the dreamer has nightmares | closed

[pactmarshal]

🌳Who: Trahearne and others!
🌳What: A series of nightmares leaves Trahearne (and others) sleepless
🌳When: The second week of summer
🌳Where: In the dream world
🌳Warnings: Slaughter, prejudice, depression in general, maybe a lil nsfw, Heart of Thorns spoilers looks directly at cocoa

Comments

[yourlenore]

( This vision, despite it all, is perhaps the most startling, because the tension here is sentimental. Mishka in his years has seen great brutality and chilling cruelty; he has seen Ostoyans suffer, and turned to see the indifferent face of the universe look away.

Tragedy, when widespread, becomes common - exhausting, almost. But the pain of one in particular, the pain of the one face you hold close, is harder to bear. He knows Syrlya, and he knows his feelings for this acquaintance are not so particular; but he recognizes how deep this pain runs for this person he's masquerading as, and he finds this pain understandable - familiar.

The rumbling agony of the voice strains, still, against his skull, and its laugh scrapes sharp against his pride. But it is a dull hum compared to this feeling - it is not such an effective tempter as this singular vision.

Adelis might not be as lofty as this Syrlya. His purpose may not be so great. Even so, Mishka would lay the earth in the fire on his behalf. And so, his heart hesitates, the stutter nearly palpable.

Here is where his feelings differ from this person's - this person who cares so greatly for Syrlya. Smiling may hurt, also, but his lips still curve up with a bitter effort. This person manages temperance in the face of Syrlya's suffering, but would Mishka have this same faith in Adelis? )

... No.

( He answers, finally, the voice and himself in turn. How betrayed Adelis had been, when he gave in. How sorrowful, how angry; and that was the last Mishka would ever see of him.

Until this Goddess had stayed his punishment, and given him chance to reflect, he supposes, on his impatient error. )

... But this is not my choice to make. ( Literally, and figuratively - Syrlya is not his, he is this body's; and Syrlya's fate, too, is his own. Perhaps Adelis would have preferred this answer, too. ) And so... you must forgive me, for hoping to have faith.

( Because he has not, since those days in the church. But perhaps he should have. Is this what this person chose, he wonders? To wait, and have faith? )

[pactmarshal]

[ There comes a groan--a roar, perhaps, as the dream goes dark again. It shudders through all of his limbs, through the earth and across the jungle and ripping through the leylines reaching to distant lands. Tyria shudders under the entity's displeasure. The dreamer has what it wants, but the dreamer still refuses to give it up. How many days has it been? How many days will it be? Time is endless in this constant back-and-forth, in this neverending negotiation of power. There's an exhaustion in Mishka's body, but it hardly matters. Especially in the face of Syrlya's struggle.

Hold on, comes a thought. It is not Mishka's thought, it is that of the stranger. Perhaps they have finally realized that they are connected in this dream, and are attempting to communicate. The weeks spent in this prison are a small price to pay in the face of the prospect of peace, and freedom from this cycle.

Sensations begin to fade. The presence of the entity abates, pain through limbs dulling.

He is our only hope.

The dream is coming to an end. And for a brief moment, the consciousnesses of both Mishka and the dreamer remain connected.

He is my only hope.


Trahearne, in his bed, awakes with a start. ]