-=the dream opens up on a rocky span of beach jutting out from the edge of a forest line. the trees are dense, making the night seem that much darker but the gathering of children hidden in it's depths had no trouble making their way around.

the children are ranging in ages, but the eldest are barely teens, if even. Tavros -Rufio- stands in the center of them, dressed in rugged black and red clothes and sporting a set of wings all his own. different from the Summoner's, more like a moth's in the way they almost looked like a fur cloak when he folded them up behind them. Tinkerbull, a tiny white bull with fairywings, perches in his mohawk between his horns.

animals gather as well amongst the children, from the large and dangerous to the seemingly harmless. Some of the children even sit across the backs of snarling fangbeasts, but they aren't afraid. they aren't afraid because they believe in him, and trust him, and if Rufio says they can take out an entire pirate ship full of adult trolls, they are going to take out an entire pirate ship full of adult trolls!=-

Everybody remember the plan?

-=he asks, keeping his voice down. the children respond with a muted chorus of yipping and chirping and other mimicked animal sounds, though one small boy has a few hands slapped over his mouth before he cheers out too loudly.

Rufio motions for them to be quiet and to move out, and all the children and animals take their positions just inside the line of trees. All is quiet, the pirates are distracted by gathering up chests of treasure to haul out to their ship anchored not far off shore. The winged boy flies up to a high branch, waiting for the right moment and then- =-

BANGARAAAAANG!!!



((ooc: anyone up for a Peter Pupa Pan adventure featuring Tavros own personified self confidence, Rufio?))

[For some, sleep is where they retreat when the world just becomes too much to deal with. Alas, ‘tis not a perfect retreat.

Upon falling asleep, Dhaos is not greeted with the fare that is usually associated with dreams. Instead, he sees a vaulted ceiling; very old, and very familiar. On the edges of his vision, four faces are visible. Terror sparks within him when he realizes what he’s lying in. He tries to bolt, only to find that he’s paralyzed.

NO!

His words too seem trapped in his throat. A heavy grinding noise sounds as a great stone lid is sealed over him. He wants to cry, scream, bang his fists against the lid, anything to escape that small dark prison.]

[Then the scene dissolves into white. For a moment, all is still and silent. And then, the faint sound of chimes. …Or perhaps it’s water? Slowly but surely, blue overtakes the white until the two meet at the horizon. Then the image sharpens and the blue transforms into the many tiers of a vast sluice. In the center of one of the many pools, a figure in black and red hovers just above the water. The world shifts again, the figure now in focus, surrounded by azure butterflies that seem to glow from within. Stillness again for a time, the only sound the ever present chimes. Then, Dhaos begins to sing.]

Face to the sea
I hear the wind
Calling me to truth
Close your eyes
And dream beneath
The warmth of skies of blue
Longing to rest my weary bones
So long the path
O be still my soul

[When he wakes, the covers are in complete disarray and his face is wet with tears. He lays there unmoving for quite some time.]


((OOC: Both dreams are interactive, so whether you decide to interfere or bother him about it after he wakes up, just specify which part you’re responding to. The song Dhaos sings is the first verse of “Starry Moonlit Night” from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The game is also the inspiration for most of the second dream.))

[Though Alister's initial plan hadn't been to sleep since speaking with the Colonel, the reality remains that he could not bring himself to even if he'd wanted.

For the past three days or so, the General has been locked away in his current residence on the island, picking at his pocket watch in a futile, futile attempt to occupy himself. But even as a trained soldier of the Lombax Praetorian Guard, his ever-growing paranoia had been a more formidable foe.

And... ever since that glance into Ratchet's memory...

His hands have become shakier, his focus draining. The old Lombax's fur is mussed and hap-hazard, bags under his eyes and frantically digging at his watch as he struggles to remember how to piece the device back together again. A dull crack is heard from something within, and the General leaps to his feet with a yell, chucking the device across the room and snarling at the shattered pieces that fell.

Falling back again, his eyes then dart nervously to the corners of the room, breath tight in his throat and Praetorian Omniwrench in hand, already starting to spark to life.]

They won't get me. Not this time. Not while he's here.

[What on earth is he mumbling about? There's nothing there.]

Heh... they're everywhere.

They think they can get me.

[ooc: Sorry to spam! This is just to get him back down to the coral before he breaks something else. Paranoid Lombax wants the city out of his head. 8|]