[mingle] what's the dream and what's the reality?

[lovetheme]

Lately the castle's nights have been very clear and almost warm, even up so high among the clouds as they are. But regardless of the weather, they are generally peaceful nights, and few things seem to stir during them...apart from the castle's inhabitants, be it with late-night roving or with sleep. The dreams, by extension, are at least undisturbed...if maybe not always pleasant. That sort of thing tends to vary by the person, of course.

But now--and for several nights, consecutively--the castle residents may find their dreams starting to take on stranger shapes: memories they've never had, friends that don't usually arrive, strangers they've never seen. These odd impressions might cling and continue to confuse even upon waking, vivid as they were; was it really just a dream, or maybe something more...? Does that newcomer in your dream remember you there too, in the daytime?

Either way, there seems to be an strange energy in the air during these nights. And it's bringing dreams together.

((ooc: And here's the catch-all post for the dream-sharing event! Feel free to top-level with your character's dreams here, or thread around in others! The event should only last about a week, but backtagging is eternal c: The ooc planning post can be found here!))

Comments

...Oh yeah, I forgot to have Sophie reply to Duchess' intro post. Doing that!

[lostlegacy]

Eventually, Sophie winds up with a heap of sleepy kittens on her lap, which means she's quieted down as well. She keeps her hand resting on the black kitten's back as she finally looks around the room.

When she spots Duchess, she smiles. "Hi!"

[lostinmyway]

She lets him remove her hands, and she doesn't question how this child knows her name, either. It must mean he's a friend!

But she's still confused.

"Oh? Where are you going?"

[exuviiated]

And now the kid is literally attached to him. Fine, okay, he'll deal with this, even though the flickering of the lights makes him uneasy.

"This way."

And then, they venture off into the fuzziness of the rest of the maze-- it sharpens around them, in exchange for the path behind them blurring out.

[regalduchess]

Duchess is resting on the chair, eyes half-closed. When Sophie addresses her, she raises her head and smiles, but doesn't make any moves apart from that.

"Hello. Thank you for entertaining my children-- I trust they were not too much of a handful for you?" Or, as it seems, a lapful.

[regalduchess]

Duchess has trouble adjusting to her new body. It's bigger, stronger, faster, though less agile-- she's run into a few branches and leaves that once upon a time she would have been able to duck under without an issue. So, rightfully assuming that the child would have been scared by her presence-- but scared out here, alone, she followed at a distance.

When the child calls out, she finally comes out from the shielding greenery. "No, no, of course not."

Her voice is deeper, more of a growl than a purr. So, she lightens it. "I would never. I am Duchess. You are-?"

[lostlegacy]

She shakes her head enough to make her short hair whip about. "They were really great!"

[dustless]

The bookstore's door is hanging open, the bell chiming over and over again.

Lights inside flicker out one by one, though the patrons keep to their browsing without a care.

[lostinmyway]

"Oh!" Grune's expression lights up. "There you are!"

Now it's time to find a storybook to share.

[dustless]

It'll be tough to find storybooks in the dark.

Though if she looks around very carefully, she'll see a little form huddled against a bookshelf in the children's room, walls labelled in glowing letters that spell out nothing.

[lostinmyway]

When Grune walks into the children's area, at first, she bends close to the shelves to find a book to share. Hmm.... How High Is the Sky? That sounds like a very nice one.

As she looks about to find a place to sit down and read the book to her friend, she finds...oh dear. That child looks a little scared. She needs to go help them right away.

"Hello," she says softly as she steps closer to them. "Are you all right?"

[dustless]

"Why are you being so nice to me?" they ask in a voice that sounds like many at once.

They're shaking.

[dustless]

There are voices echoing from somewhere, around corners they kind of know already are dead-ends.

Though Aaron's the one guiding them, they pick up their pace. They still look pretty cheerful despite it.

[lostinmyway]

She pauses, startled, not afraid. "Why wouldn't I be nice?"

Then she reaches out to rest a hand on their shoulder.

[dustless]

The sweater bubbles under her hand. * Feels like boiling glass.

I'm not real. I'm just pretend. You shouldn't be nice to a reflection. It's stupid. There's no reason to.

[lostinmyway]

Grune hadn't been expecting the child to feel like that, but it's all right. Everyone is different.

And so, if the child doesn't mind, she'll kneel down behind them and wrap her arms around them.

"That's not true. There's always a reason to be nice. Especially when someone is scared and alone."

She smiles, and her voice is so gentle. "It's all right. I won't leave you by yourself. We're friends now, and friends stay together."

[dustless]

They sniffle and choke and keep still except for their shifting clothes and skin.

I'm scared. I want to go home. I want to be real. I'm scared. I'm scared. I'm scared.

[systematicsupport]

S-4 doesn't say anything about who is in the tube, but he does keep looking back at it with a mix of worry and affection. Looking closer, Sophie may be able to see that Sans-Serif is the one sealed inside of it.

S-4 turns the drawing around to show Sophie. "It's me, and there's my brother. And there's a house, and inside it is Dr. Gaster!"

As S-4 holds the picture out, the door of the house seems to open, and someone starts walking out.

[dr_awesome]

The child turns to her, beaming, and though he's a good twenty years younger, he does appear to have similarities to a certain scientist.

"Fiiiiine. I'll look at the stars later."

"It's not like they're going anywhere," the old man points out. "Unlike these hot dogs! I might just eat them all myself."

Neil looks horrified and rushes over with a yell. "Noooooo!"

[lostinmyway]

"It's all right. I'm here. I won't leave you alone--I promise."

Promises are important. You shouldn't break a promise unless someone is going to get hurt.

"Why don't we go look for your home together?"

[regalduchess]

Duchess smiles, paws kneading into the soft fabric of the chair. "I am pleased to hear that. How are you doing?"

[exuviiated]

It smells like a musty storeroom, dust and old things moldering forgotten in corners-- it shouldn't smell like that, and yet it does. Aaron pulls Frisk around a corner that isn't a dead end, but the colors are all different and wrong, and the path is closing up behind them. Up ahead, there's a stack of servers.

"Okay, just right up here. Don't trip."

Because there's holes missing in the ground, apparently.

[andthebat]

The Batman sharply turns his head to look up and responds to Uriel's cry with a warning shriek of his own. It comes out strange and echo-like.

He doesn't bring out a weapon of his own, preferring to swoop around a corner of the building and lead his new opponent deeper into the city. It's his territory, after all, and nobody knows the ins and outs of the Gotham skyline better than he does.

[dustless]

They cling to her. Maybe they're starting to believe her. Maybe. It's too dark to see their face.

It's gone. It's empty. It's broken. It's gone. Can't go back. Can't find it. It's gone.

[buttercup_eater]

Chara isn't looking at the others when they're talking to Grune, but they still hear the sound of Walter's snort and Stella's sighing. They look down, taking a sudden, intent interest in the pattern on the picnic blanket.

Scarlet gingham. "Like something out of a picture book," they remark aloud. They grip the material in their fingertips and press two red squares together, forming a very, very, very rough heart shape.

"...How do you know?" they ask.

[buttercup_eater]

(It's an unexpected thought, but Chara brushes it off. Of course they're lookin' handsome. They're wearing their best ducky pajamas.)

If it weren't for the presence of the strange woman, Chara would probably find the room relaxing. As it is, their first instinct is to shrink away from her. Until she speaks, anyway. For some reason, listening to her, and seeing that edge of a smile on her partly turned face, it's impossible for Chara not to return that smile. Just a little.

She reminds them of something, they think.

"What's wrong with my pajamas?" Chara asks. They take a step closer, then frown when it doesn't seem to have any effect.