Event Log: Dreamwalker

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone!
What: The Dreamwalker event
Where: In your comfy bed and your sleepy head.
When: May 16th-26th
Warnings: Good dreams, weird dreams, bad dreams, straight-up nightmares. Please remember to tag for warnings in the header if things are going to be bad!

Have you been having trouble getting a good night's sleep? Tossing and turning, unable to rest those tired eyes? Or maybe you don't sleep at all, and never have. Not to worry! For a little while, you'll have no trouble at all falling asleep - in fact, as night falls, you'll find yourself overwhelmed with exhaustion whether you want to sleep or not. Lay down and rest your weary head, friends. Everyone could use a little extra sleep.

But what will your dreams bring? Something happy, images of a perfect day? Something hopeful, something you've wanted for a long time? Maybe you'll dream of anger, of the face of your worst enemy. Or maybe - just maybe - you'll have a horrific nightmare, and wake screaming, covered in cold sweat.

Not before others have time to see it, though. As you sleep, as you dream, the other residents of Hadriel, friends and enemies and people you've only met once, might find their way into your dreams. Or you might find your way into theirs - and then have to deal with someone's else's nightmares, or hopes, or anger. For the next ten nights, you'll find yourself either a host or a visitor, and no matter how you try you won't be able to stay awake once night falls.

Sweet dreams, Hadriel. Don't let the asshole fear gods bite.

► This log covers May 16th-26th.
► 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!
► You can't die in the dreams, but if you somehow manage to trip and fall and kill yourself getting out of bed, please report it on the death post.

Comments

[cowardley]

[ The beast attacks, sharp claws ripping into parka and the soft flesh beneath. Ash can barely hold back her scream, only just catching it in her throat; it felt like holding back bile. It seems that, even if they were capable of being entirely still, the wendigo would still tear into them.

She squeezes her friends hand tightly, green eyes raking across the dark cave around them, searching desperately for their escape. And then—There.

Ashley takes off for the cavern, one hand still gripping Emily's, pulling her with her. She does not dare look back to see if the creature followed them, her focus only on the forward—only on survival. ]

[unfollowing]

[Of all the people to be saving her life, Emily never thought Ash would be among them. And what'll she get for her trouble? Killed, probably. Because that's what happens to people when Emily is around. They die. Hannah, Beth, Matt. Jess, very nearly. Flamethrower guy. Ashley, surely.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Against all odds (how could it have traveled that far, that fast?) the wendigo appears in front of them, blocking their path. Emily tugs Ashley back so she doesn't run right into it, and in this dim light (how is there light in here, how is any of this at all possible), the butterfly tattoo on its arm is clearly visible.

It screeches, and Emily holds Ash tight, as if to say good-bye--

It leaps for them, teeth set to rip into Ash's throat--

Emily screams when she wakes, clutching the sheets as if she's still in the dream, still trying in vain to save Ashley. She doesn't dare move once she realizes she's no longer dreaming, though, as if it's watching her from somewhere in the house, waiting for her to move so it can feast on her.]

[cowardley]

[ It closes in, and Ashley can't help but turn into Emily, to bury her face into her friend so she won't have to see the end that's coming. The monster screams so closely to them that it physically hurts. She's ready to scream in return when the dream comes to a sudden halt, and she wakes, soaked in cold sweat, whole body shaking.

She feels sick.

And then the nightmare comes rushing back, one flash after another. She's out of her bed before she can think, making her way down the hall to Emily's room. After a careful breath, she knocks. ]

[unfollowing]

[The sound startles her, but Emily manages to hold still, muscles taut in anticipation of an attack that will never come. It was a dream. It wasn't real. She has been away from the mountain for months, and even the wendigo threat here has been contained.

There's only one person that can be right now.

With a deep, shuddering breath, Emily uncurls her body and peels off the blankets, taking it slow as she stands and walks the short distance to the door. There, she hesitates for a moment -- what if it's not a dream, what if it's the wendigo, what if it's going to rip her apart -- then turns the knob and pulls open the door, slowly, until she sees who it is.

She clears her throat and tries to smooth out her features, but she's still not relaxed, and it shows.]

I'm ready to kick Fear's ass if you are.

[It should sound brave and brash, but it comes out small and half-hearted. She fights back the urge to sigh.]

[cowardley]

[ The words barely register, her ears still ringing with the wendigo's—Hannah's—scream. It's begun to feel far away, the details of the nightmare becoming hazy, but the fear lingers; the absolute sense of despair, and panic stays with her like an open wound, and she can tell it clings just as desperately to Emily.

Without warning, Ashley closes the distance between the two of them, wrapping her arms around her friend in a tight, shaking hug. They have gone through a lot together, but reliving Emily's nightmarish visit in the mines sticks to her in a way nothing else really has. ]

[unfollowing]

[Meet Emily, the girl who is ready to kick a god's ass (in theory) but totally unprepared for a surprise hug.

She doesn't have a problem with hugging, really; it just isn't something that happens very much with her. Not unless she's especially close to them, and she and Ashley have never been that close.

Until now.

Emily is coming up on four or five months in shithole cavetown. In that time, she's yelled at Ash, tried to eat her as a wendigo, extended the olive branch to her, been saved by her from fireball guy, been ready to kick ass for her if anyone tried to kill her, and been high with her. This, now -- this whole dream thing, having seen through Chris's dream part of what Ash went through that night, and Ash having experienced a slice of Emily's journey through the mines (and god how the dream twisted it up, made it worse, how badly she'd wanted to save the girl who'd wanted her dead out of fear)--

Yeah, okay. Maybe a hug is in order after all.

It's only a second or two from when Ashley hugs her that Emily hugs her back, holding her with a fierce, firm grip. Ashley may have helped almost get Emily killed, but she's still one of Emily's people, for better or for worse.

She is silent for a while, shutting her eyes and forcing back the urge to cry after being forced to relive that part of their last night on the mountain. Try though she might, though, she sees Hannah's tattoo on that sickly skin, and after a few seconds, she opens her eyes again.]

It was just a dream, Ash. [Her whisper is sharp, meant to fight away the fear left over from the nightmare, meant to show Ashley that she's tough and still ready for a fight against anything or anyone that tries to hurt her.] It's over.

[cowardley]

It's never over. [ Ashley whispers back, pulling away from her friend—someone willing to die for her, and her for them. It's strange to go from such feelings of animosity to this, but she's glad for it; the things they've experienced here have brought them closer, and for that she's glad, but the things they've gone through have been, largely, nightmarish.

And though the dream nightmare may be over, this one is not. This one is never over. ] What about tomorrow night? Or the night after? Or... or when it's not nightmares anymore?

[ And it's not just fear that permeates her voice, but quiet, dangerous fury. Her words are thick with it. ]

[unfollowing]

[Ashley's right. That night is going to stay with them until they die, and maybe even after if there's anything after death. More than just the next few nights, more than the possibility of another wendigo event -- it's worse, living with the memories and the guilt and the regret. At least, for Emily it is. You can't really kill the demons on the inside.

When Ash pulls away, Emily lets her hands fall to her upper arms. She just can't let Ash go yet, more for her own sake than her friend's. She can't let her drift away right now.]

If it's not nightmares, then it's real. And if it's real, we kick its ass. [It's almost a growl, definitely ferocious, low and rough with the tightness of the tears she's more or less fought back now.] We survive, right? We make it through the night on the mountain, Chris said. So we're badasses. We keep going.

[Sam would be better at this, it occurs to Emily just then. Hell, Sam is who Emily would've run to in the middle of the night, desperate for the warmth of another person's presence nearby, the sound of someone else's voice and heartbeat and breathing. Sam would know what to say, and she'd say it just right, not all jagged edges like Emily does. Still, it's all she's got (because Ashley and Chris have each other, and Josh and Chris are still best friends, in spite of it all), so she sucks it up and deals.]

[cowardley]

[ There's something about hearing those words from Emily; we're badasses, plural, meaning including Ashley. For a moment, her lower lip trembles, eyes wet, and then she steels the fear and worry and aching anxiety. She locks up the horrors of this night in a chest in her mind, puts it away with all the other nightmares and ghosts of their past.

She swallows. Emily is right: they are badasses. They haven't survived just this nightmare, or the one on the mountain, but all the other hellish things that have been tossed at them. They're still here. Hell, even death can't hold Emily back.

It strikes her then just how lucky she is to have Emily here, beside her, in Hadriel. Her ferociousness, and cool demeanor used to be intimidating—and still is, at times—but has become a comfort, and a blessing.]

And we show them it takes more than this to hurt us. [ She's no flower to wilt away at a nightmare, or a wendigo encounter; they'll get through this, and then they'll get through the next thing, and the next because they're better than all of it. ]

[unfollowing]

Damn right.

[Honestly, now that Emily thinks about it, they really have been through so much, and for all that it's fucked them up (especially considering they haven't dealt with it at all, they're still here, still living, still fighting against the shit this place and its gods throw at them.

Nodding, Emily pulls back her hands.] I'm gonna make some coffee. Can't sleep now anyway. Have some, if you want.

[cowardley]

I might get some later, but I think I'm going to go... sort my head out, take a walk. [ Ashley, unlike part of the house, does not subsist on caffeine, but she does require time to be with her thoughts. ] Maybe I'll even want to go back to sleep when I come back.

[ But what are the chances of that? She'd like to avoid sleep for the time being. ]

[unfollowing]

That makes one of us. [Emily has no intention of going back to sleep. Fuck that. She's been Fear's little battery for long enough tonight.] I hope you can get some sleep.

[She'll just be downstairs, scribbling on a piece of paper. Doodling, writing stupid notes -- literally anything to keep herself from falling asleep again.

Nodding towards the hallway as if to say "let's go", she starts for the door. Maybe Chris or Josh will be downstairs too. Emily isn't sure if that would be better or worse than being alone.]

[cowardley]

[ They exit the room, and head down the stairs. Ashley gives Emily one good look, and a quiet,"I'll be back" before she's out the door, only stopping to grab her hoodie and satchel from the coat rack. She knows she'll likely hit the stores before she comes home. ]