Sweet dreams

[innocent_insanity]

WHO: Kurloz & Rhys Rhydderch
TONE: Probably dark
RATING: R for disturbing themes
WHEN: 19th May - night time
WHERE: Starting in Slytherin dorms
WHAT: After Kurloz's first rather disastrous dream sharing with Rhys, this is attempt No. 2, going the other way around.
STATUS: Ongoing

It had taken some time for Kurloz to make peace with Rhys Rhydderch, but he'd done it nonetheless. After witnessing Rhys' disturbing memory from his youth, Kurloz now knew that no one else on campus was more likely to understand what he was going through than the eccentric Potions Master.

He didn't know when his dreams would have another visitor again, but he knew it would happen.

So that night, Kurloz set up his quill and journal by his bed as per usual and went to bed, slipping into darkness as he fell asleep.

Comments

[innocent_insanity]

"... Meulin?" He frowned and stroked the fur on the cat's head. "What, did you get all hurrying up on your animagus form or some shit?"

[higherthaneverybody]

She just cried pitifully again, headbutting his stomach as though trying to climb in to him. The forest had gotten completely dark now, only the white bits of cloth on the stakes shining out of the darkness, ghostly tatters. A whispering sound was drifting through the trees, too, words just on the edge of hearing and the occasional high note of feminine laughter.

[innocent_insanity]

Glancing around at the dark forest with a frown, Kurloz tried to find the source of laughter as he gathered the cat into his arms and held her protectively close. "Shh, I got you, kit. Ain't no fucker's getting you."

[higherthaneverybody]

But there seemed to be no obvious source. And then there was an abrupt bump as the boat hit the shore and came to a halt, apparently snagged on something. The cat buried her face in Kurloz's neck, obviously terrified.

[innocent_insanity]

Kurloz stroked the cat's back and slowly stood, wobbling a bit in the boat before he got onto solid land. "Do you want to stay in the boat?"

[higherthaneverybody]

Her claws dug into his shirt, providing the answer. Just then a white face appeared in the trees, ghostly and hollow eyed, yet somehow familiar in the brief glimpse before it disappeared.

[innocent_insanity]

Kurloz jumped at the white face and held the cat tighter before running after it.

[higherthaneverybody]

It was so dark here, the trees all crowding in and seeming to conspire to stop him as he ran through them - branches catching at his hair, tangling roots beneath his feet, leaves whipping into his face. But the white face never seemed to quite disappear, though it did draw farther and farther ahead. Still, whatever body the face belonged to must have bneen stopping here and there, because it kept flashing back to look at Kurloz.

There was a dim light ahead, he could see now. A dim light growing brighter and brighter, to a warm yellow and orange glow - a fire of some sort. As he came closer, he could see that it was in the middle of a clearing, and it was rather large. And standing right in the center of it was a woman with dark hair, her back to him, the flames crackling up and down her body.

[innocent_insanity]

Kurloz approached the fire cautiously, slowing to a walk and holding the cat protectively to his chest. "Hey, you okay?" he called, assuming it was just a witch indulging in a bit of fire walking.

[higherthaneverybody]

The woman turned slowly, and it is a witch ... but it was very clear that she was not protected, particularly, from the flames. Her skin was bubbling and cracking, the blood hissing as it hitthe heated air around her and turned to foul smelling smoke and steam. She held out her hands imploringly to him, and as an eddy of smoke clears, he can see her face.

It is his mother.

She's not begging him for help, though, her lips turned up in a hideous grimace, but beckoning him to come into the fire with her. She moves her lips to speak, but the heat has cooked her laryngx, and all that comes out is a dry croak.

[innocent_insanity]

His eyes widened with horror and he retched at the smell before gritting his teeth and hurriedly moving close to the fire to grab Maeve's hands. "Mam, come on, you got to be getting out of there now." His voice was deceivingly calm as he forced the mantra of 'this is just a dream' going in his head.

[higherthaneverybody]

She laughed, and the sound was truly awful, pained and dry and rasping, and thenshe turned her hands to grab at his forearms, trying to pull him into the fire, too. Her grip was terribly strong, and when she touched, she burned him, too, excruciatingly.

The cat screamed, the way only cats can, like a terrible baby howling, and dug her teeth into the back of his pants, trying desperately to tug him back from the woman trying to pull him into the fire.

"You have to burn it away," Maeve croaked at him, barely audible. "It's bad, Kurloz, this is the only way we can be free of it, of you ... "

[innocent_insanity]

Grunting with pain, Kurloz tried to pull harder at Maeve's arms. His eyes stung from the smoke and pain but he just grit his teeth and kept pulling, turning his head to snap down at the cat, "Let go, you might get cooked too!"

Turning his attention back to his mother, Kurloz urged quietly, "Mam, you can't be staying here, come on, lets go home."