OOC ❦ Dream (2)
There’s light, all around him. It's so bright, he has to close his eyes; as he does, he mutters, "Feels like I've done this before…"
When he opens them again, it's so dark he can barely see. He's standing next to a pond, clutching a walking stick in both hands. His left leg hurts, a dull throbbing that promises to turn into a scream when he puts weight on it. There are fish in the pond, ghostly white in the dark water. "What kind of fish is that?" His voice is high now, the voice of a child. "It's all white, with green eyes…" One of the fish turns as it swims, so that he can see the other side of its head. "…but they all are missing one eye…" As he says it, he realizes that he's seeing the scene with two eyes. It seems strange, somehow.
"*static* living in the lake did that." A woman's voice. He doesn't recognize it. "Don't get near it…" He starts to turn…
Blink
The scene has changed, but it's the same… it is still dark. He is still by the pond, but closer, almost in the water now. His leg doesn't hurt anymore. He still has the stick, but instead of leaning on it, he's using it to stir the water vigorously. "…hiding something. There's some reason why she doesn't want me to look for them! Come on out, *static, static*!"
His attention is caught by a sudden movement in the dark, a shadow within a shadow, stealing over the trees. It drifts down to the pond, moving like a living thing-what's casting it…? A shadow has to have something to cast it… right?-touching the surface of the water gently, and spreading out toward him. He falls backwards to the ground with a grunt of alarm. The pond begins to glow with a silver light…
Blink
Again, it's different. He's still by the pond, though it's no longer glowing and the shadow-thing is gone. This time, there are strange, ethereal things floating over it that Cloud has come to realize are the creatures known as 'mushi'. "Um…" his childish voice speaks up again. "Those things… aren't mirages, are they?"
"You can't say they exist like we do. But you can't call them mirages either." The woman sounds kind of… distant, or maybe that's just what she sounds like when she's lecturing. "Still, they do have an effect on things."
"So they're completely different from us?"
"They exist differently, but… they aren't completely estranged from us. It's the same 'life' as us, but in a different form."
"Is that right…?" His gaze has never left the creatures cavorting over the still surface of the pond; he watches them with awe and wonder. "So that's how it is…"
Blink
Still by the pond, still dark… he's standing, and his leg doesn't hurt anymore. "Please… just go away." The woman's voice sounds distant again, but not because she's giving him a lecture. He blinks, but all he can see is a blur of white in the dark. Like the fish, he thinks, or like a white light in darkness… "I know… that you could make it…"
Blink
"Wait for me!" His yell is childish and desperate as he reaches up toward the dark shadow-shape of a woman. She doesn't have any color besides black, but he can see her clearly for the first time, even if her shape now has no definition but an outline. "Don't go!" He grabs her hand…
Blink