InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You taught him well..."

Tristan Sable || Dream (demos_oneiroi) wrote in musingslogs,
@ 2010-11-21 22:46:00

Entry tags:

dream, roxanne

Who: Tristan and Wren
What: Reactions to Memories Plot
Where: Hamartia 203
When: Memories Plot
Warnings: Don't know yet

Tristan had checked the clock after talking to Wren on the forum, and decided to pass the time by sketching out a few ideas for paintings while he waited. He actually got caught up in one of them and so it was a little past an hour when he finally stuffed his feet back into shoes and headed down the stairs.

He was still in the long-sleeved tshirt that he'd slept in, with the faded jeans that he'd thrown on earlier in his rush to leave the apartment. The hair, as usual, had barely been patted down after waking, much less actually combed.

When he knocked on her door, it was soft, knowing how small her apartment was and not wanting to startle her with a too-loud knock.

(Post a new comment)

ex_theredlig387
2010-11-22 05:10 pm UTC (link)

She had just finished Tristan's memory, the one about Genny and the home - foster or orphanage, she wasn't sure - and she was sluggish, all heavy steps in the overalls she'd intentionally changed into once he'd told her he was coming to see her. Her brown hair was in braids, and she wore a simple pink camisole beneath the overalls, and she opened the door with a tired, sleepy smile. "You even sleep in your memories," she told him, reaching for the front of his crumpled shirt and tugging him inside.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

demos_oneiroi
2010-11-22 05:17 pm UTC (link)

Tristan followed her tugging easily, making sure the door was closed behind himself. He frowned a bit in confusion for a moment, "I sleep in my...? Oh." He made a worried little face. "You got one of mine?" It wasn't the first time he'd thought about someone else getting some of his memories during whatever this was, but he had plenty that he didn't want people to see, for one reason or another. Especially people that he actually knew.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-22 09:46 pm UTC (link)
	She nodded, and she stopped tugging him once she'd gotten to the center of the room. She looked up at him, so close her knees touched his legs, and she smiled. "It was one with Genny, but she was very small." She'd never actually met his sister, but it was still her, and she had no doubt about that. "Where did you two grow up?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

demos_oneiroi
2010-11-22 10:19 pm UTC (link)

He looked down at her when they stopped, surprised at how warm she seemed even with her arms bare. He returned her smile for a moment until the mention of Genny and their childhood. Although if it was something from that far back, it probably wasn't anything too bad. She'd been scattered when she was younger, but it wasn't until she crossed over that things became trickier. "In Musings." He figured that might not be quite what she was asking, but he decided to go with it anyway.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_theredlig387
2010-11-23 12:34 am UTC (link)

She shook her head. "No, I mean with who. They weren't your parents," she said. "You were a little younger than I was, and she was very small," she told him, and she tangled her fingers in the front of his shirt and tagged him toward the couch. She was calm, and there hadn't been any memories since the last, and the steady, emotionless peace she always felt was starting to seep into her skin again.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-23 12:55 am UTC (link)
	He made a face at the question and sighed. "Oh. Um. Foster care. And if Genny was there, I think she was probably 10 or 11." He settled on the couch, moving his arm up along the back of it to free space at his side if she wanted. "She got there when I was 16." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-23 02:38 am UTC (link)
	She sat down beside him, against his side, in the crook of his arm, and she curled her legs up beside you. "You made her feel safe?" she asked, though she knew the answer already. She wanted to let him talk, wanted to let him tell her, wanted to listen. He was safe at her side, and she rested her head on his shoulder. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-23 03:26 am UTC (link)
	He curled his arm around her shoulder once she was leaning against him, and he tried not to think about how nice it felt to have her there. "You'd have to ask her how safe I actually made her feel. Didn't do much good once I had to leave, either. We tried writing for a while, but that didn't last very long." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-23 04:57 am UTC (link)
	"Which of you stopped writing?" she asked curiously, snuggling closer when he curled his arm around her shoulder. "And how did you find each other again? I would have liked an older brother to make everything okay," she admitted quietly, an honest admission. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-23 05:22 am UTC (link)
	He sighed a little. "She did. Both, actually. Stopped writing about a year after I left the house, and I found out she'd run away. So I'm not sure how good of an older brother I was. Didn't hear from her for a long time. Then after I'd been here a few years, she knocked on my door one night and hasn't left since." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-23 05:47 am UTC (link)
	"You were there when she came back, and that's what matters," she said, because it was. There was some melancholy there, in the confession, and she looked up at him with a smile that bordered on sadness. "Tell me a story," she urged him, her fingers reaching for one of his hands and twining with his. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-23 05:50 am UTC (link)
	He laughed softly. "Hard not to be there when someone shows up at your door." He wrapped his fingers carefully around hers, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. Thoughtful for a minute, he looked at their hands. "What sort of story?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-23 05:55 am UTC (link)
	"I knew you were going to ask that," she said, because she had. "Something about love," she said, not even stopping to think about the suggestion. "Something that helps me understand." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-23 06:04 am UTC (link)
	"Something that helps you understand love?" He frowned, looking at her. "I don't think I'm the best one to try to do that. I don't have a very good track record." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-23 07:15 am UTC (link)
	"But have you felt it?" she asked, and then, "were you scared?" She sounded like she felt fear was a given, like she expected him to admit to it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

demos_oneiroi
2010-11-23 02:47 pm UTC (link)

He was quiet for a moment, expression distant as he thought through all the failed relationships he'd left behind. "Yeah, maybe? I'm pretty sure. It... was a few years ago." He focuses again and quirks an odd half-smile at her. "And yeah. It's scary. You have to trust someone else not to take what you give them and use it to hurt you. And sometimes even when they don't, you end up hurt anyway because the world is fucked up. But there's good stuff about it, too." He looked down at their hands again, smiling with memories before looking back at her. "You have to decide if it's worth it for you, I guess. The world being fucked up isn't exactly a good story, though..."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-23 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	"No, not really," she admitted, but she didn't sound angry at him for it. "You don't make a very compelling case, either," she added, her smile genuine when she tipped her head back and looked at his face. "I want a million-and-one things, but love isn't one of them. People cheat, and they hurt each other, and they die." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

demos_oneiroi
2010-11-23 09:10 pm UTC (link)

He actually laughed a little, soft and wry. "I'm not the best one to be asking, either." He paused for a long time, almost like he was done saying whatever was on his mind, but he eventually made a face at himself and cleared his throat, not looking at Wren. "I, um. I thought I'd finally had it figured out though, y'know? I'd fucked up a ton of relationships, but I'd found someone that... was willing to deal with me being an asshole and we were doing well."

His voice caught a little, and he cleared his throat again, uneasy at telling someone all of this. "And then things got fucked up, and now I'm here." It was an abrupt ending, skipping over things that were obviously being left unsaid. "It was good until then, though." His voice dropped softer, could probably be called wistful. "It was really fucking good."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_theredlig387
2010-11-23 09:28 pm UTC (link)

"How did it fall apart?" she asked plainly, and she knew it was an invasive question, she did, but she wanted to know, needed to know. She curled her legs closer, and she looked up at him expectantly. She trusted Tristan, trusted him to maybe love someone and not have all the terrible things happen that she knew happened when men loved someone. But it hadn't worked for him, even with all that wistfulness and old love in his eyes, and it reminded her of one of her memories.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

demos_oneiroi
2010-11-23 09:37 pm UTC (link)

There was another long moment of silence, where it wasn't clear if he would respond or not. He did though, finally. "That time? Well, that time, Musings happened." He went quiet again, and when he continued, his voice was rougher. "She was a bartender at a club." Actually at one of the clubs he had played piano at, but he left out that detail. "She was dropping off the night's take at the bank and someone else wanted it. And didn't care what it took to get it."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-24 02:27 am UTC (link)
	She didn't respond verbally. Instead, she turned toward him, and she slipped her arm behind his shoulders, and then turning her cheek against his chest, she hugged him, wrapping him in soft, perfumed warmth. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-24 02:48 am UTC (link)
	He stayed tense for a while once she wrapped her arms around him, and even started to pull away. But it actually felt good to have told someone. He gave a choked little laugh and ducked his head down, pressing his face into her hair and taking a shaky breath. "...fuck." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-24 04:05 pm UTC (link)
	"Shhhh," she whispered, and it was a soft and soothing sound, and she hugged him tighter. She rocked a little, the movement carrying over to him, a familiar one from her childhood. Her mother liked to rock and sing, and there was never any shortage of affection in her home. Wren, herself, was hardly a singer, but she started humming softly, an old lullaby. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

demos_oneiroi
2010-11-25 05:09 am UTC (link)

He allowed himself a few minutes to be comforted, soaking up the warmth from her arms. He closed his eyes and breathed into her hair softly, the soft tremors of memory eventually easing as she rocked back and forth. After he'd calmed himself a little more, he gave a wry huff of silent laughter, warm against the top of her head. "Probably not what you expected, when you asked that." He didn't pull away, though. "But thank you."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ex_theredlig387 2010-11-26 02:03 am UTC (link)
	She looked up at him, and she smiled at him, all sweet warmth in her eyes. "You're welcome," she told him. "Just... hold me for a few minutes. That's all I need today, just that." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	demos_oneiroi 2010-11-26 05:23 pm UTC (link)
	He returned her smile, though his was still not quite right. "I can do that," he replied softly, and lifted his arms to wrap around her, drawing her close against himself. His touch was careful and protective and still a little needy, though he'd never admit it. (Reply to this) (Parent)