The Chained Watcher

Nightmare? Or Comedy?

~~~

Absently skimming through some assembled Watcher portfolios, Jimmy remarks, "You know, you'd think I'd know better by now than to read these things right before I'm planning to sleep."

His partner looks over, spots his chosen reading material, and groans, "Jimmy, you know you're just gonna get another nightmare. There's plenty of better things to read than those! Just pick up a random book!"

He scrolls to the next portfolio, eyes lingering on the confirmed kill count this Tier 8 is known for. Like most high Tier Watchers, it's been determined to be responsible for numerous razed cities, along with a handful of kingdoms overrun by twisted monstrosities. And like with all Watchers, he knows that the confirmed kill count is simply the tip of the iceberg.

How many people have died to these things who'll never be remembered, even as a number beneath a name? How many people didn't die, but got twisted into horrible monstrosities and forced to kill people in the Watcher's place? Not just adults, but children too-

Martyn firmly closes his laptop, cutting off his dismal thoughts and his reading alike. "Jimmy, go sleep. Reading that stuff right now isn't going to do anything but give you another nightmare."

He averts his eyes. "...You're right. I guess I'll just... go face the music. I read enough of those that I'm pretty sure it's too late to avoid a nightmare."

Martyn sighs. "I'll be here when you wake up so you can talk about it."

Some people might find it strange, but for Listeners, it's heavily encouraged for partners to talk to each other about anything and everything that leaves them troubled. Your partner is your other half, the one person you can trust to defend you no matter what, the only being to know you better than you know yourself and be able to react to your actions before you even move or utter a single word.

Something like a nightmare? Sure, there are therapists, but your partner is the one who'll hear about it the moment you wake up from it. Your partner is your rock, soothing the turbulent waves back into ripples and calm waters.

Jimmy lays down in bed and closes his eyes. So what if he has a nightmare? His partner is literally just downstairs. Once he wakes up, he'll go down and talk to him about it, and he can shove that dark 'what if' back into the nothingness it spawned from.

With those internal reassurances, sleep claims him.

He knows he's going to have a nightmare. Listeners might not be skilled in the manipulation of the mind, but mental evasion and defense practice will inevitably have a bit of bleed-over into other mental skills. So when the nightmare forms, he knows it's a nightmare, just as he knows he'll be stuck experiencing it until it runs its course.

His eyes open, and his heart sinks. Why does it have to be this one again? He literally had this exact same scenario show up in a nightmare just a few weeks ago!

A message pings on his communicator. He doesn't even need to look at it to know what it'll say. Not when the starting point for this nightmare is his base on Empires. He looks anyway.

<Martyn>: Need you in the hub now.

<Martyn>: Grian's gone rogue.

With a heavy heart, he starts running towards the server portal, already dreading what he'll see when he enters the hub. It's not unexpected to have a nightmare about this. Grian's a Watcher, and he's close enough to the poor Hermits that, if he snapped, there's nothing he or Martyn could do to save them. And those players? He knows them. This wouldn't just be a tragedy he needs to avenge, this would be people he knows, friends he's laughed with and pranked and gotten to know on a personal level, dying because of a Watcher he could have killed long ago, but didn't.