{018} ☼ Dreamshare, open to all
You are sitting at a table.
Spread before you is an assortment of little sandwiches and biscuits, colorful confections, and pots of tea with fragrant plumes of steam unfurling from their spouts. The lace tablecloth perfectly complements the delicate china and silverware.
Also, you are in the center of what appears to be a volcano, and this doesn’t seem incongruous to you at all.
It isn’t odd that the table is set on a rocky precipice that overlooks a bubbling lake of lava. The craggy walls of the cave arc up and fade away; you cannot see where they meet. Heat waves ripple all around you, but you don’t feel it.
Krile is seated to your right, sipping daintily on a cup of hot tea. “This is delicious,” she says as she sets the cup down. “Is it your own blend?” But before you can answer, there is a clatter. She stands up and reaches across the table to right an upset cup. “Come on, Smudge, you’re getting the crumpets all wet.”
The cat in the seat to your left meows casually, batting at the cup once it’s right-side-up again in its saucer. You notice that all of the snacks on his plate are shaped like smiling fish.
You’re trying not to laugh, but your smile is subdued when you look at the place setting across from you and see the guest seated there. It is the largest wolf you have ever seen -his head is easily larger than your torso- but he is not just a wolf. His fur is flickering flames. The thick ruff around his neck is more like a lion’s mane. He has a single, sweeping horn, and his golden eyes are large and intelligent. He is the only element of this scene that seems to belong.
Carefully, he laps at the tea in his cup, but he is also staring at you, and though you expect him to speak he never does. There is a bond between you that you can feel but can’t explain, and though he’s only across the table from you, he seems too far away when you reach out to touch him.
That’s when you see her approach through a door that wasn’t there a moment ago.
She’s a small girl, barely five feet tall. Her pink hair nearly reaches her feet, and her ears are long and elfin. She stomps towards the table with her fists curled at her sides, glaring murderously at you.
“Why didn’t you invite me?!” she demands, slamming a fist on the table and causing all the china to ring. Smudge abandons ship, leaping from his chair and trotting off with a fish cookie in his mouth. “I thought I told you I wanted to come!” The angry glare softens to petulance, then sadness. She seems genuinely hurt. There might even be tears welling up in her eyes.
“Nova,” you say, “I did invite you. You knew that you had to RSVP if you wanted to come. Oh, please don’t be upset.”
Your reasonable tone doesn’t appease her. She’s mad again. “You knew I wanted to come but you gave my seat to the stupid cat!” The empty chair clatters to the ground when she kicks it away from the table before stalking away again.
Spread before you is an assortment of little sandwiches and biscuits, colorful confections, and pots of tea with fragrant plumes of steam unfurling from their spouts. The lace tablecloth perfectly complements the delicate china and silverware.
Also, you are in the center of what appears to be a volcano, and this doesn’t seem incongruous to you at all.
It isn’t odd that the table is set on a rocky precipice that overlooks a bubbling lake of lava. The craggy walls of the cave arc up and fade away; you cannot see where they meet. Heat waves ripple all around you, but you don’t feel it.
Krile is seated to your right, sipping daintily on a cup of hot tea. “This is delicious,” she says as she sets the cup down. “Is it your own blend?” But before you can answer, there is a clatter. She stands up and reaches across the table to right an upset cup. “Come on, Smudge, you’re getting the crumpets all wet.”
The cat in the seat to your left meows casually, batting at the cup once it’s right-side-up again in its saucer. You notice that all of the snacks on his plate are shaped like smiling fish.
You’re trying not to laugh, but your smile is subdued when you look at the place setting across from you and see the guest seated there. It is the largest wolf you have ever seen -his head is easily larger than your torso- but he is not just a wolf. His fur is flickering flames. The thick ruff around his neck is more like a lion’s mane. He has a single, sweeping horn, and his golden eyes are large and intelligent. He is the only element of this scene that seems to belong.
Carefully, he laps at the tea in his cup, but he is also staring at you, and though you expect him to speak he never does. There is a bond between you that you can feel but can’t explain, and though he’s only across the table from you, he seems too far away when you reach out to touch him.
That’s when you see her approach through a door that wasn’t there a moment ago.
She’s a small girl, barely five feet tall. Her pink hair nearly reaches her feet, and her ears are long and elfin. She stomps towards the table with her fists curled at her sides, glaring murderously at you.
“Why didn’t you invite me?!” she demands, slamming a fist on the table and causing all the china to ring. Smudge abandons ship, leaping from his chair and trotting off with a fish cookie in his mouth. “I thought I told you I wanted to come!” The angry glare softens to petulance, then sadness. She seems genuinely hurt. There might even be tears welling up in her eyes.
“Nova,” you say, “I did invite you. You knew that you had to RSVP if you wanted to come. Oh, please don’t be upset.”
Your reasonable tone doesn’t appease her. She’s mad again. “You knew I wanted to come but you gave my seat to the stupid cat!” The empty chair clatters to the ground when she kicks it away from the table before stalking away again.