birds singing in the sycamore tree

[baedalites]

As night falls on Baedal, the city is almost quiet. The streets have a few last minute workers returning home, but by now, most citizens have already gone by the temples and picked up their vurt, ready to lay down and dream.

After placing a not-feather in one's mouth, there's a moment where it fizzes against the tongue before sliding coolly down the back of the throat and pulling the user down into sleep. A series of impressions, more sensation than anything concrete, appears before the user and this is how one chooses which Dreamer to enter.

Comments

[gotbottle]

All the days she spent above the water as a child, letting it carry her farther and farther from the shore, farther and farther from all her problems and all her worries. All the time passed that she spent on the surface, letting the water support her, doing her best not to sink.

...Why hadn't she ever thought to sink?

It's like being embraced by the water, enveloped in its love and its joy and its beauty, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world, being held like this, being able to move through this.

She's in a flowing white dress, shoulders bare, the train half dragging, half floating behind her as she walks, barefoot, along the bottom. The sand squishes between her toes, as soft as the silk draping her body.

She should've thought to try this years ago.

[bodilesswarrior]

Barbara's always enjoyed the water. Nowadays, well, swimming is liberating.

She pulls herself through the water in broad strokes, smiling softly at the fish darting out of her way or brushing against her skin.

When she catches sight of another swimmer, she stills, body floating upright as she offers a wave.

[gotbottle]

The movement catches her eye, and Rachel floats, too, waving back. Her upstretched hand brushes against a large, blue fish, and she laughs, glancing up before gazing again at the other woman in the water.

"Hi! Isn't this great? I think it's the best thing I've ever experienced."

[bodilesswarrior]

Barbara grins, nodding as small, vibrant fish swim through the floating waves of her hair.

"It's pretty wonderful, yeah. I always wished I could just stay under water for hours." Well, she could, technically - she's a certified scuba diver, all of that - but this is different.

[gotbottle]

"I used to spend whole days on the surface, when I was a kid. Like, surfing and stuff. But being down here is pretty cool."

She drifts closer, offering a hand. "I'm Rachel."

[bodilesswarrior]

Barbara takes it, her grip firm and friendly. "Barbara." She shakes her head, and the fish dart away. "I wasn't going to come, but..."

[gotbottle]

"It's nice to meet you, Barbara." Rachel's attention is again diverted by the fish, but she turns back after watching them swim away.

"Why weren't you going to come?"

[bodilesswarrior]

Barbara follows her gaze, waving at the fish with her free hand.

Her smile fades as she considers her answer. "I was - wary." She pulls her arm back, touching her temple. "They're inside our head, basically. We're in each other's heads. I didn't like the idea."