#IQRUS sinppets

[tryingtimi]

From the prompts! ❝ would you just stop treating me like something you’re trying to fix?❞, ❝ you brought me along because i can do things you can’t handle. so just let me do my part then, yeah?❞, and ❝oh god, don’t look at me like that. i’d rather you just be angry than do the whole disappointed face.❞ ---- Not necessarily in the same drabble, but just so you have stuff to work with. GOD SPEED, HOMIE.

When He Snaps

LOVE YOU TO BITS! Thank you for the prompts! Since there are more, I'll do them in separate posts when I get them written. Prompts from this list.

WOULD YOU JUST STOP TREATING ME LIKE SOMETHING YOU'RE TRYING TO FIX? | DANE AND AUVA | ANGST | HURT/COMFORT | WC 1,125

Dane massaged his forehead, trying so hard to smooth out the wrinkles of worry. Windows blackened, eyes shut, he made sure to clear his head easily, but the bitter taste of failure towards the effort only nourished the soil of a growing headache. His skin burned where his fingers rubbed it back and forth. It might have helped him erase the waves from his face, the endlessly repeating scene in his mind, however, did not fade with it. The hologram figure sitting in the chair, back facing Dane, his every word loud and clear, while the other’s just stared at him in the meeting hall, sitting behind the large desk. He’ve planned this from the beginning.

He felt a wild yanking on his neck, when his tensed vein tightened even more from the faint sound of sliding doors.

The refined, quiet clicks of heels caused him to sigh. He did not change position, nor opened his eyes. The sounds of ghostly footsteps died out very soon, and Dane could feel her presence on the other end of the table. If others could walk into his office in the same casual way, he could still recognise her steps. And the silence that always followed.

“I’m not suitable for questions today.” Dane’s statement remained plain while his burning fingertips finally detached from his skin. He intertwined his fingers, and rested his forehead on them.

Auva haven’t picked up on the hint.

“You’re troubled. I assume the meeting did not go as you’ve expected.”

“It really isn’t the time, Auva,” Dane replied. He felt his fingers losing their colour as he squeezed them together. He needed all his strength to hold himself back before he’d snap at her.

The weight of the previous meeting buried him under frustration. He was not ready to talk to Auva. Darkness and depth, he was barely ready to get up from his chair without the urge to kick the thing out through the window.

“It needs to be. We don’t have too much anyway. You also need to calm down, here, I’ve ordered you that strange looking juice from the terranan market.”

A twitch of his eyes forced Dane to flutter them open. He slowly looked up at her, putting the liquid container onto his desk, then stepping back calmly. So blood-boilingly calmly.

“They just told me that I’ll be transfered up here. They also made sure I understand, this is not a suggestion. How exactly would you want me to calm down after that, hm?” He did not wait for answer, even though Auva opened her mouth to speak. “I am a goddamn delegate of people underneath, Auva! I know what happens there, I live there, I am one of them! The only thing that currently holds Terrana together is the fact that I am terranan. And they don’t even know about the real threat! So don’t tell me to calm down, when all the Council does is trying to keep everything favorable for themselves!”

She cocked her head.

“You should transfer here.”

Heavy silence conquered the dimly lit room. He needed a moment.

“What?”

“You should transfer here,“ repeated Auva, face undisturbed.

And with that, something snapped in Dane.

Unable to speak, he jumped up from his seat, ready to get out of the room immediately. However, the next violent step he took resulted in falling to the ground, hard. His headache spiked, but it didn’t even come close to the pain that surged through his body, starting from his left thigh.

Ah. That damned prosthetic. His weakly attached ankles needed to give up right at this moment!

Dane felt trembling bubbling up in his muscles. He pulled his right leg up to put his elbow onto it, then ran his fingers through his hair, pulling on each lock. He needed pain. Pain that he could make it go away, if he wanted to. Pain that he could control.

He saw from the side of his eyes as Auva walked a little closer, then came down to his level.

“A change of environment could help you go forward.”

Dane hissed as Mr.Astin’s voice echoed in his ears. People want to see that they can reach what you did, son. That’s gonna give them real hope, not some bacteria in a test tube. You’re gonna become a more competent man for them here, we’ll see to that, yes?

He looked at Auva and their eyes met. His words came out through clenched teeth.

“Would you just stop treating me like something you’re trying to fix?”

“Aren’t your kind always strives to be perfected?” A faint smile tugged at her lips, however, when Dane breathed in sharply instead of smiling, Auva’s face fall back to her default, unreadable state. She held his gaze. “No. I won’t. You’re human, which means we have doomed you, Dane, as much as we’ve doomed everyone else. I am here to fix the mistake we’ve made as long as it’s still reversible. This includes helping you. You wanted to get to know the Council members, so you can find their weaknesses and convince them. Transfering here can help you do that.”

Slowly, word by word, Dane’s tension eased up. It did not go away, no, it will never leave him completely. But reason finally found him again. She was right. His head cleared, and the heavy weight started to lift from his chest.

“Helping out and trying to fix someone isn’t the same. You confuse things again and make them easily misunderstandable,” he said eventually.

“I don’t see the difference, but if it bothers your sentimentality, then I will note not to use this wording again.”

Right. Auva was not what she seemed to be. In theory. Well, now that this realization struck Dane, he also noticed that ghost of a smile finding her lips again and something else that he could not grasp it fully. Relief – that was the closest term to describe what he saw on her face. Strange, this woman. Or, well, being.

“Why don’t you just ask what’s the difference? It wasn’t a problem before.” He straightened himself, still sitting on the floor. He looked over his ankle for a second; it was still twisted in an unnatural way, probably damaged by the fitting, while his thigh still throbbed with pain. He should detach it for now.

Auva followed his gaze, then knelt beside him, watching her skirt to stay in place. “You said you’re not suitable for questions today.” She reached for his mechanical leg and held it in her hands. Her fingers ran through the lines where the pieces were attached to each other, her eyes fixated it like a predator its prey. She was always hungry to understand everything.