There's these things called beds... They're really great. [Open]

[hack_rat]

 It had been rather rough on Alex, growing accustomed to how the ship worked. The worst parts were the nights. They lasted forever, and it was silent, dark, and empty. The room's lights were too harsh to sleep with them on, and he didn't yet have a power source for his laptop to use that at least as a familiar sound and a familiar glow

Comments

[isee_snorkacks]

Luna is on one of her walks, humming softly to herself as she pads--still barefoot--through the hallways. She isn't particularly trying to run across conversation or excitement--in fact, she's mulling over Apparition, wondering if it would be wise for her to attempt to teach herself how exactly to go about such things, as it would be an ever-so-useful skill in dire situations.

Preoccupied as she is, she manages to drift past Alex without paying him much mind. She blinks just before turning the corner, though, and turns around, head tilting as she stares down the hallway to the crumpled, sleeping teen. She proceeds to look a little shifty, edging towards him with a thoughtful, almost perplexed look on her face. Her thoughts are rather more visible on her face than is usual for her, though, of course, she doesn't notice that her expression clearly reads "How odd--I don't think I've ever seen a boy sleeping."

After several minutes of staring in her quiet, mildly disconcerting way, she smiles vaguely--and rather softly--and sits next to him, leaning against the wall, her shoulder brushing his, eyes on the ceiling. Silence reigns for a few seconds, when she starts humming again, very quietly.

[hack_rat]

He wakes up gently from the sound of humming, and slowly peaks one eye open to see who it is who is now sitting next to him. Judging by the lack of shoes and the dreamy humming, it would seem to be Luna.

He blushes, but isn't quite ready to move yet. He didn't quite remember falling asleep. Had something happened to cause his memory to skip some time? No, he had been walking down the hallway, half leaning against the walls in his exhaustion. He must have fallen asleep.

So Luna sat next to him while he was asleep? He went a deeper shade of red without even realizing it and slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes with the hand that didn't have a sleeping Alice. "S-sorry, g-guess I haven't b-been s-sleeping much..." He still looked like he would slump back over any moment.

[isee_snorkacks]

Luna continues to hum for a bit after he speaks up, though her eyes drop to the wall directly across from them while she wanders her way to a note that she feels like finishing on. If Alex hadn't noticed, she's humming quite tunelessly--though not unprettily, it's just a little lacking in fluidity--making up her musical path as she goes along, so the song ends when she wants it to, and no sooner. That's one thing she doesn't like about organized music--where there are verses, there is an end to the song, and she's never liked the ends of songs.

When she is good and done, her eyes slide to his, and she smiles softly, and a little concernedly.

"There's no reason to apologize. I just wanted to make sure that nobody tripped over you," she says quite honestly, for, believe it or not, that had been her only motive in actually sitting beside him. So she says.

"I have trouble sleeping sometimes, too. I think I'm always a little scared I'll wake up somewhere else, and I don't have shoes to wear to bed anymore. If I happened to step on something sharp while I'm dreaming, it would be rather painful." She pauses, tilts her head slightly. "Why haven't you been sleeping?"

how old is Luna, cause I think Alex may be robbing the cradle?

[hack_rat]

He didn't seem to mind that the humming was tuneless, he seems more entertained and relaxed by it. His eyes had come dangerously close to closing again. His eyes opened again, albeit sleepily, as Luna began to speak. The red crept into his ears, "I... I h-have n-nightmares, a-and I g-guess a-anxiety..." He smiled meekly and added, "Th-thanks, f-for m-making sure I m-mean."

She's legal in the Wizarding World! i.e. seventeen xD ;

[isee_snorkacks]

She 'hmm's thoughtfully, eyes wandering somewhere into the general vicinity of Alex's knee.

"Daddy always says that standing on your head is a good way to get to sleep. All the blood rushes to your skull, and you get dizzy, and lie down, and fall asleep. I always subscribed to mother's view of things, though. She always said 'Tea and walking just after dinner, and if you still can't sleep, then do something with the time until you can.'" Luna forces a small drop in her ordinarily floaty, quiet voice when she quotes her mother, also gaining a bit of a heavier accent. While her accent tends to be fairly innocuous and unnoticeable, it becomes abruptly and blatantly apparent that she is very, very British. "I'm not sure what to do about nightmares, though. Wrackspurts can cause those, but I don't think you have any Wrackspurts." She pauses. "I could check for you, though, if you'd like."

"You're welcome."

Yay! He's not being creepy at all then! They're the same age!

[hack_rat]

Alex didn't really seem to notice the change in accent. He had been known to acquire a German accent when he was extremely angry, as rare as that was. He was also used to the Finnish accent Mikel sported, even after all those years in America.

What he did notice was the change as she mentioned her mother. He could feel the half-emergence of the related shadow, and it emphasised the drop in her voice. "I c-can only remember mum s-saying one thing... 'Ich liebe dich.'" He knew that shadow well enough. It wasn't hard to figure out something happened to her mother- whether she died or left or was sick, or that she was just separated from Luna in the pods, there was something about her mother that upset Luna. She clearly loved her mother, and she really didn't seem the type to be too worried about people in the pods.

Figuring something happened to her mother before she was abducted, Alex put his hand on hers and leaned into her, "R-really, I'm s-sorry about your mother. C-can I ask w-what happened?" He wanted to do more, like hold her, but he couldn't even keep his eyes open at this point. He rested his head against her shoulder without even seeming to realize it, ready to listen.

((OOC: Mum is also used in Germany along with mutti. Alex doesn't quite realize that mum is odd to be said by an American.]

Glee!

[isee_snorkacks]

She's about to ask about the German when Alex invades her space more than she's had anyone other than Katara do in about a year. She tenses slightly, her cheeks flushing, but she swallows the urge to squirm away and stare at him and choose instead to stare at the hem of her bright, happy, sunflower-covered dress. Though she is not one to fidget, she shifts her free hand to rub at the fabric, curling and folding it between her fingers. It takes her a moment to remember that he had asked a question, and that he seemed to think the answer somewhat dire.

"My mother was an extraordinary witch," she says quietly, relaxing back against the wall. "She liked to experiment with spells, and one of them went quite wrong. It was horrible, but I know I'll see her again. It's alright, really. I still feel sad about it sometimes, but I think that's natural."

She sighs softly, and quite unconsciously leans her head against his, starting to hum again.

[hack_rat]

Alex was usually much more sensitive about other people feeling awkward with contact. If he wasn't the one initiating the contact with most people he generally flinched pretty badly. At the moment though his body felt sort of light, numb even, like it wasn't quite connected, and the tensing went undetected.

His heart skipped a beat at the 'quite wrong'. He knew what that meant, but he was glad to hear that Luna was coping with it well. "I'm r-really sorry." He squeezed his hand around hers gently, "I k-know it's hard, b-but it's p-probably g-good to f-feel jus' a l-little sad." His hand slowly relaxed as he listened to her hum, curious if she'd decide to finish and say more.

[isee_snorkacks]

"I think it's a good thing, too," she says, cutting off her humming. "But there's no need to feel it all the time. There're enough good people in the world to patch the hole, no matter how temporarily, and I was nine when it happened, so I'm quite acclimated. I think Daddy misses her more than I do."

Acting on impulse, she shifts her hand in his, allowing both of them a grip on each other, because she knows that he probably won't like her next question.

"What about your mother, Alex?"

[hack_rat]

Alex squeezed her hand and tensed, closing his eyes tighter, but he was far more awake now. If she was a shadow eater she would see a very imposing looking shadow completely engulfing him, adding it's darkness to the fearful one that was usually there.

"She..." His voice cracked as he spoke, "She d-died." As much as he hated it, he couldn't keep some tears from rolling out of his eyes. The memory now still hurt to think of, still made it hard to breathe. He wanted to explain more. He felt that she deserved to know more.

"Sh-she... W-well, f-father... was h-hard on h-her. Sh-she couldn't t-take it a-any more." His voice kept cracking, and he shivered a few times as he spoke, clearly upset. He didn't say anything for a few moments before adding in a soft, meek voice, "I-I f-found h-her."

[isee_snorkacks]

She squeezes his hand back firmly, pressing her cheek against his hair. She may not be a shadow eater, but she can see sorrow and dark things when they make their presences known. She's lived through enough of them to know what they look like.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly, eyes sad.

She lets silence reign for several minutes, rubbing gently at his hand with her thumb. She knows how little there is to be said about things like this. All one can really do is provide solidarity and reassurance, a decent amount of placidity, and listen when listening is needed. Also, changing the subject in gentle ways helps sometimes, especially when the person involved is as...singularly uncomfortable as Alex seems to be.

"I've noticed a trend in the crew of sad stories. Of course, everyone alive has them, but all of us have darker things to tell. I think the fact that we've all kept going through all of it is what makes us truly capable."

[hack_rat]

Alex squeezed her hand a bit harder shuddering with silent tears. He stuttered out a weak, "Th-thanks..." He rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand in way of showing his appreciation for the comfort.

He managed to calm himself fairly quickly. He never liked showing his own weakness, though he had a hard time avoiding it.

As gentle as Luna was, Alex was ferocious at tearing himself down. "I d-don' k-k-know why she picked m-me th-then, 'c-'cause I h-haven't b-been able ta k-keep going. I... I j-just... Exist."

[isee_snorkacks]

"Nobody just exists, Alex," she says, adding her other hand to the equation, pressing his hand between both of hers. "Stacy doesn't pick people needlessly--you're here for a reason, and you're no doubt good at something that most people aren't good at. What I meant by "keep going" was that not a single one of the people on this ship let their grief push them into corners they couldn't get out of." A pause, and she clenches her eyes shut, turning her face into his hair. "I almost failed like that--I got so scared that I almost broke, but Katara and the memory of my friends kept me going. No matter what you think of yourself, Alex, you're stronger than you think you are at every point."

[hack_rat]

Alex looked up at her in disbelief. He had heard that sort of speech often enough, but he still couldn't see much of his own worth. He rested his head back down, "I h-have f-failed l-like th-that. I a-am in th-that sorta p-place." He squeezed her hand again, "I'm... b-broken." He sighed, "I'll n-never be as strong a-as y-you."

[isee_snorkacks]

But Luna's job in the world is not to make him see his own worth--her job, in her opinion, is to keep the people she cherishes alive for as long as possible. As things look at the moment, it would appear that she's failed in that respect as far as most of her friends are concerned--Harry, Ginny, Neville, none of them have shown up yet, and she's starting to lose a lot of her diehard optimism for their alive-ness--which means that her new focus is protecting the ones she likes on-ship. The ones she can actually help.

Alex, it seems, has become one of them, and for this reason, she chooses to stop pitying him, chooses not to try to show him how much potential he has--which would be difficult, even for her, as she doesn't know him very well as yet, so all she'd be going on are his winning good looks and the vague, fuzzy feeling she gets around him, neither of which make for a good argument.

"If you think you're broken, then sitting around thinking about it isn't going to make it any better," she says quite frankly, edging a bit into the blankness of face that so often unnerved her classmates as she spouted off jarringly accurate insights into their inner beings. "Acknowledging your own self-worth gets you far in life, but some people are born with talent that allows them to function on extraordinary levels while entertaining a great deal of self-hatred. I don't want you to be one of those people, but you will be if you think like that." And she stands up, sliding her hand from his, tugging her dress straight, pushing her hair away from her face, making it tumble down her back, and then she offers him both hands, palms up, and open offer to help him up.

"Now stand up, and let's go get you some proper sleep. I'll stay with you if you need, but dozing in hallways is hardly proper."

And still, there is a great deal of fondness in her face as she does all this. If Xenophilius Lovegood were here, he would likely comment on how much like her mother she is in this moment, what with that twinkle of kind-hearted confidence in the object-of-her-present-attention's abilities in her eyes, the quiet curl to her lips, and the firmness of her barefooted stance.

Admittedly, she would not have done anything even remotely resembling this a week ago. It seems remembering the immense and highly complicated trauma she has lived through in the past two years has done quite a bit for her personal confidence levels.

No such thing as tl;sr

[hack_rat]

Alex twitched the hand Alice had been sleeping on to wake her. Sleepily she makes her way out of his sleeve and into his jacket pocket- to eat the tray bits from the cafeteria that he had begun to carry in there it seemed.

He listened quietly as she spoke, but he looked up at her with his head still on her shoulder. The words she said managed to dig into him, grab his attention. Somehow what she was saying seemed to make sense. She doesn't want me to be one of those people? She cares?

It was probably good that she did care, since he was finding that he trusted her enough to consider taking her up on her offer of staying with him. He usually didn't have girls in his room, but he was also very tired and knew that he would not get any more sleep if she just left him in his room alone.

He took her hands and gently used them as a counter-balance as he got up unsteadily, nodding. "y-yeah... I'd l-like for y-you t-ta s-s-stay... I g-get r-really b-bad n-nightmares..."

He dusted off his pants, still looking like he was about to fall asleep any moment. He tried to offer a small smile, "Th-thanks."