ic Dream of You(IC)

[Tiffany Korta]

“Oh I’ve some experience of visiting dreams before, me and a friend sorted out a little problem there.†she gave her best comforting smile.

As Daphne stepped forwards she thought about Rene and there little trip into the dreamlands, if it was something similiar she’d have to contact him for his experience. As they hadn’t swapped numbers, she wasn’t sure he even had a phone, she’d have to use her mind to do so.

 

For now she cleared her mind of such things and reached out with her mind to probe this woman to try and find out exactly what was going on here.

[Ari]

GM

 

Amelyth

 

Surveying his potential savior with a slight squint and pursed lips, Ted considered what Amanda had told him. "N-ooooo, not really into magic and stuff. It's all just a trick, right? Not like they've got 'magical powers'" he waved his hands vaguely in the air "or anything? And the last time there was a big science expo with those A.S.T.R.O. weirdos somebody got turned into a soundwave, so I'm kinda iffy on them too..."

 

Scratching his head, the scruffy young man mulled over their options, coming to a decision with a shrug "Eh, to hell with it. At least I can yell at 'em if I get turned into something crazy. Let's go-wait."

 

Turning from the direction of the con-center to Amelyth again, Ted frowned "Wait...isn't this all because I can't stand up to my brother? Why don't I just give you the address of the place, and you can be there in case he tries anything when I tell 'im he's full of (@&$? I guess we could check out the expo, though..."

 

Arriving at the gadget show, the duo had to wait in line to even reach the Mind and Mentality booth, and it was over twenty minutes before they pushed their way through the crowd to the dream chairs. 

 

"Hey buddy!" Ted called cheerfully over to the sour-looking Indian woman fiddling with a control pane tied by cables to the colorful setup "We'd like a session, that cool?"

 

"No." Was the short, inelegant reply. Glancing over at the new arrival, the woman added "Dr. Faiur. And let me be clear: No. This thing hasn't been reset yet, you aren't party to anybody I owe anything, and after the last time," her cold eyes lighted on Amanda "I'm not letting a super within thirty feet of my creation. Go talk to the chemists if you want to play. I'm busy."

 

"Did somebody say 'chemists'?!" a cheery voice bellowed from behind the pair, which soon revealed its owner to be a hirsute Korean man built like a small barrel and with a young, tenuous beard over a very strong smile "I'm Chung, an undergrad of just that field!". He shoved a tray at them, full of small, round things that looked like miniature cakes. "Take one, get one free memory clearing!" went on the eager chemist, beaming like the Sun in a way remarkably like a used-car salesman "shuffle out those old mental cobwebs and wake up bereft of doubt and forgetfulness! Their, uh, effects are temporary," Chung admitted sheepishly, to a scornful sniff from Dr. Faiur as she carefully adjusted an adaptor "but I can guarantee they'll make your dreams real eye-openers!"

 

Staring dumbfounded at the fast-talking scientist, Ted slowly reached out and delicately picked up one of the pills. Shrugging at Amelyth he offered "Well, maybe it'll do something?" and swallowed it.

[Ari]

GM

 

Stronghold

 

Hissing irritably as Haukea refused to bite, the dream dogs scuttled in a circle around Stronghold and Abby.

 

"Thank you," the older woman muttered softly as she drew closer to Haukea, gently swaying whenever the small bundle in her(slightly torn and dirtied) arms started to whimper "but we have to do...something. If we look for and find this kid's parents, or survivors or something, and get them out of this place, maybe it'll solve my problem? Make those..." she looked at the monsters and quickly looked away "...things leave?"

 

"You don't have a problem, Abigail Simmons" said the eyeless dog. "You are the problem. Little Carlos there would be awake by now if not for you. Instead he'll keep dreaming, drawing closer and closer into my hands..." 

 

"It isn't like anyone will ever know, either" said the mouthless dog "children can't talk. And when they do, they are easily ignored. It's why so many evil things happen to them, you see. That and your weakness."

Edited August 21, 2014 by Arichamus

[Ari]

GM

 

Marsha glared at Rene. "That's what I just told you, I can't. I've tried! I've done everything I can think of to make it leave me alone! I've painted pictures that are the total opposite of my dreams, I've taken drugs to stop dreaming at all." she grimaced at the memory "They made me vomit, but whatever. I've even taken up a stupid dream journal to try and see if they're attached to anything in real life, and all I've got is 'supes awesome, me suck'."

 

Rubbing her face vigorously, the artist said "I can't believe that's all there is to it. There has to be something else, it can't be that simple. I can't be that simple..."

 

Getting up brusquely, Marsha retrieved the broken toy and tossed it into an open trash can. Facing the ancient artist she snapped "So! If you've got all the answers, how do I make this all go away? Convince myself that I'm the specialest enduring little snowflake? Paint something to trap my insecurity and show how dumb it is? Work for a humanitarian org?" 

[Ari]

GM

 

Miss Grue

 

Finding one mind in a million is never easy, but for a race of natural(or at least naturally potential) telepaths like the Grue it was much easier than the norm. And Abby's mind, fluctuating with fears, was hard to miss in as confident a crowd as an A.S.T.R.O. expo.

 

One image dominated her waking mind: masses, streams, crowds of people marching slowly to their deaths. And herself in the middle, frozen, watching as brightly-clad beings swooped or ran or teleported to the rescue of those around her, while her fumbling hands did nothing except push the shades a little faster to their dooms. 

 

A massive cloud of horror spread over the image, and Daphne could feel the cloud reaching out to her.

 

Who are you? it asked. This isn't worth your time. This one is lost.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Non! I think it is something else entirely. You life is yours, liberty, liberty, liberty! Seize it, that is all!"

 

He sat down, stroking his beard. 

 

"Your fury is righteous, and not to be denied. For fury is denial. It is the spirit that will not accept, that kicks against the universe that is so wrong and absurd. Oui! Fury is born from despair, and leaves it behind!"

 

"Do not think I have a bolt of magic lightning or a spell of obliteration that can kill the parasite that bleeds you. I do not. That demon, he was goading me to fight it - and either it was over confident, which I doubt, or it knew I could not harm it. Or, even worse, it would feed on my fight!"

 

"What I suggest is that we fight it, but not on its terms. Even if we cannot win, then we lose defiant and proud. that is What I suggest!"

 

He stood up. 

 

"So, why you, lovely Martha? did he pick a soul from the crowd at random, like a pin falling on a chessboard? or is there something of you that is sweet, that is poetic? Do you soar, do you dream? Do you fall?"

[ChrisClark13]

Amelyth grabs Ted's hand before he can raise the pill to his mouth, "Don't, I have a bad feeling that it might just give the Specter a chance to dig it's claws further into your mind." The heroine starts to feel confident as she starts to assert some sort of control over the situation. She looks over to the man handing out the pills, "I would hold off on handing those out, there's some demon called the Inner Specter jerking people around by their dreams and causing suicides. People are dying because of it."

Amelyth then goes up to the receptionist, channeling her inner Renegade-Shepard, "I heard there was something going on with dreams here, has anyone committed suicide after using any of the dream related machines here?"

[horngeek]

Stronghold looked at the dogs, then at Abby, frowning.  "...these things keep trying to convince me to leave you behind, trying to convince you that you're the problem..."

 

She started chuckling.  "I've been looking at this all wrong, thinking that it's all up to me... it's not.  I'm not good with emotions, never have been."

 

It's always been other people.  Her sister, her parents... oh, sure, she had the Orange Ring... but this wasn't the physical world, was it.  

 

Here, she wasn't the strong one.  Stronghold looked over at Abigail.  "Here, you're the strong one, I think.  It's not me who can make them go away... it's you."

 

She didn't have anything to back this up, but it....  "I'm... not sure how.  But these things... they keep focusing on the obvious.  Power, abilities... at the very least, let's stop looking at things the way they want us to."

[Ari]

GM

Rene

"No to all those things, old man" Marsha replied dully, looking vaguely around the apartment as if she'd dropped those qualities somewhere and just needed to find them. "I've never been what you'd call exceptional, just hard working and luckier than a lotta people who have that going for them."

Strolling over to her easel, the wan young woman stroked the canvas idly. "So...if it's not somethin' I've got, and if it was I doubt it'd be my artistic talents or winning personality, I guess that just leaves how I affect other people. I help out sometimes as a counselor for Eff See You, sometimes I paint or draw out problems people are havin', it helps to have a visual expression if words don't cut it..."

Suddenly, a hand darted out and grabbed a brush. "Say, now there's an idea. If this demon fella wants me not because I've got somethin' but can DO somethin', that makes things a whole lot easier."

Dragging up a stool and plopping down, Marsha almost automatically arranged some nearby paint cans and started to mix some of the colors, eyes fixed on the blank sheet. "Even if I don't believe it, there's gotta be some kind of place even for people like me. I just have to make it real to me..." As she spoke, the first strokes began. They weren't half as fine as what Rene had seen on her other work, but they had an energy and life he hadn't seen before.

[Ari]

GM

Amelyth

Ted looked downright crestfallen at Amanda's move, looking forlornly after the pill. He didn't gainsay her, though, no matter how stricken and wounded Chung looked as he moved on.

Faiur, for her part, looked just affronted "Kid, at no point in my life have my inventions been the site of such flagrant, self-destructive stupidity. They have been the site of some recent overly-emotional displays, but that's it. Got a few people asking to use them to stop suicides. Seems they suffered from depression thanks to their dreams" despite her stolidity, Faiur couldn't help but roll her eyes at that "and the nights they didn't have any seemed to make the symptoms vanish, but I don't just hand out rides on my babies for free, you know? This isn't a really big Oculus Rift, it's sensitive, one-of-a-kind equipment!"

Looking uncomfortable, Ted asked nervously "So...them not using your machine might have...led to some of that bad stuff?"

"Of course not, how could the..." The woman pulled up short, paling noticeably "...though, now that I think of it, one of the...victims..."

Turning around sharply, Faiur tapped furiously on a control panel, opening up the machine again. "Get in. I can suppress the...you won't have dreams for a while. I just want to be sure, you understand?"

[Supercape]

Rene smiled. If he was totally honest with himself, and two centuries of wise reflection had made him very honest with himself, he could not help but feel satisfied with a light salting of smug. 

 

This is how to fight despair. With hope!

 

"Madame, you could not make me happier. By which I mean ze passion you have makes me happy, rather than you are unable to make me so" he explained, bowing slightly. 

 

A councillor? an artist who gives hope? And not like I, vainglorous and removed...no, she is on the knifes edge of despair, how much more potent is she? To give hope in blackness!

 

He studied the painting carefully. "It is not ze mastery of hand, or ze mastery of oils, that infuse art. non! It is ze liberty of ze soul! What you make is wondrous to behold!" he said, full of genuine admiration and genuine encouragement. 

 

"This will be the gateway to ze road of victory!"

[Ari]

GM

Stronghold

Taking the small yet potent artefact with trembling hands after several dangerous moments of amazement, Abby gaped at the band of ochre metal, putting it on her right ring finger with deep gravity. "I've never even dreamed about something like this," she whispered, eyes bright with tears "but...it's the only place this could happen. Alright!" Suddenly turning to face the now rather more cautious dream dogs, Abby's suit, torn and grubby to a caricatured degree, wavered and reformed into a vivid orange costume like Haukea's own, and the Ring flared and crackled with a power that transcended states of consciousness!

"You can't-!"

"You forget-!"

"Shut up! You're parasites, and predators who can only hunt the helpless!" even as she spoke, Abby gestured sharply wit her Ring-bearing hand, a ball supporting a square platform appearing under their feet and beginning to bear the three away. "Now seeing as nobody else is around that needs rescuing from you, I'll just leave you both to starve! Miss Stronghold, please keep still, and hush there, little guy" she added softly to Carlos, the boy twitching and whimpering at the light and noise in his formerly peaceful, vague dream "you'll be okay, let's get you back home. Where's a safe place? Here..." Touching the child's fingers to the Ring, Abby briefly surrendered some of its power.

The dogs began running after them "You cannot!" they shouted, frothing at Haukea "This is not permitted! Not their place!" Giant orange anvils crashed from the sky and smashed them through the ground, silencing them and giving Abby just that much broader a smile.

A golden bridge sprang up under the floating ball, leading it through the towering wreckage to a perfectly sound apartment building, to an apartment covered in pictures and photos, with a cat sleeping on the balcony, to a room with walls and ceiling filled with ornate drawings by a clumsy childish hand. Carlos was sleeping on the bed, with an older already up and reading in a corner.

At first the place seemed enormous, Cyclopean, but as they neared the bedroom it shrank to normal size, and as Abby put the dreamer back into his body, the world gained, for the briefest instant, a sense of weight and reality.

The next instant, the pair awoke, the cupola lid spinning open above them, and Dr. Faiur was politely reminding Haukea and 'Mz. Strom' that it WAS an open expo.

"I can't let even my insurers's friends hang around all day, miss. It's been almost half an hour."

Starting up, Abby blinked around at the busy convention hall, then looked at the bare ring finger on her right hand. "Right, yeah, sorry doctor, didn't think it'd take that long" she said quietly. The doctor snorted and began the involved work of reconfiguring the machine to match other brainwave patterns.

"Well, that did help a little," she told Stronghold as she escorted the superheroine back to the door "but...it was just a dream, right? I didn't really do anything?"

[Ari]

GM

Rene de Saens

"There. Finished."

Tossing the paintbrush into a glass of water on a nearby shelf, Marsha stood up and backed away to critique her handiwork. Glancing at Rene she added with a quirk of her lips "Hope y'like it. Your fault it exists, after all."

'It' was a notably crude painting, though given the constraints and circumstances that was excusable. It was a takeoff of the myth of Sisyphus, showing somebody struggling up a rocky hillside pushing a heavy load. They were muddily-colored and the face was indistinct, but hardy and resolute. A shining figure, bound to an equally large burden of their own, was just reaching over to help.

Tapping her chin, the painter scowled deeply "Ehhhh...it's obvious, trite and the composition is just plain clichè. Bet everyone who sees it will freak out, it's how it seems to go. At least it gets the point across. And it's at least kinda true. They're not here to supplant us, just to help. They've got problems, small victories, nagging regrets and all the other stuff." Turning fully to the ancient artist Marsha smiled awkwardly, arms crossed "Feels kinda silly it took me so long to get that, but 'least it's got. Thank you, Mr. Dream."

The black threads that had flowed from her head to the easel withered with a far-off howl of anguish and defeat. For the first time he'd seen, the young woman looked downright relaxed and even a little happy.

[ChrisClark13]

Amelyth relaxed just a little bit and nodded her approval, no, her assent to whatever help this invention might give. If it could suppress the dreams, then maybe this guy here could get up the nerve to stand up to his brother, "Alright, might as well give it a shot. Maybe keep an eye out for people with a demon haunting their dreams in the future alright?"

Standing there she realized she felt a burning need to strike back at the demon somhow, make it so it could never do this to anyone ever again.

[Ari]

GM

The cupola closed over her and Ted, the man shifting uncertainly before a soft tone filled the ears, and both were cast suddenly into sleep.

The world of solid, tangible reality was transformed into one of shifting uncertainty, guided by the vagaries of the mind. As before, Ted's contribution to the local psychic impressions was a massive black tower, carved all over with everything he feared.

I'll kill myself like Mom

Everything I am to my family is a lie

My brother will just try and give me over to the Mob tomorrow

We'll be put out on the street

I'll watch my kid starve because I wasn't strong enough...

And, as before, the monster crouched on top of it, casting Ted's fears into even deeper shadow and weighing them even more heavily on his mind.

"So, uh..." Ted stared up at the hideous thing looking down at him and Amelyth from the ramparts "What do we do about that?"

"Nothing. You leave, because you cannot fight me even here."

[ChrisClark13]

"Yeah! You just keep saying that and maybe we'll just kick your butt anyway just to spite you!" Amelyth was mildly surprised to find herself shouting at the demon already without even thinking about it.

She looked the scene over and took off dashing towards the tower and as an afterthought yelled back to Ted, "Hey! Help me tear this tower down! It'll be fun!"

The heroine flies into the air and crackles with psionic energy as she divekicks into the tower!

[Tiffany Korta]

If Daphne had one strength, and an occasional flaw, was that she would never ever give up on anyone, she truly believed that there was goodness and strength of character in everyone.

 

As gently as she could she teased out images of the good that the woman achieved no matter how small. In her opinion nothing was small or insignificant to do help and do good.

 

We can’t be everywhere we depend on the real heroes who have no powers but try to help anyway. Remember nobody is unimportant.

 

She looked up at the dark creature defiance in her voice.

 

And I’m Miss Grue and I want allow this one or any other to be lost.

 

Still it wouldn’t hurt to get a little help here, and she knew just the expert to call upon.

 

Hey Rene can you hear me? It’s Daphne, you know from the dreamland, I could use you help help on something right now.

[Ari]

GM

Amelyth

Once again, Amelyth's attack bounced off. Above her, a dull snigger resounded through the air.

"See? Your efforts are useless. Wasted, as much as y-"

It was interrupted by a primal yeolwp as Ted drove his fist through the gothic masonry, sending massive blocks crashing down and toppling the ramparts clutched by the demon's feet. Rendered roostless,, the shifting monster retreated to another, higher tower, this one founded on Ted's fear that he was lying to his family. "You may break some, Theodore Tently, but you can never break them all-"

It was interrupted a second time by Ted's furious assault, crashing down another side of the unholy edifices that housed the man's deepest fears. Shaking, he shouted at the demon "Maybe not! But SHE thinks she should help me with somethin' that ain't even her problem, and if she's willing to bet we can take you down, I'm not gonna make her wrong! Let's do this, Amelyth! For Justice!"

Side by side, the draconic psionic and the young man smashed the Strength of Secrets to pieces, the formless air crackling with unleashed power, wild yells, frantic screeches and the thunder of falling stones. Soon, the black castle lay in a heap of ruins, with their enemy flying away into the void of nightmares howling with impotent rage.

Ted silently offered Amanda his hand.

[Supercape]

Being contacted in the head was not so unusual for Rene. All sorts of ghosts and spirits did it, as well as sorcerers and warlocks. But...his memory was good at the best of times. And now, tired, and fresh out of the dreamlands, it was more sluggish than normal. 

 

"Ah yes! I remember! Daphne....yes....the girl at ze flower shop! Non! The woman at ze Museum! Non...non!"

 

His memory was a little fuzzy at the best of times, but the dreamlands and his fatigue made it worse. Then, the pieces clicked together. 

 

"Ah Oui! Daphne, from the Dreamlands! Why did you not say so?" he scolded her. 

 

The coincidence was too much to discard. 

 

"It seems most strange you should phone now. When the dreams have some infection. Tell me, why do you phone? Are you having nightmares? Terrors? Are you in despair? There is a parasite awakened, who feasts on the hopelessness of souls!" he explained, waving his finger dramatically. 

 

Before stabbing it at the painting in front of him. 

 

"But it has one less course!" he smiled at the painter. 

[ChrisClark13]

Amelyth tentatively reached a hand back out to Ted, "That wasn't so hard was it? Just gotta get in your own headspace and face the thing head on..." She grabs it firmly, unsure of what he wants to do at this point, but she's pretty sure it's not anything too bad. "Wanna go talk it to your brother next? You don't really have to wait for the meeting, unless you want to tell him off to his face."

The heroine looks off at the nightmare beast running away from just a few moments of strong resistance. If she were a nightmare beast herself she would've done this a lot differently... she lets out a chuckle at her own thoughts. "In the end it's way weaker than I expected... the Inner Specter."

[Ari]

GM

 

"Yeah!" Ted was grinning like a loon as the dream began to dissolve "Kinda weird, I gotta say. I'd have thought he'd make it harder to find the hold it's got in my brain. And why'd it just leave like that? Psychics is crazy" he concluded with a wry shake of his head as the cupola opened up above them to reveal Dr. Faiur's familiar scowl. 

 

"All done? Problem solved?" she asked curtly, sighing in relief at the answering nod and reaching over to shut off the machine "Excellent, please depart now so I can fix whatever you've broken with my extremely-expensive and complicated device. Good day, and congratulations."

 

As the duo walked away, the young man sauntered through the crowd, his step lighter and eye brighter. "I'd rather wait, to be honest," he explained to Amelyth "I wanna say to his face that he's full of crap and wasting both our time, and with you I can shrug off any hollow threat he makes! And I gotta go get ready for work, so this is goodbye for now."

 

Passing a hand over his stubbly scalp, he shook Amanda's hand with the other, his grip much stronger in the real world than the dream dimension. "I couldn't have done that without your help, kid. I owe you one. See you around, and don't be a stranger if you see me again, 'kay?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Wait I have an idea this might tickle a little.

 

Without any ceremony it appeared that Daphne was standing beside Rene.

 

Oh nice painting I have one like that right here. I’ve borrow a tiny part of you visual cortex and I’m projecting myself into to vision, I suggest you don't look at anything you don’t want me to see.

 

Being a idea mental projection she’d gone for her “secret identity†as a teenage human, beside she’d met Rene originally in this form.

 

I can do the opposite so you can see what I’m seeing right now, well was seeing - trying to be in two places at once can be quite confusing.

[Supercape]

Rene frowned at the invasion. 

 

"Zut Alors! Is a man's mind not his castle?" he asked her. "Non! Do not answer. If you borrow ze eyes of another, be sure to knock first" he said. He had an instinct to close his eyes in defiance, but then decided to defy his urge to defiance by keeping them open. 

 

"Are you aware of ze predator of ze dreams? Something is plaguing ze city, a creature that feeds on ze despair of ze city. I fear ze modern zeitgeist is ze meat and ze cheese on which it has grown!" he said, stroking his goatee. 

 

"What this City needs is hope! Hope for ze men and women! Ze heroes in capes and masks are not inspiration but inferiority. How can we inspire ze gestalt, hmmm? Shakespeare? How noble in deed?"

 

"Anyway, I ramble, vexed by ze horror I have seen. What brings you wandering into ze dreamlands? A most welcome wandering too, I say!"

[horngeek]

GM

Stronghold

"Well, that did help a little," she told Stronghold as she escorted the superheroine back to the door "but...it was just a dream, right? I didn't really do anything?"

 

Haukea fell silent, thinking.  "Well..."

 

She'd come into this thinking it might be like anything else.  Bad guys to beat down, someone to stop.  

 

But that wasn't it at all, was it?  "More than I did.  More than I could do.  I've... never been very good at dealing with emotions.  Mine... other peoples'... I've always relied on other people to help with that.  My sister, my parents... friends..."

 

She was rambling.  Again.  "Um.  Anyway.  I couldn't do what was really important in a place like that.  You had strength I didn't.  And..."

 

...

 

"Okay, while it's really geeky, the best way I can think to put this is from Harry Potter.  Yeah, it was a dream, but that didn't mean it wasn't real.  If that makes sense?  It might not have seemed like much, but it...

 

It mattered."

[Tiffany Korta]

Oh do you mean like that speech from TNG when Picard is slapping down Q. Daphne's face lit up when Rene mentioned Hamlet, though maybe not in the way that he’d intended.

 

And you  have no idea what I’m saying do you? I’m sorry to bust into your brain but I think this Despair Squid has planted it’s tentacles into more than a few people. Do you know a way we could stop him, or her I suppose, all at once?