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

[whichend]

[ The kindly man does not seem bothered. He takes his hand and slowly reaches up to pinch the blade, and smiles serenely at Cullen. you seek the gift for me? he asks. then someone must pay for it.

He had promised Arya, when he took her sight, that the next thing to go would be her ears. Punishment and training are one and the same here. The kindly man slips away from the blade, for this is a dream, and Arya's fears are all-powerful here. He takes a small dagger and cuts slashes in Arya's ears, one ear at a time. Arya sits up and covers her ears, trying to put pressure on them, to keep them from bleeding. Her work is done in vain: blood seeps through her fingers and Arya screams, unable to hear a thing. ]

Stop!

[ She says to Cullen, desperately. Her words slur together slightly. ]

I'm not her, I'm not, I'm no one, you have no reason to fight. Stop, please.

[smited]

[ he is paralyzed. he cannot do anything but watch as this man--this twisted imitation of her family--takes her ears and her hearing. there is nothing so terrible as being helpless. fear and rage bubble up within him and he can do nothing. not until she yells please, and then--

he has no sword. has no armor. arya's fear (or maybe it's his own) has taken them from him. but he has a body and he can move.

cullen is beside her in the space of a heartbeat, arms holding her close as he curls himself around her to shield her from any other blows. arya may not be able to hear him herself between her hands and the blood, but the man can. the dream can. so he pleads. ]

Stop this! Whatever it is you plan to do to her, do it to me instead. [ he has been dealt worse blows in his time. he can endure whatever the dream will throw at him. ]

[whichend]

[ The damage has been done. Arya sits on the floor, curled in on herself, trying to stop the blood. The kindly man has turned his focus to Cullen. He smiles, and his face is truly kind. It's a frightening thing, his kindness, when one knows what he is capable of.

And then, because this is a dream, the kindly man is able to murmur a few words and do as he did to Arya. He takes everything: Cullen's name, his sense of self, his past and future. He is nothing but a servant, an instrument of death. It is an existence that feels wrong, hollow, but all-encompassing.

It is exactly what Arya is afraid of. It is exactly what the kindly man did to her, over the weeks and months.

Arya clings to Cullen tightly, but he might or might not recognize her. ]