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 Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:22 pm
Danny pulled her arms around her legs, setting her head on her knees. Roch was about to play his guitar, which would probably put her straight to sleep. Well she'd rather be asleep than having this conversation anyways ...
"I ... yeah I've been having nightmares okay. There. Make fun of me for the rest of high school," she said, not bothering to look at him. She was just waiting for the laughter, the insults. They would come. Maybe not now, but definitely later.
Danny couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Roch. She now knew ... bits and pieces of where he'd come from. He wouldn't want to be pitied though, she knew that much too. "Sleeping even a little is," a yawn interrupted her, then she continued, "Better than not sleeping at all."
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:31 pm
"Yeah," he agreed. "Hey, you got your phone on you?" he asked her abruptly. "Can you record stuff with it?" He was going to fix this problem, because that's what guys were hardwired to do. "There's some stuff you need to remember before you go to bed, okay? It's real simple, but I can probably make it even better if you can record somethin' with your phone, okay?"
His mind rushed over his nightly habits, making a mental list of the stuff he did so he could sleep.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:38 pm
Danny looked at Roch with confusion. "Uhm ... its here somewhere..." She dug through her pockets. Why did he want to record something? What could he tell her that would make her sleep better?
He was probably just going to laugh into the phone to spite her. He knew she wouldn't be able to get rid of it either. Danny didn't even know how her own phone worked. He would do something like that. Danny's eyes narrowed. She didn't trust him.
But ... he looked geniunely concerned. In all honesty, Danny was too tired to fight anyways. She handed him the black case with her phone in it (casing was there so that when she dropped it, it wouldn't break!). "What're you gonna record? She put her head on his shoulder so she had a better view of it.
If it would help her sleep, without nightmares, Danny would get down on her knees and kiss his shoes. She was that sleep deprived.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:43 pm
"First," he said, not bothering to record this part. "Do you have somethin' you do every night? Before you go to bed?" he asked her. "Like a bath, or washin' your face, or anything like that?" he went on.
"I want you to list the stuff you do before you go to bed. You've probably done it for so long you hardly think about it, I bet." He waited patiently for her to think of all the things she did, looking remarkably patient.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:52 pm
He ... wasn't recording his voice then? His creepy laugh? That was a relief. Danny didn't want Roch's voice anywhere near her phone. Too weird. TOO WEIRD. Seriously, how was Xiu supposed to ... nevermind.
"That's easy. I ..." she put up her handy dandy listing fingers. For each thing she said, she put up another finger. "Take my jacket off. Put my hair down. Take a bath. Get Pjs on. Clean my teeth." She paused for a moment, as one of her wings felt a breeze and involuntarily whipped over. She really wanted these things to get buckled to her back or something. She loved them dearly, but they were so in the way.
Continuing, she said, "Make sure G and Puppy are with me in bed and then ... sleep." She nodded. That was just about everything. But ... what did he want with that information?
Realization (so she thought) dawned on her. "Ewwww Roch. You aren't stalking me or something are youuuu," she whined. That was just creepy Roch!
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 6:55 pm
He snorted. "Yeah, right, like that was interesting enough to care about," he drawled. "But first thing I want you to do, you got to pay attention to everything you do. If you gotta make a list of them with a lil check box next to it, do it, okay? Then, before you sleep I want you to do a few more things."
He finished tuning his guitar. "I want you to picture the best place you've ever been," he told her. "What's it like? Describe it to me, okay?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:24 pm
Danny nodded as Roch listed instructions. While most people would question "why am I doing this?" or "how will that help?" Danny was the exact opposite. She needed specific instructions that told her EXACTLY how to do it. She really should've been born as a monster. They were the ones who were supposed to take orders well, right?
The best place in the world? Danny tried hard to picture it. "You ... you can't laugh okay?" She gave him a serious look. Dreams were serious business, and he couldn't do anything to ruin hers.
Danny did her best to clear her throat and stare at the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world. She didn't look at Roch once during the entire monologue. "I ... I would be in a fireplace ... sleeping ... and servants would go all around the house looking for me but ... they wouldn't find me. Ever. I think it's because they weren't looking hard enough ... or at all. But Rosalie. She would always bring me a spookie and a jar of honey to dip it in ... but she never told anyone where I was. She would just pat my head and say 'permanezca como es, mi flor pequeña.' I still don't know what that means. " A sad sort of smile crossed her face, and she leaned a bit more into Roch's shoulder, careful not to knock his guitar out of his arms.
Returning back to reality, she said, "You can't tell anyone. I-I'll kill you okay."
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:33 pm
"Hey, I ain't gonna say a word. But when you're tryin' to sleep I want you to picture yourself there," he told her. "Feel the heat, picture the servant guys lookin around, and hear her voice," he told her as he took her phone and started messing with it. It took him a bit to find the recording program, but he did, placing it on his knee and pushing the red button as he started to play. It wouldn't be that great a copy, not from a phone, but it should do well enough, he thought as he started playing the old, familiar song, Curacion. It wasn't Danny's song, but it was softer, more likely to coax her to sleep.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 7:44 pm
The good little sheep Danny did exactly as her shepherd Roch said. She picture the warm fireplace, the coals just right, flames licking her ankles and arms all the way up. Rosalie's husky voice, that sounded both like a teenager girl and an ancient woman all at the same time. Mi flor pequeña ... mi flor pequeña...
Danny's lack of sleep finally took over. She completely conked out right then and there on Roch's shoulder.
But she hung in a sort of limbo of half-awareness for a moment or two longer. Roch's song was so soft and ... it was ... cheesy. If she was awake, she would've laughed at him. Then she hit the real hay and drifted off into an actually peace-filled dream. Whether it was Roch's method or not though had yet to be determined.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:20 pm
He finished the song. Then blinked, realizing that the little idiot had fallen asleep on him. "Jackdammit, I didn't mean for it to work HERE!" he said, cursing his own luck. "Hey, hey Danny. Come on, you can't sleep here, you'll catch another cold! Wake up!"
He reached over shaking her lightly, not wanting her to fall over or anything. But bloody jack! This was ridiculous! "Come onnnnnn, Danny! You're drooling on me!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:39 pm
Danny's beautiful sleep was interrupted by the not-so-beautiful reaper. "Heyyyy," she mumbled, still half asleep. "You were trying to ..." She yawned and shook her head, coming back to unlife all over again.
Surprisingly- or maybe unsurprisingly- all Danny could say to that was, "I didn't drool on you Roch, I ... I don't know if I drool." She tried looking down at her mouth to check, but needless to say, it didn't work.
Scratching her head, she absentmindedly asked Roch, "D'you have a hair ti- ... oh I guess not." Note to self: get Roch in a ponytail at some point.
She began walking back to her dorm, board in hand, eager to try this new method, but then stopped. "Wait ... Roch what'd you mean by 'surprise visit' on groanspring last night?" The comment had left her baffled. She didn't remember any cooking visits ...
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:43 pm
"You know, where my old man shows up and drains the excess FEAR before I blow the jack up," Roch said, shoving his hands into his pockets and hunching his shoulders. "I told you about that, remember?"
Hell, she probably never understood it the first time, he thought with a crooked smirk. But oh well, best type of person to share your secrets with, right?
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:54 pm
"Oh!" Danny said, a bit more cheerfully for the conversation topic than necessary. "It's okay. 'Cause I told you you can't die, 'member?" She smiled, but it was a sleepy sort of smile that said "it's bed time."
She stepped over to Roch and wrapped one arm around him in her signature Danny hug (the other arm was busy holding a skateboard). "Thanks Roch," was all she said, because that was all that was needed.
Besides, who knew if this mysterious new method would even work? She couldn't kiss his shoes quite yet- she wasn't even sure if it would give her a good night's sleep.
As she walked back to the dorm, she considered the fact that Roch hadn't even asked what her dream was. Most people (especially Danny) would be pretty curious about a dream, wouldn't they? Well whatever. She would tell him later! In class! Danny skipped off to her dorm, eager to see if she was able to sleep.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:58 pm
He stood there for a moment, his hands deep in his pockets, his eyes on the demon dorm's door, remembering his old nightmares as vividly as if he'd just had it.
Then, a soft, bitter smile pulling at his lips, Roch turned and slowly started back to the reaper dorm. If he could still feel cold, wet, slimy rocks pressing against his back, if he could still hear that slow, uneven dripping of water hitting the shallow puddle he was standing in, then... well...
Some things you really couldn't leave behind, huh?
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