Cadogan Thomas | Jack of Diamonds (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
diemwnt) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
houseofcards_rp2013-11-29 06:40 pm
diemwnt) wrote in houseofcards_rp2013-11-29 06:40 pm
Entry tags:
[ota] join jack and the boys; be in a band
The world gets small. That's the worst part.
The period of probation is good, really. Being away from work, sitting in the solitude of house arrest, makes the loss of interest in the rest of the world less damaging. Lets him work his way around to a normal sleep schedule again; get through the sharper periods of nightmares and into the dull sort of sleep he lives with generally. Gives him time to work on the shakiness in his hands and the way he jumps at tiny noises, to refocus on what's immediately before him rather than letting his mind skitter everywhere.
But the world gets small. The world stays small even when, with a firm slap on the wrist, he's let back into his office. The future sits on the end of his desk, barely extending to the end of the week.
He barely notices he's gone out to the gardens. Barely realizes he's bummed an actual cigarette off one of the kitchen Threes and settled in for a proper smoke.
Fifteen months was a good run. And the world is so small. And yes, the smoke entering his lungs spikes the pain of each breath at first, but the nicotine hit--real, proper, after all these months--is more than worth it, in a world that surely isn't going to last more than through the rounding of the next few days.
He'll drop the cigarette if approached, of course. He'll even pretend it was on purpose, and not the shock of tension at the sudden sound of another human being.
The period of probation is good, really. Being away from work, sitting in the solitude of house arrest, makes the loss of interest in the rest of the world less damaging. Lets him work his way around to a normal sleep schedule again; get through the sharper periods of nightmares and into the dull sort of sleep he lives with generally. Gives him time to work on the shakiness in his hands and the way he jumps at tiny noises, to refocus on what's immediately before him rather than letting his mind skitter everywhere.
But the world gets small. The world stays small even when, with a firm slap on the wrist, he's let back into his office. The future sits on the end of his desk, barely extending to the end of the week.
He barely notices he's gone out to the gardens. Barely realizes he's bummed an actual cigarette off one of the kitchen Threes and settled in for a proper smoke.
Fifteen months was a good run. And the world is so small. And yes, the smoke entering his lungs spikes the pain of each breath at first, but the nicotine hit--real, proper, after all these months--is more than worth it, in a world that surely isn't going to last more than through the rounding of the next few days.
He'll drop the cigarette if approached, of course. He'll even pretend it was on purpose, and not the shock of tension at the sudden sound of another human being.
no subject
She doesn't, right now. And she's not wearing the dark jeans that signify off-duty, but instead the gray slacks that indicate she's stopped here on her way back from a client.
/Maybe just a little bit. But as your friend, too, if that helps./
no subject
It still prompts a sigh to his lips, a brief digging of the heels of his palms into his eyes to just reset a bit.
It would be nice for things to stop feeling claustrophobic, some day.
no subject
One could construe her hand touching his shoulder as her bracing herself to stand. It isn't, of course. It's the only gesture of comfort she can offer right now to a man who feels the walls closing in even out of doors.
She'll see him in one of their bars. Next time, she'll be the one to buy the first round.
Right now, she'll go distract his mother.
no subject
And, when he comes up for air again, he'll come find her. They'll have a drink and he'll ask for recommendations.
In his own time.