I don’t put my friends before each other. I’d die before I let either of them get hurt. My answer is, I choose both of them. I’d sacrifice myself. Done.
Option C is always the best. There’s always option C.
If I had 2 white scarves, I could do a wicked Asura cosplay.
But what if the teddy bear is the nightmare and the creature is the protector?
It is a little-known fact that teddy bears crave and feed on the dreams of young children. It is little-known, of course, because the bears are so soft and cuddly that they convince the young children that they need them. For a while, the bear will feed on the bad dreams, leaving the child with nothing but the sweetest of dreams. But the good dreams taste better and feed them more, so eventually the teddy bear will start feeding on those, and the child will have nightmares every night. And, because the teddy bear so thoroughly convinces the child that the bear is necessary for the good dreams, they will keep sleeping with it, hoping for its magic to work again.
But the mind of a child is so rich and imaginative that it creates the means to its salvation. The monster under the bed rises, in the end, to vanquish the bear. Some nights it rises before the first nightmare night. Other times, it is at the last moment, and rises only when the bear means to suck dry every last dream and imagination in the child’s mind.
Tonight is the former. This monster was sent out in time to save its child from a single bad dream. And despite the teddy bear’s sword, the monster is fierce and devours it in a single gulp.
It is about to leave when it hears confused, wordless mumbles. The monster looks down and sees its child is awake, and looking up at it. Sleep has not faded so much that the child doesn’t scream, just asks in a sweet voice what the monster is doing there.
The monster, like the teddy bear, can’t speak. Instead it picks up the water by the bedside, hands its child the glass. Still confused, the child takes it. When the child drinks its fill and hands it back, the monster tucks it in with gentle claws.
The child murmurs a thanks and falls asleep again. And the monster leaves, satisfied that it has left its child with less fear rather than more.
