recolle | [Closed]

[Closed]

WHO: Eleanor and Yukiko
WHERE: Their apartment.
WHEN: Night of the tenth.
WHAT: Waking up from bad dreams.
WARNINGS: Talk of dream violence? Maybe some actual violence if they go out.

Eleanor grunted in pain as she hit the metal floor, water and dirt splashing up against her face, staining the flimsy white nightgown she was wearing. Behind her, a chorus of cheers and laughter went up, celebrating that she had tripped, that they could catch her now.

She hissed and pushed forward, continuing her run through the damp metal tunnel, bare feet slapping on the ground. No matter how fast she ran, she could hear the splicers behind her, never more than a few feet away, but she just had to keep moving, had to keep...

"Oh Eleanor..."

A woman's voice, frustrated and resigned, suddenly filled the air, loud enough to bring her to a halt, spinning around in place but...no one was there. Her pursuers were gone, the woman wasn't here, just...the tunnel. Okay. Okay, she could just-

"You were always such a disappointment," the woman suddenly continued, right behind her, and Eleanor whirled, only to find instead a figure in a massive diving suit standing in front of her, his arm held high, a whirling two foot long drill where his hand should be.

"No!" She barely had time to scream before the man let out a roar and brought the drill down towards her face and-

"NO!

Eleanor shouted the word as she shot upright in bed, gasping for air, her hands brought up to ward off an attack that wasn't coming. "W-wha..." She was in her room. Just in her bedroom. Not in Rapture. Not about to die. Not soaking wet. Well...sweaty. Ugh. Her hands dropped to the sheets, and she just stared around the dark room for a good thirty seconds, trying to process everything, trying to catch her breath. It was just a dream. Just a dream.

Just a dream.

She finally let out a long groan, pressing her hand to her forehead. Well, just a dream or not, it had woken her up. And there was no way she was going back to sleep now, not even if she wanted to. So with a sigh Eleanor slipped out of bed, plucking at the tanktop she slept in with a sigh before padding barefoot out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. Maybe something to eat would calm her nerves enough to try again...

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Yukiko tossed and turned in her sleep, shifting and rolling as dreams took hold of her. Nightmare was certainly one word for it, but hell on earth was another. Fog shrouded lands littered with torii gates, strange red stone floors islands amid a sea of mist. Things moved in the roiling curtains of white, inhuman and deadly, but what held her transfixed wasn't the Shadows. Shades and revenants of people, faces from both lives. Yu. Chie. Eleanor. Souji. Kanji. Naoto. John. Minako. Others. Ashen and grey, hunched over and shambling along like marionettes on strings. Coming towards her, always towards her, with the intent to kill or worse.

It'd been the same every night for days, and it always ended the same way, a cycle of Yukiko sitting bolt upright in bed. A wordless shout rattled her windows, sending Al scampering across the room and cowering in his corner.

Rubbing her head, she sighed and slid out of bed, shuffling into her slippers and out towards the kitchen. It was four fucking AM, and she knew she wasn't getting any more sleep tonight. Good thing all her classes were late in the day, huh?

When she hit the kitchen, it took a moment to register that she was not alone.

"Eleanor...?"

By the time Yukiko came out into the kitchen, Eleanor was leaning back against one of the counters, taking a slow sip from a glass of milk held in both hands. She had only turned on the light over the stove to try and keep from waking anyone else, so her eyes went a bit wide when her roommate shuffled into view in the half-light. Eleanor peered at her over the top of the glass for several seconds before her brain really registered that it was her. Huh.

"Hey." She finally responded, lowering the glass down from her face. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"Hey."

Yukiko started for the fridge, pulling it open and taking out a bottle of a lemon juice drink she liked, one of an increasing number of strange Japanese things she kept around. Cracking it open, she shook her head.

"No I woke myself up. Are you having nightmares too?"

Seemed like the only logical thing to ask.

Eleanor huffed out a breath at the question and took another sip of her milk before she answered. When she lowered the glass, her face was shadowed even more than the light from the stove could cause.

"Yes," her tone indicated precisely what she thought of it, too. "It's practically every night now."

"Yeah. Same."

Yukiko poured a cup, swirling the juice around a bit and letting the bubbles tickle her nose before sipping.

"Getting real old. Was it something weird from the other world? Or was it just something from your normal life?"

"The other world," Eleanor repeated this, mostly to herself. She hadn't thought about it that way before, but it made sense. Hm. "Uh." She shook her head to focus herself, then nodded.

"Yeah. Mostly. I mean...sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's just stupid. Like the 'class in your underwear' thing...Other times..."

Other times it was her as some drugged up little sister. She still didn't know what to think of that.

"Same."

Yukiko shambled closer and dropped a hand onto Eleanor's shoulder, pulling her forcefully into a hug. She needed that, probably more than she should let on. Els needed someone to lean on, not someone to support, right now.

"Kind of a mixed bag for me too. I hate it. But it's been stupid stuff like being naked on stage, or giving a speech in Korean...and then some nights it'll be fighting, or standing around in the underworld. But it's just a dream."

Edited 2017-10-11 02:51 (UTC)

Eleanor had just enough time to move her milk out of the way before Yukiko was hugging her, and she had to admit, it made her feel better. She let out a long sighed, resting her chin against the other girl's shoulder as she wrapped her arms loosely around the other girl.

"Weirdest one yet for me was having to walk fifteen dogs in a tornado." Her brain was weird, okay? And then she frowned and leaned back, looking somewhere between amused and confused.

"...You don't speak Korean now, do you?"

"That is pretty weird. I mean, those poor dogs..." Seriously that's what she's taking from this. Still, leaning into Eleanor is nice, hugging is nice. And that's all that really matters in the end, right?

"And I do speak Korean. I...am in a Korean class. Korean 101. I had to do a language class and being bilingual means I can't take Japanese. It's cheating. so, Korean."

"Yes Yukiko, the poor dogs." Eleanor had come to expect that bit of oddballness from her best friend, and it was such a normal thing that it just made her laugh softly, but more in relief than anything else.

And then talk of Korean, and she hesitated because she knew that. How tired was she? "I just...didn't tell them I already know a ton of french." Oops? She didn't even feel bad about it. This was nice, though. After the nightmares and the lack of sleeping, a hug like this was pretty much exactly what she needed.

"...I'm sorry you had a bad dream too." She said after a moment. "But I think I'm rather glad you woke up."

It was nice. It wasn't a particularly stressful thing, just, a nice talk. She held on a little longer, head rocking back and forth before she took a breath and let go. Smiling fondly, she hummed and looked Eleanor up and down.

"You know, we've been in college for a month, and we've not yet gone to White Castle at 3:30 in the morning. I'm feeling awake enough to drive and I could really go for some french fries right now. It's not like I'm getting back to sleep until nearly dawn anyway."

That was an offer. A silly one, perhaps, but no less genuine. Lemon drinks and White Castle might be a weird combination, but what wasn't this early in the morning?

Eleanor drew out a slow breath as Yukiko let go, letting her weight shift back until she was resting against the edge of the counter again. Hm. She took another sip of her milk, and then found herself blinking over the glass at Yukiko. Again.

"White Castle?"

Well. She had to admit, it was really tempting. Was it worth going out in what could be a disaster though? Admittedly, the two of them could take care of themselves, really, but...but.

Oh why not.

"Sure." She finally said with a little smile. "Just let me go find something else to wear."

White Castle, for when the desire for tiny burgers and french fries outweighs common sense at some ungodly hour of the morning. Yukiko isn't even thinking about the fog at all, but yeah, probably not the best plan to go out in her pajamas.

"Same. Meet here in 5."

Setting down the CC Lemon, she headed back to her bedroom and put on her one Rec U shirt and a pair of sweat pants. Classy is the name of the game tonight, clearly. She's back in the kitchen in 5 minutes flat, already tugging on sandals. No sense bothering with any socks.

Eleanor nodded, disappearing into her own room only to emerge a few minutes later in jeans, a ratty old sweatshirt with a picture of a terrible robot on it, and flipflops. Who had time for anything as complicated as laces, right?

She beelined for her purse, picking it up off the end table where she left it and swinging it over her shoulder before she turned to Yukiko. Getting dressed had woken her up more, and now she could feel a bit of that weird energy that only came from being awake way too late at night.

"Okay, ready when you are."

That is truly the ugliest robot. It's not quite enough to get her to start giggling since she's totally seen it before. But that first time? Oh yes.

Yukiko picked up her keys and nodded at the door, her wallet already resting in one hand. No point in a purse, that was just extra unnecessary stuff at the moment. Pushing open the door, she stepped out into the foggy evening.

"Let's go then."

She darts down the stairs and moves quickly to her car, definitely wanting to be inside it before anything weird happened. It was a little stupid, going out this late but whatever. Fries were important.

If it were any less ugly, it wouldn't be an ugly robot shirt!

Eleanor hurried after her, pausing outside just for a moment to listen before climbing into the passenger side of the van. Maybe they'd lucky and nothing terrible would happen? Or at least maybe they'd get to eat before anything terrible happened.

Man.

"Remember when we used to be able to just go out without worrying about anything stupid happening?" She asked as she buckled her seatbelt and closed the door.

"Yep," Yukiko said with a cheerful chirp as she started the van.

It rumbled to life, and she immediately turned the radio down to normal levels and set the heat to running. Giving it a second to idle, she stared into the fog.

"I remember. It wasn't even a year ago. And we're what? Nine months in?"

Elaenor leaned back slowly at that, her face narrowed. "Almost nine, yeah."

Huh.

"I have to say, it feels so much longer." Her voice was quiet, and after a moment she just laughed and shook her head. "I feel like I can't even remember when this wasn't going on."

"Sure does."

Honestly, it feels like years at this point. Yukiko laughs softly and puts the car in drive, not wanting to dally too much in the fog.

"I don't think I'd give it up for anything, though. Even with the insanity, there's been too much good."

"Mm," Eleanor wasn't sure she'd say that. It felt like a nice thing, the right thing, but at the same time. To be living a life without this stress. Without knowing that anything was wrong...

Eh. Probably not.

"I cannot imagine not knowing all of this now, yeah." She agreed, reaching up to grip the handle above the door as Yukiko started driving. "Plus, I mean...who wants to give up superpowers right?"

"Right!" Yukiko laughed brightly, pulling out into the street. "It's fun, and I'm glad to know I can defend myself and everyone else."

Going slowly down the street, she plunged into the fog, hoping that if something did happen it'd wait till they were at a light.

"It's freaky, too...thinking that things are this different, but I think it's right somehow. I can't quite say why, but weird is the new normal for sure. And it's the first time I've ever felt normal."

Eleanor couldn't help but tense as the van passed into the fog. She didn't like driving in normal fog, let alone...whatever insanity this fog was made of. But at least initially, nothing seemed to come charging out of it at them. Maybe they'd make it to dinner without a disaster?

She needed to stop thinking dangerous questions like that.

Eleanor looked over at Yukiko and couldn't help but smile fondly. "Well, you've always been a little..." What was a good word for her... "Unique. So it doesn't really surprise me you've managed all this so well."

Not like Eleanor. She just felt like she was mad at it all most of the time.

"That's a nice way of saying I'm spacey," Yukiko said with a laugh as she turned down the street towards White Castle. She was putting pedal to the metal, speeding up now, fog lights blazing away.

"I think you've handled all of this really well, Eleanor. I don't think I'd have the ability to go to class like you, if I was having the same sorts of dreams and visions you've had. I admire that."

"It's a good kind of spacey though," Eleanor said, reaching out to give Yukiko's shoulder a squeeze. "You wouldn't be you without it."

Her had dropped back into her lap, and she turned a bit away to hide her embarrassment at that compliment though. "It's just...what I have to do?" She did what she had to, whatever it took. "I mean, I can't just lay in bed all day being-"

She trailed off as they passed through an intersection, her eyes narrowing faintly as she thought she saw something looming out there in the street. Hrm.

"I think I saw something out there."

Yukiko smiled fondly, glad for the praise. Passing through the intersection though, she slowed down. Eleanor's comment about seeing something didn't sit right with her.

"A lot of old stories say the worst place to stop on a foggy night is at a crossroads. I think...let's keep going, and hope it's not trouble."

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