nightmare oo1

[shoosh]

Warnings: surrealism?? blood, drowning.
Effects: anger, jealousy, peace, rage, revulsion, disgust, hurt, loneliness, pretty much the entire emotional rainbow.

The dream opens on an empty room. It's blindingly white and tiled; a bathroom, clearly. A shower on one side, sink on the other. The other wall is plain and empty. There isn't a door. The plain wall morphs silver, into a mirror, and the dreamer—Karkat—is forced to look at his own reflection. Only it isn't his reflection at all. The Karkat in the mirror stands slouched, cockily looking back at him. As details gradually fill themselves in, it's easy to tell the identity of the person in the mirror. A white shirt with red sleeves and messy, light hair. Dave Strider, clearly, and his image makes the entire dream warp red with unease. With a closed, grey fist, the mirror is smashed, the image of Dave's mocking smile reflected out as it shatters.

Glass hits the floor with a sharp sound, breaking time and time again as it does; a fine snow on the tiles at Karkat's feet. When he turns around, the entire back half of the room is gone, replaced with a dark, unending void. Standing before him is Terezi, a teal glow around her as an arm reaches out. She strokes Karkat's face with soft hands and gathers him up in a tight embrace. In his ear she hisses "1 4M TOO GOOD FOR YOU" and her body shatters—more glass, dark and teal and red and grey, adding to the mess at his feet.

Looking down, the image of Terezi and Dave holding hands is projected into the glass. They're talking and laughing and smiling and Terezi is leaning in, closer and closer, tilting Dave's head towards her. The image is ended by Karkat's heel through the fragments, sending them scattering like bugs. More shattering, more glass.

When he looks up, away from the spiderweb images shining through the glass on the floor, there's a silhouette of two people. The first is short and decidedly feminine, rocking on her heels. Her smile lights up the room in bright green, and she waves goodbye, walking off into the void.

"i don't really want to be friends anymore, sorry!" echos her voice, long after her body vanishes into shadow.

The other form grins with shark-like teeth, arm lashing out to grab Karkat by the collar. A wave of repulsion fills the room, purple-tinted and haunting. The figure leans in close, warm, rancid breath on Karkat's face.

"fuckin' mutant" is all that it breathes, in a wavey, male voice. The male form cackles, and tiny scratches start forming all over Karkat's body. The figure disappears, but the blood doesn't stop. The cuts are bleeding. And bleeding. And bleeding some more. The next thing Karkat's aware of is the walls of the bathroom reappearing, and the entire room filling up with bright, cherry red blood.

It fills his mouth and burns like liquid fire as in enters his lungs. The last thing he's aware of is his head going under.

---

[ karkat wakes with a start, sweating and heart beating frantically in his chest. clenching his teeth, he runs a shaking hand through his hair. then, his eyes lock on the dreamberry, blinking innocently on the nightstand. he gives it, and in extension, the entire network, a very classy middle finger and shuts the thing off. ]

Comments

action man!

[foretolds.livejournal.com]

[It is pretty surreal, seeing Karkat sleeping across the room and watching his dream at the same time. It's almost voyeuristic, really, but the dream is over before she thinks to turn away or turn it off, and she bites her lip as Karkat wakes up.

God, this is so messed up. Terezi wonders if she should just leave him be, then decides against it, crossing the room to sit next to him.]

Hi.

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ he's still bleary eyed and a little shakey, but he gives her a nod of recognition all the same. ]

Hey.

[foretolds.livejournal.com]

[She wraps her arms around him and presses close, sighing.]

Are you okay?

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ his arms tangle themselves around her, hands clinging to the back of her shirt in an almost desperate way. ]

I'm fine. It was just a dream.

( video )

[sickestbeats.livejournal.com]

[ Staring silently at the dreamberry, drumming his fingers on the table waiting for Karkat to turn the damn thing back on so he can be a smug dickhole about this shit. ]

( video )

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ this is a preemptive FUCK YOU, STRIDER. also that drumming? annoying as fuck. ] Can you be any more fucking irritating?

( video )

[sickestbeats.livejournal.com]

[ Oh there he is. Now Dave can slowly raise an eyebrow over his glasses while otherwise pokerfacing in Karkat's general direction. ]

I don't know, can you be more of an insecure douchebag?

( video ) -> ( action ) because it's Very Intense

[riflekid.livejournal.com]

[ ...did she actually just watch that? how could Karkat ever think something like that? was he okay?

those questions and about fifty more were rushing through her head. but she knows she needs to do something.

she clicks on the video feed. ]

I'm coming over.

[ and the feed clicks off. a few minutes later, there's a knock on the shack door. ]

( action )

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ and of course she hangs up before he's got a chance to refuse.

begrudgingly, he opens the door. ]

It was just a dream, okay.

( action )

[riflekid.livejournal.com]

[ fuck you you're getting a hug ]

I don't care if it was some stupid dream! I would never say something like that, ever! Don't you fucking dare think I would!

[video] i'm so sorry.........

[arachnida.livejournal.com]

[welp. being stranded on a rooftop gives you plenty of time to watch things like this.

But rather than comment on the dream (because Dave did a nice job of summing up her feelings) she instead focuses on a curious detail she's noticed.]

What the hell is with your lip, Karkat? So much for being just a dream, huh?

[video] dont even know what to say to you tbh

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ visible flinch. of course someone was going to ask eventually. ]

It's nothing.

[video] ;-;

[arachnida.livejournal.com]

That's why you're cringing like a kicked woofbeast, riiiiiiiight?

C'mon, Karkat, out with it!

ᵛᶤᵈᵉᵒ

[silentlipsofsin.livejournal.com]

Wolfgang dearie are you alright~?

[ Jesus Christ you worried her! ]

ᵛᶤᵈᵉᵒ

[allies.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It was just a dream, don't worry about it.

ᵛᶤᵈᵉᵒ

[silentlipsofsin.livejournal.com]

It wasn't just a dream, look at yourself!

video; filtered

[rainbowpalette.livejournal.com]

[Welp, that was nice and disturbing!]

You know I don't really feel that way, Karkat.

[Yes, she's assuming the green figure in the dream was her.]

video; filtered

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ blearily, with a hand in his hair. he's too zoned out to understand what she's talking about. ]

Don't worry about it, it was just a dream.

video; filtered

[rainbowpalette.livejournal.com]

Maybe, but dreams have a strange power here that they don't elsewhere.

[Pause.]

If you want to talk about it, you know I'm here for you.

video

[unhinges.livejournal.com]

[ oh nooooo

he's watching

oh nooooooo

best friend

BEST FRIEND

:o(

sad clown troll ]

video

[allies.livejournal.com]

... Forget about it. [ let's face it, he could've dreamed of worse things. ] I've got something I need to give you.

video

[unhinges.livejournal.com]

[ blinks ]

What the motherfuck is it, invertebrother?

[vvideo]

[forevveraglub.livejournal.com]

[Well that was certainly interesting if not completely amusing.]

How flatterin' Kar, dreamin' about me and the like. Way to display your black affections for all a Somarium to see.

[video]

[allies.livejournal.com]

[ not who he wants to hear from right after waking up, nope. ]

Don't flatter yourself, that could have been anybody.

[video]

[forevveraglub.livejournal.com]

Ha! As if just anyone speaks with my fuckin' suawe accent, and that purple? Who're you kiddin' gutterblood?