Comments | southphillyboy: Room 101 [Closed to Gene]

southphillyboy

Room 101 [Closed to Gene]

Apr 21, 2009 14:39

after thisHe'd been doing well, so damn well. It had been weeks since he'd had one of those dreams - nightmares really. Weeks since he'd seen the camps, those hollow sunken cheeks and those eyes - it was the eyes that got him. The way they'd barely looked human, some of them ( Read more... )

gene, babe

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traiteur April 21 2009, 05:00:38 UTC

Gene comes to quickly, groggy from the sleep that clings to him as he wakes.

Babe is thrashing next to him, yelling, almost attacking him from the dream, and his first reaction is to catch his wrists, hold him steady. Christ, this was a bad one.

southphillyboy April 21 2009, 05:06:43 UTC

That pressure made him react, thrashing at first before it started to rouse him. To sink into his subconscious that it's real, and that everything else up to that point hadn't been. It doesn't mean that he wakes immediately, still half-lost in his dream. At least he's settled some; shaking and letting out a cry - a low keening sound - wanting it all to stop.

traiteur April 21 2009, 05:14:53 UTC

Gene holds his wrists still, loose enough not to hurt him but not exactly gently. "Babe. Babe, cher. Wake up, c'mon." His voice is low, insistent.

southphillyboy April 21 2009, 05:19:06 UTC

Babe, c'mon, cher

The words floated in and out of his consciousness, pulling him from the last vestige of sleep with a start. Babe jolted, body tensing as his eyes opened. Gene. He was there. "It's not- We're still here."

traiteur April 21 2009, 05:24:31 UTC

"Still here." He loosens his grip on the wrists, moving one hand to smooth over his forehead.

southphillyboy April 21 2009, 05:32:12 UTC

That touch, then, that's the one that makes him shudder, closing his eyes and pulling in close to the other man. "It was all there. I couldn't stop seein' it all. There was nothing I could do," which in the end, felt like a lot of the war to Babe. There was nothing he could do but fight and watch his friends get hurt and die. All for what?

traiteur April 21 2009, 05:41:11 UTC

For what he'd seen. That's the best answer Gene's found. They'd been instruments of balance - but that said nothing for the lives the bigger picture used for fodder.

His thumb skates over Babe's temple. "You was there. Was enough, to help." He hadn't seen it, only pictures. The pictures made him sick to think on, just by themselves.

southphillyboy April 21 2009, 05:48:16 UTC

The bigger picture was hard to remember in the dark of night. It was hard to remember when he could hear and see and smell it all around him; even though it was in his head.

"Hope it was," he said, voice low and breaking. Slowly he opened his eyes, tilting up to look at Gene. "Wasn't like you. All I did was shoot people and try to stay alive."

traiteur April 21 2009, 06:03:49 UTC

"Woulda done the same," he says, still quiet against the dark. His brow furrows as he meets Babe's eyes. "You know that."

southphillyboy April 21 2009, 06:09:39 UTC

"Yeah," cause he does, deep down. It's there he knows it's true. He lifts his hand to cover Gene's on his cheek, skin warm but not seeming warm enough. "Least I don't wake up talking in french, right?"

traiteur April 21 2009, 06:31:10 UTC

"Leas' there's that." He shifts a little bit, so he's sitting up more comfortably rather than propping himself awkwardly by his hand. His fingers rub the sweat from Babe's forehead.

southphillyboy April 21 2009, 06:39:48 UTC

Jokes aren't that funny now, Babe finds there's a bitter edge to his humour. He wakes from these dreams feeling defeated and angry. As much as Gene grounds him it isn't easy to shake that overwhelming sense that he's lost.

"I like it," he says it real quiet, twisting so they're chest to chest, "when you talk French."

traiteur April 22 2009, 05:15:00 UTC

"Don' do it on purpose," he mumbles, self conscious. He's tired, still only half-awake, and he blinks the darkness out of his vision as he settles. His eyes are finally adjusting, but his fingers stay where they are on Babe's forehead.

southphillyboy April 22 2009, 05:21:02 UTC

"Doesn't mean I can't like it," he insists, a bit of a smile pulling at the one side of his mouth, tracing his fingers along Gene's cheek.

traiteur April 22 2009, 05:32:44 UTC

"I s'pose," he says, eyes closing again. He sighs from deep in his chest, finally letting the tension ebb out of his body. He hadn't even realized how rigid he'd been keeping himself - being woken like that had been... well, bad.

southphillyboy April 22 2009, 05:35:11 UTC

"You suppose," he scoffed, voice low, letting his hand move down to Gene's waist. "You alright? I mean, I woke you up pretty sharp there."

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