voidtreckerexpress | Some Nights I Stay Up

Entry tags:

Some Nights I Stay Up

Who: Senku Ishigami, OPEN
Where: Multiple carriages
When: Jelly 26
What: A nightmare, a panic attack and a composed Senku is no longer composed.
Warnings: Nightmare, panic attack, isolation, survival elements

Senku had gotten into his pajamas at some point, having gone through whatever his night routine had been but he’d fallen asleep in the library. It wasn’t that rare that he worked himself to exhaustion at home, but it was much rarer here that he didn’t allow himself to be lured to bed. It was even earlier than usual for him to crash. His mood had been a bit off since the strange day he spent as a child and while it didn’t inherently bother him, feelings he hadn’t considered in thousands of years had resurfaced.

That may have been the precursor to the nightmare. He didn’t dream of home, not exactly, he was in the very library he’d fallen asleep in. He closed a book, the smell of the pages crisp in the air as he snapped it shut. He looked up.

It was quiet. Too quiet. No rustling sounds of pages being turned, no conversations, nothing. His brow furrowed and he went down the stairs to find someone familiar, sitting at a table over a book, completely turned to stone.

“No.” Senku breathed and went to touch the statue briefly, pressing his lips together before turning and going out of the library. He needed to get someone, he needed to get something to help them. He knew this, he could-

Another statue was in the next carriage and his eyes widened. “Not this, I can’t.” He breathed. He was trembling, but he pressed forward, to find in the next carriage, the familiar statue of Gen and he jolted awake.

Senku’s head snapped up from the table and he looked around, breathing incredibly laboured. It all looked the same, he couldn’t hear anything, it wasn’t possible, he couldn’t do this again. He got to his feet and started moving through the train.

He was poking his head into every car he went, but he wasn’t really seeing what he wanted. If someone was there, he didn’t notice them, he was wild-eyed, sweat trickling down the side of his face and breathing hard.

He gave in finally, collapsing to his knees, one hand grasping his chest. It was squeezing him so tightly, so painfully. “No, no, no, I can’t, please, I can’t-” It was a whispered, pained prayer to whoever he was hoping would listen. “Not again.”

[OOC: It doesn't matter where Senku is found, you may choose your carriage of choice!]

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"It was just a nightmare." He told her, shifting so he was sitting properly, tilting his head back to catch his breath. His chest hurt, ow, that panic attack was no joke.

"I'm not- there's nothing wrong with me." He meant physically at least.

Eight shook her head. "There's definitely something wrong." It's whether or not he felt comfortable with her to speak about it.

"If you want, I can find Gen. You could... talk to him about it." He may have been perhaps one of the few that he would willingly confide in.

"No." Senku said, holding out a hand to stop her. "Don't get Gen." He flushed lightly. "He doesn't know about this."

He grimaced. That sounded bad. "It's not usually this bad. It's not life threatening, it's just a panic attack."

"Oh." Sadly she had seen this happen before. In a time before time some of the octolings in her splatallion would come to pieces. Usually it was when they were about to break the surface or to run the risk of engaging with enemy Inklings. This sort of weakness was highly frowned upon, and would have... consequences.

She was a far cry from the octopus that had to encounter that. With a silent nod, Eight leaned forward toward Senku. Close enough to be present, for him to feel her breath, but not enough to touch.

Running a hand through her tentacle hair, she closed her eyes and started to hum a tune. She hoped if nothing else it would help him calm down to focus on something.

He was appreciative that she seemed to know, or remember that grabbing him at the best of times wasn't the best idea, and it likely wasn't a good idea here. He exhaled and ran his hand down his face.

The noise was welcome. That nightmare was all about a horrific kind of silence and isolation. Having someone there, alive, breathing and humming was a breath of fresh air to the dream.

"It's only happened a few times. Not..usually this bad."

She knew better than to ask Senku to talk about things he didn't feel comfortable talking about, but that was the second time he mentioned it. Perhaps... this wasn't something he wanted to talk to Gen?

She stopped humming, giving him the full weight of her attention. "What was it that scared you? You didn't even see me." Whatever he felt like sharing was fine. After all, it was Senku. He was not afraid to tell her no or to bluntly change the subject.

"I had a dream that everyone here had turned to stone." Senku explained. "And I was on my own again." He muttered with a breath.

"I've never...had that dream about this place before." He was fond of people. He'd miss them if he went home. He'd be devastated to lose them.

Oh. She never saw this side of him. Never knew that he felt so strongly about being alone. But was it the isolation, the worry that he would have to start all over, or something else?

She tries to imagine it. Tries to think of a world where she was by herself, alone with the songs in her heart for company. How painful those memories would be to know that that was all they were now.

"Senku..." She reached a hand out before feeling better for it. But, no... contact and touch. He needed to know she was not a dream, and extended a hand for him to reach. "...I am here. It was a dream."

He downplayed the worst things all the time. There was a lot he didn't say, so she wasn't alone in that. Most people never got to see this side of him. He didn't dwell on it typically, and when it crept on him, it steamrolled him completely.

"I know it was a dream." He said softly, bowing his head a little bit. He hesitated, but he did give her his hand, his touch gentle. He didn't grasp her hands so much as place his hand on top of hers.

"Except when it wasn't."

That was fine. She knew he would do what was comfortable.

"You never found out what happened? Why everyone was turned to stone?" To understand the reason the first time would be the first step to prevent it from ever happening again.

"I know what happened." Senku said with a bit of a frown. "I don't know why." He admitted with a soft huff.

"I don't know why they did it. They were trying again, before I came here."

"Who? How?"

"The device which we call the Medusa, is how it's done. There are words to activate it and then when it does there's light and it turns all humans to stone within its radius. We don't know who's doing it, all we've gotten is a morse code signal and a synthetic voice with the command. We've pinpointed their location to the moon." Senku huffed. "That's all I know about it. An attempt to engage was rejected by the entity. Too bad, I'm dying to talk to it."

"Have you seen Medusa on the train? What does it look like?" It sounds like it'd be important to know for future reference.

Senku hesitated at the question, debating how he was going to answer it. It was difficult to describe it without potentially her having the foundation in mathematics to get what he meant. He removed his hand from hers.

"Medusa herself was an ancient figure, so the legends go, when you looked into her eyes, you turned to stone, hence the name." He felt the need to explain it.

He responded instead by lifting up the hem of his orange shirt and what was always there, but not terribly noticeable without attention being drawn to it, was a rope that had multiple knots on a belt loop of his pants. He didn't fuss with the knots, he just pulled out the other side to pop the device onto the palm of his hand. "This is the Medusa." He said quietly.

He paused a moment. "It's out of juice you don't have to worry about that."

Eight didn't have to hide her fascination at such a device. Her gaze was transfixed, trying to discern how it worked and what it was made out of.

"It's a Möbius strip. It is large enough to be jewelry... and made out of... something I can't identify." How did it work? Did it have a way to emit light? How could something so small petrify the entire world? "It is a technology that seems like our anti-gravity devices, but it's much too small to do anything like that.

She wanted to touch it, to rotate it in her hand to see how it worked, but wasn't going to without being given the go-ahead.

"If you tell Gen I showed you this, he's going to be really pissed at me." Senku informed her. He turned it over in his hand.

"It's not technology I'm familiar with. I don't really know how it works. I know this one is out of juice because the last charge, it didn't make it properly." He'd seen it, he'd witnessed it.

"I know it as a trefoil knot. I was hoping that the shape would give me some hints about it, but no such luck there." Senku admitted. "Far as I know it has nothing to do with gravity."

"Can something so small really petrify all humans? And why only humans?" That seemed oddly specific.

"I don't know. The command was given as though the whole thing could be done with this device." Senku frowned. "Also, I don't know why humans, but I know a few days before we were petrified it petrified all the swallows first. Test run, I'm guessing."

"Perhaps humans are genetically similar to sparrows?" She wasn't sure, having not encountered (or read0 much about human biophysiology.

"Not especially, but interestingly enough like humans, sparrows between various species, are just about genetically identical." Senku mused thoughtfully.

"The sparrows really intrigue me. I want to know why sparrows as much as anyone. It seems like such a random thing. There must be a reason."

"If genetic variability is important, and that is set to petrify humans..." Eight reasoned. "...then I can guarantee I will be spared its effects."

"You won't be alone."

"I suppose you have a valid point." Senku agreed. "And the dream is illogical anyway, because if it did take out the train, I'd be just as petrified as anyone else."

"...aren't you taking your panic attack a little lightly, though?"

She was glad that he was feeling better to logic his way out of it, but this was a wound of the heart, not the mind...

"It's passing." Senku responded after a moment. "My heart rate is stabilizing." He gestured, holding his who fingers to his wrist. "My breathing is normal and the pain is subsiding."

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