The moment everything faded to black instead of my consciousness going to sleep, it felt as if it was taken somewhere else. Somewhere… deeper…
One moment I felt the warm feeling of Inv's Fluffy ear under my head, the next I now find myself floating in the strange darkness I was in before when I passed out a couple cycles ago.
'So… this is the soul space?' I think to myself as I look around, now knowing what this place's name is called.
With the passive me and Inv got I now have a much better idea what this place is. If it wasn't obvious with the literal word 'soul' being in the name.
'So I'm like, inside my soul right now? Or on it? Not exactly sure, but all I know is it's related to my soul' I wonder to myself. Questioning how all of this is supposed to work.
With the words I've been seeing from my system, especially the ones from my passives. The words 'vessel' and 'soul' keep on being placed next to each one.
'Hmm… So right now, my vessel is… currently asleep? Which is currently laying on Inv right now. Or I guess I could say Inv's vessel…'
I quickly remember what the first effect of the Soul Bond passive gives.
Soul Bond (Invert) (Unique) (Soul)
Effects: While both Soul Mates vessels rest. If both vessels are in Physical contact, both soul mates can meet each other in a shared Soul Space.
If one soul mate's vessel is to-
Remembering the first effect, that should also mean Inv should be here. So where the heck is he…
Moving my head around I look for my partner in the darkness and-
"Oh!" Right as I think of where Inv could be, I see his figure not too far away from me. Also Floating in the darkness.
I want to get close to him right away but…
"Come on… how the heck am I supposed to move here?! Hey Inv! Are you stuck as well?" I somewhat yell to the distant Inv.
…
…
…
But I get no response back?
Uhh… is something wrong? Did the passive not work???
"Hey Inv, a-are you there? Can you say something?"
…
Again, I get no response.
Feeling worry build up, I say his name again.
"Inv?"
This time his head immediately turns to me. So fast that it looked like 1 frame he was facing one way, the next he is facing towards me.
While I was happy he finally responded in a way, when I saw the look on his face… I grew worried again.
Inv's face was completely blank, no signs of emotion at all. Only directly staring at me…
"Uhh… Inv, you alright? I know this is pretty strange all of a sudden but don't worry! Nothing bad is going on I swear! Y-you know how uh… you felt really good when we kissed and how you felt something when I bit your ear? Well somehow it gave us the ability to enter this place and uh… wow this sounds weird huh?" I ramble on, trying to explain to Inv how we both got here. My nervousness increasing as Inv still shows no signs of any sort of response.
Still only staring at me with no emotion.
…
"Y-you know, this is great! We can both see each other when we go to sleep now! Sleep is pretty overrated right? It wastes a bunch of time when we could be together a-and uhh… we could talk and stuff…" I ramble further, trying to get any sort of response from Inv. But I still get nothing…
'Dang it! Why can't I fucking move here! Let me get closer damn it! Something is clearly wrong here!' I worriedly think to myself, wishing to get closer to Inv to get a better idea on what's wrong.
Did the passive do something to him?? Why isn't he-
"W-woah!" I exclaim when I suddenly see Inv start somehow floating towards me.
"H-how are you doing that Inv? Ive been trying to move in this dang place ever since getting here yet you somehow did it on your first try!" I ask while shocked. I want to float to! Or I guess swim? Still not sure how it works.
I thought I was able to move the last time I was here but I was clearly wrong! I know how to swim! Let me move!
Flailing my arms around in a pathetic attempt to move, I see Inv moving closer and closer to me.
I'm still not sure why Inv is acting like this… but I still smile towards Inv. trusting he won't hurt me.
"You're almost there Inv! Well I guess I'm the 'there' but you know what I mean!" I say, mostly talking to myself since Inv isn't responding to whatever I say.
When Inv is just about to reach me I open my arms wide, ready to catch the Floating Inv. he's only floating towards me without doing anything else… So I guess I should initiate the hug first?? Maybe that will get a response from him!
The moment Inv finally reaches me, I wrap my arms around him the best I can. Making sure Inv doesn't float past me. Thankfully though it seems Inv's intent was to reach me, since I didn't feel him try to move past me once he reached me.
When I fully wrapped my arms around Inv, the first thing I felt was cold. Extreme cold radiating from Inv…
"W-wow Inv… why are you so c-cold? Is this why you aren't saying anything??" I ask, hoping for any response. But of course, nothing…
Feeling confused and worried, I still keep hugging Inv. hoping it will make him feel better.
I'm genuinely confused why he feels so cold… It's not like we are outside right now. We're currently inside the soul space. And I don't feel cold at all besides from Inv.
So it wouldn't make any sense for Inv to be so cold…
…
Unless this is like… a representation of our souls?? Remembering how many cycles Inv has lived through and also died… it would pretty much be guaranteed that Inv would at least have some sort of mental build up from all of those cycles of isolation and death…
'Or I could just be spit balling shit and be completely wrong, who knows?' I sigh internally to myself, just hoping this will make Inv feel better and talk to me again.
Pushing myself further into Inv, I attempt to warm Inv up as much as I can. Not sure if souls work like that but I can try, right?
…
'O-oh!' After a little bit, I finally feel Inv do something! His arms which were just floating aimlessly behind are now starting to wrap around me into a hug!!
Getting an actual reaction, I squeeze as hard as I can in the hug. It still somehow barely does anything despite us being souls right now??
But in return for my deeper hug, I feel Inv squeeze back which… surprisingly doesn't hurt? It's like I know he's returning the hug even harder but I feel no pain from it. Just the motion that he's holding me even closer than before.
This is fine. I'm sure I'm doing something right…
So while staying quiet, I wait. Holding onto Inv as best as I can.
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A/N - Apologies for extremely slow updates. major procrastination.