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tampered2006-10-27 06:20 pm
astheravenflies.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2006-10-27 06:20 pm
Log: Complete
When; Oct 26th ( Decay Day )
Rating; PG-13 for language
Characters; Matthew Cable![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
astheravenflies, Morpheus 1st_dream_king, Daniel Hall 2nd_dream_king, The Corinthian bitingnightmare
Summary; A reunion, and a first meeting added to some universal paradoxes with a dash of snark.
Log;
John hadn't seemed too distressed about his condition so ol'Cori had few worries about leaving the man alone. He did have his concerns, but they were best left unspoken. The walk to the square was silent with the occasional groan from a rotting citizen. With his pale skin and white hair the Corinthian may as well be a cold corpse himself, no need to think about blending in. At least this lot wasn't asking for brains. Was the nightmare the first to arrive?
-
The young boy... young man? He sat on the steps to the left side of the fountain, watching its jet streams shoot upward in a sleek pool of images. Daniel, or was it Dream? He couldn't see the images, or perhaps he did but did not have the capabilities to interpret them. His expression was peaceful despite the walking dead. Friendship was all he cared for, to see a familiar face, the two who had guarded him before his... was it birth? Death?
-
There was no need for either Matthew or Morpheus to walk to the square, for the former Lord Shaper, had simply wrapped his old companion in a towel, then tucked the rotting raven into the folds of his cloak.
A thought, and a step through nothing, and both emerged from the lengethening shadow of one of the buildings that surround the square.
-
Matthew squirmed, unable to stay still with the sensation of little bugs crawling just under his skin.
He did try to keep the moving around to a minimum, just in case it would somehow mess up Morpheus' ability or something.
He didn't like the darkness of Morpheus' cloak much either, and almost as soon as he felt his former boss take a step, he was asking to be let out.
Oblidging, niether said anything, but Morpheus was tactful enough to keep the raven in full view so that Matthew could see everything around him.
-
The Corinthian noted the golden boy first, perhaps the earliest to arrive on the scene after all.
"Daniel," he said to their true lord, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses though the nightmare smiled nonetheless. A true smile.
-
"Corinthian," the boy looked up from his thoughts, returning the smile. "I remember it only days ago, yet I feel it's been so long..." His green eyes glanced left and right for the raven, and... that man. "I hope they come too," Daniel nodded, "also, it's pleasant to see you haven't been plagued by this condition."
You made me this way. The Corinthian kept that thought to himself as he joined the boy on the steps. "I'm just lucky," he offered Daniel a smirk.
-
The past and present kings of Dreams.
An impossibility under any circumstance...one would think.
Nevertheless, here they were; Morpheus dressing the part in long robes of that indeterminate blue-black color...the ghost of remembered flames licking up from the trim in luminescent threads.
He would not have come ordinarily, but Matthew was incapable of flight in his present state, and Morpheus knew the raven wanted very much to see his lord.
Obsidian-and-starfield eyes glanced between the golden boy, and the white phantom.
They were a tableau of stark contrast: White, and black, all surrounding the shining center.
-
Matthew couldn't help feeling a little better seeing The Corinthian, and Daniel, and as an added bonus: niether were affected by the rotting.
The bird must just be the odd man out here....maybe it was something to do with having once been human?
" Hi" he greeted from the bundle of towels held carefully in Morpheus' hands.
-
"You look like decomposing shit," said the Corinthian, directing his smirk towards the bundle of non-feathers.
-
"Matthew... you've been affected," said the young Dream King, or prince, stating the very obvious. His mouth took on a slant frown but his expression changed when he noted who was carrying the bird. He rose to his feet. ".... Sir," Daniel nodded to Morpheus politely.
-
The nightmare had an urge to kneel in the presence of not one but two masters, instead he kept his seat.
-
Morpheus simply inclined his head to Daniel.
The stars in his eyes sparkled briefly with a strange non-emotion. Pride? Flattery? Who could say....
" You owe no fealty to me, for we are only seperated by a point of view" he said in a characteristically cryptic response, and simply peeled back the corner of the towel wrapping the Raven in his hands.
-
Matthew was a sorry sight indeed, but he still threw Cori a dirty look.
" And you look like the terminator" he responded irritably.
Remembering in whose company he was in, the raven had the good grace to look sheepish....
" Uh...ya...I'm sorry for the smell." he said feeling a little embarrassed.
-
"But I know you, we've spoken. You told me many things..." Daniel shook his head once then smiled to the bird, "please don't apologize, I think we should be more concerned about your condition, Matthew." Of course, that retort earned a strange look at the nightmare as well. "What does he mean?"
-
Tch, touché. He gave Matthew a brief rise of his middle finger. Such uncouth behavior before the two lords, then again the raven and the nightmare had always interacted that way. The Corinthian adjusted his glasses briefly. "It's nothing, Lord," he said, brushing off the boy's concern with a shake of his head. The blue eye glowed a sliver, harder to notice in the daylight.
-
The briefest flash of concern flitted through obsidian eyes that should have been mirrored in the blonde boy before him .
" Yes...but not long after, you inherited my title, lands, and existence." he stated simply, not particularly concerned with whether or not such a notion would make sense to this human remnant of the current Dream King, but rather where the power of the Endless was if another piece aside from Morpheus himself remained.
-
"I hate to interrupt" Matthew said, " but since this is making no damn sense to me, I'm not too sure he" - a brief turn of his bird's head was all he could manage by way of an indicator that he was talking about Daniel "- is going to get it either."
Looking back at the Dream.....prince?...the raven continued. " Don't worry about me....this is only temporary....right?"
The last bit was directed at the Corinthian, since among them, he had been in The City the longest.
-
"Right," the Corinthian answered.
-
"Please, my name is Daniel..." That slant frown remained. He turned his green gaze to the other two, the tall and imposing gaunt man, the poor bird in his hands. "I don't understand, you're right. I know that you protected me through fire and fog," he said this to the nightmare, "and you in the castle. You watched over me." This he said to Matthew. "You, you instructed me," Daniel looked Morpheus in the starry eye, unafraid but perhaps slightly intimidated.
"May I see him?" He asked the former king politely, hand reaching out to the featherless raven.
-
Morpheus said nothing, instead seemed to consider Daniel's words for a moment, then looked down at Matthew.
-
"Uh...sure..." the raven responded.
-
Very carefully, then, Morpheus offerred the now slightly moist bundle of decaying bird to Daniel.
" Be mindful of his left leg....it is dangerously close to coming apart." he warned.
-
Matthew managed to supress a caw of pain when being moved. Yes, he was coming apart, and creatures are simply not meant to still be alive or conscious while something so drastic takes place.
-
"I'll be very careful," he smiled to both Morpheus and Matthew. Daniel handled the moist bundle quite delicately. One wondered where he learned his mode of behavior if he truly had burned away when the current king assimilated his immortality. He was not the two year old, or was it four year old? Mindful of the left leg, the boy stroked his fingertips along Matthew's bare skin.
-
The Corinthian watched, close to the trio but distant in his own way. An observer.
-
Matthew was feeling a bit more embarrassed at all the attention...why had he have to be the only one hit with a curse? And such a gross one at that.
Strangely, Daniel's touch on his poor featherless skin didn't hurt as other's had.
He was grateful for that, and was about to tell Daniel so....when something changed.
Hard to say what at first, but the longer his new lord held him, the better he started to feel. The crawling sensation was the first to go...then, as the two kings, and the nightmare looked on, the advanced decompisition started to run in reverse; instead of rotting away into pieces, the raven was being put back together! Like time-lapse photography running backwards.
-
Morpheus watched his old friend with little in the way of emotion evident in his expression, but as the change became noticable, his mouth quirked into a knowing half-smile.
First the lesions in Matthew's skin disappeared, then the sparse feathers that had clung stubbornly to the raven's body multiplied, and filled themselves in.
-
" Holy Shit!" Matthew exclaimed. " Wow, thanks a lot!".
He tryed not to wiggle around too much, but his beak swiveled back and forth as he looked himself over, marvelling at the sleek new feathers.
-
When the process was complete, Daniel retracted his hand and studied it curiously. "I... I didn't think I could do such a thing, but I knew I should try," he said to the pair, nodding, "you're welcome, Matthew."
-
The Corinthian quirked a brow over the entire process. It only proved that Daniel was their lord, or their lord Daniel, whichever. Was it their ticket back to their world? He adjusted his glasses again, averting his gaze.
-
Morpheus nodded, and brushed off his hands where bits of downy feathers had stuck to the trim on his robes' sleeves.
" It is probable you can not remember the process, but when you came through the barrier, you must have been forced to bring your memories, indeed your very self, as Daniel Hall to the forefront, for Dream of the Endless may not enter the city of the ticking clock."
He paused considering the young blonde before him.
"You are still an Endless, still the incarnation of Dream, but here that part of you has become supressed...
Most troubling." he concluded.
For if Dream was here....who was looking after the Dreaming, or the world beyond?
-
Matthew had felt a lot better....for all of two minutes.
That was how long it took for it to sink in that Daniel was still lord, and still responsible.
The memories of the Dreaming fading away during Morpheus' captivity jumped instantly to the forefront.
Quite finished with being held and coddled, Matthew squirmed out of the nasty towel that had been soaking up his leaking body, and used a single downsweep of wings to take flight.
For a moment he experienced a slight dilemna as to who's shoulder to perch on. Usually he would take up post on Dream's shoulder when they talked... with Morpheus standing there, it felt too much like a snub.
Compramising, and getting a little payback, he landed squarely on the top of the Corinthian's head.
Sure he would most likely get swatted for it, but the toothy jackass deserved it.
-
Dream... Endless, yes he remembered these things, interacting with them, the brothers who told him stories, the librarian who sought for him toys, but he scarely recalled becoming one of them. Daniel did however remember this man, Morpheus, discussing such... terms. That's what intimidated him about the gaunt gentleman, the first, the teacher, the wiser.
"If that were true... then have I abandoned my responsibilities," he asked, almost ashamed.
-
"No, no you haven't. It's a paradox, a separation of the two. You would not walk out," said the Corinthian, cool and calm. He didn't mean his words to be a snub to Morpheus either, but it was the truth. Master Oneiros would not leave the Dreaming unprepared, he wouldn't abandon his post, unlike some of his other creatures. He noticed then that Matthew was--urgh. The nightmare made a face, close to a sneer, but he didn't attempt to swat the raven away, evidence that his mood was subdued.
"Take a shit on me and you'll be taking years to die, birdy." Well, almost subdued.
-
The stars faded from Morpheus' eyes as he turned his gaze onto the nightmare...but it was not indignant anger as some might believe...it was the simple truth, and therefore a simply painful one.
" He is correct." Morpheus agreed...this incarnation would not leave his post.....
-
Matthew said nothing during the exchange, but he did give the Corinthian a quick peck. Childish? probably.
When the facts were all layed out, the raven still couldn't wrap his head around it, and ended up looking between the two kings.
It was almost comical how much they looked like mirror opposites, even with the newer king in this human guise.
Cocking his head to the side in a very bird-like gesture, Matthew noticed something different between the Daniel he knew as a baby, and this grown-up version.
" Hey....your eyes are green." he remarked.
-
"I would hope not," Daniel nodded to both nightmare and former shaper. Hmm, then he regarded the bird curiously, "have they not always been green?". As an infant he hardly remembered recognizing his own image in a mirror. The color of his eyes was lost to him. He noted Matthew's perch as well. "Corinthian, are you feeling unwell," asked the second king.
-
"You just noticed," said the nightmare to the bird only, dulled sarcasm on his tongue regarding Daniel's eyes. Peck him will he? He reached up viper-quick to tug on one of Matthew's tail feathers in retribution. "No, I'm fine," the white-blonde assured the boy, "if we're to leave now I'll follow you, Lord, uh... Daniel."
-
If at all possible, this would be the wisest course of action, and with his errand now rendered needless, Morpheus could resume his quiet travels....
If there was to be an exodus, the former king silently decided that he would remain....for a time.
There was much here that was 'new' and therefore of interest, as well as the Thessaliad. If he departed; he would ensure her safe passage away as well.
He owed her that much
Similarly, he kept silent on the question of whether or not the Corinthian was willing to leave this echo of the waking world....to leave the small taste of a life of his own ( and perhaps the magus) behind.
-
The raven let out a startled caw at the feather-pulling. Damn, but that stung!
The two kings seemed indulgent of Matthew & The Corinthian's antics, but still figuring it was better to leave this little battle of irritation go, he settled his wings back against the sides of his body.
" Hey, I just got to see him in person.....and I was a little distracted. With that pesky rotting and all."
...He hadn't been here long, but after today he'd had enough of the city and it's awful curses.
He would go too, naturally.....but still he didn't think he could leave without saying goodbye to Rue, to Vincent.....and most of all: to Morpheus.
-
The Corinthian was not completely willing, but neither would he deny his loyalty to Dream of the Endless. Loyal phantom, subservient monster, true nightmare, it was his duty to follow their lord back to the Dreaming. He would have liked to say goodbye, would like to ensure safe passage, but it was not his choice to make should the Dream King not permit it.
-
"Please, Corinthian, my name... What?" Daniel stared at the Corinthian thoughtfully. Leave? He could not even remember how he came to be here. There was wind, water, sun.... How could they? Now he appeared sheepish. "I... I don't know how, I wish I could say I did..."
-
Morpheus simply closed his eyes and let out a sigh of mild exasperation.
Naturally...He should have known once Daniel had been surprised at his ability to heal Matthew.
-
Matthew meanwhile took a quick hop, followed by a bit of wing lift to settle on Daniel's shoulder.
Morpheus would understand...this was about reasurring the kid, not so much preference.
" Ahh, don't feel bad. As far as I can tell nobody really remembers exactly how they got here, or has the foggiest how to leave."
-
Music to the Corinthian's ear? Not particularly. He didn't know how he felt about leaving, if he should be ecstatic or depressed by the mere possibility, if he deserved to feel one way or the other, if the feeling could even be reciprocated. Why should he feel at all? Should he be disappointed that Daniel did not know? The nightmare tipped his head slightly as Matthew fluttered off.
-
"I'm sorry, but I'd like to help," he nodded to the other three, raven now on his shoulder. He accepted the position of perch quite naturally. "If there's anything I can do... please tell me," said Daniel, honest.
-
" Ah, no worries, kid.."- the 'kid' part just slipped out of the raven before he could censor it. Well....it sort of applied again didn't it?.
"- we'll figure something out.."
Rating; PG-13 for language
Characters; Matthew Cable
astheravenflies, Morpheus 1st_dream_king, Daniel Hall 2nd_dream_king, The Corinthian bitingnightmareSummary; A reunion, and a first meeting added to some universal paradoxes with a dash of snark.
Log;
John hadn't seemed too distressed about his condition so ol'Cori had few worries about leaving the man alone. He did have his concerns, but they were best left unspoken. The walk to the square was silent with the occasional groan from a rotting citizen. With his pale skin and white hair the Corinthian may as well be a cold corpse himself, no need to think about blending in. At least this lot wasn't asking for brains. Was the nightmare the first to arrive?
-
The young boy... young man? He sat on the steps to the left side of the fountain, watching its jet streams shoot upward in a sleek pool of images. Daniel, or was it Dream? He couldn't see the images, or perhaps he did but did not have the capabilities to interpret them. His expression was peaceful despite the walking dead. Friendship was all he cared for, to see a familiar face, the two who had guarded him before his... was it birth? Death?
-
There was no need for either Matthew or Morpheus to walk to the square, for the former Lord Shaper, had simply wrapped his old companion in a towel, then tucked the rotting raven into the folds of his cloak.
A thought, and a step through nothing, and both emerged from the lengethening shadow of one of the buildings that surround the square.
-
Matthew squirmed, unable to stay still with the sensation of little bugs crawling just under his skin.
He did try to keep the moving around to a minimum, just in case it would somehow mess up Morpheus' ability or something.
He didn't like the darkness of Morpheus' cloak much either, and almost as soon as he felt his former boss take a step, he was asking to be let out.
Oblidging, niether said anything, but Morpheus was tactful enough to keep the raven in full view so that Matthew could see everything around him.
-
The Corinthian noted the golden boy first, perhaps the earliest to arrive on the scene after all.
"Daniel," he said to their true lord, eyes hidden behind his sunglasses though the nightmare smiled nonetheless. A true smile.
-
"Corinthian," the boy looked up from his thoughts, returning the smile. "I remember it only days ago, yet I feel it's been so long..." His green eyes glanced left and right for the raven, and... that man. "I hope they come too," Daniel nodded, "also, it's pleasant to see you haven't been plagued by this condition."
You made me this way. The Corinthian kept that thought to himself as he joined the boy on the steps. "I'm just lucky," he offered Daniel a smirk.
-
The past and present kings of Dreams.
An impossibility under any circumstance...one would think.
Nevertheless, here they were; Morpheus dressing the part in long robes of that indeterminate blue-black color...the ghost of remembered flames licking up from the trim in luminescent threads.
He would not have come ordinarily, but Matthew was incapable of flight in his present state, and Morpheus knew the raven wanted very much to see his lord.
Obsidian-and-starfield eyes glanced between the golden boy, and the white phantom.
They were a tableau of stark contrast: White, and black, all surrounding the shining center.
-
Matthew couldn't help feeling a little better seeing The Corinthian, and Daniel, and as an added bonus: niether were affected by the rotting.
The bird must just be the odd man out here....maybe it was something to do with having once been human?
" Hi" he greeted from the bundle of towels held carefully in Morpheus' hands.
-
"You look like decomposing shit," said the Corinthian, directing his smirk towards the bundle of non-feathers.
-
"Matthew... you've been affected," said the young Dream King, or prince, stating the very obvious. His mouth took on a slant frown but his expression changed when he noted who was carrying the bird. He rose to his feet. ".... Sir," Daniel nodded to Morpheus politely.
-
The nightmare had an urge to kneel in the presence of not one but two masters, instead he kept his seat.
-
Morpheus simply inclined his head to Daniel.
The stars in his eyes sparkled briefly with a strange non-emotion. Pride? Flattery? Who could say....
" You owe no fealty to me, for we are only seperated by a point of view" he said in a characteristically cryptic response, and simply peeled back the corner of the towel wrapping the Raven in his hands.
-
Matthew was a sorry sight indeed, but he still threw Cori a dirty look.
" And you look like the terminator" he responded irritably.
Remembering in whose company he was in, the raven had the good grace to look sheepish....
" Uh...ya...I'm sorry for the smell." he said feeling a little embarrassed.
-
"But I know you, we've spoken. You told me many things..." Daniel shook his head once then smiled to the bird, "please don't apologize, I think we should be more concerned about your condition, Matthew." Of course, that retort earned a strange look at the nightmare as well. "What does he mean?"
-
Tch, touché. He gave Matthew a brief rise of his middle finger. Such uncouth behavior before the two lords, then again the raven and the nightmare had always interacted that way. The Corinthian adjusted his glasses briefly. "It's nothing, Lord," he said, brushing off the boy's concern with a shake of his head. The blue eye glowed a sliver, harder to notice in the daylight.
-
The briefest flash of concern flitted through obsidian eyes that should have been mirrored in the blonde boy before him .
" Yes...but not long after, you inherited my title, lands, and existence." he stated simply, not particularly concerned with whether or not such a notion would make sense to this human remnant of the current Dream King, but rather where the power of the Endless was if another piece aside from Morpheus himself remained.
-
"I hate to interrupt" Matthew said, " but since this is making no damn sense to me, I'm not too sure he" - a brief turn of his bird's head was all he could manage by way of an indicator that he was talking about Daniel "- is going to get it either."
Looking back at the Dream.....prince?...the raven continued. " Don't worry about me....this is only temporary....right?"
The last bit was directed at the Corinthian, since among them, he had been in The City the longest.
-
"Right," the Corinthian answered.
-
"Please, my name is Daniel..." That slant frown remained. He turned his green gaze to the other two, the tall and imposing gaunt man, the poor bird in his hands. "I don't understand, you're right. I know that you protected me through fire and fog," he said this to the nightmare, "and you in the castle. You watched over me." This he said to Matthew. "You, you instructed me," Daniel looked Morpheus in the starry eye, unafraid but perhaps slightly intimidated.
"May I see him?" He asked the former king politely, hand reaching out to the featherless raven.
-
Morpheus said nothing, instead seemed to consider Daniel's words for a moment, then looked down at Matthew.
-
"Uh...sure..." the raven responded.
-
Very carefully, then, Morpheus offerred the now slightly moist bundle of decaying bird to Daniel.
" Be mindful of his left leg....it is dangerously close to coming apart." he warned.
-
Matthew managed to supress a caw of pain when being moved. Yes, he was coming apart, and creatures are simply not meant to still be alive or conscious while something so drastic takes place.
-
"I'll be very careful," he smiled to both Morpheus and Matthew. Daniel handled the moist bundle quite delicately. One wondered where he learned his mode of behavior if he truly had burned away when the current king assimilated his immortality. He was not the two year old, or was it four year old? Mindful of the left leg, the boy stroked his fingertips along Matthew's bare skin.
-
The Corinthian watched, close to the trio but distant in his own way. An observer.
-
Matthew was feeling a bit more embarrassed at all the attention...why had he have to be the only one hit with a curse? And such a gross one at that.
Strangely, Daniel's touch on his poor featherless skin didn't hurt as other's had.
He was grateful for that, and was about to tell Daniel so....when something changed.
Hard to say what at first, but the longer his new lord held him, the better he started to feel. The crawling sensation was the first to go...then, as the two kings, and the nightmare looked on, the advanced decompisition started to run in reverse; instead of rotting away into pieces, the raven was being put back together! Like time-lapse photography running backwards.
-
Morpheus watched his old friend with little in the way of emotion evident in his expression, but as the change became noticable, his mouth quirked into a knowing half-smile.
First the lesions in Matthew's skin disappeared, then the sparse feathers that had clung stubbornly to the raven's body multiplied, and filled themselves in.
-
" Holy Shit!" Matthew exclaimed. " Wow, thanks a lot!".
He tryed not to wiggle around too much, but his beak swiveled back and forth as he looked himself over, marvelling at the sleek new feathers.
-
When the process was complete, Daniel retracted his hand and studied it curiously. "I... I didn't think I could do such a thing, but I knew I should try," he said to the pair, nodding, "you're welcome, Matthew."
-
The Corinthian quirked a brow over the entire process. It only proved that Daniel was their lord, or their lord Daniel, whichever. Was it their ticket back to their world? He adjusted his glasses again, averting his gaze.
-
Morpheus nodded, and brushed off his hands where bits of downy feathers had stuck to the trim on his robes' sleeves.
" It is probable you can not remember the process, but when you came through the barrier, you must have been forced to bring your memories, indeed your very self, as Daniel Hall to the forefront, for Dream of the Endless may not enter the city of the ticking clock."
He paused considering the young blonde before him.
"You are still an Endless, still the incarnation of Dream, but here that part of you has become supressed...
Most troubling." he concluded.
For if Dream was here....who was looking after the Dreaming, or the world beyond?
-
Matthew had felt a lot better....for all of two minutes.
That was how long it took for it to sink in that Daniel was still lord, and still responsible.
The memories of the Dreaming fading away during Morpheus' captivity jumped instantly to the forefront.
Quite finished with being held and coddled, Matthew squirmed out of the nasty towel that had been soaking up his leaking body, and used a single downsweep of wings to take flight.
For a moment he experienced a slight dilemna as to who's shoulder to perch on. Usually he would take up post on Dream's shoulder when they talked... with Morpheus standing there, it felt too much like a snub.
Compramising, and getting a little payback, he landed squarely on the top of the Corinthian's head.
Sure he would most likely get swatted for it, but the toothy jackass deserved it.
-
Dream... Endless, yes he remembered these things, interacting with them, the brothers who told him stories, the librarian who sought for him toys, but he scarely recalled becoming one of them. Daniel did however remember this man, Morpheus, discussing such... terms. That's what intimidated him about the gaunt gentleman, the first, the teacher, the wiser.
"If that were true... then have I abandoned my responsibilities," he asked, almost ashamed.
-
"No, no you haven't. It's a paradox, a separation of the two. You would not walk out," said the Corinthian, cool and calm. He didn't mean his words to be a snub to Morpheus either, but it was the truth. Master Oneiros would not leave the Dreaming unprepared, he wouldn't abandon his post, unlike some of his other creatures. He noticed then that Matthew was--urgh. The nightmare made a face, close to a sneer, but he didn't attempt to swat the raven away, evidence that his mood was subdued.
"Take a shit on me and you'll be taking years to die, birdy." Well, almost subdued.
-
The stars faded from Morpheus' eyes as he turned his gaze onto the nightmare...but it was not indignant anger as some might believe...it was the simple truth, and therefore a simply painful one.
" He is correct." Morpheus agreed...this incarnation would not leave his post.....
-
Matthew said nothing during the exchange, but he did give the Corinthian a quick peck. Childish? probably.
When the facts were all layed out, the raven still couldn't wrap his head around it, and ended up looking between the two kings.
It was almost comical how much they looked like mirror opposites, even with the newer king in this human guise.
Cocking his head to the side in a very bird-like gesture, Matthew noticed something different between the Daniel he knew as a baby, and this grown-up version.
" Hey....your eyes are green." he remarked.
-
"I would hope not," Daniel nodded to both nightmare and former shaper. Hmm, then he regarded the bird curiously, "have they not always been green?". As an infant he hardly remembered recognizing his own image in a mirror. The color of his eyes was lost to him. He noted Matthew's perch as well. "Corinthian, are you feeling unwell," asked the second king.
-
"You just noticed," said the nightmare to the bird only, dulled sarcasm on his tongue regarding Daniel's eyes. Peck him will he? He reached up viper-quick to tug on one of Matthew's tail feathers in retribution. "No, I'm fine," the white-blonde assured the boy, "if we're to leave now I'll follow you, Lord, uh... Daniel."
-
If at all possible, this would be the wisest course of action, and with his errand now rendered needless, Morpheus could resume his quiet travels....
If there was to be an exodus, the former king silently decided that he would remain....for a time.
There was much here that was 'new' and therefore of interest, as well as the Thessaliad. If he departed; he would ensure her safe passage away as well.
He owed her that much
Similarly, he kept silent on the question of whether or not the Corinthian was willing to leave this echo of the waking world....to leave the small taste of a life of his own ( and perhaps the magus) behind.
-
The raven let out a startled caw at the feather-pulling. Damn, but that stung!
The two kings seemed indulgent of Matthew & The Corinthian's antics, but still figuring it was better to leave this little battle of irritation go, he settled his wings back against the sides of his body.
" Hey, I just got to see him in person.....and I was a little distracted. With that pesky rotting and all."
...He hadn't been here long, but after today he'd had enough of the city and it's awful curses.
He would go too, naturally.....but still he didn't think he could leave without saying goodbye to Rue, to Vincent.....and most of all: to Morpheus.
-
The Corinthian was not completely willing, but neither would he deny his loyalty to Dream of the Endless. Loyal phantom, subservient monster, true nightmare, it was his duty to follow their lord back to the Dreaming. He would have liked to say goodbye, would like to ensure safe passage, but it was not his choice to make should the Dream King not permit it.
-
"Please, Corinthian, my name... What?" Daniel stared at the Corinthian thoughtfully. Leave? He could not even remember how he came to be here. There was wind, water, sun.... How could they? Now he appeared sheepish. "I... I don't know how, I wish I could say I did..."
-
Morpheus simply closed his eyes and let out a sigh of mild exasperation.
Naturally...He should have known once Daniel had been surprised at his ability to heal Matthew.
-
Matthew meanwhile took a quick hop, followed by a bit of wing lift to settle on Daniel's shoulder.
Morpheus would understand...this was about reasurring the kid, not so much preference.
" Ahh, don't feel bad. As far as I can tell nobody really remembers exactly how they got here, or has the foggiest how to leave."
-
Music to the Corinthian's ear? Not particularly. He didn't know how he felt about leaving, if he should be ecstatic or depressed by the mere possibility, if he deserved to feel one way or the other, if the feeling could even be reciprocated. Why should he feel at all? Should he be disappointed that Daniel did not know? The nightmare tipped his head slightly as Matthew fluttered off.
-
"I'm sorry, but I'd like to help," he nodded to the other three, raven now on his shoulder. He accepted the position of perch quite naturally. "If there's anything I can do... please tell me," said Daniel, honest.
-
" Ah, no worries, kid.."- the 'kid' part just slipped out of the raven before he could censor it. Well....it sort of applied again didn't it?.
"- we'll figure something out.."