once more, with feeling | • r u / a l i n e

The dream was vague, not very coherent and quite normal. She was in some kind of field, with people whose faces were blurred. It was a completely unremarkable dream. But then she awoke.

It was like she was opening her eyes. All of her senses were on fire; if opening her eyes allowed for her to see, then she felt like all of her was opening up. She could smell, hear, feel everything. Her dim, wandering dream tilted into something else with screaming clarity. It morphed into a completely different set of sensations; goosebumps on her skin, freezing cold wind on her nose. The scene was dark, and she could feel the icy air stinging her cheeks and bare hands… but they weren’t her hands. Dash didn’t know if balance really classified as another sense, but she was suddenly aware that she was very unbalanced. She was unsteady. She was tripping over.

She was vomiting, she could feel it.

But it wasn’t her that was vomiting.

The burning sensation in her throat and nose was overwhelming. So much more vivid than it would be in real life. So much more real than reality. Dash watched impassively, and experienced the sensation deep in her stomach at the same time. It was like split-screen realities. Dual experiences. Momentarily, the girl wondered why things felt so strange and unsteady, but then she realised; in this true dream, she was drunk. The unsteady feeling, strangely affected senses had come about because of drunkenness. She was experiencing the inebriation of whoever she was dreaming about.

Dash was jolted out of her vision as she retched, gagging on nothing. She scrambled to the side of her bed, her stomach heaving as she clutched the edge of her bed with tight hands. She didn’t vomit. Her mouth was dry, but the smell and taste of vomit was still impossibly real to Dash. It was always like this after her dreams; the sensations lingered long after she’d woken up. Even now, she could feel cold, ragged bricks under her fingers where really there were sheets. She slumped into her bed, exhausted. Visions always took so much out of her. She tried to focus on her reality, performing mental exercises that reminded her what was and wasn’t real.

The night was cool, but it wasn’t so cold in her bedroom. The brunette focused on her hands and the calming regularity of breathing. She was in her room, wearing pyjamas. She wasn’t vomiting. She wasn’t falling over. There were no bricks under her hands. She was Arden Dasher, not… The girl thought for a moment, realising where her vision had taken her. Aline. Aline Stanton. The brunette frowned deeply, trying not to think about the smell of vomit that still seemed so thick in her nostrils.

Dash pushed herself up and out of bed, stepping onto the cold wooden floors gingerly with reluctant feet. It felt much harsher than it should have. This was normal too; whenever she woke up, her skin was always so much more sensitive. All of her senses were on hyperdrive. She walked with quiet steps to Ruari’s door, though the woman wasn’t sure why she’d tried to be so quiet, considering her next move.

“Ruari?” She called out her friend’s name in a soft voice, and then rapped her knuckles on the other girl’s door. When there was no response, she knocked again. Her stomach still felt so unsettled. She had to work to keep the nausea at bay, even though there was no vomit, no smell of vomit here in reality. "I think Aline's in trouble."

Mmpf.

A tall blonde woman was fast asleep. Her long blonde hair was strewn across her pillows like a golden halo, her face turned away and pressed deeply into her pillow. The sheets were clean but they still smelled like her better half. Maybe she just had a sense of smell like a bloodhound.

Her dream was highly enjoyable. It was bright summer's day. She was in a forest, surrounded by tall, ancient trees. There was a carved path through them, directly down the middle. There was happy chatter, the clinking of glasses. There were mismatched chairs and benches, covered with mismatched table cloths and small flowers in vases. There were brightly coloured streamers hanging from the trees. The weather was glorious, her skin  looked and felt sun kissed and healthy.

There was a sense of excitement bubbling in the pit of her stomach, causing her to twitch and smile in her sleep. A cloudless summer's day. Her shoes crunched on the gravel as she drew forward, eliciting gasps from the people seated near her. The path opened up as the sunlight streamed through the gaps in the leaves, casting everything and everyone in a beautiful, ethereal light. Someone was crying. The air smelt like lavender and peonies as the soft sound of an upbeat, folksy type song caught on the wind.

Then it came to her outfit. Was that why people were crying? Her long blonde hair was twisted into a braided up-do, fastened with peach roses and sparkling gems. The hem of her long, flowy white dress just brushed the woodland floor. Her wedding dress was beautiful.

In her dream, all she saw was him. Tall, handsome and resplendent in a bright blue suit and brown laced up brogues with a sprig of lavender fastened to his lapel as a boutonnière. He smiled, then she smiled  back. His groomsmen, their faces fuzzy, thumped him on the back in congratulations, looking pleased at her arrival. Ruari was dimly aware of dozens of sets of eyes on her as she wandered forward, excitement and anticipation tingling along her skin. When Hal was in touching distance, she reached out and took his hand. Her dream jumped forward to the important parts.

"I do --"

Jolted out of her reverie by a knock, Ruari squinted, head spinning. In the dim light, she held up her left hand, feeling both confused and bereft by the lack of a wedding ring. Oh right. Duh. It was a dream. Frowning, she pulled a face as she clumsily stumbled out of bed, colliding with the edge of her bedside table and letting out an expletive that would get her slapped by her nana. Dressed in a pale grey tee shirt belonging to Hal, she hauled the door open and her heart fell to rest somewhere near her stomach.

The look on Dash's face was all she needed to realise something had happened. Suddenly awake, she didn't care that her hair was a bird's nest or that she'd slept in her make up so she looked like a racoon. Ruari knew not to touch her friend she'd finished a vision but she came close. "What kind of trouble?" She asked gently, already grabbing the first pair of discarded jeans from her bedroom floor and yanking them on roughly. "What do we need to do?" She flicked on her bedroom light, recoiling at the shock as she tangled her hands in her hair. "Dash, what's happened?" Whatever it was, she had the feeling they needed to move. And fast.

Ruari, reliable as ever, started dressing immediately. “We need to go to London. Now.” Dash followed suit, turning away and moving to her room to get dressed too. Jeans, wooly socks, boots. Then a singlet, shirt, jacket and a warm cloak just to make sure. “She’s drunk. And alone... She's an emotional mess.” As soon as she said it, she knew it was true. Her dream had told her as much. Her visions always gave her more than sensory information; the girl received what was more or less an emotional landscape too. And Aline was not all right.

The brunette picked up her wand with slender fingers as she adjusted her cloak. Dash looked at the thin stick of wood in her palm. Last time she’d tried a simple summoning spell after one of her visions, the girl had shattered the jug of water she’d been summoning… along with all the lights in the house. Shaking her head, she slid the thing into her cloak. She would have to rely on Ruari to get them there.

Her hands were shaking. Usually, she wasn’t very helpful after one of her visions. She couldn’t do magic, felt exhausted and every sensation was overwhelming. Even now, her wooly socks felt like they were full of thousands of tiny hooks, tugging at her skin. The sensation was horribly uncomfortable and she wanted nothing more than to strip and have a shower, or do something repetitive and calming, like work with clay. Every breath came with the faint smell of vomit and alcohol. She was lucky enough that it was slowly fading away, but she could still feel the burn in the back of her throat.

Dash tied her hair up in a high ponytail as she left her room. “I don’t know where she is. I woke up too soon to see. I’d say we have… twenty minutes until she vomits in a back alley somewhere?” The girl shook her head, a frustrated frown appearing on her pretty face. She searched her mind for clues. What had she seen? What had she felt? Dash looked down at her hands, imagining they were scraping against a brick wall. Damp, hard. “There was the sound of people. And loud music. But it was dull, and she was freezing, so I’m guessing she was outside a club.”

Dash took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Can you take us to London? You know I can’t…” The girl motioned with her hands. Ruari knew she couldn’t do magic in this state. Hopefully her blonde friend didn’t notice how much her hands were shaking, or how nauseous she felt.

Ruari nodded. Not once did she question why they had to go and soon. Dash's visions were often horrific for her but they needed to get to their friend and fast, for whatever reason. Aline hadn't been around in a few weeks and Ruari knew that Dash had tried getting in contact. They'd always been close. Her brother referred to the girls as "The Three Musketeers".

The tall blonde girl shoved her bare feet into a pair of battered old boots as she hastily and clumsily tucked her borrowed oversized tee shirt into the waistband of her jeans. Her room looked like a bomb site but it was organised chaos; she knew where everything was. She wound a canary yellow scarf around her neck before shrugging on a coat and buttoning it, pausing to grab her wand and the house keys before finally turning to face Dash.

"Are you okay?" Ruari asked softly as she gently tugged at a loose lock of Dash's hair. From previous experience, the dressmaker knew that she couldn't touch her friend so soon. Nor could she make her any food.

The mention of heaving in a back alley made her wince. Aline had always been a sensible girl so going out by herself and getting totally wasted did seem a little strange to say the least. People. Loud music. Club. Ruari fell silent as she hastily wracked her messy mind to try and aid Dash in finding out where the missing girl was. Chewing her lower lip, she had an idea. "Do you think it's Rumours?" The Dubliner asked. Rumours was a cocktail bar they'd been to a few times in Covent Garden. It was hip and the cocktails were so strong, drinking two could fell a horse. If Ruari wanted to forget, she'd head right there.

"Of course," she said briskly as she stepped forward. Her big grey eyes could see the shakes but she didn't comment. Simply, she extended one of her own hands, soft and warm towards Dash for her to take so they could leave. It was too soon to move, they both knew that but they had to get going.

A moment or two later, they landed in a dark alley. Ruari pulled a face as she stumbled, adrenaline coursing through her veins as she turned around and squinted in the low light. "Does this feel right?" She asked her friend as she began to walk a little, careful to keep close in case Dash was having more trouble than she was letting on. The joyful rush of a dream wedding with Hal had disappeared like smoke. That seemed laughably unimportant that moment.

She was relying on Dash to guide her. Her pale hands were outstretched, her fingertips running over the damp and jagged high alley walls. Then, she heard a sound. She froze and reached out for her friend. It was a murmur or a rustle. A cat? A rat? Gross. "Aline?" Ruari ventured, her voice echoing in the cold night air before it was snatched away by the loud, throbbing music. Ruari actually liked the song that was currently being played but she shook herself, straining her ears for a response of any kind as her fingers tightened around her wand.

Dash grimaced as her friend played with her hair. “I’m fine,” she said firmly, but they both knew it wasn’t true. She was pale, shaky and felt sick. Ruaria’s silence was much appreciated. She needed to disconnect, cut out stimuli and be alone. Instead, she was pushing herself. Who knew how safe Aline was going to be, passed out on the ground somewhere, all alone? Dash was skeptical. So she made sure to wear a couple of extra layers; a beanie and two scarves, in case Aline needed one too. Ruari held out her hand and Dash took it, her heightened senses making the moment strangely intimate.

The pair disappeared with a pop!

As they reappeared, Dash lurched to the side. She flung out a hand to stop herself from falling against a cold brick wall. Everything was so much more intense right now, and with the lingering nausea, the apparation had knocked the wind right out of her.

Does this feel right?

Dash hunched over against the wall and threw up. Actually threw up this time, not just phantom vomiting. The brunette held her own hair back, squeezing her eyes shut and gasping for breath after a couple of heaves. She hated this. This was one of the parts of her ‘gift’ that was unquestionably bad. She was practically useless for at least an hour after she woke up. After a moment, she looked up again, her eyes a little teary. “It’s not here,” she said quietly. Dash spat unceremoniously on the ground, clearing her mouth and focusing on the cold city air to try to stop herself from vomiting again.

“Sorry… could you…” the brunette motioned to herself with shaky hands, silently pleading for Ruari to clean her up with magic. She’d do it herself, but right now it was impossible. Who knew what consequences there would be to her trying to cast a spell right now. She was a mess. She felt all frayed at the edges. Still, they were here for a reason. After Ruari helped her out, the girl steadied herself and started walking, leading her blonde friend. There were plenty of clubs and pubs between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. Muggle ones as well as well as magical ones, woven in subtly; Hidden doors in shadows, knowledge of their whereabouts hidden in the niggling feeling in the back of one’s mind.

Dash moved with purpose; her footsteps were heavy with determination, but her eyes betrayed how dazed and unwell she felt. The girl folded her arms across her chest; the skin on her arms erupted in goosebumps. Her cheeks were stinging from the cold. Her eyes were wide, keeping an eye out for something familiar. The vision was at the forefront of her mind; it wasn’t hard to access the memory, or the details. It still felt so real to her. After some wandering, the girl sped up, knowing that she was close.

Dash rounded a corner just as a shadowy figure up ahead stumbled. “There she is,” she said to Ruari, her voice full of worry and relief all at once. The girl jogged to her friend, feeling a wave of nausea hit her as Aline vomited on the ground.