cityship: (Default)
cityship ([personal profile] cityship) wrote in [community profile] trans_92010-02-06 12:58 am

Beyond the Walls of Sleep

Slowly but surely, the nightmares have been chipping away at the mental defenses of the crew.

Even those who attempt to stay awake to avoid the nightmares find themselves too on-edge to completely concentrate their defenses.

And the Nightmare King has not been idle during all this, no. He has been slowly feeding off the crew, gathering his strength so that he may yet break free from his prison.

And he now uses that new found power, reaching out to affect the minds of the crew even in the waking world. Even those avoiding sleep will find themselves drifting in and out of their nightmares, bringing everyone a taste of despair.

After all, no one can escape the grasp of the King of Nightmares.

No one.

[ooc: OH NOEZ. As you can guess, the Nightmare King is getting stronger. As such, the crew will start experiencing waking dreams. These are much more subtle than the normal nightmares, however, and are more so depressing and surreal than actually brain-breaking. Mostly they would be miserable versions of the character's normal life, or perhaps even their life on the ship.]

[identity profile] in-venting.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
It would be okay, because someday, Claire would come back to her. It was okay that Leon had left her behind with the government agents that said they were going to take care of her. She didn't want to burden new people, after all, so she'd behave and take care.

Just like she promised.

She behaved at the institution because children were meant to be seen and not heard - wasn't that what her father always said? Even if everyday she were poked, prodded and ultrasound for developments on the thing in her veins and the thing in her body. She wouldn't make a sound, she'd stare directly ahead and be good. For the love of God, she'd be good. And then, in the afternoon, she'd get to take a walk through the halls, heavily guarded by men that might shoot her if she started acting off. The halls were white, and clean, and sterile, loveless and quiet.

It was okay. It was fine.

Someday, Sherry knew, that her saviors would keep their promise, and she'd get to see Claire again. Someday, someday.
governorkang: (Sulking / Mopey)

[personal profile] governorkang 2010-02-06 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
“You can’t keep them cooped up in those sacks for the rest of their lives. You have to let them out to learn about the world, the good and the bad.”

“We tried that,” Kang said harshly. “They hurt themselves. One wandered off. No.” He was emphatic. “They are too precious to us to risk.”

“You sound just like my father.” Sister Marsel smiled and sighed. “He said the very same thing about me. Do you know what he did, Commander? He sent me to live with the Sisters of Paladine. He sent me here, to this temple, where I would be safe and protected from the world. Am I safe, Commander?” she demanded. “Am I protected?”

Kang cleared his throat, embarrassed.

“The world finds us, Commander,” said Sister Marsel quietly. “We can’t hide from it, not even in the cellar of a temple. We have to know how to face it."


He should have listened to Marsel then. But, he hadn't.

“They are not children,” Huzzad snapped. “They are adults. And if you don’t accept that and start treating them like adults, you’re going to lose them. You have a soul, Kang. Your own soul. You have rights, duties, responsibilities. You have the right to be wrong, to make mistakes. I have the same. And so do these females. Each one has her own soul. Each has her own destiny. Each has the right to achieve her own destiny. You can’t take away that right. They look to you for guidance, Kang, for leadership and counsel. But they won’t for long. Eventually, they’ll start to hate you."

Again, he should have listened. The females had wanted to help against the goblins, but he hadn't let them. They'd started learning sword drill on their own, and Huzzad had let that fact slip. Despite her words, he'd forbidden them further sword drill practice. They were far too important.

He'd nearly lost them all, though. A handful of goblins had snuck into the fort during the chaos, and had gotten into the females' quarters. The other male bozaks had taught the capable ones how to use their magic safely without telling him; combined with what little sword skill they had managed to achieve before Kang had stopped them, they'd defended themselves, killing the goblins. Two of the girls had died.

The bozak had realized his mistakes after that. He'd apologized to the girls, asked for them to forgive him.

"It's too late for that. If you hadn't coddled us, kept us from learning how to defend ourselves, Shanra and Kasi wouldn't have died."

"It's your fault."


It was his fault. And he didn't know if he'd ever find a way to earn their forgiveness.

[identity profile] toariversodeep.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
There's another girl in the halls with Sherry, though in her presence seems to follow the faint chiming of bells and the sounds of music creeping in around the corners. She walks quietly, hands in her pockets.

[identity profile] toariversodeep.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
But there's another girl there, standing with her hands in her pockets, looking out the window with Nanoha. Her expression is cold, but there's a faintly wistful trace to it.

"You need to wake up," she says quietly, and takes hold of Nanoha's wheelchair, pulling it back from the window.

[identity profile] toariversodeep.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"Don't next time," Roxie says, though her voice is a little gentler than it was. Yuri gets squeezed just barely a little more. "There are people who care. Keep that in mind."
greennotgold: (Can we not discuss this?)

[personal profile] greennotgold 2010-02-06 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
The wind blew, chilling Fletcher through his thin jacket. He didn't have anything warmer, but he felt as though he had to come here. It was an anniversary, after all. A year since he and Russel had first arrived in Xenotime. He didn't really know what else to do besides stand there, arms wrapped around himself to try to keep warm. He'd already memorized the names and dates on all the gravestones, and he had no god to pray to for the lost children's souls.

So he just stood there, head bowed, until his feet were tired. And then he stood there some more.
imperious_lex: (Deep Thought)

[personal profile] imperious_lex 2010-02-06 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Lex took a moment to look down at his wedding ring.

"This time will be different," her voice still echoed in his head. After everyone else who had hurt him, betrayed him, abandoned him, that she would be the one to stay with him. She would love him, forever.

He believed her. He loved her. He tried so hard to be a better man for her, too. He gave her everything she wanted. He gave her the world...

But it wasn't enough. Eyes that used to look upon him with love and affection now stared coldly and blankly out the window, watching the scenery scroll by with utter disinterest. This wasn't a marriage anymore, this was just a show. A sham.

They barely spoke anymore. He couldn't even remember the last time they kissed. Funny how everything else he had seemed so hollow now.

Where had he gone wrong? Had he gone wrong? Or were all his relationships destined to fall apart?

Lex was jolted out of his thoughts as the limo they were in slowed and came to a stop. Moments later, the door was opened. "Mr. President, Madam First Lady," the two were greeted.

Lex looked out at the throng of photographers that lined the red carpet. Both he and his wife took a breath, and did their best to look like they were actually happy to be there, to be with each other.

The show must go on, after all.

[identity profile] riseupnchargem.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Every now and again the past couple of days Jamie thinks he feels it - a feeling he can't really describe, any more than he could describe its absence, but he recognizes it instinctively when it hits him again. The first time it was over so quickly that he barely had time to react, the sensation fading in the face of his mounting shock and horror; each subsequent time it lasts a little longer, becomes that much more intense, the barrage of thoughts, of emotions, of a presence in his mind that is not his own.

This time Jamie swears he hears the alter's voice in his head, furious and scornful as always, demanding answers, demanding a way out, swearing that next time he appears he'll be free and there will be no more Jamie, only -

The tirade terminates abruptly with a mental jab that makes Jamie stagger, one hand clutching at his suddenly aching head, the fingers of the other digging into the meaty wall of the ship, and he's alone in his head again. For now.
starlightace: (Lost)

[personal profile] starlightace 2010-02-06 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Nanoha looks up at Roxie, not surprised or startled, but... confused.

"Wake up?" She says quietly, hesitantly. "Am I... asleep?"

[identity profile] toariversodeep.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes," Roxie says, and pushes the wheelchair to the side, dumping Nanoha out of it.

[identity profile] standaloneshell.livejournal.com 2010-02-06 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
The dreams had taken Motoko while she was connected to Stacy's brain. Unable to wake on her own, she nevertheless snarled and broke free. This was neither the time nor the place to be dreaming of death and the puppeteer's desperate black spiral. She was herself, and she was alive.

Honestly? This was getting to be a nuisance.

Divested from her own waking nightmare, the Major found herself on the streets of a soot-clogged dark city. Faceless people blurred past, unimportant and gray. So, this was....someone's nightmare? It had the subtly incorrect feeling of an implanted memory. Perception briefly sharpened around one car in the bland mix, and a face...Bruce Wayne. Batman.

Right.

Let no one accuse Motoko of beating around the bush: the leapt and with a smooth hum of servos leaped, coming down onto the engine block of the dream-limo like a ton and a half of pure steel.
redeyes_andblue: (D - bond: together and separate)

[personal profile] redeyes_andblue 2010-02-06 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
It's just the lightest brush of fingers.

But it's almost enough.

"Thank you, Roxie," one or both murmur, and the dream fractures just that little bit.
starlightace: (T-that doesn't go there!)

[personal profile] starlightace 2010-02-06 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Nanoha gives a little squeak of surprise as she tumbles to the floor, pushing herself up to a sitting position, her legs still not working. "H-hey! What was...?!"
telekinetic_badass: (Plain Clothes)

[personal profile] telekinetic_badass 2010-02-07 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
Every day was the same routine. Wake up, go to school, play basketball, come home and do homework. It was a fairly normal life for a teenager, though, some days, he wished for more excitement.

But he promised his parents that he wouldn't use his powers.

He could still pass. No one even suspected that he was a mutant. All he had to do was hide in plain sight, and he'd be alright.

No one was hunting him, like the other mutants. No one hated and feared him. Thanks to his parents influence, he wasn't even listed as one of the 198.

As long as no one knew who and what he really was, he was safe. As long as he hid that part of himself from the world, nothing bad would ever happen to him. As long as he didn't take a chance, it couldn't fall apart on him. And as long as he continued to do be the son that his parents wanted him to be, he'd be loved.

He'd just never be himself.

[identity profile] toariversodeep.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Get up," Roxie says, faintly annoyed, and she crosses her arms over her chest.
crusades: (bruce | anxious)

[personal profile] crusades 2010-02-07 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh my!" Alfred declares with remarkably reserved surprise while his passenger jumps soundlessly with shock in the back, "It appears that we'll be taking the carpool lane, master Bruce."

The master Bruce in question is aleady curled up on the plush leather upholstery, furrowing in his pocket for his cellular phone.

[identity profile] standaloneshell.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
Motoko looked down at the barely-perturbed butler through the tinted windshield. Glared, really, with her feet embedded in the deep divots they'd punched into the ruined car's hood. No, this car was done running, for a while.

She kneels, and yes, Bruce, she can see you. Do you remember these red eyes? Fingers covered in skin that could turn a knife punch through the shatterproof safety glass and pull. It comes off in a single, crackling piece and ends up on the cement just in front of the car.

[identity profile] thunder-ace.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
"I did it for her sake..." Fate said. Her voice was soft, as it always was, but void of any kind of emotion. "Nanoha chose who she wanted to be with. If I didn't push my feelings for her aside, it would just be a burden..."

A small sigh. "And when it gets to be too much and I can't keep pushing them aside, I push myself away. Nanoha deserves to be happy... she doesn't need someone who can't let go of their feelings clinging to her."

[identity profile] in-venting.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Sherry's eyes flicked to the side. A new person? Well, it would probably be better to not get too close; that girl had a better chance of disappearing. And everyone she talked to left her anyway.

Claire, Leon, her classmates, everyone.
crusades: (bruce | someone exciting)

[personal profile] crusades 2010-02-07 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
Alfred has rolled out of the car and is already standing by the driver's door, cane held in hand with vague intent, "There is no need for the dramatics, my dear woman. I'm sure this can be worked out amicably and with our full co-operation. Correct, master Bruce?"

Bruce has been by all measures paralysed in the back seat, phone pressed to his ear, not even listening to the inattentive father on the other end of the line protesting that he is busy with the poisoning and so his son should be too.

"M-m-money?" he splutters, desperately thrusting his wallet in her direction. Her eyes... fiery with rage, yet somehow detached. Distant, like she was not entirely there. Had he seen them before?

"T-take-- money," Oh God, let her take it. Has has nothing else.

[identity profile] daemonomicon.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
Even if she chose someone else, above all else she would still be your friend. She would still care for you.

Do you honestly think your suffering could possibly make her happy?

Love is not about one person or the other. It is about
two hearts, connected more deeply than any other bond imaginable.

Just as you wish to be there for her, she wishes to be there for you.

If you truly loved her and understood her, you would not choose to suffer in silence.
starlightace: (Unsure)

[personal profile] starlightace 2010-02-07 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Get up..." Nanoha repeats to herself. It sounds ridiculous, of course. Hasn't she been in this chair for years? Her legs don't work any better now than they have since the injury, but...

...if this is a dream...

...and she recognizes this girl. "Stand on my own," she says again, quietly, before reaching up to the windowsill, trying to pull herself up to her feet - and her legs buckle under her, useless, sending her crashing right back down again.

But she grabs the windowsill a second time.

[identity profile] standaloneshell.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Not interested," behold, the rich, many-layered disdain of Motoko Kusanagi. This was the worst he could inflict in dreams? She was a great proponent of poor adaptation as slow death, but this was just pathetic.

A step, and the suspension groans and sags under the pressure from the braced foot at the side its frame. Motoko steps down to the pavement with a competent calm, as if she did this every day, "Wake up. We don't have time for this."
Edited 2010-02-07 01:43 (UTC)
crusades: (bruce | anxious)

[personal profile] crusades 2010-02-07 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Wake up? What are you talking about?" He replies, stunned, the wallet still hanging limply from his fingers, "Please, I have to get to the hospital."

He doesn't. They would do better without him messing up the prescription or something of the sort, as he always did. He doesn't even want to be there.

"Father is counting on me."

[identity profile] standaloneshell.livejournal.com 2010-02-07 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
"No, he isn't," She snorts and stalks towards him, like some kind of mechanical panther. Ghost-hacked humans were so pathetic, "Do you remember your childhood, do you even know what he looks like, Bruce?"

It really was like a ghost-hack. Like an entirely different person.

"Or, should I keep calling you Batman."

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