driftfleet | Y'All Need to Dream of Dancing Fish

Who: Katie McCoy & you
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: Iskaulit or Vanquish
When: 27 September.

[Because it's a matter of survival for the fae, Katie learned to deal with her own nightmares very early on. It's one of those issues when your existence straddles the line between the mundane world and the dream one and you see both at once. It can be fun. It can be beautiful. It can also kind of suck ass.

What happened to the planet below is still a source of roiling nausea for her, but she is by far not the only one dreaming of it now.

In one sense, it's good that the scale of destruction is so vast that the human subconscious has difficulty replicating it as echoes in the confined space of the ships themselves, but it doesn't stop her from catching glimpses of horrified faces in the corner of her eye. Ghostly echoes of copper-skinned victims before their death. Corridors suddenly filling with flame and screams. See, that one's jarring as hell and she has difficulty pretending she can't see it. It's enough that she excuses herself from polite company and locks herself in the Vanquish's personnel room, a ball of wool in her hands and a twitchy cat slinking at her heels. Licorice can see it all, too. That's the problem with getting too close to the fae. She wonders idly if Sam is having issues.

She can't exactly make an announcement to demand everyone get over it already. You can't get over something like this. It's healthy to go through that grief. But if a corridor happens to fill with fire while she's in it, she'll burn. And it's her job to try and curb this kind of thing, the way she ... totally didn't do that in Bath. Oh, well.

She does what she can.]

[Video]

Would anyone like a dream catcher? [She holds up a contraption made from baby blue wool and shells, shaking it a little. It looks decidedly average.] Personally speaking, I've always found the ones I didn't make myself far more useful. But you could always try them out and see what happens. Might help with the nightmares none of you are having.

Speaking of non-issues, I suppose this is what being a personnel officer is all about. I really do need my Doctor Is In sign, don't I?

[Decidedly average-looking or not, the dream catchers will reek of magic to anyone who can detect that sort of thing. And they'll work on the nastier nightmares people have until the magic runs down.

She'll be mostly in her personnel room on the Vanquish because these things take time to make, though she'll visit the Iskaulit later to hang out in the fox park and recharge.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I would imagine. Rocks aren't great for naps.

[He nodded.]

Thanks for the message, though. It helped a lot. [With Edna's revelation about Katie's... 'situation' when it came to telling the truth, he had a feeling she'd taken a huge risk, and he was grateful to her for it.]

I wish it had helped more, but I suppose I can't fault the planet's occupants for not paying attention sooner.

Yeah. I feel like we should have been able to do more evacuations, but... I guess... at least we were able to do the ones we did.

It was better than nothing.

I think it was a lot better than nothing, don't you?

[Gently. They did manage to get most of the population off planet. It wouldn't have happened if the Fleet hadn't been there to help.]

Do you know the planet still sings?

Yeah... it is better than nothing...

[He sighed a little, and then glanced at the feed.]

I wasn't sure, to be honest. [About the singing. The song was so different than from when they arrived. And the silence that had been there for a while... Keith had been pretty sure they'd just... lost it.] I know people are saying it'll come back, but... do you think it will?

[He knew she might not be able to answer that directly, but even just a hint would be fine.]

A world that's so remarkably alive has both longevity and wisdom, I'd say. The planet seems to think it will be just fine. Who am I to disbelieve it?

[It's not exactly direct and it's extrapolation, mostly. But that's why she gets away with it.]

[That seemed to placate him, at least. He nodded, looking a bit more relaxed.]

Yeah. I guess you're right.

[He gave her a weak smile.]

Thanks.

I'd say I wish I could do more, but we'll have circled back on ourselves. Oh... but I can help with sleep. [She lifts the dream catcher back into sight, shaking it lightly with a jangle of shells.]

Shall I bring it round for you?

[Keith quirked an eyebrow in amusement, and then nodded.]

Sure.

[He was a little doubtful, but, at the same time? He'd seen some weird stuff since they found the Blue Lion... mystical stuff. At this point? He was willing to give it a try.]

I appreciate it.

[Even if it didn't work, her effort on the dreamcatchers in the first place was kind of nice of her, so yeah. He appreciated it.]

Y'All Need to Dream of Dancing Fish

Re: video

video

Re: video

video

Re: video

video

Re: video

video

Re: video