hadriel | Video; I Feel My Nightmares Watching Me

[It's a random day of the week and two o'clock in the morning. Therefore, it's time for, as someone once put it, Ushahin's philosopher's hour. The lights are dim and Ushahin is lying flat on his back on one of the beds in his house. The phone is propped up near him. He's got something in his hands, a pale looking stone carving that is mostly hidden by the fingers closed in upon it.

He's been thinking quite a bit since he was brought back from the dead. His double had caused him to reevaluate some of his previous behavior. Perhaps he's treated some of those around him rather poorly. Well, there's nothing but time here, and always a chance to make amends.]

This place is frightfully full of nightmares. I mean that quite literally. I've never met such a group of people where the night terrors come upon them without provocation. Every night, nothing but tossing and turning amongst you all. That used to be my job.

[He sits up, fingers uncovering the rhios stone he has cupped in his palms. There's three figures carved into it. The one on the left is a long-haired man, stern looking, and with lines around his mouth that suggest he's older than the twenty-eights years he is. This is Tanaros, the commander of Satoris' army. There's anger flashing in his eyes that the carver was able to perfectly capture. The middle figure is Ushahin, his broken features captured starkly, with an unfocused, dreamy look in his eyes as he stares out towards whoever is holding the figurine. The one on the right is an older man in his forties, fat and with a long beard, his close-set eyes looking shrewd as if he's ready to make a bargain. Vorax, the last of the three, and the one who kept supplies for Satoris.]

I'm sure you've all grown frightfully tired of them. So I will make you a deal, fellow denizens. Tell me one of your nightmares and I will exchange it for a better dream. That's fair enough, is it not?

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[As much as Cal dislikes the man, he...can't resist responding, either.]

There's a reason for those, you know.

[Natasha nearly ignores the offer entirely. She's not interested in talking about her dreams, and in the event she's understood his video correctly, she's even less inclined to accept what he has to give.

But not being interested in participating doesn't mean she's not curious at all.

And it's not like she's doing anything better right now.]

You can do something like that? Getting many takers?

[Ah. The angry hara. Now there's a face he didn't expect to see.]

I am well aware of them. I didn't name myself Dreamspinner because it sounded pretty.

[He can be polite. Sometimes. And he's curious, besides.]

So why would you take them away, then? And what's the catch?

[Now here is one he has not seen before. At least not in the waking world. He shifts the rhios to his strong right hand as he answers.]

Oh yes. It's not difficult to change someone's dreams if one only knows the proper methods. As to your second question, not yet. But I expect there's at least a few desperate or curious enough.

Because everyone deserves a good night's sleep once in a while.

[He shrugs. He has his own reasons for offering to do this and isn't about to elaborate on them.]

The catch is telling me of the nightmare. Most are not willing to speak of such unpleasantness.

[His eyes narrow. He doesn't quite trust that.]

No. It's never that simple or that easy. What do you gain from this?

[Ushahin has been thankful for Shadow's presence. They don't talk much when he appears. He's simply there, another piece of weird, spiky furniture in Ushahin's life. What more could he tell him? Words failed to describe what he'd put his friend through. He'd saved him in the end, of course, but the damage had been done.

Then he'd had to undo it all when he came back. Ever since then, Shadow has been living up to his name. So Ushahin merely pats him on the head when he lies down next to him. He already knows well what goes on inside the hedgehog's head when he sleeps. As he once promised, Shadow will always have good dreams when the half-man is around.]

[Ushahin makes a tsking sound. So unwilling to trust. He expected this.]

Knowledge. I wish to know what goes on inside the minds of those sleeping here. Now, it can be done this way, which I am told is much nicer than my usual way.

[A laugh]

You can't even tell that much? What's your usual way?

My usual way involves going inside someone's head and taking what I wish from them, regardless of what they want. [He glances down at the rhios between his hands.] However, it's been brought to my attention this isn't a very good way of doing things. I am attempting to try something new.

You sound remarkably like somehar who had better pray I don't see him again.

I don't trust you, whatever you are. Why should I give you my secrets?

[Rey has plenty of nightmares. Even so, she isn't all too sure about this.]

What do you get out of it?

[That makes Ushahin laugh. As if such a little speck could harm something like him. Now there's the attitude he remembers from their first meeting.]

Ah, promises, promises.

Trust me or not, it means very little to me. But in this case, trusting me does bring the reward for those tormented in their sleep. I'd say that's a fair enough trade.

[There's mock innocence in his voice as he answers.]

Is doing a good deed not reward enough?

[But Rey knows him well enough to know he's as far from innocent as he can get.]

It satisfies my curiosity without intruding on the privacy of others. I'd say that's good enough.

No it isn't. You're informed forever for the peace of one night.

It could be arranged to become an ongoing process if one so desires.

[He looks at Cal with a shrewd look.]

I wonder what it is that leaves you awake in the middle of the night, hmmm?

I'll bet you do. And if I said I liked my demons?

Then you're either a masochist, a fool, or both. There's no point in holding onto the terrors that come from our own minds. All it does is remind us of times and places that are better off thought less of.

But I remember. The things that made me aren't kind, but neither will I abandon them.

"I do not ...require sleep, but I have to admit I am curious as to how you would manage this."

(Technically, ROMs do sleep, but it's not as vital as it is for organics... and recent events have left them less than willing to engage in that particular activity.)

"Are you using magic?"

Ah, you believe suffering builds character? [He understands. Pain had made him what he was today.] Speaking from the personal experience of living through an age, suffering might help in the beginning, but in the end, all that is left to you is ashes and dust.

No. Pain happens. It's unavoidable. Most of the time it's bullshit, or fucked entirely. But without it how do you know the joy? How can you feel anything if you lose half of it? Yes, there are nightmares, but there are good dreams too.

No sleep? Is it because you are a robot?

[He's met one or two creatures here who don't require it, but it's always a little bit of a surprise to find another when his abilities are so tuned into the dreams of people.]

Yes, that is what it is called back in my homeland. Here, I have heard the abilities I possess referred to as being psychic.

Well spoken, young one. [He does so like getting into these discussions with people. Always, he learns something new about how their minds work.]

But does the one you love feel the same way? Would you take away their suffering if you could?

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Video; I Feel My Nightmares Watching Me

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Let's all just wound each other a little. ;_;

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