Etlaayz

Your worst nightmare come true?
Jun 1, 2020
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Naisis (in her humanoid form) just stood there in front of the door of a bungalow down by the beach quietly arguing with herself.

When Flutterpip told her about someone she heard of that did not have a soul, yet could dream, Naisis could not believe it. She suspected Fultterpip misunderstood or somebody was telling her a tall-tale. But, her investigation turned up the same things along with her name - Adelaida, and that she seemed to be cursed with fire. Now she had to find out for sure. One of the major precepts taught at the Nighthome Academy of Magic was only souls can dream. If Adelaida's nature was true, then what they taught was false! Naisis began to wonder just what other precepts they were teaching were false.

But, now that she was here, she was having second thoughts. She was a private person and knew what it felt like to have someone pry into your person even for science. Still, the truth needed to be revealed. But, to pry into something like wealthier a person had a soul or not was just too personal for her tastes. She felt awkward when she had to do research on a person for one of her dreams.

With a sigh, she decided there just had to be another way and was about to leave.

@foggydoggy
 

foggydoggy

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Adelaida had a bit of a busy day out. She/d finished her work early and went out to enjoy the farmer's market. It was a calming thing, to pick out fresh produce. Manta Carlos also had some farm-fresh meats, so she'd taken out most of the morning to restock her food supplies.

Coming home took a series of bus rides from the heart of the island to the waterfront. It wasn't much of a hassle, all things considered, but she'd shopped a little too much.

She took the walk from the stop to her home slowly, enjoying the leisure of walking. But while fully expecting to be greeted by her empty, unlocked home, Adelaida was greeted by a stranger standing in front of her house.

She stood a little distance away, observing, checking to make sure that maybe this person had nothing to do with her and was just lost. After a few minutes, she confirmed that whatever business this person had, it was likely with either her or something in her home.

"Can I help you?"
 

Etlaayz

Your worst nightmare come true?
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When Naisis heard the voice from behind her, she straightens up and slowly turns around to face the speaker. From the description of her, Naisis was quite sure this was Adelaida. Oh well, so much for her chickening out and finding another way. She was here and for the first time in her life, she was at a loss for what to do.

Rubbing the back of her head and looking awkward and a bit uncomfortable (if anybody that knew her saw her now they would say this was not Naisis), "I heard you did not have a soul yet you are able to dream. I was curious if it was true."

Listening to herself she sounded so lame! What was she thinking! Throwing up her hands in surrender while shaking her head, she sheepishly added, "Sorry, I should not have bothered you."
 

foggydoggy

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Adelaida listened to the stranger's plight with a bit of amusement. While someone more cautious might shun the visitor or dismiss the whole thing as some form of the latest scams, it was a little too specific to her to be something so bland.

"It's true. Don't know who you heard that from, or why you know it, but it's true,"
she said while opening the door. It was a bit difficult to do so, what with both her hands occupied by bags of produce, but the stranger seemed a little too flabbergasted to offer any help.

She carefully made her way inside. "You know what, you seem to need me for something or else you wouldn't have waited out here. Come on in, make yourself at home."

With the produce all sorted out - or rather, haphazardly tossed in the fridge - Adelaida cracked open one of the many bottles of her favorite whiskey stored in her living room full liquor bar. "Bit early for drinking they say. Never stopped me though.
 

Etlaayz

Your worst nightmare come true?
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When Adelaida said, she was, the sheer enormity of what that could mean overwhelmed her to the extent she did not see Adelaida wrestle with her bags and the door.

Once she came back to reality, she got her Nightstone and peered through it at Adelaida. It showed what they would look like in the Subliminal (a realm where the body and soul swap places). The image of Adelaida disappeared (since she did not have a soul), but the image of her dream self was there. There was no doubt now; she could dream and had no soul.

Adelaida deserved an explanation, "My little one 'borrowed' my Nightstone and was watching other people with it when she saw you. Since you were not possible, at least as we understood dreams, she did a little looking around and got your name and told me about you. At first, I did not believe her, but she was so adamant it was so. That is why I am here."

Smiling, "Now I will have to apologize to my little one for not believing her, but that is ok. Any time I can learn something new is worth some embarrassment."

As she entered the house, a thought entered her mind that had nasty undertones, which showed up as one evil grin. If she gathers the proof and can substantiate it to the Tribunal, she could right a falsehood they had believed for eons. The fact she might get her Masters in Dream Theory and show up that asshole Ziadia Kyes were extra perks (the last one being the reason for the evilness of her grin).

She smiled, "well, this is your place, do as you like."

Sitting down and with a serious look, she replied, "We do. You are the disproof of a truth we have held for eons."

She purses her lips as she ponders what it would require to do that, "since I can not bring you before the Tribunal, I would have to compile a substantial proof of your existence enough to convince them."

She looks up to Adelaida, "which would need your cooperation."
 

foggydoggy

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"Hmm. Well, I have nothing better to do," Adelaida said, taking a drink. She knew instantly she was in for more trouble than was worth considering how much time she would have to spend to prove her existence.

Then again, Adelaida was perfectly fine with trouble.

She internally didn't hold much regard for dream-related magics. While she knew they had purpose and value, they were much too open to interpretation for her liking. Being raised on extremely formulaic and rigorous, almost scientific magic meant she'd developed an aversion to less structured schools of thought. Not enough to voice it, of course, though the more vigilant could notice a slight distaste in her features.

"Bit weird that I'm the only case you've run into, if I'm being honest. I've had plenty of experience with artificial, soulless life in my time, and it's not like I'm a unique case. Dreams are just byproducts of REM sleep cycles as far as I've seen them. A purely... physical function."
 

Etlaayz

Your worst nightmare come true?
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Naisis smiled when Adelaida mentioned she had nothing better to do. Adelaida has already done the easy part; all she had to do was exist. Now it was up to Naisis to do the hard stuff: gather and verify the evidence, collate it into a paper including footnotes with references, present it to the Tribunal and finally kiss the appropriate asses (it was that last part she tends to fail at, miserably).

When she mentioned how she saw things, dreams, in particular, Naisis knew she needed to write this down. This meeting was only to confirm she was a soulless dreamer and arrange further sessions. Pulling out her notebook, she turned to the page she started on Adelaida. The page had a few golden 'words' (to those that did not understand Qualiane, it would look like random lines with bumps, loops, and such). Fetching a fountain pen, she lanced herself to get a little of her black blood and started to write. The scribbling started out black then turned golden after she completed it.

Setting back with her notebook in her lap, she had a wry smile, "I am not surprised. I seriously doubt there were many of them in 18th century England nor a century ago in Japan, those were the times I was in reality, at least the narrow kind. For the others, only a few of us are allowed into reality. And for the Subliminal, the only thing that exists there are souls - well - has a presence. When someone enters the Subliminal their soul and body swap places. The soul becomes dominant to the point of having a physical presence. The body is contained in the soul."

She became more serious, "also, if you would introduce me to others without souls that could dream, it would help me prove the point. True, all it takes is one verifiable instance, that instance being you, to prove, or in this case, disprove the theory. More would make it harder to discount and, maybe, persuade others this might not be as rare as we might have once thought."
 

foggydoggy

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"Look, all I know is I don't have a soul and I can dream. I don't know anyone else that's like me. But there's enough people without souls here that you can probably ask around."

Adelaida sat herself down with a glass of water. This was definitely going to be a long talk.

She turned on the television at low volume, just so she had something to pay attention to during what she imagined would be hours of talking about private matters. But she'd already agreed with the request, perhaps a bit foolishly.

"I can dream just fine. Unfortunately, I haven't kept a log for you to look through... didn't expect anyone would need it. If you were able to make people dream and you tried it on me, I guarantee it would work though."
 

Etlaayz

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Naisis was beginning to wonder if this was worth it. However, Adelaida's advice was sound. She could look around for others. From the sound of it, Adelaida was not all that interested in discovering others like her.

When Adelaida turned on the television, she suspected it was to cover for a personal conversation, but who could hear?

She pondered what he might ask during the interview, and one thing came to mind, "Did you ever have a soul?"

She waved Adelaida off at her remark of keeping a log, "your dreams are your business and nobody else's."

She did smile and roll her eyes at the ability to make her dream, "I wish I could. That would make my life a whole lot easier. To do so, I have to go back to the Subliminal to locate the dreamer then enter their dream, assuming they are part of the Subliminal. That reminds me." She fetched a round apache tear disk (a Nightstone) and handed it to Adelaida, "just hold this for a while, it will help me find you if you are there."
 

foggydoggy

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"I... okay?"

Adelaida was confused. She'd mentally set everything up so that she'd be free for the next few hours to answer queries, but she was surprised to hear that this person didn't care for the content of her dreams. She'd assumed that, given that the dreams were crucial to proving whatever point was being made, there would be at least some prying.

Instead, she just held onto the stone. It wasn't likely that she would remember to keep it on her person, considering how little sentimental or monetary value it held for her.

"So what happens now?"
 
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