[Dream] Sweet Breezy Times (Blythe, Wrenmae, Bannon)

[Riki Stormheart]

23rd of Spring, 511 AV Everything was quiet in the meadow. Almost as if the world was holding it's breath, waiting for something to happen, something to break the silence. Syna was just starting to peak over the trees, grasping to her last moments with Leth before she looked over Mizahar for the day. In the center of this silent world Riki, a quiet Drykas, sat surrounded by the grass. Nothing moved. The grass did not sway, the trees did not whisper, not even the wind dared to howl. Who would break the silence in the meadow? Green eyes looked over the expanse of Caiyha's world curiously. The Drykas took in the greens and reds of the flora and the vibrant orange of the sky. He didn't want to break the silence either. How horrible would it be if he was the one to rip through the stillness? Hesitantly, the Drykas drew in a breath. It seemed to echo through the silent space. A rabbit jolted through the grass like lightning. There did not seem to anything chasing it. It just ran for the sake of running. A small smile played on Riki's lips as the small critter dashed out of sight. Then, almost as if on cute, the wind began to blow. The leaves whispered in the wind setting the meadow alive with their wordless speech. The grass began to whisper back as though the two plants were conversing in a language the Drykas could not understand. Maybe they talked about him. He was a bit out of place in this world. He was born in a place of plains and grass, not of trees. The symphony of flora seemed to hush after a few chimes as if it was wondering who would add to their song. Who… or what would be the next thing to break the silence?

[Wrenmae]

An echo of whispers, reflection of self, the winding tunnel toward enlightenment. Images, more than words, unfurled like new wings in Wrenmae's mind. Rocked by his soft breathing, his consciousness was borne aloft and...elsewhere.

Fire, screaming, the sensation of something burning along his back...Great, Black, Eyes.

Snatches of memory, conversation, metaphor. He was hurled through the winding staircase of his unconscious by thin threads of gossamer dreamstuff, twisted through nightmare and dream till finally, cut, the strands waved from him like departing snakes, white on the yellow wind.

There was...breeze.

Wrenmae stood on the slight decline of a meadow, silence the only currency spent in the world around him. The sun hung high in the sky, a gentle reminder of daylight and casting brilliant hues upon the flowers peppered across the lush emerald grass. The fact the sky was orange didn't seem to register as strange, it seemed natural, as if it had always been that way.

The boy marveled briefly, wondering if he saw through eyes colored differently than others. If the sky was not blue, but orange, what power had skewed his perception so?

A rabbit raced by his feet, the soft kiss of its fur against his skin a voiceless suggestion to let thoughts lie where they are born, to simply enjoy the silence, the location.

Another figure sat quietly, a lone humanoid sentinel in a natural world. There was no hint of animosity, no flare of instinct to be careful. This place was a sanctuary of peace and tranquility, the thought of violence or death were passing fancies here...outmoded philosophies of pain.

He found himself crossing toward the other, taking a seat next to him and staring out at what he saw, what he experienced. They were linked in that instant, two souls on a similar tangent of sensation.

"Wrenmae," he introduced, feeling no need to break the ice with unnecessary conversation. Something about the other, something about this place spoke the singular language of kinship. There was no question...simply truth, sensation, experience. "Is this your world?"

[Blythe]

Blythe was walking silently. Her hands were outstretched before her, and held together by the pinkies. As her hands pressed into each other, Blythe's skin tingled, and seemed to glow as the sun shone down upon them. They felt warm, as they curled slightly into themselves, the fingers inching towards the pale flesh in the center of her palm. Resting in the center of the Konti's cupped hands was a large blue butterfly. Its wings extended to the center of Blythe's palms, on either side. The center of its body was a small black stem, which appeared as though it were divided into three small parts. The upper most, was a small circular shape, as was the section of the body below it. The portion just below that however, was the largest of the three, and was more of an oval than anything else. Attached to the portion of the body which formed the insect's head were two antennae. Each was about a half an inch long; a small circle sat at the very end. They twitched from time to time, perhaps due to the wind; perhaps due to the creature's own free will. The butterfly's wings were a shiny blue color, much like the brightest of seas, or clearest of skies. They seemed to shine on their own, although, the sun continued to bring them to life. Several thin black lines could be seen cutting across the blue, dividing the wing up like stems on a leaf. The edges of the wing were also traced in black, but a trail of tiny white dots could be seen making their way through. The butterfly had landed on Blythe's hands a few minutes before, and now, having grown tired of the silence that once stretched out between them, she had begun to sing to it. It was a simple song with no more than a few notes, in the quietest of tones, so that it was little more than a breathy-sounding, melodic whisper: I've heard it said That people come into our lives for a reason Bringing something we must learn And we are led To those who help us most to grow If we let them And we help them in return Well, I don't know if I believe that's true But I know I'm who I am today Because I knew you... Like a comet pulled from orbit As it passes a sun Like a stream that meets a boulder Halfway through the wood Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you I have been changed for good The grass that surrounded the Konti tickled her bare feet as she wove her way through their long green stems. She had stopped singing, and now, the butterfly's wings were flapping a little faster. After a few moments, it fluttered away, into the sky, reaching for the sun. Blythe watched it disappear with her lavender colored eyes. "Good-bye," she whispered, before returning her gaze to a more natural level, and continuing on her journey. A moment later, the Konti discovered that she had stumbled into a large meadow, where two men were talking. "Hello," Blythe said simply. "It's quite lovely here, isn't it?" There was a slight pause. "Blythe," she added, for her introduction. OOCFor anyone who doesn't know, the song is an excerpt from Wicked's "For Good."

[Seth]

"Hello." The sing-song voice rang out across the empty expanse, a soft giggle following it. It came from all around them, but nowhere in particular, as if spoken from the very depths of the air. The giggle reverberated, echoing throughout the empty plain, kissing at the ears of each participant well after the words had been spoken. As the giggle echoed, a sudden bark joined in, the sharp noise perhaps causing some of the dreamers to jump. Hand in hand the two noises echoed, a soft giggle and a high-pitched bark. From the distance, Riki would be able to pick out a figure. A dog, running towards the trio, his tongue hanging out, his tail wagging happily. Her back leg was wounded, but it seemed to have little to no effect on her running. She was a happy dog, and she was running straight for the one who had healed her. "Is this your world?" The next words were mocking, teasing, the same giggle mixed in with them. Once again it came from everywhere, and at the very same time, the other sound was echoed out. This one was a delighted bark, a happy bark, a bark from a dog that had just seen her master after a long while. The dog would be as plain as day to Riki, and he would immediately know who it was. The pain would tug at his heart, and bring forth fresh memories to his mind, perhaps warping the dreamscape. Perhaps flickering the dog into a clearer existance. It was generated by their Chavi, after all. And if their Chavi was to be added to during the dream, or perhaps one strand brought to the front of all the others... then it would be added. It would manipulate the Dreamscape. Their lives and experiences dictated the dreams and the Chavi, and right now, their lives and experiences were about to be changed. About to be brought to the front for each other. About to be revealed in little and intricate ways that only they would be able to understand, and each in their own little way. Flower managed to reach Riki, managed to leap into the air, managed to nearly make it to him... ...then flickered, and vanished. Your name is the splinter inside me. Dreams were so strange. So soft. So sad. So beautiful. Riki's emotions seemed to be the one at the forefront here, as he was the one who had... defined the dream. But, what if there was another emotion that was stronger? Stronger, but hidden? But what if that particular emotion was one that tugged hidden things to the surface, only to empower itself? What emotion would that be, one would ask? Guilt. "It is pretty. Much better than that other place." It was a baby. A newborn child still wet with her mother's fluids, with wide black eyes, staring gleefully up at Riki. It turned to glance at Wrenmae next, fixing the beady eyes upon him, a twisted smile across it's young features. It was no more than a few hours old. Some blood from the actual birth was still smeared across it's naked features. The cord hadn't even been fully removed from it's stomach. It was a completely and utterly fresh baby, and it was standing, and it was speaking. The only thing wrong with it was the cracks running all over it's body. Cracks like ones found in the land after a sudden earthquake. It turned to Blythe next, giggling, the sound echoing throughout the peaceful field. The beady eyes fixed upon the Konti, and instantly the Konti would know, and instantly the guilt would take ahold of her. Fawn.

[Bannon]

It had been years since Bannon had simply watched watched the sun rise. He'd forgotten how peaceful it was, almost as if nothing were wrong in the world. Everything around him was still, the leaves of the tree's did not rustle nor did the grass and no animals moved. It was as if the whole world was holding it's breath, waiting for something. Suddenly the stillness broke and the world breathed steadily once again. Bannon continued to watch the rising sun, the vibrant oranges playing on the early morning sky. Bannon heard and saw no one in the near vicinity, just trees and grass all around. Suddenly every muscle in Bannon's body tensed, something was wrong even admist this beautiful place. Bannon wasn't sure what it was but he knew something was off here. He thought intensely for a few moments, Bannon knew he shouldn't be here. It didn't make sense, he could've sworn that he'd been on a ship not too long ago, however Bannon couldn't rember where he was going. Bannon shrugged and let out a sigh, it didn't matter he was here now, no use struggling to figure out how he'd got here. Suddenly it dawned on Bannon that this would be a wonderful place to play his orcarina, no one to critize or complain, just him, the music and nature, a perfect harmony. As Bannon reached for the orcarina and then noticed it wasn't there Bannon sighed, whoever left him here must have hidden it. Off in the distance Bannon heard a strange voice followed by the sound of a barking dog. Bannon shrugged and started walking in the direction of the sounds, maybe they knew where his stuff was. As Bannon left the cover of the trees he found himself in a meadow, even more beautiful then where he found himself before. In the meadow Bannon saw a small group of people, one stood much taller then the other three, Bannon assumed the other three were sitting."Oi! Any of you know where this is?"Bannon yelled from across the meadow as he jogged towards the group. As he neared Bannon looked over each of the people. The one standing was a woman something seemed a little inhuman about here but Bannon couldn't put his finger on it. There were two sitting men, one with a strange looking bandana on. The third shocked Bannon slightly, it wasn't a sitting person at all, it seemed to be a small child covered in black cracks. It looked undead and unnatural, it was obviously some kind of monster, however it wasn't any kind of monster Bannon was familliar with. It looked at the others like it was highly intelligent though, no doubt it was sentient. Bannon wondered if it understood common, Bannon was unsure what to say to it though."Well you are a creepy little blighter aren't you" Bannon stated directly at the little monster. Maybe not his brightest move but then again Bannon wasn't one to censor himself.

[Riki Stormheart]

There was sound now. People were talking. Two men and a woman. Riki smiled up at them and addressed them generally. "I don't know where this place is. It is certainly not mine." He looked over the three people in front of him while he slowly stood up. He held a hand out to the Konti with a smile. "Hello Blythe. I'm Riki." He nodded to the two men and smiled. "You two may call me Riki as well. What are your names?" Riki looked around the field, his green eyes trying to take in the world. What was this place? It surely wasn't Endrykas! A small flicker in the distance altered him. A dog who could not have been more than one year old, the same age Riki had met Flower. He squinted to make out the figure. It was Flower! His beloved canine friend was racing toward him! "Flo! Baby, come here! I'm here Flower!" He could barely contain himself as he watched the little dog run towards him. She still limped like she had her whole life but she was able to run better than she had ever ran before. He loved her more than anything in the world and she was back. She seemed to speak to him in a cute but almost daunting voice. Was she mocking him? She was getting closer and in truth he did not care if she was. She was coming back to him and that is all that mattered. A memory came to him though. The memory of the day she died. It had been a strange day. Flower had not been herself in weeks and she had started to revert back into her more wild state of mind. She would bite and snap at anything and everything, even her pups. Riki had earned a good amount of scars from those days but he wore them proudly. In his mind the scars were a way for Flower to be with him forever. As she ran closer, Riki got down on one knee to get ready to embrace her. He was so much taller than he had been when they first met. "Don't worry baby, I'm still Riki. I'm still your boy." Just as she was about to jump into his arms she vanished. Riki knelt in the grass speechless. He was not a man of anger but he felt little bubbles of rage coming to the surface. Nysel had given Riki Flower but took her away. Why? Why would he do that? "Flower! Oh my Gods, Flower!" He did not dare curse the Gods. It was not his place to. He was more upset in himself. Why did he let himself feel like she was going to come back? She had left to become part of the word she had watched for so long. The world of Dira, the world of the dead. He sat in the grass crying. There was not anything else to do. Sadie was not there to comfort him. He did not know these strangers around him. He willed himself to look up to the strangers around him. He did not want to see them. He did not want to see anyone. Instead, he was greeted by a child. He was not deterred by the fact it was covered in its mothers fluids or even that it had an umbilical chord running from it's stomach. He had done more than enough breeding and birthing to have that sort of thing bother him. The child itself bothered him though. It's features were strange. It had beady eyes and cracked skin. This child was not normal. He cocked his head as the baby talked. "What other place? Who are you?" He watched as the others were looked over by the child but it surprised him to see it stop at the Konti. Did the woman know the child? His eyes looked over to one of the men who had spoken up. "All life is beautiful in it's own way. Even if it seems to not be easy to see." It was hard for him to say that about the child. He was a little scared of it himself. A mother always found their child beautiful though so it could not be ugly. As long as someone found warmth in the child it was not as Bannon put it, a blighter.

[Wrenmae]

Transfixed, Wrenmae stared at the abominable little thing as though witnessing his own death in tantalizingly slow motion. The child giggled at him without words, the death of its stillborn status apparent on the pale skin. The marks of black, rippling around it like a disjointed spiderweb reminded Wrenmae of smoke wisps.

Of Vayt.

He stumbled backwards, quick to his feet.

He had no knife on him, no defense in this strange world of colliding colors and people. Instead he turned his eyes to the man on the ground, kneeling with tears still standing strained against his brilliant eyes. What he had seen before, the dog and its vanishing body...the way Riki had grasped the empty air where the creature had vanished as though unable to grasp the emptiness.

This was no dream.

This was a nightmare.

Swallowing, his gaze turned to Blythe. The golden haired woman was staring in the same sort of transfixed horror he had been in before. This was a dream, there was no escape, but the people he met here were not ones he knew, not ones he recognized. Without thinking, he stepped in front of her as the child spoke, its tone abnormally sweet.

"What do you want?" he asked it, looking to the others for support. While handsome, he was far from physically intimidating, and in a dream there was no telling what was real or illusion at all.

Riki spoke as well, and his questions supplemented Wrenmae's own. In this place, none had an advantage and knowing any and all information would be vital to survival (Could one even die in a dream?).

He had known places before this...he always dreamed of the same mountain pass, the same bodies, the same Vayt. Somehow he wasn't in his own dreams, but someone else's...as though he had simply wandered from one world into another. He did not know whose world it was, but the sooner they found out, the sooner the group might control the apparitions assaulting them.

Or maybe they would never wake up.

[Blythe]

Blythe stared into the baby's eyes, dark as coals. But how could Fawn have become this? Blythe wondered, for she had the most beautiful icy blue eyes in life. Eyes that saw right through you. So much like the eyes of those who came before her... Blythe's heart kept on beating faster and faster in her tiny rib cage, as several beads of sweat appeared on her brow, and her breath caught in her throat. And her skin was devoid of blemishes. So very smooth... it felt so soft beneath one's fingertips. A single tear ran down the side of her cheek at all the memories, she knew the child was hers, although Fawn looked so very different now... Blythe remained silent for a long time, simply staring at the shadow of her child. The way the fluids and blood that covered it dripped into the grass. Plop. Plop. Plop. She could sense the way they slid down each individual blade until they reached the ground, and settled into the dirt. Seeped into the earth. That reminded her of Fawn too. How she was brought into the world, only to be ripped right back out of it again. Given back to the earth... covered in dirt and grime... As Wrenmae stepped in front of the baby, as though to shield her, another tear ran down the side of Blythe's face. She could just make out the edge of the baby's body past Wrenmae's back, the edges of the cord. She wanted to throw up, to scream, but found that she could not. No sound was coming out. The fingers of her right hand curled into the palm, and soon made their way to Blythe's lips, blocking them from view. It was all so startling to see. Blythe's heart began to beat even faster. "You're not my child," Blythe whispered, her voice trembling. She knew that was wrong, a lie. "You're not Fawn as she was known to the world. You're... you're something else. Something so very dark and cruel." Sickening in how you bring so many wonderful memories to mind, and then crush them beneath your tiny feet, or rip them apart between your teeth. "You're not her," Blythe said, her voice a little stronger, as though it were trying to reassure her, more than anything else. "You're not her...." her voice dropped, as the words were swept away by a gentle breeze. A breeze that rustled her hair, and sent a shiver up her spine. A breeze that seemed to make the blood-stained grass Shadow Fawn tread upon sway. Just like your bloody body swayed when she entered this world... OOCSorry this is such a strange, sick post... Say hello to depressed Blythe. Prepare yourself for some waterworks.

[Archon]

As the men spoke their words seemed to simply flow around the still form of the baby, its black gaze fixated on Blythe as its cracked lips continued to hold the same twisted smile. Even Wrenmae stepping in front of the Konti didn't cause the disturbing child to move. It just continued to stare at Blythe as if Wrenmae wasn't even there. Blythe's whisper seemed to finally break the spell over the twisted form of Fawn, and the baby girl's smile fell, causing the cracks on her lips and cheeks to grow a little more, "How could you say that?" its sweet voice held a tone of shock to it, "We clawed our way out of the other place to come to you here, and you say such horrible things?" tears formed in the child's eyes, even as the twisted smile remained, bright crimson tears of freshly spilled blood. "How could you be so cruel, Mother?" the last word was a faint whisper, full of the teary sorrow of a child, but it cut straight to Blythe's heart like a dagger. The child started to cry then, its soft sobs flowing in waves over those gathered around. Bloody tears spilled out of its eyes and down its cheeks, but when they fell to the ground the soil didn't accept them as it would normally. Instead the crimson tears formed a pool at the child's feet that grew faster than one would expect from the amount of tears that fell into it. The pool didn't spread out as expected either, instead never straying more than a foot from the child as if drawn to her. As the pool of bloody tears grew to the height of the baby's ankles it turned to face Bannon. The sound of sobs faded, echoing through the field like a cave, and as the baby gazed upon Bannon it changed. There was no stretching of form, no magical swirl of light, just in one breath there stood a newborn babe, and in the next there was the tall and strong form of a woman. To everyone else she would be unrecognizable, but Bannon would instantly know her as his Mother. Despite differences in age and race the woman shared similarities with the babe that had stood there before. Her skin still cracked, and fresh trails of blood ran down her cheeks to drip at the ever growing pool at her feet. Where once there had been black eyes though now were black from the shadows cast inside the empty holes where the eyes should be. Once more with a twisted smile the woman spoke, "We were never so cruel to you. Harsh maybe, but never cruel. Won't you accept us? Won't you let us stay away from the other place?" With Bannon speechless the woman turned her empty gaze towards Wrenmae, and then her form shifted again. Once more it took place in the blink of an eye, and this new form was similar to the others. Cracked skin and bloody tears running down her cheeks, with the dark eyes as before, but this girl had pale skin and blue lips, like one who had spent too much time in the cold. As her dark eyes met Wrenmae's he knew with a sureness that this was his sister, taken by the cold all those years ago. "Brother," there was a faint tone of pleading to the voice, though the girl still had the same twisted smile as the others, "Don't leave us again brother, please. Don't make us go back, We don't want to go back, please don't make us!" the girl turned and looked at Riki, fresh waves of bloody tears sliding down as her voice trembled, but the twisted smile remained, "Please, you're nice and kind. We can see it in your eyes. Won't you let us in? Won't you keep us out of the other place?"

[Wrenmae]

The horror and revulsion of revelation was as shocking as it was sickening, like a plummet from a tall height, or hanging off the side of a mountain. Wrenmae did more than shudder, he vibrated, somewhere far away his sleeping body turning in his tent, murmuring horror to no one at all.

It was her likeness, her face, everything that he had expected her to be. Horrifying barely described the feeling of plummeting ebbing from Wrenmae's soul. The world around him seemed to shift subtly, the sky shifted, cracks of green needling into Riki's Cheva from Wrenmae's own. This experience was singularly the most frightening he'd felt in awhile.

Nothing was real here, perhaps not even those he had met. Stumbling away from Blythe, Wrenmae fell back on the ground hard, the wind seeming to rush out of him, stealing his breath for a moment as he scuttled back on his hands.

He had no words to say, nothing even remotely passable as language gibbering from his mouth. He didn't realize how heavily the guilt had weighed on him, curdling in the back of his mind, till now. Even as a phantom, a figment, a dream, the effect on her brother was profound.

"I...I...I" he stuttered, "I'm...I'm so...so sorry." As if the words would appease this frightful ghoul, somehow banish it from him. His sister turned to Riki, blood gushing from her eyes to color the ground and for a moment Wrenmae was freed of the spell.

Enough to recognize it wasn't her...couldn't be her.

It hadn't been her before.

"What...are you?" he asked, shivering, shaking from the shock still running through his system.