Once More into the Dreaming

**Key** · Oct 16th, 2013 09:24 PM

Once More into the Dreaming
By Key and Cl4re

There they were, packages of perfect new candy. They had been around for a while but Mr. Tickle was giving them out for free, at least for the moment.

the odd red furred man seemed to be moving rather quickly as he pushed the individually wrapped balls of "Dreamer's Gum" into the changeling's hands, quickly diminishing his supply. "It's dangerous..." he said before the last few moments before the small booth in the Quicksilver Gate closed for the night.

* * *

Downstairs on the checkerboard common area of the Courtless Commons sat the changelings, all staring at the gum they had been given.

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Oct 23rd, 2013 03:35 PM

Ava sat forward, elbows on her knees, and rubbed the plastic tabs of the wrapped candy between her fingers, crinkling it absently. It was an interesting idea, really, putting dreams in candy - she would've loved it as a child, when magic meant thumb-sized faeries and curses overcome with kisses. Dream-inducing candy would've been the best of all possible things, sweet and exciting, the escapist undertones completely lost on her. Smoothing a finger over the label, she glanced at her impromptu companions.

She'd come to the Quicksilver Gate to check out the little gallery space, something she'd been meaning to do for awhile and never quite gotten around to. Bereft of anyone to go with, or at least anyone she thought would be genuinely interested, it just kept getting pushed back in favor of other things. But today she'd finally gotten around to it, albeit pretty close to the end of their hours, and let Mal know where she was headed as she put on her coat. It was a pleasant surprise when the dour Beast offered to join her, though Ava was a little skeptical of how much her friend would really get out of visiting a gallery attached to a small shopping complex. Or maybe a gallery anywhere?

Regardless, she was just pleased they were actually out doing something. It was sort of exciting, really. The actual contents of the gallery were a little blasé but it was something to talk about as they left, wandering through the rest of the Quicksilver Gate. It wouldn't hurt to get to know the place a bit better, and it would really never be more convenient. Ava had just been half-teasing Mal about her suspicion that she would be the sort of person to take the "art about art is bullshit" stance when the Hob shoved the candy into their hands, said his line, and disappeared.

And so here they were, considering the candy. The more she stared at it the more she was sure she would've, or could've, been one of the children she'd heard about on the car's staticky radio: asleep in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for more than a week after trying these.

Glancing up and around at the others, she sat up straight. "I've only heard a few things about these, mostly that they've been putting children into almost-comas; they're a little more restless than they would be in an actual coma? I'm not entirely sure, I just heard a bit about it on the radio. Its a pretty interesting idea, though, danger aside." She rolled the gum in her palm. "I'm Ava, by the way," she mentioned in reference to those she had not met before.

Oct 23rd, 2013 05:30 PM

Though he wasn't proud of it, Jason wasn't exactly a mental giant. It wasn't that he was stupid, his skill set just lied more within the physical than the intellectual. So maybe he wasn't the guy to go to when you needed help with advanced calculus. That didn't mean he was useless. He'd been around enough mystical nonsense to be able to tell when something was unnatural and this 'Dreamer's Gum' was anything but natural. Ava's statement that it was sending kids into comas made it all the more sinister. I think this is a good example of why you should listen to your parents when they tell you not to take candy from strangers.

He pushed the piece he'd been given onto the table and as far away from himself as he could manage. I don't want that thing anywhere near me, much less in my mouth. He hadn't intended to pick up some trail of comatose children when he'd come to the Quicksilver Gate. The Hunterheart had actually just come to ask around about any places that would hire someone like him, only to encounter the disturbingly named 'Mr. Tickle'.

Personally, he wasn't much of a fan of goblins of any kind and wanted little and less to do with this particular creature. However, before Jason could object for more than a few seconds he soon found himself in possession of the mysterious candy and sitting at a table with more Lost who seemed to be in a similar position. He had been frustrated for a moment before simply shrugging. The wily little bastard was a fast talker. Pushing product is what he does. There was no real sense in bemoaning his situation now. You played the hand you were dealt, after all. Even if said hand included a mysterious piece of rather wicked candy.

He hadn't really paid attention to who else was sitting nearby. Up until that point he had mostly been focusing on the candy. He'd nodded to Ava after she spoke and then become absorbed in thought. "Well, whoever named it wasn't exactly subtle. It's not impossible for a Changeling or... someone else to make dreams." This just seemed like a horrible idea, though. It was obviously dangerous and could easily draw mortal attention. Either the individuals behind this were really in need of some fast cash, or had absolutely no sense of morals. Or both.

He shrugged and looked around at the assembled Lost, finally getting a good look at the assembled individuals and narrowed his eyes at Mal momentarily before shrugging again. Great. I know maybe two other people here and one of them is incredibly annoying. I think I'm starting to hate candy.

Oct 26th, 2013 05:24 PM

Mal growled, low and hard as she closed her hand around the gum in a reflexive fist. "If it is dangerous, why are you giving it out like... like Candy." she barked, her voice made hard and threatening by the persistent rumble at the base of her throat.

It was official.

There was nothing about this place Mal liked. She hoped her ~~room-mate~~friend had enough sense to realise she hadn't come for the art. She certainly hadn't said anything to that effect, and her ribbing seemed to indicated otherwise. Of course art 'about art' was all kinds of bullhockey. Nothing short of pretentious mental masturbation.

It wasn't even particularly good - interpretive differences put aside.

The fact of the matter was, she had come because she didn't like the place. The little hunterheart trusted the proprietress about as far as she could throw her. And this furry little bastard pushing 'dangerous' material into the hands of complete strangers was doing nothing to improve her opinion. The fact Ava had wanted to visit had presented her with an opportunity to have a sniff around. Just showing up and sitting around, glaring at everything was not, even in her sometimes blunt estimations, the most subtle course of action.

"The Fuck you say?!" she demanded, whipping on Ava with murder in her eyes. Her sense of justice and poorly disguised protective streak inflamed by her talk of 'normal' people. Children no less, getting snared up in faerie bullshit. A coma was a far cry from being dragged kicking and screaming to Arcadia, but that knowledge was a cold comfort at best.

There was a scrape of chair legs on tile as she rose to her feet, rolling up her sleeves. A hair's breadth away from storming across and having words with the red furred little maggot.

Words like 'How?', 'Why?', and 'Which of your limbs would you prefer being beaten to death with?'

Oct 28th, 2013 02:56 AM

There was no question in her mind as to whether they would be looking into the issue that had been unceremoniously placed in their collective lap: as Jason had said, the gum wasn't exactly subtly named. For anyone who knew what to look for it was a big old red flag. To not look into it would be negligent and, to her eyes, at odds with the spirit of the Oath they had sworn. Let alone the fact that Mal would probably disown me if I tried to walk away.

"I don't know any more than that," Ava said with grim calm. "I've only heard about it on and off while I'm driving; they don't exactly give specifics out, like how much the kids ate before that happened or if it only happens when you swallow it. I'm betting its nothing that cut and dry, anyway."

She watched the small Hunterheart rise with fierce intent, fairly certain she could guess her friend's desired course of action. "He probably doesn't know much more than he told us, Mal. I don't think you spend the time and effort to be in good enough standing to have a shop in the Freehold only to blow it selling Fae-drugged candy to kids. He might be able to say where he got it, but..." She shrugged, unsure of how helpful that would end up being - if she were selling the gum she wouldn't make it that easy to trace back to herself. The Hob made her skin crawl, but if he was taking the time to give them the candy instead of just trying to hide that he'd ever touched it, it seemed unlikely to her that he had anything more than a passing involvement.

Besides, if there was even a whiff about him I'm pretty sure Ms. Jasons would've rolled him into a dumpling by now.

Suddenly curious, she looked between Mal and Jason. They hadn't greeted each other or introduced themselves; both Summer, both Beasts of a similar (in her mind) nature, it seemed natural they'd be interested in each other. "Have you guys met?"

Oct 29th, 2013 01:13 AM

Vincent approached the candy basket after watching the other changelings considering it for what seemed like hours. Silently, as always, he nods his greetings. He didn't recognize any of them, but he hoped his presence would be enough of a distraction that it would quell the soon to be heated argument.

A white bandanna hid his forehead, but the rest of his masks' Persian features had that glow to them that you only got after a great night's sleep and a day of uninterrupted peace. Of course, his mein glowed as well. But that was for a different reason all together. His approach was as calm as water in a stream as he approached the basket. Sure, he had heard of the children; images of news articles flashed in his mind as he unwrapped a piece of candy. However, he figured that the best way to step was forward. If something bad happened... Well, at least it would be fair warning to the others.

With that though, the mute fireheart popped the candy in his mouth and swallowed it whole.

**Key** · Oct 29th, 2013 08:21 AM

The small table in the checkerboard Quicksilver Gate's food court seemed to shrink with the four changelings and their pile of the apparently Dangerous Dreamers Gum.

Vincent ( WakingDream ) please roll me a [Resolve+Composure-3]

Oct 30th, 2013 02:54 PM

Nov 2nd, 2013 08:17 PM

Jason grimaced a little at Ava's question. Whether she had meant to or not, she had kind of just made things more awkward for him. If it had been possible, he would have preferred to ignore Mal entirely and just let her snarl to herself. Now he had to actually address the issue. I know I usually prefer to face things head-on, but I'm not so inclined to figure out what this girl's problem with me is. If only Ava had just let it drop...

He looked at the other Hunterheart as though this was their first time meeting. "Not really, no. I can honestly say I haven't had a chance to introduce myself." It wasn't totally untrue. The two of them had only really interacted in passing, never actually talking for more than a few seconds, though that was usually because Mal had been very hostile towards him for seemingly no reason and he typically wasn't in the mood to deal with other people's pissy moods, so Jason kind of neglected to mention that detail.

The Hunterheart pretended to be focused on the candy and mumbled just above inaudible levels "My name is Jason Shepherd." and left it at that. Hopefully, she'd just no or something and say her name and then the whole thing would be over. It probably wouldn't actually be that simple if for no other reason than that such a thing would be too easy, but he could hope. Hope in vain perhaps, but hope nonetheless. He almost said something else but he noticed with a flash of anger that, judging by the now empty wrapper on the table, one of the other Changelings, whose name escaped him, had just swallowed one of the candies.

"You have got to be shitting me..." He buried his face in one of his hands and simply muttered to himself. "No, please, go on and eat the thing we just discussed the dangers of not even five minutes ago and may in-fact be the product of the most insanely monstrous creatures in reality... don't mind me, just pondering why I'm even surprised." He'd nearly forgotten one of the core laws of reality: if there's something stupid to be done, some asshole will do it.

**CyledyrWyllt** · Nov 9th, 2013 10:13 PM

Vincent starts to feel incredibly drowsy and his eyelids begin to feel exceedingly heavy. In fact, he is beginning to have such a hard time staying awake that he might want to find a comfortable spot to curl up and take a quick nap. The chairs in the food court do seem awfully comfortable.

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-10-30 14:53:44		Vincent Azlan rolls 2 to res + cmp - 3 (10 Again)		10, 4, 5		1 success

Once More into the Dreaming

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