Issue 1 Downtime

Violet drowsily wakes up, shifting around a bit uncomfortably. Something felt....off.

She rubbed her eyes, currently made up of a blend of soft cotton and linens from absorbing the material of her blankets while she slept, trying to put her finger on what was wrong.

The first thing that Violet might notice was that her fingers (and skin) were of a different material than usual, similar but not quite the same as usual... since the top blanket over her was completely new to her, a pretty, soft, homespun affair.

Second, she might notice some odd objects on her bed that fell off as she moved... a rubber ball, several polished (and rather pretty) stones, a little carved wooden cat, and a few other little odds and ends that hadn't been there before and, one she thought about it, weren't hers.

All of which might be explained by the girl who was pressed up behind her, laying on her stomach sleeping soundly.

Violet responded to this with all the rationality a good, wholesome Christian girl such as herself could.

She let out a quick, high-pitched screech in surprise.

"What the dang ol' Funk and Wagnell are you doing in my bed!" Violet said, trying to put as much space between her and the mystery girl as possible without falling off the bed.

And when Violet shrieked, Daphne shrieked as she woke up... and promptly fell through the bed to the floor. "Owww," she whined.

Violet was hyperventilating. She'd heard the rumors. They'd always said this sort of stuff was how they pulled you in at boarding schools and public universities. Girls and boys just hopping into your bed and taking advantage of you and trying to turn you into some sort of crazed devil worshiping bisexual! She'd never believed it, but now look where that had got her!

Leaning her head over the side, she glared at the girl.

"You had better not have any..." Violet's face got red, "Funny ideas! Now get out!"

Daphne crawled out from under the bed. "Why should I... oh." She looked around the room, now that it was light out. "This isn't my room, is it. Nuts."

"Ya think?" Violet says, throwing a pillow at Daphne, "Out! You...you....heathen!"

"Ow! Hey! Why are you being so mean, it was just a mistake!" Daphne protested, trying to gather up her little knicknacks that had spilled off the bed. "Hmph, Bear was wrong, this place isn't nice..." she muttered as the pillow passed through her.

"I am perfectly nice," VIolet says, "I am a ray of flipping sunshine when people aren't trying to...seduce me!"

"Seduce you? I was just trying to sleep!" Daphne protested. "I thought I was in my room! I just went out for a walk, then I came back, walked up the stairs, took the third wall to my left and the... fourth..." She stopped, making counting motions as she thought it over. "Wait, what floor is this?"

Violet took a deep breath, trying to settle down.

"This...is the third floor," Violet says, keeping a very controlled and even tone, "I am sorry I yelled, but you scared me."

"Oh, it's okay. I'm sorry, my sense of direction is terrible," Daphne said, sitting down on the floor cross-legged in her thin little cotton nightgown. "It just doesn't usually matter."

Violet pulls the covers around herself tightly, "Where the cripes do you live where it doesn't...."

Violet shakes her head, "Never mind. I don't know if I wanna know."

"You don't? Awww... but it's fun learning about new people!" Daphne said. "Where do you come from that it does matter?" she asked with a little smirk.

"A...normal place," Violet says, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"How do you know that it's normal? Maybe I come from the normal place," Daphne challenged, looking around until she found a little leather bag and started putting the knickknacks into it.

"A normal place where you sleep in strangers beds all the time," Violet deadpans, "Yeah, I'm sure I'm the odd one here."

"Well you're not really a stranger. I mean, you go to school her too, so you're going to be my friend, we just haven't gotten around to it yet," Daphne pointed out.

"That is...I..."

Violet is literally stunned. She had no words. Something was wrong here, but the girl seemed nice and innocent and...

"Wait, why wouldn't you be surprised someone's sleeping in your bed with you?" Violet asks suspiciously.

"Well, if you're tired and the bed's there, why not? I mean, what, do you always go home to sleep if there's a perfectly good bed around?" Daphne asked.

"I never go out in the first place," Violet says, "I mean, it doesn't matter what I do. Just, be more careful. Okay?"

Daphne's eyes went wide. "You never go out!?" she asked, legitimately shocked. "What do you do?"

"Lots of stuff," Violet says, "Family dinners, church, bible study groups..."

"Well, at least, I did," Violet says bitterly.

"Oh? What do you do now?"

Sit in my room and cry a lot.

"I just hang around here," Violet says with a shrug, "Talk with people in the lunchroom, read the Bible, nothing special."

Daphne just looked up at Violet for a moment.

Then she stood up and hugged her.

Violet tenses for a moment, but before she knows it she's bawling her eyes out into the strange girl's shoulder.

Daphne just hugged the blanket-girl, briefly wondering how she could cry if she was all blankety, but then just not worrying about it. "It's okay, new friend," she said, moving up to the bed and rocking a little with her.

"It's really not," Violet mumbles, breaking away from Daphne, "But thank you.'

"Sure it is!" Daphne said. "Everything was boring and sad, and then I woke up here. So now we have to go have fun!"

Violet wiped the tears out of her eyes, "Yeah? Like what?"

"You need to get ouuut!" she said, pulling her up. "It's so pretty outside! You get dressed and we'll go see it! I'll..." She looked down at her nightgown, then looked around. "Hm. I'll find my room, I guess..." She started picking up more of the knickknacks that had spilled off the bed.

"Go see what? Just...outside?" Violet asks, sounding confused.

"We'll find something to do, there's always something to do." She looked over a tiger's eye stone, then shook her head, putting it in her bag, and tossed up a piece of rose quarts with a little grin. "Here, you should put this on," she said.

Violet holds the stone and stares at it, slowly turning into a statue of rose quartz.

"You mean, like that?"

"Exactly!" she said with a grin, holding out her hand to take the stone back.

Violet smiles, handing the stone back gently, "I love pink."

"Pink looks pretty on you," Daphne agreed. "And I'd better not go out in my nightgown! Want to meet me on the steps and we'll find something to do?"

"Sure," Violet says, looking much more cheerful.

"Yay! I'm Daphne!" she said, hugging her again instead of offering a handshake. "Oh! And I'd better hurry!" She looked around, then hurried off through the wall to find where her room was.