[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!))

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[lovetheme]

Lucas can't help but be a little startled too, as he finds himself hastily tugged further into the shadows. He matches Sans' baited pause with one of his own, watching that single bright eye cast a glance out over the cavern before receding once more. Truthfully, he'd be lying to say that sight didn't bring a chill along with it, a sort of inexplicable dread.

And Sans' current demeanor isn't terribly reassuring either. Lucas can feel the tremble in his grip, and he looks to Sans with a frown that deepens at his words. 'No way out'?

"Sans, that doesn't make any sense..." His own voice ends up automatically quieting to almost a whisper, to reciprocate the tense air of being hidden in this particular situation. But Lucas can't quite keep the confusion out of it. "If you and I have gotten in here, there's probably a way out too, isn't there? I don't know how we're here, otherwise."

Lucas pauses, looking up and out into the cavern again. The dark forms roam, never stilling, clearly searching. "...And I don't think we can hide for very long, can we?"

[sansational]

"i've always been here." Or at least, he can't remember a time when he wasn't. If there is a way out - and Sans supposes that there must be - he forgot it a long time ago. "maybe you have, too." Maybe Lucas has his own shambling nightmares, out there in the dark.

...but Lucas also doesn't deserve to die because of Sans'. If there's one thing he's usually good at, it's keeping himself together for the sake of other people. He takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm his stammering soul, and then shakes his head.

"...but nah. can't hide forever." They certainly can't hide for long. It's getting dark - even the gems in the ceiling seem a little dimmer. When they go out, it's all over. Sans reaches out for Lucas' hand, holds it tightly for just a moment, and then struggles up to his feet. "l-let's go." He tries to sound brave. His voice won't stop shaking.

[lovetheme]

"No...no, not always. I met you someplace else not long ago. I met you when--when..." But Lucas' voice trails off, because suddenly he finds that he can't really remember either. Not while this cavern and its frightening inhabitants stretch out before them, dark and endless and waiting, snuffing out any memory of brighter things. (He's sure they can't have been here all the time, though. If they had been, then...then....)

He falls quiet, letting Sans speak up again at length. It's true--they really can't hide, he doesn't think. But Sans reaches to take his hand, and even if it's only for a moment, that's an immensely surprising thing. It's an unusually small and bony sort of grip, not quite like anything else he's ever felt before...but Lucas also can't remember the last time he held anybody's hand at all, be it a human's or a skeleton's.

Not since Mom.

He doesn't let go until Sans does, and stands up when Sans does as well, keeping close. Lucas stares at him--he can't help it--he's pretty sure he's never seen Sans this scared before. This is the same Sans with a penchant for sweets buffet parties and terrible puns...but then, Lucas supposes, people can be made up of a lot of different feelings. Even skeletons. A great sadness fills his heart, at this thought.

He steps beside Sans, frowning out at the roaming shadows in the distance with a bit more resolve, even if the cold dread still lingers on the back of his neck. "Yes. We'll go together. Things are a little better when you're not all alone. So, no matter what--let's not get separated, okay?"

[sansational]

Sans looks round at Lucas sharply, when he speaks. He sucks in a breath and for a moment, just a moment, the lights come back on in his eyesockets, like a toy that hasn't quite run out of batteries yet.

Because yes, things are always better when you aren't alone. And it's always been so, so easy for Sans to trick himself into thinking that he is alone, not least because people who make those kinds of promises to him tend to die.

"no matter what," he agrees, staring out fixedly at the way ahead. After a wavering moment of hesitation, Sans adds: "that's a promise." If he's the one who has to die this time...well, that would at least make a nice change of pace.

But Lucas is a child and Lucas is...a brother. He isn't Sans', but he's someone's, and that's still important. So Sans manages to force himself to lead the way out of their hiding place. Even at a slow shuffle, there's no way to move entirely silently through the gleaming water all around them. They can only hope that they're nevertheless quiet enough to remain unheard beneath the whisper of the flowers and the shadows still calling out for Sans. It inches higher and higher the further they go, up and over their legs until it laps around their waists.

"Si-Re, Si-Re, Si-Mi, Si-Mi..." A tiny monster, shaped rather like a fish, goes swimming through the air scant feet away from the two of them. It's a rather pretty song, if soft and hesitant. Even then, there should be no way for it to even be able to sing with its jaw cut open and gaping wide like it is. Sans stops dead in his tracks, staring fixedly at it, and tugs on Lucas to make sure he holds still, too.

After a minute, the ghost swims on, staring around but not seeing either of them, and Sans lets out a tiny breath. When he speaks, it's still in nothing more than a whisper.

"have you ever wondered why things...work out, the way they do?"

[lovetheme]

Lucas follows Sans dutifully, the promise and the brief flicker of eye-lights in blank sockets making for a tiny spark of hope in the darkness that presses all around. Being able to reassure Sans even just a very little bit is better than being unable to do anything at all--and in a place like this, Lucas has no doubt that every small bit probably counts for quite a lot. (He just hopes it'll be enough...)

Stealth never really was his strong suit, to be honest, and water tends to be noisy when you touch it no matter how careful you try to be. But Lucas still tries his very best to be as quiet as Sans, as they wade further and deeper into the shining marsh. He wonders if they'll need to swim, eventually, and if Sans is any good at that. He'll just need to try and help, if it comes down to it...but this train of thought is distracted by the soft and aimless song that filters to them from nearby, and Lucas stops at Sans' tug. He stares at the ghostly fish-like thing as it drifts past through the air, at its too-gaping jaw. It must like singing very much. He wishes he could help with mending its poor jaw. But from Sans' reaction, Lucas can guess that reaching out to the singing fish would be a very bad idea.

Sans' question manages to tear his attention away from the fish. Lucas blinks down to him. "...Yes," he whispers back, and his glance slides away to cast out over the water. "I used to wonder all the time. ...I still wish some things didn't happen the way they did. Or--that I had done some things differently in the past..."

Is that--a red mailbox, sitting at the edge of the water some distance away? Lucas stares at it for a moment, and then tears his eyes away, shifting to start moving again. Away from that direction. "But there's not a lot you can do, I don't think. About those things."

[sansational]

That is a red mailbox, sitting at the edge of the water. The color stands out especially sharply, in this dim, blue place. Sans stares at it fixedly for a moment, head slightly tilted. A part of him very much wants to open it. He even knows that there will only be something terrible inside. But the itch is there to open it anyway.

In the end, it's Lucas' obvious hesitation that holds him back. He owes the kid that much. That thought comes clearer than a lot of things here, and so is even harder to ignore. Sans carries on instead, alongside him.

"but even if you can't fix what happened before...shouldn't you try to stop those bad things from happening again?"

Maybe it's just part of the strange harmonics of the cave, but other sounds echo around them, sounding as the ripples spread around them. The sound of something tearing, the sound of something being chopped by a knife, and something like a distant explosion.

"and if you were partly responsible for the bad things happening in the first place...shouldn't you be punished?"

The lights up above grow a little dimmer.

[lovetheme]

Seemingly it's just the one mailbox right now, sitting there on the water's edge, but now Lucas isn't so sure if he wants to take the risk of spotting any more of them. (And spotting--what comes with them...) He stares down at the shimmering water they continue wading through, trusting Sans to keep them relatively on track--wherever they're going. And he listens, both to Sans' questions and to...the other sounds that start rising up now.

In a cave like this, it's difficult to tell where they're coming from or how close they might be, but they send a deeper chill through his thoughts all the same. Is it getting a little darker already? Lucas' wading steps waver a little, but it's a longer pause before he finally answers, voice very quiet.

"Stopping those bad things from happening again...yes. That's something you could do. If you can't fix what happened before..." Lucas glances upwards, considering the glowing stones on the ceiling. "But needing to be punished...depends. A lot of people might have a different idea of what should be done, about something like that. So I don't know. But..."

He looks over sidelong to Sans, finally. "I do know that--you can't stop bad things from happening, and punish yourself at the same time. It can't be both. If you do more of one, you can't do enough of the other to help. ...You have to choose."