THE INSOMNIA MEME BEGINS

[memeswearhouse]

the i n s o m n i a meme

It happens to everyone - sometimes, you have nights where you just can't fall asleep, no matter what you do. It could be for a number of reasons, or no reason at all. And this is what's happened now: you've been laying in bed for what feels like hours, just tossing and turning, and nothing seems to help. So what's left to do? Get out of bed and go wake someone else up, of course. If you're not getting any sleep, then why should they? i n s t r u c t i o n s • Post with your character (note the name and fandom in the subject). • Other people reply to you by generating a number from 1 to 10. • Have fun! o p t i o n s 01 • FEAR. Maybe you're hearing strange, indeterminable noises; maybe there's a severe storm happening outside; maybe you watched a scary movie before bed? Whatever the reason, you're terrified and it's keeping you awake. You just want to wake someone else up so they can protect you from the monster in your closet. 02 • HUNGER. Your stomach is growling and it just won't stop. Or perhaps your throat is so dry you could cough up a tumbleweed? Well, you've gone to the kitchen to remedy this and hey, that was a pan that just dropped on the floor. It was loud enough to wake the dead! Oops. 03 • PAIN. Your body is completely worn out, be it from exercise, battle, sickness, or what have you. Either way you're in enough pain to keep you from sleeping, so maybe someone else has a home remedy or something, or can at least help you take your mind off of it. 04 • SOLITUDE. For some reason, your bed just feels so empty at the moment. You're feeling terribly lonely and really just want someone to keep you company for a while. Maybe it'd be easier to fall asleep if you're with them... 05 • DISCOMFORT. Your room is an oven. Either that or a freezer. Or maybe this bed is just really uncomfortable? Who knows why you can't get to sleep, it feels like it could be anything. Why even bother trying? Maybe someone else can preoccupy you until you feel tired enough to ignore your discomfort. 06 • PENSIVE. Something's on your mind, and no matter how hard you try to focus elsewhere, it's just not going to work. Your body may be tired, but your mind is incredibly busy and it's virtually impossible to get to sleep. Surely, talking it out with someone else will help? 07 • SADNESS. Something terrible has happened that day, perhaps; or you could just be severely depressed. Either way you're trying your hardest not to cry yourself to sleep, and it's not working at all. Better find a way to get it out of your system somehow; you need a shoulder to cry on. 08 • ANGER. You are just... fuming. Who knows why - that annoying dog is barking again, or maybe the people next door are getting busy and keeping you awake. Whatever the reason for your ire is, you'd better put an end to it so you can get some damn rest already! Go wake up a friend so you can complain to them. 09 • RESTLESS. You're far too energetic to sleep right now. Maybe you're just trying to do so out of necessity - you have to be up early tomorrow! But you just don't think you'll be able to fall asleep for a while now, so why waste the time trying to sleep when you could be doing something else? Namely bothering someone else - you're totally jealous because they're getting more sleep than you. 10 • WILDCARD. Choose one of the options above, or make up your own scenario.

Comments

[1mistress_nomaster]

... Stark you ought to know by now that I have absolutely no idea what that is. [a faint smile.] But I think I know what your whiskey, we use it for medicinal things, mostly.

[reactor]

Oh, right. Well, good thing I'm here to enlighten you. [He chuckles.] Some things never change, apparently. Plenty of people self-medicate with whiskey.

[1mistress_nomaster]

What would I do without you? [a shrug.] It's a long standing tradition even in my own time, to look at life from the bottom of a cup. I'm glad to see it's still been carried on.

[reactor]

Be hopelessly lost, I suppose. [He smiles at her again, but this time it's a little lacking in sincerity.] I doubt it'll ever stop.

[He gestures to the couch on the other side of the sitting room.] If this conversation is going to go on for much longer, how about we park it over there?

[1mistress_nomaster]

It would be a woeful existence to be sure. [she didn't pull him up about it, she always found it rude when people pried in her business - and God knows the whole damn country liked to pry - so she wouldn't do so with him.] It's such a tried and true method, why would it ever stop?

That sounds suitable. [better then sitting - alone - in her room. So she went to take a seat on the couch, stretching a second as her ribs strained against her corset.] So, what brings you to wandering around this late at night?

[reactor]

[He's grateful for that, just a bit. Tony's the worst type of hypocrite when it comes to prying - he likes to pry into other people's business while keeping them out of his.] Who knows - temporary mass insanity?

[Tony sits down on the other side of the couch, the bottle of whiskey set between them.] Oh, you know. Can't sleep. Figured anything would be better than just laying there. Why are you wearing that thing anyway? [Sorry, he couldn't keep it in any longer. But seriously, corset in the middle of the night? Did she never wear comfortable clothes or what.]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[He's met his match, she was too used to manipulating men to say so much at questions any more, she's been doing this since she was fifteen after all.] I fear for the human race.

[She quietly takes the whiskey again, and has at least a smaller mouthful this time.] I know the sentiment well, I am of more or less the same mind. [pause. she looked down at herself.] My corset? Because I had not gotten ready for bed yet. Or at least not completely. I can't wander around outside without it for that matter, it's improper.

[She's just going to tug her long coat close together, it's a security thing. Like you wouldn't believe.]

[reactor]

Improper? [Tony raises an eyebrow, skeptical.] What year do you think it is? You're lucky I'm wearing pants right now.

[Regardless, he holds out his hand for the bottle. That's his whiskey, thank you very much.]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She passed him back the bottle, settling back on her end of the couch more comfortably.] I'm glad you are, I don't need to see you so bare. [she put her hands across herself defensively.] Besides I've seen how women dress now. It's utterly boring, Stark. They're wearing nothing more then a petticoat and -- [there's an eyeroll from her, blame the alcohol.] they're poorly made for that matter. I keep looking at them and wondering who let them out of the house with only their under clothes. The material is so horrible cheap and plain too, they wouldn't know real silk or velvet if it appeared in front of them. It's all of it so tasteless.

[rant over, and she feels a little guilty, so she clears her throat.] The zips and buttons however are nice. Save a lot of time.

[reactor]

Not everyone's rich enough to afford the fine quality stuff. [He can, though half the time he ends up wearing the same old t-shirts and sweatpants he's had since his MIT days anyway. Oops.] It's all about cutting costs and upping efficiency these days. Sometimes quality gets axed in the attempt. [He's practically twitching to add 'but not Stark products' to that, but now doesn't seem like a good time to start bragging.] I'll take you shopping, get you something nice and modern.

[1mistress_nomaster]

That's why I am Queen, I deal with the awful rules and not even owning my own body, and I get fine quality. [She tilted her head and smiled easily, as if that covered all manner of sins.] I understand that better then anyone... I've so little money that isn't borrowed. Or flat out stolen, but Spain has enough gold... [Oh, politics. Is that a wise idea? I have a feeling our taste would be... different... [to say the least.]

[reactor]

I thought you were queen because they ran out of other options. [He smirks, leaning back into the plush couch cushions and taking a swig of whiskey.] I'll have you know that my taste is fantastic. But if you're that worried we'll put Pepper on the job. Nothing says "rich and fabulous" like a Potts ensemble.

[1mistress_nomaster]

[Deep... breath...

Not working.]

How dare you -- [SLAP! She sat there seething at him for a second before she snatched the whiskey off him and had another drink and calming.]

Perhaps, if your lady is looking after it, it maybe not so bad. But I haven't been inclined to take clothes from anyone for awhile...

[reactor]

[Tony reels back from the slap, hand on his cheek where she hit him. He looks shocked for a moment, first about the slap and then the fact that he's no longer holding the whiskey, then a smile breaks out slowly over his face.] Touchy subject?

Think of it as a reward for putting up with me.

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She swallowed another mouthful of whiskey, rolling her eyes at him.] What ever gave that impression, Stark? [She's not so immediately angry, so that's... better.] Or has no one told you about the issues of succession in my family? Because I know so many people that take the execution of their mother so very well... [grumble]

As long as if you're poisoning me, it's a quick, painless one. I don't fancy my skin blistering open and bleeding everywhere... [Oh, the 1500s, people were so nice to each other.]

[reactor]

I didn't pay much attention in history class. [His expression softens, however, at the mention of her mother.] Sorry. [It's an actual apology, so Elizabeth should appreciate what she can get. Tony doesn't just go willy-nilly apologizing to anyone.]

There will be no poisoning, promise. Well, no intentional poisoning.

[1mistress_nomaster]

I paid rapt attention, but... [sigh, she passed back the whiskey bottle.] You're forgiven, it's hardly a normal thing -- even for my time, and I made my peace with it long ago. I was only two at the time after all. [It's said with as little bitterness as possible. The whiskey helped some, made her more lax about the topic she never liked to think about.]

No intentional poisoning? Well, I guess that's something. [she raises an eyebrow at him, teasing clearly.]

[reactor]

[There's a long pause as he drinks more whiskey in one go than he probably should.] My mom died when I was seventeen. [He's not really sure why he's telling her this - maybe it is the alcohol, or he's just so damn antsy for company he'll say anything to have an excuse to keep Elizabeth around.]

Just be careful what you drink in the workshop. [Dum-E isn't very good at determining what humans can eat when making smoothies sometimes.]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She leans on her hand, looking at him.] Was she a good woman? [She's got such little understand of what parenthood meant in the modern world. After all, she was shut away for so long, and that was to a degree, normal. Nor does she mind talking about it for once, usually it was painful at best.]

The last time you gave me a drink I woke up with the worst headache imaginable and woke up somewhere strange. I'm not going to repeat the experience. [she's more worried about you then your robots, which freak her out, not that she's telling him that.]

[reactor]

She...tried her best. I forgive her a lot more than I do my old man. [Considering he doesn't really forgive his dad for anything, that's not that hard to do.] I think the pressure of being a Stark got to her. [A pause, swirling the whiskey around in the bottle and then taking a swig.] Gave a lot to charity - I keep that particular quirk running specifically in her name, the Maria Stark Foundation.

[That gets a small smile out of him.] That wasn't even my fault, that was Thor. He said the Asgardian mead packed quite a punch. [Oh wow, way to hurt everyone's feelings, Tony's and his robots. Dum-E would be devastated.]

[1mistress_nomaster]

There's bad blood between you and your father? [curious, families changed, and yet were the same it seemed.] I think our mother's have much in common. Save I think, their ends. [Pressure of maintaining a face for society... though her mother's down fall came with the insistence about charity and annoying Cromwell about it...] That's very kind of you. I had my mother declared a martyr... [wait, the modern world did not care very much for religion.] ... That is, well, I don't know how to explain what it means, but it's good for her soul at least.

[She laughed anyway.] I had standards to maintain. I didn't even drink water before, my tolerance should be better then yours, and from what I recall, it was, it's just I don't remember much after. [With a name like Dumb-E, it will probably live through her apparent lack of feeling.]

[reactor]

That's putting it nicely. [Tony can say an awful lot about his dad, most of it not nice at all.] Do you remember her at all? If you were only two... [At least that's not much time to gather memories to regret. At the martyr comment, Tony rolls his eye melodramatically.] Wow, you have to show me up at everything, don't you.

Woah, hold on now, what are you smoking. No one has better tolerance than me, I'm a goddamn alcoholic. [He stops, blinks in surprise. Well shit where did that come from, that is not what he meant to say.]

[1mistress_nomaster]

Should I pry further, or not at all? [It was up to him.] Her eyes... her laughter. Her laughter was beautiful, filled up a room and her eyes were always warm... [But she leans forward after a second, closer to him. Slightly too tipsy to care that it was improper, to open the clasp on the ring she always wore. Her mother's portrait inside it.] It's tiny, but I painted myself. That's Anne Boleyn. [She laughed at her words.] I'll soothe your vanity, if you wished it. But I am sure if you had the power to, you would as well. You like to show off as much as I do...

[her eyebrows rose at him.] Oh? That bad is it? [Not that she is judging. Everyone had their ways of dealing.]

[reactor]

I'd gladly whine about it as long as you want. But you don't want, trust me. [He's gotten over his pity parties, for the most part. Howard Stark was a pretty terrible father and no amount of after-the-fact secret messages on old film reels will change that.] She sounds...nice. Hard to go wrong with nice eyes and a good laugh. [Tony leans closer to Elizabth, peering down at the tiny painting.] Didn't know you were an artist. [Tony smiles slightly and shrugs.] M'not sure you can be a martyr if you die in a car crash.

[Tony instinctively tightens his arms around the whiskey bottle, holding it in his lap like it's his firstborn child.] It was worse. I'm...working on it.

[1mistress_nomaster]

If you're sure. I probably do understand better then most. [She doesn't say it with pity, just acknowledgement of what they had both been through at the hands of their parents.] I wish I could say one way or another, but it's hard being the child of the most hated woman in Europe some days. The only other thing I heard about her was that she was a witch that cursed my father... and well, you know how people like to gossip. [she smiled, looking down a little.] I'm a proper lady, my lord Stark, or at least try to be. Sing, dance, paint all of it. [Car? Car... wait, those self moving carriages.] What makes you worthy of remembrance is not how you die, it's how you live before you die.

[She noticed that, how could she not? But it went so far as to reach down, put her hand over his and gently loosen his grip.] It's alright, I'm hardly one to judge another's action.