Please Wake Me Up

[Dracos]

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]

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.

[Carthrat]

Huh. How fruitful was it? pipes in Tom, as much to try out using the dream as much as for the question itself.

[Dracos]

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]

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."

[Brian]

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.

[Carthrat]

"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.

[Bjorn]

"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."

[Dracos]

"Night."  Dracos used the massive power of inertia to get everyone who was straggling off into their beds before heading to sleep himself.

Dracos

[Brian]

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.

[Bjorn]

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?"

[Dracos]

"That...was disorienting." Dracos admitted truthfully, rubbing his head and letting others who were less disoriented by what was going on lead.

Dracos

[Brian]

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."

[Bjorn]

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?"

[Halbarad]

"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.