2024-12-13 - Nightmares and Cronuts

[TXT to Callie] Wash: why did you call me at 430?

[TXT to Callie] Wash: did you fall asleep with your pants on and your phone in your back pocket again?

[TXT to Callie] Wash: i told you to stop doing that boomer crap! 😆

[TXT to Wash] Callie: what the fuck time is it rn?

[TXT to Callie] Wash: 9.

[TXT to Wash] Callie: too early fk u 🙁

[TXT to Callie] Wash: too early fk ME? you called me at 430am!

[TXT to Wash] Callie: was a butt dial laid on phone

[TXT to Wash] Callie: listen, i had a grody nightmare and now I'm again awake before noon

[TXT to Wash] Callie: why u torture mee

[TXT to Callie] Wash: i told you scrolling facebook marketplace before bed was gonna give you nightmares.

[TXT to Callie] Wash: but you didn't listen.

[TXT to Wash] Callie: grr

[TXT to Wash] Callie: y r u a jerk?

[TXT to Callie] Wash: i'm not. i love you.

[TXT to Callie] Wash: do you want me to bring you coffee and cronuts?

[TXT to Wash] Callie: god yes

[TXT to Callie] Wash: what kinna cronuts you want?

[TXT to Wash] Callie: chocolate

[TXT to Wash] Callie: i decided ur not a jerk, life safer. see you soon

Callie is curled up in the common room of the apartment, the door slightly ajar, so that Wash can enter. She has two blankets over her legs, and her head is leaned back against the back of the couch as she yawns hugely.

She opens one eye when she hears something at the door, to see who is entering.

It is, in fact, Washington. He does not have a bag or anything with him; instead, he --is that a silver serving tray with a lid on it????-- walks in with the tray. There's two mugs of coffee on it on either side of the hemispherical lid. He stops next to Callie, offers her one of the coffee mugs, and then pulls the lid off, showing off a nice, small assortment of chocolate cronuts. "For the best older sister."

Confusion.

"Hey." Callie leans in and snags one of the cronuts from the tray. "What is with the tray?" She asks, a very suspicious look on her features. She takes up the coffee and lifts it to her mouth to drink.

Wash shrugs. "It's from one of the park's older productions. I stole it from the theater on my way over." Because he could. "What, you don't like feeling special?" He sets his own coffee next to the couch Callie is on and then dumps himself unceremoniously next to hwer after setting the tray aside. Then he snags his coffee and a cronut, leaning into her. "I swear if this place lit on fire before noon you'd insist the flames come back in five more minutes."

"Oh." Callie narrows her eyes and takes another sip. "They will need to come back after noon. The world doesn't start until noon." She sighs as Wash leans against her. "I'm really sorry that I woke you up. I didn't mean to do it."

"Pfft. You're fine." He leans his head against her shoulder and then takes a bite of his cronut, holding his mug of coffee under it to catch crumbs. He doesn't mind if there's crumbs in his coffee. "Nightmares suck. You wanna talk about it? Was it Uncle Pendle in the clown costume again? That dude is terrifying. Halloween in Wyoming never again, please."

"The nightmare was so insane. There was.. it was such a small tunnel and it smelled so horrible. I couldn't really tell why I was there, and what was going on. I just woke up, and it felt like the sound was thrumming in my bones." Callie leans her head against her brother's, frowning. "I was afraid to fall back asleep. I felt like it was haunting me in a way."

"I'm sorry," Wash says, even though he had nothing to do with her nightmare. "I wish I could help with more than coffee and cronuts." He finishes his cronut. "You having the same nightmare a lot, or are they like different nightmares, or..?"

"This helped. It helped, thank you Wash." Callie gives her brother a warm look, giving him a one-armed squeeze. "I've had this nightmare twice now. The first time I thought it was weird, but I didn't think much of it. When I have them twice, it feels like a seeing. You know, that kind that grandma used to have. She always thought that her dreams were prophetic. We teased her about it, but.." She shrugs.

"This place is weird," Wash says quietly. "You noticed, right? Magic?" He fidgets a bit. "Spirits talk now. They never used to. I just believed they were there. Now I know. I can even sometimes... just..." He taps his head. "Used to be only Reggie and I had that sort of weird 'we know what we're thinking' thing, but now I feel like people can hear me if I think loud enough."

"I have noticed, but I'm trying to not notice as much as I can," Callie whispers quietly, turning to gaze at Wash. "I was listening to music, and suddenly the music started without me listening. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I can make sounds happen." She frowns lightly and lets out a sigh. "You and Reggie can hear each other's thoughts?" She arches a brow, frowning toward her brother. "Wild shit."

"Not, like, supernaturally, I don't think. We just know. It's like a twin thing. But now... I don't know. It's so weird. And I'm pretty sure everyone's going through some weird shit. I saw Bam at the theater, left, caught sight of him hanging out on the other side of the park, and when I got back, he was back at the theater. It was weird." Wash lifts his arm and then wraps it around her shoulders, squeezing.

"Should we have a fam meeting about it, and try to find out if everyone is having these things happen to them?" Callie asks, frowning for a few moments before she shakes her head. "We should get together at some point soon anyway, I miss my siblings."

"You know how we all get when we finally start working again," Wash says, shrugging. "But probably, yeah. If shit is going to keep on getting weirder, I wanna know about it." He finishes his second cronut before he sits up and takes a longer gulp of his coffee.

Callie drinks at her coffee, but the cronut remains untouched -- for now. She blows out a breath. "I'll start a text chain, and see when we can all manage to wrap up present work and get together to talk. Have you met many people from the amphitheater yet? Anyone you would suggest that I make friends with?"

"Uh, let's see." Wash considers and then says, "I met Reggie's magician girl. She came at me like I hadn't texted her so I kept her on the hook for a bit but I ended up coming clean," he says, laughing. Wash pretending to be Reggie to confuse people is not new; it just doesn't work on family after all this time. "I met this horse rider chick, she came by the amphitheater? And then just like, people we met at the wrap party and stuff.

"I was thinking of holding Warner Karaoke, seeing if anyone wants to come join our shenanigans?"

"Warner Karaoke sounds like a lot of fun. I want to have some fun around here. Let's do it." Callie smiles at Wash and then rubs the back of her hand against her eyes. "I do think that I need a nap. Waking up that early has seriously stunted my day. I'll save the cronuts for when I'm awake. Why don't YOU start a text chain with the fam, we can see if we're all having shit happen to us, yeah?"

Wash lets out a groan. "Every time I start a text chain you scold me for it being total chaos," he whines, but he's already reaching for his phone. "Fine, fine." He leans over and smooches Callie's head. "Take a nap, you night owl. You'd think the younger siblings would be the night people, but nooooo..."

"Oh don't tease, hush your face." Callie says, but it's full of warmth and love, she leans in to hug him around the neck before she gets to her face, cronuts on her fingers as she makes her way into her bedroom, shutting the door.