i know you, i walked with you once upon a dream [closed]

[girlinthebox]

WHO: River, Aleron, Simon, Melys, Sina, and Bruce.
WHAT: The Dreamer's going for a walk.
WHEN: Guardian 29
WHERE: The Faaaaaaaaaade
NOTES: CW: Abuse, violence, trauma, etc. Individual starters within.

The Fade is not separate, but intertwined. One half of a woven tapestry, unseen but present and binding. The mages could feel it when they pulled magic through, or walked that plane in sleep. Dreamers? Felt those ties in their bones, the way they tied and plucked at the mundane world of the waking. Their emotions stirred spirits, their memories left imprints that echoed.

Their dreams shaped the abstract around them, without them even knowing. River knew. River had found those paths and wandered them, slipping in and out of one dream and then another, avoiding demons and watching the landscape shift around those who slept in Skyhold.

Here, the bindings were firmer, more secure, but she could see more clearly. Tonight, she made her walk down those paths, following the echoes of sound and emotion like loose strings in different colors. Gather them up and see the picture on the other side.

Carefully, carefully. Here, her touch could alter far too much.

Comments

[girlinthebox]

"Not long after you."

She beams up at him, bringing over a small folded napkin and settling in to sit on the grass. It's comfortable, open, and they're together and safe. It's all he wanted, she knew, everything he would have fought for them to have. She can't bring herself to break the illusion just yet.

Instead she grins impishly and opens the napkin. Berries, plump and red, sit there in her lap.

[noleechesneeded]

If only that had been true, Simon thought. How old was River when she first started showing her gifts? Eight was the earliest he'd heard of it happening...which would have only been four years after he'd left home for the Circle. Providing his parents had done the right thing...

But Simon did his best to sweep those thoughts away before they could get any more bitter. This little corner of the Fade was too pleasant to ruin with his usual pessimism.

"I'm glad you could make it," he told her, watching the napkin spread out like a small picnic in her lap. It seemed like a good invitation, so Simon knelt down next to her, the grass cool and slightly damp from the nearby fountain. Yet for once he didn't mind if his robes came away stained...something told him it wouldn't be a problem in the dream. "What do you have there?"

[girlinthebox]

"I found them in the garden. Remember the Camberson's berries?"

She plucked one up in her fingers before offering it out, trying to maintain the mirror-stillness of the illusion. Don't let it warp, twist. Don't let the seams show through. Simon would notice, he was too clever not to.

Let them enjoy these moments, just for a little while, pretending everything had turned out alright.

[noleechesneeded]

"I do remember...Maker, it feels like an age since then," he said with a quiet smile. Sometimes he dreamed of the old house instead of the circle, but the memories were even more blurred. Halls were wider and ceilings taller and the grounds seemed to stretch on forever...but, yes, he did remember the Camberson's berries. "We thought they were wild."

The smile shifted as he leaned forward, mouth open obediently to accept River's offer.

[girlinthebox]

So tender, the way she places the berry at his lips. They leave a stain on her fingers, too, deep red and trickling downward, but no. No. He doesn't need to get his hands dirty.

She'll keep hold of them for him. The stain has already found her, in red streaks down her robes.