#so far i like aubrey and basils stories

[clearlykelsey]

If you want, i really like your au so far,

And I'm all ears to hear about it!!

🍊

Is this a good time to answer an ask? No! I have a headache, my body hurts, and I just read Limbo! Did it fuel my need for torturing these poor fictional souls? Of course it did.

lets uh break this apart or itll cover all my stuff

WARNING: long yap. im not joking. no one is reading this im crying why did i make it so long its just filler :(

welcome to KELSEY YAPS ABOUT AN AU TWO PEOPLE CARE ABOUT!!!

WELLWELLWELL heres an opportunity for me to yap! the uhm. the problem is i have sosososo much stuff that kind of relies on symbolism but it wont be very obvious like uh the headspace im planning out yk. and even if no one will i do want to give people the torture of having to interpret things (cough i hate doing that because i SUCK at it. i srsly cannot watch smth like alnst without looking at the comments because i cant understand its too fast) soooo... i guess i can give away the general idea!

So... The real world. The story. Everything... Sunny. As my posts have been scattered and i prob wont need a masterpost of sunless au bc its not really that important or big, it may have not been clear that:

hes dead guys!! in a ditch!!! his mood was soooo down hes now six feet under! will i specify how he died? Heck no! is it more than obvious?... maybe? i forgot what i already talked about anyway. So, one thing i GUESS is important is:

Mari is alive! Yay! The one character i find hard to write and understand is alive what have i done to myself i'm so screwed.

the day was uhm. uhm. *checks notes* theres nothing about it. lets say uhh July 19th yes. yes. yes. im going to have to write that down

Now, now, deaths have to be tragic, so there HAS to be some fucked up reason he died right? accident? whatever? who knows! this is so very disorganized. i didnt plan on what im writing im just saying it outta the top of my head

uhm uhm DETAILS! DETAILS!!!!

This is my world, therefore my headcanons are very canon. so!

Sunny is genderfluid and very bi! The second one wont be really important.

Kel is. Transman! And gay. both are important

and thats all details that are relevant cuz the rest its just me wanting to have smth to draw and go wow! look! canon! in my au

Uhmmm thats all im risking to say for now and i just noticed im just repeating stuff. :(

as you all know i heart hero omori so

HERO!!!! my man! what an ass. hes an ass.

So... From that one drawing i made of sunless kel that i might put the link of here later i do talk about sunless au in general and do mention hero in a not-so-positive light. thats not Kel being a bitch, because he does have reason! surprisingly. considering im the guy who keeps thinking about them being best bros and being like "hi kel" "hi bro" "how ur day" "good hbu" "good" *hugs* "love u bro" "love u too bro" or whatever i think of i just really like them and wish i had someone like hero to hug meBACK TO THE POINT. He is... Not very nice. To Kel, at least. "But kelsey, how could hero omori the best boy in the world be an ass to his little brother?" i hear you (not) ask. for that i say. stress! sunny! dead! Let's go over this a little.

Basil -> Sunny's best friend

Aubrey -> Sunny's crush, I do like making them close as children like. doing stuff together and all? i never thought of them a lot but yeah

Mari -> Sunny's, well, big sister. duh.

Kel -> i. pardon me cactiflower or baseball bat or whatever else shippers because im MAKING SUNTAN CANON :DDDD not really because they were like 13 but Kel did have a little crush, I'd say! He was just very oblivious to it and assumed he wanted to be Sunny's number 1 best friend. Was it one sided? We'll never know!

Hero -> Sunny's big brother figure, yes!

With all of this in mind, the ones who will be least affected by his death would be Aubrey and/or Hero. As the big brother of the group and Mari's beloved, let's say he tried to take it in his own hands to try to help everyone cope in the best way possible! Comforting, letting them vent, everything! Of course, he wouldn't exclude Kel. That'd be stupid. Kel did the same, or tried to. Thinking about Sunny made his head hurt now, so why not look for a brighter future? He doesn't feel THAT bad! He doesn't have to worry Hero. He can stay out of it to give his brother less trouble.

He can find another way to cope. Everyone is so sad, he won't burden them with any of his own sorrows. Why would he? He's fine. He feels fine. He won't leave, he knows he won't be selfish and leave them behind, so he can do his own thing because trying to help them isnt working.

Even if bottling it up makes his head hurt.

Even if bottling it up makes it harder to think.

Even if the stress on his brother and himself made them prone to arguments.

Lashing out, arguing, yelling, heck, sometimes it did feel good to lock the other out of the room a little because he wouldnt stop nagging him to do things, cant he see he's tired? He told Hero already, right? They talked about it? Surely it's obvious. He can't remember. Eh, they probably did. Who cares. Everyone is just so loud and they keep nagging Kel. So annoying. So annoying.

[dannybobany]

Good god it’s been awhile, but at last my dearest Omori Marzenie returns !!

after all these years I finally drew alter boy!! Gosh, that leaves only the as of now unnamed Aubrey monster for the main four-

Design detail ramble ⬇️

Okay okay, flower meaning time guys

So Kel had me a little confused at first since ‘cactus’ is incredibly vague, Basil never specifies what type of cactus he’s talking about but it was surprisingly easy to find the right match-

This is the adorably named strawberry hedgehog cactus, representing resilience and the ability to thrive in harsh conditions- a perfect match to its omori counterpart and most likely the type of cactus Basil would’ve initially been talking about when explaining its meaning, it’s also a good visual match by its signature pink flowers

But that’s just canon, what about those flowers on his sleeves? Well this is where I got a bit silly because those there are anemones, which can mean a lot of things but in this case represent abandonment, which is relevant to what alter boy himself is representing in Marzenie

Kel and Basil have a very awkward relationship, Kel is kind of trying really hard to ignore Basil in the nicest way he can- he isn’t really meaning to do this, he just… doesn’t know what to DO with Basil, Basil won’t laugh at his jokes aside from the occasional very obviously forced chuckle, Basil can’t hold a conversation with him anymore, they just stand there making awkward chitchat smiling at each other in an increasingly uncomfortable manner

So when they do talk, which is rarely, it largely consists of Kel going on for a few minutes about things that have happened to him recently… which are usually accomplishments, which make Basil feel like shit in comparison-

Thus, alter boy, he’s like a less pronounced reflection- there’s still that element of shame where Basil feels worse about himself because of how he views Kel, but there’s something else too… a little bit of mockery, obviously Kel has never done that, but to Basil, being bombarded by stories of all his friends accomplishments, how much better his life is when Basil is barely in it? It hits him like an insult, like mockery

Which leaves alterboy as this… passively antagonistic character, whenever spoken too he only tells Marze how futile everything he’s doing is and saying out loud every harsh truth about the situation, throwing it all in Marze’s face for him to dwell on

This is one of those times where Basil is taking things as being far worse the they are, not that he can help it, but that’s what’s happening

[ask-postcrash-curly]

STARDUST!!! Little Nightmares III is releasing in five days! Oh my stars, I was doing a whole monologue about videogame characters and I saw that LN III is releasing in June, 24th!!!

I am trying so hard not to scream in happiness, since you don’t like loud noises — who does? — but, goodness, I am smiling like an idiot right now. I could tell you the entire lore of Little Nightmares! Like the chronological order of the games and comics: Very Little Nightmares, then the online comics (showing how Mono escaped and how Six was captured by The Hunter,) then Little Nightmares II, then the comics, then Little Nightmares I… The comics and Little Nightmares I happen simultaneously, I guess. I don’t know when The Sounds of Nightmares happen, though. Oh, well!

And yeah, I am a Six apologist. My girl did nothing (she did some things wrong, BUT SHE IS NINE) wrong and I could make a whole essay of why, as I usually do when I get too focused. I get so focused, actually, that my mother jokes I become a lawyer for fictional characters (Homura Akemi, Sayaka Miki, Lisa Armstrong, Buddy Armstrong, Berdly, Diane Nguyen, Mabel Pines, Ashley Graves and yes you heard that right, Princess Bubblegum, Bea Santello, Aubrey, Basil, Sunny, Chara Dreemurr, Lars Barriga, Monika, Yuri, Natsuki, Ash Campbell, three will be possibly blocked by the third party and there are some more but that’s SU spoilers.) And that is just a small number, I am really protective of more “hated,” controversial or just misunderstood characters of the media I like. The only fandoms that is very chill and understanding thus far are “In Stars and Time” and “The Post-Traumatic Manifesto.”

It’s just like how I happen to love crows, rats, dandelions. They deserve to exist, they also deserve love. It is an Isabeau-level bad analogy, but I think I got the point across? Because, sometimes, it is just bad character interpretation — the very creators of LN, for example, said (paraphrasing) on Twitter, that “[we] know more of the pain Mono caused Six than [we] think” when someone commented on how escapism is such a big theme in Little Nightmares II.

Long story short, I am just so over-excited to see Little Nightmares III!!! I’ve been waiting for a LN sequel for years. I feel like I am getting spoiled this month.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, but I bought MANY pins for Pride; aroace pride, non-binary pride, disabled pride, mad pride. I’ve always wanted all of these!

Sorry for talking about myself so much, stardust, and getting so… random? Maybe heated. Just wanted to tell you the LN news and began to ramble because I hate when the nuance of characters is taken from them. And I get giddy too easily if it is something I really, really like!

Anyways, don’t forget we love you. We will play all of these games together once you’re recovered. Oh, I almost forgot my music cue.

https://youtu.be/pkcJEvMcnEg?si=7PMA1FIcV5zZBzX0

I would have sent WeevilDoing’s “Hazy Skyscraper” cover if it didn’t have spoilers for the anime, “Wonder Egg Priority.” It’s not like you will watch it, but still. … I will ponder whether or not I send you the cover…

Still, don’t ever forget, you are loved.

- Lumi. <3

Ah— Congratulations, I think!

Much appreciated!

Ah, Lumi... I never know what you're talking about. Hahah. Still, nice to hear your passion.

...Who hates crows and dandelions?? Admittedly, I've met people who hate rats, but crows??

I've told you I don't mind you talking about yourself over and over, yeah? Don't apologize for that of all things.

Hey, this is Nirvana, yeah? Great band there. Thanks!

As if you'd let me! Talk soon.

[omori-aus-archive]

Resurrected/Ghost/Angel Mari AU reboot

So, this is a reboot idea of my "By Your Side, Always" AU that’s been bugging me for a while. This won't be written until I feel motivated enough to do so. But this is the outline I have made so far (everything is subject to change).

Mari Forms and Nicknames

Mari’s void/essence form: “Primordial Truth”

Human: “Truth Given Flesh”

Spirit: "Truth Since Expired"

Angel: “Truth Given Wings”

Broken Angel: “Truth Tainted By Guilt”

Fallen Archangel: “Truth Ignited By Fury”

Guardian Angel: “Truth That Protects”

Goddess: "Mari No Okami (Goddess Of Truth)/Mari No Mikoto (The Great Truth)/Yami O Terasu Mari or Shinri (The Truth That Illuminates The Darkness)"

What If/Non-canon Forms

Oni: “Truth Molded By Vengeance”

Half-Dragon: "Beastly/Animalistic Truth"

Antagonist Forms

HellMari/The Grudge would simply be “The Lie”. This extends to her possession of Mari's corpse ("The Lie Given Flesh") and her monster form ("The Monstrous Lie/The All-Consuming Lie").

Synopsis is under the line, due to length.

Year 1

Part 1 (Return Arc)

Mari returns to Earth with little memory of what happened in the afterlife, outside of her guilt for the events leading up to the accident and feeling nothing but forgiveness for Sunny.

Mari is NOT aware of how Sunny and Basil falsified her death. Chances are that I might make Sunny too distraught to let that happen at all.

Mari is confronted by her own emotions and the Goddess, who help her expel her perfectionism and the accumulated malice she got when Hell used her as their agent of vengeance.

Here is where Mari experiments with her appearance and has fun appreciating her new sense of freedom.

Mari checks on everyone as much as she can. For the time being, she is only able to notice Hero's depression, Kel's helplessness, and Artist struggling to be happy.

Mari gets Sunny to notice her deliberately, leading to lots of hugs and tears. There's no apology here, as Mari's main focus is to remind Sunny just how much she cares about him.

Mari helps Sunny with school and encounters HellMari in the background here.

Part 2 (Connection Arc)

Mari makes contact with Artist on accident while she's babysitting Sunny. Artist and Mari let their emotions out for the first time in a while. Same story as the initial chapter.

Mari might try to convince Sunny to make contact with one of their friends and/or Mari tries to make a deliberate attempt to make contact with the Baker twins. Not sure.

Mari gets Sunny to introduce himself to Angel and Mikhael, which helps them as they all share similar backgrounds (especially in Mikhael's case, since the twins likely have a similar upbringing to Mari's).

Mari ultimately finds out about Basil's mental issues forming and what's happening with Aubrey…. And she is PISSED with what's happening. Mari's Fallen Archangel form makes its first appearance, before she forcibly quells it.

The Goddess makes herself known to Sunny and Mari's friends, explaining why Mari's back. This motivates Artist and the twins to be more active in Sunny and Mari's lives.

Mari ultimately begins remembering things and talks to Sunny and Artist about it. She only remembers everything right before meeting her malicious counterparts. She and Sunny apologize to each other privately, which unintentionally triggers more memories in Mari…which continues to motivate her.

Mari once again encounters HellMari in the background, who goads her in using her Fallen Archangel form more willingly.

Year 2

Part 1 (Headspace Arc)

Mari notices Sunny struggling in his sleep and ultimately chooses to enter his mind in an attempt to help. She soon notices Headspace and either possesses HS Mari or creates a HS version of her to blend in.

Mari eventually encounters Omori and the HS crew. She is caught off-guard by how the HS counterparts act compared to the real deal…. And she kinda hates it.

With Omori and crew not present currently, Mari makes the decision to explore. She stumbles across Shattered Omori, who noticeably behaves much healthier than Omori, and lets him guide her and explain what's happening.

Shattered Omori brings Mari to Black Space, which disturbs her greatly, given the circumstances of her death. He introduces the Guardians, which Mari immediately recognizes. They then bring her to the Branch Coral and convince her to eat it to show just how bad things are getting for Sunny's mental wellbeing.

Depending on if Mari possesses her counterpart, the two would have a scuffle. Mari is determined to save Sunny, no matter what. HS Mari wants to continue existing with the HS crew and Omori, despite knowing that the Omori she knows is doing more harm than good.

On the other hand, if Mari only makes an HS counterpart of herself, she will instead request advice from the Guardians on what should happen to Headspace. Ultimately, depending on if the Guardians get into an argument about the best course of action, Mari will take Shattered Omori with and choose to do the only thing she thinks she can do to help Sunny.

Eventually, Mari encounters Omori to thwart his actions. Mari easily becomes the victor and helps Shattered Omori take his place back as Sunny's healthy conscious.

Part 2 (Loss Arc)

As for this, really the only thing that I can do here is have Mari come to terms that Mewo is not long for the world. This would have her struggling, as she can't save her beloved kitten from illness.

Sunny would also be broken up, as he feels like he's reliving Mari's death.

Mewo would become a ghost and be attached to Mari and Sunny, always with them and following them.

Eventually, Mari and Sunny would learn to accept that some losses can't be avoided. That doesn't mean they have to like it, but it does mean they can accept and recover from it.

Year 3

Part 1 (Conflict Arc)

Mari finally feels comfortable enough to reveal herself to the rest of the group (minus Basil, probably). Of course, there's tears and confusion, but everyone's just grateful to have Mari back in some way.

Mari goes over what she's been dealing with since she died. So the group and her friends have most of the story about what she went through in the afterlife. Not sure if some of the group would feel that Mari's anger is justified or i they'd simply feel sad that she went through that all alone.

HellMari decides to make a direct attack when Mari and Sunny are alone. Mari reveals her Fallen Archangel form to her brother on accident. Not sure if she'd attempt to run in a panic or not, because the Goddess would step in either way.

Mari ultimately struggles even more to control her FA form, only just managing to not let its power be directed at Sunny and instead directing it at a maximum security prison. The Goddess helps out by teaching Mari to control herself.

Mari eventually opens up to Sunny, Artist, and Hero just how fucked things got in the afterlife before being given salvation by Heaven and her good-natured counterparts. Mari eventually reverts to her normal form and cries openly.

Mari's FA emerges once again in the middle of the night and nearly harms Sunny. Mari saves Sunny and finally gains full control of her anger as she reminds herself that her anger is for the benefit of her family, friends, and home.

HellMari, weakened from her skirmishes with Mari, ventures to Hell to get power. The Goddess explains that she has to leave, confident that Mari is capable on doing things without her guidance.

Part 2 (Acceptance Arc)

The group finally focus on trying to help Basil. Though direct attempts are unsuccessful currently. They instead plead for Polly's help and Basil's grandmother.

Through this, progress is slowly made. Sunny and Basil interact with each other for the first time in years, with Sunny apologizing for leaving Basil to fend for himself.

Basil ultimately finds out that Mari's a ghost and panics, before being convinced to relax and hear her out. Mari expresses no ill thoughts towards Basil, despite not understanding his involvement.

Sunny privately makes the choice to explain to Mari how Basil was involved. Mari is not thrilled, of course, but feels that any anger would only make things worse.

Basil finally begins to accept his demons and let go of his struggles. Although the group and his family helped him, it is HE who makes that choice on his own.

And here's where I need to wonder if Sunny should confess his crime. Because I don't know if the other characters would really care what happened at this point.

HellMari returns and possesses Mari's corpse, transforming it into an abomination before setting out to reek havoc.

Year 4

Part 1 (Training Arc)

Mari begins doing proper martial arts training and regular exercising. Anything to help her not lose herself to her anger. Spending time with her loved ones makes her paranoid for their safety.

Mari explains what she's doing to Sunny, Hero, and Artist. Not sure how, but they'd make her take breaks regularly, both for her mental and emotional wellbeing. Mari shows her appreciation through affection, rather than words.

Mari begins willingly tapping into her Fallen Archangel form, slowly able to control it and maintain her sense of self yet again. Mari's more destructive actions come to light, which ironically helps her.

Here's the part where I'm not sure what I should do. I could try to have Mari attempt to communicate with the souls she had involuntarily eaten and attempt to apologize for her actions or I could have her spend time with Kel, Aubrey, and Basil, attempting to try and repair her friendship with Basil. Though she may not succeed in EITHER choice.

Mari begins getting creative with her elemental abilities and forges an odachi, taking lessons on how to properly wield it. She later makes it her preferred means of combat.

Mari and Sunny visit Mari's grave on the anniversary of her death. She can't help but be reminded of her mistakes. She can't help but feel like she was nothing more than an impostor in her own body. And proceeds to destroy her own headstone, metaphorically using it a sign that she has been reborn.

Part 2 (Ascension Arc)

Mari begins to become more powerful, testing herself. She's happy, despite still being dead. She's able to interact with everyone freely, thanks to her power boost. And yet, she's worried.

HellMari reveals herself again, targeting Sunny and Basil and putting them in the hospital. Mari sets out to kill her malicious counterpart, letting her anger explode on purpose.

And here's where things stop being different, the new final battle is still used.

The recovery and aftermath is the same.

The Goddess makes one last appearance to explain details to the group about everything. Despite the goddess alluding it, Mari personally does not believe that she and Sunny are reincarnations of anyone, but hopes that their past-selves are at peace with this.

Mari chooses to keep her godhood a secret from everyone outside of family and closest friends.

Mari only used her godly persona sparingly, as she does NOT want to abuse it and does not really want to be worshiped.

Year 5 (Epilogue Arc)

Nothing much changes from the initial epilogue, outside of minor changes to make it fit.

Mari does convince her goddess mothers to visit every holiday.

Sunny and the group learn more about the other versions of them besides what Mari said. They're happy that there are versions of them that are similar to them.

Sunny feels that there are versions of him who would intentionally hurt Mari…and just like Mari with finding out about her malicious counterparts, that motivates him to make better life choices.

Far future

Not sure how Sunny would die naturally this time, as he's not supernatural here. Though it would still be an illness. Mari's death would still be the same as I initially wrote it.

Outside of that, everything's the same. Mari does get old and more powerful as a result. After Sunny's death though, she ultimately chooses to depart as well, before having one last showdown with HellMari to prove that only Maris who care about Sunny, Hero, and the rest of their loved ones will always prevail and be remembered.

[ryhmus]

MARIQUEST 1

MARI hosts a DnD session...

[MARI is busily setting up a board game on the living room table of the Kel and Hero's house, the others are sat around writing on character sheets.]

HERO; "Hey MARI? Uh, what's up with the wizard hat?"

MARI; "It's for our Spires and Seekers session tonight! Gotta look the part if I'm gonna be a good SM."

HERO; "SM? what's that mean?"

"MARI; "Spire master. It's the person who guides everyone through the game and tells the story. I've been spending weeks with other Hero setting up the narrative so we can play!"

[She proudly shows him a small portion of the script and who was playing]

HERO; "So we got, AUBREY, KEL, OMORI, you, me and..."

STRANGER; "Hello..."

[They turn around to see the shadow standing there in the doorway]

MARI; "Ah STRANGER! you're here...how long have you been standing there?"

STRANGER; "I've just arrived, I apologize for my lateness, Basil and his other counterpart required my assistance in the garden."

AUBREY; "At night?"

STRANGER; "It was a very long day, none of us are built for strength like you or the others are."

MARI; "I see...Well then since you took my invitation, take a seat in the living room and we'll get started soon."

...

One set up later

...

[the dream friends are all sat around the table]

MARI; "Did everyone fill out their character sheets?"

KEL; "Yep! here ya go! I'm gonna be the strongest wizard ever! With my laser beams and missiles this is gonna be a blast!"

AUBREY; "You can't do that! there were no missiles or laser beams back then!"

KEL; "Shows what you know AUBREY! They're magic. You're just jealous your character isn't as cool as mine!"

HERO; "Guys! please don't fight, we haven't even started yet..."

MARI; "STRANGER...this is blank, are you sure you don't want to make a character?"

STRANGER; "I see no reason to pretend to be someone I'm not."

[everyone just stares at him in awkward silence until MARI audibly clears her throat.]

MARI; "We...we can work with this. Okay everybody, are you all ready for a night of adventure?"

KEL; "Aw yeah! let's go!"

AUBREY; "I'm so excited about this! What about you OMORI?"

OMORI; "Mhmm..."

{}{}{}{}{}{}[(START!)]{}{}{}{{}{{{}{

OUR TALE BEGINS IN A SMALL VILLAGE CALLED NOWHERE LAND, FIVE BRAVE ADVENTURERS SET OUT TO DEFEAT AN EVIL SORCERESS WHO THREATENS TO ENSLAVE THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD WITH HER VILE MAGICS...THE FATE OF THE WORLD RESTS ON THESE BRAVE SOULS...

AUBREY, THE FEARLESS BARBARIAN WARRIOR OF THE NORTHERN BUNNY FOLK!

HERO, THE VALIANT KNIGHT-PALADIN OF A FAR AWAY KINGDOM.

STRANGER...THE MYSTERIOUS FAMILIAR OF AN UNKNOWN REALM...

KEL THE WIZARD...A MASTER WIZARD...OF BASKETBALL? OKAY WE'LL JUST GO WITH THAT FOR NOW...

AND OMORI, THE SHADE, SHADOWY AND SILENT ROUGE, QUIET AS THE NIGHT...

THEIR JOURNEY WILL BE LONG AND PERILOUS BUT TOGETHER THEY WILL-

KEL; "Hey hey! er, Sorry to interrupt this early but I really gotta use the bathroom, be right back!"

[KEL sits up and bolts off towards the upstairs.]

AUBREY; "Dang it KEL! couldn't you have gone before we started? Did you have to chug two gallons of soda beforehand?!"

MARI; "Calm down AUBREY it's alright, no need to get worked up over a game. Besides, we just started, so we can wait until he gets back and then continue."

HERO; "In that case, I'll go check on the snacks in the kitchen..."

MARI; "You too HERO? that's fine."

MARI; "So I guess that leaves just us, what do you think little brother?"

OMORI; "Hmm..."

MARI; "Cliff faced as usual, huh? That's okay, I'm just happy that you're here with us tonight instead of sticking to your room."

(One minute of waiting followed by another spent of marching KEL back upstairs to wash his hands)

HERO; "I'm back, the cookies should take a hour or two to bake in the oven. I forgot to ask earlier, how do we play this game again?"

[MARI looked uncertain for a moment]

MARI; "Well...first we've already made characters. You follow the story and when you want to do something in game, all you need to do is roll a dice. You can look at your sheets to see what your skills are if you need to."

...

Now let's begin...

Our adventure begins in the little town of Nowhere where our brave adventurers are resting at the local bar, the bar-maiden comes over and asks-

AUBREY; "I punch KEL in the face."

HERO; "AUBREY..."

MARI; "Are you sure you want to do that?"

AUBREY; "I wanna punch him in his dumb face."

MARI; "...Roll for initiative then."

KEL; "Good luck, you'd have to be really lucky to roll a-

AUBREY "Ooh! a 20...~"

MARI; "AUBREY socks KEL in the face for no reason and sends him flying through a wall. The other taverngoers are visibly upset that their night has just been interrupted."

KEL; "What?! no fair! Well then I hit her back with one of my magic missiles!"

HERO; "Roll the dice bro..."

KEL; "I got a...a 3!? WHAT!?"

MARI; "KEL'S magic missile attack misses completely and blows a hole in the wall, the owner is furious and demands payment for his the property damage.

HERO; "I offer to pay the man the appropriate amount of money to fix his tavern and for our drinks."

MARI; "Roll the dice HERO."

HERO; "Wait, I have to roll the dice to pay for the damages? How is that luck based?"

[MARI scratches her head and looks through the Spires and Seekers guide]

MARI; "According to the playbook, that's the rules...Your luck determines how well it will go."

HERO; "Uh...an 8?"

MARI; "HERO pays the owner of the bar for all the damages but at the cost of all the money you had saved up from your previous adventure.

KEL; "Nice going HERO, you blew all our money!"

AUBREY; "No thanks to you KEL, you're the one who blew a hole in the wall with your dumb missiles!"

KEL; "Y-You hit me first!!"

OMORI; "..."

STRANGER;"That is a very unfortunate start...i hope this gets better soon."

...

Without money the adventurers set out west to seek treasure and fortune elsewhere...Eventually, they come across a warband of orcs escorting a wagon full of plundered treasures but also have several hostages with them as well, what will everyone do?"

KEL; "Shoot a magic missile at them!"

AUBREY; "For once I agree with you, let's fight them!"

HERO; "Why can't we just try and negotiate with the orcs and see if we can talk it with them or lure them away? What if the hostages get hurt?"

STRANGER; "Roll the dice."

KEL; "A 1?...aw nuts."

MARI; "The missile plonks off of the orcs armor and makes them angry, they charge!"

HERO; "I-I uh, er...charm them with my good looks?"

AUBREY; "Roll it."

HERO; "4...Just my luck, of course...Why would I have thought it would work differently this time?"

MARI; The orcs become even more enraged and set their sights on HERO...

STRANGER; "I unleash the shadows to protect my allies!"

[STRANGER rolls the dice, it spins in place before landing]

MARI; "You got a 17..."

MARI; "STRANGER casts a shadow ward around the party and blocks the assault, but it cannot hold for long. What will you do before the ward breaks?"

[OMORI tugs on his sister's sleeve to get her attention]

MARI; "OMORI? you want to tell me something?"

OMORI; (Whispers something into MARI'S ear)

MARI; "Uh, I'm not sure that's even allowed...but okay, just roll the dice little brother, see what you get."

[The monochrome boy picks up the die and drops it on the table. Everyone's eyes going wide as lollipops.]

MARI; "A natural 20...OMORI...slashes through the orcs and utterly and completely decimates them...okay...so, there's a bunch of treasure and the hostages are free, what will you do now?"

KEL; "Magic miss-"

OMORI; "No..."

KEL; "Er...we, take the loot, move on to a safe distance...then I magic missile them."

Everyone; "NO."

KEL; "You're no fun..."

The session goes on through the night with brave adventurers travel through swamps brimming with bandits, to mountain caves filled with ravenous spiders and a haunted castle with a dark curse, The adventurers cleared each encounter with ease and claimed treasures to be shared with all. With KEL the wizard using magic missile every time they came across even the smallest threat, AUBREY picking to fight everything, STRANGER having no clue how anything worked and HERO never being able to do anything in game because of his poor rolls. OMORI always seemed to get perfect twenties every turn by dropping the dice on the table but if something was amiss, no one paid much attention to it for the sake of the game. But soon it came time to bring the game to a temporary close...

MARI; "Oh my goodness! look at the time! it's past midnight! we should really get some sleep for tomorrow!"

KEL; "But...But I just got a cool new sword...Can we keep going just a little longer?"

AUBREY; " Please? I was just about to get my barbarian a new skill too!"

MARI; "Sorry guys, I know you all are really enjoying this, but we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow...Don't want to miss out on the fourth of July celebrations would we?

HERO; "MARI'S right we should all go to bed for the big day."

AUBREY; "Okay MARI good night. KEL, I'm going home."

KEL; "Race you to see who gets to my house first!~"

AUBREY; "You already live here, idiot."

MARI; "Well that was super fun wasn't it? I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did."

HERO; "Heh, even though I never got lucky enough to do anything other than distract things and soak up damage, I had a blast and I'd like to play again sometime."

MARI; "Well I thought you made a pretty good distraction, who could resist such a handsome knight in shining armor?~"

[She winks at him, causing HERO to blush deeply]

HERO; {Blushes deeply} "M-MARI!"

MARI;"Haha! I'm joking! I'm joking! well, how did you like it, STRANGER? OMORI?"

OMORI; (Thumbs up)

STRANGER; "A fulfilling experience...when will we have another one of these 'D and D' sessions?"

MARI; "Maybe next week same time?"

[A burning smell fills the air and a smoke alarm goes off in the kitchen. Upstairs, the sounds of Kel and Hero stirring and a baby crying could be heard]

HERO; "Wait a minute...past midnight?! (*gasp*) Oh no! MY COOKIES ARE BURNING!"

[HERO immediately rushes into the kitchen]

MARI; "Uh oh...Little brother? Why don't you and STRANGER head on back home. HERO and I have to check on the kitchen real quick before it burns down."

HERO; "THE COOKIES ARE ON FIRE!"

MARI; "See you tomorrow!~"

I've never played DnD before don't hurt me...

[woodchipp]

So, I've read the OMORI manga's first chapter.

All in all, it's already an improvement over the game in my eyes.

SPOILERS BELOW.

Things I Liked

The biggest improvement, of course, is that Sunny isn’t locked in a perpetual resting bitch face anymore. He’s appropriately afraid to open the door, shocked to see Basil, aghast at Aubrey calling him a “loser” and terrified of Aubrey herself. And the mention of Mari actually causes him to freak out! Compared to Game!Sunny, it’s quite refreshing to see he seems to have some semblance of a personality here. Now I’m interested to see how Basil’s bathroom breakdown will be handled 🙂

I appreciate that the manga doesn’t fuck around with its plot and cuts straight to the chase. Headspace is boring as hell anyway, and I'd personally take the manga's breakneck pacing over the game's excruciating length. Starting off the very first chapter with Memory Lane’s very last memory was an interesting choice, and it makes a lot of sense given that the violin is the source of all of Sunny’s woes lol

Likewise, I appreciate that Aubrey is violently confrontational right off the bat. At least she’s proving herself to be as unruly as a real delinquent would be lmao. She even calls Sunny out as the coward he is! Her gang is nowhere to be seen so far, which I see as a huge improvement considering they’re barely characters, and I hope they’re excised from the story so that it could focus on Aubrey more 

Basil briefly changing to his Headspace version to reflect Sunny’s tenuous grasp on reality is a great detail. Where was that kind of detail in the source material?

Sunny zoning out into White Space after attacking Aubrey makes sense. I can see why the shock would cause him to dissociate. It also makes sense that Sunny would dream up a playground if he fell unconcsious at the park. That being said…

Things I Disliked

…the way Headspace is introduced is still rather haphazard. I'm not sure why the chapter ends where Headspace began in the game. Unless the Headspace segments are much shorter here, I'm afraid it'll be just as much of a tumor on the plot as it was in the source material

Again, Kel only calls attention to Sunny’s knife and says nothing about Aubrey’s nail bat. It was stupid in the game and it's stupid here. He also stands by while she holds Sunny at bat-point and monologues about how she'll never forgive him instead of, dunno, trying to tackle her so that she doesn't harm Sunny

The artstyle is. a thing. Everyone’s got haystack limbs, including Kel, who’s supposed to be the physically fittest one in the group. The Same Face Syndrome goes without mention

The implication that Omori stepped in and took control of Sunny to attack Aubrey is the one thing I genuinely hated. Come on, are you really going to shirk responsibility for Sunny’s actions on his Evil Mental Illness again? At least Sunny himself was horrified by the act, but still, that was bullshit. can’t wait for the Epic plot twist that Omori forced Sunny to shove Mari down the stairs 

[pterodactylwoman]

Major spoilers for both Ace Attorney Justice for all and Omori

So two of my favorite characters in any media are Aubrey from Omori and Adrian Andrews from Ace Attorney. The other day I was thinking about how there are actually quite a few parallels between these two characters stories. Both had a woman they looked up to and were extremely close to, a mentor to them. For Aubrey this was Mari, for Adrian this was Celeste Impax. Both Mari and Celeste are thought to have taken their own lives but both of these are under suspect circumstances. Aubrey and Adrian then both are looking for some kind of closure. They both start to suspect the men that were close to their mentors and are specifically upset about how their actions disgrace her memory. Both of them try to protect the mentor’s memory by stealing something from one of the men, the photo album from Basil and the Suicide note from Juan Corrida (the nature of both of these items incriminating one person also ends up not being true since the note is forged and the album was ruined by Sunny and not Basil). Both Adrian and Aubrey become much colder people afterwards, building up a mean facade to hide their more kind personalities. Adrian’s icy persona is said to be more like how Celeste was. Meanwhile while Mari is not ever portrayed being like Aubrey in headspace the fact Sweetheart seems to be based on both Mari’s meaner perfectionist side and Aubrey after Mari’s death suggests that perhaps Aubrey is taking after a side of Mari that Sunny is shown to be unwilling to acknowledge in headspace.

These parallels then made me think of some between Matt Engarde and Sunny/Omori. Both being ultimately responsible for Mari/ Celeste’s death despite their roles in the story making it seem like it’s impossible for them to be that way. Both have a more sinister side that is hidden, although Sunny ultimately conquers his in the good ending while Matt embraces it. They both have a scar over one eye. Uhhh… they both have a kitty cat.

This is all to say that there are a lot of thematic similarities between these stories. The futility of trying to seek some idea of “justice” in the wake of a tragedy being the main one that comes to mind.

In ace attorney Phoenix is pressured into defending a man he knows is guilty and his morals are challenged. He questions his own role as someone who fights for justice now realizing the reality of his role as a defense attorney means that he is not always going to have a clear concise about his clients. Of course the story seems less interested in exploring Phoenix’s duty to still defend Matt and does kind of devolve into a very black and white story where Phoenix just has to get rid of Matt’s leverage on him. However the ultimate goal is to expose the truth and all its consequences.

Omori plays things a bit differently but still is about many of the same things. When it is revealed that Sunny killed Mari the player has a similar crisis to Phoenix. The guy that we’ve trust thus far not being as innocent as we thought. But Sunny isn’t like Matt, he isn’t some master manipulator as some fans seem to really think he is. Sunny made a horrible mistake and then lied to cover it up. But Sunny was a frightened child barely keeping a grasp on the reality of what was happening around him. This makes the idea of condemning him for his actions, and getting a sense of “justice” the way ace attorney would want not nearly as desirable. Obviously Sunny can “punish” himself but doing that ends up being horrifying and is one of the bad endings. Once again it is only making a commitment to the truth that any real resolution is found.

Bringing it back to Adrian and Aubrey, the two that inspired this post. Both of them need to accept a truth as well in order to get closure and even those are similar in nature. Adrian is deeply dependent on others, unable to make decisions for herself so she defaults to an icy persona. Aubrey bullies Basil because she believed him to be a fundamentally bad person and her saying that to everyone else got away from her until bullying him just became something everyone did. Both Adrian and Aubrey are able to break free from these cycles when they accept that in truth they have more control over their situations than they want to admit. The truth is that both of them have the agency to change and hold themselves accountable for their mistakes. Both also learn to have a bit more empathy for themselves in this process since Adrian thought herself weak and Aubrey thought herself cruel and undeserving of love but by the end of the story they both start to move away from that. Aubrey’s kinder side is acknowledged by her friends at the sleepover at Basil’s house. Adrian meanwhile is able to smile again and says she feels more like herself.

I seem to remember at one point Omocat had acknowledged ace attorney as an influence for Omori. She didn’t really elaborate beyond that since she was just listing a lot of things as influences but it stood out to me. I don’t really think that all these parallels were what she was referring to. It is perhaps just evidence of the shared dna these games have.

[daikonghost143]

So i got my mom to play omori. Its going to take a veeery long time to finish but I’ll try to reblog and update this post/thread as we move forward every once and a while cause she has some good thoughts about it so far. She unfortunately already know about Mari falling down the stairs from me talking to friends about the game in her general vicinity, but other than that shes going in blind so this should be fun !!

Anyway, so onto her thoughts. We’re at the point where you’re about to go searching for Basil in the Vast Forest and she seems to be enjoying it so far even if we could only play for a few hours. Shes *very* attached to Basil (shes just like me ong /j) and when he went missing she was absolutely horrified. In her own words, “Basil.. very soft soul. He’s- He’s very soft. Uh, he might be gay. I’m not sure, because he’s very sweet and soft spoken and has a flower crown and he, he seems a little gay, I’m very worried for what may happen him if he doesn’t grow a pair.” (She adores him though. When he went missing she grabbed me and was like “oh my god is he okay. If anything happens to him im gonna stop playing i love him so much.” So.. i wish her luck.)

She thinks Aubrey is a little self-centered, very loud, but she likes the confidence and thinks she seems ok. She feels similarly towards Kel, though she seems to like him a lot more. She really just said that he seems very sweet but needs to stop fighting with Aubrey.

She doesn’t really have an opinion on Hero, he’s, “just sorta there. Hes just a normal guy,” in her words. I assured her he gets better, but for now she’s impartial. Mari on the other hand, she’s very concerned for. Aside from her knowing that slight spoiler that she fell, she’s just weirded out that she stays at the picnic all the time, because “after a while that would hurt your butt.” She seems to like her well enough, and thinks she’s sweet but she’s definitely a bit concerned too.

As for Omori, she thinks he seems like a very kind, old soul sort of person but he also scares her a bit because she can tell his story’s going to get very sad eventually.

Overall she seems to like it so far!! Yay !! I’ll reblog with her opinions on story and stuff next time we play :]

[lilac-udon]

Omori au

steam mechanic theme au I had a long time ago but I never developed more

The plot here , story based around mari and hero mostly, mari is a machine doll that looked exactly like human. Met with hero and they group up to find her designer, the law in their world do not let people make full robot/ ai or is not capable with such thing yet, arm and leg body part is the most common prosthetic ppl use. Aubrey have one on the arm, and kel has something for leg support idk (didn’t think that far)

Mari is convinced she was a human, but then realized she not that simple, and conflicted what she actually was.hero is a machinist that was fascinated by her. To seek for the truth she remembers sunny in her memory even if it the memory foggy . So they went on adventure to find sunny

The discovery is sunny in her memory die almost a century ago, sunny wanted to become an artist and mari push him to pursue machinist together, the same as the og of sunny accidentally killed Mari, but like a vegetative state idk , basil his best friend that time was a bioengineer or something preserved mari without sunny agreement just to not let mari die , at least not let her memory die. So sunny became a machinist and finished making mari with basil all his life, and made mari more like an art piece than a robot (just say she really pretty, and die of forgiveness etc peaceful die

And that’s all, maybe I draw something, but I feel like there’s too much plot holes I just give up refining the details

[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 :)

[saucebou]

I don't know if you knew but when the manga was first announced it was actually specifically promoted as a thing for both new and old fans, and not just something for people who've played the game.

How good of a manga do you think it is so far for people who don't know much/anything about Omori?

tbh if they wanted this to be for both kind of fans they probably should have taken it in a different direction

once again spoilers under cut, but why i think that is…

So mari’s death is a very important part of the story and drives a lot of the interest for the player.

at first it’s vaguely implied but not stated, so the question at first is “where is Mari?” then Aubrey telling you she’s dead asks the question “what happened to her?” then you see it was a hanging and then the question is “why did she hang herself?”

Mari’s death drives so much of the players interest in this story so when it’s the first thing we see it kills pretty much all the momentum for the reader’s potential interest. the only question now is “why she killed herself” and considering the release schedule, new readers are going to be holding onto that question for a while.

There are other things to hold their attention like “What is the something” or “why Aubrey is mean to Basil” or “what is the whole deal with the stranger” but they’re either very tangential to the story or inherently tied to the question of Mari’s death.

I think newer fans are probably going to loose some interest in this because not only the biggest question of the game is only one step away from being solved, but because of how it’s been shown as the very first thing in the manga it inherently devalues a lot of the appeal of engaging in the game’s narrative.

I really think they should have marketed this towards people who have played the game. And if they were gonna market it to everyone they’ve should have taken a different direction.

[tipsynilly]

An AU I thought of because I have OMORI brain rot from buying the game and forcing my friends to play.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay. TMNTxOMORI AU. Hear me out, this will be devastating :D

Characters:

Mari=Leo

Sunny=Raph

Basil=Casey

Aubrey=Karai

Hero=Donnie

Kel=Mikey

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So basically, Leo and Raph are constantly arguing, and although they got better, they still have some resentment towards each other (mostly Raph). One day, when Mikey and Donnie were out at the scrapyard, Leo and Raph get into an argument about leadership, patrol and how stuck up Raph thinks Leo is. The fight gets pretty heated and Raph calls Casey to help him calm down.

Leo intercepts Raph as he’s trying to leave to meet Casey at the entrance to the lair. Raph gets pissed and pushes Leo, which causes him to fall into the put and onto the boxes with their VHS tapes, causing his death. Casey had just arrived and was at the entrance when it happened, witnessing the whole thing.

The rest of the story plays out basically the same except the framing of Leo’s death. Raph and Casey panic, and make it look like Leo committed sepuku and hit his head on the floor when he died. I’m not quite sure about everything in this AU because it’s just a thing I’ve been thinking about and not an actual AU or story as far as I’m aware. I’m not sure where April would fit into the story, and to be honest I don’t know her characterization very well so I wouldn’t know what to do with her character.

Wow you made to the end?Thanks for reading my rant! Let me know if this is something I should pursue or if it already exists.

[janethealien]

erm guys

I have an omori au in my head

omori faith au..

!!please note I only have the main characters thought out so far!! :(

(more under cut bc uhh nervous, my friend really didn't agree with my choices for characters and that was a bit discouraging..)

ok so first of all kel is john. thats bc he's my favorite and tbh I like au's where sunny isn't the main protagonist.. its more of just a strong gut feeling that he should be john.. (i don't see him working as well with other main characters and opinion moment)

hero is both father allred and garcia, as in he is instead heavily injured during the exorcism.. him and kel don't really contact each other at all due to what happened until later aka chapter 2 onwards..

also!! lisa is sally!! she's doing a bit better than her brothers, just trying to find her way in life and it's going a little worse then anticipated..

aubrey is amy!! i feel most confident with this one because of both not really liking their homes and stuff:p (also!! fyi ages are played around with a little bit to fit the story!!)

basil felt like he was more fitting for tiffany!! aka extreme devotion (he basically did everything for sunny even tho he didn't care..) he sort of knows he's being manipulated, but couldn't care less as long as he's helping sunny..

okay sunny is gary... he gets people to join in the same way as gary does, but instead his personality is just like canon sunny

his story only makes sense with mari!!! who is miriam bell.. aka mari's family runs a cult that she later takes over after they die.. they summon sunny and the two act like siblings so nobody notices anything.. mari dies not bc she was too old for being a vessel, but because her perfectionism led her to do something she was not physically able to handle yet..

OTHER STUFF!!!:

hero, kel, and sally were by themselves for a bit with their mom, and took care of her while taking care of themselves as well!! their mom still dies tho and all the orphanage stuff still happens.. hero eventually becomes a priest, and kel follows his steps since he wants to be like him as sally goes off to do her own thing..

that is all sorry idk I got nervous about this au it's been sitting in my draft because I was worried it had to be the greatest thing ever,,,,,😰

also I may or may not make designs it's just been a silly concept for now

[omori-aus-archive]

Okay. So, based on my love for Acheron/Raiden Bosenmori Mei from Honkai (especially her Oni form), I figured that I would try my hand at an ancestor-type prompt for Omori, with the “Mari” of the story’s design being based directly upon Oni Acheron.

So this is set in the Sengoku period. Our beloved protagonist (the Mari of this) is in her 20s, a young Onna-Musha turned ronin who is also raising her little brother (the Sunny of the story). Due the nature of the era, the siblings are traveling across Japan in an attempt to avoid the wars.

It's not perfect, but it's manageable so far.

There is some conflict between the two, as the brother wants to settle down. The ronin, despite wanting this too, is too afraid of the fact that it's only a temporary thing. She wants it to be permanent. The two then meet some travelers from Colonial Spain and England (Hero and Kel's, as well as Basil's, respective ancestors), who allow the two to stay with them for a while.

The younger brothers quickly get along and understand each other, despite the language barriers. Not sure if Aubrey's ancestor will be here. The English boy is very intimidated by the ronin (with good reason, given her stature and appearance), while the Spanish gentleman is very much in love with her.

Ultimately, the ronin and her brother let their guard down, believing that they can finally settle down. The ronin believes that her brother was right all along and is glad that she's potentially wrong.

Unfortunately, after a couple years of living together, the war finds the siblings again. The rivaling shogun armies find the group, only to find that they're already escaping. The shogun then catch up with them and separate the ronin from her brother. The ronin successfully fights off her captors...only to watch her brother get murdered.

Again, the ronin fights of the attackers...just long enough to cradle her brother as he succumbs to his wounds.

And here is where I don't where to go with this. I could have it where the ronin becomes an Oni to have revenge on the shogun and the wars' participants...or I could have this be even more Omori like and have the ronin dissociate herself from reality.

Most likely, she becomes an Oni out of grief and a desire for revenge, kinda like the Shura from Sekiro.

As for Aubrey's ancestor, she might either be a disillusioned soldier come from Mainland Asia (Korea, most likely) to scout the wars there to plan for any favorites with the winning shogunate or a merchant that has seeked to escape the island back home.

[ryhmus]

MARIQUEST 2

MARI hosts another DnD session for Kel's birthday...

[MARI is once again setting up the board game on the living room table of the Kel and Hero's home, the others are sat around with thier character sheets from last time out on the table, as a finishing touch, she puts on her wizard hat and sets her hands on the table]

MARI; "Welcome back adventurers, to another round of...Spires and Seekers!"

[She looks to Kel with a bright smile

MARI; "And I'm so happy you could join us today, Kel!"

Kel; "Aw~ you didn't have to for MY birthday."

MARI; "Of course I had to! After so long we just didn't have the time for any sessions. We've been busy!

MARI; "Now let's just have to pick up where we- Do you smell smoke?"

[A smoke alarm starts to sound, HERO looks alarmed and sprints to the kitchen.]

HERO; "Oh no! not the cookies again!"

MARI;"Um, guys? we might have to delay our session for a bit, I'll be right...with you...Hold on HERO! I'm coming!"

[The remaining members look to Kel, he eyes the board and in particular; the Spire Master's hat]

Kel; "Hey, got an idea..."

[Kel picks up the wizard hat and snugly fits it on his head]

Kel; "Well since MARI'S gonna be busy. I'll be your Spire Master today in...

MARI KELQUEST; And the Awesome Quest for the Awsome-sause! (*tm*)

Kel; Eh? eh? pretty sweet right? right? I've never done this before so I hope it's good..."

[AUBREY exchanges looks with OMORI who shrugs]

AUBREY; "Whatever works for you birthday boy."

Kel; Thank you, where did you guys leave off in your last game?"

KEL; "Uh, gee, it's been a while, I don't remember what we were doing..."

BASIL; "I wasn't even here for this.

Kel; "Let's make a new story then, I'll start off *ahem*."

{}{}{}{}{}{}[(START!)]{}{}{}{{}{{{}{

OUR STORY BEGINS IN THE SMALL FISHING TOWN OR...ORANGE...JOESVILLE, IT IS A PEACEFUL TOWN FULL OF PEACEFUL PEOPLE WHO DO PEACEFUL THINGS LIKE FISHING AND OCEAN STUFF...ALSO THEY GOT THIS STUFF CALLED AWESOME-SAUCE AND IT'S REALLY GOOD AND...

BUT!

...SOME EVIL PIRATE DUDE WHO HATES FISHING MESSED UP THE WORLD AND WANTS TO DESTROY THIS VILLAGE, CAUSE HE REALLY, REALLY HATES FISH...THE FATE OF THE TOWN RESTS ON THESE BRAVE SOULS...

AUBREY, THE FEARLESS BARBARIAN WARRIOR OF THE NORTHERN BUNNY FOLK!

HERO BASIL, THE VALIANT KNIGHT-PALADIN OF A FAR AWAY KINGDOM.

STRANGER...THE MYSTERIOUS- OH HOLD ON HE'S NOT HERE TODAY, WE'LL JUST SKIP OVER THIS...

KEL THE WIZARD...A MASTER WIZARD OF BASKETBALL AND AWESOMENESS!

AND OMORI, THE SHADE, SHADOWY AND SILENT ROUGE, QUIET AS THE NIGHT...

THEIR JOURNEY WILL BE LONG AND PERILOUS AND EPIC AS HECK! BUT TOGETHER THEY WILL...

SAVE THE WORLD!

...

AUBREY; "...Cool story so far...(sucks in a breath) yep, good story."

Kel;"Hold on, gotta give you your character sheets and-"

AUBREY;"Wait, wait, wait, we've already got character sheets."

BASIL;"I don't. I don't know how to play!"

KEL; "Oh! You can have HERO'S spot."

Our adventure begins, with our brave adventurers resting at the local ocean-bar, the bar-maiden comes over and asks-

AUBREY; "I punch KEL in the face...again..."

KEL; "Come on AUBS, really?"

Kel; "For real or in the game?"

AUBREY; "Either way's good, he's got a really punchable face."

Kel; "Roll the dice."

KEL; "I swear, if you get lucky a second time I'll-

AUBREY "Ooh ho ho! a 20...~"

KEL; "Oh come on..."

Kel; "AUBREY punches KEL in the face so hard that he flies into a wall and it explodes! Everything blows up!, the bar is but a smoldering crater left in the wake of AUBREY'S mighty blow!"

AUBREY; "Heh, I'm a bad...ass..."

Kel; "Hey! no swearing!"

KEL; "Why you...Well I shoot her with my...MAGIC MISSILE!"

AUBREY; "Roll the dice...Hehe, maybe you'll hit something this time."

KEL; "I got a...10! Get a load of this!"

Kel; "KEL shoots a magic missile and narrowly grazes the owner of the former bar, who is now furious and demands payment for the destruction of his establishment."

BASIL; "Uh I-I offer t-to do work to help him raise enough money to help him rebuild."

Kel; "Roll for initiative BASIL."

BASIL; "Do what? what's initiative for?"

[Kel skims through the Spires and Seekers guide]

Kel; "The book says, you gotta roll this dice thing anytime you want to do something."

[BASIL picks up the die and tosses it]

BASIL; "Uh... it's a...20? that's good right?"

Kel; "BASIL pays the owner of the bar for all the damages but now you have no money! What you going to do?"

AUBREY; "I think we should go look for some jobs to get money."

KEL; "Agreed..."

OMORI;"Hmhmm..."

{]{][{]{}{{}{}{{}{}{}{}{{}{}{}

Kel; "So it's a fabulous day in orange Joe'sville-"

Aubrey; "Hold on. I thought the world was messed up?"

Kel;"Oh yeah, it's dark, and cloudy now..."

BASIL;"Well that's was quick..."

Kel;"...and it's storming milk from the sky... lots of dead, smelly fish everywhere..."

KEL; "Smells like butts and dead people..."

[Everyone gives KEL strange looks]

Kel;"...And it's being attacked by pirates..."

AUBREY; "Already?!"

Kel; "Yeah we're doing this already! The pirates were waiting to ambush you."

BASIL;"I can cast a healing aura I could-"

KEL; "I USE MAGIC...MISSILE...BARRAGE!"

Kel;" Roll it! mini me!"

[KEL rolls the dice, his eyes light up as it lands on a perfect 20...]

KEL; "YES! YES YES YES YES! LET'S DO IT!"

BASIL;"Ow! Not so loud KEL, I'm sitting right here."

KEL;"Sorry BASIL."

Kel; "KEL launches his magic missiles, they careen through the sky like a flock of eagles and dive into the waters amidst ORANGE JONES' fleet."

[*Slams table and makes explosion noises*]

Kel ;"Then it utterly annihilates them in a massive plume of magic smoke! The pirates AND the ocean are wiped off the face of the earth, WITH ONE STRIKE! KEL BLOWS UP THE OCEAN!"

KEL; "WOOOOOOOOO! HECK YEAH!!! I JUST BLEW UP THE FREAKING OCEAN!"

AUBREY;"Those poor fish..."

KEL; "Take that, pirates and ocean!"

BASIL; "Won't the people starve without the ocean?"

KEL: "They can just pick up all the dead fish lying all over. They don't even have to work for it anymore."

AUBREY; "KEL...fish need water to live, the ocean doesn't have infinite fish, they need to reproduce in there. And also, you know? they go bad after a while?"

KEL; "..."

KEL; "Oh...oops..."

AUBREY; "Great job...dummy. You just doomed everyone."

...

One epic, hastily re-written campaign filled with convenient plot-holes, poorly balanced epic battles, overpowered, game-breaking loot and many more magic missiles later...plus a bathroom break...

...

[the friends are all sat around the table, looking well invested when HERO and MARI walk in covered in soot]

MARI; "I see you started without me...Is everyone have fun?"

KEL; "Yeah! I'm the strongest wizard ever! I blew up the ocean, and the pirates and the aliens too!"

HERO; "I see...Kel's been narrating?"

Kel; "I do make a fine DM if I say so myself."

AUBREY; "I'm surprised to say this but...I'm having a lot of fun with this."

BASIL;"Yeah! even OMORI looks like he's enjoying this."

[OMORI looks over at MARI, he has a faint yellow shimmer around him]

MARI; "That's great! because we just finished baking the cake and setting up the party!"

[Immediately the group all stand up and excitedly rush into the kitchen]

Kel; "Heck yeah! celebrating time!"

KEL; "I want to wear the party hats this time! It's my birthday too!"

AUBREY; "OMORI wants to cut the cake!"

OMORI;" Hmm..."

[MARI goes over and begins to pack up the Spires and Seekers board back into it's case]

MARI; "Hey HERO? You think you'd want a turn at being the Spire Master next time?"

HERO; "I got a script for one that I'm writing, care to read it?

MARI; "Let me guess? You're the charming prince and I'm the princess? How sweet.~"

[HERO blushes]

HERO; "I-It's...not done yet..."

[acacia-may]

See What It's Like To Be Loved (Kelbrey Fanfiction)

Description: Sunny's plans to propose to Cris prompt Aubrey and Kel to discuss the future of their own relationship.

Relationships: Established Relationship Kelbrey (Romantic Kel x Aubrey)-Centric, but Established Relationship Sunfish (Romantic Sunny/Cris) is also mentioned.

Characters: Aubrey (POV Character), Kel, and Sunny. (Cris, Hero, & Basil are mentioned).

Genre: Slice of Life, Romance, Established Relationship, Aged-Up Characters, Pre-Proposal, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Good Ending, Aubrey Has Family Issues and Abandonment Issues, Some Fluff, Declarations of Love, Some Angst But With A Happy Ending,

Word Count: 4,071

Rating: G

Warnings: Some Spoilers for OMORI! Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death, and Implied/Referenced family issues & abandonment issues. Kissing.

Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another website. All other interaction (likes, reblogs ect.) appreciated!

A/N: The title is a reference to a line in the song "Strawberry Sunscreen" (YouTube) by Lostboycrow (which is on my Kelbrey playlist 😉).

Story below the cut. Thank you so much for reading! 💕

“It’s beautiful, Sunny,” sighed Aubrey with a kind smile as she stared down at the ring glistening in the small velvet box Sunny had set on the table in front of her and Kel. She blinked at it in shock and surprise that she tried her best to hide. When Sunny had asked if he could get their opinion on something before he headed out for the evening, she had not been expecting him to pull an engagement ring out of his pocket. After all, Sunny and Cris had started dating almost a year after she and Kel had, and they certainly weren’t engaged yet. She supposed every couple took things at their own pace, but since Sunny was usually so shy about his relationship, she had, albeit wrongfully, assumed he and Cris were taking things very slow.

Kel, it seemed, had not made this assumption, however, as he enthusiastically exclaimed, “Congratulations! This is great!” and quickly pulled Sunny into a tight hug and gave him a congratulatory pat on the back with not even a hint of shock or surprise.

With a curious tilt of her head, Aubrey wondered if Sunny had given Kel more of a heads up about his plans to propose. It was difficult to imagine since Sunny didn’t talk much to begin with and, as far as Aubrey knew, was usually very shy about his relationship, and even if he wasn’t, Kel had assured Aubrey multiple times that they never really discussed their love lives with each other. She wouldn’t have minded if they did, as long as Kel didn’t share anything too personal or private about her. Seeing as they were all mutual friends, it would be awkward both for them and for Sunny if he was privy to a lot of intimate details about their relationship, and to be fair, she didn’t feel it was her or Kel’s place to know a lot of intimate details about Sunny relationship either, even if, at least according to Sunny, Kel had, supposedly, set him up with Cris in the first place. The details were all a little fuzzy since Kel swore he hadn’t been setting them up on purpose and didn’t even know that’s what he had been doing, but Sunny was very insistent and very grateful that Kel had played a formative role in their relationship. Aubrey shrugged. Maybe he had involved Kel in proposal plans, if only for that reason. Still...Aubrey had to admit it was surprising that he was showing off the ring to them.

Sunny’s mouth twitched in the corners as the lightest tint of pink flushed in his pale cheeks, but he managed a nod at both her and Kel in turn and a quiet, “Thank you.”

“Cris is going to love it!” added Kel practically beaming at them.

Thoughtfully, Sunny pursed his lips together, but it seemed he couldn’t hold back his smile. Aubrey’s expression softened. It was nice to see him so happy.

“I hope so…” he said.

“Of course she is,” reassured Kel, draping an arm around Sunny’s shoulders. “I mean it looks like a seashell—it’s perfect!”

Aubrey’s jaw fell a bit slack as she tilted her head at the ring again. She hadn’t realized it before, but now that Kel had mentioned it, she could see that the jewels were cut and arranged in such a way that actually did look like a seashell—a gold and diamond seashell with a beautiful pearl in the center. Wow, thought Aubrey. It must have cost Sunny a small fortune, and where would he even find a ring like that? Did he have it custom made?

“I went to that place you told me about,” said Sunny turning to Kel who just smiled. Aubrey blinked at them. Wait…what?  

“Ah, cool! I’m glad it worked out.”

“Hold on,” Aubrey interrupted. “You told Sunny about a jewelry store?”

Kel shrugged with a laugh. “Hey, don’t look so surprised. You don’t know what I do in my free time,” he teased shooting her a wide, toothy grin, but Sunny’s eyebrows twitched and the blush in his face deepened. Aubrey’s brow furrowed, and she swallowed hard. Oh no. No. There was no way…

Aubrey took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. If this really was what she thought, that would mean Kel had ordered his ring before Sunny, and there was no way that Kel would have been able to keep that a secret for so long. He would have told her or at least given some indication that he was planning to propose to her…right?

“You okay?” asked Kel with a concerned tilt of his head. “You’re looking kind of pale. You need to sit down or something? I can get you some water…”

“Uh, no,” she stumbled over her words, rubbing her hand across her forehead. “No. It’s fine.”

“Are you sure? You don’t look fine.”

“Kel—” she began but stopped abruptly. She knew the answer to the question she wanted to ask as soon as she met his eyes. Her heart raced, but her insides coiled and twisted. She didn’t know how she felt—shocked, happy, worried, excited, terrified, overwhelmed…angry? No, that wasn’t right. That last one was unexpected, especially given how much she loved him. She was mostly just…scared. Her hands began to tremble, but she rose to her full height on shaking legs.

“Do you…have a ring?” The question just slipped out before she could stop it.

“Huh?” Kel’s eyes widened, and he blinked at her dumbfounded, before a sheepish smile tugged at his mouth and he rubbed his hand across the nape of his neck. “Oh…uh…well…”

“I’m sorry,” mumbled a particularly red Sunny who Aubrey was sorry to say she had completely forgotten about.

“No, it’s fine, Sunny,” Kel awkwardly reassured him before turning to her in confusion. “Aubrey, uh…” He stopped. “Do you really want to talk about this now?”

She took a shaky breath, and her face grew hot. “Right…Sorry, Sunny.”  

“It’s okay,” he replied, but he wouldn’t look at her. He added hurriedly, “I’m actually supposed to meet Cris.”

“Are you gonna propose tonight?” asked Kel, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere.

Sunny shrugged. “I dunno.” He stumbled around, awkwardly gathering his things, and Aubrey could have sworn she saw him glance over at her before he added, “I think I’ll ask if I can first.”

Aubrey cursed under her breath, then started to trip over her words. “Sunny…Cris loves you. If you want to propose you—” She stopped. “That’s not what…”

As her voice trailed off, Sunny just blinked at her then mumbled. “Okay.” He paused, and his expression was frustratingly unreadable. “Thanks. Bye.”  

“Sunny…” Aubrey called after him, but within moments he had darted out of the front door. With a heavy sigh, Aubrey buried her face in her hands and wondered if she had ever seen him run out of the house so quickly. She cursed under her breath again.

“It’s okay,” Kel reassured her gently running his hand across her back. “Sunny just hates conflict—almost as much as Hero,” he added with a chuckle. “We’ll just apologize to him later. It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“I feel terrible,” she mumbled, mentally kicking herself at her outburst.

“You want that water?”

“That’s not what I meant…” Aubrey sighed, but Kel disappeared into the kitchen anyway. While she waited for him to return, she glanced over at the clock. Hero would probably be walking through the door any minute, and she had no idea where Basil was but he could be home soon too. Aubrey sighed again. They needed to save them from also being unwitting witnesses to this…personal discussion—an unfortunate side-effect of them being roommates with Kel, she supposed.

“Do you think we could talk outside?” she suggested, gesturing at the sliding doors to the deck Kel had built on the back of the house.

“Okay,” said Kel with a nod as he handed her a glass of water. “Do you want me to get it?”

Confusedly, Aubrey tilted her head. “Get what?”

“The ring.”

Her chest tightened, but she opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the deck. “You have it here?”

“Yeah, uh…Hero said I could keep it in his safety deposit box at the bank, but I dunno, I just didn’t feel right about that. I’ve been keeping it in my sock drawer,” he chuckled. “With my clean socks, of course.”

“How long have you had it?”

Kel shrugged then closed the sliding door behind him and took a seat next to her on the outdoor sofa. “A couple of months. I had to special order it, so it took a while to come in.”

“Were you going to tell me about it?”

“Eventually…” Kel teased, but his smile faded, replaced by a certain helplessness in his eyes that made her heart ache. “Are you unhappy?”

Aubrey sighed, then evaded the question. “I just thought we talked about this—decided it was too soon and we weren’t ready.”

“No,” he gently corrected. “You decided it was too soon and you weren’t ready, and I said that was okay and I can wait until you are…which is exactly what I said the time before that and the time before that and the time before that.” Kel stopped and let out a heavy sigh, before he tilted his head towards her and gently teased, “You can’t be surprised I want to marry you. I keep bringing it up.”

A smile twitched in the corners of Aubrey’s mouth, and she stifled a chuckle in spite of herself but sighed. “I just…I didn’t expect you to have a ring already. I thought we’d…talk about that before you actually bought one.”

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I just wanted to surprise you, and the last time we talked about it you said that you knew you wanted to marry me someday, so I guess I was just hoping it was someday soon. I wasn’t going to ask you until you told me you were ready… I just didn’t see the harm in having it for whenever that was.”

Aubrey supposed he had a point. It was very practical, but… “That’s just such a big step, Kel. I just don’t want to rush it.”

“Aubrey, we’ve been together for years now, and we’ve known each other most of our lives. I don’t know how we could possibly take things any slower,” he chuckled lightly, but his expression softened. “I think at this point you know me better than anybody else on this planet—maybe even better than I know myself. If after all of that, you still don’t know if you want to marry me, then what are we even doing?”

“Kel, I…” Her voice cracked. That wasn’t fair. “You know that I want to marry you eventually. I just…want make sure that we’re ready.”

“Yes, you keep saying that, but what do you mean by ‘ready’?” he asked with a long exhale and an almost helpless shrug of his shoulders. “I’m not sure anybody can be completely ready because it’s always going to be a little scary but mostly exciting. If you’re waiting to feel 100% sure, I’m just not sure that’s ever going to happen.”

“Kel, I don’t think you’re thinking this all the way through. It’s a big decision. It means forever.” Swallowing hard, Aubrey curled her trembling hands into fists. “I just want you to be sure about this—sure that you aren’t going to change your mind.”  

“I’m not going to change my mind. I already spent three months’ salary on that ring.”

Aubrey gasped. “Wait…you spent how much?”

“I read about it online,” shrugged Kel with far more nonchalance than Aubrey felt the situation warranted. “It’s a tradition.”

“Kel, you didn’t have to…” she began, but he cut her off.

“It’s really pretty. It doesn’t look like a seashell or anything, but I got it in rose gold so it’s pink—your favorite color, like your hair used to be.” He playfully ruffled his hand through her hair with a warm, affectionate smile. “You sure you don’t want to see it?”

“No, I…” Aubrey turned away from him, staring intently at her hands. “I wasn’t talking about the ring, Kel. I meant the marriage—our marriage. What if you wake up one day and realize you’ve made a huge mistake? And decide you don’t want to be married to me anymore?”

“Aubrey…” He pressed his palm to her cheek, tilting her head until she was looking up at him again. “I love you. I’m not going to change my mind about that.”

Her heart raced, but she clinched her hands into fists. She wanted to believe him. She wished she could, but… “Talk is cheap, Kel.”

He tilted his head at her in confusion, and before she could even think to stop them, the words began to race out of her mouth, “Sure it’s easy to say that now when things are good and you want to get married, but what about when things get hard? Have you even thought about that? It’s not always going to be like this—life is hard, Kel, and things will eventually get difficult. And when that happens, actually sticking around will be really hard, and it’ll just be easier to pack up your stuff and leave.” As her eyes burned, tears began to prickle behind them. “And those words—those ‘I love you’s—they can’t change that. They can’t stop someone from leaving. Believe me, if they could, my—” Her voice hitched, and she stopped abruptly. She had already said much more than she had meant to.

“Aubrey”—he said her name with such an aching sadness, a helplessness that made her chest pang—“Aubrey, please don’t cry.”

With a gasp, she held her hand up to her face, catching the tears which had somehow struggled free from her eyes. She hadn’t even realized she was crying. Sniffling, she resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. It was by no means the first time she had cried in front of Kel, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last.

As Kel wrapped his arms around her, she pressed her chin to his shoulder and began to tremble, tightly closing her eyes, trying to will herself not to cry anymore. “I’m sorry,” he said, running a comforting hand through her hair. “I’m really sorry about your parents, but I’m not your dad. I’m not going anywhere.”

“He wasn’t the only one who left.”

Aubrey hadn’t realized she had said those words aloud until she felt Kel’s shoulders stiffen as his arms turned rigid, his hands recoiling from her. The pain that crossed over his stormy eyes as he pulled away from her made her insides twist—a lump forming in her throat. She wished she could shove her thoughtless words back into her mouth.

“Is that what this is about?” he asked, the hitch in his voice betraying that he was far more sad than angry. “You know how much I regret that—how sorry I am that I wasn’t there when you needed me. I was a stupid kid, Aubrey, trying to deal with things way too complicated for a kid to have to deal with. I never wanted to hurt you. I just felt so useless.”

His voice cracked, and he paused, catching his shaking breath before he said apologetically, “I know that’s not an excuse, and if I could do it all over again, I would do everything differently—not just with you but with Hero and Sunny and Basil too. But we don’t get that option, and I don’t think it’s fair for you to hold me to that one mistake, even if it was a big one.”

“Kel, I’m sorry. I’m not…” she began, but she didn’t even know what she was trying to say. She took a long deep breath then admitted, “That hurt me, but I’m not still angry about it. I mean, that time after Mari’s death was…” Something panged and twisted in her chest, even after all this time. She couldn’t find the words to describe it. There were some things in life that were too painful to name. “A really bad time for all of us. It definitely brought out the worst in me, and then after my dad left, I just…I started taking all that out on everybody else, including you, and I’m sorry about that too.”

“It’s okay. I have no hard feelings,” he reassured her, running his hand across her back again. “Things are different now. I’m different and so are you. That was all I was trying to say. We’re not going to make the same mistakes again—at least I know I’m not.”

“I don’t know, Kel…” sighed Aubrey, sniffling with burning eyes. “Sometimes I feel like that angry girl with a nail bat is still in me—still hating the world, pushing everybody away, and trying to protect herself before…” Her voice trailed, but the look in Kel’s eyes told her that she didn’t need to finish that sentence. She fidgeted in her seat, feeling suddenly exposed, vulnerable. Swallowing hard, she changed directions. “I just…I feel like if you knew that, if you really knew that, you wouldn’t want to marry me.”  

“That’s not true,” Kel insisted, but Aubrey sighed, tilting her head at him questioningly.

“You’re sure you want to marry a nail-bat girl?” she teased, but her voice hitched and wavered.

“You know I always kind of thought that nail bat thing was badass—even if you did hit me with it a couple of times.” He gave her a reassuring smile before he bantered with a teasing grin. “Wouldn’t it be funny if we got married in that church where we had that fight? Like you’re walking down the aisle, and it’s the same aisle where you—”

“Kel,” she interrupted with a pointed glare, but he merely shrugged as he watched the smile twitching in the corners of Aubrey’s mouth. He always did this—tried to make her laugh with they fought. She twisted her mouth to one side with a somewhat begrudging concession. It usually worked.

“Made you smile though,” he said before his expression softened, and he tilted his head towards her. “I think you’re looking at this the wrong way, Aubrey. Yeah, I mean, I know all about your nail-bat delinquent phase—I was there, so don’t you think that if I really wanted out, that would’ve been it? I mean, if I didn’t really love you, I’d just be like ‘yeah, this girl fought me in a church with a nail bat, so she’s probably not the one…’” he teased with a laugh, and Aubrey stifled a chuckle of her own in spite of herself.

“Would it kill you to take this seriously?” she bantered dryly.

“I am being serious,” he insisted with an expression that was so affectionate and so sincere, it brought a blush to her face. “I love you, Aubrey, and I’m not going anywhere and I’m not changing my mind. I’ve wanted to marry you since like our 5th date.” He laughed, but her brow furrowed. She couldn’t be entirely sure if he was joking or not.

“Our 5th date?” she repeated, quirking an eyebrow at him. “I don’t even think I remember our 5th date.”

Kel chuckled, but his face seemed to light up. “We went to the movies—I don’t remember which one, but afterwards we went for a quick walk in the park. You still had some of your soda left so you were finishing that off on our walk, and I made you laugh so hard that soda came out of your nose.”

Aubrey pressed her palm to her forehead and shook her head as her cheeks burned. “Oh, I remember that. It was so embarrassing.”

“No, it was adorable,” Kel insisted with a bright smile. “And I just remember thinking: ‘I want to make you laugh like that forever.’”

He paused—something ardent and wistful in his eyes. “It was just the first time I really thought about that—us being together forever. I didn’t dwell on it too much, but as time went on, I thought about it again and again, until finally I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.” Reaching out to her, he gently stroked his hand across her damp cheek, catching one of the lingering tears with his thumb. “And I do, Aubrey. I want to spend forever with you—want to settle down and have family, grow old together and someday when we’re both gray and wrinkly, I want to make you laugh so hard that prune juice comes out of your nose…”—he chuckled—“or whatever it is that old people drink. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

Aubrey laughed, and the words slipped out without her even needing to think about them. “I love you.”

His warm eyes lit up—beaming at her as he gently pushed a piece of hair out of her face, “I love you too, and I will love you forever. That’s why I want to get married. I want to promise you that, promise you that I’m not going anywhere, so we can start the rest of our life together. I know forever is a long time, but I’m not scared of it. Honestly, it really can’t come fast enough.”

“Kel…” She pressed her palm to his cheek, the tips of her fingers tangling in his hair.

“I don’t know what else I can say or do to convince you that I love you and that that isn’t ever going to change. I’m always going to be here—you’re probably going to get sick of me,” he joked with a bright grin before his face softened, something so ardent, so sincere in his eyes as they met hers. Aubrey’s breath caught in her throat. The way he looked at her… She didn’t know what it was that he saw. “At a certain point, you’re just going to have to trust me.”

He let out a breathy chuckle as Aubrey’s hand tangled in the hair on the back of his head. She pulled him towards her, watched as his eyes fluttered closed and he gently cupped her face in his hands. He leaned forward and kissed her, slow and gentle but longing. As her eyes closed, she sighed against his mouth—finally letting go of a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

When they broke apart from each other, Aubrey lingered mere inches from his face. “I do trust you, and I love you, Kel.”

She could feel the warmth of his breath as he laughed. “Enough to marry me?” he teased, and though she could feel the blush in her face, she pressed her palm to his cheek.

“Yes.”

He pulled away sharply, and his eyes widened. “Woah, seriously?” Aubrey’s blush deepened, but she shrugged her shoulders. “You want me to get that ring, now?”

“You really want to propose in your backyard?” she bantered.

Kel’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Usually it’s somewhere more…” She paused trying to think of that right word. “special.”

“Okay, princess,” he teased, rolling his eyes though there was something playful and affectionate in them. “What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know…it would be nice if somebody could get a picture of it.”

“Basil, maybe?” hummed Kel. “But then we’d probably have to invite Sunny and Hero too so they wouldn’t feel left out, so we’d have to find some place that was big enough for them all to hide.”  

Her brow furrowed. “Why would they have to hide?”

“Because I want to surprise you.”

Aubrey laughed. “Good luck with that. I already know it’s coming.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know when. Now that you’ve given me the greenlight, I can propose whenever I want,” he bantered, but he beamed at her. “I won’t wait too long though, don’t worry.” He ruffled her hair before she laughed, and he wrapped his arm around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder watching the sun disappear below the trees at the edge of the yard.

“I’m not worried,” she said. And she wasn’t. Not anymore.