A moment passed, and Gabriel would move his hand, to gently hold Vivi's in return. Such a paltry, minor thing, it would do nothing to anchor him here when the light eventually guttered out. But despite that knowledge, he still found comfort in that action. Paltry. Minor. But not insignificant. It mattered.
"Thank you." Again, and no less genuine as he leaned back in the chair and his shoulders sagged. It'd been eons since he'd last actually bothered to sleep, and he couldn't deny that even in the face of what the need meant, the desire to drift away was no less alluring in the moment...
There he'd remain, motionless, for an hour. He'd simply dropped off within a matter of seconds, but not once did his breathing ever falter, nor did his fingers uncurl from Vivi's hand. And though there was no light that filtered through the helm properly, the fire too dim to achieve this, when he closed his eyes it was so strange that all he could see was red.
It was not an easy sleep. As quickly as he'd dozed off, that meant nothing in regards to the visions that haunted it. Eyes everywhere, dual irises and twin pupils twitching and morphing inside heavily lidded sockets. Garbled, incomplete sentences, muttered and shrieked, filled with malice and mirth in equal degree. Writhing like an insect trapped in a web, clambering to wrench tendrils made of stone and pulsating tissue as they worked their way inside the armor, threatening to consume him from the inside out-
That hour ended and his head jerked, gasping, some dregs of a poorly remembered dream already filtering out of his mind. He should have felt groggy, exhausted. Or perhaps he shouldn't have awakened at all, but...
"... Maybe I needed that." Did Gabriel sound sure of that? Not really! But as the adrenaline faded, the heaviness that had filled him before failed to return. He ached, but maybe that was because he'd fallen asleep in a goddamn chair. It was with little hesitation that Gabriel instantly looked for Vivi, instinctively closing his fingers around where the boy's hand had been.
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"Thank you." Again, and no less genuine as he leaned back in the chair and his shoulders sagged. It'd been eons since he'd last actually bothered to sleep, and he couldn't deny that even in the face of what the need meant, the desire to drift away was no less alluring in the moment...
There he'd remain, motionless, for an hour. He'd simply dropped off within a matter of seconds, but not once did his breathing ever falter, nor did his fingers uncurl from Vivi's hand. And though there was no light that filtered through the helm properly, the fire too dim to achieve this, when he closed his eyes it was so strange that all he could see was red.
It was not an easy sleep. As quickly as he'd dozed off, that meant nothing in regards to the visions that haunted it. Eyes everywhere, dual irises and twin pupils twitching and morphing inside heavily lidded sockets. Garbled, incomplete sentences, muttered and shrieked, filled with malice and mirth in equal degree. Writhing like an insect trapped in a web, clambering to wrench tendrils made of stone and pulsating tissue as they worked their way inside the armor, threatening to consume him from the inside out-
That hour ended and his head jerked, gasping, some dregs of a poorly remembered dream already filtering out of his mind. He should have felt groggy, exhausted. Or perhaps he shouldn't have awakened at all, but...
"... Maybe I needed that." Did Gabriel sound sure of that? Not really! But as the adrenaline faded, the heaviness that had filled him before failed to return. He ached, but maybe that was because he'd fallen asleep in a goddamn chair. It was with little hesitation that Gabriel instantly looked for Vivi, instinctively closing his fingers around where the boy's hand had been.