literature

Of Art And Roses (Ib Reader Insert Pt. 27)

Deviation Actions

TheNekozawaFan's avatar
Published:
1.2K Views

Literature Text

“N-new objective?” Garry asks in a small voice, looking up at you from his sitting position on the floor. He rubs at his eye whilst looking up at you questioningly. To be honest, it would be cute if it wasn't harmful gas that had caused the effect. Still, you give him a sympathetic little smile.
“Yep, new objective. Worth roughly fifty EXP for each player, a kiss for Player 2, and maybe a bonus if completed within the time goal.”
“Player 2?” Garry awkwardly points at himself.
“Well I'm obviously Player 1, hunny, making you Player 2.” You smile down at him and giggle. He smiles back before reaching out to you, clearly asking for help standing up.

“So what's our 'objective'?” He asks, brushing off his coat.
“Mm, I think we have to find balls of paint. Pretty sure the note said seven of them. I honestly have no idea what a ball of paint is like, so this is gonna be kind of weird.” You scratch at the back of your head awkwardly.
“When is this place not weird though?” Garry raises an eyebrow and shrugs at you. You shrug right back at him.



The two girls continue on their way down the long, narrow hall. For a few minutes, it's quiet, and Mary seems like she's uneasy. After a while, she stops Ib by placing a hand on her shoulder.
“H-hey, Ib . . .” the small blonde says in a solemn tone. Ib gestures for her to continue by looking in her direction. “ . . . Can I ask you something?” Ib nods, and Mary's eyebrows begin to furrow, making her look more focused, or maybe slightly stressed. “Is Garry . . . your dad?” Ib is confused as to why she may ask this. If anything, Ib is completely oblivious to Mary's body language. She answers quickly and easily. Mary's eyes seem to dull even more upon hearing this from Ib. Ib looks at her with worry. She never thought a young girl like her could ever look so disappointed by words.

It takes a few minutes, but you finally make your way into the Tree room. Inside, it seems like a sort of library section. Or, rather, it would be a collection of works, mostly art descriptions and poems. You catch a glimpse of something between one of the bookshelves and the wall, which seems small, spherical, and magenta in colour. “Hey, do you see that? Do you think you could move the shelf?” You look up at him and point towards the shelf. He nods and walks up over to try and move it.
“Usually I'd be able to, but I . . . I don't think I can move this.” he says after a moment of trying to push it out of the way.
“That's fine. Knowing this place, the problem will probably solve itself, to be honest.”

Upon looking through the rest of the shelves, you note that most of them are simply sad writings, or art collections. You look up at the painting of an eye at the end of the room. You continue to check through the shelves beside the painting, and just so luckily find a book based on the subject of colour usage. For a moment, you wonder what it is, since it seems like it could possibly be very disgusting. Between the pages, there's a sort of . . . green blob. It's been molded a bit to fit between the pages, but it regains a slight bit of shape when you carefully pick it up off of the page. It's soft, and seems fragile. After a moment, you know precisely what it is when the smell of chemicals hits you. It's paint.
“Paint . . .?” A few seconds after you acknowledge the substance, it vanishes in your hand, leaving small patches of green on your fingertips.
“Oh . . . well then. Feckin' artsy, huh?”

After a few moments of confusion, you move to look at the rest of the books, until you find one that has been marked on the shelf using a small plastic bookmark.
“Being alone is fearful. A group of two can have relief. A group of three can have salvation. A group of four . . .” You both read this to yourselves, though the rest of it is torn off.

“ . . . Do you think Ib and Mary are okay?” Garry asks, staring down at the writing with a worried expression. You look up over at him sympathetically. You worry for them as well, (one more than the other, admittedly), so it's hard for you to find believable words.
“Do you know how goddamn clever that girl is? They're fine. I know that we'll find them soon. Even if we don't, I don't doubt for a second that Ib would find a proper way out to safety on her own.”

He gives you a visibly forced smile and nods. “Right.”


“Why doesn't it have hair?” Mary says in faked enthusiasm, looking down at the mannequin head.
“Hey, could we take it off the table?” Ib suggests, completely ignoring her companion's inquiry.
“Take it off . . .? Are you sure . . .?” Mary says with dull worry. It almost seems as though she just doesn't have the energy. “It . . . it could break if we do that.”
“C'mon, it'll be fine. I just wanna try.”
“Ooh . . . a-ahh, k.” Mary huffs, before shifting the mannequin head up and off of the counter. She manages to hold it up for a second, before dropping it to the floor when her muscles are clearly not strong enough. Normally Mary would be the type to get jumpy or scream, but this time, she simply flinches back. Her expression doesn't change despite the loud impact in front of her. Ib, however, flinches and stumbles backwards when one of the shards cuts across the front of her calf, cutting through her black kneesocks and allowing the blood to soak into the fabric.
“G-ggh . . .” Ib is surprised by the harm done, but she can admit that it's not the most painful thing. Still, she clutches her leg and looks up at Mary with a sorry expression.



Hesitantly, you walk back into the gas room and take a hurried look around before rushing towards the small blob on the floor to your right. With just a few steps into the room, your head feels dizzy and your body already begins to feel tired, but you manage to grab the ball of paint and rush your way out of there fast enough. It vanishes out of your hand as you make your way out of the door.
Upon reaching fresh air, you begin nearly hacking up your lungs as you collapse to the floor.
“Are you okay?!” Garry exclaims as he rushes to your side. You huff for a few moments as you stare down at the floor with tear-filled eyes, and Garry begins to rub slow circles into your back.

“T-thank you . . . I just feel really tired now, though.” As you stare down at the floor with blurry vision, you notice your rose fall out from the section of hair you had placed it in. Only one petal left on the damn thing . . .
You pick up your rose and shakily hand it to Garry before glancing up to the vase at the other end of the room. “Be a dear?” He nods and quickly rushes towards the vase. You feel a slight sense of relief in your headache, but it doesn't change the fact that you're still very fatigued at this point. When Garry comes back to sit by your side, you lean against him and yawn slightly.
“Can we just, like . . . sit for a moment?” You yawn again, sending a couple of tears streaming down your face, only to fall onto Garry's coat.
Instead of responding with words, he simply places his arm around your shoulder and pulls you in closer.
So
. . .
How do you guys feel about that cute bara skeleton hell video from 2 weeks ago

cool right
© 2014 - 2024 TheNekozawaFan
Comments12
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
kittykatt765's avatar
Oh this story is amazing!
Are you planning on continuing? I would love to read it if you do~ ^^
You are an amazing writer!!! Ahhh, but you don't have to update if you aren't feeling it!!!