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Ragatha wakes up in her bed in a cold sweat. It takes a moment for her heart to stop racing, and she processes what she just witnessed. She realizes there’s a tear running down her cheek.
Right. /Just a nightmare,/ she reassured herself, /wasn’t real./
But it felt real. Nightmares about her mom were always… painful to go through. She hated that she still even got nightmares about her at all. As much as Ragatha wanted to move on, the thought of her mom always came back to haunt her like some crummy ghost.
She knew if she tried to go back to sleep she’d only be laying there with her eyes closed for the next few hours. So she sits up, looking across her room. It was dark but she could see silhouettes of the trinkets in her room around her on desks and shelves and whatnot.
Reaching toward a fuzzy shape of a lamp, she wraps her hand around it and reaches for a little charm hanging off a string. Once it’s pulled a warm glow is cast across the room with a small clicking sound. She tries to scrape together some courage to get up, eventually swinging her legs off of the side of her bed. She hesitantly starts toward the door, opening it and walking out of her room.
Recently Caine noticed that the humans often liked resting after adventures, so even if he didn’t quite understand them, he’d dim the lights of the circus as an attempt at it. So the hallways were darker than usual, but she could still see. She wanders down them and finds her way to the main room where she sees Kinger’s pillow fort in the distance.
She hesitantly walks up to it, when a million thoughts storm her head and she already finds herself walking away. Although, before she gets far, “Ragatha?” a small surprised noise escapes her and she whips her head around, surprised to even see him awake, “Are you alright?”
“Oh, um, I think so, I just- a thing happened and I wanted to talk to someone but everyone’s asleep so I dunno what to do-”
“I’m not asleep. I mean, I usually don’t because we don’t really need it,” replies Kinger, “do you want to talk? After a moment, Ragatha nods. Kinger backs up a bit and makes space for her in the pillow fort. The two sit together. “I think there’s a weighted blanket somewhere around here,” he reaches around before offering a blanket to the ragdoll. It has stars and planets printed on it.
“...Thank you,” says Ragatha, and she wraps it around her shoulders. Kinger nods.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“I, uh, had a nightmare. I think I’ve mentioned before my mom… isn’t exactly a great person. For a while I’ve been having weird nightmares. I just… hate how I’ve been without her for probably over several years now and I’m still thinking about her. She… Agh, this is so… weirdly hard to talk about. Sorry.”
“You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too hard to,” Kinger reassures her.
“No, no, I want to, my voice just refuses to work and it’s a little obnoxious,” admits Ragatha. Once she let her thoughts just flood out and it soothed her, so she thought talking about it would help, though maybe forcing out the words when she isn’t ready won’t turn out to be as comforting.
“...Would a hug help?” Ragatha just nods and they embrace. It’s only digital but she feels some sort of warmth in her heart. Not to be meant in some kind of edgy way, but it feels genuinely nice to know someone cares about her.
…
Several hours later, the circus is bright again and everyone else is awake. Caine is floating around, babbling with bubble about ideas for a new adventure. The rest of the humans sit around on a couch, conversing with one another until Pomni realizes something and asks, “Wait, have we seen Ragatha anywhere?”
Jax shrugs, “hell or something, I dunno,”
“I just thought she’s still in her room,” Zooble adds.
“Huh… I’ll go ask if Kinger’s seen her,” Pomni continues before hopping off the couch and wandering over to where Kinger’s pillow fort is usually at. She hollers from just outside, “Kinger? Have you seen Ragatha anywhere?” No response, just silence. Curious, she just peeks into it for a moment, just to see the two cuddling. Ragatha is wrapped up in a blanket like a cocoon and Kinger is asleep and holding her close. She’s surprised, but not in a bad way. Pomni backs away and heads back towards the group.
"Did you find her?" asks Gangle.
"Oh, uh, yeah, she's still sleeping."