[open] a little bit freaked out

[altusimperius]

WHO: Benedict and you
WHAT: bad dreams + demons + homeschooled mage problems
WHEN: During Nightmare Time
WHERE: The Gallows (mostly)
NOTES: hmu if you want a specific starter

I. Nightmares

Though normally a quiet and inoffensive sleeper, lately Benedict has been talking in his sleep. Anyone listening carefully would notice that it usually begins calmly, perhaps incredulously, and escalates from this to whining protest and the inevitable gasping awake in a cold sweat.

The first few times, he tried to go back to sleep afterward; now, he'll get out of bed and pace the room or leave it entirely, rubbing his hands up and down his upper arms and shivering, compulsively pushing his hair back out of his face.

As time wears on, it becomes less and less likely to see Benedict in his bed at all.

II. No Rest for the Wicked

If everyone weren't having such awful dreams, it might be less clear why Benedict seems to have gone on a sleep strike. He can be found in odd places at night, folded around a book in the library or staring into the middle distance while submerged up to the ears in the baths, usually with a cup of coffee nearby and terrible dark bags under his eyes in defiance of his obsessive skincare routine.
After months of improvement he has also become unusually terrible in his combat training, and the reason for this is clearly the exhaustion he's imposing on himself.

On more than one occasion, he's simply walked facefirst into a wall, a door, or even another person, then stood looking a bit lost, like he isn't sure how he got there.

III. On the Job

Those coming to the Diplomacy office looking for Byerly generally have to get through his secretary first, but lately there's a 50% chance said attaché will be asleep with his head on his desk and a half-drunk cup of coffee next to his face. Perhaps a word on a page becomes a scribble, a long inkstain leading from the last intentional stroke across the desk to where the quill now rests on the floor.
The chances of this being the case grow higher with each passing day.

IV. Wildcard

Comments

II

[notathreat]

Benedict isn't an unfamiliar sight, but the young lordly guy definitely looks like he's having a rough time of it. Especially when he's up and about, not paying hardly any attention.

Ellie comes around a corner and they collide so hard she can hear her jaw snap shut, and she gives a muffled curse, reaching out to steady his shoulders. It's a mark of how long she's been away from her world that she doesn't immediately go for her knife.

"Shit, buddy, you okay?"

II

[muckspout]

Edgard has definitely noticed that Benedict isn't sleeping. When he sees him in a hallway, he starts to say something to him, intending to confront him about this, but Benedict doesn't hear him at all and walks right past him.

Edgard frowns and watches Benedict hit a wall next to a door, blinking. Edgard sighs. That's it.

This time Edgard comes behind him booming loudly.

"This is for your own good!" He hollers and picks Benedict up in his arms like he's a baby.

[altusimperius]

The collision is rough enough to startle him completely awake, and for a moment Benedict looks as though he has no idea what's going on-- there's that girl, and she ran into him, or--

He rubs his eyes. "Sorry," he's quick to say, "just... a little tired."

Yes, just a little.

[altusimperius]

A deep gasp inward, and Benedict is suddenly aloft, his long limbs flailing with the unexpected intrusion of Edgard's forcible grip. For a moment he simply struggles in a blind panic, and then it occurs to him that he has options, and a hazardously-timed Mind Blast sends them shooting apart: Edgard into the nearest wall, and Benedict onto the floor with a crack of impact as his bony elbow hits the flagstone.

Maybe not his brightest idea.

[muckspout]

Edgard hits the wall and slides down it falling into a heap. He curses and then tries to catch his breath.

After a moment of shocked silence, he attempts to speak.

"Benedict?" is all he manages.

[notathreat]

"Tired?" Ellie says doubtfully, her brow furrowing. She doesn't let go of his shoulders, like she's afraid that if she doesn't hold him up, he's going to go down.

"You look half-dead."

Ellie's used to going on very little sleep, but this isn't even that.

"You're heading to bed, right?"

[bouchonne]

"Artemaeus."

Byerly scowls at his thoroughly unconscious secretary. When saying his name aloud does nothing, By lets out an annoyed noise and claps loudly next to his ear.

"Artemaeus!"

[altusimperius]

It takes Benedict just as long to get his wits about him, and then he pushes himself up off the floor, looking over his shoulder at Edgard.

"Sorry," he says quickly, though after a moment he isn't sure why-- didn't Edgard just grab him?

[altusimperius]

He doesn't seem to mind being held aloft, and even appears to struggle a bit with the question. Was he heading to bed? No--

"..no, I'm going to the office," he says instead, looking dejectedly past Ellie at the stairs. The many, many stairs.

[altusimperius]

Sitting up with a loud gasp, Benedict is just in time to catch his coffee before he can upend it. It still sloshes all over his hand, and he hisses with dismay-- it's not that hot anymore, but it'll stain.

"Shit," he gasps, "hello. What,"

[muckspout]

Edgard slowly sits up, uncharacteristically quiet. He's seen Benedict do this before, but didn't really think about it and the idea that Benedict could do this to him definitely has never occurred to him.

He has a few questions, but he sighs and says grumpily,

"Why did you do that?"

His feelings are hurt and that is clear by his tone.

[notathreat]

"... in the middle of the night?" Ellie asks, starting to catch on. Dude's completely zonked, but unwilling to sleep. She hesitates, then lets go of one shoulder, getting out of his way.

"I better go with you," she sighs. "Otherwise you'll take a header on the stairs for sure."

[altusimperius]

Standing is an effort, especially now that there's some pain in the mix. Benedict rubs his elbow with a wince, casting another glance back toward Edgard.

"You surprised me," he replies, a touch less apologetically. It's fair to say that being manhandled by Edgard tends to be an unpleasant experience.

[altusimperius]

"The middle--" Bene begins to repeat, then looks around in search of a window. There's one high up, and when it becomes clear that there's no light coming through it, he seems genuinely confused.

"Shit."

Rather than insist on scaling the stairs, his eyes just go vacant for a moment, his brain taking an overlong time to process the situation.

[muckspout]

Edgard frowns and folds his arms over his chest.

"Didn't hear me call! and then you walked into the wall. and then you--"

Edgard makes an expansive gesture with his hands to indicate the mindblast.

"When I was trying to help!"

[altusimperius]

The stare Benedict gives him is a little too long, a little not enough comprehending. One lower eyelid twitches faintly, and he nearly slaps himself in the effort to rub it, to make it stop.

"Why did you pick me up," he asks, still unable to connect those particular dots.

[notathreat]

Understanding dawns in waves, and Ellie just barely rubs his shoulder, a small twitch of something like sympathy, even if she doesn't truly know him well enough for that. Her face has softened, her voice gentling. It gains something almost parental.

"When's the last time you slept, bud?"

[muckspout]

Edgard squints at Benedict's blank look. He really doesn't know, does he?

"To put you to bed! Because it's been days! Thought maybe you were sleeping somewhere else..."

He shrugs a little to indicate that Benedict's love life is definitely not his business.

"But since you can't even walk and are being mean, think you're probably just not sleeping."

[altusimperius]

"Um," Bene begins, realizes he doesn't remember, and squeezes his eyes closed for a moment. He shakes his head.

"I can't." Spoken with an air of avoidance, indicating that it's clearly for a personal and potentially shameful reason that he isn't about to disclose to an acquaintance.

[notathreat]

"Okay."

Worst thing is, Ellie hasn't been able to sleep either. But she, at least, is used to it. She can tell he's avoiding the question, but it's not like it matters. What matters is that this is dangerous.

"... you okay with taking something? We could go to the healers."

[altusimperius]

"I'm not being mean," Benedict hisses back, unable to even comprehend where that came from, "and I don't need you to put me to bed, Edgard, you're not my fucking nanny."

He pauses, lapsing into a dead-eyed stare for a moment before adding, "...and I don't. Need a nanny, either way." Just in case anyone wasn't sure.

[altusimperius]

"No, no, I mean," he waves his hand in frustration, realizing if he's going to explain, he has to do so fully. He'll fall asleep easily, and that's what he can't do.

"...like I... don't want to."

[notathreat]

"Yeah, no shit."

If this can be said to be in a sympathetic tone, it is. Ellie pauses, realizes she's not being as comforting as she's meaning to be.

"Bad dreams?"

[altusimperius]

Comforting or not, he doesn't seem to mind. Instead of giving a verbal answer, he just pinches the bridge of his nose and nods.

[notathreat]

"Mhm."

Ellie pauses again, considering. She runs through the possibilities, especially the fact that he's afraid of going back to sleep, and apparently doesn't want to get into it.

It's something that she, unfortunately, understands.

"... would it help if you weren't alone? That's what helps me, sometimes."