The View From Here

[Ebiris]

"No, thanks," Daniel shakes his head, leaning on one of the nearby chairs. "Not much point eating in a dream, after all."

[Halbarad]

"A drink would be good, thanks," Tim says. A dream this may be, but he's still physically here, and it's been a long trip. While it hasn't been physically demanding, a drink would still be nice.

"I'm just glad I managed to find you," Tim says. "I'm still getting used to this Dream stuff."

[Brian]

"Fair enough," Len says, shrugging, and taking his seat behind the table.

A minute later, a man in gold armor that was probably inspired by an anime (the shoulderpads alone!), and who has a halbard strapped to his back strides in.  He takes a half-step, blinking as he views all of the people gathered, then he collects himself, and steps to one side.  He's got a helmet hanging from the elbow of his armor, leaving his hair hanging low on his back.

Behind him, a much shorter person in a cloth-of-gold T-shirt and jeans strikes in, with black hair sticking in all directions, like he'd just woken up.  His eyes widen a bit at some faces as he looks around, and he says, "Dude!  You guys died?  Weak!"

Sterling and Walker gape, and Jim stutters out, "Nick?  Are you non-dead now?"

Len's eyebrows rise at this, and he exchanges a glance with the unnamed man, who then coughs, and says, "Greetings, Bigfire, and welcome to the domain of Dream.  I am Alan."

"How the hell did you get here, Nick?" Sterling finally asks, ignoring Alan entirely.  "I thought Sean killed you!"

"He did.  I'm a ghost.  A dream-ghost.  It's funky, and yet, functional," Nick says.  "But, uh, my boss needs to talk to you, dude.  Let's catch up later, alright?"

Sterling nods, and then Sterling and Nick do something incomprehensible involving knocking fists together, shaking hands, and high-fiving.  Then Alan turns to look at Nick expectantly, and Nick coughs meekly, retreating to stand behind Alan.

"It's all yours, Boss," he says.

"Thank you," Alan says dryly.  "It's an interesting coincidence to run into familiar faces, then.  I sense that some among you are Dreamers ... and two at least are Anchors."

[Halbarad]

Tim nods. "Kyle and Phae are anchors, yes, and I've been told that I'm a dreamer, or at least have the potential to become one. Pandora sent us to find you - Kyle and Phae helped us physically enter the dream to escape from a virtual army in the real world, and now we're trying to figure out how to get back there."

[Brian]

"You were running from an army?" Alan asks, surprised.  "Well, no.  I don't need to know the details.  I can try and send you back, but ... my aim isn't that great, honestly.  If you can do us a favor, we'd be able to do what you needed, though."

Nick scowls at Alan, but adds, "We can't really do much without your help first, though.  It should be pretty easy."

"Pandora's been lost to us for a long time," Len chimes in.  "If you could lead us to her, and then, possibly allow those Anchors to help us bring her back here, we'll be able to see where the safest point to drop you off is."

"Of course, it's not good for you to remain in the Dream in this form for long, so, time is of the essence," Alan completes.

[Halbarad]

"I don't see any problem with that," Tim replies. "I was able to make a path to her before, so I don't see any reason why I can't do the same thing again. Seems like a fair enough trade to me."

[Ebiris]

"Well, Pandora recommended you guys to us, so I doubt she'd have any problem with that," Daniel nods amiably.

[Carthrat]

"Neat how everything is just falling in to place," mumbles Tom.

"Ah, ahaha! Yeah, she'd be thrilled with that, most likely."

[Halbarad]

Tim glances over at Tom. "We WERE warned that coincidence is right out the window at this point."

[Carthrat]

"You ARE aware that that doesn't make it any less weird," shoots back Tom, shaking his head.

[Halbarad]

"Weird is becoming a way of life," Tim replies, shaking his head.

[Carthrat]

"Tell me something I don't know," replies Tom, *continuing* to shake his head.

[Ebiris]

Daniel shrugs, before turning his attention towards Nick. "So, dead, huh? How's that work?"

[Brian]

"Hey, I prefer to consider myself 'corporeally challenged'," Nick replies.  "Other than that ... I get around.  And dream-chicks are usually way hotter.  Or catgirls."

"Anyway," Alan interjects.  "Some of you may want to stay here and catch up with Nick.  Len and Saul will accompany whoever among you will show us the way to Pandora."

Sterling hesitates, but then decides, "Well, I'll go.  If something goes wrong, I'll live through it, after all."

Carlos, Jim, and Walker want to stay and catch up with Nick.  Kyle and Phae are going to speak with Alan.  Wallace, Mark, Sterling, and David are willing to head back to Pandora.  "After all," Mark reasons, "she's only a few minutes walk away."

[Halbarad]

"For us, maybe. Seems like folks that haven't been down the path to meet her yet don't get to go so fast."

Tim looks around at his companions. "Are we ready to go, then?"