#meanwhile the thought of sleepy Sonia clinging to a pillow is unexpected cuteness

[quickdeaths]

Even if she wouldn't be doing so completely, undressing in front of someone - to say nothing of sharing a bed - brought back complicated memories. It had only been a few month since Seiko's death, yes, but it felt like an eternity. The same was likely true of Sonia, and she seemingly had no issue with it, so perhaps Shinobu was overthinking it all. Certainly, it wouldn't be the first time. Her hands found the buttons of her collared shirt, then her pants. Before too long, they were in only their white undershirt, and undergarments. Ah, she thought, looking down at herself. Another thing she'd failed to account for - the various scars.

Both arms and legs were marked by signs of violence - a bullet hole here, the slit of a knife there. A complex web of curves and lines spread out across her left forearm and shoulder, where shrapnel had shredded through and taken her off the front lines until one of Seiko's experimental treatments had accelerated the healing process. Sakakura had mentioned that they were signs of survival - that she'd lived on, despite her injuries, and Shinobu supposed there was truth in that. And yet, here, in Sonia's cabin, with the rain pounding against the roof and Sonia making clear how she expected things to go, the archer felt strangely about their body for the first time in a while.

Trying to push those thoughts from her mind, Shinobu dithered over what to do about her jewelry. After a moment's thought, she settled on taking out some of her earrings - the tassled studs at her earlobes, the rings up at the helix - while leaving the skull stud in. "As the most senior lesbian on this island, Miss Nevermind, I should inform you that there's no council deciding whether you are or are not allowed to be one of us." Anzu's necklace was visible for once, a chunky heart-shaped pendant on a silver chain, no longer hidden beneath her collared shirt. Even now, she was reminding Shinobu how lousy her sense of humor was. "And if there were such a council, I'd welcome you regardless. Should you wish it, at least."

No, the necklace would stay as well, the pendant taken and slipped under the collar of her undershirt, so that the cool metal pressed against her chest. Given the night's conversation, and the various thoughts that were swimming through their head, Shinobu wanted them, Anzu and Seiko both, as close as reality allowed. Once her jewelry was put away, though, and her clothing, she sat on the edge of Sonia's bed. Perhaps it was a good thing to see her so forceful and uncompromising about something. Some manner of spiritedness, a willingness not simply to go along with something purely for the sake of another person;s stated desires.

"As you wish, Miss Nevermind. I won't argue with you about it, if you're that insistent." Careful not to interfere with the other woman's meticulous pillow layering, she moved up with one of the excess ones, getting into a comfortable position with a blanket over top of her body. "I do appreciate it, so I hope my hesitation isn't mistaken for a lack of gratitude." Rather, it was the voice at the back of her head - her own, for once, rather than someone else's - that reminded of how the world had once seen people like her. The hesitancy that came from being regarded in such a way wasn't easy to overcome, especially when paired with so many other complicated thoughts.

What cut through them, then, was the unexpectedly cute mental image of Sonia tightly hugging a pillow in her sleep. In this state, they were sure that she wouldn't appreciate anything she did being acknowledged as cute, especially something that seemed - if the color at her cheeks was any indication - to embarrass her. And yet... You're still a person. You can do cute things, and be embarrassed by them. You can have fears and anxieties, and not need to pretend they don't matter. You can, if not today then one day, experience the same joy and happiness to which everyone is entitled. No, how anyone could think Sonia Nevermind a monster was beyond Shinobu's comprehension. She was simply a sad, hurt woman who had been put through far too much.

Reaching out a hand, Shinobu gently helped Sonia with her pillows, even if the idea of sleeping so divided from someone was, to them, odd. "I don't think you'll trouble me, and I've never thought of you as someone from whom I need protecting. Certainly, not in something so harmless as that." Once the small retaining wall was intact, she set about getting herself as comfortable as possible, shifting again through a few different positions and orientations of her own pillow. "I imagine properly restorative sleep is hard to come by for both of us, but regardless, I'll hope you rest well, Miss Nevermind. Goodnight."

Sonia gave Yaguchi a skeptical look. It was relatively new for her: even in the simulation she only second-guessed her peers mostly when she refused to believe they were murderers. Now, she showed skepticism at nearly everything: that they'd be welcomed back into society, that she wouldn't be killed upon stepping foot on Novoselic soil, that she'd eventually return to dreamless sleep that left her well-rested, instead of panic and in search of a bottle. This time, her doubt was cast towards the resiliency of the queer community. Sonia didn't question that pre-tragedy, they'd already endured so much: she did question said community forgiving her and allowing a place in it.

"It is not a community I am allowed to be a part of now anyway," came her definitive reply, picking a stray feather from one of her pillows off of her bedspread. "Nevertheless, I would like to engage with art and media that speaks to and well of the queer community. I feel like I am able to do that much in support, even if I will not have the same amount of political power I might once have had." At least she could relate to being treated as a monster, but in Sonia's case, she truly was one and deserved it.

It wasn't worth dwelling on, anyway: it wasn't as if she had a future of love and romance ahead of her. Instead, it would likely be focused on producing the next heirs to the throne, in whatever method deemed to give the highest chance of results that everyone involved could live with. That was how it had been described by Byakuya Togami during one of their mentoring sessions, an idea that prompted both parties to voice their disgust at the prospect.

In the meantime, she had something more pressing and less nerve wracking to deal with: convincing the woman to take the opposite side of her spacious bed. Even if the clothes were a lost cause. "I do not mind," She replied, nodding to the shirt. "But I certainly have enough clothes and it is not as if I will be able to wear them all. Much of this is meant to be seen, and I will not be leaving home much." Ever, but that was implied as she pulled the covers back on her side of the bed in order to slip beneath them. Now warm, it was a pleasant state in comparison to the booming thunder and the rain that splattered the windows.

Still, Yaguchi continued to protest, prompting Sonia to let out an exasperated sigh. Though if asked, she'd attribute it to the dull ache in her foot as the stitches continued to mend. "Yaguchi," She began, using the firm tone she'd been encouraged to practice. Not that Togami particularly appreciated it, but he stressed that she'd need to be able to hold her ground in Novoselic. And even if she was only a constitutional monarch now, she needed to actually sound like she was in charge and capable of giving orders, no matter how uncomfortable she felt doing so. Not after The Tragedy, and how many lives she'd destroyed. "Get in the bed, please. You will not be sleeping on the floor and you will not trouble me. In fact, I am much more likely to trouble you."

She gestured to the barrier of pillows she was halfway finished completing: two parallel rows on each side of Sonia's body. "I...um, hold things in my sleep," She explained, her cheeks pink. This was, in a way, more uncomfortable to admit than all of her atrocities she'd committed as a Remnant of Despair. She had been brainwashed for those: this habit she'd had even before Junko had sunk her clutches into her. "Firm hugging, I suppose, is the best way to put it. Pillows are the best way to combat me holding onto, well, anyone else in the bed with me. So with these, you should be safe from me, I think." She patted one that would divide her bed in two, that would hopefully keep Yaguchi out of her embrace. She didn't want to and certainly hadn't signed up for that.

"So get in. I will not ask again."