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

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine opens her eyes, then shuts them again in an exaggerated blink. Oh, gods. Oh, gods, is she blind? She bats at the empty air in front of her, as if to shove away a heavy curtain, but there's no curtain, and she's on the verge of some kind of meltdown - it's been the better part of a year since she opened her eyes and saw nothing, even in piss-poor lighting, because vampire vision frigging loves piss-poor lighting - when she realizes she can see something.

She can see her hand. Barely. The light web is there, glimmering a faint gold.

She lifts both of her hands in front of her face, relief seeping through her panic. She can still see. There's not a whole hell of a lot to see, apparently, but her eyes still work.

"Maybe I can turn it up," she muses to herself.

"Spartan," says a familiar voice from her shoulder. "Just light yourself up like a goddamn fishing lure."

Sunshine grimaces, but doesn't bother trying to look at Modomnoc. "You have a better idea?"

Dom buzzes his wings irritably. "I just thought it was worth pointing out that if we can't see what's out there, we might not want to make it easy to see us."

"Well," Sunshine grumbles, patting her pockets, "I can't exactly turn it off, so unless I can see well enough to find someplace safe, I'm a sitting duck either way, right?" She huffs out a tiny sigh of relief as her fingers find the familiar outline of her little knife, and she pulls it out of her pocket. Its warm glow doesn't reach as far as she'd expect it to, but it's something. She can make out the edges of nearby objects, now. Squinting (gods, she can almost feel her eyes trying to draw more from the darkness than the darkness feels like revealing), she edges forward until she can clearly pick out a... shelf full of books. They're clad in ostensibly protective plastic, and there are decimal numbers on the spines.

A library. She's - they're in a library. And it might be pitch black, darker than it could be in any above-ground city, but she feels a little safer. "Okay," she says, putting her free hand on the shelf to steady herself. "Could be worse."

[andhiswife]

"... Oh, dear," Greta murmurs. This is after several exaggerated blinks and rubbing her eyelids fail to bring a single thing into focus. There's nothing but darkness surrounding her, and she can't even begin to guess whether it's just too dark to see, or if the Rift has seen fit to strike her blind.

She's not sure which is more likely, which might be the most terrifying thing of all.

What if she never gets to see Iman again?

"... Greta?" someone ventures from far too close, and she nearly jumps out of her skin before placing the voice.

"Angus?" she flails an arm towards her dog, slumping a little when her fingers sink into his shaggy fur. "You're here?"

"Yes." There's a rustling crunch of paws on loose shale, and a puff of warm air as he snuffles at her face. "Are you all right?"

Greta slings her arms around his neck, her useless eyes stinging a bit, rocks shifting beneath her as she leans into his reassuringly solid presence. "I don't think so. I can't--I can't see anything."

"Neither can I," he replies, not sounding particularly happy about it. "It's too dark." After a beat, he tucks his nose beneath her chin and adds, "It's just too dark."

Greta sniffs once, then gives Angus a grateful squeeze. At least he's here. That's a comfort. She pats his fur for a few moments until she feels a bit steadier, then asks, "What do we do now?"

"Find Iman and Aqil," comes the immediate reply. "If they're here."

Greta smiles faintly. There doesn't seem to be anything inherently dangerous here, but given how dark it is, it's hard to feel entirely safe, either. Even if there's nothing lurking out there, what's to stop anyone from blundering right into a tree or off the edge of a cliff? Finding Iman and her bird would go a long way towards easing Greta's mind, and hearing Angus echo her sentiments makes her feel a bit less silly for having them.

"Right." She gets to her feet unsteadily, leaning on Angus's shoulder for support. It's not easy keeping her balance on the... rocky beach?... with no horizon to focus on. "I guess we'll just... go slowly?"

Angus leans against her leg. "Slow and steady," he agrees, and they set out.

[singthesong]

At first, the Balladeer isn't sure if he's got his eyes open after all or not. He's on his feet and doesn't quite remember how he got to wherever he is right now, but that happens often enough. It's not enough to constitute a real problem.

"No..." muses a low voice in his ear. "Something's wrong. It's like we got caught up between scenes - you know."

The Balladeer grins reflexively - Beth! It's his bird again! But she's right; it's far too dark here to be natural. With an air of experimentation, he reaches out and tries to push through, to whatever time and place might lie beyond this nothingness. His hand encounters only open air. "It doesn't feel like that." He waves around again, still finding no resistance. "I bet it's just one of those dreams."

"Well, of course." she replies sensibly, "It must be a dream if I'm here. But we'd still better figure out what it's about."

They pause and listen.

"I wonder if everyone else is seeing this, too?" He senses, more than feels, Beth's shrug. Either way it comes out the same. "We'd better go and find someone. Keep an ear out for Steven." As far as he knows, Steven hasn't had one of these dreams yet. That...probably should have been something he mentioned, honestly, but there's just so much to process with the Rift. The occasional lucid dreams hadn't seemed as important at the time. It's a shame: utter blackness isn't a good one to start out with.

"Could've been worse," Beth points out.

He starts inching forward, arm outstretched in front of him. It's quiet here. If anybody were in the general area, they probably would have heard them one way or another by now. They might have to search a while before they run into anyone, which means they'd better get going.

Beth's claws tighten in the fabric of his shirt. "Careful," she urges quietly in his ear.

The air is too still and temperate to be outside, not to mention that his footsteps sound like he's walking on wood or tile. Other than that, all he knows is that it must be a pretty big open space. Probably not a shop or someone's home, else he would've knocked his shins against something already. But his strides grow longer with each safe step, until he's almost moving at a normal pace, turning his head from side to side as if expecting to catch some distant light.

There's a short flutter of wings as Beth leaves his shoulder to settle on his head. Once she's settled, she taps the side of his temple with a wing, tilts her head upwards and screams as loudly as she can.

As it turns out, parrots are extremely loud birds.

Both of them wait and listen as the echoes bounce around the space. "It's big," Beth observes. "Maybe some kind of warehouse or something? Let's just get outside."

[omnomnom_feels]

"Now I have gone blind?!"

His voice echoes in the narrow space, as does the sound of his own breathing. Unjust. This world is unjust and he has suffered enough for any creature. He has already lost the core of his being; he does not deserve to begin losing what senses he possesses in this repugnant semi-mortal body as well.

"Calmly," says a little voice by his ear, and then again when he starts in surprise, "Calmly. Assess the situation before drawing a conclusion."

His breath catches, and it is with hope now that he asks, "Janan?"

"You know it is I," she replies, and it is true. "Now, let us consider -- calmly."

"Calmly," repeats Rashad, taking in a deep breath through his nose. He can remain calm. He is not a mortal to be controlled by his emotions. He is calm, and he is rational, and he is logical -- and there is an obvious way to test his sight. Another deep breath, and blue flame licks out over his hands, its flickering light illuminating the concrete stairwell in which he finds himself, along with the metal door beside him.

The little reptile on his shoulder blinks in the light, eyes pointing this way and that. "Better," she says blandly.

[biscuit_powered]

At first she doesn't understand. Her eyes are open -- she thinks they're open, though there's not even any difference when she tries to close them -- but she can't see anything. It's like she's been cast out into the void, except there's still solid ground under her feet, and that's definitely a solid...thing...she just tripped over. Solid wood chips gouging into her palms, too, when she hits the ground.

"...Ow," she says. Then she quiets at a rustling sound, alert and tense. Was she attacked? Has she truly been blinded? That's going to be a real bitch in a world without healing mages.

Then something big and feathery lands on her, and in another world that would be cause for shrieking and the unleashing of spells, but for some reason the contact is cause for instant calm. "Yhohm," she breathes in relief. "Hang on, I'm getting up."

"It's going to be a real bitch if we've been blinded," huffs Yhohm, ruffling his feathers and shifting his weight here and there to end up perched on her shoulder once she's standing.

Asmodia rolls that shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah, but if I can see you, I'm pretty sure that means it's just a dream. Come on, let's find someone to be blind with."

She'll just be feeling her way through the playground now. In the dark, because it doesn't occur to her that light would work when her tiefling darkvision doesn't. Her shins are going to be very badly bruised in short order.

[cheeseburger_backpack]

"One, two, three... glow," Steven mutters to himself. His gem stubbornly refuses to listen, and he gives it a tap with his fingertip. "C'mon. Just a little glow?" There's a pause, a grunt of effort, and a disappointed sigh. Still nothing.

"Steven? What are you doing?"

The voice startles him, and he turns towards it even though he knows he won't be able to see anything. "I'm trying to make my gem light up," he explains to whoever it is. There's something faintly familiar about her voice, but he's certain it's not one of the other Crystal Gems. He squints, brow furrowed with effort, but it's too dark for him to even make out movement. It isn't until he feels warm breath on his face that he realizes the speaker's very close to him. "Uh." He lifts his hands, blinking as his fingers find warm fur. "Hi."

"Hello," she replies, sounding faintly amused.

She doesn't seem to mind being touched, and it only takes a few moments of experimental patting for Steven to realize there's something familiar about the shape of her face. "Are you a lion?" he asks, sitting up a bit straighter.

"Not really." She lowers her head so he can reach between her ears. "I think I could look like almost anything, the way Amethyst can, but I picked lion because," she pauses a beat, as if embarrassed, "I thought you'd like it."

Steven grins. "You know Amethyst?" This is awesome! Maybe this means the other Crystal Gems aren't far behind!

"I know everything you know." She presses her broad forehead against Steven's chest. "I think I am you, or... part of you. My name is Allirea."

"That's so cool!" It's also definitely weird, but Steven's seen plenty of weirdness over the course of his life, and he's good at rolling with it. He has a lion buddy again, and this one can talk! No complaints! He hugs her head, which seems like a perfectly natural thing to do, then leans back a little. "So, hang on, if you can turn into anything, could you turn into a flashlight?" Because they could both use some light about now.

Allirea considers that. "I can try. Hang on." She sits back, leaving Steven to clasp his hands together in his lap and wait. There are a few moments of intense silence, and then an echo of his own disappointed sigh. "Flashlight's not happening," she admits. "But maybe..." there's another pause, and then a chitinous rustle of wings and a warm, pink glow.

Steven blinks against the sudden brightness, then grins as an oversized firefly hovers in the air before him. He lifts a hand, allowing Allirea to alight on his fingertips. "Hey, that's perfect!" She might not be the brightest thing in the world, but she still seems bright compared to the darkness pressing in around them. Her glow is enough to illuminate the ground beneath Steven's feet, which means he can walk without tripping. He stands, absently tugging his shirt back down with his free hand. "Maybe we can find a way out of here." Wherever 'here' is.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine and Coromotto have been wandering for some time through the assorted scenery. Her dæmon can't see anything, and neither can she, despite the assorted eyes she'd tried on. At a loss, she'd finally taken bat shape and settled herself between Coromotto's ears. She can direct him easily enough from there.

It isn't until they get near a complicated jumble of structures that both their ears pick up someone moving around, and hushed voices.

"Hullo?" Coromotto tries as Daine swivels her ears towards the others. After a few squeaks, she realizes she recognizes this one. Not many two-leggers have horns sprouting out of their heads.

Asmodia! she calls out. It's Daine. After a beat, she adds, Hang on, we'll come to you. We can... sort of make our way. Bear left a little, she adds to her wolf, guiding him around a swingset and some sort of climbing thing until they're within a few feet of Asmodia and her bird. Are you okay?

[literatimariano]

Jess is still pretty new to this, and it doesn't occur to him that he's dreaming. Mostly he's just really confused, and more than a little bit worried, that he can't seem to see anything. Not that power outages are new to him, but usually there's at least a window to give a sliver of light.

Where is he, anyway? He reaches out around him, searching hands trying to locate some sort of furniture or fixture or anything to help him figure out where he is. The quiet sound of his footsteps and carefully shuffling in the silence tells him he's indoors.

Then his hand touches something soft, something that flinches upon contact, just like he does, and there's a loud, indignant caw.

"Watch it!" comes a harsh but feminine voice.

"Sorry," Jess answers defensively, instinctively. "Who's there?"

"Jane."

"Jane who?"

"Jane the talking raven, genius."

"Right." He decides not to question that, and the raven doesn't seem particularly eager to either. If they were both less affected by the tendency of dreams making you take things for granted, they would probably be a bit less blasé about it.

Further exploration and cooperation eventually makes it clear that they're in some sort of shop, possibly a gas station. Maybe he can find some light somewhere, matches or a lighter... You'd think he'd have a lighter on him, but no luck. Blindly exploring it is.

[cheeseburger_backpack]

The good news is that once the Balladeer manages to find his way out of wherever he is, he won't have to go far before he finds Steven. He and Allirea are pretty easy to find, largely because Allirea is trying out dragon shape and spouting jets of flame.

"Awesome!" Steven cheers after one such blast. "I think you almost got it."

"It would be easier if I could keep it up for longer," Allirea says, sounding a bit breathless. "One more time, though." She pulls in another breath and lets out one more blast of fire, directing it towards a pile of sticks they managed to gather from a patch of forest a short distance away. This time, it takes.

Steven pumps his fists into the air in the new light of a cheerful (if somewhat muted) fire. "Yeah! Quick, be something with softer hands!" Allirea chuckles and changes back to lion shape, holding up a paw so Steven can give her a high-five.

[james_t]

In the dark, the bottom of his boot skids across a few smooth stones and he flings out an arm searching for a wall, but finds nothing. His first instinct is to ask the computer to bring up the lights, but before he can finish the words, a wet weight hits his thigh, then pushes itself up. Instinctively, Kirk gives it his arm for a way up, and a small familiar otter curls herself around his shoulders as if this is where she has always belonged.

"Ah, so I'm dreaming." he says, a faint smile on his lips that he knows Carina can hear in his voice.

"Good to see you too," she responds. Then, as a dry afterthought, "In a manner of speaking."

There's a soft wind, and Carina was in the water, so they must be in some sort of outdoors. Somewhat like the last time Carina was here. A beach, but this is different. A rough beach, not white sand and tropical. And, obviously, dark. Maybe it's a planet with no moon. But then-

"No stars, either," she says, and Kirk nods, lifting a hand to stroke her fur gently as he makes his way carefully along the beach. Maybe it doesn't matter what this place is. It's a dream, but nonetheless it makes him feel uneasy to hear the push of lazy waves against a shore without stars in the sky. It makes him think of ships lost at sea.

Maybe he can find something to make a fire. He presses forward, a little at a time, and wonders idly if Miss Asadi and her bird will make another appearance.

[andhiswife]

Angus stills abruptly, and Greta does, too, her hand fisting into his fur. They might both be effectively blind, but his ears are better than hers, and he wouldn't have stopped for no reason.

She holds her breath, listening hard. Over the omnipresent sound of the waves, there's a crunch of footsteps that aren't coming from them. It sounds like a single pair of feet - so, someone with an animal small enough to carry, like a bird - and her heart leaps. But Angus is sifting the air suspiciously, and it's a heavier tread than she'd expect from Iman. The Balladeer? No, Angus would know. Someone else, then. A stranger.

It occurs to her that if they both just stayed completely still and silent, whoever this is might pass them by, none the wiser. Then it occurs to her that someone might have pulled the same trick with her and Angus already, and that's enough to make her shiver. Better to just say something. If worst comes to worst, they could head for the waterline. The sound of the waves would mask their splashing, and they could escape that way.

"Hello?" she ventures, doing her level best not to sound frightened. "Is someone out there?"

[powerdealer]

Seth's here! Seth hasn't been here in a long time. Exactly how much time, and where he should be currently, he's not sure. He doesn't even really remember the last time he was in Manhattan, or whether that was even the last place he was. He only recognises the familiar feeling of the dream.

And the feeling really is all he has to go on, cos it is dark. He fumbles forward blindly, stepping carefully, until his hands touch solid rock. Concrete, it feels like. The room sounds small and smells musty, and gives Seth a very bad feeling very quickly.

"There's a door over here, Seth."

He whips around, momentarily startled, but he quickly realises who that voice belongs to. "Sephronia?" Well, having the margay to accompany him makes this a little less worrying. He feels his way over to her and reaches down to give her a quick greeting pet.

Without speaking further - as they're both thinking more or less the same thing, and neither feel the need to discuss the situation - they set off together, down an empty corridor.

[singthesong]

"Well, damn," Beth mutters into his hair as the two feel their way out of a door. The Balladeer doesn't need to respond, because that sure is Steven with a fire-breathing dragon.

He hadn't realized daemons could be mythical creatures too, but he's only met a few. Why not? He breaks into a jog towards them, stumbling a little as the terrain abruptly alters from pavement to dirt. Beth flaps her wings, but doesn't take off. It's still too dark; she might just fly right into a tree or something. "Steven!" he calls out, lifting a hand to wave. "Hey, you - "

Woah, did that dragon just turn into a lion?

[cheeseburger_backpack]

Steven and Allirea both turn towards the shout. Silhouetted against the firelight, their expressions aren't easy to read, but it's a safe bet that Steven's grinning. "Balladeer!" he shouts back, lifting a hand in turn. "We made a fire!" It's obvious, but Steven's proud of their achievement, and he figures it bears repeating. At least now people can see.

Maybe they can build a few more, spread them out a little so more people can enjoy them. Steven and Allirea don't have that clear a picture of their surroundings on a wider scale, but the area immediately around the blaze is nothing but flat, cracked mud, like a dried-out lakebed. If they can find other spots where there's no real danger of things spreading, they could easily add another little fire or two, Steven thinks.

"Hello!" Allirea says, taking the shape of a golden retriever and wagging her tail. Turning her gaze to the parrot, she asks, "Can you talk, too? What's your name? Mine's Allirea."

[biscuit_powered]

"If you can see me?" asks Yhohm with a croaking laugh, and Asmodia has to let out a snort of her own at her choice of words. Their amusement is cut off by a nearby voice, both turning uselessly to face it...ish.

"Daine?" Asmodia frowns, head tilted. Why did that voice not sound like a voice? "Well, I'm blind," she says lightly. Yhohm caws, and she adds, "Yhohm's blind, too. You?"

[wildmage_daine]

"Neither of us can see," Coromotto confirms. "We're not sure why. But Daine's in bat shape, so she can see with her ears."

I'm not sure if we're blind, or if it's just too dark, Daine muses from atop her wolf's head. I tried shifting my eyes all sorts of ways, but if there's no light, it wouldn't matter what shape I tried. She trundles in a little circle, ears swiveling as she examines the landscape. After a few moments, she concludes, I don't see anything that looks like a lamp, and it doesn't feel like the sun's out. The moon could be out, she supposes, or it could be cloudy. Odd's bobs, what a bother.

[singthesong]

"I see!" It's a real relief to see light again. Beth takes advantage of it, hopping back to the Balladeer's shoulder and then crawling her way down his arm, claws clutching at the fabric. The ground beneath them shifts again before they finally reach Steven's side. This dream is weird.

Once she's at a good height, she tilts her head down at Allirea. "Sure, I can talk! I'm Beth." It's not her name the same way other daemons have one - she hasn't entirely forgotten that. But never mind. "How did you turn into a dog like that?"

[cheeseburger_backpack]

Allirea cants her head to one side, tail still waving as she considers the question. Is it weird, being able to change shapes? They'd thought it might be a Gem thing - but if so, it's still sort of weird that she can only seem to manage animal shapes, not anything she wants. "I don't know," she admits. "I just thought about it, and it happened."

Steven punctuates that with a cheerful shrug. He's too used to magic to question it that thoroughly. "Gems can change shape if they want to, so we figured it was something like that. She can only do animals, though." Which isn't to say that's a shortcoming, and Steven gives Allirea a proud pat. She's really good at animal shapes! She even managed to breathe fire as a dragon; arguably, that was more useful than she would have been as a flashlight. Now they have a fire going, and she doesn't have to keep working at it.

"It's cool that you have a talking animal, too," Steven adds. "Do we all have talking animals, now?"

[spiritofwinter]

For a few moments, there's only the sound of his own breathing, loud in his ears. It's dark, and he's alone, and in the darkness his mind conjures up the jagged floor and shifting shadows of Pitch's lair.

"Jack?" A small voice speaks from the vicinity of his feet, and he gasps in a surprised breath. Then he's stooping before he's even really thought about what's happening; his hands touch soft fur and then there's an animal climbing into his arms.

"It's alright," he reassures her, holding her close. "It's just a little dark, that's all."

"The staff -- I think I stepped on it a second ago," says the -- cat? No, it (she) doesn't feel quite like a cat.

Jack shifts her weight to one arm and casts about on the ground. When his hands touch the familiar weathered wood a blue glow spreads down the staff's length, and he laughs in relief as he stands, willing it to glow brighter and illuminate the rows of desks flanking them.

"...You're a fox!" he exclaims, delighted at the discovery.

The fox looks down at herself, apparently just as surprised. "I think I'm part of you," she says.

[spiritofwinter]

The glow from Jack's staff is enough to light the ground in front of them as he holds it low, Mary trotting along just ahead of his own bare feet. This library seems to have gone on forever without any sign of other people...at least, until he catches sight of a little golden glow ahead and hears soft voices.

"Think they'll see us?" he murmurs.

"Only one way to find out," the fox replies.

Jack nods, and brightens his glow. "Hello?" he calls.

[rae_of_sun]

They've been wandering the stacks for a while, not heading in any particular direction. Sunshine knows enough about the dewey decimal system and library layouts - at least broadly speaking - that she could make an educated guess as to where the exits are, but then what? They have no way of knowing if outside the library is any better than inside, and she likes libraries. Hell, her knife is giving her enough light to read by. She could find a book and settle in with Dom until she wakes up. It would be uneventful - and part of her thinks it would be a shame to not at least try to find Spike so she can manhandle his adorable dog - but 'uneventful' is pretty sheer when measured against things like 'terrible.' Not that anything bad has happened (yet), but the whole pitch black thing isn't inspiring much confidence.

Might be best to just quit while they're ahead. To whatever extent quitting is allowed.

She spies the blue glow a few moments before she hears the voice, and then she starts in surprise. Dom lets out a fatalistic tsk, but she ignores him in favor of squinting at the figures standing at the end of the row. They're harder to make out than they should be, and if her vampire vision was personified enough to talk, she suspects it would be bitching about the darkness cheating. But it's just a kid with a fox, and while the glowing isn't normal, it isn't necessarily dangerous, either. She's glowing, and all it means in her case is that she has an incredibly competent landlady.

She'll just... try to stay out of reach of that stick.

She can feel Dom's disapproval, but she calls back, anyway. "Hey." Ugh, meeting new people in dreams is always so weird. She edges down the aisle, holding her knife down low lest she step on any fallen books. "Um. Are you guys... okay?" She might be asking if they're uninjured, or she might be asking if they're decent people.

[biscuit_powered]

Bat shape. Gods, Daine is the only normal person in this whole place and it's so refreshing, even if she is a druid.

"If it was just dark, I'd be able to see perfectly fine," replies Asmodia. "Consolation prize for losing the genetic lottery."

Yhohm clacks his beak next to her ear suddenly. "But not if it isn't natural darkness!" he exclaims. "She's right; if there's no light at all it doesn't matter how good your eyes are. Try making a light!"

"...I'm going to feel really stupid if this works," admits Asmodia. She mutters something under her breath, and then light suddenly comes spilling forth from a ring on one of her fingers.

[wildmage_daine]

Can Asmodia do that? Daine isn't entire clear on how her magic works. A moment later, she has her answer, and she squints her beady eyes against the sudden glow coming from Asmodia's ring.

"Oh!" Coromotto says, blinking. "That's better."

"Much," Daine agrees, once she's hopped off of his head and resumed human shape. She can take bat shape again if she needs to, but now that there's enough light to see by, it seems a bit silly for her to just keep sitting on her wolf's head like an absurd little hat. "And now we know we're not really blind, so that's something." Nodding at Asmodia's ring, she adds, "That's fair useful."

[spiritofwinter]

"It's her," breathes Mary in surprise. "She's what's glowing!"

"More importantly," says Jack just as quietly, "she can see us."

It's less surprising than it should be, somehow. Something about being with Mary makes Jack feel more present, like he should be more visible. He lets the woman approach, a little wary though he's excited as he always is when he meets someone new.

"Uh, yeah," he replies out loud, glancing down at his fox, then back up at the woman. He doesn't see an animal with her, and though he can't say why, it worries him. "I'm -- I mean, we're a little lost, I guess. Are you okay?"

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine eases to a halt outside stick-swinging range. It's hard to read shadows, here, but she's not getting any creepy vibes off this kid. She's not exactly getting human vibes, either, but her dark vision didn't come with an illustrated user guide, so she can't say anything for certain.

"Yeah, we're fine," she says. Modomnoc trundles out from beneath her hair with palpable reluctance, antennae waving dubiously. Unlike Sunshine, he doesn't seem to have been gifted with a light-web, but his fuzzy body takes on a bit of her glow thanks to proximity. "We haven't been outside, yet, but it seems safe in here." She gives the word 'safe' a little distance, as if not wanting to jinx things.

She gives the pair a considering look, then tips her chin in her bee's direction. "This is Dom. I'm Sunshine."