[Drabble]
Player: banerry
Subject: Azula
Table: A
Prompt: 010- Secret
Seventeen-year-olds, Azula told herself, were far too old to need other people's company at night. It didn't matter what their reasons were. Nightmares, visions of headless bodies, lingering paranoia about assassins and betrayal... by the time someone was seventeen, they should have the strength to deal with all that by themselves. When staying with Lisa, she had allowed herself her moments of weakness, but now things were different-- she was training to be an AX agent. If Azula started worldhopping home to sleep with her mother, what would Caterina think if she found out? She'd think Azula was pathetic, and she'd regret taking her on. Better to have an insomniac agent than a weak, childish one.
Still, some nights it really was bad. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing Cuddy's bodiless head, contorted with pain and silenced screams. Every movement in the hallway outside her door was a potential assassin. Every new community post might be Zuko, boasting about how he was ruining the Fire Nation more each and every day. And when she instinctively reached out for someone solid to grab onto, there was no one there. She was alone.
It didn't really count as weak if she stayed in the Vatican, Azula rationalized, as she walked down the long, dark hallway to Lilith's room. She wouldn't be hindering anything or making herself unavailable if there was an emergency, and if Caterina found out, there were plenty of explanations for why a novice sister would be in the Holy Madonna's room, even in the middle of the night. This was okay; it was an acceptable alternative.
And even before she had slowly opened the door and silently climbed into Lilith's bed, the nightmares and violent images had already started to ebb.
Subject: Azula
Table: A
Prompt: 010- Secret
Seventeen-year-olds, Azula told herself, were far too old to need other people's company at night. It didn't matter what their reasons were. Nightmares, visions of headless bodies, lingering paranoia about assassins and betrayal... by the time someone was seventeen, they should have the strength to deal with all that by themselves. When staying with Lisa, she had allowed herself her moments of weakness, but now things were different-- she was training to be an AX agent. If Azula started worldhopping home to sleep with her mother, what would Caterina think if she found out? She'd think Azula was pathetic, and she'd regret taking her on. Better to have an insomniac agent than a weak, childish one.
Still, some nights it really was bad. She couldn't close her eyes without seeing Cuddy's bodiless head, contorted with pain and silenced screams. Every movement in the hallway outside her door was a potential assassin. Every new community post might be Zuko, boasting about how he was ruining the Fire Nation more each and every day. And when she instinctively reached out for someone solid to grab onto, there was no one there. She was alone.
It didn't really count as weak if she stayed in the Vatican, Azula rationalized, as she walked down the long, dark hallway to Lilith's room. She wouldn't be hindering anything or making herself unavailable if there was an emergency, and if Caterina found out, there were plenty of explanations for why a novice sister would be in the Holy Madonna's room, even in the middle of the night. This was okay; it was an acceptable alternative.
And even before she had slowly opened the door and silently climbed into Lilith's bed, the nightmares and violent images had already started to ebb.