one day, you will understand. but that day is not today.

[thepull_mods]

Who: Siren's Port
When: The night of Thursday, October 20th into the morning of Friday, October 21st.
Where: In the mind, in the dreams, in the unconscious of the sleepers.
Summary: The final night.
Warnings: These dreams may be considered not safe for work, with violence, gore, death, underlying sexual themes and other mentions of graphic nature.

Comments

Open to Kurogane and Sakura, NV responses will be after he calms~

[reflectedstasis]

[There's no screams or shouts as Fai wakes, no cries for his twin there on his lips anymore. He's had his days and nights of those kind of wake ups back when he first arrived in Celes - times when he'd scream his voice raw and Ashura's patient hand coaxed him gently back to the living. No, now there's only a sharp little gasp of breath lost into the pillow, where he's sleeping as usual - face down, buried in the soft material, always hiding in some way.

Only this time, his entire body is taut, hands clenched so tightly around the edges of his pillow, toes digging into the mattress so hard that he can feel the ghost memory of pain in the near invisible patchwork of thin scars that riddle fingertips and toes.

And while some part of him is telling himself to just let go, that he's had this dream time and time again over his countless years, he simply cannot.

Because for the first time in far too long, the dream is entirely too real... so for all that he's in the bed that he shares with Kurogane, for all that the ninja's warmth is

[ibreakrules]

[Frau couldn't deny that he knew that face. He knew it only too well now. Fai. Only much younger and filled with a despair that Frau knew only too well. That moment when everything you ever cared about crumbles away beneath your feet and you are left there in the ruins alone.

To know someone else had felt that, including that gentle hand that reached out in an effort to thaw the frozen void... No. It was only too similar. Frau wonders whether that hand still exists for Fai. Whether it does or not though, he needs to reach out.]

Fai.

[reflectedstasis]

[It's later, much later, before Fai is in any position to answer - and even then, he's standing in the living room, staring with a sightless eye out the window and watching the twisted shapes spawned by the Darkness wander the streets below before he realizes that Frau had spoken to him. He sighs, more from emotional exhaustion than anything, and runs a hand over his face before finally answering his friend.

Seems whether they want to or not, their truths were going to be laid bare between them, regardless.]

Frau?

[A beat, where he smiles slightly to himself.]

...I'm sorry you had to see that. It was a very... very... long time ago.

[ibreakrules]

[Yes, it did seem that way. Frau is willing to just be patient and offer what support he could though. Everyone had a darkest hour, and it wasn't something that you could compare between people.]

No matter how long ago it was, some pain never disappears. Some wounds never heal.

open for NV and action later in the day

[proxysearch]

[She knows some of those dreams. It's impossible not to. And she saw the destruction, the mayhem at the end...and saw herself with a few others. But there were so many others who died, people like Franz and Shiroe. Batman and Superman had caused so much destruction, and all she had done was watched...

Stupid. If she had the capabilities, then why couldn't she--

She sits up in bed and sighs, scrubbing at her face. She really can't take this.

She has some people to call, but for now, at 2am, she gets out of bed and heads downstairs to do some work. If she's awake, she might as well be spending the time productively, even if she heads into work and goes on patrol later in the morning.]

[beardedveteran]

[ This is the first night he's woken up gasping for breath, filling his lungs with air free of destruction and the smell of blood. Far from personal injuries, or recognising the faces of loved ones, the sight of this city-- a city he hardly knows, even, filled with terror-- strikes fear into him. Heroes vanquished; goodness eradicated; no hope

[proxysearch]

[Re-l comes in a little after ten, exhausted and feeling absolutely terrible. She really just wants to pick up her paperwork and go home but... No, no, that'd be irresponsible, as tempting as it is. She feels like she's going to fall over any second now, though.

She passes by the coffee machine with her own cup already, having picked it up before she left Diego at the coffee shop, and she stops when she sees Kotetsu.]

Rough night, Officer?

[beardedveteran]

[ By this point he's on his third cup, taking a break from trying to figure out the building. He blinks and lifts his head at her voice. Ah- she doesn't look any better off than he feels. Yet she still seems to give off that almost impressive air of professionalism. ]

Could say that. This ain't helping too much, either.

[ He swills the murky contents of the cheap paper cup and, after a moment, sips from it anyway. Better than nothing. ]

You always here at this time, Corporal?

Open to House of Cool and NV [possible tw for brief mentions of abuse]

[sealbait]

[Veser wakes up with a half-choked shout, a mess of flailing limbs and tangled flannel blanket. By the time he's coherent enough to realize he's awake he's on the floor, his blanket wrapped tightly around his legs and waist.

It was dream. Just a dream, just a goddamn dream. But it'd been a long time since he'd dreamed about her. That song he'd been hearing since he was a baby, that he could sing by heart if he ever wanted to and green eyes- his own green eyes. Veser's mind is still muddled from sleep, her image vivid as he sleepily murmurs to no one.]

Mom...? [As if she was nearby and would come into his room to stroke his hair and reassure him like other mothers did. Mothers who didn't resent their children and turn a blind eye when their husbands threw said children over porch railings in a fit of rage

Because these two ought to have a bit of CR . . .

[hybrid_prodigy]

[The thump isn't what wakes Gohan up. He's already awake. Honestly, he knows it's silly to be afraid to go to sleep, but he can't really help it. And until now, he hasn't been afraid to go to sleep since he was four or five. He doesn't like this.

[And he just doesn't want to stay in his room alone when he's feeling like this. What the thump does do is tell him that their houseguest is probably awake now, so going out to the living room won't disturb him.

[So he tucks a book under his arm, and sleepily walks into the living room, turning on the light when he enters. He sees Veser sitting bolt upright on the couch. But as Gohan is behind the couch, he doesn't see the clear signs of crying. Not yet, anyway. So he just offers a quietly polite greeting.] Hey, Veser. [Asking if he's having the dreams would be redundant; it's pretty clear that he is.]

YES

[sealbait]

[Shit, he has company. Veser rubs his eyes quickly. Suck it up,Ves.]

Hey, Gohan. You having a crappy night too?

[hybrid_prodigy]

[Oh, he knows what wiping tears away looks like. He used to cry so very, very much. Though he's not terribly used to seeing other people cry.]

Yeah. Another one. [It's a good thing he doesn't need as much sleep as most fully human people do.] Are you okay?

reaction/text;

[gotsomebadnoose]

[the listless spirit coasts silently through the quiet home. It's been a few days now since...since then and he thinks that maybe- maybe if he floats into the kitchen he'd find Veser rooting around in the freezer for another thing of ice cream, but he's not there and Lee know precisely why he hasn't come home yet.

He sure fucked things up this time.

He stares out the window and thinks about everything else he dreamed of; experiences he knows weren't his and names he'd never even heard of before.

Lee's restless thoughts turn to green eyes and a lullaby he'd sometimes hear when he crept around the house when SHE was there...

He's not quite sure what makes him pull out his NV and begin to sullenly type. Maybe it was the half-possessed notion that a certain someone he knew would forgive him (stupid thought. He'd never forgive him. Not after what happened and what he did).]

i dreamed again

text;

[sealbait]

[When he hears his NV beep and sees Lee's name on the screen, Veser hesitates. He hasn't spoken to Lee since Sunday...hasn't really left Soul's couch since then actually.

He stares at the short message for what seems like hours when only a few minutes have passed. Slowly, almost carefully, he types out a response.]

you too?

text;

[gotsomebadnoose]

[a pang and he's already wishing that he hadn't sent anything. Just let the churning thoughts swirl and tumble.]

yeah
saw your mother saw people i didn't know
felt like i did

text;

[sealbait]

[His stomach is turbulent. He's afraid to text Lee back. Lee, the one adult he used to trust, who'd come to parent-teacher conferences in his father's place, who'd eaten junk food with him and let him drink his first beer on his eighteenth birthday.

Veser was afraid of one of his best friends and it was his own fault.]

me too
it was weird

action to secret firehouse, anything else otherwise, whatever!

[atrumcanis]

[Sirius doesn't wake up with a start, not this time. The previous nightmares (this must be what a Seer feels like; he thinks that every time as he muzzily claws his way out of dreams that don't belong to him, out of things that he's never actually seen and places he's never actually been), yeah, they were bad--

The mundanity of his own is almost surprising. When he wakes up, the more familiar images are washing in and out with the images from the others--blood and books and shadows and apples--but it's the feeling of the rotten fingers on his face that he keeps coming back to.

You'll do it.

He climbs out of the bed, careful not to disturb slumbering dog and rats and roommate--careful not to look at Jack, in case he sees something else, someone else, which is childish and cowardly and he thinks it anyways.

He goes toward the kitchen. A drink, and a smoke, and nothing else. That's what he needs. That's what will help. Two drinks.]

[cowboy_newsie]

[He doesn't jolt awake tonight, which is nice; rather, he muzzily rouses, caught in confusion as the bed shakes (goodnight to the world and it--) and Sirius climbs out (--and it all e n d s--) and he reaches out in confusion too him. But it's too late, he's gone to the kitchen, and so Jack contents himself with snuggling against Yorick for a moment.

It gives them both time to sort out the images in their heads anyway.

Eventually he gets up, yanking on somebody's undershirt (it's not Alice's, anyway, and that's all that really matters) and padding into the kitchen behind Sirius. He sees the drinks and smells the smoke and doesn't comment on it.]

You won't, you know. I don't give a damn what any dream says, you wouldn't betray me. You never have.

[atrumcanis]

[Jack is a poor sleeper at the best of times as it is. It's no surprise that he's awake; his voice is hardly startling. Sirius stares into his glass for a moment, then shifts his cigarette to the side of his mouth, smiling thinly as he raises his drink.]

Cheers, mate.

[It's neither agreement nor disagreement. He takes a drink.]

[cowboy_newsie]

[He hesitates and shifts over, resting his chin atop Sirius' shoulder, leaning his weight against him.]

It's not you. It's a nightmare. You wouldn't . . . I know you. I know how you work, I know you like I know meself. You wouldn't do that to us. You wouldn't betray us, you wouldn't . . .

[He doesn't know how to describe that apocalyptic vision and so closes his eyes, sighing.]

None of it is real. Alice's part, Ciel's, Madara's, Kurt, none of it. I don't believe in prophets and I don't believe in seers.