september catch-all { fabric of shame and sorrow's name

[matermali]

WHO: Vanessa Ives (matermali) & Others
WHAT: Friends, food, and fortune.
WHERE: Around town.
WHEN: September
WARNINGS: Cannabis use, blood magic.

( ooc; HMU with a PM or at cherto if you’d like a starter. Vanessa can get up to all sorts of trouble, or maybe even try to help someone out of it. I'll also be throwing her at the meeting log asap.

You may want to check her permissions for possible content warnings and an opt-out. )

Comments

[matermali]

[ The idea that there may be more than one Lucifer is too egregious to consider. Wouldn't that mean there to be more than one Christian God? Even she can only entertain so much when under such duress. ]

Revelation... Hm.

[ She's already dreamed up her answers. She simply doesn't like them. If only she could dream up the face of the nameless demon.

Letting go of his sleeve, she takes his hand with a gentle squeeze. Any bit of frustration that had earlier tensed her jaw is gone now at the thought of her greatest enemy endangering him. Unlikely, certainly, but isn't anything possible? What if Lucifer himself came to the city? ]

I would never allow harm to befall you.

[ Such a seemingly silly claim from a human, he must think, but in this there's no giddiness from false confidence. It's a solemn promise, and one she's already made to herself in other ways. She can subdue Lucifer. It's only what she's willing to sacrifice, to admit to, in order to do so. ]

[hypnagothic]

[ if he finds it silly or amusing, he doesn't show it, instead glancing down to the way she holds his hand with a solemn and serious expression before looking back up to her face. ]

The sentiment is appreciated, lady Vanessa.

[matermali]

[ There's a flicker of a squint in momentary contemplation before she offers a small smile and releases her grip, resuming their walk with her hands disappearing into her pockets. ]

...What if those old burdens never find their way here, and we never return to them? Has the thought yet crossed your mind?

[ A defeatist attitude, but impossible for her to not have entertained at least once since the recent torture attempts. ]

[hypnagothic]

[ he resumes their walk by her side, his own hands at his sides. ]

It has. And it is unacceptable. I must return to my own world and realm.

[matermali]

[ 'Unacceptable' is certainly a word for it. For all she knows, they're from the same world but a different time, in which case she still wouldn't be any help to him on return... ]

What happens without you there?

[hypnagothic]

My absence is felt by all the worlds. Creatures may still dream, but others that are sensitive to such things may stop dreaming, or stop dreaming or even sleeping, while others may not wake at all. Nightmares and dreams will roam unchecked and untended. Dreamers may never realize their potential. My realm, the Dreaming, will begin to crumble.

[matermali]

[ What does it even mean for nightmares and dreams to roam? It sounds frighteningly similar to the sort of things that can happen in the city, only Morpheus can't control what happens here. ]

Then...how am I still able to dream?

[hypnagothic]

Because your mind is able to do so. I am of dreams, and I may control dreams, but I do not control all dreaming. How else would creatures inspire themselves?

[matermali]

[ Her shoulders slump a bit, a little frown holding steady. Vanessa surely doesn't use her dreams to inspire herself anymore. Even here, perhaps the demons can still reach her. ]

I would vastly prefer you to be the one in control of my dreams.

[hypnagothic]

... Hold to courage, lady Vanessa. And hope will come naturally in your dreams.

[matermali]

[ It won't. Such words mean little when some things are too far out of anyone's control. She'll stay silent on the matter, and it's easy enough to shift her curiosity. ]

And you? What do you dream of?

[hypnagothic]

[ he glances to her when the answer seems delayed, and he continues to look at her with the subtle shift of topic. ]

I do not.

[matermali]

[ Her eyebrow lifts a touch with her little glance. ]

Not even when awake? No day dreams?

[hypnagothic]

I am of dreams. I do not have them.

[matermali]

You speak so much of hope, and yet not once have you wondered on something different for yourself or another? You have never caught yourself in any whimsical imaginations?

[hypnagothic]

I am one of the Endless. There is nothing different for me. Though that is not to say that I do not have imagination or inspiration.

[matermali]

[ It should sound impossible, but then she is beginning to think there is nothing different for her. ]

Has any such inspiration come upon you since being brought here? I would imagine it difficult for you to find anything that you haven't already seen.

[hypnagothic]

And yet humanity continues to find ways to surprise me.

[matermali]

[ If only she could say the same. ]

I hope that you are never kept too long from enjoying new surprises, then. One must have something to look forward to if not day dreams.

[hypnagothic]

[ he hums gently in acknowledgment if not agreement. they walk a few paces in easy silence before he speaks. ]

And you, lady? To what do you look forward upon?

[matermali]

[ That would have been difficult to answer even before arriving here, and now she has been left askew without needing to save Sir Malcolm, without knowing what has occurred to make Ethan say such strange things.

She need not give a proper answer, really, when Morpheus himself is master at dodging the questions. But there is something that is still unencumbered, even if it isn't surprising. It takes her a moment to speak. ]

Raspberry torte.

[hypnagothic]

[ her reply is answered by a gentle huff of breath through his nose. ]

And only that?

[matermali]

Is that strange?

[ At least now she's smiling again, though it's in a sheepish enough manner. ]

My friend Sembene has such a delicate hand with sweets. I miss the desserts that he can create. I often return late, yet he always saves me something for the next morning.

[hypnagothic]

You have your dessert for breakfast? Yes ... that does seem like you.

[matermali]

I suppose it seems the natural thing to do when I'm not certain if I will make it back in the evening.

[ Alive, goes unsaid. That line of thinking is also natural for her, and though she's aware that it shouldn't be for any person, there's no helping it or her.

But...a bite of torte and a chat with Sembene would be something sweet to look forward to. Family is perhaps what she should have said. Love, even when conditional, is something worth adoring. ]

Which does remind me that I promised Mr. Chandler not to keep him waiting overlong. Having only just arrived, he likely suspects the same dangers from home to be awaiting me in the shadows.