[PRP] Lost in a Dream (Titus / Riyo)

[Sexy Cocaine]

Riyo faltered as Titus pulled her back, her eyes shooting back to him. She looked both confused and frustrated that he seemed so cautious about a simple dream...

But it made sense now. The feline's eyes widened, her resistance softening. This... This made things very different. Very... Different. It took a lot of effort not to think about how badly things could go in this new sadistic dream world. "Wake up?" Riyo couldn't exactly wake up on command. Oh what a blissful existence that would be, to snap her fingers and wake up from her nightmares.

Brow furrowing, the ghoul used her unclaimed hand to smack herself across the cheek. "That didnt-" She was very suddenly interrupted by a shove and a slamming door. With quick reflexes, the feline caught herself before she fell... Though what it would've mattered she wasn't sure.

"Hey uh... I know I don't have much room to talk Titus, but your family is ******** up." At least her kin had never been able to harm her while she was dreaming.

"So..." She could feel her fur start to prickle as her eyes kept darting around. "How the s**t am I supposed to wake up?"  

[Inu-Mitsu]

Titus actually managed a weak chuckle at Riyo's comment. "And you've only met my sister." And he prayed she never met the rest of his family. His oldest half brother was cold but had no interest in torture or torment while his sister delighted in it. As for his father and mother he would rather not think about them. "This is one of the reasons I don't sleep." Because who wanted to be used for practice night after night?

When the ghoul continued with her next question Titus began to follow up with an answer only to watch as a hallway began to piece itself together in front of them. It was like watching an explosion in reverse as everything knitted together to form a narrow path filled with flickering lights and malicious intent.

"A shock to the system." Titus blurted out. "Something you wouldn't consider doing normally. It can be anything." He would have explained further with examples but the floor beneath his feet began to rise and roll to take them both further down the hall without their consent. The nightmare demon tried to use his own dream manipulation to halt the process but by the time he finally managed it he had already been upended and was rolling across the ground only to slam against a pair of legs.

"Your ghoul has some pretty dark stuff tucked away in her mind." Mirren said with a smile. "Things that were and things that could have been. Its delightfully tragic."  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Well... That explained a lot. No wonder the poor boil didn't sleep, holy s**t. Riyo opened her mouth to speak again, but her words stopped at her throat as she watched the awful dreamscape piece together around them. "A shock?" The ghoul rushed to piece an idea together, fumbling through her thoughts as the floor started to move. s**t s**t s**t!

Riyo stumbled to the ground as they finally stopped, shaking her head and finally getting more of a second's glance at their assailant. Normally the cat ghoul would be more than happy to play along with some idiotic shenanigans, but this was her mind. This was where she kept precious secrets and terrible memories, and this b***h was just sifting through it all like she was at some kind of record exchange!

"Yeah. Poetic tragedy. Mommy beat me and daddy left. Very sad, boo hoo. If you're so into the dark corridors of my mind, I hope you can see all the terrible things I want to do to you for snaking your filthy whore hands into my brain!" There was no point in threatening, the feline realized, but no matter what it came down to, Riyo would get her revenge. More likely in the waking world but she was prepared for that.

The demoness stood with glowing red eyes, brandishing her trusty led pipe like a holy weapon of justice. Her face very clearly said 'come at me bro'.  

[Inu-Mitsu]

That wide grinning smile was back, black and white eyes focused on Riyo. Mirren's teeth weren't nearly as pointed as Titus' were though she did have a set of elongated canines. "If it were so simple you could have let it go long before now but these things have defined you, weaving their way into your very existence. Your mind reminds me of a glass house precariously perched on the edge of a cliff just waiting for the right breeze to topple it over and send it to its demise." Her smile touched her eyes as Riyo held fast to her pipe in a form of intimidation. "Your ghoul is rather brutish, Little Brother."

"Mirren, no one wants to hear your poetic s**t." Titus growled pushing his way to his feet. "Why the hell are you here?"

The ghoul seemed deep in thought looking out over the darkened room. "So hard to say." She began to twirl a long lock of ebony hair around her finger. "Could be that father is very cross with you and sent me as a precursor for what is to come."

Titus' heart immediately dropped into his stomach. "Cross? Why? And a precursor to what?"

"I guess you'll just have to find out for yourself, though I was rather amused to learn that you were suspended." Her image began to fade away. "You could have at least done one better and gotten expelled."

Titus' eyes bore into the spot where Mirren once stood a clear expression of 'oh s**t' written on his face. "I'm dead." He turned back to Riyo knowing there was little he could do. Mirren could easily drag him back into this dream and worse if he tried to leave. The best chance he had was if Riyo kicked them out herself or woke up.

"I think now might be a good time to think about something shocking."  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Riyo grimaced at the dark, yet accurate description Mirren had painted of her. She knew it to be truth. There was no denying it. That didn't mean she wanted to hear it though. Her mind kept these things at the forefront most days. Anyone else repeating such was like a broken recording.

"You're Jack damn right I am." And what was all this 'your ghoul' bullshit? psch. Whatever.

Then she was gone, after leaving Titus with a grim yet hazy warning of what was to come. As unclear as the message was, it seemed to do its job. Titus was spooked.

Her grip loosened on the pipe as she saw his face, the feline's ears folding. She would have to count her blessings for being an only child later.

"Shocking..." Riyo's mind rushed for a good solution, one rather... shocking thing coming to mind. Perhaps not shocking in the right ways but she was grasping at straws here. "Okay! I uh... I got it!" Her eyes shifted left and right, taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly.

Then she dropped the pipe, grabbed the hem of her shirt with both hands, and flashed him.

Shocking, right?  

[Inu-Mitsu]

"Wh-" Titus tensed raising his hands like he didn't know what to do with this situation as soon as Riyo lifted her shirt. "What are you doing!?"

He reached toward her to pull her shirt back down. "Shocking to you not me!" Though they were by all accounts less shocking at this point.

"Dying is usually the easiest way, though a trigger of other things can do it as well." Titus tried to explain hastily.

"Now now, Little Brother. If she wakes up my fun will be spoiled." Hands suddenly came up from the floor and not just one pair but multiples of them, all clawing and pulling as they gripped the boil's legs.

Titus let out a yelp trying to pull away but sharp nails had dug into his pants and started to pull him down into the void that had suddenly opened up beneath his feet. The more he moved the faster he sank, clawed hands gripping at his torso and arms when they were in reach. "Riyo WAKE UP!" It was the last thing he managed to say as a hand clasped over his mouth and pulled him into the darkness allowing the hole in the floor to vanish. Silence lingered there after leaving Riyo completely alone in the tattered room they had arrived in.

A giggle sounded echoing over the walls all around Riyo before it caressed close to her ear like someone was right behind her. She would, in fact, find no one there but the tension was building and the nightmare demon was no where in sight.  

[Sexy Cocaine]

"I-it's shocking to me too!" Riyo lowered her shirt quickly after she realized this wasn't working, her cheeks red with shame and embarrassment. Cut her some slack Titus she was new to this s**t.

"Okay, dying. Got it." But... Was dying really THAT shocking anymore? She'd done it so much it seemed... Pretty boring.

What wasn't boring, however, was Titus literally being pulled into the floor. "Titus!" She screeched, trying to grab him, hold him up, pull him out of the pit. Her hands tried to break through the myriad of arms reaching up from the void, but it was clear that she had failed. The hole disappeared, and the cat ghoul was left alone pounding her fists against the floor. She had to wake up, fast, or her nightmare would quickly become his.

The ghoul didn't like being alone, especially in her own mind. She didn't need a nightmare demon to plague her. Riyo was, after all, her own worst enemy. She looked to the pipe she had discarded and grabbed it, the giggles causing her hair to stand on end, and the one close to her ear was maddening. Her head snapped back to check behind her, finding nothing but the same. That and her tail staring at her.

Oh. OH. OOOOOOOOOOH. Oh Jack. Riyo's focus remained on her tail for a few moments, a sudden awe as she realized what had to be done. Her eyes finally ripped away, looking back at the led pipe. It was a dream, she told herself. This was her mind, and making things happen was no different than having thoughts.

Her eyes closed, and when they reopened she had... A knife instead.

"I don't want to do this..." She told herself, eying the blade in horror. But... At least in a dream she could do this for him. Not in real life though. Titus would die before she cut off her tail in reality. Sorry Titus.  

[Inu-Mitsu]

"That's quite an interesting idea." Mirren appeared right beside Riyo, smiling like she was tuned into her thoughts. She rose her hand and shadows gathered forming a blade of her own, a long sleek dagger woven with intricate designs along the hilt.

In a flash Titus' sister was gone from sight but didn't completely disappear as wisps of smoke came together behind Riyo to form her body again. "Would you care for some assistance?"

Long clawed fingers reached out to grab the ghoul's tail her excitement rising. "I really hadn't planned on toying with anyone else but I had no idea Titus had a friend."  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Riyo's skin was crawling at the sight of Mirren, ears tingling at her words. It was hard to say whether she was feeling fear or anger anymore. Perhaps an even mixture of both. There was something absolutely horrifying about experiencing pain in a dream. The worst things in the world to her generally weren't physical pain, but having it accompany the worst things certainly made them... Worse.

The blade was enough to make Riyo sick to her stomach, quick to her feet as she heard the other ghoul behind her. Distance! She needed distance! "No, but I would care for you to ******** right off!" This was the worst, she decided. Having her mind violently molested by a complete stranger. At the very least, it ranked somewhere in her top 10.

"Yeah, and I bet that's at least one more friend than you have." Her brow furrowed as she grabbed her own tail. "I'm sick of people like you. Disgusting bottom feeders, feasting on the pain of those weaker than you." Riyo couldn't say she had never been a similar creature, but it had never been by choice. She had never taken joy in ruining lives, never sought misery for those around her. It had been a job, nothing more.  

[Inu-Mitsu]

"Oh don't let my dream walking fool you. This is merely my nature. I'm quite lovable in person." Though that smile she had made her statement hard to believe. "I have friends a plenty."

Mirren didn't move as Riyo retreated but instead shifted her stance so that she could place a hand on her hip. "Sick of people like me? Are we really so different?"

The room around them began to fall apart piece by piece only to reveal a different set of walls behind them. As the rest of the room came into clarity Riyo would find herself in an office with a large desk before her. "This is your natural habitat is it not? You thrived here for quite some time. The devastation you brought down on the lives of others would have made my own father proud. Can you even say that it was difficult for you? Doesn't a part of you miss it?"

Stepping through the room Mirren ran a delicate finger over the desk and the name plate that sat there. "People don't change. Not really. The pieces may fit together differently but its still the same puzzle."  

[Sexy Cocaine]

Riyo would've liked to hear a couple names if that was the case, but such a thing was far from the point.

"We are." The demoness insisted as the setting shifted. The change wasn't surprising, and part of her knew this had been coming, but it was no less upsetting. The feline observed the desk with a distasteful sneer, Mirren's voice echoing in her ears like buzzing flies around a carcass.

It wasn't until phantoms of the past filled the office that her expression softened. The younger, yet older looking feline in her work attire, sitting at her big, fancy chair with some pitiful looking reaper in front of her. His eyes were filled with fear. Recalling it now, the tension was almost tangible.

"Miss Riyo please, my family... I have a child. We can't lose our assets. Just a few more months."

It hadn't been the first time. Her vacant stare made it clear enough. The words, as always, were demeaning, insulting, and merciless. No amount of begging, pleading, or sob stories swayed her, and the man was dragged out of her office in tears.

"I don't miss this." Riyo followed up as she watched her phantom self stand and look out the window. "Not even a little bit." Her brow furrowed as she looked to the desk and all the paperwork strewn about it. "I never did this because I got some sort of sick pleasure from making these people miserable. I did it because it was my job, and what I thought was my responsibility." A thankless job. "You can read column A and skip column B in the diagram of my mind all you want. I'm tired of you talking like you know me so well. You're just a manipulative b***h." Riyo hissed, slicing through her former self with the knife until it had vanished from her mind. She was trying to hide it. Hide the idea that the words might have managed to crawl under her skin, taint her mind with worries that she may never break free. "You can say people don't change. You can be poetic and say they only wear a different mask. I read books. I've heard all these lines. You're pathetic. I've been down this road before with better puppet masters than you." Her mother, namely.

With a shaky grasp, she reclaimed her tail and held the blade against the farthest point she could comfortably reach. "Y'done?"  

[Inu-Mitsu]

"Yes, who could forget mommy was mean to you so that you couldn't make your own decisions." Riyo might have been able to rid her vision of her former self but the room remained the same. Mirren rose her hand and the paperwork that had been sitting strewn across the desk flew off it and began to swirl around them like a whirlwind. Riyo would soon find the paper coming closer to cut and nick at every available surface as the demoness continued to lazily roll her wrist to keep the storm going.

"I think I know you well enough. I may even know you better than you know yourself. Try as you might to bury and hide who you are it will surface sooner or later." The smile she gave the feline was almost cheerful and if it wasn't for the show of character she had just displayed she might have looked sweet. She even took the name calling with grace as if it were only a charming nickname. "And I've dealt with those who've had a little more venom in their words than you could ever hope to muster."

She looked thoughtful when Riyo asked if she was done, the tip of the dagger lightly tapping against her lips. "With you? I suppose. But my little brother and I have a bit of catching up to do." With a waggle of her fingers she vanished leaving the ghoul in the nightmarish storm of paperwork and memos.  

[Sexy Cocaine]

"You can't.. Hide who you are..." She heard a whisper barely audible above the papers, her eyes widening as she looked over her shoulder. A phantom image, much like the one that had appeared earlier... Except this one was wearing her mother's clothes.

It was like someone pressed the mute button on the scenario. Riyo heard no sounds, until a sharp SHINK resounded. Before she could turn and process what she had done-

She was awake.

Screaming, bleeding, and suddenly on the floor.

Immediately her hands grabbed for her tail as she struggled out of her blanket cocoon. One piece. Just one piece. Thank Jack...

Riyo took a moment to hug her tail tightly like a long lost friend before it dawned on her.

Titus...

Without considering the numerous cuts across her face, the feline threw on the first articles of clothing she could get her hands on and rushed out of her dorm and up towards his, pounding on the door frantically. "Open up a*****e!" She tried to keep her voice down, but there was no hiding how panicked she was. Surely he would answer. He'd look at her like she was crazy and tell her to calm the ******** down and everything would be all fine and dandy as per the usual. Puppy dogs and butterflies.

Inu-Mitsu

Who typed up a reply and never hit the submit button last night? This b***h.

 

[Inu-Mitsu]

Except there was no answer.

Riyo's frantic knocking made the door creak and move inward since it had been left ajar, opening up on a startlingly quiet dorm. The nightmare demon was seated slumped over on his couch, eyes closed like he was sleeping. It might have been normal if Titus slept on a regular basis, instead it looked a little unnatural and forced. Even his expression didn't look as relaxed as it should have.

No one else was immediately in sight but the room had an air about it like someone had come and gone. There was no physical evidence to really support that someone had been there except for a small slip of paper that had been neatly folded and placed in the boil's hand.

Sexy Cocaine

haha I figured you just got tired and went to bed

 

[Sexy Cocaine]

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her gut when all she was met with was silence, and watching the door open at her touch made it worse.

"Titus?" She called in, her voice softer. Her eyes immediately darted to the couch where he usually was, a cold chill shooting up her spine as she saw him slumped over.

Riyo's eyes darted around as she moved towards him, ears at attention. It could be an ambush. His room neither felt nor smelled right... Yet, the silence was deafening.

"Hey. Titus." She stood in front of him, her hands reaching down to cup his cheeks, lifting his head slightly. "Wake up. This isn't funny." One hand cautiously pulled back to swat at him. "Hey. C'mon. Pay attention to me."

Cautiously she released his head, and instead took hold of his shoulders to give him a good shake. "Wake up! Please wake up!" Her voice grew louder, more frantic. "We can go do something fun... I'll go get the maid outfit just... Please open your eyes." Riyo never thought she could feel such terror over another person's well-being, and that alone scared her beyond words... But...

The cat ghoul's eyes looked around the boil to figure out some other way to prod him, when she noticed the paper in his hand. She sat down beside him, grasping the hand that held the paper and delicately plucking it like a shard of glass. Her fingers, shaking from both adrenaline and fear, hastily unfolded the parchment to see what awful message it might've contained.