"Is that really necessary? It's not like I'm gonna die or anything you know."
Vriska was sitting on a chair in Tavros' hive, her hands quietly put on her lap. Tavros was rummaging around, looking for bandages. He finally found some, and came back to her to start putting a dressing on her nose.
"I don't care. Please don't do that again."
"Even if I deserve it?"
"You're dead. You already got whatever you deserved."
She rolled her eyes. It wasn't nearly enough for her.
"Could I at least do it myself? This is humiliating."
He frowned.
"Make me stop then."
"You're not cute."
He slightly blushed, his eyebrows still frowning.
"Of course I'm not cute, I'm uh, manly as fuck."
She giggled. He finished dressing her nose, and went to lie down on his couch.
"I was wondering, you said that you went to the cliff often… How long have you been in that dream bubble?"
"Hum let's see… I didn't really count, but maybe… a month?"
"Really? That's weird, because for me it was yesterday."
"Ah, yes, Aradia told me that time passed by weirdly in dream bubbles."
"Oh, you saw her?"
"Yes! She comes by from time to time. Did you know she was alive?"
"You mean, there was an Aradiabot left?"
"No! She's really alive! She's just like she was before we stopped flarping! It was really nice to see her so happy!"
He smiled happily. Vriska imitated him.
"That's good then. I wonder if I'll see her…"
"Yes probably! Since she has reached god tier as a hero of time, she can pretty much come and go as she wants. She said she would visit from time to time."
"Oh, I wonder how she managed to reach god tier… Guess I'll ask her myself when I see her. Did you meet with anybody else?"
"I met with Nepeta some weeks ago, so we chatted a bit. She didn't tell me what happened to her. She just said that she was looking for Equius' dream bubble."
A shadow passed over Vriska's eyes - she knew Gamzee was the one who killed these two, but she also knew that Tavros would be very upset to hear that. She decided that she would only ask Tavros if he insisted to know the truth.
Tavros mistook her silence for pain. Her thoughts were interrupted abruptly.
"What's wrong?"
"What? Oh, uh, nothing, sorry. I'm just kind of sad that they died I guess. I got along rather well with Equius after all. He gave me a new arm and in a way, he helped making up for some of the stupid things I did to Aradia and you."
He didn't say anything. The expression of guilt and shame written all over her face was so intense that he couldn't bring himself to add fuel to the fire. Vriska was once again feeling sick of herself. The more she remembered her past deeds the way she was now, the more horrible she felt.
She wanted to smash her head against the walls, to tear off her skin, and to vomit. Dying wasn't nearly enough to make up for the suffering she had caused. Maybe if she herself suffered enough, she would be forgiven by those that she considered as her only friends. Friends she didn't deserve. Friends she had hurt.
But she knew Tavros wouldn't harm her, and actually, would try to stop her from harming herself. She didn't know whether she was happy about it or not. She had to find some other way.
For now though, she put these plans on hold and went back to Tavros. Something was bugging her.
"Hey Tavros, I was wondering... Is it even possible to sleep in a dream bubble?"
"Ah, yes, you can. You don't have to, but it's better if you do. It helps you relax, as well as changing the contents of your dream bubble. That's how I got to the cliff in the first place. Well, now that I've got the hang of it, I don't always have to sleep a lot to do that. I can also tweak it a bit like I want. This is how I made my hive so close to the cliff."
He seemed awfully proud of his mastery of his dream bubble, so she encouraged him by asking other questions about life in the dream bubbles. While talking, she had gotten closer to speak more easily. She sat on the floor, her back against the couch, lifting her head from time to time to talk.
"Aradia told me it was possible to grow older in the bubbles..."
"Really?"
"Yeah! And uh, I don't remember all the details when she explained it to me, but it has something to do with how you feel psychologically and uh, biologically I guess. You grow in your sleep."
He smiled.
"I wonder if I'll grow up."
"Oh, I'm sure you will. You already sort of did, I think."
He sat up all of a sudden, grinning from horn to horn.
"You think so? Hehe"
"Maybe I should sleep a little bit... Yeah, let's do that."
She stood up, briefly checked the state of her nose, and patted down her clothes.
"Where are you going?" he inquired.
"Well obviously, in my dream bubble."
If Vriska knew whatever the hell was a puppy, she would have mistaken Tavros for a very long-horned one (how was she supposed to know they didn't have horns?). A long-horned, teary-eyed puppy that somehow believed in troll Santa, and had just been told that in fact troll Santa was his lusus. She rolled her eyes.
"What?"
"Do you really have to go?"
"Well, where else can I sleep?"
"Can't you stay?"
"Why?"
He was fidgeting with an embarrassed expression.
"It's just uh, I'm feeling a bit lonely, I guess? I mean, I haven't seen a lot of people ever since I arrived here, and they all had many irons in the fire and-"
"All of them."
"What?"
"Don't mind me".
"Oh, uh, okay. Anyway yes, do you think you could, uh, stay here? Well, if you don't mind of course!"
"Gosh, are you 3 sweeps old?"
His lower lip was trembling. She frowned.
"Stop that immediately."
"Vriska..."
"Shhhhhhhh."
"Please?"
"..."
"Pretty please?"
"...Goddamn it."
She flicked his forehead ("ouch!") and sat down on the sofa, beside him.
"Alright. So, where do I sleep?"
"Uh let's see, there's my recuperacoon and uh, this couch I guess? We just need to decide who goes where."
""I'll take the recuperacoon"" they both said.
Silence. They looked at each other, first in surprise, but then sparks started flying around. Sparks of rivalry.
""I said it first!""
They got up at once, and ran to Tavros' respiteblock, shoving each other on the way. Vriska had to duck several times his stupidly big horns ("careful with your horns DAMMIT"), while Tavros almost fell twice when she tripped him up ("that's LOW"). They arrived in front of the recuperacoon at the same time, so the battle went on.
"It's MY hive so I should have it!"
"I'm your guest, so I should get the best bed!"
None of them was convinced by the other's argument, so they kept on pushing each other to be the one to go in the recuperacoon first. Vriska fell head first, while Tavros jumped in – his head stuck out of it because of his long horns.
They didn't have a lot of space, but neither wanted to back down. They struggled to attain a position comfortable enough to sleep.
"Ok wait–"
"Ugh"
"Argh, no"
"Your elbow is poking my side"
"Your horn stung me"
"Sorry"
"Move your leg to the left – no, the OTHER left!"
"Oh god I'm going to slip"
"Shut up, this is happening because you're a stubborn idiot"
"I'm in my good right, you're the one being obstinate!"
"That's stupid, you can't even go entirely in it!"
"It's not my fault! I didn't choose to have horns like this! You're being mean!"
Several minutes were then spent trying to make Tavros stop crying ("your horns make you look very badass, I swear!") before the sopor slime's soporific effect kicked in, making them sleep like freshly hatched grubs.