ALBATROSS AROUND YOUR NECK / nightmare

[spacexual]

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

It was not entirely unknown to Aurum that his son had some form of sleeping problem. Despite Roy's attempts to fake rest and appease any worry from rising up in his Father, it wasn't as if Aurum was an idiot – at least, he liked to think he wasn't an idiot. He noticed the way that Roy would shift around in a way someone who was sleeping would not, or the way that the tiger's eyes would occasionally flicker open, glancing over curiously at him. However, this didn't mean that Aurum knew the full extent of the other's insomnia. He figured it was maybe a couple of nights a week, maybe three, where his son would have problems. Part of him wanted to try asking Roy about it, or offering to somehow help with it, but another part of him didn't want to try and push the other to share, especially since Roy had been trying so hard to hide the tendencies. He didn't know why his son was hiding such a thing away – surely to stop his already fretful Father from being more worried – but he also didn't want to inadvertantly push Roy away through his concern. Adding onto this, the Captain had no idea about the night terrors and nightmares that gripped his son on occasion, mainly due to the fact that, most of the time, Aurum was already asleep by the time Roy could also fall asleep and experience such unpleasant things. Aurum wasn't an exceptionally heavy sleeper – a trait he had learned from his Father, since you needed to constantly be on guard when you were next in line for the "throne" – but that didn't mean he could snap awake at just the faint sounds of Roy tossing and turning during a night terror.

However, this time, Aurum definitely heard it when Roy awoke. Maybe not at first, but as the tiger stumbled out of bed and raced out into the open air, Aurum found himself groggily blinking his eye open. As he saw the blurry image of Roy rushing out, he immediately felt a frown come to his face, and he slowly pushed himself up to his paws, moving down from the bed and following after his son. His footsteps were heavy, mainly due to the fact that he had just been woken up in the middle of rest, but soon enough he had taken on a quick pace, quickly following after Roy and following the direction his scent lead. Worry wormed its way evilly into the lion's chest as he raced along, the cold grip of anxiety curling fingers firmly around his ribs, petrified that something horrible was going to happen to Roy out there in the night, or even worried something had already happened. Soon enough, Aurum came upon the clearing that Roy had stopped in, the boy's body crouched close to the ground, his voice coming out in ragged and upset breaths. Aurum's gaze softened as soon as he saw the state the other was in, wanting to wrap Roy up in his paws and soothe him until everything was okay. He knew better than to think everything would magically cured by him being around, but he still wanted to reach out, even if his efforts ultimately became for naught. However, he found himself recoiling slightly when Roy's body flared with flames, only for those flames to be effectively extinguished in seconds, by none other than the boy himself, and his other powers. After that surprising display, the lion found himself staring for a long moment before he took a few more large strides forward, moving around to the front of Roy. A faint worried frown curled on Aurum's muzzle as he rumbled to his son, eying the vines around Roy's legs carefully, checking to see if they were hurting the tiger, "Roy...? Are you okay? What happened... what caused you to run out here like that?" His voice was soft, and only gently prompting the other to speak, not wanting to shove the other in the deep end of needing to explain right this minute.

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[spacexual]

[wormwood.]

i was born, on the highway, in a train wreck

with a heart, that was beating, out of my chest

After a long moment of silence hung in the air between them, Aurum immediately felt a sense of anxiety grip his chest, like the vines growing around Roy's paws had somehow wrapped themselves tightly around the lion's individual ribs. He was worried that his son was stuck within his own head again, struggling against his own thoughts and losing sight of the world around him. Roy might've been worried about making his Father lose precious sleep after the huge amount of work the older male had been doing, but Aurum felt absolutely no care for such things, just taking another step closer to try and break his son out of it. When Roy's glazed over petrified gaze finally seemed to have a spark of recognition within it, Aurum resisted the urge to charge forward and embrace the other in his arms, not wanting to overwhelm Roy so soon. He just let Roy have a long moment, watching as the tiger took in and let out long, deep breaths, clearly trying to calm himself down from whatever horrible things he had just seen and experienced firsthand in the world of dreams. The tears rolling down Roy's cheeks made Aurum's heart twist unpleasantly, but still he waited, patiently waiting to see if Roy would give him any sort of true explanation. Something tangible, that he could help with.

Thankfully, eventually Roy spoke, even if his words were slightly choppy and wavering wildly with his voice. The utterance of bad dream made Aurum wince, mainly due to the fact that he was quite familiar with the phenomenon. Whether it be right after Poetking left or right before he had found out he was an angel, the Captain had experienced quite a few terrible nightmares that had jolted him awake night after night. These days he didn't experience such things that often, thankfully, but it didn't seem as though Roy was so lucky. Aurum couldn't say he was entirely surprised, considering the trauma that Roy had slowly been sharing with him over time, but he still felt a great deal of sadness, just wanting Roy to be happy, and able to sleep comfortably. Once Roy was done speaking, and his attention seemed to be turned to the vines currently gripping him tightly, Aurum moved forward, gently touching his nose to the boy's head. He then rumbled, eying the vines wearily, "A bad dream... I know how awful those can be, trust me. I could try burning you out of these vines... but before we try something so drastic, can you do something for me, Roy? I want you to close your eyes and take a few more of those deep breaths, and just focus on imagining the vines going back into the ground, and letting you go." Sure, Aurum could've roasted the vines to shreds, but he didn't particularly want to set Roy into a panic with the flames, and surely if the boy could draw vines forth, he could send them back down, right?

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