Gavin Lucas (viciouscircle) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2022-06-18 19:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, gavin, gavin x roxy, roxy |
Who: Gavin and Roxy
When: mid-morning, Tuesday, July 3rd
Where: phone
Roxy hadn’t had any more nightmares after she’d returned to bed with Spence, but she hadn’t exactly rested easy, waking up several more times throughout the early morning hours. She got up and insisted on making breakfast before she let Spence really look at her arm again. The scratches had scabbed over during the night, and while they were still throbby and tender, Roxy hadn’t thought she needed stitches. They cleaned the wounds again and wrapped her in fresh bandages, then she had shooed him off to work, repeating a few times that she would be fine and she would call him if she needed anything.
Once she was alone, Roxy got her phone and went to sit in the kitchen. She was trying not to psych herself out too much about reaching out to Gavin, because it was a conversation that might not even happen. But her imagination was still trying to spiral out with scenarios where he had no idea what she was talking about and called her crazy and told everyone else she was crazy -- she hated that any part of her still cared about any of their opinions of her, but they’d been almost-family for so long ... Roxy sighed and pushed her hair back from her face, then hit the button to call Gavin.
Gavin was supposed to be having a good day. It was his birthday and apparently that was a big deal when he had a fianceé like Charlie. He'd taken the day off and planned on sleeping in but apparently this fucking town had other plans for him. He didn't have the heart to tell Charlie what was plaguing him this morning, putting on a brave face and even a little smile for her when he woke up. At least she was used to him being quiet and probably contributed whatever grumpiness he was exuding to being tired. The truth was far worse, he ached and he was afraid in a way he knew there was nothing anyone could do to fix. He'd had a vivid dream about the Dark Man, bullets hadn't stopped him from stalking Gavin through the streets of Point Pleasant and right before Gavin woke up he had swung a heavy cane at him, hitting both his left arm and his side. It felt like his ribs were broken and his arm hurt more than it usually did. At least it was his bad arm; that would be easier to hide.
The last thing in the world he expected was for Roxy to call him - not now, or ever - so when his phone started buzzing and her name popped up on the screen he almost didn't answer. Charlie was in the bathroom and he was trying to breathe through the pain he was feeling, ready to drown it out with about a bottle of whiskey and painkillers. The only reason he picked up was because this could be an emergency. He wasn't even sure why he still had her number, she'd been family but now she was just his brother's crazy ex. He took a deep breath before he answered, his 'Yes?' sounding disgruntled, maybe even more so than usually.
Roxy had been mentally prepping to leave a voicemail, trying to get her thoughts in order so she wouldn’t ramble nonsensically. All of those thoughts scattered like dust in the wind the moment Gavin actually answered. God, this was a bad idea, and Roxy almost hung up, but the idea that Gavin might still have her number saved and knew exactly who he was talking to meant that she was committed. Fuck. “Oh, uh, hi Gavin. It’s Roxy,” Roxy said, clearing her throat. How did she start, did she just launch right into it? It felt like her brain had completely locked up for a few seconds. “Sorry to bother you, um ... this is gonna sound weird, but ... did you have a nightmare last night? About that -- that ... man we saw behind the bar?” She cringed on her side of the phone, braced for baffled ridicule or even just a hang up.
Some part of Gavin that wanted nothing to do with Caden's personal drama wanted to say no and hang up but if he wasn't the only one suffering today then maybe that made more sense. He wasn't sure he could hide his injury for long but that didn't mean he didn't want to. It'd be a walk in the park if he was still single but now there was sex on the table and he was willing to bet he'd bruise up pretty good soon. "Why?" he asked anyway, not ready to tell Roxy everything without a good reason. She'd obviously had a nightmare too, had she been hurt too? He wasn't sure why else she would be calling. It made him wonder if the sheriff was okay and it was a strange feeling to actually care.
Ugh, she’d always hated to have to guess Gavin’s moods, and it was even harder now, over the phone. It was a valid question, Roxy just wished he would’ve given her a hint of his own answer. She gave a soft huff through her nose and rubbed at one eye with her free hand. “Because I did,” she said. It felt wrong to reveal any vulnerability to Gavin Lucas, of all people, but she could tell it was the only way she was going to get anywhere. “And in my dream, he attacked me, and I woke up injured. In like, the same way. Crazy deep scratches all down my arm. I thought maybe ... since I know you saw it too ...” Roxy trailed off, since she hadn’t really had a game plan beyond ‘call Gavin.’ She had no idea what any of it meant or what it would mean if Gavin had had the same experience. It had just seemed like a first step of some kind.
Gavin was quiet for a few seconds as he digested what she was saying. He was vaguely aware that it was probably uncomfortable for her but he didn't really care right now, she'd called him, she could wait. He switched his phone to his left hand, feeling the tug and pull of muscles that were more sore than usual, then patted his side gingerly, wincing at the sharp pain it caused. Yeah, he couldn't really reason this away, no matter how much he wanted to. "Yeah I did too," he finally muttered, though he'd almost opted for saying he'd woken up a little sore this morning. "I don't got any answers for you though." His tattoos hadn't protected him from this and he wondered idly if the sheriff had gotten any protection at all. Maybe Gavin had gotten off easier, maybe someone out there was dead because of this.
A wave of strangeness rolled over Roxy -- it had happened to Gavin too. What the hell did that mean? His second statement didn’t surprise her really, she hadn’t expected him to know anything about this, but it was mildly disappointing at the same time. Roxy was silent for her own moment as it really sank in that they’d both been terrorized by the same monster in a dream and woken up hurt. Were there others? It couldn’t just be her and Gavin who’d seen the grinning ‘man’ in the bowler hat. She swallowed thickly and cleared her throat. “I don’t either,” Roxy said softly. “Are you okay? How bad was yours? And do you ... do you know of anybody else who’s seen it?” Gavin might not have any ultimate answers, but those were pretty straightforward.
"Just some fractured ribs and yeah, just you me and the sheriff." There was no point in keeping that a secret, Grady Barrett was the first person he'd met who'd seen this monster too and Gavin knew just how lonely it was to think he'd been the only one. "How bad is yours?" It should have been comforting to know he wasn't the only one this time either but it just sounded like trouble. He had no idea how to fight against a dream. Even outside of a dream he felt helpless, bullets hadn't worked and obviously neither did his tattoos.
Fractured ribs? Roxy winced. Leave it to Gavin to make that sound like nothing. She was also surprised to hear that not only was Sheriff Barrett in the same boat with them, Gavin somehow knew about it too. She couldn’t imagine them having a real conversation, much less getting into stuff like this, but what the hell did she know. Roxy glanced down at the bandage wrapped around her arm, but there was nothing new to see there, thankfully. “Last night I thought I might need stitches, but I think they’ll be okay ... just four big scratches down my arm,” she told him. It sounded like trouble to her too. “I’m just glad he wasn’t grabbing for my neck, I guess. ... Do you think one of us should like, check with Barrett?”
Gavin supposed that meant him and he sighed quietly, not overly eager to talk to anyone else today. "I've got his number," he muttered. "I'll give him a call." Surely they weren't the only people in town who had seen the dark man and Gavin thought again about how someone out there might have had him 'go for their throat'. "I can text you, let you know what I hear." He supposed that was only fair, even if he wasn't loving being in contact with her for a variety of reasons. He couldn't say he'd ever liked her, even when she was family, she had a big temper and it was always clear she and Caden were a bad match but... she'd still been family - for years - and it felt a little weird for that to be over.
Roxy didn’t know Barrett personally, just by reputation and by serving him at the Porch a few times over the years, so she was relieved that Gavin volunteered. It only made sense, they’d obviously talked about it at some point. It was generous of him to offer to let her know, and Roxy appreciated it. She didn’t want to be in touch any more than he did, but this whole thing had shaken her, and Gavin was the only person she knew to ask about it. Spence believed her, at least, but he hadn’t seen the thing. “Thank you, Gavin,” she said quietly. Roxy started to tell him she was sorry again, she just hadn’t known what else to do, but she was sure he didn’t care to hear any of it. “And um, thanks for picking up.”
She sounded so subdued that Gavin didn't feel right just hanging up on her. "I'm sorry you had to see him too," he offered and he knew it was partially his fault. If he'd let her call an ambulance for him when she found him instead of alerting her to the dark man's presence, maybe she wouldn't have noticed him at all. Then she wouldn't be sporting new scars and possibly having her life threatened by some supernatural entity Gavin had been so sure he was the only one being haunted by for so long. "Let's hope this is just a one-off, like usual." The dark man had a habit of popping up, giving him a scare and hurting him, then disappearing again for years. The time in between visits was a lot shorter this time though and he'd never attacked him in his own home before.
“Like usual?” Roxy echoed, her brows drawing together. They hadn’t exactly gotten a chance to chat about the incident, seeing as how the police rolled up and immediately arrested Gavin. Roxy had never brought it up again and neither had he. “Has this happened before? The dream thing?” One would think he would have said so sooner, but this was Gavin Lucas, so normal conversation rules didn’t always apply.
"It's not the first time I've seen him," Gavin sighed. "He attacked me when Jasper was little. Made the sheriff fall out of a tree as a kid. He likes to pop up and hurt people and then fuck off for years at a time." That was what he needed to believe right now, that the dark man was just having his fun. He'd done his damage, he'd pop up a few years from now and break Gavin's arm or scratch him up badly. Gavin could handle that, he just couldn't handle living in terror all the damn time. "Never in a dream before though, no. That part is new."
That just inspired new questions in Roxy’s mind, but she wasn’t really convinced she wanted to ask them. The dark man hadn’t hurt her when she’d seen him, but she’d had company and Gavin had been shooting at him, so maybe she’d just gotten lucky with timing. A sense of unfairness bubbled up in her chest -- why was it haunting her now? She’d just been an innocent bystander, for fuck’s sake. But Roxy knew that things like this weren’t fair, especially in this cursed fucking town. “Okay,” she murmured quietly. “Well ... fuck, that’s ominous.” Roxy didn’t know what else to say, and she didn’t want to annoy him with more questions. “I guess just let me know what Barrett says.”
Everything was ominous and Gavin almost reminded her of that but she sounded pretty down already, there was no need to kick her when she was down. "I'll text you," he repeated and hoped he wasn't going to be texting her with bad news. If Grady was more hurt - or dead - then this was an escalation and then Gavin's theory - the only one keeping him halfway sane - didn't hold water. He wondered idly if Amelia was at work today, he wasn't doing a great job of keeping tabs on her hours but if she was at the station then he might already know if things were bad. Amelia was no longer the little girl who'd run straight to her daddy if things went bad - and truthfully, she was more likely to run to Jasper - but Gavin still liked to think she might have called.
“Thanks, Gavin,” Roxy told him again. After a brief pause, she added a quick “bye” and then hung up. With most people that probably would’ve been rude, but Roxy was sure Gavin would be appreciative of the brevity. He was usually good to his word, so she hoped that he would actually text her, and she hoped it would be with good, boring news about Barrett. That he was fine or hadn’t even had the dream or something. Roxy still had no idea what she would do with any of this information, but it was better than staying so in the dark, wasn’t it? Sighing, Roxy curled over to rest her head on her good forearm for a moment, then picked her phone up again to send Spence an update.