After about an hour at building number nine, Tim is roused from a dreamless sleep by some sort of commotion. When Tim looks out the window of the room he's staying in (currently occupied by only himself), he sees an unfamiliar face. There's a young asian boy with very grim features stoically marching up the street with a girl on his back, using an IV stand that appears to be connected to her as a walking stick.
Tim quickly hurries out of the building, concern written on his face. "Are you all right?"
The kid jumps back and his eyes widen a bit. He calms himself, but not before Tim spots one hand heading towards a pocket (and possibly a concealed weapon). Nodding, he asks, in stilted and accented English, "You are a medicine person?"
"No, I'm sorry," Tim says, frowning a bit at the accent.
Well, coincidence is going haywire, so no harm in trying.
Switching over to Japanese, he speaks (moderately well). "Are you Japanese?"
"Yes," he replies curtly in the same. "My sister needs a healer. Where can I find one?"
"No, but I can take you to someone who should be able to help you," Tim replies. "Come with me."
Heading back to building 9, he opens the door and immediately begins calling for Wallace.
Wallace is in the living room, reading a book, and looks up when called. "Oh," he says, seeing the girl.
"You're a healer?" the boy asks in Japanese.
Wallace stares at him blankly for a moment before saying (in English), "Set her on the bed in room two. Mark wanted to explore this place a bit, so the room is empty."
Nodding, the kid does as instructed, and sets the girl down on the bed, thereafter collapsing into a sitting position and staring at her. Now that Tim can get a better look at the kids, they look very similar -- they might be twins, beneath that dust. Their hair is dark, the boy's unruly, and the girl's bound back with an elastic band into a pony-tail. She seems at peace, and is breathing. The boy is wearing a denim jacket over a T-shirt and somewhat ragged (and very grimy) jeans. The girl is wearing a Japanese schoolgirl's uniform, and after Wallace brushes some dust away, her legs both turn out to be in a very form-fitting casts.
The IV connected to her is nearly depleted, but Wallace removes that carefully, before setting his hands on the girl's stomach. They emit a soft blue glow, and the girl mumbles something, stirring softly, before falling back to sleep.
"She'll need a lot of rest," Wallace says, shaking his head. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Tim replies. Turning to the young man, he switches to Japanese. "What happened to bring you here?"
"Nng," the boy replies, before passing out right there on the floor.
Wallace bends over to examine him, but then rises, and shakes his head. "He's not hurt," the large man assesses. "But he's completely drained."
"Well, that explains everything," Tim says with a snort. "Is there another free bed we can put him in?"
"For the moment," Wallace says, picking up the boy and carrying him to the next room. "We'll be tight on space for a while, it looks like."
As he says this, Bjorn, Tom, Parthipan, and Phil enter the building.
Bjorn catches sight of Wallace setting Tetsuo on a bed as he enters building number nine. Tim is in the hallway, apparently mid-conversation with the man.
Bjorn surveys the scene -- Wallace carrying the unconcious Tetsuo, the girl lying unmoving on the bed -- and pronounces, "I'm assuming that things are going alright here."
"Near as I can tell," Tim replies. "I don't know who they are, but hopefully we can get some more info once he wakes up. Do you know him?"
"A yakuza," Bjorn says. "Paul saved his butt from the Cabal, if I remember rightly. And that's his sister, who is also presumably yakuza, and I don't know what happened to her."
He jerks a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the street outside. "I came to tell him that the people following him weren't actually following him, if you know what I mean. I'm guessing he doesn't care much at the moment, though."
"I would assume not. He wasn't particularly talkative as of a few minutes ago," Tim replies wryly. "Hell, at this rate I'll be sleeping outside."
"Sleep, eh? So I guess you've decided against joining us?" Bjorn asks wryly.
Turning, Bjorn then adds, "Are you Wallace?"
"That's me," the large man says, nodding. "Is there anything I can help with?"
Bjorn shrugs. "Not beyond what you're already doing, I guess. Thanks for that."
"Hal's probably referring to the hordes coming in here. Hal, we're not gonna leave ye sleeping on the ground, silly."
Dracos turned to Wallace.
"Hey, Wallace, mind sending someone to give me a ring when he wakes up? I'd like to have a chat with him."
Bjorn turns and stares at Philip for a long second, and then shakes his head.
"Y'know, if you guys don't need me for anything, I think I'll go take a nap," interjects Tom, starting to head off to his room.
Wallace shrugs. "No problem," he says. "I'll tell Sterling when it happens."
"Actually," Bjorn interjects, "one of the things I can do is connect the minds of people that I've touched, let them talk telepathically to each other." He shrugs, a bit embarrasedly. "If you don't mind being added to my little list, then you can easily tell me, and then Philip through me."
Dracos nods. "need anything from me, Bjorn, while I'm here?"
Dracos
Thrown off kilter, Bjorn starts and stares at Philip. "I... no, I guess not. I mean... no. Not really."
"Heh" Dracos shakes his head, rubbing it with his hand. "Sorry, just seem a bit distractable of late. Going to go walk and clear my head a little."
Dracos
Lapsing back into the Dream, Bjorn replies, Fair enough. Holler if you need something.
Tim removes his hat for a moment to run his hand through his hair. "I'll.... hell, I don't even have anything to do right now. You need help with anything? I doubt I'll be getting back to sleep very soon."
Bjorn turns to look at Tim. Why, he thinks to himself, am I in charge?
"I don't know that there's much to do," Bjorn admits. "I was going to talk to the other new arrivals -- there were two people following Tetsuo there," he explains. "You're welcome to come along. After that," he shrugs, "we'll see, I guess."
"Fine by me," Tim replies. "Lead the way."
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."
"Oh. I s'pose," replies Tom, shrugging. "Got all the time in the world, and that."
He about-faces and heads after 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.
"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."
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?"
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."
"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'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?"
"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."
"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 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.
"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.
"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'?"
"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."
"I get it," replies Tom, nodding. "Your oracle would be.. Relm, right?"
"The Oracle of Delphi, currently incarnated as Relm, yeah."
Tom nods. "Yeah, that's what Pandora said," he comments. "How's she gonna get those answers? Is she just all-knowing, but knows so much that it takes time to remember, or something?"
"Well, I'm not an Oracle," Bjorn says, "but here's my guess. The Dream is basically shaped by the minds of every living thing on Earth. So, as an extension, anything you want to know is to be found in the Dream somewhere. So an Oracle is really just a person with a natural gift for sorting through all that information in the Dream to extract answers, but no matter how gifted they are, it takes time."
"So it sounds like the plan for the moment is 'get more information, then revise plans'. Simple enough, I guess"
"I like simplicity," Bjorn says affably. "It's just that it turns out I'm good at complexity."
He gives the two a lop-sided grin, and then asks in a more serious tone, "Anything else bothering you two?"
"Yeah, actually," replies Tom. "I'm wondering about Bigfire. I'm gonna catch up with Sterling later and ask him what his plans are.. well, that's not really 'bothering' me, so much as it's just something to do.
Apart from that? Just the usual stuff you'd expect. I suppose *everyone* here feels way over their head."
"Well, I don't," Bjorn says, judiciously. "Of course, I could just be saying that because of the body transplants, temporary godhood, and reconnection to a different plane of reality I've suffered in the past twenty-four hours. And I don't think Philip does either, but I don't think he can feel over his head." He considers. "We might not really be the best reference points, though."
"I'll get back to you after I've killed a few creatures of legend, then?" replies Tom, rolling his eyes.
"Well, it does build perspective," Bjorn says seriously, and then he laughs. "No, seriously, I know where you're coming from. But believe me when I tell you: what we're trying is doable. So sleep on it, talk to Bigfire, whoever. If you want to leave, we won't stop you. You want to help by working with Bigfire, or in New Delphi, then that'll be great. And if you believe in what we're doing, and you want to be a part of it, we'll be happy to have you -- either of you -- in the Order."
"Well, hey, we have to now, don't we?" comments Tom, brightly.
"After all, we're, like, Soulriders! It's fate! Wait, no, it's *coincidence*!"
After a brief chuckle, Tom shrugs. "And, in all seriousness, there's a million good reasons why I think it'd be better to work directly with you guys than with Bigfire or Delphi or some such. With me, Tim?"
"Don't see why I wouldn't be. It'll be the best opportunity to make some use of - and learn about - my new abilities, and the cause is definitely a good one.
"Besides, if it gives me opportunities to mock Drac, I'm all for it."
That last makes Bjorn smile. "Well," he says, "then welcome aboard, I guess. Though, like I said, think things through. You can change your mind if you want."
"Eh, we'll take that as it comes. Unless you have plans on running around and eating children or something, I doubt I'll have too many problems with you."
That elicits a snort. "Well, fair enough. All right, then, barring further questions, let's go find the new guests."
Ted is standing in front of building one, apparently mid-stare-down with one of the signers. Price is conversing with Lazarus, though only half of the conversation is audible. It appears to center around building supplies, though they sound more like parts for a robot than a house.
"Having fun?" Bjorn greets Ted.
He nods, still staring intently at the signer. For his part, the signer is staring back with a perfectly matched intensity.
Bjorn looks over at Tom and Tim, and then, shrugging, waits for whatever test of wills is currently underway to end.
Tim returns the shrug and takes a moment to size up the other people present (that he hasn't met yet, anyway).
A flash of lightning shines from far away, in the clouds
"There we go," Ted says, as a peal of thunder echoes in the distance. Turning to Bjorn, he looks curious. "What's going on?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing, really."
"Just having a bit of fun," he says dismissively. "Also, you're now protected from fly-bys. If anyone tries to fly in, the weather overhead will worsen until they find someplace else to be."
"Useful," Bjorn admits. "Anyways, sorry to have been so brief back there. Thanks for coming to help. This is Tom and Tim," he says.
"Charmed," Ted says, taking Tom's hand and attempting to kiss the back of it before it's snatched away. "Meh," Ted says after being foiled. "So. You need anything for me, or can I just nap?"
Bjorn rubs at his eyes. "Do I have the magical mystery mutant power to make people sleepy?" he wonders aloud, and then shakes his head. "Ah, sorry. No, I just wanted to check if you were okay, talk about what you can do and what you came here to do, sort of thing. If you want to get some sleep, go right ahead. We can talk later."
"Sure thing. Just build me a weather-god-type shrine to hang my clothes in, and I'll be happy," Ted says, before he explodes into a cloud of fog, leaving his clothes behind. The fog quickly dissapates, though whisps of it seem to haunt the mine entrance.
"A weather-god shrine with a closet." Bjorn sighs. "I guess that rules out Stonehenge."
Bending down to pick up the clothes, he says to Tim and Tom, "Well, you guys volunteered to help, so guess what your first task is?"
"He can have a closet with a sign saying 'Shrine' on it," replies Tom. "Where do you keep the closets?"
"Somehow, I don't think that will satisfy a wind god. I'm not sure what will, of course, but I think we ought to put some effort into it."
"We can glue some desk fans to it?" replies Tom, lamely. "Maybe a paper windmill?"
"Yeah, but what WOULD? I mean, I'm no stranger to building stuff, but what exactly are we looking for? Something artistic with lots of windchimes or what?"
Bjorn sighs, and then shrugs. "Well," he says philosophically, "having met his dad, I'm guessing that we can't go wrong with something in the outdoors style. We'll find a nice sort of place, set up some monoliths or something, and then a nice classy sort of combination altar/dresser, I figure."
"Outdoorsy is good, but no furniture outside. Unless he LIKES wet clothes. Maybe he does, if he's into weather." Tim shrugs.
"A waterproof chest, or something, then. Maybe a tarp for a an altar cloth?"
"Well, ok, we can make something up involving... monoliths," comments Tom, shrugging. "Do you have a pile of materials to use lying around somewhere? A huge slab of obsidian or marble?"
"There's a mine over that away," Bjorn points out.
"Oh. Has it been pre-mined or will we need to put on our spelunking caps?"
This seems to elicit Bjorn's interest. "You have a spelunking cap?"
"Give me a helmet, some duct-tape, and a maglite, and I will give you a spelunking cap!" replies Tom, shrugging.
"So you don't."
"Not as such, no."
"Pity."
"Yeah. You never know when you'll need a good spelunking cap," deadpans Tom. "Except for possibly now."
While this discussion is taking place, the guy in the jeep and Bart drive off in the jeep and the stationwagon respectively. Lazarus mentioned something about a trip to town ... that must be it.
"Um. Anyway," continues Tom. "If there's a shrine to be built, there's a shrine to be built, and whilst if it built itself, I wouldn't be so surprised, I don't think it will, and thus we need to be startin' the building! To the mines!"
"He said mine. Not quarry. You don't get rocks for building things out of a mine.
"That said, can we get some more conventional building materials around here somewhere? If our esteemed companion wants to make it pretty that's fine, but I'd rather get functional out of the way first."
"A function shrine," Bjorn repeats slowly, tasting the words. "I'm not actually sure what a functional shrine is." He sighs. "Well, let's go for direct. We'll need a chest of drawers or something like that, a waterproof tarp, and a can of beans."
Lazarus looks up from his musings with Price, and relays, There are building materials behind building number one. Stone and mine-tailings can be found to the side of the mine entrance.
Thanks, Lazarus, Bjorn replies. Eyeing Tom and Tim, he suggests, "Why don't I go pick up the rocks?" Handing over the clothes, he continues, "You can get started on a altar-closet deal."
Tim passes the clothes off to Tom. "You get to be the beast of burden, young Rat."
He does a double take. "And who said that about the building materials?"
Starting to instinctively reply within the Dream, Bjorn checks himself. Sighing, he reaches out to touch both Tom and Tim, and adds their anchors to his Dream.
That was Lazarus, he informs them, the mists gusting in amusement, and this is Bjorn. Get used to telepathic conversations, I'd suggest.
I'd say this is weird, but that's becoming a state of being, Tim sighs. Might as well get started. Where do you want it, anyway?
Bjorn scratches his head. Let's put it behind one of the houses, he suggets, sort of hidden. That way his modesty won't be infringed when he reappears naked.
Behind the houses is a lot of cleared and level territory.... a handful of plots have trenches dug up in them, which lead to exposed plumbing. But it's not hard to locate a relatively level spot which doesn't appear to be marked off in any way. And, oddly, from the street, it doesn't look like there's any room at all; in reality, another thirty or forty houses could fit comfortably, with room for a yard on all sides of each.
Works for me, Tim replies.
With that, he leads Tom over to the building supplies and collects materials to begin construction.
Bjorn heads off in the direction of the mine to find rocks suitable for some sort of shrine-like arrangement.
The supplies are pretty thorough. Drywall, spackle, wooden beams, nails, various other construction components. Shovels, hammers, planes, and several dozen bags of pre-mixed concrete (add water and stir) also lay about.
By the time Tim has finished his inventory, Bjorn has returned with a wooden sledge filled with promising potential shrine-stone. As it turns out, looking for the rocks with the most mist around them was kind of easy.
The careful application of power saw, plywood, and two-by-fours soon sees the creation of a small form (with a doorstep) on the ground, which is filled with the quick-drying concrete. The cement is troweled flat, and left to cure.
While waiting on the foundation to cure, Tim assists Bjorn and Tom in arranging the shrine rocks around the foundation, in what's hopefully a pleasing arrangement to wind gods.
Once the foundation has set enough to start working on, the construction begins. Wooden boards are nailed to the concrete, with the walls constructed atop them. The roof takes a bit of doing, but once that's in place the outer walls are covered with cedar boards clapboard style, and roofed with cedar shakes. Tim attaches a few shelves inside with a closet rod around head height for the actual purpose of the shed/closet/shrine.
The process is finished off with the installation of a simple door. By this time, the sky is settling into night.
Tom places the clothes on the shelves in the temple. Mikey and Bridget offer an array of tiny (glass) windmills that Mikey reaches up to set on the roof, clear of the gutters. Lazarus volunteers a windchime from somewhere (it looks quite old, and is made of tin). After the addition of a few more extraneous stones to provide a path through what the jeep-driving guy maintains will be a garden some day, Anita calls everyone in to dinner.
"He better appreciate this thing," comments Tom. "I expect to *not get rained on* for at least three weeks."
"No," Bjorn disagrees, "we probably prefer rain. C'mon, le's go get food."
With that, he heads over to the dining area.
Tim follows along, rubbing his back a bit. "God, I'm out of shape. Haven't done anything this strenuous in a while."
Bjorn snorts. "That'll change pretty soon, I'm betting."
In short order, everyone makes it to dinner. And dinner, as it turns out, is ... pizza? Apparently, Bart and the other guy picked up about a dozen jumbo pizzas at the local wholesaler. They've got variety, at least.
Tom grabs an old favourite; ye BBQ meat lovers with extra meat.
"Yo, get any drinks?" he asks, stuffing down two slices at once.
There's a trio of coolers set up with lots of canned sodas. After the meal, Tom and the others catch sight of Bigfire, mostly clustered into a corner, though Carlos is in deep conversation with Ted. After finishing some point, Ted nods at Carlos, and approaches Tom.
"Nice digs," he says appreciatively. "I was expecting flags and pinwheels. Maybe a chest. Thanks a ton."
Tim shrugs. "I enjoy building things, and it gave us something to do. Glad you like it."
"'sokay," replies Tom, shrugging. "Out of curiosity, what exactly is it supposed to do?"
"It's a focus. A point where I can center my power to try and raise shields of fog, wind, and also, somewhere I can put my clothes when I'm not in a mortal host," Ted explains.
"Oh. Coolness," replies Tom. "That's kinda neat. It didn't take that long to build. We could smack one down anywhere if we needed too.. handy, that."
"That's good to know, but hopefully won't be required," Ted says. "Anyway. I'm going to set up some nightly fog for the region." With a nod, he wanders out the door to the street.
Tim finishes up his pizza and stands.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat after all that work today. Think I'll head to bed... if I can find any free, at least. See you in the morning."
As Tim is about to turn to the doorway, Phil returns, a bit dusty, and with a few tears in his clothes that weren't there when he left. He seems his normally healthy and cheerful self, however.
"Howdy. Everyone doing fine?" Dracos completely ignores the state of his clothes.
Dracos
Yes, Bjorn replies succintly. You?
I'm feeling like I could smash in a vault with my fist...probably because I think I can.
Dracos
You figured out how to control your density, then?
Yeah, I take it you already figured that out? Was fooling around to see what I can do.
Dracos
Yeah, last night. Haven't actually tried it yet. He hesitates. I'm not actually sure how I know. I think the Dreams were talking to each other.
well, anyhow, I figured out how to do it. Takes a bit of concentration but it can be changed a long way. And did you realize we can see through rock walls? Even managed to touch base with my other self a bit... though that was a little hard.
Dracos
Used the vision thing to walk home through the mines. Haven't managed to talk to my Earthself though.
Didn't really manage so much talking as...well, you know how we were able to borrow stuff from them before? Well, the dream's still here...it's harder but we can still do it.
Dracos
Oh?
Yeah, give it a try for asec... focus on something really small and simple...like their religious history or something. See if you can remember a bit of that from your other-self.
Dracos
Does it for the comedy value
Frowning slightly, Bjorn tries to reach for his Earthself's grasp of tactics.
Bjorn gets a distinct impression of someone else (about his other-self's size, actually) walking across a corridor and humming to himself. There's a momentary pause, and then he remembers his other-self's grasp of tactics completely.
Letting go, he comments, Seems easy enough.
Yeah, but it's hard to grab as much as we did in the dream. Either way, good safety. Anyhow, the de...you know, I'm ignoring. You're a scientist. You know what can be done with increased density. Anyhow, aside from the obvious, it isn't any harder to move like that, though it's a lot more dangerous to the surroundings.
Dracos
It would be about this moment that the door swings open, and Rez walks in, yawning.
"So, did I miss anything much important?"
"Well, about the same stuff I missed probably?"
Hey rez, care to be able to borrow swordfighting skills again? Because you can.
Dracos
I tried earlier, I think Sir Shuker using them.
"Oooh? Where'd you vanish off to?"
"You get three guesses and the first four don't count." Dracos' clothes are pretty beaten up as if he'd been roughhousing or being on the wrong side of an explosion.
Dracos
"Seeing how many people you can convince to throw you down the stairs in one day?"
"Mmmm...so close, but yet so deserving of being face smashed into the ground."
Ah, well, it is doable, though not on as large scale as before.
Dracos
"We've got stairs in here too, if you like!"
"I'm amused. Give it a try. I've never been tossed down the stairs before." Dracos focuses on being a bit more immobile than Rez can deal with.
Dracos
"I'm not dragging your sorry ass up there. Throw yourself down the stairs!"
"Oh fine." Dracos picks up Rez casually and walks over to the stairs. "How about I toss you up them, eh?"
Dracos
"You can -try-. That could be funny. But you're going down twice for every time I do!"
Rez seems rather unperturbed.
"...You know. Let's stop. We can keep this up all day and all that will happen is we'll put several holes in the wall." Dracos dropped him and patted him on the back. "Well played."
Dracos
"You're welcome."
There is a brief pause.
"So, what were you off doing?"
"You didn't guess?" Dracos blinked.
Dracos
Tom does *not* go to bed, instead slouching on his chair, and eyeing Rez and Drac curiously.
"Why would I bother guessing when you can just tell me, in far greater detail?"
I was practicing with the seal and with the earth dream, drawing over stuff, touching base, seeing through stone walls, and learning how to mess with density.
"Just a bit of training really." Dracos shrugged.
Dracos
Bjorn by this point has tuned out the banter of Nathan and Philip, and instead is engaged in conversation with some of the New Delphi inhabitants.
Huh. How fruitful was it? pipes in Tom, as much to try out using the dream as much as for the question itself.
Reasonably so. Weren't you listening earlier? Dracos shrugged. Was mostly repeating for sleeping pinky's benefit
Turning to the room, Dracos glanced over them. "Anyhow, anyone know what's the plan short term?"
Dracos
Bjorn breaks off a conversation with one of the signers (more correctly put, a language lesson) to look over at Philip. "Sleep," he informs him. "So that the Oracle can pick our brains. Plans in greater detail come after that."
Many of the residents of the town are gone at this point, presumably to sleep. Light flashes from outside occasionally, and the sound of distant thunder can be fainly heard.
"Tim's already gone to sleep, anyway," notes Tom. "So, in all honesty, that sounds pretty good.. night, I guess."
Tom trundles off to find a bed, or at least a couch.
"I think that's a cue," Bjorn muses, rising to his feet. "It all started on a dark and stormy night.... or, rather, it didn't. It started on a cold and snowy day, and this is, what, the one-fifth mark?"
He ponders that, hand on the doorknob. "Insufficient literary appeal," he pronounces. "Anyways, night all."
"Night." Dracos used the massive power of inertia to get everyone who was straggling off into their beds before heading to sleep himself.
Dracos
Tom and Tim trundle off to their building, which is fairly cramped. Luckily, Jim has decided to eschew sleep in favor of computer connectivity, Walker is moodily sitting on the roof (in the rain) and drinking tea with Mark (also on the roof (in the rain)). Wallace is snoring very soundly through his closed door, but with Carlos practicing the 50-yard-lightning-bolt-toss-catch-and-return with Ted, there's enough rooms to go around. Daniel is presumably behind one of the closed doors, and sleeping as well.
Bjorn, Nathan, Phil, and Parthipan return to their own roomy building, enjoying a full four empty bedrooms.
Everyone is pulled to sleep (and dream) almost as soon as they lie down.
Tim dreams of himself in his dream-office. Someone has installed a phone, and the flashing red light indicates there's voice-mail waiting. The message turns out to be directions to one of the doors, which leads to a hillside before a grecian temple.
Tom dreams of standing in an eight-sided arena. At his side is a master martial artist, though Tom is not sure how he knows it. Mark stands on Tom's other side. Tom, Mark, and this master (who appears to be made entirely of glass), must face off against ... something. Before Tom can figure it out, he's standing on a green, grass-covered hillside, near Tim, downslope from a temple.
Bjorn dreams of a dark place with dripping water. A troubled laugh echoes quietly, and then vision shifts, showing the cave walls and floors clearly. Footprints lead further into the caves, away from something, Bjorn is sure, but before he can figure out what, he's standing between Tim and Tom.
Nathan dreams of questing for a matching gauntlet for his left hand. For whatever reason, he finds himself doing this deep beneath the sea, wearing a polar-bear fur cloak, and simply strolling across the sea-floor. But then it's not a sea, floor, and there's Bjorn, and Tim, and Tom.
Phil dreams of running side-by-side with Sterling and Mark, chasing down ... something. There is a lot of blood, and wherever Phil is, he really only gets distinct impressions of sudden, jagged edges, and blood. Sterling is carrying a wooden sword, but it's got a lot of blood dripping from it. And then, Sterling is gone, and Phil finds himself looking at his friends again.
Parthipan dreams of being a dog, curled up in front of a fireplace. A man in the same room is cleaning a gun, and muttering to himself about hunting. Even in canine form, Parthipan can feel a smile forming. The house is littered with wolf-furs and skeletons. The man finishes cleaning his weapon and nods in satisfaction, putting it away after locking all of the doors in his home. Parthipan has just risen, turning towards the man's back, and assumed his largest lupine form before he realizes that he's on a hillside, able to scent his friends, and not see color.
It doesn't take Bjorn much to adapt to the sudden shifts in location. Craning his head to try and located Relm's temple, he asks offhandedly, "Anyone else have prophetic dreams?"
"That...was disorienting." Dracos admitted truthfully, rubbing his head and letting others who were less disoriented by what was going on lead.
Dracos
Relm emerges from the temple on the hilltop again, though she is not carrying a platter of cookies this time. "Friends!" she calls out, jogging over. "I'm glad everything seems to be working at the moment. Now, we were interrupted last time, and I never got to meet you two." She peers at Tim and Tom for a moment. "I could have sworn there was someone else," she mumbles quietly. More loudly, she says, "Anyway, you have questions. I have no cookies! But I might have answers."
Making a thoughtful noise, Bjorn ponders that. "Where to start?" he muses. "Well, basics first. We need to do two things, as far as I can see. Slow down Pax and Cabal -- especially the Cabal -- and complete the remaining Dreams. So, Oracle, which should we tackle first?"
"Oracle...?" Tim says. "I'm guessing you must be Relm, then."
Having overheard the comment about cookies - and still wanting to do some experimentation, he focuses on making some of the chocolate chip variety, as well as milk to go with them.
With that done, he settles in to listen, as he's not fully up to speed on what the Order is doing as much as what it is.
Relm looks pensive as she considers. "I'm still gathering info on the best specific plan of attack. But generally, I see a great cloak of spreading fire that hides us from our enemies, blinding and distracting them. I see a shining sword that cuts away the overhanging, and though I do not think you should go immediately ... I see you returning to Japan."
She frowns, and shakes her head slightly. "You should not go entirely alone, either," she warns. "You should consider at least two others ... the Cabal will surround their own force with guards, and while we don't have the resources to do the same...." She shrugs. Shaking her head, she adds, "Also, some people are much better at causing trouble than installing plumbing."
"'You' as in me in particular, or all of us?"
"All of you together," she clarifies.
Dracos scratched the back of his head and pondered. "Plumbing huh? What's his name... I think he's from Japan. Or at least, I think Shade pissed him off there. Not sure though."
Dracos
"I think we should bring Mark," states Tom, looking shifty. "I suppose the cloak of spreading fire could be a reference for Bigfire, or something. I can certainly see them making lots of noise and keeping people distracted...
But I dreamed about myself, Mark, and some glass kung-fu-master taking on.. something big. Thus my earlier reasoning."
"Assuming you mean 'kung-fu master' as 'martial artist,' rather than specifically kung fu, that might be me," Bjorn says. "Glass seems to be a bit of a theme -- my sword, and a dream before." He frowns. "But my dream didn't involve you at all, so it might be someone else. I was in a dark place, probably underground, and by myself."
Tim shakes his head. "Nothing for me. I just got a message and instructions on how to get here - nothing symbolic at all."
Tom slaps Tim on the back. "Hey, sure it can be symbolic! You might like work out how to get here *without* needing to go to sleep, being a Dreamer-whatsit and all. Or, uh, maybe not.
Hmm. Did *anyone* dream about other members of our little Order? Or at least other people?"
Ginrai tests out if he can talk in his wolf form while in the dream. "I had a rather strange dream. I was in the house of some hunter, or at least I assume it was a hunter since his place contained many wolf-furs and skeletons. I was in my smallest form up until he turned around and was about to change into my largest form when I suddenly appeared here with you guys." Looking at Relm, he asks, "Know if this had any sort of meaning to it?"
"Oh, all things have meaning," Relm says to Parthipan, who can actually speak in dream-form. "I don't know what that specifically meany, though, other than the fact that if you're clever, power will not protect your enemies from you."
"All right," Bjorn says, "so Japan is the next step? Then, logically, the next question is: what do we do in Japan? What exactly has the Cabal got there?"
"From what I can see," Relm says, frowning, and appearing to stare to some far-off-location that only oracles can gaze at, "there's an organization ... a shadow of the culture of Japan, I suppose. That force is opposed to the cabal, but it is not unified. It slows and annoys them, but does not stop them."
"You didn't answer his question," notes Tom, dryly.
"The yakuza," Bjorn grunts. After a second, his brow furrows. "Isn't Tetsuo related to the yakuza somehow? If so, he's probably one of the people we need to bring."
Dracos tapped his chin. "Glass Kung-fu master could be you Bjorn, but if we're headed to Japan, could very easily be someone else. And Tetsuo is definitely related to the crime sector in some manner. Probably them. We can ask him later."
Dracos
Shaking his head, Bjorn muses, "We don't have enough information to make any real plans." He looks at Relm. "There's nothing else you can tell us right now? Who the two we should bring with us, or more about this cloak of fire, or anything?"
"Not yet," she says, shrugging. "Knowing what you're looking for makes it easier to find, but I've still got to borrow your dreams and put two and two together."
"If it wasn't for the question of who to bring with us, I'd say to just head for Japan," Bjorn says, crossing his arms. "Do our own information gathering on foot. But picking who to bring with us..." He stretches his hands out. "Right now, the best guess seems to be Mark and Tetsuo. But that's a bit of a shot in the dark."
"For the moment," she says, frowning. "More may come to light in the future. I don't know much about Tetsuo and Mark ... but they're both martial artists, aren't they? I think that may be a bigger clue than the who specifically. Consider the whys. And then think of any equipment you might need to deal with those whys, and I'll requisition it for you." She nods to herself at that.
"I have no idea who qualifies as a martial artist," Bjorn says drily. "Nor do I have any idea what skills will be useful, since I don't know what we're going to be doing, let alone who possesses such skills."
"The inference should be obvious," Relm says, "but then, I'm not exactly human, so my mind works a bit differently. Logically, if you're bringing people who are both martial artists with you, you may have a fair amount of combat ahead of you. Also, if Tetsuo is linked with the Yakuza, then many things begin to fall into place. Of course, to determine how this will work, we'll need to know what Tetsuo's place exactly is. Will this be infiltration, or a temporary alliance? If you want to be sure people are slowing the Seventh Cabal and Pax Arcana down...." She shrugs.
"Then I'd say we can't make much progress on the planning right now," Bjorn concludes. "We need to speak with Tetsuo, and you need to pick over our dreams."
"Well, yes. But we were here for your questions. You wanted to know if it was more reasonable to go to Japan, or to cause havok. Well, if Bigfire cloaks you from the eyes of our enemy, so much the better for it. But that means you'll want to primarily focus on the Dreams."
"Naturally...win the big game...everything else falls into place."
Dracos
Bjorn nods at that. "All right," he says. "Japan is the... Fire Dream, is that right?" He frowns. "And why do we need martial artists with us?" he wonders, half to himself. "I thought Cabal and Pax didn't know about the Fuji Dream, and if our plan was to sneak in...."
"They're hardly the only people who could pose a threat to you," Relm notes.
"Eh?" Bjorn says, startled out of his reverie. "Oh. Yes, that's exactly my point. What's going to happen that requires force? And, as a logical follow-up, what else can we do to prepare?"
Relm ponders, and then suggests, "Talk to the Brotherhood of Morpheus for training. Likely any skill you could need to know, combat or otherwise, you could learn from them."
"That's something I need to do, for certain," Tim pipes up. "Is there anything I can do to help you directly at this point? I'm still learning the ropes of the Dream itself, but if you can use help with anything while I'm here, I'm all for it."
"Learn how to actually make that APC in reality," interjects Tom. "There's no situation that can't be improved with the presence of an armoured car.
Um. You didn't answer his first question again, either," he deadpans, eyeing Relm. "Is fighting all we need to prepare for, or is there something else we should be worried about?"
"I don't know yet," Relm says, shrugging. "You could encounter all sorts of situations. Right now, I need to know what you want to do, so I can try and see how it's going to work out. You're not decided, so everything is vague." Turning to Tim, she says, "Specifically, you can help best, I'd think, by learning more control over the dream. Hone your skills so that they can help us all. In the waking world, we're going to need more buildings to house all of the new people, but you may wish to set your own training at a higher priority."
"That'll mean spending time in the Dream with the Brotherhood, I think. I doubt anyone can teach me better about what I can do than they can. I'll probably head that direction once we're done here."
"Yeah," muses Tom. "Yeah. Hmm. If they can theoretically teach anything, maybe I could come with you.. though I'm not sure how."
"I can take you, I think. I'm pretty sure I've got enough control here to manage that much, at least." Tim nods.
Bjorn rubs at his jaw. "Without knowing more about Pax and Cabal's set-up at the moment, I can't be sure what I want do do," he says. "But probably the best general thing for me to be developing is my... power, I guess, which the Brotherhood might be able to help me with."
"Cool. No real idea what I should ask them to train me in, though," muses Tom. "Hmm. Any ideas, or should I trust my.. er, discretion?" he asks Relm.
"Well, what do you think you'd be good at?" she asks. "The Dream reinforces your basic image. That means things that are central to yourself are what the Brotherhood of Morpheus can teach you to improve in -- often to great effect. Though ... before you can undertake training, you should probably decide what your goal is in the first place."
Tom goes silent at that, deep in self-introspective thought.
"I suppose I should get back to my research," Relm muses. "I'll probably be harder to find the next few days, while I try and sort things out, though. If you have any questions, you should probably ask them before my focus fades entirely ... though I'm not certain how useful the answer will be right now."
"I think I'm more or less set," Tim replies. "You just confirmed what I was already planning, so I'll go with that for now.
"That said, who's coming with me to see the Brotherhood right now? If Relm's going through your dreams, will you need to do that first or can we do both at the same time?"
"Well, they'd need to actually dream them, wouldn't they?" says Tom, musing. "Or would they create an entirely seperate dimension? A sub-dream, if you will. Perhaps every time we go to sleep, a new universe is formed. Freud would have a field day.
What if we physically went into the dream and fell asleep there? Would it be possible to somehow dream ourselves back into the world, making us into a figment of our own imagination?"
"I don't think it'd really be Freud's business," Relm says slowly. "I'm pretty sure he's in the realm of thinking, not doing. When your thoughts begin to take life of their own, it's pretty much too late to be consulting him. For that, if you try and dream yourself awake, you've just put a dream inside a dream. Though, there is always astral projection, if you're wishing to be a dream in the waking world. It's good for seeing from afar, but not so good if you intend to remember what you saw."
Bjorn nods slowly at that, but himself says only, "I don't have any questions for the moment. Other than to know if there's anything I can do to help your research, I suppose."
"Give up your dreams for a night or two," Relm says with a lopsided grin. "But Rez volunteered to be first."
Bjorn nods again.
Ginrai speaks up. "I have a question... it's been bugging me ever since I heard those on Bigfire mention it. They said something about one of our old friends having to be a sacrifice so as to get us all together. Do you know anything about this?"
"Alan ... well, no. Pandora, really, told me something about that," Relm clarifies. "I'm not clear on the specifics. Essentially, someone who you all associated with died to set this in motion. It's because of your closeness to this person that you all got involved ... and why it took years to catch up with you, while those who knew him in reality were caught up in it from the begining."
"I see... did Pandora mention anything about why Brian was chosen? Also, anything on when this choice was made?"
Relm frowns, and looks thoughtful. "I'll need to ask Pandora what she knows about that," she finally admits. "Or you may want to go ask her yourself; I won't be able to for a few days."
"We can probably do that while we're with the Brotherhood, if she's not busy herself. Anything else you need from her or from the Brotherhood while we're there?
Relm shakes her head. "Not at the moment," she replies. "I've got my work cut out for me. Any last questions before I get to it?"
"I don't think so," mumbles Tom, fidgeting somewhat.
Dracos shrugged, having been pretty quiet during the conversation.
Dracos
"I think I'm set for now," Tim replied.
Ginrai shakes his head. "That's all I needed to know for the time being. Thanks for information!"
Bjorn indicates that no new questions have come to his head. He manages to accomplish this feat without words by expedient of staring off into the sky, apparently oblivious of what's going on around him.
"Well," Relm says, suddenly business-like. "Time for me and Pinkie to get to work then." She shoots Nathan a grin, and then everyone wakes up.
Almost.
Everyone finds themselves quickly reverting from wakefulness to sleep once more. Except for Tim, who finds himself in his dream-office.
Tim now moves to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=56087#56087).
Everyone else dreams.
Bjorn's Dream is, as it always has been since the Earth Dream, filled with nothing but endless mist and the floating statues that represent the anchors. Clearing his mind, he resumes his experiments.
As far as his theories go, what he is currently surrounded by is nothing but the basic element of the Dream, stripped of the expectations and beliefs that try to shape it. That means that it should be nothing but a pure extension of his conciousness. And since the conciousness is linked to the body...
His perception splits. Simultaneously, he is aware of the pure mist and the floating anchors, as well as the world around himself. This isn't a novel experience by itself; but what is new is that the view of the world is another layer of the Dream.
Now the real test. Bjorn wakes up, and the Dream-reflection of reality wavers for a moment, but finally stabilizes.
It takes a while before Bjorn can so much as make himself sit up; a triple awareness is rather disconcerting. All the more so because while his Dream-senses and his real senses are virtually indistinguishable, the Dream-senses don't seem to be temporally coherent. A first attempt to get out of bed leads to him falling on his face as the Dream-senses drag behind, and standing up to go to the bathroom almost leads to a broken ankle when time in the Dream suddenly accelerates, shifting his Dream-perceptions to the mirror while he was still on his hands and knees.
Adaption is rapid, however -- or perhaps it takes a long time, but only within the Dream. The lack of temporal discontinuity in the Dream-senses is only cue as to what information comes from where, but that's more than enough to make it possible to move around. The door to the bathroom provides a few more problems, simultaneously open, closed, and not yet existent, but even before that problem is solved, Bjorn can already see his eyes in the mirror -- or rather, what were his eyes, before they became replaced by globes of slowly coiling mist.
Dracos...doesn't really...waking up soon, early in the morning and heading out to curse the daystar.
Dracos
Tom starts to wake up, turns over in his sleep, and then gets pulled into another dream entirely....
Tom now goes to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=56173#56173).
Dracos, after waking up and getting dressed, went to go wake others up.
"YO REZ"
In the most annoying manner inveted by man. Of course, he choose the one least likely to be able to leap at him with kungfu action to do this with.
Dracos
Nathan is resistant to waking up, but not impossible to wake. He mumbles something about chasing orcs into a chasm as he does so.
Shortly after Nathan is roused, Tim and Tom find themselves awake and feeling refreshed.
At about this same time (or maybe it was earlier ... or later...) a knock sounds at the door to building number nine.
Tom goes to answer it (feeling slightly sore). "Man, who could that be?"
Tom reaches the door at the same time as Carlos. The door is opened to reveal Ted. "Yo," Ted says, nodding. "Came to teach Carlos here how to throw lightning a bit better."
Carlos nods back, and says, "I'll probably see you later." The two then start heading up the street.
"Shocking!" says Tom, heading back inside building 9 to... make breakfast! "Yo, Tim, hungry?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. But can I really trust your cooking?" Tim eyes Tom dubiously.
"It's not great, but it's not awful," replies Tom, rolling his eyes. "Unless you decide to make some... unreasonable demands!"
"Let's just go for something simple, then. What's in the kitchen, anyway?"
Breakfast components (in both houses) consist of oatmeal and unsweetened cheerios. Probably when more people are awake, they'll use building number one as a cafeteria again.
Tom.. does not care, because he is HUNGRY. "Nothing much, but I'm *hungry*," he announces to the world, getting some oatmeal.
"Oatmeal works, I suppose," Tim replies. "At least until something better presents itself."
"It's good for you!" replies Tom, tucking into breakfast. "Exactly what a good potentially-insane modern-times adventurer needs."
Dracos drags rez over and comes and joins them for breakfast. "Nice dreams?"
Dracos
"Yes, but how many of those do we know?" Tim replies wryly. "And take your time, I know there's going to be some big numbers involved."
"I dunno. A few," replies Tom, shrugging. "Like, everyone we've met, so far."
"What are you two yammering about?"
Dracos
"The usual," Tim replies. "Nothing in particular, but you can be sure that whatever it is, it's Tom's fault."
"I take full responsibility for suggestion breakfast," replies Tom, nodding.
"good, because that's the best thing I've heard to take full responsibility for in three days. Way to go Ratty."
Dracos
"I know. I'm a font of good ideas. And my next idea is to work out what we're doing next. In lieu of knowing anything about that... fuck, I'll just spend the rest of the day picking fights with Sterling."
Tom nods.
"that also sounds like a thoroughly entertaining idea. Hum... Maybe though we should get familiar with that area of Japan? Via maps and the like?"
Dracos
"Well, knowing the terrain can't be bad, except.. nobody told me exactly where we are going," replies Tom, shrugging.
"Where exactly in Japan are we talking about?" Tim asks. "Fujiyama area? That's what I thought Relm said."
"Yeah, believe so." Dracos responded as he ate with a shrug.
Dracos
"Never spent much time around there, unfortunately. The school I taught at was in Hokkaido, and most of my sightseeing trips were there. At least I can speak the language, but that's about all I've got."
"Well, dig out a map and let's have a look. Do we know exactly where we're going yet, or is it just 'Fugiyama in general?'"
Tom shrugs.
"You can speak Japanese? Sweet. I've got no real head for most other languages. I know where we're going, I think. Let's finish up and go grab a map, shall we?"
Dracos
"Cool. You know where the maps are. Lead the way," replies Tom, dumping his bowls near the sink for later washing.
Dracos blinked. "No, but I can use masterful guessing powers.' Dracos got up and hunted for a computer with net access!
Dracos
"I've been there," Bjorn observes. Thirty seconds later, he realizes that he's still in the bathroom.
Finishing his toiletries, he reaches through his Dream to the anchors of Philip, Tom, and Tim. I've been to Fuji, he repeats. Judging by past experiences, we'll be headed inside the mountain itself.
Sounds fun. It's... summer there, right? For what that's worth, these days.
Yup. Forty degrees Celsius and a hundred percent humidity, Bjorn says cheerfully. Maybe we'll be be lucky and there'll be a typhoon!
The temporal disparities seem to be coming back under control for the moment. His perceptions more or less stabilized, Bjorn feels brave enough to try and attempt the stairs.
Cool beans. Hmm... y'know, we need to work out what we should ask Bigfire to do. If they're supposed to cover for us so we can do what we need to do without too many interruptions, they should probably start on that first.
And before I forget, I should mention something I overheard in the Dream last night. Does the name Charrel mean anything to you guys?
It takes Bjorn a few seconds (on one place of perception) to answer. Once he's made it down the stairs, however, he replies, Charrel? Not much. He's dead, he's in the dream, he has some connection to the Wanderer -- might be the Wanderer, but I'm not sure on that.
Hum. We ran into him a while back, before we met you guys. In the Dream, of course. He was... snarky. And taking out some dragon.
'Taking out a dragon.' The doorknob to the outside is easily mastered, which fills Bjorn with great confidence. Walking towards the cafeteria, he asks, What does that represent, I wonder?
I don't know him myself. Dracos belatedly adds.
Dracos
A memory of some sort, if the rest of what we saw holds true. One of the Brotherhood was fighting another one, and didn't do too well against it.
Tim sounds thoughtful. Alan was talking with one of the other Brothers before I talked with him about my abilities, and they were arguing about letting both Charrel and the Wanderer run around the Dream unopposed. They moved Pandora because of it - she was gone when Tom and I went back later, and I heard them talking about doing just that. I didn't press for details, since I don't think I was intended to hear in the first place, but I'm wondering if Relm might be in any danger - if it's something related to oracles.
If it's a danger, they'll tell Pythea, I'm sure, Bjorn replies. But Pandora's return is a secret, for the moment, and an important one at that. So they'll just as likely taking precautions to preserve that secret, rather than worrying about her safety.
Fair enough, Tim replies. Just figured it was better to give you the heads-up and let you make the call either way. All I know about Charrel is that he doesn't seem to be a friend of the Brotherhood.
As Bjorn reaches the cafeteria, Lazarus catches his eye -- and joins the network. Good morning, he says. I trust you are well rested?
Bjorn turns to face Lazarus, unintentionally revealing the blueish mist filling his otherwise empty eye sockets. I think so, he replies. The morning has been a bit disconcerting.
Lazarus peers at Bjorn's face closely. You don't say, he sends, somewhat drily. Well, I hate to bother you if you're practicing something new, but I did hope now that you'd had a day, at least, to settle in, we could discuss the town.
Certainly, Bjorn replies. You'll forgive me if I temporarily stop making sense, I hope.
Haven't I always? Lazarus replies warmly. His mental 'tone' seems to shift, suddenly becoming a bit more serious. Right now, New Delphi exists essentially to serve you until the Contest is over. As many years as that takes.... The question is how much direct control you'd like to have over the town. If you're comfortable with the way things have been, I can easily keep an eye on things here for you. But if you need anything done, remember -- we're here for you.
We're all in this together, Lazarus, Bjorn says. I appreciate what you're saying, but at the same time, let's not forget that part of what makes us us and not them is our respect for each other.
I don't see any need to change the set-up we've got for the moment. We -- that is, the active Order -- will need to leave soon. You can do a much better job managing things than us. He grins at Lazarus. Much as that sounds like damning with faint praise.
If there's something you can do for us, we'll let you know. And, I hope, the opposite is true just as much.
At the same time -- or possibly at a different time -- Bjorn touches Tim's anchor. I need to go back to the Earth Dream.
I presume I can help you do that, or you wouldn't be asking me. Any idea of the mechanics involved? If it's what Alan implied last night, it's not going to be easy, unless you know of another way to do it.
Have to re-establish a connection to my other-self in the Earth Dream. Bjorn frowns. I... should be able to do it myself, if I can touch the Earth Dream. But I don't have your ability to connect with other Dreams.
Let me know when you're ready to give it a try, then, Tim replies. I've got enough information to work out the parts I'm not sure of at this point.
Soon, Bjorn says judiciously. You're right, I should talk with Relm first. After that.
Probably not a bad idea for me to ask her about that, either. Don't want to take off in the wrong direction if my guess about how to do it is wrong.
Now, for something a bit more mundane. Any plans for the day, other than brushing up on what we're going to do in Japan?
Adapting.
Glad to hear it, Lazarus says. And ... I imagine that would take a lot of adapting to. All we could ask for is help in construction, and Price is already working on assembling something that will allow us to build more quickly.
"Well, that handles that I guess." Dracos blinked trying to think of something else to occupy his daily time at the moment.
Dracos
Ginrai slowly opens his eyes. "Crap... overslept again...." Stumbling out of bed, he shouts out, "Any of you guys still here?" Hearing no reply, he heads to the bathroom for a quick wash, after which he'll get some breakfast.
This thread now moves to The Start of the Dream (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=56541#56541).