Beyond the Wall of Sleep

[Suede]

"I think, Glenn, that this is just going to lead to you talking in circles with her. She might not even know what she wants anymore than you do. It very well could be that she's just making it all up so she has a reason to mess with you." Suede pushed off his "untable" and in one step had moved to where Glenn's created Jirai existed. The movement was somewhat hard to follow for even the tailor, as the dream scape belt around him.

He casually slung an arm around the fake Jirai's shoulder and pointed towards her face with his other hand. "It doesn't matter how true this memory is, Mapmaker, she'll never believe it." And then he turned his attention directly at Jirai and winked to her. "I'm not even sure she wants to believe I'm here, so to her you probably haven't fulfilled your half of the deal, either."

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

Seth listened in silence as the conversation seemed to continue in circles without a real destination in sight, so to speak. Surely it would only lead to one side or the other snapping in frustration. The question really was who would snap first? Who's patience for this would fail first?

The tone of the mapmaker's voice drew Seth's attention to the man for a moment. The slightest hint of a frown tugged at the corners of his mouth as he caught a glimpse of something he did not quite like seeing in the depths of Glenn's eyes. It would seem his friend might just end up being the one to snap first, or perhaps Seth was just seeing things. A moment later and his gaze shifted towards the chains that had begun creeping towards the real Jirai.

Once more, though, his brilliant blue eyes shifted back to Glenn as the man turned that special little crossbow towards him, the slightest quirk of a silvered brow given in curiosity. Then a moment came where Seth was quite glad he didn't have a mouthful of food or drink, otherwise he might have just sputtered it out or started choking on it. Elves can't lie? Surely his friend was just winging it with that one. Though trying to tell such to a drow? From what little he knew about about the dark elves, it would be a cold day in Hell before they believed such a thing!

Seth's expression was bemused to say the least as he found himself put on the spot, in a sense. Rather than talking though, he simply made the sound of clearing his throat, a sidelong glance cast towards Jirai for a moment to see if she would indeed ask him as Glenn had suggested.

[Jirai]

The other Jirai really did look far too lifelike. Especially after Suede flung his arm around the unscarred Jirai's shoulder and she attempted to slug him. With a dagger.

"Get the hell away from me, tailor, before I gut you again!" Growled unscarred-Jirai at the same time that scarred-Jirai snapped at Glenn:

"Give me the damned crossbow before you blow yourself up trying to figure out how to work it! And you," she rounded on Suede, "tell me where the boy is."

Both Jirai's then paused, staring at each other for a split second.

"I don't care where the kid is." Snapped the unscarred one.

"Shove it!" Scarred Jirai snarled.

"It's stupid! It'll just get us in trouble again. Like him." Unscarred jerked a thumb at the tailor. "Should kill them both! Get rid of the liabilities."

"Wouldn't have to kill him if you'd done it right in the first place!"

"You thought he was dead too!"

"Well evidently he's NOT."

"I can see that! And it's YOUR fault that the mapmaker got the crossbow."

The two dark elves were getting closer and closer to each other, voices raising, and it looked as though in a moment or so the two would be in an all-out brawl.

[Glenn]

In this world there are very few things that can silence Glenn Burnie. He had a comment for everything, rationale for any possible event, something to add to any conversation, especially the ones that weren't his business. This though? This has silenced him. What does one possibly say to this? He was watching one Jirai argue with the other... or agree with the other. His mind was whirling. Did this explain everything about her? Was this the key to her insanity? Those were the real questions. He had spent almost every morning of the last few months with her. Sometimes she actively tried to kill him. Sometimes she seemed bored with him. Sometimes she was playful and seemed to be enjoying the experience. Sometimes she was utterly dismissive. She was fickle. Insane. Was it just two voices arguing, one with the scars and one without? Maybe he was starting to understand her madness. Maybe he could resolve this without going to extremes after all. Maybe they could even help her put herself back together.

He would step forward, confident determination in his eyes. He had gotten to where he was in life by turning situations like these into opportunities. Step one: make it seem to all around you like you actually knew what you were doing. It was all going to plan. "Just like I thought." He nodded again, looking first to Seth and then to Suede, who hopefully was not bleeding TOO much after Jirai #2's ghastly surprise attack. "Well, it's plain to see what we have to do. We're going to have to integrate the two personalities. If we can do that, she ought to be restored to sanity." There, taking ownership of the revelation was step one. Step two was generally delegating the job to the right person. Unfortunately, he was a little strapped for resources here. Looking back to Suede and Seth, Burnie would nod a final time. "Any ideas?"

[Suede]

Suede had considerable experience with Jirai and Jirai. Thus when he had decided to bodily present himself into one's stabbing range he'd been quite ready to leave just as quickly. So the moment he felt Scarless Jirai begin to move immediately removed his arm and shifted back two steps, which turned into about 20 feet. "My, my Qu'essan. And here I thought you still loved me. Why do you want to find our son?"

A bit more than he intended, he took one step closer as the pair were beginning to argue with each other about his death, among other things. It would probably be a poor thing to note he'd had a very nice dream that started this way once. Catfight, perhaps?

Suede glanced at Glenn and looked slightly bemused. "Well, I was actually thinking we should pick which we like more and help that one kill the other... but your idea could work too." He said it with an entirely straight face. As straight a face as he could muster, anyways. It was Suede after all, and he always looked a touch slick.

He ran a finger over his chin and glanced as Seth. "Maybe they just have to come to terms and understand one another. Be best friends?"

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

Yet again Seth was given cause to quirk a brow as events unfolded before him. The two versions of the drow woman began arguing with one another. Well, after Suede had nimbly avoided a vicious swipe with a dagger from the unscarred version. Now it looked as if the two drow women might possibly get into a wicked little cat fight. This little incident might just point to part of the woman's insanity. Then again, Seth was no expert in mental problems.

Glenn drew the tall elf's attention as he spoke in a knowing manner. A thoughtful expression played across elven features as the mapmaker asked if they had any ideas. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure how to intergrate two halves of a whole person. Then Suede offered up a rather amusing suggestion which brought a smirk to Seth's lips. Personally, Seth liked that idea to some extent, even if it might not exactly be a serious one.

For a moment his attention shifted to the tailor as the man spoke again, once more his angular features growing thoughtful. Casting his gaze towards the two Jirai's he broke his silence, "Perhaps," and it made sense as well, "The question is, how does one go about the buisness of getting them to try and understand one another before they tear eachother limb from limb?" then again maybe the two Jirai's wouldn't end up in a scuffle? Of course there was always the chance both might meet, not end up fighting, and turn on the three who had invaded her dream.

[Jirai]

For a moment, the argument paused - if only so that the two of them could turn to the tailor and speak simultaneously.

"I don't want the brat!" "Because I do!"

Well, he had asked.

Then the arguing continued.

"Leave the brat alone if you won't let me kill it."

"Just shut up about it and get the crossbow back!"

"You're the one who lost it, YOU go get it back and I'll deal with the tailor!"

And here things began to devolve further, with one Jirai launching herself at the other, creating a tangled mess of black and red, spidery-pale hair and daggers.

[Kylerryth]

That was when the world went white.

It was an abrupt shift: the fluctuating tavern-cave tore itself away from them, ripping apart like sheets of parchment and vanishing into the surrounding whiteness. The dreamers themselves would feel as though they were being pulled in multiple directions, the very essence of their selves on the verge of fracturing, breaking, fading. It lasted seconds, but seemed an eon; and when it was over, they were left standing in naught but the sheer white of the void.

To Jirai the drow -- both of them -- and Suede the tailor, the circumambient emptiness would be immediately familiar -- it was an exact replica of the first dream, with the exception of the window. The window, with its chipped, flaking green paint and misty view, was absent. To Glenn the mapmaker and Seth the elf, however, it was the feel of the place rather than the actual setting that struck an au fait chord. It was known to them in the same way one knew water was wet, or that fire burned -- they had learned from past experience.

There would be no doubt in any of their minds as to what had brought them here. The only question was: where was it?

White silence greeted them, waited for them.

[Glenn]

Alright, a plan of action. Get the two Jirai away from each other. Seth could hold one back. Suede could help him hold the other back. Or the chains! He just wasn't used to thinking that way, as if he was in charge of his surroundings like this. Then, with the Jirais restrained, they just had to get them to realize that they needed to merge or at least work together. It could pull her closer to sanity. He might be able to get out of this in a POSITIVE way, without having to use what he prepared. No more magic. This could work.

With a deep breath, Glenn started to focus on the chains. They had a shot at this. They really did.

Then everything changed. Burnie only knew anything about dreams in the first place due to what happened two years before. Of course he could recognize what was going on. Seth was still with him. Suede was still there. Both Jirais were still present. Everything else had changed. "No." He said softly as he looked around. This just couldn't be. It couldn't. Not now.

"No." Once again, a bit louder. "No. No. No. Not now. We can fix her." Was he pleading with the room itself? "It was all starting to make sense. Not now. Not now." There was a vaguely irrational undertone to the young mapmaker's voice. Somehow, he seemed just a little younger physically as well. "All we needed was a little more time." His eyes were darting about the room, looking for anyone, anything, a sign. The last time he had encountered something like this, it had ended with him shouting, railing against the heavens. Then he cut a gem out of his own skin, killing himself and Agony in the process. "Damn it. No. Not now!" Given that the crossbow was still in his hand, a complete loss of control would likely not be a very good thing for anyone in this relatively enclosed space.

[Suede]

Continuing with Suede's earlier train of thought, he had planned to actually try and help the Jirai he found more tolerable kill the other. While Glenn pondered the chains and ways to hold down the Drow, Suede was considering the best way to punch a pointy object into the unscarred Jirai's abdomen. Shad had taken a swing at him afterall.

He was about to take a step into the fray, his plan having not been a jest at all, when the world went white. He watched Glenn ramble for a moment and rolled his eyes while sheathing his small weapon. Instead he flicked his wrist and set a small needle in his fingers, the point pressed firmly against his skin. Then he waited.

[Seth_Bloodmoon]

Seth, too, was pondering a plan of action. Truly if they were to get the two halves of a whole to cooperate they would need to prevent the two from tearing one another apart. Wow, that was a slightly confusing line of thought. Of course, if he had known for sure Suede had been serious about the one solution, the tall elf might have gone along with it. It would likely be far simpler than trying to get both Jirai's to resolve their differances and be buddy buddy. Of course it could be far more damaging to the dark elf, having a part of herself destroyed in a sense.

Whatever line of thought his mind was working along, it was rudely interrupted by the sudden change. That feeling of being tugged in several directions at once was extremely disorienting, as well as the fluctuating scenery being torn away. Those brief seconds seemed to linger forever as the world about them become a white, seemingly endless vastness. Surely this was not a good thing. Indeed the whole thing had a feeling about it similar to that one nightmareish incident where he had died with a dagger in his back, and that was enough to have the fine hairs on the back of his neck raising.

Brilliant blue eyes shifted their attention towards Glenn upon earing that hint of irrationality in the tone of his voice. No, Seth did not think it would be a good time to lose it. Whatever game was suddenly afoot they would have to adapt and deal with the situation. The tall elf sought to move closer to Glenn, gaze searching about cautiously, "We haven't failed yet, Glenn," which was in fact the truth, even if things had taken a turn for, what certainly had to be, the worse. There was a careful confidence in the tone of his voice as he continued, "We still have a chance to succeed," refusing to be thrown off by this sudden change in the situation.

[Jirai]

Somehow, as the scene changed again, so too did the two drow. No longer at each other's throats, they were abruptly back-to-back, wearing identical expressions, from the narrowed eyes to the scowl that twisted scarred and unscarred lips alike.

Something was different, and apparently that fact had even penetrated the chaos that was Jirai's (Jirais'?) mind.

Something was different, but some things were the same. Glenn, for instance, still had the crossbow. Her (their?) crossbow. And, given his voice, the mapmaker wasn't doing too well at the moment. One of them saw that for a flicker of weakness and reacted to the opportunity, launching herself to grab at the weapon while, a split second later, the scarred one let out a rush of curses in her own language and darted another direction entirely, not wanting to be in the line of fire did things here go poorly.

[Kylerryth]

There was a soft hum, then, like the subtle vibrations of music through a thick wall; and after a few moments it pulsed to a crescendo, an unseen hand's fingers plucking at the strings of the dreamscape. Would they notice it, engrossed as they were? Perhaps they might feel it resonating within them, as well -- for they had each of them experienced the dreamwaker's creations, albeit to different degrees. It was wordless, formless; it was beautiful, terrible. It echoed around and inside of them, until it seemed the very air of the white void shook with song.

It appeared, and the music fell silent.

One moment there was empty space; the next, without sound or warning, it had manifested a small distance from the group. It did nothing to mitigate the current struggle between them, and did not announce itself. What they beheld, however, when they finally saw it, was in all likelihood not how they might have expected it to look, the two Jirai in particular.

It was naked, and while the shape and build of its body was obviously male, it possessed no genitalia -- there was instead a smooth, unbroken patch of skin. Too, it had no face: where its face should have been was blank, utterly devoid of features and definition. Its skin was pale, hairless, and unblemished, save for veins of softly throbbing golden light that formed a tracery over the entirety of its body, lending the faceless, sexless being a sort of holy nimbus. It was a creature of awe and terror, and the sheer force of its presence in the dreamscape seemed to galvanize the entire void, to set it quivering with anticipation.

"Yes, Glenn Burnie," said the dreamwaker, its voice emanating from the void itself in an amalgamation of voices. There was the high innocence of a child, the tender love of a mother, the self-sacrificing goodness of a father; there was the liquid baritone of a bard, the sultry smoke of a whore, and more -- and behind it all, as if in accompaniment, there were sounds of death and despair: a chorus of cracking necks; a bridge of broken hearts.

"Yes, yes, and yes," it said, and though it had no lips, they would feel it smiling.

[Glenn]

It would be nice to say that it was Seth Bloodmoon's reassuring words that brought Glenn back to reality. It would be nice if it was a friend who steadied him. It'd be a nice change. That wasn't the case here, though. It was Suede's disdain, his sheer coolness and apathy under pressure that all but forced Glenn to regain control. He simply was not going to look so much a fool in front of the tailor, not when the the man wasn't even breaking a sweat. It didn't matter what had happened two years ago. Glenn would persevere.

Granted, Jirai, or at least the Jirai without the scars was providing a convenient wake-up call of her own. He held tight to the crossbow however... and then the dreamwaker spoke.

Well, that was the last bit Burnie needed. His will was steeled. For months Jirai had been trying to bleed him every morning. He barely ever got a shot in of his own. She was too far. She kept her distance. She hit and withdrew, hit or withdrew. Now, she was right in close. He leaned his head towards her, even as she pulled at the weapon. Momentarily, all else was forgotten. "We're all at cross-purposes here. I just want to help you, whether you want it or not. You're arguing with yourself. It's obvious. I want to help you and I want to kill him. He stopping me from helping you. You're stopping me from killing him. Cross purposes."

His lips moved a bit closer to her and he shut his eyes, exhaling softly. "You know, Qu'essan, I've been waiting so long to get this close to you." There was only the slightest of pauses before Burnie slammed his head towards hers as hard as he could possibly manage. He wasn't a fool, however. She was quick, so quick. He had little hope of hitting true, even at this proximity. It was a feint, a distraction, as had been the pet name. As he slammed his head forward, the chains came in, intending to mercilessly wrap about the drow and pull her away from the mapmaker and the crossbow. He had a very specific use in mind for it right now. Killing first, helping second. It was that sort of year.

[Suede]

Perhaps Suede wasn't sweating because it was a dream, and he chose not to, or maybe he really was a coolly collected as Glenn imagined him to be. He didn't like to show any emotion he wasn't willing for others to be aware of. Thus it was that he was quite steady as he considered his options. He'd watched one Jirai charge for the ranting Glenn, Seth trying to soothe the irratic mapmaker, and another Jirai running off to who knew where.

He'd likely have simply remained where he was to observe the situation, until Glenn spoke to Jirai, making his comments about wanting to be close to her. And using that name, Qu'essan. Anyone who was watching would have seen his eye twitch visibly. Sometimes one needs to understand the consequences of any weapon they choose to use before they use it. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he wondered at Glenn's true motives, and decided to ask questions later.

He was no longer a happy man, and he was naturally suspicious. How suspicious was Glenn? How aware? Because the tailor was suddenly lurching forward, that same jumping of positions taking hold of him, with a fist meant right for Glenn's head in the instant after the man had tried to land a blow on Jirai.