Needful Nightmares

[Morgan Bellanar]

Within the Autumn Commons a cozy fire burned in the center, a kettle sitting nearby waiting to be added to the chain hanging under the metal tripod standing over the fire. The fire cast the most light within the shadow filled the hollow, having few other light sources. The flames cast shadows everywhere, undulating as the fire crackled. The shifting light could resurrect one's childhood fear of monsters in the dark. Many of Autumn's courtiers would gleefully use the plentiful hiding spots to make those fears a reality.

The grim nature was somewhat offset by how clean the area was, much more so then one would expect. A frantic figure darted about the commons, shifting specks of dirt, organizing the books in the archive, and generally trying to spruce up the place. In the center however was a pair of folding cots, set up for use. Included were sleeping bags, pillows, and a variety of tiny stuffed animals. The figure wasn't among the majority of Autumn courtiers. This one felt fear rather then spread it. She was anxious for the planned meeting, and was trying to work off her anxieties.

Morgan was worried about this dream walking thing. Less a problem with Lynn being the one in her head then worry about Lynn being the one in her head. Wait, that didn't make sense. She froze in her activity to think on that.

It wasn't that she didn't trust her pack-erm, motley mate. No, Morgan feared she or Lynn could get swept into a nightmare-memory if they did something wrong. That'd be bad for Lynn since agility and speed were what kept Morgan "alive" in her recurring nightmares. Lynn was...not as athletic as the Beast. Though drop a piano on the baddie worked when she became aware she was in her dreams. That caused the Beast to smirk.

Whoever said watching Looney Toons wasn't educational clearly was neither a lucid dreamer nor had to worry about dream monsters eating them.

The Twilit page eyed the archives, wondering if she should grab the book on Oneiromancy and read it while waiting. Did she still have time? Morgan fretted before finally walking over to the archive to pull out said tome.

ooc: feel free to enter whenever you like during this narration Trickster

[Lynn Mills]

Lynn made her way towards the cheerful fire, ever present fiddle slung over one shoulder and a small bag of assorted baked goodies in her hand. Since the whole point of this exercise was to help her truly understand Fear, in all it's many shapes and colors, she figured brownies might help afterwards. And even if they didn't, it was still brownies.

She'd never really understood Fear, not the way that some of the other changelings had. She'd known sorrow and pain, but while she'd been behind the Thorns, she'd been a showpiece, kept safe in a corner to play for the amusement of the White Lady. And she worried that her lack of understanding would cause difficulties when she tried to help the group of children who'd been terrorized by the Sandman. She was just lucky that Morgan had agreed to help her out.

"Hey Morgan!" Lynn waved cheerfully at her Motley mate as she drew closer to the fire. A glance around showed that she'd already gotten most everything set up. "I appreciate you helping me out with this." She sat down on one of the beds and placed her fiddle on the ground at her feet. "Is there anything else I can help with?"

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan started but managed to not squeak. She also managed to not toss the tome out of her hands, though it was a close thing. She managed to clap her hands together, slamming in shut before it had moved more then a couple of inches out of her hands. With a relieved sigh, she tucked the archives' oneiromancy tome under her left arm as she turned to Lynn.

She bowed her head to Lynn, "Heh-hiya Lynn. Twas happy to try-and-help, just-just really heh-hope, uh," she ducked her head and looked around. The flush was from all her fidgeting and busy-work rather then embarrassment, "Um, th-things to do? Uh? I can nay tink-thing of more. Well, nay on physical prep-prep-prep-work. I, heh-heh," she shrugged as she walked over to Lynn and the cots, "I am most ignorant of the dream-walk-thingie."

Morgan stood before Lynn and started to fidget with her hands together. The claws tipping her fingers made dull clicking sounds. She looked up at Lynn with worry as she stuttered: "Uh, doth ye heh-happen to ken the dream-walk? Oro-or shalt we heh-hath to read-read-read lots on it?" Morgan tapped the book under her arm for emphasis.

[Lynn Mills]

Lynn shrugged a bit. "Well, you could say I've studied it, "under fire" so to speak. You remember the Sandman, right? A couple of us found out that he was back and managed to track him through the dreams of some children and fight him till he woke up. Then we tracked him down in the real world." A hard light shone in Lynn's eyes for a moment. "He won't be hurting anybody ever again. But to try and help the kids he hurt, I need to understand Fear in a way I can't right now. So," she shrugged a bit at her tangent. "Yes, I do know something of dream walking. Not as much as I might need someday, but enough to get by."

Reaching out, she picked up one of the small stuffed animals, an adorable little bear with velvet fur. Almost absently, she stroked her fingers across its back.

"But I wouldn't turn down the chance to read up on the matter."

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan scrunched up her face in thought. Then she slowly nodded to Lynn's question about the Sandman incident. Morgan had heard of the monster preying on children but not the sordid details. Her eyes widened at the hardness in Lynn's gaze before giving a cruel smirk and nodding her head, "Good, glad Sand-dah-man punished."

The smirk turned jovial as Lynn admitted to lacking knowledge of Fear. So Lynn had opted for an expert to solve the problem. The Beast said as much, "So ye heh-heh conclude ssssee an expert of experiencing feh-Fear, heh-heh, right? Heh, makes sense."

"Heh-happy to hears ye hath experience. Was kinda, uh," she fidgeted, "just a little bit, little-little," Morgan held up her right hand, index and thumb slightly seperated to emphasize little, "Worried we'd bolth-both have no clue aaaaand ends up caught in a flashback-nightmare-memory of things trying to eat me, heh-heh-heh." Morgan smiled up at Lynn. It was obviously a little forced. Morgan then looked off to her left side and pulled the tome of Oneiromancy out from under her arm. She offered Lynn the tome, "If-if ye wish to brush-up, Imma ssssure we heh-have time. Erm, depending upon heh-how ye want to get in-tah me heh-head that is."

Morgan then had a thought. She quirked a curious eyebrow at Lynn as she asked: "Just to clarify, any feh-fear will do, yes? Wha-what I mean tis, it will nay matter which feh-fear I dream-experience-display to ye, right? Could be fear of people-talk, azz prey, oro-or for friends and it'd be just as godo-good, yes? Oh, and tis manga-magenta-magnitude of the fear-terror important?"

Morgan wasn't worried about having a horrid dream to help Lynn save some children. If her nightmare was really bad, well she still had that healing dream ribbon. Though the Dreamwoven ribbon was probably more for physical pain than mental stress.

[Lynn Mills]

Lynn picked up the book and opened it, starting to leaf through as she listened to Morgan. "Well, the children were being forced to live their worst nightmares, over and over. We found one of them in the middle of a plane that was ripped apart and falling from the sky. Another was being trampled in a crowd. There was one who was turning into stone and another who turned into some sort of monster and was eating his friends. I don't think the fear itself is going to matter. Just that the fear is felt." She shrugged, smiling crookedly over at Morgan. "I was a plaything They kept on a shelf then tossed away. I never really dealt with any of the things most others have."

Lynn closed the book and ran her fingers along the spine. "I do know that we can swear a Pledge for one night that will let us share a dream. And I do know that I can do something about a nightmare if it looks like we're getting caught up in it." She flushed a little. "I actually, um. I almost ruined the trip to fight the Sandman by breaking the dream that we were investigating. I had to weave a whole new dream to keep the entire thing from dissolving. Ended up giving the kid this really wonderful dream instead of a nightmare. So, I really think we'll be ok."

Setting the book down, Lynn reached over and grasped Morgan's hands gently. "Morgan, you really don't have to do this if it's going to make you uncomfortable. If you have any restorations about this, any reasons at all that you want to step back, please say so. I'll understand, I promise." She rubbed her thumbs over Morgan's knuckles. "You're my friend. I don't want you to feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

[Morgan Bellanar]

Morgan's expression was somewhere between anger, in how she grit her teeth, and sympathy, mostly in her over sized eyes, as Lynn explained the plight the children were rescued from. Lynn didn't need to explain her Durance to Morgan. They'd already shared their traumas with each other before. She did eye the book as Lynn leafed through it. Morgan would swear she'd spied "teddy bear" written in the tome. She was also distracted by a tiny voice in her mind screaming: my motley mate is a child saving superhero!

Morgan blinked in surprise when Lynn admitted her mistake during the adventure. It did help dampen that fangirling voice in her brain. "Oh-heh-kay. Pledge make-ah-it easier be good. Imma glad ye could heh-help the children. Ano-and if-if this better helps ye help them get better, uh, she scrunches her face in confusion before nodding her head, "No-no-no, said it right. Imma glad to heh-help. Sides, Imma gonna heh-have flashback-nightmares eventually of-of things trying to eat me. Imma run-run-scared in dreams," she griamces and winces at this addmission. Then plasters on a smile as she looks up at Lynn, "So why heh-not be for good-cause? Just-just be-be warned of a few things. Foist-first, Imma sssstill a changeling and heh-have instincts. So~o sometimes I do nay run-flee from jungle-predators or goatrillas," the smile next is filled with mirth, "Dropping heh-heavy thing on baddie tis effective-fun trick. Did in real-life-too nada-not just dream. Second less fun," Morgan's expression turns serious, "I am worry-scared that if ye heh-heh get active in my heh-head, well, ye may-beh nada-not so good at running from monsters. If-if ye do get active, I demand," she points a finger at Lynn. When she spoke again her voice was surprisingly firm: "That ye do everything, even-break-dream-force-repeat, to ensure ye be safe."

Morgan would rather be forced to experience nightmares several times in one night then risk the safety of a friend.

[Lynn Mills]

Lynn nodded in agreement with Morgan. "I promise. If things go badly, I"ll break the dream before we get into trouble." Silently she promised herself that she'd keep them both safe, Morgan was doing her an enormous favor and she didn't intend to let her friend suffer for it.

Want to fast forwards through some studying?

[Morgan Bellanar]

I am prepared to fast forward through studying and pledge crafting. Did you want to hand wave the oneiromancy dream entry roll to get right to the contested Dreamscaping roll?

After the motley mates had gone through the tome they got down the mechanics and set up a short pledge to make things easier. Turns out permission to enter another's dreams is very helpful if one lacks the correct Dream Contracts. Morgan would lie down to sleep, giving Lynn the opportunity to try and dreamscape Morgan's fallow dreams, to promote a fearful nightmare or memory.

Provided that Morgan's subconscious didn't disagree strongly enough to prevent it. If Lynn didn't win Plan B was: see if Morgan has a nightmare anyway. Plan C: the Minstrel awakens the Beast and they try again. Morgan settles down and starts to doze off, waiting for Lynn to enter her head.

[Lynn Mills]

I love skipping steps!

Lynn curled up on the cot next to Morgan, watching the fire as she slowly took a few deep breaths, humming just a bit. A soft lullaby drifted through the air as her eyes slowly grew heavier. The crackling of the fire filled her ears as she sank deeper into sleep. And one of the stuffed animals Morgan had provided was tucked securely in her arm. It couldn't hurt, after all.

Opening her eyes in her dreams, Lynn found herself back in the strange garden that had greeted her the first time she'd tried dream walking. Instead of seeing colors, she could hear them. Bright and cheerful notes danced amount the blossoms, with rich and somber tones providing texture to the trees and earth. It was a delight to the senses and one that she could have stayed in for hours. But once again, she was on a mission. Turning in place, Lynn searched out the one thing that didn't belong. In this case it was a window, partially open and with cheerful blue curtains that flapped idly in the breeze. Looking through showed a scene from a typical back yard, a few flower beds safely sheltered behind a white picket fence. The window wasn't quite open enough for her to climb through, but it slid easily when she tried to lever it up. Swinging one leg through, Lynn glanced back at her garden. There would be time for that later.

Pushing all the way through, Lynn dropped down into Morgan's dreams.

Shall we set the scene before we jump into the nightmare?