trans_9 | I can feel the madness slowly creeping in...

It is that time again, meatship.

Once again, the King of Nightmares has deigned to spread his touch to all of your dreams.

This time, however, he has decided to give them a much more personal touch, sending his very own children to visit each and every one of you, slowly sowing the seeds of madness within all of you.

Such a kind and loving king he is, isn't he?

[ooc: Alright folks, Nightmare King is ramping things up a bit. These nightmares are a good bit more dangerous now, and he's sending in his minions to make things a little more real. The nightmares will be of a much more serious nature this time, designed to start driving the crew slowly insane. Characters are more likely to run into nightmare minions in the guise of someone or something that will tug at the edges of their sanity. Also, this time, the characters can have joint dreams, as these nightmares are of a more mystical nature this time. Once again, tagging in isn't mandatory, but if you want to, go crazy (literally)!]

[Additional Note: Any injuries won't be carrying over to real life at this point in the plot but don't worry, we'll get there eventually!]

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Something was wrong; he could tell from the way her voice trembled when she spoke. "The nightmares again," Mal replied tersely as he waited for Kaylee to open the hatch. "Just checkin' up on you." He eyed her with concern in his eyes once she came into view.

"The nightmares are gettin' worse, and... Uh." He sighed, thinking how bad he was at doing this kind of thing. "Well, you can talk to me if you need to."

"You, too?" It was more statement than question, really. Kaylee couldn't help but wonder what was going on if everybody kept having nightmares at the same time...

There had to be something on Stacy, then. She really needed to seek out Engineering as see if the problem couldn't be found in the ship's system someplace. The sooner these were over with, the better.

"Xie xie," she replied, meaningfully as she could with a still-wavering voice. Honest to goodness, there really was no one better to have around than Mal. "Y'know that goes both ways?" He probably never would share what was going on in that head of his, but she could see through that mask of his fairly well to see that something was troubling him more than it should be, and she was there if he ever needed her.

"Yeah, me too." This was really hard. He was having a hard time forgetting the images he'd seen in his nightmare, and he wished he could tell someone about it. He could tell Kaylee, but that would only make her worry more. As strange as it was, he found himself wishing that Zoe was here. She would be easier to talk to about things like this.

But as it was, he had to tell Kaylee something. "I know it does, mèimei." With another sigh, Mal started talking; he was not about to give her the whole description, but a vague idea of it would hopefully be enough. "Reavers got on Serenity and attacked all of you. Only one left on the ship was me. Until they came back."

He shook his head after he finished his brief version of what he'd seen. Somehow, it didn't make him feel any better, and that just frustrated him more. "Real pleasant. But that's just how Reavers are."

Sounded almost like her first dream had been. Kaylee couldn't figure which was worse anymore--Reavers killing everyone she considered close as kin, or one of their own kind doing it.

Climbing out of the hatch, Kaylee settled in the walkway next to Mal and curled up into herself.

She started slow, trying to skip over the nasty details in her mind as well as her words. "Early was back on board. And River, she...wasn't herself." She shuddered again at the images. "They were cuttin' everybody up, usin' pieces as their own form of decoration..."

Mal listened to Kaylee describing her dream, and his expression grew grimmer as he kept listening. "This has got to stop. Bad things are gonna happen if these nightmares keep comin'." That being said, Mal reached for Kaylee, and pulled her into a hug.

"Look, I can't change what you saw, but everythin's gonna be okay. I don't know how long the nightmares are going to be around, but it doesn't matter. We'll work this out, you, me and Inara. Dŏng ma?"

Kaylee really didn't want to think about what would happen if the nightmares kept getting worse. Was there anything worse than your best friend cutting you up? If there was, she didn't want to know.

Mal's embrace was a definite comfort, and Kaylee fell easily into him. This was safety, right here. She forced a smile up at Mal. "Sure thing."

Nothin' in the 'verse could stop them.

I can feel the madness slowly creeping in...

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