caughtinanetwork | 07 - Grain - 8th of the Human Category

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07 - Grain - 8th of the Human Category - Dreampost

Dream option one; interactive dream
[ It almost seems like Duke is younger. Maybe. Perhaps it’s the armored uniform. Perhaps its how wide his eyes are at the moment.
Perhaps it’s because he's obviously hurt, half thrown on the ground, and clearly not able to do anything about it on his own. It is Duke, after all, and he does tend to look nearly the same whether it was now...
Or a decade into the past, scattered with dirt and splattered with blood.

The reason for his distress is clear; a white and yellow winged creature – for it's clear it's not a normal beast, scaled and furred and feathered, more chimera like than anything, but somehow fitting far better together than many chimera – bellows, lions roar and eagle's scream in one, wings spread out, facing... away from Duke as it plunged to drive back attackers.
It wasn't working, somehow. The creature is massive; the humans attacking and Duke still injured, still more or less immobilized, unable to aid.
The creature falls before Duke can even manage to push himself up to nearly kneeling, a flash of light later and there is a gemstone half the size of his torso on the ground.
A moment later and there's a blonde woman standing there, casting with over powered light aligned spells. ]

No. This is not..

[ Duke's aware that he's dreaming, now, as Zelda tries to beat back the humans. He's lucid enough about it to protest this, but not enough to change it. It's furious tears and sparks of magic that don't manage to do anything beyond light up his spot on the ground as Zelda falls.
Then a dark haired woman with long ears and antennae, one who turns into a scaled dragon like creature before another glowing stone.
Then a dark haired man, flamboyant with his sword skills. Not particularly skilled with his defense, as he falls as quickly as the rest.

Whoever is dealing these blows seems to make it a point to splatter as much as possible on Duke as he remains unable to help. Unable to so much as get a novice spell off, unable to make light flare bright enough to distract from landing blows.

And it repeats... and repeats...

But somehow Duke's state never resets. He remains stained red with the blood of those he called friend. ]

Dream option two; video dream

[ Rather disorienting, it's like someone played a film backwards. Flicker of a redhead and a blonde on a couch, glowing jellyfish from the party, working on magic, gardening, being a sphinx by the shadow, a pinkette reading, fireworks from a far, the plaza. A column of light and moving closer, fighting that began – ended – with the view on the ground, a blue-white wall and chirping, a tower descending into - ascending from - a mountain range.
All sorts of walking, everywhere, forests and canyons and caves lit by green light that looked like it should have been water. Flickers of dark haired and clothed man, pinkette girl, blue dog, brunette man in purple, young woman with dark hair and light pigtails – antennae –, girl in red with goggles, a boy in many colors – the group of them, first in a canyon, then in a room with just the dark one.
A structure like a ring, a gem receiving light from - firing a beam of light into - the sky. The group without the purple coat or pink haired, a glowing read blocked door. Sands and a dragon's back, a cliff side and a gravestone, interior of a house with the group and a small whirlwind of light that became a faintly glowing stone - a stone that was erased by that light -, a dark cave lit by stones – crystals? – in the water. The dark man on a stone staircase, the group without the brown haired upon a bridge, seeing the group upon a large gear below, the brown haired standing back to him, leaving a forest where monsters appeared at a whirlwind of light - fled from the light - protecting the group without the dark and light haired young woman.
A pool with the dark haired, pinkette, both children and the dog. A forest with a fallen pillar that gained glowing with his whirlwind - lost its light. A wall above plains watching monsters move and try to pass, the pinkette and dark.
Woods, forests, canyons, remains of cities, caves lit from within.
Hallways of a castle, following a trail of bodies to leave.
A crystal, large and shining, amid stained ground and feathers, replaced by a large mismatched creature, white and yellow, furred, feathered, and scaled. Incorrect, the creature had become –

This is where it pauses.
Suddenly this isn't a first person dream, flying out of a pale haired form to view down upon the human who tried to soothe the injuries of the creature. It rewinds again – a conflict that was clearly taking its toll upon the large being, despite that it was humans who attacked, dolls compared to the grounded creature's side.

This is where the moving forward doesn't match the rewind. All the strange little clear details that hinted at not-quite-a-dream are no longer there, the somewhat indistinct people remain as a hint as to the sight abilities of the dreamer.
The pale human does move in rage, but this time he doesn't make it to the creature's side. He falls, far too red, and the creature finds anger as well. The pale body is snatched by the large creature, and then flight.
Inconsistent after this. There is a clear hallway, serving-men and guards moving about as usual. Only not. A hazy figure of a man reaching for a strange sword, then sounds of warning. Alarms?
A dark haired figure with dark antennae leaving, somewhat unnoticed in chaos as knights and mages by their robes seek to fix a sparking machine while white rings in the sky spark and then fade.
Humans begin running for a different reason, monsters kept out now allowed in, slowed by knights and walls that barely were high enough.
That dark haired, sitting on a rock and talking with a creature large, but not close to the size of the white and yellow one, close to a phoenix with dark armor and a scorpion's maw at the tailtip. Beside him, the dragon of the rewind. Sketching in the dirt with a stick, nodding and waving them off, pulling an antennae over his shoulder. A red string with a pair of gold beads on the ends looped about before the tuft.
But there's no ring structure in the water, to shoot light at the heavens.
There's no tower rising from a mountain range, to crush a city.
Just monsters and humans struggling to survive. ]

[ Strangely, Dream Two leaves him a lot more calm when he wakes. He sort of blinks at his ceiling, a little... not sure if he should be wistful or concerned for his own mental state that he didn't mind that one.

Dream One has him fighting his tangled blanket nest to get to his bucket of water and shove his face in it. Hide the tears, that would, even as he drips over the bucket, trying not to be sick.
He shouldn't have friends... ]

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[This time, Zelda is aware she's in a dream. It had taken quite a bit of work to fall back asleep after the fiasco with Zelos, and she'd looked at the network and seen "dream posts" everywhere. Though she'd been careful to turn her SFC (dreamberry?) off, it seems that she's ended up in a dream regardless. A dream of Duke's.

She's startled into remaining still for awhile when she sees herself fighting and losing, but by the time the dark-haired man falls she's recovered. Zelda rushes out in front of Duke, afraid that the people are going to charge at him next. One of her barriers flies up between the fighters and them as she turns, holding her hand down to him. As she does, she notices the large creature reappearing only to be slain again.]

We have to get out of here, this place is stuck in a loop!

[ Sorry, Zelda, Duke's broke. Again. ]

this.. is not.. right... Not how... [ Sorry Zelda, he doesn't seem to recognize you right now. Shaking and a bad sort of pale under the blood on him, he's.. definitely in a bad place. ]

[After ensuring that the barrier is secure (she's not dying in someone's dream again tonight!), Zelda kneels by Duke and puts her hands on his shoulders, trying to get his attention.]

Listen to me. We need to move. This is your mind, you have control of it. You can stand.

Can never change this. [ Even if its changing on its own. ]

No matter how much I want to change this, it never... [ He's flinching at that flash of light, at the drop of the body, even if Zelda is in the way. ]

[Since he isn't looking directly at her, one of her hands moves to his cheek, turning him to look at her forcibly.]

You can! And even if you believe that you can't, what is the harm in trying?

[ He flinches, hard, at the contact, eyes jerking to her face and.. there's a hard fit of trembling. He'd just watched you die, Zelda, twice now, and while his dream reset itself, removing any mess, it's clear he's smelling what would have accompanied those deaths. ]

Should ... not be here... [ If she hadn't been here, for whatever reason she was, why would she protect him, friends, she wouldn't have died... ]

[She rubs a thumb against his cheek, ignoring anything happening behind them (save keeping her own concentration on the barrier) and just looking down at him, speaking softly.]

I know. I'm sorry, I don't know why I was pulled into your dream. I didn't intend for it to happen... I know that it's personal and I did not mean to intrude. Regardless, I am here. I won't let you stay stuck in this loop, understand? You have a strong mind, now use it. Come on.

You... should not be here... [ It's probably a good thing Zelda has her hands on his face, but its clear that second here by the flick of his eyes to a side. Its a thin pained noise in his throat - although like she had mentioned, this is his dream and some of those splints and bandages on him are vanishing now that he's barely focusing on the fact that he can't do anything and more on trying to get Zelda to go. ]

Shouldn't have friends.

There's no need to talk like that. And why should you not? Whatever happened here, you are not at fault.

[She could see that much clearly. He'd felt helpless, he'd tried to save the people who were being hurt - but he didn't do anything wrong. Zelda continues to hold his face still, though she doesn't force him to look at her if he doesn't want to.]

Let me help you.

[ He spends a long moment staring at her. ]

They all die. Do not want... [ But he's just.. sort of slumping towards her. However you want to help, Duke's just going to lean somewhat toward her and .. cry. ]

[Before coming to Vatheon, Zelda would have panicked and withdrawn if she saw anyone cry, much less a grown man. But like it or not, her time away from her duties has softened her considerably. Here, her drive to care for her country is being funneled into a need to care for people individually. She holds his head to her chest and covers his ears, shielding him from the scenery of his dream as best she can. Though they're essentially in the midst of a battlefield, her heartbeat is slow and steady.]

[ Zelda. One, he's disgusting right now. Why would you hold him this close. He's covered in -

He's trying not to think of that. It's hard not to think about that when its nearly all he can smell...

Two, why are you holding his head to your chest? He may be oblivious, perhaps disinterested, to the point where many may wonder if he even has a drive for any sort of contact, forget the sexual and intimate kind.... but that doesn't mean he can't recognize when his face is rather close to a woman's chest. Yes, heartbeats are rather soothing, and he can ignore being close to this area when he's ducking a swing and moving in a fight because... there's something else to focus on.

Well. He just needs to focus on her heartbeat then, doesn't he. ]

[If she were awake, Zelda would likely be thinking something similar - not about the blood that he's covered in, but about the somewhat inappropriate nature of the contact. This is a dream, though, and in an only somewhat conscious state she has no such qualms. Other than keeping her barrier intact, the only thought on her mind is helping him shut out the rest of the dream, and putting herself physically between him and the events seemed like a good way to do it.]

It's alright.

[ And it does! Even if Duke remains shaking and near silently crying, the rest of the dream is going the way of his vision. Colors are bleaching the way color does in too much light, and running together as everything slowly gets blurry and.. seems to just wash away.

Maybe like the way he was crying.

Except for the color on Duke, the red that stains him still. That stays put. ]

[Though some of that blood is wiping off on her, Zelda doesn't seem to mind. She holds him quietly for another few minutes, waiting until the details of the dream have faded before pulling back slightly.]

Can you stand, Duke?

[ Give him a moment. He's not... actively crying anymore, but looks more or less drained and numb. Even in dreams, he's not used to extremes of emotions, and it's clear that they exhaust him. But he processes what she asks, and..

Pushes himself to his feet. The armor and bandages don't stand with him, but all the blood does. He stares at it, silently, shaking and a little unsteady still. ]

[Zelda takes hold of his hand and starts to move away from the scene. Where she's leading him she can't say, but away seems like the best option.]

You should try to wake up, Duke. Do you want me to come wake you?

... do not know how to try... [ But he's tired. Can you be tired in a dream? ]

... moved. More... east, of last location...

Alright. I'll be there soon, then.

[When she's not having prophetic dreams, Zelda's dreams are usually lucid - she's forced herself awake before, it's no trouble. She fades away after a few moments, exiting the dream.]

[ Duke looks about for a moment, at the vague space that his dream had become, then sits. He's tired, and... well he just gets to wait, doesn't he?

He's quite firmly tangled into his blanketnest, when Zelda finds his house-thing. There's a handful of worried squirrels about him, as he's very clearly been locked in a nightmare. ]

[She at least took long enough to find some slippers and something to wrap around her shoulders before leaving, but the night is a little chilly in just a nightgown. It also takes her a little longer than it would have otherwise to find him since he's moved, but she's familiar with the feel of his mana and seeks him by that eventually, getting there with little trouble. Zelda shoos the squirrels away gently before kneeling and shaking Duke's shoulder... or whatever's convenient, it's hard to tell where she's grabbing with him curled in that pile.]

Wake up, Duke.

Edited 2012-04-26 23:00 (UTC)

[ So long as she's grabbing red cloth hear the start of all the white hair, she's very likely to get his shoulder. Or at least his arm or side.

Funny, how nightmares like to keep you but good dreams are so easy to disturb. A few moments of uneasy sleeping and shakking happen before Duke wakes.

Not quite well enough to flail out of his blanket nest, but that might be because he'd tangled himself quite thoroughly in his sleep. ]

Are you awake?

[She lifts her hand up off his shoulder, leaning over to look at his face but not so much so that she can't back up if he tries to sit suddenly. Zelda has no intention of smacking heads with Duke.]

[ This is probably a good thing, that she was so ready to move back.

Duke nods, a little twitchily, but then it seems like what he dreamed came back to him because wow does he not look like he has any color at all and perhaps even the faintest bit green and he'd like to get to the kitchen area of his house thing now. ]

[Seeing that he looks sick, she helps untangle him from the nest of blankets quickly before backing up so that he can move.]

Dreamwalking, 1

o/ poor duke :c

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[Action] Awake time!

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