Closed: The World is Quiet Here.

[biteybaby]

Nightmares are nothing new for Sunny Baudelaire. There was a time when she had them somewhat infrequently, before her birth parents tragically perished in a sudden house fire that may or may not have been started by an individual who may or may not have recently died any number of painful deaths, though research into the exact specifics of those events is still ongoing. After previously mentioned arson, Sunny Baudelaire experienced a period of very frequent nightmares, followed by a few months where her nightmares were lessening, a word which here means "became less frequent, though did still happen from time to time".

Unfortunately, she has been having very intense nightmares every time she has fallen asleep in recent days, and in general her waking hours have been less than ideal as well. Recently it seems like everyone but her got to be reunited with their loved ones from home, but all Sunny got was --

She wakes up, multiple times during the night, screaming at the viciously frightening dreams her subconscious has decided to inflict on her. Count Olaf, dead, getting up though and continuing to menace her. Count Olaf kidnapping her and taking her back home, away from her daddies and her brother and everyone else, and keeping her in another birdcage. Count Olaf killing Violet and Klaus in all of the many several ways many several people killed him. Magnu's mommy, who by all accounts was a very lovely person in real life, but in Sunny's dreams she's mean and horrible and laughs at her because her mommy didn't get to come here, even though they're both equally dead and therefore equally as likely to show up.

Sunny is very glad that every time she wakes up crying her daddies are there to hug her and calm her down enough to go back to sleep. She is also very glad that she is still wearing her bedtime pull ups every night. Most of all though, she is glad that Count Olaf is definitely incredibly dead, and even though she can't be with Violet and Klaus, she knows they won't be harmed by him any more. She just wishes the nightmares about the whole situation would stop.

This morning she wakes up screaming from a nightmare at almost the same time she gets up normally, and so she decides to just stay awake. She has big plans to go get groceries with Magnu anyway, and after a bit of a touch and go start to her day, she's finally dressed and out the door with Magnu.

Comments

[summerdude]

"Okay, bug," Magnus says. It's clear Sunny's had a hard night -- her cheeks are pink with emotion, and even though their dads helped her wash her face, she's definitely got that just-cried look. Magnus's job here is to help her cope in any way possible. "Wanna ride on my shoulders or walk?"

[biteybaby]

"I walk," she says, even though she's very tired from how little she slept the night before.

[summerdude]

Magnus nods very seriously. "Will you hold my hand?" he asks.

[biteybaby]

"Uh huh," she says and reaches up to hold Magnu's hand as they walk.

[summerdude]

Magnus lets Sunny set the pace. "Okay," he says. "What kind of groceries do you think we should get today?"

[biteybaby]

She shrugs. "Lots." Violet would probably be able to invent a machine that could look in the cabinets and then write down a grocery list for you if she were here, and then they wouldn't need to remember what to get. Violet doesn't get to come here though.

[summerdude]

Magnus looks down at her little head and squeezes her little hand. "Another bad night, huh?"

[biteybaby]

Sunny nods. "Can't stay sleeping," she explains.

[summerdude]

"Bad dreams? Or does--" how can he describe the feeling of anxiety? "--your chest or tummy hurt?"

[biteybaby]

"Bad dreams," she answers almost immediately, then upon further reflection, adds, "Tummy hurt too."

[summerdude]

Magnus nods seriously. "Splandoo," he agrees. "Are there things that you do sometimes that make your tummy stop hurting?"

[biteybaby]

She shakes her head. "Maybe I go see doctor?" Aire might know something to do about it.

[summerdude]

"When I was your age," says Magnus, "and my tummy hurt at night like that, my mom would take me outside to look at the sky, and it really helped. Maybe Dad can help you see if that works for you, too?"

[biteybaby]

Sunny abruptly stops walking and looks up, squinting a little, then looks back at Magnu. "Probaly better in night." She needs sunglasses to do that in the daytime.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, the sun is way bright right now, huh?" Magnus says, grinning down at her. "Hard to look at without hurting your eyes."

[biteybaby]

"Uh huh." This does bring up a good question. "Magnu, sun hurt you eyes too or no cause magic?"

[summerdude]

That is a great question! "Sunlight can hurt my eyes," Magnus tells her. "They just get better really fast when I look away."

[biteybaby]

That makes sense. "That good. You not get hurt."

[summerdude]

"I'm a resilient guy," Magnus agrees. He squeezes her hand. "And you're a resilient girl. I know the bad dreams really suck right now, but they'll start to get better. Slowly. Over time."

[biteybaby]

"Don't like them," she says quietly, and mostly toward the ground.

[summerdude]

Magnus stoops down and stretches out the arm that isn't holding her hand, ready to bundle her in a big old hug. "Are they the scary kind of the sad kind? Or both?"

[biteybaby]

She is all too eager to wrap herself up in a big Magnu hug. "Both. Olaf kill Violet and Klaus. He can't really though, he perished. Just bad dream." She purposefully does not tell Magnu about the bad dream she had involving his mama.

[summerdude]

"Not real, but still really bad, huh," Magnus surmises, giving her a gentle squeeze which, to her tiny toddler-sized-eggplant-sized-toddler body, probably feels like a big bear hug.

[biteybaby]

Magnu gives the best hugs. Right up there with the best hugs she also gets from Far and Apu. "Make me cry even though not real," she explains.

[summerdude]

Magnus strokes her hair. "I cry about dreams that aren't real sometimes, too."