Room 204 [really, really early morning]

[momslilassassin]

With the amount of stress he was under, a part of Ben was surprised that the nightmares hadn't started sooner.

That didn't mean remembering the Embrace of Pain wasn't traumatizing:

Ben found himself shirtless and upside down, floating in a bubble of white agony as he tried to remember that he was human, that he was the son of two great Jedi, that he was trying to become a Jedi himself. The pain was determined to rob him of this, tearing at him in a thousand ways: acid that licked his nerves raw, needles with poison to inflame joints, pincers that yanked hair from individual follicles. It never let him go numb, or die, or fall into catatonic oblivion. The only way to stop the pain was the surrender to it, to let it melt him down and turn him into something else...

With a cry of terror, Ben bolted upright in bed, then clapped both hands over his mouth to stop any further noises from coming out and sat there trembling and gasping for breath.

[OOC: Mostly for the roommate, if he is so inclined, but establishy otherwise.]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender's eyes snapped open the moment that noise struck the room. He planted the palm of one hand against his mattress and pushed himself upright without a word.

[momslilassassin]

Ben was still staring intently at nothing and trying to remember where he was.

[endsthegame]

Ender watched him for a moment, trying to pinpoint his exact state of mind. It might not be the best course of action to just snap him out of it on the spot.

He took a breath of air, and determined the first step would be to create a calming environment, digging deep within to yanking up a few feelings of comfort and calm, carefully detached from their original memories.

"Ben," he called, firm, but not loud.

[momslilassassin]

Ben jumped, but turned his head toward the voice. "Ender." His face went red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry."

[endsthegame]

"Don't worry about it," he said, matter-of-factly. "Bad one."

[momslilassassin]

He nodded. "Hasn't been that bad in almost a year."

[endsthegame]

Ender nodded in turn, rubbing at his eyes under the cover of darkness. He pushed the blankets aside. "Need a drink?" First things first. He kept water in the room for a reason.

[momslilassassin]

"Please," Ben said, rubbing his hand over his mouth again. "I didn't mean to wake you."

[endsthegame]

"I'll catch up later," he said, with a shrug, and pulled the plastic bottle out from under his bed.

Ender's feet hit the floor with a soft noise; then he opened up the desk, got out a glass, poured some water, and made it down to Ben's bed to offer it without another word.

[momslilassassin]

Ben took the glass with a grateful, if slightly quavery, smile. "Still," he said, "there are better ways to get up."

[endsthegame]

Ender lowered himself so he was kind of squatting by the edge of the bed. "Yes," he said, dryly, giving Ben a demonstrative look, "There are. You should've at least tried a Jedi lightshow or something."

[momslilassassin]

Ben scooted a little bit over, since it was rude to leave Ender just hanging there. Hopefully Ender wouldn't mind that Ben was currently sporting the always fashionable bed attire of boxer shorts and socks. "Maybe for your birthday," he said with a little laugh.

[endsthegame]

"Maybe," Ender said; if he noticed said bed attire, he didn't comment on it, but sat down. He rested his hands on the blankets. Still projecting calm, yes. "Just give it a little while."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's fingers were knotted into his sheets and sat up like a person who was afraid to close their eyes again. "I will," he said.

[endsthegame]

He nodded, patting Ben's leg. Ender would have asked what he'd been dreaming of, but that would just toss him straight back there right now, and that was the last thing they needed. "Can you even build a droid who does fireworks like that?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben shifted just the slightest bit closer. Ender's presence reminded him of where he was now and helped shove the nightmares back into the little box in the back his mind that he normally kept them.

"I think so," Ben said. "I just have to check with the people above us to make sure they won't mind if their floor accidentally catches fire."

[endsthegame]

So Ender would keep on talking, and leave his hand on Ben's leg as a tangible reminder of it. "Stark has fire extinguisher droids," he offered, "If we can write up a few of those..."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "The Artoo units always have a few," he said. "Starfighters that catch fire aren't the safest things to be flying in."

Mmm. Repression.

[endsthegame]

Repression was fine, as long as it only lasted long enough to ride out the panic.

At least, that was Ender's view although he had a few interesting coping techniques of his own, here. "I figured," he said, and finally gave in, stretching out a little on the bed.

No, he still wasn't the touchy proximity kind.

[momslilassassin]

But Ben was, at least when he still a little shaken up, so he appreciated the gesture. He scooted over a little more to give Ender some space, or as much as there can be with two teenaged boys in a twin bed.

"That's why you're so smart," Ben said with a tiny smile. "Granddad would insist that he meant the ship to be on fire. Smart people realize that's insane."

[endsthegame]

Ender settled where he was.

"There's a fine line between arrogance and idiocy," he said, lightly, "Only the arrogant would insist that fine line is death."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, of course," Ben tried to tease. He still wasn't exactly in fine form. "The idiots not being known for their deep thoughts on most matters."

[endsthegame]

"Swift thinking, Skywalker," Ender said, and reached up - carefully, and in plain sight - to give his hair a ruffle.

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned into the gesture (not that he'd ever admit it). "It's really early," he said. "I'm pretty proud that I can form mostly coherent sentences."

[endsthegame]

"You call that coherent?" Ender asked, lightly. "I think you were just babbling something about next door's cat being yellow, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."