Deathling - Outsiders SMP

A Day in Hope: Apo

 Today was the day. Owen and Apo were going to find out what the heck that forest nymph knew.

Will was taking them to the heart of the city, for sightseeing and running errands. But what Will didn't know, however, is that Apo and Owen would be... slipping away.

Will slung his bag over their shoulder, grabbing his keys while Apo wrestled Acorn's harness on. In the end, Will had to help Apo slip the harness over Acorn's wiggly body.

Apo wrapped the leash around his wrist, bracing to be pulled by Acorn's restlessness. She pulled Apo out of the door and onto the street, trying to pull ahead while Apo tried to keep her pace with Owen and Will.

Will decided to strike up a conversation with Owen while Apo struggled with Acorn. Apo figured that Will thought he couldn't hear him.

"So, Orange, we haven't exactly talked in a bit, tell me a bit about yourself!" Will said, keeping his voice at a normal volume, but Apo could tell he was trying to avoid Apo hearing.

Owen shrugged. "I um... Well, I like reading, poetry, and theater, and..." he trailed off. Apo finished his sentence inside their head. And fighting and weapons.

Then Will revealed what Apo thought were his true intentions of talking to Owen. "Where'd you and Apo meet?"

Apo kept his head forward, hiding his stressed look. The mission was fully riding on Owen's improv skills at this moment.

"Uh..." Owen said, and Apo could imagine him nervously fidgeting behind him.

"They- we..." Owen sputtered.

"Mhm!" Will nodded his head as if they knew something was up.

"We met at a prison camp that we were dragged to. I was a prisoner of war, Apo was a survivor of his village. They tortured us there. We were lucky to make it out alive." Owen said, uncomfortably looking at the ground.

Apo realized how utterly true those words were. Owen just wasn't telling them the whole story.

Apo stopped in his tracks and turned around, holding his elbows in a self-hug.

The blood had drained from Will's face, and the group had stopped walking. Acorn ran up between them, tilting her head to the side at Will's expression.

Owen walked over to Apo, giving them a small smile and pulling their arm along with him. They continued walking towards the town, and Will had to run to catch up with them after shaking himself from their faze.

"Look I-" Will tried, "I'm sorry for bringing that up. I didn't know it was something like that, I understand why you don't want to talk about it now."

Apo smiled sadly at their brother. "It's fine."

They walked in silence for a while, before they started a conversation again about something or another.

Soon, a bustling city came into view. Apo smiled at the look of it.

Will walked them towards a particular store. He stopped them right outside it. "I'm going to run errands, you guys can explore a bit! Meet me back here by 2:00"

Apo nodded. "Okay. Me and Orange are going to explore!" Apo handed Will Acorn's leash.

Will walked into the store with Acorn. That left Owen and Apo free to go find the shop.

"You ready?" Owen asked.

Apo took a deep breath. "Yeah. Let's go complete our first mission!" he whispered to Owen, as to not draw attention.

As they followed the vague instructions Emmy had given them, they started to notice less and less demons as they traveled to the west side of the city. In the east side, where they had left Will, there were barely any humans, in the middle, there was a fair mix. But here, Owen and Apo received odd or disgusted glances as they walked down the street looking for the plant shop.

Owen finally found the hanging plant sign, reading, "Shaela's Flowers and Greenery." Apo and Owen excitedly ran to the door. But they frowned when they noticed a sign by the door.

And it read,

No demons.

Notes

Apol - Mira

Tysm for reading!

See ya in the next one, where Apo pretends he doesn't know how to read...

-a tired gay denying sleep