Log; Ongoing

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

When; November 22; Night
Rating; PG-13?
Characters; Alessa alessalearnt, Matthew astheravenflies & Morpheus 1st_dream_king
Summary; Morpheus decides to pay Alessa a little visit in one of her dreams.
Log;

Dreams could be one of two things in Alessa's case. They could either be twisted nightmares full of horror, or they could be beautiful dreamscapes that were once her only escape from the constant pain she had felt due to her burns, the pain which had stopped only a few months ago. This dream, however, was a combination of the latter and...something else.

Henry was writhing beneath her, his face one of pure blissful agony, while Xulchibara's harsh whispers and fiery touch consumed every inch of her. How long this part of the dream lasted, she didn't know, but it was horribly wonderful. It wasn't long before release came, and, the three of them fell together, panting for breath. Almost unbidden, and reluctantly, Alessa drew away from her two dream lovers, slipping on a pale blue silk robe, leaving the room (whose detail she hadn't noticed, being so distracted) to open a door that led to the outside. The ground was covered with snow, and as she walked away from the building into the snow covered forest of pine trees, she felt a sense of peace. The moon was overhead, the stars twinkling, and it was peaceful.

Alessa paused once she was some distance into the forest, finding herself in front of a river. It was not frozen, but trinkling softly, the only sound in this beautiful place. Alessa drew closer to the river, and as she looked in, a face that was not her own drew close to the surface of the water. She was pale with death, her eyes shining green in the moonlight, her blood-red hair strewn like reeds. "Ophelia," Alessa whispered, somehow knowing that it was the tragic figure from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Slowly, ever so slowly, Alessa moved closer, Ophelia's face breaking from the water and one pale dead hand reaching out to cup the young woman's life-like cheek. Ophelia's lips captured hers, giving her a sweet kiss of tragic sadness, madness, and loss of love.

Ophelia drew away, and smiled, returning to her watery grave, leaving Alessa alone on the banks of the river.

Comments

[1st-dream-king.livejournal.com]

The ripple from her passing, this dream of love lost, passed on and slowly, the shimmering reflection of another on the opposite bank took shape.

A man ( a memory?) dressed in a cloak that seemed unable to decide whether it was deepest midnight blue, or a true absence of color all together?

Wild true black hair stirred though no breeze played through the branches, yet the stark contrast of his face echoed the snow with it's pale shaded drifts.
Stars twinkled over head...and perhaps were reflected in those fathomless obsidian eyes.

..Or perhaps the night sky reflected them?

On his shoulder perched a raven, it's feathers soft and reflecting a sheen of starlight.
The raven regarded her impassively, but with an intelligence to it's eyes that no bird should possess.


"Ay, that incestuous, that adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,--
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce..."

He said, his voice a roll of thunder on a summer night, and an echoing whisper in lost corridors by equal turns.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Alessa rose slowly, blue eyes meeting those of the night sky. She inclined her head in respect, knowing better than to deny the Memory of the Dream King any respect and ignore formalities. The tension between Xulchibara and Morpheus was great, and although her loyalty to Xulchibara would never waver again, she knew better than to anger other entities with power greater than her own.

"...won to his shameful lust
The will of my most seeming-virtuous queen:
O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!
From me, whose love was of that dignity
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage; and to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine..." She finished in response.

"Morpheus." She inclined her head once again. "And I see you have brought a friend. I did not know my dreams interested you still....I thought that had stopped some time ago when my dreams were no longer twisted and contorted with unspeakable horror. Either way...welcome."

[astheravenflies.livejournal.com]

The raven forebore to comment, but gave her a measuring look.

She seemed more sane than the other guy Morpheus had visited, and her dreams were far less chaotic.
Matthew remembered Alessa...but only vaguely from that one time she had visited the castle.

'Course Xguy had worn her shape for a while, so maybe that image of perverse innocense was what made him wary of her...or maybe it was just the knowledge that she played some important part in Xguy's plans.

An unspoken, and unnoticed communication passed from the former Lord Shaper, to the raven, and Matthew took wing.

He flew steadily across the divide of the river, coming closer to Alessa...

[1st-dream-king.livejournal.com]

....And found a perch on Morpheus' shoulder.

Time has no meaning in dreams, and so the memory of Dream now stood on the opposite bank, starfield eyes regarding her impassively.

" All dreams, and all nightmares, interest me.
There was a time when I both ruled over them, and offerred them safe haven from the waking world, where they had little chance of survival."

Yes, Morpheus had been, and still was, aloof.
His actions were often difficult for others to comreheand, but he was not so cold that he was without his own friends...his own family.

" There was a time when I offerred you a haven from your world, as well."
The raven resettled his wings, and glanced aside.

He turned and looked toward the cool light of the moon, and offerred her his arm in a very courtly gesture.

" Will you walk with me, Halo of the Sun?"

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

One second he was on the other side of the river; the next, he was several feet away from her. Alessa blinked, but she was not startled. She was used to deities popping up wherever they pleased. Xulchibara certainly did it enough.

"Yes, you had," Alessa murmured, remembering. "...You relieved my suffering greatly. Thank you for taking pity on an injured child."

The haven Morpheus had given her was the only safe place her mind could go. When the madness, hatred, and pain was too much for her and threatened to erase her very existence, Alessa would go to the safe haven Morpheus had constructed there. There she could find peace.

Alessa took his arm, giving him a small smile. "Of course, Morpheus," she said, matching his stride. The fabric of his cloak seemed to feel like cloth but something else entirely. It was as if it were made of nothing, of space and the hopes and dreams of the sleeping. "Forgive me...I forget that dreams and nightmares are important to you. What is it that you wish to speak to me about?" Morpheus never entered a dream without a reason. He spoke in riddles, always did and always would, but she would do her best to interpret it.

[1st-dream-king.livejournal.com]

The soft sounds of her footfalls the only noise in this hushed world, as where her footprints the only set that trailed behind them.

" The strain between our house." He said simply.
An appropriate, if obtuse, way to put things.

For not all families are born from blood, but rather the ties that come about through shared memories, and shared....dreams.

The raven looked askance at Morpheus, and opened his beak...but seemed to think better of commenting, and instead took flight again.

Matthew landed in an oblidging tree's branches, and watched with a concerned expression in his birdlike features.
It was no secret, after all, that he didn't trust a single one of 'the children'.

" Your master plays a dangerous game." The former Lord Shaper continued, seemingly oblivious to the raven's obvious misgivings.

"He courts his ruin by making an enemy of an Endless, for he is not invulnerable, and you well know there are laws, old laws, that govern even my kind."
A single point of starlight in those abyssal eyes turned on her.

".....For all of that instability, still, his one obsession has ever been you.
Be it your love, your destiny, or your body. All his deals, and machinations, have been for you."

This ghost, this memory of dream did understand such obsessions.....but unlike Nemesis, had never let them interfere with his responsibilities. His purpose.

" Justice perverted, becomes vengance.....and vengeance is a never-ending cycle of pain."
Morpheus paused, and looked at her intently. Even that single point of starlight gone from his eyes.

"For all that we do not know one another, I have always played your master fair.
Even now, Dream still holds to the old bargain, and Nemesis' lands are still a part of the Dreaming."
One marble white hand covered her's where it lay across his forearm.

" For the faith I kept, and now my successor keeps to that tithe, I ask for your honesty;......Why?
What is his obsession with you, and where does he intend for these dearly bought bargains to be put to use?"

[astheravenflies.livejournal.com]

Matthew leaned slightly down from his perch, listening intently.

The raven had been a little confused, and more than a little worried about this particular dream walk, and now it seems for good reason.

If Xguy was so uber-protective of this chick, it might not be too wise for Morpheus to be talking to her...It might piss off Xguy worse?

Still, with such an important question, it made some sense now, and while he kept silent, Matthew had been wanting to ask about The Corinthian too.

Was Cori really a liability to Daniel?
The raven didn't think so,....but couldn't help but worry.

If this chick was feeling chatty on a question like this, maybe she would be willing to answer his questions too?

...Well, here's hoping, He thought to himself.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

Cold as ice. That is what his hand felt like. She wondered if his hand would rip away her skin when he removed it, and her blood would color the white untainted snow. It would look beautiful.

What Morpheus was asking put Alessa in a difficult situation. She could not - would not - betray Xulchibara's trust, but at the same time, to risk Morpheus' anger would be a very, very bad idea. She did not want to make enemies out of the memory of the dream king. So, she would have to compromise.

"His obsession with me....is merely that of interest. I am interesting to Him. Children were forbidden to call upon His name in times of trouble. When I had prayed to every god but Him and received no answer, I knew that He was my last hope. So I prayed, and He came to me. I am different from Him, and that fascinates Him. Simple as that," she told Morpheus. She would not reveal to him that Xulchibara loved her, or the intensity of his emotions towards her.

"As far as the bargains go....I do not know why. He does not reveal everything to me; He keeps His own secrets. How many bargains He has made with you and yours, I do not know...or what His motives are." That much was the truth. She hadn't even known that Xulchibara had his own part of the dreaming.

"....I do not want Xulchibara to be hurt," she whispered. "I know that He is bringing some of these things upon Himself, but..." Her voice trailed off, and she had to look away from those cold, empty eyes. The thought of Xulchibara's destruction and death made her feel sick and her heart clenched painfully. She did not think she could exist without the Red God. They were tied together, and their bond was much more stronger than she could ever realize or truly know.

[1st-dream-king.livejournal.com]

Morpheus regarded her with an unreadable expression, weighing the truth of her words...

...And decided she was doing no more or less than he if put in her position.
The former Lord Shaper would not have been surprised if she had screamed at him concerning loyalty, and called out for her master until said monster appeared, thus evicting Morpheus from her dreams, and possibly calling the memory of Dream into a duel.

There was great risk in this dream walk, more so than anyone save Morpheus himself may have realized.

" I...see." he said at length, his starfield eyes lowering away from hers.

A sigh, and he looked toward the moon once more, noting an eclipse beggining to eat at it's edges.

Time was short, and his weariness was palpable.
Hadn't he left all this behind when he had faced down the Kindly Ones?
When he had died...

" Then, child, if you truly care for him; have nothing to do with this crazed quest." He said, the edge of thunder gone from his voice.

A small, sad smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and his hand squeezed her's lightly before coming away.
A part of him had weighed the gain and loss of telling her a deeper truth...one that may tear her affections from her master forever...

...Yet in the end, he knew what it was to have this occur. He knew how those ties of family, and responsibility made it certain truths painful.
Nevermind that Nemesis had forced him into such a similar siutation already.

".....He will be unmade if he pursues a war with Dream, Alessa." he said, for once speaking the plain truth.

" He risks all for some purpose none seem to comprehend."

[astheravenflies.livejournal.com]

Matthew frowned in so much as a raven is able, and fluttered down to land int he snow before Alessa.

" What about Cori?" he all but blurted out, Morpheus turning those censuring starry eyes on him.

" Does your Lord have power over him, still?"
Matthew knew it was a gamble to ask something like that, because if it was true, there was no telling if her answer would be honest or not.

....But Matthew really worried about Cori...he hated to have to stay away from his friend, and for Daniel to be forced to as well.

[alessalearnt.livejournal.com]

There was searing cold as Morpheus squeezed her hand, and a numbness had come over it as his hand released hers. She was touched by his concern for her, but.....God needed her, didn't She? Paradise, the place her mother's cult had wished to bring about through her own suffering by fire, was a place that Alessa had dreamt of seeing her entire life. Suffering continued to plague the people, and who was she to deny them the gift and relief of paradise? It was not her place to say.

So she avoided his first statement. "I will speak to Him of the dangers," she murmured. "Perhaps He will heed my words, perhaps not. He is not a tame god."

Blue eyes settled upon the beautiful bird, and she gave Matthew a small smile. "The nightmare? The one with the fanged eyes? I honestly don't know. I have not concerned myself with him. The last and only time I have ever seen him was when he took on Henry's visage, tricking my Guardian into wanting to ceremoniously tear him to shreds. I do not bother myself with the matters of your nightmare friend. It is better to avoid him completely than to tempt his anger."

Alessa looked from Morpheus to Matthew again. "Are you satisfied?" she asked, feeling consciousness starting to call her back to the waking world.