literature

WiR: Reassurance

Deviation Actions

StarlitSkvader's avatar
Published:
304 Views

Literature Text

"Don't you ever sleep?"

Drift drummed his fingers on the balcony railing and sighed as he heard Vanellope's voice. He had only been in Sugar Rush for a few hours, and already silence felt unnatural; it seemed strangely oppressive in such a lively game, and while he normally preferred his solitude he was glad for a break in the quiet.

"Sometimes," he said after a moment. "Not tonight."

"Yeah. Me neither." She shuffled up beside him, resting her hands on the railing. "I mean meeting Chip and going on the trains was great and all, but...."

He nodded, and they stood watching the lemon-drop sun glitter on dormant tracks.

"Hey, Drift?" Vanellope said after a moment. She stepped back slightly from the rail, playing with her fingers for several seconds before speaking again. "I... what was he like?" Drift looked over at her and she avoided his gaze, wringing her hands. "I mean uh... I... I heard that guy... Draft... I heard him say he 'wasn't scary', so I... y'know, I... I only remember scary, on the track and sometimes, just a little, I remember before he messed with my... with our code, and Grandpa trying to get him to let go, and...."

He laid a light hand on her shoulder, stopping the flow of words.

"Easy there, Princessident. I get it - you want to understand." He waited for her nod before continuing, speaking slowly. "He was... okay, he was always kind of a brat. But I never felt like he meant it; he was our friend." Drift frowned, shrugging; the bitterness he was used to, the lingering traces of fondness were a surprise. "Guess that... doesn't make things better. Y'know, I've seen other Turbos. In other consoles, when I arcade-jump. Weird to realize, every one of 'em is just a little different. Our Turbo was the brat, but he was one of us. And then he was less that, and less. Angrier. Sulkier, I guess, even before the first crash. Kind of mean sometimes. I'd like to blame everything on that crash, but he was going funny before that and maybe it just sped up what was already going wrong."

"You miss him?" Vanellope asked softly. Drift hesitated, then nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I... I guess I do. I miss the guy I used to know, and I never really let myself realize he was turning any different until it was too late to stop it." He glanced at her, brow raising. "So why's this important right now?"

She gulped, looking away.

"I... I dunno. I heard Draft say that, and I remembered he just called himself a racer, the greatest racer, and I... I love racing, I'm a great racer, I like to race and win and...."

"Oh." He sighed as she nodded miserably, plopping on the floor and tucking her legs up to her chest; after a moment he sat beside her.

"You're not like him, Vanellope."

"I could be."

"Sure you could." He shrugged. "I could. Ralph or the Sarge all could. Even Felix or the old man if somebody found the right buttons and pushed them long and hard enough. That's why Turbo scares the whole arcade, Princessident. He was a good guy, he was well-liked, we should have seen it coming and didn't because of all that, and it could be any one of us." She looked up at him with those large eyes, and he smiled a little. "Hey, how about this - you got stuff you like more than being the best, right?"

She brightened, nodding fervently.

"Yeah! I like to race more than I like to win, and I like Ralph and Felix and Sarge and King Gramps and Taffyta and the others better than racing."

"Good." He patted her head lightly and stood. "Just keep hold of that, okay?"

"Yeah." She hopped up, some of her bounce returned, and started off down the hall, pausing after a moment.

"Hey Drift?"

He'd already gone back to the railing, but half-turned to face her.

"What?"

She grinned, hands behind her back.

"I like you better than racing too."

He turned back to the railing, smiling a bit.

"Thanks, Princessident. Go get some rest."

"Okay. Thanks, Drift."

He nodded once, and she scurried back off into the depths of the castle.
December Challenge Day Seven!

This one is a cut scene from Missing Pieces; I felt it disrupted the flow but I regret cutting it and will probably work it back in if I'm ever crazy enough to do the comic version a couple people have suggested.
© 2013 - 2024 StarlitSkvader
Comments2
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Shreedle's avatar
It's a nice little deleted scene that you got here. =) It's great to see more of Drift, and I liked the bit about how Turbo wasn't always a bad person. Makes me wonder if there was /another/ reason that he went bad...