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"Mmh.." Laurii let out a soft groan as her eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the dim light above her. It felt as if she were lying up right against something soft and in a way warm but.. Not fluffy?
That's strange... Had it been that she was just... Dreaming?
... ...
She slowly sat up, taking notice that she was in bed. A very familiar feeling one at that but.. As she scrutinized the familiar spot, she could see the blanket that rested over her resting form was something of a more purple-ish shade. But.. Maybe it was just a different blanket.. Maybe Horror had more than one blanket since well, there was quite a few people living in the house at the time:

Horror
Papyrus
Laurii
Iirual
BIT
And
Simula

She knew it could be a lot.. so more than a couple blankets felt necessary.
She then glanced around a little more.. And only then did she notice something that brought her realization to light. Sitting across from her on a small wooden nightstand lied a single, barely decorated photograph. She slowly leaned over, taking hold of the photo frame within her tiny hand. As she brought it closer to her face, she noticed the figure in the picture was familiar.

It was him...

That one fang-toothed skeleton she met or.. She recalled meeting... Was standing in the center frame, an expression of sheer happiness shown on his face as he was beside what seemed to be an even taller, thinner skeletal figure..They seemed to be bright faced, having a large, cheery, open-wide smile..she was sure, this was Papyrus.. Not the one she knew, of course..But this made her realize that none of this was a dream. She really was away from home.. Away from her father and her family.. Great...

She couldn't help but feel a small pit of despair at that thought alone. She didn't feel as if being here meant she was in danger. Remembering, Tick,.. He wasn't threatening to her. In fact, he was pretty kind, all things considered.
But her father and his instability... Without her around, she wondered if he would be able to control himself long enough for her to get back.

Come to think of it,.. He expressed his concerns to Simula before.. His instability wasn't taken lightly, and even Papyrus tended to become more aware of it, and what could happen have he not something to keep him calm.
Not as if Papyrus was much better...
But at times where things were becoming more problematic, his first priority seemed to be taking the children out of the way before anything could happen to them.
Not that Laurii and Iirual were really little children, but underneath Papyrus' watchful supervision, they were.

And yet, through it all, Laurii still loved her father.
She knew it wasn't his fault he was like that, after all.

Carefully, she placed the picture back where she got it, slowly pulling herself off the bed, and scooting the warm sheet aside. With a short sigh, she slowly walked her way to the door, her light steps creaking against the wooden floorboards. As she reached the door, she gently grabbed and turned the handle, pulling the door open slightly, allowing her to peek out of the small crevice. From here she couldn't see or hear anything of discrimination.

She let out a brief sigh of relief and then began to open the door a little more, stepping out into the hallway.

These simple actions gave her immediate déjà vu from the first time she ever stepped foot out of the guest room that is now her room back home.. In fact, everything she was doing here was the exact same.. Just in a different house that yet seemed just the same.
She glanced around a bit, and though this house looked oddly the same as Horror's, the atmosphere and slight color change was a bit.. Strange.

"*oh, good mornin', kiddo." A familiar voice spoke up, breaking Laurii out of her impeding thoughts. She drew her attention downwards, noticing a very relaxed Tick resting on the living room couch.

..Once again, the familiar view was a strange sight..

He had his gaze fixed on her, as he graced her with an affable grin. The same he usually gave.
She returned it with a slight soft smile. "Oh... Greetings..." She replied before slowly walking down the steps. "What.. Happened? My.. Memory is kind of foggy.." She explained, as she stood at the very bottom of the steps, glancing around the surrounding area with perception in her wandering gaze.

"*oh," Tick sat up a bit, adjusting his posture whilst still maintaining his grin. "*well, we made it to grillby's, and at that point I kinda thought you'd still be awake since it wasn't but another 10 minutes away from the bridge. y'know, short distance..but ya fell asleep unexpectedly and.. y'know, i tried to wake you up buuut for some reason or other, you didn't budge. so i gave up and decided to just take ya home and lie ya down to rest. ya seemed to need it."

As he finished explaining, Laurii gave him a slight nod of understanding, her eyes downcast as the impending despair returned to her SOUL. "..I'm sorry.." She muttered in a soft tone, her eyes shifting on a whim to a look of pure despondence. It was a reflectance of misty blue instead of the usual bright blue that occupied her eyes. She lost the shimmer as well.. It was replaced with nil, giving the ocean of her eyes a view with no bright moon to overlay it.

"*eh, it's fine, kiddo. that's nothin' to apologize for. ya get tired. we all do. there's always next time." He gave a careless shrug, though couldn't help but notice how strangely saddened she looked even after what he said, and it made his friendly grin falter into a concerned grit. It was at this point that he was reaching his limit of ignorance.

For a while, he had wanted to chalk her strange emotion patterns up to being purposeful in nature. He wanted to think she was searching for attention by looking pathetic.
She wanted sympathy.
She wanted attention.

But it became impossible to keep thinking that when he actually took a moment to observe her eyes and overall body language when she suddenly becomes upset for something small.
It wasn't something as simple as her just pouting and saying stupid things..
Or stomping her feet and acting immature.
It seems genuine. And he knew that wasn't good.
Why was she so emotional..?
Over something so small..?

He could tell she had something and has been having something on her mind for a while and out of concern, he wanted to know what it was.

He sat up, keeping his eyes on her. With a short sigh, he scooted over, pulling his feet off the cushion and sat up in an up right position. "*alright, kiddo. i wasn't born yesterday. i can tell something is on your mind so.. come over here, sit down, and tell me what's botherin' ya." He pat the cushion beside him, inviting her to have a seat.

It crossed his mind that Horror probably has done something similar to this, assuming he had seen her strange emotional state before. He doubted he was the cause of it.. Not based off how she spoke about him. Horror wasn't who he would expect would show care to others.. But maybe the tables turned when he is with his kids.

For a moment Laurii merely stared blankly at him and then the couch as if she was once again, unsure of what she wanted to do. She didn't seem to know how to make decisions very affectively, and that fact stuck with Tick very closely. Or.. It was either that or she still did not trust him enough to sit near him. It was understandable.. It was.. A little weird of him to ask that of her but he was only in the business of helping.
If he could.

"*... look, i know i ain't your father so.. you just view me as a stranger, i take it. but'cha don't gotta tell me anythin' ya don't want to. just tell me, in short, what's making ya so down. ya can leave out what'cha don't wanna talk about.." He said, hoping that would make her feel a bit calmer.

His offer was met with a deafening sense of silence for a few moments before Laurii finally sighed softly, giving him a small nod.
She braced herself and moved over to the couch, pulling herself up on it, sitting with her arms folded politely. "I.. I won't lie. I really don't know why I'm like this." She glanced at him. "Ever since I was little, I've always been like this. This... Down about things. And yet, I tend to hide most of it behind my cheerful demeanor. Even father tends to see it between the cracks I portray in my display." She slowly glanced down as her eyes closed softly.

"I guess...it is just me.. You know? Just the way I am..." She gave a slight, despondent chuckle.
Tick gave her a contemplating stare, as if he were trying to understand how that was really possible.. And he didn't entirely believe that she could just be born like this.

Something told him it was something more. He couldn't shake the feeling and wanted to dig a little deeper, hoping he could figure more out before she decided to shut down on him.
"*hm.. alright. let's change the subject. how about.. ya tell me about your family..? your r e a l family."

Laurii's eyes widened slightly as she heard him propose this. He watched as a sudden redness swept over her cheeks but her face shrunk into a sudden mix of anger and fear. "W-Why would you want to know about that? H-How is THAT any of your business?"

Tick kept a calm expression as he replied: "*just curious. just thought that maybe if i knew more bout' your folks, i'd be able to know more about'cha. but forget it. based off that expression you're pullin', ya don't wanna talk about it." He shrugged, yet still seemed to be hinted with subtle curiosity. It was clear that he had struck a nerve asking that, and his thought process was focused on believing that could be part of her strange emotional patterns.

Laurii fell into a deep silence for a moment, as she seemed to be contemplating her next move. She twiddled her fingers in a nervous way as she mustered up the will to speak. "See...My father is-.... No, my father w a s abusive towards me. My real father. Towards me and my mom more specifically. It was really.. Really... Really bad." She rubbed her arm a bit. "But it was more than just that.. My father grew obsessed with researching about demons, or well.. The really rare ones.. Like myself. My father used me in his experiments, trying to understand more about my kind.

There was nothing about it that was easy to go through. I've become worried that something like that would happen again... And.. My father had anger issues so I guess that adds to it. Ironically, he was against drinking and smoking and anything like that and never partaken in the acts. And yet.. He was still so cruel. That is what made me so worried.. I worry... If I mess up, I'll get hurt again.. My previous childhood is what stemmed my fears and phobias and makes my emotions... Confusing.."

She sighed, taking a moment to breathe. She was about to continue, but Tick suddenly cut in unexpectedly.

"*stop." He put a hand up, signaling her 'that's enough' in one swift motion. His gaze was transfixed on the bandages wrapped tightly around her left arm. They were visibly sallow, due to the bandages being dirty and unkept. His expression was something of spite mixed with evident levels of concern. It was a strange look that made Laurii wonder if he hadn't even noticed them being there till now.

"*lemme see your arm, laurii." His tone was slightly deeper than usual, hitting levels of seriousness that made Laurii slightly more nervous. It wasn't the first time she's heard someone speak in a serious tone but.. She was already accustomed to his lackluster and non-stoic demeanor. Seeing the sudden shift was..unnerving.

The tone was the kind of tone someone would give you when something was wrong. It was concerning to her, however, she complied. Lifting her arm, she held it out in his direction. Carefully, he grabbed her hand, staring at the bandages closely. His gaze hadn't once shifted from them.

"*have you been takin' care of this?" He asked, shifting his attention to her concerned expression. His own being one of seriousness. It was obvious he was expecting a genuine response. Laurii's gaze softened in response, as her eyes evaded his piercing stare. He quickly took this as a silent 'no' and let out a heavy sigh.
"*alright... well then-"
"I didn't know how...!" She admitted with a sudden rush of urgency evident in her tone. "My mother hadn't taught me how to handle uhm... Things... Like... This..." She glanced at her bandaged arm with sorrow. "But then again.. I don't think she expected t h i s to ever happen anyway and.. I ran away before she could teach me anything more about a medkit."

After a moment of processing silence, Tick nodded slowly, listening to her explanation closely, though his gaze drifted away for a moment as he thought of what to do with this new information. "*alright, kiddo. how long have you had this... injury?"
"U-um.." She stuttered, hinting with uncertainty. "A... A few... A few months..? Maybe um... 4 or 5?"

Tick's gaze shifted to an almost immediate look of pure concern. "*4 or 5 months? 4 or 5 months of not bein' properly treated? didn't horror see it? why didn't he do anything about it?" To Laurii's surprise, his reaction towards her reply was truly concerned, truly worried for her well being. "N-No. F-Father hasn't... I mean... I haven't shown it to him. I... Tend to wear a lot of long sleeves and tights most of the time.. S-so he wouldn't of noticed anything." She replied with a meek stutter.

Tick seemed to slowly be getting more and more concerned and he wasn't able to conceal it. He slowly shook his head. "*kid..." He soon let go of her hand and stood up from the couch. "*stay here for a minute. i'll be right back." Without giving her time to reply, he walked away from the couch, and headed into the kitchen without another word.

Description

"Mmh.." Laurii let out a soft groan as her eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the dim light above her. It felt as if she were lying up right against something soft and in a way warm but.. Not fluffy?
That's strange... Had it been that she was just... Dreaming?
... ...
She slowly sat up, taking notice that she was in bed. A very familiar feeling one at that but.. As she scrutinized the familiar spot, she could see the blanket that rested over her resting form was something of a more purple-ish shade. But.. Maybe it was just a different blanket.. Maybe Horror had more than one blanket since well, there was quite a few people living in the house at the time:

Horror
Papyrus
Laurii
Iirual
BIT
And
Simula

She knew it could be a lot.. so more than a couple blankets felt necessary.
She then glanced around a little more.. And only then did she notice something that brought her realization to light. Sitting across from her on a small wooden nightstand lied a single, barely decorated photograph. She slowly leaned over, taking hold of the photo frame within her tiny hand. As she brought it closer to her face, she noticed the figure in the picture was familiar.

It was him...

That one fang-toothed skeleton she met or.. She recalled meeting... Was standing in the center frame, an expression of sheer happiness shown on his face as he was beside what seemed to be an even taller, thinner skeletal figure..They seemed to be bright faced, having a large, cheery, open-wide smile..she was sure, this was Papyrus.. Not the one she knew, of course..But this made her realize that none of this was a dream. She really was away from home.. Away from her father and her family.. Great...

She couldn't help but feel a small pit of despair at that thought alone. She didn't feel as if being here meant she was in danger. Remembering, Tick,.. He wasn't threatening to her. In fact, he was pretty kind, all things considered.
But her father and his instability... Without her around, she wondered if he would be able to control himself long enough for her to get back.

Come to think of it,.. He expressed his concerns to Simula before.. His instability wasn't taken lightly, and even Papyrus tended to become more aware of it, and what could happen have he not something to keep him calm.
Not as if Papyrus was much better...
But at times where things were becoming more problematic, his first priority seemed to be taking the children out of the way before anything could happen to them.
Not that Laurii and Iirual were really little children, but underneath Papyrus' watchful supervision, they were.

And yet, through it all, Laurii still loved her father.
She knew it wasn't his fault he was like that, after all.

Carefully, she placed the picture back where she got it, slowly pulling herself off the bed, and scooting the warm sheet aside. With a short sigh, she slowly walked her way to the door, her light steps creaking against the wooden floorboards. As she reached the door, she gently grabbed and turned the handle, pulling the door open slightly, allowing her to peek out of the small crevice. From here she couldn't see or hear anything of discrimination.

She let out a brief sigh of relief and then began to open the door a little more, stepping out into the hallway.

These simple actions gave her immediate déjà vu from the first time she ever stepped foot out of the guest room that is now her room back home.. In fact, everything she was doing here was the exact same.. Just in a different house that yet seemed just the same.
She glanced around a bit, and though this house looked oddly the same as Horror's, the atmosphere and slight color change was a bit.. Strange.

"*oh, good mornin', kiddo." A familiar voice spoke up, breaking Laurii out of her impeding thoughts. She drew her attention downwards, noticing a very relaxed Tick resting on the living room couch.

..Once again, the familiar view was a strange sight..

He had his gaze fixed on her, as he graced her with an affable grin. The same he usually gave.
She returned it with a slight soft smile. "Oh... Greetings..." She replied before slowly walking down the steps. "What.. Happened? My.. Memory is kind of foggy.." She explained, as she stood at the very bottom of the steps, glancing around the surrounding area with perception in her wandering gaze.

"*oh," Tick sat up a bit, adjusting his posture whilst still maintaining his grin. "*well, we made it to grillby's, and at that point I kinda thought you'd still be awake since it wasn't but another 10 minutes away from the bridge. y'know, short distance..but ya fell asleep unexpectedly and.. y'know, i tried to wake you up buuut for some reason or other, you didn't budge. so i gave up and decided to just take ya home and lie ya down to rest. ya seemed to need it."

As he finished explaining, Laurii gave him a slight nod of understanding, her eyes downcast as the impending despair returned to her SOUL. "..I'm sorry.." She muttered in a soft tone, her eyes shifting on a whim to a look of pure despondence. It was a reflectance of misty blue instead of the usual bright blue that occupied her eyes. She lost the shimmer as well.. It was replaced with nil, giving the ocean of her eyes a view with no bright moon to overlay it.

"*eh, it's fine, kiddo. that's nothin' to apologize for. ya get tired. we all do. there's always next time." He gave a careless shrug, though couldn't help but notice how strangely saddened she looked even after what he said, and it made his friendly grin falter into a concerned grit. It was at this point that he was reaching his limit of ignorance.

For a while, he had wanted to chalk her strange emotion patterns up to being purposeful in nature. He wanted to think she was searching for attention by looking pathetic.
She wanted sympathy.
She wanted attention.

But it became impossible to keep thinking that when he actually took a moment to observe her eyes and overall body language when she suddenly becomes upset for something small.
It wasn't something as simple as her just pouting and saying stupid things..
Or stomping her feet and acting immature.
It seems genuine. And he knew that wasn't good.
Why was she so emotional..?
Over something so small..?

He could tell she had something and has been having something on her mind for a while and out of concern, he wanted to know what it was.

He sat up, keeping his eyes on her. With a short sigh, he scooted over, pulling his feet off the cushion and sat up in an up right position. "*alright, kiddo. i wasn't born yesterday. i can tell something is on your mind so.. come over here, sit down, and tell me what's botherin' ya." He pat the cushion beside him, inviting her to have a seat.

It crossed his mind that Horror probably has done something similar to this, assuming he had seen her strange emotional state before. He doubted he was the cause of it.. Not based off how she spoke about him. Horror wasn't who he would expect would show care to others.. But maybe the tables turned when he is with his kids.

For a moment Laurii merely stared blankly at him and then the couch as if she was once again, unsure of what she wanted to do. She didn't seem to know how to make decisions very affectively, and that fact stuck with Tick very closely. Or.. It was either that or she still did not trust him enough to sit near him. It was understandable.. It was.. A little weird of him to ask that of her but he was only in the business of helping.
If he could.

"*... look, i know i ain't your father so.. you just view me as a stranger, i take it. but'cha don't gotta tell me anythin' ya don't want to. just tell me, in short, what's making ya so down. ya can leave out what'cha don't wanna talk about.." He said, hoping that would make her feel a bit calmer.

His offer was met with a deafening sense of silence for a few moments before Laurii finally sighed softly, giving him a small nod.
She braced herself and moved over to the couch, pulling herself up on it, sitting with her arms folded politely. "I.. I won't lie. I really don't know why I'm like this." She glanced at him. "Ever since I was little, I've always been like this. This... Down about things. And yet, I tend to hide most of it behind my cheerful demeanor. Even father tends to see it between the cracks I portray in my display." She slowly glanced down as her eyes closed softly.

"I guess...it is just me.. You know? Just the way I am..." She gave a slight, despondent chuckle.
Tick gave her a contemplating stare, as if he were trying to understand how that was really possible.. And he didn't entirely believe that she could just be born like this.

Something told him it was something more. He couldn't shake the feeling and wanted to dig a little deeper, hoping he could figure more out before she decided to shut down on him.
"*hm.. alright. let's change the subject. how about.. ya tell me about your family..? your r e a l family."

Laurii's eyes widened slightly as she heard him propose this. He watched as a sudden redness swept over her cheeks but her face shrunk into a sudden mix of anger and fear. "W-Why would you want to know about that? H-How is THAT any of your business?"

Tick kept a calm expression as he replied: "*just curious. just thought that maybe if i knew more bout' your folks, i'd be able to know more about'cha. but forget it. based off that expression you're pullin', ya don't wanna talk about it." He shrugged, yet still seemed to be hinted with subtle curiosity. It was clear that he had struck a nerve asking that, and his thought process was focused on believing that could be part of her strange emotional patterns.

Laurii fell into a deep silence for a moment, as she seemed to be contemplating her next move. She twiddled her fingers in a nervous way as she mustered up the will to speak. "See...My father is-.... No, my father w a s abusive towards me. My real father. Towards me and my mom more specifically. It was really.. Really... Really bad." She rubbed her arm a bit. "But it was more than just that.. My father grew obsessed with researching about demons, or well.. The really rare ones.. Like myself. My father used me in his experiments, trying to understand more about my kind.

There was nothing about it that was easy to go through. I've become worried that something like that would happen again... And.. My father had anger issues so I guess that adds to it. Ironically, he was against drinking and smoking and anything like that and never partaken in the acts. And yet.. He was still so cruel. That is what made me so worried.. I worry... If I mess up, I'll get hurt again.. My previous childhood is what stemmed my fears and phobias and makes my emotions... Confusing.."

She sighed, taking a moment to breathe. She was about to continue, but Tick suddenly cut in unexpectedly.

"*stop." He put a hand up, signaling her 'that's enough' in one swift motion. His gaze was transfixed on the bandages wrapped tightly around her left arm. They were visibly sallow, due to the bandages being dirty and unkept. His expression was something of spite mixed with evident levels of concern. It was a strange look that made Laurii wonder if he hadn't even noticed them being there till now.

"*lemme see your arm, laurii." His tone was slightly deeper than usual, hitting levels of seriousness that made Laurii slightly more nervous. It wasn't the first time she's heard someone speak in a serious tone but.. She was already accustomed to his lackluster and non-stoic demeanor. Seeing the sudden shift was..unnerving.

The tone was the kind of tone someone would give you when something was wrong. It was concerning to her, however, she complied. Lifting her arm, she held it out in his direction. Carefully, he grabbed her hand, staring at the bandages closely. His gaze hadn't once shifted from them.

"*have you been takin' care of this?" He asked, shifting his attention to her concerned expression. His own being one of seriousness. It was obvious he was expecting a genuine response. Laurii's gaze softened in response, as her eyes evaded his piercing stare. He quickly took this as a silent 'no' and let out a heavy sigh.
"*alright... well then-"
"I didn't know how...!" She admitted with a sudden rush of urgency evident in her tone. "My mother hadn't taught me how to handle uhm... Things... Like... This..." She glanced at her bandaged arm with sorrow. "But then again.. I don't think she expected t h i s to ever happen anyway and.. I ran away before she could teach me anything more about a medkit."

After a moment of processing silence, Tick nodded slowly, listening to her explanation closely, though his gaze drifted away for a moment as he thought of what to do with this new information. "*alright, kiddo. how long have you had this... injury?"
"U-um.." She stuttered, hinting with uncertainty. "A... A few... A few months..? Maybe um... 4 or 5?"

Tick's gaze shifted to an almost immediate look of pure concern. "*4 or 5 months? 4 or 5 months of not bein' properly treated? didn't horror see it? why didn't he do anything about it?" To Laurii's surprise, his reaction towards her reply was truly concerned, truly worried for her well being. "N-No. F-Father hasn't... I mean... I haven't shown it to him. I... Tend to wear a lot of long sleeves and tights most of the time.. S-so he wouldn't of noticed anything." She replied with a meek stutter.

Tick seemed to slowly be getting more and more concerned and he wasn't able to conceal it. He slowly shook his head. "*kid..." He soon let go of her hand and stood up from the couch. "*stay here for a minute. i'll be right back." Without giving her time to reply, he walked away from the couch, and headed into the kitchen without another word.