Swish.
The sound of curtains opened; a silhouette beside the curtains, one Elaine Siddal-Hyde alias Penelope Mercury Mars, her red hair bound up in a jaunty pony tail high atop her head, bangs at a rakish devil-may-care angle little devil-hook curves at the sides of them, not so much as a touch of make-up, gray eyes intent as she:
She looks over her shoulder; leaves the curtains alone; quietly, and carefully, fist over fist, crawls over the atlas of blankets the mountain ranges and valleys of sheets until she finds a calf or a shin, something hard and Nicholas, and then she follows the calf or shin upward until: is that a knee? That's a knee. She shakes the knee. Shake shake. Shake shake.
Then she pounces on the sleeper; knee on other side of what is probably hips let's test yes those seem like hips hands on either side of what is that okay that's a shoulder that's not a shoulder that was a face whoops now that's the side of a neck. Bounce bounce. Bounce bounce.
"Nicholas Hyde, come out to play-ayyy..."
Bouncebouncebounce.
Nicholas Hyde
It is too early to play. It is too early to drink coffee, or eat breakfast, or even talk. It is too early to do anything other than sleep buried in blankets and pillows. Too early: and yet here Penelope is trying to wake him at this too early hour.
Nicholas does not stir as his knee wobbles beneath her hand. He only stirs as her weight comes down on him all at once, and she can hear from somewhere within the blankets a grunt. There is another when her hands find his face, the side of his neck. It is a Saturday, and why is she trying to wake him on a Saturday? He has to wake up every other day of the week.
"Play what?" Those might be words that come from his mouth; it's hard to be sure. It might also be something gutteral, primal, some throwback to the First Language that their ancestors spoke hushed as they tread ancient riverbeds in the cradle of civilization.
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
Penelope reaches for the top of the blanket pile and pulls it down until she sees Nicholas's curls. Then she pulls it down until she sees his face, then down further, and further, and then she tucks it neatly just across his chest and bounces again (pounces again) hard enough to shake a voice out of that ribcage but not (she hopes) hard enough to hurt (she wonders whether Nicholas remembers, sometimes, these morning interactions, these Pen-is-an-alarm moments).
"With the morning light, Nicholas, with the long road."
She stares, fixed, at his eyes. Open, open.
Nicholas Hyde
It is debatable whether Nick remembers the morning interactions, or whether he merely imagines that he has a dream each morning that Pen wakes him but it's terrible and twisted, it's always too soon and she always torments him by taking his blankets away. Maybe he imagines that he dreamed that. When she pounces again it does not so much rouse his voice as it does another deep groan.
"Long road?" It's hard to tell whether that's a question or whether he is merely echoing her to make her think that he is listening.
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
Pen softly traces his cheekbones, quietly feels his forehead. Then presses his eyebrows up, like so: then heavily languishes upon him, folding her arms across his chest and digging her chin into them. She blows, gentle zephyr, at his face, pulls on his lower lip, and chants with urgency:
"Nicholas Ridiculous slept too late
Nicholas Ridiculous was in quite a state
All the day's men and all the day's ladies
couldn't get Blackbeard to call him matey
Nicholas Tickleless slept too late
So ice down his was to be his fate
Nick stick wick, wicked Nicky Nick
Hickey Nick, Dickory Doc, Nick Nick Nick."
Nicholas Hyde
It is not the first time Pen has tried to wake him up this way, chanting and rhyming and threatening him with ice. It's not the first time, but he knows from past experience that she has followed up on her threats before.
Finally both of his eyes struggle open and he looks up at her on top of him. "What is it, Pen?"
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
His eyes are open! Pen picks up her head in anticipation, lets her back straighten, shakes Nicholas's shoulders a little: stay awake stay awake.
"We are going for a run this morning; remember?"
Nicholas Hyde
Nicholas sucks in a breath and digs the heel of one hand into an eye. The other squeezes shut, and for a moment he is Misery: its form, captured there in human shape. "Did I agree to go on a run last night?"
Nick isn't sure of when he last ran. It might have been sometime in high school, maybe. Maybe.
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
"You did say so," Penelope replies, rolling to the side, so she is no longer weighing Nicholas down should he want to do anything like get up full of energy and do some pre-run jumping jacks. She slowly pulls the blanket down and down. "I put out your running shoes and some good socks. Do you not remember?"
Nicholas Hyde
It comes back to him, when it comes, in a rush: how he earnestly told Pen he did want to run with her in the morning, knowing all the while what a struggle it would be to get up, and how he watched her lay out his running shoes and good socks. He was watching Pen lay out his shoes and socks; he was distracted because he was watching Pen and so maybe the full gravity of the situation, its full implication (that he would be woken at some ungodly hour to puff and sweat and send his heart beating faster a little farther along toward Death and not in the good way) had not hit him yet.
She is taking his blanket away. He feels only despair.
"Can we sleep three more hours and then run?"
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
"We can do that, but we will not do that, because to do that would be to break our word," Penelope says. Blanket has reached Nicholas's waist; she whips it away, onto the other side of herself, and then looks expectantly at Nick.
Nicholas Hyde
Truth be told, Nick doesn't care much about breaking his word. He's not the sort to cling to the idea that his word bonds him, that honor demands. It is important to Pen though; Pen is important to him. So when she whips the blanket away, he sighs and s l o w l y rolls onto his side and lets one leg and foot dangle over the side of the bed. He might be about to slide to the floor.
"How far?"
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
"I think you'll enjoy running, Nicholas," Pen replies, earnestly. The earnestness overfloweth; she crouches, prepared to leave the bed, but not quite there yet: Nicholas is still lingering. "Your blood will sing in your veins; you'll come loose from the world at the same time you come closer to it! You'll really feel your body!"
Nicholas Hyde
Nick is sure he will feel his body collapsing beneath him, his muscles aching and burning and his lungs starved for air. He is sure that is what will happen. Maybe if he were to do it long enough he would get to the point where he enjoys it: this involves a long and protracted period of misery, first.
He slides a little nearer. One of his toes touches the floorboards. "Can we get breakfast after?"
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
"Yes. We could go to that crépe place or find a food truck."
There is an air both of dismissal and coaxing; she does not have strong feelings about breakfast; of course they'd get breakfast after, one way or another.
"We could try somewhere entirely new; somewhere that serves interesting things like catfish slaw."
Nicholas Hyde
Another toe touches the floorboards while Nick ponders. Crepes. Catfish slaw. Coming back and showering together maybe. He must motivate himself somehow.
Another toe, and then he begins a slow inexorable slide onto his foot; finally he catches himself, landing with both feet under him and straightening. There is a deep sigh as he goes to retrieve his athletic shorts and a T-shirt. "Okay. I'm ready."
Nicholas Hyde
[whyyyyyy Dex + Ath]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (7, 7, 8) ( success x 3 )
Nicholas Hyde
[why does anyone do this for fun]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[Running is fun, Nicholas.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 2, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[Woo hoo!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Nicholas Hyde
[ ;_; ]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 10) ( success x 2 )
Nicholas Hyde
[why did I marry a Hermetic]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[You have secretly loved running this whole time, haven't you? I can tell.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[Longer!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 10) ( success x 1 )
Nicholas Hyde
[But I am...I am so tired. >.> Manip + Subterfuge.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[-_-]
Dice: 5 d10 TN4 (1, 1, 3, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[You liar! If you can answer this riddle we can stop. Wits + Enigmas. Just gotta beat the # of successes.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )
Nicholas Hyde
[oh oh I can do this]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Nicholas Hyde
[No. :( ]
Nicholas Hyde
[I run forever.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Nicholas Hyde
[forever and ever. :( ]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (4, 9) ( success x 1 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[Yay, running forever!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 10) ( success x 5 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[:D :D :D]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Nicholas Hyde
[ :(((((((( ]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 7) ( success x 2 )
Nicholas Hyde
[please sweet merciful death]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Elaine Siddal-Hyde
[Isn't it nice to exercise bright and early before anyone else is awake? :D]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 5 )
Nicholas Hyde
[or Pen. Pen can also be merciful.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4) ( fail )
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