voidtreckerexpress

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Who: Eva + Sleeper 3C + Senku
Where: Sleeper 3C
When: Imagination 19, late night
What: Eva and nightmares.
Warnings: PTSD mentions, mentioned past death, blatant talk of near-death experiences and what a realistic pokemon world is like on Eva's end.

Given Eva hadn't been sleeping that well of late -since the mission, really, she'd turned in early. The signs of an impending wake-up-screaming-nightmare where there and the last thing she wanted to do was wake her cabinmates up.

Too bad she would.

"NO-!" That is very much a yell as Eva sits bolt upright, eyes wide and heart pounding in her ears. Distantly, she's aware of the bond, of the fact she might -did?- have flooded Senku with fear/terror and pain and loss and guilt. Still is, because not even a headshake will clear away very real memories and fears that mingled and mixed into a horrific, terrifyingly brutal nightmare.

Star attractions: Blood. Viscera. Explosions. Froslass. Everyone in the last mission's fight. Her. Fluffy. Princess. Senku even though he wasn't in the battle-

A sharp inhale. She's alive. He's alive. They're all alive. Everyone who matters is alive.

The dream wasn't real. It was a nightmare and Princess is in his -her pokemon are in their pokeballs. Yet it doesn't calm her racing heart nor the ragged breaths, or the way she seeks out the bond both as an anchor point and something to curl around. Nor does it stop the glances at cabin mates to check that yes, they're still alive. So are those on the train.

The friends she's made and those she thinks of as family. As her flock. They are alive and not dead or dying or hurt or hostages or or or-

This isn't Lavender Tower. Not Silph Co. This isn't that hysterical, blood and tear-stained night Fluffy came into her possession and it most certainly is not that awful fight seven days ago-

Hands clench blankets -sleeping bag- and knuckles go white. "There's blankets under me. We're alive- Fuck it all-"

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"Eva?" Nerdanel quite possibly sleeps even less now than she used to, so she comes straight over as Eva sits up.

"What's wrong, tithen pen? Nightmare?"

"Y-yeah..." It's all she can do to nod between well, everything.

"Bad one...uh-...someone'll have to let him in..."

Senku. She means Senku.

The shout wakes Devero up immediately, but he's groggy enough to not be sure if he actually heard someone shout or if it was the remnant of a dream. He hasn't exactly been sleeping well himself-- it's only his third day here, and he's still very much getting adjusted to this place.

But then he hears voices, and those are definitely not dream remnants. He sits up with a soft groan and leans out over the edge of the bunk. "Mnng. Eva?" he asks muzzily. Her most recent words actually penetrate and he adds, "Let who in?"

"B'ndmate," she manages out shakily. Talking's good, right? "Pr'b'ly swamp'd him..."

Nevermind Devero's probably not caught up on that fact some of the passengers share bonds with each other.

Nope, he sure hasn't! But he doesn't let that stop him from sitting up and swinging his legs over the side. He knuckles the sleep out of his eyes and drops to the floor with a thump before moving to the door. "There someone in particular I'm waiting for?"

"Uh- Senku." Though it comes out as half question even as Eva leans against Nerdanel in an effort to stop shivering, to get her breathing under control and calm racing heart and thoughts. "Senku. If he shows up."

Terror, pain, loss and guilt were an unpleasant thing to feel on the bond during his own rest, which shaped his own dreams turning them into nightmares.

The delay in arriving is a combination - not only his own feelings and problems coming to the forefront, and the fact that he isn't much for running.

A knock at the door.

Eva usually gets from Senku a very stable level of calm, but that isn't what she'll find now. He's afraid of something, and there's an ache in his chest. His hair is kind of a mess and his pajamas including the t-shirt that says "Everything happens for a reason...and that reason is usually physics." are sitting rather loosely and a bit off his shoulder as though he'd been tossing and turning himself, which he had. He'd find his centre in a few minutes, but a brief moment she was going to feel the feedback from him.

"Senku." Nerdanel murmurs as he lets him in. "Come in - I fear Eva has had a rough night."

Senku stifled a yawn and lumbered in a bit. "Yeah."

He moved over to Eva's bunk, with a wordless raised hand to the other roommates in greeting.

"Nightmare?" He asked, sitting on the edge.

Eva flinches a little a the feedback from Senku -and if her chest's a bit tighter for it, then it's fine, right? Nothing more than feedback that'll pass. But given she's in no position to try and get a shield -would it even help? no, probably not- all she can do, really, is try and calm her thoughts.

Keyword: try, because it's not... really working. Not with the feedback. But it is what it is.

"Yeah. Sorry." She means it. She honestly means it. "You're afraid- D.... did you have one too?"

Because of her and gods... that was the last thing she wanted, but it's not like she can shield while unconscious.

It might be difficult considering he'd reacted, and when she commented, he realized that she was feeling that from him.

"Don't worry about it." He waved his hand a little.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a slow, deep breath, then another. He could clamp down on his fear. It wasn't the same as a shield, she could still feel him as she ever did, but he was compartmentalizing.

His chest would still ache, he couldn't do much about that for the moment, but it would fade, but she shouldn't get more than the usual calm now, if he managed that right.

Nerdanel comes to settle next to Eva, humming a soft lullaby.

"Rest, the both of you, if you can."

"Senku..." It's not scolding, but something soft and very much back up by worry, both voice and bond.

"I- I don't know if I can." Not with all those lovely images stuck in her head. And the only way to get them out, really, is to talk about it.

"We're alive, she," -Fluffy- "isn't here, that- that thing isn't here -it was destroyed, I think- and we don't have to worry about a yukimenoko."

Froslass- and her breath hitches a little there. Four willing, they'll never have to face anything like that on the train, nor find the aftermath. Distantly, Eva's not sure if Senku'd known what she meant. Maybe, given the memory they'd shared? "That's- It's good none of them are here."

She's going to face in hands right now. For all she's willing to talk about it, it doesn't make it any easier at all.

"I'm fine. Categorically because I'm sitting here, makes my dream just a dream." Senku was still minimizing and dismissing his discomfort. He didn't know if he would rest much, but he could sit there at any rate.

It didn't really help, shared memory or not, not because he forgot but because he didn't have quite enough from her to pull the context from his memory.

"Yeah, they can't get at you here if they aren't here."

"I can try and Sing you both sleep, if you want." She murmurs quietly. "Senku is right - no point in borrowing trouble that is not here."

"I-" Gods but does she want that more than anything, to just avoid it al in the hopes it'd go away. Yet... "I can't. I don't think that'd help."

She swallows as she tries to steady her voice. "It'd... It'd just... Just bury the issues until they rose again."

"Do you want to talk about it then?" Senku asked, since that seemed more like maybe what Eva wanted to do, he just wasn't sure how to go about facilitating that. Gen would be so much better at that.

Devero, who'd clambered unobtrusively back up to his bunk, chimes in. "We're here to listen, if you're ready to talk about it."

Edited 2020-12-27 23:37 (UTC)

"Yeah... and thanks."

Eva closes her eyes and breathes in an out a few times, as if to settle herself, or at least try. Ready? Hardly, but it has to happen or it'll get worse, and it's not just her affected, but her cabin mates. Senku via the bond and likely his cabin mates. "It's- hard. You won't know my terms, but-"

Another breath, this time as she swallows, hands fisting as if to ward off the rising fear. "Fluffy- Anything you hear related to her, it- It can't be repeated to anyone. Promise me?"

Gods. How many is this that'll know about her now? At least a handful and if Eva's honest, there's a growing knot of something -fear? anxiety? She doesn't know- in her gut.

"I promise." Senku answered without a second thought.

"I haven't told anyone anything I've seen." He reassured Eva gently. He meant anyone at that. Not even Gen.

"You have my word," Devero says without much more hesitation than Senku, his expression and voice grave.

The reassurance from them -from Senku especially given she knows he means it- means more than words can describe. "Thank you."

There's another steadying breath as she gathers her thoughts. "Last mission wasn't the first brush with death I've had. It was, however, the closest since I was- thirteen when Fluffy came into my life on that blood-soaked night-"

There's a sharp inhale here as knuckles go white before she forces herself to relax. "The dream- nightmare- played on that. Took... Took what the saboteurs did -nearly did to more of us- and... mixed it."

He hadn't even been the least bit tempted to spill her secrets, and to Gen's credit he wouldn't ask. All Senku had told him was that it was her private memories and it had been accepted.

This was the same thing to him.

"Ah...yeah." Senku exhaled lightly. "The brain does that kind of thing, it's a-" He stopped himself.

"Sorry."

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Sorry for the delay

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