The night was calm and quiet. As calm and quiet as it can get, anyway.
In the Battle for Dream Island, there was no such thing as a dull moment. Even though it'd been raging on for around a decade or so now (give or take a couple years), even though there have been entire seasons and ages between episodes, when the cameras aren't pointing and the hosts aren't hosting, the contestants can still come up with 2,763 (and more) individual, unique, distinct ways of entertaining themselves and annoying everybody else in the process.
Some trained, sharpened their skills, got themselves ready for whatever the next challenge may bring. Some took the time to hang out with friends, perhaps just talking, perhaps getting up to some mischief. Some got up to all sorts of wacky adventures and escapades, taking this glorious time away from the limelight to do what they *really* wanted to do.
And then there was Teardrop.
For the most part, she was in the first camp. But as much as she wanted to, she couldn't keep at it 24 hours a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month, for however many months it's gonna take. Her body only has so much energy to give, and she has to rest and recuperate at *some* point. When others end up in that state, they sit down and talk to their friends. Have a nice little conversation and laugh the hours away. But TD couldn't really do that. For... *obvious* reasons.
And so, whenever she found herself worrying that she might evaporate or dissolve or whatever, the droplet would sit down and just... *exist*. Barely move a muscle. Sometimes she'd get up, sometimes she'd stretch her limbs. But for the most part, she'd just... *be* there. Sitting. Thinking. Contemplating. All those thoughts perpetually bouncing around her head, never being let out.
The average contestant of the Battle for Dream Island knows what's good for them, and so they just walk past. Sometimes one of her teammates would ask if she wants to go somewhere and do something, but the answer is almost always pure silence. Time would pass, the sun and moon would travel along their arc in the sky, and Teardrop would just remain sitting there. Eventually, at some point or another, she'd finally feel like she's ready to get going again. Maybe she had fully recovered, maybe the next episode was just around the corner. Either way, she'd get back to her usual acts, and the cycle would continue.
Tonight didn't seem to be any different. Most of the others had either fallen asleep or were somewhere else entirely, leaving TD all alone to just soak in the moonlight and look at the stars overhead. All around her, the beauty and splendor of the world and the cosmos showed itself. Its infinite wonder and boundless treasures. Its great mysteries and challenging enigmas.
Speaking of...
Eggy would just so happen to be in the area; the specifics of why are completely and utterly irrelevant, all that matters is that she's there. She was minding her own business, going through life as she normally did, when her eyes just so happened to wander towards the droplet. The liquid would notice, and the two would momentarily exchange glances, but she would be back to her thousand-yard stare in no time.
The egg had been through this charade before. Teardrop was attentive enough as a listener, and clearly showed interest and fascination (though it can be hard to see sometimes), but her... *unique* trait means that a conversation with her almost always goes nowhere. The words would leave the shell's mouth, they'd bounce around the air for a bit, they'd enter the drop's ear, and that would be that. TD could nod, TD could do a few gestures, but some misunderstanding or error or whatever always ends up bringing things to a close. It was a fool's errand, really. It was like talking to a brick wall. Only that it was a liquid instead of a solid, the wall's color is the exact opposite of a brick's, and it isn't inanimate or unthinking...
