cozen: (Default)
Bastien ([personal profile] cozen) wrote in [community profile] faderift2022-06-17 10:37 am

open | brain heat meme

WHO: Anyone
WHAT: Nightmares, slumber parties, etc.
WHEN: Throughout Justinian
WHERE: Kirkwall and surrounding areas
NOTES: Ignore the first prompt if you're bothered by bugs. Also, while this is primarily to help people RP about their nightmares, feel free to use it for any kind of RP you want. (I.e., you have permission to set up a truth or dare game at the slumber party.) Talk about dreams OOC over here


This month, our heroes' sleep is getting more and more troubled. Here are some excuses to write about it.

I. SLUMBER PARTY: Mid-month, an infestation of hardy, prolific Antivan fleas requires everyone to avoid spending prolonged periods of time in their bedrooms while local alchemist Lloyd Meyers eradicates the bugs with his proprietary smoke bombs (and an equally proprietary flea bath for the Gallows' many pets). While the rooms air out for two or three nights post-treatment, bed rolls are available on the floor of the unstaffed dining hall. Sleeping outside in the courtyards is also an option, but a sudden squall of a thunderstorm will drive people inside on the second night.

Footnote: Characters who live in the city are welcome to join this slumber party anyway. Maybe they miss the ferry ashore, maybe they're afraid of tracking fleas into their own homes, maybe they already did track fleas into their homes and Lloyd is treating them too, etc.

II. ROOM SHARE: Does the thought of sleeping in the dining hall with all of your coworkers make you break out in hives? Have you missed the ferry on any other evening of the month? Lowtown has inns, and Riftwatch has a docks-side warehouse with a few side rooms outfitted as bedrooms. But there are only so many rooms available, so you might wind up sharing a room (or a bed) with a friend or whoever is nearby and desperate.

III. CAT NAP: A lack of sleep—whether it be from the nightmares, the workload, routine insomnia, or staying up too late playing Truth or Dare during the Antivan Flea Incident—might make a cat nap on a desk, in a reading nook, or over breakfast particularly appealing. And bad dreams don't need more than a few minutes to get rolling.

IV. CAMP OUT: Investigating reports of enemy scouts in the mountains, traveling along the roads to a neighboring city-state on a diplomatic errand, looking into reports of weird magic on the Wounded Coast, or heading north to provide some assistance to the war effort? All might require pitching a tent and bunking down for the night with your colleague, whether you like them or loathe them.

V. NORMAL NIGHT: If you’re already sharing a room or bed with someone, you don't need this post. But you can still use it for your nightmare threads.

VI. BETTER IDEA: Do whatever you want. Live your dreams.
tender: (Default)

[personal profile] tender 2022-07-08 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
The room is so small that she could bend forward to reach him. Derrica turns the impulse over in her head, weighing whether it would be welcome or not. It is always instinct, putting her hands out, reaching to smooth away pain when she senses it.

"I can feel them too."

There has never been a time in her life to her recollection that hasn't been true to some extent. They have always been there. She feels the pressure of their scrutiny, the way they yearn even if that desperate need is edged sometimes with malice.

The weight of that sits for a long moment. That is the only reason I'm alive. How close has Kostos come to being otherwise? How small was he when he was Harrowed?

She puts a hand out, in this narrow space, and asks, "Come back?"
exequy: (232)

[personal profile] exequy 2022-07-08 07:58 pm (UTC)(link)
One of his shoulders peels forward from the wall. He nearly does it. He's used to her, in a way he's rarely been used to anyone. Her hands and sympathy and affection all feel more like sinking into water, not having it thrown at him from a bucket.

But he's still himself. Contrary and stubborn. Not, at the moment, interested in adding the mattress and sheets to the feeling of the stuffy evening air. The half-peel of his shoulder becomes only a repositioning fidget, and his head leans sideways, more visible than anything on his face.

The challenge in his counter-offer— "Come here." —has warmth underneath.
tender: (136)

[personal profile] tender 2022-07-09 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
A satisfactory counter-offer, judging by the ease in which Derrica disentangles herself from the last folds of the sheets to close the distance between them. Here means edging into his space, looping arms around his waist.

"Can I ask about it?"

His Harrowing. What he feels, peering at him behind the Veil. Any of it. All of it. She doesn't need to be told that they're painful, fraught topics.

Kostos can say no. There are other things they can talk about, until one or both of them decides to attempt sleep once more.