applesaucedream | Can't Stand the Distance, Can't Dream Alone [open to all]

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Can't Stand the Distance, Can't Dream Alone [open to all]

The sleeping rifties might have a difficult time realizing they're dreaming this evening, in part because tonight's dreams are atypically vivid, even compared to the rift's usual efforts. Perhaps that is because it's drawing so heavily from the memories of the dreamers, themselves, and using that information to recreate their home worlds in stunning detail. And that is the real reason the dreamers might not be eager to accept the unreality of the situation: the situation is one that many of them have been hoping for for months or even years. In their dreams tonight, the rifties are going home.

Perhaps they arrive in the same moment that they left. Perhaps months have passed at home, or they might even find themselves arriving before their departure point. But those are small details when compared to the overwhelming realization that they're back where they belong.

They're not alone. Many dreamers will find the rift has given them a companion for the return trip. Well, an uncomplicated return home is probably more than anyone could have hoped for, anyway. And for the unwitting visitor, perhaps another universal displacement will be easier to bear with the addition of a local guide.

[ooc: usual dream party rules apply; all are welcome, and dreamers can remember or forget the events of the dream at the players' discretion. Also at the players' discretion: when their character arrives in their 'home universe,' and how many (if any) locals they'd want to run into.]

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Daine spins around at the familiar voice, then gapes. What is he--how can he be here? Did the rift make some sort of mistake? Then again, considering the universe he came from, it might just as well be a mercy.

It doesn't matter. Seeing him standing there drives home just how keen a loss it would have been to never see him again. "Peeta!" Stumbling a little - she's not used to boots and heavier winter gear - she closes the remaining distance between them and throws her arms around his neck. "You're here," she gasps out in astonishment and relief. Then, with tentative joy, "We're really here!"

There's an unimpressed huff from behind her and the crunch of hooves in the snow. If you don't start talking sense, I'm getting the stork-man, Cloud says, giving Peeta an assessing look out of one eye. She has a vested interest in any two-legger who presumes to hug Daine. Or I might just start biting.

"Oh." Daine pulls back a little and offers Peeta a wobbly smile. "Peeta, this is Cloud. She's--well, she's family. Cloud, this is Peeta. He's a friend." She puts a slight emphasis on 'friend' in the hopes it'll put any bitey urges to rest.

Turning back to Peeta, she adds, "We're in Tortall, and it's the same day I left." She leaves it at that for the moment. It's a lot for her to process, and this is her home. She's not sure how well he'll handle the news that he's wound up in a strange universe yet again.

Peeta stumbles slightly when Daine launches herself into his arms, but returns her hug warmly, even as his confusion grows. It's clear Daine knows where they are, and as she pulls away from him, the pieces start to fall into place for Peeta. By now used to being introduced to animals, he gives Cloud a wave and smile, but the matching "hello" catches in his throat when Daine proclaims that they're in Tortall.

"What? How are we in Tortall?" He glances around, half-expecting to see something that would identify their surroundings.

Cloud eyes Peeta with mingled suspicion and grudging respect. He's appeared out of nowhere and is acting far too familiar with Daine, but he's not a complete fool when it comes to the People. Her ears are still obstinately turned back, but they're not flat against her skull like they were before.

For Daine, the temptation to shrug off the question or say something glib is awfully strong, but that wouldn't be fair to Peeta. This isn't a homecoming for him. "Maybe the rift reversed itself for me, and you got caught up in it," she guesses, brow furrowing. She really hopes he doesn't get too upset about this. Tortall will be quite an adjustment after Manhattan, but he's probably better off here than in his own universe. She'll see to it that he is, in fact.

"It's okay," she adds, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze. "You'll be all right here. I know it looks wild, but we're in their majesties' forest. The Rider barracks aren't too far off, and that's where I lived - where I live when we're not on the road."

For the moment, Peeta isn't at all worried about how Cloud feels about him. He's too busy trying to wrap his mind around what has happened. "That doesn't make any sense," he tells Daine. "I wasn't with you before I wound up here. Why would the rift have taken me, too?" Aside from just being contrary, which he wouldn't put past the rift.

He doesn't remember coming to Tortall, but that doesn't mean much. All he did was close his eyes in Panem and open them in New York, so going from New York to somewhere else just as fast makes sense. And he might not remember exactly where he was or what he was doing before finding himself in Tortall, but he knows he wasn't with Daine. He would remember that.

When Daine lays her hand on his shoulder, Peeta feels the momentary urge to shrug it off. He wants answers, not assurances, and her enthusiasm - while understandable - frustrates him. She is so focused on being back in Tortall, on settling them both in, that she's missing the point that he shouldn't be here at all. At least in New York he had the possibility of going home; what if that doesn't exist here?

He turns to Daine, everything he is feeling showing in his eyes. "Why am I here?"

The look on his face is enough for Daine to draw her hand back. It's not as if his unhappiness is surprising, really - he's been displaced again instead of brought home, and whether or not Tortall is a better place for him to end up than Panem is beside the point. But it's hard to get past her own overwhelming relief to be home - tempered as it is with sorrow for who she's left behind - and she shrugs uneasily.

"I don't know," she says softly. "Maybe it's only temporary. And even if the rift doesn't take you home, we've got mages here who can go between realms, and dragons - dragons can do that sort of thing, too, I think. Maybe we can get you back to Panem anyway." She has a hard time mustering any honest enthusiasm for the idea, but she doesn't want Peeta to think he's stuck here just because the rift decided to deposit him here (whatever the rift's reasoning might have been).

The rift pulling him along with Daine for her trip home makes even less sense than it pulling him to New York. At least that was a kind of neutral ground, where all the rifties where just victims pulled from their home worlds. Sending him along to someone else's world seems cruel, even by the rift's normal standards.

Still, at least it sent him (if it sent him) with someone he knows and likes. He's reaching for Daine's hand - for support and apology - when she casually mentions getting him home from here.

"Wait - what? People here go to other realms?" He isn't even going to touch the dragons; there's only so much he can handle at one time. "Is that common?" he asks, not wanting to get his hopes up, but feeling a flicker of hope just the same. Not to mention feeling darkly amused that the rift spat him out in a world that might be able to circumvent it.

"Well… sort of," she says. "We only know of three realms, here: the mortal realms, the divine realms, and the Black God's realm, and folk don't really go between them so much. But now that we know how many more realms they are, we can try and figure out a way to reach the others."

Whatever you're talking about, Cloud interjects impatiently, you should probably involve the stork-man. And move it indoors.

Daine glances back at the pony, then sighs. "Cloud's right. We should talk to Numair about this." She takes Peeta's hand and gives him a somewhat wobbly smile. "It's not a very long walk back to the barracks."

"Ah." Sounds like he won't be leaving any time soon, unless the rift decides to move him again. At least he isn't any farther from Panem than he was when he started.

When Daine takes his hand, Peeta gives hers a gentle squeeze - I'm not mad, it's okay - and returns her smile with a firmer one of his own. "I guess you'll get to show me all the things you told me about," he says as they head out.

Remembering his manners, he turns to Cloud. "Hello, Cloud. I'm sorry about before. I was surprised to find myself here." To understate it. He tries a smile, sensing that he may not have made the best first impression on someone Daine considers family. "It's nice to meet you."

Cloud swivels her ears forward, and Daine can feel how surprised she is. It's one thing for two-leggers to accept that Daine can talk to the People, and quite another for a human to calmly address one of them, confident that they'll be understood thanks to Daine's presence. Peeta's hardly the first to talk to Cloud in such a manner, but he's the first to do so straightaway. The pony snorts once, but it's faint and almost pensive compared to the noise she made before. He talks too much, is her eventual verdict, though she sounds, Daine thinks, rather pleased.

A direct translation wouldn't be wise, and neither would a deliberate mistranslation (even, or especially, an accurate one like, 'she likes you'), so Daine settles for, "It's all right. She's not angry."

She gives his hand a squeeze back, grateful that he's not too upset, and her smile strengthens. Her joy at being home again is irrepressible, and even for Peeta's sake, she could only squash it so much. "You'll get to meet Kitten soon," she says, her mind already racing ahead, wondering what the little dragon will think of Peeta. "I'm sure she'll like you." Well, she's only a baby - she likes most folk who don't give her any reason not to.

Peeta returns Daine's smile and gives Cloud a little nod of the head. At least he won't have to worry about having a horse angry with him.

Daine's happiness is infectious to the point that Peeta feels his mood lighten. He relaxes, studying the landscape around them with curiosity. However unexpected and disconcerting it was to find himself in Tortall, he finds that he's beginning to look forward to seeing Daine's home.

"Remind me, who is Kitten?" he asks, frowning slightly as he mentally runs through everyone Daine told him about.

"The dragon," Daine says, "but she's only a baby." And it's been months since Daine saw her outside a dream (which, considering she's come back the same day she left, means it was never really Kitten in the first place). Odd's bobs, she's going to have to work to just keep from crying. No one would understand, and she doesn't want to have to explain the whole thing with every single reunion.

The stables are quiet when they arrive, which at least makes it easier to unsaddle Cloud. Daine's out of practice, fumbling at buckles with shaking fingers, forcing herself not to rush it even though she wants to dash to her quarters and find Kitten, Numair, Onua, everyone. But Cloud wouldn't settle for shoddy treatment, and she certainly doesn't deserve it - and besides, Daine's pleased to be with her again, too (for all that Cloud keeps grumbling about how Daine isn't making much sense).

"Sorry," she says to Peeta as she gives Cloud one last pat. "I expect Kitten'll be in my quarters, and then we can figure out where Numair's hiding." Judging by the position of the sun and her own returning memories of how things work here, Daine guesses the trainees are having lessons with Sarge or Onua or Buri - or all three. But Numair wouldn't be involved with that. As she leads Peeta to her quarters, she sends a thread of magic into the palace and asks one of the friendlier cats if they wouldn't mind checking Numair's rooms for the mage. Once the cat agrees, she shifts her focus back to the task at hand.

As expected, the barracks are all but deserted. Trainees look after themselves, so there's no need for additional staff to clean up after them or anything like that. Daine's room is on the ground floor, and she leads Peeta to her door - Goddess, who knew you could get emotional just from looking at a dratted door - and pushes it open.

Her room is, of course, exactly as she left it. And there's Kitten, curled up atop Daine's quilt along with a pair of two bolder cats, all in a warmth-conserving lump. The dragon lifts her head with a drowsy cheep of inquiry, and Daine lets out a soft, dry sob. "Kit!" The dragon has just enough time to look mildly alarmed before Daine scoops her up in a tight hug.

Dragon. Right. A dragon. He's going to meet a dragon. Peeta shakes his head slightly, still smiling.

While Daine takes care of Cloud, Peeta wanders nearby, checking out the stables. The sounds and smells aren't what he's used to - District 12 didn't have horses. In fact, the only thing he is reminded of is the Capitol and riding in the chariots. The memories stir up emotions only recently settled, and he takes a deep breath, focusing on the here and now. He in the stables, in Tortall, with Daine.

He follows Daine from the stables and to her room in silence, thinking about what his life might be like here - what will he do? Will Daine have him join her, helping with the horses? He can't say that he's good with animals, but he never really had to work with them before. Maybe he can cook. There has to be someone around who can use someone to cook for them.

His thoughts are interrupted by their arrival at Daine's quarters. He watches with curiosity as Daine strides to her bed and picks up - oh. That's a dragon.

Kitten lets out a little squawk of surprise as she's hoisted off the bed, but doesn't otherwise object to the strange treatment - at least not to Daine, who is obviously upset. Instead, she stretches her neck around Daine's mass of curls so she can give Peeta a baffled look and repeat her earlier cheeping sound - but with more emphasis, this time.

"Oh--I'm sorry," Daine says, turning back to Peeta without bothering to wipe her tears away. Her arms are full of baby dragon, anyway. Kitten squirms around so she can continue to stare at the newcomer, her gaze full of intelligence and curiosity. Her scales, for the moment, are a lively blue. "Kitten, this is Peeta. He's a very good friend of mine." That's probably enough of an explanation for the moment; all the stuff about other realms can wait until they find Numair.

Kitten lets out a low whistle, only marginally less confused (she thought she knew all of Daine's good friends), then stretches her neck forward to sniff in Peeta's general direction. After glancing between Daine and Peeta for a moment, she turns to Peeta and stretches out her forepaws with a chirp.

"I, um, would you like to hold her?" Daine asks, aware that Peeta might be spooked by creatures that are out of the ordinary. "You don't have to. I think she just wants a closer look at you, is all." Kitten nods in confirmation.

The dragon - Kitten - is surprisingly cute. Peeta knows that his view of her cuteness might be colored by the way Daine is reacting to her, but he also can't deny that Kitten's mannerisms (and the way she reacts right back to Daine) are adorable. There's a sweetness between the two of them that makes him smile.

He feels an internal twinge when Daine turns, revealing her tears. He can imagine what this must be like for her; he can easily imagine what it would be like for him, and Daine was gone from home longer than him. He gives her an understanding smile before turning his attention to Kitten and introductions.

"Hello. Nice to meet you."

Having spent so much time with Daine in the park, he grew used to the animals he met while with her having at least a passing interest in him, if for no other reason than the fact that he was with her. Still, he's a little surprised when Daine asks if he wants to hold Kitten. Taking a moment to quickly study the way Daine is doing it, he steps closer and holds out his arms.

"Sure," he says. "That would be okay." To be fair, he's just as curious about Kitten as she is about him.

Daine carefully shifts Kitten over to Peeta - an easy enough task, since Kitten's being more than cooperative - then, once her hands are free, mops at her face with her sleeve. Odd's bobs, she's already a mess. How badly is she going to fall apart when she sees Numair again? Giving her head a little shake, Daine silently resolves to focus on Kitten and Peeta for the moment.

Kitten, for her part, clutches onto Peeta's shirt with her forepaws and examines him closely. She studies his face for a few moments, trills quietly, then shifts her focus to the alien fabric his shirt is made of. Young as she is, her paws are as dexterous as human hands, and it's easy for her to pinch the fabric between her claws and fold it over itself, sniffing curiously. A trip through the rift hasn't dispelled the scents of baking, comforting and familiar, and her eyes narrow in a reptilian equivalent of a smile. She chirps, then reaches up and gently pats Peeta's cheek.

"She likes you," Daine supplies, rather needlessly. She offers the pair a watery smile, and then her gaze grows distant as the cat checks in. "Oh. Numair's in the palace--shall we?"

With only a little awkwardness at first, Peeta gently takes Kitten from Daine and lets her settle in his arms. This close, her skin - her scales - show a beautiful richness and dimension of color. She's not quite as heavy as he expected she would be, and he smiles at her the tiny wings folded against her body.

He returns her searching gaze and watches with curiosity as she inspects his shirt. It's a little surreal, and Peeta wonders again at the unusual things the rift has led him into. He has interacted with enough animals to stay still when Kitten reaches toward his face, and he smiles when she pats his cheek. "The feeling's mutual," he replies.

He glances at Daine in time to see her eyes focus again. He nods in response to her question, then glances down at Kitten. "Should I - what about Kitten?" He's pretty sure Kitten will be staying behind, but figures it better to ask rather than assume.

It's not as easy a question to answer as Daine would like it to be. Kitten hasn't the slightest idea what's going on aside from the fact that Daine is emotional and she's got a new friend, and it might very well be best to keep things that way - at least for the time being. She's certain that if she asked, Kitten would probably be content to just return to her nap.

On the other hand, Kitten will be finding out what happened sooner or later, and she probably won't appreciate having been kept in the dark once she does. Especially because there's a fair chance that any eventual traveling between realms will involve dragons. Kitten's almost certainly too young to initiate such a journey on her own, but surely it'll be easier to deal with other dragons if Daine can present herself as an appointed guardian of one of their young. She only got a brief look into the mind of Kit's ma, but that seems like the sort of thing a grown dragon would appreciate.

And, selfishly, Daine just doesn't want to leave her. She's had her fill of being without Kitten these past several months. If she had her druthers, she'd rather bring Kit along to the palace.

"She can come, too," Daine says, though she does reach out to take the dragon back. In warmer months, the dragon would walk the distance between the barracks and the palace; in winter, she much prefers being tucked into Daine's coat. "She's smart - I expect she'll understand what's going on about as well as we do. And she's going to have to hear the story eventually, so we might as well cut down on how many times we have to tell it."

It's an easy enough walk to the palace. A path has been trampled into the snow, and the cold temperatures have eliminated any threat of mud. Kitten notes the way Peeta's taking it all in and seems to play tour guide, leaving her head and one foreleg exposed so she can point to things and chatter or burble to Peeta about them. Even Daine isn't sure exactly what she's saying, but it's clear that she's taken an interest in him and wants him to feel welcome.

A quick word from Daine gets Peeta past the guards and into the palace proper. It's a large, sprawling structure, housing far more than just the royal family, but also their advisors and the various nobles who make up the court. There are kitchens, washrooms, libraries, healers, servants' quarters and classrooms and living quarters for the pages. But she knows the quickest route to Numair's room, and if any passers-by do double-takes at the sight of Daine with a strange young man about her own age, she deliberately ignores them.

Glancing over at Peeta, she ventures, "I don't suppose you've been in a castle before."

Having handed Kitten back over to Daine, Peeta follows the two out of the barracks. He isn't exactly dressed for the weather, but thankfully the walk is a short one. Kitten provides a welcome distraction from the cold, chattering away at him like a scaly toddler. Unable to understand her, he does his best to determine the things she points out. A few are genuinely interesting, and Peeta hums appreciatively for Kitten's benefit, making mental notes to check them out later. Given that he may be here a while, it's no bad thing to have something lined up to do.

He does his best to look nonthreatening as they approach the guards, but they barely give him more than a curious, passing glance after Daine speaks to them. Just the same, Peeta gives them a smile as he passes - first impressions, and all that. He weathers the curiosity of the few people they pass just as well.

"Not a castle, no," he says in reply to Daine. "We don't have royalty in Panem. But I've been in some large buildings and homes before. Different than this," he says, gesturing around them.

"It all seems short compared to Manhattan," she admits in an undertone as she leads Peeta up a flight of winding stairs. Then again, given the lack of elevators, that's just as well.

She falls silent as they approach Numair's room, her heart thudding in her chest. A not-so-small part of her is still angry with him for never finding her, even though that's such plain nonsense now that she's back. Nobody looked for her because nobody had time to even realize she was gone. She can hardly hold that against him. But there's no getting around the fact that she hasn't seen him in the better part of a year, and all frustrations aside, she's spent most of that time missing him desperately. This is any other day for him. What will seeing him again be like for her?

She probably would have hesitated outside the door, but Kitten - who she'd set down once they were back indoors - doesn't see any reason to. The dragon cheerfully whistles open the lock on Numair's door and shoves it open, trundling inside. Numair's at his desk poring over a scroll, but he turns toward the door when Kitten walks in and favors the dragon with an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sure I've explained knocking to you," he says without malice - Kitten chortles at him - before looking up at Daine. For her part, the girl can't even breathe, let alone speak. Her expression must be telling, though, because Numair's on his feet a moment later, dark eyes flicking briefly over her shoulder before settling back on her. "Magelet? Is something wrong? Wh--oof," he concludes abruptly as Daine surges forward and throws her arms around him. She actually succeeds in knocking the taller man back a pace, but he recovers himself quickly enough and returns the gesture automatically.

She's crying again, and she knows he must be fair confused, but she can't stop herself. He's real. She's home, and she buries her face against the familiar warmth of her best friend and sobs.

Numair gives her back a gentle, somewhat awkward pat, as if he's not entirely sure what to do with himself. And since Daine is currently unfit for conversation (for some reason, which he can't currently fathom but it must be a good one), he shifts his focus back to the strange young man accompanying her. His gaze is sharp and not a little suspicious; here's a possible explanation for his student's unusual behavior. Not that she's ever come crying to him over a boy before - thank all the listening gods - but he has to start somewhere. "I don't suppose this is anything to do with you," he says, frowning in preemptive disapproval.

"That's true," Peeta agrees. If anything, the architecture reminds him mostly of District 12, though he isn't about to say as much. Like the Capitol and Manhattan, Tortall is just different enough from the District to make the similarities stand out.

He senses Daine's hesitation before they even reach the door. The combination of nerves and anticipation she is giving off is overwhelming. Thanks to Kitten, however, neither of them have much time to prepare before the door is opened (Peeta gives Kitten an assessing look when he hears the door unlock and finds no one behind it). He hangs back a little - not enough to look like he's trying to avoid the room and the person in it, but enough to give Daine her space.

From where he is in the hallway, he has a clear view into the room. As such, he can see the shift in Numair's expression when he catches sight of Daine's face. Peeta can't see it, but he guess what she looks like, a guess that is borne out in the way she all but launches herself at Numair. Peeta doesn't miss the look Numair throws his way, either, and is therefore prepared for the question that follows it.

"No, not me," he replies, giving the man a gentle smile. "It has to do with you."

Edited 2014-12-14 06:20 (UTC)

Numair's frown makes a slight shift into confused territory. He's been accused of obtuseness before, usually when he's absorbed in study, but he's reasonably certain he hasn't done anything to warrant this kind of reaction. Daine hasn't behaved this way since Carthak, when she thought he'd been executed. She can't possibly have gotten it into her head that he'd died again.

Kitten grips onto Daine's breeches and lets out a concerned run of burbly notes, and Numair digs a handkerchief out of his pocket. "Here," he offers, and Daine pulls back enough to take the scrap of cloth and obey his rather paternal, "blow." He keeps an arm curled around her, a little concerned by the way she's slumped against him, and uses his free hand to check his pocket for a vial of wakeflower, just in case.

"I'm sorry," Daine apologizes to the room at large, mopping the tears off her face. She hasn't missed the way he checked his pocket, and just the thought of him shoving that vial under her nose is enough incentive for her to pull herself together a little. "Numair, Kit, I've - we've been through something, me and Peeta, and it's going to sound mad, but I swear by the Goddess it's all true."

Numair gives her shoulder a little rub, then looks down his long nose at Peeta. "Well, I suppose you'd better come in and sit down," he says, not sounding especially enthusiastic about the idea. But if this 'Peeta' fellow plays a role in this ordeal that has Daine beside herself, he supposes it's better to keep the boy within easy reach.

There is sympathy in Peeta's eyes as he watches Daine, even as his gaze goes slightly distant. Seeing her reaction - and Numair's reaction to her state - he can't help but wonder what it would be like if the situation were reversed and Daine had been pulled into Panem with him.

Considering where he was when the rift pulled him away, it doesn't bear imagining (he isn't thinking about the dream arena where Daine died, he isn't). But if the rift somehow put them in the district, maybe before the Games even happened, how would everyone have reacted to their story? Within the space of a breath the possible reactions of his friends and family flash across his mind, each face and demeanor as clear as if the person were standing in front of him.

He quickly returns to the present, offering a supportive nod to Daine's assertion that their story is true. Unlike Panem, Tortall has magic. At least in Daine's world, traveling between realms isn't entirely unheard of, and Peeta suspects that will help lend credence to her claims.

He hopes it can do the same for the part he plays in the story. Numair's clear uncertainty about him is almost amusing; Peeta can all but feel the protectiveness radiating from the man as he steers Daine toward a chair.

Daine plops down into the offered chair, and Kitten clambers up into her lap. Odd's bobs, this is going to take some telling. She's distracted from the enormity of the tale she'll have to relate by the look that Numair gives Peeta as the latter settles himself in a chair, and her eyes narrow a little in preemptive annoyance. It was bad enough when Numair got all mother-bear over Kaddar having the audacity to speak with her; she won't have him huffing at Peeta, too. She casts a surreptitious glance beneath the table once Numair's seated himself, making note of where his shins are in case she needs to aim a kick in his direction.

"Well," Daine begins, absently running a hand down Kitten's side, "I suppose the first thing you ought to know is that there are a lot more realms than just the three. Peeta's from a different realm, and the one we both landed in was new for both of us. The city we lived in was called New York, and it was home to lots of displaced people from more realms than anyone could count." She glances toward Peeta, in case he cares to elaborate - or at least back her up, lest Numair decide she's just gone mad.

Peeta gives Daine an encouraging smile as she begins her explanation, nodding in support as she talks. "There were people from all sorts of very different realms," he adds when Daine glances his way, "with all different sorts of magic - or none at all, like my realm."

And there were some who weren't exactly people, but that's more detail than they probably need to get into right now. He looks to Daine to continue the story.

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Can't Stand the Distance, Can't Dream Alone [open to all]

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