Girls in White Dresses

  “Yeah, dreams are better than eating her family’s spare tuna.”  

  “…Yeah. I’ve been eating really good. She gave me this egg.”

  “‘S a present. From one of those game machines.” He turns   it over in his hands and shrugs. “I dunno. It’s a cool egg, though.”

   “I got a thing.” He holds up a large Gudetama plush.

Ais crossed her arms. She was trying so, so hard not to let it get to her. She’d been trying so hard to prevent herself from reacting to stuff like this. Whatever she says, it’s probably something stupid and passive-aggressive about my obvious flaws, as always. It wouldn’t matter.

But thinking about a potential situation is different than being in the moment.

And in this moment in particular, Aislinn was certainly reacting.

“What the hell do you mean by that?!” she hissed. “She might not have been fine, but she would at least still be here if it wasn’t for people like you!”

She knew Mie had struggled. She had told her everything at the end. It was too late to help her then, but she knew that if it had never happened, she could have helped her in time. It was he who had made her so insecure, it was he who had caused more pain than he had pretended to relieve, he who had cut the time she had with to be her so short… The damn baku was the thing that pushed her over the edge, before Ais could do anything to help.

“Things could have gotten better if you guys just left her alone!”

              A laugh passed through her lips as she lowered her hand to rest on her hip. This child would never learn, would she? It was amusing, at least, that the kid wasn’t ever going to learn her lesson. Sure, she wasn’t entirely trying to be as helpful as possible, but who could blame her with this girl proclaiming that she was a Baku Slayer? 

              “If your friend was down enough to contract, and quite possibly summon, someone who could be - incorrectly - considered a demon, she was too far gone. Did you see a sudden improvement in energy and not question what things were like before that? I doubt the rest of her problems went away with nightmares being removed. That would have been a perfect time to take care of her other issues with her.”

Aislinn’s shoulders tensed up upon hearing that voice.

Well, this just came the hell out of nowhere…

She went to take a breath and try to relax and stay composed–she’d been thinking a lot lately about trying to keep her cool in these situations. But damn, was it hard to do.

Especially when the baku was being particularly touchy like this.

She pursed her lips, swatting her hand away from her face and backing up a step or two.

“Things tend to stay the same. You and I both know that. Especially when I’m given absolutely no reason to feel any other way. And the boundary violations don’t help anything.” I mean really, what would you expect?

              “Wise words from a child in both my eyes and the eyes of those around you.” The baku’s hand moved towards her face, her middle finger placed on her lower lip as her others rested nearby. No vulgar gestures, simply fingers used to express her amusement with the situation. “However, I’ve been giving you space, have I not? Time to realize the enemy is your world around you, not those of us who promise only temporary relief. My lovely kittens set aside.”

              “Sweetheart, it’s been far too long. Are you doing well? You’ve grown up.” The woman’s fingers wrapped around the young girl’s chin and tilted her head up. “Seems like you’re still harboring the same old resentment towards me. A shame.”

♫ || “Yeah, sorry - wasn’t looking where I was going. You okay?” The concern in his voice certainly sounds real enough, though his eyes were anywhere but her face. What kind of a girl was she to end up in such a basic club? 

“Hey, were you on your way out? Mind if I join you?”

“Oh dear, can you imagine a greater sadness than to be alone on the day of your own funeral? Apologies.”

Her snarky and prideful demeanor immediately dissipated into a wide-eyed stare once she realized the situation. Everything in her mind went blank as the girl struggled and panicked, trying to claw at her enemy’s arm or at least keep some pressure away. The baku’s words hardly registered–the fear and the need to not die were taking precedence.

The child hit the ground hard, and laid there for several long moments staring emptily in shock.

That’s not–that’s not what’s supposed to happen.

That’s not what’s supposed to happen!

We’re supposed to yell at each other, annoy each other, trade stupid witty comebacks, and then get too bored or too annoyed and leave and continue to hate each other and wish we were dead. Not… that.

There were many things she wanted to say to the baku; to shout, argue, swear. They were all going on simultaneously in her mind, that was for sure. But even if she could get her words out of her throat, she knew that this was the tipping point, and saying any of them would give license to hurt her more. Fighting back was also out of the question, as much as she wanted to, when she still wasn’t entirely sure if she was seriously injured. Provoking more of her rage was foolish–and as foolish as she’d been, the child now knew at least that much.

She pushed herself up shakily, hoping there was no long-term damage, and slowly backed up. Even if she didn’t catch exactly what was said, the baku’s message was loud and clear. The girl was out of  balance, getting too confident and reckless again, relying on a war of words to never escalate and not keeping her guard.

She needed to be more careful. She’d forgotten to be wary. She’d let herself think her enemies were a mere annoyance at best.

But now, she remembered to be afraid.

            She walked over then crouched down in front of the child, pushing her down to the ground again. The baku wasn’t about to allow this child to continue to disrespect her. It was beyond infuriating to have people, day after day, disrespect her when she’d been on the godforsaken planet far longer than anyone had to be on it to earn the most basic respect.

            “Do you care to understand what you’re messing with? Genuinely, do you? Because none of us are anywhere near weak enough to be hurt easily by something like you. Learn your place and learn how misplaced your anger is. How long has it been and how often have you been hurt by those you antagonize? I suggest learning your place and staying in it, child.”

            Standing again, she looked down at the baku slayer without a slay with nothing but disdain on her face. It was amusing for a while, allowing this child to throw her verbal punches with little to no kickback but that was going to stop. This had become ridiculous. 

icon test