[ Blake can't quite conceal a smile at Ruby's powerstance, even when it fails to wake them up. ]

Maybe we just have to wait for it to happen naturally.

[ She's glad, at least, that everything is largely frozen around them, that the nightmare isn't progressing. Blake leans back against an upended table. She still feels jittery just being in this room, seeing the firelight shine against the blood on the ground, but... she feels a tiny bit better for having shared. ]

Gods, it's strange to think how different our lives would be if this had never happened. We'd still be in class. Doing boring essays for Port. We'd be in our second year now; maybe we'd get trusted with some more complicated missions, even.