Dream a Little Dream of Me

[burnburnburn]

Who: Dilandau and OPEN
Where: Inside Dilandau's dreams, with options to move to the waking world.
When: Days 83-88
Warnings: Torture, much fire, awkward teenage sex dreams, pictures behind cuts 1, 2 and 4.

Note: Dilandau's mental image of himself appears more like his icons, with short hair, no facial scar and appearing to be 15 instead of near 19.


1. A peaceful dream

The two moons hang in the in the night sky above the clouds. Clouds swirl upon the face of the larger, blue moon too, but the continents glimpsed through them would be incredibly familiar to those who know Earth. The air is piercingly cold and very thin, but as is the way of dreams this is only a fact that's known rather than a sensation experienced.

The only other feature in the dream is the metal tower breaching the flowing clouds, attached to the floating fortress that's sailing unseen through their depths. Dilandau's lying on the roof of the tower, wrapped up in his bedding, looking up at the night sky.

It's completely silent and incredibly peaceful.

2. Very symbolic, teenage fire dream

Everything's on fire. There are vague impressions of people running away and screaming as their city burns, but the flames are the only things that are in focus. It's hot in the dream and getting hotter as the fire flares to the rhythm of Dilandau's racing heartbeat.

Dilandau's in the middle of it all, sending fire everywhere. He might be in his guymelef or he might be simply throwing the flames with a gesture, but he's laughing wildly in manic excitement.

He's panting hard, as he's almost ready to release the final, massive of spurt of fire that'll bring the last of this city crashing to the ground.

3. Victorious war dream
A battle rages across an arid plain, waged between two sides using cavalry and infantry armed with swords and bows, and giant suits of armour that charge through the chaos and cut each other down. Their exact formations are vague and ever shifting, except for the red armour charging through it all like a whirlwind of death. This is Dilandau in his element, fast, graceful and completely deadly. Though his opponents challenge him, he quickly cuts through them towards the castle in the distance.

Those who appear might be out on the battlefield in the chaos, perceiving this all from Dilandau's viewpoint or sitting beside Dilandau in his cockpit, despite it being designed for one person in reality.

4. Torture Dream

The room is dark, except for the light focussing on the table onto which Dilandau is strapped. Green, glowing fluids flow through pipes around the room and shadowed machinery hisses steam. Cold-eyes Sorcerers stand around adjusting machinery or holding hypodermic needles. They take no notice as Dilandau begs and screams for help.

The feeling of terror and helplessness pervading this dream is overwhelming.

Comments

For Brigid- Dream 2.

[burnburnburn]

Just as the heat of Dilandau's fire is building building up to its peak, the walls of flame part and cool down. Dilandau, out of his guymelef, whips out his blade and scowls at the place his fires have stopped burning.

The scowl quickly melts off of his face when a woman appears in the gap. It's Brigid, not as she is, but as she was when he first met her. Her hair is a halo of fire and smoky wings fan out behind her as she saunters, smiling in a way Brigid never usually smiles at a man. Her clothing is also made of smoke that's rapidly dissipating as she approaches, revealing generous curves.

Suddenly, Dilandau is in front of her, his clothes similarly disappearing as he grabs her and hauls her in for a passionate kiss. Her hair is all around him, but it doesn't burn him as he's strong enough to master the fire. Brigid writhes against him in pleasure as she submits to his will.

[bostonhowler]

Something isn't right. Brigid knows that. Something is wrong with various things, but this, especially, isn't right. Had she set the town on fire? This isn't Cape Kore or Boston. She doesn't understand.

The heat doesn't hit her. That's part of what's odd. Watching the flames rise up and being immune to them isn't a new experience for her, but it doesn't make sense. The smells are all off, and there's just... it's giving her a headache.

Then she sees Dilandau. She opens her mouth to call to him but stops when she sees the woman. Wait... hadn't she looked like that when she was the fire fae?

That doesn't make sense. Maybe she'd reminded him of someone he -

Her ears are set on fire. She can feel it. Her ears and her cheeks and there's a problem with being Irish. All blushes show terribly. She can't... What is he -

"STOP!" She manages to shriek that out because... because... ew. What is he doing?!

[burnburnburn]

He pulls back from the kiss and glares at his lover for daring to object. She smiles and writhes her hips against his, almost distracting him completely from wondering why he's hearing voices.

But he makes the mistake of glancing around before he hikes her legs apart and the sight he sees dampens the fires immediately.

The look of disgust on her face makes him scowl with embarrassment and rage. How dare she watch? How dare she judge? How dare she appear and show him just how ugly she really is compared to the fantasy he'd conjured up?!

He shoves his fantasy off of him and yells.

"Get the fuck out of my head!"

[bostonhowler]

Brigid's blush gets worse and she curls her fingers together, trying to figure out what to say. "I'm not..." She doesn't know what to say about this.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" She flails a hand at the woman - the naked woman - behind him.

If she could, she would be on fire... with embarrassment. This is utterly ridiculous.

[burnburnburn]

Jeture protect his mind, does she think that he might have a sweet spot for her? Looking at her now, he can see that it's only the sheen of fantasy that makes her appealing.

"That's nothing to do with you!"

He glares over his shoulder, willing his fantasy to vanish. He fails miserably, despite the fact that the flames of his ardour have flagged almost completely.

Since Fantasy wasn't leaving, he'd have to get rid of reality. He ignores his nakedness and stomps towards Brigid, his fists clenched and ready to shock her into wakefulness.

dream four

[voliere]

It's that terror and helplessness that hits her first, in fact, and it very nearly doubles her over. Elizabeth finds herself in the shadows of the room with no idea how she's gotten here or what's even going on, but the emotions - they're almost physically painful. Elizabeth swallows hard and holds onto one of the machines, trying to be quiet so nobody hears or sees her.

The screams hurt to listen to as well, and while the voice is vaguely familiar, she can't figure out who it is. If she can just... creep a little closer, maybe she can save them.

Re: dream four

[burnburnburn]

Luckily for Elizabeth the Sorcerers don't seem to notice her in the shadows, as they're standing around the spotlit table Dilandau's strapped to. It may be difficult to recognise him at first, as he's stripped of the outer layers of his uniform and of all of his pride and power. He's screaming out names, begging people to come to him, but no one responds.

Suddenly, a Sorcerer whips his head around and stares right at her. He raises his hypodermic needle threateningly.

[voliere]

When she does realize who it is, it throws her a off a little. Here's someone that Elizabeth is - not scared of, because that would suggest he has any sort of power over her and she refuses to let someone do that - wary of, screaming in pain. Frightened. It makes her think too closely about the scientists back home - ones she's sure would have done this same thing eventually.

The Sorcerer that turns and looks at her with the needle frightens the hell out of her, but this isn't reality. Not that Elizabeth knows that - but she's not restricted in the same way. Here, the tears can be whatever she wants them to be. And she will defend herself, if necessary.

Stumbling back, she lifts her hands. "Stay away from me!"

[burnburnburn]

The Sorcerer stares at her coldly and turns his body to face her. As he steps forward he begins to loom higher, stretching up and darkening the room around him with his black cloak. The needle in his hand glints cruelly.

The emotions rolling off of Dilandau through the fabric of the dream are intensifying as the rest of the Sorcerers move nearer to him, looming in the same way. One begins a countdown and he thrashes harder.

[voliere]

Elizabeth is good at thinking on her feet. She takes one look at the Sorcerer and decides that she's not going to let herself get cornered and moves as quickly as possible away from him, dodging behind one of the machines. He's still coming, though, and the emotions in the room swell mightily as one of the others starts his countdown - it makes her chest ache with it.

But she can figure out something. She can look through the tears in the room and throw one open, something to knock the men away, somehow. That ends up being a wave of water, fresh from the beach - it washes through a tear by the wall and Elizabeth ducks behind whatever she can to avoid being washed away with it - but it should hit both the table and the guy chasing her with a needle.

3 !

[mentis]

Charles is suddenly there, his presence like a burst of knowledge. At first he feels disoriented, confused. Below him is carnage and he feels the panic fit inside his ribcage like a balloon.

But he looks to the side of him and sees the pilot, recognises him instantly. Charles is capable of understanding the dreams more than he should, knows immediately this is not his own. He has a little control over who he is.

"What are you doing?"

Re: 3 !

[burnburnburn]

Dilandau jerks his head away from his eyepiece and glares in outrage at the man beside him. The liquid metal in which they're both sitting sloshes as he yanks his arm out of its controls to push him away.

"What are you doing here? Get out!"

His attention is quickly drawn back to the battle as an enemy guymelef charges. As is the way of dreams, the fight is somewhat disjointed, made up more of emotions and sudden shifts in their positions as Dilandau yells.

"Die, die, die, die, HA!" Long needles of the liquid metal shoot out of his armour's arm and into the face of the armour. There's a short, muffled scream and blood runs through the holes before Dilandau lets his enemy drop to the floor.

When he speaks to Charles again it's with a grin for his own success. He doesn't seem to have realised it's all a dream.

"I'm fighting the Freidans. Get out, you're going to unbalance my Alseides."

He leans forward and, after a series of mechanical clunks, they begin to fly across the plain.

[mentis]

His face is white when he next speaks, the blood dripping through the holes of the machine before them imprinted on the back of his eyelids. "I'm afraid I don't know how to, Dilandau."

He wants to scrub a hand over his face but instead he stays very still, "I take it you do not remember me?"

[burnburnburn]

"You're from the prison camp."

He's distracted again as he swerves the Alseides and raises its arm to send a gout of fire at an enemy guymelef. As the fire consumes it he cackles maniacally, not letting up the fire or the laughter until the metal starts to sag and everything around it is in flames.

Still laughing, he picks up where he left off.

"You're that mindreading demon, Charles"

His laughter suddenly cuts and he whips his head around to stare as he suddenly realises that perhaps Charles isn't part of this dream.

"You're not allowed in my head!"

[mentis]

"I assure you, I don't wish to be here anymore than you would want me to."

He isn't really sure what the scientists have done to them but he knows that it's happening to each of them. He cannot even control his own dreams and protect himself. Charles isn't sure he enjoys his own mind being someone else's playground.

"I'm not sure how I got here, or how to get out. Please remain calm."

Dream 1

[reluctantsword]

Wallie is standing beside him at the top of the tower, though he couldn't say how he came to be standing there. He's staring up at the moons, for the moment entirely entranced by the view.

"Oh, wow." It's a startlingly inadequate thing to say, but he has no other words -- there are no appropriate words. He recalls, himself, the first time he saw the God of Dreams in the sky of the World, and this is equally breathtaking.

Dream 1

[burnburnburn]

Unusually for encounters like these, Wallie's sudden presence doesn't shatter the mood of his dream. He merely glances up with a small frown and shifts in his bedding.

"Sit down. You're blocking the view." He unfolds part of his blanket so the man can sit.

Re: Dream 1

[reluctantsword]

Wallie sits, leaning back on his hands to take in the sight. It's a hell of a view, and he's content to just drink in it a bit. The shape of the continents is familiar, too, but for the moment the swirl of clouds decieves him.

"When you arrived," he says, "you talked about a Mystic Moon."

It's a question, an invitation to explain.

Re: Dream 1

[burnburnburn]

The fact that Wallie accepts the calm lets Dilandau stay with the calmness too.

"That blue one's the Mystic Moon. It's always full, but sometimes it's so dim you can hardly see it. It's only been this bright for the last year."

The clouds upon the face of the Earth swirl, revealing for a moment the clear shape of Scandinavia covered in snow.

"We've always known it's inhabited. The Draconians fled from there aeons ago when they destroyed Atlantis, and a girl appeared in a beam of light nine Moons ago to interfere with our destiny. She's brought chaos with her powers, just like a cursed demon would."

And yet, for being a place that has the potential to send so much ruin down the Gaia's surface, it's beautiful. The pink of Dilandau's eyes is almost completely washed out by its blue.

As they lie there, a shadow passes over the moons. It's a dragon, soaring high above them on broad, bat-like wings, magnificent for a moment before it disappears against the blackness of the night.

Re: Dream 1

[reluctantsword]

He sits upright a little, startled first by one thing and then the other.

The -- the dragon, it's the only word for it, but there's no such thing as dragons -- on Earth there is no such thing as dragons. He remembers well the camel-faced mockery of horses that the World had, and dragons are... well, improbable. A creature of that size shouldn't be able to be airborne, surely. How--

"That's Earth." The dragon is momentarily forgotten. One thing at a time. Russia itself isn't a very striking landmass, but that's a very remarkable sort of peninsula, and once he recognises that, it's easier to recognise the other glimpses of land he can see. "I think -- no, I'm sure of it. That's definitely Earth."

It's not possible. Earth does not have a twin planet, unless you count its already remarkably large-in-comparison moon. If they're looking at alternate realities, then perhaps in some reality this is possible.

2

[blackmagus]

The sheer heat of it makes it hard to breathe. But luckily, in dreams, it's a less pressing concern. Still, Fortescue is far from comfortable as she tries to figure out where the hell she is, Jazz firmly on top of her shoulders and curled around her neck. When the flames get too invasive and worrying around her, she uses her magic to snuff them — the shadow suffocating them.

This isn't a city she's familiar with. She's never been here. Why is she dreaming about it?

Re: 2

[burnburnburn]

The reason for the dream comes leaping round the corner in his red Alseides. The giant armour, skids, twirls, and then shoots a blast of fire out at a wood and brick dockhouse. The building goes up in flame and Dilandau's laughter echoes out of his loudspeakers.

"Burn! Burn! Burn it all to the ground!"

He's yet to notice the intruder.

[blackmagus]

Jarred out of her thoughts by the voice, Fortescue starts making her way toward it. That's when she really makes a note of her surroundings, and what... hang on, what in the Gate is that? She make sure she's not in the firing line as she approaches, Jazz clinging even closer to her as he yowls quietly. He's not much of a fan of fire.

[burnburnburn]

The fire is beginning to throb around them, crackling more fiercely and climbing higher as the pitch of Dilandau's laughter ascends to the boyish giggles he was once capable of. A crowd of people burst out from round a corner and stream past Fortescue, screaming in terror. Their faces and forms are vague, like memories sketched in smoke.

Dilandau's guymelef pauses in its burning for a moment as he crouches it and deploys a twining telescopic lens to spy around him.

The telescope pauses its winding when it turns to face Fortescue. The guymelef spins. Dilandau's voice chuckles out from his speakers as he lowers his flamethrower arm and points it at her.

"Now you deserve to burn."

[blackmagus]

Several insults flash through her mind for an abundance of reasons, not the least because the last people to say that to her — in spirit — were Nazis. Fortescue concentrates for just a second, reaching out to the abundant shadow around her, and then she and Jazz completely disappear from sight, fading away like ink in water.

She ignores a wash of relief, relief that her abilities come to her even in this confusing moment, and then makes her way to Dilandau. She'll cripple his machine if she has to, or simply watch.