on your plate.

"Sunny?" He jumps, almost knocking the plate off his lap.

Lifting his head slightly, Sunny sees your eyes looking at him.

He starts to get up ready to run.

"Sunny!! Sit down right now!" Comically screams your chibi version, while holding a chibi version of Sunny by the shoulders and forcing him to sit on the floor again. "The last time you ran after getting caught doing something for me, you almost got hit by a car!"

Returning to your normal forms, Sunny couldn't say anything in his defense because he knew very well that it was true. So he hid his embarrassed face with his hands, while he still had you holding him by the shoulders.

You let out a defeated sigh and turn your body towards him. "You don't need to be embarrassed Sunny. No one is going to make fun of you just because you're showing some kind of affection." You try to calm him down and reassure him that nothing bad will happen just because he gave you the strawberry from his cake.

You pet his head trying to comfort him, but you still had your other hand on his shoulder in case he freaks out again and decides to run.

Feeling his shoulder relax a little and seeing his head lower at your touch, you give him a gentle smile. "There, there, Sunny. There's no need to worry, nothing bad will happen to you. Not when I'm here." You laugh a little as you pretend to calm a little child or a puppy. But if you were to compare, Sunny always looked more like a cat than a dog.

After a few seconds of calming him down, he lowers his hands a little from his face – slightly showing his eyes. But even so, you can see his cheeks as red as a tomato.

Seeing this, you smile. "But thank you very much for the strawberry, dear!" You say without thinking much. Before Sunny understands what you said, you lift his bangs and plant a kiss on it, purposely making a loud, "Mwah!" noise.

You pull away a little and give a big smile with your eyes closed, until you feel Sunny falling on top of you.

You don't understand and think he's just leaning towards you like before, so you hug him and feel his warm face on your neck.

Meanwhile, your friends are in shock at what they just witnessed.

"(M/n)...I think Sunny passed out-"

"WHAT?!"

⌗ Sunny HC's in private:

When you stay at each other's houses, Sunny will follow you everywhere like a duckling.

When you leave the bathroom, you will trip over him – who has been sitting next to the door this whole time.

The moment you sit down on the bed or sofa, Sunny will already have his head in your lap or hugging you like a koala.

If you stroke his hair, he will somehow start to purr (?) and in a few seconds, he will be asleep.

Since Sunny spent years without having any contact with anyone other than his mother, he's not sure how to ask for affection from you. Then he will simply stand in front of you looking at your eyes, until you understand that he wants a hug or pat on the head.

If you kiss him anywhere on his face, he will still have that expressionless face, but you can see that his eyes soften a little and his cheeks and ears turn slightly red.

Sunny is a great listener. So when you're talking about something you like or just venting about something that happened to you, he will nod his head every now and then to reassure you that he's listening and understanding what you're saying.

₊˚ʚ ᗢ₊˚✧ ﾟ.

You go down the stairs of Sunny's house and go towards the kitchen to get something to drink.

Opening the fridge, you look for something you like – but only find water. Shrugging your shoulders, you pick up the water pitcher and fill a glass cup.

You put it in your mouth and turn around. Just to run into your boyfriend.

You spit out the water and start coughing nonstop.

Sunny is startled by your reaction, but becomes concerned when you start coughing uncontrollably.

He's been following you since the moment you got out of bed and walked out the bedroom door. But the problem was that you didn't hear his footsteps behind you when you were walking down the stairs.

Didn't even feel his presence in the kitchen – since he didn't say a word.

You put your hands on your knees trying to catch your breath. Seeing this, Sunny approaches worriedly, but you extend your arm and stop him.

You stand up and wipe the water running down your chin. "I'm fine Sunny, don't worry..." You say shakily and finished.

Sunny is freaking out inside.

୭🧷✧˚. ᵎᵎ 🎀

[beevean]

Honestly all the Omori talk makes me feel bad for Basil in the sense that he is a character who is loyal and worries about his friends to the point of committing horrible actions that eat him up inside for them like covering up a murder, yet said friends either dont give the most minimum shit abt him and his feelings or straight up use him as a punchbag. Even if woobified by the writing, he seems like a more interesting chara than the protag by accident

@woodchipp and I compared him to N!Hector, because while he is morally questionable and no doubt he should have suffered the consequences of his actions (bro really came up with a multi-step plan to pretend a girl hanged herself, at 12, that's sick when you think about it), he becomes automatically the most tragic character of the story because he gets beaten to near death, both metaphorically and literally. (and that's when the story doesn't forget about him lmao, because he's actually missing for a good 80% of the plot)

His logic is twisted in an intriguing way. He's so loyal to Sunny that he straight up cannot imagine that he could do a bad thing such as push Mari down the stairs. He's so in denial that not only he came up with that plan, but he also hallucinates Something, the real culprit, the real entity who pushed Mari, because Sunny is a good person and Sunny would never do anything bad! It's a very sad form of denial.

But then you ask yourself, what exactly did Sunny do to earn such trust?

I guess being the pet of the gang was enough to convince Basil that his bestie would never do anything wrong.

And then you add all the stuff that we mentioned in that long post, such as Basil being a victim of unfair bullying by Aubrey (who blames him for ruining their photos, while it was Sunny when possessed by his depression - yes really), nearly drowning because Aubrey pushed him into the lake (neither she nor Kel cared enough to rescue him), the gang not bothering to check on him while he was visiting his grandma in intensive care (instead having a nice picnic near Mari's grave), the gang forcibly having a sleepover in his house while he was locked in the bathroom grieving for his grandma, Sunny leaving him alone while he was having a breakdown (you cannot comfort Basil, but you can run circles around him), you player having the choice to leave him to kill himself...

Yes, Basil is technically a criminal, but much like N!Hector, the things the plot puts him through far outweigh his crime. And I guess that in this comparison, Sunny is N!Isaac, who is a terrible person who has hurt many people but we're supposed to root for him because he found Enlightenment or some shit :)

[misty-wisp]

hey hey I've recently jumped back into the omori fandom after a year and its been a fun romp through your tsumi to batsu fics! Sunny and omori are my two favorites here :)

I especially love how you portray omori as a character when a good number of fanfics (+fandom) just deem the guy as "evil version of sunny who doesn't feel anything except for hatred for sunny and there isn't an nuance with him even though he's an manifestation of sunny's coping and a reflection of sunny's thoughts" or "12 year old brat with a knife"

like??? I know that during the omori boss fight he pulls out the most vile shit a 12 year old manifestation of your self hatred can pull out and in the bad ending theres an interpretation that omori took over sunnys body and jumps but did you not see what happens after the bossfight??

Omori hugs sunny after his fight boss no matter the ending and its really powerful in the good ending especially since it's sunny beginning to forgive himself and let go

And yet the people focus in the bossfight dialogue instead of the hug that happens after

Of course, there's the entirety of blackspace to consider and numerous basil deaths which is something to add for the evil knife kid.

On the more positive side of things

Omori leaving notes for sunny to take care of himself, telling him to be nice to his mom, and taking control of the body so sunny won't starve like he most likely did for 4 years-

*clenches hand, clenches hands clenches hand clench-* Yes Yes YES YES THAT'S MY BOY

Sunny realizing that omori isn't someone who runs away but instead hides and starts to look for him....I smell a Thing (TM) between sunny who runs away from his trauma and omori locking away bad memories, hiding it in the backstage (blackspace) as the mainshow (headspace) plays

Honestly, I don't think you really intended that to be taken this way but still

Omori going "good morning" when sunny asks an uncomfortable question, man has impeccable timing

Then-! Then-! The flower tending scenes!

Omori taking good care of his friends flowers while the white tulips being neglected.

It turns the tables around the usual sunny being unable to forgive himself to omori unable to forgive himself (or rather believing he doesn't deserve forgiveness in this case)

"The lilies looked especially perfect, he noticed" ouhgough goughgough big sister mari

"The tulips. They’re all withering away. While the rest of the flowers were full of color, glistening in the sunlight (moonlight?) the tulips remained a dead brown, practically twigs.

'Don't mind those,' Omori said, stopping in his tracks. 'They don't need any tending to.'" OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH MY HEART

White tulips signalifying forgiveness, Sunny taking care of them which silently conveys that he forgives Omori which is verbally confirmed, the both of them being represented by white tulips--!

Omori suddenly breaking the photo of mari without knowing why he did so- I feel like this guy has to slowly work on not erasing the 'truth' during this fic ey?

I know that photo of Mari was most likely headspace Mari but I like to think that it was an irl Mari picture

In my heart, they're friends your honor

OH MY GOSH THANK YOU THIS IS SO SWEET???? genuinely i never thought my au would bring someone this much joy omg 😭 tysm

i love how you caught all those little details too--funnily enough i don't think anyone's fully caught that the tulips weren't tended to because omori doesn't forgive himself(+thinks he doesn't deserve forgiveness) hehehehehe

also anon i am literally in love with how you found a parallel regarding how sunny used to run away from his problems and how omori does that now 😭 i don't remember if i was intentionally implying that??? but i most certainly am now omg

recently i haven't been into omori as much as before but wow i feel so much more motivated to get back to writing my fic...genuinely tysm this means a lot to hear!!!

[doodlinge]

DUDE!!!!!!!!!! i would write the rain fic if you wrote the sick fic 👀👀 (i say this as if im not only 2 days through chelley week)

and if u want angst potential i can see why you like kelbrey. GOD the fact that they’re all eachother have after everything is said and done — hero goes to college, sunny moves, basil may be there but he might go to another school at this point and if not i’m almost sure they wouldn’t be able to forgive him for a long while. especially kel, because aubrey can’t bear to hold another grudge knowing what he went through, i think. she’d be absolutely pissed, but if she wants to rebuild the friend group in her aubrey way, she’s gonna have to go up to them in their shared science class and begrudgingly say, “hey... do you..want to be partners (in science)? or just…start over, i guess?” and of course basil would be like AUBREY??? YES PLEASE IVE MISSED YOU SO MUCH AND shes like “its fine. we just have to talk about everything, and i mean everything, if we want to..make this work, i guess.”

i love bitter kel. maybe hes just not a naturally angry person but I LOVE ANGRY CHARACTERS!!! CHARACTERS LETTING OUT THEIR RAGE!!!! CHARACTERS SCREAMING AND CRYING AND PUNCHING THEIR PILLOW BECAUSE THEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO!!! thats my favorite kind of angst qnd maybe thats why i love aubrey so much idk. but he doesnt HAVE to forgive sunny, or forgive basil—sure, he might take it the best, but i think as time goes on he would become bitter and sad about the way they made his brother feel, and aubrey feel… even when aubrey and hero both end up forgiving sunny and basil, i still wonder about if kel would ever forgive him. it’s not like he’s obligated to, he has a right to be very upset and yet i think that some of the fandom strips that away from his character. he has a right to hold a grudge, even if it’s just for a little while!!!

and in this scenario, i think there could be an amazing parallel of aubrey making kel a happier, softer, more compassionate and forgiving person after they learn about the things sunny and basil did. she might be shitty at it, but goddamn it aubrey HATES SEEING KEL CRY JUST AS MUCH AS HE HATES SEEING HER CRY!!! SKFMFM!!! so she tries to cheer him up, but she never, ever makes him forgive basil or sunny. and i think that trust and unsaid boundary is what makes kel see her in a more kind light after the end of omori

the kelbrey disease is taking over again. god help me

[miz0sis]

みんな… おやすみなさい🖤 This is a few days late, but happy second anniversary OMORI! I posted this on Twitter and of course can’t write much, so I'll do the honors here.

TW for talk of mental health, hospitals and self harm. Please move from this post if you are uncomfortable with such topics, for your own sake. Thank you❤

I discovered OMORI in 2014. I saw that little trailer in my recommended as a kid and watched it. I got super inspired by it, but never did much else. 2018 rolled by and I found out about the Kickstarter. I couldn't back it up because y’know, I'm a broke teenager, but I still tried to follow its development until I just lost interest. It's now early 2021. My friends are talking about OMORI and begging me to play or watch it. I eventually caved in and didn't expect anything special. Boy was I wrong. I came into the game completely blind, and experienced everything raw. - The first ending I got was the 'true ending', where Sunny and Basil accept their actions and trauma. I cried so much near the end, especially during the Final Duet (but I'm sure that got most people). I had expected a cheesy rpgmaker horror game but instead I got an experience I will never forget. It's themes stuck with me. I hadn't played a game like it before. A game that accurately represents mental illness, trauma and anxiety. I have been suffering from depression basically since the fourth grade. A lot of bad things happened in my life and I was becoming aware of it. I started to feel down and hopeless, often resorting to sleeping all day, drawing and slipping into my own imagination and disassociating. - I soon realized that this wasn't working, and only felt worse. I'd say around fifth grade was when I started to hurt myself. And I couldn't stop. I slowly fell deeper into my depression as I eventually came to terms with the fact I was a transgender person. The first time I tried ending my life was only a few years ago. That led me to be forced to out myself to my family, which thankfully went well and they pledged to help me transition, which they still do to this day. - Despite being able to transition, I still felt like things were missing. I still felt depressed. I realized that I was suppressing my trauma from years prior to the point of forgetting it. And once I was reminded of it, I spiraled further. That leads to early 2022. I was close to ending my life. I was very close to death. But it failed. I gave up and decided to reach out for help. The day after reaching out I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. I would go to two hospitals in the span of almost six months. Those months were some of the worst of my life. But somehow I grew as a person. And as time went on, I improved despite the challenges I faced while inpatient. My head became clearer. Because not only was I taking medication and therapy, but I thought of Sunny. - Yes it's kind of silly that I was inspired by a fictional character but Sunny's recovery and journey through his mental health and trauma pushed me to keep going. And ironically, I eventually met someone there named Sunny who also liked OMORI. We became really close and I think about them often. They were the only person from that horrible hospital that had a positive effect on me. In August of 2022, I was finally released. Shortly after my discharge my family moved across the country at short notice. I once again became depressed, having to leave my old friends and life behind, but I realized by moving, I can start anew. And that's what I've been doing ever since. I'm the happiest I've ever been and I'm about to turn eighteen in a week as of writing this. I never thought I would live to adulthood. - As cheesy as it is, if I never found OMORI I probably wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have been encouraged to get help sooner. I would most likely already have killed myself or ended up in the hospital for hurting myself. As harsh as that is, it is sort of true. This seemingly silly game about a boy dreaming up adventures with his friends has changed my life completely. I'm grateful for the OMOCAT team for working on this game and putting so much love into it. And I love a majority of the community as well. I have met so many kind and creative people through Discord and Twitter. Why am I opening about this on the internet then? I want to show that things do get better. No matter how old you are, no matter how bad things are either. - I used to think I would never make it anywhere but here I am, I have amazing friends, I'm working on passion projects with others and I draw all the time and enjoy it. My drive has improved because of this game. I don't know what I would have done without it. This game means so much to me and so many other people. I can't believe its been two years since it released already. I'm hoping to continue to love it for more years to come. Thanks so much to OMORI and the fandom that loves it so much.

[the-bugs-under-ur-skin]

Yandere Kel, Sunny, Aubrey, Hero and Basil w a Flirty Friend HCs - Omori

[yandere Kel x reader]

-since you guys aren’t dating yet, Kel is a little more awkward about it

-he’ll just laugh and blush most of the time, taken aback by the fact that you’re flirting with him

-he’s always going into it bold and thinking that he’s going to end up flustering you but he’ll usually come out of it giggling and bashful

-not gonna lie, he’ll start to get competitive about it

-he starts to think of it like a race or a challenge

-especially since over time he builds up more courage; he’ll basically just be aggressively complimenting you back

-but he does get very jealous when you flirt with other people

-he’s an attention hog so having you give someone else such “special” attention gets him really upset

-Kel’s very childish so don’t be surprised if he tries to drag you away or insert himself into your conversation

-the knot that forms in his stomach, that tightness that hurts his chest is just too much for him to handle

-being a flirty person will just convince Kel to finally date you even more

-not only does he want the jealousy to end, but he’s also convinced that your flirting has meaning behind it

-and honestly, I think holding back on the flirting will only make Kel worse

-you just suddenly took one of his favorite things in the world away with no warning, he’ll definitely become more than a little unstable

-but you shouldn’t worry too much, it won’t be you who he blames for your lack of affection after all

[yandere Sunny x reader]

-Sunny isn’t exactly known for being well with words so don’t be surprised if he just stands there awkwardly because he doesn’t know what to say

-he’s probably more confused than delusional

-he genuinely doesn’t know if you’re just being silly or if you are actually interested

-Sunny’s reactions to your flirting isn’t all too special, though

-you might even get bored of him since he keeps such a good poker face on

-but he always replays those moments in his head all the time

-he can feel his face heat up and a soft smile form on his face

-however if you’re looking for big reactions in Sunny then go ahead and start casually flirting with one of your friends

-Sunny is a very jealous person, so he doesn’t really care whether you mean anything behind the flirt or not

-he’s not the type of person to run up and confront them, especially if you both aren’t dating yet

-but he would try and find the perfect time to actually confront the person

-he probably wouldn’t plan it out too much though; just whenever you seem to be out of sight is when he’ll strike

-and if being flirty is an entire personality trait, the town is gone

-Sunny probably wouldn’t be hesitant to just snap and go on a rampage, he doesn’t care

-all he cares about is you, and he doesn’t want anyone touching you

-he doesn’t really mind if you stop being flirty, he’ll just assume it’s because you’re getting shy around him

-though, he’s probably already adapted to your flirting, so don't be surprised if one day he tries to give you a small and shaky compliment

-it’s all just build-up to his inevitable confession where it’s either a “yes” or social isolation

[yandere Aubrey x reader]

-Aubrey does not do a good job of playing off her embarrassment

-she isn’t completely delusional so she can tell straight away that you flirt with everybody and just the thought kind of pissed her off

-she’s also going to be angry at herself for being so pissed off over you so Aubrey might bully you a little bit

-she can’t take in both her overwhelming feelings and your constant flirting with not only herself put ever other person you talk to

-so she does the only thing she knows how to do; she bullies you

-also a bit of a twisted tsundere personality would be at play

-like if you did the logical thing and stopped playfully flirting with her than she’d be pretty upset about it

-but if you keep on going with the flirty personality for whatever reason, then she’ll cave eventually

-though she can’t make comebacks as quick (if at all) since it’s both the start of her obsession and the start of you’re relationship 

-but that doesn’t stop her from exnihilating any competition

-she’s more than wiling to fight someone in front of you, most because her ego is so big she just assumes you’ll be cool with it

-but also because you’re just starting to become close friends, she’s actually more willing to listen to you when you tell her not to hurt anyone

-a darling with a flirty personality will actually end up bringing out some of the worst traits in her

-so honestly, i would avoid flirting with Aubrey until you both are dating

-it might end up saving a lot of pain from both you and your friends

[yandere Hero x reader]

-Hero would probably get flirted with a lot and it didn’t annoy him as much until he met you

-when he first encountered you, he thought you were just flirting with him because you liked him so he just tried to awkwardly laugh until you left

-but he’s one of the few in the group who can quickly realize it’s just how you always act

-then he’d think about you a little more, so he’d watch you a little more and then he would slowly start to obsess over you

-and you’re flirts start to become like an earworm, he would quickly try to reacquaint himself with you so that those flirts can be directed at him

-Hero honestly missed love and affection like this and he soaks up everything and anything that you give him

-he does become more and more protective over you as you both become closer

-he won’t try and stop you since not only is he aware of the fact you both aren’t dating, but also because he knows that it’s natural for you to flirt with everyone

-of course, if you’re friend starts flirting back or starts to get too touchy, he’ll deal with it in private

-even if they don’t, he can’t stop himself from feeling immense jealousy at just the few meaningless words you say

-he vows to one day make those words be said to him and only him, no matter how long it takes

-he’ll wait forever for you

[yandere Basil x reader]

-we already know that Basil will have no clue how to handle your flirts

-though, unlike Sunny, he won’t just stay silent in embarrassment

-he desperately tries to play it cool but he kinda lost the ability to speak in coherent sentences because of you

-i think that if you giggled at him, at first he might think that you think he’s lame and are mocking him or something

-but the more it happens the more his deluded mind will just decide it’s because you like him so much

-it’s something he thinks about all the time; he’d even write down little pick-up lines or affectionate nicknames that you called him in his photo album

-and at first it might just seem like he’s just shy and a little too obsessive, but it’ll start to go down hill when he starts pushing people away from you

-since you both aren’t exactly dating yet, he won’t have the guts to physically hold you down and beg for you not to leave him

-if you’re willing to listen to him, he’ll start telling lies about others and would start to ease his way into begging and crying

-but if you don’t listen then he’ll probably just tell lies about you instead

-he doesn’t want to!! and he definitely doesn’t believe them of course!

-it’s just something that he has to do

-besides, if he’s the only one you’re talking to, then he’s the only you can flirt with... doesn’t that sound like a dream come true?

[writeranon69]

hi heres the thing

its kind of a mix of nightshade and whatever omori x headspace basil is called because i don't feel like incorporating thought-out fantasy elements into this to make it make sense as a relationship that is completely separate from that of basil and sunny, so... yea

that didn't make a lot of sense im just gonna write

Headspace was a colorful place. It was home to vibrant hues, flora and fauna of every kind, and vast lands to explore. Even in that vast expanse, however, after Sunny had accepted his sister's death and began the path to overcoming his guilt, there was not a human soul left to roam. The sprout moles were good fun for a while, but no matter how hard Omori looked, he couldn't find anything worth talking to. It didn't help that headspace had shrunk considerably compared to when Sunny was there, and with that shrinking, black space drew ever nearer. Though headspace was still large, it wasn't being desperately melded together in an attempt to keep Sunny unaware. So, the pieces fell off like a weak puzzle.

No matter how Omori did not like to admit it, he had begun to strive for some form of contact, something to make him feel a little better, to begin to fill the hole in his stomach. The thought of not doing so much as speak to anyone but Sunny for the rest of his time was... disheartening. Every time Omori thought of the hugs Mari would give, the high-fives Kel would slap, the shoves Aubrey would push, the head pats Hero would give... he really, really missed that.

Whenever the moon's light was dimmest, with Omori sat distraught beneath the shade of the trees in the vast forest, he'd sometimes think of Basil, and in turn, Stranger. Stranger was the first iteration of Basil that Omori had ever created, the only one of all of his friends, excluding Mari, who had deviated from his will, forming personality, learning secrets, keeping secrets of his own.

The first time Omori had held the first Basil's hand, tucked away in a hideout inside the neighbor's room, hiding from the others, was the first time Basil had known something Omori hadn't told him.

Everyone had been playing normally in the vast forest, playing long, perplexing, and entertaining games of hide and seek. Omori had spent hours building all of the hiding structures, and though Aubrey had protested saying he knew too much and nobody would be able to find him in the structures, Basil had insisted that they let him play.

Omori quietly led Basil to his favorite hidey-hole he'd built-- it had just enough space for the two of them and had just enough holes inside to hide and be able to see outside. Originally, Omori had been planning to nap inside of it, atop the cushioned logs, but he didn't really want to be entirely alone.

Basil had complimented it, asking questions all about how he'd made it. When he asked what for, Omori simply answered, "for when I want to hide."

"From what?" Basil had asked. Omori didn't know how to explain it without seeming rude.

"Everyone else... not because they annoy me. I just, sort of, um, like the feeling that nobody knows where I am," Omori had said. He'd had no reason to be so nervous, but it felt so oddly personal to him.

"I can pretend I have no clue where this is," Basil offered, teeth poking through a small smile.

"No, but they'll find us soon, and I still don't want to be found yet," Omori said.

"Well, where would they not think to look for you?" Basil asked. Omori thought about it for a moment before sitting up and crawling sneakily out of the small wooden building. He lifted up the blanket covering the entryway for Basil.

Omori led him back to the tree stump and started climbing down the ladder into the neighbor's room.

"Um, Omori, are you sure? I don't think I've ever been down here..." Basil had said, worried. Omori nodded his head yes, before smiling, if just a bit, and climbed the ladder down, rushing down the stairs and mushing his face into the soft, shaggy floor. He heard Basil giggle at his sprawled form, walking down the rainbow stairs and stopping to daintily tap the head of the snake.

Omori sat up, feeling a bit safer, and started gathering his drawing supplies and scooching towards the counters in the back of the room. He gestured for Basil to follow him as he crawled into the cabinets. Strangely enough, Basil didn't say a word.

Behind the cabinets, if you tried hard enough, you could find a handle that opened up to a tiny room. Its walls moved with dazzling, twinkling stars against a purple sky. Cushions, blankets, and pillows were littered across the floor, and twinkle lights hung from the ceiling of clouds. Books floated in the air, comfortably in reach. As soon as Omori settled in, Basil came down the ladder, staring silently in awe at the dazzling lights and floating books, and squeezed himself in beside Omori who looked to be quite content.

Omori reached up into the clouds, pulling out a sketchbook and pencil. He opened the sketchbook and began to draw, lifting up his arms to let Basil slip a fluffy blanket over their bent legs. The book floated firmly in front of Omori while he used his right hand to draw... well, something. It was a pretty blob of lines.

Omori thought it a bit peculiar that Basil hadn't spoken much. No matter how much he attempted to chalk it up to the nervousness of being in a new place, that didn't seem to be it. At least, not the new place bit. He looked like he was contemplating something, or thinking too deeply into something. It almost scared Omori that he didn't know what it was all about, but he reassured himself-- maybe it was something he'd forgotten he remembers.

Basil let out a quiet, frustrated sigh, and Omori pretended not to hear. He was thinking of something, wasn't he?

Then, Basil began to scooch closer into his side, until their shoulders were touching, and Omori stopped drawing for a moment. It felt... really nice, actually. Omori had historically been a bit averse to people other than Mari touching him, and he was never sure why he felt that way. Maybe it was too personal. This felt fine, though.

Basil leaned his head down slowly onto Omori's left shoulder, and Omori immediately felt the consequences pounding in his chest. Omori tried to steady his heart by taking long, slow, quiet breaths, but it didn't help his cause very much. Basil's long hair touched his shoulders and neck, and Omori had expected it to feel somewhat violating, but it was, strangely, comforting above all else.

Omori could tell from Basil's hunched shoulders that he was holding his breath-- he knew how Omori felt about touch and didn't want to make him uncomfortable, most probably. To ease the tension, Omori rested his head on Basil's in return, moving the sketchbook away and pulling their blanket closer. Basil let out a quiet, shaky sigh of relief.

"Hey..." Basil began to ask, voice hardly above a whisper. He moved his hand under the warm blankets and placed his fingertips over Omori's. "Is this okay?"

Omori shut his eyes and breathed in an attempt at calmness, just enough to let him thread his fingers between Basil's. Why was this making him so nervous? He'd held the hands of Aubrey and Kel before, though not often. Why was that any different? They were his friends, and so was Basil. So why did this feel so... different? Secret?

Basil hummed an affirmative tune, rubbing his thumb over Omori's index finger, and shut his eyes. Omori moved his legs closer to Basil. His cheeks and eyes felt warm and soft, like something inside had been reduced to a sugary sweet mush, and he couldn't get enough of the butterflies that invaded his chest and mind every time he breathed in. But he wasn't supposed to feel like this, wasn't supposed to like getting this sort of feeling from his friend, much less a boy.

"Omori..." Basil began, pulling their hands up from the ground and threading their fingers snugly. "Um... I don't mean to assume or anything, but..." He lifted his head from Omori's shoulder, keeping their faces close. "Are you okay with how this makes you feel?"

"I..." Omori said, a bit stunned, but unoffended. "I don't know. It's so nice, to be... to be close, but..."

"You're not sure if it's right?" Basil asked. Omori stared. He'd never told Basil about any of this... How could he have known? Was this just Sunny, projecting some sick fantasy? Basil saw Omori's eyebrows begin to furrow.

Basil's left hand wandered over to cup Omori's cheek, fingers brushing his hair behind his ear. "Not... him. You, Omori."

Omori's cheeks became rosy, and his eyes swam. He'd always just thought of the others as puppets to appease Sunny, save for Mari, but... they must have some semblance of humanity, no? Basil did at least, he’d just proven it. How could he have known things Omori did not tell him?

It was exciting that he could know things the others didn't, like a sort of secret. Sunny was watching, he knew that, but as long as Basil didn't try to tell Sunny anything... it was like finally having someone to share the burden with. He knew Basil shouldn't know, and that his goal was to keep Sunny safe, but... he'd kept Mari around. She didn't know much, but she knew who Sunny was. Omori often confided in her when Sunny was awake. Maybe... Basil could be there too?

Omori swallowed his unbreathed air, feeling Basil's breath tickle his nose.

Eventually, the others had found them playing cards in the neighbor's room. Mari scolded Omori for being gone too long, but dropped it quickly, as Omori actually... apologized?

It's a memory that always stuck with Omori, that he tried to smother deeply down after he banished the first Basil. For a while, the two of them shared glances and hands in secret, when the moon set and the eyes of the dreamer left along with it. But, of course, being Basil, he let something slip-- the name of Sunny to his friends. Omori had to reset the entirety of headspace because of it. It had been an accident on Basil’s part, Omori knew now, but he'd overreacted, banishing Basil to backspace and rebooting the others. For the next few iterations, Basil was not present. It took a while before Omori was okay with him being there again.

Omori regretted every part of it. The first Basil, now Stranger, was so special. Stranger understood him and put his whole heart into keeping Omori happy while he worked hard to shield Sunny. Omori would always give him small gifts, small gestures, touches, and trinkets, just because he couldn't find a better way to express just how much having somebody on his level to really talk to was appreciated.

His heart would catch in his throat when thought of the first Basil, his soft hair that framed his kind, blue eyes... Omori was so happy then. He just wanted to have fun and hold hands. He was even planning to help Sunny confront the truth, as both Basil and Mari had been nudging him to do.

But now he would never get him back.

Maybe it was Stranger's fixation on secrets and truth that had so captivated him.

Basil had always tried to get Omori to help Sunny see the truth, but after he banished him, Basil must've decided to do it with or without Omori's help, around when Omori declared Basil was a stranger to him. His time in black space had warped his form so severely that he was hardly solid anymore, devoid of color and sucking in light everywhere but his eyes.

Now, Omori could only rarely get glimpses of Stranger-- not nearly enough to be happy with, but enough to remind him that Stranger still existed. It was driving him insane. He felt so guilty, so horribly guilty, and even though he knew the cynical Stranger would never hear it, he had to apologize.

Omori put a hand to his eyes, and as the first tears fell from his eyes, he awoke in white space.

Omori took a tissue to his nose, blowing it and sighing. He was still upset, of course, but crying wouldn't help him now. He sat up and pulled over his laptop, turning it on and opening the hangman program. The game had long since been completed, but Omori kept trying something, anything to get the black space door to appear. It was no use.

He shut his laptop and chucked it into the white abyss in frustration. He yelled, crying, not saying much of anything, just venting out his frustrations on the poor floor. He made the hands sew him a new blanket, tugging his oversized tee over his knees and wrapping his new blanket around his shoulders.

He cried and cried into his knees, wishing someone was there, that anything new would happen... it all felt so useless. Omori fell back onto the floor and shut his tired eyes. Sunny could use some rest, could he not?

When Omori awoke again, at whatever ungodly hour of the day, he saw nothing. He was sprawled across the floor, hair disheveled and eyes crusty with dry tears. The air around was icy and biting. Is this...?

Omori focused on his surroundings. Around him was a vast black expanse filled with various doors and.. pillow forts? Those certainly hadn't been there last time he was here. Omori cringed at that thought, standing up and wrapping his blanket close. He'd made it to black space. He'd done it. How? All he did was cry like a baby.

Omori breathed in, then out. Now was not the time to pity himself. He looked at his surroundings, trying to fathom where to begin navigating this place. I just wanted Stranger, not black space…

On the ground, Omori noticed a faint trail of blood-red footsteps. Omori’s thoughts went about a billion places at once. He tightened his grip on his blanket and tried to catch his breath. It’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. His heart pounded in his ears. He wasn’t sure how he’d deal with seeing him again.

Omori slowly took his first step on Stranger’s path, right in the place of his footsteps. He glanced around at the blackness around him, looking for anything before he committed fully, but he couldn’t see anything. He readied himself and kept following the steps.

Black space was not a comforting place. The air was frigid and icy, with the neverending dark inspiring paranoia. His only lifeline here was the winding footsteps that avoided doors and forts, leading him through the inky air.

After a few minutes of walking, Omori came upon where the footsteps ended– a dark, wooden dock that overlooked a small pond. Stranger probably walked on the water, knowing his semi-solid form, but Omori had limitations. He walked up to the edge of the dock, staring at his faint reflection in the water.

Omori sighed and sat down. There was not much to see here, so he held his blanket tight and swung his slipper-adorned feet back and forth above the water. He stared at his reflection, not particularly fond of what he saw, and sat blinking, breathing.

Suddenly, above his reflection, Omori saw two unmistakably eerie pinpricks of light hovering over him. Omori looked up at him and felt his eyes well up as he moved to make room. He shuffled in a shaky breath as Stranger sat down beside him. Omori could hear his heartbeat in his ears. It’s been so long…

“You made it,” Stranger said. Omori was not calm enough to form a reply, shying away from showing Stranger his wet eyes. “Did you miss me?” Stranger joked. Omori didn’t catch onto the sarcasm. He pulled his knees up to his chest.

“Hypocritical, I know,” he said. Stranger just stared at him for a bit, confused.

“...You did?” Stranger asked. He wasn’t sure how to process that. Was he even a miss-able person?

“It’s not fair of me to miss you, but I still did. Do, even,” Omori said. “I don’t think…” Omori stopped. He wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence without making Stranger angry. Omori looked at him, a bit fearfully.

“Don’t think what?” Stranger asked, trying to stay calm in his whirling thoughts. Mari, whom he’d been spending his time with as of late, had encouraged him non-stop to try to speak with Omori.

‘I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but it may do you some good to talk things out with Omori,’ she’d said. She had always been kind of pushy on helping them rebuild their relationship, always insisting on them speaking to each other for reasons that Stranger could not grasp.

“That there’s any good way for me to… um, to apologize,” Omori said, turning his head away. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to rebuild what we had. Not that you’d even- you’d even want to, but, I still missed you, and…” Omori wiped his tears away with his blanket. “It’s so selfish because all I’ve done is hurt you, and leave you. You have no reason to even be here right now.” Stranger looked at his weary eyes.

“You’re… You’re right. I don’t.” Omori looked up at him. “I made one mistake and, and you- you left me here to, what, die? God, it was like I was nothing to you, like I didn’t mean anything!” Stranger cried. Omori tried and failed to form a response, cut off by his own regret choking him.

“Your perception of who you were became so warped- like, you thought you were like, the deity of this land, here to oversee some bullshit of your own creation, and you just- you just forgot about helping Sunny feel better, something you’d done since the first time he thought of you! You forgot about me, and who I was to you, goddamnit!”

“I…” Omori, said, shaking like a leaf in frigid wind, close to falling off his last branch. Stranger looked into his eyes, his eyes that were stupidly pretty, and maybe it was some bias that he was predisposed to by ever forming his own conscience and any sort of feeling towards Omori, but…

“Despite everything… I still hate seeing you cry. I still love the way your hair gets all messy when you sleep, and how you let your eyes and hands speak for you. Isn’t that just stupid?” he laughed. Omori looked up at him.

“I still try embarrassingly hard to think of why you did what you did because I still can’t believe that maybe you just hate me,” Stranger said. Omori began to crawl over to be closer to Stranger. Omori began to feel nervous, in a way he hadn’t felt in such a long time.

“I don’t hate you,” Omori said. He settled into his closer spot, legs bent and touching Stranger’s knees. He took his left hand to carefully hold Stranger’s, if a bit hesitantly. Stranger looked back at him with eyes that were less kind, less carefree, but still filled with a sort of reluctant happiness Omori could not place.

Stranger took his free hand to hold Omori’s face with cold hands. He could feel the goosebumps on Omori’s skin, but he did not seem to mind. “Omori, I know I’m not going to like the answer, but… why did you banish me here?”

Omori looked down at their hands and held them tighter. “Because… well, I really couldn’t grasp how it was an accident until it was too late.” Stranger squeezed his hand back.

“I was just being an- I was such an idiot. I am such an idiot. I’m so, so sorry,” Omori said.

“I can’t say what you did was okay, but…” Stranger moved their hands apart, taking his freed hand and placing it on Omori’s back under his blanket.

“I can still forgive you, right?” Stranger said, softly, a bit shakily. Omori’s eyes were locked on his as he sat up straight.

“I’m sorry,” Omori said, holding his breath with his mouth just agape. Stranger could feel his breath shake. God, he’s cute.

“I don’t know why I feel like this… I don’t know if it’s okay after everything. I- I haven’t even told Mari, but…” Stranger took in a breath slowly as he brought his face closer to Omori’s. He could almost see his heart pounding in his eyes.

As they stared at each other in the silent privacy of black space, Stranger brought his voice down to a whisper.

“I love you.”

He pulled Omori closer until their lips had no longer had room to speak.

Later that day, or what Omori assumed was that day, he sat on a picnic blanket with Mari and Stranger sharing various pastries. Stranger sat curled up against Omori as they sat, making somewhat awkward conversation with Mari.

“So… you two are okay now?” Mari asked. Omori nodded.

“No, actually, I’m cuddling my worst enemy,” Stranger joked sarcastically. Omori felt his cheeks burn, and went back to drawing. Suddenly, however, he remembered something he'd been meaning to speak to Stranger about.

“Actually… Um, what do I call you? I don’t want to keep calling you Stranger, ‘cause you’re not, but…” Omori asked. His eyes shied away from the other two on the blanket.

“Uh… What about like, Shady or Star?” He suggested.

“I’m not calling you Shady,” Omori deadpanned.

“Aw, Star is cute! Reminds me of a certain someone’s alter ego,” Mari teased.

“Gee, thanks,” Star said, elbowing Omori. He giggled at Star.

Omori knew that someday soon, he’d have to confront Sunny about Basil, as Star and Basil were inexplicably linked. This time, though, Omori would not over-assume his power– he would not make the same mistake twice, not if he really loved Star.

For now, though, Omori was content. He stood up from where he was sitting, taking Star’s hand and intertwining their fingers. Just for a little while, he wanted to play around, be happy, indulge in smiles, laughs, and games. He ran off from the blanket hand-in-hand with Star to find something to do, anything, as long as it was with him.

woah writing fluff is actually fun

I KNOW RIGHT?

Jeez Bee, that's another wholesome fluffy masterpiece in the books! Great Job!!!!

Omori actually felt remorse...poor guy.

STAR IT IS THEN

[azalea-writes]

hi, can i request the brothers playing omori? ^^

A/N: YOU READ MY MIND ANON, I LOVE YOU-

Requests: Open

Masterlist

The brothers playing Omori

Warnings: Spoilers for Omori and character death

Alt: Enjoy!

***

Lucifer

Like my Undertale one, you would need to persuade him for a while.

But when he finally plays, he thinks that he stopped working just to play this cutesy game?

Until he's back in whitespace and needs to stab himself, he's so confused.

Like, why does he need to stab himself?

Does he open the door for "Mari"? Yes.

When Lucifer does and figures out there's actual lore, he's really intrigued.

Staircase Something didn't really affect him but hated the fight.

Doesn't really scare him though.

Skipping forward, when he figures out the truth, he's actually kind of shocked. He didn't expect for Sunny to kill his own sister over a recital.

Opens the door for Kel? Yes.

Lucifer isn't a fan of Aubrey because she feels too rebellious for his liking. (A/N: This hurt to write.)

Didn’t cry during the Final Duet though.

Overall, thinks it's a pretty good game and he loved the story.

Mammon

His favorite character is Sunny because he's not really annoying.

But Lucifer does ask to stop making him play more video games.

Oh boy....

Mammon will gladly play Omori with you! (Just don't mention the horror stuff...)

He loves fighting enemies!

Until he's back in whitespace and needs to stab himself. Very confused but doesn't question it.

When he's out of the dreamworld, he's asking a lot of questions.

Freaked the fuck out because of the staircase Something.

Opens the door for "Mari" and Mammon jumps so high because of the jumpscare.

"I was just a little surprised, that's all!"

Don't let him check the mirror...

DOES NOT OPEN THE DOOR FOR KEL, HE DOESN'T WANT ANOTHER JUMPSCARE-

But you make him open it and he closes his eyes.

Skipping forward, while figuring out the truth, he's really scared.

Oh... It's just Kel!

At first, he hated Aubrey because of how rude she is but started to kind of like her after learning why she is so mean.

(I say "kind of" because Aubrey still pushed Basil into the water so Mammon needed to fight Something in the water.)

REALLY shocked to figure out Sunny killed Mari.

"Why did he do that?!"

Cries during the Final Duet.

Overall, he loves Omori but does not like the horror theme.

His favorite character is Kel because he's so energetic.

Leviathan

Hasn't really heard of the game so he'll try it out!

Really loves the RPG part of the game.

But when he goes back to whitespace unexpectedly and needs to stab himself, Levi did it with no hesitation.

Doesn't open the door for Mari because he has played enough horror games to know that it's bad.

I mean, he did just face that staircase Something, he doesn't want anymore issues.

Does open the door for Kel because it's daytime!

Smart guy.

Skipping forward, Levi is really focused on learning the truth that he doesn't even care about the horror stuff around him.

Does jump a little at the end when Mari turns into Something.

Teared up during the Final Duet, IT'S SO GOOD.

Overall, very happy with the game and will try to get different endings.

Favorite character is Aubrey, loves her character development.

Satan

Satan was kind of hesitant to play but with enough persuading, he'll play.

Was kind of bored with the RPG but quickly got intrigued when he got sent back to whitespace after Basil looked scared.

VERY intrigued when Satan figured out he needed to stab himself.

Opens the door for Mari because he's a gentleman and the jumpscare doesn't scare him.

NOTHING SCARES HIM

Of course opens for Kel.

Skipping forward, Satan is so interested on learning the truth. He loves on how it's shown.

Didn't cry to Final Duet but loves the music.

Very nice to the ears.

Overall, he likes the games, just didn't get scared because scary stuff doesn't scare him.

Loves Aubrey because of how rebellious she is.

Asmodeus

Was a little hesitant to play but played anyway, good time to hangout!

Asmo was very confused in the RPG part, didn't understand almost anything.

Basically just winged it.

When sent back to whitespace, he was scared to stab himself.

But when he did, he jumped a little at the sound.

Screamed when he saw Something in the staircase.

Screamed even louder on the Mari jumpscare.

At this point, Asmo knew this wasn't just a cute game.

So he was hesitant to open the door for Kel but still did it, huge sigh of relief.

Doesn't really like Aubrey but feels bad for what she went through.

Skipping forward, Asmo was a little confused when learning the truth because the pictures didn't make sense.

But when he saw the pictures in order, he let out a huge gasp.

"How dare he kill Mari!"

Asmo cried during the Final Duet, very emotional.

Overall, he kind of likes Omori but didn't like the jumpscares. (Not as bad as Mammon though.)

Favorite character is Hero because of his CHARMS.

Beelzebub and Belphegor

(Together because I'm lazy)

Beel agreed to play Omori when you bribed him with snacks and Belphie was curious so he wanted to watch.

Beel didn't understand the RPG part but Belphie helped him through it because he understood a few bits.

When sent back to whitespace, Belphie had to choose stab because Beel didn't want to.

When fighting Something in the staircase, the twins weren't really affected by it.

Belphie opened the door since Beel didn't want to, he had a bad feeling.

Both of them jumped a bit but then Belphie chuckled a bit.

Beel finally had courage to make his own decisions so he opened the door to Kel, even if Belphie was complaining.

Beel related to Aubrey while Belphie kept saying "Yeah, beat them up!"

Skipping forward, the twins were so focused on the pictures and trying to figure it out.

Belphie didn't like Sunny at this point while Beel felt bad for him.

Beel really liked the Final Duet while Belphie almost fell asleep.

Overall, they both really like Omori even if they kept taking breaks during it.

Beel's favorite is Hero because FOOD, and Belphie has no favorite.

***

SORRY IF THIS WAS SO LONG

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED, I REALLY LIKED WRITING THIS :))

Alt: Thanks for requesting! Love you!

[peppermintbee]

OMORI has poor writing (Part 1)

OMORI stans, just block the #omori hate tag now because I’m going to use it to vent my frustrations with this game. If you love this game, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. I am glad it means a lot to you. I’m not here to take that away from you. I honestly wish I felt the same way!

However, if you are like me and finished the game feeling disappointed, underwhelmed, and maybe a little frustrated, then I am here to say you are not alone. OMORI--while having the right set pieces for an interesting game--is a narrative mess.

I’m splitting this into two posts. This first post is about problems with the plot. The second is about problems with the message/moral. 

(Note: I use “OMORI” in all-caps for the game title, and “Omori” in title case for the character name.)

Spoilers and criticism below.

Part 1: Plot Writing Lies

There’s a book by Brian McDonald called Invisible Ink which is about how to write a compelling story (you can read this great book online for free here). There’s an explanation of the writing “lie” that I find myself frequently thinking of. A “lie” in this context does not mean something is literally untrue, it means something FEELS untrue, unrealistic, improbable, or unlikely. For example, if a character gets shot in the leg but manages to do parkour, this is a “lie” since it seems unrealistic for that to happen. If a character witnesses their beloved parent’s death and shrugs it off, it’s a “lie” because that reaction seems highly unlikely.

In OMORI, the plot is held together by multiple little lies that--try as I might--I just couldn’t bring myself to believe.

1. Sunny’s friends care about him, and vice versa

A major theme of the game is how friendship can overcome any obstacle. Friendship gets Sunny over his fear of heights, spiders, and water. Friendship is what Sunny remembers before the final boss fight, and allows him to face his guilt and defeat it (and prevent him from committing suicide). With the photobook and dialogue you are reminded over and over and over and over and over again that Sunny’s friends love him unconditionally.

However, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it. The childhood memories are cute but shallow, boiling down to simply hanging out and eating treats. Plus, Kel and Aubrey fight constantly, with Aubrey even physically hitting Kel when he steps out of line. Hero and Mari behave more like babysitters than true friends to the younger kids. 

But at least the other kids interact with each other. Sunny, on the other hand, showed nearly no affection or consideration towards his friends. He floats through the memories like a ghost--he could have been completely absent from all the photos and it would have made little difference. I was ready to accept this as Sunny being an unreliable narrator and not thinking he was a good enough for his friends, but this never contradicted. Instead we are given even more memories where Sunny just silently exists there being “cute.”

[Sunny enriching the lives of his friends by LARPING as a cat.]

Because of the lack of meaningful interactions between them, there was nothing in the game that made me think that these 12-15 year olds would have a strong enough bond that would survive 3-4 years of no contact after finding their friend hanged. In fact, that discovery only drove them farther apart. The only person who I could believe actually had a close bond was Basil, who almost literally filled that trope of being the friend who would help you bury a body (or in this case, help Sunny cover up the accidental manslaughter).

The writing fix for this would be simple: instead of showing us the same boring birthday and beach scenes over again, give the kids memories of overcoming some age-appropriate adversity together: heartbreak over an unrequited crush, anxiety over homework, sports injury, lost dogs, divorced parents, running away from home, bullying, etc. Set a precedent of the friends supporting each other through good times AND bad times. Without such backstory, Sunny’s friendships allegedly giving him the courage to overcome his guilt feels like a lie.

2. Sunny abandoning Basil in the bathroom scene

One of the most confusing moments in the game was Sunny’s negligence when Basil has his first breakdown in his bathroom. This part of the game is player-controlled, which is a strange writing decision because all you can do is click on Basil and various bathroom amenities over and over which completely saps the urgency out of the scene. When you try to leave, Basil begs Sunny to stay, but (due to a lack of player options) Sunny walks out without a word. With no option to talk to him OR get help for him, it makes Sunny seem exceptionally cruel to Basil. In fact, I was starting to wonder if the game was setting up for some sort of twist that Sunny DIDN’T care about his friends, which would fix some of the confusion in point #1. However, as we know, that is not the case. Therefore, Sunny’s negligence/apathy towards Basil’s pain feels like a lie.

The writing fix would be to make it MORE clear that Sunny is intentionally running away from Basil. Make it a cutscene, or, give a false choice such as “Leave Basil? Yes / Yes”. After Sunny leaves, Kel should make some remark about Sunny looking odd, “You look sort of shaken up, is there something you want to tell me?” then hit it home with Sunny shaking his head. This would make it more clear that Sunny is intentionally hiding Basil’s state, as opposed to just being a bad friend. As it stands, it just felt like a writing mistake.

3. Basil and Sunny working together to stage Mari’s death as a suicide

This is the plot hole that I see the most complaints over, but it’s so big I have to address it. Accidentally pushing Mari down the stairs I understand, but the rest is too absurd. Below are some of the “lies” that the writing tries to get away with:

That Sunny and Basil wouldn’t just claim she slipped and fell.

That either boy would even come up with this sick plan.

That they wouldn’t back out of this idea during the multi-step process (carrying her downstairs, outside, getting the jump rope, tying a noose, putting it around her neck, stringing her up, hiding the evidence... This is a series of multiple decisions, not one quick accident like the initial push.)

That it’s not the image of Mari’s death that traumatized Sunny, but the image of what they chose to do to her body that traumatized them. I understand the image of Mari hanging is more dramatic, but they literally did it themselves so why is that more haunting than Sunny killing her?

That Mari’s true cause of death wouldn’t be immediately obvious to the parents, the police, the friends, EVERYONE. (I’ve seen fans try to get rid of this plot hole by hypothesizing that the parents knew and covered it up, but the evidence of this is circumstantial at best. The father saying, “You’re not my son,” is unreliable since it happens in Sunny’s headspace. Divorce is common after the death of a child, and, at the very least, Sunny’s mom doesn’t show any evidence of knowing what happened. The way it is written, only Sunny and Basil know the truth.)

The ridiculousness of this twist is so extreme that it completely broke any immersion I had left. Frankly, the reveal that the happy, loveable Mari committed suicide is a far heavier and more realistic twist than a crazy murder-cover-up story is.

Additionally, it seems like Basil was only written into this scene in order to make Sunny the true victim of what happened. After all, Sunny may have pushed her, but it was Basil who came up with the demented cover up. (This is apparent from just the photos but the datamined Truth Album confirms it.) By having Basil come up with the plan, the game splits the guilt between the two of them to make the kids easier to sympathize with. It’s problematic because if Basil was not in the scene, there would be no way to justify what Sunny did to Mari. So why is what they did easier to accept when they worked together?

Fixing the writing lie: Sunny lies and says that Mari slipped. Remove Basil from the scene, and instead have Sunny confide in Basil which forces Basil to become a co-conspirator and burdens him with the terrible truth.

4. Sunny’s friends forgiving him and Basil for what they did to Mari

Last but not least, the story heavily implies that Hero, Kel, and Aubrey will forgive Basil and Sunny for what they did to Mari. I found this to be almost as unbelievable as the staged-suicide stunt.

It feels like a lie since the group’s friendship is never established as anything beyond shallow hang outs from 3+ years ago (see point #1).

It feels like a lie because this is hot off the heels of Aubrey being so distraught over Mari and the following fall out that in the last three days she 1.) attacked Sunny and Kel with a nail bat TWICE, 2.) Stole Basil’s photobook, and 3.) Shoved Basil in the lake. This trauma is still very fresh for her.

It feels like a lie because the complexity of the staged-suicide is so extreme, one would be hard pressed to forgive ANYONE for doing that, be it friend, foe, parent, sibling, lover, etc.

I’ve seen fans argue that the ending is not about forgiveness, it’s about telling the truth, and I want to believe that. Really. If the ending was about Sunny starting his redemption arc by telling the truth no matter what the consequences are, that would be a meaningful lesson. But the writing does not support that. The ending headspace segments are focused on assuring Sunny that his friends will support/forgive him no matter what. To do this, the game shows us the shallow photobook memories (again) to show how much they allegedly care about each other. Then, when fighting Omori, Sunny remembers these quotes from his friends, which directly correlate to their unconditional support:

KEL: Friends... Friends are supposed to be there for each other.

AUBREY: I hope you can find some peace... or you know... some happiness.

HERO: We made the mistake of leaving each other when we needed each other the most. This time... we’ll stay together.

BASIL: Maybe one day... things can go back to the way they were before.

The really direct evidence that this ending is about getting forgiveness is this quote from Basil in Sunny’s headspace:

[BASIL: “AUBREY, KEL and HERO are good friends. You have to trust that they’ll forgive us.”]

This is one of the last scenes before Sunny tells his friends the truth, proving that obtaining forgiveness from his FRIENDS is in fact the leading motivation for Sunny’s actions.

Fixing this writing lie is easy. Instead, adjust the writing to be about telling the truth, not about how much the friends will still love Sunny. Have headspace Basil say, “Even if they don’t forgive us, Aubrey, Kel, and Hero deserve to know the truth. It’s the only way to make things right... or close to it.”

Conclusion

OMORI is undeniably a cute game with a strong visual identity, and has a premise that could make for a very compelling experience. However, the sloppy plot and weak character writing cause the potential of this game to be squandered. There are other issues as well that I chose not to cover for the sake of time, such as the poor pacing of the dragged out dungeons and the bizarre, unrealistic behavior of characters in the “real” world. 

However, there are a few more glaring problems with OMORI that I have to address: In part 2 of my critique, I break down what may be the biggest problem with OMORI’s writing: the message.

[ Link to Part 2: OMORI’s Message is Mishandled and Distasteful ]

[woodchipp]

@siezult

Alright, so.

Why did Basil show up? Because this is a dramatic scene and the drama genre relies on inconveniences to make the situation worse for the characters and progress the plot. Yeah it is convenient, but thats kinda the point?

It's one thing when the situation is made worse via a believable circumstance that is, even if it's slightly improbable, is explained by the story itself. I can suspend my disbelief then. It is, however, very different when the situation is made worse via a random occurence that's not only highly improbable, but is left entirely unexplained. In the latter case, it's usually bad writing.

Contrived coincidences are not inherently a bad trope. Tropes are tools, after all. There's a reason said trope is mostly used in comedies, though - make a coincidence too contrived in any other genre, and the story intended to be serious will become farce instead.

If you want an in-universe reason, Basil’s parents arent there to drive him to the ceremony, so he decides to stay at sunny’s house the night before so they can take him there.

There is no proof of this in the game.

I wouldn’t say she “didn’t tolerate mistakes”

I never said that either.

I wouldn’t say its out of character for her to react that way because its perfectly human to react negatively when annoyed, especially when its about something she really cares about like her music. I think it shows more of her character that she isn’t perfect all the time and will sometimes have a bad side.

My point was that her 'bad side" is only relevant to the story when it's needed to give Sunny a reason to lash out at her. It has no bearing on her character otherwise. I've said as such in the post.

Finally, why are you insinuating that Sunny is this awful person?

Because I have proof he is.

Like, yes, his accident was awful, and he shouldn’t have lied to everyone, but at the same time, he was fucking 12. A mortified 12-year old scared shitless of what will happen to him after people find out about his manslaughter will obviously make dumb decisions; he clearly wasn’t thinking straight at the time and was just doing what he got told would “fix” the situation.

Honestly, I'm sick of this argument. I've seen it so many times it's not even funny at this point.

1) You're talking about Sunny as if you are defending a real kid. He is a fictional character whose decisions have been predetermined by an adult writer, and thus I will judge said decisions accordingly.

2) "He's 12" removes Sunny's agency as a character - by your logic and the logic of essentially everyone using this argument, he can't be held responsible for anything bad he ever does for the sole reason of being a stupid kid. A 12 yo may be immature, impulsive and inexperienced, but not necessarily stupid.

3) A "mortified" 12-year-old who "wasn't thinking straight at the time" would not feel "at peace" upon seeing his sister's hanged body.

If anything you should be mad at Basil for making the decision to lie and dragging Sunny in on it.

1) Basil wouldn't have needed to lie if it wasn't for Sunny fucking up in the first place lmao

2) It's true Basil created the lie, but it was Sunny who chose to uphold it.

I think being a depressed, suicidal, possibly anorexic shut-in for 4 years is quite a punishment.

An entirely internal and self-inflicted one, yes. My point was that he suffers no external consequences (e.g. his friends leaving him since they're pissed at him), and the canonical state of the group after the confession is left ambiguous.

I'm not going to feel bad for an asshole whose only remarkable trait is feeling bad for himself all the time without ever doing much.

it’s implied Sunny’s parents knew, and was the reasoning for his dad leaving.

Source that isn't a single contextless quote in Black Space 2?

If his parents actually knew the truth all along, they woukd've been a lot more relevant to the game's plot. As it is, it's more likely the father left because the suicide of his daughter destroyed the marriage.

him “conveniently skipping town” wasn’t his choice. He didn’t intend to avoid repercussions by moving

That's why the word "conveniently" is there - it's true it wasn't his choice to move, but it still reads as a convenient way for the story to let him off the hook.

him moving was the catalyst for the games events as its when sunny decides to tell his friends the truth and give them closure, meaning Sunny is well aware that his friends would likely hate him, but thinks it would be for the better for them to know.

1) Source?

2) This implies Sunny would've been perfectly content to continue upholding Basil's lie were it not for external circumstances forcing him to come clean.

3) Given that Sunny wants to come clean purely for his own peace of mind, this also implies Sunny doesn't decide to reveal the truth out of a genuine desire to make things right - he wants to do it just because he has a deadline and he needs to get his weight off his shoulders while he still has the time.

[suigintou811]

I was thinking on an Omari au and I took my own take on it. I swapped everyone’s roles, these are who I swapped with who:

mari and sunny, aubrey and kel, hero and basil. these are the backgrounds for them that I came up with:

omari/Mari: instead of Mari falling down the stairs, it was sunny(obviously) and this caused their parents to split up and she now lives with her father(sunny and Mar’s mom ended up leaving) mari ended up become a shut in and stopped going to school this caused her to be held back a year and unable to go to college yet. she has three days left until she leaves faraway and move into the city. She mostly spends time in white space with basil, Aubrey, and kel on the search for Hero, with Sunny as a helpful guide. However that doesn’t stop the truth and the guilt that will soon consume her thoughts and whether she’ll succumb or not.

sunny: sunny died on the day of the recital and has taken the form of something and haunts mari and hero. His cover up death is different than what sunny and basil did to cover up mari’s death so that a bit of a mystery.

hero: has a personal cook book where he writes different types of recipes. Some has his most favorite deserts, dishes, and cuisines. When sunny died, hero was the one to help mari cover up his true death. After his death, mari became a shut in, which left hero feeling unmotivated, depressed, and guilty. He soon become a shut in, his school grades dropped, and was held back a year as well. His parents have become increasingly concerned for him and try to motivate him again but with no progress.

Aubrey: after sunny’s death, Aubrey at first, was going down the wrong path since her dad left her and her mom’s life falling apart. she soon had a talk with the school counselor telling her that these choices she was making weren’t very healthy for her mental state. Aubrey thought of these words as she realized that she has been making poor choices for herself. she decided to join clubs with healthy environments for her to stay positive. she even convinced her mom to get the help she needs. things have been looking up for aubrey, but she still feels upset her whole group fell apart since sunny’s death, she has been trying to getting in contact with them but only basil is the only one she can reach, and has kept close tabs with him. kel on the other hand, he was another story.

Basil: Basil is barely at faraway town that much after sunny’s death. he attended a private school where he has to live there for the school year and come back during holidays of summer break. Basil feels like he’s a coward because he feels like he’s running away from his problems. Private school keeps him away from his grandma who sick and the mention of his best friend‘s death Sunny. Basil really liked sunny(yes the sunnflower ship don’t judge) and sunny seemed to share mutual feelings, but basil barely had the chance to tell him and sunny abruptly met his end. he has been keeping in close touch with Aubrey but hasn’t heard anything from mari, hero, and kel. He’d always wish they they would call him but nothing. Lately he‘s been calling aubrey saying he’ll be at faraway this week.

Kel: when sunny died kel didn’t know how to respond. It was a horrible accident and he wanted to stay strong for sunny even in death. kel began to feel frustrated that mari, basil, and Aubrey would just completely forget about kel, hero, and sunny. He felt worried for hero when he shut himself in. When he went to help, his parents told him to let them deal with hero and that this didn’t involve him. Kel began to get angry. He felt abandoned, useless, and unloved. He began to be hateful towards everyone that abandoned him, hero and especially sunny. He started being rude and hateful towards everyone, even to those who tried to help him and his parents. there were times where he barely comes home and his parents get worried sick. Especially since kel is starting to hang with the wrong crowd.

[sunnysviolin]

High school Sunny enthusiast here! Would you mind sharing a couple more headcanons about it? I’m so glad you’ll be able to teach again this fall, you totally deserve to develop your passion at full potential 👏🏻

Am I showing up after forever of being gone? Yeahhhhh Sorry y’all got the brain sads lol but!! I’m back w one of my favorite little universes! I actually had a meeting for our teacher prep program on Thursday which is so exciting!! We’re being assigned our working teachers sometime this month which is insane to me.....Anyway today I’m gonna clean and write!! Take some headcanons nonnie you helped to make me feel inspired again!

This ended up being more Sunny and his Mom than Sunny and high school, but it gets there!! So Sunny’s mom used to make him and Mari bag lunches almost every day. The only day she didn’t was on Fridays, because those were pizza days, and she knew pizza was Sunny’s favorite

She made their lunches the night before and they sat on the back right corner of the fridge. She liked to keep it pretty standard- usually a sandwich (or leftovers from their dinner), a snack, a piece of fruit, and some sort of dessert. Sunny used to sit at the kitchen counter and watch her make their lunches right before he went to bed. 

It was one of the special things that was him and his mom. He got to choose what they had for a snack, what piece of fruit the two of them had, even what went in their sandwiches. He was the one that chose Caprisun or water bottle. He got to help his mom write a little note for Mari to read on a sticky note when she ate her food the next day at school. 

It started as a practical thing (Sunny was such a picky eater, it was best that he decided what they ate so he would actually eat his food) but then it was just their tradition

Sunny was never talkative per say, but during this routine of theirs Sunny’s mom could ask him about his day or his friends, and Sunny would do more than nod or shake his head.

After Mari died, after her husband left, they didn’t need bag lunches anymore. Sunny didn’t go to school, and Mari couldn’t. Sunny wouldn’t speak, not even his infuriatingly endearing head nods and shakes. He just slept. All day long. 

But after they move, after those last three days where she left him alone, something changes. At first his mother is furious with herself. She left him alone and he ended up in the hospital, how could she do that? How could she do that to her last living baby? But Sunny is changed, and not in the bad way. He’s getting up, he’s going out, he’s even seeing his friends.

She had been treating him like her baby again. She had thought that’s what he needed. He needed someone to cuddle him close and tell him he was loved. He had needed someone to make excuses, to let him sleep and process. He had needed to be in the house where he was safe and not out in the world where he could get hurt. He needed his mommy

But....maybe that had been what she needed. 

Admitting you got it wrong as a parent is not easy. It gets swallowed down like medicine and lemon rinds. It bubbles in the stomach and leaves you nauseous and unsettled. But seeing her son growing in front of her, seeing the shell she had left him in beginning to crumble shows her that yes. She did get it wrong. She had let them both stagnate.

When he tells her he wants to go back to school, she cries. She cries a lot. He is clearly very uncomfortable, but Sunny’s mother holds him tightly and cries. She calls the local high school that day and tries to explain their situation. Sunny had been doing some online classes over the last four years, but his grades were abysmal, and his mother is pretty sure he hadn’t learned a thing. 

The school agrees to take on Sunny, but they put him in a grade below his own. He will graduate a year late, but he will for sure graduate. That they promise her. His last school just let him fall by the wayside. This school is already planning out special practices just for him. Sunny’s mother settles the fear in her. Her boy will be looked after this time. 

They are worried about his socialization and ask if there’s any hobbies he has. She can only think of blank stares and sleeping, but she tries to remember the quiet sweet boy her son used to be. She remembers endless sketchbooks and colored pencils, and the oh so perfect melody of her children together. On a whim she enrolls him in Orchestra and Art with assurances that if he doesn’t like them he can switch them out.

The night before his first day of school, she walks into the kitchen and beckons him to follow her. They don’t have a bar counter space for him to sit at anymore, but Sunny hops up next to the fridge. Normally she would scold him for doing this, but she just asks what kind of fruit he wants. 

He tells her peaches, and she carefully carves them into perfect slices the way her mother used to do for her. She and Sunny begin their traditions once more. 

Sunny goes back to school and it is not easy. She doesn’t make it easy. Not on him, not on his teachers, and not on the administration. She calls at least three times a week, telling them that it’s too much. They tell her to back off, to let him stumble. It’s terrifying to do that. It’s worse than any fear to let her child fall and hurt himself. But she does. She does because she’s seen the changes since she left him alone those days in the beginning of the summer. 

One full semester is what the administration asks of her. Just two quarters for him to find his footing without her influence. They will reconvene over winter break to make adjustments, but she needs to let him fail if that’s what’s going to happen. He needs a mother, not a mommy. They don’t know the knife they’ve twisted when they say those words, but that knife is exactly what she needed. She agrees.

Sunny struggles to adjust but he does. His failed tests and missed classes slowly disappear one by one. He brings home a practice violin she did not buy from him, and he plays when he thinks she’s asleep. It’s quiet and unsure, but the music is there. 

He invites her to his concert. She does not hug him and cry again, even though she wants to. He isn’t a baby, he doesn’t need her to fawn over him. She agrees to come, and secretly begins to covert with Kel’s mother. 

She waits outside Sunny’s school for them all to arrive. Hero has come home from college for a long weekend for this. She greets each of them with a firm hug, something she hasn’t done in years. Even Basil, although he seems slightly terrified of her. They sit together in the audience and watch Sunny perform. 

She cries as she watches him. She doesn’t recognize this boy. This is not her baby, not the same child she loved and then lost alongside his sister. He’s changed, someone new is on that stage performing, someone for her to discover and love. 

She had been so afraid of this, so scared for that change, so sure it would only end in another dead child. Now there’s a teenager, not a child in front of her. He’s not so tall and not so strong, but he is alive and real right in front of her, and she is growing. 

She can finally start to let herself be his mother. 

[stray-tori]

omori’s twist | thoughts

// i mention firewatch towards the end, which might give vague spoilers about it in context

I just read an interesting opinion from someone who thought omori was ruined by the twist because it made their empathy towards what they thought was the main struggle (”innocent” grief, I guess) go away.

I found that interesting because to me, as soon as you know Mari is dead and pick up on the hints like hangman, the nose/lamp thing over the musical notes, etc. it already sort of drifted over into a bit of guilt... I mean... anyone would feel guilty about not noticing that level of sadness in someone, right?

And then there’s the broken violin too. Things feel odd and sus, you (... read: I) wonder if something happened BETWEEN them, because it’s his violin as we find out in the photo album, but Basil says “Mari” when he sees the broken violin.

Hands symbolize Omori’s fear of heights (the stairs, as becomes clear later, the way it alone recontextualizes this as not JUST fear of heights which is initially assumed is just... amazing) which made me personally go “huh” - was he pushed? His violin was at the bottom, right?

I look up “Omori” in google translate and find “to kill” and later “weight”. The strange obsession with knives. the clearly messy art in Omori’s sketchbook in whitespace.  Basi seems uncomfortable, if not downright scared. I start to wonder: did we [Sunny] do something? Are we mentally that broken/unstable?

But no, it couldn’t be. because he seems genuinely terrified of his fears and is clearly struggling.

Maybe split personality though...?

And it seemed odd to me that Mari would do it on that tree that stands there openly. it seemed weird to me because i didn’t picture her as someone who would do it that openly, personally.

But in the end, I was close. But not quite. And that’s what I loved. And it’s... heartbreaking. But not surprising? Because to me, the game always felt kind of... sus. For the lack of a better word.

In fact, I feel like it only amplified a lot of the parts. It amplified the fear and the self-hatred. It amplified the tragedy. It gives Omori’s accusations more weight... he did kill her (and not just in the whole “she did it bc of you” stick which is ALSO tragic, but I think there’s a lot more PAIN in it when the autonomy of the person in question - Mari - is COMPLETELY removed) and yet, I do not want any of them to suffer anymore. It’s terrible, yes, it’s a fuckup, it’s TERRIBLE because nothing will ever bring Mari back; but I just wanna wrap them up in a blanket and just... hope that everything will be somehow okay in the end.

And I feel that‘s what it comes down to for me. It isn’t some big underlying feelings that went unnoticed, it’s not something that anyone wanted to happen - not even Mari - and that just... makes it so much more heartbreaking to me.

I like that it isn’t just black and white. Of course you could have had circumstances around Mari, that Sunny blames himself for, be what leads to her doing that, but .... I feel that wouldn’t have hit as hard for me perfectly because suicide still gives a bit of... control? I suppose. An accident doesn’t. It’s something that just happens. But at the same time, to me, it gives so much more ground to the guilt.

I’m just going in circles, but something about accidental deaths in particular just gets to me so hard.

I think it reminded me of Firewatch in that aspect, actually, a game that also made me incredibly sad. I think Firewatch does a pretty good job of being meta in how we as humans always suspect or assume intent or big things/revelations. We want a REASON for things to happen. I remember specifically thinking of the music that played and it reminding me of when you see the thing in the cave in firewatch. it’s probably not real, but it reminded me of that.

I’ll stop rambling now, but basically I have feelings and teared up writing this. I don’t think a suicide - especially so quickly revealed as it is in the game -, as sad as it is , would have gotten me this emotional tbh.