songerein | Every Dream Filled With Hell From Beyond

Really, there were quite a few good reasons that 76 was reluctant to sleep in this place. Suddenly opening his eyes to darkness and an unfortunate feeling of claws scraping over stone as he shifted announcing his presence within a dream, and some low growl just within his chest-

"For fuck's sake-" He'd not meant to nod off, doing his damnedest to keep busy and awake, but that had clearly failed spectacularly. Pushing himself up to at least sit, letting out a huff of breath while moving a hand- and let there be at least a little light. Some little fluctuating ball of blue shades hovering over his palm, shedding a little light as eyes narrowed to help adjust his vision a bit. Drips of water echoing, bouncing off walls seen and unseen in the distance.

Weird. "Wasn't planning on doing this," Of course he'd seen the task, and since this felt more off than normal- well, easy to assume, "but I guess since I'm here—

"Anyone else here me?" Voice raised, bouncing as an echo as well.

Great.

Sleep has never come easily to her, and even when she manages it, it's never been particularly restful. Bad dreams have been the standard for Kainé for as long as she can remember— she'd never really considered that it could get worse, but this place somehow managed to pull it off. Dreams here were several steps beyond lucid, legitimately dangerous in addition to being exhausting.

The novelty has worn off. This dream, she notes, is nowhere she recognizes— she's never seen this place before, but the smell of the sea is strong, recognizable, and it doesn't feel like any ordinary dream. She vaguely remembers seeing something on the board that brings the current circumstances to mind, and it's not terribly hard to put the pieces together.

It is, however, still bullshit.

It's dark and wet, but she's started experimenting with dream abilities enough to be able to conjure a light for herself, a pale, bobbing wist of it that hovers just outside her field of vision to light the way before her. She hears a creak and a thump from somewhere further ahead, but it's the voice that pieces the air from another direction entirely that catches her attention.

Shit, she recognizes that one.

"Yeah! I'm here! Where are— shit!"

She curses as she accidentally slams her foot into the side of a doorway while trying to move towards his voice in the dim light. At least the harsh edge of her voice while swearing probably makes her easy enough to identify?

Definitely easy enough to identify, and have him pushing up to his feet slowly, free hand moving up above his head- and a good thing, too. His hand met the low ceiling before his head could, giving him time to adjust his rising stance to a hunch.

The blue light drifted past his fingertips, hanging in the air in front of him, illuminating a little more of the area in front of himself. Stone, looked slick judging from the glinting of the light, teeth grit for a moment. He wasn't terrible with enclosed spaces, but they always dredged up sinking feelings and memories he shoved right now. There was no smell of smoke, the air was stale and damp, but maybe it wasn't a trick of his had with the dream there was still some flow.

No risk of slow suffocating in a dream. Yet.

"Up ahead of you! Looks like some abandoned mineshaft or something from what I can make out." Be careful in his tone. This wasn't a place h really recognized himself.

Not good at all.

Great.

"Fucking hate being underground," she grumbles in response, just loudly enough to carry, but it does explain the familiar smell of the place, and why when she reaches out to feel for the nearest wall, her hand comes to rest on what feels like a door frame built into the rock. Someone had carved this place out, or they would have if it were real, but it reminds her of the long-abandoned tunnels surrounding the Aerie.

Complaints aside, she doesn't ignore the warning in his tone, letting out a huff of breath before she starts to venture towards the direction of his voice.

"I got it— heading your way. No sudden movements, alright?" With as little as they can see of this place, they don't want to risk bringing any loose rocks down on them, and the ground beneath them is slick and slippery. Fortunately for her, she's long learned to tackle any terrain in heels, but she realizes she's kind of a special case when it comes to strength and balance.

Steadily, she makes her way forward, following a bend in the tunnel until she spots another dim light in the distance, much like her own.

"I think I see you!"

There was some distant sound, like rocks falling, but for all he knew that could just be some strange noise- a falsehood meant to give an influencing impression; not ignored, but kept more to the side.

He was trying to get a feel for just where he was, some guess of what this was supposed to be if any sense could be made at all. How deep? What was supposed to be mined out of this place if not just some endless damp tunnel? This was dangerous, even if it was a dream. Real as anything else about the place, meant the threat could be far more real if something was lurking.

"Got it- might just stay in place for now, no sense in both of us stumbling around if you can get to me." Couldn't see that far ahead of himself, as if the darkness carried a weight that the light he conjured could barely pierce through. Already was pushing hi senses to the edge.

His hand kept firmly against a wall, and with the stillness of himself it almost felt like some vibration was going through the stone—

"Think I see your light!"

—or could hope at least. "Think there's a shallow puddle just between us, so watch your step through that. I can hear the drip-and-splash."

"Of course there is."

Of-fucking-course. At least they were making progress. Fortunately, Kainé has had to navigate a lot worse than puddles, but his warning still helps— she turns her attention downwards along with her light, managing to pick her way along the edge without one of her heels getting stuck in the process, taking care to maintain her balance as she makes her way to the other side.

His light is closer now, and with him staying put, it's a matter of seconds before she reaches him, catching a glimpse of his visor in the dim glow of their lights combined.

"Shit," she exhales heavily, "You okay? What the hell is this place? Why would we get dumped in a goddamn mineshaft?"

"If it's not one thing, it's always some other bullshit."

An ear twitched, because now he could identify steps from water dropping and loose rock shifting- which honestly didn't make him feel any safer here if rocks were shifting. Soil loose, place was a death-trap even if it was registering firmly this was a dream. Didn't make it less dangerous, just meant they'd pop out of it after some trauma of dying in a dream.

Shit stuck —

A hand still placed against the wall, claws pressed as a large fluffy tail curled behind him, free hand pulled at one of the long wolfish ears -and letting his own light help highlight the weird appearance, eyes shining blue in the dark. "I'm good, and because I'm suddenly furry I can at least tell this is some damned dream. My damn luck I get thrown in to them like this at times." Some holdover from the other world, so he guessed.

Ears flicked backwards a bit, moving the light and- well, there was a branch off tunnel behind him, along with a dead end. "Probably got some Noctaere activity in here. I can hear something laughing from deeper in."

Holy shit. Now that she’s up close and their lights have combined, at least a little, she can get a real good look at him.

“You look different.” No surprise, just blunt observation— unnecessary, at that, given that he’d already made note of it himself, but she raises her eyebrows all the same. She’s seen people alter their shape in dreamscapes, and not always of their own choosing, but this is something else entirely. For her part, she looks mostly the same— save for black markings that have appeared on her skin, barely visible in the low light, softly pulsing as they slowly move across the surface of her limbs and chest.

She follows the line of his gaze, narrowing her own sharply as her eyes continue to adjust to the dark— or at least she imagines they do. The actual physics of such things probably don’t actually apply here. Mind over matter, right?

“Noctaere. Well, we know how to deal with them.”

Kick some ass. That’s what the two of them had agreed on the first time they’d spoken, at least.

“Let’s fuck it up.”

The dark black that colored the skin of his hands was more in visible due to a lack of gloves, leading up to and vanishing under the sleeves of a hooded jacket. Claws so very sharp and a similar color with the smallest bits of dark blue here and there along skin. The Noctaere corruption followed him even in dreams, seeming to move a little like shadows within shadows; easy to mistake for a trick of their conjured lights.

"You get used to it," dryly for the but it's still complete bullshit implied but not said.

A nod, straightening up a little as his free hand went above his head, all the better for a reliable warning if his was about to hit something hanging low, or even reach the low ceiling of the tunnel.

"Damn right," time to fuck it up, even if they had to go so much deeper in here to get to it. Had that light handing just beside an ear to try and help see in this dark, letting out a low growl just under his breath—

"Just have to tread carefully, make sure the only thing getting crushed here is it."

She nods tightly in response, not knowing what the altered physicality means— at least not for him. Her gaze does linger on his hands and claws for just a moment, but she otherwise seems unperturbed. She's seen worse. Hell, she's probably been worse. Sure as hell not going to judge his dream self for whatever it has going on.

"I'm sure you do, tough guy."

There's the barest flash of a wry smile in response. It's brief, but the remark itself is affectionate, even if it's hard to tell. She keeps an eye on him before following suit, putting her own hand out to feel for the wall along her left to help them find their way.

"Forward from here, sounds like. Anything shifts above or below us, we fuckin' bolt."

Because yeah— let's make sure the Noctaere is the only one getting crushed. She begins to venture forward in the dim light, sending her own little conjured beacon a few inches ahead of them to light the way.

"... why the hell do they gotta laugh like that? Grating as shit."

There was a low chuckle, low in his throat. That sort of light affectionate talk was something he was so deeply used to at his very core. Shittalking was just another way to communicate a rough sort of fondness as far as he was concerned- the difference between that and actual insults were clear.

That blue light of his flickered a touch brighter for it, the size of it's zone increasing just enough to help them in this dark. Water dripping down walls and from above a little more visible. The puddles on their path and where there'd been enough dirt to create mud thee as well- along with very strange tracks in that.

"Agreed. Try to bolt in the same direction or else we deal with separation on top o this crap- and if we do? All the more reason to make sure there's nothing left of whatever Noctaere is down here once any other mess is dealt with."

His ears were on a swivel, and those tracks in the mud were going exactly down the same path -the only path- they were on. The tracks was a mix of four fingers and three- clawed, like meant for digging. Couldn't identify beyond that, but it was of a decent size, like a large dog at its smallest. Could there be more?

Ears flicked back in some agitation as the laughter turned in to a fit of it, bouncing off the walls and even more grating. Made it sound as if dozens surrounded them from within the very rock walls.

"Either it's keeping track of us, or it's trying to disorient despite this being a single path."

"Creepy."

If they were in the physical world, she'd say it was just the way the place was built, making voices echo like that, but dreams don't have to follow those kinds of rules, and Noctaere sure as hell don't give a shit about real-world physics, she's pretty damn sure.

"Wouldn't be surprised if it's both." She grimaces, picking her way past another puddle and glancing back over her shoulder. Though that laughter had echoed throughout the tunnel, the source of it is definitely still ahead. "Isn't that the same shit bats do? Just kind of yell to figure out where things are?"

Nobody ever taught her about the finer points of echolocation.

"... lot of tracks. Hard to tell how many of these there are."

"Honestly wouldn't surprise me either, these things don't seem to have many limits past whatever someone can dream up," which is another thing that made them much more dangerous than Erasers in his mind. Those things were limited to whatever their purpose was, these were literally nightmares given form and took shape and did whatever would fuck with someone the most. A deep fear, a horrible memory- nearly limitless.

A low noise in his throat, the tunnel curving to the right and down with a sort of slant, "Yeah, basically what bats do. They scream and whatever bounces back directs them to food- they still crash in to each other and other things, though." The number of times he'd had to save a bat from a fence or something.

"Looks like we're going to start heading down, too. Warn me if you start slipping, and I'll do the same," so either bumping in to him from behind or him just going down. At least the claws he had could help find purchase a little- "This is just getting worse by the second, isn't it."

"Seems like it would be too much to hope that this thing gets turned around the same way and does damage to itself— more for us that way, though."

If it puts up a good fight, she's not going to be lodging any complaints beyond this whole place being unsettling as hell. She knows what she's good at, and she'd learned to take pleasure in it early on.

She takes in a sharp breath as she begins to descend behind him, her hand running against the wall and fingers curling into any grooves she can find by touch alone, the claw marks beneath their feet offering them some traction. There's at least one near slip, but she catches herself before her feet end up out from under her.

"Guess that's kind of the point— hunting these things down ain't meant to be a picnic. They're literal nightmares, right? Maybe this is how they get us— neither one of us is afraid to fight, but it can sure make things a pain in the ass on the way to knock us off-guard."

An ear flicked- "It might be in control of all of this- we're more than likely in a nightmare that's only starting bad and will get worse until we find this little bastard."

It was enough to put up the fur along the back of his neck on end, all the more reason to be cautious. Aware of every noise and movement, so two sets of eyes sure as hell was better than one at the moment. Fortunate for them.

Honestly, 76 was digging claws in wherever he could carefully to create some suable grooves- and test just how stable the walls and ground were. If anything was going to crack he'd rather find it than let it catch either of them by surprise. If it helped her get a better brace behind him? All the better without need to say it.

Was noticing how the tunnel seemed to get smaller the further down they were going; had a growl building in his throat the moment he did. "That's definitely how these things work, made out of anyone's nightmare. Feed on the negative energy they can get from whoever is around, make them stronger. Whatever advantage they can worm out of someone.

"Conniving little bastards going for weak points, even if they have to make one."

Those ears of his are pretty communicative, aren't they? It's almost kind of cute, although she'd never say anything like that aloud, and definitely not right to someone's face. She finds herself a little jealous of the advantage his claws offer him as they venture forward, especially when the tunnel starts to narrow on them— but at least if she falls now, there aren't a whole lot of places to go. Silver fucking linings.

"Definitely not a fan, but I can't say I blame 'em. You use every tool you've got to your advantage in a fight, right?" These assholes just so happen to have a lot of tools, especially compared to the rest of them. Her own voice has become a bit sharper as the tunnel becomes smaller; she's far from claustrophobic, but she doesn't love the idea of having to fight down here.

"This is really starting to—" She cuts herself off when she hears another high-pitched round of laughter coming from up ahead. It echoes, just like before, but it's much closer now, and she grits her teeth as she puts a hand against his shoulder to steady herself.

"It's just around that next bend— get ready. Any way to tell if the passage opens up a little from here? I'd hate to accidentally take your head off when shit gets real."

If she can't use her swords, she'll have to figure out another way.

"To say the least," the man who would pick up the nearest object and use it as a weapon, even something as harmless a a piñata was fair game as far as 76 was concerned. "These things get in your head, literally, and use whatever they can claw up. Real bitch is that you can't body them without great risk."

Body? Of course he meant literally slamming in to one, and he learned tat the hard way from not having his usual weapon on hand to use as a blunt-force object.

He could feel mud under his fingertips, and the pads of his feet. Could imagine how it was staining fur, but fuck if he cared that much. Ears pinned back at the laughter, a low growl building in his throat as hackles raised a bit more. Close, and he wasn't happy about close-quarters for this one without a doubt.

"Can't, but if nothing else I'll duck and help launch you forwards sword first if that's ow you want to go."

Yes, he was suggesting that he had little issue literally flinging her forwards at a Noctaere weapon first if it might help her feel less likely to get his head in the process- "I'll send a light with you, in case you need to pull a quick tuck-and-roll."

"That'll work."

He has no issue doing it, and she has no problem with being vaulted forward— you pick up all kinds of tricks fighting Shades as long as she has, and as far as she's concerned, this isn't any different. Acrobatics? No sweat.

"Probably safest if I go first, then— these things aren't great for tight spaces, but they'll sure as shit get the job done." They've talked about how it would likely take some combination of dreamotion and physical effort to take one of these things down, but she knows where she shines.

"Duck down, I'll go on ahead."

"Got it- and if you need a touch of dream magic? I know how to apply mine to things and have them stick so long as I'm conscious." Suggesting that he could coat her swords and whatever else with dreamotion energy to make this a hell of a lot easier for her? Yes, yes he was. He really had been getting a lot more practice in simply because he realized how much it could be needed.

Fuck over both Noctaere and whatever the hell that the Story Eater might pick up along it's way off bullshittery.

76 ducked down, claws bracing as best he could and nearly flattened himself to the floor just to give her that much room. Almost like he'd done this before and just knew the routine to get things moving as easily and quickly as possible. Also did let his own light attach, letting it keep ahead to light up the ground just in front to help hopefully avoid anything happened.

Or spot a Noctaere if it decided to pop it's head in from somewhere- "Keep frosty."

What a pal— she'll definitely have to keep that offer in mind. She's always preferred a more straightforward approach, but hell, if the Noctaere are going to use whatever advantage they can get their claws on, why shouldn't they do the same?

He ducks down, and she wedges her blade against the wall to keep it clear of both of them before she braces her hands against the tunnel on either side so that she can vault herself over him— easily managed, when he's down that low, except—

"What?"

She looks over her shoulder at him as she lands on her feet with a hard thud, reaching to pull her sword free.

"What the hell does that mean?"

... she can figure it out from the context, but she's never heard anyone talk like that before.

Oh. Right. He only straightened up a bit once she was over and the weapon was pulled free- Knew better than to move too soon around swords and the like.

"It's a slang term, quick way to say stay alert and ready for action. Picked it up during my time in the military," and of course it was used elsewhere. Video games liked to use it a lot, anything that had any form of military existing. Spread out further than that, too.

"Habit."

One that was coming back the more he ended up working with other people at that. An ear twitched as he caught the sound of movement ahead- almost like the ground was splitting apart just beyond their sight. Rumblings of movement.

"Weird."

She gives his explanation the bare minimum response, shrugging it off before she turns to face forward again. Sure, whatever floats his boat— she might have ribbed him about it a little, if the sounds up ahead hadn't drawn and held her attention.

They have bigger shit to deal with at the moment.

She holds a hand up to indicate that he should wait a moment as she moves forward, at least long enough to give her some space to move freely, and she hefts her blade as she rounds the bend just in time to come across the Noctaere itself as it lets out another peal of that horrible, grating laughter.

Well. Not like the element of surprise had been on their side to begin with— this thing has been playing with them all along.

"Hey, shitbag! What's so funny?!" And, having grabbed its attention, she grins sharply as she lunges forward, swinging her blade in an upward arc as she attacks without hesitation.

Tactics, unfortunately, aren't really her thing.

The Noctaere was practically cackling, a few stones vibrating with the noise, earth shifting near it as if it was more fluid than solid. Eyes glowed from the dark spot that showed eyes, and it was clear any other bit of face was hidden by dark and light stone that made up it's skin like armor. No wonder this thing probably had an easy time tunneling- and good thing it was trapped within dream-dreams or no doubt it could cause havoc elsewhere.

The lunge no surprise either. 76 didn't mind at all passing the lead to Kainé, giving her room with that sword as shadows wrapped around hands like sharp clawed gauntlets and even around digitigrade lower legs for the same. Get all the grip he could when he finally moved from the tunnel out in to the open.

If this thing was earth and soil- could that mean...?

76 swung himself to the side and practically pitched a ball of bright blue electricity at the Noctaere as it started to move in to the ground as if to avoid the swing of the blade. Caused the thing to freeze up and take at least most of that swing before flinging back.

There was the muffled sound of glass breaking as it moved again- "I might be able to help slow that fucker down enough for you to get some solid hits!" There was sand mixed in there with whatever else this nightmare creature was made out of. For however long it had any, he could attempt it.

Reckless was something he was good at, for better or worse. Quick on his feet, too.

Fortunately for both of them, ‘quick’ and ‘reckless’ are two things they have in common.

“Give it your best shot, old man!” Anything he can do to slow it down, she’s more than willing to take— the fact that it’s big and heavy means they already have a speed advantage here, but while she’s still plenty strong, she’s lost a little of her inhuman strength since finding her way to this world. She’s still plenty confident that she can crack through that armor, but she’s learned that she doesn’t have to try quite so hard to refuse help, especially not here.

The Noctaere strikes, aiming for Kainé thanks to her being in close quarters; she very narrowly manages to dodge, rolling out of the way before she hefts her blade and swings it towards what pass for legs, the strike of serrated metal against hard stone high-pitched and dissonant.

“Asshole is made of rocks, we can use that weight against him!”

Always press the advantage, however small it might seem. She’s sure this shithead has a lot more up his non-existent sleeves than just heavy armor and solid punches, anyway.

He was very much adaptable when it came to fighting with others, which honestly was helpful in a place like this. 76 could fall back and pick where he could best compliment whomever he ended up with, pick up to better have their back and follow someone's lead as easily as he could take it when necessary. Made for a decent soldier.

Electricity was crackling around those solid shadow clawed gauntlets even as he moved around- "Bigger they are, harder they'll fall!"

Always worked, just had to sometimes find that center of gravity to get the best place to strike and knock them down. However that ended up being. He was pelting electricity, even getting them to curve and doing whatever he could to split the Noctaere's attention between the two of them; when it went for her he lit it up. When it went for him all the better to open an attack for her.

There was a moment he suddenly felt his foot catch in to something, nearly twisting it as he stopped in time, "Fuck—

"Ground is changing, watch your footing!"

It was solid rock wrapped around his leg and could feel it trying to pull him down as if that part of the soil had suddenly gone liquid. Took a few punches to break through that rock and get away. The damned thing cackling again even while taking hits.

Every Dream Filled With Hell From Beyond | Closed

New Year's Noctaere Task #102

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