A Sleepless First Night

[aleifr]

Who: Aleifr and anyone who chances upon him
What: Insomnia-Driven Wanderings
Where: Various places around P90
When: Night One
Warnings/Notes: Nothing at present, but I'll update if that changes

It’s clear fairly early on that Aleifr’s first night on Piper 90 would be a restless one.

Simply put: He didn’t like it here.

He didn’t like the fact that he was a dozens floors off the ground in some metal monstrosity, feeling the vibrations of it's slow, steady movements like the faintest tremor of one of Fenris's summer quakes.

He didn’t like the distant engine noises, or the echoing footsteps of boots on metal. He was used to near silence at night; gently whistling winds carrying the soft crackle of a campfire or the murmurs of a distant conversation. If a night got that loud on Fenris, it was either feast day revelery, or you needed to be on your feet with an axe in your hand.

He didn’t like that he was trapped here. He didn’t like that he’d been dragged here against his will on someone’s whim. He didn’t like that he had no idea why either. He didn't know if there was even an ounce of truth in the rat-faced man's story about the near end of the world, or what the hell part he was supposed to play in that design if it was. He fucking hated that there was nothing that he could do about it.

He didn’t like sleeping alone, either. Wasn’t used to it anymore.

He’d still made an effort, if only so he wouldn’t be sleep deprived while dealing with whatever tomorrow brings. He might have been able to find an hour or two if he was on his own furs, but even the bed worked against him. It was too damned soft, and no matter which way he lay he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was sinking into it.

Needless to say, sleep didn’t come. All he did was toss and turn for a few hours until he grew sick of it.

He decided he needed to do something. Walk. Memorize his surroundings, get something to eat, something to drink … Busy himself until sleep started to sound appealing again, really. Anything but lay around in that fucking bed that clearly wasn't made with someone his size in mind.

So he put on the jumpsuit that was given to him -- that at least fit -- and decided to walk the halls. It felt ... strangely dreamlike, honestly. Maybe it's the fact that he's tired, maybe it's all so alien to him that it doesn't seem real ... he doesn't know.

He doesn't want to dwell on it, honestly.

Anyone who happens to be awake can find him. He’s not a hard man to spot. Maybe they catch him as they exit his room. Maybe they find him in the halls, wandering around and trying to commit landmarks to memory so that he has some rough picture of the place in his head to navigate by.

He’s awake for a good, long while that night. Plenty of opportunity.

Comments

[aleifr]

"It's hard to see the similarities." He mutters quietly, sounding just a little forlorn. "Something like this rig ... it couldn't exist."

[wheyoftheadept]

"Why not?" Saturday asks it kindly. She's been far away from home for a long time now; missing it has become a steady, chronic thing, something she barely feels unless she focuses. That doesn't mean she doesn't understand. "What's it like there?"

[aleifr]

He takes a moment to consider his answer. He's never had to describe it before.

"It's a sea without end," Aleifr eventually says, "full of islands that are driven up or dragged down by quakes during the summer."

"We don't build like this because there isn't a point." He continues. "It could all go away when the summer comes, and then we have find a new one."

[wheyoftheadept]

"How do you build anything at all?" Saturday is curious now, quite genuinely. "Do you live on boats, instead?"

Saturday has a vision, and it's a very stressful one. "You guys must get tsunami all the time, that's awful."

[aleifr]

"I don't know that word."

With some assistance, he could clarify. For the moment, though ...

"We settle the islands in the worldsea, but it's impossible to know how long the land remain. Some islands are sturdy for generations, others will be swallowed back up within a year."

[wheyoftheadept]

"Sorry - tsunami are these big fuckoff waves that form when there's an earthquake off the coast. Like twenty feet high, wipe out whole towns, kinda thing. If your planet gets them, then you know what I mean. They can be a problem where I live, but not regularly and not as far inland as my home town, generally."

She frowns a little. "Why not live on boats, then? If there's no way to tell. Hell, why live there at all? Did your people like, evolve there?"

[aleifr]

"Then those tsunami are part of the reason." Aleifr replies, scratching at his chin thoughtfully. "The seas are even more unpredictable than the land, and the beasts that live under the waves are ... bigger."

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday is impressed. She'd never thought she'd meet anyone who could beat the Barrens for a hard time, but this is a new level. Disease and crime are one thing; the closest thing Red Town has is -

"Well, we got a big patch of radioactive waste where I'm from, but at least that mostly stays in one place. You guys must be tough, surviving all that."

[aleifr]

He arches an eyebrow at 'radioactive waste'. Another unfamiliar term.

Aleifr moves past it, though.

"Fenris was forged by the Gods to be a proving ground. Nothing that isn't tough would survive long, and even strength only gets you so faf."

[wheyoftheadept]

"Radioactive means if you go there without protection you melt into meat soup and die," she explains at his eyebrow raise. "It's to do with nuclear stuff. I can explain more, but I don't understand it that well myself. So what do you do when strength runs out?" she asks, straightforward and curious. "How do you cope with it?"

[aleifr]

"You've got to be clever, then."

Though, frankly, he's still looking deeply concerned by her description of 'radioactive'. Whatver the fuck it is, it sounds foul - like the darkest maleficarum.