On the Bank of a Dream

[Brian]

<Brian> Halbarad!
<Halbarad> Yes!
<Brian> You are asleep, having a warm, fuzzy, Halbarad-type dream.  Which is interesting, because you're distinctly aware that it's a dream.
Halbarad finds this rather unusual, as he rarely remembers dreams, much less is aware of dreaming.
<Brian> But there you are.  And apparently Halbarad-type dreams are relatively boring, as you've got a big circular room, a padded reclining chair, and doors every few steps along the perimeter of the wall.
<Brian> It's bright, though.  Can't tell where the light is coming from, but it's everywhere.
<Halbarad> Deciding not to waste a perfectly good strange dream by relaxing in the chair, Hal takes a walk around the perimeter of the room, taking a closer look at the doors.
<Brian> Each of the doors is the same.  Slightly curved, to accommodate the shape of the room.  They've got gold colored knobs, and each is marked with a blank plaque.
<Halbarad> Since the plaques don't really tell him much, Hal chooses one of the doors at random and opens it.
<Brian> It opens up onto a snowy hillside.  It doesn't feel cold, but you can see the snow and feel the wind.  After a few meters of snow, there's a clean, stone staircase leading upwards.  Can't tell more without leaning out of the door and looking around, though.
Halbarad does so, although he doesn't go through the door just yet, keeping his feet inside the room.
<Brian> The wind is stronger when you stick your head outside.  You appear to be on the slopes of a really tall mountain, reasonably near the top.  The top has clouds ringing it ... probably about a kilometer away.  A break in the clouds reveals a glint of light off of ... something.  Something shiny.  Not sure what it was, though.
<Halbarad> Figuring that since this is a dream anyway he can't get hurt (right?), Hal heads out of the door, striking out boldly towards the SHINY!
<Brian> This doesn't take long.  You're dressed in your casual clothes, and when you start to lose your footing, you get a walking stick.
<Halbarad> "That's helpful," Hal mutters, using the stick to help him keep going in the snow. This being a dream, he doesn't question its appearance too much - it's SUPPOSED to be a strange dream.
<Brian> All in all, this is kind of neat.  You don't feel tiredness or anything as you climb to the top of the staircase, which reveals (on the mountain-top, which is about twenty meters across) a flat space.  There's a hole in the center, about two thirds the diameter of the giant sphere that's hovering above it, and the entire thing is encircled by golden pillars and archways.
<Brian> The sphere itself looks like glass ... filled with ... oil?  Smoke?  Something that acts reasonably fluid.  You can't see too far into it.
Halbarad cautiously reaches out to touch the sphere, trying to see if he can determine whether it really is glass or something else.
<Brian> It feels like glass.  Fingertips emerge from the smoke, and touch the opposite side of the sphere from your fingertips.
Halbarad blinks in surprise, and tries to see if it's just a reflection or something actually inside the sphere - touching it in another place with two fingers this time to see if it still matches.
<Brian> The fingertips inside the sphere remain in place.
<Brian> The hand is smaller than yours ... looks a bit feminine.  It's attached to a wrist that's obscured in the mists, but slowly, a form drifts forward, until you can see a face.  A young woman is inside this glass sphere, and she looks at you questioningly.
<Halbarad> "Wow, it IS a person," Hal says, rather surprised. "Who are you? Are you all right in there?"
<Brian> She looks like she's just floating ... so maybe it is a liquid.  She's wearing a thin, gauzy white robe-like thing, which combines with the obscuring power of the mist to make her (barely) decent.  She nods at you, and writes with a fingertip on the side of the sphere:  "You're not part of the brotherhood?"
<Brian> The letters are backwards, and glow faintly silver ... but you can read them anyway.
<Brian> It doesn't even require conscious effort.  Dreams sure are convenient!
<Halbarad> Not sure he can hear her - apparently he wouldn't be able to hear her, or she'd have spoken, he guesses - he writes on the sphere as he speaks. "I'm not sure what Brotherhood you're talking about. I just dreamed myself here, I think."
<Brian> "Oh," she writes back.  After a momentary pause of her just looking at you, she shakes her head (which sends her dark hair drifting, and she spends a moment brushing it behind herself).  After that, she writes, "Welcome to the Dream, then."
<Halbarad> "Thanks, I guess," Hal says (and writes). "Seems like a... nice enough place, although I've got no idea how or why I'm here."
<Brian> "You'll figure it out eventually," she writes back.  "If you get in trouble, just call for the Brotherhood of Morpheus.  They'll help you anywhere in dream."
<Halbarad> "I'll remember that," Hal replies, although he's not sure why he'd get in trouble here. It's been peaceful enough so far. "Any suggestions for what I should do while I'm here?"
<Brian> "Well, be careful," she advises.  "Until you know your way about....  And just so you'll know it's real...."  She winks, and blows a kiss at you.  And then you wake up.
<Brian> Everything seems normal ... and other than it being a dream you remember, it doesn't really seem that unlikely.  But there's a stain of lipstick on your collar-bone....
Halbarad touches the spot of lipstick, his eyes widening a bit. "Okay, now that's officially weird," he mutters, looking at the waxy stain on his fingertips.

Halbarad now moves to Extrication.