01<@Ardweden> [Day: Sunday, September 26. Time: 12:45 pm.] 01<@Ardweden> [Last night? This morning? Was really something, what with walking into Natalie's dream, Sydney somehow turning into Sydney (instead of Hien?), and Big Bird pointing out that the word of the day is 'orphan'. Sydney woke up TIRED AS HELL, but - fueled by adrenaline - checked on Natalie... who is fine. She seems more awake than her, at least.] 01<@Ardweden> [Then there was a shower, and other such things. Let's see what she's doing now!] 01<@Ardweden> [Start!] 06* Sydney is sitting at the kitchen table eating... well, at this point we'll call it brunch, since it's a bowl of cereal and a banana at almost one in the afternoon. She chews slowly, staring off into space. At this point she's showered and dressed, but she's still got lovely dark circles under her eyes and her hair is hanging loose over her shoulders. She's wearing a t-shirt with a certain penguin-themed sports team and a pair of dark sweatpants, and no shoes. This is an "I am doing nothing but sitting around the house today" outfit. 01<@Ardweden> [While Sydney stares into space, the phone rings! Not her cell phone, oddly enough, but the landline. Huh.] 06* Sydney reaches for her cell phone and is incredibly puzzled when she finds it's not the one that's ringing. She gets up and slowly shuffles over to the landline, then picks it up. "Hello?" 06* MysteriousPerson answers! How mysterious! "Hi Sydney. It's Heather, from school. Can you meet me in the park in a bit?" ... Well, so much for mysteriousness. 06* Sydney sounds genuinely surprised. "Oh, hi... Uh, sure? Like, when?" "Half an hour?" Uh. Hang on a sec. 06* Sydney grabs her cell phone and calls up directions to the park. Yep, looks like she can make it there in half an hour. "Okay, yeah." 06* Heather responds, "Great. See you then." She hangs up. 06* Sydney puts the phone back, then quickly finishes cereal, grabs another banana for the road, and heads out! 01<@Ardweden> [An hour later, and Heather's been waiting at the park, which is outfitted with a field, a small playground complete with slide and swingset (there used to be a tire swing, but that's been taken down ages ago), and some benches and tables to sit at. It's a sunny day, though a bit chilly. There are five boys playing kickball in the field, while an adult stands to one side and watches.] 06* Heather is sitting on a park bench, writing in a small book. She's a pretty girl, half-Asian, brown eyes and shoulder-length dark hair, swept to one side in the front. She's wearing white shorts over black tights, a black shirt and light red jacket. 06* Sydney wanders into the park. From the opposite direction of where she should have been coming if she'd headed there directly from her house. She's turning her head from side to side, looking for someone, but it might actually take her a while to find Heather, so Heather may want to intervene directly. Or not! Depends on how she's feeling. 06* Heather waits a minute to see if Sydney will notice her. When it becomes apparent that she won't, Heather stands up and waves. 06* Sydney notices the girl waving at her! Good job, Sydney! She walks over to her. "Hi!" 06* Heather sits back down. "Hi Sydney. Thanks for coming." 06* Sydney sits down next to her. "You're welcome. So... I'm a little confused. Why exactly did you want me to meet you here?" 06* Heather takes a deep breath, "I was there last night." 06* Sydney looks completely, totally, and utterly confused. "You were... where?" 06* Heather looks pointedly at Sydney. "At the castle." At the... oh! Oh! That was *you*? 06* Heather nods. "Were you expecting someone more impressive?" No... I... wasn't really expecting anyone in particular. I mean... well, since you were there you know what I was trying to do, so... Yeah. So I... I wasn't really thinking all that much about who you'd be in the real world. No offense. Just I was really worried about my sister. 06* Heather nods. "I know, but you and Tyler are the only ones I know, so...." Know like know who they are in the real world, or know as in have met? Who you are. I saw you, remember? Okay, me I understand, but... how did you know Tyler was Tyler? He said so, back in Tony's dream. Oh, right, you were there then too? I'd forgotten. 06* Heather nods again. So how long have you been doing this? A couple months. You? ... Not that long, I'm guessing? About a month. 06* Heather nods. "Who else is with you?" Actually, can I ask you a question first? 06* Heather draws back. "...I guess?" Did you sign a contract? And if you did, who'd you sign it with? 06* Heather nods. "I signed it. With Medea. You?" 06* Sydney looks relieved. "Yeah, us too. Okay, so, there's me and Tyler. Javy." She takes a deep breath. "Tiffany." She takes another breath. "And Hank. He wasn't there last night, though." Oh. That explains why you guys are always at the library together. Yep. Dreamwalker discussions. 06* Heather nods. "Can I ask a favor? Don't tell the others about me yet. I'm not sure I'm ready." 06* Sydney ponders for a bit. "I could do that... but now you know who we all are. So you have to promise not to tell them that I told you. And I won't say anything about you being you until you're ready to do it on your own terms." 06* Heather smiles shyly and brushes a lock of hair over her shoulder. "That's fine. You didn't really tell me that much anyhow." 06* Sydney smiles brightly. "Okay, it's a promise, then!" 06* Heather nods. "Okay." 06* Heather abruptly changes the subject. "So is your sister okay?" 06* Sydney looks like she was about to ask a question, but changes her mind. "Yeah, she's doing a lot better. She only remembers some of it, but... that's okay. She's safe now. And... I feel like I understand her better now. It's not going to be all rainbows and unicorns, but I hope we'll start being able to get along more." 06* Heather nods. "Good. That's good. I was worried you weren't going to be in time." 06* Sydney lets out a breath. "So was I. And I was worried we'd have to fight everything in front of her. I didn't want to totally ruin her dream and traumatize her. I mean, I needed to get her out, but... in the least painful way." It was close. Have you... 06* Sydney swallows. "Have you seen anyone who *didn't* get out?" Yeah. I have. And... what happens to them? 06* Heather shrugs. "Nothing. Nothing happened. Except he didn't wake up." But... he's still in the dream, right? He's still somewhere? 06* Heather nods. "Yeah." So not dead, but... lost forever? I don't know about forever. We might be able to save him. But without knowing another Walker who's close to him, who understands him.... 06* Heather glances at the ground, "That only leaves the other way." Do you know who he is in real life? Jason Matthews. Do you know him? He hasn't been in school this semester. 06* Sydney shakes her head. "No, I don't know him. But I'll keep his name in mind." 06* Heather nods. I'm glad you're more into the nonviolent solutions. At first I was all, "Yay, let's be like superheroes and kick ass," but... it's getting downright *scary*. Well, it's like a whole other world in there. I mean some of the people are just part of another's dream, but still... How you deal with them affects the dreamer. Your raven doesn't seem to understand that. Or he doesn't care. I'm not really sure he's "ours." 06* Heather blinks at Sydney. "No? you follow his direction, don't you?" Yeah, but... he's kind of his own thing. 06* Heather tilts her head to one side. I mean, you're obviously not following him. Well, no. Are you following someone? Yeah. I'm not sure who exactly though. Really? So you don't see anything? You don't talk to anyone? 06* Heather grins at that. "No, I see everything. And I report it back to a person on an old rotary-style telephone." Her grin fades. "At least I was doing that. But now he wants me to be more active." Or she. But I think it's a he. And you have no idea who's on the other end of the telephone? I have an idea. I'm not sure though. If you don't mind my asking, what's your idea? There's three... brothers, I guess you can say. I'm pretty sure it's one of them. Okay. That sounds familiar. And... I took notes at some point, and they're at home, and I don't quite remember. 06* Heather nods. "I'm not sure which one." She pauses. "Probably not Phobetor." 06* Sydney looks apologetic. "That also sounds familiar, but... notes." 06* Heather smiles. "Fair enough." 06* Sydney looks down at her watch. "Oh, shoot, I need to get going. I'm really sorry about being late. I got lost. It's... a problem I have. I tend to get distracted, and then I just wander off." 06* Heather nods. "Okay, thanks for coming out. I'll see you in school I guess." Yeah. Um... is it okay if I want to talk to you about dream stuff again before you tell everyone else who you are? I could call or something, or we could meet somewhere. Sure, that's fine. 06* Sydney smiles. "Okay! I'll see you later, then." 06* Heather waves. "Later, Sydney." 06* Sydney waves back. "See ya!" 06* Sydney heads towards home, feeling reasonably good and completely unaware of the fact that she failed to actually ask Heather for her phone number. 06* Heather packs up her things and leaves, probably assuming Sydney found her number the same way she found Sydney's. 01<@Ardweden> [End!]