Room 209, Saturday Night
Amelia was hungry.
Not terribly, terribly hungry, but enough that Sparkle had gone out to find her food. She hadn't understood why she couldn't just go to the common room, but he was still the Sparkle that worried her, just a little, and so when he'd told her to stay put, handed her Velcro to look after, and promised he'd be back, she'd stayed put. For now.
"He's being weird again," she told Velcro, who batted at her nose and hit her mouth instead. Amelia giggled and kissed Velcro, and then set the kitty down, where Velcro promptly glued himself to her ankles. "Do you think he thinks I won't come back when it's just down the hall?"
But this Sparkle was clingy and protective in a far more frightening way than the Sparkle that had forgotten about Carla and his parents. Amelia heaved a sigh, took a sip of the water he'd left for her, and pulled out her crayons and plain paper to draw. She hoped he'd be back soon.
He'd promised they could go hunting after. She hoped he remembered that.
Lugging her crayons up onto his desk, Amelia thought hard about what to draw. She wasn't very good at it, but…
Velcro mewed at her plaintively.
"You can jump," Amelia said, grinning down at him. "On the bed, and then on me!"
Velcro just looked at her, and then turned his back, all offended dignity. Amelia knew he'd be up on the desk in minutes and so just went back to her blank page.
She thought about how Sparkle had helped her brush her hair last night and then had read her a story, as she'd fallen asleep in his lap. She'd felt safe, then, even though she'd known he wasn't the same as he had been before.
Amelia picked up a crayon and began to draw.
She wasn't very good at it. Her lines and circles were perfectly straight and perfectly formed, respectively, but her flowers were distinctly lopsided and Sparkle's hair came out rather spikier than he usually kept it. (Okay, it looked like it was eating his face more than anything else.) Velcro wound up with an extra leg, and looked more like a very wobbly blob than a cat, and the little figure of herself was wearing a scribbled mess of pink that was supposed to be a tutu.
None of them looked very much like themselves, so Amelia carefully labelled them with their names, unknowingly misspelling Velcro's as Velcrow, though she got both hers and Sparkle's right.
Under that, she wrote 'my family' and the date.
Amelia thought about putting Kenzi and Elsa in the picture, but while she liked the both of them very much, they weren't the same as Sparkle, or Velcro, who was sprawled over half her picture.
"Do you think he'd like it?" she asked the kitty, petting Velcro with one hand. "Maybe I should just get rid of it before he sees it. It's stupid." Stupid to think that if she reminded him, maybe he'd be less scary. Maybe he'd be right again.
It was totally stupid.
Velcro, being a cat, didn't answer her.
Tugging the picture out from under the kitty, who just grumbled and tried not to move, Amelia slid off the chair to go throw it out. She never got a chance to.
It was Amelia who left the chair, and Rosalind who took the next step forward before inelegantly tripping over her own feet as memories of the last-month? Two months?-slammed into her and she was herself again, clutching a drawing, in the dorms, where she definitely wasn't supposed to be.
Worse, she was wearing far too small pyjamas. Emotionally, they were the easiest thing to deal with. Physically, they were the most painful. They bit viciously into her skin, having been sized for a small child, rather than a grown woman, and Rosalind tossed the picture aside in favour of ripping the seams of the jammies to get out of them.
Rosalind had zero qualms about stealing a shirt and a pair of pants. She wasn't going to get out of here naked, and wearing a sheet was not her style. This wasn't a walk of shame, as she thought Elena might say.
She swallowed hard at the thought of Elena gone, and just a baby, and their father gone as well. No. No, she wasn't thinking about that, not about another… another her, whose life had been so…
Rosalind grabbed one of the mirrors Sparkle used-and Shiva help her, and Ifrit too, but she wasn't thinking about Sparkle right now-and studied her eyes. They didn't glow. Thank all the gods. She set the mirror down with trembling hands. Mako poisoning, at such a young age. How was she… the other Amelia going to survive?
Velcro mewed. Rosalind flinched, then picked up the cat, and kissed it one last time. "I've got to go," she said quietly. "Be good." Then she set him down.
She needed to leave before the memories overwhelmed her. She needed to leave before anyone found her.
Rosalind went out the window, squeezing through it and dropping to the ground below. Then she took off for the store, her store, stealthily, prioritizing not being seen over speed. It gave her something to think about. Something that wasn't… anything.
It would do until she was somewhere private, where she could be shaken and probably cry, though she hadn't decided who she'd be crying for yet, and no one would see her.
That would have to do for now.
[Establishy and NFB.]
Not terribly, terribly hungry, but enough that Sparkle had gone out to find her food. She hadn't understood why she couldn't just go to the common room, but he was still the Sparkle that worried her, just a little, and so when he'd told her to stay put, handed her Velcro to look after, and promised he'd be back, she'd stayed put. For now.
"He's being weird again," she told Velcro, who batted at her nose and hit her mouth instead. Amelia giggled and kissed Velcro, and then set the kitty down, where Velcro promptly glued himself to her ankles. "Do you think he thinks I won't come back when it's just down the hall?"
But this Sparkle was clingy and protective in a far more frightening way than the Sparkle that had forgotten about Carla and his parents. Amelia heaved a sigh, took a sip of the water he'd left for her, and pulled out her crayons and plain paper to draw. She hoped he'd be back soon.
He'd promised they could go hunting after. She hoped he remembered that.
Lugging her crayons up onto his desk, Amelia thought hard about what to draw. She wasn't very good at it, but…
Velcro mewed at her plaintively.
"You can jump," Amelia said, grinning down at him. "On the bed, and then on me!"
Velcro just looked at her, and then turned his back, all offended dignity. Amelia knew he'd be up on the desk in minutes and so just went back to her blank page.
She thought about how Sparkle had helped her brush her hair last night and then had read her a story, as she'd fallen asleep in his lap. She'd felt safe, then, even though she'd known he wasn't the same as he had been before.
Amelia picked up a crayon and began to draw.
She wasn't very good at it. Her lines and circles were perfectly straight and perfectly formed, respectively, but her flowers were distinctly lopsided and Sparkle's hair came out rather spikier than he usually kept it. (Okay, it looked like it was eating his face more than anything else.) Velcro wound up with an extra leg, and looked more like a very wobbly blob than a cat, and the little figure of herself was wearing a scribbled mess of pink that was supposed to be a tutu.
None of them looked very much like themselves, so Amelia carefully labelled them with their names, unknowingly misspelling Velcro's as Velcrow, though she got both hers and Sparkle's right.
Under that, she wrote 'my family' and the date.
Amelia thought about putting Kenzi and Elsa in the picture, but while she liked the both of them very much, they weren't the same as Sparkle, or Velcro, who was sprawled over half her picture.
"Do you think he'd like it?" she asked the kitty, petting Velcro with one hand. "Maybe I should just get rid of it before he sees it. It's stupid." Stupid to think that if she reminded him, maybe he'd be less scary. Maybe he'd be right again.
It was totally stupid.
Velcro, being a cat, didn't answer her.
Tugging the picture out from under the kitty, who just grumbled and tried not to move, Amelia slid off the chair to go throw it out. She never got a chance to.
It was Amelia who left the chair, and Rosalind who took the next step forward before inelegantly tripping over her own feet as memories of the last-month? Two months?-slammed into her and she was herself again, clutching a drawing, in the dorms, where she definitely wasn't supposed to be.
Worse, she was wearing far too small pyjamas. Emotionally, they were the easiest thing to deal with. Physically, they were the most painful. They bit viciously into her skin, having been sized for a small child, rather than a grown woman, and Rosalind tossed the picture aside in favour of ripping the seams of the jammies to get out of them.
Rosalind had zero qualms about stealing a shirt and a pair of pants. She wasn't going to get out of here naked, and wearing a sheet was not her style. This wasn't a walk of shame, as she thought Elena might say.
She swallowed hard at the thought of Elena gone, and just a baby, and their father gone as well. No. No, she wasn't thinking about that, not about another… another her, whose life had been so…
Rosalind grabbed one of the mirrors Sparkle used-and Shiva help her, and Ifrit too, but she wasn't thinking about Sparkle right now-and studied her eyes. They didn't glow. Thank all the gods. She set the mirror down with trembling hands. Mako poisoning, at such a young age. How was she… the other Amelia going to survive?
Velcro mewed. Rosalind flinched, then picked up the cat, and kissed it one last time. "I've got to go," she said quietly. "Be good." Then she set him down.
She needed to leave before the memories overwhelmed her. She needed to leave before anyone found her.
Rosalind went out the window, squeezing through it and dropping to the ground below. Then she took off for the store, her store, stealthily, prioritizing not being seen over speed. It gave her something to think about. Something that wasn't… anything.
It would do until she was somewhere private, where she could be shaken and probably cry, though she hadn't decided who she'd be crying for yet, and no one would see her.
That would have to do for now.
[Establishy and NFB.]