Dreamshare--Open
[ooc: Forward dated slightly--This dream happens Friday night, but posting now so I don't forget later.
Warnings: Disturbing imagery (gore)]
------
Sometimes the dreamer knows he's dreaming, a passive self awareness that takes in the fantastical images around them as simultaneously real and unreal. The world around Genius seems real because it engages his senses. He feels the steady realness of polished wood underneath his feet as he walks across an enclosed atrium. The world he is in has low lighting and a cultured, spa like atmosphere, with perfect matching furniture done in a modern style. There's a small pond filled with water and stones near his feet and there are gauzy curtains and rice paper divides everywhere.
The world seems unreal because there are beautiful men and women everywhere he looks. There is every type of skin tone, body shape and size represented and all are gorgeous, without blemishes. They walk around barefooted in colorful tee-shirts and camisoles and drawstring loose cotton pants. They all wear vacant smiles as he walks by and drift away like the unreal creatures that they are. Only Genius is wearing shoes, Converse sneakers that squeak as he walks by massage tables where more naked perfect people lie getting their shoulders rubbed by faceless men in white smocks. The harder Genius tries to look at their faces the more they seem to blur and this is why Genius knows he's dreaming.
He knows it's a dream because as he makes his way across the atrium, the room seems to lengthen and the people around him change from perfect soulless bodies into faces that he knows. Bastet. Crimson. Stellaris. Toushi. They walk by with perfect soulless smiles and Genius begins to walk faster, trying to avoid them, especially Crimsuke, who looks just plain wrong without his trademark hat. But he can't. There are others that walk by, Calkins, 00, Juliet, Composer, Rabbit, Kazahana, Simon. Kagerou. Familiar vendors from the Bazaar, patients he'd seen before. Faces of people gone, like Boss and Animus.
He closes his eyes. This isn't right. The acknowledgment of unreality shifts the world around him so that he's now in his own lab in medical. Only...it's not right. His equipment is gone and in it's place is the chair. The one from his memories, the one he dreams of at least once a week now, in some twisted form or another. All of his anxiety dreams and nightmares feature the chair and it's almost refreshing in a way. It's a symbol that this isn't happening. This isn't real.
"If it's not real, then wake up."
Rick is lounging in the chair, sipping a martini that strangely enough, looks more like rainbow sand than alcohol. His head has been shaved and there are weird electrodes stuck all over his head. He raises an eyebrow at his brother and points at his head with his free hand.
"If you don't finish this, you won't wake up and I don't want to deal with your screaming again, man-twin."
Genius shakes his head violently and turns away. He knows how this nightmare goes and he refuses to let it play out. "Leave me alone!"
The dream Rick laughs. "Wait till you see what you did to Tribble." But he doesn't need to see, the knowledge just comes to him, in the way that dreaming minds fill in narrative gaps. His pet is dead, skinned and floating in pieces in a jar on his desk. Right next to jars filled with Bell's dogs and a pair of big black wings, from --
"NO!"
"Hush now." Qi's voice, calm and clear forces him to open his eyes. He's standing outside now, in Edensphere. They are on one of the bridges that lead to the residences. "There's ashes in your eyelids. Won't see the stars until you let the fire purify your sight." She touches his face reverently and she is so close Genius can feel her body pressed up against him. She's standing on her tippy toes. The look in her eyes is almost...coy. "The stars are watching. Naughty boy." She tilt up to kiss him and it would be a perfect moment except--
--"You're dreaming again." Suddenly it's not Qi in front of him, but Promise, Rick's daughter. He can't back away fast enough. "That's disturbing. What would Rick say if he knew?" She laughs just like her father. Their eyes are the same color--wait where they the same color? It's been so long he can't remember--
"Hey. Catch."
Promise throws something--a stick. He catches it with his left hand. He sighs and turns to Lyle, who is suddenly behind him, armed to the teeth with multiple guns. "Why can't I have a gun?"
Lyle snorts. "Because you shot me." He points to the bullet hole in his head that is slowly oozing blood. Before Genius can freak out, Lyle shrugs. "It's just a flesh wound, calm down. I'm not the one who lost an arm."
That would be Gai, who walks up with the right sleeve of his spandex suit pinned shut. Bell is beside him, looking entirely too normal for someone with a giant hole in his chest, complete with visible ribs and bits of flesh hanging off ot it. "You finally mastered Dynamic Entry! Excellent! We can now progress to the next level. Bringing Bell's dogs back from the dead!"
"And Aven." Fred doesn't have any eyes and her hair is clotted with blood. Genius turns away sobbing before the image is fully burned into his psyche. "STOP PLEASE!"
"Steady son." It's Stoneface's voice. But Genius knows before he opens his eyes that it's not him. It's a zombie. So he won't look up. Even though he hears Zombie!Stoneface walking towards him. "This will all be over soon..."
Finally he can't take it anymore. He screams, turns and jabs the stick right in--
--Ben's chest. The stick isn't a stick anymore, but a lightsaber and it's now buried hilt deep. But for some reason it doesn't even phase Ben.
"Tell me, what is it that you want most, in all the world?" Ben looks at him with affection. The world around them is now the tree branch platform where the Other Ben took Genius, before the real Ben and Stoney could save him.
He's crying now, big hot wet tears that feel so real. He sinks to his knees and the wood under them also feels real. "You already know the answer to that."
"Redemption." Ben's voice sounds just like Rick's now. Ben/Rick bends down and kisses him on the forehead like a parental figure. His heart swells with affection that he knows isn't real. It's being implanted in his mind, something be wrapped around his head, like a thick, heavy blanket, smothering (or soothing?) the panic he feels.
Nothing to fear. The command is whispered into his mind with Rick's voice and Ben's presence. The blended brother/father figure brushes the hair out of his face and then rests his fingers on his cheek.
"Topher. Just a name you know. Just a dream. I'd wake up now, before this gets even worse."
So he does.
Warnings: Disturbing imagery (gore)]
------
Sometimes the dreamer knows he's dreaming, a passive self awareness that takes in the fantastical images around them as simultaneously real and unreal. The world around Genius seems real because it engages his senses. He feels the steady realness of polished wood underneath his feet as he walks across an enclosed atrium. The world he is in has low lighting and a cultured, spa like atmosphere, with perfect matching furniture done in a modern style. There's a small pond filled with water and stones near his feet and there are gauzy curtains and rice paper divides everywhere.
The world seems unreal because there are beautiful men and women everywhere he looks. There is every type of skin tone, body shape and size represented and all are gorgeous, without blemishes. They walk around barefooted in colorful tee-shirts and camisoles and drawstring loose cotton pants. They all wear vacant smiles as he walks by and drift away like the unreal creatures that they are. Only Genius is wearing shoes, Converse sneakers that squeak as he walks by massage tables where more naked perfect people lie getting their shoulders rubbed by faceless men in white smocks. The harder Genius tries to look at their faces the more they seem to blur and this is why Genius knows he's dreaming.
He knows it's a dream because as he makes his way across the atrium, the room seems to lengthen and the people around him change from perfect soulless bodies into faces that he knows. Bastet. Crimson. Stellaris. Toushi. They walk by with perfect soulless smiles and Genius begins to walk faster, trying to avoid them, especially Crimsuke, who looks just plain wrong without his trademark hat. But he can't. There are others that walk by, Calkins, 00, Juliet, Composer, Rabbit, Kazahana, Simon. Kagerou. Familiar vendors from the Bazaar, patients he'd seen before. Faces of people gone, like Boss and Animus.
He closes his eyes. This isn't right. The acknowledgment of unreality shifts the world around him so that he's now in his own lab in medical. Only...it's not right. His equipment is gone and in it's place is the chair. The one from his memories, the one he dreams of at least once a week now, in some twisted form or another. All of his anxiety dreams and nightmares feature the chair and it's almost refreshing in a way. It's a symbol that this isn't happening. This isn't real.
"If it's not real, then wake up."
Rick is lounging in the chair, sipping a martini that strangely enough, looks more like rainbow sand than alcohol. His head has been shaved and there are weird electrodes stuck all over his head. He raises an eyebrow at his brother and points at his head with his free hand.
"If you don't finish this, you won't wake up and I don't want to deal with your screaming again, man-twin."
Genius shakes his head violently and turns away. He knows how this nightmare goes and he refuses to let it play out. "Leave me alone!"
The dream Rick laughs. "Wait till you see what you did to Tribble." But he doesn't need to see, the knowledge just comes to him, in the way that dreaming minds fill in narrative gaps. His pet is dead, skinned and floating in pieces in a jar on his desk. Right next to jars filled with Bell's dogs and a pair of big black wings, from --
"NO!"
"Hush now." Qi's voice, calm and clear forces him to open his eyes. He's standing outside now, in Edensphere. They are on one of the bridges that lead to the residences. "There's ashes in your eyelids. Won't see the stars until you let the fire purify your sight." She touches his face reverently and she is so close Genius can feel her body pressed up against him. She's standing on her tippy toes. The look in her eyes is almost...coy. "The stars are watching. Naughty boy." She tilt up to kiss him and it would be a perfect moment except--
--"You're dreaming again." Suddenly it's not Qi in front of him, but Promise, Rick's daughter. He can't back away fast enough. "That's disturbing. What would Rick say if he knew?" She laughs just like her father. Their eyes are the same color--wait where they the same color? It's been so long he can't remember--
"Hey. Catch."
Promise throws something--a stick. He catches it with his left hand. He sighs and turns to Lyle, who is suddenly behind him, armed to the teeth with multiple guns. "Why can't I have a gun?"
Lyle snorts. "Because you shot me." He points to the bullet hole in his head that is slowly oozing blood. Before Genius can freak out, Lyle shrugs. "It's just a flesh wound, calm down. I'm not the one who lost an arm."
That would be Gai, who walks up with the right sleeve of his spandex suit pinned shut. Bell is beside him, looking entirely too normal for someone with a giant hole in his chest, complete with visible ribs and bits of flesh hanging off ot it. "You finally mastered Dynamic Entry! Excellent! We can now progress to the next level. Bringing Bell's dogs back from the dead!"
"And Aven." Fred doesn't have any eyes and her hair is clotted with blood. Genius turns away sobbing before the image is fully burned into his psyche. "STOP PLEASE!"
"Steady son." It's Stoneface's voice. But Genius knows before he opens his eyes that it's not him. It's a zombie. So he won't look up. Even though he hears Zombie!Stoneface walking towards him. "This will all be over soon..."
Finally he can't take it anymore. He screams, turns and jabs the stick right in--
--Ben's chest. The stick isn't a stick anymore, but a lightsaber and it's now buried hilt deep. But for some reason it doesn't even phase Ben.
"Tell me, what is it that you want most, in all the world?" Ben looks at him with affection. The world around them is now the tree branch platform where the Other Ben took Genius, before the real Ben and Stoney could save him.
He's crying now, big hot wet tears that feel so real. He sinks to his knees and the wood under them also feels real. "You already know the answer to that."
"Redemption." Ben's voice sounds just like Rick's now. Ben/Rick bends down and kisses him on the forehead like a parental figure. His heart swells with affection that he knows isn't real. It's being implanted in his mind, something be wrapped around his head, like a thick, heavy blanket, smothering (or soothing?) the panic he feels.
Nothing to fear. The command is whispered into his mind with Rick's voice and Ben's presence. The blended brother/father figure brushes the hair out of his face and then rests his fingers on his cheek.
"Topher. Just a name you know. Just a dream. I'd wake up now, before this gets even worse."
So he does.