01<@Ardweden> [Day: Sunday, September 12. Time: ?] 01<@Ardweden> [You're in the dream realm, looking for Tony... or, well, following Imp, who is looking for Tony. You just entered one of many doors down by the ice skating rink in a zoo-like Rockefeller Center, behind which was a familiar gray mist.] 01<@Ardweden> [Now, you step out into an ordinary city street, with no Christmas decorations anywhere. No one else seems to be about - no animals and no people - and above you is the sun and a clear blue sky.] 01<@Ardweden> [Oh, Toci and Puck are with you. Of course they are.] 01<@Ardweden> [Session Start.] 06* Imp looks around up and down the street totally perplexed. 06* Susano-o looks around, as well, and then settles his gaze on the Imp. 01<@Ardweden> ["Well, *that's* not really expected," Puck comments, also looking up and down the street.] We're supposed to expect something? 06* @Kali looks about a bit uncertain at first, then peers up into the sky, one of her hands instinctively going towards her forehead to cover it from the sun as she looks around I don't know. 03* Hank is now known as Joan At least it is not so cold, non? 06* @Kali keeps peering about. "Yeah but..." 01<@Ardweden> [It actually isn't cold, as Joan pointed out. It feels like Spring.] I... he has to be in one of these. 06* Hien looks for any sign of the raven. A shadow, a feather, something. Where did Christmas go? <@Kali> One of whats? Houses. This is probably... before the divorce. 06* Susano-o narrows his eyes, and looks about. "Is this Ashgate?" No. New york still. I think? 06* @Kali lowers her eyes and looks down the street at the row of houses. This ain't her gig. It ees not Houston, for certain. Nor Parie. I don't see why it couldn't still be New York! <@Kali> I don't think we're arguing that it's not... 06* @Kali shakes her head slightly and turns to Imp. "Any read?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Could be anywhere," Toci says slowly, and Puck nods. "But it looks like New York City to me," he adds, still gazing around. "Probably not Manhattan, though."] 01<@Ardweden> ["Guess it doesn't matter much."] I..I don't know. 06* Imp frowns and looks up and down the street. 06* Susano-o looks around some more. "We could just start knocking on doors." 06* @Kali gives Susano-o a strange look. "Door to door Tony salesmen?" There are a lot of doors, though. Or looking in windows. 06* Hien looks at the Imp. "You don't feel anything at all?" We're not selling. We're just looking. Maybe someone'll know. THIS WAY! 06* @Kali rubs her forehead slightly then lets out a long breath. "I dunno. It's hard to figure out the logic of this place..." 06* Imp half skips half runs down the street. 06* @Kali turns towards Imp's little scurry and just stares for a moment before following along, eyes shifting to glance to their lefts and rights nervously. 01<@Ardweden> [Puck raises an eyebrow and then clops off after Imp. Toci... stands there.] Joan shrugs, following along. 06* Imp isn't letting anything distract him from this straight line. 06* Susano-o follows along, too, behind the others, glancing around as he goes. 06* Hien follows! Yay, having an idea of where they're supposed to go! 06* Joan does that, too. 01<@Ardweden> [As you follow Imp down the city streets, sometimes pulled this way and sometimes that, the area slowly comes to life: first one and then two, and eventually plenty of people going about their daily business, talking to each other, rushing to work, carrying bags from shopping, riding bikes, and hailing cabs.] 01<@Ardweden> [Not animal people, either. Nothing strange about them. Just perfectly ordinary people. One guy on his cell phone, wearing a business suit, is actually walking at a very similar pace to yours in the same direction. But he's not paying any attention to you; guess the conversation's too important.] 06* Imp doesn't care. He's not Tony. He's trying very hard to focus on this one string. 06* Susano-o watches him while he walks, but he's not going to go bothering him without cause. 06* Joan listens in! 01<@Ardweden> [Joan actually can't tell what he's saying... it sounds *almost* like English, but when she tries to identify specific words she just can't.] 06* @Kali frowns as she looks at the people from left to right, whispering. "Just like the other dream..." ( Oh, so he's Welsh. ) 01<@Ardweden> (Possible!) Come on guys. Let's keep going. 01<@Ardweden> ["Right behind you," Puck says cheerily. "You know where we're going, then?"] 06* Susano-o nods. "I'm here, too." 06* @Kali glances over at Puck and looks him over, half frowning, half narrowing her eyes. She almost forget he was here. 01<@Ardweden> [Puck beams at Kali.] 06* Hien keeps going! I know where I'm going. 06* @Kali looks him, tilting her head for a moment as she's walking. "They don't notice you either..." 06* Susano-o nods, tightening his lips. "It's like before. With Nate." <@Kali> I don't know if that's you or here or what. <@Kali> (Kali was looking at Puck as she said that, not Imp, just to be clear) 01<@Ardweden> [Puck shrugs, still smiling easily. "If they don't notice you, don't see why they'd notice me. You're taller."] 01<@Ardweden> [Toci, by the way, doesn't seem to be here.] 06* Joan is here! 06* @Kali puts one of her hands on her face and sighs. "If that's what you want to call it, we'll leave it at that..." 06* Susano-o looks at Kali slightly askance, trying to figure out what she meant by that, as he follows. Joan blinks. "It ees true, you are taller." 06* Joan does that too. 01<@Ardweden> [Puck nods and says, seriously, "Sunshine here agrees with me."] 06* @Kali snorts and gives a toothy smile. "Sunshine? Sure." 01<@Ardweden> [You keep traveling, for a few minutes or maybe a few hours - it's really hard to tell in dream time - as the area becomes increasingly less upscale. There's some graffiti now, and a few barred or boarded up windows, but people are still out and about, unworried.] 06* Imp frowns heavily, but keeps following the trail, it's the only thing he has 06* Susano-o looks around more, a bit more cautious, but there's not much to be done for it. 01<@Ardweden> [Well, nobody looks about to kill anyone, so good things there!] 06* Hien makes a hmm-ish rumbling sound. 06* Imp finally stops and looks around. His tail flicking back and forth. He looks vexed. Zis looks more like New York. That part you try not to go to. <@Kali> Well, some. Some *have* to live here. 06* Susano-o inclines his head towards Kali. "As you say." 06* Imp looks back at the group and then glances in the direction he's being tugged, not saying anything. 01<@Ardweden> [The earth rumbles, and behind you, Toci rises with hands folded and eyes closed. "Problem?" she asks.] 06* Susano-o looks down at the Imp, and steps over closer to him, looking down. "Is there any more trail to look down?" Yes...but... 06* @Kali folds her arms and shifts her weight to one leg, cocking her head. "But?" 06* Susano-o glances around the group, and waits for the reply. It's getting fainter. Did we go too far? 01<@Ardweden> ["That... could mean a few things," Toci says, slowly as ever.] I don't know. Okay. I don't know. Tony doesn't talk about this part of himself. At all. This doesn't seem right. I just don't know. 06* Imp is pratically snapping at Susano-o. It could mean he ees loosing himself. 01<@Ardweden> ["Oi, another breakdown. Remind me to bring popcorn next time," Puck mutters, and Toci jams her elbow into his side (and not at super slow speed either). "Ow!"] 06* Hien turns around to look at Puck and growls slightly. 06* Susano-o shakes his head, and tries to ignore the comments. "So where do you think?" 06* Imp eyes Puck, but the violence against him seems to calm that rage. "I really don't know. The further we go this way the fainter it gets. I could have been tricked into another trail. I could just be losing it completely. He could be losing himself. I don't know." He's frustrated, increadably so. 01<@Ardweden> [Puck rubs at his side and glares at Toci. "Why'd you got such sharp elbows?" To that, she just shrugs, back to the slow and calm.] 01<@Ardweden> ["It is... unlikely he's losing himself," Toci offers.] 06* Hien takes another look around for the Raven. 06* @Kali sighs. "What do you think it is?" 01<@Ardweden> [Toci opens her eyes now, looking at Kali and even taking the additional time to raise an eyebrow. "It could mean a few things," she repeats, and then pauses. Not like *that's* much of a surprise, but she seems to be thinking.] 01<@Ardweden> [Hien doesn't see the raven in the skies.] 06* Imp shifts a bit. "This feels wrong." He glances back the way they came. "If I'm wrong...." He shook his head and glanced away from the group. "What could it mean?" Everything's normal? 01<@Ardweden> ["Unlikely," Toci says, then clarifies: "That you are wrong."] 06* Susano-o keeps his eyes on the Imp. "Or we went the wrong way. Or he's throwing you off." 06* @Kali gestures at Puck for a moment. "He said something about a breakdown. Was he meaning Imp or Tony or something else?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Your friend... he could have woken up, or be waking up." She thinks for a moment more. "You could be searching for a part of him too remote for you to find by... by touch." She frowns, then says, "Feel. Might be a better word."] 01<@Ardweden> [Puck huffs, folding his arms and looking around. He seems fine with Toci taking care of this.] 06* Imp frowns heavily. "Look it's not like he talks about this shit." He shifts more uncomfortably. "So, why are you helping? I thought you wanted him here." He was obviously stalling a tad. 06* Hien tilts her head, listening intently to Toci. 01<@Ardweden> [Puck rolls his eyes. "I *told* you, we don't back out on our deals. Besides, you don't know shit about either of us, and we don't pretend to know anything about you."] 06* Imp sighs. "So how do I find the trail then?" 01<@Ardweden> ["If you lost it, you might not be able to," Toci says, softly. "This time. You can... look. You might be so close he's under your nose."] 06* Imp nods and starts to move in the direction he was last tugged, looking. 06* @Kali looks about at the scenery again, seeing if she notices anything out of place. 06* Susano-o looks at Toci. "Have you searched for people before in here?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Here, specifically?" She pauses, then says, "I'm not sure. Dreams, they..." She shrugs.] Not in this dream, specifically. But in other people's dreams. 01<@Ardweden> [Toci nods, slowly, and Puck chimes in with, "Not much fun, hanging out in a place *full* of dreams if you don't look in once in a while."] But there's looking in, and there's looking to find someone. 01<@Ardweden> ["Sure," Puck says with a one shoulder shrug, as Toci nods again.] Have you tried to find the dreamers in dreams before, then? 06* @Kali glances Puck's way coldly for a moment, before resuming her search. "I don't think things are this way for your amusement, Puck." 01<@Ardweden> [At that, Puck just grins, and Toci lets out a long, long sigh.] 06* Susano-o lets Kali take up the thread, and scans up and down the block. 01<@Ardweden> [Kali doesn't really catch much, just seeing some restaurants and convenience stores and such, and people going by. Susano-O and Joan, however, spot a large bird's shadow periodically coming into and out of view on the sidewalk nearby - like the raven is circling over a building.] 06* Susano-o frowns, and turns more, trying to see which of the buildings it is. 06* Joan points. "Zere it ees." 01<@Ardweden> [It looks like many of the others, with apartments up top and a restaurant at the bottom. Nothing particularly special.] 06* Susano-o nods. "I agree, I think it's that one," he says softly. 06* Imp almost squees when he sees what the others do. He then frowns heavily and shakes his head abit. "Let's find his apartment." 06* @Kali glances at Joan's finger, and follows it. 06* Hien stares at the building, attempting to fix it in her brain. Does the building stare back, though? [Joan's finger leads to her hand, which leads to her arm, which leads to the rest of her!] 01<@Ardweden> [You make your way to the building, Imp super intent on getting to the door leading to the stairs (which lead to the apartments above!). The rest of you, however, take a moment to glance in the window of the restaurant... and see Tony, sitting at the counter and eating a slice of pizza.] 01<@Ardweden> [Session End!]