[week 32, day 6 | Early morning] dream
It is a bright, sunny day; the wind is blowing just enough to keep the bugs from landing on your skin, but not enough to be irritating. The few clouds that dot the sky here and there are white and puffy, like sheep crossing a weird blue lawn.
You suddenly realize there are sheep all around you, standing around and pawing at the grass. They don’t look as white as the clouds. In fact, after a moment you realize that they have wool in many different colors-pink, yellow, blue, green, light brown, black. Some are white, but the majority aren’t.
You reach out your hand to one with black wool. It stares at your hand for a moment before it opens its mouth-you draw back slightly, wondering if it’s going to bite you-and then it speaks. “You know, this isn’t the best time.”
“What?” That’s a perplexing thing for a sheep to say. Actually the voice is familiar… yes, that’s Jason’s voice.
“You’re late. What are you doing lying around here with us? You have to go.” The Jason-sheep walks away from you as it continues talking, wiggling its tail as it goes.
“Wait! Where am I supposed to go?” You get to your feet, half-trotting after the animal. This is important, dammit! You’re late (though you don’t know what for) and that’s not good. It’s urgent that you figure this out!
The Jason-sheep doesn’t reply. Instead it lowers its head and starts cropping at the grass. “Hey…” You glare at it, arms folded across your chest. The Jason-sheep either doesn’t notice or is now ignoring you.
But this is wasting time. Fine, if the sheep won’t talk to you, you’ll just have to figure out which way to go on your own. That shouldn’t be hard, right? You turn around, trying to get your bearings.
The peaceful, sheep-filled meadow is gone. In its place is a familiar sight-the grass-and-rock filled wilds that surround Tanyuu’s home. You can feel a smile settling into place as you walk forward. Of course, this is where you were going. She must be expecting you-you’ve been away so long. Unintentionally, of course; and she’ll forgive you, once she hears the stories you have for her. Not that she wouldn’t forgive you anyway. You knock on the door, and wait for Tama to come.
It feels like you wait a long, long time before you finally hear her steps coming down the hall. In reality it probably isn’t so long, maybe five minutes at the most, but…
When the panel of wood is lifted, you see a monkey’s face. Yet, somehow, this doesn’t seem at all odd. The monkey chatters briefly. You have no idea what it said, and yet…
“Hello, Tama.”
The monkey pulls open the door, letting you inside. It is wearing a fine kimono, and has its hair done up in a bun at the top of its head. It chatters again, then takes off down the corridor at an easy lope, using both hands and knees to move at a brisk pace. You’re not worried; Tama is no doubt going to tell Tanyuu you’re here, and you know the way to her room. You take your time removing your shoes, and then you stroll along the familiar floors, the wood warm beneath your bare feet.
It seems to take a very long time to get anywhere. The corridor stretches in front of you, endlessly… there was supposed to be a door here, but the wall stretches, blank and smooth, no door in sight. A plant out of place, an opening in the wall leading to a new corridor, this one old and decrepit… something isn’t right here. You move faster, no longer casual and relaxed-if something’s wrong, then that means Tanyuu could be-!
No matter how quickly you move, though, the end of the corridor doesn’t get any closer. More of the openings in the wall appear, to the right and the left of you now, and every time you see more glimpses of that decay, paper doors eaten through by insects, the frames broken and flung to the side. Here and there you even catch glimpses of blackened wood, as if there had been a fire once, long ago.
What is going on here?
You’re starting to get worried. Where is everyone, and where the hell is this corridor going anyway, you must be halfway to the mountains by now. Suddenly, you come to a dead end. That’s strange, since a moment ago it seemed like the corridor would never end… but you turn to your left, which is the only way you can turn, and walk…
Into blackness. You can’t see anything, nothing at all, which is both kind of scary and… right. Your hands brush up against rough wood-a tree-and the ground is rough sticks and stones mixed with cool, smooth dirt and plant leaves. You’re in a forest.
Looking up you see a full moon, incredibly white. It doesn’t really look real, it’s so huge and luminous. It’s sinking, moving into the trees… while across the sky, another moon rises at the same time.
“The moon again?” You speak with a child’s voice, dull with exhaustion. “But it set a little while ago. If that’s so… how many moon cycles would that make?”
You can see a little, now, and you’re looking at your thin fingers in the pale moon light, counting them in the dimness.
“…I don’t know anymore.”
*********************
[Ginko wakes up with a strangled gasp. Putting one hand to his face, he sits up, shoving the blankets off as he does.]
…dammit.
[After a few moments, when he’s calmer, he notices that he’s feeling better than he’s felt in… well, it’s even harder to keep track of time when you’re sick and sleeping a lot, so he’s not really sure how long he’s been here. But he’s feeling almost like himself again, which is nice.
But he’s still tired, so after drinking from the glass of water Jason had left him, he lies down again to try and get some real sleep. He notices the Hitomi is on, and swats at it with an annoyed look, successfully turning it off.
He can deal with whoever saw that later.]