Haunted by A Nightmare of You (Open)

[Natalie Blake]

Natalie giggled appreciatively as Will joked about crickets and tumbleweed circles being the most response he'd get from opening up to a guy. She felt surprisingly at ease, the bump on her forehead long ago forgotten. Will seemed to be a nice guy, once you got him warmed up a bit, and momentarily she wondered why no one talked with him much.

She shrugged a little when he commented about better sleeping arrangements. "Well you know how it goes. Location ceases to mean much when your eyes feel like they're made of cement and your brain's gone to mush. Hitting my head might have helped reassemble some of it." She nodded after his next statement, throwing another hopeless glance down at the panel.

What Will said next brought her up short, but she recovered quickly and smiled. "True. Well, you told me about your past, so I guess I can return the favour. It's not very interesting though. I grew up in a saloon in Duluth Minnesota with my parents. Didn't really know anyone beyond my parents and the guests that passed through.

"I started spending time in the garage out back where my dad fixed cars. I would go there when I was mad or upset and just watch my dad work, and it would just sort of make me feel better, you know? In the end he started teaching me what to do. Said if I was going to hang out in there anyway, I might as well be of some help. I'll tell you this, I may have lived in the saloon, but that garage is where I was raised.

"When I was about eighteen I got accepted in a mechanical and engineering college just outside Carlton. After a few years of hard work and lots of studying, I finally got my degree. It wasn't long after that that UGAP contacted me. Apparently a few of my professors had been offered places here on the Venia, but they'd recommended me an a couple of other students instead. I supposedly got the most votes."

Natalie shrugged, slight blush crawling up her cheeks as she realized how close to bragging she must be coming. Back-stepping a little she finished, "Beyond that, my life has been pretty boring. Didn't have that many friends to speak of besides one or two from college. To tell you the truth, the Venia is like a new beginning for me."

She chuckled and shook her head. That probably hadn't really been what he'd been looking for. After all, he'd told her one of his darkest secrets, and he most likely thought that he should get one in return. The thing was, she had no idea what she could possibly tell him.

"Was there anything in particular you wanted to know? I'm willing enough to share if you want to listen to me babble on about everything in my life. I'm an open book." She was honestly surprised he'd listened to as much as he had, but she was tired and that always made her a little more loose-lipped than she normally was. She was liable to tell him anything he wanted to know.

((ooc: Hahaha, sorry about the length xD Got a little carried away))

[William Blake]

Will chuckled, "true." After all, he was the one that had fallen to sleep on a metal grate above the ceiling panels, he couldn't really imagine a more uncomfortable place to sleep, and yet, there he had been, snoozing away without a care in the world, until the nightmare of course.

He listened to her intently as she spoke, for once, not really feeling the need to interrupt. Usually, while someone was monologing, he injected facts or comments into their speech, but he actually found it interesting listening to Natalie speak about her relatively 'mundane' past, he was also liking listening to her voice. This was probably the most a woman had talked to him in one go, and he chose not to spoil it, this time.

Even if she believed it was boring, he would have definitely preferred her life to his, who wouldn't in his position? To have had both parents, a Dad who was interested in the same things as you, and who actually let you hang around, spent time with you where a verbal or physical beating was involved. It sounded like her life had been pretty great, actually.

Will shook his head lightly, "doesn't sound boring to me," he said, "I would take that over what I had any day." Maybe then he would have stood a better chance of being more 'normal', like Natalie. "Being selected for this ship is an honour," he said with a nod, he hadn't admitted that before, "when you're chosen to be the best of the best, you might as well be allowed bragging rights, right?"

He chuckled again when she said she was an open book, the opposite to him. "All right," he said, thinking for a moment, "so, if you were a mechanic, what was your favourite things to fix up? And, more specifically, what model of said thing?" That was about as probing as his mind was going to get at this time of night.

((Haha, no worries, I did the same to you with Will earlier xD))

[Natalie Blake]

Natalie bit her lip a little as Will impassively mentioned how her life sounded a lot better than his, and she felt a little guilty. She had no reason to, seeing as it wasn't her fault, but to have heard about his past and then talk so carelessly about her own, happy life... hadn't that been a little rude?

When he said that being selected as part of the crew for the Venia was an honour, she nodded and grinned. "Yeah, it's an honour all right, but it surprised the hell out of me. One second I was an ordinary girl who'd just finished university, and the next I'd been asked by the government to join this elite crew going out into space to 'save the galaxy'."

And it had been a surprise. Who would have thought that she, a simpleton who'd grown up in a saloon, would be going a part of something this huge? She certainly hadn't. Not that she was going to complain, of course. The crew had it good on this ship, and they were helping the rest of the galaxy. That had to count for something.

She barked a laugh at Will's last question and shook her head, beaming. "That's like asking an old man to tell you about the 'good old days'. The answer, while sometimes interesting, is long. My dad enjoyed working on vintage cars. I worked on a lot of different models of VW, Mercedes, Chevrolet, Ford; you name it, I've probably messed with one of them."

She thought for a moment and then smiled again, nostalgic. "I suppose my favourite of the bunch was the '67 Impala dad managed to find somewhere. We had to practically gut the poor thing; all that was left of the engine was a lump of metal. But I was determined to keep it in it's former glory--dismantled the engine so I could figure out how to recreate it. My dad let me do it all myself, sort of like my first real solo assignment or whatever."

That car that been her life for a good three years. She'd worked on it relentlessly, nurturing it back to full health. It had gone with her to Carlton and she used it to get around on campus, but then she'd had to leave it in Duluth with her parents when she was recruited for the Venia. Idly she wondered if she'd ever get to drive her baby again.

"Enough reminiscing," she laughed, shaking her head and looking back at Will. He has gorgeous eyes, she noted absently, mesmerized momentarily by their deep blue hue. She blinked and swiftly diverted her eyes, suddenly very interested in the faded leather of her boots. "So, anyway, I think that's about as in-depth as you want me to go with that. Otherwise I'll be babbling for hours on end and I don't think you really want that."

((Sorry, I got carried away again lol))

[William Blake]

Will laughed a little, "we sound like we should have been in a television show or something - Venia, a crew of smart asses, the best of the best, venturing across the Universe in order to save their galaxy from peril." He snorted at his own comment, shaking his head a little. "Maybe it'll happen someday."

Once again, he set her off monologing, without interruption - he was getting good at this. She talked about cars and her work with such passion, which made him respect her - those that believed in what they did were nearly always the best in their field. And, she was on this ship, so that spoke volumes about how good she must be. It wasn't just him assuming, he had evidence to back it up. Then again, he was chief engineer, what did that say about him?

"I've always been more interested in technology," he said, "from small things like voice recognition systems, to big things like this entire ship. I've lost track of the amount of things on this ship which I've partly contributed towards building," now he was bragging, "the biosynthesier isn't my work though, so no one can blame me for that." Those things were utter crap. About a quarter of his work load was fixing those damn things. God help the genius that invented them if he ever got his hands on them.

He noticed her focus intensely on his face for a moment before quickly looking away, and smirked. He was a sucker for blondes, so she had that working in her favour, especially seeing as there was only one other blonde on the ship, and she was the shrink who he repeatedly lied to, not the best for attraction purposes. "For hours?" he chuckled, "and I thought that was long," he teased her, nudging her to show that he was joking. "Right now, if you talked for hours, I'd probably listen for hours."

They needed a better topic of conversation, but his brain was seriously lacking at the moment. "Managed to find anyone on board who you have your eye on yet?" he asked, his curiosity taking over for a moment there. He cleared his throat, mentally rolling his eyes at himself. He had no control over his mouth. "Not that you should have your eye on someone. ... I'm going to shut up now." He made a zipping motion across his mouth.

[Natalie Blake]

"Yeah, maybe someday," Natalie snickered, grinning. "For now we'll have to settle for being smart-asses among ourselves." This had to be the most she'd talked to anyone since college, and she found it surprisingly pleasurable. Maybe it was just because she'd been so quiet for so long, that now that her floodgate was open everything was just pouring out.

Or maybe she was just more talkative than she gave herself credit for. Whatever it was, though, she was glad. It was nice to break out of her shell every once in a while, and while Will probably didn't care in the slightest about any of what she had to say he was polite enough to let her ramble on until she'd gotten everything out.

Her interest was piqued as Will explained that he'd helped build almost every part of this ship, and she found herself rather impressed. She'd been admiring the artistry behind the Venia's design, and that he'd been an active member in its creation awed her. When he mentioned pointedly that he had no hand in the biosynthesizers, she laughed.

"Good. The ship is beyond amazing, but those things are just plain crap," she said, shaking her head in amusement. Will then joked that he'd thought her previous blathering had been long, nudging her in a good-natured manner. "Ha, you should hear me when I'm really on a roll. Actually, no, you shouldn't. Seriously, I can put an insomniac to sleep," she joked.

The topic changed then, and in a direction where if she'd been drinking something when Will brought it up she might have done a spit-take. When he started stammering, she couldn't help it--she giggled. An actual giggle. She could feel blush crawling up her neck but forcefully ignored it in the hopes of making it go away.

She contemplated responding flirtatiously, wondering how that might work out. Well, if things went wrong she could always lie and chock it up to her exhaustion and apologize to Will later. Hell, it wouldn't even have to be a lie. If she were properly awake, she probably wouldn't consider flirting at all.

"Maybe," she said, drawing the word out a little longer than necessary and smiling deviously. If he wasn't interested, he'd assume that she was just playing along for the hell of it. If he was interested, though... well, then she wasn't sure what would happen. She'd never really been that big a flirt. "Why? Any of the lovely ladies around here caught your eye?"

[William Blake]

"You know that's not as fun though, right?" Will smirked. Picking on those with lesser intelligence was amusing, but got tiring after a while, being trounced by someone with superior intelligence was rare, but embarrassing, playing witty banter back and forth with someone of equal intelligence however, was some of the best fun Will could have with another person.

This was the best Will had got on with someone in a long, long time. Someone who wasn't male as well. With most girls it got as far as shameles flirting, kissing, and maybe more, but never further than that. It felt like he was actually getting to know Natalie first, which was new terrority for him. He liked it. A welcome change.

Will laughed. "The person who designs them needs a kick up the backside," he said, "I'm beginning to think I should just tear them out and start from scratch, it'd be a hell of a lot easier than fixing them every two minutes. My error list for those things is as long as both my arms and legs." He'd also programme some new food stuff into it, classic home cooked meals that actually tasted good.

"We should try that sometime," he said with a smirk, "you putting me to sleep. Could actually do me some good." He was teasing her again, but, in truth, anything that would help him sleep, he would probably be grateful of right now. Maybe something that would knock him out so heavily that he'd sleep without dreams for days.

Will liked her choice of reply, it was suitably vague, and made him feel a little less stupid for asking the question in the first place. He almost mimicked her answer when she turned the question back on him. "Hmmm, quite probably. You see, I don't like to go to far into these things without knowing how she feels in return. Saves me the heartache, y'know." That was a pretty good recovery. He wondered how she would reply.

[Natalie Blake]

"That may be so, but it's far better to stay on the government's good side and have a job than be a public smart-ass and get on the bad side of someone high and powerful," Natalie said, rolling her eyes playfully before chuckling and punching Will's arm lightly. She wasn't a stickler for rules, but she tended not to toe the line too often if she could help it.

She nodded fervently when he claimed that the biosynthesizers had caused him more trouble than they were worth. "Oh, I don't doubt it. Sometimes I wonder if the ship would be better off with just a regular kitchen. Not everyone on this ship is hopeless in a kitchen, and even if someone was they'd still be eating better better tasting food if they cooked for themselves."

When he joked that she should actually talk him to sleep one of these days she responded with, "I'm surprised I haven't already, to be honest." In truth, though, he was right. He looked like he could really use a decent night's sleep. It was as she thought this that she realized he could be sleeping right now--heck, so could she--if she just shut up. But she couldn't seem to keep her mouth closed.

"Ah, yes," she said, agreeing with his statement. "That's understandable. I don't really like running blindly into things either. One of my friends in college met this girl that he thought he'd be spending forever with, but then one day they got in a huge fight over something--what he never actually told me--and that was the end of them."

With a slight sigh Natalie shrugged. She'd never really gotten serious with anyone before. Sure, she'd had a fling or two in college, but never had she gotten to the point where she was willing to say that she was in love. Love was a novel concept in movies and books and imagination, but in reality it almost always ended poorly.

Not always, a voice in the back of her head chimed. And she had to admit, it was right. He parents were fine, even after all of their struggles. "Well, 'while the brave may not live forever, the cautious don't live at all'--or something like that, anyway."

[William Blake]

"Another truth," he said with a nod, "has anyone ever complimented you on your wisdom?" he asked in a slightly teasing manner, but with some sincerity behind it as well. She kept pointing out the holes in what he was saying, and although this would usually aggravate him, or turn him off a conversation, he wasn't this time, instead he meekly tried to defend himself, or turn the conversation to something else, distraction techniques.

"Mmm," Will agreed, "maybe we should dedicate some time and crew members to that instead, take a vote first, see if we can rope someone into switching their job to being a chef." He couldn't understand why the government hadn't decided to do that in the first place. They were probably trying to save money, but in the end, these machines were just going to end up costing them more than they were worth, and they'd get annoyed about it. Will would probably get an earful if he wasn't the one giving them an earful himself.

Will blazed past the comment about sleeping for now, planning on coming back to it later. "Guess things like that tend you make you a bit cynical, huh?" he said, "like romance was something made up for bed time stories and fairytales." He wasn't sure what he believed about love. His father had obviously loved his Mum enough to become completely distraught over her death, it was the stuff that followed that wasn't so loving.

He smiled at her anecdote, "sounds about right." He lived his life how he lived it. The free running he did gave him that sense of exhileration that he craved whilst also providing him with some distance from his life and troubles from time to time, that's how he got out there and lived when he wasn't working. That was wreckless enough for him, but not completely dangerous. He was used to the bumps and bruises by now. He bore the evidence of much worse on his back.

With a smirk upon his face, he leaned across and laid his head on her shoulder, testing something, "you think you can keep talking? We can always test this theory of yours."

[Natalie Blake]

Natalie snorted. "They've acknowledged it so they can mock me with my own words, if that's what you mean. I've been told to can it more times than I'd care to count for my supposed 'wisdom'." And it was true. Multiple times she'd pointed something out, it would piss someone off and she'd get told to shut up or get lost.

"Hm, that could work. Don't know how many people would actually agree to leave their assigned post just to cook for the rest of the crew, though," she noted with a small frown. She then added teasingly, "Oh no, cooking for others, perish the thought!"

She was shaking her head before he'd even finished his next question. "No, I wouldn't say that. It's just that I've seen love go wrong so many times before, heard of the pain that people went through afterwards, and I've grown to believe that if you fall in love willy-nilly you'll get burned. Bad. But that doesn't mean I don't believe in love," she explained. "If you know the person, and you build up to love, then it can work out just fine. That's how it was for my parents."

Natalie stopped herself there, and was glad when he carried on without seeming overly bothered by the topic of "parents" popping up again. After all, they'd gotten into this because of his nightmares about his father. She didn't need to be bringing that back up, now did she? He seemed more at ease now, and that had been her goal from the get-go more or less.

She started a little when he set his head on her shoulder, not having expected it, but then laughed when she heard him. Reaching up she mussed a hand in his hair, rumpling it up even worse, and she couldn't help but laugh again. "What, you want me to tell you a bedtime story?" she teased. "What'll it be, Goldy Locks and the Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood? Oh, I know, Sleeping Beauty!"

And yet, even though she was razzing him, she made no move to push him off her shoulder. It could have to do with the fact that she was simply too tired to bother with trying, or it could be the fact that his head on her shoulder simply didn't bother her. It felt almost... natural. In fact, if she'd been a little less cautious and a little more tired, she probably would've rested her cheek against his hair and closed her eyes.

Yup, she was definitely out of it if she was honestly considering that. Having someone you just met resting their head against yours would probably be a little weird. Then again, having someone rest their head on your shoulder when you'd just met wasn't exactly customary either. She pushed the thoughts aside. Who really cared?

[William Blake]

"Pfft, who would do something like that?" he said, overexaggerating his 'I dunno' face meaning, in essence, that he would, but not in this case. He was too tired to feel like his ego was being threatened in any way by what she was saying, so it wasn't bothering him for the moment. He rather make a joke out of it, he didn't want to intentionally ruin this chat they were having.

"Maybe people could take it in shifts," he shrugged, not entirely seriously about the idea. He smirked, "t'would be the bane of their existence," he said in a very posh English voice, before chuckling a little, "although, don't let me say that in front of a real chef. I'd like to keep all my fingers in tact."

Will nodded his head, "yeah, it's exactly that movie-esque love, saying I love you after two fabulous days, that fails. They don't know what they're getting themselves into, they don't even know the other person that well, any of their faults or flaws. When those start to arise, that's when everything goes to hell." He'd seen some of his male friends go soppy like that, and it had ended with them sitting in a bar with their head on the counter, drowning their sorrows in beer.

Well, at least she had a flesh and blood example of a couple in love that had worked. When he thought about it, he'd worked with and older scientist, Jim Bowland, on a piece of scanning technology once, and he and his wife had been in love, sickening so, for twenty-five years. They were completely in tune, and despite their faults, they worked through it. And they hadn't stopped having fun either, which was another big thing. Will could only really aspire to have something like that some day.

"Not the hair!" he protested, although he continued to have the smirk across his face. It needed cutting, it was getting way too long for his liking. Soon he was going to have to start slicking it back or something, which looked dreadful. He all out laughed when she said about reading him a bed time story. "Oh would you, please? Pretty please, Miss Natalie?" he said in a cute voice, looking up at her with his big blue eyes before a smile spread across his face, and he started laughing again, unable to keep serious.

The laughter faded away, and he couldn't bear to lift his head from where it was on her shoulder, even though he'd put it there as a joke in the first place. It was actually kinda comfy, and she didn't seem to be moving it either. If he wasn't careful he was actually going to drop off back to sleep and probably flatten her.

[Natalie Blake]

"Oh, like you don't want to yourself," Natalie laughed, shaking her head. "That's probably part of the reason that I was better off in the garage growing up. In the saloon I talked too much, or so my mother said. Annoyed the customers and scared them all away."

She snickered a little at Will's response to her jibe about people not wanting to cook for others. "Yeah, if a real chef ever showed up I'd have to watch myself too," she laughed. "Fingers sometimes come in handy when you work in engineering. You know, just sometimes."

He jokingly complained about his hair when she ruffled it, and an amused grin split her face. There wasn't much to worry about--he had good hair. It was a little on the long-side, admittedly, but it was soft and relatively well taken care of. When he asked her in an adorable little voice if she'd tell him a story, she couldn't help but to laugh with him.

"Once upon a time..." she started mockingly, chuckling. After a little while her broad grin faded into no more than a soft smile and she started playing idly with his hair, twirling it through her fingers.

The hum of the engine was the only sound now that they'd stopped talking, and it was a soothing sound. Natalie had always had some sort of sound falling asleep as a child, whether it was muted voices and laughter drifting in from the bar or the sound of her father working in the garage. Most often, it would be her mother singing to her. Before she knew what she was doing, Natalie had started humming the song her mother always sang.

As soon as she realized she was doing it, she stopped herself. "Sorry," she mumbled a little groggily. Her eyes were feeling heavier than before, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stay awake. Looking down she noticed that Will looked incredibly close to nodding off himself. Too tired to care anymore, she let her face fall into his hair.

It passed her mind that she should probably suggest that they both go up to their rooms, but that would entail moving and she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to. Through the small sliver her eyes had narrowed to she checked the time. Even if she did go back to her room now, she'd only get a couple of hours of sleep before she'd be coming back down here anyway. Still, using a proper pillow instead of her shoulder might be more beneficial for Will.

"Maybe we should... go to bed," she murmured sleepily. She wondered if she'd been coherent, and then decided she didn't care that much. If they actually fell asleep they'd no doubt tumble to the floor, and that in itself would probably wake them up enough to make the trip up to their rooms.

[William Blake]

"Uh huh," he said, "'course not." Will smiled lightly, feeling himself beginning to doze off as he sat their with his head resting on her shoulder. He was only half listening to what she was saying now, his eyes beginning to droop, her fingers gently fiddling with his hair. The sound of her voice changed to a soothing hum, he could just about make out a tune as he drifted off to sleep.

The sound of her voice woke him again, and he blinked hard, trying to stay awake this time. "Good idea," he said with a slow nod. He figured it was probably about time he got some proper sleep, feeling sufficiently relaxed. Gently, he removed his head from her shoulder, making sure that her chin didn't droop and hit her chest or anything, then smiled tiredly across at her. "Thank you, again," he told her, rising to his feet, towering over her now. "I'll see you... later on today." With another smile, he turned around and left.

[Natalie Blake]

Natalie's eyes fluttered open again when Will sat up, commenting that going to bed would be a good plan. She nodded a little drowsily and rubbed her eyes to focus them. "Yeah... falling asleep down here once was probably more than enough."

She watched as he stood up and waved a hand dismissively when he thanked her. "Seriously Will, anytime. Hell, maybe next time you'll catch me when I'm a little closer to conscious." When he said goodbye, she returned his smile and waved once. "See you later." And she was oddly glad to know that she would. After a long moment she got up and followed him out of engineering.

[~ ADMIN]

~~ CLOSED ~~