[ Voice ]

[intuitivewiccan]

[She finds the voice option comforting somehow; the anonymity allows her to feel less vulnerable and helpless, given the question she's posing to the people at large]

C-Can anyone recommend a good way to stop nightmares? Or at least...manage them, somehow?

[She knows magical ways to quell the disturbing dreamscapes she's been having of late, but

Comments

[voice]

[erudite_watcher]

Tara?

[It's disquieting to here a voice coming from the tablet, like a phone call happening with no warning. He doesn't like it but that's Tara on the other end of the distress call and he will do anything - even put up with the vagaries of the blast thing on his wrist - to assist her.]

You're having nightmares?

[voice]

[intuitivewiccan]

A few. More, lately, because of this place. I think. They started, m-more frequently, after Willow...

[She doesn't need to, or want to, say it]

There have been more.

[voice]

[erudite_watcher]

It's understandable after all that... after what you...

[He grows silent for a long minute, thinking. Maybe the disembodiment of the voice overt the tablet isn't all bad. There are some things it's easier to talk about when not looking another person in the eye.]

I had terrible nightmares after Randell died. [[He doesn't stop to explain who Randell was, assuming that Willow has told her at some point of that terrible episode in their high school history. She told Oz, after all.] I didn't think anything could haunt me so much, but I was wrong. When Buffy... that summer after she... I fell asleep on the couch most nights.

[voice]

[intuitivewiccan]

[Tara's voice dips low with empathy. She knows, perhaps better than most, all of the things Giles has worried about over the years]

I know. I-I remember. [She does, too. She remembers it all too vividly, that horrible time after Buffy had died. And she also knew that Giles suffered in a completely different way, with Buffy being his Slayer, his responsibility.]

How did you...I guess you just...didn't sleep much?

[Voice]

[slasher_slayer]

As a fellow nightmare-haver, I can't say that I've ever been able to stop them.

[Her nightmares, which she has every night, are of her mother becoming the Lunch Lady slasher and Cassie having to shoot her.]

I'm lucky if I wake up and I'm not screaming.

[Voice]

[intuitivewiccan]

[Her sympathy level immediately increases; while she knows many people the world over also suffer from nightmares, it's not something Tara would wish on anyone]

What do you--have you ever learned...to control them? Ever?

[Voice]

[slasher_slayer]

Once. Only because I was fighting a Freddy Krueger wannabe who would have killed me in my sleep if I hadn't.

[Voice]

[intuitivewiccan]

With all of the demons I've seen, I-I haven't had to deal with something like that. I'm...lucky, I guess. I wouldn't--I'm sorry you had that, have that, I mean. You still suffer with them.

[She pauses, growing quieter]

Do you...is it worse, i-if you sleep alone?

[ voice ]

[sirachi]

Meditation is sometimes helpful with that.

[ voice ]

[intuitivewiccan]

I-Is there a certain...mantra that would help more?

[witbyndmeasure]

You're having bad dreams? Are there any wrackspurts in your house? If they burrow in too deeply, they can give you nightmares.

[intuitivewiccan]

[Tara is quiet for a moment, mildly confused, but then continues]

Um, I don't think so? But, I don't know what a wrackspurt is, so I-I'm not sure.

[witbyndmeasure]

They're not very nice, but I haven't found any here yet. I've looked.

[voice]

[likeajoan]

[Buffy's voice is full of concern]

You're having nightmares, Tara?

[voice]

[intuitivewiccan]

[Tara hesitates. A part of her doesn't want to say too much, although oddly enough, she's more willing to talk to Buffy about this than Willow. Mostly because Willow has enough on her plate with the alternate reality thing at the moment without adding this to the mix]

A few. Lately. I-I have, in the past. I think my mind is more...sensitive to them? When Glory...

[She trails off, knowing she couldn't have been the only one with nightmares at that particular time in their lives. She doesn't have to say more than that]

They've just been more frequent, the past few months. And since I've been here, they're...coming again...

[likeajoan]

[Tara doesn't need to elaborate on the issue of Glory, Buffy understands perfectly. She's not oblivious to the reasons why they might have been more frequent recently, either]

I, umm. I had nightmares for a long time, after the whole coming back from the dead thing. [She won't go into detail there]

I found that going to bed tired-- physically tired, like after slaying, but for you it could be running? That helped. There's also this thing Giles taught me, breathing exercises, clearing the mind. I think doing that before bed sometimes worked too. I could teach you if you want-- or Giles could, I'm sure.

[intuitivewiccan]

[There had been so much darkness surrounding Buffy when she'd come back, but not an evil sort of darkness; it was one that had stemmed from overwhelming emotions of sadness, confusion, anger...all the things she must have been struggling to deal with when she'd been taken out of Paradise and brought back to Earth. Tara had been aware of those feelings in Buffy, and was not at all surprised to hear she had nightmares]

It was...hard, for you more than anyone. I-I wish... [She had wished, then, that she could've done something to soothe the obvious aches and pains in Buffy's soul, but it had seemed like something Buffy needed to go through and come to terms with within herself]

I wish...a lot. Sometimes, too much? [Tara goes quiet on the subject]

[Change of subject!] That-that might help. I know some meditations, but anything else that could...

You wouldn't mind? Teaching me, I mean?