[Holo] The only bad part is that she's not dreaming

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

Cassie had fallen asleep on the couch in her living room, a black and red checked blanket thrown over her, the television playing the main menu to Ghostbusters. Her dreams were like something out of Hellraiser, but no matter how outlandish and fucked up they got, they always ended with her mother. With the Lunch Lady. Today, however, was different. After her dream with the Lunch Lady ended with her killing her mother, watching her body fall to the floor; there was more. Cassie had flashes of working with that Samhain guy that had saved her from that freaky ass group of Black Lamp Society people.

Samhain informs Cassie of the Black Lamp Society's true intentions and how they go back hundreds and hundreds of years. Akakios found a plant, which when it was ignited, burned black. And when it was injected into a corpse, the corpse would return to life, but after its affects wore off, the corpse would go into a frenzy, becoming almost zombie-like. Akakios created a chemical from the flower, which he and his people drank. Essentially, it turned them into what Cassie called 'slashers'. Samhain also informs Cassie that the chemical has passed through generation after generation, still running through the veins of certain people. People like her mother. And Cassie, herself.

They traveled to some weird fucking place and there were these man dog things that were like naked werewolves that were fast and strong and fucked Cassie, Vlad, and Samhain over. Vlad had admitted to being happy when Cassie was sad over not being able to be with Georgia. He was jealous. He knew that they would never get married or have sex, but he wanted her all to himself. All the while, Cassie is trying to fight the fear that if she died, she wouldn't stay dead. She'd become a slasher, just as she feared she would.

In her sleep, Cassie thrashed a little, tossing her head from side to side. Her tablet was accidentally turned on the hologram mode in the process, unbeknownst to Cassie. The tablet picked up on her tight facial features, fear etched across her face. Cassie awoke with a short scream, sitting up and throwing the blanket back, chest heaving. Her eyes twitched back and forth, like she was reading a book, but she was recalling what she had just dreamt. Most prevalent in her mind was that she was a slasher. She just wasn't dead yet.

Her chin trembled and a small sob tore its way up her throat as she leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. "I'm a monster...."


((ooc: canonbumping Cassie to after issue 25.))

Comments

[Visual]

[re-formed.livejournal.com]

Given his own experiences, David was normally inclined to let someone who had just had a nightmare recover without interruptions.

But on the other hand, no one should be left with thoughts like that.

"Nightmare?" he asked, aiming for a calm and reasonable appearance as well as voice, and mostly succeeding.

[Holo]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

Cassie exhales brokenly when she realizes that the tablets, and her bottom lip trembles.

"Yeah," Cassie can't bring herself to speak any louder than a whisper. "To say the least."

[visual]

[re-formed.livejournal.com]

David's rather at a loss for what to say. But he feels that something has to be said.

"You'll be alright," he contributes quietly after a pause. He does seem sincere.

[holo]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"No, I won't," Cassie replies simply. And to her, it's the truth. She has it inside her to be a monster.

Ever since she started hunting Slashers, she'd feared that she'd end up like her mother. She'd attempted to reassure herself that she wouldn't. But what Samhain told her was a big, honking check mark in the 'you're wrong, stupid' category.

[visual]

[re-formed.livejournal.com]

David is skeptical. There can't be very many cases where that's actually true.

"You're certain of that?"

[Holo]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"Pretty certain, yeah," Cassie nods, glancing over at the tablet, seeing a man she'd not seen before.

"Could say I'm destined to do it, whether I like it or not."

[visual]

[re-formed.livejournal.com]

He raises his eyebrows, heightening the skeptical look.

"I wouldn't put too much trust in 'destiny.'" There's a hard edge to his voice.

[Holo]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"It's in my goddamn blood, dude. I can't stop it," Cassie replies tensely, gritting her teeth.

[visual]

[re-formed.livejournal.com]

He is surprised by that, and it briefly shows.
Still.

"Says who?" he challenges.

[visual]

[suckmychest.livejournal.com]

Now, most people would see this on their tablet and be worried and concerned. They would ask what's wrong and what they could do to help.

Eric, as one might have noticed by now, is not most people.

"Bad dreams, little hero?"

[Holo]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

Now, see, normally, at the mere sight-slash-sound of Eric's face-slash-voice, Cassie's blood would boil and Eric would receive a hearty 'fuck you' in response to anything he said.

"Yeah," Cassie replies simply, several stray tears slipping down her cheek and she lifts her hands to wipe at her face.

[visual]

[suckmychest.livejournal.com]

He blinks, somewhat nonplussed by the lack of vitriol. This was hardly any fun if she was going to start acting like all the rest of the sniveling bloodbags.

"...So do you plan to simply sit there drowning in vaguely-detailed self-pity."

[Holo]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"Fuck you," Cassie scoffs quietly, shaking her head. "What the fuck else am I supposed to do when I find out that I'm a goddamn monster?"

Cassie lowered her hands from her face, looking down at them. "I can kill just about anything and I've been doing it to stop this from happening."

[visual]

[suckmychest.livejournal.com]

"I highly doubt you can kill anything." Eric is rolling his eyes at your imagined prowess, Cassie.

He remembers this bit from the very first conversation he had with her. "This 'slasher of slashers' fear bit striking again?"

[visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"I've killed every slasher I've come across," Cassie sighs, then rolls her eyes at him. "Fine, anything in my world."

After a long, longer than comforting pause, Cassie shakes her head. "More than just fear." She saw living, breathing proof of what she'd become. And the only reason Samhain had regained his humanity was love.

And Cassie's so fucked up in her head that she doesn't think that anyone will love her like Ava Park did Samhain. Georgia had maybe only had a crush, Vlad wanted nothing more but to protect her and keep her for himself.

[visual]

[suckmychest.livejournal.com]

Eric doesn't entirely believe that either, because there's usually something else that humans wouldn't know anything about, but he lets the point go.

"And just what 'more' would that be." This is like pulling teeth, and Eric is growing slightly bored. He hadn't heard of or experienced the reality check dream sequences, yet.

[visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

Believe it! Or not. Whatever.

Cassie takes a moment to try and sift through the madness that she'd experienced in her sleep. After the nightmare, the real dream, with her mother ended. "It was like it really happened. I tried to quit. To be with...someone I thought I had feelings for. But I stopped being so fucking dumb and I ended up getting mixed in with this guy and he told me that Slashers were actually people with this chemical in their blood that made them come back to life and all that. It wasn't just random, rage-filled serial killers like I thought. It's someone's fault. And that shit was in my mom's blood...."

Cassie swallows hard, actually saying the words out loud. "And in mine."

[visual]

[been-tested.livejournal.com]

It was the tablet flicking on that woke Doyle from his sleep but it wasn't until Cassie's comment that he was brought to full alertness. And oh did that ring his most uncomfortable bells. He knew what it felt like to feel that sort of thing and, well, he wasn't sure he could help but he had to try. Memories hitting him particularly hard and the emotions they brought showing on his face he spoke softly to his tablet. "Now there's a phrase I've got some experience saying. It might have helped a bit to have someone to talk to at the time, is my thinking."

He'd put the offer out there; it was up to her to take it.

[visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

Cassie feels cold all over, but the living room is at an adequate temperature. She faintly recognizes the voice, then looks down at the tablet.

"Oh. Hey," Cassie says softly, doing her best to keep from tearing up more.

Re: [visual]

[been-tested.livejournal.com]

It hurts to see her, knowing how he felt when he was going through a similar thing. "I can listen, yeah? Or the 'sit in silence' thing. I could do that too."

[visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"Had a bad dream," Cassie started quietly, her voice rough, tight. She sighs, her brow frozen in a permanent frown.

"Only it was less like a nightmare and more like it actually happened," Cassie muttered. It was like she'd lived it. Her arm had ached where that artemis naked-wolf-man thing had bitten her arms so savagely. But there was no injury.

Re: [visual]

[been-tested.livejournal.com]

"Didn't come with a splitting headache, did it?" He doubts it was but best to get it out of the way.

"The nightmares can do that. I had them all the time at first." He's not sure how else to help, really, but he wants to.

[visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"No," Cassie shook her head.

"I have nightmares every night. I wake up in a cold sweat or with my heart pounding against my goddamn ribcage a good five times out of four," Cassie says plainly then shakes her head again. "This was different."

[visual]

[been-tested.livejournal.com]

Doyle pauses to think a bit. "Premonition-like? Or something else?"

If it's not nightmares, well, he still might be able to offer a bit of advice. Less helpful advice, maybe, but advice all the same.

[visual]

[slasher-slayer.livejournal.com]

"Premonitions? Like seeing stuff before they happened?" Cassie paused, shaking her head. "It was more like...I lived it."

Cassie looked down at her right arm, where that creature had practically torn it to shreds. It still ached, but Cassie believed the pain was in her mind. "Like I really did it but when I woke up, I was here."