It's a Waste of Time, Chasing in the Dark

[applesaucemod]

Tonight, the dreamers will find themselves in a forest. Or an office. Or a suburban living room. Or a castle tower. Or a grocery store. The dream is a patchwork of assorted settings, each one blurring inelegantly into the next, most of them only claiming half an acre or so. The hodgepodge makes for quite a sight.

Or it would, if the dreamers could see anything. Natural light is in short supply. In fact, there isn't any light at all, not even a faint twinkle of starlight; you might as well be deep inside a cave. No matter how good their eyes might be, the dreamers won't be able to see their own hands in front of their faces - not unless they can fashion some sort of light source out of whatever they might manage to find. The dream isn't inclined to make things easy; any appliances or electrical light sources the dreamers stumble over won't be plugged in, and any walls, however solid they might seem, won't contain any wiring. A small fire might be the best bet - presuming you can find any means of lighting one.

But there's good news. Each of the dreamers will find themselves with a second set of dubiously useful eyes, because they'll be joined - again, or for the first time - by their dæmons. Granted, said dæmons won't have much more luck seeing in the total darkness than anyone else, but at least no one will have to feel alone.

Just… move carefully. You wouldn't want to trip over someone else's dæmon by mistake. Imagine how awkward that would be.

[ooc: y'all know the drill. Characters don't have to be apped or in the game to show up, and dreamers can remember or forget the events of the dream at the player's discretion. This particular dream isn't a power nerf - a character with the ability to create light could still do so - but the range will be extremely localized, as if the darkness is a solid thing that doesn't want to be pushed back.]

Comments

[andhiswife]

At least he sounds friendly, for all that she doesn't know his voice. Greta enjoys a few moments of cautious relief before he introduces himself, and then she realizes with a jolt that she knows his name.

James Kirk. The man left abandoned in Iman's apartment the day she came back. Oh, dear.

Greta can feel her cheeks prickling with embarrassment. She knows it wasn't her fault, exactly; she had no way of knowing he existed before Iman finally mentioned him (after bolting upright in bed in the wee hours, to Greta's considerable alarm). But she can't help feeling responsible for how, er... distracted Iman was. And once she did know Mr. Kirk existed, she probably could have tried a bit harder to make sure he was properly settled, instead of just urging Iman to hurry back every time she stepped out the door.

Has Iman mentioned her to him? Does he know?

For the first time, she's rather glad of the darkness. It's impossible for him to see how red she's gone.

Angus gives her a pointed nudge, and she hastily replies, "I'm Greta, and this is Angus. He's a dog."

"Hullo," Angus offers, shifting his paws so they can all at least hear where he is.

"And you, er..." Greta hesitates, not sure she wants to get into the circumstances of his arrival, but she can't just not mention it. Whether he knows of her or not, she feels as if she owes him an apology. At the very least, she ought to ask how he's doing. "You're the gentleman who arrived with Iman," she says, sounding distinctly awkward.

[james_t]

The name is familiar, but it's only when Greta mentions Iman that he puts two and two together. This is the woman that Iman has been endlessly distracted by since they both arrived in New York. He wishes that he could see her - by how Iman has acted, he's sure that she's beautiful. "Right. Yes, I am. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

[andhiswife]

Oh, and of course he's being a complete gentleman about it. Greta buries her face in her hands for a moment. It's a rather pointless gesture - he can't see her face either way - but it gives her a beat to collect herself and try to come up with something to say.

She lowers her hands, one finding Angus's head. He gives her a light, bolstering sort of nudge. "Likewise," she says, "though I'm sorry about the, er... distraction. Have--you're all right, I take it? Have you found someplace to stay?" He sounds capable, to the extent that anyone can. He certainly doesn't come across as resentful, and he'd have every right to be if he was still bunking on Iman's couch while Iman was with her. Perhaps he's landed a proper apartment.

[etherthief]

She picks her way over stone and occasionally through water, her shoes and the bottom of her skirt now long since soaked.

"This dream is stupid," she hisses.

Aqil's not listening. He never listens. "There's someone up ahead," he says. "You could hear them if you'd stop complaining for a second."

Iman is about to make some kind of affronted response, but he's right - she hears voices, two of them, up ahead. A person and their animal, or two people? Either way. She slogs forward, tripping over herself a few times, before she recognizes Greta's particular cadence.

"Greta!" she practically squeaks, and Aqil heaves an aggrieved sigh. Iman stumbles forward, feeling about, trying to find her or her giant fluffy dog. "Greta, it's me!" she adds uselessly. And then she finds a body, abruptly, by colliding with it. She's pretty sure that's not Greta. "Oh," she says in embarrassment.