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Tweak says, "Brits do it better."

Theodore Nott (nottfinished) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2015-05-25 19:03:00

Entry tags:

character: charlie weasley, character: theodore nott, status: complete

Who: Charlie & Theo
What: Another bout of somnambulism
Where: The streets near Wingbeat
When: Late Saturday night
Rating: R - language, mentions of bad things

Things hadn't been going too badly for Theo lately, so he was due for a setback. He'd moved out of the hovel he'd been in before to take over the room offered to him by Milly, looking after his friend's house while she was away, and that alone had helped him feel a lot more settled. He'd been unsettled with the situation with Greg and the idea of anything happening to his friend in the same way that something had happened to him had made him sick to his stomach and had probably kick started his latest bout of insomnia. His paranoia had been higher than usual, although he hadn't realised it. He hadn't been able to sleep very, well too keyed up to relax and plagued with shapes and shadows that moved in the corner of his eye but weren't there when he turned to look, voices that spoke to him nonsensically that stil managed to make him feel threatened.

He'd been up for three days by the time his body finally called it quits and he more collapsed down and lapsed into unconsciousness than fell asleep. It wasn't a restful disappearance from the conscious world at all though and he was up and walking around in a bout of somnambulism like he hadn't had since the previous year. It led him to wander around Milly's house, mercifully avoiding tumbling headlong down the stairs, and out into the night dressed in soft black pyjama bottoms, a heather grey hoodie and nothing else, his feet bare against the floor and bleeding by the time he'd made it from Milly's into town. He wandered like he was high or drunk, bumping into objects and rebounding off them from time to time, his tearing feet leaving little footstamps of blood in his wake.

There was no rhyme or reason behind his sleeping decision to make his way towards Charlie's club, unless his sleepwalking worked on some weird remembrance of the last place he'd Apparated to. It hardly mattered where he was physically though, as in his mind he wandered through the halls and corridors and rooms of the Nott House, made even more monstrous and dark in his dreams as they had been in reality, looking over his shoulder in utter sweat-soaked terror for the man who had tyrannized him in childhood and could strip him of any feeling of security even now. Even as he stumbled down the nearly empty street towards the club he still looked over his shoulder like he was being pursued.

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hopalongcharlie
2015-08-06 02:30 pm UTC (link)

Charlie was actually surprised that Theo would put an arm around his waist because he'd definitely flinched away from his touch earlier. Then again reaching out was very different than someone reaching out to you. He nodded slightly and then, carefully telegraphing his movements, reached his left arm up and over Theo's head and gently wrapped his arm around Theo, coming to rest around roughly his shoulders and upper back. "You really can lean on me," he reassured. In all honesty he rather suspected he probably could have picked Theo up and carried him, but I had a feeling that it would go down roughly like insulting a Hippogryff.

"Yeah, probably, but I'd rather see you safe than leave you to the shitty people who usually turn up in the middle of the night around here," he said. Knockturn Alley might have become Monument Alley but there were still a few hints of the previous incarnation clinging around the edges and they tended to come out at night. "And it's not like I'd be asleep yet," he said.

They forged their way slowly across the room and entered the area by the bathrooms, where Charlie's office could be found behind additional wards at the right end of the area, just beyond the men's toilets. He could go and grab the healing kit from the bar while he left Theo against the wall waiting. He'd put him in the spare chair in his office but he didn't really know Theo and as much as his instincts said he was trustworthy he felt it would be a bad business move.

"Hey, can I leave you here a sec? I need to go grab the kit, and I think it's either locked down or behind the locked door and I don't want to try summoning it." He gestured to the wall opposite the men's toilet entrance. Thankfully magic was pretty good at dissipating smells so it was FAR better smelling than the muggle equivalent might be. "My office is just through that door, but I need to take down the extra wards."

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nottfinished
2015-08-08 09:48 pm UTC (link)

Theo still flinched down a little as Charlie's arm lifted up, but the fact that he easily saw it coming helped him relax at the motion even if the feeling of someone's arm around him made him feel a strange combination of tingling surprise and fluttering panic. He really was reassured by Charlie though, not just by his words but by the tone of his voice. He found that he could let some weight rest against Charlie who hadn't lied to him and took it easily. It was a huge display of trust for Theo and he wasn't even sure how he was able to do this.

Charlie's comment made him tense up again and swallow hard as his stomach turned. He had been running from a beast in his dreams that would have done worse to him when it caught up than any mortal man could, but he still didn't want to go through that again, not now his dad was dead, not now that he was supposed to be free from that.

He'd greyed around the edges a little but came back to himself in time to catch what Charlie was saying. "Thank you for taking the trouble." he said sincerely.

He found it was a lot easier to move around with Charlie's help, even though a voice that sounded like his dad's was in the back of his mind telling him not to get used to it. He was too tired to fight though and he just let it berate him as they moved across the room. He nodded that he was okay to be left and leaned up against the wall. "Of course, I appreciate it." he said, surprised but grateful that Charlie was going through all this trouble for him.

He wasn't able to stand for very long though, even with the wall at his back and between one blink and another he found himself seated on the floor again. He didn't even bother trying to get up, just rested his head back against the wall and sighed, angry with himself for all of this.

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hopalongcharlie
2015-08-09 01:24 pm UTC (link)

Thankfully Charlie had been half expecting the flinch so when it came he didn't stop, just continued to move slowly. Theo didn't make any other indication that he was uncomfortable and Charlie was happy to continue his movements.

The tension about Theo's shoulders when he mentioned the less savoury parts of the Alley's night life made Charlie wince. He wished he hadn't said anything, but he generally didn't keep watch of his mouth when he was only surrounded by adults.

"No problem," Charlie replied, shrugging slightly and then muttering an apology when he jostled Theo.

Leaving Theo propped carefully against the wall Charlie turned back down the short passage and out into the main room. He twitched his wand and lit the lights by the bar as he crossed to it. That area, at least, was generally well lit since the staff needed to see what they were doing. Slipping through the usual bar entrance he frowned down at the area generally hidden from the public. All the glasses were there and ... there was the healing kit. He had apparently been wrong. It was neither locked down nor in the back room as he'd suspected, just tucked into a corner under the bottom shelf. Sighing he summoned it into his hands and spelled the lights back off.

He headed back towards his office, beginning to speak just before he came around the corner. "Got it, apparently I was wr-, shit, are you okay?" he asked, his very slight limp becoming more pronounced as he tried to speed up the last few steps as he saw Theo on the floor. He hovered uncertainly, knowing that going to his knees would be no help at all because they he'd end up needing help

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nottfinished
2015-08-22 12:25 am UTC (link)

It felt like hours and days before Charlie came back. Theo's mind played tricks on him, tugging at his sleepy mind in disorienting shapes, shadows and swirls. His feet itched where the blood ran down his soles to his heel and off, leaving arcs of muddy red on the carpet that he'd feel bad about when he realised where they'd come from.

In the moments between Charlie leaving and coming back Theo had almost forgotten where he was and that he wasn't dreaming. He jumped when Charlie's voice rang out down the corridor and snapped back to the version of reality that he usually lived in. He nodded and moved to pull himself back up onto his ruined feet as Charlie came closer. "Yeah, I'm okay, I'm sorry." he said in one breath as he stood, most of his slight weight back against the plaster. "I couldn't stand anymore. I'm okay though, don't worry." he tried to reassure, giving Charlie a slightly stark smile.

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hopalongcharlie
2015-08-22 11:28 am UTC (link)

Charlie was relieved when Theo managed to get himself on his feet again without help, although he still looked like he could drop again at any moment. "That's okay. I should have summoned you something to sit on," he said.

He limped on past Theo and set the case of potions down so he could place one palm on the door while undoing the wards on his office with his wand in the other hand. It only took a matter of seconds and he was soon pushing the door open, flicked the torches into life, and bending to grab the case. "Okay then, now that's open you can come and take a seat." There were two chairs in Charlie's office, one considerably more comfortable than the other since he was the only one who spent any amount of time in there really.

He helped Theo through the door and helped him round the desk to sit in the comfier chair, which was a padded leather affair which spun (although wasn't on wheels). He put the case full of healing supplies on the mostly clear portion of the desk and looked to the other chair. After a couple of seconds he grabbed an empty and flattened box sitting by the door and twiddled his wand turning it into a low stool, and then transfigured the spare chair into a slightly higher one. Then he remembered Theo's hesitancy about Charlie's earlier wand use and carefully tucked his wand away.

"Okay, if you could put your feet on the higher stool I can sit on the lower one to look at your feet if that's okay?" he asked. He pushed the stools closer with his hands and then turned to take his coat back off. It was wonderfully warm but not the most flexible thing in the shoulders.

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nottfinished
2015-08-22 09:32 pm UTC (link)

"No, you're fine. I should have stayed standing." Theo absolved Charlie easily, believing what he'd said - his dad would have flayed his feet and made him stand in salt for hours for his weakness.

He watched Charlie unward the door and moved into the office as soon as he was given permission to do so. His sleepy state made things foggy even though he fought against it; he was bothered by the wand being used so close to him but something in him recalled the feeling of living under constant fear of the next wand stroke and had him falling back into the protective patterns of before.

Even so, he appreciated it when Charlie put his wand away, visibly untensing in his silhouette.

He took his seat in the chair, uncomfortable at the comfort being afford him and worried about Charlie's comfort even now. He was put at ease watching Charlie's transfiguration work though, trusting that Charlie would do the right thing for himself. He was horribly uncomfortable with everything about what he was asked to do though - he didn't like that he was sitting so much higher than Charlie with Charlie looking at his feet, and not just because he had no good associations in regards to being healed.

He nodded his agreement and then gingerly lifted his feet up onto the stool, his fingers on the arms of the chair he was sitting in curled tight. Theo was notably and strangely scar free apart from the soles of his feet which were crosshatched, leopard spotted in scarring from horrors that he didn't really remember well. They were hard to see under the blood and tearing anyway; he was still worried about what was going to happen, even though his trust in Charlie was surprisingly solid.

"Thank you, thanks for, thanks." he stammered, unlike himself but as pulled together as he could be at the time.

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