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

[keepscalm]

He can't help but be a bit concerned; she said she's been asleep for a long time. If he's here too, perhaps that means he's not meant to wake up. He's not sure what he did to warrant something like that.

(Though, really, he's also not sure if he'd really mind staying here. He likes it much better than the gardens, and the company is better.)

At her obvious spark of intrigue, the Servant spares a glance to the storm clouds. "I'd think so," he answers after a moment of thought. "I suppose it's more that— I feel as if it belongs with me?"

The words are out of his mouth before he really thinks better of them. He's not sure if he regrets saying them, exactly, but there's a shade of embarrassment that creeps up on him afterwards. Hiding his emotions isn't exactly his strong front, but he tries to cover for the sheepishness that becomes obvious on his face. "What about you?" She had seemed rather happy to stumble upon his dream home, after all.

[intothehedge]

"I think so," she says, still looking up at the sky and smiling. "It feels...exciting. Powerful." She pulls her hair back, now a much deeper red with its wetness. "I've called storms into my dreams before, but never when I was in a very good mood."

[keepscalm]

Her words appeal to him in a way he can't quite explain; he hasn't really put much thought into the idea that he can call up rain at will, but she says it like it really is something worth being excited about. Powerful? Perhaps not compared to some of the other servants in the Keeper's house, but it's a power. And it's his.

"You're welcome here whenever you like," he invites, trying to sound more confident about the offer than he really feels. "Though I'm not certain I can call up a whole storm— just rain."

[intothehedge]

"I could feel you in the clouds, when I found this place," she says. "It was the first thing I noticed. You could do more than that here, with practice. I'm sure of it."

[keepscalm]

He's not sure why being recognised by his clouds strikes him so, but it does; his face might have coloured if he had enough colour to spare. As it is, it's only evident from the way his eyes briefly flick to the ground and the raise of his hand as it settles against the side of his neck.

"Do you suppose so?" he returns, and it's hard to keep the slight eagerness out of his voice. Having more control over a place like this has a certain allure to it; he thinks he'd like to learn how to do more, especially if it does turn out that he's going to be here for a while. "How would I go about— practising that, here?"

[intothehedge]

She smiles, with a breath of a laugh on her lips.

"Just...imagining, is a good place to start. Anything you think of can potentially be here, if you believe in it enough." She spins around on a bare foot, looking up at the sky. Her smile broadens. "I could show you."

[keepscalm]

The note of laughter draws another crooked smile from the groundskeeper. His hand falls away from his neck to settle just below his sternum.

"If you could, ma'am," he starts, a faintly-restrained sort of enthusiasm in his words, "I'd be very grateful."

[intothehedge]

She pulls back a little holding out her arms.

"Well...say I should want to fly," she begins, and closes her eyes. Suddenly the mist around her spreads and forms into a set of large, angelic wings that glisten even in the rain. With one graceful stroke, she lifts into the air with a laugh, looking down at him.

"See?"

[keepscalm]

His eyes widen in obvious surprise as she takes off from the ground, and though she's given herself enough room, he takes a step back in reflex to give her a wider berth.

Though he tries to rearrange his expression into something a bit politer and more subdued, there's still no hiding that he's impressed with the results. Especially as the first words out of his mouth end up being: "That's brilliant."

His gaze travels out along the span of the wings. "And you just imagine it?"

[intothehedge]

"Basically," she says, beaming a little. She hovers in the air effortless, almost independent of the wings. "The tricky part is making it real."

[keepscalm]

It's hard not to respond to the vibrancy of her smile, and the Darkling finds himself returning it with a smile of his own, just a small one.

"It would be wonderful to learn how," he states, enthusiasm a reserved but steady undercurrent in the words. He really does like it here, and he's certain that he would like it even more if he could change it just so, reaffirm that this place is, indeed, his.

He doesn't know if he's ever going to wake, but even if he doesn't, this young lady sounds as if has other places that she has been to. Which probably meant places that she still needed to go to, as well. How to go about finding her again after that?

Eventually, he ventures, "Is there any name I can call you by? If— if we're to meet again, perhaps— it seems appropriate to have something to call you." Again, he stumbles over the words; it feels unreasonably strange to admit, even indirectly, that he'd like to see her again, but it's the truth. He wants to learn how to change this world, and it seems like she can teach him. It would be a shame to lose good company.

[intothehedge]

Despite his uncertainty, her only reaction is to grin, with traces of excited shyness in her own expression. She clasps her fingers as if holding something and holds it out to him.

"My name is Ruby," she says. "This is for you." She opens her hand, and there is a raindrop shaped ruby sitting in her palm. "If you keep this in your dreams, I'll be able to find you, whenever you end up here again."

[keepscalm]

He glances down towards her outstretched hand, staring at the gem with wonder for a moment before he lifts his own hand to take it, carefully, between his fingers, as if worried that it might break at his touch. There's still a trace of a smile on his face as he does so; it seems just a small gesture, but he's touched by it, regardless.

"Ruby," he repeats, tearing his eyes away from the gem to look at her again. "That's a lovely name."

He lets the ruby roll from between his thumb and forefinger into the palm of his hand, and then closes a fist over it in protection. "Thank you. I'll keep it safe."

But then, it catches his attention — she said "again". Which seems to imply that he'll wake up eventually, as he'd have to in order to go back to sleep and return here. So he'll be returning to the house, at some point. Didn't she say she used to live there, as well...? "When I wake up— ah, perhaps— I could try to find you?"