bakerstreet | pls zzz

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Their first meeting had been brief, but it had gone enough like so many of the stories about her that the folklore papers and ghosthunting subreddits would be easy to find. There were even a few out-of-print books claiming to tell the real story of the ghost behind the ghost story, none of which seem to answer any real questions about her.
The main beats of a lot of the "encounter" stories are the same as his experience: a young woman who appears lost seeks a ride with a stranger after asking to borrow something of theirs to wear- usually a coat, but anything intended to be warming seems to work, going by how often it can vary. She says her name is Rose and is evasive if asked about where she came from and claims to have no living family. She'll ask for food and graciously accepts it, but never looks for money and only seems to ever take what's given to her, no matter how easy it would be for her to steal something.

At the end of the story, odd becomes impossible when there's no trace of her left where she should be except the borrowed coat.

Enough of the stories talk about meeting her more than once that the idea of finding her again isn't that out there. Drive down enough roads with eyes towards the median, frequent enough roadhouses and truck stop diners at the right hours, and it might just be inevitable to find her again.

Lo and behold, months after their first encounter, she's smiling at a stopped car and asking the same question she did last time when she sees the window open. ]

How far can you take me?

[ Hap doesn't believe in ghosts. He recoils from notions of the soul. He barely tolerates the word "afterlife." What Hap believes in is the mutability of consciousness and the tenacity of the in-between, the unobserved particles that escape the slit experiment. The inconceivable abyss that's home to the inert stages of energy, potential and expended.

He's used to translating metaphysics and philosophy into less intangible theory. His walls are papered in research whose roots predate rationalism. There's a cadence to working with it that he's come to enjoy.

Researching Rose is the opposite of enjoyable.

Months of driving and slogging through inane, superstitious babble to dredge up a handful of facts whose utility extends no further than confirming his own experience. And that's not something he needs. Hap has finally set the question of her aside, given it equal favor with the NDE research and his engineering work, when he spots a figure on the side of the road.

His first order of business after meeting her was to outfit his car with concealed recording equipment. He switches it on as he pulls over and lowers the window. ]

Hopefully a little further than last time. [ he answers, friendly. The locks audibly unlatch and he nods, inviting her in. ]

[ To add insult to injury, she only recognizes him after he says the words last time, betraying the sunny month-of-Sundays smile as something practiced and prepared when it gets replaced by surprise. Surprise is something she doesn't cross paths with a whole lot. ]

Not a lot of people stop for me twice. [ It's enough to make her go over what she'd done last time. Had he seen her drop her coat, or did she turn that corner in time just before sunrise? Not everyone's post-linear existence can come with perfect recall, so this does look a lot like she's hesitating.

Hesitation that also lets her stand there looking cold and trying to ask for a coat without actually asking. It feels like too much of a tell when she knows they both know this is a repeat performance. ] You don't mind that I had to run out like that?

[ Run seems like an OK way to frame that for now. Like we all just stop existing for a little while now and then and try not to talk about it too directly. Happens to the best of us, right? ]

[ He's read statements from people who'd like the opportunity to interact with her again, and just as many from people who wouldn't. It's empirically not a matter of wanting. Hap's been rigorous in trying to recapture lightning in a bottle. He's dedicated whole days to it. Only now that he's relenting, resigning his night to an aimless drive down I-44, is he making any progress.

He'll compare every scrap of potentially relevant information later. Time, temperature, astronomical data. ]

I don't mind. [ How would he have known quite what he was dealing with, if she hadn't? He will mind, however, if and when she does it again.

Hap reaches into the backseat, pulls forward a jacket. An important part of the ritual, he now knows. ] Need a coat?

Thanks, that's sweet of you. [ She's too focused on not looking like a junkie getting their fix when she takes hold of the coat and feels the heat start sinking into her now-solid bones the moment her fingertips touch the fabric that she doesn't stop to think about how quickly he almost seemed to have it ready for her. Not until she's already shrugged it on and come around to open the passenger-side door and open it to get in, anyway. She doesn't think about it too long, at least not until she's in the car and noticing that it doesn't seem like he's the sort of driver to keep a lot of clutter around.

Still, it's probably fine, right? She doesn't remember him being one of the rides that made her glad to drop the coat to leave him behind. She can't even say for sure if he saw her do anything out of the ordinary.

None of the recording will show anything strange at this point. Body temperature's a little low, but she did just come in out of the cold.] You said you were a doctor, right? [Does she remember that, or can she just practically see the ghost of a lab coat on his shoulders?]

pls zzz

lmk if I should add/change anything here

nope nope it's great!

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