notinthestars | I saw you in a dream

The dreams had been plaguing her for months. Every time Pyrrha closed her eyes, she was back there on that tower - and it's no surprise, really. It was expected, in their line of work, the trauma that comes along with staring evil in the face - but it doesn't make it hurt any less. She's already berated herself, over and over, for going to the top of that tower. For Jaune, charging in after her, and for...

Well. They already knew how that ended.

It's far past midnight, edging towards two or three AM, she's not sure. Pyrrha sighs quietly, setting down Akoúo from where she was sharpening it. She should sleep - they had a fair amount of ground to cover in the morning. As much as she dreaded what she knew would be waiting for her the moment she managed to sink in to sleep, her body needed the rest. She wouldn't be able to serve anybody if she was tired. ~~She hadn't been able to help the one person that mattered, she'd be damned if she was ever so useless, ever again.~~

Pyrrha lays down, her sleeping bag snug tight between Ren and Nora. It calmed her, being close to their breathing, the warmth on either side of her. Proof that they were alive, that they were still there - that they hadn't slipped just out of reach the way...

She falls asleep slowly, restlessly - but tonight feels different, somehow...

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I'm not sure I ever knew how to be a person. Pyrrha thinks to herself, sparing a glance at Jaune before looking away - before the frown can crease her brow too far. Since the first moment Pyrrha could remember, she wanted to fight. No, not to fight - to protect, that's always been her mission. It's what she was good at - everything else, not so much. Jaune - he was the best of them. He was the heart and soul, and he was the reason Pyrrha felt like she had started to know herself.

She can't help the smile that stretches over her face when Jaune conjures up the hot chocolates - it feels warm and real even through her gloves, and Pyrrha revels in the sensation, as if that might make Jaune more real by extension.

"That's fine by me," Pyrrha agrees, bumping her shoulder up against Jaune's. "They're nothing special. But I'll show you, if you like."

Once she grabs the hot chocolate Jaune wraps his free arm around Pyrrha.

"They are special, because they're your memories." He insisted. To him there was nothing boring about Pyrrha. He wanted to know everything that he could now that he had this chance.

"I think it'll be pretty relaxing anyway and we can go anywhere we want." The one thing he definitely wanted to avoid for the moment was anything that reminded them of Beacon. That was awful enough to relive as often as they have.

Jaune wraps his arm around her, and the heady rush of conflicted feelings rushes through her again. Happiness, because it's him, but the melancholy sadness of him being gone, too. She wonders if she'll ever stop feeling that way (maybe not, so long as Jaune only exists in her dreams, but it's more than she had before, so she'll take it). Still, Pyrrha does something she might never have had the courage to do before, and lets her free hand entwine he fingers with Jaune's, where it's dangling from her shoulder.

"We'll see if you still say that tomorrow," Pyrrha chuckled quietly, turning to smile softly at him. "Yes, we can. I've seen every inch of this city."

Beacon...there was a part of Pyrrha that wanted to go back. Sometimes if she closed her eyes, she thought she could see their dorm just as they'd left it (but sometimes, she couldn't remember what color Jaune's comforter was, and wasn't that scary, in it's own way? Time fades all things, whether you want it to or not. One day she just might forget and never remember).

As their fingers intertwine Jaune feels a sense of peace flow over him. Whatever this was, however it worked, Pyrrha was here. He could touch her, hold her, encourage her. All the things he'd wanted so desperately to do all these months.

"You'll always be interesting to me," he responded in quite the sappy, but genuine line. There was nothing she could talk about now that wouldn't have his total attention.

"Of course I'll do the same thing if you want. Oh maybe I can show you where we used to camp!" It would be a good change of perspective from all this snow.

It doesn't really matter if it's sappy or not, because it's Jaune. The flush spread unbidden over Pyrrha's cheeks, and despite her best efforts, she wasn't able to quell it (at this rate, she'd be matching her hair soon enough). She wonders, idly, if they'd ever have been like this if they didn't know all too well what it was like to live without the other.

"I would love to see them," Pyrrha nods, letting her thumb brush over the back of Jaune's hand gently. She tilts her head thoughtfully, considering that. "Perhaps it is near where we camped. We...seem to have taken similar paths."

For once Jaune was noticing Pyrrha's body language and her blush. It made him smile and he leaned into her more. Just wanting more contact with her and knowing that at least in this dream world she was there.

He gave a nod "Yeah we passed it while we were working our way over to Haven. I imagine the best route is still probably the same."

"Did you ever go camping as a kid?"

She was never in any position to deny him anything, least of all now. Pyrrha's blush deepens, but she certainly doesn't mind, cuddled close to Jaune's side.

"It makes you wonder...what other things might be different, between our worlds." Pyrrha muses on that for a moment. "That must not be the only thing that changed..."

"No, I didn't. It was just me and my mother and she...had to work a lot." She worked hard, and encouraged Pyrrha to chase after her passions. But...with just the two of them, they didn't have huge family activities like camping.

(ooc: sorry for falling off the face of the Earth there.)

There wasn't much Jaune could say to that. It helped him realize how lonely growing up must have been for Pyrrha. The team, just like for him, were the people who finally understood her and they could look after each other.

Not wanting to simply sit there in silence though he had nothing to say he instead hugged Pyrrha tighter and after a few moments just ended up pulling his partner into his lap.

"When this is all over you should take everyone camping. It's a lot of fun."

[ooc: no problem, I'm honestly just as bad xD <3 ]

Their world was a harsh place - Pyrrha knew this, else she wouldn't have set out to become a Huntress. To protect those who could not protect themselves. The team...her friends...she had finally found people who understood her, and who cared about her. And Jaune...he had been the glue that held them together.

Jaune hugs her tighter, and Pyrrha can't help but laugh, albeit wetly, before allowing him to pull her into his lap. She wipes discretely at the tears - she is so tired of crying - and shakes her head. It's so optimistic of him to see an end, but, that's Jaune. She can't say that, though - it feels too raw and hopeless. "Maybe I will."

She wishes he could come with them. What is the point of this, except to dangle what she cannot have, just out of reach? "I'm worried. About Atlas, about this plan...I just don't know."

"I'm not sure either," he admitted. Then he smiled warmly "but now that I know you're by my side. How am I going to lose?"

He hugs her middle. "Hey do me a quick favor. Shut your eyes for a moment."

Once she does he'd begin saying something that had been burned into his memory "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."

His smile is warm, and Pyrrha aches. He's just as she remembers, maybe even better (grown, he has grown). She eyes him for a second before dipping her head slightly in a nod and acquiescing. Her eyes shut, and she tenses minutely when Jaune begins the mantra incantation - of course she remembers it, she remembers it well. It's an old verse - she thinks it's part of a poem her mother read to her, but she can't quite remember. It's always stuck with her, and when she was old enough, she used it as a mantra to focus her semblance, to shape it, to assume control.

She didn't do much to protect Jaune though, did she? She made a promise, and she broke it. Pyrrha exhales slowly to calm her racing heart, resting a hand gently on the side of Jaune's neck. "...you remembered."

I saw you in a dream

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