"It's always been hard for me to make friends," Lapis admitted as they sat on the floor of Ammolite's home. It was quite nice, looked well kept. The walls were painted a pastel shade of blue, quite easy on the eyes and impressively well-kept, with brown carpeted flooring. A house on the huge leaves of the trees that scraped the sky made of one of the house-sized acorns being this well taken care of... Maybe Lapis' standards were just low because of the state of her own home, but it looked quite nice. Ammolite, Cuprite, and Peridot were with her, all three sitting in front of her.
"But... I don't know if I really want to talk about it. There's too many Elementals here, what if one of you breaks off from the group, I don't..."
"It's fine, Lapis! You don't have to tell us any of it." Ammolite said with a kind smile.
"Y-you don't want to hear details...?" She asked.
"Well, you don't seem to want to talk about it, so-"
"B-but what if I'm making this up? What if my mom isn't really abusive and my dad isn't in jail? What if-"
"Would you do that?" Cuprite cut her off.
"Well n-no, but you don't know that!"
"Lapis, please, calm down. We trust you. We don't have any reason not to." Cuprite said.
"You don't have any reason to trust me in the first place!"
"I don't believe in needing a reason to trust someone, I believe in a reason to lose trust in someone. You've done nothing thus far to lose our trust."
"What if I did?"
"Then it happens. But I don't believe you'd do that, Lapis. You seem so nice, you've just been mistreated in ways you don't deserve."
Lapis sighed, looking to Ammolite and Peridot.
"Do... Do you two trust me?" She asked them. They both nodded and said something along the lines of "Yes!"
"Alright... I-I really don't want to talk about my past right now... Can we just... I don't know, watch a movie or something?"
"Do you have time to do that, Lapis? You said you had to go home by five, right?"
"What time is it?" The water Dranda asked.
"Four," Peridot answered.
"Oh... Well... I don't know, maybe I'll go home early..." She said as she went to stand up.
"You don't have to," Ammolite said to her with a small smile, "We don't mind if you stay for a bit longer."
"I don't know what I'm cooking tonight, I should be going..." She stood and offered Ammolite the tiniest smile,
"Thank you for letting me stay here... It's kind of nice to have someone to talk to... I-I'll text you after I'm done with dinner, okay?"
"Of course, Lapis. You can text me whenever, alright?"
"Alright..." She left, leaving Ammolite with Cuprite and Peridot.
Later that day, at about 9 PM, Ammolite got a text from Lapis.
Hey... Was all it said. Ammolite quickly responded with,
Hey! Something wrong?
After a couple of minutes, the response came,
I'm just... I needed someone to talk to.
I'm always happy to chat! Came her cheerful response
Do you ever get angry about being alive?
Well, not really. Sometimes I get angry about things that happen in my life, but I don't usually get angry at my own existence. She replied, unaware of how that last bit could be taken the wrong way.
Right... Well, I do. I don't know what I did to deserve the life I have, but clearly it was something and I want to know what. Why have the Gods decided I need to suffer like this?
I'm not sure, Lapis. You seem very kind, you've just been mistreated. Maybe they just understand that there needs to be a balance of good and bad in the world. Not saying you deserve it, but maybe they know you're strong enough to handle it until someone comes along to help.
She put her Shell down for a bit, getting up to get herself a drink of water. When she returned, she had this message.
Strong enough? Ammolite I don't think you understand.
Well then tell me, what don't I understand?
What came next was not a text, but a picture. A picture of part of Lapis' body, likely her upper thighs, covered in claw marks. Some were fresh, some were old, but some of them were definitely done within the last hour or so, if the dried blood smeared slightly over her fur was to be believed. They were definitely self-inflicted, judging by the following message,
I am not strong.
Lapis...
She stopped texting her and called her, only to be met with a declination of the call.
I don't want to talk. I want to text. She texted.
Okay, okay... Are you doing it again, right now?
I started a few minutes ago... But I stopped because I thought maybe you could help.
Ammolite tensed up. She worded her next sentence carefully, not trying to imply that she didn't care but also that she didn't think she could help.
Lapis I've never dealt with anything like this before...
Well if you really want to be my friend you'll try. Even if you can't, you'll know you didn't give up.
Okay... You know it's an unhealthy thing you're doing, but if you cared you wouldn't do it, right?
Yes.
So you want me to tell you something you don't know, like... I care, and I always will, even if nobody else does?
That... That's a bit helpfully.
Typo?
Yeah, I smeared a bit of blood on my shell, sorry.
Please go wash your paws.
The next message came after a minute or so, done.
Thank you. Is there anything else you can think of to do to cope?
I write sometimes... I'm not a very good artist so I express myself with words. It's much less anxiety-inducing. When I look at other Elemental's visual art I think "I'll never be as good as them" but when I see other's writing I think "Wouldn't it be great if I kept practicing to be that good someday?"
I can relate. I'm also fond of words, though I'm more of a reader than I am a writer. I love to read other's works, and I've dipped my paw into the writing pond, but I don't think it's entirely my thing.
... If you want to read some of my vent writing, I'd be happy to let you...
Ammolite yawned, responding,
Maybe tomorrow? I'm starting to fall asleep a bit. I'm usually in bed by now.
Alright... If I called you in the middle of the night, would you answer?
Absolutely, Lapis. I always answer calls at night. It could be someone asking for help, after all.
Alright... I'll text you again tomorrow morning, okay?
Alright. Sleep well, Lapis. You deserve some rest.
She put her shell up and turned her notifications on vibrate, but kept her call volume up, just in case Lapis called her.
