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. |
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bakerstreet2020-06-10 07:06 pm
ciro; original
04 ♥
even pascal needs rest from time to time, and when pascal isn't around, ciro almost always is. he hasn't been with elijah since childhood, no, but he's been with elijah for many years. elijah's been through a fair number of personal guards anyway. some of them, they don't survive their missions. he knows that. he knows that.
but the reason he's never been able to stand up against eliza is because he has a soft heart — and it's that same soft heart that makes him get too close to others even though he knows he shouldn't.]
...Ciro. Are you there?
[it's dark in his bedroom. spacious, too. his apartment overlooks the waterfront, half because it's beautiful and half because it's easy to plan unexpected escapes in deep waters. but they haven't had to think that far yet. the world thinks elijah crescenti is only another student.
anyway, he's been lying in bed for some time now, but he hasn't been able to sleep. there's no pretense, no preamble; he just swings his legs out of bed and stumbles about his dark apartment in search of ciro. and when elijah finds the man —
he's almost like a child, the way he abruptly wraps his arms around ciro's waist and refuses to let go.]
I... can't sleep.
♥♥♥
They're grown men — grown men with blood on their hands — but Ciro loops one arm around Elijah (his boss, his charge, his friend), laying his free palm atop Elijah's head. Somewhere between brotherly and fatherly, and yet not quite either, warm and solid and fond, he strokes his fingers through Elijah's tousled hair.
He can guess at the thoughts plaguing Elijah night after night. ]
I know. It's hard to watch, but it must be much harder for you. I wish we could help, Pascal and I.
[ In a heartbeat, they would step in, Elijah's sword and his shield. They've outlasted all others. They'll be here until the end. They alone, at least, are privy to the things that Elijah painstakingly conceals from the rest of the world — would he keep anything from Pascal? — and those things make for such a terribly heavy load to carry. The so-called family's future. Blood ties. Technically, their leader isn't on her deathbed just yet (a shame).
It really is difficult to stand by as that weight bears down on Elijah — how much simpler it is to take out the trash when nothing personal gets in the way. ]
But you wouldn't forgive yourself, would you?
no subject
[he wouldn't send pascal or ciro to kill eliza at this point. there are easier ways to do it. someone with sufficient medical training could sneak into the hospital. her doctors could be bribed to adjust her dosages. killing her could be as easy as moving a decimal point in a system, or adding just a little too much to her drug cocktail for the day.
it could be just that simple. just one betrayal, one cruel act he'd never forgive himself for, and he could be free of her forever. the immaculate would be his.
then again, that might not have been the question that ciro asked. it doesn't matter. elijah's grip on his bodyguard's shirt tightens a little before it relaxes; he rubs his head against ciro's chest a little bit, not unlike an insistent cat marking its territory.]
...Comfort me.
[elijah seems lost and forlorn, but by the tone of his voice, this is an order. one that ciro is free to interpret as he likes.]
no subject
Elijah would never forgive himself, Ciro thinks, if he let someone else pull the trigger. Someone else could give Eliza the cleanest end possible, and cover the tracks, and at her funeral, she'd get the grief-stricken send-off that she doesn't deserve — and Elijah would never be free.
Elijah and Eliza Crescenti. Their names alone are tightly intertwined.
With no siblings of his own, and ever at the ready to switch from one alias to another, Ciro supposes that he can't fully understand. (It might be nice, if he could go by Ciro Crescenti-Hawes. Horribly out of line, but nice.)
He says nothing, makes no sound at all, for a moment. In the dark, a smile settles upon his lips. It would be horribly out of line, too, to tell Elijah how cute he is, like this. His trust is too precious a thing.
Cradling Elijah's head against his chest, Ciro only hums a few bars of a lullaby, his voice soft and deep. ]
no subject
...the melody itself, however, leaves a little to be desired. he snorts disdainfully when it is done.]
I know we're in the business of death, Ciro, but you don't have to listen to creepy music for ghosts.
[ciro hawes-crescenti sounds better, in elijah's opinion, but his relationships with his guardsmen aren't for others to see. he pulls back a little, but only to look into ciro's warm gaze.]
You're such a strange, eerie man.
no subject
No good? It was worth a shot...
[ And it has done the job, in a way, if only to distract Elijah for a while. Lulling him to sleep with snatches of a half-forgotten tune was never the plan. Giving him something to laugh at, on the other hand, now that seems to be in Ciro's grasp. ]
Then again, I don't remember the lyrics, and I'm nothing like my grandmother, so I suppose you're right.
[ No matter how strange and eerie, Ciro isn't six feet under, or carefully housed inside an urn; he's not here to haunt the apartment. Elijah's hands rest on the thin cotton of Ciro's shirt, over the lines of lithe muscle beneath, and Ciro slides his own hands to his one and only leader's shoulders, every touch a reminder of his presence. ]
Let's sit together, then.
[ With that, he steers Elijah through the hallway, towards the sofa, where he takes a seat, leaving enough room for Elijah to make himself comfortable however he likes. ]
no subject
it's not, actually, especially comfortable to lie like this: his bodyguard isn't stuffed full of cotton, and ciro isn't a pillow. nevertheless, elijah seems content to rest this way, all long silver hair gleaming in the dim moonlight, pinker ends tickling the edge of ciro's fingers. he yawns, though he isn't sleepy.]
...Mm. You don't talk much about your grandmother.
[he pokes a finger at one of ciro's knees. his guardsman usually doesn't speak much of himself, and in return, elijah doesn't pry — but it's a different matter when ciro has spoken of it first.]
Was she French?