dǫçţǫŗ şɭęęƥ (shone) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-02-08 09:16:00 |
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The commute to the clinic was pretty short in the mornings, given the waypoint access and how easy it was to get around - that was why Dan was fine with heating up oatmeal at home and just taking the container with him; it would still be hot when he got to work, and he scarfed breakfast along with some coffee after he got the espresso maker going in the breakroom (they’d spent top dollar on that espresso maker too, and it was worth every penny). But sometimes he liked to take the waypoint near the mortuary to a specific point in the city, then walk the rest of the way. This morning it was pleasant enough to do so, growing patches of blue beneath the sheets of clouds. They moved constantly, pages of a new book continuing to turn - the air was a bit chilly, since winter still had its hold on the island, but not freezing cold and Dan only needed a light jacket over his scrubs. When he got to the clinic he fueled up with oatmeal and a cup of coffee and then he was off on his rounds, medication and vital signs and collecting info about any new patients. He had his stethoscope around his neck and his tool belt stuffed to capacity; the organizer was heavy duty and handy, and he always made sure to have an extra pen light in case his got lost to the void. When he went out into the waiting room he saw a familiar face. Somewhat surprising, but then again, maybe not. “Nick,” Dan greeted him with a warm smile. He knew this was still an adjustment period for him so no, maybe it wasn’t too surprising to see him at all. “What brings you here?” Nick had promised himself he'd talk to Dan as soon as possible, but with the bookstore reopening and then the mysterious coven to attend to, that conversation kept getting postponed. His dreams that morning hadn't kept him from joining Sabrina on her run, but with his free time about to diminish once he started studying at the academy. And he was running out of excuses. So he made his way to the clinic, knowing he'd catch Dan there and wouldn't be able to change his mind as easily. "You, actually," Nick replied, standing up. "I was hoping to talk to you about that sleep thing you do..." There. That was the first step. He had no idea what came next. That sleep thing. Well, that was fair enough. Nick had mentioned his bad dreams, with Dan giving him a gentle nudge to come see him if he could help - apparently, the time had come. “Sure,” he nodded. “Come on back - I call my office space the Snooze Room.” Though it wasn’t really an office, it was a lot more comfortable than that. And a lot less clinical. But he turned and led Nick down the hallway, to a room that was dimly lit - no harsh fluorescent lights overhead, the calm blue waters of calm blue walls, and furniture that was homey and cozy. Since he changed out the pillows on the bed to accommodate the change of the seasons, that meant they were heart-shaped now - fluffy white ones, that felt like lying your head straight onto a cloud. “Make yourself comfortable,” he offered, setting his clipboard down. “If you want to try some sleep, I recommend the bed. I wash and change the sheets frequently, don’t worry.” Dan chose one of the chairs, but Nick could go wherever he wished - he even had Gideon sit on the floor once, before he convinced her to snuggle up beneath blankets. “Will you tell me about your dreams and your sleeping patterns now?” Nick eyed the bed briefly but settled on a chair, uncertain that he really wanted to go through with this. Dan's questions provided a welcome distraction from the thought of sleeping itself, and he nodded. "Uh, yeah," he started, staring at his hands in his lap. "I fall asleep pretty easily, whenever… well you know, Sabrina and I go to bed. It's hard not to when she's there." That was a welcome change, at least even if saying as much to one of her Vallo dads had him second-guessing his answer. "Then I keep waking up between 3 and 4:30." He glanced over at Dan briefly, before looking anywhere else. "I don't know how much you know about what was going on at home with the Eldritch terrors and everything…" Right, he was going to have to do better than this. "My dreams started with the dark version of Vallo, and they seem to be working their way backward. And I don't want them to go back any further?" So much of that centered around Sabrina, and he didn't have the best track record there. He looked back at Dan. "This is kind of weird, to be telling you any of this." Dan knew Nick had his own bedroom at the mortuary, but he also assumed that he was sharing a bed with Sabrina - and that by this point they were sharing everything. He already had the safe sex talk with her, however, so he didn’t feel the need to rehash it now that Nick was in Vallo and living with them. He trusted her to make smart decisions in that regard. So he didn’t really react to the news that Nick fell asleep easily with his girlfriend there - Dan understood. He fell asleep quicker with Allison beside him or in his arms as well. “She told me everything that happened at home, as much as she remembers,” he said. “Here, she received some updates she had dreams about and told me about those too. So I should be caught up.” Maybe it would help if he told Nick more about what he could do - and assured him that he wasn’t just rooting around in people’s heads for the hell of it. The temperature in the room was cool, kept that way on purpose to promote restful sleep, and he took a breath - arms resting on the rungs of the chair. “I maintain kind of a psychic connection with Sabrina, so she can reach me if she’s in trouble. I don’t listen in or eavesdrop, and I don’t expect for you to want the same thing. But maybe - I can show you how to lucid dream? That way you can stop your own dreams from going backward. Take control of it.” Admittedly, he hadn’t worked with someone long term on lucid dreaming - but he’d been at the clinic and helping people sleep since the place opened; he was ready now. If this was an option Nick wanted to explore. Yeah, that was a no on the psychic connection, but Dan seemed to already know that. His suggestion, however, had Nick's full attention. "I'm in." If he could control his dreams, they wouldn't have the same power over him anymore, which made the decision easy, even if he didn't know what it entailed, really. "So what do I do?" Lucid dreaming was often a treatment used for those who suffered from PTSD nightmares - and given everything Nick had been through, Dan didn’t need to be a psychiatrist to make that diagnosis. Therefore, he’d do whatever he could to help. “You're going to start by doing reality checks,” he began. “Ten times a day, make sure you do something like look at a clock or a page in a book - in a dream, the text may change. But in reality, it doesn't. This is to get your brain used to the idea of whether or not you're dreaming, so you can be more equipped to change things while you're asleep. And as odd as it sounds, you could also try focusing on your hands and feet ten times a day - " He held up his own hand, fingers wiggling in demonstration. "...it’s because hands and feet tend to look distorted in dreams, whereas in reality they don't." They were solid first steps, easy to do - kind of like stretching to use the muscles before a workout. “During the reality check you count your own fingers, or someone else's - you could even write on your hands if you wanted, to remind you to do it,” he said. “But then it kind of becomes something you start doing in your dreams - you'll notice hands, notice that someone in the dream has like, six fingers. And you'll realize you're dreaming and can take control of it." He tilted his head a bit, blue gaze studying Nick. “If you’re open to it, I can also have you sleep a little here just so I’m able to observe what your mind is doing and maybe a REM cycle will do you good - “ Naps were pretty healthy, after all, “...but if you don’t want to do that today, you don’t have to.” At the very least, he’d given first steps of things to try and then they’d move on to the next steps, once he checked on Nick and gave him some time to do the assignment. Nick was listening carefully, trying to work out what he could use to keep himself grounded while definitely wanting to check out the finger thing while dreaming. That sounded really weird, but the potential of being in control seemed exciting. The idea of sleeping and being observed in the process was more unnerving, but he had come here for help, after all. He owed it to himself, and to Sabrina, to follow through. "Yeah," he said, hoping he didn't sound too anxious. "I could use a nap." He waited a moment and then asked, "What do you mean, see what my mind is doing?" “The Shining helps me see those inner workings - I won’t change anything, or move anything around,” Dan promised. He meant that - given how Nick had been involved in some body sharing experience with his version of Lucifer, Dan wouldn’t ever want to make him feel like he didn’t have agency or control. “It’s like hooking you up to a sleep monitoring machine, except without the machine.” In this case, Dan was the machine. But alright, let’s get this show on the road here. Since Nick was willing to take a nap in the Snooze Room, Dan got up and pulled the covers of the bed back - they were soft, and cottony, and he moved the more decorative pillows to the side so they wouldn’t be in the way. Those were more for the visual aspects anyway, something meant to be comforting. “Do you need a minute to settle in? I can leave and come back.” Right. Well this was weird and he hadn't planned on actually sleeping, but what he was wearing wasn't uncomfortable. So Nick just shrugged and kicked off his shoes, hesitating a moment before climbing into the bed. "I'm ready," he said, wondering if there was a specific way he was meant to sleep, on his back or on his side or whichever. Wondering that distracted him from the fact that he was just going to sleep in a room while Dan watched or something. And would he even be able to sleep? "The bed's comfortable," he mentioned, even if he, himself, wasn't. “It’s not bad, right?” Dan chuckled a little, low and rich, and dragged a chair over so he could sit at Nick’s bedside. “I’ll help you sleep - it will be comfortable, and you’ll just drift off. All I need you to do is think of a happy memory. Pull it to the forefront of your mind.” The first time he did this, he remembered clearly - he’d just started working at the hospice center in Frazier, and Azzie led him to one of the patients, jumping up to rest at the foot of the bed. A patient who was dying, and who was scared. Nothing to be scared of, Dan had murmured as he projected serenity and let it wash over the man to ease his anxieties. This wasn’t the big sleep but he did it now too. “Nothing to worry about,” he told Nick, projecting that same sensation - like taking a gentle breath, floating away in some mysterious infinite calm. A happy memory. The first thing that came into his mind was the moment he knew without a doubt that he loved Sabrina and that he was even capable of love. Of course, he then immediately used that knowledge to sacrifice himself as a human archeron and entrap the Dark Lord within him. So that wasn't going to work. Right. What about arriving at the Academy and discovering an entire world of magic and spells to try, a library of books to devour, and people who understood him? Except he'd felt relieved more than anything, if not conflicted over leaving his old life, and his familiar, behind. Not to mention his relationship with the Weird Sisters fucked with head. Moving on. It was harder than he would have thought, trying to think of something happy while laying there, even as comfortable as the bed was. He felt vulnerable and exposed and had to remind himself why he was doing this. The next memory was finding Roz in the snow globe. That had been mostly relief, but the two of them had become better friends, and even in that dark setting there were moments where he almost forgot how bleak their situation had been. Yeah, still not cutting it. Come on, Scratch. You know it's going to be Sabrina. He went through a half dozen, momentarily relishing each one before the memory soured. Valentine's Day and tricking Dorcas so he could be with Sabrina at Lupercalia had turned dark real quick. Sabrina surviving the Weird didn't really count, even if it had been the moment he'd realized he still loved her and wanted to work things out. Even the last memory he had from home, the battle of the bands which had been a lot of fun in spite of the stakes had resulted in him landing in dark snow globe Vallo. Sabrina showing up still left them in dark snow globe Vallo. He had to have happy memories not immediately tied to bad ones, right? He found himself relaxing, and that had to be something Dan was doing. Because suddenly he thought back to a walk in the woods with Sabrina, here in Vallo. It wasn't anything special. Just conversation and joking and the occasional teasing nudge as they navigated the forest, Salem in tow. But he'd felt safe and hopeful, and yes, happy to be there, doing such a normal thing, unburdened. Maybe that would work. That was perfect. Dan latched onto that memory, focused on how it felt - the happiness, the hope that was gold dust, a soothing medicine for the soul. He eased into the newly formed connection between him and Nick, letting those feelings associated with the memory expand outward, touching the corners of Nick’s own mind. Sleep, he murmured, speaking without moving his mouth - his psychic tone was calm too, encouraging, leaving burdens and weights behind. Any raging thunderstorms associated with those other not-so-pleasant memories would come to a rest - it wasn’t time for that now, just for this. For a warmth that felt like home. Sleep - and he gently pulled the mental blinds closed; Nick wouldn’t feel any pain, he’d just drift off. And Dan would watch over him from here. Because a nap really did do the restless mind, body, and spirit some damn good. |