This is My Island in the Sun [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The Rift wouldn't say it's sorry for the fit it threw the other day, because the Rift never needs to apologize. It is (mostly) perfect, and all of its decisions are well reasoned and just. Obviously. But perhaps it has fallen into a bit of a post-tantrum sulk, because this dream is milder than one might expect. In fact, it's downright nice.

The dreamers will find themselves in an archipelago of small islands - most only a few acres in size - connected by narrow strips of sand or pebbles. The surrounding waters are calm. Little waves lap against the shorelines, and no rising tide will cut the islands off from one another. The islands themselves seem to have been lifted from every climate zone on Earth and several from beyond. Some are tropical, some colder and home to hardy conifers, some mossy and boulder-strewn, some covered in multicolored sand and odd, coral-like trees.

Most of the islands boast some kind of manmade or otherwise non-native structure, be it as small as a bench or as large as a pavilion, though there are no houses or shops to be seen. It's more like parkland, just civilized enough for a nice picnic. Some of the islands even have little grills, and a sufficiently motivated dreamer might be able to rustle up some hot dog or burger fixings if they poke around a bit.

And they'll have an extra pair of eyes to help with their searching, because their beloved dæmons have returned… again. Or perhaps they're being introduced for the first time. Regardless, it's the bi-annual dæmon dream party!

Comments

[apidae]

There's something sort of gloomy here, she can feel it even with her clouded senses. Simonides makes his displeasure with it quickly known, curling ever closer into her shoulder.

"It's okay," she hushes gently, stroking his fur. "Someone's just sad, that's all."

It's rarely all, and they both know it - this is profound sadness, for her to feel it even in a dream.

She sees him a few moments later, walking through the woods with a huge corvid on his shoulder.

"It's Tim," whispers Simonides.

"Yes." She bites her lip. She doesn't want to scare Tim, or probe too deeply, but after their last encounter she feels like there needs to be some kind of follow-up, and a dream is at least relatively neutral territory.

"Tim?" she calls as gently as she can, following his makeshift forest path. "Tim, hey."

[postictal]

Zero clicks her beak sharply, a warning that comes a split second too late. Tim turns, automatically backing up with Zero's feathers fluffed anxiously against the side of his face before he realizes he recognizes her. Bee, right? With some - weird, furry thing curled up around her shoulders. Great.

"Oh," he says, but can't quite pin down the complicated swirl of emotion her unexpected appearance elicits. Relief? Trepidation? Some self-contradictory mix of the two?

Probably, yeah.

"Hey." He eyes her warily, shoulders tense. "What, uh, what are you doing here?"

[apidae]

Not the best reaction, but not the worst either. She gives him a little hopeful smile and comes closer. "Well, we're all dreaming," she says. "This kind of dream has happened before - I mean, I've met my animal self before. The islands are new."

She tilts her head, looking at his raven. "She's very beautiful," she says, hoping she gets the pronoun right, and that this isn't weird to say. "This is Simonides - he's very shy."

Simonides lifts his little snout to sort of sniff in Tim's direction but says nothing.

"Listen, there's a beach that way, if you want to get out of the woods," she says, pointing back where she came from. It's a fair guess that he doesn't want to be here, judging by his clear tension. The sun and the ocean might to him some good.

[postictal]

"Animal...self?"

Zero chooses that moment to take flight, talons pressing briefly into his shoulder before she takes off in a graceful swooping of wings so she can light down on a branch not far above their heads. Tim stares after her, frowning at the curious pulling sensation in his chest as she circles.

She's him. It's what she said.

"Uh." He guesses that's his cue to introduce her, which is weird, because she's a crow. Is that meant to say something about him? Whatever. He doesn't wanna know. "Zero. That's what she said, anyway."

He tracks the line of Bee's finger, the sunlight streaming between branches and the strip of pale sand peaking out dimly between the dark trunks.

"I - " He shifts his weight from foot to foot for a minute, internally debating. It's really that obvious, isn't it? "Yeah. That'd - be nice, yeah."

[apidae]

Bee nods gently at his echo - it is something that takes some getting used to, and looks up with a faint smile as she flies up.

"Zero," she repeats, carefully keeping her tone neutral. That's an odd name - kind of an unhappy name. She feels another pang of sadness, remembering how awful Tim's patterns are, and Simonides paws at her comfortingly. She nods and says, "It's nice to meet you."

She looks back at Tim and tilts her head, beckoning him to follow. "Then let's go!"

She turns and carries on brightly. Sometimes her moods are infectious. Maybe she can help him smile.

[postictal]

Zero seems to make up her mind before Tim does, sweeping off the branch to wing steadily for the open beach. It's a feeling he's not sure he can just get used to. They're kind of the same person but - not. He's not really sure what to make of it.

He falls into wary step after her with Zero circling overhead at a natural rhythm and distance. He can feel the distance between them, some unseen bond stretching in ways he can't pin down.

"Is this, like," he mutters, shooting Bee an uncertain look between lowered brows, "common here, or something?"

[apidae]

"Well..." She tilts her head from side to side for a moment. "Simonides was in another dream, a while ago - maybe a month? But it was very different. It was kind of a bad dream, actually." She frowns, and Simonides curls closer, at the memory. She thinks perhaps it's best not to describe it to Tim, and she moves on quickly: "I think they've shown up before that, too, before I was here. So I guess it's like a recurrent thing."

She looks back at him and flashes a little smile. "It's kind of nice, though, I think. Having someone who really gets you. Or... having a piece of yourself to talk to, I guess." She strokes Simonides' fur and he gives a soft little sigh.

[postictal]

It's weird as all fuck is what it is. And frankly? A little unsettling. Zero is him, and she knows everything there is - and for a minute he looks at her with a faint stab of ridiculous pity. Of all the people out there, she had to get saddled with him.

"Huh," he says, tone carefully neutral. If this piece of himself is anything like the other 'pieces' of himself he's run into -

Zero shatters that thought with a sharp caw, diverting Tim back to the dream's present. He threads his way carefully around the tree trunks, eyeing them warily despite how innocuous they might look, and steps out from the trees and into the sun.

He blinks at the shock of standing in the unfiltered sunlight for a moment, on a little strip of beach. The roar and crash of waves is - it's -

It's weirdly nice.

[apidae]

She smiles over at him. "That's better, right?" She walks toward the water, flopping down in the sand to watch the waves. She offers to let Simonides down but he wants to stay on her, as always. He does seem to be heartened by the promise of resting at the seaside at least, and he clambers up around her shoulders and attempts to nest in her hair.

She giggles and dislodges him gently. "Not there," she protests. She settles him into her lap, keeping a comforting hand on him.

She looks back to Tim and Zero. "Come sit if you want," she offers.

[postictal]

He trails after her, sinking to the ground almost as an afterthought. The sting of salt in the air is like something sharp or bladed or prickling, but it's not unpleasant. More attention-demanding is the expanse of water, rippling and seemingly endless, blue-green tides tipped in white.

It's kind of peaceful. Not like the woods at all.

Zero lands awkwardly on the sand, hopping a few times to stand evenly, feathers fluffing. Her eyes are also fixed on the horizon, her head cocked.

"Wow," murmurs Tim. He's not really sure if he can articulate anything more than that.

[apidae]

"Yeah," she agrees. "I've never been near the ocean before. Never got out of Alabama until the rift."

She smiles over at him - it's the same for him, she knows, though it would be pretty apparent even if she didn't.

"Nice when we get dreams like this," she says. "I always try my best to just enjoy them, cause... so many of them aren't nice at all. It's worth just sitting, I think."

And she knows he could really use the rest.

[postictal]

Tim says nothing, just sits there and watches. Gradually he curls his knees up to wrap his arms around him, oddly reminiscent of the scared boy in the hospital room but with none of the trembling and shaken fear to accompany it. He's never seen the ocean. He didn't think he ever would, or could. Even if it's a dream, he won't deny that it's a nice one.

He doesn't mind it, really. He doesn't mind it at all.

Even the company is okay, he thinks. Bee doesn't know about him, and there can't be any harm in it if she doesn't know him, right? They can just sit there like the friends they aren't, not really, but Tim doesn't mind having to pretend either. He always has to pretend. Even with Jay.

Zero lights down his shoulder again, feathers soft against his cheek, and he absently reaches up to stroke her, daring to feel calm for the first time in -

Well. A long time.