now is the hour, the time when lost souls wander restlessly in the night

[thepull_mods]

Who: Siren's Port
When: The night of Sunday, October 16th into the morning of Monday, October 17th.
Where: In the mind, in the dreams, in the unconscious of the sleepers.
Summary: --
Warnings: These dreams may be considered not safe for work, with violence, gore, death, underlying sexual themes and other mentions of graphic nature. Having them is

Comments

[stoicloyalty]

[ The dreams tonight are painful. Combined with disgust that assaults all her senses Chane finds herself shivering violently when she sits up, tumbles out of bed, a hand clasped over her mouth as she rushes to her door. The only thing that stills her in the impulse is the sound of somebody else further down the corridor, being ill in the bathroom.

Rather than intrude she clenches her teeth on her knuckle, swallowing dryly until the urge is quelled for the moment, but not before she sinks to her knees, legs weak, as though gravity might help settle the nausea. All it does is give her another flash of that dream, legs pinned, breaths halting briefly rather than merely slowing down.

What scared her more than the immediacy of those dreams tonight was glimpsing that horribly familiar figure from the outside.

It is a few minutes after the sound of footsteps down the stairs ebbs away until Chane forces herself to stand and carefully open the door, making sure to keep her movements as quiet as possible as she, too, moves down to the kitchen. Rin's voice, and another's, whisper softly from the room; rather than hesitate as she usually does before joining her housemates, she slips in noiselessly, eyes downcast as she keeps to the cupboards, searching for the herbal tea. ]

[underachieves]

Yeah, they will. Done it before. Want some cocaine?

[An offer delivered so dryly, it's impossible to tell if he's joking.

When Chane enters, he falls quiet again and goes back to his cigarette. He doesn't need to ask why she's awake, and he's suddenly aware he's the man here. If they've all had the same dreams...]

[payback]

[Rin's laugh comes out a startled crack. She calms down enough to look quietly at Chane coming in, before glancing back to Shikamaru.]

I feel like we're all on the same brainwave...

[stoicloyalty]

[ The quiet pause there amplifies her discomfort, shoulders tensing some before she reaches for the box and brings it down. Only then does she notice the kettle boiling, and gives it a long, weary look. She stays near it, not wanting to disturb the other two at the table. ]

[underachieves]

[Hey, he's forgotten all about tea. Anyway, tea would mean he'd have to stop smoking, and he's not half done with this cigarette yet.]

Wonder if we're connected to everyone in the city... Maybe it's a Core thing, not a power thing.

[payback]

[Diverting from Shikamaru from a moment:] Chane, you can sit, y'know. [And back to Shika.] I dunno, I guess we should ask some locals... see if they're suffering too.

[stoicloyalty]

[ She glances over at that, anxiously surveying the table, the kettle finally reaching its boil before her. She ignores it and shifts to pull up a chair and sit, eyes kept on her end of the table. Tea isn't a priority tonight. ]

[underachieves]

Be careful if you do. They're probably eager to blame the problem on Newcomers.

[He gives Chane a glance when she joins them at the table, but he can't manage a smile.]

[payback]

With Halloween at the end of the month... this place sure has its timing down.

[stoicloyalty]

[ Unfortunately she misses that look and raises her head just afterwards, alert at the topic. Connections? Powers?

She can't help but wonder if she might have contributed to this-- this linking together of their discomfort, the 'brainwave', as Rin puts it. Anxiously, she bites her lip, folding her arms across her stomach. These two likely understand more about the situation than she does, unless her worries count towards anything. Her NV left upstairs, she has nothing to join the conversation with. For now, she simply watches. ]

[underachieves]

Maybe the timing isn't coincidental.

[Shikamaru mistakes himself for the cause of Chane's apprehension. One more glance at her and he's on his feet. He takes a final drag from the cigarette before tossing it into the sink, then busies himself with grabbing mugs for the three of them. He may as well prepare the tea after all.]

[payback]

If we all had nightmares at the same time, all woke up around the same time... [She glances at Chane.] Bad dreams?

[stoicloyalty]

[ She feels almost hurt at Shikamaru's pointed look, and sits back some as though having committed an offence-- then again, her look had lacked her usual curiosity, smothered by the unrest at the dreams. Perhaps he was put off just by her being there. She glances nervously to the kitchen door, considering getting up to leave, when Rin asks that-- she turns back to face her and, after a careful, worried moment, nods. ]

[underachieves]

If it is a power behind this, it could be someone's idea of a Halloween prank.

[He serves the tea to both girls first, then sits back down with his own mug.]

[payback]

Thanks. [She gives him a brief, wan smile and then stares into her tea.]

If this is a prank I hope someone takes it out of their hide.

[stoicloyalty]

[ She offers a quick nod in thanks for the tea, surprised at the gesture, and wraps her hands around the mug. It's almost relieving how quickly the two have come up with the idea of the culprit being another person. That way, at least, it signifies something that can be stopped. ]