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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Sept 29, 2024 16:13:10 GMT
He desperately pulled at the rocks in front of him, the sharp edges digging into his fingers, but they wouldn't budge. None of them would. He'd tried ever corner even before the tunnel had flooded, filling it from floor to ceiling. All his panicked attempts at escape just made what little air he had left run out faster. Water rushed into his windpipe, choking, burning, lungs screaming, heart racing. He was trapped, drowning, drowning, drowning...
Spike shot upright in bed, gasping for air, drenched in a cold sweat. It took him a second to realize that it had just been a nightmare, one of many. He tried to take slow breaths in and out like everyone always said to, but his heart continued to beat furiously, like his lungs were still ready to give out any second. It felt like the walls were closing in on him. He needed to get out of here, just for a minute. Grabbing a pack of cigarettes and his lighter, he slid out of bed and headed outside, only stopping to jam on the first pair of shoes he spotted. It was cool, almost too cold for the thin T shirt and sweatpants he had on, but it felt good against his clammy skin. He let out a breath, heartbeat finally starting to slow down a bit, before he nestled a cigarette between his teeth. The nightmares weren't new, but he'd never gotten used to them. Every one felt like the first. His parents seemed convinced that he was just in a rut and they'd go away on their own, but Spike figured he was long past that point. His hands shook so badly, he struggled just to get the lighter going. "Come on, come on," he muttered, struggling to light the darn thing.
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Post by zuyuri on Sept 30, 2024 2:09:41 GMT
Dorothea scrubbed her eyes harshly. The one downside to being so passionate about roles was that she was a bleeding heart when it came to rejection. She worked her butt off to get to that audition. Things had been lining up up and going in her favor. And...nothing. She had been crying off and on, and rather than distract Bella, she had gone to the bathroom to sob her eyes out. After giving an affirmation in the mirror, she left the room...and paused when she hear footsteps coming from the boy's side. She pressed herself back against the wall and caught a whiff of stale tobacco. Only one student she could associate with that smell. She checked to make sure her nightgown was modesty covered by her faux fur lined dressing robe and followed the noises. The shadow was muttering over a spark that went on and off. But she recognized his voice. "Spike?"
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Sept 30, 2024 23:19:46 GMT
Spike finally managed to light his cigarette and went "Finally!" under his breath. Then he heard someone say his name barely a few feet away and he gave a yelp, nearly dropping his cigarette. He turned to see that it was Dorothea, of all people. She had on a robe over her nightgown and her eyes looked red. "Jeez Dorothea, you nearly gave me a heart attack," he said, attempting to sound light-hearted, but coming off as shaky more than anything else.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 3, 2024 1:08:41 GMT
"Oh! Sorry." Dorothea immediately backed off. Apparently some of Bella's shyness was starting to rub off on her and she just sat back, rocking on her heels. The flame of the lighter glinted outside, creating a soft yellow glow. Spike was off. Well, jittery. The last time she had seen it was...that day that the pier.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 3, 2024 23:04:59 GMT
Dorothea immediately backed off, almost like a startled animal. Shit. He was probably weirding her out. "It's fine, it's fine," he said, the response coming out almost automatically. "It's just..." He stopped for a second, realizing how he probably looked right now: hair tousled, clothes rumpled, hands trembling. He curled his left one into a fist, trying to keep it still, but his right that held the cigarette still shook slightly as he attempted to sound a little more calm. "What are you doing out here?" he asked.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 7, 2024 19:29:59 GMT
“I was in the bathroom. Then I heard rustling outside and I followed you out here.” Blunt and to the point. Spike didn’t deserve a long series of sob stories that led to the affairs. Her eyes were exhausted and she clenched a fist to avoid bursting into releasing tears and accidentally putting out his cigarette.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 7, 2024 22:41:17 GMT
Dorothea's answer was simple and straight forward. Spike guessed he hadn't been as subtle coming out here as he'd thought. At least Dorothea was the only one who seemed to have spotted him. If it had been anyone else, he'd probably be acting a lot worse right now. But while her answer was short, he could feel the weight of her gaze on him. She hadn't pressed about his issues and why he was so messed up, but he could tell she'd wondered about it, anyone would. And he didn't have an easy escape this time. He managed to take a drag on his cigarette and blew out a thin sliver of smoke, although his hand still shook and the sight of it made him sigh in frustration. "This so stupid," he muttered. Why did he have to react like this? Why couldn't he just be normal for a change?
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 11, 2024 23:04:10 GMT
“Hm?” She hadn’t meant to hear him. Her goal had been to just be a silent guardian, only singing should anyone come out at yell at them for being out of their rooms. A tiny thrill of getting caught rushed through, and she shook it away. It was only them and the small smoke of the cigarette, trailing out like a genie’s tail.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 13, 2024 14:26:07 GMT
Spike sighed again. "Just...this," he said, gesturing to his trembling hand. "That's not normal. Normal teenagers do not do that. They don't shake like a leaf just from a stupid dream." He took another drag from his cigarette, blowing out more smoke. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised he hadn't gotten better since the incident. He knew he'd never really addressed what bothered him the most, what he could never admit to any doctors, or his parents, or anyone.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 14, 2024 5:00:24 GMT
Dorothea looked down at his quaking hand. Part of her wanted to agree that, yes, it wasn’t normal. They were kids, and they shouldn’t be exposed to as much stress as they were. Or could be. But that was it. “Spike…Nightmares being intense is, well…” she stopped herself. What could she say? She had no idea what he had been through. She sighed. “Look, I won’t pretend to know what it’s like to have gone what you’ve through. But I do know masking it is probably even worse for you in the long run.”
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 14, 2024 23:54:08 GMT
"Pff, try telling that to my parents," Spike scoffed. The last thing they wanted was for people to think their kid had mental issues going on. If they admitted that, then they would have to consider the fact that Spike might not be cut out for superhero work, and they definitely didn't want that. "When your parents are two of the most famous superheroes ever...failure isn't an option. Not for them." He knew he probably wasn't making a whole lot of sense, he was being very vague about the whole situation. But he'd been wearing a mask for a long time, and it was difficult to remove it and show what was underneath.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 15, 2024 3:31:01 GMT
Dorothea's brow puckered slightly. The stress lines had already begun to show from her ugly cry earlier, but as she looked at Spike at heard a bit of his sob story, they became much more prominent. She leaned back against the wall, and a huge part of her past just came spilling out. Blame her raw vulnerability, blame trying to be a friend, but she just blurted it. "My dad divorced my mom because he thought I didn't have a superpower. He wanted an heir to his "charming" legacy. It's why he married a prominent Broadway star like my mom. When I apparently didn't show his siren song when I was five, that was enough for him to up and leave."
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 17, 2024 22:44:10 GMT
Spike was bracing himself for questions about his background, it'd be understandable if Dorothea started asking them. But instead, she opened up about her own past, how her dad pretty much left her family after it seemed like she didn't have powers like him. Spike was quiet for a moment, thinking. "I'm...sorry," he said, mostly because he couldn't think of anything else to say. He didn't expect Dorothea to open up about something like that. She'd failed to live up to a parent's expectations, just like he was afraid of living up to his. Was it a coincidence, that both of them had struggled with similar issues? But maybe that meant...she might get it. He'd kept a tight lid on his true feelings about his parents, superhero work, everything, for such a long time. Being vulnerable was scary. But...maybe Dorothea would understand. He wasn't looking for pity, just some empathy for the situation he was in. He took another drag on his cigarette, like he was hoping another puff of smoke would give him the nudge he needed to start talking. "Guess a parent's disappointment is hanging over both of us," he finally said. "I think mine wanted me to be a superhero from the minute I was born, maybe even before that. That was all they wanted me to be, and any deviation from that just made them push me back on course. So I just...ended up spending my time trying to meet their expectations. There were some times I liked all the superhero stuff, was even excited about it. But I knew that they were trying to have me think this was what I wanted, put anything else out of my mind. And maybe it would have worked if..." His voice trailed off as he stared up at the sky, as if the stars were going to tell him how to continue.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 20, 2024 4:30:06 GMT
For a while, the only sound between Spike and Dorothea was the exhalation of him taking a long drag from his cigarette. The puff from it reminded her of the incense that she liked lighting when trying to warm up vocally or if she wanted to get into a good headspace for yoga. She didn't do it often, but it kept her limber. Spike spoke once more, going on about how his life seemed to have been planned by his parents since the beginning. Her brow furrowed. No one should have to live like that, being forced into a box, being forced to deny the things they enjoyed. He stopped talking, and her gaze followed his up towards the sky. She didn't dare finish his sentence, but she had a fair guess,
"If something hadn't gone wrong?"
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 24, 2024 0:34:35 GMT
Dorothea finished what he couldn't say, and that was enough to help Spike keep going. "Yeah," he replied. "I was doing one-on-one work with this guy, Iroh. You might remember him as the Flaming Dragon. Pretty big hero. He wasn't a teacher, but he helped take on sidekicks, give the students some field work. We were going after this one villain, the Witch Doctor. Crazy son of a bitch. We tracked him down to this abandoned mine and we split up to try and corner him. But...it turned out to be a trap. He'd rigged the dam nearby to blow to flood the place with us still inside. The explosion caused a lot of tunnels to get blocked off with rocks...and I was stuck in one when the water started pouring in." Another breath in, another puff on his cigarette, but it was shallower this time. "Iroh couldn't get to where I was, the water was coming in too fast. The tunnel flooded so quickly and...I completely lost it at that point. I could barely see, couldn't even breathe. I was still clawing at the walls when I started drowning and...I blacked out." He swallowed, the memory playing in his head like a movie: The darkness of the tunnel, the frigidness of the water, lungs spasming as they desperately tried to take in air that just wasn't there.
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