continued from [x]
@riverofserenity
The dreams came much too soon. They were barely more than flashes, but enough to have him clawing to get out. The chaos, the lights, the confusion, the utter lack of sky and stars just as heavy as he’d felt them the first few days he’d been in this world, before he’d crawled his way into the woods, nearly dying of hunger and exhaustion.
Dustfinger woke with a start. He recovered quickly, looking around him to regain his sense of his surroundings. The noise of the diner around him did nothing to calm the still rapid beating of his heart, but by now it was all familiar enough that he could make sense of it. The sizzle and clatter meant meals being prepared in the back; the swish of the door let in the roar of a motorcycle and beep of a truck backing up; the nearly sickly sweet smell was just pancakes.
It actually took him a moment to process the woman sitting across from him, watching him. When he finally did, he pulled himself to sit upright quickly.
“What do you want?” he demanded, scolding himself for letting his guard down and letting somebody - a thief, a spy, an agent of general chaos? - sneak up on him and get the better of him like that. She might have done any number of things to him while he slept, oblivious.
