kore_logs | ( semi-closed ) sleep now in my arms

( If you want to set up a dream scenario I'll drop Galen in! )

It's dark, but it isn't past midnight. Only nine o'clock or so, or eight. The manor, dark wood and oil paintings and old world opulence, is completely silent aside from some music playing in the kitchen. Most of the massive building isn't lit, as it has four wings and two levels. Its sole purpose is to house one occupant, to keep her a secret and away from everyone else. The walls are painted a delicate blue in the lower level, and white in the upper. It's an old manor, the dwelling of some Duke in the past, or perhaps a Lord. Once it was some man's pride and joy, but now it's a remnant of a time past; a frozen smile on a painted face.

In Fortescue's dreams, the place is even larger. A wooden prison, with windows that won't open or be broken. Jazz follows her as she pads about the house, trying to kick at the glass. She wouldn't dare do this with the real house. Naturally, she doesn't get anywhere with the dream version, either: the glass is as hard as steel. Her subconscious is nothing if not a buzz kill.

She pauses in the main parlor, listening to the music. It's some classical piece. Something she'd heard on the radio in the past, maybe. If there's a meaning, Fortescue doesn't care to analyze it. She gets herself a bottle of wine and a glass from the pantry. Evidently, it's going to be a long and tiring night.

The cave is dimly lit but dark around the edges. In fact, the edges are just darkness. No exit. No source of light aside from the candles scattered around the pile of painful, mostly-metal, shiny things that Kenzi's huddled up on. She's been there for a while, at least she thinks she has, and the pain of the beartrap biting into the flesh of her leg, keeping her tethered to the pile of stuff like another trophy, is still very fresh and very raw and very intense.

Inari could come back any second. Asking her more questions, touching her, yelling at her, licking her, all while wearing her face, just so she can go back out there and live Kenzi's life and leave her hear to starve and die and rot.

Kenzi's makeup is streaked down her face from all the crying and she's scared and alone and hurt... and huddled up in a familiar-looking hoodie. It helps, but it doesn't fix everything. Inari will be back. Kenzi is terrified.

After what happened with Ned, showing up in another dream has him wary. He hasn't been able to see who it belongs to, yet; if this is another emotional trap, someone's memory, somewhere he doesn't belong. Honestly, he should leave, go somewhere inside his own dreams and get some fucking rest, but he's curious. He hasn't been to anyone else's dreams in months, and they've never been this vivid. What's happening, and why now?

Galen wanders the dream carefully, taking in the surroundings but following the sound of thumping, and the sound of music. He hides himself as he walks, makes himself less-than-visible, just a slight smear of dark in the air as he moves through the house -- and, finally, past the door to the parlor. There's someone in there, he can tell by the way the room seems a little more vibrant than anything else, but he doesn't enter; just peers around the doorway, for now, hoping she doesn't notice his presence.

At this point, these dreams seem like they're unavoidable. Even he has limited control over where he goes or what happens, so when Galen can't help but doze off again, some part of him hopes that the next dream is just a dream, not a nightmare.

It looks like a nightmare, though, when he comes to. It's so dark in here, save for the dim lights, and he can tell there's a presence in here somewhere -- he can feel it, hear the quiet breathing. He'd rather not sneak up on them, though, so he fades himself from view, takes steady steps closer to those sources of light. There's someone there, but he can't tell who, yet.

Kenzi should be able to sense some kind of presence, at least, coming slowly closer.

Oh god. Oh god, no. Not yet! She can already hear the hissing and the yelling and see the teeth and feel the claws as something approaches. She doesn't want to look. Maybe if she doesn't look, Inari can't get her. Pre-school rules. If I can't see you, you can't see me. She curls in on herself more, pulling the hood down over her eyes and hiding her face against her knees and under her arms as much as she can, but it hurts to move. Everything hurts. Especially her leg.

She's not crying now because she wouldn't give that bitch the satisfaction, but she really wants to. Because she knows what's coming. The cave flickers in and out view, becoming more shadowy each time. Kenzi doesn't dare look up. No chance in hell. But she does speak.

"Just kill me and get it over with! They're gonna find out. You can't keep this up forever!" Or maybe she can. They haven't noticed yet. No one's come to save her and she's alone and her friends don't even know because they don't care. None of them had time for her! None of them would listen! If they'd just given her five seconds of their precious freakin' fae time, this probably wouldn't have happened! She'd be home. With Bo. Ignored, but not alone.

... Okay, now she's crying a little, but shut up!

It's like before, with Ned; the emotion washes over him, staggers him, drops that illusion hiding him from view. Betrayal, loneliness, fear. It almost distracts him from that voice, but he catches the end, tacks onto that familiarity and follows it to the source of light and the one clear, vivid spot in this dark, dark place: it's Kenzi. He recognizes his hoodie, follows it down to -- is that a bear trap? He immediately crouches down, tries to pull it open, but it doesn't budge.

"Kenzi -- baby, it's okay, it's me. I got it." He has to stop and take a deep breath; he can feel everything. "I'm gonna get you out."

This is wonderful.

She's never been out of her tower before, and stepping foot on the ground, on cobblestone, is an odd experience. Seeing the mechanical horses, feeling the sun on her face and the wind in her hair, breathing in the smells - hot dogs and cotton candy (and god, is cotton candy delicious) and everything in between, she's going to make herself sick, trying everything.

But it doesn't matter, because she's free. Her next stop is Paris, of course it is, that's where she knows in her heart she needs to be, but first, she just wants to see what the city she's called home is like.

And hey, staring over the edge of the railing might not be a smart idea, she could fall, but like Elizabeth cares. She's curious, and it must be sated.

This dream is always empty of others. It's as much a metaphor for being alone as it is a metaphor of being trapped, which are both sensations that have been plaguing her for the past sixteen years. She loathes them. As such, she gives the dream absolutely no respect by draping herself over one of the finely upholstered love seats: red satin, dark wood. Legs over the arm rest at the knee, back flat on the cushions.

She pours herself a glass of wine, not really caring if she spills some.

Jazz lurks nearby, sniffing at the floor; as a black cat, he's nearly invisible in the dim room aside from the gleaming of his eyes. And it is him, rather than something the dream's cooked up. They're connected at the most profound level, which means that they also dream together.

Galen? She sniffs and peeks out from her hoodie fortress. Really? SERIOUSLY?! Is it him? Did he ... actually come to save her? She's already tried the bear trap! It's stupidly impossible. She doesn't have fae strength and he's Squishy! ... Or is he?

How did he know she was here? How did he get here? What if it's Inari. What if Inari got to Galen and took over his life instead and came back to torment her? She shies away from him, distrust evident in her expression. How does she know it's him? How does she know it's not?

"There's no point." She sniffs again, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve-covered hand. "It's not coming off." She's still wary. As much as she wants to just wrap her arms around him and have him hold her, she doesn't know if it's him.

"... Who won the snowball fight?" You know the one, Galen, come on. She looks a him intently, hopeful but still terrified.

That feeling of distrust makes him hesitate, and Galen stops pulling at the trap to sit back on his heels and look at Kenzi. He doesn't blame her for not believing it's him, immediately, but it still stings -- or maybe that's feedback from Kenzi. It's hard to tell, lately, in these dreams, which feelings belong to whom.

He reaches out a hand for her to hold, to squeeze, if she needs to, feeling a pang of sadness at just how terrible she looks. Contact will get her out of this faster, anyway.

"Technically, Ida Straum's headstone," he says with a shaky smile. "But -- you did. Even after I pinged you in the bunny hat."

Ding ding, we have a winner. She takes his hand... and uses it to pull him closer so she can get her arms around his neck. Don't go anywhere, please just stay right here. Even if it's dangerous, even if the fox-faced bitch is around somewhere, don't leave her alone.

... He's never shown up here before. This has happened before, hasn't it? Who knows. Doesn't matter. All she knows is it hurts a little less with him here an now they can get out. Get away. Just gotta chew off her own foot first, no big.

"Even after you cheated, you mean. Kicked your butt with one arm." The stupid arm that got her into this mess in the first place. The tears are still flowing and she doesn't let go. "You shouldn't be here."

When Kenzi pulls him closer, Galen wraps his arms around her, hugs her tightly. He pulls back just enough to kiss her dirty forehead, stays close in case he needs to protect her. He may be Squishy out in the waking world, but he knows how to handle dreams, and like hell he's letting anything happen to her.

"You're dreaming, Kenz," he says, holding on in case she starts to wake up from hearing that news. Maybe he should just let her wake up. For a second, his thought process scares him -- but either way, these dreams recently really like to hang on tight. They're not like normal dreams, not at all. You don't just wake up, Ned had shown him that much. "Which means I'm gonna show you how to get the hell out of here. You with me?"

He falters, catches her gaze. "I'm -- I won't hurt you, I promise."

He's worried. He's barely seen much of Jesse at all since he woke up looking a little freaked out in the middle of the night; Galen hasn't actually seen or heard from him in hours. Calling is no use, and waiting is driving him crazy, but it's his only option until Jesse comes home, unless he wants to start calling everyone, but -- hopefully Jesse will come back before that's necessary.

So he waits around the house, trying not to think too much about the dreams he's run into so far, trying not to relax anywhere in case he passes out again. Jesse has to know what's going on. And if he does, Galen knows how stressed out he must be. He just doesn't know Jesse thinks he has something to do with it.

When he starts his weary way home, it's already the afternoon. He feels less like he's going to break apart right this second, but he's still running on fumes, and so when he opens the door to House 20 and slumps down onto the couch, it's clear he's exhausted.

But he still can't sleep yet. He doesn't trust it. He'll be out here in the living room, staring at the ceiling and bouncing his foot on the ground in order to stay awake. Too tired to do anything else, really.

Galen is up in their room, determinedly not sleeping, when he hears the front door open and close. He doesn't rush, but he does quickly get up, hands stuffed in his hoodie pockets, and make his way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. And once he sees that it's Jesse sitting on the couch, Galen shuffles around the back, stops when he can see Jesse's face.

He looks just about as awful as Galen feels.

"Hey," he sighs, relieved, at least, that he's home.

Jesse - doesn't mean to, but he's so zoned out that when suddenly Galen comes into his line of vision and speaks up, Jesse startles. It wakes him up at least, and he has to take one second to breathe before he answers, sinking back down into the couch.

"... Hey," Jesse answers, wrapping his arms around himself.

Jesse jumping like that is never a good thing. He'd stopped doing it since the incident, for a while, and the fact that he's doing it now means that wherever he's been since yesterday, his dreams haven't been kind to him. Galen frowns and moves to sit on the couch, too, one hand reaching to rest on Jesse's leg, reassuringly. Galen looks pretty tired, too, but he has the advantage of very rarely being the dreamer, anymore. He knows what kind of nightmares plague Jesse, and it makes his heart hurt.

"You alright?" He tilts his head, tries to catch Jesse's gaze.

His words barely register as anything at first. Just a mild, off-handed comment. Oh, dreaming? Yeah, that's cool. And then she starts to think about it. And then she starts to look mad! What the crap, brain?! She doesn't want him to see this! Are you kidding me? At least the last time he popped up in dreamland it was him making the nightmares and she didn't really care that much because he needed them. This is... she just doesn't want him to see her like this.

And then he has to go and say that and she pulls away enough so she can look at him. "Galen. Why would you even think I'd be worried about that? Dude! No." She hadn't even jumped to that conclusion. Then again, she hadn't been through what Jesse or the others had. She has no idea what it was like for them. All she knows is that she's 100% sure that Galen would never hurt her. Except... for the snowball to the head, but that was self defense!

She kisses him quickly, just enough to reassure him. Don't worry about that stuff, dumbface. "Yeah, I'm with you. What's the plan, Obi-Wan? Don't suppose you have a dream crowbar or dream super powers?"

Well -- okay. Galen smiles and quickly kisses her back, still holding onto her hand, glad for that reassurance. Kenzi might not have seen him at his nightmare worst, but she's still heard enough that he wouldn't be surprised if she didn't trust this ability of his. It's good to hear, and it makes him hopeful that he can show it to her in a positive light. Actually, that makes it kind of exciting.

"How does both sound?" Galen gives her a shit-eating grin and glances over his shoulder, then back down to Kenzi's trapped leg. "Can we try something? We don't have to, but I wanna see if I can show you how to bust out on your own. Y'know -- in case you get stuck here again."

He realizes how much this sounds like his MO from when he was sick, but it's different this time. He's himself, he's not siccing a nightmare on her, he's asking her permission. He's helping the right way, and he knows that if he fucks up, Kenzi will tell him. Right?

Galen sets his hand on his leg and it stops moving for a few moments, at least. He sort of just swallows hard and tries not to twitch, his chest all heavy like there's someone sitting on it. It's fucking stupid. He was fine, before, he was feeling good and now - a night full of nightmares and he can't even breathe right. They've always been a problem for him. More so now, because here, Jesse wouldn't put it past them being real.

"Nnghmk," is what Jesse manages as an answer to that, scrubbing at his face and sitting up, trying to pull his legs away the best he can without making Galen feel awful. He doesn't want to believe what Ned told him. Look - deep breath. Deep breath. You have to talk to him about it, you can nip it in the bud before it even starts to be a problem. Lead into it.

"Were you in Ned's dream last night?" ... Dammit, Jesse.

Galen starts to feel a little weird, watching her like this, and is about to go when he notices the cat. Not only that, but the cat is looking his way -- he'd almost say it's looking at him, even though he isn't visible. Dream elements don't usually do that; they're usually passive, only react to the dreamer, so those eyes are starting to weird him out.

He pulls out of the doorframe, backs down the hall a little, then stops. This doesn't seem like a nightmare, at least, but once again, he can't seem to pull out of this dream, and he has no fucking clue why.

So, not sure what else to do, Galen makes sure he's visible, then shuffles down the hallway far enough that he can reach the open parlor door and, somewhat awkwardly, knock. Then he peeks his head in.

"Uh, hey. Bad time?"

While he's looking down at her leg, she's looking down at his arm. The one attached to the hand she's currently holding. You know... that one. But it still doesn't deter her. She runs the hoodie-sleeve-covered hand that isn't being held over the scar and smiles back at him. "Sure. I'll try anything, but I'm telling you, I can't-- I mean I've tried before." A bunch of times. This isn't the first Inari dream. "But yeah, okay, you're the expert."

And she really does want to get out of here. Preferably before the kitsune shows up.

( semi-closed ) sleep now in my arms

fortescue ( day 83? )

kenzi ( day 84 )

elizabeth ( day 86 )

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jesse ( day 84 )

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