This city won't say where she's going / She won't speak of where she's been

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in the City there is music... and it's loud. For blocks, easily, it can be heard pouring out from open windows and doors of the building it's coming from, and closer in, the bass can felt as much as heard.

And the building—well, the little independent office has been sharply redecorated, walls scrawled with bright runes and complex glyphs that seem almost like hyper-abstract graffiti, some of the windows methodically boarded over, the freestanding sign replaced with large, hand-lettered block print reading ROXIE'S, and under that, freelance monster removal &
artifact creation.

Maybe you've come by to tell her to turn that music down—or just to visit—or to volunteer some of the materials she asked for from anyone willing.

Comments

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

"Of course." Given her tone, he's not sure he isn't supposed to repeat the affirmation as she worded it, but he supposes this will do if she doesn't correct him.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie nods slightly, uncorks the vial, and very carefully daubs a little bit of the gunk inside into the back of Gauron's hand, rubbing it in. It almost instantly starts to go numb and tingly—some kind of natural or magical anaesthetic?

She takes hold of his hand, keeping it over the bowl, and very carefully draws the knife across the back of his hand, letting the resulting shallow cut start to drip into it.

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Gauron's assuming the topical anesthetic properties are only incidental - the blade looks sharp enough to slice without pain on its own. Not that he minds pain.

"So tell me about this dreamwalking thing that you do," he asks as the little bowl slowly begins to fill.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

It is, indeed, very sharp—sharper than a steel scalpel by far, in fact, but also more delicate, which is why she's so careful with it.

Roxie sets the slightly-stained knife on another towel, and watches Gauron's hand as she answers: "I've been patrolling the collective unconscious of the ship. It's rare that there's a one-to-one match with any physical element, but I don't think the power I experienced could have come from something without at least an incidental physical manifestation."

[gaulung.livejournal.com]

"You're gonna have to run that by me one more time." It's rare for Gauron to admit to not understanding something - but then, he's a quick enough study that he can usually piece together the bits that aren't immediately obvious well enough on his own. "...Better yet, is there any way you could show me?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Enough for now," Roxie murmurs, and presses her palm against the wound, spreading the gunk a little more evenly, and she holds the pressure there.

"... I could," she says, louder. "I should be able to show you the edge of the king's territory from a distance, at least."

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

At least she didn't need all that much blood from him, anyway. "So how will that work? After the bleeding stops, do I just find someplace to lie down and fall asleep and you'll meet me there, or...?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

She nods, and pulls her hand away—the skin of Gauron's hand is healed, though barely, with the pallid, dimpled skin of a wound long left healing under a bandage. It's still numb, though.

Roxie wipes the gunk and smeared blood off her hand on one of the towels. "You could use my extra couch." She points over to where it's tucked into the corner. "Would you need any help to fall asleep?"

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Gauron examines the back of his hand curiously - Roxie's certainly got a lot of useful skills, and not to mention this is the first time he's gotten magicked. "Nah, I fall asleep pretty quickly." When you're on the battlefield, being able to take advantage of any opportunity to sleep is a necessary adaptation - you never know when you'll get another one. He lies down on the couch, and, true to his word, it's only a couple minutes before he's sleeping. Of course, Roxie's going to have time to do whatever she needs to with the blood before it coagulates before he actually hits REM sleep.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Coagulate? Oh, that's silly. What do you think the fancy bowl is for? While he settles in, Roxie (very carefully) moves the bowl and other materials to one of the back rooms for storage, and rearranges some of the things she was in the middle of when he came in. The apron comes off, and she puts on her denim jacket again.

And she settles into her meditation room in the back, waiting for Gauron to sink into the dreaming phase of sleep.

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

To some extent, Gauron already has control of his own dreams; at least, he's been able to choose a more mundane location to meet her in than the usual places he visits in what, to anyone else, would be more like nightmares. He's in Hong Kong Park, enjoying the crisp winter air. He looks a little different, too; same scars, but younger, in his early thirties at most.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

As Roxie slips into the dream, appearing in the flicker of an eyeblink, she's different, too. Not in age, no—she doesn't think of herself that way—but she's wearing a long red cloak, the hood down, wrapping voluminously around her.

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Gauron quirks an eyebrow briefly at her choice of attire - but he's not going to comment because, knowing her, it's probably magic-shielded body armor. "I haven't exactly been out of my little corner of the dreamscape before, so you're going to have to lead from here."

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

Roxie nods silently and gestures for Gauron to follow her. She leads through the park—to a staircase that spirals down into the ground. It's well-blended into the scenery, a generally cohesive element, but... well, there certainly wasn't any subterranean element here, in his memory.

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Given that he's still dreaming, the sudden - yet utterly seamless - appearance of the stairwell doesn't bother him. As Roxie leads the way down it, though, he finds himself feeling more and more awake - is this her magic, or does finding his way out of his own dreams just require leaving that kind of oversaturated pseudo-consciousness behind? He decides, forcibly, that it doesn't matter - the scent of Roxie's lair and the distant, still nonsensical faint lyrics of her music are close to pulling him back into wakefulness as it is, and he absolutely cannot have that. He shuts out both, and suddenly finds himself on the landing below her. "Should I be trying out those prayers to your god now?" He may have meant it to sound humorous, but here, it only sounds tense.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"It couldn't hurt," Roxie says. "Repeat after me," she adds, and then starts in on slow, well-enunciated phrasing that's utterly foreign. Were Gauron a linguist, he might recognize strange mixes of archaic Egyptian and Babylonian elements.

Roxie continues down the stairs with him—they spend a long time just walking down endless enclosed spiral stairs, passing by landings that shoot out into the darkness and give glimpses of a broad variety of strange scenes.

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Gauron repeats the incantation; it sounds a little familiar, like he's heard its linguistic descendants - which he has: he speaks a little bit of a lot of languages.

He doesn't know what he'd been expecting to see, but he refuses to let himself be unsettled by the scenery - some of it's pretty interesting, actually. Maybe he can get a closer look at it on the way back. For now, though, they've clearly got more important things to see.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

And as they step down the final part of the staircase they come out into a bizarre (http://live.universal-collectibles.com/product_images02/41391-1.jpg), surrealist (http://www.askart.com/AskART/photos/RAG20060520_3060/569.jpg) world (http://www.ccambrea.com/surreal%20art1.jpg).

"So many sleeping minds makes the ship's dreamland less than consistent."

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Despite the extremly disorienting scenery, Gauron doesn't feel sick - whether it's Roxie's magic, the fact that he's still technically dreaming, or his own preternatural adaptability, he's not certain, but he's aware enough to be grateful for whatever it is. "Are there regions that correspond to specific people, or is it all just... well, like this?"

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Only the greatest minds can induce any stability in chaos like this," Roxie says, and she leads Gauron forward, down roads that form ahead of them and crumble behind them, and up and down and across spiraling staircases that reach and shape out of the bizarre landscape.

She's one of the ones who can shape the place, apparently.

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

"I can see why." Gauron follows her, watching interestedly as the paths form and dissipate around them. Sometime, he really does need to ask her about the nature of her magic - but for now, he's just going to be satisfied with taking in as much as he can on this trip.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

She leads him through surreal streets and thousand-step avenues towards a place where the "world" goes threadbare, spiraling out into darkness.

They stop. This is near the edge, where things are less... existent. Less insistent. It's like gazing into the depths of space, but there are no stars, no planets, only dark storms that fog the view. Another hundred steps and one could leap into the void and be lost forever.

There is a beating of drums, very far away, and a wheedling of flutes, and though it is all so soft as to border on the inaudible, some part of it grinds away at the hidden parts of the mind.

"This is the closest I can let you get," Roxie says. "The being is out there. If you focus enough you can feel the musicians of its court trying to pull at your heart."

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Despite the vastness of the space, that f***ing creepy music makes him feel claustrophobic. "Have you been closer than this before?" He's never been one to ignore his instincts, and they're insisting that very soon, it is going to be time to leave - the sooner, the better.

[toariversodeep.livejournal.com]

"Yes. I was lucky. There's a god out there helping contain the worst of the being's influence, but he'll be overwhelmed sooner or later. At that point, I believe it will be able to break all the other bindings on it in short order."

And then, the momentary shift of her expression says, they all die.

[gaulung.livejournal.com]

Of course, he catches that brief, fatalistic shift - but even though he knows what it means, he's not just going to accept it. "So if your gods can't protect us, then what about Stacy? She's inside everyone's head, here - and if we can resume contact with the Daligig, they might be able to tell us how to use her to help us keep this thing contained."