towerofanimus | Finally, another party

Entry tags:

Finally, another party

Characters: ProtoLancer

puppy_lancer, Zero Lancer

oathshackledbird and anyone interested in attending a birthday party. Details here.
Setting: Meadow
Format: Anything goes
Summary: Lancer throws his brother a party. Everyone can come except for the Archer (meaning they can come crash the party anyways)! Feel free to tag into any of the threads set up or invent your own scenario.
Warnings: None yet!

[It had taken some preparing, but the party was finally set up in a satisfactory way. There was a table for food and drink dragged in from the cafeteria, a wooden bucket filled with water with fruit floating in it, a strange paper mache Jason head pinata stacked on a scarecrow body, and a board with a pig with a Ganon head scribbled on it along with several spiraling paper "tails" attached to thumbtacks. There are no party decorations, but Lancer figures the flowers and sunshine should be decoration enough.]

[Now it's just a matter of waiting for people to show up.]

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[Despite his first urge being to scold his brother for wasting how much time and effort that could have been spent elsewhere making things safer in the tower, that smile causes any words he might have been thinking to flee. It is why he has such a hard time telling his brother that he shouldn't do some of the things he does. Diarmuid likes seeing people happy and more than anything he wishes his brother to be happy.

Diarmuid returns the hug, letting himself laugh a little at his brother's enthusiasm.]

I think the date of the party is less important than the reason it is being thrown for, right?

[He gives his brother a truly grateful look.]

It is not so much a party to celebrate my birth, but a party to help raise everyone's spirits after all that happened. Seeing my friends happy even if for a short time is the best present you could ever give me. Thank you, brother.

[Cu Chulainn gives a barking laugh. He's glad to see that he managed to make his brother happy.]

Don't be too quick to say that now. Wait until you see what I got you as a present! But before that...

[He looks over at the food table.]

Let's go get a drink together! Celebrate the old fashioned way!

[His first instinct is to resist because he has plans to talk to several people if they show up at the party, but in the end, Diarmuid lets his brother pull him toward the drink table. He had always known well his limits during his first life and he can't imagine those limits have lessened since he became a servant. If anything they probably have gone up since his body is more than human now.

One or two drinks wouldn't hurt and would probably make his brother happy in the process.]

You know you didn't have to get me anything, right? This party is more than enough!

[Though he can't help but be both curious and a little worried about the trouble his brother might have gotten into getting him this present.]

Brother, if it's for you? It's never just enough.

[Cu Chulainn lets go of Diarmuid to pour himself a drink. He then chugs it, very quickly. Too quickly for someone who is supposed to be happy and relaxed, in fact.]

[Diarmuid doesn't miss how quickly that drink disappears and his expression grows more serious.]

If it is for me, will you tell me what is bothering you so when we are suppose to be happy?

I...nothing.

[He shakes his head, as if trying to clear it.]

Just been a long time since I've been able to grab a drink is all.

[Diarmuid reaches out and puts a hand on his brother's shoulder before leaning his head down close to the other man's ear so that he will hear his soft words.]

Please...don't lie to me.

I...

[He twitches, just a little. It's hard for him to say this.]

Yeah, I've got a thing or two. It's silly, though.

If they are bothering you this much, they aren't silly.

[Diarmuid's voice remains low so that those around them can't hear what he is saying.]

You are my brother. Your problems are mine no matter how small they are.

[He frowns.]

And...what if it's just something that has to do with you? And I should've gotten over that something already?

Then it's even more important that you talk to me about it.

[Though, from the sudden sick twisting in Diarmuid's stomach, he can guess what it is that is bothering his brother so.]

Emotions don't run on 'should haves,' brother. I wish they did, but they don't. It would make things far too easy.

[He quietly weighs the pros and the cons, and then decides that maybe he can talk about it. Just a little.]

Uh...well...have you notice anything going on when I sleep?

[Diarmuid gives him a curious look.]

You mean besides you stealing all the blankets or trying to kick me out of bed?

[He blushes and then chuckles.]

Come on, I don't do that all the time. And I'm not the one who makes faces in their sleep.

[Strangely, Lancer was always still when he had his nightmares, since at that moment, everything else would freeze in favor of focusing on the horrors playing in his mind. Stealing blankets or rolling all over the place was his behavior when he was sleeping well.]

I've just been having some problems falling asleep.

[His nightmares had never been so vivid of so frequent. His most horrible memories--the times he had been forced to betray another, the times he himself had been betrayed--all strung together into some new dream. Perhaps the most horrible scene would have to be his memory of Diarmuid's curse. Even after Diarmuid forgave him for everything, the memory refuse to go away.]

[On some nights, the nightmares would be so bad that he would wake up from one and be unable to sleep again for fear of going back into the nightmares. And he definitely didn't want Ayaka to accidentally see his dreams and be tormented by the same things that he was. When that happened, he would just quietly lie close to his brother until morning came. Of course, during the nights that he was alone in his room, he didn't sleep at all. It was pathetic, really.]

I make faces in my sleep?

[The question is honest, but Diarmuid can guess the answer. If he is, it is probably because he is caught up in memory nightmares of his own. Actually, if all he is doing is making faces, then he is lucky. He had been bolting upright in bed and even screaming or crying on really bad nights. Since he had been spending nights with his brother so near or in Waver's room, he had been training himself to be still no matter the horrors playing through his mind. The last thing he wanted them to do is have reason to worry about him more than they already do.]

Do I...do anything else? Is that why you are having trouble sleeping?

Well, yeah. I mean, you'd frown and wince. Think there was once when you cried too. And it was pretty unsettling the first few times I woke up to that.

[He scratches his head.]

...Don't laugh, but I...um...kinda held you then.

[He held his brother tight every time he woke up from those nightmares. Whether it was out fear or concern for his brother.]

But no. That's not what keeps me up.

No, I won't laugh. Thank you. It is appreciated. I am sure I slept much better afterward because you were there.

[It is appreciated. In fact, it touches Diarmuid deep down that his brother has gone to such lengths to comfort him, but Diarmuid is obviously going to have to try harder to hide when he is having nightmares. If he can. It is one thing to school reactions that happen when you are awake or waking up, but much harder to control them when you are within the grips of the nightmare itself.]

If it is not that keeping you up, what is? Is there something I can do to help?

Well...uh...can Servants dream? Or, more specifically, can they get nightmares?

I don't believe they are suppose to, but considering what the tower has done to us who knows if that is still true.

[Though, Diarmuid knows that as twisted and horrible as his nightmares are, they are not truly nightmares. They are only his own memories.]

Are you having them? Is that why you are asking?

Kinda. It's like...just a lot of bad memories all strung together.

[He gives a bitter laugh.]

It's stupid, but sometimes I can't fall asleep because I keep seeing those things.

[Diarmuid shakes his head.]

It's not stupid. That...that is the exact same thing that is causing me to make faces in my sleep and to cry.

Perhaps...because we cannot dream like normal people do, this is how our minds try to deal with the things that have happened. I don't know. It is terrible, though.

Is there anything I can do to help you?

[Right now, Lancer feels even more embarrassed than before. He had been busy whining about his nightmares, but he had only been having them frequently in the recent two weeks or so. Who knows how long Diarmuid had been having his nightmares? And of course, Lancer had never noticed because he was too busy sleeping.]

Not die in my nightmares?

[He says dryly.]

...That's a joke, you know.

[Diarmuid frowns shaking his head. Maybe it would have been funnier if he didn't realize that since he and his brother have died together more than once it is very possible that his brother does dream of his death.

He knows he has watched his brother die more than once in his own dreams.]

I wonder if talking about these things would help the dreams or only make them worse.

[He's just going to ignore the joke. It is for the best.]

[He winces. If they were going to talk about Cu Chulainn's nightmares, then they would need to talk about one scene that kept turning up in them.]

[And since Diarmuid himself doesn't remember, it would be best to mention that incident as little as possible.]

Well, that depends. I mean, it might make me feel better and make you feel worse?

Ah, so they are about that time.

[His brother doesn't need to be specific. It's easy for Diarmuid to guess that the memories involve that time he cannot remember.]

I'm sorry... I wish there was something I could do to make things right. So much has changed and I don't even remember why...

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