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Lyle tapped one of his many metal claws against the floor, impatient. He’d prodded at Sam for information about this ritual thing he talked about before, but he didn’t exactly get the most information out of him. Maybe Sam should’ve taken him with him, but he insisted on going by himself.. a foolish choice, no doubt. Who in their right mind would go up onto that roof without any companionship, especially under the watchful gaze of the.. thing… outside. Well, the astronomer people were with him.. but Lyle would have preferred to been with him instead. What if something went wrong up there? He didn’t hear anything, but he was silently starting to doubt that anything good would come out of that ritual.
Lyle looked up at the ceiling, making unsatisfied clicking noises as he fiddled with his hands. As he moved his gaze back to the room, he could tell the tone pretty much immediately. Anxious. That little rat thing Sam saved and named Ratticus, was gnawing on a chair leg. The strange shadow thing in the corner was.. doing nothing. Well, not too unusual for that thing, but he could still see that it was also slightly unsettled. Hellen was taking her sweet, sweet time sharpening her cleaver.. well, it was good he wasn’t the only one that was feeling nervous.
He tucked into his blanket, taking a look at one of the pictures taped to his abdomen. Yeah.. Sam would be ok. Sam has gotten through worse, he’d be ok… everything would be fine. But what if it wasn’t fine? Lyle put the tips of his fingers in his mouth, gnawing on them. No, it’ll be fine.. stop worrying, Lyle. Everything is fi—
He jumped at the sound of the door swinging open, the familiar figure of Sam in the doorway. He was covered in blood and slouched over, a somber look on his face. But there was.. something else. In his eyes. It almost looked like billions of stars reflected in his pupils. Before Lyle even got a chance to speak, Hellen was already in front of Sam. A pang of jealousy hit Lyle like a train.
“How did it go?” She spoke, strangely gentle for a woman like her. Sam didn’t spare a glance, almost all of his motivation completely drained from his body.
“…terrible..” Sam muttered, walking past Hellen and towards the bathroom. Lyle seemed to puff up in frustration. He should’ve been the first one to speak with Sam after he came back. Though, there was no time for petty arguments over being jealous. Something was wrong.. very wrong. Lyle could tell.
Sam brushed past Hellen and the others, even Ratticus as he tried to scuttle up to him with a twitching nose, entering the bathroom and shutting the door behind himself. The strange shadow thing seemed to glance at the door for a few moments as if thinking to itself before giving a subtle head shake. The next second Lyle blinked, it was gone. Maybe it knew what was going to happen next. It didn’t want to be there for it.
Lyle swallowed hard, looking back to the bathroom door. He knew what this was. He knew that however Sam felt was how he felt whenever he accidentally took the photo of The Visitor. A quick slap of dread hit him directly.. wherever his heart would be now. He wrapped his arms around himself, inhaling.
Ratticus twitched his nose at Hellen, almost as a question. Yeah, that little creature could speak, but it seemed to prefer not to unless it was speaking to Sam. Maybe it was asking if he was ok.. Lyle knew that he certainly was not.
“…I do not think so. Sam?” Hellen gave a knock on the door, reaching towards the doorknob.. but she obviously wouldn’t enter without permission.
“You are worrying us. What is happening?”
And there was no response. Just incoherent mumbles, something something numbers and something about not looking. Lyle looked away running his hands down his strangely soft blanket. Should he do something? Maybe. Should he? He wants to.. but what if he got attacked?
He was too focused on talking to himself to notice Hellen knocking at the door again, speaking words he wasn’t listening to. He blinked a few times with a few clicks, snapping himself out of his own little world at the sound of a loud clang in the bathroom. Yeah.. it was bad in there. Very bad. He should probably do something.
He took a few scuttling steps forward, biting down on his bottom lip as he gave Hellen a glance. She clearly wasn’t sure about this. If Sam did lose himself, would he try and kill him? Or was passive, but not with them anymore?
“….do not get yourself killed, Lyle.” Those were the only words she could give to him. Ratticus didn’t understand the situation, and who knows if he’d want to. The Shadow was gone. The other people Sam had welcomed into his apartment.. probably wouldn’t want to risk their lives anyways. So, Lyle was really the only option.
He made a few worried clicks, hesitantly putting a hand to the door. Well.. he could go in here and either get mauled to death, or go in here and somehow be helpful. He was really hoping it would be the latter.
With a nervous click, he pushed the door open to the bathroom. He scanned the room, only to be met with a broken mirror, dented sink, and the shower curtains ripped down to cover the body of a now bleeding cursed figure. Oh boy..
Lyle.. wasn’t fit for this. Lyle was good at taking pictures and…. watching Sam sleep…. he wasn’t good at being a form of comfort. Still, it wasn’t like he had a choice. He hesitantly scuttled over, leaning down over Sam.
“H-Hey… you uhhh… in there..?” Lyle questioned, clicks coming from his body as he watched the other cursed poke his head out from under the curtain. Yeah.. it’s bad. Sam now had thin, dark purple fur that probably came from the sweater he wore all the time. He beared a worrying amount of arms and eyes, not as many as Lyle’s weird metal legs, but still strange. He definitely had more eyes than him, though.
Lyle could only really describe him as.. some weird lizard. He did know that Sam had a gecko when they worked together, and he was pretty upset when it died. Back to appearance, a long crest of hair or fur ran down his back, mouths in a line going down his stomach. That would probably cause for some issues with speech.. oh, he also has a tail… that is. A very strange addition. But hey, maybe they shouldn’t question what The Visitor does or how it does it.
“..well, y-you haven’t tried to kill me yet so.. w-w-we’re getting somewhere!!” He gave an awkward grin before he immediately lost it. He looked away, fiddling with his hands before looking back.
“Are you… um… o-okayy…?” Lyle made a few clicking noises, watching as Sam gave him another glance before pulling the shower curtain over his head again. Yeah.. that’s probably a no.
What does he do now? He can’t just leave, that would be quite a rude move. He wanted to help anyways, this was Sam out of all people! Sam was…. awesome.. even as a cursed beast. Super awesome… he put his hands to his face, blinking slowly.
“I-I’m gonna… sit with you, ok..? Y-you don’t mind, do you..?” There was no response. Ok… that’s probably a good sign. If he wanted him gone, he’d probably have made it obvious. Lyle plopped down on the ground, tucking his many legs underneath himself. He looked at his hands tucking them together as he sat beside Sam.
They sat there in silence, only the sounds of muffled voices coming from behind the door trying to figure out what they’d do now. Lyle tapped a leg on the ground, eyes focused on the door for the most part. What.. WOULD they do now? I mean.. Sam was the only one that could cook. Well, Papineau could, but Lyle only liked Sam’s cooking.. because of course he did.
A few more moments passed by before Lyle felt something rest against his side. He glanced down, clicking in surprise as he noticed that Sam had.. moved closer, resting against his body. Ok Lyle.. be normal.. be normal… now’s not the time to go batshit over being laid against.
“Urhn… uh… d-do you want a hug…?” Lyle looked down at Sam with pure hope in his gaze, heart practically jumping as the other cursed gave him a small nod.
“O-Okay!!” Lyle reached down, wrapping his arms around Sam and giving him a tight embrace. Quite strong, but weak enough to where he wouldn’t harm the other. He was probably already hurting enough..
The other wrapped his many, many arms around him in return, resting his head against his body. As a bit morbid as it seemed, Lyle was practically grinning from ear to ear. This wasn’t exactly a kiss.. but it was close enough for Lyle.
Moments passed by… and Sam hadn’t moved at all. Was he ok?? He wasn’t.. dead, was he? Lyle leaned his head down so he could tell, and.. oh. He’s asleep. He’s asleep?? Sam was asleep. On top of him. Oh my god. Lyle put his hands against his face, a strange clicking-purr coming from his body. He.. wouldn’t be moving from here for a while, would he??
Probably not… but he didn’t have any complaints. Yeah.. they’d figure out what exactly to do about this later. Right now, they’re a bit occupied..