Chapter 13
Dreams. Like most folks Violet had had them on and off all her life, though perhaps mercifully not many in the years since the accident, thanks to her casual use of certain drugs to help her sleep. She’d always been good at remembering her dreams, whether she wanted to or not. Like the recurring one she’d had early in her relationship with Krymson of the two of them getting married. Which is why it was fortunate that she’d not had many since the accident, as all the ones she’d had would count as nightmares.
They almost all followed the same pattern as the one that struck her the night after her rooftop display to Naira and Sy.
They always started as that night had, both Krymson and herself laughing and joking in Mixi, her scruffy little MX5, as Violet drove towards the local town from the house they shared at around the legal speed limits, her familiarity with the roads she’d driven her entire life lending a sense of comfort despite the darkness of the cloudy night.
Everything was normal, Violet could even remember Krymson smirking at her and saying “it’s a good job I love you isn’t it Kitty!” as they went towards the crossroads, with the give way on the roads they crossed giving them the right of way.
As always in these nightmares Violet could feel herself about to reply, before spotting the car hurtling towards the passenger side with no lights on, and then the impact.
The nightmares never failed to relive the sensation of the impact, the force sending the little sportscar spiraling sideways and off the road towards the few trees that were there, before the front collided with a tree tearing itself apart on impact & flipping the remains over a full rotation, causing her to black out.
Inevitably the nightmare continued with her waking up, disorientated and groggy, all the sounds muted and wrong to her.
And the feeling as she turned, only a fraction aware of the pain blooming on the left side of her head and the blood pouring down her face and neck. Turning and realising that the passenger side of the car was destroyed, twisted and torn away.
And that Krymson was gone…
Violet woke at that point, drenched in a cold sweat with the feeling of a scream choking her throat, but no sound escaping she thought.
What Violet didn’t see or hear in her disturbed state was Naira running from the room she slept in towards Violet's room, where a terrible wail of anguish had just sounded. As she reached the door she found Sy standing in the way, a silencing finger raised to his lips. At Naira’s questioning glare he very quietly whispered to her “there’s no point disturbing her, she won’t say what caused the scream. In fact I think she believes she stopped herself screaming. This happens occasionally, though I admit this is the first for a while”
“We can’t just leave her though!” whispered Naira frantically “not when she makes sounds like That!”
“I admit that one was more harrowing to hear than usual” conceded Sy “but still, we both know she’ll not tell us what caused it. Though it’s obvious”
“What do you mean?” asked Naira
“She relives the accident in her dreams. Or rather nightmares” sighed Sy “She’ll never confirm that though, but after the first couple of times I put a recorder in her room, just to hear what she said”
“....what did you hear?”
“Nothing massively clear, but the second night I recorded she whimpered ‘Krymson’ after wailing & waking herself up sobbing”
“Shit” sighed Naira “is there nothing we can do for her?”
“Not tonight” stated Sy “and it’s best Not to ask her about this tomorrow either”
With that they both returned to bed, leaving Violet who had already curled back up and was slipping into a fretful sleep, tears drying on her pillow
The following morning Violet was the first of the three to wake up, stretching in a stereotypically feline way before throwing on a tatty jumper dress and heading to the kitchen to make coffee. Once the pot had brewed she poured herself a mug, took a sip and grimaced slightly. With her head tilting slightly she looked around the worktop, before finally grabbing the sugar and adding one spoonful at first, before shrugging and adding another two. After another sip she smiled, deciding the sweet taste suited her more today, she also flicked the kettle on, placed Sy’s mug on the work surface, added two teabags and took another sip whilst the water boiled, adding it to the mug before walking over and hopping onto the sofa, curling up with drink in hands.
Before Violet was even half way down her coffee her ears twitched in the direction of the bedrooms as she heard Sy heading towards the kitchen. Once he appeared and took a seat next to her she waved as she finished her coffee, before quickly leaping up to pour herself another mug & to add milk to Sy’s tea. As she’d poured the coffee and was about to add the sugar Sy spoke up
“Hey Vee, can you put the kettle on for me please?”
Without saying a word Violet simply picked his mug up, walked over and handed it to Sy, with a small wink and went back to her coffee
“Oh, thanks Vee” Sy said with a smile, taking a sip of his tea and looking over at Violet before clearing his throat
“Um Vee, you might want to wear more clothing than just that you know”
Violet turned to face him, spoon in hand “what do you mean dude?” she asked with a raised eyebrow
Sy averted his eyes away from her saying “well for a start with the holes in that top”
“You mean dress” interrupted Violet
“Whatever, you probably should wear a bra, less you want to take someone’s eye out”
Violet simply stuck her tongue out at him for that
“And also some underwear would help Vee”
“What do you mean, I know it’s short on me but its long enough to cover everything” she said, looking down at herself
“At the front maybe, but your tail kinda keeps the back up abit”
Violet looked behind her, and merely shrugged “eh, whatever. I threw this on to get coffee” she paused till Sy was mid-sip “because I suspect naked is worse right?” she finished with a smirk
Almost on cue Sy started spluttering on his mouthful of tea before finally between the coughs stated “you did that on purpose!”
“Of course” smirked Violet before locking eyes with Sy and deadpan stating “I mean I’m not even in the splash zone” before giggling enough that even Sy laughed
Whilst they were still laughing between themselves Naira walked into the kitchen area, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. When she saw Violet her breath hitched slightly, especially noting how her tail raised her jumper dress
“Hey Naria” greeted Violet “want a drink?”
“Oh, errm, apple juice maybe?” Naira stumbled in reply
“Sure thing!” Violet said with a smile, moving and pouring her a glass before returning to hand it to her “here you go”
“Oh, thanks” said Naira, taking the glass “...how are you feeling Vee?”
Violet tilted her head slightly looking quizzically at Naira “err fine, why do you ask?”
“Ah errm nevermind” stumbled Naira, catching sight of Sy shaking his head over Violet’s shoulder
“O..k..” answered Violet, one eyebrow raised at Naira before shrugging “Whatever, still want to head back to your studio today before we leave tomorrow?”
“Ooh yes please!” smiled Naira “I have something for you there”
“Cool” shrugged Violet “I’ll go get more ‘suitably dressed’ and we’ll head over” she said the last with a look towards Sy, who stuck his tongue out in response, prompting an eye roll from Violet with a smile “you coming for the ride Sy?” she asked
“Sadly not” he replied “I’ve got a few bits of prep on my kit that still needs finishing off. You taking Aryette?”
“Yeah, I’ll give her a drive before giving her a quick once over to be sure when we get back”
“That’s fair, see you later” answered Sy, as Violet nodded and went to get ready.
About an hour later Violet and Naira were parking up back at Naira’s studio, and Violet quickly smoked a cigarette as Naira opened up, shaking her head as Violet finished and followed her in rolling her eyes.
Upon entering Violet followed Naira into her lab area, where Naira took a seat at her main desk, and woke her computer up whilst offhandedly gesturing for Violet to take a seat, which she did on the edge of the desk next to Naira.
“What are we here for then Naira?” asked Violet
“So you know how there’s currently physical bio stimulants for increased activity right?” replied Naria, getting a nod in response from Violet “Well recently there’s been advances in the bioengineering circles that not only enhance the physical aspects, but also can improve the processing of stimulation through the various lobes of the brain, giving increased reaction and response times”
“Wait, what? How do they work then?” was Violet’s slightly incredulous reply
“Well in short they work similarly to how your ears connect to your brain, normally the user has to have a similar biomechanical connection implanted to receive them as you have for your ears & tail” Naira paused, whilst Violet just watched her intently, giving her usual almost too intense look of concentration “Now whilst they’re not exactly experimental, having been around for about 8 months now, there has been a few cases where over-using them has left the user ‘broken’
“What do you mean ‘broken’” asked Violet
“I mean it left them permanently over-stimulated, and basically in constant white noise from everything” Naira answered
“Ah, yeah that sounds shit”
“Yeah, but it’s worth noting that in EVERY case they were using them constantly, and staying ‘plugged’ for like three weeks without sleep etc”
“Ah, not too bad. I’m guessing the reason we’re here is you have some of these, and want to take them with us on the trip?” summarized Violet
“Exactly” smiled Naira “Watching you last night on the roof cemented something I’ve noticed with you since the operations”
“What’s that” asked Violet, her eyes slightly narrowed
“Well I’d noticed when you’re just moving around that you seem to have more grace, more poise in your movements than you ever had before. At first I wasn’t sure if it was just you seemed more alive than, well, before. But then last night I saw how much more fluid, how in sync with yourself you are, how you already use your tail Perfectly to aide your balance” Naira poured out in one go, before pausing to catch her breath then continuing “I theorise that by using the BrainSuite to ‘copy & paste’ scans of my cat I’ve actually awoken more of your feline nature, but just how much remains to be seen”
Violet sat quietly for a moment just regarding Naira, her tail swishing slowly behind her, before she finally replied
“Truthfully you might be right. I don’t know how much more my instincts are ‘out’ but I did notice how easier everything felt last night. But what’s this got to do with the stimulants?”
“I figure that a small dose of them, through the points in your body, would give you almost beyond super cat levels of reactions and reflexes. At least for a short time”
Violet considered this “but there’s risks right?”
Naira sighed “yes there are. Basically they’d have to be a ‘last resort’ thing. Like if you got into a situation like a fight and needed an extra edge they’d be useful. But only as a almost one-off, because I like your brain and don’t want it white-noised”
Violet chuckled slightly “to be honest with you Naira if there’s a chance of finding Krymson I’ll take any advantage going, but at the same time she’d NEVER forgive me if I broke myself too much trying!”
Naira smiled “Exactly Vee! Right, give me five minutes and I’ll be all sorted with a couple of doses worth and ready to go” with that she started fussing around collecting vials from cabinets around her lab, with Violet simply watching her idly
After about the five minutes Naira stopped and shut everything down securely, before proclaiming herself ready to go. But just as they were walking out the door Naira snapped her fingers and said “oh crap! That’d be an idea! Can you take this and put in Aryette please Vee? I just thought of something” before handing Violet a rucksack and returning into the studio. Violet simply shrugged, and went to the rear of the Land Rover and placed the rucksack inside, before heading back to the front as Naira returned with a small shoebox sized flight case painted purple “You might recognise these Vee” she said with a smile as she opened the case, revealing a set of twin night stick batons, each in black with a matt finish & a dull metal tip, a small discreet button was set into the handle of each
“Are those the ones I made for you years ago??” asked Violet, surprised
“Yep, and the shock system still works!” beamed Naira
“Wow, that’s impressive! Not only that you still have them but that they still work!” smiled Violet
“Well I did have to replace the battery, but with the new ones they’ve got more hits before being out of charge”
“Heh cool!” remarked Violet as she started Aryette “lets head back to the garage and get sorted”
With that she backed Aryette out and headed off
