The Eighth Dream - action
[Vivi has simply not been able to cope with her dear mother being sent home. It's just too much. First, she died, and now she's simply gone... a small girl can only cope with so much. The "v-girl" has taken over quite a few times, when the pain becomes unbearable... and tonight is one of those times
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He clings to her hand like it's a lifeline, shaking slightly.]
C-Can't... can't, I'll lose him, I need to think but I can't - I can't trust myself to think anymore, no good, I don't understand feelings, don't understand my feelings... l-love him, I love him but I'm scared, what does love even mean; there isn't a formula for it is there? [He's nearly babbling incomprehensibly now, but at least he isn't panicking as much. Holding Vivi's hands is slowly working to ground him, in the same way it does when he clutches his own hands during an anxiety attack.
Eventually his breathing slows and his pupils dilate a little more, his face still pale and lined with anxiety but beginning to calm.]
...
M-Miss... Aislinn... [Softly:] How can I fix myself? Am I doing everything wrong? I don't know what I'm doing...
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[She shifts her gaze to one of the used syringes.] See that needle? You used it to take some drugs, right? We gotta clear your head... so try to un-take them. Try putting the needle into one of those marks and then pulling on the part you usually push. [In other words, the plunger.] It should get the drugs out of you safely.
[Even though changing anything in this dream is difficult, Vivi's going to focus as much as she can so that this illogical act will happen safely. If it doesn't work, he's going to flip out even more...]
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It makes a hideous sort of sense. He didn't know Vivi before Luceti, and she mentioned her dream powers. Suddenly a kind of lucidity strikes him; an awareness of his actions motivates him to - still shakily - pick up one of the used needles on the table.
He doesn't question Vivi's instructions. It's a dream. He knows she knows this better than him even in the haze of half-sanity he has as a result of the in-dream drug effects, and even if she was wrong... it's a dream. He knows it's a dream, now.
He slides the thin tip of the needle back into the puncture wound without even wincing, like he's done it a million times before. And, shakily, he pulls back on the plunger.
It's illogical, irrational, but he can feel the grip of the drugs on his consciousness slowly subsiding even as that clear liquid congeals in the body of the syringe. Eventually, he stops and puts the needle down, staring at his arm.]
...
... Well.
Thank you.
[Robert is now horribly aware that Vivi can see this dream, can see his subconscious thoughts, and... probably realized that he has a history of this.
How is he going to explain this, now that he's lucid and sober and sane?]
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Mister Hastings... people sometimes do bad things. But, those bad things make us who we are. Even if you took a lot of drugs... things are different now, right?
[She'll get closer, drawing him into a gentle embrace.] Even if I know more stuff about you, even the bad stuff... it doesn't change you. You're still mister Hastings... you're still "dad."
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... It was... eight years ago. That... that was when I stopped. [His hands curl gently together as his gray eyes fixate on the floor.] But when I'm... very frightened, or feel alone, sometimes I... almost want to go back.
Almost.
... [He clears his throat a little, eyes slightly teary - though with a sad smile this time.]
... I'm glad you still... s-see me in a positive light, Vivi. You... you're very important to me. [He responds to that embrace, pulling Vivi close to his thin chest, and smiling tearfully into her hair.]
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Listen, if you get scared or lonely... Everyone needs some help, whether it's from a person or from something else. I can be there for you.
Maybe you can stop wanting this - [she gestures at the now-filled syringe] - and start replacing it with this. [She pulls away, only slightly, but enough to show him what's in her palm. It's a small, pink-and-white capsule, labeled "V1-V1".]
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Y-You've... done a splendid job of being there for me. Even... even outside of this dream.
... A-and that capsule would be...? [He takes the capsule almost delicately, inspecting it. V1-V1.
Vivi.]
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[Vivi is for external use only. :|b ...Although, if dream-Robert wants to take that capsule, he might just find himself feeling better. Until he wakes up, anyway.]
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[He embraces her this time with a fierceness borne of real love for this little girl who has accepted him so unconditionally. Being a father... is it really like this?
Can he really be a good dad, even like this?]
... Should I take this capsule, Vivi...? [He calls her "Vivi" in his dreams. That layer of formality is stripped away here, in a place where there are fewer hang-ups...
Maybe one day he'll call her Vivi when he sees her face-to-face.]
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Go ahead, dad.
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It does, in fact, make him feel better. Like a soothing warmth, a feeling of lightheartedness like when he's in Don's arms...
... The video feed turns itself off, quietly, and the room brightens just a little bit.]
... Thank you, Vivi.
You've... made me very happy. Or much happier than I was.
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