the i n s o m n i a meme

[bababooey]

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

andy | the old guard

[hilts]

[cemarche]

[ gun running is not a job that has anything like steady hours. people have needs and some needs are there to be filled, maintenant, and fuck what anyone's watch happens to read. anyway, serge has never really counted on the light of the sun to keep him on track. that's never been his life. and also anyway, he had been working his way backward into this deal for the better portion of four months; tonight had not been the night to be sleepy.

he paces back and forth. the men have come and gone and it was certainly them, two of the group that he was told about. those two, they were professional. give them the guns, frenchie. that was all he had been told, that is everything he knows except that he knows they're some kind of supes. so he gave them the guns and set the trap neatly and maybe it will go off tomorrow or maybe a year from now. his paycheck is not large enough to to have been told.

serge taps his own gun against his thigh as he makes the trip back and forth from one end of the hotel room to the other. the two left an hour ago and morning is still well below the horizon but there are ants under his skin and eyes on the back of his neck. he's alone. it's an unusual state for serge to be in anymore; now there is always someone. so the lack of company is making him jumpy.

he checks the lock on the doors to the small balcony for the third time and then pats his pockets for his cigarettes. ]

03.

[broadswords]

[ She tries to shoo him away, him and Yusuf. She would very nearly have succeeded — if they had split up to rest and then come back for a job, but Copley had put them to an urgent requisition right away, and now they're sequestered in a chalet their endless funds pay for, perched on Lake Blausee. Tomorrow, he will take her to eat the salmon. ]

[ Tomorrow, also, a walk. Nicky's taste for boats soured five hundred years ago, and he would prefer to look, not to touch. He doubts Andy would find a boat ride soothing. He'd rather be here, with her. ]

[ Her wound is slow to close — it will always be slow, to his perception, who has seen her come back to life in seconds, minutes. And now death is too close, they are too close to losing her. ]

[ Nicky presses a fresh bandage to her side, smoothing it over, ensuring it stays in place. ]

I will check it again in the morning, [ he murmurs to her softly. Yusuf is asleep, in the bedroom, and Nile too, they long since lost to a power nap that has become far more. ]

[hilts]

[ the way her body heals is strange and foreign. it's too slow even to her, frustratingly slow but there's a comfort in it too. a reminder that her mortality is real and that there's an end in her future. finally.

there's a peace that comes with the realization, a calm in her mind she's never felt before. andy can't reconcile the things she's done. the guilt is still there but she's learned to set it aside now, her time too precious to indulge in the shame and self-hate. she's found a new tenderness, a softening around the edges that allows for more opportunities to hover.

andy smiles gently at nicky as he smooths the gauze against her abdomen. she's tried to keep them at arms length, to insist on her independence but they're all too stubborn. and her body tires easily, especially now as it heals. ]

I can change it myself, you know. [ she says lightly, more teasing than anything else. andy's more or less given into nicky's need to take care of her. it makes him feel better, she can see it and she doesn't mind. not really. ]

[broadswords]

That, you could have asked.

[ Remonstratively, but Nicky smiles at her. She tries to keep herself apart too much, but he and Yusuf reach out, leave the hands outstretched for the moments they do feel her fingers brush the tips, Andy's hand clasping with theirs. Nicky never tires of waiting for that. ]

[ He seals the edges and gently tugs down her shirt, pressing gently to ensure it all holds in place. She heals much too slowly. The certainty of her death is a more terrifying and painful prospect than his own. ]

Now I can threaten you with cuddles.

[hilts]

Would you have listened? [ she asks, raising her eyebrows.

andy doesn't mean to pull or push away. she doesn't mean to separate herself from them but before her return to mortality, it seemed the only option. it seemed like the best one. so while it's true that she could have changed it herself, she wouldn't have preferred it. not anymore.

the area is still tender, it still hurts to stand and shift and walk. but it's better. andy readjusts on the couch as best she can. almost no pain. ]

Taking advantage of the wounded? [ she asks quietly, playfully. andy shakes her head. ] Tsk, tsk

[broadswords]

[ Heh. He might not have. Nicky smiles at her as the space beside her adjusts, opens, always, for him. Only in the privacy of his own mind does he admit this truth: he is most certainly her favourite. She has always nourished him, always kept him tucked under her wings. ]

I must! You never play fair.

[ — neither does he, really. ]