A Prison For Broken Minds

This is where the majority of dreaming threads will take place.

Moderator: Staff

Aylune
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Apr 06, 2019 12:14 am
Race: Mixed Race
Renown: 70
Character Sheet
Templates
Wealth Tier: Tier 5

A Prison For Broken Minds

Vhalar 48th, 714

A city of empty, stone stalwart walls.

A city of empty, ghosts walking halls.

A city of empty, bereft of mortal sin.

A city of empty, peril to us all.

In memory, there was little North could do to stop the conflict of man and heart. Their suffering was beyond his machinations. Now he stood in a stone city, stone walls tall and condemning, pale shades of men and women inching along like shadows on the wall. They were the signs. The signs of what was to come, and what had long since passed. They were the dead, and he the living, in this paradise of the lost.

A chilling wind scattered through the dreamland, tugging a tremble out of the man-become wolf as he walked, South staying between his four legs for safety, the eerie dusk of the place unsettling him greatly. The poor thing’s ears were bowed down, tail close to his crouched hinds, looking this way and that.

“You’re scared, South?” North asked. “It’s only a dream. There’s nothing here to hurt you.”

“Says the dumb of the pair, lord of hot air!” the Familiar piped back, shivering.

North paused to lay a paw upon him, scooping up the fearful creature with one hooked paw and nuzzling him into ease with his cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ll bite them with my big teeth if they try to get you, friend.” With a knowing sigh, he set his dearest companion down to the cobbled stones and continued on, peering around a street corner down the shadowy ascent of a hill towards a castle backed by the moon.

When he saw that moon, his eyes bugged out, and he had to swallow a howl, wincing. This tic, it’s so irritating. Why do I always feel like howling when I see the moon? Thinking back on it, he recognized that many of his defining moments were punctuated by howls. His first hunt ended in a howl. His initiation and first totem, he howled. “Howl, howl, howl, howl,” he mocked of himself. “I really am losing it, h-h-hooo-!” Jaws clamped shut, he closed his eyes as if holding in a sneeze that tingled at his sinuses incessantly.

South laughed.

The ghosts started to laugh.

South stopped laughing.

“Rrgh, I’m really not enjoying this dream. Do you think we’re in someone else’s?” the Becomer asked after witnessing this brief lapse in seriousness, but his Familiar shrugged, always pretending to be smart until he was asked a question.

Rolling his eyes, North carried on, watching, weary of the things that lurked in the corners of the night.

Before long they got to the castle in the eerie quiet, stepping over the wooden lowered drawbridge and into the courtyard, passing beneath a dead tree completely stripped of leaves. “It’s dead, North,” the Familiar said.

“And?”

“Dead things are bad,” the Familiar replied.

“None of this matters, South. It’s all a dream. These ghosts, the shadows, the trees, the stone, none of it’s real.” He sunk his claws into the bark, dragging down and peeling back the flesh of the oak until a piece dropped away. Picking up, he tapped it with his claw. “It looks real, it feels real, but it’s not real.” North tossed it over South’s head, but the Familiar piped up and moved closer.

“It is real. All dreams are filled with whimsy and mind batter, and world juice. Do you remember when you cut yourself on a thorn and you woke up bleeding?” the Familiar asked, presenting rhyme to reason.

“I do,” North replied, “but it wasn’t the thorn that made me bleed. I must have gotten hurt before I went to sleep that night.”

“Why don’t you ever have faith in my precious treasured noise?” South complained, but the Becomer fell silent and tilted his head the other way stubbornly.

A sigh left the Becomer’s lips, eyes dimming as he peered to the castle door, starting to walk towards it but glancing back. “It’s because you’re only ever half-right, and I gave up trying to sort you out. Maybe I’ll understand one day, but know that I love you even if I don’t understand you sometimes.”

The Familiar paused and looked down, before carrying on. “I know you love me North, I love you too in the marbled serenity of resplendence sense.”

North snorted, and shook his head before reaching the door and sticking his paw inside, pulling it open slowly and slipping within a warmly lit hall. Immediately the atmosphere around them changed, a soft music playing, and couples in gowns and tailored outfits dancing in a myriad of ways. The wolf stepped out into all of this, and a lady with golden hair and a flowing blue dress approached, kneeling down to place her gloved hands upon his cheeks and between North’s ears.

“Aww, who’s a good puppy?” the lady said fearlessly to the gigantic wolf bigger than a man.

“I am,” the wolf replied, more often than not channeling his humanity to Echo speech. “This is a splendid dance.”

The woman seemed to laugh in disbelief. “Such a good boy. Would you like a treat?” She stood, and suddenly the Gates of Hel opened as did her jaw, a screeching wail pounding at wall and ear alike. “YOU BASTARDS, YOU CROOKS. GET THIS DOG YOUR FINEST CUT OF MEAT OR I’M GOING TO CUT YOU ALL WITH A SWORD!” she shouted in fury, finger slicing at the air. Taken for surprise, North stepped back at her chaotic demeanor.

She is made of spice, sugar, and herb smoke, South observed from beneath a table.

How does someone so beautiful have such a terrible, rotten heart? The spoils of nobility. Is this woman from Raelia? South said through his mental telepathy to the Familiar.

I don’t know, but she is a sick human, South replied.

Even so, she touched and pet him, her hands moving through his fur. A brush appeared from a servant, and she used it to stroke him, preening his hide of tangles and dirt. “Thank you,” North said, halfway tempted to flee.

“Such a good boy, yes you are. Yes you are.” She rose again, and North turned to shield his ears with his paws as the windows shattered from her booming voice, and a chandelier crashed down from the ceiling next to them both. “I SAID GET OVER HERE WITH A STEAK CUTLET FOR THE DOG YOU LOATHSOME BARN-BORN CHARLATANS. HE. IS. HUNGRY.”

This dream endangers moment by moment, South warned.

Yes, I know, North replied, bright orange eyes glancing at the shattered chandelier, puzzling over the many glass shards all over the floor.

The angry emotionally unstable lady picked up a large piece of glass and started to charge.

North, she’s... possessed?

That’s the most intelligent thing you’ve said in Trials, South, but I doubt it. Even so... Hopping to his feet, he lunged for her and his jaws clamped down upon the train of her dress. Digging in with his paws, he yanked and leaned back and she came-a-tumbling backwards. She dropped the glass in her bed of clothes and started to cry, pouting and whining on the floor, tears darkening her make-up.

Moving closer, North nosed her shoulder, trying to comfort her. “Miss, you’re fine. I don’t need anything. Why are you sad?” As he asked, peering down at her with caution in case he had to back away. Instead, she hugged his leg, and continued crying, so North laid down with her and settled his chin upon her head as she cried. This comforting embrace slowly drew her into Lucidity, and she stopped crying, though she squeezed fistfuls of his fur painfully tighter.

“You’re the first... thing, or animal, I don’t know, I’ve touched, in, in-in-in Arcs.” All around, the Dreamscape faded to the deep, dank dark of a stone cell, and the woman lost her gown for a scrap of tattered clothing, her hair disheveled and matted.

“Are you in prison?” North asked. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he said to ease her, knowing how important he must be to someone so deprived of touch. Even North felt the need for human touch after a long period of isolation and boresome dreams. South and the Elements never quite fulfilled that need.

“I am...” she admitted. “Who are you... what are you?”

“I am North, and I am a man who has Become a wolf to visit you in your dreams. If you are kind to me, I will visit more. Where are you now, in all of Idalos?” North asked, curious.

“I don’t know...” she said. “I was on a ship, and then I’ve been here ever since. I thought I was being sold as a slave... but they’ve done nothing but let me rot. I’m so... so angry,” she said, starting to cry again.

“Shhhh,” North said. “I’ll stay with you until you wake up.”

“Thank... you,” she weeped.

North stayed with her until she drifted away in the coming Breaks. His eyes stared at the wall of the dungeon cell, filled with fury for the ones who had done such a cruel thing to another living being with a soul. My faith in humanity dwindles day by day. Pray tell I do not turn into a wicked beast with no care should they exhaust me, South.

You’re a good person, North, South said, slowly blinking those bright golden eyes as North stared into them.

You’re a... good Familiar.
---
Unarmed Combat (Predatory): Pulling Someone Over By A Dress Train
Becoming: Howl Mutation
Becoming: Howling Triggered By The Moon
Acrobatics: Anchoring Weight By Leaning Back
Meditation: Rationalizing
Meditation: Shielding The Ears From A Grating Voice
word count: 1673
User avatar
Strange
Prophet of Old
Posts: 1105
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:43 pm
Race: Undead (Ghost)
Renown: 999
Character Sheet
Templates
Point Bank Thread
Wealth Tier: Tier 1

Contribution

Milestones

RP Medals

Staff

Re: A Prison For Broken Minds


Image
Thread Review

North

North Magnus
Skill Points: +10 (can be used for magic)
Magic XP: Yes, Becoming.

Renown: None.

Injuries/Overstepping: None.
Wealth Points: None.
Loot: None.

Skill Knowledge:
  • Unarmed Combat (Predatory): Pulling Someone Over By A Dress Train
  • Becoming: Howl Mutation
  • Becoming: Howling Triggered By The Moon
  • Acrobatics: Anchoring Weight By Leaning Back
  • Psychology: Rationalizing
  • Meditation: Shielding The Ears From A Grating Voice
Non-Skill Knowledge:
  • none requested.
Notes: I swapped one of the Meditation to Psychology since that better suits the knowledge.

This was an interesting twist to a dream thread, giving it some weight and consequence to what could've otherwise been a whimsical trespass. I enjoyed the twist that the woman wasn't actually a noble, but rather a prisoner who was trying to express her anger through her dreams. North comforting her was also sweet of him. It was a good use of bringing lucidity to a dreamer.

Great job and enjoy your rewards!

PM me if you have any questions, issues or concerns.

Total Word Count: 1673 words.
Review Request Link: viewtopic.php?p=127404#p127404
stampcodehere

word count: 183
Post Reply Request an XP Review Claim Wealth Thread

Return to “Dreamscapes & The Veil”