01<@Ardweden> [Day: Wednesday, April 28. Time: 11:54 pm.] 01<@Ardweden> [Heather is heading home from a party a bit later than intended. She drank too much, then slept too much, and now she has a bad headache, but she couldn't stay and wait it off because 1. the hosts will kick her out, and 2. her dad would *kill* her. More than he will anyway. At least she had time to clean up and get some breath mints. That should help with the "I'm not drinking honest" part.] 01<@Ardweden> [At least the guy she slept with was good looking, even if he didn't seem to care if she was having fun once they got to the "sex" part. Eh. Typical.] 01<@Ardweden> [Right now, she's cutting through the square. It's quiet this time of night, the only place open is the cocktail bar that runs until "late". The streetlights are all on, the moon is full, and it's a pleasant high sixties. Really, not a bad night for a walk - discounting headache.] 01<@Ardweden> [Start!] 06* Heather cuts through the square, walking hurriedly. She tries not to focus on her aching head. She checks her phone as she walks, hoping it's not really as late as it was the last time she looked at it. 01<@Ardweden> [It is, moving steadily later and later as Heather walks. 11:58... 11:59... Heather looks up to see where she's going, and she sees the light flicker on in a storefront that's been closed since the beginning of time. Or for as long as she can remember, which is basically the beginning of time.] 06* Heather peers at it. That's kind of odd. 01<@Ardweden> [It is, actually, and while Heather peers, the there's a faint click at the door. It swings open slightly.] 06* Heather pushes the door open, forgetting about the time and dad and class tomorrow for the moment. She's curious. 01<@Ardweden> [Heather opens the door, getting a noseful of incense: a strong, musky, but not unpleasant smell. The inside is lit by candles, which makes for a spooky look, and everything inside the store seems... old, in an antique sort of way if not a falling apart sort of way. Nothing in it is especially practical, either; it's all charms, incense, and other such things. There's an occult feeling about the whole place.] 01<@Ardweden> [This feeling is no way lessened by the ancient woman behind the counter. She's extremely wrinkled with a hooked nose, her nails are a little too long, and she's wearing a long, black shapeless dress with a couple of brightly colored scarves. Despite this, she maintains a full head of black and gray hair, and her eyes are alert. She smiles a smile full of crooked teeth when Heather walks in. "I've been expecting you. Please come in."] 06* Heather walks in, slowly "Me?" She asks. The first word she's said in two sessions! She checks behind her even while moving forward, making sure the woman wasn't speaking to someone who came in behind her. She'd feel pretty embarrassed if she was. 01<@Ardweden> [There's nobody behind, and once Heather lets go of the door it swings gently shut. "Yes," the woman says with a chuckle. "An acquaintance asked me to hold something for you, and... well. I owe him a favor or two." She starts looking for something under the counter.] 06* Heather can't help herself from moving forward until she reaches the counter. "But I've never been to this store before." 01<@Ardweden> ["This is true. Our customers are few and our hours are strange. And yet..." The woman looks up and smiles at her. "Here we are." She pulls a sheet of paper out from under the counter and lays it on top, facing so Heather can easily read it. This is followed by a pen and a very small dream catcher, small enough to be used as a keychain or pendant, with an intricate web bordered by a pair of crossed keys.] 06* Heather blinks at it, not knowing what a dream catcher is. "What is this? Jewelry?" 01<@Ardweden> ["You could use it as jewelry, certainly. But what it *is* is a key to the dream world."] 06* Heather looks from the dream catcher to the woman, sure she must have misheard. "I don't understand." 01<@Ardweden> [She folds her hands, lacing her fingers together. "The dream world - the world you enter, whether you're aware or not, when you sleep. This key will unlock your ability to walk there in a form not determined by your body, but your mind and soul. My acquaintance insisted quite strongly that you have one."] 01<@Ardweden> ["In this other world, you will be able to walk into the dreams of others, and also along the interconnecting paths."] 06* Heather looks at the dream catcher again. Then at the wom... Can we just call her Medea? We know it's Medea. "Like lucid dreaming? ... Is this for real?" 01<@Ardweden> [The woman nods. "It's as real as anything else, child. Sign your name here," she taps an overlong fingernail on the paper, "and the key is yours. You need simply place it under your pillow before you sleep, and at midnight you will wake in the other world."] 06* Heather looks at the pen and paper. And fingernail. "But... But why me?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Because I promised I would give this to someone, and he asked for you."] 01<@Ardweden> [The words on the paper make a very short contract. They read: "I, (insert name here), accept full responsibility for my actions." There is no fine print that Heather can see.] 06* Heather stares at the paper. "But.... But I'm not..." She doesn't finish the sentence, being either unable to voice her words or unwilling to. She blinks away the tears in her eyes, wondering why she's tearing? It's not like she hasn't been given things before, and the little trinket doesn't look like it'd be expensive, even if it did what the woman says. 01<@Ardweden> [The woman does not seem moved one way or another when it comes to the possibility of tears. She simply waits for Heather to finish what she's saying (even if she won't).] 06* Heather doesn't! 06* Heather does make a decision to sign the paper, though. 01<@Ardweden> [The woman smiles when Heather finally puts pen to paper. She slides it out from under her hands, looking at the name. "Heather Kim, then. The key is yours."] 01<@Ardweden> ["Remember the words on this contract," she says, slipping it back under the counter. "You will be held to them."] 06* Heather takes the dream catcher, clutching it carefully in both hands. "Thank you," she offers. 01<@Ardweden> [The woman laughs, and it sounds more like a cackle. "You may not thank me in the end, child." And then she smiles, as warmly as she has. "But for what little it's worth, you are welcome."] 06* Heather smiles back, because that's probably the most honest anyone's been to her for the longest time. 01<@Ardweden> ["There are a few more things you must learn," the woman continues. "When you walk, you will wake in a place that is plain and bare. Your benefactor will be there to communicate with you in a form of his choosing, but beyond that the haven is yours. Anything you wish can be made there."] 01<@Ardweden> ["This is your safe place - no one may enter without your invitation. Not even your benefactor may invite others in."] 06* Heather nods slowly. 01<@Ardweden> [She reaches up to scratch at one cheek. "The dream world can be a dangerous place," she continues, "and I fear it will become more so over time, even as you learn to navigate it. Be careful when you walk, and remember that you need not stay. You are in control of yourself: you can wake at any moment."] 06* Heather nods again! Apparently taking to the idea pretty well. 01<@Ardweden> ["And... just as time passes when awake, it passes when dreaming as well. Be careful; the longer you walk, the longer you will remain asleep."] 06* Heather nods again. 01<@Ardweden> [The woman falls silent and looks at Heather for a long time. "You are unusually quiet." It's an observation, and the first one she's made about Heather this entire time.] 06* Heather starts. "Sorry. It's...." She looks at the dream catcher. "It's a lot to take in." She rubs her head. "And I'm not actually sure it's even really happening." 01<@Ardweden> [When Heather rubs her head, she is reminded, suddenly, that she actually has a headache.] 06* Heather rubbed her head BECAUSE she had a headache :X 01<@Ardweden> [Headaches are jerks.] 01<@Ardweden> [The woman grins. "You don't need to be sure," she says. "Just try it one evening, and you will see."] 06* Heather nods. "Okay." 01<@Ardweden> ["We have little time left. Do you have any questions? I can't promise an answer, but you are welcome to ask."] 06* Heather asks, "The person who told you to give me this.... Did he want anything in return?" 01<@Ardweden> ["He may ask you for a favor, but you are not obligated to listen to him. The only thing you *must* do, you've already read."] 06* Heather looks down. "Oh..." she says, seemingly disappointed. "Okay.... Tell him I'll do it." 01<@Ardweden> [She snorts faintly. "*You* may tell him."] 01<@Ardweden> ["And my advice, child, is you should never tell someone that you will do a deed until you know what it is."] But I don't know who it is. 01<@Ardweden> ["You may speak to him on the other side," she explains.] 06* Heather looks down at the dream catcher again. "I know what he wants though. The only people who would give me something like this is because they know I know what they want." 01<@Ardweden> ["You may think so," the woman says, "but the world is rarely as simple as that."] 06* Heather nods, though she's actually doubtful. 01<@Ardweden> [She doesn't react to any doubt that shows through. "Is there anything else?"] 06* Heather looks at the woman again. "What's your name?" 01<@Ardweden> [The woman offers another crooked-tooth smile. "Medea." Then she cocks her head briefly. "The hour is growing late, and I must close my shop."] But you just opened. 01<@Ardweden> ["It seems so to you, doesn't it?" She reaches under the counter for something else and offers it to Heather. It's a business card.] 06* Heather takes it, looking at it. 01<@Ardweden> [On it is scrawled, in beautiful flowing script, "Lunatic Fringe". Below are the moons in different phases: full, half, and new.] 06* Heather looks questioningly back at Medea. "Moon phases?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Look at the moon when you leave, child," she tells her.] 06* Heather nods. She makes no mention of how odd it is for a store to be open three nights a month for a very short time. 01<@Ardweden> ["Now, I must ask you to be on your way."] 06* Heather nods. "Thanks," she says again -- no tears this time -- and makes her way out before Medea throws her out forcefully. 01<@Ardweden> ["You are welcome," Medea says as Heather steps back out into the night, the door closing firmly behind her and the candles inside Lunatic Fringe snuffing out.] 06* Heather looks back at the shop as the lights go out. Then up at the moon. 01<@Ardweden> [End!]