trans_9 | Ain't No Rest For The Not-So-Wicked

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Ain't No Rest For The Not-So-Wicked

Brenda hasn't slept a whole night in three days.

She gets a few hours of rest here and there, but it's interspersed with nightmares like she hasn't had since her father died. They are vivid, stressful, leave her brain plowing along at a mile a minute and nothing seems to stop it.

She wonders if Jeka is sleeping well, if snake-aliens even dream, but never remembers to ask her. Instead she gets up in the wee hours and wanders the ship just to keep herself moving and to not give in to that chill that keeps crawling down her spine whenever she stands still too long.

Tonight she ends up in the queer little art gallery room, with the statue at the center that shifts according to her thoughts. Tonight none of her ideas are pleasant on their own so she tries to force something a little nicer.

She's watching her mother make pancakes, long hair down her back and a smile on her face, when she realizes she's not by herself anymore.

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Kelly was standing at attention, rigidly straight, hands clasped behind her back as she stared at one of the hanging paintings. Maybe that was just how the Spartan relaxed though. She didn't move, simply seeming to be lost in thought as she stared at the painting. It depicted what appeared to be a woman, dressed in ancient Greek robes, holding a tablet in her right hand and a stylus in the other. Small motes of light danced around her. It made the Spartan almost long for home. For the Artificial Intelligence that had been her teacher and guidance for the formative years of her life.

She didn't seem to notice the girl behind her, fully intent on the painting in front of her. It was strange that something like this was her. It was possible that it wasn't of Dèja but the resemblance was uncanny. And it made her miss the program.

"Hey."

Brenda wandered over from the statue to the painting, sparing it a long glance since Kelly seemed so intent on it.

"Can't sleep either?"

Her voice was soft and drowsy, worn down, like she could have crawled into bed any moment.

(http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b16/Da_Jalman/Kelly-087/?action=view&current=Oh.png)

Hearing the familiar voice, she turned, tilting her head at the girl for a moment. She looked tired. Completely worn out. She probably hadn't been getting enough sleep. The Spartan was about to frown when Brenda spoke again and her features softened. "Hey. I could if I wanted to. But I'd rather not."

She offered a small smile, turning away from the painting. Her friend looked completely out of it. It looked like the nightmares were getting to everyone. It wasn't exactly and ideal situation.

"Mmm, are you having bad-dreams too?"

Brenda rubbed the back of her neck trying to work out a kink, padding over a few steps to one of the squishy benches that lined the hall and sitting down heavily.

"I can't seem to get more than a few hours before I might as well be awake my mind is so active."

(http://img205.imageshack.us/i/downscarred.png/)

"Isn't everyone. You've heard about this Nightmare King, right?" It made her feel helpless. On the ground, awake, she could do most anything. She could fight and win against incalculable odds. But asleep, in her mind, she had no defense against the intruder. And she didn't enjoy feeling helpless.

She followed after the girl and plopped onto the bench next to her, running a hand tiredly through her hair. She felt sluggish, off. It wasn't a good feeling.

"I haven't slept in...I don't know. Awhile. It's not a good idea, but I'd rather be sluggish than have to take those dreams."

"Yeah, I heard." Brenda rubs at her eyes. "I wish he wasn't so good at making me wake up feeling horrible."

She bites her lip a bit before looking up at Kelly.

"What does he make you dream about?" Then a moment later. "I'm sorry, that's probably rude of me to ask."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. But we'll take him down. I'll get a day of sleep or something before the big fight. If there's anything I could do. But hopefully I can hold out until then."

Tilting her head, she looks down at the girl.

At the question, she paused. She shook her head as if to say it was alright. She didn't mind being asked. "No, it's alright. He makes me dream about...losing people. About being helpless to help the people I should be protecting."

"Mine are sort of like like." Brenda leans back into the seat a little more, looking at the ceiling. "I keep dreaming about bad things that happened a long time ago, and about all the really bad what-could-have-been's since I've been here."

The Spartan leaned forward, looking down at the floor, resting her arms on her legs. Her hair fell over her eyes like a curtain. She'd probably have to see about getting it cut soon. She listened quietly to her friend talk, nodding. "It's the same. But somehow, this Nightmare King manages to make them worse."

Edited 2010-02-01 19:32 (UTC)

"Tell me about it." Brenda scrubbed a hand down her face in frustration.

"... have you ever had a friend do something that made you think maybe they weren't just a friend and then turn around and pretend like it never happened?"

She turned her head to smirk wryly at the girl. An expression that conveyed the meaning I know exactly what you're going through.

"To be honest...before coming here, I didn't have the luxury of friends. So I can't say I know what that's like." She fell silent for a moment. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah." Brenda shifted a little against the wall, then pinned Kelly with serious look. "If I tell you about this you gotta PROMISE me not another soul will ever hear it."

Catching the serious look, Kelly had to force herself not to smile. Despite the seeming gravity of what was about to be said, she couldn't help but find that expression amusing. She'd have to remember that. "Who am I going to tell? Chief?" She smiled wanly. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."

"Okay point." She sighed. "You know Brainy right?"

"Brainiac?" A pause. "Which one?"

"The one who survived." Brenda swallows hard at that, the image of B5's tousled hair just above the edge of the drape over his corpse flashing on the inside of her eyelids.

"When he was... preparing B5'S body for the memorial I went to see him and he wanted to get out of there for a while. We went up to the obs deck just the two of us."

She was silent a moment before nodding. She hadn't known either very well. But the loss of a crewmate was never an easy thing to bear.

At Brenda's story though, she simply listened in silence nodding for the moment. What more was there to say? She wasn't familiar with situations like that, but there didn't seem to be anything inherently wrong with it.

"Sup?" Danny said, awake not because of nightmares, but because of weird sleeping habits developed from fighting things that more often than not decided to bug him at night.

"Not me getting any sleep, that's for sure."

Brenda gave him a wan smile.

"What are you doing up Danny? Nightmares too?"

"Nah, weird sleeping habits." Danny said with a shrug. "I've already kinda been through my worst nightmares already anyways, so it hasn't been hitting me as hard as some other folks.

"I thought I'd lived mine too but apparently every time I survive something my worst case scenarios adjust for the rate of inflation."

She laughed dryly.

"This is so much worse than the last time I went to space, seriously."

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