and again [pixy]

Ano sighed, her fingers awkwardly intertwining with one another as she bit back a shuddering sigh which threatened to buckle her knees. She still wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, what she could even do, and had so far spent all of that time agonizing over everything she had left behind. Her parents, her friends, her dreams and aspirations had all been surmounted by an endless digital plane which threatened to swallow her whole. The initial panic had settled into a sort of apathy which settled dully in her chest, a foreboding and heavy handed sense of morbid calm which engulfed her in dread and a beating dull terror which clawed at the peripherals of her thoughts. There was so much that swirled in her mind, and she knew that settling and clinging to these fears only served to make her more miserable- but there was little she could do as she stared out over the valley in soaked in the views. It was immense, and what had once struck her with beauty, now filled her heart with malaise that threatened to drag her down.

If you do in the game, you die in real life.

The concept of mortality still seemed so odd to her, hardly more than a far off specter which sat aloft in the air about her. But it felt so much more real here than it did in the real world. Naturally, the stakes in real life had always been the same, you die- you die, the idea that such a thing would extend to this new reality should not be so terrifying to her, it should not feel so real as it did these last few days. But she could not shake the ice cold fingers which worked down her spine as she considered it once more, the young woman shuddering and hugging her shoulders tightly as a choked sound ran from her throat. She had fought back the tears for hours, but staring out into the abyss only served for reigniting her frustrations, the feelings of being cut adrift and being so lonely crashed against her once more, seizing her heart as she clamped her eyes shut and fought back the hot stinging sensation of tears and ignited sinuses.

And then she heard the voices, the 'lady' quickly turning about, her hands clutched one over the other above her chest as she cringed and blinked away dagger like tears. "A-Ah?" She starts in an unlady like fashion, her eyes finally falling on someone she recognized. The poor girl would cough, caught off guard as a wave of conflicted emotion broke against the rocks and she was forced to steady herself in a moment. Pixy looked marginally different than her avatar, the ashen hair and muted palette now marked with bright highlights of color which contrasted her pale skin. Her eyes were a beautiful green, flecked with blue which sparkled as tears pooled in their edges- which only accentuated her golden hair all the more. Truly, she looked nearly the same, with just a dash of youthfulness in place of the calm superior air she had put on under her guise as a princess.

"Theta?" The "Princess" starts, the edges of her eyes puffy and red from her tears, the girl showing off more emotion and sadness than she had ever shared with her friend before. Once upon a time, she had been bulletproof, an impeccable scion of grace and serenity that could not be marred- but now she was laid bare before the one friend she had in this twisted world.  Exposed, vulnerable, and unable to find her words as the shock rendered her unable to lapse into character.

"And... So are you." Her voice cracked, joy mixed with the tension and stress of the whole situation as she tried to steady herself. She was still on the verge of tears, and it seemed very likely that she was not taking this nearly as well as Reveka.

What now indeed?

An- Pixy wanted to turn away from that smile, wanted to fight the welling emotions in her chest once more as she wavered on the edge of oblivion. The words were calming in their own right, but the poor girl was let adrift on even more conflicting emotions as she bit hard on her lip and tried to piece together the labyrinth before her. She was still being called a princess, still being called your highness when she felt like anything but- that the veneer of the character she had made had been stripped from her. She wasn't a serene princess or lady who lived to stand high above others- she was a scared, terrified girl who could not find a place into a new world which she was cruely thrust into. Indeed, she had no bastion to tie herself, the idea of continuing her facade was alien and untenable, something so far off that she could even begin to consider cloaking her feelings in the mask of another person entirely. And for someone to continue to project that illusion of comfort on to her? It was simultaneously terrifying and almost illicitly tantalizing as her tongue turned to stone in her mouth and her heart clenched up sharply.

But then she was pulled into the hug, the smaller girl desperately pulling her hands up to grasp at Theta as she let out a harrowing sob which sent a long shudder through her small body. She seemed so fragile in this moment, a far cry from the decadent and imposing Princess who had once declared Theta her knight. She was like a broken bird, listless and scared that could do little more than shudder as she buried her face against the other woman. She did not know what to say as hot tears ran from her eyes, her cheeks flushed a bright red as she tried to find the words, tried to make the decision that tore apart her stomach with deep seated anxieties.

"W-what am I- What are we going to do?" She mumbled, her voice cracking as her fingers curled and a wave of nausea hit her. She felt like a child, left adrift and choking on her spittle as she uselessly clawed at the great wall of fate. "Theta, how am I going to go on?" The girl asks uselessly, the irony of the moment totally flying over her head as she fails to realize she really don't know the person she is clinging to like a life preserver. That they never once shared one anothers name, that they were totally foreign to one another, that they had no idea who the other was outside of some cliche facade they created as roleplayers.

But... She trusted her, she trusted her so deeply in this moment that she let herself hold on to her tightly and cry and cry  and cry.

"This is- so unseemly of me." She would start, her voice weak and hardly over a whisper as she sobbed pitifully. "Just... One moment please" She sounded almost like her old self, just the tiniest glimmer of that suave and velvety voice to break through her distraught air. Though, she seems far less convinced of anything at this moment than Reveka had presented. It seems that one of them had weathered the storm, while the other was still beat by the waves.