ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* Angel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brokencode) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
victory_road2017-10-18 12:34 am
brokencode) wrote in victory_road2017-10-18 12:34 am
In the Dark of the Night
Who: Angel & Krieg, Angel & You
Where: Olivine (video and in-person interactions available)
When: At the start of dream "sharing"
Summary: Angel sees herself in a test chamber vastly different than the ones she grew up in.
Rating: Minor mentions of retching, needles
i. Olivine Inn -- Closed to Krieg
[Angel woke with a shuddering gasp, breathing in real air and clawing at a space against her forearm where she could have sworn there was a needle piercing her just seconds before. Her throat felt raw, as if the screams in her vision, monstrous as they had sounded, had broken through to the real world.
Perhaps they even had.
She rolled from her bed and hit the ground with a painful thud. She tried to push herself upward, but found her stomach tightening and rolling, as if she were trying to expel whatever contents had been pumped into her in that dream.
In some ways, it felt familiar. She was no stranger to the fire of eridium, burning through her form and her lifespan like a candle soaked in oil. But this felt different. Where eridium made her stronger, this substance (similar in nature though it might have been) made her crumble.
She shook the memories free from her head as she finally managed to collect enough strength to bring herself to her feet. She slammed against her door seconds later, loosened the knob, and forced herself to cross the scant distance separating herself from Krieg.
The sound of her fist pounding against his door surprised her, the strength of her blows almost unheard of when it came to her. But desperation fueled her. She was scared and trembling, and he was the only source of comfort she could think of in her frightened state.]
ii. Video, Later that morning.
[She didn't look all that much better when she finally made it back to her room. The sun was just starting to rise in the distance when she clicked the feed on. She rubbed at her eyes once, offered her gathered Pokemon an apologetic glance, and then turned to address her audience.]
I... was wondering if anyone has been having dreams that are out of character for themselves. I know that most people across the collective regions have begun having odd sorts of nightmares but... all of mine seemed very contained to my experiences.
Except for last night.
If anyone has any theories, please do let me know. I am... starting to grow worried. These recent occurrences have been troubling and I... suspect there may be trouble afoot.
iii. Olivine City, That Afternoon
[Sleep never returned to Angel that day. Rather than languishing in her hotel room, fretting over the contents of a dream she couldn't quite forget, she instead made her way into town. Things seemed altogether too quiet, though whether or not it was because the beach-going season had passed, or something more sinister, she did not know.
She made her way to the shore, sitting in the sand and sticking her feet into the chilly water with nary a flinch. She felt numb, still haunted by phantom burns and pains from that monstrous dream. If you're thinking about approaching her, be careful.
She'll startle easily.]
Wildcard: Angel's been roaming around Olivine in a daze. Feel free to write her elsewhere. Or message me at![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
ashstriferous to plot something out.
Where: Olivine (video and in-person interactions available)
When: At the start of dream "sharing"
Summary: Angel sees herself in a test chamber vastly different than the ones she grew up in.
Rating: Minor mentions of retching, needles
i. Olivine Inn -- Closed to Krieg
[Angel woke with a shuddering gasp, breathing in real air and clawing at a space against her forearm where she could have sworn there was a needle piercing her just seconds before. Her throat felt raw, as if the screams in her vision, monstrous as they had sounded, had broken through to the real world.
Perhaps they even had.
She rolled from her bed and hit the ground with a painful thud. She tried to push herself upward, but found her stomach tightening and rolling, as if she were trying to expel whatever contents had been pumped into her in that dream.
In some ways, it felt familiar. She was no stranger to the fire of eridium, burning through her form and her lifespan like a candle soaked in oil. But this felt different. Where eridium made her stronger, this substance (similar in nature though it might have been) made her crumble.
She shook the memories free from her head as she finally managed to collect enough strength to bring herself to her feet. She slammed against her door seconds later, loosened the knob, and forced herself to cross the scant distance separating herself from Krieg.
The sound of her fist pounding against his door surprised her, the strength of her blows almost unheard of when it came to her. But desperation fueled her. She was scared and trembling, and he was the only source of comfort she could think of in her frightened state.]
ii. Video, Later that morning.
[She didn't look all that much better when she finally made it back to her room. The sun was just starting to rise in the distance when she clicked the feed on. She rubbed at her eyes once, offered her gathered Pokemon an apologetic glance, and then turned to address her audience.]
I... was wondering if anyone has been having dreams that are out of character for themselves. I know that most people across the collective regions have begun having odd sorts of nightmares but... all of mine seemed very contained to my experiences.
Except for last night.
If anyone has any theories, please do let me know. I am... starting to grow worried. These recent occurrences have been troubling and I... suspect there may be trouble afoot.
iii. Olivine City, That Afternoon
[Sleep never returned to Angel that day. Rather than languishing in her hotel room, fretting over the contents of a dream she couldn't quite forget, she instead made her way into town. Things seemed altogether too quiet, though whether or not it was because the beach-going season had passed, or something more sinister, she did not know.
She made her way to the shore, sitting in the sand and sticking her feet into the chilly water with nary a flinch. She felt numb, still haunted by phantom burns and pains from that monstrous dream. If you're thinking about approaching her, be careful.
She'll startle easily.]
Wildcard: Angel's been roaming around Olivine in a daze. Feel free to write her elsewhere. Or message me at
no subject
Although Krieg had little reason to suspect a visitor other than Angel at this hour, he's still strangely surprised when he sees her upon opening the door. Perhaps it's because he's grown used to her growing habit of sleeping the morning away? Or maybe it's because, in all the time he's known her, she's always knocked politely. Though that's not important now. The almost frantic pitch of her fist beating against the door does nothing to prepare him for the look on her face, and the terror in her eyes instantly banishes the remaining sense of unease left over from his dream. In an instant he's ready to kill, to maim and break and eviscerate whoever or whatever has so frightened his dearest friend.
He has an arm around her at once, pulling her close to his side and holding her there tightly as he glowers up and down the inn's hallway in search of the source of her panic. When he sees no one and nothing that might explain Angel's fright, he frowns, and steps back into his room - still holding her securely against his side - and closes the door on the empty hall.]
What's wrong?
no subject
As Krieg's arm wrapped around her, though, she couldn't bring herself to regret coming to him. Nothing comforted her more than the heavy embraces that her best friend and most trusted guardian offered her. A sense of calm began to settle over her, and she found herself breathing just a little bit easier.]
It was... [She shook her head. At ease or not, it was still embarrassing to admit what had happened aloud.]
I had a nightmare. I'm sorry to have woken you.
no subject
[He'd woken himself, or, more precisely, his nightmare had woken him. The timing of her appearance at his door immediately afterwards, though, is strange enough that even he notices.
He raises the hand not currently involved in embracing her and very gently and carefully brushes a stray lock of hair away from her eyes before settling his palm on her cheek and cradling that side of her head with it.]
You wanna talk about it?
no subject
And then she pulled away. It wasn't abrupt enough to indicate that she was troubled in anyway. She wouldn't (or even couldn't) hide her thoughts from Krieg. Rather, she made for the most comfortable location she could find.
She might not have been able to bear the idea of sleeping, but she certainly was tired.]
It... was worse than any dream I'd ever had. I was locked somewhere, and someone was watching me.
no subject
Normally an explanation as straightforward as that wouldn't even blip the radar, but it pings uncomfortably close so soon after his own especially shitty dream.]
Who? Could you see?
no subject
The problem was...]
It wasn't anyone I recognized.
[Which wasn't saying much. The staff that had tended to Angel for the sake of knowledge and experimentation had been constantly rotating. Jack couldn't afford anyone developing a conscience and trying to either free her or spread word of what the mad man was doing.]
All I know is that it was a woman. I... don't remember any details though.
[Already, the fog of her dream was dissipating.]
no subject
[Just dreaming about being watched by a strange woman doesn't mean a whole lot, he's pretty sure. But being locked up...
His tone is unusually gentle as he asks his next question, wholly for Angel's sake. He still can't shake his own recent nightmare, and it's making him twitchy.]
Locked up where?
no subject
It wasn't the core, I know that much. And it wasn't... eridium. It ate me from the inside out -- I know how it feels. But it wasn't... it wasn't dissimilar, either.
no subject
He leans closer and wraps an arm around her slender shoulders, a wordless apology and offer of support.]
Slag. It consumes the spirit and burns the soul and when it's finished there's nothing left but a marionette of meat and misery.
[And then his mouth goes off on its own accord to pronounce something cryptic and comfortless. Nice one, psycho man.]
no subject
Why would I dream of slag, though?
[She spoke more to herself than to him. It was an impure substance -- Jack would never jeopardize his project by feeding her a byproduct, not when he had a seemingly endless supply of the real deal.
And yet every moment of that dream had felt impossibly real.
She leaned against his side just a bit more. Even thinking about it made her feel all the more tired.]
I wish this would stop.
no subject
[It is, as is so often the case, something he says without thinking. It doesn't answer her question at all - as far as he's aware - and it's not something he would ever purposely admit. But the setup, the context, and the circumstances are all in place, and it just slips out.]
It never stops.
[Once again, his traitorous mouth has little comfort to give. He tightens his arm around her as she leans into him instead, hoping to bring her comfort that way, since his words are even less cheerful than usual.]
Video;
He looks concerned when he opens up the video, but beyond that, he also looks a bit pale and tired.]
Can I ask what you saw? I haven't dreamt about anything I don't recognise yet. [Just the same ol' horror and trauma!] But it might be good to keep it in mind.
[Cause he has a feeling these nightmares won't just go away.]
no subject
I'm not sure. There were... a lot of things happening. I didn't really focus on any one thing. It was... like I was back home. Only it was different, and painful in ways that I never experienced.
[Which was saying a lot, considering all she had gone through.]
no subject
[Nightmares and dreams don't always have to make sense, after all. And they can be influenced by such small, easy to miss things that it can be really hard to understand why you are dreaming one thing or another.]
But right now... nothing about these nightmares seems normal. It doesn't make sense for us all to be dealing with nightmares at once. I was talking about it with Jean and we wondered.... well, I wondered about whether it might not be another legendary pokemon causing this.
[Considering how much trouble they had caused recently, it had been easy for Armin's mind to jump to that.]
iii
But Gaige is still Gaige so her subtle way of announcing herself is to kick sand while she walks and crack open a tab on a can of lemonade. It's a little cold for cold drinks but she likes the sweet sting of the citrus.
taking her place next to Angel she flops down in the sand and brings another can up to Angel's cheek in a playful teasing sort of way.
"I got your favorite flavor...at least I think it's your favorite...is this your favorite?" She fumbled over her introduction trying to smile encouragingly, but from the bags under her eyes it was clear Angel wasn't the only one not sleeping.