doku | VISIONS I HAD BURIED UNDERGROUND / RETURNING TO ABUSE US

A way of speaking to people...

[He repeats it thoughtfully as he finishes packing the fridge and he closes it, stands up, and sets the temperature on it.]

Speaking to people.

[He likes the sound of that.]

[There's nothing to add to that when it seems like he's still thinking it all over. She nods, kind of to herself, and finishes up with the bed. She finds her notebook and pen. She doesn't want to be stuck in the trailer while they're driving but she's going to need something to do when she isn't driving! And there's already enough wandering around in her head that she can let her brain move a bit. If something worthwhile comes out, great. But it never hurts to just kind of work it out.]

[He quietly takes note of what she's dug out for herself.]

So we're ready then. [Hoo boy. He rolls his shoulders--it's nice to finally be done.] You want me to start the drive? [You know, so she has some time to her thoughts.]

Ahh.

[She should at least offer to go first, right? Except she really wants to write.]

If you don't mind, we can switch off when you're tired, though. [It's probably not a drive they can make in one long go.]

I don't know how much I have in me, but we'll see how far we get.

[It's already afternoon, but if they want to drive well into the night...it's gonna have to be Noriko that does it, while Krieg snoozes in the back seat.]

Don't try to tough it out, it's been a long day. [She snorts, begins to head out of the trailer. They've probably already hooked up everything that's needed to properly tow it.] Hell, it's been a long month.

[So a little bit of change and the start of something far more positive could really do them a whole hell of a lot of good.

Into Desdemona, and off they can go!]

I won't.

[He'll just feel a lot better when they get over state lines.

It's about ten p.m. when he decides he's run out of steam.]

Ugh, I'm throwing in the towel. Do you want to take over or find a place to park for tonight? Break in the bed.

[She's writing the whole time, both feet kicked up so that her knees are pressed in towards her body, and her notebook rested in the small space between them and her chest. She gets about six pages, both sides, in. There's a lot to kind of mess with the next time she's on her guitar and that's enough.]

I can put in a few hours.

[It's only ten! She can make it until four at the very least, and that's got to put them out of the city, right? That's the idea, anyway.]

[It's true. He pulls over at the soonest truck stop to make the switch, and it's not until he's in the copilot seat that he gets a good look at her notebook.]

You've been busy!

[He's not gonna read it unless she gives him express permission though.]

[While she's outside she stretches her arms and back before pulling up into the driver's seat! She takes a moment to hook in her phone to charge and connects it to the car. He's going to have to deal with some pop while she drives, because it helps keep her up, but it's not turned up horribly loud anyway.]

Kind of, it's a lot of scribbles and feelings so far ...

[She motions towards it while pulling out of the rest stop.] You'll see it doesn't make a lot of sense right now.

[It really doesn't. There are sizable paragraphs jammed in her inherently feminine loops, sloppily drawn staffs with notes, and even a doodle of a peacock, and on one page there's one that's supposed to be of her and Krieg, pushing through the earlier crowd. Some of it can be read benignly enough ("I'll never go home again / I don't remember where I left it / but I've got a burnt out taste in my mouth / so maybe it's with you / a hollow place with you") but farther in towards the end of those six pages is a little angrier, violent, less focused. Even her handwriting begins to change, becoming incredibly frantic when, in the moment, she had appeared perfectly calm ("And it turns out that the day you die is the same day you come alive / oh god and nothing / I'm gonna die alone").]

I never was very good at writing lyrics, to be honest. [It all sounds like the angry whining of a teenager when she reads it back to herself, so it's probably a miracle she hasn't thrown the whole thing out the window.]

Hmm.

[He goes through it pretty thoroughly with the implied permission. Krieg is a little too tired to really do anything that meaningful with it, but maybe she's not quite ready for someone to put their own touch on it. She started out pretty strong, but the evidence of working for too long on the same thing is pretty obvious.]

This is pretty good for a first swipe, though.

[And pretty good pictures for just doodles, too.]

I like your peacock.

[Her girly touches are honestly really endearing.]

[Well, it's more like her thoughts eventually drifted into a series of things that she just didn't have the emotional energy to deal with - maybe that's about the same as working for too long.] I'm sure it'd benefit for a little refining from you, once it's not all just ramblings.

[It's a level response that almost hides her relief.]

I named him Marcello.

[Why does anyone let her name any singular thing.] Weren't you gonna sleep?

[Not that she's complaining.]

Figured I'd be your copilot for as long as possible, return the favor...you know.

[He actually just wants to hang out with his friend some more, even though they're not really having consistent, lively conversation.]

Does Marcello have a mate?

Nope, he's all on his own, poor guy! Maybe he's destined to unending loneliness.

[That is not the case, she just didn't think to draw another peacock.] But you can give him one! [She doesn't care if he uses her notebook or anything.]

Just don't push yourself, okay? [Because he seems the type and he did sort of imply that uneven sleep patterns had an effect on his health sooo.]

[Yes, she's right. But she might also have to help keep him on track in that regard.

But to be perfectly honest, he might genuinely conk out in the back and if that happens, he might not be able to help her with anything that comes up with the trailer once she's decided to clock out.]

We'll see about that.

[He picks up the pencil and idly doodles next to Marcello. He doesn't have anything in mind, but he ends up drawing an elegant little peahen to make Marcello's companion.

After a while, he adds a dozen little peachicks.]

[For as chatty as she can be at any other given time of the day Nariko's a quiet driver. She sings very softly for someone who was used to being on stage, and doesn't patronize either of them with questions for the sake of it. Krieg has always ... Been very easy to be around. The part of her that is still incredibly angry and near violent about a great number of things just seems to calm it's heels when he's nearby. Somewhere around two a.m. she considers saying as much, but Nariko only gets her mouth open before her bravery falters.

That's really the first sign of unbeatable exhaustion, but she doesn't throw in the towel until about three-thirty, when it suddenly seems like an awesome idea to tell him her whole life's story whether he's awake or not.

The next rest stop they park in is well outside of Vista City, and it's empty aside from them. If she doesn't get some sleep she'll probably accidentally drive them off a bridge.]

Hey. [... The peachicks are super cute. But if he's not up, he's gonna have to be. He'll wake up achey if he sleeps in the passenger seat.]

Mm.

[He's spent the last two hours drifting, honestly. Resting, but not very productively, and enough for him to take a look around when they come to a full stop. Drowsily, he pulls out his phone to check the time.]

How you holdin' up?

[Question of the hour for both of them.]

I don't think my skin is real and I want to yank my eyes out. [Because they burn, but when she closes them they just hurt even more.] It's bedtime.

[When she yawns it's loud and unbridled, and very not-pretty.] C'mon.

[She rubs her eyes while taking the keys out of the ignition and opening her door, all but stumbling out of her side. If nothing else she's way too tired to be a mess, but this blunt honesty will get her in trouble so the sooner she hits the mattress the better. And he's apparently got to follow along.]

Sounds like a case of the fuckits if I've ever heard it.

[Today, unbridled yawning. Tomorrow, casual nudity. He follows her into the trailer, turning on the A/C unit on low to circulate some air in a trailer that's spent the whole ride today baking in the sun.

After that, he unceremoniously takes off his clothes and flops into bed.

Did I say tomorrow?

I meant right now.]

Mmhm.

[Yeah, the trailer is definitely too warm for clothes, not that she ever wears much when it comes to pajamas in the first place. She wiggles out of her jeans and top, and pulls her hair into the sloppiest braid in the world before crawling over him to get to her pillow. And no he doesn't catch her looking him over a bit while she goes. That's an illusion, Krieg, you're just tired. Really, really tired because she really does look.]

... Fuck me. [Her phone is in her pants, so she has to drag herself back up and over him again to get it.] Sorry.

[This would probably be easier if she just slept on the outside of the bed but since when was she ever easy? And they need an alarm clock. Or Nariko does, because she'll sleep until noon if she isn't woken up, so just give her a second to do that and put it on its charger.]

[No need to take in the view all at once. You'll be seeing a lot of this in the upcoming weeks. But, shit...that sloppy braid is cute, too. The only reason he doesn't flat-out stare is because he can't keep his eyes open.

Normally he wouldn't really mind being crawled all over but once he realizes what she's done it for, he groans.]

...the hell you need your phone for...

[Uuuuugh. Noriko, just go to sleep. They'd might as well sleep in anyway, given how late they've stayed up.]

We can't sleep all day.

[There's no way he's adequately prepared to deal with her when she's grumpy from too much sleep, better to let her wake up at some reasonable time, like ten in the morning. Besides, it doesn't take her long to finish and repeat the whole process, eventually flopping onto her side and groaning. Her spine hurts and it's warm, but she doesn't even have the mind to care about any of it.

Instead she relaxes a little more with the passing minutes, and for some reason she can't help thinking back to when they first met. That party was so incredibly fucking stupid in hindsight.]

Krieg. [ ...]

G'night. [Theres a reason you don't say the stuff that comes to mind so late at night. Nariko's not entirely sure what that reason is but better safe than sorry, right?]

[Do as you will, Noriko, but Krieg is guaranteed to sleep through the alarms. And probably her attempts to rouse him in the morning. The party is so far removed from his memory that all he really cares about is that here, right now, he feels pretty good about both the present and the future.]

Mmh.

[He's too far in to make a coherent response. That is, if "coherent response" doesn't include putting an arm over her. Okay, it's already warm, but...are you really gonna put in the effort to move this giant gun?]

[That is perfectly alright because there's a really big chance she'll sleep through it too, or that she accidentally set it for tomorrow-tomorrow, or something equally dumb like that.

For right now though ... The weight of him is unexpected, and she snaps her eyes open enough to look down and process that she isn't dreaming that half a brick is suddenly around her middle.

... It's fine, though. She doesn't mind it at all, in fact it's the exact opposite.

Nariko tries to wait until she's mostly sure that he's out for the night, and then her arm goes over his.]

[In that case, he's going to wake up bright and early at 1 PM.

Which he finds weird, because (somehow) he remembers that Noriko meant to put on an alarm. Krieg nudges her when he finds her still conked out.]

Iko? You okay?

[He assumes the alarm already went off and Noriko just chose to stay in bed, but he doesn't actually know.]

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