I Moderate (i_moderate) wrote in we_archive, @ 2006-05-13 01:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | barbara gordon, jake chambers, roland deschain |
i_throwplates Let Nothing Bleed Into Nothing [Babs first, then Roland]
Jake wasn't getting any better.
The touch of Delirium had hurt him, badly. The small part of his mind that still seemed capable of rational thought had deduced that, if he was in the state he was currently in back in old New York City, he would have been making baskets in the Sunnyvale Sanitarium by now.
With his mind fractured into two, he had still been able to keep some distinction between the two. They had merged at times, like when he became obsessed with doors a few days ago. Completely obsessed. He'd have to open them two, three, up to seven or eight times in a row before turning aside and almost collapsing from grief when the scenery on the other side refused to be the desert, or the mountains, or even the Oracle's speaking-ring. There was a limited number of doors in Bab's home. Jake knew them all. Every crack, blister, scratch, and scuff.
After he'd died again, in his mind, Jake had locked himself in his room.
Oy was the only living thing whose presence he could tolerate for an extended time. Helena was only rarely referred to by her name - other times, he called her Greta, or worse, Mrs. Shaw. Likewise, Babs was mostly Susannah or Suze. If they dared come in, he was minimally responsive.
There were occasional screams. Shrieks of terror as they traveled under the mountains. Frantic cries of "Oh Jesus, mister, come up!" When Roland descended into the cellars again. Or, a shout of coherent words: "Go then. There are other worlds than these." Ending with a cry that cut off all too abruptly.
And then five minutes. Five glorious, blessed, unequivocal minutes of silence.
He hated that silence more than anything.
It was a mockery. A tease. A brief, brief reminder of what he had been. Who he was. A five minute window of rational thought. It was a good think Barbara had taken his weapons away from him. Jake came close to killing himself each time that reprieve came.
Black circles were under his eyes. His body only rested when it collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Eating had also been a problem. It had become so difficult a task to accomplish, that more times than not, Jake simply skipped the process. The voices in his mind continued their tiresome and tedious war, each growing louder with every repetition.
Sprawled face-down on the bed, the pillow over his head did nothing to ward off the voices. Absolutely nothing. Jake started punching at his skull through the pillow, until Oy caught his fingers in the bumbler's mouth to make Jake stop hurting himself..
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 09:02:50
Babs' own mindset was nowhere near the wrealm of Jake's, but that didn't mean in recent weeks she hadn't had issues of her own. It had begun to feel like everything that she had to do and concentrate on had fallen into her lap at once.
Jake's condition had been simple to deal with at first. Even as it progressed and was worsened by Delirium's touch. She'd been able to handle it and devote full attention to it at home. Having Helena and, sometimes, Max around had helped to. She still had the other two girls around, but it was getting to the point where Jake couldn't be her soul focus as she was forced to spend more and more time up in her attic offices.
Arkham was slowly being restaffed, cleaned, and in places remodeled. Jack had been arrested and she was supposed to testify against him. Harvey Dent was the prosecutor. She hadn't yet found Roland, not definitely anyway. New metas were turning up on her monitors every day.
And on top of it all she still had to go to work, because they needed to eat.
Babs was just tired. Very tired. She was used to this sort of thing, the exhaustion and frustration that came with it. But she was also used to getting a respite at some point. That had yet to come, and possibly wouldn't until this trial was over. She had the slightly pesimistic feeling that Oracle would be doubly busy while that media blitz was going on. Jack always loved his sensationalism.
As she took the elevator to the second floor she almost considered catching a catnap. Two minutes of sleep was better than nothing. Even having that thought, though, confirmed to her that she needed to keep her mind focused. She could catch a few hours before her midnight watch once everything was done for the day. All that was left was checking on Jake.
The elevator stopped and Babs moved out of it, yawning ever so slightly as she made her way down to the boy's room. She raised her hand and knocked gently as was custom before opening the door and going in.
"Hey, Jake," she said softly, moving over to his bed.
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 09:14:57
You died.
No I didn't.
I don't care anymore.
Oy had been curled up, lying on Jake's back. When Babs came in, the billy-bumbler moved, stepping off of him and nuzzling the boy's neck, gently. "Ake," he barked, softly. "Abs. Ake."
Reluctantly, Jake pushed the pillow off his head. His eyes first found the wheelchair
(Suzannah!)
but then he forced them upward and found Barbara looking down at him. In another world, the gunslinger was telling the tale of his coming of age, when he had sacrificed a falcon and earned his father's guns.
"H--," he said. His voice was raw, so he tried clearing his throat. "Hi." It came out better this time.
Oy slid himself under Jake's hand. The boy looked at him, and the lightest turn of his lips hinted at a possible smile. "Good boy."
"Oy," said the bumbler, in his usual way of repeating of his name. His golden-rimmed eyes blinked slowly at his master before turning towards Barbara. Jake's eyes followed a moment later.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 09:20:42
With the pillow removed, she could reach out and feel his forehead. Not that it told her anything, there was no fever, but it was instinct and she couldn't help it. If it weren't there she would be stroking his hair, which she did anyway.
"I didn't know if you'd want me to bring up dinner," Babs said. His eating habits had been sporadic. She was never quite sure when he'd want to eat, or how much. "How're you feeling?"
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 09:33:55
Eyes shut at the touch. It wasn't much, but it was more than he'd had. Physical comfort. The simple knowledge that someone knew what was happening to him. That someone cared. Oy was helping too, in his own way, but the feel of another person was enough to help him bring enough focus to the world he currently populated.
Dinner. Food? He shook his head. "Not hungry. Thanks." The natural inclination to be polite that not even madness could take away.
Jake forced his eyes open and looked at her. "No luck yet?" He tried to hide the anxiety from his eyes, but he couldn't be sure how well that would work anymore.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 09:42:36
"No. I..." Babs sighed, not being able to help the feelings of guilt that surged. It wasn't as if she hadn't been trying when it came to finding Roland, but brief glimpses of someone who could be him just weren't enough.
She still felt horrible. As if she'd failed him, and would continue to until she found his father.
She continued running her fingers through his hair. "I'm still working on it. He'll come up. I know how much you need him, it's just been a long haul."
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 10:00:47
He caught a sense of her frustration. She didn't know what she was looking for. She knew details, but not how to piece them together.
"I can..." At least, he thought he could. "I can show you. What he looks like."
Physical touch made it easier. He could feel the emotions from her that much more clearly. And he could see the gunslinger ever time he shut his eyes.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 10:06:01
"You can?" She looked at him curiously. Maybe he could, but was it such a good idea if once considered the state he was in? She wasn't going to be the one to make him do something that only made things worse for his mind. "Is that a good idea?"
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 10:08:45
He managed a grin, for a moment looking like his old self. "It's not catching, Suz-- Barbara." He took a breath and nodded, focusing his concentration. "I can." He sounded a bit more confident this time.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 10:17:46
One of these days she would ask him who Susannah was. Jake had called her the name often enough that she was curious now. She just hadn't gotten an answer out of him yet.
Babs nodded, mustering a smile of her own when he grinned and hoping it didn't look too tired. "I'm at the point where any help is good help, so... alright. Just don't hurt yourself."
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 10:25:38
Jake shook his head, but didn't respond in words. He was already hurting - this would do more good than harm, if it helped. He planed one of his hands over the one she had on his head, and shut his eyes.
Images of Roland came to his mind, without effort. The gunslinger was always there. Concentrating, he pushed them out, towards her, gently. He didn't want to hurt her.
Along with the images of Roland came an unexpected and unforseen wave of emotion. Jake was too emotionally tied to him for it not to happen. A deep well of love, trust, respect... even the lightest touch of fear that only made the love stronger.
Jake lowered his hand after the transfer, unaware of the emotional baggage that had gone with the images. "Did it work?"
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 10:38:29
It had worked. Perhaps a little too well?
Babs felt as if she'd played the part of a vouyer. Unintentionally, but it had happened nevertheless. The images of his father were planted firmly in her brain, which had been the point, but she also got, it seemed, every single emotion Jake had ever tied to the man.
Powerful emotions that while they didn't change her mood or her way of thought, they certainly had an effect.
The images recieved helped too. Immensely even. Mentally, without even being at her computer screen to look she could eliminate several pieces of of footage which she'd tagged as possibly being Roland. The rest would be easily reviewed when she went back to work, but it was a start.
"Thank you. That should help." Babs' hand moved to clutch his. She paused a moment. "You really love him."
,b>From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 10:56:17</b>
Caught off guard by her statement, Jake's eyes were filled with naked emotion. He clutched her hand back. "Yeah." Jake nodded. "Yeah," he said again, needing to turn his eyes away. "He's my father. Not like the asshole who got my mother pregnant. My father, my teacher, my dinh."
His eyes shut again. "I've never forgotten his face."
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 11:24:01
"And you shouldn't. You're not supposed to forget your parents." She faltered just a bit, thinking about what she'd just said. "Well... the ones who raised you, anyway. I was adopted... technically. "
Her own family history was convoluted in a way. She couldn't remember more than snippits about her biological parents. As far as she was concerned, Jim and Barbara Gordon were her father and mother.
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 11:50:53
Another touch of a smile. "I've known Roland for less than a year," he said. Then paused. "I think." Time had been strange. Often stopping completely, sometimes much too fast.
Time doesn't matter when you're dead.
Time matters a LOT when I'm perfectly ALIVE.
Died. Crushed. Purgatory. Mountains. Dropped. Dead again.
Still living. Talking to Barbara.
Jake's hands went to his temples. "Whatever. He's..."
going to kill you/holding me/letting you fall/killing me/saving you/pulling me out of the door/teaching you to build a fire/he never existed
All at once, each clear and spoken in his own voice. Jake squeezed his eyes shut. The last voice had been the hardest hit. For the first time, doubt had blossomed in him. "Roland?"
Oy looked from the boy to the woman and back, a strange expression of clear concern on his narrow face.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/13/2006 11:54:30
"He's...Roland?" Babs repeated skeptically. It seemed repetative. He wasn't making anymore sense now, perhaps less even.
She stroked his hair and shook her head. "Roland's not here. Not yet. Soon, I promise."
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/13/2006 12:22:13
Eyes still shut, Jake tried to ignore the warring voices in his mind. The awareness that someone else was there faded. The boy rolled onto his side, away from her, pressing his face into his pillow.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/13/2006 23:16:23
He was a danger.
A man on the brink of everlasting madness with two heavy weighted sandalwood pistols --prepared to fire at any moment-- hung loose upon his hips. Skinny hips. Sick. Dying. He wasn't eating. He couldn't find the strength to make it to food. Only what was in reach of his arms -- the young girl's noodles of the ramen -- and what was on his person -- a few strips of salted beef.
From the outside he looked frail. Skin barely hanging onto bone. A skeleton in western garb, walking through the sunny streets of an unfamiliar territory. His appearance alone frightened a few people to the opposte side of the street. But those who looked into his eyes? They saw a furious strength and determination that most men lacked.
The gunslinger had a purpose. The gunslinger had a goal. He was on a quest. But the madness? The madness was burning into his brain and he knew that he couldn't last like this for much longer. Not so long as the fire was eating him from the inside out.
"Killed the boy ... Killed the boy ..."
Hands reached out for a wall, clinging to the bricks in order to remain standing.
"There is not boy ... there is ... let him fall ... the Tower ..."
His knees wanted to buckle. They were close. But they didn't. He held strong. This was not his time. This could not be his time. Only if Ka willed it. Not now. Not today. Not before the Tower. Not before he'd seen the tower with waking eyes.
So he continued. Towards the Tower. Towards the boy? There is no boy. There is.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 16:56:13
The only way Babs convinced herself it was alright to move away from Jake's said was by telling herself that it did no good to sit there if he wouldn't respond. And it seemed that she'd gotten all the response she was going to get from him for the moment.
Still, she promised both him and herself she would be back when she woke for the midnight shift. Even if he'd be asleep then she needed to check on him.
Babs went back out to the elevator, deciding to go up to the attic once more before sleeping. Maybe nothing would be different, but at least she could tell herself she'd tried. It had to be easier now, right? With a much clearer image of Roland in her mind.
The monitors glowed in her face when she reached them. She touched the keyboard gently, looking at each screen individually and then zooming in to examine each scene carefully. There were eight in total and nothing interesting until the sixth.
The sixth prompted her to leave the attic. Immediately. She grabbed her staff and the and a fistful of small weapons from her top drawer. Toys left over from her rooftop swinging days. Her aim with a batarang was still first rate, and they'd come in handy. Though now, it was all just a precaution.
She took the elevator down and from there moved out her front door as fast as she could. She lived seven houses down from the corner, which was her destination and it seemed tonight that she was going rather slowly. Probably because she was in more of a rush than she had been in days. The figure walking towards her house... she had to reach him.
And she did, staff extended and batarang in one hand. Precautions. But necessary ones. The man was dressed like a cowboy, just like Jake had shown her. There were guns at his side, though as tired and worn as he looked, Babs was sure she could throw the weapon before he drew. Guns made her extremely nervous.
"Are you Roland Deschain?"
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 18:39:20
But just because he appeared to be in a physical state of exhaustion, posed to fall and decompose at any moment, didn't mean that his skills as a gunslinger were any less honed. He'd been training since he was child. It was a life he was born to. And he had his left pistol drawn from the moment she came into sight. Aimed dead center of her forehead.
Susannah? No. She's not fast enough.
His right hand had fumbled a bit. The lack of fingers and the state of his mind had confused him momentarily. Too long of a moment in gunslinger life, but not long enough for her to have caused too much of a problem. That is, unless he was underestimating her abilities. Just as he had initially underestimated Eddie and Detta and Odetta. He didn't think so, though.
He narrowed his eyes. The world was blurring, but he wouldn't let her know that.
"Speak your name and the name of your father before you."
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 18:56:28
Her nails bit into the flesh of her palm once the gun was drawn and it took her a moment to answer his question. She only did so after reminding herself that she was doing this for Jake. She was looking straight at a gun for Jake.
Babs squeezed her hand around the staff. "Barbara Gordon, and it doesn't matter who my father is. I have your son."
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 19:01:43
"Who your father is is the only thing that matters."
It was a matter of necessity as much as it was courtesy. With one sentence she was trying his patience.
His finger hung steadily near that trigger, just waiting for her to make the wrong move or say the wrong thing. He didn't know this place. He didn't trust this place. He didn't trust these people. Buildings existed and then were gone. People were there and disappeared. And everything was loud.
Son? Son. Son? I have no son.
"Who is your father and where do you hail from?"
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 19:11:35
"Roger Gordon from Chicago," Babs said, her voice tight growing anger. "I was raised by Jim Gordon in Gotham." She wasn't stupid and she had exceptional vision, even in the dusk she could see his finger at the trigger. She wasn't getting shot again.
"Does that answer your question or are we turning this into a full interogation? If we are might I suggest we take it inside? Maybe to Jake's room."
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 19:16:08
Barbara of Gotham in the line of Gordon.
Roland didn't know her. The corner of his left eye twitched. He was feeling nauseous. Dizzy. And yet he still held a strong immobile stance. He was thinking. But thinking was on the same edge of all of his reactions. Including killing. And therefore the two weren't far apart.
There is a boy. There is no boy. But there was and there wasn't--
"I have no son. I am the last."
Or was the last until Eddie and Susannah. But they were gone. They weren't here. And for all he knew they never were to begin with. He was the last again.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 19:31:52
She shook her head and pointed down the street, careful not to take her eye off of him. "Jake. Jake Chambers. He's in his room now, in my house down the street and he told me to find you." Babs glared at the man. Gun or no she would get upset if she didn't come through for Jake.
"I would hate to have to disapoint him," she said. "Now. Are you Roland Deschain?"
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 19:36:30
"Roland ... Jake ..."
For a moment his vision wavered. Quick and fleeting, but it was there. He was no longer one man. He was two. Two different sets of memories. Two very different directions. And two very distinct impressions.
Torn.
And then he staggered. Pistol lowering as he stepped back up against the wall to hold his balance. It hurt. The pain in his head was overwhelming.
"There was a boy ... There was no boy... There was ... The Tower ... The Tower..."
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 19:42:39
Great. Wonderful. He was just as out of it as Jake was. Not that the boy hadn't warned her, but was it too much to ask for at least one break?
At least the gun was somewhat out of the picture, what with him losing balance and stumbling. Babs was hesitant in moving forward, and didn't just yet. The only change she made was to put down the batarang, and she worried that even that might not have been the smartest move.
"Jake is... he's pretty much in the same state you're in," she spoke slowly. "I can take you to him." She wasn't sure yet what she'd do if he didn't respond in the proper way.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 19:48:46
"There is no Jake..."
That was what one half of his memory said.
"Jake ... The boy ... The way station..."
That was what the other half of his memory said.
His fingers clenched harder around the handle of the pistol, although it was no longer facing her directly. It was a large weapon, and even though he was accustomed to its weight, it felt like it was getting heavier and heavier within his grip.
Sick. He was not well. But none of Eddie's Rexes could help him.
"...Losing my mind..."
He thought he heard that tittering laughter again. Did she hear it? Was his mind fooling him?
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 19:55:43
"Right then." Babs looked at him for a long moment before heaving a sigh. She clicked the button on her staff and it slid inward, colapsing on itself. She pushed her chair forward with one hand and reached out with the other.
"Here's the deal. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. I can help. But you're going to have to come with me. Back to my house, alright?" More guns in her house. It made her want to be physically ill, but if this was what it was going to take, she'd do it. There was no way she was going to try to get him to disarm when he couldn't even string together a proper sentence. An unhinged man with guns could do anything, even when being asked to disarm.
She reached out again. "Come on."
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 20:02:45
She was too close. And the gunslinger wasn't a personal man. When she reached out her hand, he stepped back. As best he could, of course, without toppling over.
His finger was twitching now. It was becoming erratic. He wasn't safe. He wasn't focused. He didn't realize until this moment how very far from composed he actually was.
He slowly holstered the gun.
It was a start.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/14/2006 20:14:54
"That's good." She forced her voice to sound coaxing. It was a bit easier with the gun holstered.
Babs didn't attempt to move forward that way, instead she started moving back. Towards her house. "I promise I'll help. Just follow me. I'm the house down the street... that blue one with the porch light on."
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/14/2006 20:33:41
Roland could feel gravity pulling on him, trying to drag him into the hard ground. The cement, was it? He wanted to let it and he didn't at the same time.
With one hand propped against the wall he followed her.
Slow. Reluctant. Shut off.
His heart wasn't into this. Because there was no boy and there was. It didn't matter.
The only thing that mattered was that he was so far from the Tower right now that he felt he would never reach it.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/15/2006 05:02:27
Babs moved slowly at his side, keeping one eye on him and the other on the sidewalk. One hand was moving her chair along while the other was ready bother to grab a weapon, or to grab and steady him if needed.
They reached her house and she led him up the ramp in front and through the front door which she'd left unlocked.
"Elevator, right over there," she said, and pointed to it. It would be a tight fit, but no way was she going to let him take the stairs.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/15/2006 05:12:26
Once he was walking, he was fine though. It was those periods of long standing in one position that made it difficult on him. And his hands, albeit shaking more than they had ever done in his life, kept near the pistols. Ready to draw at any moment.
He was sick. He was dying. He was insane. But he wouldn't let his guard down.
Elevator. He thought he remembered one from his time with Mort. From being inside the mind of the Pusher. He would have preferred the stairs, but she got that voice about her all of a sudden. That same voice Susannah got when she was telling him not to underestimate her because of the wheelchair.
For the moment he wasn't going to argue.
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/15/2006 05:21:30
Ake seemed to be sleeping. But there were noises in the hallway that were making Oy nervous. Sounds he'd heard before, and a fall of boothells that..
Ake let out a low whimper. It made Oy's fur rise, but he stood by his master. Cautiously, he nuzzled Ake's cheek.
The boy flinched away from the touch, but his eyes blinked, blinked, opened.
"Roland?"
The door! Jake sat up in the bed, turned towards the door, and held himself. He'd been fooled before. This would surely end the same way, with an empty hallway behind that plank of wood.
There! his mind cried. This time! This is the one! This is the one!
He pushed himself out of the bed and started walking towards the door, hand reaching out and grasping the knob, turning it...
From: i_seeall Date: 05/15/2006 07:24:44
The elevator jerked to a stop, and Babs pushed out just as she saw the knob at Jake's door turn. What was he doing out of bed? She was going to assume it was him because there were no alarms going off.
She shook her head and sighed, beckoning Roland forward. Guns in her house, insane children out of bed... she couldn't wait to restore some sort of order. After she slept.
Though, if this went as Jake had said it would, then she would perhaps be getting that sooner than she'd thought.
"Jake." Babs reached out and pushed the door in slowly, making sure she didn't hit the boy on the other side. "Come out here, I've found... well, he found us."
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/15/2006 09:23:21
Roland felt it too. He felt it, but he didn't trust it. And the rustling of the creature in the other room, and the creaking of the door just as it was about to be opened -- it all brought upon his gunslinger quickness. This could have been a trap. He'd been fooled before as well.
Left pistol was drawn again, lever pulled back. Then the fingers, or what was left of them, of his right hand hovered near his hip again. Prepared to be used even if it would involve a fumble and moment of awkward repositioning.
There is no boy.
You killed him.
Pushed him.
Like the Pusher.
Dead.
Way station.
Jawbone.
Sacrificed for the Tower.
Is a boy, was a boy, is no boy, was no boy--
There was a fleeting flinch. Barbara of Gotham would not be happy to see him with his guns raised again. Jake? Was it Jake? Jake was the boy. The boy he killed. The boy he had to destroy in order to make it to the Tower. Go. There are other worlds than these. Other worlds. Other worlds.
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/15/2006 09:54:13
The door opened. And Jake Chambers drew in a sharp breath, looking up into the face of the man he called Father.
He saw the gun, but only as it was included in his field of vision. It was not a weapon, the man who held it was the weapon, but Jake felt no fear. Even if Roland pulled the trigger. Death was no longer a dreaded unknown to this boy. Death was a faithful companion.
But Death was not here today.
Jake looked up at Roland, and the voices in his mind ceased. "Hile, Roland," he said to the gunslinger, and then threw his arms around Roland's waist, hugging tightly as the tears began to flow freely from his eyes.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/15/2006 11:48:05
Voice was caught in his throat. Thoughts were caught in his mind. He didn't shoot. He didn't stagger. The boy was there and his arms were around him and Roland was lost. Lost and found at the same moment.
He saw the boy and he remembered exactly everything that he had done. All of the pain and all of the suffering he had put the child through. Everything to reach the Tower. The Tower he still wasn't even remotely close to reaching.
But he was different. He could tell from appearance as well as the embrace. This was the boy. But this was not the same boy.
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/15/2006 12:04:57
Jake could feel the confusion from the gunslinger. Felt him trying to puzzle it out. Reluctantly, he pulled back from him embrace. "Roland?"
He could see it himself now. Changes. Differences. Minor, but still there. The shirt he wore - that had been a tattered ruin before they'd even made it to the Callah. The guns - both of them - in Roland's holsters. Even the wounded hand, now still red-sore and barely healed.
This was not the Roland that had crossed the Wastelands. Not the Roland who had danced the commala. Those events had not yet happened.
"Gunslinger?"
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/15/2006 12:17:33
There was no danger here. At least, not yet. Not so far as the gunslinger could tell. And even under extreme exhaustion, he could normally tell. He holstered the pistol, feeling more balanced with the double weights on both sides of his hips. He looked at the chair bound woman and then over to the boy who had slipped out of the half-embrace.
"Boy who was and then that wasn't?"
Jake. The boy's name was Jake. He let him fall. He let him fall. Slow mutants and he let the boy fall. And then the palaver with the man in black.
He closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/15/2006 12:23:52
"Jake. I'm Jake," he said. His expression crumbled a bit. But Roland hadn't had to deal with this twice. It was still just his first hit.
"It's okay, Roland." His small hand slipped into Roland's larger one. The gunslinger looked exhausted.
Jake turned his eyes away for a moment to look at Babs. His smile was small, slight, but grateful. Incredibly grateful.
And then his attentions returned to the man. "Come on. You can rest now." Sleep, real sleep, would do them both a world of good.
From: i_seeall Date: 05/15/2006 12:38:30
Babs let out something very much akin to a sigh of relief. She tried to go give those much, only because they tended to not end stressful situations, but escalate them.
But when nothing came crashing through the window, and Roland didn't suddenly decide to pull out one of his guns, Babs let the rest of the sigh out. She was suddenly tired again.
"He'll stay in your room?" She asked Jake softly. "I'll... I'll be back down at midnight. Are you two going to need anything now? Does he need anything?"
From: i_throwplates Date: 05/15/2006 12:42:11
Jake looked at Roland, and back at Babs. "Not now. Just sleep." Gently, he tugged Roland's hand, to lead him into the room. "Thankee, Sai-Gordon. Thankee big."
From: i_seekthetower Date: 05/15/2006 12:50:27
Sleep. Rest. He felt like it had been years since he had been given that opportunity. And perhaps it had been. Time moved differently in these worlds. The world was moving on. All of them. Just at different speeds. It was difficult for Roland to adjust.
But that's what he did. He moved on as well. Moved on and adjusted. Knowing that eventually he would reach the Tower and he would --
Well, things would make sense.
He looked to the woman in the chair as he was being led down the hallway, and for a split second he showed a glimmer of that old Gilead courtesy. It was a slow motion. A tired one. But he did it anyway. He tipped the brim of his hat. And then walked into the room.