Event Log: Dreamwalker the Second

[hadrielmods]

Who: All characters participating in the event
What: The event log for the Dreamwalker part 2 event
Where: In your dreams
When: October 14th-20th (the second log will go up on Oct 23rd, please keep the two weeks of the event separate!)
Warnings: All different kinds of dreams falling under the umbrella of Delight, Rage, Sorrow, and Hope.

This time, the weird stuff doesn't happen when you're awake- as a matter of fact, your waking hours are the normal ones. That's because you're forced to sleep by some unknown entity, getting more and more exhausted by the moment as night falls. Better make sure you're always around a soft pillow.

Once asleep, it doesn't get any less weird- your dreams will be influenced by one of the four gods that make up the first week. Something to make you smile, something to make you angry- or something that reminds you of your deepest regret or most vulnerable hope, they're all things that you're dreaming about now for some reason, no matter how hard you may try to pull away from them.

To make matters more complicated, there are others intruding on your dreams who definitely don't belong there, and while they may seem like manifestations at first, it becomes clear that these others are actually the consciousness of other members of Hadriel, getting some top quality exposure to your angriest, happiest, most sorrowful moments. Hope it doesn't get awkward when you see them tomorrow...

► This log covers October 14th-20th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you die in dreams you don't die in real life, but if you somehow die in real life anyway, please let us know here.

Comments

[hardwearing]

She's not big on talking.

[ He glances at Kyna, approaching this as gently as he knows how. ]

Neither are you, today.

[evocation]

[She ducks her head a little, stirring her soup absently.]

I'm not good at this stuff.

[hardwearing]

You don't have to tell me, then. I just need to know if it was real?

[evocation]

I think so. I have a lot of dreams about my dad, but... No one else is ever in them. And then I had a dream about you, too.

[hardwearing]

...I know. Out of all the dreams of mine you could have seen, you got a good one, at least. Which... isn't normal for me.

[ It must be something to do with this place. ]

You should know, it was a lie. Maine's gone.

I've seen other things, too, the past couple nights. Something strange is happening.

[evocation]

Oh.

[There's definitely something weird happening, but that revelation catches her off guard enough to distract her from it, and she reaches for his arm.]

I'm sorry, Wash.

[hardwearing]

[ He lets her reach out, slowly adjusting to being touched. As long as he can see it coming, it's okay. ]

I did use the EMP, back home. Killed Sigma. He just wasn't in there anymore.

[ Just one more thing Wash loved that Freelancer destroyed. He doesn't mention that he missed it happening, that he might have been able to save Maine if he'd caught on faster. Questioned the Project more, like York and North had. Wash had just gone along with everything, he'd been so naive... he'll never make that mistake again. ]

I think I wound up in Sharkface's head the other night, too.

[evocation]

[She almost probes further about what that means, but she's not sure if that's crossing a line, so she bites back the question. Then he brings up Sharkface, and she sighs.]

Ugh. Me too. It's totally the gods fucking with us again.

[hardwearing]

...you saw Chica?

That's not how it happened, either.

[evocation]

[Ah. They're discovering a theme here, aren't they?]

Did she die, too?

[hardwearing]

Yeah, she's dead. Maine's fault, actually. Back when he was still Maine.

[evocation]

[He's bringing it up of his own volition again, which means she thinks it might be safe to ask.]

What was that thing? In your dream, I mean.

[hardwearing]

[ Oh. This... might be a complicated explanation. At least it's something that Wash is comfortable talking about, these days, after they destroyed what was left of Freelancer.

It would always follow them, it seemed. Always haunt them. But he got some closure, can discuss it now at least in broad strokes, so he considers how to tell Kyna. Whether or not he'll be comfortable talking about his role, what they did to him, remains to be seen. ]

The program we were a part of, it put fragments of an artificial intelligence inside our heads to help us run our equipment. Maine wound up with Sigma, and it... took over. It thought it could collect everyone else's AI fragments, and become a whole person again.

[evocation]

[He doesn't seem too upset, so Kyna relaxes.]

So it was like... alive or something? Sort of?

[Guess who doesn't know anything about artificial intelligence?]

[hardwearing]

It was sentient.

Every fragment was a trait of the original AI it was taken from. Delta was logic, Theta was trust... things that the Alpha lost as it was tortured and broken into pieces. Sigma was ambition. It wanted things. It wanted to be whole again.

[evocation]

God. That sounds so shitty.

[She frowns at herself a little.]

Sorry, I don't mean... You know. That must have really sucked.

[hardwearing]

It still kind of does. Freelancer as an organization is dead but it's... always still around, somehow. The things we did, the tech it created, the people whose lives it ruined... that'll never die.

[evocation]

[She doesn't know how to respond to that, either. She tries to think of something comforting and fails.]

Is that what you got drafted into?

[hardwearing]

No, I was drafted into the UNSC, back during the Covenant War. My platoon got attacked one day and... look, the guy had it coming, he would've gotten us all killed, but the military's sort of strict about not assaulting your CO. Freelancer, I joined willingly when I had nowhere else to go.

It's the worst mistake I ever made.

[evocation]

[Once again, she doesn't know what to say. Honestly, she's not sure if he's really looking for any sort of comfort here or just answering her questions truthfully, but he's being so open that she feels almost guilty for shutting down on him. She sets her bowl on the table, then links her arm through his.]

Are things any better? Or were they before you got dumped here?

[hardwearing]

[ He lets her, shifting his own bowl to his other hand. His laugh is more than a little bitter. ]

Everybody's dead but me and Carolina. So not really.

And Charon's still experimenting with Freelancer tech, apparently. Before I woke up here I was in a battle against them.

[evocation]

Ugh.

[Strangely enough, it sounds like Hadriel might practically be a vacation for him.]

I hope you kick their asses. It sounds like they fucking deserve it.

[hardwearing]

[ Hadriel is totally vacation. Thing is, Wash doesn't know what to do with vacation. How to relax, how to deal with all the downtime. ]

Charon is evil. You could say Freelancer was, too, the way it used people, but Charon...

[ He shakes his head. Hargrove is worse than the Director, to Wash. ]

My world's a mess.

[evocation]

[She hums quietly, giving his arm a little squeeze.]

Maybe it'll get better? It has to, right?

[hardwearing]

I just... we have to keep trying to make things right. I don't know if we'll ever catch up, but. Giving up isn't an option.