Log:Once More with Dreaming

2021/08/24 Dreamer Grimm 1

It's been an interesting dream for Grimm. First, there was the classic 'late for school-didn't prepare for the test-why I am naked and giving a report' part, always fun for the anxiety levels. Then, it seems that your subconscious then decided to go off on a tangent of you having to hide your favorite fantasy men from each other in your childhood home while things got progressively hotter with each. Which then ended up with you running through the back door of your house into...the main room of the Inn Between Worlds.

A curiusly empty main room that still buzzes slightly with sound as if everyone just stepped away. Even the music lingers in the air, some sort of rock-a-billy elven beat with drums and lutes. Behind the bar, in all his cafe au lait glory, but with a pristine white apron over his chest and abs stands the Dreamer.

He smiles warmly as he murmurs in his sinfully rich deep voice, "Welcome, sera Gabrielle. Care for a drink?"

Grimm feels like she's out of breath, or is supposed to be, so she's panting, not fully realizing she's dreaming. Just because she's spending the night at Jack's doesn't mean she doesn't have nightmares. They just aren't the "wake up screaming because you thought your heart was being carved out of your chest and was revealed to be a shriveled, blackened, worm-ridden thing" style of nightmares. Speaking of Jack, there is a dream Jack behind her in her family home, starting to become suspicious of what Gabrielle was hiding before. She looks back anxiously and...see's the usual mirror door out. She looks back at the oddly empty Inn and walks over to the bar, still suspecting someone to pop out. "Hey. I've never seen it this empty before," she says, not fully lucid in the dream yet. She sits on a stool at the bar. "Sure, a drink sounds great." She looks over her shoulder in case more hijinx is happening.

When you turn back around, there is a simple martini glass sitting in front of you filled with a gloriously green liquid in which rest a cherry on one of those little swords with a twist of lemon. The Dreamer's wipes his hands on a bar towel then slings it gracefully up onto one bare shoulder. "Yes, it is quite empty right now. Must be between seconds."

"What is it? And since when did you start bartending here?" Gabrielle asks as she slides the drink close to her.

Dreamer smiles brightly. "I am not certain. I have only visited the Inn a handful of times. I imagine it just sprang to mind when I got near you, sera Gabrielle."

"And as to the drink? It is something I enjoyed. I think it's called melon midori sour?"

"Oh! I love those," Gabrielle smiles and lifts the glass to take a sip. Something about what he said starts to help wake her up to the fact that this is a dream. She sets the glass down. "That's tasty. And I'm...asleep, aren't I?" she asks.

"And now lucid dreaming, yes, sera Gabrielle," says the Dreamer as he takes off the apron and puts is somewhere down behind the bar. "Do enjoy the drink though. It is refreshing."

Grimm chuckles. "And no calories. Even better," she grins and sips some more. She then plucks the sword and nibbles on the cherry. "I could eat a whole jar of these cherries," she laughs.

The Dreamer reaches under the counter and then puts a jar of maraschino cherries on the bartop in front of you. "As you desire, sera," he murmurs with a grin.

Grimm's eyes light up. She covets the jar as she pulls it close, using the decorative sword toothpick to spear some more cherries. "Hah! This is great."

Dreamer leans on the counter, which still makes his tower over you. In this form, he's taller than Dee normally is; it's only when Dee assumes the Dreamer form that he's over 7 fet tall. "Something must be on your mind to call out to me while you sleep, sera Gabrielle."

Grimm looks up at Dreamer, having to crane her neck a bit. "I called out to you...?" She thinks of that wild dream prior filled with dream men. Hopefully it wasn't during that. "And...there's always something on my mind. Actually, I went to talk to Dee about it at his shop, but...I guess I'm still concerned. There's been rumblings from gods about a coming war, and one of the Qliphothic entities may be close to finding a way into this plane. We already found one close in the Dream realm, trying to reach the patients of an insane asylum." She looks over to him in concern. "You haven't encountered any of them, have you? In dreams lately?"

"Nightmares and night terrors are always around, sera Gabrielle, but no, I have not encountered any separate from Dialydd," the Dreamer says as he gently rubs your lower arm in a reassuring manner. "And here? Cha, this is my home, not the Destroyers."

Grimm smiles in relief as he reassures her. "It's nice to have some brief break from nightmares about them or just anxiety-ridden dreams." She thinks curiously for a moment. "How much do you know about Dee's memories? He doesn't seem to know much about your activities here, right? Is his waking time like a dream to you?"

"No, sera Gabrielle, it is not. I am aware of all that Dialydd knows and does. I am simply, cha, the deepest parts of his personality and powers that are always here. I am his subconscious made manifest in Dream and the Astral. When his body is fully ready to encompass all that he is, his mind, hmm, spirit, are mature enough, we will be always as one. He will be here as he is the physical. That is part of what being a deity is. Permanent multi-dimensionality." He smiles gently. "Or so I have been told by my father-0f-my-soul."

Grimm looks impressed by that. "Wow...permanent? It's weird enough that I can cross dimensions, but I have trouble grasping permanent multi-dimensionality. I...get the general idea, though." She looks Dreamer up and down appraisingly. "I guess Dee is going to have an even greater glow-up once he's older," she grins lasciviously.

Dreamer smiles gently. "Age is not something that touches Dialydd any longer. He is unaware of that consciously although he suspects. We are changing. We are alreafy less a physical being that we were when we first met you, sera Gabrielle. The harshest extremes of nature are nothing any longer. And soon, the needs of the flesh, save for sleep, will pass from us." He then adds in a ligther tone, "And yes, I'll be glad when he finally relaxes enought to enjoy the, cha, carnal side of our nature. He's so...timid right now."

Grimm raises her eyebrows. "Wow, that's...a shame. There's a lot of fun in some of those needs of the flesh. But at least some of that doesn't seem to be going away," she smirks faintly and sips her drink. "So...you know what I talked about with Dee concerning the Gentleman?"

"Oh, the Lords can and do indulge the needs of the flesh, sera Gabrielle. They are just not...necessary in any way for survival. In truth, the Lords clothe themselves in flesh as they desire, but are no longer physical beings."

He takes out a clean rag and begins to clean the bartop absently as he says, "Yes, I am aware of that serpent's 'advice,' sera Gabrielle. You can trust that Dialydd's and mine opinoin of it are the same."

Grimm nods and leans back from the bar to let him clean the concept of a bartop. "He's...not entirely wrong about the danger I could pose, though. There's been alleged prophecies that at least two mad mages have mentioned that they think are about me."

Dreamer smiles slightly. "Sera Gabrielle, you could be a danger even if you had not a whit of extranormal power. And prophecies? Well, sometimes I think the Powers greater than the gods send them out simply to keep everyone from getting complacent from the deities down to the smallest atom." He looks at you. "My people...both my mortal relations and my immortal ones are survivors of the Qliphothic. The Jerin part of me survived the Destroyers attacking our world and while we were forever changed by it, we are stronger, hardier, wiser than we were before. And so, sadly, it is with my immortal family. They are forged from the surviving deities of various races from an entire Reality that fell to the Qliphothic. I do not think they can bend to the Destroyers without being destroyed. Even if they are lessened in number with each war agsinst the Destoyers, they will not surrender."

"The greatest weapon the Destroyers have are fear and terror. If they can weaken one before even showing up by the mere fear of their existence? Well, the battle is half won, is it not?" the Dreamer states. "Do not let the fear of what could be prevent you from doing all you can, sera Gabrielle."

"Yeah, I know those're their greatest weapons. I wield those things. I'm infused with them." Though not infused in a way that doesn't torment her. Gabrielle sighs, drumming her fingers nervously on the bartop. "I...know. I just had every jackhole 'white' mage from the west coast to the east coast tell me I had to be destroyed to prevent bad things happening, and it's hard not to wonder if they were right. It's even worse when the frickin' bad guys think the same thing." She sinks a bit in her chair and downs the whole rest of her glass, then sets it down heavily. "Still...I'll do everything I can with this power against the Destroyers. Maybe it'll be light fighting fire with fire. Not sure if you're familiar with that earth saying."

Dreamer smiles slightly. "Yes, I am. We have a similar one in Rhaya and others in the dead languages of my people, sera Gabrielle."

The transcendantly handsome youth then adds, "And, if we have ever said that about you, sera Gabrielle, that it would be better that you be dead, cha, we apologize. You are a wonder. And people should recognize that. You are a hope that the Qliphotic can be held back."

Grimm purses her lips at that, looking a built guilty. "Dee's made comments, more so before he really knew me, but he hans't since. And I don't remember if he went so far as to saying to my face that he thought I needed to be destroyed, but maybe he...or you...or whichever...were thinking it at first." She looks skeptical at being called a wonder, but can't help but feel elevated by the comment. "I...guess I never saw myself as that." Cursed, sure. Not at all a wonder. "I guess. Let's hope my luck holds out?"

Dreamer nods. "We have been taught since childhood to look for the signs of Qliphotic corruption and root it out, sera Gabrielle. And yes, we did think that your powers should be suppressed at first, but not you being killed. We are too...gentle to wish death upon another. But, we also sensed that there was something...different about you."

He waves a hand vaguely towards you. "Even here, even now, there is, cha, something we cannnot...'see'. Something protective about you."

Grimm smiles gently at that. "I couldn't really imagine you killing anyone, anyway. You're too good for that," she says warmly. Her smile dims a bit, thinking about the people she's hurt or lashed out at. Her mind shifts to curiosity at his last comment. "Protective? What do you mean? I haven't sensed anything weird."

"It is not something I can, cha, categorize, sera Gabrielle. It is simply a, cha, intuition? instinct? feeling? Cha, I cannot explain. It is not a sense, it is a, cha..." He paces slightly as he continues, "There is more going on here, with you, with your unutterably bizarre ressitance to corruption by the Qliphothic that I can rationally explain. By every example I know or have even heard of, such resistance is beyond impossible. But, you are. It is beyond me as to how. So...perhaps it is just my rationality saying 'I do not understand but this is so, thus some protectoin must come from somewhere I cannot sense. Why? Who knows? What matters is that my friend sera Gabrielle Grimm benefits from it and thus we all do.'"

He smiles beatifically as he says, "And that is why you are a hope beyond hope."

Grimm rubs the back of her neck, embarrassed by his kind words. She also still has trouble seeing herself the way he does. "Well, that's really nice of you. I wonder if--"

BZZZZTTT....BZZZTTTT....BZZZTTTT....

Gabrielle flails and rolls over to turn off the alarm, groaning groggily as she wakes up.