When you wake you shall have cake. [CLOSED]

[circumitus]

WHO: Rey and Elleru.
WHAT: Shortly after promising to return to bed at the behest of her roommate, Rey might have gotten distracted.
WHERE: Room Double 014.
WHEN: A couple days after this conversation.

---

Shit, was there something she was supposed to do?

It's not normally like Rey to forget things so easily. Between the lack of sleep and only the brief few minutes of reprieve via power naps in between, she's running on fumes. Not much different from how she had survived in the sky prison, always having to look behind her back... The synthetics here might not pose a similar thread as the ones Rey has consistently faced over her myriad lifetimes, but it doesn't mean they're let entirely off the hook yet.

After so much time pouring over data and studying the wires of a door panel she had opened, hoping to try and bypass the security protocol... She's worn herself ragged once again. A small break isn't going to cut it.

Not that she can tell the passing of time the natural way from where she is, with no windows and a long corridor behind her offering no natural light. From a bag consisting of a datapad she had scanned from the library among other 'survival' items, she pulls out a protein bar, heaving a sigh and turning to press her back up against the wall. Her legs slide from under her until she's sitting on the ground. Now, there was something she was supposed to be doing, right?

"Did I leave the oven on?" Rey absentmindedly huffs between bites of her snack, before stopping mid-chew. "Ah, fuck."

Snatching the bag and its contents as she swings back onto her feet, the ground pounds under the soles of her boots as Rey hurries up to the housing level of Anchor.

The automatic door swings open in a hiss as she all but barrels back into her bedroom, breath harried and appearance reflecting that of anyone who's had grooming low on their priorities...

She opens her mouth to call out, but then snaps her jaw back shut to listen in. If she wakes up her roommate so callously, that probably won't help much, either.

Comments

[birdical]

"You are living now, and so you should use your freedom."

Elleru runs her thumb on Rey's hand in circles, trying to comfort her. She can still sense the tension in her roommate's shoulders, see how bothered she is by all this. It's an unusual look for her, and one Elleru isn't sure she likes. Still, she finds herself undeniably pleased that Rey is allowing this vulnerable side of herself to show, no matter how difficult it may be.

"Freedom... is something not everyone is born with. Freedom to live how they want, to make choices their own. To be anything other than what our birth determined. For those like us, having this freedom now means we can be anyone we want to be while we are here."

And when she says us, she means it -- from her birth, her role in the colony was laid before her. She didn't question it for the longest time: she was a shifter, and with her gifts, she would help protect the colony. She ultimately is still trying to do that, but on her terms rather than those determined her by the elders. Their ways weren't working, and someone had to make a change. Why not her?

She gives Rey's hand a reassuring squeeze, bringing her face just a little closer. "And if you do not know how to live any differently, then let me show you."

[circumitus]

Rey isn't so deluded to believe that she does not truly share a similar lack of freedom with others. Even those she has known in the past were bound in some ways, whether it be by expectations from society or family, or themselves. In a way, it's torture in its own right.

Her gaze falls to their hands, joined as Elleru's touch attempts a soothing gesture of her own over Rey's, and she knows well enough as to why she's being comforted. She may not think she deserves it, but for some reason this woman seems to have differring opinions on the matter.

Much like Faye did, even when she had every reason to hate Rey for what she did.

A stabbing pain stings her heart as the last thing she remembers of the redhead is a look of panic and mania. Rey's throat hitches, caught between then and now, as she forces herself to finally meet Elleru's gaze.

"How?" is all she can inquire.

How does anyone live differently?

[birdical]

"First, you must decide what you want," she explains softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "It does not have to be big. It can be as simple as to see the morning each day, or as complicated as changing the minds of those around you. You do not have to tell anyone, or you may share it with as many people as you like. You may know right now what it is, or it may take you years to discover, but there must be something you wish for, deep down."

Elleru leans just a little closer, waiting to see if Rey moves away. Tilting her face forward, she aims to press her forehead to Rey's, a common sign of comfort among her kind.

"But until you know what it is, your friends may help you. They allow you to see sides of yourself you never knew were there. They make you question what you thought you knew. They can push you beyond your normal boundaries, help you be unafraid to take risks."

[circumitus]

While Rey doesn't move away, she isn't sure what to do, either. She listens, and even understands it to an extent. The feeling of Elleru's forehead pressed to her own offers a bit of comfort in the fog of confusion that plagues her.

"In case you haven't realized, don't really have much in the way of friends," Rey says with a mixture of levity and melancholy, as if she's humoring the situation at least a little bit. She isn't trying to invalidate Elleru's words, simply point out the obvious -- she really doesn't have that many she keeps close to her that she could consider a friend. Hell, even back home those are rare, and might not be what one would consider a normal friendship.

She doesn't turn away, though. Just tilts her head to give Elleru a look, a distant and lost hint in her eyes of someone who has no direction here.