[Drabble]
Player: banerry
Subject: Azula, Vriska Serket
Table: B
Prompt: 019- Found
It was a different sort of dream, not like any she'd ever had before. For one thing, she knew she wasn't awake. She didn't know how she knew-- for all intents and purposes, this place looked just like the training grounds at the Vatican-- but there was something off about it all. This feeling was solidified when she realized that someone else was there, too-- someone who she hadn't seen in over a month.
Someone who she had seen die.
"Hey," Vriska said quietly. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."
Azula frowned, not understanding. "Where are we?"
"Inside my dream bubble. Usually you have to be playing the game to get access to these, but I guess the community must have done something because I've seen a lot of dreaming people from other worlds around. I even said hi to some of them, if they were cool." She shrugged. "Most of them weren't, though. I hate it here; it's so booooooooring." And lonely.
"But you were really stubborn! I wanted to talk to you, but you'd just sleep and sleep and sleeeeeeeep and I couldn't drag you into my bubble. I tried to get John to tell you, but I guess he's so busy with the game that he didn't have a chance yet. It's still that first day for him, you know. But you woke up on your own, so I guess it doesn't matter." She flopped down onto the ground next to Azula, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "And don't look at my eyes. They're creepy and dumb." Azula opened her mouth to retort; to tell her that it took a lot more than weird-looking blank white eyes to scare her away, then quickly closed it again when Vriska-- to the surprise of both of them, really-- suddenly threw herself forward and into the older girl's arms.
"Being dead sucks!" she whined, because sounding bratty was better than crying (and since she was dangerously close to doing either one or the other, it was easier to pick the petulant option over than the pathetic one). "It's not just the eyes. I'm stuck in this stupid bubble and I'm never getting out and I'm never going to go on my date with John and I failed and..."
Her voice trailed off. Azula felt an unfamiliar aching in her chest. True empathy wasn't something that she indulged in very often, but this? She got this. The circumstances may have been very different, but she knew how it felt to have to leave what you had been working for; to have to find a way to start over. She'd eventually found a new purpose for herself, but she remembered that feeling of disorientation and hopelessness all too well.
No matter what, she wasn't going to pat Vriska on the head and say "it's okay". It would be insulting, and it would be a lie.
So she said nothing. She let the kid hang onto her and sniffle into her shoulder, staining her robe blue. She threaded her fingers through her hair, careful to avoid stubbing them on the bases of her horns. She acted comforting and subdued, and did a fairly good job at pretending she knew what she was doing.
Eventually, Vriska leaned back, giving a big sniff and using Azula's sleeve as a Kleenax. "It just sucks."
"I know." There wasn't anything else to say, really. It did "suck". It sucked more for Vriska than it ever had for her, because at least she had the chance to find a way to beat her situation. Vriska wasn't coming back from the dead again.
It sort of made her want to hurt Terezi.
They sat there for a long time, side by side, not really paying attention to the time because time didn't matter much here. Azula kept her hand on Vriska's hair, and Vriska relaxed with her head lightly resting on Azula's arm. Neither of them spoke, because neither of them really had anything to say.
"... Oh." Vriska's voice broke the silence. "Look, you're fading. That means your real self is waking up." Azula glanced down. She was right; her arm was nearing transparent.
The troll wiped a hand across her face, pretending that she didn't care that she was about to be left alone again, stranded completely by herself in the Furthest Ring until someone else she liked happened to come along. "You have to promise to wake up again," she said fiercely. "I have questions for you and stuff! I know this place is awful, but if you don't come back I'm making John hunt you down and force you to, okay?"
Azula perked an eyebrow at the half-hearted threat. "I--"
And then she was gone.
After that she came out of sleep quickly, in her own bed. She blinked for a moment, disoriented; almost unsure that any of that had even happened. She felt well-rested, and not at all like she'd just spent hours sitting in a field. Her robe was clean and unwrinkled, devoid of blue tears and grass stains. But the final words of an unfinished vow were still on her lips.
"I promise."
Subject: Azula, Vriska Serket
Table: B
Prompt: 019- Found
It was a different sort of dream, not like any she'd ever had before. For one thing, she knew she wasn't awake. She didn't know how she knew-- for all intents and purposes, this place looked just like the training grounds at the Vatican-- but there was something off about it all. This feeling was solidified when she realized that someone else was there, too-- someone who she hadn't seen in over a month.
Someone who she had seen die.
"Hey," Vriska said quietly. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."
Azula frowned, not understanding. "Where are we?"
"Inside my dream bubble. Usually you have to be playing the game to get access to these, but I guess the community must have done something because I've seen a lot of dreaming people from other worlds around. I even said hi to some of them, if they were cool." She shrugged. "Most of them weren't, though. I hate it here; it's so booooooooring." And lonely.
"But you were really stubborn! I wanted to talk to you, but you'd just sleep and sleep and sleeeeeeeep and I couldn't drag you into my bubble. I tried to get John to tell you, but I guess he's so busy with the game that he didn't have a chance yet. It's still that first day for him, you know. But you woke up on your own, so I guess it doesn't matter." She flopped down onto the ground next to Azula, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "And don't look at my eyes. They're creepy and dumb." Azula opened her mouth to retort; to tell her that it took a lot more than weird-looking blank white eyes to scare her away, then quickly closed it again when Vriska-- to the surprise of both of them, really-- suddenly threw herself forward and into the older girl's arms.
"Being dead sucks!" she whined, because sounding bratty was better than crying (and since she was dangerously close to doing either one or the other, it was easier to pick the petulant option over than the pathetic one). "It's not just the eyes. I'm stuck in this stupid bubble and I'm never getting out and I'm never going to go on my date with John and I failed and..."
Her voice trailed off. Azula felt an unfamiliar aching in her chest. True empathy wasn't something that she indulged in very often, but this? She got this. The circumstances may have been very different, but she knew how it felt to have to leave what you had been working for; to have to find a way to start over. She'd eventually found a new purpose for herself, but she remembered that feeling of disorientation and hopelessness all too well.
No matter what, she wasn't going to pat Vriska on the head and say "it's okay". It would be insulting, and it would be a lie.
So she said nothing. She let the kid hang onto her and sniffle into her shoulder, staining her robe blue. She threaded her fingers through her hair, careful to avoid stubbing them on the bases of her horns. She acted comforting and subdued, and did a fairly good job at pretending she knew what she was doing.
Eventually, Vriska leaned back, giving a big sniff and using Azula's sleeve as a Kleenax. "It just sucks."
"I know." There wasn't anything else to say, really. It did "suck". It sucked more for Vriska than it ever had for her, because at least she had the chance to find a way to beat her situation. Vriska wasn't coming back from the dead again.
It sort of made her want to hurt Terezi.
They sat there for a long time, side by side, not really paying attention to the time because time didn't matter much here. Azula kept her hand on Vriska's hair, and Vriska relaxed with her head lightly resting on Azula's arm. Neither of them spoke, because neither of them really had anything to say.
"... Oh." Vriska's voice broke the silence. "Look, you're fading. That means your real self is waking up." Azula glanced down. She was right; her arm was nearing transparent.
The troll wiped a hand across her face, pretending that she didn't care that she was about to be left alone again, stranded completely by herself in the Furthest Ring until someone else she liked happened to come along. "You have to promise to wake up again," she said fiercely. "I have questions for you and stuff! I know this place is awful, but if you don't come back I'm making John hunt you down and force you to, okay?"
Azula perked an eyebrow at the half-hearted threat. "I--"
And then she was gone.
After that she came out of sleep quickly, in her own bed. She blinked for a moment, disoriented; almost unsure that any of that had even happened. She felt well-rested, and not at all like she'd just spent hours sitting in a field. Her robe was clean and unwrinkled, devoid of blue tears and grass stains. But the final words of an unfinished vow were still on her lips.
"I promise."