Aila was a little shocked at the hand that suddenly came to rest on her shoulder, his words echoing in her head after they were said. She heard and then saw (after she peeked her head out her room) Vulcan standing at the entry to the girl's dorm, the man seemingly eager to help despite the trouble having already passed. Aila didn't know his true motives for arriving, although she could have guessed that he liked any excuse to stretch the limits of the rules set here.
She moved back inside her room, feeling somewhat conflicted about what had occurred. While Louis had not stopped Ren's antics in the hall, he had still made an effort to help her now. Rather than calling over his friends to gawk at her terrified in a corner, he had removed that ugly reptile and given her words of....encouragement? She wasn't even sure herself exactly what his motivation had been for saying something to lighten her mood. It seemed unlike an Elite to do something that would benefit someone other than themselves or a fellow Elite.
The girl made her way back over to her bed, only able to climb back in after doing a thorough examination of the furniture to make sure there was not a single scale or sign of a snake anywhere near her. Once satisfied, having turned her bedding upside down and inside out, she climbed back into bed. When she was just beginning to doze off again when she felt a familiar weight jumping up onto the foot of her bed.
"Welcome back Mau..." Aila whispered into the dark, only now able to fall asleep knowing that the lion was back safely after the snake drama.
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The nightmare always started the same. She was in a dark room, with mere spots of light shining in odd places. It wasn't enough to illuminate the room, rather the beams of light acted as small, isolated beacons in the thick darkness. She stood in one of those beams now, too afraid to move or step a foot out of it's protective circle of light. It was eerily quiet for what felt like a lifetime, but she knew she was being watched by something. She felt it in her gut. Then the slithering began.
It was as if she could heard every individual scale scraping along the floor, her hearing vastly better in her dream than how far it had developed in reality. The reptile was getting closer, pieces of the long being breaking some of the beams but not enough for it's full appearance to be known. The red eyes were next, like two glowing orbs each the size of her head as they watched her every move. They appeared and disappeared, always changing position as they did so. Aila knew she was being cornered in by the coils of the snakes body, unsure where she could run to in the dark that existed beyond the halo of light. It was soon too late, the scales cutting into her flesh as the coils appeared out of nowhere and tightened around her.
She couldn't even scream despite how hard she tried, her fists banging against the creature as she wriggled and tried to free herself. The more she moved the tighter the coil became, her chest feeling as if her ribs would snap in half inside of her. Dots appeared in her vision as the last of her breath was forced out of her lungs. The glowing red orbs appeared just out of reach of the halo of light, watching Aila victoriously as the life was being squeezed out of her.
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Aila woke with a gasp, sitting up in bed as her breathe rasped out as if she had run a marathon. Her phone alarm was blaring on the table beside her, curls sticking out in every direction. It took a moment for her to realize she had just been dreaming, the female rubbing her eyes with the heels of her palm. Mau yawned and stretched out in front of her, rolling onto his back as he continued sleeping.
"That was the most vivid one yet." the girl said to herself, groaning as she remembered that today marked the official start of classes. Aila forced herself to get out of bed, feet dragging as she made her way to the showers to get ready.