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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

Eight nodded, content that he took a moment to evaluate his physical state.

There was just one thing left on her mind. "What would Gen do if he found out about this?"

"Probably scold me for not telling him in the first place." Senku grumbled a little bit. "Then he'd probably want to talk about it."

"He'd want to know." The question is whether he should know...

"Probably, but I don't want to tell him." Senku frowned. "We have enough to worry about. This is insignificant in light of that."

"He wouldn't say so." And she gives it her own appraisal for him to hear. "If this happened before, it might happen again. Maybe when you are needed."

"No, I...just work through it usually. It's not like this. It's.." He grimaced. "Usually limited just to the dreams. Maybe it's just stress."

Eight understood more than Senku would know. How he handled things was exactly how she handles her problems too: work on things until they don't bother you anymore.

But for the past month she had been pressing with the reality of their circumstances on the train. She had to deal with the loss of knowing she may never return home. That reality was a bitter pill to swallow and there was no escape from it.

She can't blame Senku, but she also thinks she saw a glimmer of doubt. Her only response is to lean in close and stare into his face. Her features asked: "Is that what you really think?"

He scoffed lightly at being called out and shook his head slightly.

"Whatever's causing the nightmare..." He already knew it was just the traumatic experience. "It's in the past. There's nothing to consider."

It wasn't that far in the past was it? His mind reminded him that for a brief moment he'd been alone again, just prior to finding himself on the train. That was four months ago though.

"Everything that makes us who we are is in the past. Both the good and the bad." The past guides the future, but it can also tyrannize the present. She knew that sometimes letting go and living can be the toughest thing a person can do.

"Let's get you to bed. I'm... going to sit with you until the day is out." Above all else, she didn't want Senku to be alone.

"You're right about that." Senku agreed with a bit of a nod, everyone he knew was shaped by the events of their lives.

"Alright." Senku agreed after a moment's thought. He didn't want to be alone anyway, that was the whole problem, apparently.

He got to his feet and pushed his bangs out of his eyes.

Eight followed closely behind. Her eyes set to the back of his head like she was expecting it to detach and fly away at any moment.

"Let me know if you need privacy... and if there are any night routines I should know about." She did invite herself, after all, the least she could do was be considerate to anything Senku needed.

He glanced back behind her and shook his head. "No, not really. I'm already changed." He said, gesturing at his pajamas.

"So that's about it. Gen can't get in without my ticket anyway, so he shouldn't be there at the moment."

He considered that for a moment. "I have two roommates that don't usually come to bed, and one that does, but she sleeps pretty heavily, at least we've never woken her."

Eight nodded. She suspected that she wasn't going to get any sleep until the train forced her to, and that was fine. This was more for his sake, and she continues humming the tune to let him know that she was there.

If she couldn't touch with touch then she would try with song.

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