Dreamscape Event

[dreams_are_mine]

Characters: Rhode Kamelot and OPEN
When: Every night March 6th through 12th
Where: Rhode's dreams
Rating: R+
Summary: Rhode dreams. You dream with her.

Comments

[dreams_are_mine]

She hasn't realized yet that the dreams aren't obeying her like they should. Why should she? So she assumes they have plenty of time, all the time. There's no limit to the time they have, until time itself is destroyed. So she selects the third bell, with it's moon motif, and lifts it to press into Lucifer's hand.

"I love him." She means it. She loves him. The bell chimes. The scenery around them disappears, all save the chair which floats above a new scene that Lucifer and Rhode may watch.

A young Tyki, maybe sixteen, lays curled in an alley. He's sobbing and screaming in agony as the crown of thorns stigmata opens in his flesh, blood pouring from the wounds, blinding him. But it's the pain in his head and soul that's the true pain.

Two figures darken the alleyway, a little girl and a tall, elegant man in a top hat. They don't reach to help the man on the ground, both watching until his face turns towards them, blind with tears. Finally Rhode in the dream steps forward and kneels next to him, arms wrapping around Tyki's shoulders, rocking him gently and soothingly, murmuring comfort.

"It's always painful." Rhode sighs, tightening her arms around Lucifer's shoulders as she watches. Clearly it hurts her to see her family in pain.

The scene below is shadowed oddly, the landscape keeps twisting at the edges, trying to change. Turn the alley into a church, or a cottage, or a river side, but the scenery behaves wherever Lucifer looks at it, only at the edges of vision does it warp.

[outsidewindows]

"He's not much different than he was then," Lucifer murmurs. In his mind, Tyki is human--flawed and too solid, smelling of salt and copper. "Is it like that for all of Joyd's vessels? Do they all fight?"

If Tyki is an anomaly, then he has some of Lucifer's respect. No sympathy, of course. Tyki is, at the end of the day, one of the New Ones Lucifer will never forgive for just existing; but Gabriel does have a point. Some of them are curious, entertaining to watch for a time.

Perhaps that's what Rhode is doing, while Tyki wrestles for control of his humanity.

[dreams_are_mine]

Rhode genuinely loves the incarnations of her family. Some more than others, some deeper than others. But they're all family. Tyki, the human, is her brother as much as Joyd is because to Rhode they aren't separate beings. If Tyki dies, Joyd will be reborn, but he won't be Tyki again. Tyki is a unique incarnation, and so, just as every incarnation is, he's precious to her.

There is also the fact that Tyki's face so strongly resembles the face of the traitor--as shadowed and blurred as it was in the last dream, it's still recognizable in this one. Like Rhode at the time couldn't remember much else but that face.

"They're all different." She leans her head against Lucifer's shoulder. "Tyki's strong." It's said with fondness. It would break her heart if Tyki died. The scene shifts and Tyki is much older, closer to the age Lucifer knows him, but with long hair and a different outfit.

The setting is a cell, and Tyki tumbles through a red and black checkered heart-shaped door in the air, slamming his fist into a man crouching over a chained and shocked looking Allen. Tyki seems to be enjoying himself, a sinister smile crossing his face as he looks down at the man--no, creature, for it isn't human--that he's standing over.

[outsidewindows]

Lucifer's opinion of humans never bends to include 'strong' as an attribute, but he has to admit, Tyki's will is far above what he would have expected from any mortal. Besides, there's something curious about seeing Rhode's devotion to the Family, the ways it includes them. He's beginning to understand it better than he has before.

"What is he fighting?" Lucifer asks, shifting Rhode on his lap so he can lean forward slightly for a better look. "I haven't had the pleasure of seeing Tyki do much. I hope he'll come to accept me enough to work with us."

[dreams_are_mine]

There's a pause in the battle, as a Rhode-shaped doll appears in Tyki's cloak then abruptly turns into a Rhode, who launches herself at Allen--only to hug and reassure the Exorcist as Tyki watches in amusement. And then the thing stands again, diverting the attention of all three from each other to it. Allen and Rhode remain seated in the corner as Tyki and the thing exchange blows. At first it seems as if Tyki will handle it easily.

"It's Innocence. It's called Apocryphos--it exists to protect the Heart. It's one of the clues we've been looking for." The battle switches on Tyki, the man-shaped creature abruptly turning the tables on the Noah.

[outsidewindows]

"What can they do?" Lucifer stands, but he carries Rhode like she's a princess, and he moves down close enough to touch.

"Apocryphos," he rolls the word over his tongue, as if he can pick out its history by doing so. "Can't we interrogate them to find out where the Heart is hiding?"

He watches Tyki instead of the Innocence, then, his head tilted in curiosity although he shows no concern. Tyki is strong, Rhode has said it herself and he knows it the way he knows the hearts of all men.

And if he fails, he is meant to fail, and he will be replaced. It's the way of all vessels.

[dreams_are_mine]

The scene never finishes. Rhode wraps her arms around Lucifer comfortably as he carries her, but the scene freezes, letting him wander through it as if through statues. The Apocryphos feels both sinister and divine in origin--incredibly powerful, even just the memory of it in Rhode's mind. A truly formidable threat.

"If it were that easy we'd have done it years ago." Rhode huffs lightly. "But that it's come out now... It means we're close. It wouldn't come out of hiding to fight us if it weren't important to keep us away."

Though her tone of voice is matter of fact, even a little bored, there's an anticipation in it, a hunger that might be familiar to Lucifer.

[outsidewindows]

He runs a finger over the Apocryphos, and then rubs his fingers together as if examining some substance. Then again, given how much he disdained touching humans, he may have simply been disgusted by the feel of it.

"Oh, I didn't mean to imply it would be easy." He moves around to look it in the eyes, still keeping Rhode comfortably balanced on one arm. "But these...things could be useful. Or fun for you."

He tilts his head to one side, and for just a moment that gentle expression is gone, replaced by something hateful and utterly calculating. "Do these things think? Or are they like the Akuma?"

[dreams_are_mine]

It doesn't feel human. In fact, it feels holy, and also painful, because this is Rhode's dream. And in her the thing is an object of hatred. Rhode watches Lucifer, not the least disturbed by the change in his expression.

"It's Innocence." She frowns, because that's not really an answer. "Usually Innocence needs to be compatible with a human, and the human carries out its will." She scowls at the Apocryphos.

"That one exists on its own. But sometimes... It eats people." Absorbs them body and soul, incorporates them. She thinks it's disgusting.

[outsidewindows]

His smile is bitter, vindicated. "Does it. What a surprise.... It's like fighting fire with kerosene, isn't it?"

He pushes it experimentally. "I wonder if they realize what they have to become in order to keep us from the Heart."

The irony is so perfect, he could just laugh. He doesn't, but it's in his smile.

[dreams_are_mine]

Rhode just scowls, Luficer's hand trailing through the thing as if it were suddenly made of smoke. "They aren't nice anyway. They're self-righteous and deluded, but they only care if their apostles listen--step out of line, and you'll be punished."

And the humans are no better, experimenting on each other to manually make people compatible with Innocence. And they call her family evil.

The irony isn't lost on her, and she leans her head on Lucifer's shoulder. "Once we find the Heart we can destroy them all."

[outsidewindows]

"They're the same in every world," he agrees with a small hum. "I wonder if we could ever bring one to Adstringendum."

They could experiment on it for years if they wanted.

[dreams_are_mine]

Rhode frowns at the idea, the scene fading away. Yes, they need to find the Heart, but the idea of having that thing around sets her teeth on edge.

"If we have to." Sometimes it's all she can do to stand Allen's Innocence nearby, and as Innocence goes Crowned Clown was a bit unique.

[outsidewindows]

He raises an eyebrow at her reluctance. "You should tell me more about them."

And by 'tell' of course he means 'show'. The benefit to having dreams is that she can.

[dreams_are_mine]

Rhode's frown deepens because Innocence... She hates it. But if he wants to learn more, then she'll show it. The scene shifts to show a gigantic grotesque thing destroying what looks to be a rural area of China.

"It picks an Apostle. But if the Apostle betrays it, it turns on them." The dream fills in the knowledge--this is what happens to an Exorcist that betrays Innocence. They Fall from grace and the Innocence consumes their life, their very soul.

Akuma flock around the figure, trying to destroy it even as the life force emanating from it in waves destroys them.

[outsidewindows]

He knows that for most righteous beings, the sin of thought is as bad as the sin of deed. That the Exorcists are destroyed for their betrayal doesn't surprise him, but he does wonder:

"How many Apostles does this happen to?"