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

[leashed]

I don't-

[He looks conflicted, staring past Rhy and into the carnage.]

-there were orders. [It sounds weak, even to someone like Rome, to whom orders are everything.]

It's already done.

[anoshe]

Orders should be disobeyed if they are wrong.

[He says it with certainty and authority. As one who would normally be giving orders, he feels strongly about this.]

If you're told to do something that's wrong, you shouldn't do it. And this - this is wrong. It's a massacre.

[leashed]

I don't have the capacity for morality.

[That's enough for looking, Rome has already seen it before and it's burned into his memory as clear as day- it's why the dream is as crisp as it is, with the screams and the gunfire and the blood and every detail of their uniform in stark memory.

His jaw is tight as he turns away, tugging Rhy back with him.]

I do what I'm told. We all did. Come on, [Rome shakes his head, trying to duck back and out of the field of vision of the gunmen,] we need to get to safety.

[anoshe]

Of course you do. You are a thinking being - even if you don't innately know what's moral and what isn't, you can learn.

[He doesn't allow himself to be pulled away, standing firm. Rhy has always been the sort to disregard danger if he thinks it's what's necessary, and in this case he thinks it is.]

We can't go - we might still be able to help some of them.

[leashed]

We can't.

[It's softer. A muscle jumps in his jaw- tight, tense, and there's so many things he wants to communicate somehow, but it's impossible, just like saving anyone here is impossible.]

They're already dead. They died thirty years ago.

[anoshe]

[On some level, Rhy knew this wasn't real - wasn't something they could affect. But he didn't want to believe it, to know that there is nothing he can do to help these people.]

Did you kill them? With these people? Why?

[leashed]

We were ordered.

[Plain and simple. Rome shakes his head.]

We're soldiers. We listen to orders.

[anoshe]

You should have the capacity to disobey if the order is wrong.

[It is, of course, easy for Rhy to say that, as he is usually the one who gives orders, if anything.]

This is wrong! They didn't do anything. What makes their deaths acceptable to you?

[leashed]

[The sudden outburst gives him pause and he frowns. There's something missing here, a gap between the two of them that prevents them from really understanding one another's positions: Rhy, the decision maker and Rome, the one who executes the decisions of others. He doesn't know what to say to that.]

...I do not. It isn't my place to accept or refuse anything. I don't have the morality to make that call.

[anoshe]

Of course you do. Everyone does. You've simply been trained not to exercise that choice.

[He breathes in, reining in his temper as much as he can. They won't see eye-to-eye on this, he doesn't think, and while that's frustrating, it's not something that can be easily fixed.]

You don't think this is wrong?

[leashed]

I think...

[He frowns, uncomfortable as he looks away.]

I didn't like doing it.

[anoshe]

[Well, that's... something.]

Would you do it again, if you were ordered?

[leashed]

-of course.

[It's automatic, reassuring- as if it's the answer that Rhy had been wanting.]

[anoshe]

[W O W]

You would murder more innocents, simply because you were told to? Don't be a fool.

[leashed]

Not a fool.

[He argues, though his tone is quiet.]

A soldier.

[anoshe]

A murderer.

[He corrects, quietly but firmly.]

I am certain that killing innocents is against all the decent rules of warfare.

[leashed]

I don't think warfare has decent rules.

[It's genuine, but he doesn't rebuke the title.]

I'm sorry to have disappointed you, mister Rhy.

[anoshe]

We often do not obey them, because we are cruel creatures, but if there is any justice in the world there must be something approaching rules. Like: do not kill innocents.

[He sighs.]

I am disappointed. But it's clear this is something trained into you.