tampered | Log: Complete

Log: Complete

When; November 3rd
Rating; G
Characters; Morpheus

highcost_living
Summary; A visit with older sister
Log;

Morpheus slept uneasily. Or, to be precise, he slipped in and out of consciousness over the course of the days since he had been found in the street and carried back to her apartment.

His long frame was now curled on it's side around the gem the young woman had given him. The fetal-like position looking rather pitiable; as though he was hunching himself around a hurt no one, but he, could see.
His breathing was shallow, but had lost the irregular, stuttered quality it had possessed before. A sign, then, that Youko's gem was lending him what aid it could.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Unlike most occasions, Death came in the front door. Even more rare that she was allowed with smiles. This is what happens when this isn't a business call. Her steps were quiet, she wouldn't rouse him.

Death took to sitting at the food of the bed, hardly disturbing the mattress. Her brow furrowed lightly, he had some bad times--she had seen them--but this was something different.

Even as drained as he was, Morpheus felt her presence.
After all, anyone felt her when she was close by, even though mortals often did not like to recognize her for who she was.

A part of him considered keeping his eyes closed on the outside chance she was here to berate him. He was just too tired to listen at present, no matter how correct she might be about the situation, or his motivations.
But...she was his sister ( in a way ), and he had missed talking to her.

Slowly, as it was an act of will just to perform the simple task, he cracked his liquid black eyes open to regard her.

"Hello....sister...
The hesitation in referring to her thus was more born out of the indecision of whether or not it was appropriate, rather than a lack of recognition.
"How...." He took a breath, and tried again.

"How have you been keeping?"

"I'm doing pretty good. Taking a bit of a vacation here." Her crossed legs propped her arms, her hands framing her face in a kind of tableau of a watcher and listener. "But, I think that it's hard to be pretty good when you've got yourself into a mess."

Yes, she was approaching a sisterly, talk be them true siblings or not she cared for him honestly, her tone was gentle as though they were talking about a frightened animal nearby.

A fine mess, indeed.
It just added insult to injury that she was seeing him like this, since a small part of him still felt embarrassed about appearing to be such an utter failure at life beyond the Endless.
But, how was he to know that the dreamthief would be able to see the sapphire, let alone steal it.

"I...assure you...it was n-not...intentional."
At least he was coherent for the moment. He had a vague memory of the young woman who first found him. A pity she was not close by at present. He would have liked to thank her.

"You won't stay like this for very long. You've got help now. Youko took a step in the right direction bringing you here and letting you use hers." Death reached out and tapped her fingernail on the surface of the precious stone.

Even though he had surrendered himself to his fate, Morpheus still had a private chess game going on. She wondered if he was always playing with himself or circumstance itself.

Help. Her choice of words brought on a small rueful smile.
If he was playing against anything, it was surely himself. Morpheus had always been prone to looking the other way when it came to his own personal wants.
He was never quite comfortable looking for deeper meaning in some of his actions, but now that he had forsaken the mantle of Dream, it made him less omnipresent, and thus, far less perceptive of the universe's workings.

"It is not....not a...s-solution. he replied, stating what she, no doubt, already knew.
In a way, he was pleased she was respecting his choice to live as something other than an Endless, but also strangely unsettled by her lingering affection.
He was not Dream anymore, after all.
But...Death had never really cared about such things. She liked him because she liked him, and there wasn't much more to the issue.

"Apparently...I am...am j-just as prone to ....bad...choices...like thi-is.
He was having trouble hanging onto the thread of conversation. It had been only a short while since he stumbled through the barriers of the Nameless City, after all, and far too long since he had held his sapphire, or even been capable of touching the Dreaming.

"W-why...why are you here?"And he didn't mean the city in general.

She reached up into the air to stretch before once more staying still like the rest of the room. Her eyes and ears were open to the City outside while she stayed in one place, something that she was certain he couldn't experience.

Even in his diminished state, Death knew that he was not so different. Courteous to her, understating... still Morpheus.

"Hob would be proud of you if he knew what you were up to." Speaking of another person who did all that they could to evade the situation at hand. They were destined to be friends. Who knew how similar though?

"Why? Why wouldn't I be? I'm here for everyone else. I'm here for you too." She would have said brother if he was, all the tender sentiments were there anyway. "And I'm certainly not going to let you lay around thinking that this is okay."

No, he couldn't exist in multiple planes at the same time anymore. In many ways it felt like being blind, and deaf, and yes, it had taken a long time to grow accustomed to.
But, it was a known that he would have to make sacrifices; to give up so much in order to gain what he had wanted.

It was, still, not a choice he resented.

Her statement about whether or not laying about was 'okay' got a mild frown, and more movement than he had attempted in days: he tried to sit up.
The effort didn't make it much beyond getting his hands under him, and pushing himself roughly an inch off the bed, before his eyes rolled, and grayness ate the edges of the world.

With a gasp, he fell back to the sheets, and took a pair of cleansing breaths, then spoke without opening his eyes this time.
"I...hardly h-have a choice in...in the matter" he said in a slightly offended tone.
Why would he ever choose to be caught like this? Weak, and feeling not a little pathetic.

"I wasn't talking literally, Morpheus." He earned himself one of her scolding, lopsided smiles. "I meant that while the sapphire is out there, you should think about alternatives. The body might be weak, but I know your mind is capable of many things."

And yes, it will be difficult in this current state. This or wasting away even more, the choice was his. It always had been. Someday he would understand that all of the doors and windows are open.

Death moved closer to his side. Near enough reach and pat down his untamed dark hair. "You've got choices. They aren't very good once for the moment. So far gathering your strength is the best until there's a plan. There has to be a plan, naturally. That's where the moving would start, hm?"

Oh.
He relaxed under her petting, and didn't comment on her, quite accurate, statement for now.
She was correct, of course, but where in the world would he find the assistance he needed here?
Dreamsand, after all, was no easier to come by in The City than in the waking world, and a dangerous commodity at the best of times.

"Dreamsand...."
He stated firmly, although almost to himself, after a short pause.
"You are...quite right." He told her, after opening his eyes somewhat to regard her.

"I ...I do not...know....how long...I..c-can...linger here." This was accompanied by a frown.
"But....but I must...m-must find a way to....to move." A breath, and he continued.
"It will..will be....no easy task...I..do...not...think...dreamsand will ...b-be....easy...f-for...me...to acquire....like this."
Yes, he was still not even considering asking for help.

If he wasn't feeling so awful already, Death might have pulled at his hair. "Call me crazy, but this might call for some proxy. Have you ever seen Cyrano De Bergerac? I'm sure you have. You need a Christian. Only this is a lot bigger of a problem than a nose."

Did he have to be so prideful? Well, it was the one thing that he had that no one could take away. They had a talk of it before. Did his memory of that leave too? "Dream is here. And dreamers. A successful batch of sand can't be so far-fetched."

Liquid black eyes widened somewhat at her statement.
"Dream is still h-here?" It was a mark of his unhappiness that he managed to string together a whole sentence without pausing for breath.

No, he remembered their conversation regarding his pride, but old habits die hard, especially if one has been so defined by those habits in the past.
There was only so far he could bend in so short a time.

Internal musings aside, Morpheus closed his eyes with something of a wince.
"I....I can not reach back to ......to the Dreaming." He admitted very grudgingly.

"I....I fear the gem...h-has fallen into....mortal hands..." It was difficult to tell if the dreamthief still was in possession of the sapphire, or if the miscreant had gotten wise, and rid himself of it.
" It...it is in this place." He stated firmly." I...I just can not...t-tell where exactly."
Perhaps it was safe to say that he would only admit his failure ( as he saw it) so freely with her.
But, it is debatable if the reason behind this was the simple fact there would be no hiding it from her despite his wishes.

The guy was ill and unhappy, yes but there was only so much of this that could get by without the extra nudge. "Of course you can't reach back into the Dreaming, that'd take an Endless. However, you can certainly talk to one or two." That being said, he had to make the leap from there. At least the option was more plain.

"Here is a good place for it to be. That means that it can't leave." For the most part. The technicality that it was with someone who would leave was very slim. "Besides the fact that it is a sapphire and it's yours, is there anything that would make it stand out? Help you detect it better?"

He frowned and looked away from her, not wanting to admit he was trying not to ask for help at all, especially from Dream.
Though, she probably knew already and was subtly trying to tell him something.

He closed his eyes briefly, but on opening them, continued to avoid her gaze.
" If I.... f-fade completely, ....it...will... manifest...itself... quite l-loudly." Which, in his opinion, was to be avoided.
Morpheus was a tad phobic of being imprisoned again.
" But, short of....of proximity to..... the stone... itself, I do n-not... think...I...I can...further...expend...the energy....energy required."
True enough. But this isn't to say no one else could locate it. It just required more sensitivity to such things than the average mortal.

It was becoming harder to think clearly, and the gray edges were eating further into his vision; The numbness reaching further into his mind.
"......Have....missed......you......"His eyes were flickering, fighting to stay open, but losing badly.

".....sister....."
The last word came as a whisper, and with it, Morpheus lost the battle to stay awake.
A soft exhalation of breath, and he sank into the bed, oblivious to all around him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Log: Complete

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject