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Sleep is an essential part of one’s day. Nobody can live without sleep, which is why every human eventually needs to rest. Sandrone hates the fact that she needs sleep in order to function as a human. She finds it a waste of time, preferring to spend as much as she can working on her projects. If she could work the hours she misses by resting, she would be unstoppable. But as much as Sandrone hates sleeping, there is nothing she hates more than being unable to sleep.
It’s frustrating and humiliating. Sandrone is forcing herself to sleep and yet, she can’t get comfortable. Nothing satisfies her. Her silk sheets feel too rough, her blankets are too hot and make her sweat and worse yet, her sleep mask feels too tight around her head and she had to discard it earlier in order to have any sense of comfort, but even that has come with its own set of problems.
Finding that sleep has yet to claim her, Sandrone turns to her side for the fifth time in the past ten minutes, a frustrated groan escaping through her lips as she does so. She cracks an eye open, glaring at the cat-shaped nightlight that has become too bright for her. Most nights, this doesn’t bother her but they are nothing but a nuisance tonight.
Fuck it. Sandrone gets out of her bed and rips the nightlight out of its socket, plunging her into complete darkness. She lets out a frustrated sigh as she stares into the void.
Great going genius! She berates herself as she clutches the nightlight. Now she can’t even find her way back to bed. After placing the nightlight on her desk, Sandrone puts her arms out, feeling around for anything she could bump into and cautiously walks towards her bed. When her hands finally touch the soft mattress of her bed, a sigh of relief escapes her. She crawls into bed, pulling the blanket over her body as she closes her eyes again. Hopefully this time, she can finally catch some sleep.
The moment she closes her eyes however, her thoughts return to her full-force.
Her brain is on overdrive, filling her head with thoughts as she thinks about everything and nothing at the same time. She thinks about her projects, the progress of her coding, and the neverending list of things to do.
“Ugh! Can’t you turn off for a minute so I can sleep?!” Sandrone grabs her pillow and tosses it across the room in frustration. Thankfully, she lives alone, so nobody is there to witness the embarrassing tantrum. “Stupid brain! If there was a way to mute you I’d do it in a heartbeat!”
Whatever. If her brain refuses to sleep, she’ll just have to trick it into getting tired. A simple walk around campus should do the trick. Sandrone gets out of bed, slips on her shoes and puts on her favorite sweatshirt that has cat-ears on its hoodie before heading out the door. Instead of taking the unreliable elevators that frequently malfunction, she elects to take the stairs two flights down to the main floor and rushes out the door.
The cold evening air hits her face as she walks down the sidewalk which prompts Sandrone to pull her hoodie over head in order to warm herself up. Her fingers immediately begin to freeze, forcing her to shove her hands into her pockets. Despite it already being midnight, students happily walk around campus like it's daytime. She ignores them all, walking down the path to the central quad and aimlessly heading into one of the open buildings. She doesn’t bother to think which school building she walked into, her only goal is to loiter around until she is tired. As far as she’s concerned, if the building is open then she’s allowed to be inside as well.
As Sandrone walks down a dark hallway, the sound of music catches her attention. It’s music being played from somebody’s phone, the soft melody of a harp drifting through the air as it reaches her ears. She wonders who could be playing music at this hour when she suddenly hears a voice.
A light and airy voice fills the hallway as the person sings their heart out. Despite not being able to understand the lyrics of the song, Sandrone finds herself entranced by the voice, her feet taking her towards the direction it's coming from.
Sitting outside a locked classroom with her phone plugged into an outlet, a girl around her age sings her heart out. Even though the hallway is dark, the light from the phone illuminates her face enough for Sandrone to see what she looks like. She looks as pretty as she sounds, with soft features that make her look ethereal. What really catches Sandrone’s attention however, is her long silky black hair with the ends of it dyed pink and the large white bow pinned to the back of her head making it look like she has wings in her hair. Her eyes are closed as if she’s fully immersing herself into the music. She likely is, because she doesn’t even react to Sandrone’s presence as if she can’t sense that someone is right in front of her.
A part of Sandrone gets irritated at the lack of self-preservation the girl has. Hello? Does she not realize that it’s the middle of the night and she’s all alone in a dark hallway with her stupid eyes closed? Somebody with nefarious motives could snatch her right up like this! It’s a good thing Sandrone is now here, who knows what could happen to her otherwise!
With her eyes still closed, the girl pauses the music and turns toward Sandrone. Her lips form into a thin line as she tilts her head.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?!” Sandrone shoots back.
“I’m Columbina Hyposelenia,” she stretches her hand out towards Sandrone. Her eyes are still closed.
Sandrone’s blood boils in pure annoyance. Is she serious? There’s no way she is being serious, right? She’s got to be pulling her leg!
“You shouldn’t be alone in the dark. It’s dangerous,” Sandrone warns.
“It is?” Columbina frowns. Her voice is as lovely as her singing: light and airy, with a lilt of an accent Sandrone can’t figure out.
“I’m serious, you could get kidnapped.”
Columbina’s lips morph into a sly smile. “Aren’t you walking around campus by yourself?”
“You—!” Sandrone shouts as she grits her teeth, clenching her fists in anger. “It’s different! I’m actually aware of my surroundings while you’re sitting out in the hallway singing songs with your eyes closed!”
“That is true…” she trails off as her hand ghosts over her phone. “But you don’t need to worry about me. This campus has been ranked one of the safest in the area, and I know how to defend myself if something were to happen.”
She hits play and picks up where she left off as if the entire encounter never happened. Sandrone stares at her in shock, feeling the frustration build up inside her.
Columbina doesn’t have an ounce of self-awareness does she? With how little care she has for her situation, the level of her survival skills is the same as a koala. Worse than a koala actually, at least those dumb mammals have an excuse for it! What’s her excuse?! Pure ignorance or blind confidence?!
Whatever. Sandrone supposes she’ll just have to stick around and make sure Columbina makes it home safe tonight. Safety in numbers, right? It’s not like she was going to catch any sleep at this point anyway. Surely, Columbina won’t mind if Sandrone stuck around to protect her.
The moment she stops singing, Sandrone joins Columbina on the floor, crossing her legs as she reaches her hand out. “I’m Sandrone.”
Columbina opens her eyes and turns to face Sandrone. Her stare is so intense, it makes Sandrone blush and her heart race. The smile on her face is small, but genuine, as if learning her name brings her joy.
“Nice to meet you, Sandrone,” she replies as she grasps Sandrone’s hand. “I hope you’ll stay for a while.”
Sandrone expects them to shake hands but to her surprise, Columbina intertwines their fingers together and begins to sing a beautiful melody.
The Latin words roll off her tongue like honey, gracing Sandrone’s ears. Languages had never been Sandrone’s strong suit so she can’t completely understand the words, but she’s able to gather enough context clues from her limited knowledge to be able to conclude that it’s a lullaby. One that is meant to assure one that everything will be alright一 just close your eyes and let the woes of the day wash over you..
Hand in hand, Sandrone finds herself relaxing as she listens to Columbina sing. This is exactly what she needs. Something to help her relax enough to sleep.
After a minute, she doesn’t even bother to fight against her body as she closes her eyes and loses track of time. She feels herself slip further and further into the realm of sleep, the only thing keeping her tethered to the earth being the sound of Columbina’s voice.
But eventually, even her voice disappears, and Sandrone is left with nothing but silence for a moment before she plunges completely into the realm of slumber.
The morning light from the sun peaks through the window, shining onto Sandrone’s face. Birds chirp happily amongst themselves, singing melodies for all to hear. Somewhere out in the hallway, somebody is already blasting their music, signifying the end of quiet hours in the dorms.
“Mmm,” Sandrone moans out as she buries herself into her pillow, attempting to block the sunlight from hitting her face. She doesn’t care what time it is, it is simply too early to be awake.
Five more minutes of sleep should suffice. And if she ends up sleeping in for another two hours, well, that’s between her and her cat-shaped nightlight across the room. Her fingers dig into soft velvety sheets, taking in the fresh scent of juniper and roses.
Her room has never smelled this good. Has it always smelled like this? She takes another whiff of her pillow, sighing into it as she lets out another satisfied moan.
“Mmm?” A familiar voice answers.
HUH?!
Sandrone shoots up and frantically looks for the source of the voice. After searching for a moment, she spots the culprit. On the other side of the room, somebody is sleeping on another bed. Their body is hidden under the covers and they wear a sleep mask, making it impossible to see who it is, but there is undoubtedly somebody sleeping there.
That’s funny, because Sandrone lives in a single. There shouldn’t even be another bed in her room. And the organization in the room is different too. Instead of string lights and posters of her favorite sci-fi shows, fairy lights in the shape of flowers and polaroids of nature have been put on the walls. All of the furniture is out of place too, including the noticeable lack of her kitten-shaped nightlight.
Two realizations suddenly dawn onto her. First, she is definitely not in her room. And second, whoever is sound asleep in the other bed is likely the person the room belongs to.
As she squints her eyes to get a better look at the person, said person begins to stir. They stretch their arms out as they yawn, taking off their mask before turning towards Sandrone. Sandrone’s eyes take in her silky black hair with its dyed ends and her angelic face, finally sure of whose room she’s in.
Columbina. Of course it’s Columbina who took her in last night. The last person she had been with was her after all!
“Good morning,” Columbina greets as she sits up, her bare feet dangling off the bed. “How’d you sleep last night?”
Sandrone finds herself frozen in terror, so she does the only thing her brain lets her do.
Apparently, that is a confused shriek as she throws a pillow at Columbina’s face. Because her eyes are closed, Columbina is unable to dodge, but she barely reacts to the pillow hitting her square in the face anyway.
“What happened last night?!” She shrieks as she backs into the wall, her heart beating a mile a minute.
Columbina opens her eyes and looks at Sandrone as she casually answers, “I kidnapped you.”
“WHAT?!”
“Well, you fell asleep and I don’t know where you live, and I couldn’t leave you alone, so—“ she gestures around her room. “I just took you back to my place.”
“Oh my gods,” Sandrone face-palms. “I’m sorry about that.”
She feels like an idiot. She is never going to live this down. Especially after all the things she said last night. How could she have left herself so vulnerable?!
“Not at all.” Columbina giggles. “I could tell you were tired when I saw you. I thought singing would help you relax but I may have overdone it.”
“You think?! Whose bed am I even in?!”
“Mine.” Columbina answers as she walks over to Sandrone’s side of the room and sits on the bed. She stares at Sandrone with the same intensity as last night, like she’s something interesting to look at.
Sandrone looks away and puts up her hood, completely blocking Columbina from her line of sight. “And your roommate?” “Don’t have one anymore. She moved out in the middle of the night a week after move-in day and I’ve had the room to myself since.”
“Okay,” Sandrone answers shakily. “Great.”
This is still a terribly embarrassing situation, but at least her carelessness didn’t inconvenience anyone else. She did, however, inconvenience a really cute girl, even if she’s a little strange. Ugh. What a mess. She should probably just go and hope she forgets this whole ordeal by the end of the—
“Kitty ears,” Columbina mumbles out as she reaches out to robotically pat the cat ears attached to Sandrone’s hoodie. She giggles to herself as she continues to pet Sandrone’s head. “Cute.”
“Stop that, I’m not a cat!” Sandrone pries Columbina’s hands off her head as she feels her face heat up. “Has nobody taught you manners?!”
Columbina continues to giggle, completely unbothered. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”
“Are you trying to flirt? This is a really weird way to flirt with people.” Sandrone points out.
“Do you want it to be flirting?”
“You—! I—!” Sandrone trips over her own words as she struggles to answer.
Does she want to be flirting? Absolutely, but she just can’t admit that! She barely knows this girl, and she can’t tell if Columbina is being serious or is simply pulling her leg. Sandrone doesn’t want to confirm or deny it, so she decides to take the coward’s way out of the situation.
“I’m leaving!”
She hops off the bed and searches the room for her shoes, her heart beating as she grits her teeth. C’mon, where did Columbina put her shoes?! The room isn’t big enough for things to get lost in!
“Looking for these?”
Columbina stands in the middle of the room with Sandrone’s shoes held out.There’s a smirk on her face as if she’s proud of the fact that she found them before Sandrone.
“Hmph!” Sandrone huffs as she snatches the shoes from Columbina. She slips them on and turns to her. “Goodbye.”
Instead of saying anything, Columbina bids her farewell with a wave of her hand, that stupid smirk of hers still on her face. Sandrone storms off, her thoughts racing as she heads toward the door.
What a strange girl. She acts completely oblivious to all social interaction, as if it's her first day on Teyvat, and yet, at the same time, she clearly has some awareness of her actions, because the smile on her face every time she riles up Sandrone is one of pure bliss. She has to be getting a kick out of it. That has to be it, right? Otherwise…
Sandrone’s hand touches the doorknob as another thought pops into her head.
You should be more grateful. She did take care of you last night.
Ugh, why must she have a guilty conscience?!
Sandrone releases the doorknob and turns back to Columbina. She’s not sure what possesses her as she walks over to Columbina. Maybe it’s because she feels bad for all the trouble she’s caused. Maybe it’s because Columbina is pretty and that’s a major weakness of hers. Or maybe, it’s the pathetic sad eyes Columbina gives her as she looks at Sandrone in confusion. Regardless, she finds herself walking back to Columbina, taking her face in her hands and planting a kiss on her cheek. When she pulls back, she catches Columbina’s eyes sparkle for a moment before she closes them.
“Thanks,” Sandrone says, fighting back the sudden rush of heat blooming across her cheeks.
Columbina’s face turns pink as she smiles. For a moment, Sandrone thinks that she isn’t so bad. A little awkward, but her heart is in the right place.
“Better I kidnap you than someone else, right?”
Sandrone gawks at Columbina.
“WHY WOULD YOU PHRASE IT LIKE THAT?!”