Details for Knightmares |
Summary: | A vision comes to Annie in a dream. |
Date: | 4 March 1938 |
Location: | |
Related: |
Characters |
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Tim was awoken by a grumble and getting slapped in the face by a flailed hand and as he's rolling over to gather what's what he gets kicked in the shin and grits his teeth. "M'Annie." Even despite getting beat up he's tender and gentle as he strokes her hair and kisses her forehead and speaks her name in soft tones that only slowly and gradually gain in volume until she's woken up. "Annie. M'Annie. S'alright. Yer Tim's 'ere. It's just a dream. Yer safe." He repeats the sentiments over and over, petting her hair and laying on her just enough to keep her from thrashing more.
They hadn't even gotten to sleep very long ago when the nightmare started for Annie. Wakefulness comes slowly, and she lands one more blow to Tim's shoulder before she is in the world enough to stop her limbs from doing more harm to him. There is a gasp, as if she has been holding her breath, and her eyes snap open, as she tries to sit up. "Tim… they're out," she says quickly, her head darting around as eyes that aren't quite focused seem to search for something. "Where is the knight?"
Tim is blinking still from the slap that caught him over the eye. "It's alright Annie, now take some deep breaths and keep yer eyes closed and tell yer Tim e'rythin."
It takes another few ticks of the clock for Annie to stop struggling and relax, finally focusing on Tim and frowning. "Yer face is red, love. Are yeh alright?" She brings her hand up to tenderly touch around one green eye, "Did yeh fall out of bed?" It's the only thing she can think of, although it's not exactly probable.
Tim tilts his face to kiss her stroking hand, "Never mind about me, tell me about your dream love?" He does shift about to scoop her up and put her in his lap all snuggled under the covers, cradling her and petting her arms while he continues to try to entice her to talk about the dream.
Annie lets Tim shift her without protest, settling into his lap, leaning her head against his shoulder as she presses to him warmly. Her brow furrows as the nightmare comes back, and her hand drifts to settle on his chest, over his heart. The words come slowly, "A golden heart. It's beautiful an' warm." A somewhat melodious tone takes her voice as she allows the dream to surface more. "But the hand. The hand… ruins it. Kills it. Makes it black and cold." She pauses, shifting to try and press even more into the security of Tim. "And the knight came. A knight in shining armor."
Tim listens closely and nods as he takes in the details she relays, he's doing his best to wake up and really listen and understand. "Did he look special? What did the hand look like? How did it kill it?" This is where his journalism training comes in handy as he has a bit of a 'Dream Interview'.
Annie pauses to take in the questions and process them, and when she answers it's in the order in which events happened in her dream, not the order in which Tim has asked the questions. "It was… gnarled," she says softly, looking for the words to best convey the images that so rudely disturbed their sleep. "And dark. It just… touched." With the word her own hand moves, lifting from Tim's chest and then touching lightly, as if demonstrating. The quality of the dream itself is as different as the way she tells it to Tim. The dream about him had her clearly panicked. This one has disturbed her, without doubt, but in less 'personal' of a way. "And it spread. The blackness spread." Silence comes again as she mulls over his last question, about the knight. "Just a knight. Shining. But… that was wrong too." A bit more stress comes into her voice with this statement.
Tim lifts a hand to cover her hand that's demonstrating the touch. Of course her touch against him doesn't have the tarnishing effect the dream knarled hand had on the golden heart, quite the opposite. Even worried about her so like he is when she touches him like that his chest raises as he takes in a deep breath. When she shows signs of distress beyone relating a story he leans in to kiss her and nuzzle at her. "Just a dream m'love. Just a dream. Yer Tim's got ye. Aye?"
This time Annie doesn't seem quite so placated by Tim's affection, her words coming more quickly, as they had when she first woke. "He's opened the box, and it's all come out." Her eyes move as if she's watching something, although Tim may miss their darting in the dim light that filters in from the window. "All the dark things. Everywhere." There is dread in the words, and she shivers as an unnamed fear drags a cold finger down her back.
Tim cuddles her up more tightly and kisses her and tries to sooth her as best he can. "Just a dream. Your Tim isn't going to let that come true. Yee know I won't righ?" He kisses at her face and cuddles her up even tighter. "Yer safe m'Annie. All's well righ now and yee an' me is goin to make sure it stays all's well. Righ?"
It takes a few minutes, but Tim's patience and love has it's effect gradually, and he can feel it in the easing of Annie's tense form. She nods, murmuring, "Yer gonna keep me safe. He musn't open the box." The young witch is not even entirely sure what exactly she means by that, but it feels imperative.
Tim shakes his head and cups her cheeks in his hands so he can angle her so the head shake can be seen and he can look into her eyes. "There will be no opening of the box." He draws her in to give her a light smooch before he slides and turns to get them laying cuddled back down in the sheets. "There now, ye listen to my heart beatin' out yer name and it will fight away the bad dreams."
Annie looks up at Tim, eyes trusting. He can fix everything, right? Of course he can, there's no doubt in her about that. She doesn't even have to ask for his promise of that fact, his word is given with the statement itself. Her lips press to his, and she resists him breaking the kiss lightly, finally letting him re-adjust them to settle back down. A soft sigh is broken with one last shiver before she lays her head on his chest. "Pandora opened the box and all the evil came out," she whispers softly. "I think…. the knight is worse." She doesn't sound sure about it, but it is not a pleasant supposition in the least. Once she settles with her head on his chest, it doesn't take long for the reassuring beat of Tim's heart to lull Annie back to sleep. In the morning her memory of the dream, even of waking up, will be hazy, and she'll fuss over Tim's black eye, spoiling him rotten with his favorite breakfast.