Hey Nightmare, where did you get them teeth?

Lochlann grinned when she complimented him.

"Thank you," he said. He thought he looked dorky. He pointed to Lawrence in the truck. "That's my brother, Lawrence. He's older. I've got a sister, too, but she won't get here until we've already got the horses out, and then she's going to be pissed."

He took her hand and squeezed beneath the wide section of the fest, tugging Emily with him towards the horse.

"He'll be okay in my dream," Lochlann said. Lochlann felt certain of this. He felt a certain confidence with horses, no matter how skittish or aggressive they might be otherwise, because of what he was. Lochlann dropped Emily's hand for a moment and walked towards the horse.

Perhaps because they weren't actually there, that this was a memory, meant the horse didn't move when Lochlann approached it and patted his soft neck. Lochlann was tall, but the horse was tall, too, and his head was below the horses.

Lochlann reached up and ran his fingers along the horse's nose

"The face is the softest part," he said. "But you have ot be careful with an actual horse because they don't all like to be touched on the face. They can't see the center of their faces like this."

So far, this was going well. He held his other hand out, palm up, for Emily to join him if she wanted.

Was she going to see him get yelled at?

Lochlann actually laughed.

"Come on, Emily, I tried to pick the only day I didn't get yelled at," he teased. When she was close to him, he nudged her with his hip playfully. "Only you wold want to see that!"

He tried to think of one of the more humorous times he'd been yelled at.

Lochlann watched her face while she stroked the horse, as if waiting to see something, and he must have found it because he was pleased.

Dream Lochlann and Lawrence were still arguing about something in Welsh.

Lochlann hesitated and then said, "I think we can do something. I haven't tried it yet. But I think we can." He walked up to the horse and measured it and then said, "Do you want to ride him with me?"

Was he a trouble maker?

Lochlann considered this.

"Well, I was expelled from a lot of schools, and I did get into a lot of uh..." Lochlann searched for a word. "Mishaps at home. I'd like to think I'm steering clear of trouble now."

Trouble was named Guinevere Haze and she would stab him soon.

Lochlann enjoyed the closeness of Emily's body, even if it was technically all in his head. it was just nice from his usual fantasy.

Why did he think she wanted to see all of it? Lochlann considered this and then gave her a wry grin, his dark eyebrows lifting and the corner of his eyes crinkling with unexpressed laughter.

"I think that's because you are a 'glutton for punishment'," he said. The phrase was his father's and it came out of Lochlann's mouth with a faint lilt of an Irish accent.

Lochlann nodded.

"I think, because it's in a dream, the horse should not do anything I don't want it to," Lochlann said. He kneeled down before the horse, which became stock-still, as if Lochlann paused a scene in the movie. Lochlann put his two hands out flat, forming a footstool.

"Let me lift you up," he said. "When I do, tangle your fingers in his mane. I'll be up right after. We can take him out of this memory and somewhere else."

"Thank you," Lochlann said. Her compliment touched him.

He didn't know she couldn't taste his feelings, so when she licked her lips, Lochlann assumed she was tasting his enjoyment. He gave her another grin and then followed her up on the horse.

"No promises," he said. "I'd like to think I won't scare you this time, though."

It was going so well. She settled against him and Lochlann leaned forward, resting his hands on either side of the horse's neck. Most of the movement would be done with his legs, the kicks and nudges and whispers.

"Yeah, i used to ride a lot," he told her. He looked down. They were high up, but then again, this was pretty close to his real vantage point.

He asked, "Are you afraid of heights?"

He nudged the horse and then they were moving through his dream, the horse walking slowly and surprisingly smoothly, as though the bouncyness of his gait didn't exist in Lochlann's memory. If Emily ever road a horse in reality she'd be in for a surprise.

"What else do you want to see about me?" he asked her. He let her decide where to go next. "Just please don't ask for like 'omg lochlann your most embarrassing day ever' or we're totally waking up."

"I hope not," Lochlann said. He couldn't promise her they wouldn't fall, but he didn't think they would. He was surprised to learn she couldn't taste her emotions.

"Well, I feel glad that you're here with me," he said. And then, when she asked for a defining moment, Lochlann hesitated. The horse didn't. He kept moving forward and the landscape around them blurred.

"And now I'm a little apprehensive, because I'm not really sure what was one of my defining moments," he admitted.


The horse was on the beach. It was a hot, august day, and there were distant storm clouds out on the horizon, but for now, it was sunny and bright.

Lochlann was sitting on the edge of the beach, taking in deep, uneven breaths, trying to get a grip on himself because of the headache that was sending pains through his head. He was a little bit younger than he was now--maybe three years? He looked the same but his body was unscarred.

A girl with shiny lavender hair walked up to him on the beach. She was wearing heels, but there was no unease in walking on the beach with those sharp shoes. Her hips swayed. She walked up to Lochlann, peered over at him, and when he looked up at her, she kicked him right in the ribs.

It was the first day Lochlann ever met Guin.

"Oh," Lochlann told Emily. "This was only a few weeks after I got here.'

He wanted to go somewhere else, but the scene before them kept unfolding. They exchanged smalltalk, but when it started to rain, they took shelter in a small sea side shack. Lochann was clearly distressed, clearly wrestling with something, but whatever he was wrestling with, it didn't matter.

He kissed Guin.

She reached her hand between his legs and crushed his balls.

The window broke and soaked them with rain and Lochlann departed, but not before Guinevere snagged the amulet off of his neck.

Lochlann frowned at Emily.

"I don't think this is a defining moment in my life," he told her. But she'd be able to draw the conclusions. It was the first time he met the girl who'd killed his girlfriend. He didn't know how else to explain what happened, so he just said, "Sometimes, I get headaches when it rains."