voidtreckerexpress | Some Nights I Stay Up

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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

"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.

It was strangely soothing to have her presence with him at the moment and when they got to his room, he swiped his ticket and opened the door. As predicted, almost, his room was actually empty.

His bunk was identifiable enough, not that he had things lying around at the moment, but he had green and purple blankets thrown over the bed and in the middle of his pillow was Orion curled up in a ball sleeping, his two tails curled around his face. At their entrance, his ears twitched and he opened an eye.

Eight casually glanced around the room, careful and quiet. She pauses a moment to stare at the cute fluffy thing. She wants to pet, but knows better than to do so if his owner is anything like his master.

Instead, she gives Senku enough space to get back into bed before sliding into a sit against the door

"You don't have to sit somewhere so uncomfortable." Senku told her. "You can sit on my roommate's bed, or if you don't like that, the end of mine."

He pulled the blankets back and tucked them around his legs as he sat on his bunk.

Orion's ears twitched and he mewled in Senku's direction, using his tiny claws to climb up his back, aiming for his shoulder. Senku didn't pay him much attention at least, he let him do that. He knew his human was distressed.

Eight shook her head. The other person's bed was not Senku's to give, and although she invited herself, she was still a girl and wouldn't want to have anyone have the wrong idea of sharing a bed with Senku. Even for something like this. "I'm fine." She was only a little uncomfortable, really.

"When I was on recon training, we'd have to practice shifts. I had third watch, which meant that I would have to stand at attention while my squad mates slept. At least this time I'm sitting down." It almost reminded her of the time on the metro, where she would occasionally take a nap on the uncomfortable chairs.

Regardless, she'll retain her vigil. Though she suspects nothing will happen, she's comforted by the fact that her presence should provide at last some comfort. After all, he did agree to this.

Senku wasn't very mindful of the optics. He lived and travelled in a communal setting with a mixture of people and they didn't tend to segregate by gender for anything. He should've considered that it could've been misinterpreted but that sort of thing was hard to hit on his radar as it was. "Alright." He would, however, take her at her word.

He wasn't quite ready to lie down yet, but he was a lot more comfortable in his bed, his arms lazily draped over his knees. It was better than the floor, but still a lot like slowing down.

"I don't have any work to do." He grimaced. "That's...what I'd usually be doing right now." He had horrible sleep habits.

That... got a chuckle out of her. Falling asleep on one's work station was viewed favorably in Octarian society. Even Eight did that once or twice herself.

The fact that he couldn't go to sleep any other way was, however, a less favorable trait. "You don't have to stop working or thinking." She admitted. "But you do have to lay down and close your eyes. They teach us in the Academy that our bodies and mind require rest to function optimally. Another thing they tell us is that the process of thinking on something else will often free up brain capacity to form innovation." She looked up at him warmly. "It's efficient to be inefficient from time to time."

Orion mewed his agreement in Senku's ear.

"I know they do." Senku said with a bit of a considerate hum. "I just don't sleep very much."

That was why Gen was constantly dragging him to bed because if he didn't, Senku wouldn't sleep.

He did however follow her directions, scooping up Orion off his shoulder and laid down in the bed, depositing the kitten on his chest.

Eight smiled warmly at the sight. She voiced barely audible hardly a whisper. "It's amazing that someone so driven and intelligent can have so little self-control when it comes to taking care of himself."

Her eyes focus on his features, letting his mind wander. She suspected it was someone like this that made the AI that went rogue. A genius, an innovator. Someone stretching far beyond his lifespan to make a meaningful change in the world. There was dignity in that, she reasoned. There is value in legacy.

She exhaled from her nose as she grinned. Would that they were capable of making sure they went to bed on time, those brilliant idiots.

He did as she suggested and put his arms up under his head and closed his eyes. See? He could do that much, although he wasn't asleep.

"I'm naturally restless. Always have been. My mind runs a mile a minute." Senku explained. "I translates to the rest of me. I can't sit idle very long at all, and never could."

He snorted slightly. "I was a real pain to have at school as a student." He sighed.

"Gen doesn't sleep that much either. I don't think it's for the same reason as me, but he has trouble sleeping. When he forces me to go to bed, he has to go to bed too and so we both end up sleeping more than we normally do."

"We..." Eight stops as soon as she opened her mouth. As a general rule, Octarians are not too keen to talk about themselves or where they came from. Back home, everyone knew what they were going through, so it was a non-issue. Outside of home, revealing too much of her people and their tactics felt like betraying them. Eight's head leaned back against the wall with a dull thud.

"We always knew we were going to join the military effort. Octarian training started as far back as... as far back as I can remember." She leaned forward, her gaze set upon a pair of eyes that were closed but not asleep. "When we're old enough to walk we played Octolings and Inklings... with the Inklings being the bad guys, of course."

"We stopped pretending at around 6, when we entered into military education. That is when the real work started. Drills, schooling, testing. Running, running, running, exercise, calisthenics, parkour, everything." She smiled a little, hands wrapped around her knees. "You would have hated it."

"There were days when I would be so tired my vision blurred. My limbs felt like lead and I couldn't keep any food down. On those sort of days, sleep was the sweetest nectar I could have ever hoped to enjoy."

"I still do, on especially busy days."

"Sounds like it." Senku agreed with a bit of a sleepier hum. "I'd have washed out, I can't run for shit." Heck, he could barely walk the length of the train without feeling overly exhausted. In that respect, his genes had been unkind to him.

"I always think I'm missing something if I'm sleeping." Senku admitted. "Sometimes I am. Granted I can now sleep just about anywhere, but I'll admit the bed is nice. Don't tell the Mentalist though." He said with a huff. "He'll want me to make him one when we get back."

Eight's smile drops and she pulls on her legs. "You would probably been left there, too..."

"You probably are. But the good thing about night time is that not a whole lot happens unless it does. By pure probability, it is the most convenient time to allow your body the chance to recover." She nods to herself, this train of thought being something that Octarians indeed had to ponder. "But we had to make it mandatory too, since some Octarians who think the same as you. Once it became routine they followed it well enough. Well, the ones that didn't try to sneak work into bed with them."

"Yeah, maybe." Senku said, speaking softly, some of the tension in his body melting away.

"I would, but Gen's stronger than me." Senku snorted. "He'll just take it out of my hands." He smiled wryly.

"If it's important, he's fine to let me keep working, I can't always avoid all-nighters at home. I don't know how I'd do in your place, but maybe I'd find a way around it. I'm kind of stubborn." In case Eight hadn't noticed.

She'd like to think that, but the truth was someone who wasn't physical capable would have a significant handicap to overcome. He'd need to constantly validate his worth in a society where resources are scarce.

"...maybe as a tactician or officer, but that role is usually held by our King and those appointed by him."

That type of easy-going quality would certainly have made Inkling society a better fit... though he would still be unusual as one of the few that could do math.

"So, pretty much what I do now." Senku chuckled a little bit. "Or I guess in my world's comparison it's all of the above." It was still a bit mindblowing that he'd somehow found a way to rule the world by accident.

Life was incredibly strange that way.

"No matter how difficult things get, I'd...rather be there. It's not- I'd be able to do more about our situation."

The thought was enough to make Eight sigh. "I miss home too."

"I think we all do."

"Yeah. As much as I know the other generals have everything under control..I'd still like to go back." He had so much unfinished business.

Some Nights I Stay Up

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