Eden Manger
March 24, 2017 3:00 AM
It's an adjustment, to be certain. by Eden Manger
Eden’s eyes snapped open, and she rocketed forward in bed with a silent gasp for air. As her vision adjusted to functioning, she glanced around the relatively dark room - she had asked her roommates about a night light, but it still wasn’t enough - to reorient herself. She was in her dorm in Teppenpaw at Sonora, her roommates both seemingly asleep. It was just a nightmare.She’d been having a lot of them ever since summer. Her father was her security, and with him gone, even the realms of slumber seemed to be a scarier place. And it wasn’t fair, because the dreams all started out so nicely, with the two of them together, her and her father, the kind of dream she didn’t want to ever leave. But that didn’t last; there was always a sudden shift, a darkness encroaching that stole her father away from her. Sometimes Arnold was there. He offered no comfort.
Turning down her sheets slowly, Eden rose from her bed, skittering silently out of the room without thinking to change out of her nightgown or put on shoes. She just wanted to get out, to go somewhere that maybe she could breathe. Outdoors sounded lovely, but she was too afraid of getting into trouble to leave Teppenpaw grounds, not to mention the fact that it was too early for sunlight to offer any sort of assistance to her fears.
So she settled for the Common Room, at least for now. Eden sat on the couch and pulled her legs up, her feet hanging slightly off the edge of the cushion as she hugged her knees, shaking slightly. At least it was bright here, an invaluable comfort.
She didn’t remember it happening, but eventually, when her heartbeat slowed back down to normal, the first year fell back asleep on the couch, falling sideways with her head resting on the arm rest but her legs remaining curled. She stayed that way awhile, until another person stirring woke her up. Eden sat up nervously and glanced around to find the offending source of noise to be the only other person in the room. “Please tell me you’re the first person up and not the last,” she pleaded.
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Eden Manger
It's an adjustment, to be certain.
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Nathan Xavier
March 24, 2017 10:57 PM
It gets easier after a while by Nathan Xavier
Nathan slept. Something touched his cheek. He swatted at it and tried to remain asleep. It touched his cheek again and meowed. He grumbled and rolled over, pulling the blanket over his head. Weight settled on his back and paws began kneading the back of his head. Fearing for the integrity of his quilt, he woke enough to put Alice on the floor with a mumbled promise that he'd get her food in a minute. He tried to go back to sleep. Alice didn't believe him and jumped back on the bed to bat at his ear."We're in Arizona now," he grumbled at her. "I get two more hours of sleep."
Alice just meowed, showing no pity at all for him.
"Well, it's good you're not a student," he told her, dragging himself out of bed, at the indecent hour of 5am, "you wouldn't be allowed in Teppenpaw. You are not kind at all." This wasn't strictly true, but he'd been woken up far too early in the morning to be forgiving.
He filled her bowl with her favorite cat food and changed the water in her water bowl. By then, he was pretty much awake, so he just got dressed and headed out to the Common Room to be available to offer directions to any early rising first years who might need a reminder on how to get back to the Cascade Hall.
He was surprised to find one of them was already in the Common Room, asleep on a couch.
Still not yet on speaking terms with his cat for the crime of waking him, Nathan was reluctant to wake the girl, but he was saved the dilemma. She woke on her own.
"Unless my cat has been begging other people for food at ungodly hours, too, I believe I am the first one up. Is everything okay? No problems with your roommates, I hope?"
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Nathan Xavier
It gets easier after a while
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Eden
March 26, 2017 4:23 PM
It does? by Eden
Eden blinked. Oh. It was Professor Xavier, Teppenpaw Head of House. Well, that was promising, at least. As he indicated by the mention of being woken up by his cat (yay, kitty!), it was apparently still “ungodly early,” which was probably better than if she had managed to sleep through everyone else getting up.“Yes,” she said back. “Uh, I mean, no?.. Yes, everything is okay; no, no problems with my roommates.” Once she finally had her answer sorted out - or rather, answers to the two different questions - she managed to clarify better. Her brain had just gotten a little bit confused, still a little bit weighed down with lingering sleepiness.
“Um, I just… I had a bad dream,” she explained, fidgeting nervously with her nightgown and feeling quite silly and childish to have to say it out loud to a grown up. “So I wanted to go sleep somewhere a little bit… brighter.” The first year gestured weakly at the well lit room. “That’s okay, right?” she added, not wanting to get in trouble. She didn’t remember hearing any rule about not sleeping on couches, but she hadn’t meant to fall asleep here anyway. That was an accident.
Oh, goodness, if she got in trouble in the first week of being at school, her mom was going to be so disappointed! And she didn’t think Mom could take any more of that. She’d been super sad since Dad died, and so… something since talking to Jake’s mom. Eden didn’t know what that was, but that was the moment that seemed to make Mom feel a different way. It was kinda like sad, too, but something… just different. She didn’t understand.
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Eden
It does?
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Eden
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