2023-01-01: Sleeping at Last
- Log: 2023-01-01: Sleeping at Last
- Cast: Ennil El, Sky Vitter
- Where: Tsutsujidai (Vit's House)
- Date: U.C. 0097 01 01
- Summary: A sleepy New Year's day.
It's raining in Tsutsujidai on New Year's Day. The ongoing drizzle is a downpour this morning. Ennil El stares blearily at it from Vit's kitchen window... her gaze tracking down from there to the pair of mugs resting in the sink, the last traces of hot chocolate sticking to their rim. It makes her smile, and a slow turn brings her around to the table with its many boxes - most of them set aside to create a workspace that now holds most of a Mega Rider model, those big orange engines the memory of a pleasant morning...
Red light glares into the room. It flickers across Ennil's vision, and her stomach sinks as she raises her eyes to the window.
Nothing. Emergency lights? But getting emergency vehicles through these streets is practically impossible these days, and... emergency lights pulse. They don't flicker like that. Like shadows in firelight...
/The slow, rattling screech of a glass marble circling. Peach on her lips./
Pressing her hands into her suit pockets, squeezing it a little closer to her, she turns the corner, peers into the living room. A few of the candles are burned down a little more than the rest - a pair of empty champagne glasses tucked together on the table. There's a small blanket tossed over one corner of the couch. She steps into the room, runs her hands over the soft material... scoops it up and hugs it around her shoulders. Smiles at the memory of a slow, badly synchronized count - tipsy kisses, and pleasant, warm darkness.
Red washes over the charmingly blue decor and she peers up again. The rain is sheets now, frighteningly strong, and the red light is visible, distantly, in the gloom outside - crackling under an unclear light.
/Crash after crash, getting louder, closer together. Her forearms tighten - fingers curl into fists. It aches. She curls to one side./
She does her best to breathe. Her fingers smoothly rub circles into that soft blanket. The red light recedes. She leans down to scoop up a small package, in festive red tissue paper, gently spreading it open to make sure the gift inside isn't damaged. That's right, today is important. She's thinking of a pair of curious gold eyes. And a smile she knows, slowly coming over them.
She turns to the stairs and...
The chocolate spills to the floor, paper crinkling. She flinches back first, then remembers her duty and charges forward, plunging at that monstrously tall silhouette. Teal lights dance in amusement as she throws all her weight at that towering black cloak -
/Chasing a miracle you know must be destroyed./
It's like he's not even there. She plunges through him, into darkness. Rain pours through her suit, soaking her to the bone. She stares up the flight of stairs, towards safety, but it stretches into blackness. She spins around, but the monster is gone as well.
Just her. Everything is dark. She can't see her way back. She collapses onto the first stair, wet hair spilling onto her face. The dark red of her own hair fills her vision, slowly brightening, taking on an amber glow...
---
The rain is gentle as Ennil bolts up, clinging blankets around her. Gray late-morning light drifts through the mist and into the window. Her head twists, taking in every detail of Vit's bedroom, her wrists aching and head foggy... until her eyes settle on that familiar, dark blue spray of hair.
No one else has ever seen it not be perfect, she thinks, and it slowly brings her back to a smile. She lets herself sink back into the pillows and turns, slipping a hand around his middle, hiding her eyes in that blue hair and letting her heart beat against his back, still a little too fast. She doesn't even notice that one of those bright blue eyes is already half open.
"Mm. Ennil? Time to get up?"
She shakes her head, fiercely, her other arm slipping under him to wrap around his chest and bring him even closer. Vit shifts a little, that blue eye opening wider, briefly tense with concern...
But he takes the hint. His thumb finds the back of her hand and gently drifts across it. They share a few soft breaths. "Oh. Then I must be dreaming, right?"
Slowly, she nods, leaning into him a little more and letting her cheek rest on his shoulder. "Yeah. Just a dream. Can we dream a little longer?"
"Mhm." She's so warm against him. He lifts the rumpled quilt, letting her curl up under it.
"Got to visit Gridman later... don't let me sleep in." Her eyes slowly drift closed. Her arm hooks around his shoulder.
"Mhm." He lets his eyes close too. Hazy gray shadows stretch across the wall in front of him. Those blue eyes flick open one last time. "Ennil?"
There's a little murmur, but it's not really words. Just sleepy gratitude. Vit lets himself drift off, too. "Sweet dreams..."