[Walkabout - Week 4] ...oops.

[willyousee]

[Alcuin sounds contrite, but not precisely sorry, per se.]

I, ah... seem to have started a trend among the children. One of them had a terrible nightmare, so I made them a dream catcher. Now all the children in the household want one. I expect word of it will spread through the children's ranks fairly quickly. They seem to be treating it as a grand secret, however, at least from the adults, so perhaps it will stay quiet?

I thought it only fair to give people warning that you may be asked for one. I can teach others to make them as well, if you like! I am not certain if we can teach the children to make their own, however.

Comments

[runs]

What is a dreamcatcher?

[willyousee]

It is an item charged with emotion which draws in negative dreams and keeps them contained as energy. Which means that the bearer has no bad dreams and has a portable external well of magic to draw on. I've used it for color magic, and it has been used for creating liminal items as well. You can use it to refuel your own magic or to cast a spell directly.

They are quite handy, really.

[runs]

[That does sound handy.]

....And it works for any kind of magic?

[willyousee]

So far as I have been able to test, yes. It also seems to soak up the ambient energy of liminal space, if much more slowly, so simply walking around liminal space will pick up a little energy every day.

Private x2

[willyousee]

I am not certain if it would replace a need to Harvest, however. That glamour may be different.

[runs]

[...huh. Weird.] Do you know why it does that?

[Private x2]

Well, I can always experiment with it. [She sniggers.] Or ask Gil to experiment with it. [He's autumn, that should be right up his alley, right?]

[willyousee]

From what we've been able to tell, it is because the energy of liminal space and the maleability of it is very similar to Questing Country - that is, the collective dream world where we first learned to make them.

[Private x2]
Gil is the one who told me that you and he had undergone the same ordeal. Given how he needs to Harvest, I suspect he would be interested in trying to draw from a dreamcatcher instead. Anyone can draw from any dreamcatcher, too, so he needn't make one of his own if he doesn't wish to.

[runs]

...Collective dream world?

[Private x2]

So it's like- [She frowns, thinking. Comparing.] Like you're growing your own fruit. Maybe it would work. Maybe it's too direct.

[She is no scientist, so she doesn't really know if that comes anywhere close to the answer, but that might be a thing. She'll really have to talk to Gil about it.]

...What has he told you, exactly?

[willyousee]

In that place, the dreams of sleepers form an ever-shifting landscape beyond the reach of most people. There are some dreamers, however, who may walk those lands as if they were tangible whenever they sleep, and fight the nightmares which take form.

[Private x2]
Only that you were stolen away by the Gentry, and that you escaped. And that you must Harvest the emotions of others in order to keep your human Mask in place. Both Gil and Jules have allowed me to take the Oath for a time and see through their Mask. They are my friends, and I have never regretted it. Nor, I hope have I given them reason to regret that decision. If it were not relevant to the possible function of a dreamcatcher, I would not mention it.

[runs]

...Huh. [She squints at that information. It sounds like an ....interesting place to be. But there is no more that she really needs to know about it, she feels.]

Can you teach me how to make those dreamcatchers in Liminal? [Because humanoid!Kitty doesn't exist in Sunday.]

[Private x2]

[She relaxes a bit; that's fair enough information about her to give someone who gets it. Or give out in general.] Okay.

[fearinahandfulof]

Dreamcatcher?

[willyousee]

Mm! Yes! If kept on or near a person, it will capture and transform bad dreams into energy which may later be drawn upon for spell work.

[fearinahandfulof]

[That sounds useful...]

What kinds of spell work?

[willyousee]

Through various experiments with my friends, I can say for certain... Color magic, Persona magic, Questing Country magics, illusion magics, spiritual summoning, and mana technology and magics. I think it likely that elemental magics would be similarly affected, and anyone who uses a core pool of magic to draw on has been able to do so using energy from a dreamcatcher so far.

[fearinahandfulof]

[Cassandra isn't precisely sure what Persona magic is, but the rest of it she either knows or can at least guess at.]

It sounds very versatile.

[willyousee]

It has certainly been one of the most useful things I have picked up in my Travels.

[fearinahandfulof]

It sounds like it would be.

I know very little magic still, so I don't know how helpful that aspect would be for me.

[willyousee]

You can always allow another to drain the energy from it for you if you wish. Eventually it will fill up, and will need to be emptied before it can serve to filter dreams again. Especially useful in critical combat situations where you must fight and another must heal, I've found.

[fearinahandfulof]

Does it fill automatically?

[willyousee]

Yes. In liminal space it will fill very slowly all of its own, and it will gather dreams of the nearest person when they sleep without any activation. Most jaunt worlds do not seem to have the free-floating magic to fill a dreamcatcher, so you needn't worry there, but it will still filter dreams accordingly.

Thorne and I have traded nights with mine from time to time.

[fearinahandfulof]

Does that mean that person doesn't dream at all while one is near? You said it transformed bad dreams to energy...

[She doesn't know enough about them to know whether it's feasible for a dreamcatcher to differentiate between types of dreams, but she suspects it's not.]

[willyousee]

Actually, no! It seems to only pull energy when dreams turn foul. Silly, happy, or boring dreams and the like remain in place. ...Though I should mention that if one has prophetic nightmares, sometimes those are strong enough to break through if one's dreamcatcher is nearly filled.

[fearinahandfulof]

People seem to be having more of those lately.

[She's inclined to blame Harrogate; that's when they seem to have picked up, anyway.]

How does it differentiate between good and bad?

[willyousee]

I am not entirely certain. I believe it has something to do with the emotional reaction of the dreamer, but I have not experimented enough with various abilities to be able to say for certain.

[fearinahandfulof]

So it reacts to the emotions of... its owner? Or a nearby dreamer? Can it pull energy from more than one dreamer if they're both having nightmares?