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+--- Thread: Aegri Somnia (/thread-942.html)
- Thalia - 08-01-2016
[[Continued from here.]]
When she emerged at all, it was almost as though she were translucent. Her existence shrank to the blink of an eye. And how often she awoke here in tears! The dread followed, a thread that tied her to her other self, and in her flashes of cognisance she began to worry.
Something had shifted, and slowly the tendrils of it pushed into Nimeda's world. She tried to follow the insidiousness back to its source - to try and contact her Other for the first time in aeons.
It only seemed to make her snatches of consciousness more fleeting. Until finally Nimeda began to panic.
Who could help?
Her first thought was Little Bird, Little Bird. Jon Little Bird. He would help, she knew that deep in her ancient roots, with a warmth and familiarity that she could not explain. But she also knew - and remembered! What novelty! - that her other self feared him, and fear was the thorny problem. Nimeda could not take the risk of making things worse. They were separate, she and the Other, but intrinsic to each other.
There was the girl she sometimes watched. Mundane dreams, to be sure, but how fondly she lingered anyway. But the girl could not walk freely in Nimeda's world, and there was no guarantee that she would remember or take seriously a dream.
Who did that leave? This turning was still young, and so many of the familiar faces slept or wandered in ignorance.
How she longed for a father's guidance. A name on the tip of her tongue, then lost to darkness.
There had to be someone else.
The thoughts that formed this plan were fragmentary. Strewn out over long distances. Wound together so desperately. It was the yellow eyes of the wolves that sometimes watched her that finally stirred the idea.
Calvin. The wolfbrother. Hardly an acquaintance, really, but Nimeda knew where to find him.
More time passed while she searched for his dream. Each snatched second precious.
Until she found him.
- Calvin - 08-28-2016
Calvin sometimes wandered the dream. This time he was keeping an eye on things. Just in case a nightmare decided to show up. Calvin was trained now, and the wolves gave him free run of the dream. Some of them still harbored resentment towards him, others were okay with him. Calvin could sense them - likely hunting.
The dream seemed calm today and Calvin moved quietly - at least as quiet as you could in a dream. Among the things he learned was how to go into the dreams of others. In order to see if people were being attacked by nightmares, he'd likely have to do that, but he didn't feel right doing so. It felt like an invasion of privacy.
Calvin's dream changed - not by much, but there was something different. He looked around, before figuring it out. Someone had invaded his dream. Whoever it was came unbidden. Calvin sniffed at the air, searching for the scent. And there it was - familiar to him.
Calvin shifted into wolf form and ran, searching for the person who would come into another dream. There he found her - in a circular clearing in the woods. Calvin shifted back into his two-legged form and stared at the girl with questioning eyes.
It was Nimeda - or Thalia - or both? He still didn't know how those two were connected, but they clearly were. Thalia didn't know who Nimeda was though. He had no idea if Nimeda knew of Thalia either.
"Nimeda,"
he said, choosing to use the name of the girl in the dream. "Why are you here?"
Edited by Calvin, Aug 28 2016, 09:57 AM.
- Thalia - 08-28-2016
Another's dream was different than being in the other place. And it was bad form, she remembered - not so helpful a memory now that she'd already done it, but she was desperate anyway; manners were irrelevant. Her gaze took in her surroundings curiously, orientating herself. Woods and trees. A small clearing. It shouldn't be surprising that a brother to wolves would dream such things.
Calvin found her before she found him. He looked at her with suspicion, which she supposed was her due, and though she had intended to approach the subject sensibly those thoughts fled now. Despair ate her up, then anger at her own powerlessness. "If someone's hurt her."
A display of temper was rare for Nimeda, but it curled like shadows now. Betraying something ancient. But like a flash flood it was there and gone, replaced by something more human. A girl on the verge of tears. "Calvin, I need your help."
- Calvin - 08-28-2016
Calvin didn't remember Nimeda like this - she had been kind and scared before when he had saw her. Almost a small child. But she was angry now. What had angered her?
In a flash she changed to sad again. Calvin was confused. Nimeda always spoke in riddles it seemed. Calvin moved closer to her, reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder.
"Hurt who? How can I help?"
he offered her an encouraging smile. "If you want my help you'll have to be as specific as possible."
- Thalia - 08-28-2016
"Specific?"
She deflated, rubbing a hand over her face. How to explain what she couldn't even fully comprehend herself? In the back of her mind panic spread like fire; the fear she would wake up before she managed to make Calvin understand what she needed. He pat her shoulder, but it was scant consolation. If only she could speak how wolves speak! How much easier it would be if he could lift the thoughts and feelings straight from her mind. Though perhaps not a kindness, for such a deluge would surely drown him.
She looked up. Tried to make herself calm. To speak clear. Her expression was tinged with worry, like a small and frightened child. "I need you to find her. Not here. But awake."
Nimeda paused, made a small sound of annoyance with herself. "Me. Find me. That makes better sense. Something's happened. She's not sleeping."
She stared at him balefully. "I don't even know if it's possible. Will you do it? If you can?"
Something rippled through her; her image wavered. Nimeda continued to talk frantically, but she faded. And then was gone.
- Calvin - 08-29-2016
Pieces clicked. Calvin knew exactly who she was talking about. Thalia and Nimeda were connected. It seemed Nimeda knew of Thalia - although she didn't know her name, but Thalia hadn't seemed to know anything of her dream self. That struck Calvin as strange, but it was good to know at the very least.
Nimeda was worried about Thalia. Something was wrong, but she didn't know what. At the very least, Calvin could find that out. He tried to say as much as Nimeda faded, and Calvin surmised that Thalia was waking up. As she vanished into the dream, Calvin frowned. It was time to wake up.