A Meeting Among the Dead

[Ashe Senari]

"Go take a nap, I'm still not tired. I'll just sit here and draw," Ashe told him, going back to her half-finished drawing of Kharen. She was working on shading and adding color now as she studied him briefly. The Echani had created a near perfect image of him on the datapad by the time she was finished. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

"Are you sure?" He looked at her, unsure if he should say anything to the girl he had been sitting round for and keeping an eye on before nodding. "Just... if i start to get bad in my shaking or start screaming, please try to wake me up..." He looked at her and stood up slowly, moving over to the bed and began to lay down without removing any of his clothing or fiber armor, and holding his saber in hand. "See you in a bit."

 

[Ashe Senari]

"If you want I could simply knock you out so you sleep dreamlessly," Ashe offered, only half joking as she finished the last few details of her sketch. She looked over at him, waiting for an answer. She knew quite a few ways to knock someone out that weren't terribly painful. She had offered this same thing to Yusan when he was having trouble sleeping. At one point he had even said yes to her offer. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

"Im fine, just do what i asked Ashe, ok?" He said with his back to her, even curling up and pulling the cloak he had on around him, as if already getting ready for what he saw when he slept... he hated Sleep. His eyes closed slowly and in less than a minute his body went relaxed a bit as his mind attempted to get teh very sleep it so desired.

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe nodded, she would do what he had asked of her. She owed him after all. She went back to drawing for a bit, glancing up every once in awhile to check on him. So far he looked like he was sleeping peacefully. It was kind of cute, she thought. She was tempted to draw him, but deciding that would be weird she settled for drawing an old childhood memory of her and her little sister sparring together as kids. She was also singing softly as she worked, making sure to keep her volume low to avoid disturbing Kharen. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

It wouldn't take him long before his body started to twitch, his face already contorting in pain and if Ashe had been able to see his aura it would be leaking fear. Infact she would start to feel that fear and pain because of his empathy, which also now was going out of whack as she would feel it, then it would stop, then she would feel him connecting again, then stopping. Each connection sending a concentrated exposure of pure emotions and then stopping suddenly so, and the pain and fear that was in those emotions would make anyone wonder how this man stayed sane.

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe sighed and got up. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed before gently shaking Kharen's shoulder. The Echani waited a few minutes before shaking him again. When he still didn't wake she sighed and climbed on top of him, straddling his waist before grabbing him by both shoulders and shaking him violently.

"Hey Kharen! Wake up!" She called. When Ashe claimed her social skills were lacking, she wasn't kidding. She had no idea that what she was doing was definitely not the polite way to wake someone. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

Her shaking only added as his twitches started getting worse, his eyes squeezing harder and his hands curling into firsts, finally his mind linking with hers and a sudden burst of every emotion he was feeling would hit Ashe like a cannon ball. His empathy sent a barrage of fear, uselessness, anger, hate, sorrow, pain, all of it at once and his hands came up to his head as he curled into a tight ball, still trapped in his sleeping tortured state.

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe was actually physically knocked back a bit by the wave of emotion. She focused her mind and steadied her breathing, forcing herself to remain calm. She was running out of ideas on how to wake him up. She could try slapping him, but that didn't sounded like the best plan. The warrior settled for shifting her position so she was next to him and wrapping her arms around him. She forced herself to stay calm, hoping he would sense it and calm down himself. She also sang quietly as she held him, remembering an old lullaby she had heard somewhere when she was younger. Hopefully her actions would be enough to either calm him, or wake him. She held him tightly, waiting to see what happened. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

His actions became worse instead, as he was instead percieving the touches as something far different and finally his eyes opened and his body turned, the cold metal of the Emitter placed under Ashe's jaw and the saber still powered off. His eyes were still wide and filled with fear, so much so he didn't realize who was there and was breathing hard as he kept the saber pressed under her jaw.

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe continued to remain calm as she slowly released her hold on him. She kept her hands where he could see them and rolled to the side, off of the bed. She pushed herself up, still keeping her hands in sight and away from the vibrodagger at her belt. She backed up a few steps and spoke calmly.

"Kharen, it's okay. It's just me. I'm not going to hurt you okay? I tried to wake you, but I couldn't so I tried to be comforting, but you didn't like that either. Do you want me to go somewhere else so you can calm down?" Ashe kept her voice calm and remained in a non-threatening pose as she spoke to him. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

He still didn't get a hold of himself for a few moments, until finally his mind caught up with his body and he dropped the saber, breathing a bit harder now as he looked at the saber then Ashe and then his hands. "Ashe, leave, please." He pushed his body against the wall and curled his legs against his chest, trying to calm down but only focusing not now on the dreams but what he had almost done to Ashe.

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe sighed and walked over to him. She knelt in front of him and put her hand on his shoulder. What had happened wasn't his fault and Ashe intended to make him realize that. He had asked her to leave, but she knew if she did he'd just sit here, wallowing in his own guilt. She wouldn't allow that. She waited for him to look up at her before she spoke.

"Kharen, it's okay. You didn't know what was going on and... Well I probably didn't go about waking you up in a very good manner. You don't need to worry or feel guilty. I've faced things much more dangerous than you, and I've always come out alive. Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control," Ashe used the same calm voice she had before, then she stood up and walked to the door.

"I'll be in the cantina. Come join me for dinner when you calm down?" The warrior didn't wait for an answer before leaving, shutting the door softly behind her. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

He nodded, he didn't believe her though, it had been his shaking hands that had done that. He could have killed the person who was becoming his friend, a single more motion and he would have found himself with his friend dead beside him. He was shaking worse now, his body pressed int he corner of the bed and the room itself, staring at the backs of his eyelids while he remained like that for the next few hours, mind shutting out everything around him now.

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe sighed as she walked back to the room. She had a large box of food in her hand. She wasn't quite sure what Kharen would like to eat, so she got a mix of meat, fruit, and vegetables to bring back to him. She had had a couple drinks while in the cantina, but she was no where near drunk. She ordered two of her usual mixes of strong liquor mixed with some kind of juice, and then switched to drinking water. She openned the door and found Kharen curled up in the corner. She walked over to him slowly and set the box of still warm food beside him.

"Here, I got you something to eat. I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I got a mix of stuff," She explained sliding down to sit across from him. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

[member="Ashe Senari"]

He looked at her, his hands moving so that he could keep them away from Ashe and waited for her to sit across from him, he remained silent though and looked back at his hands as he closed his eyes and just laid his head against the metal again. He hated the dreams, he hated them, he wanted them gone. He briefly even glanced at the metal wall, thinking maybe if he hit his head against it hard enough that they would just disappear. Of course he realized how stupid that sounded, but the idea remained. "Im sorry..."

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe sighed and moved over to sit beside him. She wrapped her arms around him gently and pulled him against her. She rested his head against her chest and smiled gently down at him. The Echani sighed, humming softly for a few minutes before looking down at him and speaking.

"I can't imagine what it's like for you, but it might help if you had someone to talk to. Kharen I can't promise to solve all of your problems... But I can promise you don't need to face them alone. I'm your friend now and you're stuck with me. Please let me try to help you. If you wanna hit something, we can spar. You wanna cry? Come cry on my shoulder. You wanna scream about how horrible everything is? I'll be right there with you. I know we haven't know each other long, but you helped me, more than damn near everyone else in my life ever has. Whenever you need someone, no matter what time it is, no matter where you are, no matter where you want me to go, I'll do it. You can count on me Kharen. I'll be here for you no matter what. Once I'm in someone's life, I never leave, no matter what," Ashe felt a bit silly giving her little speech, but every word of it was true. She squeezed him lightly trying to be as comforting as possible. She wasn't very good with words, but she had a feeling this would be one of the few times that her harsh honesty and black and white assessment of things would actually be helpful. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

Kharen said nothing, his body was simply limp at this point and he wanted it all to go away, especially now that its been seen he can hurt those he actually calls friends. He wanted everything to shut off, all the lights, all the thoughts, all the deaths, he was done with every last single one of them and he could not stand it anymore as his hands came up to his head even as she held him, holding onto it.

[member="Ashe Senari"]

 

[Ashe Senari]

Ashe gently moved his hands away from his face and wrapped his arms round her waist. She hugged him tight and before gently tilting his face up. She kissed his cheek gently and hugged him again. She didn't say anything for awhile, instead she chose to hold him tightly and provide a silent form of comfort for a few minutes. She sang to him again, it was something she used to do for Yusan when he was upset. Finally she finished the song and looked down at him again.

"You can't just give up. We'll find a way to make all of this easier to deal with for you, I promise," Ashe whispered, resting her head against his as she continued to hold him. [member="Kharen Promethien"]

 

[Edric Vanyan]

He only nodded against her as he sat there, still fearful to do anything in the chance that he could cause his friend harm. He noticed her kiss his cheek though, not sure if she herself noticed she had done it. It was confusing to him at why she had done that, maybe he was overthinking it too much but he was still sufficiently confused to a great deal.

[member="Ashe Senari"]