Closed to Tomorrowland theatre group

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

It was a usual day - Setsuna figured Katou was back at the theatre, because otherwise he wasn't to sure where Katou went during the times he, Kira and Sara weren't at "home". At some point, though, he realized he'd forgotten his mirror back at the theatre. Damning his absent mind, he returned to the theatre to fetch it, and say hi to Katou while he did.

[ooc: Katou's turn. Will get to 'Hime responses tonight.]

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[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

When Kira, Setsuna, and Sara weren't home, Katou slept. Though at this point, he was pretty sure he always kept his face, the last thing he wanted was them to show up to see some indistinguishable blob with a metal arm. On top of that, he really didn't want them to worry about him and his dreams.

At the moment, he was in one of the back rooms, panting or moaning or gasping in his sleep, tossing and turning, and sweating up a storm.

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

At first, Setsuna didn't hear anything, but as he started to head towards the back looking for Katou, he caught a sound that was far from comforting. "Katou?" he called out, but being asleep, Katou, of course, couldn't respond.

Worried, Setsuna made it to where Katou was and watched for a little while, horror-struck as Katou tossed about. "Yuu-chan?" he tried, voice a bit louder than earlier. There were times, Setsuna felt, it was better to let a person sleep, and times it was better to wake them up. Seeing as how Setsuna wasn't the type to think this over before he made a move, though, it was a very good thing this was a situation that called for someone to be woken up.

Without another thought, he leaned over and started to gently shake Katou, one hand on his arm while still saying, "Yuu-chan? Come on. Wake up, Katou."

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

Katou's eyes flew open nearly as soon as Setsuna touched him, and he grabbed the boy by the neck, flipping him over so Katou was on top of him and his arm was posed and ready to strike.

Then, he recognized Setsuna, let go of him, and sat back, retracting his claws. "Shit, Setsuna, sorry."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

A bit dazed, Setsuna set up once he was let go and shrugged the whole thing off - Katou hadn't done any damage - and went straight to what was actually bothering him. "No need. Look.... You okay? You were making a lot of noise, and tossing around in your sleep. Sweating too. Somethin' going on, Yuu-chan?"

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

What the hell was Setsuna talking about? Of course there was something going on. There was a war and Lucifer was running amok and... Something was tugging at the back of Katou's mind, and he sat further back so he was actually resting on Setsuna, and looked around.

This wasn't the ship. This was...

"No, nothing," said Katou, looking a little confused. "I'm fine. Gimme a moment. I need to get cleaned up."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Automatically, Setsuna reached out to keep Katou there instead of letting him go off and told him, "You're bullshitting me. What's going on? What's wrong? What were you dreaming about?"

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"Seriously, Setsuna, it was nothing. It's normal. Just... let me splash some water on me or take a cold shower or something, please."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

"Katou," Setsuna said firmly, not letting go. "You pinned me to the floor and were about to attack me. That's not normal. I'll let you splash some water on your face, but after that, I want you to talk to me. Please?"

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"It is after you've been in a war," Katou snapped a little more harshly than he intended, but his nerves were still shaken. "Someone catches you off guard, and you attack them. That's what happens."

He got up, and headed to the bathroom curtly, where he stood in the bathroom, looked at himself, and then splashed himself down until he could feel himself calm.

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

If this had been a couple of years ago, Setsuna would have snapped back, but instead, he just looked slightly hurt for a moment and let Katou go so he could wash up.

He didn't have anything to say...not then. Instead, he just curled his knees up to his chest and started to think this over, trying to think of just how he could word himself when Katou came back in, and.... Maybe he was going about it the wrong way, though? Maybe if Katou didn't want to talk he should just leave him be?

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

Katou took another deep breath, and pasted a shaky smile on his face to go see Setsuna again. "Sorry for snapping," he said. "I didn't mean to."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Setsuna shrugged at that honestly said, "It's okay," finding he didn't blame Katou, at all. "I just don't know about these things." He waited a bit, then his mouth refused to give him more time to think over the appropriateness of questions as he asked, "Were you dreaming about fighting?"

In the end, it made the most logical sense - Katou was having nightmares about the war. Of course.

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

Katou gave a weak laughed. "Something like it," he said, ruffling Setsuna's hair. "Do you really want to know? If you want, I can answer any questions you have."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Setsuna looked up and flatly asked, "Then what were you dreaming about?" before scooting close to Katou, aiming to snuggle him as he talked. And what exactly could he DO for Katou? Could he help? Could he make it easier on him? Who could he ask about these things?

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

Katou wrapped an arm around Setsuna. "The war, I guess," he said quietly. "People dying. Sometimes I don't remember what I dream about, and I really only remember bits and pieces of what I dreamed about today."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Carefully, Setsuna asked, "What parts do you remember this time? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just...." Setsuna took a deep breath then admitted, "I just want to help, Yuu-chan."

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"You don't need to help me," Katou said, "I already talked to Virgil about it." He frowned, closed his eyes, and tried to remember. "Blood," he said. "I remember a lot of blood. Lucifer was there. He was stabbing me... like when I lost my arm. There was so much blood, lots of death."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Setsuna felt slightly useless being told that, but didn't know what to say, so he just listened. If that's all he could do, then he'd do that. For once.

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"Setsuna, I know it might look like I'm in trouble or something, but please don't wake me up again. I might do something I regret." He paused. "And definitely tell Kira not to wake me up, because I get really confused when I first wake up, and I know that I'll hurt him."

He sighed, and hugged Setsuna again. "Was there anything else you wanted to know?"

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

"But," Setsuna started, arguing again, "I don't think that's wise. If you're constantly reliving this stuff, it's not good for you, Yuu-chan. It can't be."

When asked if he wanted to know anything else, though, Setsuna wordlessly shook his head. What the hell was he supposed to do in this kind of situation?

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather relive it than hurt you, or Kira, or Sara," Katou said. "I promise you I'll be fine no matter how many times I relive it. I do it enough when I'm awake anyway. Want some ice cream?"

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

"...." Setsuna just looked more troubled to hear that. Not that he wanted Katou ever hurting Kira or Sara - he'd be sure to tell them not to wake Katou. Especially since Katou might immediately recognize Kira as Kira and not Lucifer.

"Yuu-chan, I just don't think it's a good sign you're reliving it, even awake. Are you sure there's nothing that can help you?" Setsuna tried again, looking up at Katou with imploring eyes.

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

Katou sighed. "I really don't think there is," Katou said. "I mean, unless you've become a shrink since yesterday. I'm not even sure if a shrink could help me, really. This is the sorta thing that happens when people come back from a war though. It's like, Post Trainwreck Symptom or something."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

"Well, maybe there's a shrink here, and maybe they can help a little bit," Setsuna insisted, having this information now thrust into the light for him. "You never know, Yuu-chan." And if Katou wasn't going to look? Setsuna would.

As for the other stuff.... "Post Trainwreck Symptom? What's that?"

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"It's... when people come back from a war they have it," said Katou, scratching the side of his head. "Virgil says that because of it, it's normal if I can't sleep or have these shitty nightmares or whatever."

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Now that Setsuna understood - not nearly half as well through personal experience if he was from the same time as Katou - well enough his expression changed to recognition instead of confusion as he applied the word to reactions and things he did understand.

Then quickly he had to say, "Nothing happened to me," and pointed to Katou. "He's having bad dreams. And you're never, ever supposed to wake him up during them."

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Katou said, frowning to himself. "But whatever, it's' not that big a deal. Just leave me alone when I sleep and we'll all be fine." Actually, it might be a good idea if Kira was nowhere around when Katou work up, as he usually tended to remain confused once he was awake, but he didn't want to say that much now. They'd cross that bridge if they came to it.

"Anyway, who's up for some ice cream?"

[swordandchalice.livejournal.com]

Setsuna listened to them both, but just kept frowning. Maybe it was pointless to further poke Katou about things, and what else could he do? And he heard what Kira said, but that probably wouldn't stop Setsuna from waking Katou next time he was suffering like that. It really got the kid.

"What kind of ice cream do you want?" Setsuna asked, getting side-tracked. He wasn't stupid, but...he considered it might be a bad thing to make Katou talk about those things. And cruel, too. Ice cream was better, and it would keep them all happy. Right?

[katoustheshit.livejournal.com]

"What, you don't want ice cream, Kiki-chan?" Katou asked, grinning. "Alright Se-chan, it's just you and me." He hooked arms with Setsuna. "Maybe chocolate-strawberry swirl. What do you want?"