7. [Action and Audio]

[brodakota]

[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.]

Comments

[4letters4ninja]

[Ziva was awake from some dreams from her own, and trying to distract herself until she was tired.]

I can get there.

[allfunandgamesuntil]

[York hasn't been sleeping great either; it's been worrying him when he wakes and Wash isn't there. They're still all broken up and they need to do something about it.]

D and I will be there soon. Hang in there, Theta.

[unrecovered]

[Wash, of course, has been sleeping horribly, and has actually taken to sleeping in out of the way places in Twilight Town so nobody has to put up with him. This puts him across town and in the completely wrong world when he sees this post. If it were anyone but Theta, he'd be swearing up a storm.]

Keep the shield up. I'm on my way.

[skysmirror]

[Yet another person awake due to dreams and thinky-thoughts about things.

Now add adrenaline to the mix of things keeping Xion up--she's worried about her bro and hurrying to find him.]

Hang on Theta, I'm on my way.

[lessabrasive]

[ Late to the party or not, Lin does look mildly concerned at the message.

However, Lin doesn't offer assistance - it does look like others are already on their way to his location, people familiar with the individual in question. ]

What happened, exactly?

A few hours later...

[brodakota]

[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!