dreamwalk one | ota

[firstroar]

CHARACTERS: Soldier Blue + OTA
LOCATION: ~*theater of the mind*~ ...and also some bed in the infirmary.
DATE: those nebulous new-arrival days prior to mission
CONTENT: dreamwalking + memory share with others at-rest
WARNINGS: eye trauma, memory manipulation, dream logic
PERMISSIONS: psychic power detail + opt-out here


The last thing Blue wants to do in this place is sleep. He spent fifteen years bedridden, barely able to open his eyes, before managing to rise and take action against aggressors, and now? Just as he'd finally been able to rekindle the flames of his power, he's down again.

It doesn't feel as long-lasting as before, and that's some cold comfort. He's far more lucid even in sleep, and as ever before, his mind is set to wander, wondering about this strange, new place he's found himself in...and the strange, new people he's already encountered. His instincts scream with the echoes of his closest counsel, begging him to remain vigilant, to not be deceived by any convenience the artificial intelligence may provide. Even now as he lay convalescing, something may trigger to try and attack his mind...

And so his mind will not stay in one spot.

Consciousness drifts place to place, drawn by the glimmers of familiar notions and common threads. It's a Mu's power to connect hearts: He can't help but do what comes naturally. Such an innocuous thing when one lives among others of his like, but here is more complicated.

After all, how many here are used to guests in their dreams? Perhaps they'll find out now.


Each time a new dream pulls him, it's like passing through a series of thin shrouds, entering that space like a vapor before his form can adjust to suit the setting. He is always himself, but another's consciousness always dictates tone.



[memory/dreamshare time! again, permissions linked above in case there's any concerns or a need to specify limitations, but go nuts with whatever setting ur char's brain wants to share! c: ]

Comments

[bindsthedead]

"I see," Sabriel nods, mulling over that statement. Something similar- well, all of the Ximilia's crew had regrets, and generally, regrets powerful enough to draw people into agreeing to this involved death, in one way or another.

But Sabriel forces away thoughts of fog and freezing black water, and instead thinks of gulls, and darting schools of fish. She's dreamed of Death and the Dead enough.

"Did people close to you... die too?"

[firstroar]

"Yes."

He does not answer grimly, nor is it dismissive. It's a simple matter-of-fact. His eyes flick upward to the birds - a sight he's rarely seen before in his own time of hiding.

"But...I don't know if that's what drew me."

Because though she was in the midst of turmoil with such things, there could always be other threads that bind. It's likely that shared question of undoing regrets he's heard of - that dream he's yet to fully form in his own mind for himself. It's in her and the others on board this ship, which makes him balk at the idea of accepting it as his own; it's too much like how the Terras computers implanted false memories in people.

[bindsthedead]

"You're not familiar with magic, but- have you been troubled by the Dead remaining in Life, when they should have passed on?"

In her conversations with others here, it had seemed that her own world was uniquely unfortunate in that regard. But Blue, from what he'd told her, came from a world very different from her own- no magic, and fantastically advanced technology. But perhaps there was some some similarity, buried beneath all the differences.

[firstroar]

Blue looks to her at that prompt, frowning. What does she mean? Is it so literal a statement?

It seems to be, and that mildly surprises him.

"...Nothing remains of the mind upon death," he replies carefully. "It is like...extinguishing a flame. One that cannot be relit."

Feeling a person die is one of the worst things he can think of; it's the surplus of such a feeling that pushed him to the brink, that made his own power ignite and explode to escape, to avoid having to feel more death.

[bindsthedead]

"Then your world is fortunate in that regard, if nothing else," Sabriel says, her tone blunt.

"In mine... it is impossible to restore what has died to true life, but it is possible to drag deceased spirits back into Life. But they become... warped in the process." The water around Sabriel starts to turn black and frigid, fog eddying around her for an instant before she takes a deep breath and forces it back with an effort of will.

"And they need to feed on the living in order to remain in Life. The creature you saw in my dream was a living man once- one who traded Life for power, and in the process, drove my home into centuries of chaos and decline." Sabriel's voice is tense, torn between trying to discuss the topic and trying to keep her dreamscape from spiraling into horror once again.

"My family's purpose- my purpose, is to use our abilities to make sure the Dead do not walk in Life, but instead pass beyond."

[firstroar]

Blue's eyes flick down to the growing darkness, catching glimpse just before she banishes it. It's enough to leave him with an impression of the dread things she speaks of, and his gaze returns to her form at mention of purpose.

"Who made you for this purpose?" he asks.

[bindsthedead]

"No one made me," Sabriel says, confused, "It's a responsibility- and power- passed down through my family. My father was the Abhorsen before me, and before him it was his aunt."

Sabriel looks down at her hands, an echo of the old rhyme resounding in her head. Five Great Charters knit the land... and the second lies in the folk who keep the Dead down.

"It's in our blood," Sabriel says, meaning it entirely literally.

[firstroar]

In our blood, she says, and Blue can feel a reverberation within himself between the distant echoes of that rhyme.

"That may be it." His eyes fix on hers.

"The connecting thread."

[bindsthedead]

Sabriel meets his gaze steadily, frowning thoughtfully at the response.

"Your power is also inherited- and passed down through a bloodline?" Sabriel asks. Not all magic is passed on in that way- in fact, it's fairly unusual in the Old Kingdom. Aptitude might run in families, but power itself is either earned through baptism and training for Charter Magic, or seized through force in the case of Free Magic.

[firstroar]

He shakes his head.

"I don't have a family line to speak of...because I was the first. But what is in my blood and genetics is what frames my purpose. What gives me purpose, whether I meant to choose it or not.

"What we are comprised of...helps define our courses in life, for better or worse."