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Dreamer is cleaning bloodstains out of Shay's ~~boat~~ fort.

It's taking a lot longer than she thought.

Certainly long enough that she forgot why she started in the first place, but hey. Not like she has anything better to do.

Slosh. Clank. Scrubscrubscrub. Slosh.

This is oddly restful.

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"You look fucking gorgeous," she responds immediately, beaming.

Because Eden does.

Eden grins.

"I do," she accepts, with a theatrical toss her hair rich brown hair - which would've worked a lot better if she had more of it.

Oh, c'mon. How can Dreamer possibly let that go without giving her a kiss?

Answer: She can't, of course.

Eden gives Anna a quick hug back.

Because she's so over mild panic at physical touching. This is just a friendly girl thing. Girls can kiss each other and lounge on each other and do all those things that deep down inside make Eden horribly uncomfortable.

Stupid to be uncomfortable, right?

Of course it's stupid to be uncomfortable!

Anna's not uncomfortable.

Anna's... the opposite of uncomfortable, really.

"So," Eden says, stepping back from the NOT AT ALL uncomfortable hug, "Should I ask about the amounts of blood that used to be here but now aren't?"

"I dunno. Sea monsters?"

Shrug.

"I just cleaned 'em. Never knew where they came from."

Eden grits her teeth at the mention of sea-monsters, giving brief acknowledging grunt in lieu of more interesting conversation.

To be fair, it's probably true.

But. Dreamer can tell she's done something wrong again.

...Obviously the solution is to get all tactile and give Eden a sympathetic half-hug, right? Right.

Eden returns the hug - which has elements of clinging to it.

"Sorry," Eden replies after a moment. "I just-- sometimes I can handle the post-apocalyptic otherworld craziness. And sometimes it feels like a toothache and a hangover having a grudge match."

"I know."

Dreamer hugs back, and-- well. She's only been dead for a little while, comparatively speaking. It's fairly easy to continue, and say,

"Fuck. I-- did you have anyone? Where you were? A boyfriend or girlfriend?"

Okay, it's almost like opening up. A little.

To make up for the dead silence that follows those questions, Eden manages, "That's complicated," in an apologetic tone.

"Hey, that's okay." Dreamer smiles softly. "It's just... yeah. Ensorra--"

Sigh.

"Ensorra and I were, y'know, close. And now, hell. I'm probably never going to fucking see her again."

She gives a restless shrug.

"Some days I deal with that better than others."

Eden takes in a deep breath through her nose and lets it out in a soft sigh.

"I was going through a transition phase - I'd just moved to New York, got a new job, new apartment, trying to make my way in the world. I had some people, but...." A shrug follows.

"There was potential, and now I'm seeing how much I wasted. But. It's different than losing someone you're close to."

"Still fucking hurts." Softly.

And hey, if she wants it, there's a hand on her elbow comfortingly.

"I had a lot of things to do," Eden replies, her voice falling into a murmur. "Back home. Some very important fucking things. And now...."

She half turns, resting her hand on the one at her elbow.

"I hate all the threads I left dangling. All the potientials."

"I know."

It sneaks from Eden's elbow to circle her waist, a little tentatively.

"Me too. Fuck, I was just going to start doing some real good, you know?"

I was the only one who could do the right thing, Eden wants to say, but doesn't. Because what good is it? This isn't a competition, and she'd only have to explain.

"I mean...." But Eden doesn't explain what she means - she just makes a noise of frustration and grinds her teeth again.

"Hey."

And Eden gets a proper hug.

"C'mon--"

She can't say it's okay. She can't even make it okay - she wouldn't know where to start. But oh, she can want to.

Oh no, Eden thinks.

Because now she's making a fuss. Now she's being a bother. Now she's being self-centered. It's always about her, isn't it?

That surge of disappointment prompts a sniffle from Eden, then a soft clinging in return. The sniffle becomes a faint sob as Eden watches her tears blur the blue sky and the ship deck.

Dreamer wraps her arms around Eden and cuddles her gently.

For the moment, it is all about her. Dreamer's okay with that. She just spent nearly four decades learning to put other people first. The fact that the person in question is simply adorable doesn't hurt matters.

"I fucking hate this!" Eden snaps, pained and embarrassed and angry because of both those emotions.

She brushes her tears away. Mohinder has been through so much, and he never cried. Chandra and Mr. Bennet wouldn't cry. They're the ones that know how to do things.

Eden just...Eden doesn't even know what she does.

"Shhhh, cherie."

Dreamer raises a hand to Eden's face, helping her brush away the tears.

"I'm here for you."

She's twenty-six years old, she could be the mature one and organize house meetings and sleeping arrangments - but she's not. She's the one who steals crack to tell herself she's never going to use it. She's the one who hasn't spoken to someone who told her she was sick.

"I'm sorry," Eden says thickly, "'M not usually like this...."

Except she is, fuck it, she is. She sobs again, forcing herself to be quiet.

"," she admits.

"Hey."

Eden gets hugged close. The height difference is just right so that Dreamer can rest her chin on the shorter woman's head, if she tries. About Ensorra's height - but she's not thinking that.

"I can help you with that, cherie. Anything you need. I'm here for you."

She is. She needs to be.