Please Wake Me Up

[Halbarad]

"Fine by me," Tim replies. "Lead the way."

[Bjorn]

Wallace gives his consent, and Bjorn (somewhat awkwardly, it must be admitted) reaches out to touch his hand.  Checking only to make sure that Wallace's anchor has actually appeared in the Dream, he turns back to Tim.

"All right.  I think they went out looking, so we'll probably have to wander a bit to find 'em.  Let's go see what we can see."

With a final parting nod at Wallace and Philip, he starts to lead the way out of building number nine, and then pauses.  Looking back at Tom consideringly, he offers, "Hey, uh, Tom?  Things are going to be a bit busy in here for a little bit.  Why don't you come with us, kill a little time before taking your nap?  Let things settle down."

[Carthrat]

"Oh. I s'pose," replies Tom, shrugging. "Got all the time in the world, and that."

He about-faces and heads after Bjorn.

[Bjorn]

Stepping out into the building, Bjorn looks both ways up the deserted street before shrugging.  "Probably down this way.  Let's go."  With that, he ambles down into the heart of New Delphi, letting the other two keep pace with him.

Within the Dream, he's talking with Lazarus and Bart, updating them on the status of Tetsuo and the other newcomers, and finding out anything they have to add.  But out loud, he says, "So I figure I owe you guys a bit of an apology.  I have a feeling you're both a little freaked out by me at the moment."  He cocks an eyebrow at them.

[Carthrat]

"No more than the rest of the stuff over the past few days," replies Tom, easily. "Well.. the only real difference is that you've offered us a point where we get to make a choice. Instead of, y'know, being dragged along for the ride."

[Halbarad]

Tim pauses a moment before answering. "I don't know if I'd say freaked out, exactly. To be honest, you seem to understand what's going on - at least to me - but for some reason I don't get it. To me, that's more important than the choice. My choice is made - I know you guys, or at least some of you, and my old life is way out of reach at this point.

"You seem a lot more devoted to this than Drac, at least, and I'm curious why. What do you know that he doesn't?"

[Bjorn]

Scratcing his head, Bjorn stares off into the distance for a long second.  Finally, he says, "All right.  Back there, I told Wallace that I had the power to connect minds, let 'em talk, right?  Well, that's only a partial truth.  See, as best I understand it, my mind always exists partly in a Dream."  It's clear from how he says it that this means something more than a daydream.  "That's part of why I'm not coming off very well at the moment.  I didn't have that while we were in the Earth Dream, and it's sort of come back in a bit of a rush.  To be frank, it messes up my perception more than a little."  He grimaces.

"Anyways, there you go.  Philip's heard all the stuff about Dreams and how it applies to the Contest, but I'm actually living it, y'know?"  He ponders, and then adds, "Or, more correctly, I make myself think I'm living it, but that turns out not be any different."

[Carthrat]

"I see," says Tom, thinking quickly. "So you've got a personal stake in this, it seems. And if you're with the dream 24/7, then I guess it's more than conjecture that you'd have a good idea of what needs to be done with it, moreso than other groups.."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn's shaking his head even before Tom finishes.  "I said a Dream, not the Dream," he corrects.  "The Dream I'm connected to is my own personal Dream, not The Dream which protects our reality."  He makes a face.  "There's too many damn dreams involved.

"Anyways.  I don't have a personal stake beyond what we all have, no.  But what I have is maybe a little more insight into the nature of Dreams and their connection with Reality."

He looks over at Tim.  "Take you, for example.  You're a Dreamer, right?  I saw you make a stick.  You did that by pulling it out of the Dream?"

[Halbarad]

"As near as I can tell, yes. I first made it while I was in the Dream, then repeated the process here - and poof, I have a staff. I still want to do some experimentation to see if it holds for anything I make in the Dream, though - so far the only other thing I really 'made' there was an APC, and that's a little big to bring to the real world apparently."

[Carthrat]

"Yet, anyway," replies Tom. "Look, whatever dream or nightmare or whatever you're talking about, if it's yours, personally.. actually, what exactly does it do for you?

On the one hand, it gives you this neato telepathy thing, but on the other hand, it causes you to, in effect, be constantly daydreaming, right? So what other perks does it have? Could someone, say, enter your dream like we entered *The* Dream?"

Tom doesn't really have a clue what to ask, and he looks rather perplexed.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn nods.  "But really," he points out to Tim, "that explanation doesn't make any sense.  Why does it matter that you made the stick in the Dream?  You've probably had dreams before of flying -- why can't you fly here?  So and so forth.

"What it comes down to is this: Will defines reality.  And why I say this, I'm not talking some New-Age feel-good pseudophilosophy here.  This is an axiom of the natural order.  You've been in the Dream, you've made things with your mind.  Both of you, I'm guessing?"  He looks at Tim and Tom for confirmation, but keeps talking.

"Well, it turns out that the same laws that apply to the Dream apply to the real world as well.  There's just... obstacles.  The first is that, unlike the Dream, the real world has substance -- matter, physical laws, so on.  And that provides an inertia that you have to overcome, an inertia the Dream doesn't have.  And even more than that, people believe the real world has to follow certain rules.  Belief is really just will, in maybe it's purest form.  So to overcome the reality defined by people who believe you can't just make stuff out of thin air, you need a lot of willpower.  Or, as it turns out, a natural affinity to the Dream in one form or another.

"So -- to backtrack a lot -- that's one of the reasons I make a big deal out of believing in the Order's cause.  Fundamentally, there isn't much of a difference between believing you can make a stick, and having it appear in your hand, and believing you can overcome two massively powerful shadowy organizations to reshape reality."  He shrugs.  "Except, of course, that in the latter case, you're working against a really vast amount of will."

"Anyways.  To answer your question, Tom.  I'm still working on what I can do with it."  He frowns.  "And this goes back to what I was saying before.  See, originally, all I could do was connect minds.  But what I realized, after talking with the Brotherhood, was that the way I did this had to be using dreams, in one shape or the other."  He shrugs, prosaically.  "And so I told myself that it was my own Dream.  Made myself think about it that way, and that's what it turned into."

He cocks his head, thinking.  "Someone could enter my Dream, but it would be pretty dangerous for them.  The Dream is mine, and I have full control over it.  If they actually entered it entirely, I could probably do whatever I wanted to them."  He shrugs.  "In theory, I should be able to move myself in and out of it.  The Dream is me, and I am the Dream, sort of thing.  That has a fair bit of potential.

"But for right now, the main thing it's doing is screwing up my time perception very badly."  He grimaces.

[Halbarad]

"Well, if what you're saying is correct, then I can make it in the real world because my will is focused enough to change reality to that extent. I'd guess that the reason I've only been able to make items I've done in the Dream is because I'm still new at this. It's still a bit hard to believe without seeing, but with the stick, I have seen it done. Maybe as I develop my skills more I won't have to rely on things I've made before, but it seems that's a limit for me for now.

"As far as needing willpower, I can understand that. You do need a pretty powerful engine of belief behind what you're doing, if you plan on changing the world itself."

He looks rather pensive at that.

[Carthrat]

"And speaking of changing the world itself," says Tom, "I mean, as Tim said, he's pretty much sold on joining, and I guess I am, too. Even if I don't know what I can do.

But what were your plans before we showed up? Exactly what was 'the next step'?"

[Bjorn]

"On changing the world, we get a cheat."  Bjorn grins widely for a moment at that.  "That's really the point of the Contest, is to determine just who gets access to that cheat.  What the will and belief is needed for is winning the Contest.  And since we're going up against people who are sure they are going to win, and believe that what they're doing is actually for the best..." He shrugs, hands spread.  "We have to have the same, see?"

Looking over at Tom, he hums thoughtfully.  "Next plan... we're not clear on that.  There's two main things we need to accomplish.  One is to actually do the Contest itself.  The other is to mess up Cabal and Pax so they can't."  He shakes his head.  "What we need to do is sit down and plan out the best attack plan on those fronts, but to do that, we need our Oracle's input.  And she can't give us the answers we need until tomorrow or so."