iattractmushi | Dreamshare 1; open to all

There's a busy street in front of you. It looks familiar, so very familiar… you must have walked it ten, twenty, a hundred times. But you have no idea where you are.

That’s alright. You’re not worried… if you turn down that road up ahead, then you’ll know where you are. You’ll be home.

The street is crowded. The people walking past you seem to be familiar, too… your gaze slides over them as they walk past, mildly curious, but whatever it is that’s familiar about slides away as you look straight at them. It’s only out of the corner of your eye that you recognize them… isn’t that the man who sells vegetables in the Bazaar? And there’s the woman who works at the farm, the one who’s so kind to the animals… except when you look straight at them. No, it’s not them, just a man and a woman who look vaguely like them.

It doesn’t matter. You’re almost home. You walk past more almost-familiar-but-not-quite people, turn the corner past a tree you do and don’t recognize, and see…

Nothing.

It’s not there.

You stop, puzzled. This is where it should be… the hotsprings are there, and the forest, but it’s like the building that should be there never was. The whole thing is overgrown, mature trees where the reception usually is and delicate ferns growing where your bed should be.

You can hear a cat meowing in the forest somewhere ahead of you. “Adashino,” you mutter aloud. The silly cat is probably stuck in a tree or something… looks like you’d better go find him. Pushing aside a branch thick with leaves, you move into the dense patch of forest.

It doesn’t take long before you realize that they way is getting harder—branches snatch and catch at your hair and clothing no matter how you try to brush them away; vines and the undergrowth seem to conspire to tangle up your feet, so that you’re almost constantly nearly tripping. It’s so dark you can barely see… of all the things that should be worrying right now, this fact is what bothers you. It doesn’t matter how dark it is, you should be able to see. “This is ridiculous…” Reaching into your pocket you produce a large, sharp blade, one that couldn’t possibly have fit in there. You use it to start hacking at the plants that are blocking your path.

As you cut them, the plants start oozing a black, slightly viscous substance. Curious, you touch it… and the stuff reacts like it’s alive, grabbing onto your hand and shooting up your arm. You pull back sharply, and try to cut the stuff before any more can attach itself to you, but it’s too late… the blackness flattens itself against your skin, spreading out quickly to cover every inch. It feels cold, sticky, and entirely unpleasant… and then it reaches your mouth. You try to block it, covering your mouth and nose the best you can, but it gets in anyway.

It tastes like mint, oddly enough. As the stuff moves up to your eyes you close them, trying to keep breathing even as you can feel the cold moving to cover your throat…

You wake up. You’re lying on the ground; you can feel the grass beneath your fingers, and you take several deep breaths. It’s okay. You must have just been dreaming. You’re fine now. You can breathe; the blackness is gone.

“It was just a dream…”

“It’s still a dream.”

That voice… it’s so familiar. You sit up, turning to look at…

Pollux. He’s standing there, and the woman from your memory is sitting at his feet. She’s smiling. Your gaze settles on her, hoping you’ll hear her laugh. You’re certain she doesn’t do that enough… but no, she remains silent, though her eyes are crinkling in suppressed laughter. Pollux gestures at the door behind him. “Time to wake up.”

You slowly get to your feet and walk past the two of them, turning your head as you pass them, not wanting to lose sight of them. Eventually you’re forced to walk backwards, and the woman looks even more amused at that. You smile at her, a real smile, and her expression suddenly turns sad. You glance at the door, then back at them. She nods, encouragingly, though she still looks sad.

You turn away from both of them, slowly, and walk through the door, into white.

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[He starts awake: though whether it's from the dream ending or Boy having climbed up onto the bed and licking at his ears, he's really not sure, shoving the dog off.

The cat, the--what, family?, and Pollux... He'll bring a hand to his head, shoving messy bangs from his face. Either he was dreaming he was Cloud, or these was definitely something screwy going on.... Either way, he felt as though he understood his pseudo-brother at least a little bit better.

...Though that didn't make that awkward, sort-of-pained feeling in his chest any better, still able to remember that feeling of being smothered by black-- and how... natural it had felt in the dream to look up and see Pollux there. As Boy jumps up onto the end of the bed, circling once, twice, and lying down to sleep there, he lies back down himself.

Maybe he should talk to Cloud in the morning.]

Edited 2011-04-13 04:37 (UTC)

[Two restless nights in a row... at least tonight he'd had a normal dream. Or at least, it was his dream, not something the Tree made him see. But after two nights of that, he was looking a little tired. Maybe not as bad as some nights when he just couldn't sleep, but enough to be obvious.

He yawned as he set the kettle on the stove. Tea would help wake him up and at least get him through the work day... maybe he'd try taking a nap when he got home.

He frowned, shook his head slightly. Back. Not home... back.

He must be even more tired than he'd thought.]

[Castor paused a she entered the kitchen-- it seemed to be where he always ran into Cloud, though that was probably because the men generally kept to themselves, and this was a sort of common area in the Spa.]

...Hey. [Well, he had been considering talking to the man. He busied himself with starting to look through the fridge, before glancing over to Cloud.]

...You know you look like Hell, right? [Castor was the best at conversation starting, obviously.]

Hey. [Cloud chuckled a little at that. His 'brother' was every bit as blunt as he was.] Thanks.

[He sat down at the table while he waited for his water to boil.] Been a weird couple of days, even by the standards of this place.

[He let out a short noise of agreement, finally settling on pulling out a plate of leftovers to eat cold. Fuck effort.]

Yeah. [Good time to bring it up as any. He leaned back against the counter, before glancing to Cloud.] I know what you mean. Dreamt I was you last night. [Points for bluntness, at least.]

[...he really. Really shouldn't be surprised. After seeing people's dreams two nights ago, and this dream was so clear, unlike many of his dreams... he really shouldn't be surprised.

But he is, just a little. Part of it is that he isn't quite certain if Castor literally dreamed he was him, or if he saw his dream...]

Oooh? [He paused, vaguely wishing he had something to do with his hands.] ...what do you mean, you were me?

[He shrugged.] Like I was you. Chasing after the cat, wandering around. [A short pause.] Uh... drowning, kinda, but whatever.

[And that woman and Pollux... If it weren't for all the evidence to the contrary, he would have believed the three had really been a family. They looked so similar, like they just... belonged together. If he hadn't known some of their pasts and prior worlds, he wouldn't have even been skeptical if someone had told him Cloud and Pollux had actually been brothers. Maybe that was what made his chest ache a bit.] Been having weird dreams for a bit, though.

[Cloud scrubbed one hand over his face. Cat, wandering, kind of drowning... that wasn't enough to be sure, but...

He sighed.] Sounds kind of like the dream I had last night.

[He got to his feet again, feeling restless as well as tired--not an uncommon combination for him, especially after a night where he got less sleep than he liked, but one that was always a little annoying--and walked back over to the stove. His water wasn't ready quite yet, but he leaned against the nearby counter anyway.] ...nnn. The last couple of nights, yeah?

[He let out a short, affirming noise as he glanced down at the food he was picking at, rather than Cloud.] ...Similar? [He glanced up, pausing for a moment.] ...There was some chick and Pollux.

[Again, he nodded.] And yeah. I'm pretty sure it ain't just us, too.

...yeah. That's right. [So now someone else knew what she looks like. He wasn't sure how much of the dream got translated, if the feelings had been, too, or how many other people saw it...

Either way, it didn't matter. It was almost a relief that at least one other person knew what the woman looks like now. That way, if he leaves one day... someone will know. He didn't know why that was such an important thing, it just... was.

He shook his head slightly again, trying to shake himself out of his thoughts.] Never is, is it? Unless it's a memory crystal.

Edited 2011-04-14 02:39 (UTC)

[He watched Cloud, brows furrowing-- he hadn't thought it was too revealing of a dream... sure, it compromised his privacy, but at least it wasn't something extremely private... just personal. He paused, glancing up.] You know who she is?

[The crystal comment got a short, rough laugh, though.] And then it fucks you up after. I think this whole place's got something against privacy.

...no. [He should know her, of course; not just because of the memory he'd had, though that had helped. She was so familiar... he was sure he'd recognize her voice, if he ever heard it.] Someone I knew, obviously. [Someone important. He hesitated for a moment before continuing.] ...saw her in a memory once. But I couldn't hear her.

[He snorted softly, glancing over at the kettle. He could hear it was starting to boil now, a bit... he'd let it heat a little bit longer.] That, and it's probably the best way to keep us distracted. [Cloud didn't really mind the privacy-violating Tree-games. They were occasionally annoying, but nowhere near as bothersome as the crystal punishments.]

[ She only half-wakes, mumbling restlessly to the quiet room. ]

Hope he found the cat...

[ But then a sigh, and back into dreamland. Strange dreams tonight. ]

[Still a dream, just a dream. It was one of a few things that sometimes Gai worried. Dreams were such murky things, and the Sphere was very murky, as were their memories. But surely it couldn't be one.

And yet, at the rate people came and went...

Gai's heart rate sped up and he woke, staring into the darkness. No. He would not lose everyone as quickly as a dream was lost. They would not vanish. He would somehow keep them safe and sound, all of his precious people. And those others he could protect, he would. Someone, this dreamer, was one of them. He considered the dream itself. Pollux... who was close to Pollux? And he heard the voice once, calling the cat. ...Cloud, possibly. Even Cloud, suspicious and aloof, should be protected.]

Dreamshare 1; open to all

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Quicklog~ Set the morning of Wed. 4/13

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