[ voice ]

[ilda]

[ Minutes ago, there had been a scream as Ilda jolted awake. And in the dark of the night she'd panicked, the sight of the not-quite-familiar room making her think that she was still in the jungle, with the inky mass of... something trailing menacingly right behind her.

She'd stumbled out of bed and out of the room, her new roommates momentarily forgotten.

When she'd finally sent out a message, she was up on the roof, hugging her knees, tears streaming down her face. ]

H-Help.

Comments

[ilda]

Yes, he... leaked from his eyes.

[ Despite the gravity of their situation, Ilda manages a small smile. Leaked from his eyes! That’s a fun way of saying it. ]

So we had the same dream? That’s... so weird.

[ She pauses, a previous conversation coming to mind. ] You know, when I first met Alice, she was wondering why we’re being called Dreamfolk. You don’t think...?

[corundrum]

It seems so. [Gems can dream, at least, though it's not exactly something that tends to come up much unless they're extremely bizarre dreams anyway. And considering their "minds", as they are, aren't anything like a human's, it's still a different experience to this sort of vivid vision.

Padparadscha's mood lightens somewhat at the suggestion, a faint, low laugh coming from deep in their throat.] I think it's because we come from the Dreaming, as they say here, but who says the Dreaming isn't somehow responsible for this too?

[ilda]

[ Ilda still has trouble wrapping her head around the 'come from the Dreaming' idea, even though there could really be no other explanation for the bizarre world she's found herself in, and the equally bizarre collection of people and creatures that have been taken from other worlds into this one. So she's decided to just not really think about it. ]

To be honest, I thought all the stuff about the Dreaming is just like one of those stories people tell children so they eat their greens or sleep early or not kill other people.

[ Then, belatedly: ] Um, thank you, by the way. For coming up to check on me. I'd say I hope I didn't wake you, but obviously I did.

[corundrum]

So it might be. But then, little one, what reason would we have to be here? [Padparadscha doesn't believe so strongly in it that it would shake them to see it proven false, but believing in it saves the vast number of questions it solves in its convenience. If there comes a time it's proven false, then they may have enough information to work a better alternative answer.

That said, a slight look of amusement tugs at Padparadscha's mouth at the thanks.] I was already awake. My kind doesn't sleep in quite the same way as you soft creatures seem to.

[There's no judgement in the term "soft creatures", it's merely a term they've become used to using for living things since they got here.]

[ilda]

I have no idea. I haven't been really spending a lot of time trying to figure out the answer to that question. [ She's been busy, Padparadscha. Taking selfies, chasing after bibirus, being a digital menace, that sort of thing.

At being called a soft creature, she actually giggles. ] Still, thank you. First night as new roommates... what a way to bond.

[corundrum]

I doubt you're alone in that. [Padparadscha has, but quickly set it aside in favour of the easy answer for now. If they see evidence to the contrary, then they'll consider that as it comes.

While gems do tend to do things like bonding exercises, it usually takes them much longer to amount to anything meaningful, so Padparadscha can't help a small, deep laugh at the remark.] It's the way of the world. Unpredictable in good and bad ways.