I was too young ;; open - sleep deprivation

[tikki]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 30px; opacity: 0.60; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 2px;"]It was no secret that the serval that called himself Papercrown had somewhat of an issue sleeping. It wasn't the new place that he resided in now, or even the many new faces that could come after him for whatever reason while he had his eyes closed and his back turned, but a simple thing that he had always had to live with. There had often been times where he would go a day or so without actually getting any sleep, but most of the time he slept, not well, but it was sleep nonetheless. This particular day, however, the serval had not slept in four days, and thought he was doing fine, even with the things going on around him, though he had never stayed up for this long before.

In his own mind, he was padding carefully down the hall of the observatory, heading to the main portion of it, the big portion with the tall ceiling that was open more often than not for stars to be able to be seen, and he was doing well. In his own mind there would be an NPC that bumped into him every now and then, and he'd simply get a glimpse of them before they ran off, mumbling their apologies and turning around a corner.

In reality, he was stumbling down the halls, running into walls, feet tripping over themselves and tail dragging on the ground. There were points in time where he would seemingly watch something that wasn't there, glaring before he watched the corner and suddenly turned back around, going in circles, missing the one turn that would take him where he wanted to go.

At some point in the night, he would bump into a wall head-first, cursing loudly as soon as it had happened, standing there as his mind played tricks on him and he yelled at the wall, cursing it for bumping into him for the twelve time, asking the inanimate object whether or not something was "a threat" before suddenly a rumble swept through the floor and thorns began to grow around him, the stone that was underneath the observatory's flooring slowly coming up through the ground before it erupted, forming a sloped point, starting from his back feet and making it's way up towards his head and forward towards the wall, only a small amount away from the stone that covered the hallways. "[b]Threaten me again, I dare you![b]" The male would snarl, tail whipping behind him for a moment before falling as the figure that he saw before him vanished and the wall would show up in front of him, and he'd look around, tired bloodshot eyes looking around for a moment before he flopped down onto his butt, confused and exhausted.

[clarence a.]

[align=center][div style="width: 45%; text-align: justify; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: times new roman;"]Clarence was more than familiar with a lack of sleep. Being in the navy had taught him quite a bit about that particular subject. He remembered there had been certain times when they hadn't been allowed to sleep, he remembered when there were days on end where all there was to do was sleep for days on end. He could remember nights he couldn't sleep and nights he refused to sleep. He knew now of terrible nightmares full of the unforgiving sea, downing, his sister burning at a stake, his mother dying alone and elderly without ever hearing from her son, a world where Finnis died despite his best efforts, a world where everyone died despite his best efforts. It was as though Clarence couldn't accept the fact his friends and family were no longer his to save. There was nothing more he could do for them. They were suffering alone, without him. He had no way to contact them or be with them. He had no way to make sure they were safe or to actively work for that safety. There was nothing but his past decisions and his death. Nothing now mattered. He told himself he could protect this place, maybe. They'd been kind enough to him. Certainly he owed them something.

Even when he told himself that, though, it just wasn't the same. The people here were nice enough but they weren't his friends and family and this wasn't his country. He was repaying a debt. He'd acted out of love before. When he tried to save Finnis, when he sold his soul to the navy in exchange for his sister's, when he'd left to ensure his mother a stable future. All of it had been for love, not loyalty and certainly not as payment. Everything he did here was payment. Sure, he'd come to like quite a few of the creatures here but it just wasn't the same. He still struggled with the idea that these animals were just as intelligent, if not more so than human beings. That he could clearly communicate with them and they could have complex societies. It seemed completely improbable. How could humanity be blind to something like this? How could the animals have gone unnoticed for so long? At first, he thought it was some sort of hallucination but this was a rather long hallucination if that was the case. It'd been several days and all of it felt real. Nothing felt disassociated like in his other visions. The sleeping, the eating, the exercise, the friendships, all of it felt real. He knew it had to be real. But that didn't make any sense.

Clarence had been wandering around the territory, lost in his own mind, and trying to decided what to think of this new place. He was just starting to understand all the twists and turns of this territory. He estimated with a couple of weeks he'd be able to get wherever he wanted with relative ease. He'd always been good with directions. Even when he was at sea, he was only second to the cartographer when estimated their location. He was yanked out of his thoughts when he heard a snarling voice, though, and his ears perked, his back straightening as he hurried to meet the noise. It was then he came across a stranger. He relaxed as he realized he'd seen the man around before and he didn't seem to be a threat. In fact, it looked like he'd just been sleepwalking. "Are you well? Maybe you should go get some rest," he spoke softly, moving forward so the creature would see him. "I'm Clarence Aston, by the way. I don't believe we've met."

[tikki]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 30px; opacity: 0.60; font-size: 12px; padding-top: 2px;"]The male that came before him was one that he had seen before, and one that actually spoke to Paper, friendly words and no threats made, and it seemed as though he deliberately made himself seen, rather than simply appearing out of nowhere suddenly and running off a second later. The words took a moment to get to his ears, and even then it took another moment to make sense of them.

Are you well? Maybe you should go get some rest,

He felt fine, didn't know why this stranger was asking him if he was well. He didn't feel warm, didn't feel like he was going to get sick, just felt a bit tired and hungry, but that was it. Nothing more. "'M fine." The serval would let out with a large yawn, though not meaning to, ears flattening onto his head the second it came to be, angry with himself. He shouldn't be this tired, not tired enough to yawn. No. "Don't need rest, just need food." He was usually capable of forming proper sentences, ones that were more drawn out and elaborate, but now he didn't have the energy, and thus didn't feel the need to have the proper sentences and grammar he had grown up to learn.

I'm Clarence Aston, by the way. I don't believe we've met.

They had seen each other, he was sure, but never really fully met, that was for sure. Though the name was odd to him, most he met didn't have last names, but it was still a name nonetheless. If he wasn't as tired as he was now he would have recognized that both names could be a first name, and would have made a comment from it. "Nice to meet you, Clarence. Name's Papercrown." Once more a yawn would escape and he'd simply shake his head, the cacti that had sprouted around him quickly dying, and the stone going back into the ground where it belonged, though the flooring would still be messed up.