🌑︎ 🌑︎

[crittersheep]

WHO: all
WHERE: all
WHEN: Day 9, evening into night

[the sun goes down; the two moons rise.

it all looks...quite different. the laundromat lengthens and transforms the silhouette of Woolietown in the distance. the lighthouse beacon comes to life for the first time, throwing strong, brilliant light and stark shadows across the meadow and into the barns. the lazy river encircles the pasture in a glittering band, the bobbing shapes of the pool toys a little bit eerie until they drift into full view.

perhaps some of you are winding down. perhaps some of you are just gearing up for a wild adventure in the shadows. perhaps some of you, regardless of if you sleep or stay up, find your dreams and nightmares crawling out beyond the bounds of your own head tonight, drawing others in...

the night is full of possibilities.]

Comments

[finalbows]

<sub>[ STARES up at you with those big ol' lamby eyes. glances to either side, stealthily. ]


You were away? You mean... Did you go... THERE?</sub>

[plied_magic]

[Where is there? Huh.]

Maybe.

[finalbows]

<sub>What did you bring back this time?


[ books, mostly, so that you don't lose your mind from boredom. some small bits of food that will keep however-long, that don't taste like nothingness and sadness. ]</sub>

[plied_magic]

[Dream logic; it's weird to just know things.]

Books, mostly.

[finalbows]

_{[ he finally lets go. looking deeply crestfallen. ]}

Just more books? I still can't read Gaia letters.

_{[ they weren't for you, brat. ]}

[plied_magic]

You need to work on that. Reading is very important.

[finalbows]

But it's really hard practicing. And it takes forever! Why can't I just learn it from a crystal like normal...?

[plied_magic]

Because someday you might need to learn a thing when you don't have crystals to help. So you need to practice now, with something you can take your time at.

[finalbows]

<sub>[ he looks down and kicks a bit at the weird Veined Stone tiles, but... after a short sulk, he nods.

can't BELIEVE that worked. all in all, that went surprisingly better than expected; you have this gut feeling that normally when you try and explain your reasoning, it doesn't go half as well. ]</sub>

...big brother, when I finish learning, can I... go with you, too?

_{[ suddenly you feel hyper-aware of everything around you, every ear and eye. his voice is quiet. good, because he should know better. ]}

[plied_magic]

Shhh. Remember, I'm not supposed to be going myself.

[this is unsettling]

[finalbows]

But it's boring here! And it hurts being outside! And I have to go anyway some day, right?!

<sub>[ he's getting too loud.





the little voice in the back of your mind says,
why don't you give him what he wants? ]</sub>

[plied_magic]

[We are going to focus on ignoring that inner voice so we don't lose our temper.]

You and I won't be able to go anywhere if you don't keep quiet.

[finalbows]

<sub>[ big wide eyes ]




promise?

[ he looks ready to keep quiet, at least. ]</sub>

[plied_magic]

Promise. But it might not be today. You'll have to trust me.

[finalbows]

<sub>[ he makes a face, briefly. 'you'll have to trust me' is not exactly his favorite sentence, coming from you. but he nods, again. then... after getting a determined glint in his eye... he dashes off.

Twenty steps in, he turns on his hoof, and waves at you with both arms. ]</sub>

Okay! Then I'll hurry up and go to sleep! Bye!

_{[ he's heading toward where the Bluebell Barn would be, in the Pasture version of this weird nightmare world. ]}

[plied_magic]

Goodbye.

[Well, that went better than expected.]

[finalbows]

<sub>[ yeah.

Really does feel like you got away with something. For a moment, there is blessed calm, as you feel your whole body relax.




A flash of motion in the corner of your eye.

It's a little floating eyeball, looking both organic and like a burnished old antique. Chord's seen it before.

It was watching us. It takes off toward the castle. Oh no. Oh no oh no Oh no Oh no Oh no-- ]</sub>

[plied_magic]

[Oh, cat dirt!]

[Chord is going to try to snag it with magic]

[finalbows]

<sub>[ it's a slippery little bastard, but after a few merry dodges and weaves, she manages to nab it, the magical energy surrounding the eye in a visible blue glow as she brings it in.

in for a Gil, in for a thousand. it's not like interfering with the sentry can land you in MORE trouble than you were in already...

it stares at her with its big, baleful eye. watcha gonna do with that, chord? ]</sub>

[plied_magic]

[She... hadn't thought that far ahead]

I don't suppose I can talk you out of reporting that?

[finalbows]

<sub>[ staring up at her.

...then...

]</sub>

[plied_magic]

[she doesn't want to kill the creature now that she has it]

I'm going to have to find a place for you where you can't do that.

[finalbows]

<sub>[ What am I DOING. This is ridiculous. I should just POP it, it's just some little nothing-construct that he can make more of.

Not-Woolietown looks like it's full of little hidey-holes, at least. While none of the buildings have doors-- does no one want privacy, living here???-- poking your head in to one, there's something very promising: a storage room brimming with jars and vases. ]</sub>

[plied_magic]

[Sorry, Angel Devil, Chord's teachers drummed into her that magical constructs are at least as real as animals.]

[time to stuff it in a jar and find some wax or something to keep it there, then hide the jar]

[finalbows]

<sub>[ good thing you convinced the lamb to go to bed early, or he'd probably be a real nuisance while you're trying to get away with this. he's just not ready for real schemes, yet.


maybe he never will be. you hope so. you're expressly invested in him never getting all that good at them, in fact, because that's one more thing standing between you and irrelevance.

...

there. It's sealed. Wax is a tall order, in this horrible place, but there's a vessel of Gunk you find while you're fruitlessly looking with properties the dream tells you to be like resin. You just needed to cure it.

You feel your hands warm up to a state of uncomfortably hot, wreathed in an orangey glow.

Curing it wasn't a problem. ]</sub>