keep calm and carry on.

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[This is a dream. Probably. Mostly, Freya thinks – this is a dream, because this is not what reality looks like (not reality as seen by sane people, at any rate, and she is sane). She’s dressed for a dream, at least, a sweatshirt and drawstring pants, comfortable and indistinct. So she can be calm and just curious for now, about the forest surrounding her. She starts walking, and thinking about... things. Shoes, ships, and ceiling-wax (and cabbages and planes, why the sea is boiling hot and whether dreams have dreams).

She can also talk to herself, which is not at all crazy. It’s a little comforting still, actually, to have silence and fill it with her voice and know she’s not gone deaf, it’s just... quiet.] Maybe this is his one of Dr. Welles' dreams. The deep, inner psyche of the scientific mind.

[...Okay, she’s creeped herself out a little with that. She hugs her arms to her lower body.] Well, if there’s a forest in people’s heads, at least that explains why I always get caught in the trees - [Ugh. That was terrible, Freya.] It doesn’t matter. I’ll wake up any minute now.

[Any minute now? Any minute now. There’s less trees now, and she’s starting to get glimpses of galaxies. At least it’s... pretty. She might have read about this once. That could be it.] Science fiction. [And when in doubt, roll out the half-remembered Dickens!] A crust of undigested bread, or a… lump of cheese. [Triumphant smile!] There’s more of gravy than of grave –

[ - Wow. It’s under her feet now, too. It’s... under her feet, and that’s kind of weird. Is she floating? She doesn’t feel like she’s floating. She feels like she’s standing, in fact. Everything - if she lets herself think about it, everything feels extremely real, realer than real.] No. [She’s never even hallucinated, and she's not crazy.] No! [But that’s okay, because hallucination or not she’s already taken off at an impressive speed, running for... an exit, anything, and probably won’t stop until she trips or runs into someone.]

Comments

[lamb_of_gold]

[Juuuuuust watching her go...]

You'll not find anything if you keep running like that.

[oliverplus]

[still suffering from his experiment, Oliver's thoughts are very linear and plain. he's feeling no real emotion, more just a sense of wanting to explain because this girl obviously doesn't understand. but there's a layer under all that clear thinking--deeper, more complex thoughts that are buried but straining to get out]

It's real. It's the most real thing you'll find here.

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[They're calming, at least, on the surface. In ways. She's upset, she's not paying too close attention, and his voice almost fades into the background of his thoughts, and then she stumbles. His mouth was moving (at least), wasn't it? (Does it matter?)]

It's not real. [She sounds - broken, defeated. Tired. Panicked. And all bundled into one packet of tangled up emotion.]

[oliverplus]

[he picks up on that tangle of emotion, and it's enough to trigger emotion within him as well--worry, intense and consuming. she's hurting, and he has to help her] It's real. We're real. See? [reaches out to touch her arm, his eyes begging her to feel better as much as his thoughts are]

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[She's shaking her head repeatedly and jerks her arm back as he reaches forward to touch it, as much from being startled as from fear.] This isn't real.

[oliverplus]

[this, if anything, just makes him more concerned, but he's struggling to work out how he can help] Why do you think that? It is! I'm real. You're real.

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[She laughs, and it sounds a little bit like crying.] Look around you! This isn't real.

[- Unless she's just seeing this and he's real and that's a little more terrifying.]

[oliverplus]

[shakes his head, looking around him in confusion] No, it's real. The stars are real. They're wrong, but they're real.

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[At least he can see them. That's not good, but at least he can see them.] Do you think the stars are always all over?

[oliverplus]

[forgive the linear thinking, but cause and effect is easy for his altered mind to grasp. he's still wanting to calm her, but he can't find the comforting words that are usually so easy for him]

No. But they are when you're on the Plane. That's why they're like that--because you're on the Plane now.

[collector]

[This man's mind is completely sealed away. That doesn't stop him from calling after her.]

You won't reach an end that way, you know!

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[Apparently he gets upset snarking, because he is well distinguished like that. Snarking, that is, delivered in a voice snappish and a little close to tears.]

I won't find anything if I stand still, either.

[lamb_of_gold]

[On the telepathic level, Freya may be confronted by a brick wall. Y'ain't reading this guy!]

Perhaps not, but you could at least look to see.

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[Linear thinking is easier for her to listen to, at least. It doesn't add too much confusion and chaos.

She's not really believing so much yet.]

What's the Plane?

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[She turns around around a little too abruptly, doesn't balance properly, and stumbles against a conveniently-placed chair to stay upright.]

How will I?

[Sadly, the lack of thoughts from his direction just makes her assume he's... not there.]

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[Naturally, he's therefore a hallucination dreamed up by her clearly delusional mind.

Or he's very good at blocking people naturally, but she'll confront that when she knows this is for real.]

See what?

[collector]

[He raises a hand. He has a brochure in it.]

You might want to read this.

[oliverplus]

[unfortunately, linear thinking also implies telling the truth--perhaps a bit too much of it at times]

The Astral Plane--it's this place. Lots of different worlds and universes come together here. There's all sorts of stuff on the Plane.

But it's a trap, too. It's a machine. Can you hear it?

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

What is it?

[Forgive her useless questions, she's an emotional human in the midst of a breakdown of some kind.

At least when she has a breakdown, though, she does so creatively. Apparently. The brochure isn't really doing much of anything to convince her, though.]n

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

[...Well. (Crap?) What does he expect her to be hearing?

She takes a step backwards.] Hear what?

[oliverplus]

The machine. There are gears. [gestures vaguely at the Plane around them, his mind full of memories of soft grinding sounds just caught by his ears from the distance] You can hear them sometimes if you're quiet.

[lamb_of_gold]

What there is to find.

[collector]

It's a brochure. It's meant to explain things.

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

And what is there to find?

[hoorayfor-me.livejournal.com]

It's run by machinery?

[Even if that's true and this is real, that's not really a lot less worrying than hallucinations.


- Well. No. It is.]