Convictions: Recovering (Night 3-A)

As he jolted awake, he almost felt he had woken up twice the same second. Sofia was there laying on top of him.  “You’re aware” she said sleepily yet cheerfully. “I was getting worried.” She pushed herself up at his silence. “You...are aware, right?...Phil?”

“Wha?... I…. What are you even doing here?” Phil asked while he failed to peel his eyes away.

“Oh~” Sofia giggled. “I’m sorry. I almost can’t believe I didn’t realize you were busy enjoying the view~”

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Sofia’s house. Last night
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Sofia sighed in relief. “There you are.” she grabbed her stuff panda, Lil Phil, off the table. “Only been tearing the house apart.” She set the Panda on her head. “At least your safe...hopefully.” She perked up as her phone buzzed. “Hello?” She questioned, but already fearing the answer.

Phil breathed heavily over the phone struggling. “So...fia. Look these….these nightmares.” The words “Can you come over?” and “Stay out of this house.” came almost at the same time. “N-no. Don’t!” Sofia listened very closely. It wasn’t quite clear when the more raspy voice spoke, but it seemed like Phil was winning for now. Almost second after a dark, raspy “Don’t come over.” finished she heard Phil again. “Shut! Up! Don’t listen to-” Phil other voice interrupt with “Me.” but it was getting clearer now. “I’m...I’m gonna fall asleep again, and… and… I can’t. Pl-please...whatever I said...please.” A loud thump finished the call.

A thick yet shadowy substance seemed to leak in the air as Sofia spirited out of her leaving her door open. Gaining speed and dexterity with every step. Eventually hopping on and off some train station walls just to save maybe a second or two. The substance trailed from her place to Phil’s apartment slowly fading while she unlocked the door. Phil was clearly terrified of something in that nightmare. But she had little strength left herself, so she resolved to be on top of him that night. Hoping it would help somehow.

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Phil’s apartment. Present day
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“Phil’s phone. Sofia speaking.” She answered cheerfully.

“Uh, who is it?” Phil stated as tried to lift himself only to be pinned back down by an arm.

Sofia couldn’t help but snicker. “No, Baron, I’m sorry. That’s a very you line, okay? Archtamed is a state very few Dark Mystic are even capable of. Essentially, you charge yourself with most of the energy you would have had up to 48 hours from when you use it. At the cost of feeling incredibly lethargic for whatever  amount of time you pulled.” She yawned, and slumped further into Phil’s lap. “Yeah so just have someone called, okay? Phil and I are on his couch with more than enough data. Hmm?...Um,okay. He’s also been unscrambling a lot of memories though so-”

“Baron can open the cage.” Phil stated. “Obb has gotta stop being an idiot. Sofia blinked, but repeated what Phil said nonetheless.

“Okay. No, no. We got nothing else to do. And Phil seems to be more himself, so you..open the cage, I guess?” Sofia giggled. “Okay, bye.” Sofia rest herself on Phil’s chest while looking at him.

“I once had the choice.” Phil began thinking back. “To personally sell my old guitar, or watch my dad beat Obb with it. At a protest against non-humans, which we definitely all going to. So I sold my guitar, and got the supplies. And my uncle, Clarence, dropped them off, and let my parents know I had texted my aunt, Symphony.” Phil sighed. “I should have picked up Obb then too. Even he said it still won’t have ended, but at least I had a place to go home to. Still he moved not that much later. And it only went downhill, so maybe he had a point. And eventually they broke that too, so Obb just… can’t handle it now. If things are stable, then there just gonna break again.” Phil sighed. “And I'm still dating the only girl I know my parents would approve of…”

Sofia hugged around Phil chest and softly grunted clearly trying to push him. “Alright.” She stated giving up. “I don’t have the energy to smother you under my chest until you beg for air for blaming yourself for that. So your punishment will be harsher, if you do it again.”

“Pff. Yeah, yeah. Okay” Phil rebutted having barely notice her pushing.

“And.” Sofia continued. “When you’re ready to move on, I’ll be right here.”

WHEN YOUR READY
-You think you’re ready now (go to night 4-A)

-You’re not quite there yet (go to night 4-B)