rewrite,  pt 3







majojo apologises for the sudden entrance. she ensures peruru that it's just her who's come to visit. he understands, but he's still shaken. peruru doesn't verbally respond, which makes majojo feel _awful._

majojo repeats the fact that she brought food and drink for peruru, and immediately rummages through her bag to pull out some natural keronian water - it's better than the apartment's tapwater, by far.

she holds the bottle out to peruru, who tries to grab it, but just ends up weakly stroking the bottle instead. _right,_ majojo thinks. she's got to do everything herself, then.

she tells peruru to hold on a moment, whilst she dives into the kitchen to look for a straw. peruru doesn't move from his position; he's watching majojo disappear around the corner, but his gaze is unfocused.

there's several questionable noises before majojo returns to the living room,  straw-in-hand. she opens the bottle for peruru, jams the straw in, and shoves the bottle in peruru's face. she'll hold onto the bottle for him for now, she supposes.


by this point, majojo's managed to get peruru to have _something_ to drink, which feels like an achievement in and of itself. peruru's not stumbling _as_ much as he was beforehand, but he's still unsteady and almost falls on several occasions when he tries to walk to the bedroom.

majojo guides him to his and takaka's bed, giving him physical support wherever he needs it. majojo complains about how heavy peruru can be at times, and that she's not built to support keronians like him, but peruru just makes an intangible sound in response. that's progress, majojo notes.

majojo digs through the bag she'd brought with her, again. she pulls out a sliced loaf of bread, or whatever keron's questionable alternative is. majojo opens the packaging, as peruru tries to grasp bedsheets. his attempt isn't _bad,_ but it sure takes longer than it should have taken him.

peruru's picking up speech again. he opens his mouth to say something to majojo, but instead of speaking words like he intended, peruru just lets out an unfortunate croak of a word. majojo laughs, and peruru franticly reaches for the bottled water to help his throat out.

majojo stands up, moving towards peruru, with two slices of bread in tow. she holds them out to peruru, who looks mildly disgusted. peruru opens his mouth to speak again, and when it's actual _words_ coming out of his mouth, majojo is _relieved._

being in the same room as peruru and _not_ hearing his voice might as well be one of the most terrifying things for majojo.

".. coulda, toasted th-" majojo shoves the bread into peruru's mouth when she gets the chance. peruru stares at her, clearly disappointed, but he supposes he _has_ to eat. he'd forgotten that he hasn't eaten in days.


"you're really bad at taking care of yourself, big bro." majojo sits down beside peruru on the bed, kicking her legs. "you look like you're gonna die any second now."

peruru rolls his eyes. he's too busy shoving the rest of the bread into his mouth to respond.

"please sleep tonight. i know you're busy, but," majojo frowns. "you need to be okay."

"vere'sh no point in shleepin'," peruru's talking with his mouth full. "wha'sh the point of," he swallows. "what's the point of sleepin' in mine and taka's bed if i ain't gonna wake up and see him next to me?"

majojo blinks, and smiles. he's talking. thank _god._

"i gotta fix him, jojo. i can't spend the night alone."

"well, you've got me!" majojo throws her arms into the air, enthusiastically. "i'm gonna be staying and helping you out, big bro. you've got everyone worried about you. i know you want to help out mister takaka, but you need to help yourself first."

majojo puts a hand on peruru's shoulder. peruru groans.

"sleepin' means i'm wastin' hours. those hours can be spent on fixin' taka. i can't just let him suffer like this. not longer than he's gotta do for." peruru yawns.

"well, think of it as like, uhh... you've got a battery," majojo doesn't intend to make the connection to peruru's core symbol. "and you've got no energy, so... you can't work properly! so you've gotta recharge-"

"taka _is_ my way of rechargin'. i _need_ him, i gotta--"

"you don't want to mess up on helping mister takaka out." majojo's voice is slightly more monotone; she doesn't want to talk about this forever. she wants peruru to sleep. "he'd be telling you to sleep! he wouldn't want you in this kind of condition."

peruru groans. he knows. he _knows._ "but, i can't waste any time-"

"listen to me for _once,_ big bro. i _need_ you to listen to me." majojo stands, to move beside peruru.

if peruru wasn't going to lay down, she'd have to _make_ him lay down. majojo rests both her hands on peruru's shoulders, and gently tries to push him. peruru groans and complies, yawning. he swats majojo's hands away; if he was going to lay down, he'd do it his damn fucking self. he's not _that_ much in need of help.

peruru does just that; lay down. majojo continues talking.

"go to sleep. you need it. your sis is gonna be here when you wake up, yeah?"

peruru takes his time responding. he's turned away from majojo, and he's retracted the lights in his headset so he can lay more comfortably. "mmh. please look after taka. i love him."

majojo rolls her eyes with a smile. "i know, dude. and i will!"

"'s'great." peruru's clearly already almost asleep, and majojo can tell that from his voice alone. he's just talking and yawning at the same time, and it sounds _horrible._ "dunno what i'd do without you, sis."


peruru _almost_ falls asleep. he complains about not having anything to hold onto. majojo tells him to use one of takaka's pillows for the time being.

peruru tells her it's hard to do that when he's sleeping on takaka's side and is thus sleeping on his pillows, but he mutters a "whatever" and does so anyways.

majojo leaves the room, to have a better look at what's in the kitchen. she doubts there's anything edible there, so she'll have to buy some stuff tomorrow.

she passes takaka's body on the way to the kitchen. majojo can't help but stare at him for a little while.



yikes.

that was her friend.