Serenity's Price

[Vega]

2nd Cylus, 717

The wind was howling and it was cold in the way that only Cylus managed, but in her dream Vega was laying on the grass and looking up at the sky. It was beautiful, laying there in the grass on the deck of the ship. It was a small little garden of grass and, when she lay down here she wasn't seasick. How strange. "I found out about Mother," she said to her father who was sitting next to her and looking down at her with his usual half smile. His face darkened into a frown.
"I told you to leave that alone, didn't I? No good comes from it Eva." Joq'an, her father, looked at her disapprovingly.
"I know you did. But you don't understand." Vega wasn't worried, she was quite relaxed here on the plot of grass on the deck. "I have to know. Because until I know I can't let it alone and I want to. If I'm always looking behind me, I'll never appreciate what's in front of me. You taught me that."
He smiled and reached forward, stroking his daughter's unruly red hair. "Eva."
She rolled her eyes, "No one calls me that. Everyone calls me Vega."
"I know," he replied with a smile, "but I don't know why. Eva is your name."

The skies darkened, suddenly and Vega looked up into the sky as her father did the same. Suddenly, from being right next to her, he was so far away as to be unreachable. She stood from the grass patch on the deck and looked around in shock and surprise. There were black clouds boiling overhead and what seemed to be a hundred Biqaj running from one side of the ship to another. All of them shoutings and screaming, but she didn't know what they were shouting because she couldn't hear them.

It didn't matter, though, she had to help. But she couldn't. Because no matter where she moved, she was standing on the patch of grass on the deck of the ship. Black clouds boiled and lightening struck the ship next to theirs, which burst into flame. Every colour of the dream was vivid, more vivid than it was even in her memory and, when this had happened she had been such a young child. Lightening struck and the sounds of screams began. It had to be said that the young redhaired woman did her level best to get out of this small patch of grass, she ran and ran, but moved nowhere, just standing on the grass.

Around her, there was chaos, but the small patch of sky above her was bright and cloudless, as it had been. Screaming for her father in frustration, Vega searched for him and cried out, helplessly as she saw him start to mount the rescue effort for the other ship. The dream progressed, descending ever further into a nightmare which she had but rarely. Standing on her small patch of earth, a ten foot square patch of serenity in the midst of mayhem, she watched as the burning ship continued to build into the inferno it would eventually become, as people she knew and loved tried fruitlessly to save those just across the water. As the dark shapes appeared in the sky, massive winged beasts which beat towards the chaos already there, Vega resumed her fight to get off this patch of green on the deck and to help her father, whose name she screamed as she fought. By now, it was a physical struggle she was in, although with who or what she could not say.

[Arlo Creede]

Arlo had been dreaming about glowworms. Thousands and thousands of them, or maybe millions. What had begun as a sunny trial in a surreal landscape, stretched out in front of him to explore at his whim, turned dark as a moonless night, as countless of the things invaded from the trees, the ground and the skies, and began spinning their gray cocoons off of everything in sight. Or even nothing. They covered everything, binding all of it together as they closed in, threatening to scoop him up in their webs as well.

Glowing was all good and well, but it was more a fright than a comfort and had he been awake, the young man might wonder why the Sev'ryn seemed to like the things so much. And a trial or more ago, he'd have said that he never had nightmares.

He was busy trying to fight his way through the things, tossing and turning in his sleep as he tried to slice through them with his knife or pull them apart with his fingers. He was winning, but it was a slow fought battle when as soon as he cleared a few, a number more sprung up in his place. But Arlo was blessed by Jesine, and though it took him a few trills to remember it, he realized that much of it was mind over matter. And as soon as he willed the things away, they were gone.

Except that the world that he'd dreamed up for himself, the one that he meant to explore, was also gone. And in it's place was another nightmare. But he knew immediately that it wasn't his own. He was standing on a deck cloaked in shadows and chaos. Though the men running to and fro around him, the ones shouting to one another and to elsewhere, didn't seem to notice him at all. There were clouds boiling overhead and what appeared to be dark winged shapes coming out of them. And a ship afire off in the distance.

But there in the middle of it all was a girl, and young or grown, Arlo knew her. And he knew by now, that Eva was also Vega. Plainly this was her nightmare, and later Arlo would wonder how this kept happening, that he found himself in her dreams. In spite of being a dreamwalker, he knew he hadn't sought her out and walked there on his own. He was too new to it, he didn't have the experience or the know how yet to do it. He could only think it was their proximity, their camps so close together. Or maybe it was Jesine herself who'd put him there for some reason. And if she had, Nyova had followed him there, this time, and was hovering over his shoulder, her over-sized eyes wider than ever.

All this might be a memory. But then there might be something more to it. But if the Mortalborn had dropped him here, what could he do then? Sanctuary. The word came on a whim. Were the winged beasts part of the memory playing out in her nightmare? Or were they something else in need of removing? At the least, though he might be new to it, the younger version of Eva might benefit from his company.

Arlo ignored all but her and her patch of grass for the moment, and walked to her while several of the dashing sailors passed right through him as if he wasn't there. But he knew she could see him, he designed it that way and while she couldn't seem to get out, he stepped right in and joined her. "It's safer here than out there," he told her. "But you want off this plot of land. Do you know them?" he asked, pointing at the dark winged shapes circling above them all.

[Vega]

Vega looked at him as he stepped through the invisible barrier which held her there and tears of pure frustration fell down her face. She was maybe seven arcs old at this point, but then she was tall for her age. Her eyes, in that moment, were a solid silver colour and her usually unruly hair really wasn't enjoying the exertion. Her breathing was heavy and rapid and her eyes looked at him frantically. "Arlo?" Vega sounded like she did now, as he knew her, not like she would have and had when she was so young. She also sounded panic-striken in a way she hadn't even when faced with a beast the like of which neither of them had ever seen. "I don't care about safe! My father is out there! Get out of my way!" She pushed herself past him, trying to get through where he had got in, but it didn't work. She let out a scream of pure rage, then, shouting "ઊએમકઇળ! ઝએઝએ!" a few times before turning and grabbing Arlo by the shirt. "You get me to him. You can help him! Get me to him or you help or so help me, Arlo, I'll ળઌઝ ઔશઈઈએપર કઇએઈ ઊળશપ ઊઌઠમકબ ૮કશનઠઈઇળ૮, ઌ ૮૧ઇએળ મશ ન'ઊળઇ૯DO SOMETHING!" At this point she was probably about half his size, but that didn't stop Vega from trying to give him such a good shake that his very teeth would rattle.

"What? No, no I don't. They weren't there. It was just a storm," the young girl looked up at him and frowned. "When did you get so big? This is silly, please, I need to help him. They're going to die." The idea that this might be a dream was completely out of Vega's mind and she looked at him in utter desperation, with the wide eyed trust that only a child ever really manages. "Please, Arlo. It's my Papa. He's going to get hurt and I've got to get out of...HERE!" Her temper, never far from the surface, boiled up again and she turned and tried, again, to get out of the invisible barrier holding her here. Her mind worked, frantically, trying to make some sense as the ship next to theirs continued to burn. For all that they could not hear the shouts of the sailors on the deck of their ship, the screams of those on the other were crystal clear.

The rescue effort continued and Vega's father was at the front of it. He swung across, back to their boat with a child in his arms and then turned around and went back and Vega shouted to him, begging him to stop. Just as she couldn't hear the men and women on the boat, however, they couldn't hear her and Vega looked absolutely stricken. "Please, Arlo? Help me, I have to help him."

The dark creatures, which were not of this place at all it seemed, were almost upon them. No one seemed to notice except him and Vega and even she wasn't really seeing them any more. She was looking at him with the concern and fear of a child who just wanted to save her father.

Off Topic

ઊએમકઇળ! ઝએઝએ! = Father! Papa!
ળઌઝ ઔશઈઈએપર કઇએઈ ઊળશપ ઊઌઠમકબ ૮કશનઠઈઇળ૮, ઌ ૮૧ઇએળ મશ ન'ઊળઇ૯ = rip your goddamn head off your shoulders, I swear by U'frek

[Arlo Creede]

As soon as he stepped out of the chaos and onto the more serene patch of grass, Arlo realized that he knew this scenario. It had taken a few trills for his conscious mind to catch up with his dreaming one. But this event he was witnessing in Vega's dream, had come straight out of the story that she'd told him earlier that evening. And he also knew how it would end. Or at least how it had ended, if not for the interlopers swarming above them.

While Nyvora hovered near his shoulder, the young dreamwalker allowed the small Vega to rage at him, to curse him and pummel him all she liked, before he finally dropped down on his knees and took hold of her shoulders gently. "That's right. It's Arlo. And this is Nyova," he added of the little fairy who was nearly always there with him during his waking breaks, but who Vega would never hear or see with him, unless she was also dreaming.

"You can't get out, Vega. Not yet," he told her. "The reason you're in here, and they're out there, is because it's a memory you're seeing. It's something that happened a long time ago. Your father saved lots of lives. And yes, he got hurt. But he didn't die." He frowned a little, thinking that even if he convinced her that it was only a memory, she might still not be satisfied.

"It's the past. It's already happened. And neither you nor I can change it. It's those things though." Arlo paused, turning and pointed up at the winged shadows. "It's them that don't belong here, that are stopping you from remembering. And by stopping you from remembering, they're keeping you right where you are. You won't get off this patch of grass until you remember. No matter how hard you fight to do it."

There was another way of course, he might just jar her awake. But Arlo thought it might do more harm than good if he did. "If you want this to stop, then it's them that need to go. And maybe I can help you with that and we can do it together. Do you want to try?" he asked.

[Vega]

It was the small fairy that did it. Vega stopped, just for a few trill and she looked at Nyova with the wide eyes of a child. "Hello Nyova. You're very pretty," as Vega stopped struggling, stopped reacting it might be worth to note that so, too, did the scene which was unfolding in front of them, slowing and then pausing to a stop. Except for the shadowy flying beasts, that was. They continued to fly in towards them, growing in size with each beat of their wings. She didn't notice, even though she was looking out there. "How did you get so big, Arlo? You never used to be, did you? I thought you was smaller than me." Her face was young and tearstained but her eyes shifted colour to a vivid emerald green and looked the same as she did when she was awake as she added. "It's one of the things I pick on you for, isn't it? Cos you're littler than me. Or maybe I just think I could and store it, I dunt remember." She smiled at the small fairy and her expression was impish. "Are you his friend too?"

He drew her attention to the large flying creatures and Vega looked up at them and her face settled into a deep scowl. As an adult, Vega had a good scowl but it seemed that this might be the case because, as a child she'd mastered it. "Them? I don't like 'em. They're the big bad things here? Is that what you're sayin'?" Her dreaming mind was making as much sense of it as she could and she slipped further and further back into the child that she appeared to be. Her imagination was much bigger as a child, although she was hardly lacking it as an adult. However, the simple acceptance that a child had of a grown up's (relatively speaking) words made it easier for her dreaming mind to comprehend the situation as he was laying it before her.

"You'll 'elp me? That's kind of you, thanks Arlo. Yes, I wanna try, if we can." She squared her shoulders and her face took on a determined look. Her facial expressions really, it turned out, hadn't changed since she was seven. Looking out to where the beasts were, her frown returned. "We're gonna have t'be quick though. They's getting close and closer still." There was no doubting the truth of that. She wasn't afraid though, or at least, she was doing her damndest not to show how afraid she was and failing dismally, but she was at least as determined as she was in fear. "A'right then. What do I got to do?"

[Arlo Creede]

"Oh yes! I'm Arlo's friend," the tiny creature trilled when the child Vega asked. Nyova is more than that," Arlo added, still crouched down so he could speak to her, eye to eye. "She's my protector, sent to me by Jesine. And she's my companion too. You can only see and hear her here though. But if you're lucky enough to remember, then when we're together, you might sometimes feel a tickle go through you. You can know that it's Nyvora coming so close as to pass right through you."

"And you'll grow uncommonly tall for a woman," he added dryly, but also with a smile. "And I'll grow taller maybe, a little bit still." Until then, he maintained, the crown of his hat would make up the difference. But as for those creatures, he looked that way again and nodded, this time frowning. "No, you're right not to like them. I don't either." Trying to explain to her what was going on around her, however, was tricky. Vega might be a full grown, logical thinking adult during her waking times. But here, she was the child she had been, and was having trouble crossing the distance.

"What's happening on the ship, with your father, it happened. That's how you remember it. But what's keeping you trapped in it, not allowing you to break free...That's them," he said, referring to the dark figures. And she was right, while he was trying to explain, they were getting closer. But she had a very big imagination, that was apparent, and so he smiled. Sure, it was his charge to chase the things off. But it might empower her in her own dreams to believe she played a part in it.

"Alright, we'll do it together then. But you have to use your imagination. You have to think of yourself, with just your thoughts and mind, telling them to get lost and never come back. Not with your fists or your scowl. With this," Arlo said, tapping a forefinger on her temple. "So," he said, taking her hand while standing. "You shut your eyes tight and you picture them, and you think them away. Shout them away. But see them gone, that's the important thing. And another important thing, don't open your eyes until I tell you to."

Waiting for her to shut her eyes, Arlo focused his attention on the interlopers then. They were growing close enough, that if Vega's eyes had been opened, they might have given her a fright. But it was the reason he'd told her to squeeze them shut tight. Since he'd arrived, Arlo hadn't done anything to transform the dream. To change, alter it or make it his own. And he would do that now, so much as he'd get rid of the things best he could, and change it back into her dream, and not a nightmare.

His conscious mind was as busy as his dreaming one as he tied reality to imagination and he started by removing what had been chaos around her. The ship's deck, the sailor's rushing to and fro, the lightening and the dark clouds, removed and replaced by a soft blue canvas yet to be filled in with anything else. But of course the winged things kept advancing and he warned her to keep her eyes shut, and keep 'seeing' them gone. And while he protected her from them, Nyova protected him.

Even then, Arlo didn't replace her dream with his. But instead he expanded the happier aspects of the one she'd been having before. It wasn't easy going, and he wasn't as experienced as he'd like to be. Still, the beasts' couldn't trespass on that small patch of grass, and so he expanded it, inch by hard fought inch. A little outward, they pushed back and it was exhausting. And Arlo tossed and turned in his sleep. But the farther he expanded their surroundings, the more distant the trespassers until eventually, they were gone.

Suddenly his hold on her hand relaxed, and Arlo said to her quietly, "You've done it. Remember Nyova, next time you feel a tickle on the back of your neck. They're gone, open your eyes and see." And when she did, small or grown, she'd find herself lying on her back in a patch of green, soft and fragrant grass, staring up at a blue sky filled with idealized, white fluffy clouds. And Arlo was nowhere in sight, as if he'd never been there at all.

[Rumour]

Name: Vega

Knowledge:
Joq’an: Father
Lyova: Arlo’s Fairy
Lyova: Arlo’s protector, sent by Jesine
Lyova: Can only be seen in Emea

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Story: 4/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

- - -

Name: Arlo Creede

Knowledge:
Vega: Experiences nightmares about her past
Lyova: Fairy
Lyova: Your protector, sent by Jesine
Lyova: Can only be seen in Emea
Emea: Dreamscape
Mortal Born: Jesine
Jesine's Blessing: Nyvora
Nyvora: You have a duty to protect others from bad dreams
Persuasion: Appeal to reason
Dreamwalking: How to recognize a dream
Dreamwalking: Bad dreams can manifest from bad memories
Dreamwalking: Attempting to convince someone that they are dreaming does not always work

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: +1 good deed for supporting Vega during her bad dream
Devotion: +5 to Jesine for dreaming with others in a collaborative dream thread, +3 to Jesine for helping to free Vega from her bad dream

Story: 4/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5

- - -

Comments: A lovely dream thread, you two! I really enjoyed the interaction between your two characters. You write well together and it's a lot of fun seeing you bring the Emea dreamscape to life.
Vega, I absolutely love that you wrote your character as a child and flipped back and forth between her adult and child personality. That was really cleverly done, and super enjoyable.

I did end up deducting one story point because I really did feel that you needed at least one more post to wrap up the story. It felt a bit unfinished from your character's perspective, especially because Arlo did all of the wrapping up and made assumptions about your character's actions in his last post. I would have really liked to see more reaction from Vega and to see if he really did help from her perspective.

Overall, though, I loved your posts. I especially liked that you didn't have your character recognize that she was dreaming. The way she reacted to Arlo's attempt to convince her that she was dreaming was nicely handled!
Arlo, your character is a great example of a devoted follower of Jesine. He has the best of intentions and truly wants to help others escape bad dreams. I like the way you wrote his interaction with Vega - the playfulness when he spoke of her height and is was really nicely done! One tiny note - your fairy's name is "Lyova," not "Nyova"!

Now, I do want to touch on your use of Nyvora's blessing. My apologies in advance for the length - I think it's important to make sure you're on the same page now so that your future threads will be able to earn you the knowledge and points you deserve.

Your character has the first ability, Sanctuary, and you mentioned that you were hoping for knowledge of it. I've included an explanation of why I didn't aware knowledge for this ability and ended up deducting a Story point.

Please keep in mind that Sanctuary only works in your own dreams. Arlo entered Vega's dream, which means that Sanctuary does not work there. I'm going to deem the last four paragraphs of your third post incorrect, not because I didn't enjoy them but because they actually belong to the "Dream Seeker" ability of Nyvora's blessing. The Sanctuary ability does not give you any ability to manipulate other people's dreams. You can protect your own from Kielik's influence and scary Emean creatures, but can give no such protection to dreams that are not yours. I've not given any Sanctuary knowledge and have deducted a story point because Sanctuary wasn't used in this instance and technically the last post was overplaying your abilities - though I understand that this was not done on purpose and was likely a misunderstanding!

From Nyvora's Blessing page in the KB:

Sanctuary: "Gives the user the ability to protect their own dreams and anyone involved in them from Kielik's influence (Nightmares), and most native predators of Emea. The protection extends to all other individuals that should chance upon the dream, though the marked is at liberty to shut out or expel unwanted visitors at their discretion. Only those possessing a mark from Kielik of a higher caliber than the dreamer's Nyvora level, particularly potent entities in Emea or Kielik himself can override this protection. Dream threads can only be marked as "closed" if started by a PC with this ability."

vs.

Dream Seeker: "Anyone known to the blessed individual in the living world can be tracked down in Emea. Once found, the seeker has the ability to enter their dream, alter the dreamer's dreamscape subtly and guide them into a state of lucid dreaming, where interactions, conversations, and the dream itself will be remembered by the dreamer. With this power comes the ability to stop outsiders from entering the same dream (as if the other dreamer had also possessed the Sanctuary ability), making it a secure place to share information."
I apologize for the long comments, though I hope they were helpful - especially for playing the Nyvora blessing in future threads. One last reminder to you both - please make a note in your ledgers for Zi’da expenses and indicate that they are not applicable since your PCs didn’t have a job during Zi’da.

Overall, a really enjoyable thread and I'm looking forward to your next one!

If you feel I've missed anything or if you have questions about your review, please don't hesitate to send me a quick PM. Thanks!