Epileptic Trees

[cityship]

The crew dreams.

As they have been for the past while, their dreams are being tampered with, but tonight it's different. Roxie, one of the crew members has done rituals to try to give the crew good dreams. However, the power of the Nightmare King can't easily be overcome, as a result, rather than pleasant or nightmarish, people's dreams are instead taking a turn for the surreal tonight.

Get ready to go down the rabbit hole, Meatship.

The jovial extra terrestrial sporadically giggled at the sight of the imaginary synthetic meat by-product. Exuberance!

Curiouser and curiouser.

Comments

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

Wedge dreams.

He dreams he is an X-wing, drifting in the void of space. How odd. There's nothing here. No star or planet, no ships or anomalies. Simply himself drifting alone in space with nothing and no one. Stark emptiness stretches on towards the pinpricks of light representing stars, far off in the distance. It's not really terrifying. Just surreal.

And a little lonely.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

There a voice on his radio. A crackle. Some static. A hissing sound. Arha found herself floating, tumbling through space, crammed into some sort of protective suit. She almost didn't notice the X-Wing at all until she hit it with a dull thud.

Her faceplate hit the cockpit window and she grunted.

The radio crackled again.

[[Wedge?]] she asked quietly. Because who else would be in an X-Wing in a dream? Her own X-Wing drifted by, scorched, and being eaten by some sort of massive purple, glowing space bug.

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

Wedge starts, jerking in his seat as something--no, someone bumps into his cockpit. He stares in vague incomprehension for a moment before he recognizes her and slowly lifts his hand to wave, watching her ship go by. This is a weird, weird dream.

[[Hello, Arha.]]

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

[[Something is eating my ship,]] she muttered, turning her head to watch the glowy thing snack on her ship. [[You okay?]] She blinked, squinting at him through the window and her own faceplate as she tried to keep a grip in the fighter.

[[It's cold out here,]] Arha said with a tired sigh. [[It's always cold out here.]]

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

[[I can see that. That's a real shame.]] for some reason, it didn't bother him as much as it might have. It was just a dream, but still. Someone was snacking on his pilot's ship. That's not good at all.

[[I'm fine. Do you want to come inside? I bet it's warmer.]] This seems like a perfectly good idea to Wedge.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

[[I hope it tastes good,]] Arha murmured and blinked. [[I think coming inside is a good idea. I really, really do not like the cold. Besides, what if I turn into ice? I do not wish to be a...a...thing on a stick. That someone might eat. I cannot remember what that thing is called. But I wish to be warm.]]

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

[[A popsicle. That would be bad, yes.]] Wedge agrees and pops the canopy. Instead of the rush of vacuum one might expect if this happened, Arha is simply drawn into the cockpit, which closes again, leaving the two snug as can be. X-wings are not very big, after all.

"Better?"

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Arha said, beaming, "much." And promptly discards her helmet to snuggle into him. "Open space is not for desert rats, but warm cockpits are just the thing." She paused, her fingers catching against his harness. "It is very, very empty out there, Wedge."

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

Wedge leaned back in the crash seat of his x-wing. Was it just him or did the cockpit get bigger, because normally it can't accommodate two people, even this snugly. Oh well. It's a dream. He wrapped his arms around Arha with a faint sigh.

"Yeah. Space is very, very empty. It's kind of frightening, really, if you're not used to it. And I know all about desert folks being cold...I can't imagine what poor Luke must have felt like on Hoth." As if on queue, a tauntaun floats by with what looks like a stormtrooper riding it. Except the stormtrooper has a top hat on over his helmet. And a monocle impossibly held next to one eye on his helmet.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Is better," Arha murmured, following the trooper and his mount, "with more people in it." Little glowing purple people streamed by a moment later, a fact which made Arha giggle and tilt her head back at what surely looked like the most awkward angle to watch the purple people. It wound her up in Wedge's lap.

Shooting purple people. Like little stars.

Arha mumbled something unintelligible, possibly about space people, and tucked herself firmly against Wedge. It might have been warmer in the cockpit, but she was cold. Then again, she was almost always cold save when she fiddled with her own internal thermostat. That took concentration that she didn't have. Much of this dream too too much concentration, too, so she just let it wander.

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

Oh. Arha was in his lap. Well, that wasn't unpleasant, just unexpected. He turned his head to watch the little purple people as well, a bit confused as the parade continued with a crowd of ewoks riding on a miniature Death Star. He held Arha a bit closer, rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to warm her up. Poor woman. Must be freezing for her.

"I suppose it is. Feels a little cramped, though."

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"I don't mind," she said, peering at him as she shifted a little before settling comfortably, "it's warmer this way." A few Guild Navigators sailed by, obliviously swimming about in their bubbles of orange gas, their bright blue eyes and fishlike bodies bobbing away through space before they vanished. Arha burrowed herself into Wedge, her lips against his neck, as the cockpit started to, oddly, frost over.

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. It is." He replied, his head tilting forwards to rest against hers. This is comfortable. In fact, it feels comfortable enough to fall asleep here. Which is strange, considering he's already asleep, right? He shook his head, watching as a mammoth sized Millenium Falcon chased a miniature Imperial Star Destroyer past them.

"...Hope that that cold doesn't get in here."

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Mm," was Arha's soft response as her decidedly cold nose brushed Wedge's cheek. She watched the chase and half laughed, making soft pew, pew noises. "I do not wish to be popsicle. That would be most unfortunate. It cannot be good to be," she blinked as she turned back and her lips brushed his, "...pop...sicle."

Oh.

She blinked at him.

Pop. Sicle?

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

Wedge was faced with a sudden realization that Arha was not only A) very attractive and B) In his lap, but C) very, very close. He swallowed, parting his lips slightly.

"This is just a dream, right? You're a creation of my subconscious?" Because he'd feel pretty guilty about going after someone else's lover, even while asleep. Not that he could expect a straight answer from his own mind these days. Plus, why wasn't it Iella? Maybe because he had met Arha more recently? Who knew?

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Don't know," she whispered, her lips still skimming his as she murmured. Her voice sounded weary as she brushed her thumb over his cheekbone. "Can't tell anymore. Could be just a dream. It's not a bad one, though."

A tangle of bright red hair fell forward as she tilted her chin slightly and slid her fingertips along his jaw.

"It's not bad at all." Some sort old, tinny music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv2SpGBT47Y) washed by, flickering over the radio, waving in and out in strength.

[yubyubcommander.livejournal.com]

"No. Not a bad dream at all." He could barely make out what looked like Darth Vader's helmet, blown up to impossible sizes, drifting by. "Just a strange one..."

He leaned against her, head tilting slightly as her fingers touched his face.

"Didn't know we could get music in this thing." He reached out, poking the...dial? Why was there a radio dial? And why did it look like one of those antique things from the museums instead of a proper radio? He turned it, moving through static, country music, a symphony, back to the tune it had started on.

[ladyofthesands.livejournal.com]

"Better than nightmares," Arha said, shifting slightly to peer at the dial. "I do not think I would call this such. It is just..." She ran her fingertips along his cheek and over his temple absently. Streams of glowing creatures were floating past the window in soft blues and purples, like the strange sea creatures named jelly-fish that Arha had never seen before.

"Yes, strange," she murmured. "So very strange this night."