applesaucedream | Falling [Open to Multiple]

The last time Daine so thoroughly exhausted herself was during the siege at Pirate's Swoop, so it's no great surprise that in her dream, that's where she wakes. She sits up on the cot they've set up for her in the stables, where the ponies could keep an eye on her. Her head swims, and she grips the edge of the cot until the sensation passes.

A familiar gray nose enters her field of vision, and Daine smiles as Cloud, her pony, sniffs her over. "I'm fine," she reassures the mare, reaching up to give her neck a pat.

You're no such thing, Cloud replies tartly. You've drained yourself again. I won't always be there to lend you strength when you need it.

"Good thing you're here now, then." Daine steadies herself against the pony as she rises to her feet, ignoring Cloud's irritated snort. "Where's Numair?"

It's trouble enough to keep an eye on you, let alone the stork-man.

Daine sighs. "Fine. I'll find him myself."

She makes it to the stable doors before the scene begins to disintegrate around her. Daine whirls about to look for Cloud, but the stable is gone, replaced by nothingness. Within moments, nothing remains but the planks below her feet - and then they, too, crumble away. Daine drops into the Dreaming with a cry of dismay, not knowing where she'll land.

[OOC: Daine's taking a two-day nap after the events in this thread, giving her enough time to drop into the minds of a good number of people. Go nuts!]

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Almondine's excitement is catching, and Daine barks back at her, unperturbed when she trips over her own paws and takes a brief tumble through the grass. It's hard to feel upset about anything when you're having this much fun. Where are we going? she asks as she recovers herself and catches up to Almondine.

I don't know! Almondine answers happily. She doesn't have a destination in mind and even as she glances around for landmarks, she realizes she doesn't recognize anything around them.

They were just somewhere she knows, she can remember that, but even as she struggles to name where it was, the memory slips away like a breeze.

Instead, she turns to Daine and asks, Where would you like to go?

Daine considers her options, which seem strangely limitless. They don't seem to be in the park anymore, but she doesn't especially want to return there when they could visit the park any old time. It doesn't really feel like Tortall, either. Vague memories of what Edgar's told her about his home roll to the surface of her mind like spouting whales, and she says, The farm.

Even as Daine says it, Almondine spots a familiar path through the trees. Her ears twitch as she hears the stream in the distance behind her. She grins.

Come on! she calls over her shoulder. Then she bounds through the undergrowth.

The smells, the sights, the sounds - everything is so familiar. There's the echo of an ache in her chest, and she wonders why, but it's gone as quickly as it came.

With an eager little yap, Daine takes off after her, nose to the air. The scents are new to her, but they carry with them a sense of comforting familiarity. It smells like home, somehow, for all that it's nothing like Tortall, or even Snowsdale.

It seems to take no time at all before they are emerging from the trees and bounding through the fields toward the farm. Almondine heads straight for the house, pleased to find the door propped open.

She trots from room to room, but finds no one. She sniffs hopefully, but suddenly the air is devoid of scent. A quiver of concern crawls under her skin and she quickly circuits the upstairs only to find that it, too, is empty.

Clattering down the stairs, she gallops toward the barn, through a Come on! at Daine as she passes her.

Daine follows Almondine into the house, pausing once she's inside. Part of her wants to check out every nook and cranny, but it seems rude, so she waits as Almondine trots upstairs. It's quite interesting to look at: far more spacious and airy than the base, but still nothing like what she's used to. She wishes the city had places like this to stay, instead of just apartments.

Something in the air shifts, and Daine's tail drops. Is something wrong? Something feels wrong.

When Almondine bounds past her, Daine twists to follow her, sprinting toward the barn. Are there horses? she asks, trying to shake the uneasy feeling that had passed through her.

Almondine is hopeful that the family will be in the barn (of course they are, it's daytime) but she's not even to the door before she knows they aren't there.

Neither are the dogs. The kennels are empty, as is the whelping room. Not even the scent of dogs lingers, though fresh hay has been spread. Almondine is confused. Where is everyone?

There should be dogs here, she tells Daine. Lots of dogs.

The empty house was bit strange, but seeing an empty barn is stranger, still. It's especially unnerving because it really looks like it ought to be occupied: there's fresh hay in the kennels, as if dogs are expected, but no smell of dogs anywhere.

I don't smell anyone, Daine says. Is there anywhere else they could be? She didn't see any other outbuildings, but she doesn't know this place like Almondine does.

The loft! Almondine bounds up the stairs to the hay loft, only to find it empty as well. She sniffs around dispiritedly, her tail dropping.

I don't understand.

Daine follows her up the stairs at a more sedate pace, finding the loft to be as empty as everywhere else. This doesn't make sense. After giving the area around the top of the stairs a cursory sniff, she sits down, puzzled. It's not just the absence of people (or dogs) that's so confusing, now that she really thinks about it. Belatedly, it occurs to Daine that she has no business being in Edgar and Almondine's realm; she ought to be in New York. How are we here?

What? Almondine asks, confused.

The walls of the loft bend and blur before her eyes.

We were in New York before - in the park, Daine says, crossing the loft to sit next to Almondine. So how can we be here, too? Did the rift take us? It hadn't felt like the rift, and now the walls are starting to warp in ways that walls really shouldn't. This can't be happening, it...

It's a dream, Daine realizes. I think we're dreaming.

The walls have become indistinct, and Almondine has the feeling of nowhereness.

Dreaming?

Yes. Daine turns to nuzzle Almondine's neck reassuringly. As she begins to remember just what's been happening in the waking world, though, she straightens with a little whine. Oh! I think I must have fainted.

Falling [Open to Multiple]

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