synopsychic | [Jaunt] Further Warnings [August 28]

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[Jaunt] Further Warnings [August 28]

Had a dream. A tiger with a mask, in a zoo. There's a mirror under the mask.

The tiger is hungry, but on our side.

There's another tiger in a cage, sleeping. It has the same mirror-mask.

We need to find that cage, or someone's going to get eaten. And we need to find it soon.

We don't have time, we're going to get eaten if we don't act.

[There's nothing for a few long moments before more 'text' appears.]

I have a bad feeling I'm picking up prophetic stuff somehow. This is not what I wanted. I would like to return this ability for a different one, please.

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I could teach you, probably? I mean, I wasn't an Oracle in Questing Country and I don't think I can go into Liminal Space but. I took a nap without your dreamcatcher--yes, I know--and I can verify that we've definitely hooked up to a Dreamland and can take our Questing Country forms there.

[He is not thinking all the words he could be thinking at you right now, Thorne Durante no Delaunay, but he is not best pleased with you.]

.....That might be best. I only hope that my powers remain the same as they were.

There's definitely no better time than now to check.

[... but she should probably go find him now to finish this conversation. So have a girlfriend tracking you down, Alcuin.]

Look, I know what you're probably thinking, but it's the only way I can talk to Raidou right now given that he's stuck in ghost town and if I hadn't I wouldn't have figured out that the dreams around here are playing by pseudo-Questing Country rules now. Also, I think I've become an actual lucid dreamer.

He's in her bit of garden, viciously planting poppy seeds along the edge of the garden path, but he dusts off his hands and stands, brushing soil from his leggings. Well. Her leggings, since his clothing vanished when liminal space did. His hair is braided back and there is a fiery determination in his face.

"What's done is done. I am glad that you have become lucid, however. Hopefully that will allow you to wake yourself when the eyes appear. So. You may bacome a Champion in your dreams, hm?"

He moves past her to go wash his hands.

Luckily, it had disappeared while they were together, although since she was still fucked up about Raidou's murder at the time, she hadn't really been in the mood to take advantage of the sudden nakedness.

"Yeah," she says. "Actually, uh, I was hoping to surprise you that I'd gone back to being a Champion again, instead of an Adversary."

She gives him a quick peck on his cheek as he passes. With the expression on his face and his Braid of Serious Business, she kind of wants to give him a more substantial kiss, but he ought get his hands clean first.

"Thanks for the poppies," she adds. "We used to have them at my parents' house. I've missed them, but I'm not much of a gardener myself. I'll try to keep up with these, though."

When his hands are clean, he turns back to give her a brief, if proper, kiss. He's not as upset as he might be, if only because there are so many other and greater things to consider at present. But he does smile and take her hands. "I thought they might be pretty and perhaps remind the good doctor to sleep once in a while. But I am truly glad for you, beloved. To have such a strong sense of hope and rightness in the world is a beautiful thing."

"Especially considering where I come from," she says. "But, like, I fought like hell to get it back, so I'm not letting go of it until I have to." She leans her brow against his. "You helped, you know. And I want to help you get back what you had in Questing Country too. It can be done in other dreamworld-type places, you know. Kanji helped Naoki become an Oracle in Liminal Space. Naoki told me how he did it."

"I have never really felt the loss, precisely, but I can hardly say that it would not be of use. I only hope that it will not have shifted in tone. But regardless, if it will allow me to walk dreams without being entirely governed by them, I will take all the assistance I can gain."

He sighs slightly and squeezes her hands. "I am sorry if I am sharp-tongued and overly focused, Thorne. I truly am grateful for all your support and love."

"I know," she says, squeezing his hand back. "I really do. But it's okay, Alcuin. This place is stressful. And... I dunno. You're kind of cute when you're all serious business like this. I mean, really cute. Drag you into a closet cute. Which I won't, because this really is serious business right now, but I'll be thinking about it a little."

He exhales a short breath that is not quite a laugh. "Later. When we are all safely away from here."

She kisses the side of his head. "Yeah. No time for closet sex when we're Ghostbusting." Then she tugs lightly on the tail of his braid. "Just keep this on when we have our very relieved we survived banging?"

He breathes half a chuckle, nuzzling her cheekbone. "You really like that, don't you."

"I like your hair down too," Thorne says, frankly. "But I notice that you braid it back like that when you get serious about stuff and there's a certain sexiness to when you're all focused and shit. Which I can't really do anything about now because you shouldn't be distracted, so I'll do something about it then."

Edited 2017-09-06 00:07 (UTC)

"...Hm. I suppose I do. Well, we shall have to examine that later. May we perhaps turn our attention to regaining my abilities in a dreamscape?" He tucks back a stray lock of her hair with a rueful smile. "Forgive me, dear one, I am rather single-minded at present."

"I know. That's part of the problem," she says, cheekily. "But. Yes. Right. Naoki said that Kanji had him think about all the things that gave him hope and then pushed some of his power into Naoki to, like, trigger it, so that's basically what I'll be doing with you."

He nods, already taking on the slightly distant expression of heavy thought. "Well and so. Perhaps we ought to do this deeper into the house, lest someone see... Though at least you may claim it is a costume you're having me try on." His brows quirk upward, amused.

"We're going to have to take a nap together," Thorne says, frankly. "So yeah. Let's nap inside."

Heading inside, he lets her lead. Before entering the bedroom he pauses and removes his dreamcatcher, holding it for a long moment before setting it down on a nearby bookshelf and coming in after her. Even in the comfort of her arms, it takes a long time before he can fall asleep.

Perhaps it is that Questing Country was on his mind. And perhaps it was the lake that preyed upon his thoughts. But whatever the reason, he finds himself walking along the shore of a depthless black lake spangled with diamonds beneath a sky of beautiful pinks dotted with clouds of butterfly wings in a myriad of hues. His feet leave dark, melted tracks in the icicle grass. He's not sure why he's here, but the nearby spires of twisted, pearly ivory draw him. They're carved like birch trees and he strokes the trunks with a soft smile.

She smiles at him."It's beautiful," she says, looking around. "I'd ask if you or I made it, but I'm pretty sure it was both of us."

Thorne's already in her Champion's Raiment, with the butterfly dress and the enameled vambraces, the black flat sandals with the laces that criss-cross halfway up her knee, and the silver daggers that Joscelin made her two years ago. There are new touches, though, like the marigold crown atop her head and a dream facsimile of the lover's token he gave her.

She holds out her hands to him. "Remember,' she says, "focus on what brings you hope."

His sleeping mind almost doesn't recognize her at first, caught up in the awe of seeing her so attired and a dreamer recognizing a Champion. But a moment later his mind catches up with what is happening and recognition blooms, only to be quickly shut down with a far more sober expression.

He takes her hands and closes his eyes with a deep breath. Hope. That which brings hope in the midst of despair.

The immediate and obvious answer, of course, stands right in front of him. Ever since she arrived, before they even began to entertain thoughts of courting, she has been there for him, comforting him in the darkest of times and lifting his face to the light.

Leonardo. Anafiel. Phedre and Joscelin. Armin. Ambrose. Malik. Riddick. Helena. Naoto. Imriel. The Embryon. Sera - oh sweet Sera, who practically embodied hope in its purest form. There are so many, their names and faces flicking by.

Laughter and the crisp scent of autumn on the air. The cool buoyancy of water. Mermaid tails and voices. The dawn of a new day. The gentle touch of a hand. The feeling of strength and solidarity when Travelers come together in unity.

His dreamcatcher appears hovering between their hands, gleaming with scintillating energy. Releasing her hands, he takes hold of it, raises it over his head and cries, "Knowledge is the key to life!" In a flash of light, he has transformed, and is once again the Oracle of Keys.

While Alcuin concentrates on hope, Thorne concentrates on power, on sharing hers with him and reawakening that which sleeps within him. Hoping against hope that this works the way that Naoki said it would.

And then it does and Alcuin transforms so beautifully and there's really nothing else she can do but throw herself at him, wrapping him tightly into a hug.

"You did it!" she says. "Oh my dearest, darling Alcuin, you did it!"

He laughs, hugging her back and pressing his face into her neck. It's almost overwhelming, the knowledge filling his mind. There is so much of it. So much he had forgotten, or overlooked. Connections, similarities, new paths, doors cast open. How had he missed them?

Thorne can see how the basic outfit is based upon Joscelin's Cassiline garb, and of course the hat is Leonardo's. But there is so much more to it that are his own touches, and there are the keys. Key patterns embroidered on things, keys hanging from his belt and wrists... even his sword is key-shaped.

"Thank you, Thorne. Thank you. I needed this, I think, more than I realized."

"I'm not surprised," she murmurs, giving him another tight squeeze. "God, you look good. Like, you're carrying the theme hella far, but it works. It totally works. My magical boy."

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[Jaunt] Further Warnings [August 28]

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