[ When he finally wakes again it's sudden, eyes snapping open as he jolts upright as if from a nightmare. What--?
Reggie's head and body both ache terribly like a hangover, but it's not that, it's the confluence of memories rushing back into his already overcrowded brain, all his memories of Duplicity -- and the feelings that go with them -- cramming themselves into every possible corner of space until he feels like his head may just split open from the strain.
It's happened before, of course, the last time he "went home" and came back, but that had only been a year's worth of time-- this would be seven years (or is it five, counting the two plus he's already spent in Duplicity?) worth of new information that will take some time to fit together with everything else he already thought and felt and knew.
He looks across the room and sees the sleeping figure, recognizing and remembering her in bits and pieces: her face, her voice, her smile, her glow. ]
only a little. a light sort of wheeze deep in her chest. and only because she's propped against the wall, book in lap, clearly fallen asleep while trying to keep an eye on him.
but the sound of her name stirs her. slow, at first, then she jolts awake, sitting straighter, noticing that he's —
he's awake. ]
Reggie! [ she forgets about the book, lets it tumble out of her lap as she gets up to her knees and closes the distance to the edge of the bed. ] You're up. [ you're okay. ] Saints, it's been two days.
[ His arms open briefly, reflexively, and inexplicably in anticipation that she might embrace him, though then he drops them quickly enough, instead running a hand back through his hair.
Two days? Can that be right? ]
Only two?
[ That tracks well enough from his own previous experiences of this kind of thing happening, but still feels unbelievable. ]
But you weren't waiting in here this whole time, were you?
[ it is exactly now that alina realizes that maybe waiting bedside was a weird and dramatic thing to do.
she opens her mouth to answer, then draws her hands to fidget in front of her ribs. it gave them something to do that wasn't going for grabbing his hand and squeezing, now that his hand is well out of the way of her grasp in his hair. ]
For two straight days? [ spelling it out for herself helps alina adopt a baffled, defensive expression. ] No. No, that would — That would be ... weird, wouldn't it? [ she looks back at the spot on the floor, slowly pushing herself to her feet. ] That was ... I was just checking in, and I guess I was more tired than I realized.
[ Reggie parts his lips as she draws back, though a smile is already curving their edges, his heart warmed by the familiarity of her, which is the only bright point in the room that he otherwise only vaguely remembers is meant to be his. ]
Unnecessary maybe, and definitely not all that comfortable-lookin', but no, I don't think it's weird. [ He sits up a little more, trying to stifle the impulse to reach out and take her hand, pull her back. ] The last time this happened I think only one person actually noticed, so...
[ Which, okay, for all he knows is still the case this time, too, but at least it'd also be the one person he'd most hope would notice. Miss him, even, although maybe that's a shitty thing to hope for.
As for what's actually changed, well, that feels much more complicated to try untangling, let alone explaining, which is why he... hasn't yet, nor has he figured out how he should. ]
[ that defensiveness of hers? it melts away. what's left behind is something soft and concerned and just a little guilty. she settles back down on the edge of the bed, placing her hand over his thigh — rather, over the blanket where she roughly approximates his thigh to be. ]
I wasn't going to let that happen.
[ so, yeah, she had been here for just about two straight days — as tempting as it had been to assume the worst of the darkling and go charging into the down to demand he undo it, given what he'd done to plenty of other people in her life who she loved. she'd stayed in this spot instead.
[ His hand moves to hold hers before Reggie can even think about the action more deliberately (let alone talk himself out of it), fingers curling through hers in a way that feels both so warm and familiar as well as vaguely... dangerous.
(For now, for this moment, Reggie chooses to ignore whatever that feeling is, he doesn't want to unpick and unpack all of what this change might mean going forward just yet. Not yet.)
Nodding slowly, he looks at her, dark eyes steady. Voice low, but even. ]
Sometimes people... they fall asleep here, and I mean like, for days, and then when they wake up again it's like they've been back home and back. [ He pauses, giving his head a small shake. ] I dunno how it all works or like, even what really happens, but it feels real. Like you've really... gone home again for all that time before you wake up.
Is that where you were? [ she sounds far away, quiet. cautious. ] ... How long were you gone?
[ her eyes flick across the rest of his face now, to his hands, his bare chest because reggie has never slept with a shirt on, she's quite sure, and not everything is as she remembers. little things. things that no one would notice one day to the next, but it has not been one day to the next. not this time. ]
[ He's quiet, brows knitting very slightly as he just sits there in contemplative silence while continuing to hold her hand; at some point Reggie's gaze drops briefly to their interlaced fingers, almost as if he's just now noticing for the first time, but he doesn't let go.
Doesn't pull away.
Just takes a deep, slow breath and swipes his free hand through his sleep-mussed hair, also trying to understand what just happened to him almost as much as Alina is, despite having been the one to have experienced it.
At length, in a lower, softer tone, he finally says: ]
... I dunno how to explain it, Alina. [ He shakes his head in a way that's vaguely apologetic, lifting his eyes back up to hers. ] I really don't.
[ she smiles. it's strained by all of the things that she doesn't understand after dumping herself on his floor and worrying over him for a day and a half, but —
but it's a smile. she releases his hand, stands. ]
I'll heat up something you can eat. I'm sure you're starving. And if you want to talk, we can talk, and if you don't, that's fine.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ACTION.
Reggie's head and body both ache terribly like a hangover, but it's not that, it's the confluence of memories rushing back into his already overcrowded brain, all his memories of Duplicity -- and the feelings that go with them -- cramming themselves into every possible corner of space until he feels like his head may just split open from the strain.
It's happened before, of course, the last time he "went home" and came back, but that had only been a year's worth of time-- this would be seven years (or is it five, counting the two plus he's already spent in Duplicity?) worth of new information that will take some time to fit together with everything else he already thought and felt and knew.
He looks across the room and sees the sleeping figure, recognizing and remembering her in bits and pieces: her face, her voice, her smile, her glow. ]
Alina?
no subject
only a little. a light sort of wheeze deep in her chest. and only because she's propped against the wall, book in lap, clearly fallen asleep while trying to keep an eye on him.
but the sound of her name stirs her. slow, at first, then she jolts awake, sitting straighter, noticing that he's —
he's awake. ]
Reggie! [ she forgets about the book, lets it tumble out of her lap as she gets up to her knees and closes the distance to the edge of the bed. ] You're up. [ you're okay. ] Saints, it's been two days.
no subject
Two days? Can that be right? ]
Only two?
[ That tracks well enough from his own previous experiences of this kind of thing happening, but still feels unbelievable. ]
But you weren't waiting in here this whole time, were you?
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she opens her mouth to answer, then draws her hands to fidget in front of her ribs. it gave them something to do that wasn't going for grabbing his hand and squeezing, now that his hand is well out of the way of her grasp in his hair. ]
For two straight days? [ spelling it out for herself helps alina adopt a baffled, defensive expression. ] No. No, that would — That would be ... weird, wouldn't it? [ she looks back at the spot on the floor, slowly pushing herself to her feet. ] That was ... I was just checking in, and I guess I was more tired than I realized.
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Unnecessary maybe, and definitely not all that comfortable-lookin', but no, I don't think it's weird. [ He sits up a little more, trying to stifle the impulse to reach out and take her hand, pull her back. ] The last time this happened I think only one person actually noticed, so...
[ Which, okay, for all he knows is still the case this time, too, but at least it'd also be the one person he'd most hope would notice. Miss him, even, although maybe that's a shitty thing to hope for.
As for what's actually changed, well, that feels much more complicated to try untangling, let alone explaining, which is why he... hasn't yet, nor has he figured out how he should. ]
Thanks. Would have kinda sucked to wake up alone.
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I wasn't going to let that happen.
[ so, yeah, she had been here for just about two straight days — as tempting as it had been to assume the worst of the darkling and go charging into the down to demand he undo it, given what he'd done to plenty of other people in her life who she loved. she'd stayed in this spot instead.
her head cants to the side. ] The last time?
no subject
(For now, for this moment, Reggie chooses to ignore whatever that feeling is, he doesn't want to unpick and unpack all of what this change might mean going forward just yet. Not yet.)
Nodding slowly, he looks at her, dark eyes steady. Voice low, but even. ]
Sometimes people... they fall asleep here, and I mean like, for days, and then when they wake up again it's like they've been back home and back. [ He pauses, giving his head a small shake. ] I dunno how it all works or like, even what really happens, but it feels real. Like you've really... gone home again for all that time before you wake up.
no subject
[ her eyes flick across the rest of his face now, to his hands, his bare chest because reggie has never slept with a shirt on, she's quite sure, and not everything is as she remembers. little things. things that no one would notice one day to the next, but it has not been one day to the next. not this time. ]
no subject
Doesn't pull away.
Just takes a deep, slow breath and swipes his free hand through his sleep-mussed hair, also trying to understand what just happened to him almost as much as Alina is, despite having been the one to have experienced it.
At length, in a lower, softer tone, he finally says: ]
... I dunno how to explain it, Alina. [ He shakes his head in a way that's vaguely apologetic, lifting his eyes back up to hers. ] I really don't.
no subject
[ she smiles. it's strained by all of the things that she doesn't understand after dumping herself on his floor and worrying over him for a day and a half, but —
but it's a smile. she releases his hand, stands. ]
I'll heat up something you can eat. I'm sure you're starving. And if you want to talk, we can talk, and if you don't, that's fine.