Dream 01 ❧ Lampflower
Warnings: Mild innuendo
Effects: Fear and loneliness which fades away into a happy feeling of belonging and then back to loneliness once more.
Angela finds herself in the middle of a dark and gloomy forest, tall trees dwarfing her on all sides. She's wandering down what she can only guess is a path of some sort. She can barely see the moon through the trees, and it spills its light down in thin lines through the pinhole gaps in the canopy above. She stumbles a few times, slowing to look about. Every angle looks the same, and she doesn't know which way to go.
She turns around to head back the way she came only to find something in the middle of her path that wasn't there before: a single flower with a bowed head, barely visible in the darkness. As she draws near, the flower's bud lights up until it fills the area with a soft glow. Angela finds herself smiling. She knows these flowers, the ones from the forest surrounding Diorre, she was there only a couple weeks ago.
She crouches by the flower, watching it glimmer and glow. It looks as though there were some faerie flame inside, keeping it lit like some kind of natural lantern. When she looks up again, there's a little girl standing there, smiling. She glows just like the flower.
"Dumb Angela's going to get lost." She folds her arms and puffs out her cheeks. "Carlie's gonna leave you behind."
Angela stares at her a moment, blinking, then two more shimmering figures come into view beyond Carlie. Riesz is there with Duran. Duran slumps against a nearby tree, taking off his helmet. On contact, the tree comes alive with more glowing flowers, twisted and wound about the trunk.
"Carlie's right, Angela," Riesz is saying as she backtracks a few feet, holding her spear at the ready. "She's the only one who knows the way, and we can't stay here long."
"Yeah, so stop bein' slow." Carlie scampers over to Riesz and hides behind her, sticking her tongue out at Angela.
It's all so surreal, Angela's not sure what to think. There's a nagging feeling telling her this isn't right, that she's not really here or really hearing and seeing all these things, but it's difficult for her to put her finger on why. It might be because she remembers this, this same exact conversation.
She'd twisted her ankle on the way to Diorre, and was slowing everyone up. Carlie had told her to hurry up, and then Hawk had--
Suddenly there are arms beneath her knees, hauling her up. Before she knows it, she's slung over the glowing shoulder of her thief friend.
"Let me give you a hand there, your highness."
Angela shrieks and kicks her legs, laughing. "Hey, cut it out! Put me down!"
And finally there's Kevin, staring at them in confusion. He spreads his arms. "Hawk too skinny carry Angela. Kevin carry."
"I don't need anyone to carry me, Kevin, Hawk's just being Hawk."
She'd said that all before, right? It feels eerily familiar. All of this does. She gives Hawk's ponytail a good yank, and, wincing, he finally sets her back down again.
Her ankle doesn't hurt. But it did. She knows that it did, before. With one more pat to her back, Hawk heads over to join the others. The bushes that he brushes by light up with more lampflowers as he passes.
"Since snowball over there isn't interested in a piggyback ride, how about one for Carlie?" Hawk scoops the little girl up, and she giggles happily while climbing up on his back. She continues to make faces at Angela over Hawk's shoulder. Angela sticks her tongue out right back.
Duran shifts and pushes off the tree he's been leaning on. "All right, are we done screwing around? The longer we wait, the longer the enemy's got to prepare for us."
"Yeah, yeah, we know." Hawk rolls his eyes. "Go kill the monsters, go break the seal on the stone, get closer to revenge. You know, your obsession with sticking your sword in another guy is becoming a little disturbing, man."
"Hawk!" Riesz reaches over to cover Carlie's ears, but the little girl seems oblivious to the innuendo.
Duran just grunts and rolls his eyes, heading off in a new direction. "Damn it, are you coming or not?"
Her friends start to move off, Kevin, Riesz, Hawk, and Carlie slipping through the trees, leaving a brightly illuminated path behind them. Angela hurries to catch up before they can leave her completely behind, but the moment she steps into the lit pathway, everything goes dark again.
[ Angela wakes up with a groggy little groan, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. The warm and fuzzy feeling she felt during the dream starts to fade, and slowly she draws her legs up and wraps her arms around them. Then she buries her face in her blanketed knees and just sighs. ]
Effects: Fear and loneliness which fades away into a happy feeling of belonging and then back to loneliness once more.
Angela finds herself in the middle of a dark and gloomy forest, tall trees dwarfing her on all sides. She's wandering down what she can only guess is a path of some sort. She can barely see the moon through the trees, and it spills its light down in thin lines through the pinhole gaps in the canopy above. She stumbles a few times, slowing to look about. Every angle looks the same, and she doesn't know which way to go.
She turns around to head back the way she came only to find something in the middle of her path that wasn't there before: a single flower with a bowed head, barely visible in the darkness. As she draws near, the flower's bud lights up until it fills the area with a soft glow. Angela finds herself smiling. She knows these flowers, the ones from the forest surrounding Diorre, she was there only a couple weeks ago.
She crouches by the flower, watching it glimmer and glow. It looks as though there were some faerie flame inside, keeping it lit like some kind of natural lantern. When she looks up again, there's a little girl standing there, smiling. She glows just like the flower.
"Dumb Angela's going to get lost." She folds her arms and puffs out her cheeks. "Carlie's gonna leave you behind."
Angela stares at her a moment, blinking, then two more shimmering figures come into view beyond Carlie. Riesz is there with Duran. Duran slumps against a nearby tree, taking off his helmet. On contact, the tree comes alive with more glowing flowers, twisted and wound about the trunk.
"Carlie's right, Angela," Riesz is saying as she backtracks a few feet, holding her spear at the ready. "She's the only one who knows the way, and we can't stay here long."
"Yeah, so stop bein' slow." Carlie scampers over to Riesz and hides behind her, sticking her tongue out at Angela.
It's all so surreal, Angela's not sure what to think. There's a nagging feeling telling her this isn't right, that she's not really here or really hearing and seeing all these things, but it's difficult for her to put her finger on why. It might be because she remembers this, this same exact conversation.
She'd twisted her ankle on the way to Diorre, and was slowing everyone up. Carlie had told her to hurry up, and then Hawk had--
Suddenly there are arms beneath her knees, hauling her up. Before she knows it, she's slung over the glowing shoulder of her thief friend.
"Let me give you a hand there, your highness."
Angela shrieks and kicks her legs, laughing. "Hey, cut it out! Put me down!"
And finally there's Kevin, staring at them in confusion. He spreads his arms. "Hawk too skinny carry Angela. Kevin carry."
"I don't need anyone to carry me, Kevin, Hawk's just being Hawk."
She'd said that all before, right? It feels eerily familiar. All of this does. She gives Hawk's ponytail a good yank, and, wincing, he finally sets her back down again.
Her ankle doesn't hurt. But it did. She knows that it did, before. With one more pat to her back, Hawk heads over to join the others. The bushes that he brushes by light up with more lampflowers as he passes.
"Since snowball over there isn't interested in a piggyback ride, how about one for Carlie?" Hawk scoops the little girl up, and she giggles happily while climbing up on his back. She continues to make faces at Angela over Hawk's shoulder. Angela sticks her tongue out right back.
Duran shifts and pushes off the tree he's been leaning on. "All right, are we done screwing around? The longer we wait, the longer the enemy's got to prepare for us."
"Yeah, yeah, we know." Hawk rolls his eyes. "Go kill the monsters, go break the seal on the stone, get closer to revenge. You know, your obsession with sticking your sword in another guy is becoming a little disturbing, man."
"Hawk!" Riesz reaches over to cover Carlie's ears, but the little girl seems oblivious to the innuendo.
Duran just grunts and rolls his eyes, heading off in a new direction. "Damn it, are you coming or not?"
Her friends start to move off, Kevin, Riesz, Hawk, and Carlie slipping through the trees, leaving a brightly illuminated path behind them. Angela hurries to catch up before they can leave her completely behind, but the moment she steps into the lit pathway, everything goes dark again.
[ Angela wakes up with a groggy little groan, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. The warm and fuzzy feeling she felt during the dream starts to fade, and slowly she draws her legs up and wraps her arms around them. Then she buries her face in her blanketed knees and just sighs. ]