an old unfinished thing based around oras chapter 5.
"I hope there's a bed," Sapphire says with a hopeful lilt, tugging at the small creeping plants which run across the decrepit door. They fall away at her hand, and she grasps the rusting handle eagerly. "I'm all achy now."
Emerald toes the soft ground with his platform shoe, idly noting its moisture. But the sun is setting, and it's no good to play with dirt in the dark; he'll wake up early tomorrow. "I dunno, man, this place is ancient. Why would there randomly be a bed in here?"
His friend swings the iron door wide open with reckless abandon, and the creak of its hinges is more akin to a scream than anything, making them both jolt. The door slams into the wall; the rusted hinges break away, and the whole thing is promptly disconnected from the wall.
Emerald winces at the door as it crashes to the dingy tiles. "Nice job, Saph. Now we'll freeze to death tonight."
She huffs, although she does eye the damaged door with something akin to worry. "Calm yer butt, we can fix it later!"
The interior of the odd shelter they'd discovered is bathed in orange sun; perhaps the most light it has experienced in years, judging by the complete mess it is. Every surface is powdered flat with a fine layer of dust. Emerald sidesteps a pile of splintering planks after Sapphire, who tiptoes through a minefield of broken glass in her bid to get to the figures draped in white cloth at the back.
"Bingo!" Sapphire pounces on a mattress, producing tearful creaks and dust clouds akin to miasma. "Mine!"
"What do you mean it's yours?" Emerald says, eyeing the mattress. "Can't we share?"
"What?!"
Emerald's eye twitches involuntarily. "It's king-sized, huge, there's way too much space for you to keep it all to yourself!"
"Heck no!" she retorts, drawing up the white coverings to her chest. Her breath hitches all of a sudden and she sneezes violently, dust still falling around her, and he deadpans at her with arms crossed. She then continues, as if she hadn't been interrupted- "I can't sleep with boys!"
His cheeks burn. He hopes the sunset disguises it. "But, I trained all day too, you know! Can't I just have a comfortable night's sleep? Is that too much to ask?"
"Sorry, Papa would kill me!"
Emerald's eye twitches involuntarily. "I'll kill you!"
Sapphire pointedly scoots over to the centre of the mattress and lies down, spreading her limbs to cover as much territory as possible. She shuts her eyes amidst the rain of dust. "There's blankets everywhere, Rald, you can have those!"
He eyes the dirty tiled flooring distrustfully. He has no issue with the grime (unlike a certain idiot who is not present at the moment) but sleeping there is bound to give him a backache in the morning. Not to mention, the fact that there'd been broken glass scattered about makes him nervous as hell… what if he wakes up looking like a sandslash?
A wistful sigh leaves Sapphire's mouth then, as she lies on her back and stares up at the ceiling. He knows she's thinking about Ruby. He also knows that they're both tired of squabbling, so he swallows his complaints before going off to find some sheets that could be his makeshift bed for the night.
There's a lot going on right now, probably way more than kids their age should be expected to be responsible for, so they're both going to need a good night's rest.