You hear a weird scuttling on your rooftop in the middle of the night but it doesn’t sound like any rodent or noise you can easily identify. Whatever it is sounds like it’s doing a lot of movement—and is sizeable enough to give you decent concern. Is it an animal? A robber? If you listen closely you can hear strange chattering and an odd whisper; it feels like eyes are watching you, but you can’t see anything. The noise doesn’t last for long; whatever is on your roof is moving—but, if you are brave enough to check outside you might be sorely disappointed to find that you can’t see anything but shadows. Either way, there’s something out there…and it’s not safe to stay out for long.
They'd made it home without and further incident and Devlyn wasted no time in ushering past their usual hangout of the couch and into her room, their room? Whatever. Damian took to the bed instantly, curling up in whatever blankets he could get his hands on before she could. "Are you going to be okay if I do something real quick??" She asked, gathering a large double sided fleece blanket. "I'll be right back, I promise..." Devy said, leaning over and kissing his cheek, running her fingers through his bangs. "Or would you rather come with me? I'm only going to dryer. I'ma toss this bad boy in there and warm it up for us. Then we can do nothing but lay her and cuddle."
Noir Songbird
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:30 pm
Damian refused to let of of Devlyn as they walked back from the cemetery. It was...stupid, how attached he was, but it was easy and grounding, and her existence was forcing him to rationalize around the unreality that was trying to consume him. He had not known her before he was taken prisoner. There was no reason for magic to invent a whole entire person he had never known. Therefore, her continued presence was proof that he was not, actually, still trapped in that tiny, cold hellhole, but instead that he was free. Probably.
Reality was probably real.
If reality was real, however, that didn't exactly clear up what he had seen, and that was a whole nother set of terrors. The tombstone, with his name. A blatant omen if there was one. What else could it mean but that death was coming? Except, perhaps, that he was reading too much into a coincidence? But there was no way it was a coincidence. It was...it was something magical, because Devlyn hadn't seen it. He'd never had nonmagical hallucinations before, so that was out.
Bundling up in blankets once the option was presented was another way to ground himself. It was real, physical sensation. He wasn't dead, and he wasn't hallucinating.
"I'll be fine if you leave to warm it up," he said, and at the edges of his panic he felt like a fool. He couldn't believe he was letting her see this -- letting her see him fall apart over something so....so obviously....well. He wasn't sure what it was, but it certainly couldn't be real.
Ignoring, of course, that he'd felt stalked by death since the moment he powered up -- since the very first thing he could remember.
"Alright. I'll be back in a few minutes." She said, running her hand through his bangs one last time before leaving the room. She kept the door open, and from the second she was out of sight, Devlyn just talked. About random things, stuff the boys had gone through, whatever came to mind so that Damian had some way of keeping track of her. She tossed the blanket in the dryer and turned it on.
"I don't know about you babydoll, but I need a vacation from this city. What do you think of going outta town some weekend? Just to get away for a few days?" She asked. A thud, followed by a strange scuffling noise from the roof caught her attention and she stared at the ceiling curiously. Odd... She wondered distantly what could have made the noise. Maybe one of the other tenants?
The dryer's buzz brought her back to reality with a start. "Aaaaah bless this ridiculously fast piece of machinery.." She sighed as she pulled the blanket out and tossed it around her, making her way back to her room, the bed and Damian. "Alright you..." She said, closing the door partially. "You, look like you're about to pass out if you don't relax some." Devlyn teased lightly as she crawled on the bed and pawed at his hands to release the blankets he held onto with a vice grip. "You might wanna ditch those ones... This blanket's the best for cuddles." She opened her arms wide in invitation. "Plus, you know, there's me too. Always a good thing." Vaguely, Devlyn could just make out another skittering noise overhead.
Noir Songbird
Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2017 11:06 pm
It was good, to just...listen to Devlyn talk. That was grounding. It was a reminder that he was still here, still alive, to listen to her. His hand went to his throat and he pressed, briefly, and there was no answering increase of pressure he couldn't see a source for, and he began to really believe it could be okay. That he could be okay, and that this wasn't going to be his last day alive.
He even managed a wobbly smile in response to her question, even though she couldn't see.
"A vacation would be lovely," he agreed, and he let out a tiny, bitter huff. "I would gladly leave this place behind." Well, he would, if there weren't a million and a half things he had to do here, the responsibilities of a Negaverse General bearing down. To himself and to others, who relied on his guidance.
The first thud on the roof, he insistently ignored. Things bumped around sometimes, it was...fine, maybe it was...roof work? Even though it was dark and strange and he was still more than a little bit on edge. He relinquished the blankets when Devlyn requested, and was preparing to accept her offer and cuddle up under the warm, fleecy one, but --
But then the thud was joined by skittering, scuttling, and all the terror from earlier rushed back. That was too big to ignore.
"Do you hear that?" He asked, and he stood up off the bed to check the bedroom window and ensure it was locked. "Are any of the windows open?" They shouldn't be, not this time of year, but it was all too easy to let paranoia sink in. Was this it? Was whatever was on the roof the thing that he had been warned about?
He didn't want to believe it. He desperately wanted to believe it was nothing,t hat he was still just being paranoid, but...
"I'm open to suggestions babydoll. If you've got someplace you wanna go, now's the time to speak up. Seriously Damian, we could make a long week out of it or something."
She sighed, when he pulled away from her and checked the windows instead. "No. This high up, we won't leave em open... Judas has always been weird about leaving them open anyway..." She mumbled, watching him. He was doing it again. Becoming paranoid about something. "It could be a tenant." Devy said softly, climbing off the bed and closing the distance between them. Though even she didn't seem convinced with her answer.
"Shh... Stop Day." The girl said as she walked up behind him and wrapped both herself and the blanket around him. "You're doing it again. What did I tell you to do?" She'd promise that nothing was going to hurt him, and Devlyn was going to make good on that promise. Whatever had spooked Damian in the past, was not going to come back to haunt him now. "Come back to me, focus on me." A third noise went off somewhere outside the room and Devlyn leaned her head against her back. "Do you want me to go check?" Though she didn't exactly want to leave him here by himself.
Noir Songbird
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 1:36 am
Damian ground his teeth. He didn't want to accept her explanations, but he didn't want to go hunting for the source of the noises either. It was a difficult choice -- go find out what was banging around and risk running into something he couldn't handle, or stay and have to hope it didn't come for him anyway.
Her arms and the blanket were grounding, and Damian sank back against her a little bit, eyes closing briefly. "I..." He exhaled. "You said I would be safe. That I was safe." And he was. He could be. He absolutely could be.
"Don't check." He said, finally. "Whatever it is, it...can't get in." Clearly. Definitely. Nothing sounded hard enough to break the roof, at least, and if all the windows were closed and locked..."We're fine. We're safe." He said it like a mantra, like he was convincing himself.
When Damian leaned back against her, Devlyn sighed, her grip tighting. "You will be safe. You are safe. You know I'm not gonna let anything hurt you." She'd protect him just as she would her brother, or Keiran. "Nothing's gonna hurt you here, Love. Nothing's going to touch you in here."
"Okay." She said calmly, one hand leaving him to go find his braid and begin the process of undoing it. "It won't get in." She confirmed. "We're fine. We're safe." Devlyn tugged him back gently. "Come on. Beds are better for cuddles." Beds were better for a lot of things, verses just standing there. She kneeled on the bed, using its extra height to gently kiss Damian's collar before turning him to face her. "I'm not going anywhere. You're not going anywhere. We'll stay right here. Safe and sound, together okay?"
Noir Songbird
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:03 pm
"I know," Damian said, and he let Devlyn guide him to the bed, feeling her hands in his hair. "I know I'm safe, rationally, just...." He shook his head. "None of this is rational. I'm sorry."
He sat on the bed with her, sighing fondly when she kissed his collarbone, and then curled into her, dropping his head on her shoulder. "Thank you," he said, eyes closing as he settled in her embrace, wrapped in the blanket. It was grounding and it was real, and in that moment it was what he needed.
"I'm absolutely happy to stay here and not....do anything." He said. "This will pass."
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