Chapter 5
Stella sits up in bed, a cold sweat on her back, gasping for air. What a terrible nightmare! The pain and fear of it lingers still, heightened by a slight sense of disappointment, as though the fact that it was only a dream is itself a lazy way of developing a narrative. However, this soon passes as her sudden exit from slumber has awoken the sleeping figure next to her.
"What is it, dear? Another bad dream?" Tabitha murmurs, the veil of sleep still gracing her features.
"Yeah, it was pretty bad. I dreamt I was some faceless character living out choices in a weird mockery of Scarlet Hollow—and Shrek was there I think? Also, you and I both had fundamental issues that would need to be worked out if any relationship between us could be viable and healthy."
"Thank goodness that's definitely not the case, canonically" responds Tabitha. "I also had some weird dreams, but it was just whispers saying the same phrase over and over again: 'Tabitha is the Vriska of Scarlet Hollow', whatever that means"
Stella lies back down and tries to get comfortable. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to try to go back to sleep. I hope I can, anyway. There's nothing worse than waking up an hour before you were planning to, and then worrying about whether you'll manage to get any more sleep in before the alarm."
Tabitha responds: "Yup. Literally nothing is more dissatisfying. I can't think of a single example."