Stranger in a Strange World

[Seira Shiryu]

1st Vhalar, 722


"Do you want to practice for our concert now?"

Seira looked up from her book when she heard her sister's question. They were giving another concert in a few trials, so it seemed like a good idea to get as much practice in before the event as they could.

"Yes." she responded simply.

Seira watched Seri leave and when she returned a few bits later, it was with her fiddle in hand. Seri began playing the first song they planned to perform at their concert, and Seira waited for her moment to begin. When she came, she sang loudly, and clearly, projecting her voice so that it would reach the whole room. That was how she would have to sing at the actual concert, so she sang that way now during their practice session.

They ran through every song they planned to perform at the concert three times. The practice went well, and any more than three times ran the risk of overexerting her voice. So after the third run through, Seira called a stop to their practice. Seri left to do some errands, and Seira headed up to her woodworking workroom.

She had several batches of wooden pieces in varying stages of drying out. None of them were ready to be carved into beads though, so she cut herself another set of wooden pieces and set them aside to dry as well. Once she was finished with that, she decided to read up on another woodworking technique. But when she reached for the book, she froze.

Sitting next to the book on the shelf was a spool of hair. Seira blinked, startled. She owned spools of thread, but they were kept in another workroom. Not here. And she certainly didn't own any spools of hair. And yet...she did.

Someone named Lady Scorpion...or Misery as her aunt Vega called the older woman had given one to her. It had happened in a dream...and she was dreaming now. Seira stared at the spool of hair. Misery had told her that it would be in her dreams, so that was the only explanation for this. Seira remembered that Misery had told her to cast the spool of hair into the open air if she had need of aid or wanted company. Seira wasn't in any trouble that she could see...but that nightmare creature, or whatever it was had come without warning. Was that something that happened often? More than anything, Seira wanted to know more about this strange world of dreams that weren't dreams. Or dreams that were real. Something. Some company in this strange new world would be very welcome as well. So Seira picked up the spool of hair, and tossed it into the open air. Then she waited to see what would happen next.

[Woe]

The woods outside the gates of Ethyl and Nurse's house were gray, autumnal, and misty.

Steven

walked through them for a while until he lost sight of the iron fence that cordoned off that part of his dreamworld. With him was the small dancing spider, Apples, which fit neatly in the palm of his hand but was presently perched on his shoulder, pointing the way for Steven to walk.

"That way, Apples?" He asked, turning his head as the spider pointed one of its furry legs toward the deeper and darker part of the woods. Shrugging, he proceeded through. Crow could be heard overhead, cawing her laments to the skies above and the ground below. Steven wished he could join her, and had been assured that he might learn to fly eventually, but not tonight. He wasn't nearly ready.

So he kept a eye out for Crow even as she flew over him, watching. Occasionally a black piece of ruff or feather would fall, just out of reach. Steven thought that if maybe he was fast enough, he could catch it and learn to fly. Maybe with enough feathers in his pockets?

He knew he was dreaming. He'd been here before after all, in the nights prior to his awakening in the Bones of Almund, with the mother of Blodwen, Lacrima. So he proceeded with that knowledge. But somehow he was still stuck in this childish form. Woe's eleven-year-old self's likeness, or as he was otherwise known, Steven.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he spotte something beneath the blanket of leaves on the forest floor. He approached them, and saw a small tuft of hair, or even a single strand. Apples began waving his arms in the air, shaking them with vigor in his spider dance. "What is it Apples? Show me."

Apples looked up at him, and then saluted, and easily jumped from his shoulder to the ground, where that tuft of hair was poking out. Little by little, he began drawing out the hair strand from the ground. The spider worked with all the precision and dexterity of a spider that wove a web, although dancing spiders, males anyway, did not tend to make webs. They were hunters more than trappers.

The spider spun the hair into a sort of spool around his leg, until at last, it drew out the dreamer from the other side of the shared Mindscape...



In Seira's dream world, she would feel a tug toward another place, apart from her own Dreamscape. The hair she held onto wrapped around her wrist, securing a grip on her arm as it tugged her along. Eventually, she came out through the wall of her room, where she'd thrown the spool, only for it to phase through that wall.. She fell through it, softly. It didn't hurt at all, like running into a wall should. But then dreams were funny like that, even when you were lucid.

She was pulled up through the ground into the other side, and found herself face to face with Steven and his little pet spider. Steven looked at her, and tilted his head, "Oh, that's Scorpion's hair. You know her?"

He waited for an answer, then pointed at Apples, "How do you feel about spiders?" Apples looked up at Seira, and waved a little arm, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible.

Then Steven went on to explain, "No you're not lost. Scorpion is only one face of the dreamer who initiated you. I'm another face. I'm Steven.."

So saying, he reached out a hand to her, as if asking her to take it so she could come along with him. Presently, Scorpion's hair fell away from her hand, and back into a spool, which collected din his palm. He slid it back into her hand if she'd hold hands with him. "See, Scorpion is a protector, a defender and caregiver. I'm an explorer and a teacher. I hope you're ready to learn? The first thing you're probably wondering is how a dreamer could have more than one face."

Steven smirked, and looked at Crow, who perched nearby, cawing intermittently at the three. Then he turned back to Seira. "Once you get more comfortable in the dreamworld, you can start to affect the way you appear. You can appear younger, older, as different animals and even objects. There's almost no limit to the things you can take the form of." Steven nodded at her, and then collected apples from the ground, kneeling to reach with his other hand and gather up the dancing spider. IT leapt halfway up his arm and crawled onto his shoulder.

"Apples says hello, by the way."

[Seira Shiryu]

Seira felt a strange tugging sensation coming from the end of the hair that she was still holding. To her surprise, the hair wrapped around her wrist as it continued to tug her along. Seira knew that she should be frightened...but she wasn't. Lady Scorpion had saved her somehow, after all. When she'd found herself in Low Town, her heart had skipped a beat. She had gone into Low Town a few times while living in Rynmere, but the only time she ever dreamed about was the time she had been trapped in Low Town for several trials while two armies fought each other. The things she had seen back then still haunted her now occasionally. But Lady Scorpion had done...something that had stopped her from being afraid. It had also made her realize that she was dreaming.

The end result though, was that Misery had saved her. And for that reason, Seira trusted her more than she would normally trust someone that she had just met. So rather than try to resist the tugging sensation, Seira allowed it to take it where it would. She found herself being pulled through the wall, and to her surprise, it didn't hurt at all. It was almost as if she was just walking through a door. And on the other side of that wall, she found herself in a forest.

She was not alone. The tugging sensation brought her to a young boy that had a spider with him. Seira watched the young boy carefully. He looked like he was about eleven arcs old. And like young boys, he seemed to like bugs if the spider was any indication. Curious about where she was, Seira listened carefully to the sounds of the forest around them. She also breathed deeply, trying to see if there was any unusual smells that might give her some clues as to where the forest was.

Then the boy spoke, and Seira turned her full attention to him.

"I do know Lady Scorpion." Seira answered when the boy mentioned that the hair belonged to Lady Scorpion.

Then she glanced at the spider that the boy indicated, and saw it waving at her. Seira smiled and waved a greeting of her own.

"I'm not afraid of them." she said when the boy asked how she felt about spiders.

Normally she didn't think much about them one way or another. But this one was almost cute in a way, with the way it was waving at her. It was clear that this spider was the boy's pet. And Seira knew well what it was to love a pet.

Seira was confused about what the boy...no, Steven told her about Lady Scorpion and himself being different faces of the same dreamer as well as what those faces represented. But she listened carefully all the same, and filed that information away in her mind. It fascinated her that dreamwalkers were able to change their appearance in almost unlimited ways. Seira didn't think twice about the taking the hand that Steven offered her, and she felt the spool of hair slide into her hand as she did so.

"My name is Seira Shiryu, Steven. And I would be very happy to learn anything that you can teach me." she said with a smile.

[Woe]

The place smelled of autumn, but also of mothballs, strangely. It wasn't altogether pleasant but it wasn't foul either. It was a strange mingling of scents, of old things and the sweetness of autumn. Steven watched as she got acclimated to her surroundings, and nodded from where he was.

"Well, really." Steven said, when she took on the fact that skilled dreamers could change their manifestation at will. "There are limitations, but they're related to the size of your manifestation. You can't quite change your own size, but there are ways of changing the size of your dreamscape. But that's way beyond us for this night's lesson. You may not be able to do that sort of thing until much later."

Apples crawled up Steven's arm, and its eyes watched Seira curiously. Apples spoke into Steven's mind, "She's not afraid, like most. She reminds me a bit of Ethyl, only more smiles about this one." Steven nodded to Apples, without hinting that he'd said anything.

Then he turned to Seira, "Okay, Smiles." He'd never made up a nickname for another person, it felt almost too famiiar, and he thought to ask, "Can I call you Smiles? Or do you prefer Wink?"

Steven shrugged, and then stood up straight. "Anyway, you have a sister right? Tiddles and Wink, that's what Vega calls you two, remember?" Steven remembered that they'd told Scorpion about it, how Vega gave them their nicknames. "The first thing we can try, that you can actually do, is try to find Tiddles in all of this. But first... A safeguard against danger." Steven said, and reached out to her shoulder, and filled her with fearlessness. Not so much as to make her reckless but just enough that she could feel safe and protected.

"That will help you clear your mind, and focus on finding your sister." Steven walked a ways into the wood, but then stopped, and looked over his shoulder at her. "Do you think she'd want to become a dreamwalker herself? Well, nevermind that. We should be careful not to prompt her to lucidity. Dreamwalking can be fun, it can be fantastic, but there are dangers."

She wouldn't fear those dangers though, now that he'd lent her some extra courage. "It might help to think of where Tiddles might be in all of this." He gestured all around him. "That is, if you ever go on hikes with her? Do you like taking walks in the wood?"

He tried to keep up some conversation as they walked along. "Finding the way into her mind... I couldn't do it myself. It was by sheer luck that I found you through our connection to Vega and your mother. But I have no concept of Tiddles myself."

"As her twin, though, you should find it fairly easy. So go on, think of her, and surely in one of these trees, a way might present itself to allow us into her own dreamscape." Woe paused before a row of gray trees in the forest, looking at them uncertainly, "If she's sleeping."

[Seira Shiryu]

Seira paid close attention to Steven as he continued his explanation and told her that a dreamwalker couldn't change the size of their manifestation, but they could learn to change the size of their dreamscape. Then he called her Smiles, which gave Seira a bit of a start. When he asked her if she preferred Wink or if he could call her Smiles, she gave the matter some thought. Wink felt...private almost. It wasn't something she felt as strongly about as Seri did about her own nickname, but Seira wasn't sure that she wanted anyone other than her family using the nickname that her aunt had given her. At the same time, while it had given her a bit of a start, she kind of liked the name Smiles.

"You can call me Smiles." she said with a smile.

Seira nodded when Steven asked if she had a sister. Then it was time for her first task in this lesson; to find Seri in this dreamscape. Steven did something that seemed to make her feel safe and protected. While she didn't feel reckless, the worries she had about making a mistake, or encountering one of the dangers he had mentioned faded away.

"It does help, thank you." she said sincerely.

When Steven asked her if she thought that her sister would want to become a dreamwalker, she hesitated.

"Maybe." she told him a few trills later.

"But I would want to ask her if she wants to first." she continued.

Steven's caution about taking care not to make Seri lucid was one she agreed with wholeheartedly.

"How do we avoid making her lucid?" she asked.

And after a few trills she had another question as well.

"What are the dangers involved with dreamwalking?"

Seira didn't feel any fear at the mention of dangers thanks to the...whatever Steven had done for her. But she felt that she should be aware of what to look for all the same. Steven told her how to find her sister in the dreamscape, and she began looking around the dreamscape closely.

She found it fascinating to think that the forest she found herself in existed only in Steven's mind. It looked and felt so very real. She could even smell it; an odd scent of autumn and mothballs. It was a dream...but it felt real all the same. Solid. Real just as it would feel like if she was walking around the Glass Quarter in Rharne. She got so caught up in the dreamscape itself, and the fact that she was in someone else's dream rather than her own that she had to force herself to concentrate on the task at hand with a force of will. Even so, she kept getting distracted by parts of the dreamscape as she searched for something that reminded her of her sister.

At first all of the trees looked the same. They were just ordinary trees. But as Seira continued to search, she began to notice differences in them. And then she found it. A tree with a thick trunk that branched out in a way that made it look as if it split into two thinner but still good sized trunks several feet up. Each "trunk" had its own branches with fall colored leaves still clinging to them. The one on the right branched out sooner than the one on the left making them look as if they were two separate trees. But they were still connected at the base. They were one, but two at the same time. Much like she and Seri were.

"That one." Seira said confidently as she pointed to the tree that she was certain would lead them into Seri's dream.

[Woe]

In the Year 2000...

She let him call her Smiles, and that suited Steven fine. He nodded, giving her a small smile as apples waved his arms where he stood on Steven’s shoulder. Then he watched carefully as Seira walked through the dreamscape forest. She appeared to take in the appearance of all that surrounded them, the scents of autumn and mothballs that pervaded this place, with trees that were autumnal or nearly dormant in some cases.

In the midst of that forest, she found one tree that appeared to speak to her of her twin. He looked at it, and saw that it split off in two different directions from the base, like two parts of a greater whole. Not knowing what it was like to be a twin or have one, he could only imagine that was part of this particular tree’s appeal.

He spoke then, “In truth, the specifics don’t matter as much as the feeling. This tree may look like the door to your sister’s dreamscape, but it’s only really your thinking and feeling it is that makes it so. As a lucid dreamer.”

She asked how they could avoid making Seri lucid, and Steven nodded, “Avoid personal contact, and try to avoid logical interactions with her. Those may risk upsetting her dreaming state. She may seek you out if she sees you. I can teach you to be sneaky enough that you can avoid her finding you. Did you ever play hiders and seekers as a child with her? If so, who won those games?”

He thought to lighten the mood with conversation about her childhood. It was just an idle question, and the answer wouldn’t be too important to this situation. Steven was sure he could hide Seira if she proved unable to do so herself.

Steven sighed as she asked about the dangers. He wasn’t annoyed, more concerned about her preoccupation with them. They may not bode well if she dreamed alone too often, and was ever made lucid. “The danger is that anything that happens to you while dreaming lucid, affects you in the real world in some way. The effects may be less or more, but what happens here will impact your living body.” He didn’t want to worry her about the risk of death, as that was often enough remote, and he hoped to train her well enough that she could rise to any threat that occurred.

“But for now… If you think that tree leads to Seri’s Dreamscape, it must do so. Go on ahead.” If she expressed confusion or had questions as for what to do, he would answer, “Do what makes sense to you. If you think climbing the tree will lead you into Seri’s dream, do that. If you think looking at the falling leaves from the tree, or eating them, or tearing them open until a door way opens? Do that. Always trust your feelings on these matters.”

He said, and smiled thinly as he waited for her to give it a shot. “Should you go through, don’t be concerned. I won’t be far behind you.”

[Seira Shiryu]

Steven explained that as a lucid dreamer, the feelings about a specific object mattered when it came to looking for a doorway into someone else's dream, not the appearance of it. Seira thought about that for several trills before nodding. It didn't change her certainty that this tree was the doorway that would lead into her twin's dream though. Not only did the tree's appearance remind her of her relationship with Seri, it felt like Seri too. Steven's words made Seira realize something else as well; you would need a meaningful connection with someone if you wanted to enter their dreams. That meant that you could visit the dreams of someone you knew well like a family member, close friend, mentor, or teacher. Even a rival or an enemy. A psychologist would likely be able to enter the dreams of their patients if they had the ability to dreamwalk too. But you wouldn't be able to enter the dreams of a stranger. And Seira was glad of that. Invading a stranger's dream without permission seemed like a horrible invasion of privacy to her.

"This is the doorway into Seriel's dream." Seira confirmed when she realized that she probably should.

Seira paid close attention to the answers of her questions. In doing so, she learned that avoiding personal contact and logical interactions with another dreamer would help to prevent making them lucid. Hiding from them would help as well, and Seira made a mental note to learn how to hide better when she got the chance to do so.

When Steven offered to teach her how to be sneaky enough to keep Seri from finding her, Seira smiled at him.

"I'd like that." she said.

She was about to tell him that she wasn't all that good at hiding when he asked her if she had ever played hiders and seekers with her sister as a child. The question darkened her mood somewhat, and she shook her head.

"Not really, no." she said simply.

They had been a team when they were kids just as they were now, and it had never really occurred to them to hide from each other. Their parents really didn't play with them much, so they relied on each other for fun and entertainment. And after their parents had died...well, they hadn't really been much time for playing at all then. The game she had been playing when she met Vivian had been a rare luxury for her even if it hadn't been a game she had been interested in.

Seira distracted herself with paying attention to the answer to her next question in an attempt to rid herself of the negative feelings that Steven's question had brought up. While it helped, it didn't shake her mood entirely. Seira learned that if anything were to happen to her while she was lucid and in a dream, it would affect her in the real world in some way. Seira made a mental note of that. It didn't worry her much now, but it was a good thing to know all the same. Forewarned was forearmed after all. And while she wouldn't allow that knowledge to restrict her actions too much, she wouldn't be doing anything foolish or reckless if she didn't have to.

"Thank you for telling me." she said sincerely.

Seira focused on the tree that would lead them into Seri's dream. "Trust your feelings and do what makes sense to you" had been Steven's advice, and she did just that. Looking at the leaves surrounding the tree gave her little glimpses into things that she and Seri had done together in the past, but the way into the dream wasn't there. So after a few trills, she began climbing the tree and found herself climbing up out of the forest of Steven's dream and into a very different landscape altogether.

Within trills, Seira was soaked as she found herself at the bottom of a lake. She swam up to the surface and gasped for air when her head broke the surface of the water just as it felt as if she couldn't hold her breath any longer. The water was refreshingly cool, and the air was pleasantly warm. On the far side of the large lake, Seri was sitting at the edge of the lake dipping her feet into the water. It was obvious that Seri was dreaming about being with her because a copy of her was sitting next to Seri. The sound of laughter could be heard faintly across the lake where the two girls were sitting. Rainbow colored fish swam all around her, and beautiful birds sang to each other while perched in the trees that grew around the lake.

[Woe]

It wasn’t entirely true that one couldn’t enter the dreams of a perfect stranger. It was possible through various means, but mostly by chance or degrees of association, such as the method that Steven had found his way into Seira’s dream, through her mother Vivian and aunt Vega. Steven wasn’t ready to disabuse her of that assumption yet, although he knew it would be a common conclusion to reach based on his explanation. It was always better to manage your emotions effectively while in the dream realm, lest one attract an Emeyan that was hostile or sought out the fearful.

Steven nodded as Seira said with confidence that the doorway to Seriel’s dream was there in the tree. He was sure then, that she could lead the way.

“There are even ways you could hide in plain sight. Maintaining a non-chalance and a confidence that you belong in a place can make you stick out less.” Steven informed her, as a first lesson in the art of hiding.

Seira said she didn’t play that game when she was younger, and he could perceive the mood had changed ever so slightly.

However it didn’t trouble him for now. “You’re welcome.” He responded to her gratitude.

However, soon enough they were introduced to the Dreamscape of Seriel. Steven followed not too far behind Seira, climbing up after her, until they emerged into the other woman’s dreamscape. There, they were treated to an idyllic scene, where Seri was relaxing at the edge of the water, a dream copy of Seira was there with her.

Steven’s brow lifted in surprise, “Well that’s interesting! You two seem to keep copies of each other in your dreams!” It would’ve been amusing, if it didn’t complicate matters.

“In time, you’ll be able to disguise yourself as different forms… That would be handy about now, it’s one of the first things I learned when I began dreaming again… That I could change how I appear.” Steven whispered to her, as they emerged from the bottom of the waters. To demonstrate, Steven grew webbing between his fingers and toes, and then showed her his webbed hands.

“See? Little changes can be done too! You don’t have to transform entirely. Dreamwalking can be quite liberating that way, giving us a chance to explore different ways of being.” He looked over at Seriel. Then back to Seira. “Perhaps we should go, before we’re spotted. In the future, you’ll be able to visit Seriel’s dreamscape at will, almost, it will get easier with experience and skill.”

“Shall we return?”

[Seira Shiryu]

Seira watched as her twin talked to a dream image of herself happily. This wasn't a dream of something that had happened in the past. Rather, it was a happy, peaceful dream for Seri; one with her spending time with Seira in a calm, beautiful place where nothing bad was likely to happen. She couldn't hear more than a stray word or two that was carried over the lake by the wind, but she didn't need to. It was obvious from what she could see that Seri and the dream version of herself were feeling happy and carefree.

When Seira had needed help recovering from the emotional trauma she had suffered while helping to dig survivors out of the rubble during the partial collapse of the Dust Quarter, she had learned that dreams could be a means of processing something that you have experienced. At the time, she had been discussing the nightmares she had had of the collapse. Seira wondered if this dream could be something similar. Instead of a means of processing something Seri had experienced, couldn't this memory represent something important to Seri? Seri was the most important thing in the world to Seira, with their mother being a very close second. And Seira knew that her twin felt the same way that she did about her. So couldn't this dream be a reflection of all of the quiet, happy times that she and Seri had shared together? Stolen bits of time before they had been adopted by Vivian, and later longer, more common stretches of time as they grew up in Rharne? All of them precious and deeply important to them both. It seemed reasonable to think that, so Seira made a mental note of it.

Remembering how Steven had told her that by showing nonchalance and confidence that you belong where you are would help you to stick out less, and could be used as a way of hiding in plain sight, Seira watched Seri's dream closely. That advice wouldn't help her with interacting with her twin in this dream since a second Seira showing up would be a very startling thing, even in a dream. Possibly enough so that it would bring Seri into lucidity. But they were far enough away from Seri that it would be easy enough to remain unnoticed.

When Steven commented on the fact that Seri was dreaming about her, Seira nodded.

"Seriel and often dream about each other." she told him.

She spoke quietly in case the wind shifted and carried their words towards Seri. Even if she couldn't understand what they were saying, it might be enough to draw her attention towards them.

"Most of my dreams involve Seriel in some way or another, and I imagine that it is the same with her." Seira added a few trills later.

Seira paused as something occurred to her. She could learn how to change her form in a dreamscape. Both completely, and in small ways as Steven had just showed her as they came out of the water. Could she change other things as well?

"Earlier you told me that I could learn how to change both my form, and the size of my dreamscape. Does that mean that I can learn how to change other things in my dreamscape as well? Or that I could change something in someone else's dreamscape? Or maybe control it somehow? Could I, for example, take control of Seriel's dream version of me and have it walk away so that I could replace it? That would allow me to dream with her rather than just watching like this." she asked.

And that was something that she wanted to do very much. Once she had told Seri about all of this and gotten her permission to do so, that is. Steven jolted Seira out of her train of thought when he asked her if they should go back. After a few trills of thought, she nodded. Seira would love to stay and see more, but it did feel a lot like spying when Seri didn't know that she was really there. And as Steven pointed out, it was quite possible that they could be seen.

So with that thought in mind, Seira slipped back into the lake and returned back the way she had come. When she reached the bottom of the lake, she passed through the sandy bottom and once again found herself at the base of the tree that was the passage into Seri's dream.

[Woe]

It had been interesting to note the slight differences in the way Seira traversed dream worlds, compared to himself. It was fundamentally the same process, just a matter of belief and conviction that this was the path to one familiar dreamer or another. But the idiosyncracies always varied based on who was doing the dreaming.

Woe remembered how differently Elisabeth had dreamt, or even Natalia. Then there was Magpie, who was heads and shoulders above them all in his command of the dream world. Also Sybil, although Woe hadn't heard of them in quite a while.

But then, Seira had a question for him. "Yes once you're comfortable with the changeability of the dreamscape itself, you realize that your form here is just a shell for your soul. Provided by the dream world itself. Able to be molded by your intent. In time, if you become comfortable with manipulating the image you present to the dream world, you'll be able to change aspects of your own. Although I would caution trying to alter any important aspects, such as memories or images of people important to you. That could lead to memory disruption and other similar problems."

Steven nodded and followed Seira back to the gray autumnal area that they'd occupied just earlier. Once there, he faced Seira. "I think you've learned quite a lot here. And you've been an attentive student. We should reconvene in another season or so, while you practice what you've learned, just finding your feet in the dreamworld."

Steven gave a small smile, "The Dreamworld has its share of dangers, but if you can master control of your own space within the Mindscapes, you will find few can challenge you on your own ground. Also, keep a positive attitude as you dream, and don't let waking terrors linger into your sleep."

"For now I must go." Steven said, "Thank you for sharing this time with me. But I need to wake soon. See you again."

And with that, Steven melted into the thin air, disappearing as a crow flew for the canopy of trees, presumablyl one of his forms taking flight out of the dreamscape.

THen Seira was on her own, to wake or to linger a while longer.