voidtreckerexpress | A million dreams

Entry tags:

A million dreams - OTA

Who: Khary and anyone who wanders into his dreams
What/When/where: Breach event
Warnings: potentially CW all. Also spoilers for Black Jewels like whoa.

(Posting a generic dream here, will make top levels for specific people. Feel free to make a top level requesting anything from this post.)

The first dream started like so many of Khary's dreams. Mirroring his reality. With the exception of a few bad years, his life had been pretty good. Especially since he was in the habit of seeing the fun in most things. So his dreams rarely needed to take him anywhere new or exciting. Life in the Dark Court was always new and exciting. But this time when he started having the familiar dream it was a dream of home. A home he could no longer reach. That made the mundane special.

He was out in a clearing in the woods. A well worn path to one side of him, a stream to the other. He was checking the reins on the horse he was about to ride. No saddle. Nighthawk was with Daffodil in the others in insisting that riding gear include reins though. They claimed that humans riding them needed something to hold on to. Khary, a born horseman, didn't. But he appreciated the thought and respected their wishes. He stroked his old friend along the nose. "A quick ride out, then we'll head back home, alright?" he asked.

Nighthawk's large head nodded in agreement, forelocks shifting to show the Grey Jewel that rested on his head before the hair settled back down, covering it once more. Nighthawk was Kindred. And if Khary had once sat down in the road and had hysterics when he found out how many of his horses were actually brothers and sisters to the human Blood, he had moved past that. Formed a deeper bond because of their sentience and Craft.

Sensing someone approaching, Khary turned to face them, blue eyes twinkling. He looked happy and comfortable and ready to make a little trouble. Of course... he nearly always looked like that, especially when he wasn't comfortable or happy at all. He was always hard to read, even for his friends...

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Khary stood in the doorway of a rather massive library. The area he was in looked smaller, though, and more cozy. The effect came from a wall made of freestanding bookcases. The opening to the rest of the rooms was at the far end.

There was a sense of Darkness here. But not evil, not malevolence. More like the dark of a cloudy night. There was a sense of someone more than those she could see watching. Something strong and ancient.

Of the two people she could see, strong applied to both. But ancient didn't apply to Kary. It applied to the man Khary was talking to. The man looked like a handsome man just a little past his prime. His black hair was accented by a sweep of silver from each temple. His skin was a deep golden brown, his gold eyes seemed weary but amused. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt under it. Over the silk of the shirt he wore a necklace much like Khary's, but the Jewel in his was a glittering Black to Khary's Sapphire.

"Generally, I prefer it if you inform me you are bringing guests," the older man said, in a smooth voice edged with wry humor.

Khary glanced at Nita then grinned. "Didn't realize I was, High Lord." His blue eyes twinkled. "Uncle Saetan, meet Lady Nita. Lady Nita, this is Saetan Daemon SaDiablo, High Lord of ****."

The man slammed down the ancient looking books he had been carrying. "I really don't think the full title is quite necessary," he rumbled, his voice now like thunder.

Khary actually winced.

Edited 2020-02-08 14:09 (UTC)

The Hall wasn't usually this quiet. This Empty. Khary walked along from room to room, remembering. As he did, ghosts of his memory filled each room. A group of teens sitting on the floor with sketch pads and charcoal sticks listening to a rather large and intimidating looking man explaining to them, in a rumbling voice, how to use the fruit bowl before them as a model, but to not try and draw it, but their own fruit bowl from it.

An other room had one of the girls from that first scene, blond hair and blue eyes and pale skin laughing with delight as she spun around. Her laugh was like velvet and echoed. Above her head various balls and other items were floating in an intricate dance around her. "Remember when I couldn't even call in my shoes?" she asked him, dancing and laughing, hands above her head happily.

There was a courtyard that many of the rooms had balconies towards. A large fountain in the middle had a woman half out of the water, joy on her face. An older version of the girl from the last room. Facing her was a larger than life statue of a creature as much beast as man, claws out on the extended hand/paw, eyes glittering with rage. At the beast's feet was the prone form of a woman, either asleep or unconscious. She lay more under him than anything else, one of her hands reaching towards the foreleg that was still on the ground. Her eyes were closed. The courtyard was otherwise peaceful. It was also huge. He walked to a small more natural looking fountain that had lily pads and small flowers floating in the water. He sat for a time on the lip of the fountain, unaware he had company.

And then back up through one of the balconies into and through a bedroom. Then down the hallways to a rather impressive door deep in the mansion. He grinned and turned, noticing Curufin for the first time, but also with dream logic, as though he had known he was there the whole time. "You wanted to meet Mrs. Beale?" he asked, eyes twinkling with mischief.

For Nita, the world had gone dark. But that was alright.

She'd been a seer, once; a sacrifice, once. And that was alright too.

But right here, right now, she was just witnessing a conversation. Between two brothers, maybe - the colors were familiar, and for a brief flaring second they were more than brothers, Beings larger than life-

But no, she'd been wrong; black for the uncle, blue for the nephew. And that was alright too.

She bows. "May I call you Uncle Saetan, then?" The thunder swept past her like sharks; came near, but not intended to hurt her.

The older man quirked an eyebrow at her, his question seeming to amuse him.

Khary laughed. "Wow, and it took us a whole day before you knew we were doomed," he said brightly.

The man rubbed his face. "If I said yes would the two of you go elsewhere to terrorize someone else for a while?" he asked, wearily.

Khary's remark meant nothing to Nita, but it was funny anyhow, and she grinned brightly.

('We're always doomed, the world always needs saving', a part of her chants, songlike.)

"No problem. It was nice meeting you, though, Uncle Saetan."

She winked.

He sighed and waved a hand at them.

Khary grinned. "Welcome to the family, Lady Nita," he teased, tweaking her nose. Shall we see what Geoffry is up to?"

"Well, if we're family, I guess that means I should give you this," Nita replied, ignoring the nose tweak as best she was able.

What came up with her hand was a pen whose tip glittered oddly in the not-light - only for it to twist and become a rubber chicken.

Ah, well.

"Let's go see Geoffry, then."

"And what is that, exactly...?" he asked with a laugh.

"It is- was," she corrected, "A gift from my own Uncle Mike. And Fred," she added, remembering the ghost of light on her fingers.

"But it's all past, now. You're part of the future," she said, winking.

"Alright then," he said, amused at the sheer absurdity. He held his hand out for the chicken-pen.

The chicken-pen wasn't magical, alas, but Nita handed it over with solemnity as if it still was.

Or maybe she was just pretending. Like a good wizard!

"Well?" she asked next. "How are we meeting this Geoffry, exactly?"

He took it and it vanished. It didn't occour to him that it might alarm her. He slid his hands into his trouser pockets. "Follow me," he said, heading for the opening to the rest of the library.

Perhaps outside of dream, it would have; here, it did not.

If anything, she just assumed Khary had a claudication all his own.

"Sure," she replied, alternating between a regular trot and outright skipping.

More or less.

He grinned and led her to a much larger section of the library. Rows of long tables, with heavy chairs. All durable and strong looking. Countless shelves that because it was a dream, stretched on forever. Each shelf was packed with books in perfect condition. The heated voice of scholars debating was an auditory backdrop, though none were in sight.

Then from between the shelves a man, sort of, approached. He was slight. Slender. And for the most part he was a study in black and white. His skin wasn't white as in pale peach skin. It was the color of fresh paper or fresh snow. A perfect flawless white. His hair was so black it was almost an absence of light rather than a color. It was swept back to show a dramatic widow's peak. His eyes were the same black of his hair, no distinguishing between iris and pupil. He wore a black suit not quite as fine as Saetan's, but still expensive and perfectly fit to his small frame. The shirt under was black and closed up to the throat. The only color to the man at all was his lips which were on the large side and were a deep rich red. The man could have been cast as a vampire in an old black and white film and no one would have had cause to complain. His dark eyes watched them.

"You are here for a reason, Lord Khardeen?" he asked, his voice dry.

Kharry ginned. "Missed you too, Geoffrey. This is Lady Nita, she wanted to meet you."

"And now she has. Please notate any books you take a look through so that I can inform the High Lord." He stepped back into the shadows of the bookcase.

"Aaaaaand that was Geoffrey."

"And I thought I was bookish," Nita quipped, before making her way to one of the many (infinite) shelves.

"Those scholars aren't going to come back here, are they? This is a library," she noted, while going about selecting a book.

Now, which one would catch her eye? What color, what size, what subject?

He laughed. "It feels like there are always scholars here, debating, arguing, having a good time looking up bits of esoteric lore. But generally we're not introduced to them. Something about having pity on the poor scholars," he said with a laugh.

There were books of all sorts. Most were on the thick side, most were well preserved. But the topics were all over the place. Had this been Geoffrey or Saetan's dream, doubtless the books would be in proper order. It is Khary's, so the books were all mix and matched. Books of stories were beside thick tomes that claimed to be PROTOCOL PRIMERS. There were mathematics texts and thick books of sheet music. And oddly a few slender children's books, as well as a few fiction novels.

"Think we're out of their league?" Nita remarked with a grin.

She touched each one gently, looking for a spark of calling, of yearning, of becoming that always portended good things to her, even in dreams.

It might take some time.

Probably from the children's books, if anything. Their spines were too thin to make out the names in the dim light of the stacks. Possibly because Khary knew those books so well he didn't need the names.

"I think they were afraid we'd break them or something," he said with a laugh.

Nita's hands lightly plucked the book from the shelf - no dust came with it, but she treated the book as if it were an old treasure anyhow.

"What, like sticks?"

There was no breaking her good mood, it seemed; opening the book, she traced the words with one hand.

It would do no good to speak the words aloud, but they echoed in her heart anyhow.

"Did you ever act out your favorite books as a kid?"

This one certainly looked full of action and adventure...

"More like shatter their ideas of how Craft actually works," he said with a laugh. Then his whole face lit up when he saw the book she grabbed. It was all about small dogs running around helping people and other animals.

"Well that one..." he said with a grin. "There a copy of Unicorn Rescue there as well? Or just Sceltie Saves The Day?"

"Always different when you're a practitioner," Nita agreed, nodding and continuing to commune with the book.

"I might have seen it - Scelties, huh?"

She'd thought they were dogs, but perhaps these were special in a different way.

"Oh so are they, but Jaenelle breaks the rules that everyone knows about how magic works." He grinned. "Oh yes, Scelties. Grab Unicorn Rescue and we can make it for story time."

"Sure!"

Delighted at the invitation, Nita plunged back into the shelves for the other book.

Finding it, and finding the texture of the book's cover fascinating, she brought both back to Khardeen.

"Ready to go!"

Ah dream logic, they walked back the way came but came out to an open green grassy area. A cottage was back where they had come from. The lawn before them was larger than a baseball diamond. There were dozens of small dogs. Even the adults' ears could not come up to the top of her knees. The dogs seemed hyper, running from place to place. A bit of observation would show that there was some sort of method and pattern to the running. "Cows and sheep," he said with a grin. "Want to see the fastest way to stop a Sceltie game?" his eyes were twinkling with mischief.

Nita squeaked - squeaked, and if Khary ever remembered her doing so she'd flush from her head down to her toes - and, mindful of the books she was still holding, clasped her hands together in delight.

"Oh ho, now? Do tell?" she asked, returning the gaze.

"Or show, rather."

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A million dreams - OTA

For Nita (going to presume he got her name in the other log if that is okay.)

Top level for Curufin

Yup! That works.

Re: Yup! That works.

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