<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>I've been going over things and when I went through Veja's profile, I found http://shadowlack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4706a link to a thread</a> that I have no memory of ever doing until I read most of it. I remember that as soon as Teolun came out I had no idea how to react to it, so I guess that's why I didn't post on that. I was thinking whether or not we should continue with that, but I almost like how it just cliffhangers there so I meh'd that idea. Technically, this would be the third part in the story or that would be like part 1.5 and this would be 2.. kinda like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories or something. Anyway, with that said I guess we can start with this "official" part 2 of this plot. For those walking around reading, I guess you may wanna read the first one. Beware, I made up so many magical watevamabobs in that story that it may confuse you. Part 1: http://shadowlack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1973Forever Falling</a> and the link up there is for Part 1.5 which you don't really "need" to read, I guess. Forever Dreaming by Skylink and Lautir Main Characters: http://shadowlack.com/persona.php?id=141Veja Siruls</a>, http://shadowlack.com/persona.php?id=66Mist Sterlu</a>, http://shadowlack.com/persona.php?id=65Eka Tsyjn</a> 38 Dyo 81381 Yeah, it's time for me to write this out now. It'll take about an hour. Edit: Ah yes a Timestamp is required. I always forget that when it's important. Added. It sorta fits if you actually know what date that was. </td></tr></table> Worn by the elements, the young pendragon staggered aimlessly through the serene landscape by the Lake. His mind clouded by the thoughts of his favorite memories morphed by the bad ones. A memory of ice skating with his former classmates mixed with a bitter thought of being stuck under the ice while being careless. Barbecues at the beach blended with the sorrowful day he burned the tree that his sister was sitting. It took time to separate what was real from what wasn't in his mind. He eventually decided that it was just best for him to not think of anything, seeing how only bad things have come from it recently. Veja Siruls had become an empty shell of life after causing the accidents which ruined the lives of many pendragons. The lucky ones that died forever became a voice in his head reminding him of whose fault it was. The ones that survived Veja's bad luck are likely to never speak again of what happened. Through both voice and silence, Veja had been shunned by most. As he walked through Magi Lake, he remembered hadn't been this close to the school in ages. Ah yes, Janardan. Somewhere past all these trees was a civilization filled with happy thoughts and brilliant minds. He couldn't go back there. He'd been gone for too long. His brother probably wouldn't even remember his face after all the things he's gone through. Even there, his luck affected the people around him. His own roommate turned into a vampire. That definitely wasn't something that most would think as a positive, although she seemed to disagree... until she was almost kicked out of the school because of it. Veja was growing tired of reminiscing on past events. He was tired of nearly everything at that point. He had become an insomniac to deprive himself of sleep and keep himself from dreaming. Possibly the worst thing that could happen to him was dream about the past. Those were the hardest kinds to wake out of. Even still, even insomniacs had to sleep sometime, and Veja was no different. As he stumbled towards the closest and most comfortable tree, he noticed one of the oddest things he has never seen by the Lake area. Veja found himself staring at a huge blue tree. Its branches were numerous and hung very low, with the lower branches almost touching the ground. Veja was in somewhat of a shock of this tree. Sure, he had seen many odd trees before, but this one was different. It was special.. like that tree was planted, watered, and grown just for him. His lack of energy soon overtook him as he got down on all fours and crept towards the tree. He ducked his head past the lowest branches as he made his way towards the bark of the tree. Even the trunk was tinted blue. It was amazing that a tree like this existed, he thought. He layed his body on the blue tree's surprisingly soft exterior. "It's like.. a pillow." As he thought of it, his eyes began to close. He almost forgot what it was like to have his eyes closed. It was almost like he was dying. He kinda smiled at the thought. He almost died before and wondered what it was like. When he closed his eyes, he felt his body completely relax itself on the grass and exposed tree root. When he tried to open them, his eyes met the same darkness he found when he closed them. He wasn't dead. He knew he wasn't. It was worse than dying. I'm.. dreaming.. he said in the darkness. With no one there to hear him, he might as well just say it to himself. He felt his body start to freefall towards nowhere. Black was still black in every direction. All he had to look forward to was the harsh waking up he'd go through when he finally hit the ground.. wherever it was.
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>I agree, calling it a 1.5 works well because it didn’t advance the plot so much as just being a side adventure. The cliffhanger adds some good drama :3 Love the title tie in too! But ya may want to add a timestamp ;)</td></tr></table> To die without the physical form dying, to basically phase right out of existence; normal pendragons would call it and end, Fronima enthusiast would call it a break through, Mist Sterlu still wasn’t sure yet. Some days she wanted to believe that it was just a fantastical dream she could wake up from. Even then, the concept of days and nights and time is nonexistent in a realm of magic and nightmares. Her time, which could not be measured in minutes or hours or days, sometimes moved forwards or backwards, or even stopped completely. Small things like space and time didn’t even hold a key role on this playing field. Everything was intertwined and connected in such a way that you could never follow the same path more then once. It was due to this tangled “net" that something altered her when a familiar mind entered the dream land. With barely even thinking about it, she was there, outside of the dream bubble of someone she used too know. Sometimes this happened, other times she never even noticed, when she did get that strange feeling she’d often lurk on the outside of the bubble and watch the dream play out, for a while it made her feel like she had a connection with the dreamer, it was that connection that kept her “whole", instead of drifting apart like the spirits who arrived here in the normal fashion. She peered inwards down, not so much with her eyes but with her soul. The darkness was thick, and it looked like it might be some one in a coma without any sort of brain activity. But wait she thought she could see something moving on the inside, falling in through the black. In a second she knew who it was, {Veja…}, she knew he most likely couldn’t hear her, but she sent it out any way. Veja Siruls the last living ‘dragon she had ever spoken too. He had tried to save her, but the powers that were at play were much stronger than either of them. Her fate had probably been sealed as soon as she arrived in Fronima, she had accepted this, but a part of her believed that Veja wished he could have done more, she guess that there was more going on in his life that seemed to haunt him. This dream he was falling into…falling, ironic no, wasn’t likely to be anything pleasant. There had to be something she could do for him, he probably hadn’t had a real solid sleep in months, or had it already been years? {Las shaja ra ledhs!} It was the only thing she could think of, unless she could get through the bubble, she was after all part of Fronima, she had to have some sort of power over what he saw. She pushed on the invisible force field that contained the dream and pictured her soul as a glowing light bleeding through to where he could see her. Shocked and amazed that it worked she tried to remember what she used to look like when she was alive so that he would recognize her, it was a memory that came and went. It took some time, put she was soon flying down along side Veja. “Mind if I repay my debt?" She wasn’t sure how aware he was so she didn’t wait for him to answer. Expanding her mind to understand what she could control and where she had her limits, she tried to slow down his fall, there was no saying what was at the bottom, and the light she made only went so far.
In his previous dreams, Veja constantly saw the memories of the problems he caused for other people. As if there was nothing else of his subconscience to replay in his resting mind, he continuously relived the moments of surprising pain and agony of the many dragons who would still be alive had Veja not crossed their path. However, there was one who he had never seen in a dream before. It was literally the last 'dragon that Veja ever wanted to see. In fact, it was the main reason why he avoided dreaming and sleeping altogether. It was a failure he could never forget because it wasn't based on bad luck. He was merely too slow and too weak to get through to her. It was the only one that he really blamed himself for. Why? Of all the possible creatures he second-hand killed, why her? Had she come to torment him too? Veja's initial reaction was to float away somehow, but his reactions were paralyzed. The scolding words of this long-forgotten pendragon would scar his heart the most. Right after hearing his name channeled through his mind, he instinctively covered his ears to block out any more words. But unlike the previous dreams, there was something different to her. She brought more than just light into the darkness. It was much more than his imagination. He felt it just by her floating close to him. Still afraid to hear what she had to say, he kept his ears covered but only lightly enough to hear the last few words. ..pay my debt? What? What did she owe him? What could she possibly have left to give to him? Why would she even bother? As their descent started to slow, Veja began to remember. He pieced together the vivid memory of their travels in Fronima. He saved her initially. That's how they met. It was her bubble that he floated into. And now, she was in his. But how could she save him? She is only a dream.. right? The possibility of what she could've been made Veja's heart jump. It wasn't his imagination taunting him. It was real. She was real. She was.. "Mist.. is that you? Is it REALLY you?" He took his hands from his ears and touched her face. It could've just been heat from the light, but it felt warm. Veja's eyes began to leak with tears when he fully believed it. He grabbed her quickly and hugged her. He made no sounds as he did it. It was a smooth and silent motion. He closed his eyes and let his head rest on her shoulder. He couldn't think of anything to say, but he knew if he said something she would know. His voice would be filled with tears if he did. He just didn't want her to see him cry, that's all.
It made Mist sad to see Veja cover his ears; the torment in his mind was unimaginable. It pulled at her heart strings to know that he had kept on living his pains while she had been given the chance to have her own regrets swept away. When he first started to open his eyes it didn’t look like he really saw her, not in the physical way, but in the sense that he was conflicting within himself whether she was real or not. However the look on his face when it all came together was priceless, Mist couldn’t stop a huge grin from spreading across her face. She wasn’t so surprised when he reached out to touch her face, but she was a little thrown off when he gave her a hug. She wasn’t used to such outwards display of affection; she may have hesitated if only for a moment, but after recovering from the mild shock she was quick to return the hug. “I’m as real as anything here can be,"she said in his ear with a bit of a laugh,“maybe even a little more real then the things you’ll see here." she added as a bit of an after thought. For a minute after that they just held on to each other in silence, each using the other as a sort of life raft. Then she took him of the shoulders and lightly pushed him forward. If there where any traces of tears left she made a point not to mention it. “Let me see what the world has done to you." She then held him there, looking over the face that was one of the few ones she could clearly imagine. Now she just needed to update her memory with the noticeably older features. There were dark circles underneath his eyes from the lack of sleep, a lack that was probably affecting him in many more ways. While on the other hand, she knew that her own appearance had barely changed. “So…how’ve you been?" She knew it should be obvious by his current state and that question sounded way too casual for their situation but she really couldn’t think of anything else to say. At least she hadn’t bothered to ask him about the weather. Just seeing him made her last few thoughts of life come back to her and she was interested to know if there had been any sort of after affect.
"..as real as anything.." It was all he needed to hear. Veja had been having a hard time comprehending just what is real or not. His lack of sleep made reality and dreams collide. It was hard living when he couldn't trust whether someone in front of him was real or just another picture from his imagination. Just by seeing Mist again, Veja felt bits of his sanity returning. He almost fell asleep in his dream by lying on her shoulder. After their moment of silence, Mist finally got a good look at him. Veja felt a bit ashamed as he scratched his head in front of her. He really hadn't taken care of his body in quite the while. His hair was messy, his eyes probably looked crazed due to lack of sleep, and his clothing was ragged and dirty. He wiped the remaining tears from his eyes. He smiled. "The world hasn't really done this to me, I just.. haven't been taking care of it. That's all.." He was definitely older. How long was it? Two... three... four years? I'm sorta surprised that you can remember me. It's been quite some time since we last met. You look just the same though. I guess the aging process of Fronima didn't apply to you. How he looked was somewhat of a funny story. How he was doing was not. She asked the question quite plainly and she was expecting an honest answer. Of course, for Veja, it wasn't easy giving an answer to this. Over the past couple of years, he had been avoiding society as a whole. He isolated himself from everyone who even remotely cared about him. His mind then started to deteriorate as his grasp of reality faded away. Not a lot of good things happened, and there wasn't much of anything he really wanted to say. "Well.. things haven't been going so well. Life's been pretty stressful. That's the long story put short anyway." He didn't want her to get all depressed from such a sad, self-destructive story. It wasn't the direction he wanted this conversation to go in."You must have a lot more stories than me to tell. I mean, you do live in the world of dreams now. I guess it can't be too bad here, is it?"
She was almost afraid to let go of his shoulders, just in case he was to collapse at any second, but hearing him become more talkative gave her hope. Surprised? How could she forget him? It wasn’t every day you ran into people in Fronima, even her fading memories of being alive didn’t take away many of her memories from arriving in the dream world. She wanted to tell him that he should take a personal day away from everything that was causing him stress, but since it was mostly in his head there was no easy escape. “I recommend that you take a long hot bath when you have a chance, hopefully it will clear your head." She ruffled up his already messy hair to prove her point that a bath would help in more ways than one. “Souls never really age, or at least from what I’ve learnt. Everyone one who has ever lived is here now." She failed to point out that souls that were taking by the rapine probably didn't have the same peaceful end. The way I look too you is only partly real, but I’m all here on the inside." She smiled, not wanting to worry him. She got the impression that he didn’t really want to talk about himself to much, so she didn’t press him for answers. “For someone who’s lived a fulfilling life in the world, I’d have to say that coming here after words isn’t so bad." She crossed her legs now and sat suspending in their little circle of light.“As for stories well… they kind of all blend together, that’s how almost everything is here. Unless it’s a dream bubble or part of someone’s powerful spell. It’s definitely been an adventure, some days I can become completely engross in what I doing I’ll forget that there used to be more to it then just being." She paused, a little embarrassed at her own comment, it seemed shameful to forget the rest of the world, everyone who had cared for her, everyone who had mourned for her. “When you’re here to get a real sense that you’re part of something," she continued, trying to change the subject. “when ever something happens here, if they’re any sort of flux on the fabrics of this universe, we all feel it…oh look at me rambling on." It was surprising to hear her own voice, strange even. She had never been much of a talker before, but being “silent" for a few years must do that to a person. A part of her just wanted to talk about all the things she’d seen, everything that she had felt, but her other half believe that anyone would have a hard time understanding.
Veja felt relieved when she ran her fingers through his hair. Almost as if her hands were able to clear his head for him. "I'm Veja," he replied. "I never mixed well with water.. although I can make an exception." He did need a bath. It was a good thing that this dream didn't make his odor apparent. Veja remembered that he was close by the Lake when he fell asleep. I can jump in right after this, I guess. As she begun to explain herself, Veja found himself a bit puzzled. He begun to take in as many facts as he could from her. Veja started coming to his own conclusions about things when he traveled here, a few years ago. He realized that the only reason why he 'aged' in Fronima was due to the fact that he brought his actual body with him. As she continued about aging and her partial realism and things about the universe, Veja found out what was so odd about this situation. He wasn't the one talking. That thought brought out another smile from his face. It felt so out of character for them both. "It looks like we switched roles. Here you are, so fully enlightened about this unchartered magical area, and all I can do is sit here and nod about it. All I can remember about this place are seals and.. holes." Veja took a bit of a pause when he mentioned holes. He had vivid memories of them. None of them were very pleasant. "I feel happy for you though. It isn't easy for many in this world to put the past behind us. You seem to be having fun here. I'm sure your sister would be happy to here that." Veja was instantly reminded of Eka and how they met at the ice. With his luck, he thought, he could probably see her again and tell her how well Mist was doing. Then again, his luck would probably turn around and put both him and Eka in danger just like the last time. At least they made it out alive. That wouldn't be a happy tale to have to tell Mist.
Mist smiled at the reference to his translated name. “Just don’t go burning your self out okay?" Seeing him smile a few times really helped to lighten her mood, interaction, that’s what had been missing of the past three years. It was good to get some of it back, if even for a while. His comment about them switching roles almost made her laugh, she remembered how confused she was when she first arrived here and how Veja had explain all that he knew to her. Everything she had learnt that day now seemed like the small tip of and iceberg. “The holes are still around, I just don’t notice them so much," she wouldn’t be surprised if she passed through them daily, but it was hard to focus on anything solid most of the time.“the seals however, I think were due to our strange circumstance." Ever since then she hadn’t noticed any real restriction on her magic, but then again she had no real reason to use magic anyway. She noticed how he paused after mentioning holes, “Don’t worry about either of those things, they shouldn’t be any where near a normal dream." She was able to say that with a fair bit of confidence, and looking around now she remembered they where still floating in a boring pit of darkness. “How ‘bout a change of scenery, where’s the one place in the world you love to be?" She was hoping that she’d been able to test out her new powers, see how much control she could really have over someone’s dream now that she was inside of it. Her sister… just the thought of her made Mist falter, it even stung a bit, but she was sure that Veja didn’t mean any harm from mentioning her. She had been able to start putting the past behind her, but it seemed that as soon as it was brought forward again, it came as a land slide. “Have you heard anything about her? Is she doing okay?" She asked, feeling rather helpless on the matter.
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>Sorry for the huge delay!! I've been finishing lots of end-term projects for class and everytime I think I can come up with something for this, I end up stopping. Anyway, back on with the show.</td></tr></table> Mist was right, holes don't travel into a dream. She really did know a lot more about things than Veja did now. The sudden shift in knowledge was quite awkward. "Ah well.", he said. "At least I can rest easy in my own dream right?" With the exception of Mist's light however, it was still pretty dark. It was peaceful, but it didn't give a really soothing feeling. Apparently, Mist thought that she'd be able to change all that. His old dorm room would be nice. Maybe even right where he was currently sleeping at Magi Lake. Yes, it was a bit more lively there. But before Veja could make any suggestions, a slip of the tongue made things a bit darker than the darkness already surrounding them. Mist didn't sound so 'happy' to hear about her sister. She seemed quite distressed about it actually. Veja really didn't know how to cover himself from this one. "Ah.. umm.. I'm sure she's fine. Yeah. She's gotta be! In fact, I seen her a few years back! She was doing fine. " Veja tried his best to smile through it. He tried to avoid going through the falls in the ice and finding her physical body in someone else's possession. Mist could probably see it in his eyes though. He wondered there for a moment if she was still able to go through his thoughts. "She misses you a lot. I guess she just wants to know what happened to you. I kinda kept the details a secret. I sorta thought it would worry her too much if she knew everything then." This is some weird Deja vu, he thought. It seems like I'm trying to do the same thing again.. The one place in the world I'd love to be? Anywhere but this situation..
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>I had assumed as much, things got a little crazy around here these last few weeks as well, I didn’t even see your reply until the 24th. But hey, we made it, go us!</td></tr></table> ‘…rest easy in my own dream right?’ That’s what she was hoping for any way, she couldn’t imaging how painful life would be if you couldn’t even find comfort while you slept. It would feel as if every relief, every escape, was blocked, and that was something she could relate too. She watched his green eyes flutter about as he thought about her question but the awkward jolt of her sister had an unsettling effect on them both. By the way he answered her other question she could tell there was something more, normally in this kind of situation she would try and read his mind if she thought it was important enough to try. Reading someone’s mind was intrusive, especially when done on someone you called a friend, he probably had a good reason to not want to tell her the details. Another downside to try reading his mind was that she wasn’t sure if it would even work, because in a sense, she was partially in his mind right now, if she tried to skim through it she wouldn’t be surprised if their surroundings changed to match his memories. Having heard a bit about Veja’s past, she was fearful of the possibilities of diving into his mind and bringing those moments back to life. That wouldn’t help him to relax in any way. She nodded and looked away when he mentioned keeping the details away from Eka, she was still young, the truth may have put crazy ideas into her head. It was best if she didn’t know the full truth. It seemed that while her own mind had started to wonder, thinking about how her sister was doing, their surroundings had started to change without her even doing anything. The darkness that surrounded them slowly shifted into the wide open frozen desert of Dhruv. Looking up she was surprised at the change, and it took her a moment to realize it was probably her own doing. Deep down she was more homesick then she let herself believe. “My bad." She said a little embarrassed.
