revenance_comms | 7. [Action and Audio]

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7. [Action and Audio]

[Despite all he's done to try, North is still not getting enough sleep. Luna's visit helped, but Theta is still anxious, and North can't get to the end of the dream where things start to fix themselves. Theta gets stuck at the breaking apart, with memories of how he was created from the Alpha still very fresh for him. It's painful to go through, even if North is just getting the memory of the experience, and he would rather not put both of them through that.

So no sleep for Freelancer or AI.

He's hid it well enough for the past while he thinks. He's stumbled a few places, but otherwise, he's still functioning. He made it through the mansion alright after all.

Now, however. Now he'd not so sure.

He'd just wanted to go out for a walk, get some air and try and calm Theta down. It's really annoying how these streets can't be walked without encountering nightmares. It's worse that he didn't sleep at all last night because Theta had a particularly bad time. Cactus and Winnie are doing what they can, but it's hard for North to break away and put some distance between them to use his rifle effectively. Just bashing the nightmares on the head isn't doing much.

Still, he'd holding his own for the most part, until he finds himself surrounded by a few Kooma pandas and no way out. He tries to activate his shield but they're too close for it to be effective. Turns out the nightmare versions of Kooma pandas hit really hard, and North goes down. Immediately Cactus and Winnie are there and Theta's activated the shield. He's panicking, and scared because North being knocked out is not a good thing and he can't be in control. He knows he needs help so he goes to the communicator.

To his credit, he manages to sound somewhat in control.]

North's been knocked out by some nightmares. I've got the shield up but he needs help. Like, really soon.

[He can keep the shield going for as long as North's suit has power, which is a while, but he's worried about Cactus and Winnie, since he can't give them potions or anything like that]

We're in the backstreets of Traverse Town.

[ooc: Okay, so, to keep things organized, the first person to respond to this post will be the person rescuing North. Other people can respond, but Theta will tell them someone is on the way to avoid 20 people showing up to rescue North. It's a giant game of first, so have at it.]

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[It's been a long time since North has woken up from a hit like that.

The last time he can think of might have been when he'd been shot protecting South on that oil platform. It sucked then and it sucks now, is the conclusion he's managed to come to. Perhaps even more so because he wasn't even protecting anyone when he got hit this time. He should have been paying more attention. He also shouldn't have been out fighting nightmares when he was that sleep deprived but that's beside the point.

He turns his head weakly, trying to figure out where he is since it's clearly not that back street where he was. Somehow he's gotten back to the hotel. He doesn't put a whole lot of thought into it, he figures he'll find out later and his head hurts too much for that.

As his senses become clearer, he becomes aware that Cactus has pressed himself up against him, making a raspy sound that somewhere between a purr and a growl. He raises a hand and runs it through the pricklemane's fur. He can make out Winnie at the end of the bed standing guard. Theta is hovering nervously beside him. If there's anyone else in the room, North hasn't gotten to them yet. He's still waking up and his body's decided to do it slowly.

However, despite his head hurting a bit, he feels more awake than he has been in the past couple weeks.]

North! You're awake!

Edited 2013-05-06 04:16 (UTC)

[Wash had already passed the hotel when he'd gotten the text from Theta. It hadn't taken him long to double back and make his way to North's hotel room. From there, it had been nothing but waiting. He'd sent Melody to stand guard outside the door - no point in upsetting Cactus more than he already was - and settled in with Fang on his lap to wait for North to wake up, having to occasionally fight to stay awake himself.

And when North finally did wake up, he sighed in relief and kept quiet. If North and Theta needed a moment, he wasn't going to take it from them.]

[York wasn't sure when he'd become the sane, reliable adult of the group and sometimes that worried him. He was keeping together just fine these days; he regretted that he wouldn't be able to meet Carolina again unless she showed up here, but she was safe, and that would let him rest easy. Clearly he needed to be more proactive about looking out for North and Wash, though. It wasn't like he and Delta couldn't help.

He held back as well; North needed to get his bearings before they started talking about what had happened.]

Hey Theta.

[North's voice is weak, but that could just be from his coming round. Theta flashes closer, looking over North just to make sure he's okay.]

You're awake. I was really worried.

I'm okay. Looks like you managed to get me to safety.

[He finally manages to notice Wash and York.]

Thanks guys.

[He tries to sit up but is prevented by Cactus pouncing onto his chest and forcing him back down, glaring at him all the while. When it looks like North isn't going to try that again, he sort of face plants against North. Just to be sure.]

[He's about to tell North to lie back down, but Cactus beats him to it. Kind of.]

Thank Theta. He's the one who called for help and kept the shield up until it came.

[And then, because fuck waiting:]

Bet that's the most sleep you've gotten all week, huh.

Want to talk about what's been going on with you?

[York remembers when North was up in the middle of the night before; that was years ago, but Theta still probably doesn't react well to the idea of falling apart. Delta won't discuss the dreams with York, and Delta doesn't have that many triggers himself.

Of course, Wash won't get off that easily.]

North can go first, since I'm the only person here who's not a member of the insomnia club.

[North sighs. He had a feeling this talk was coming, and he wasn't quite that ready to dive right in. Still, Wash gets a look though. Even though the answer to that question is yes.

Theta dims considerably. He knows this is his fault.]

Not really, but you're gonna badger me till I do, aren't you?

It's the dreams...Theta hasn't been doing that well with them. It hits a little too close to home I guess.

[Wash gives York a dour look, but he can't deny it - not when he's been nodding off for the past hour right in front of York.]

[The comment about the dreams hitting too close to home...well, there's a reason Wash hasn't been sleeping lately.]

Then he gets anxious and you can't sleep.

D won't talk about them with me, but he doesn't keep me up. Neither of you can run forever on no sleep, though.

[Good, York. State the obvious while trying to figure out solutions. He could babysit Theta to give North a rest - if either of them were comfortable with it, which isn't likely at all - but they can't take Wash's memories away.]

Options: Sedation or waiting this out and hoping the next set of dreams aren't as awful as these are.

A few hours later...

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