Delusional Reality

Beams of sun begin to slice through the darkness inside of Ori's room, illuminating the millions of Tsuks merch. Ori, being asleep, swimming in the ocean of his Tsuks plushies, slowly opens his eyes to meet this new day.

"Good morning, Tsuks", Ori says through his yawn, the tiredness audible in his voice. The plushie obviously doesn't reply, but Ori looks at it as if it would. An avalanche of plushies falls down from the bed as Ori begins to get up.

Ori grabs one of the plushies by the hand and gets up, walking into the living room. Ori places the plushie on one side of the table. 

"I need some breakfast", he murmured to himself, trying to fight back the yawns. He grabs himself a bowl and pours some cereal into it, alongside the milk. After grabbing a spoon, he places himself on the opposite side of the table from his plushie.

A moment of silence follows, almost as if he is trying to prepare himself for something. You see, Ori has always kept to himself and often struggles acting around people, whether it's for his own gain or someone else's. Today marks the day that he has a ticket for an anime convention, which he hopes will help him conquer his social anxiety and finally start having a life outside of the small world he and Tsuks have built.

He piles up some cereal on his spoon and leans over, offering it to the plushie on the other side of the table.

"Y...You, er, want some?" He inquires, staring at the lifeless eyes that have always stared at him the exact way that they are now. Ori seems to take a moment to realise what he is trying to get a stuffed plushie to eat.

What am I doing? 

Shocked at himself for attempting to offer Tsuks a mouthful of his cereal, he sits back down, almost as if he's trying to read himself for something large. Ori has always been the type of person to stay in his room, immersed in worlds others have created. However, being immersed in another person's world can often lead to a neglect of one's own. Ori is the result of this. So much so, then even when he realised he needed to leave the nest and figure out and immerse himself in a world that only he could create, he decided to take one from another...

Tsuks is a fictional character created in a world that doesn't exist. She lives in a world on the brink of extinction, longing for something more than a life that just ends. However, when it comes to finally gaining the opportunity to make this happen, she locks the door on this cage that she built, trapping herself inside a prison that she created. 

Like a bird with wings, but unable to fly, she stumbles along the floor just trying to get by... You see, people get attached to a character the most when they see a part of themself inside of them, and it's this very core that Ori relates to the most.

A person who is capable but locks the cage from the inside will forever spend their life chained by their own ideals.

"Today's the day that I have to go out", Ori states to himself, trying to give himself enough courage to get changed. He takes one last look at the Tsuks plushie that sits in front of him and begins to convince himself that nothing will change if he never takes the first step.

After Ori had got changed, he grabbed a smaller Tsuks plushie and strapped it to a loop in his jeans and grabbed his keys while heading out to his car. The convention that he's going to isn't exactly a large one, but it is still inside a city near him, and there's plenty of space for stands and lots of food, too. 

The one thing that Ori is worried about, however, isn't if there's enough space; it's how many people will be there. 

How many people will he have to avoid eye contact with? 

How many more times will he try to become as small as possible?

How many times will he fail to do something he wants?

Getting out of the car, Ori is met with a wide building shrouded by the cover of trees. The building was very modern in terms of design, but still had some oriental aspects to it. The size of the building was definitely large, but the largest fear that Ori had was the person at the door.

His grip tightened on his small Tsuks plushie that hung by his waist, while it helped a little bit with the initial anxiety Ori still had to make the move to initiate the conversation. His palms began to sweat, and his eyes darted from point A to B over and over again, with staggered breath and worry swelling his heart. He held the ticket out as far as he could, anxiously awaiting a response.

The lady at the door looked at him with a soft gaze and a smile that said, "Don't worry". She took the ticket from his shaking hand and scanned it in on the machine. Looking at Ori with a receptive smile, she said, "Everything is counted for, enjoy your day!" 

With a hopeful feeling in his heart, Ori thanked the lady, moved to see the millions of stalls, hoping to find at least one piece of Tsuks' merch. After wandering around the convention for what felt like forever, he decided to stop for some coffee. Or at least he wanted to stop for some coffee, but building up the courage to ask for it was a completely different beast.

Why am I worried? They are just people like me, and they work for a company that wants customers, so why am I hesitating? 

He takes a deep breath and grabs hold of the little stuffed hand that's been by his side this whole time and orders his coffee. Feeling proud of himself for overcoming his anxiety, he silently thanks Tsuks as if she's a real person, and grabs his coffee from the barista.

He turns around and finds a quiet place to enjoy his beverage. Breathing in the aroma of coffee fills his lungs, creating a feeling of warmth that feels familiar. As he takes a sip - the coffee covering his taste buds, he shifts his gaze upwards. 

Black and red frills engulf his vision, an elegant dress captivated his gaze, one that seemed familiar and alien. Blinking as if trying to clear his vision, he takes one last look before fully taking it in.

Stood before him was a beautiful girl, dressed in the finest Gothic dress he could have ever imagined. The red frills elevated the black fabric that hugged her figure. The girl's earrings fluttered as she moved like little birds finding their way along their journey. His hair fell nicely towards her shoulders, not touching them but ever present. The parasol that lay on her shoulder only added to the impact of the realisation that hit Ori like a bird giving him a message, a realisation that would mark the start of something unexpected.

"I....I.....IT'S TSUKS!!!!!!" he shouted out, astonished by the absolute replication of his favourite character; his world was right in front of him. Their eyes lock onto each other, Ori's hesitant and distant, the girls' piercing. The world around them grew silent, almost as if their eyes meeting had overlapped their souls.

Ori, sweating at what had just happened, looked towards the floor for answers.

I...I...I..said that out loud, didn't I?