See the sun set;

[20likes]

Character Name: Heartman + you
Who: TDM continuation + a few open prompts re: prelude
What: The prelude dream doesn't bode well for someone like Heartman
When: Night of Jan 1st
Where: Community hall, Outside

Content Warnings: TBD, will update as needed


i. The Dream;
Heartman's a very light sleeper. Doing everything in 20 minute cycles means his body's circadian rhythm is severely off, if nonexistent at this point. There's no Beach to go to, no wandering black sand and smelling the salt and decomposing fish, following familiar footsteps until he tires himself out. It's just him.

When he does sleep, his dreams are never. It's usually the same dream, one Heartman stopped dreading once he knew the scientific reason but still finds deeply unpleasant. He should be glad--is glad--that he only suffers a mild case of DOOMS. He lacks the homicidal tendencies for one, the suicidal behaviour is thankfully non existent. The dreams, though. The nightmares are relentless, sharp and vivid but never in colour.

This dream is not the same.

Heartman wakes with a gasp in the community hall, hand flying to his chest out of habit--no, his heart is fine, it's still fine here--and knocking the sleeping person next to him in his hurried attempt to rise. His brow furrows, determined, panting from the adrenaline as he scrambles up and shoots to the closest scrap of paper on a table, knocking over a chair in his haste to reach for his glasses at the same time.

"It's different--" His lips frown deeply, immediately twitch into a half smile in a temporary moment of sheer scientific excitement, and his face eventually settles on a very stern sort of look, lips parted as he scribbles madly.

"This... is... different."


ii. Outside;

He can't go back to sleep. Time seems to stretch on here, elongated and like a giraffe neck in comparison to the nice, neat, short and compartmentalized moments he's so used to. He's left rudderless, aimless without his research, and while he's already started to shift his work to solving this puzzle and trying not to focus too much on the one back home in order to retain his sanity here, it's difficult.

This dream, the wolves and the voice, even the word interloper is both a blessing and a curse. Heartman decides to go for a walk, bundling up as tightly as possible and throwing a blanket around his shoulders for good measure. The air is crisp, reminiscent of the mountain air swirling around his lab, but it has far more of a bite. Temperature, perhaps. Or the sense of foreboding that new dream has weighted him down with has clouded his judgement.

If someone else is taking a night walk, Heartman will politely raise his hand in greeting, sticking to the town itself and never straying too far from the community hall.

He does nip out a second time, this time to watch the sun rise, bundled just as tightly. For all of the unanswered questions he has, Heartman still has time to enjoy the natural beauty of it all. There's no Timefall to worry about. Just sheer, natural beauty.

Comments

[meadqueen]

“Yes, we have been contacted by two, possibly three, entities in ways that would be impossible where I come from without ritual. I don't know what it means yet, but it must mean something.” Who can say yet whether that dream had come from the woman or from the god depicted?

“That is what you meant by your usual dream. Is that typical for people where you come from or unique to you?”

[20likes]

A ritual? Heartman doesn't bother to hide the curious look on his face--not that he could even if he wanted to, he's quite easy to read--as he leans towards her.

"It's not common, but not unheard of," he says vaguely, and taps the scrap of paper. "The same dream, every night, shared by the same group of people." He trails off. "We've been able to figure out why in my world, at least most of it--to do something similar here is both exciting and, well, frustrating, if I can be a bit candid. But mostly exciting."

It's back to square one. Two steps forward, one step back, and this time with a completely new situation.

"Did you say ritual? Do you preform them, in your world?"

[meadqueen]

“You don't think it could be for the same reason?” It's strange to think that there could be multiple reasons for people to share the same dream. “I hope that will not happen every night.”

His interest might have been surprising if he hadn't already shown such enthusiastic interest in nearly everything else. “I don't perform such rituals myself, but our seer, Valka does, as did her mother Svala. Svala had a connection to the goddess Freyja the likes of which I've never seen, but it ate at her mind, particularly in her final years.”

[20likes]

He's quite sure, and he nods with certainty at Randvi's question, not wanting to interrupt her. His fingers are still half-splayed on his written word, not thinking to remove his hand or place it back onto his lap. Not when he's listening so intently.

"The goddess Freyja?" Norse mythlogy, right? Heartman's gaze flicks over and upwards briefly in thought before he levels it back at Randvi.

"Of the....vanir?"

[meadqueen]

“Yes!” So few people here understand anything at all about her home realm, so this is exciting to hear. “Yes, of Fólkvangr. Svala would speak to her sometimes as if she were there in the room, or even speak words in Freyja’s own voice. It could be frightening on occasion but it was awe-inspiring then to be so close to divinity.”

This wolf-faced god is a different matter entirely.

[20likes]

Randvi's excitement is met with Heartman completely matching her energy: he leans forward, nodding.

"Just a second--"

He snatches the sheet quickly, flipping it over, grabbing that pencil.

"Folk--Fólk--Fólkvang..." he jots it down. "And you said Svala communed directly with her? Do you remember how, exactly? Could the ritual be performed here?" He probably shouldn't look this happy, but he is.

[meadqueen]

“I think it may have had something to do with her nature. Valka communicates with the gods through augury, incense, and throwing the bones as other seers do, but I have never witnessed her speaking to them the way her mother did.” During her first meeting with Svala, when she’d made the trek to the seers’ home to acquire the herbs needed for the cleansing ceremony that had preceded her wedding, Freyja had spoken to her directly. Randvi still doesn't know what to make of it.

“Valka used to prepare a tea that would calm her mother's mind, in the later days when her identity and Freyja’s became more muddled. I'm not sure what it contained, or whether it would work for anyone else.”

[20likes]

Heartman's lost in thought for a few moments.

"Do you also have this ability? Knowledge of the herbs? Perhaps we could contact the voice via this mysterious ritual."

What she's describing is quite clearly magic to Heartman, which certainly doesn't exist--but there's a chance that chemical components, genetic disposition and the like could make it seem like magic...

[meadqueen]

“I've helped to collect them on occasion in Norway but I'm afraid I'm not familiar with what grows here.” Her own foresight is mostly of the mundane variety, looking at people and seeing how they act when they think they're unobserved.

“This voice seems to want contact with us more than the other. I'm certain she will reach out again.”

[20likes]

It's a pity, but not something Heartman seems particularly disappointed about--his lips press into a thin line for a fraction of a second, but combined with the slight furrow of his brow it's clear it's more because he's thinking than anything else.

"One can hope. I can't say I've had much experience with contacting Gods. The other side, yes, but communing with spirits is far out of my purview. Were her abilities common?"

He's deeply curious now, shifting from the dream to his other interest: other worlds. If he can pick Randvi's brain about things since he's not going back to sleep anytime soon, then it's a win.

[meadqueen]

“The other side?” Even in this strange conversation, it's a bit odd to bring that up so casually.

“There are typically one or two seers like Valka in every village - they oversee various ceremonies and care for the sick as well - but in terms of women such as Svala I have only ever seen one.”