#NightmaresOfMarsRP

[starman-john-tracy]

Nightmares Of Mars [RP]

@themrstracy:

It had always been harder to sleep when the bed was half empty, but when the boys had arrived it had gotten even harder. Every noise, every little shift of light, or flutter of a breeze, all seemed like something she needed to hear, something that could have been mistaken for one of her boys needing her.

Usually she had Jeff to persuade her that all was well and that she should sleep. Usually she had the security of knowing he was there and would undoubtedly know what to do in an emergency. Usually Jeff was somewhere much closer to Earth than Mars.

So when John comes padding into their room, she’s still wide awake, mind reeling with the possibilities of all the things that might go wrong before dawn. His nightmare strikes her chest with cold, sharp fear, the whole thing just another reminder of what could happen out there so many millions of miles away.

She has to keep a brave face though, plastering on a reassuring smile she reaches out and draws him up into her lap. Her thumbs wipe at his cheeks as she begins to hum softly, waiting for him to settle in her arms.

Because the problem is, for a boy so young, John is so ridiculously smart. Where simple reassurance would have worked in a moment to calm any of his brothers, her little redhead would simply refute the comments with the logic he knew to be true.

It was the same logic she knew she would have to use to reassure him.

Running her fingers through his hair, she tilted her head as she watches him, “So, let’s think of all the reasons that’s not gonna happen, huh?”

There’s a series of miserable little snuffly noises as she scoops him onto her lap, cuddling him close. There’s a soft, rocking, lulling motion to her arms that feels warm and safe and the sweet little tune has his lashes fluttering, clearly very sleepy but still far too agitated to drop off. He feels skinny and a little shivery against her, with his cotton pyjamas and bare feet. He tucks his toes into the crook of his Mother’s knee, drawing his own knees up to his chest in a little ball, preserving warmth. It sure is a weird way for a kid to sit, especially compared to his sprawling, messy brothers, but John never worries about what’s normal.

“R-Reasons?” If he looks at Jeff like he put the stars in the sky, then he looks up at Lucille in that moment like she made them for him. His nose wrinkles, freckle-spotted and considering and the tears start to dry up as he’s distracted from them by thinking.

“I... He’s got Uncle Lee.” John points out, tentative, uncertain about that perk. Most of what he knows about Uncle Lee is that he’s quite forgetful, always leaving something at their house, and that he gives really hard hair ruffles. He called him Jim once. John’s not sure about that. “Dad...” There’s a little gulp of breath, tremulous in his chest, still thickly edged with anxiety. “He’s got lots of gear. For s-setting up the station. Th-that’ll keep him safe, right? There’s r-regulations.”

[starman-john-tracy]

“How are you feeling?” - Themrstracy

From this ask meme

“Mom?” The kid peers up at her, half his face covered by a little fist, scrubbing at the sleep in his eyes. “I... I had a bad dream.” John tilts his head to the side, biting his lip and peering anxiously around the doorway into Lucille and Jeff’s room. The other side of the double bed to her is cold and empty and her son hangs in the doorway looking nervously at the empty space where his Father should be.

But Jeff’s on a mission. NASA. Mars. Up there with his buddy Lee Taylor and a six pack of beers, no doubt kicked back in some space deckchair smiling fondly at the little blue and green marble of home in the distance. At least, that’s what his holograms make it sound like. In reality none of them doubt the hard work, grit and labour those astronauts are being put through, building the first human colony on another planet. Jeff’s never missed a day’s work in his life.

“I... I dreamed he’s n-not gonna c-come back.” John manages to stammer out, those blue-green eyes of his wide and scared. There’s a suspicious sounding sniffle. Out of all her boys, it’s John who knows the dangers of space travel the best; the dangers his Father is up there facing. Jeff will insist on educating him, though perhaps, not always for the better. “H-His oxygen tank ran out up there,” John tries to explain, “and... and...” There’s a wet sounding hiccup and the boy presses his other hand to his mouth, in some kind of attempt at quiet - so as not to wake his brothers. Especially not with the suggestion that their Father might be... gone.