If you were suspicious about the aurora that started up a few days ago, it seems like you have good reason to be. Ever since they began, no one seems to be able to get a good night’s sleep. Fatigue is setting across the town, making people a little extra cranky. It’s a complete downer to the holiday cheer but no one seems to know what to do. There’s no sign that there’s anything supernatural about the aurora, but there’s certainly something odd about it. People lucky enough to even fall asleep only get to rest for a few moments before they are violently jostled awake by the sensation of falling through a rainbow of colors. Some worse off may suffer from the sensation of drowning beneath strange, rainbow colored water. People are passing out from fatigue and some people are suffering from strange vertigo. There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
It felt so nice to close his eyes, finally, the sweet release of sleep that was avoiding him. It didn't even matter that he was currently sitting in a lounge chair in the living room. His body gave out. It relaxed.
He breathed deeply.
He sighed.
He settled.
He seized.
He coughed.
He choked.
There were colors swimming around him, overtaking every corner of his perception. It felt like he was swimming--no, not swimming, drowning. The rainbow overwhelmed him, consumed him, pulling him deeper and deeper under until there was nothing left for his lungs to attempt to absorb but water, water that overwhelmed, water that left him unable to do anything but di--
Ignacio awoke with a jolt, coughing hard and violently for a solid minute.
And then he sat back with a loud groan.
How many days had it been since he had slept?
Amasis
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 5:13 pm
Seiana_ZI
When Ignacio jerked awake, Richard's eyes shifted automatically over to him. He rubbed them again as the dull realization of Ignacio's movement actually reached him. His eyes were thick, cottony, and he felt warm and heavy as he shifted to lean towards Ignacio. His voice felt just as thick in his mouth as he asked, "y'okay?" The answer, of course, was no. Neither one of them had been able to sleep in hours. Days? At first, Richard had used it to be productive. But after the end of the second day, even the idea of being ahead on his Master's thesis wasn't enough to keep him from trying to nod off if he held still for longer than five minutes. At the end of the third day? Five seconds, it seemed. His family was gone... somewhere. He didn't even know, honestly, at this point. His jaw cracked in a wide yawn as he reached blindly for another cup of chamomile tea on the side table beside the sofa that had become his base of operations since the first night of sleeplessness.
Even as he tried to listen for Ignacio's response, he could feel his head dropping downwards, only to jerk back up after a moment, over and over. He didn't want to fall asleep, because he knew what would be waiting for him if he did. That feeling of coloured water closing in over his head would steal his breath and, it would seem for a moment, his heartbeat, only for both to come rushing back to him as he jerked awake again. And, true to form, he could feel his chin dropping back to his chest as his eyelids were so, so heavy.
So heavy...
He almost thought he might have slept this time, the colours waiting what seemed longer than normal to fill his vision and his throat and his lungs. But then, sure enough, it came, and he came awake sputtering on liquid that wasn't even there. Coughing, he swung out an arm and slapped around for the box of tissues, tearing one out of the box to hack into. His body spasmed into one cough after another until he was able to convince himself that no, he wasn't drowning. He wasn't drowning. He was in his living room, on the sofa. Ignacio was right over there. There was no water here, except what had been used to brew his chamomile tea.
And the exhaustion weighed on him even more heavily than before.
Character’s name:Richard Bell Age: 24 Appearance: Eyes: Narrow, blue with bits of green. Hair: On the red side of auburn. When loose, it falls to his knees in the kind of thick waves that tell you it'd be a mass of tight curls if he kept it shorter. He normally keeps it braided to keep it out of his way. He doesn't have defined bangs--those are as long as everything else. Face: Medium-dark olive skin, an oval-shaped face with a bit of an aquiline nose. Clothes: Loose, comfortable clothing that won't snag on anything in a range of neutrals and cool colours with the occasional pop of a brighter or warmer colour for contrast. Personality Traits: Honest, Optimistic, Friendly // Gullible, Fickle, One-track Mind
The Space Cauldron
Amasis
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:58 pm
"No," murmured Ignacio, dazedly, even if Richard wasn't looking for an answer, because of course the answer was no. It was a rhe... ra... re...
s**t, he didn't know. A word.
Ignacio knew weird events were trouble. He should have known the beauty wouldn't last. Of course it hadn't. At first, it was nice. Plenty nice. He had enjoyed watching it with Richard, but then they came back inside and thought they'd be going to sleep. That hadn't happened. It hadn't happened in days. As Richard drifted off to sleep, his eyes rolled to one of the large windows, and he narrowed his eyes at the still sparkling aurora outside.
He would be happy if he never saw an aurora again.
That was a lie.
He would mostly just be happy if he could sleep.
Ignacio knew Richard's attempt at sleep wouldn't last, so it surprised him little when Richard suddenly jerked awake, also coughing. He must have been under the water too. The water full of colors that seemed to torment his every waking moment. He was fairly sure he saw them dancing around his vision at the moment, overwhelming him and attempting to sweep him under once more.
He almost welcomed it, just for some shut eye.
Ignacio pinched the bridge of his nose.
"a'least the power's back," he murmured to Richard, even though he was fairly sure they had gone over that point about a thousand times. Everyone had more time, at the moment. That included the electrical workers. The power had flickered on fairly quickly after the aurora had started.
He tried to stand up, but it failed.
Amasis
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:25 pm
Seiana_ZI
He heard, vaguely, Ignacio's reply to him. It did not surprise him. Nothing about the sleeplessness surprised him, at this point. Not the amount of people affected, according to the news. Not the duration of it, also according to the news and according to their own experiences. Not the sheer intractability of it, either, thought its refusal to be affected even by tranquilizers was alarming to him. Or, rather, it would have been if he could piece together a thought longer than a word or two. His mind was mainly washes of exhaustion and vague sounds that he did eventually react to when they happened. Someone honked a horn outside at someone else, and he turned his head to look out the window. No one was there.
It had been almost three full minutes since the honk had actually happened.
Amasis
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:51 pm
"Dere's..."
Ignacio squinted.
"There's nothing there, Richard..." Ignacio gestured vaguely at the window, assuming that Richard was trying to look at something out there. Did he hear something? Ignacio didn't hear anything. He was fairly sure he didn't hear anything, anyway. Had there been a noise? Did he daze off? Was there some kind of ghost noise? Was he losing his mind? He was probably losing his mind. Everything was so hard to grasp.
With some great effort, Ignacio made a second attempt at standing himself up. He managed to get himself more on his feet this time, but he unceremoniously fell backwards back into the chair within a few seconds.
He groaned.
For someone who was usually so in shape, he felt like he was made of noodles. His legs weren't working. Neither were his arms. Or his eyes. His vision was swimming.
With one more attempt, he managed to get onto his feet.
In the process, he nearly toppled over his feet.
Amasis
Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:11 pm
Seiana_ZI
Even in his exhausted state, he was still able to summon a response to Ignacio nearly falling over.
"Caaaaareful," he admonished, though the sounds slurred together as his brow furrowed slightly. "Sit." At least he didn't slur that. The idea of it, though, made him give a brief, airy laugh. Almost a giggle, really, though he'd never admit that if he were in a better state of mind. "Down." He waved vaguely in the direction of the sofa he was sitting on, the floor by it, the floor over in the kitchen... Well, something.
He settled back into the sofa cushions, humming slightly as he burrowed back into them. Sleep was so, so tempting again, enough that he just about threw himself back down into it despite knowing what would probably happen if he did.
He came awake with a sputter a moment later, coughing on water that wasn't there.
The word that followed his coughing was not fit for young ears.
Amasis
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Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:28 pm
"Buuu," he dragged out his first syllable, not entirely aware of what he was talking about just a second later. What was he looking for? What was he actually trying to do?
What was ...
A drink?
Coffee. Tea. Something. Two steps from being unable to walk, Ignacio dragged his feet over to the kitchen, trying not to stumble over himself in the process. He had brewed coffee earlier, thankfully; he may have hated the stuff, but it gave him a brief amount of energy, which was better than continuing to swat vaguely at a haze that wouldn't leave him alone. Why wouldn't he sleep? He knew this aurora couldn't be any good. Nothing new was good. It was all bad. So much bad...
When he tried to pour the coffee, he mostly missed and ended up singeing his hand, but in his state, he just stared at his hand, blinked, and reached over for a towel. The pain registered, but he wasn't awake enough to do much of anything about it.
Not trusting himself, he stood next to the counter, leaned on it, and downed most of the glass.
"Mm, coffee," sung Ignacio, deciding to start his stumble back over to the sofa with the intention of joining Richard. Even if they couldn't sleep, maybe they could at least sit together. And be miserable together, or something.
Amasis
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:04 pm
Seiana_ZI
Richard looked up as Ignacio approached him. He was fighting another impulse to fall asleep, using this chance to sit up and try to pull Ignacio towards him on the sofa. He noted the redness somewhat slowly, mumbling something unintelligible and patting Ignacio's hand where he'd singed it. Being miserable together sounded like a good, plan honestly. At least Ignacio could reassure him whenever he inevitably nodded off only to be woken up by that nightmare he couldn't seem to escape. Maybe if he started hallucinating, Ignacio could be a way to check reality...?
Maybe...?
... What was he thinking about? He mumbled unintelligibly again, fighting his eyes' urge to close. A nap, a very long nap, sounded fantastic, really...
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:19 pm
Ignacio might have winced when Richard patted his hand if he was in a normal mental state, but as is, he mostly just shrugged at it. It hurt, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to care. The pain was dull. All his senses were dulled. Or they were swimming. Literally swimming. Swimming in water he couldn't get out of. He could feel the water filling his lungs and--
He snapped back awake, forcing himself out of the microsleep he fell into while standing up.
Mrr.
He took Richard's hand, letting the other drag him onto the couch. He leaned on the other, body heavy.
And then he took a sip of coffee.
Hopefully, this stupid aurora went away soon. That had to be a problem, right?
His stare out the window probably would have looked far more baleful if he was actually awake, but as it was, it mostly just looked like he was trying not to fall asleep again. Maybe he could just... just sleep for a few ...
No, no, no...
He looked at Richard. Maybe they could just ... try to sleep ... or something... Having the other nearer helped, at least...
Amasis
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:30 pm
Seiana_ZI
Richard draped an arm over Ignacio's shoulders, giving a clumsy kiss to the top of Ignacio's head. His eyes were open, but only just barely. It could have been the lack of glasses on his face--they were somewhere, Richard was pretty sure--or the exhaustion, but his eyes didn't quite focus correctly when he looked back at Ignacio. A wordless mumble, and Richard shifted to lean back against the arm of the sofa. His whole body ached with how tired he was, and there was a part of him that almost wanted to get the feeling of drowning over with if it meant he'd get another microsecond of sleep...
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:39 pm
Ignacio smiled at the kiss to his head, or at least he thought he did. He wasn't sure if his face muscles were actually working the way they were supposed to. It seemed far harder to lift his lips than it should have been.
It seemed far harder to function than it should have been.
The coffee really wasn't doing much at this point, even if he did manage to finish the mug. He unceremoniously flicked the mug off to the side, as if that resolved his need to put it away, and scooted closer to Richard once again.
"Sleep," murmured Ignacio, unclear if he was commanding himself to sleep, Richard to sleep, or just murmuring about the thing he had been chasing for what felt like a million years. Every second was dragging like his eyelids were dragging, like the world was dragging, like...
Like he was dragging, under the water...
Ignacio didn't care. Stubbornly, he tried to keep his eyes shut.
They would sleep. They had to sleep. It would happen.
Soon.
Amasis
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:01 pm
Seiana_ZI
He should have reacted to the mug being flicked to the side, knowing his mother probably wouldn't appreciate any kind of mess it left, or the fact that it wasn't itself where it should be.
He should have.
What he actually did was curl his body around Ignacio's, knowing the drowning feeling would come again, but a part of him--a large part of him--no longer able to care. Even caring about it took energy that, frankly, he did not have. The sputtering when he instinctively climbed back awake a second later did not last as long as the last time had, his body already accepting that it would happen, and that he would jerk awake and cough and then everything would be okay... and then he'd jerk awake, and cough, before everything was okay... and then he'd jerk awake... cough...
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Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:10 pm
His mind registered the sensation that this is nice -- the this being the presense of Richard, wrapping around him. Even as he was tired, at least he was warm. And in a good way, not a ... horrendously warm, feverish way, that sometimes chased his bouts of sleeplessness.
Even though he felt Richard keep jolting awake, it didn't really overly register in his mind. He was too tired. He didn't care. He did care, but he didn't care. It wasn't an actual threat. They both knew what it was. It was just the stupid drowning in rainbows dream, again.
Dully, he realized that the lack of sleep was probably an actual threat, but he shooed the thought away with a vague attempt at swatting towards the air with his hand.
Maybe, eventually, his mind would give up on reacting to the sensation, and he could just ... sleep.
If it was so expected, maybe he could sleep.
Maybe he could finally get his mind to be silent.
He kept his eyes closed, shuddering as he entered the water again.
But it would be alright. They would get sleep.
Somehow.
Amasis
Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:28 pm
Seiana_ZI
Richard's eyes also closed, his breath catching as he felt the water closing in over his head. He could feel the water against his skin, could no longer quite feel Ignacio against him, but couldn't quite summon the energy to be able to jerk himself awake again. Oh, he woke up, but it was with the dull resignation that couldn't even process into realization that he couldn't even think through the fog. The drowning feeling was terrifying, but he was too tired to be scared. His heart pounded in his chest, and he was short of breath, but his eyes didn't open very much before he shifted again and almost gave himself over to another bout of the nightmare.
