voidtreckernet | Audio | Early Egret 24

[Glorfindel answers almost immediately as Elves don't sleep, exactly. Though they do dream, and his has left him shaking, and his heart pounding at the memory of his first death.]

[He has tied his hair back and gently taps on the door to her cabin, once he locates it.]

[He intends to invite her to the kitchen for a nice cup of tea.]

"Hello?" he says quietly. "It is Glorfindel."

Edited 2020-04-16 06:51 (UTC)

[A muffled voice from the other side of the door]

One moment, please-

[Shortly afterward the door swings open; the girl on the other side has managed to throw clothes on, but the hair that frames her face is still drenched with sweat.]

Zelda, [She replies with a weary nod.] Forgive me, I don't believe we've met.

"I am new to this place," Glorfindel said. The woman on the other side of the door resembled an elf, but he suspected she was not one from his world, or Nerdanel or Curufin would have mentioned her. "I just woke from a dream very similar to the one you described. I thought it a flashback of my first death, but if you had it also..." He recalls they are in one of the Sleeper cars. "Perhaps we can discuss this in the dining car over a cup of tea? I would hate to wake anyone unnecessarily."

"I see."

She nods.

"Then I would be very glad to share a cup of tea with you, Glorfindel."

He led the way to the dining car and filled a teapot with tea leaves and water. He didn't bother with the kettle, but heated it himself, his hands glowing briefly.

He stopped himself as he found himself fussing with the milk and sugar and cups. "My dream. It reminded me of how I died, when I fought the Balrog and it pulled me to my death. But now that I am awake, I can see..." he paused a moment and forced himself to consider it again. "Certain inconsistencies."

"Was your dream also something familiar to you?" he asked.

Zelda watches her new acquaintance perform that remarkable little trick- was it magic? A side-effect of the glowing? Did he always glow?

On the other hand, they have more immediate concerns- and who knows, perhaps it's rude to ask.

"A Balrog?" she asks for clarification. "Forgive me, I don't think I'm familiar with the term.... And yes. I was in a garden I used to frequent when I was young. But I don't know if that's the connection- everyone seems to see something different."

A slight pause. "And besides, the garden was destroyed years ago. The only way I can imagine it mattering is that it mattered once to me."

He nodded, and poured out the steaming tea into their cups and cradled his. "Mine was similar. It reminded me of Gondolin before the Fall, when the skies were crystal clear and beautiful. Then came the Darkness, and the Balrogs came and laid waste to the city."

"I died fighting one, you see," he said. "I was protecting those fleeing the city. I killed it, and it fell into a deep ravine. But, as it fell, it grabbed me and dragged me after it." He took a deep breath and stared at his tea.

[Eva was barely awake, but now-

Her eyes are wide. Maybe even a bit scared.]

Dreams? But that- That sounds like a mission dream?

[No. No. It's too soon for another mission, right?]

[Zelda wishes she could be more reassuring, but honestly Eva's probably right to be worried.]

Perhaps. But some things still trouble me....

[Beyond the obvious, she means.]

Not least of which is the point that Nita just brought up- that this is the second time some of us have seen this vision.

Some-... the Seers, then?

[Eva visibly blanches, even as she reaches for the coldness of Duty and wraps that heavy, heavy mantle about her.]

The breach that caused the dreams. I wasn't trainside, but... Yet if it's just the Seers...

What do you think, Zelda-san?

Yes, that breach.

I don't know how many saw the original dream... our minds were unusually open at the time, so it might have been more than usual. But unless someone else speaks up, I would guess that this one is more usual.

[Ah, Duty. A ragged mantle, that, and one that has trouble keeping out the cold. But it's one Zelda recognizes, and in response she straightens a bit herself- it is the least she can do, after all, to give her best.]

My first thought is that this... whatever it is is not limited to one world, or at least one location. Most missions seem to be, correct? But I saw a place I knew, Curufin reports seeing a place he knew, and I imagine others will say the same.

Assume everyone, expect only a few.

[She has a funny feeling she'd amongst the few if she'd been on the train. Gods and Legends of the Four, she hates the fox of fate.

There is a slow blink before Eva looks visibly unsettled and so very, very, very done at the same time.]

So, basically, Wold ending shenanigans, possibly with a side of cultists, likely with a side of gods with a possible side of gods being used in ways they shouldn't, and we're... heroes? went to stop it?

[Yep. So very, very done with everything.]

[ Curufin falls out of his bunk with a crash, shouting. Probably waking up his roomies. He rolls to his feet and leaps for the ICP, checking the network quickly. Aha. Just as he thought. ]

You too, Zelda? You dreamed of a disaster?

I dreamed I was lying on the forest floor of a place I loved, a long time ago. The branches were rocking in a soft wind, and the stars were glittering down through the leaves. There was a full moon somewhere above, and its light was bright enough to make the woods a tapestry of glowing silver rays and mysterious shadows.

And then, suddenly, there were enormous dark shapes leaning over me from above the trees, threatening, terrible. I had barely time to spring to my feet and grab my weapons, when the ground literally fell out from under me. I was falling, and there was no longer any world to fall through. Furthermore, there was hardly any me to fall; it was as though I had become a ghost again, only far worse. I heard a whole planet full of voices screaming. I cursed and yelled along with them, and then I woke up.

Eva's right. This feels like a mission dream.

Edited 2020-04-16 14:29 (UTC)

A place you loved, you said. And it was night?

[Biting her lip; most of the rest corresponds, but the original setting....]

The dreams are at least somewhat individual, then. At least the first part.

Yes, the forest in the Pass of Aglon, not far from my castle. It was night, and I had gone out to get some fresh air and a little contemplative time alone.

[ Apparently there was some variation in the possible dream settings. ]

I guess so. But what did you see, Zelda? Where were you, and was it day or night?

You as well?

[ Nerdanel looks disheveled ]

I am beginning to understand why the Arafinwean side of the family so often looks sleep-deprived!

[Nodding] I as well.

[Doesn't everyone?]

Are you all right?

I will be, aye. I do not know if I prefer dreams of falling into the Void over watching worlds die... I do have to wonder what this means for our future.

I think the obvious answer is "nothing pleasant."

[A small grim smile.]

But I don't think there's enough evidence here to be sure until it is upon us. And that worries me all the more.

Sadly true.

[ She grimaces in agreement ]

Aye - unlike the last... there is nothing specific enough in this one.

Then yours followed the same pattern? I had hoped someone might have had a different version of the dream... but the only thing which seems to be different is where one is at the start.

Yes. [ She closes her eyes to recall the dream, just in case there was something extra ]

I was lying beneath the Trees in Tirion in the mingling, the sky silver and gold, and the grass soft beneath. And then... Darkness. And falling. And people screaming. Twas the Darkening all over again.

[ she shudders ]

[Her brow furrows.]

Forgive me, you've seen something like this before?

"Like this, yes." She breathes.

"The Darkening... when the Dark Enemy brought Ungoliant and slew the Two Trees, and plunged the world into darkness."

[Nita's own voice is tight - she's been gritting her teeth, off and on, since she first woke up.]

I remember that dream. We've had it before, too; after that whole we were asleep, remember? The breach?

... Is it okay if I come by?

[Dairine's no Seer, but she and Zelda are sharing a Cabin, and it'd do the wizard good to see her sister as well.]

Oh. Oh, no.

[Zelda breathes out, because Nita's right. How hadn't she seen it before?]

I think that might be for the best.

Yeah.

Be right there.

[And indeed, Nita will, expression grim, Manual held by her side, wearing the silver-and-blue pajamas the train had given her.]

Zelda? It's Nita.

[Zelda answers the door a moment later, looking as though she's just thrown on the standard uniform.]

Come in,

[She says, gesturing toward her own cot.]

Feel free to sit down; I think I need to stand for a bit.

I know what you mean.

[Nita's looking pretty bed-ruffled herself.

She opts to lean on the bed instead, giving her sister a half-hearted wave to whichever bed Dairine's claimed.]

Most of those dreams weren't pleasant, but to have that one again... being able to walk around helps, after that.

[Zelda nods; after feeling herself dissolved, it's rather comforting to be reminded of the presence of her own body again.]

I know. And as there don't seem to be many clues in the dreams, we might as well take what comfort we can.

[She sighs, running a hand absently through her hair.]

There are no clues to the world we are heading for next, if there is one. Did you notice? Everyone sees someplace personal to them.

Yeah...

It's almost as if it was designed to spook people.

[Again, Nita thinks of the Big Bang; if you heard the echo that cosmic laughter while out on errantry, it could unnerve the hell out of you.]

If that's how all the worlds were united - or separated...

It seems almost too vague to be metaphor.

... The hell kinda dream is that?

And others having it?

The hell? What the actual hell is going on in this place?

[Duo being new has never heard of this happening, and sound rather pissed off that he was brought here under false pretences, not that he remembers ever being asked if he wanted to join this Merry Band of Misfits... But he definitely never wanted to be dragged into dissolving worlds and screaming!]

The true kind, unfortunately.

[Oh, Duo, if you ever figure that out, please consider filling in the rest of the train.]

Still, part of me wishes there was more to work with. Prophecy is always tricky to interpret, but this one....

[Is REALLY not liking the sound of this. At. All.

Then the sound of a deep breath... and a sigh. And when he speaks next it's much calmer.]

What do you remember about the dream? Any exacts or just thoughts and impressions?

I remember enough.

[But how to begin? She lets out a breath of her own, then tries to collect her thoughts.]

I was in a garden I used to play in as a child. The sun was shining and I was looking up, watching the clouds. But then the sky darkened- not clouded over, not nightfall, but as though some dark thing I couldn't quite see was blocking it out.

And then the ground fell away... no, everything fell away. The ground beneath me, the world around me, my very self.

All there was was the screaming. My own, and that of so many others like me.

[Really really REALLY does not like the sound of that... He'd had nightmares like that. But back in his world, during a chaotic time. And he doubted this was another Libra falling onto a planet to destroy it. This was going to be something worse, clearly...]

... These dreams? You've had em before?

They come true?

I had my first prophetic dream when I was nine.

[There's a flatness to her tone there that Duo, if he's listening, might interpret as, Please don't ask me to elaborate.

Because she will, if she has to. But, establishing her prophetic credentials aside, that particular story wasn't pleasant to live through and it won't be fun to recount.]

And I understand that it's not an uncommon gift among the passengers here.

Edited 2020-04-19 04:42 (UTC)

[Duo had no intention of asking about things that didn't involve him or weren't important, that and he knew the signs of someone with something to hide, something painful they didn't want to share. No way was he poking at that hornets nest.]

Beats me, lady. This is all new to me. I just needed to know if this is just some fever dream or if you guys dream these things and they come true...

[Because if it was true it was terrifying, and Duo's guard was now all the way up]

[ Well, that sounds.. unpleasant. There's also something oddly familiar about it, although he can't immediately place it. Inigo frowns in concern, but by the time he uses one of the ICPs to reply, he makes sure to have a smile on his face. ]

Are you sure you didn't just have a nightmare..? [ At least his tone doesn't sound dismissive as much as it sounds like he's trying to be reassuring, despite his own worries. ]

[Zelda shakes her head.]

I assure you, sir, I have enough acquaintance with both prophecy and nightmares to be able to tell the difference between the two.

[ That's.. bad news.

It's unlike Inigo to want to ever linger on bad news though, so he quickly forces himself to smile instead. ]

I'm sorry, milady, that's very unfortunate. Someone as lovely as you shouldn't have to deal with prophecy when it's this nasty.

[Alas, Zelda has not gotten many prophecies of true love and upcoming ice cream parties.

I-

[Her nose wrinkles slightly as she parses Inigo's change of tone- it's flirting, she knows that, and probably casual, but...um. Hers was not an adolescence long on flirtatious banter. Or, you know, people in general.]

Under the circumstances, I think I would prefer to be forewarned. No matter what the headaches it might bring.

Does it have to be you though who has to bear that burden? [ He says it, and then promptly shoves the figurative foot in his mouth and quickly adds: ] Er-- Not that I mean to say you aren't capable.

[ He doesn't even know her! And if the girls back home are any indication, he really should make sure to not accidentally insult one.. It might just cost him his life.. ]

But it seems like a lot for one person to carry.

[Closing her eyes for a moment]

It's kind of you to say that.

[There are others in Hyrule probably more deserving of that consideration, in her opinion, but there's no need to dwell on that.]

But I really am used to it. And at the moment, at least, I'm not the only one to have seen this. I simply happened to be the one who reached for the ICP first.

.. [ He pauses before letting out a slight breath. ]

I suppose you are right. [ About that last part. ] It seems there are quite some people in this place who have the ability to see the future in some form or another.

[ It's enough to almost make him feel weird for not being able to do that! ]

I hope you've at least found some comfort in sharing it like this. It's no good keeping problems all to yourself.

Audio | Early Egret 24

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And here I hope I make sense. ^^;

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