Trouble Sleeping

## Roleplay

Destiny snuck out of her room silently around midnight. She was having difficulty sleeping, so she thought some fresh air would do her some good. She always had difficulty sleeping some place new the first few nights, especially during the very first night. Grabbing her cloak, she left her room and put her cloak on as she walked down the halls. She made sure her journal and pen were in the inside pocket, figuring she could get a few entries in. Making her way to the courtyard, her cloak had more of a silvery shine to it due to the rays of moonlight that fell upon it. She made her way to a tree and sat at the base, pulling her journal and pen out.

A figure was leaning against the tree with his sword laid on his lap as he had one knee up.

The figure was asleep as he kept his head tilted forward without any motion, to some, they might have mistaken him for being dead but in fact he was very much alive.

Moonlight shun upon the figure's sword and reflected the light onto his face, revealing that it was Eric.

Eric had a hard time sleeping in the so called rooms for a hut so he decided to sleep in the courtyard, even if Vacuo had the heat, the night was proving to ve quite cooling, with cold breezes every now and then had made his sleep somewhat enjoyable. Now the only thing left to worry about was the constant nightmares that would occur Wen he sleeps or even closing his eyes in general.

Destiny tilted her head when she took notice of the figure next to the tree. Using the moonlight that reflected from their sword and illuminated their face, she was able to identify them as male and assumed that, like her, he was a student as well. At first glance, she assumed he was deceased, but as she moved closer, she noticed the slight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Concerned that something might be wrong, she made sure to remain out of striking distance of his sword before gently clearing her throat.

"U...Umm...e... excuse me. S...sir? Are...are you alright?" She softly asked, holding her journal and pen against her chest, her silver eyes scanning his face for any signs of him becoming conscious.

Eric jerked slightly as he was awoken suddenly, grabbing the hilt of his sword, Eric drew it out of its sheath and brought it up to guard.

"Who's there?!" Eric demanded before noticing a petite looking girl beside him at the corner of his peripheral vision.

Lowering his guard and his voice, Eric turned to the girl.

"Sorry..for my sudden out burst, may I know who are you?" Eric said softly as he tried to adjusted his tone of speech.

Destiny jumped slightly when she saw him unhilt his sword, taking a step back. Even though she had prepared for it, she was still taken by surprise.

"S...Sorry. I...I was j...just making sure e... everything was alright. M...My name is D..Destiny Ashnah. I... It's nice to meet you." She said softly, giving a small curtsy, believing it would be a more appropriate way to start greeting the new people she would meet.

"A...And it is alright. Th...There was no harm d..done." She added quickly, wanting to reassure him that everything was alright.

Eric gave a sigh of relief before he sheath his weapon and attached the sheath to his belt.

"Pardon me Miss Ashnah, it just my line of duty that has made me very cautious.."Eric tried to lie again, not wanting the girl to know that he had suffered multiple nightmares and captures to not be paranoid, he may not have shown it but it was noticeable in his actions.

"May I ask? What's a small looking girl like yourself doing in the courtyard at this time of night?" Eric enquired as he adjusted his gauntlet and gloves as well as massaging his neck.

Destiny carefully sat next to him, tucking her legs underneath her as she rested her journal in her lap. She looked at him with a small but kind smile as she made herself comfortable. She could sense that he was hiding something, but she did not wish to force him to tell her either.

"I..It's alright. A..And y..you don't have to be h..honest b..but I don't want you to f..feel like you have to l..lie either." She said before opening her journal to a blank page.

"A...As for your q..question, I... was h...having tr...trouble sl..sleeping s..so I came o..out here f..for some fresh a..air. I....I usually h..have sl...sleeping problems th...the first few n...nights st..staying someplace n..new. A...And I a..apologize b..but I do n..not believe I c..caught your name." She added, looking up at him.

"You noticed?" Eric looked at her surprised as not a lot of people could read his emotionless face. No one could have read his emotion just by looking at his face and body besides his eldest sister, Cecily.

"The name is Eric Light. And you too have trouble sleeping huh?" Eric said as he adjust himself to get in a much more comfortable position.

Destiny nodded with a gently smiling before she started to draw something in her journal.

"Y..Yea. A...And o..of course I...I noticed. I..If you kn..know wh...what to l..look for, i...it's not that hard. J...Jin used to d..do the same thing. H...He still does. B..But I have learned th...that if p..people try to hide something then th...they have a good r...reason to and th..that they will t..talk about it in th..their own time. Also, i..it is very nice to m..meet you E..Eric L..Light." She said, the tone of her voice seeming to be cheerful and innocent.

"Interesting...Usually no one would be able to see through my facade but only one person could and that would be my sister.." Eric said as he watched her draw in her journal.

"Please to meet you too Miss Ashnah, and what are you drawing if I may ask?"Eric had already lowered his guard completely at the meeting of the soft spoken girl, her innocents could be felt as it resonated from her and Eric didn't need to be paranoid when she was around her, albeit that Ashnah and Ishtar were almost the same, Ashnah made him feel much more relax as he didn't need to worry about his security or someone else's.

"I...I sort of d...developed a kn..knack for it after spending a y..year with J..Jin. Y...Your s..sister s..sounds like she is v..very observant." Destiny said as she began to draw the outline of a person.

She sensed that he was no longer tense and felt more relaxed. This made her gently smile grow slightly. Others being happy always made her happy. It was one of the ways she had found to cope with the occasional trauma she received from her semblance. Seeing one's fate wasn't exactly easy on the young amnesiac girl, but she was finding ways to cope with the visions and they weren't always terrible.

"A...And I am d.. drawing s... someone's f...fate th...that I s...saw e..earlier. I...I don't w...want to risk f... forgetting it in c...case i..it becomes i... important l..later." She added, starting to add details to the figure.

"She is...My sister has always been there for me. Every since I was just a wee little lad." Eric sighed, not knowing why he was opening up to the girl, but he guessed that it was actually nice to get it off his chest.

Eric took a deep breath in and exhaled as he relaxed even more, it has been a long time indeed since he last could feel such relaxation. Could it be that he hasn't opened up to someone, he just forgotten how ? Being with the girl now certainly is making Eric feel like he was in paradise even with the Vacutian heat.

"So...You can see someone else's fate?" Eric asked as he watched her draw.

"I...It must b..be nice to have a sibling like that." Destiny said, looking up to smile at him.

Sure, she could sort of understand. Jin had been at her side for as long as she could remember. The sad part was, she could only remember up to a year ago. Her first memories were of waking up in the Emerald Forest and meeting Jin. She couldn't remember anything before that. But that didn't matter now. Jin seemed positive that her memories would return at the academy and she trusted Jin with her life. She also saw it as an opportunity to make new friends, and it seemed she was on the right track on becoming friends with Eric. Or at least she hoped.

"A...And y..yea...I... It's m..my semblance. I...I can see someone's f..fate if th..they are in m..my range of s..sight a...and I..I can even m.. manipulate it to s...some d..degree." She explained before looking back down to continue her drawing.

"She's just the silver lining of my life. If it wasn't for her, I would have ended my life because of the rigorous training and my father...being disappointed of my results even the said results were excellent." Eric sighed as he adjusted his sitting position into a crossed leg position.

"That's quite interesting, so...can you see what my future fate is?" Eric asked as he leaned forward.

"S...She s..sounds like a very sweet p..person." Destiny said as she began to draw a second person.

"A...As for s..seeing y..your fate..u..umm....I...It's not that s..simple. I..I h..haven't m..mastered on ch...choosing when I h..have the v..visions. Th...They just s..sort of h..happen." She added.

And this was true. She normally had the visions at the most random of times and sometimes they were of someone she did not know. It wasn't the easiest thing to deal with, especially when she tried to explain what she saw to some stranger. They often thought she was insane or there was something mentally wrong with her. The only one who usually believed her, was Jin. She did notice, however, that she had slight control over it when she was in combat but she thought it best to leave that information out of her explanation. She didn't want to risk having to fight Eric, especially after they just met.

"Hmm. It does take time to hone your semblance. So there is no rush. I believe that one can change their fate if they truly believe that they can" Eric said, as he remembered of his friend's speech.

"I..It's possible. F...Fate i..isn't set in st...stone a..after all. I...It's like if I wr...wrote something i..in my journal. I..I can always e..erase it or e..edit it in some way. F...Fate is l..like that. I..It's like a j..journal e..entry." Destiny said, happy that Eric understood.

She was a strong believer that anyone could change their own fate and that she was just able to help by suggestion a course of action or make the change herself using her aura. She smiled happily as she finished her drawing, having sketched Jin and Neela dancing together at what seemed to be a ball of some sort, both dressed for the occasion and having happy smiles. Up in the corner, she wrote Jin's name along with the date, time, and location she had her vision. It was a habit she did in order to better organize her sketches.

"That...girl..or guy looks familiar... Give me a moment for me to scan my data base." Eric took a glance at Ashnah's drawing and his left iris began to lit up in a yellow fashion, moments later, Eric came back and asked

"Is that Neeru or Nur?"

Destiny looked at him as she tilted her head slightly, a few strands of her snow white hair falling in front of her left eye, the silver iris seeming to have a softer look to it in contrast to the white veil before it.

"D...Do you mean N..Neela?" She asked softly.

She had thought she remembered hearing them say that was their name but, she began to wonder now if she miss heard.

"I believe so..I've met her before..or him. It was with my best friend." Eric said bluntly as he leaned forward even more to brush the few strands of hair away, tucking them behind her ear.

Destiny watched his hand curiously. She was only use to Jin tucking the strands of hair that would fall in her face behind her ear so it seemed strange for Eric to do it. However, the action was comforting in thought as she began to see some similarities between the two. Perhaps she and Eric would be good friends just like she and Jin were.

"I..I met them once as w..well w...with Jin after we m..met someone named Grim. We also met s..someone named Evelynn around the s..same time. Th..They seemed really nice." She said, a small fond smile making its presence known on her face.

"Is that so? Wait.. This Grim character..I may have seen her with my friend before.." Eric said as he leaned away from Destiny. Wondering who were the people that she had said

"R..Really? Th..That's interesting. I..I mean, I..I guess G...Grim r..really gets around to m..meeting new people. W..With all the random t..teleporting and all." Destiny said before holding her head and closing her eyes, letting out a soft whimper.

Her head had begun to hurt and she never liked it when it did. It always meant that she was about to have a vision and the worse her head hurt, the more of an impact that fate would have on someone's life. Her journal fell out of her lap as she pulled her legs, closer, slowing curling into a ball as she tried to deal with the pain.

"I..I h..hate this p..part." She softly muttered.

And she always did. She always hated the headaches. She just hoped Eric would not get the wrong idea. She didn't want her having a vision to ruin what friendship between them was starting to form.

Eric leaned in and placed a hand on her shoulder as he tried to help her get her mind off the headache.

"Miss Ashnah, are you alright?!" Eric asked as he tensed up from her whimpering in pain.

"Y...Yes. I... I'm alright. I... It's just....I...I always g..get h.. headaches wh..when I h...have v..visions of o..one's fate." Destiny said, weakly lifting her head to look at him, something seeming to flash across her eyes, occurring a few more times before she finally closed them, her body going lax as she took a deep breath.

Eric moved his hand from her shoulder and to the back of her neck in order to support her as she went lax, his hands slowly lowering her to lay on the ground.

"Are you feeling...better Miss Ashnah?" Eric asked as he was now very concerned of the girl's health, even if they had just met, Eric's protectiveness of his friends had kicked in when Destiny was in pain.

Destiny nodded as she slowly opened her eyes, slowly taking deep breaths, pulling her cloak tightly around her.

"Y...Yes. M..My headache is subsiding. I.. I've had worse. I..It just d.. depends on how much of an impact the f..fate will have o..on someone's l..life." She explained, her voice softer than usual.

It wasn't on a regular basis, but she would occasionally have a vision that left her feeling slightly drained.

Eric gave out a sigh of relief and slowly helped Destiny up.

"Thank goodness." Eric said with a smile of relief.

"Who's fate was it that you saw, Miss Ashnah?" Eric asked as he was curious of who she had seen in her vision.

Destiny blinked a few times, regaining her bearings as she tried to figure out how to explain it all to him. It had been his fate so he had every right to know. But the question that troubled her was how to tell him. She looked up at him, remaining silent for a few minutes before deciding to do what she always did best, rely on her instincts.

She then slowly reached up and gently placed her right index finger on the tip of his nose in a booping action before slowly placing her hand back in her lap. Yes, it was probably a weird way of telling someone she saw their fate but it was natural to her.

Eric narrowed his eyes as Ashnah booped his nose, not really knowing why she did it as he did not know how some of the much common people of Remnant answers certain questions.

"Is..it me?" Eric enquired as he slowly allowed the girl to support herself.

She nodded silently, leaning against the base of the try for support.

"Y...Yes. I..It's you. At...At least it seems l..like you. I..It was s..sort of b..blurry. A..A lot was going on.in i..it. I...I am s..sorry." She said softly.

"A..Also I...I apologize for b...booping your n..nose....umm....I...It's j..just how I..I tell s..someone I..I had a...a vision of their f..fate." She added. "I..It's j..just sort of s..something instinctual I..I do."

"It's fine. I would prefer to be me that control my fate. And you don't have to apologize for booping my nose, I didn't know that it was your way of expressing your answer. And you are cute at it too...Pardon me, I am not trying to flirt." Eric's gave a soft chuckle as he could just some how open up to this girl even more so than anyone else, even maybe Cole, she is like his sister, Cecily.

Destiny smiled warmly at him.

"I..It is alright. I u..understand. A..And it's g..good that y..you want to t..take control of y..your fate. M..Most p..people aren't l..like that. I..I shall n..not m..mess with it b..but I w..will say th..this...i...it d..does seem p..pretty b..bright." She said cheerfully.

She normally didn't feel this relaxed around people, especially with those she just met but there was something about him that made her feel at ease. Perhaps he was more like Jin than she had first realized.

"You should rest a bit after your little ordeal." Eric motioned over to the tree for her to rest.

"And really? My fate would be bright? Maybe..It is because I am with you?" Eric said with a smile on his face.

Destiny couldn't hide the small blush the coated her cheeks. No one had ever said anything like that to her before so she wasn't quite sure how to respond. She leaned back against the tree, curling up against the base slightly so she could rest, as he had suggested.

"I...I wouldn't s..say it was f..for that reason. I..I don't e..exactly know th...that much b...but you s..seemed happy." She said, recalling what all she had been able to notice from the vision.

Eric noticed the blush on the shy girl's face and couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Yes, I am happy which is a rarity for me since I have to be always be on my guard but...when I am around you, I get this different vibe." Eric said, looking towards the girl.

Destiny's blush seemed to darken till it was a light shade of crimson, becoming even more noticeable against her pale white skin.

"I... I'm glad that y...you feel like y..you don't have to have y..your guard up around me and th...that you're happy." She said, looking back at him with a gentle smile before her eyelids lowered a little as she blinked.

She covered her mouth with her right hand, gently yawning into it. Her vision had taken more out of her than she had first realized and her body was now ready to get some rest.

Eric took off his side cape that covered most if not all of his metallic arm and laid it on top of Destiny like a blanket.

"Sleep well, Miss Ashnah." Eric said with a smile as he watched over the girl as she slept.

Destiny gave a small sleepy smile at him just before her eyes slowly slid closed.

"S...Sweet dreams, Mr. Light." She softly said before her breathing had evened out and became slightly shallow, signifying that the young girl had fallen asleep.

The smile still remained on her face as she slept, her dreams not plagued by nightmares of events still unknown to her. She may not currently know what fate has instore for herself, but she knew she could handle it with the friends she made at her side.