Editing Invisible Monarchs/Session5 (section)

==Alice's Dream==
Alice:	Before she had Awakened, Alice always had found herself in a house, very much like the home she knew so well.  After all, it was one of the few things she did know, beyond the gardens and the flowers.  There were hazy memories of other things, but perhaps her mother had kept them away.

Alice:	But things had changed now.

Alice:	Alice's dreams were far different now, cities and buildings intermingled with forests and wilderness, with every thing having a spirit and a personality similar to the symbols they met.

Alice:	And always Alice herself was different, dressed in different garb than she always slept in, and... not /exactly/ with her Familiar.

Alice:	It was a place to wander alone, after all, dreams.  

Alice:	But always, always one thing was the same.

Alice:	She always woke up, rubbing her eyes as the poppies bloomed around her, welcoming her to slumber.

Alice:	(Though, she was willing to make bets that as the seasons changed, the flowers would too.)

Alice:	The girl gets up, shaking her head and not bothering to dust herself off of pollen as she walks down the cobblestones, adjusting her skirts covered in blinking eyes, watching the world around her as she listened for... something.

Alice:	There was a nervous energy as she walked, as if she was at risk of being caught, but then again, maybe she was.  She was going to an old library... her own memories.

Alice:	She wanted to see if she could know the Uncle they had met before.

Yogo:	The Library is in disarray, books mislabled and out of place, the card catalogs half eaten away by the flowering vines that creep over the entire place. But you can hear something, just at the edge of perception, the sound of a party of some kind, classes clinking and people talking happily.

Alice:	She bites her lip, letting herself imagine a different shape, a different /age/ to her self.  A doll's visage surrounds her as she walks, mimicking childhood recollections as she pretends to check and sort.  Little spirits react as well, realizing someone was here, and that She was important.

Yogo:	Your wandering leads you through the library towards the sound and eventually you come to a door with a book on the ground in front of it, many of the pages torn out by the vines growing over it. The cover reads, "Mama's Party."

Alice:	She takes a deep breath, dusting it off carefully and then removing the vine slowly, gently.

Alice:	She creates a mental 'tug', calling Crestfallen to warn her of possible danger, what she was attempting.

Yogo:	Crestfallen is a silent but comforting presence at the back of your mind and then the vines are pulled free and the book falls open revealing that it was just covering up a hole in the floor, and the sounds are louder now, resonating out of that hole.

Alice:	Alice thinks for a moment, glancing for a set of stairs.  Mortal means would be safest here, with this guise.

Yogo:	You look about a moment, and then when you look back the stairs are there, rickety and overgrown with more flowering vines but servicable.

Alice:	She touches the flowers, her thoughts singing out command to be strong and allow her presence in her own dreams as she descends.

Yogo:	The vines stiffen, holding the stairs fast as you clamber down, the light swelling below you from the wan dawn of the outside city to full daylight as you emerge into the memory of one of Mama's garden parties.

Alice:	And unwittingly, Alice is small now, smaller than herself as a child, a black cat with doe-brown eyes as it blinks.

Alice:	(I figure since it's her dream, she can go crazy changing.)

Yogo:	((Of course))

Alice:	The cat pads about, glancing about for a very familiar little girl.  It was... at the least very odd seeing both out and in, but perhaps that was the power of the Awakened.

Yogo:	You can see yourself, wearing a white lacy dress and following Mama around as she moves through the flowers of her garden, her dolls serving the men and women who you don't recognize instantly, but all of them have the look of free people, not one of Mama's dolls.

Alice:	The cat curls up on a low brick wall, watching the faces, listening with keen, keen senses.

Yogo:	Mama leads the little girl over to one of the older men among the guests and she smiles, "Ah, how are you today Uncle?" The man turns toward her, frowning, his bald head shining in the light and massive bushy beard bobbing as he says, "Very well." The dream starts to stutter, and you feel the vines and flowers from Mama's garden creeping up and wrapping around your cat-body, pinning you to the wall as more vines grow up, tearing the space around you as they lash, fragments of dream space fluttering around like broken winged birds and you can hear Uncle say, "How are your daughters doing?" But Mama isn't listening.

Yogo:	She's turned toward you, face a calm mask but fury glinting in her eyes, "No darling. You don't belong here."

Alice:	In reaction, there's stalks covered in hundreds of blood red flowers blossoming around the cat, turning into fine china yet not cracking as twin voices growl.

Alice:	"No, *we* do."

Alice:	Hollow and alive, something far more sinister.  "Life and spirit, heart and soul."

Yogo:	The vines around you shatter and Uncle continues with his conversation even though the dream of Mother has left it to direct her vines as they tear apart the space and tangle with your own flowers. Uncle smiles, "I can't wait to continue their lessons."

Alice:	The china cat frowns, watching.  Daughters, daughters, daughters...

Alice:	*s*

Yogo:	Mama lets out a piercing shriek and the air shatters, and for a moment only Uncle's head hangs in the air, as he says, "You know, Mary especially is quite talented..." and then his head breaks apart into a shock of orange and black butterflies and mama vanishes into the darkness, her vines wilting away from you.

Alice:	She grits her teeth.  /I'll need Forcas here next time to do this more tidily.../

Alice:	She looks at the window, inside of the house, glancing to see if there was a face there.

Yogo:	The house, behind you, is still whole and sunny in contrast to the darkness arrayed in front of you. It's still and quiet, the view marred by the vine wrapped stairs you climbed down.

Alice:	More subtle... she'd have to talk to him...

Alice:	The kitten shifts back into Alice, and she looks about, shaking her head as she holds Crestfallen.

Alice:	She closes her eyes and makes a different place to patch the hole, a mental broom to sweep things up for now.

Alice:	Maybe the Mastigos could glue it all together.

Yogo:	The broom whisks through the air, and the bird shaped shards fall to the grand with a crystalline clatter, building up a new, if scattered and wrong, image, like a jigsaw put together by touch alone.

Alice:	"This is going to be so very awkward..."

Alice:	"Sorry for waking you up, Crest.  Why don't we look in your dreams tonight?  I... Think not tripping anything else is a good idea."

Yogo:	Crest smiles and nods, "Okay." She whispers, and you feel the world around you shifting and you and taking on the form of one of Crest's dreams, a castle on a hill with well armed soldiers at every turn to protect you, wrapped up in a blanket and safe in bed.