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

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... ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... Meant I had tried. Prior to sleeping. Normally of some use, however.... [ ~~Both. Less likely to understand, but still private things shared.~~ ]

[She grimaces. Zelda hadn't thought of that.]

I see. I suppose if this is a curse to force people to view each others dreams, then of course Vatheon would disable abilities that blocked dreaming.

[The princess stands and paces a bit - yes, Duke, she remembered to slip off her shoes before entering your hut thing.]

[ That's nice of her. Duke just... tiredly watches. ]

Possible. Possible I had not done as well as previously thought.

[He looks so tired... she peers at him before speaking again.]

Perhaps we should try it. You'll fall asleep eventually, after all - there's at least a chance this will work as it should.

... true enough. Ways to avoid sleep, know, however... [ More scrubbing at his face. ]

...I'm not sure it's a good idea. That weakens you mentally. Even if you can keep your physical form in shape, your brain needs rest eventually. It is up to you, of course.

[Duke, she really wants to tuck you back into your blanket nest, alright? Look, even the squirrels are worried!]

... True enough. [ Uncomfortable with all their worry! Tho he will just sorta soothe-pet the squirrels nearest before pushing to his feet. ]

[She wonders briefly at how he can be so affectionate with animals but shy away from people. Ready to pull out her harp if he gives the okay, she waits for his decision.]

... May... be worth a try. [ Studying the squirrels, and then a sigh to his blanket nest.

Give him a moment, he needs to sort it out right and then remake it. ~~Then circle three times~~. ]

... At very least, may accidental broadcast.. better dreams...

[She sits back down nearby, taking out her harp.]

Please go ahead and get comfortable, then. It takes hold fairly quickly.

[Chances are she won't make it home either, but she's not going to tell him that part or he'd split the nest in two again. It always seemed like he got the chills when she was staying over.]

[ .... Shush. He's used to sharing with monsters, okay?

Duke nods, and tangles himself within the blankets. A good half of the present squirrels aren't waiting for him to fall asleep again and already climb into the nest. ]

[Quietly, she starts to play a lullaby, singing the parts that would normally be played on an ocarina wordlessly. Her magic is obviously behind the song, if he didn't try to resist it Duke would feel a deep sleep coming on shortly.]

[ There's a moment where he tries - a confused "wait what is this I'm sensing" moment - then he remembers that she was going to help him get to sleep and he stops.

Yup. Sleeping. ]

[Unless Vatheon has a say in it, it will prevent him from dreaming further. Setting her harp to the side and hugging her knees, Zelda simply sleeps where she sits, unable to find the motivation to head back home.]

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

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