SLEEPING BEAUTIES: DREAM LOG

[yourkeepers]

Bewitched by the thorn's touch, you have been ensnared in the deepest of sleep. Fortunately for you, the world of Faerie doesn't end with the waking.

The world of your dreams is brighter now, more clear than you've ever witnessed it. You've been it before, you think, there fragments of yourself become reality. But now you are somehow more lucid in its presence, and it's more real - something you can reach out and touch.

You find yourself in this world, and you are not alone. Your dreams and those of other join at the edges, pulling into each other along similar threads.

And you are watched by something even greater.

Comments

[intothehedge]

"Um...you, I suppose!" she says, with an uncertain smile. "You and the other changelings...that's what you are, right?"

She bites her lip. "I'm not sure how long it's been, but as long as I can really remember."

[chromaticscale]

"Yes, that's what I am." She tilts her head, taking it all in. But if she's always been here, then that means... "You've never been in the house before?"

It's her only frame of reference. Realistically, there's something outside the house, but besides the master's guests, she's never known anyone from anywhere else. It's a bit of an exciting prospect.

[intothehedge]

"The house..." she says softly, having to think about it for a moment until the memory comes to her. "Oh...yes, I am in the house. Sort of." She shrugs, helplessly. "My body is sleeping there."

[chromaticscale]

"Really?" So there were really others still sleeping in the house! She hadn't any real reason to think so before, except for the sake of caution, but if that's true.... "Where are you? Maybe we can come wake you up."

[intothehedge]

She bites her lip, some apprehension at the idea. But she does not her head with something almost like desperation.

"I would like that very much-" she starts, before pausing to think. "But I think I'm far away from where you would be now. And I don't know how to tell you where I am."

[chromaticscale]

"Could you tell me what it's like?" Now she's actually growing a bit concerned, not wanting to accept the fact that she might be forced to leave someone sleeping and alone in some remote part of the house that she had no access to. "At least then we can try to look for you!"

[intothehedge]

"I'm sorry..." she starts, frowning. "I just...can't remember anything like that. I don't know if I ever saw it." She swims forward a little again. "But I would like it if you found me! And if you wanted to help...well, we could work together to figure it out!"

[chromaticscale]

"It's okay! Really. It is not your fault," and it isn't. She can't remember where she was sleeping either, just that she woke up somewhere she should not have been. Not without the Master there anyhow. The fish have taken to bobbing, seemingly enthralled with the conversation themselves, but start swimming in circles again as the fish girl gives them a pointed glance. "I do want to help... what did you have in mind?"

[intothehedge]

"I...am not sure, yet," she says, after a moment, thinking deeply. "I feel like there is something I could have done before, but I don't think I'm strong enough anymore." She hesitates. "The other way...it's difficult. There is someone else I've been with in these dreams, and though I think defeating them might wake me up, I've never been able to figure out how."

[chromaticscale]

"If you think it'll work, we can find out together!" She doesn't even wait a beat. She has no idea what defeating them means, but if it'll do someone some good. "What kind of someone? Do we have to fight them?"

Not that she's too eager to fight, but it will give her some idea of what kind of being they're up against, if they want to fight. She'd like to be prepared to convince them otherwise.

[intothehedge]

"She's a terrible witch that lives in the dreams with me. We've been fighting for ages now," she says, solemnly. "She wants to corrupt people's dreams, and it's my duty to stop her."

[chromaticscale]

She purses her lips, and her brow creases. Corrupting dreams is definitely high up there on the "not very nice things" list.

"Can you take me to her? Maybe we can work something out!"

[intothehedge]

She frowns, obviously not reacting well to that idea.

"I could probably find her if I wanted to, but it would be a very bad idea. You aren't nearly strong enough to face her like that, as you are."

[chromaticscale]

She fancies herself plenty strong enough to do what's right, but then again she's never met this witch.

"What do I need to do, then? To get strong enough?"

[intothehedge]

"It's different here than it is in the real world," she says. "It takes time...I could show you, but I'd have to find you here again."

[chromaticscale]

"Lots of good things do!" There's not a lot that gets her down, certainly not having to work for something. "I'll stay right here."

[intothehedge]

She smiles, warmly but in a way that suggests the girl might not know the whole of it. "Here," she says holding out her hand.

A ruby cut into the shape of a rain drop rests in her palm.

"I'll have to leave you soon," she says, "but if you keep this, I will be able to find you anywhere."

[chromaticscale]

"Really?" She inspects the ruby in her palm before she closes her fingers around it. She's not sure how but she trusts that it will work. Why shouldn't she? "Okay, I'll keep it safe!"

[intothehedge]

"I'm glad to have met you," she says. "I hope you can find your way here again."

[chromaticscale]

"I'm sure I can manage!" She floats, a little awkwardly. Does that mean she should say goodbye? She doesn't really want to leave yet.

[intothehedge]

Apparently she means it the other way around. Because a few moments later, the woman seems to have simply vanished from existence.

[chromaticscale]

Well then. Not much she can do about that. She considers the ruby in her palm again, then shrugs it off, and goes back to playing with the fish, hoping the girl will be okay. There's not much she can do but she's sure it'll all work itself out.