Causalgia: Assistance
Waking up is a tilting measure.
For a few moments, your vision splits, and one half of you stays gray, rough, while the other goes human, soft; the same pulse emitted by two entities, and Sollux would sure get a kick out of this.
You blink, urgently, almost as if you're trying to sweep away the strangeness of it all, and your surroundings become more familiar, human Sollux's dwelling, with its striped wallpaper and high ceilings.
You don't dare to shake your head, fearing that the alien world will seep back in, and you turn just enough to see the place's owner, still peacefully, blissfully caught in slumber. There's a trace of light brightening the room, and you assume that it's around early morning, and you catch yourself looking for a set of twinned horns poking out from Sollux's messy hair.
Your quickly awakening panic and paranoia starts screams at you, it's time to leave, I need to get out, something terrible is going to happen, this is unsafe, and without further thought, you grab your jacket from the hook near the door and see yourself out in a few short steps.
Of course, the moment you step out the door, that paranoia spikes, and it takes all you have not to run, sprint, flee.
The employees in the lobby of the building throw you a few questioning glances, but that's all you get before you're outside and the late winter chill hits your face.
Clarity. That's what you need. So you chart a course to your favorite park and, more specifically, your favorite bench, ready to do a day's worth of thinking.
The guy on the park bench is really cute, you think, but when you point this out to your friend, he huffs something about hanging out with the wrong crowd and you drop the subject.
He doesn't stray from your sight or thoughts, however, and you reach around your friend to retrieve your sketchbook, pencil and charcoals already at the ready.
This is how a lot of your days are spent, though it's not a good thing or a bad thing. It just is, this rut of being good and smiling for the camera and making daddy look good because Eridan certainly didn't and spending your days with Equius because it'd be a smart match and being irritated because you don't want to be forced into anything, especially love.
Your mom always called you "a free spirit" and you'd like to think you live up to the thought.
Of course, it's hard to be free when the very thing that makes you free ties you down.
Musing, you set down your supplies, a decent copy of the attractive man on the bench with the brooding features and the pale complexion saved on paper. Equius has been silent the whole time, as he is opt to do when not being addressed or talking about robots, not that you mind, since your conversations have gone south more times than you can count. But you have to appear perfect, as daddy says; smile, wave, seem generous, act interested, accept it.
You've learned well, you'd like to think, but there's nobody to tell you otherwise.
The brooding man lets out a yelp as he is seemingly assaulted by a blur of black and yellow, and you look up, ready to act against the perpetrator, only to have your thoughts dispelled as the blur solidifies into a very real, very tall man and your subject hugs him back.
Oh.
Your frown must be more obvious than you think, because Equius asks if you "need any assistance".
You dismiss his offer with a sigh and look back to the sketch in your lap.
Your name is Nepeta Leijon-Ampora, and you might need assistance, but not from him.