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Summary: Connor has another Nightmare, Robyn doesn't mind comforting him.
Date: July 2, 2010
Log Title: The Nightmare
Rating: PG-13
//Xavier Mansion - Connor and Robyn's Room //
Robyn's side of the room is cluttered but not messy and has a bit of a creepy feel to it. His bed has black sheets with a Nightmare Before Christmas pillow and comforter. On the wall is a Nightmare Before Christmas poster and a poster showing the art of Edward Gorey. On his end table is a collection of little figures that seem to have a deamonish quality to him. On his desk are more little figures like a tree that instead of leaves has hands and a snake eating someone holding a 'help me' sign. He's got a few art books on his desk along with his regular schoolbooks. A cased cello sits in the corner of his side of the room.
The tell-tale signs of it are obvious to Robyn… Connor's fitful tossing and turning, sweat on his brow and arms… and the fact that the items on the nightstand next to him are floating a few inches off the ground. Getting up and away from the bed, gravity is lighter in the room by half of normal, the power bleeding out of Connor as he continually mumbles something incoherent, pain and concentration written on his face…
Robyn has been staying up later and later working in the art room since it's the summer and he can sleep in so he hasn't been asleep long before the familar sensation of Connor's powers snap him out of sleep. He sits up in bed and looks over at his friend and it's not a feeling of inconvenience, it's one of concern and worry. To Robyn, his friends can't inconvenience him. Getting up he has to deal with the lack of gravity as he walks over to Connor's bed. "Connor." He says reaching out a hand to put it on his friend's shoulder and give a gentle shake. "Connor." He says again, this time a little bit louder.
The physical contact startles him awake, and the real rules of Gravity on planet earth reassert themselves as he looses a startled cry and falls two feet onto his mattress. Eyes blazing blue-green energy to the point that even the whites have been eclipsed cast an eerie, television-like glow on the room as he says something for a moment in a language neither of you have heard. Connor then reasserts himself and immediately mumbles what he always does when this happens… 'Sorry…'
The gravity adjusts to normal and Robyn stummbles a bit and rests a hand on Connor's bed to stay upright. "Don't be sorry, you okay?" He says as every time he tells Connor to not be sorry. "What was it this time?" Robyn asks as he puts his hand out to rest on Connor's shoulder as he knows his friends nightmares are not something that are just 'nightmares' or even 'night terrors'.
Trying not to sob, Connor just rocks there back and forth a few times, before saying, "I was alone… these people with blue skin came… they took me and they started doing things to me. I was in a lab, and people were screaming… then it was my turn to scream… and I watched my skin turn blue like theirs. Then there was this… this… in my head… and… I couldn't fight it…" Sitting up some he reaches into his nightstand and takes out a bottle of water, uncracking and taking a sip before sealing it once more.
Robyn sits down next to Connor as close as he can, and puts his arm on his back and just lets him talk. "It's okay, you're not in a lab, you're here, in our room." He reaches up to ruffle Connor's hair, the top and back. "And nothing's stuck in your head." The tone is almost like how a parent would talk to a child to comfort them but unlike a toddler with a nightmare, Robyn knows this is worse and something more than just a bad dream. He give Connor a quick side hug before going to open the window to get some fresh air in the room even though there is air conditioning.
Connor whispers out, "They… changed me… then sent me back here… made me collect people… people I knew… but there was this voice in the back of my head… 'He Loves Us.' Over and over again… and every time I heard it, I lost a little more of myself. He Loves Us…" Shaking his head once more and taking a drink again, he seals the water bottle, and winces at the sunlight pouring it, "OW! THE HELL!"
At the shout, Robyn quickly closes the blinds cause he was only trying to open the window to let air in, not light. "Sorry." He mutters as he goes back to sit down next to Connor. "You're still you Connor, the fact that you can remember that and not be under the influence you're still you." It's always like this, Robyn trying to reassure him that his life wasn't the one in the dream if it helps or not.
Going back into the drawer, shaky hands take out the pills that Jericho had perscribed to help him with this, and pops one, swallowing practically dry before the water is applied. Connor looks at Robyn, and gives a faint and slightly pained smile, "Thanks… at least this… wasn't the zombie one again… god I couldn't look at meatloaf for a week." Panting as he pushes himself out of the bed and goes to his computer to start trying to type this one out… but then stumbles and stops, turning back and landing on the bed next to Robyn, "So… how was your night?"
"I'd consider that a blessing most meatloaf is gross." Robyn says as he's thinking mostly of his father's cooking. His Dad does try to cook, and even enjoys it, but he's just not good at it. With a yawn he answers Connor. "Okay, I was up in the art room all night working on…stuff." He doesn't say what stuff yet as it's a project in the making for Connor. "Just got to bed so it's not like you really woke me up." He says with a grin.
Connor chuckles softly and pushes at you a bit playfully before finally groaning and laying back fully on the bed, "You promised me you'd be in bed by three, Robyn… broke your word. I'm going to get like some kind of shock collar alarm system for you if you're not careful… ARGH…" Stopping himself, from the memory and the swearing, "They used those on us… collars… it kept me from porting… when I tried to escape." Slapping the bed once, he growls softly to himself and then sits up, "Have you at least topped off from Addison yet? You said you were skipping yesterday."
"Oh I got somethign from Jono yesterday after a while I couldn't deal with the headache." Robyn says as even twenty-four hours without 'feeding' gives him a headache that makes a migrane look like a mild headache. "Also I don't like dealing with the memory problems that happen if I end up skipping." He says with a frown as if it's not Addison it's Jono and with Addison and his pheonix force, he prefers Jono as he can feel the want that builds up from 'feeding' from that power. It's almost addicting. "I was in bed by three plus three, which is six? And at least you've escaped from the dream now. When do you want to get breakfast, bacon is always a good cure for nightmares?"
Connor smiles up at the ceiling, "Bacon cures everything? Really… hell, at this point I'd try anything… but are you sure… I don't know if I want to go out. I feel like they all stare at me… like everyone knows. God, I wish we had a room with a private bathroom. I hate walking the hallway. Even if I port… someone's there." Mumbling almost to himself as he then tries to coax you off his bed to change the sheets and make it once more.
Robyn rolls off the bed and flops over on his own, half preparing for Connor to kick him off that in a bit to make his bed as well. "I can always do the bathroom scout, go down there, let you know if it's all clear, and you can port in but are you gonna go on a cleaning binge in there or something else?" With Connor he knows it can be either or. "Don't worry this room can be your own fortress."
Connor snaps out, "I Don-…" Stopping himself he takes a couple breaths, and then says softly, "I just want to shower without the eyes on me. I just want a day without people… why couldn't this have been tomorrow…" Hands and body moving mechanically to strip the bed, flip the mattress, and get new sheets to remake it all. Even creasing and tucking the sheets… but like many times he has to stop and start. So what could be a couple minutes, stretches to almost ten before he then says, "Would it be weird if I told you… I think Heather likes me. I don't mean like-like… like you and Jordan Like… more like… I don't know…"
"A crush? No, I don't think it's weird." Robyn says as he rolls over on his side clutching his vampire teddy bear, the only stuffed animal he owns. "We're at a school packed with mutants were it's normal to not go home for the summer or weekend, there isn't a day without people here." His voice sounds like he's bothered by it too. "And Heather huh? Well how do you feel about her?" He asks more curious than anything because he's always found Heather a bit strange but not in a bad way just she's strange. It's just who she is.
Connor finally finishes the bed, but the blanket is pulled and then redone six times before finally to his brain's satisfaction, and turns to face Robyn, sitting on the floor, "We're like… opposite sides of the same coin. She gets me… and I get her. I don't think it's anything more than it is… someone who makes sense." The bottle is downed completely and then crushed before dropped in the in-room recycling bin, vying for space with the impressive collection of crushed cans of Dr. Pepper, "Before meeting her future self? Didn't even really say word one to her… but after that… it's like somehow we started needing to be around each other. Like it was important. But I'm not going to question it. I won't feel sorry for her… but I wish she's brush her hair. My fingers itch every time I see it."
Robyn smiles at Connor and chuckles. "Just don't over think it Connor, let things happen if they will. If you find yourself itching to kiss her, maybe go for it. If not, maybe you two are just meant to be good friends. I dunno but don't try to over think it…too much." He says with a grin as he knows Connor does tend to overthink things and think them to death. "Maybe something happened with you two in the future and because you met future….wait…future Heather?"
Connor eyerolls and then walks over to your bed, and gives you the smirk, "Up and off… stay off my covers." Saying it with the tired intonations of rote, "Yeah… she was older, looked like some kinda bondage queen in this leather-latex suit thing, watches all up and down her arms… she tried to grab me. Called me a different name too. It all goes back to what happened to James in Central PArk."
Robyn gets off his bed and just lies on the floor instead. "Watches….didn't Chloe say something about Heather and a watch?" He says yawning mid-sentance. "Did she call you Volk like Ahab did?" Since it was mentioned to him in Central Park by Connor. "Well we have a starting point to this and why James got stabbed, then Chloe knows stuff. So is it the latex bondage queen Heather or the now Heather your connecting with?"
Connor replies softly as he starts work on Robyn's bed, "Now-Heather… I mean… I really don't know what to call either of them… the other Heather is just creepy. Only reason she couldn't catch me is I move as fast as her… by the time she gets to me, I'm somewhere else. Yeah… she called me Volk. What's up with that, seriously…" This time the bed goes fast, his movements a bit more sure as the mood-stabilizer he took starts asserting itself a bit better, "Allright… Connor weirdness aborted… defaulting to normal function… time for a shower and breakfast." Sighing almost in relief.
Robyn shifts on the floor and moves his stuffed animal to use as a pillow and it seems like he might not move from the spot. "Well…if she's from the future and Ahab is from the future it makes sense that in a few years from now you'll be using Volk as a code name instead of Chase. I think Volk sounds better than Chase anyway." He says with a smile. "Alright, grab me after your shower for breakfast, I'll go down with you. Say…you wanna go into Salem Center later, hit the Resevoir for a picnic later? Just enjoy the woods and stuff."
Connor fidgets at the thought of the woods a moment, and then gives a frown, "Maybe, allright? You know I get growly when I'm stuck out there… Why can't we go to a park… someplace nice and orderly…" But after that he starts and begins to chuckle, peeling off his sleeping shirt and putting it with the rest of the day's laundry, "Listen to me… you'd think we're dating or something… allright… but you think Jordan will go? He doesn't like leaving campus any more than I do these days."
"Maybe if I kick his ass out the door he will, he hasn't liked to leave much since the whole Sinister thing. He hates looking different even though I think it's cool. And you're not a bad guy for someone to date Connor." Robyn says as he finally rolls back up to flop down on his bed. "Well we don't have to walk in the woods, there is a park there too Connor. Just every now and then I need to get out of here and do something not here. I think you do too."
"I just made that… argh… I swear you do this because you know you can get way with it." Connor grumbles light-heartedly while he picks up a towel from his closet and then makes for the door, "See you in a few… maybe you're right… some bacon is what we need to face the world."
"I do this cause it's my bed." Robyn grumbles as he's probably gonna take a quick nap while Connor's in the shower. "Wake me up when you get back if I fall asleep, and at least I'm not going under the covers." He grins and right before Connor goes to leave he smiles. "And Connor, I do this to you cause you're one of my best friends."
Connor sings out in a passable tenor as he opens the door, "The Phaaaaantom of the Aaaaaaaart Rooooooooom!" And with a wave he closes the door and heads off to clean up.
