[Which, of course, really just prompts him to dig it further into her side, even as she squirms and he play-wrestles her until they're some semblance of comfortably settled again.]
And just how long is "a bit" before you explain this dream of yours, exactly? You can't keep mentioning it but then keeping us in suspense!
[Alucard doesn't have to turn around to know what's going on. He has witnessed the War of the Elbows many times (he has defended his own honor in quite a few), and there's a regular pattern to it all.
He has the eggs in the pan and is working on them by the time the war's over. While he works, he begins to explain.]
Well, I wasn't very well going to talk over you two while you were doing that, now was I?
[The eggs are done. He takes them off the stove, the rest of the cooking done by the pan's remaining heat, and then he goes for the bread box. Good, crusty rye for toast. A bread knife lives in that box, so he takes that out too.]
I had an actual, lucid conversation with my mother. Not just a replay of memories.
[Well, that shuts the two of them up fast. Especially because Alucard really isn't one to be given to whimsical fantasies when it comes to something like this, which means the natural logical conclusion is that he's not describing a fantasy at all, but a reality.
And that's...well, that's just...]
In...in your dreams?
[She glances at Trevor, who looks just as perplexed and at a loss as she feels herself.]
We did spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out the mechanics.
[Nerds. He comes from a line of nerds. Sure, one was a vampire king for centuries, but still a goddamn nerd.]
I'm sleeping in between the two of you again this evening. To test at least one theory.
[The bread, once sliced, gets stuck onto a long skewer. Alucard then walks over to the fire box for the stove, opens it, and sticks the stake-o-bread in for just a few quick moments.
The toast gets pulled out seconds later, and maybe the most remarkable part of all of this is the total lack of grief around Alucard as he's discussing this. A thawing well. Slow and sure.]
That would lend itself to some very interesting magical questions, if the simple act of sleeping between Trevor and I is what caused something like that...
[Hypothesis: can she and Trevor summon back the dead by creating some sort of weird magical resonance that acts on whatever is dropped in-between them. WILD.]
...Alucard, you're...sure it was her? From the way she spoke, and the things she said to you...?
Notes for repairing the castle! That's...very specific! But it would also be immensely helpful, considering how broken it happens to be, at the moment...
[Because you broke it, Trevor reminds her, helpfully.]
[Alucard can only nod in agreement with a reminder of whose fault it is, but he at least has the good sense to turn around and remove the toast and get it all on plates. Eggs too.]
We can focus on that part later. The point is, the dream was much realer than it ought to have been, and I put stock in it.
[And that's what kept you in bed until halfway to noon, Trevor sums up, because Trevor has priorities. Trevor also has a mighty hunger, just as Sypha does, and as food starts coming off of the stove and onto serving plates, their attention abruptly piques and hones in on the dishes in Alucard's hands.]
Well. Even if it is, it's good to see you so happy. You don't look even the slightest bit gloomy!
[She doesn't mean to imply the for once that's suggested on the end of that, but it's probably there anyway.]
[Trevor is rewarded with a stink eye for the comment, but the food gets put down on the table all the same. The other two will have to untangle themselves to actually come and eat, so Alucard sits himself in the chair that will let him see that particular process unfold.
...but really, Sypha. He heard that implied for once. He's not going to call her for it though. Better approach: distract.]
Do your people have anything in your histories about distinguishing true dreams from the more mundane ones?
[What follows is the very definition of a tragedy: the food is out of reach, but to get it, Sypha would have to abandon her comfortable cuddle huddle. Thus no matter what she does, she is deprived and that's terrible.
Trevor, on the other hand, knows what he's about, and what he's about right now is breakfast. So Sypha ends up lifted and carried over to the table, where she can be comfortably deposited in a chair of her own before Trevor claims one within reach of the breakfast plates.]
Mm...that depends. Do you mean distinguishing them while you are having them, or after the fact, once you've woken up?
[It's ridiculous how Sypha just refuses to accept that food means the end of cuddle o'clock. He'd point out that if the two stayed in bed this problem wouldn't exist, but they made their (very sweet) choices.
Alucard does nudge his foot against hers though. Since she's now terribly free from being cuddled.]
Well, of course the most obvious difference is that a real dream has to include a message. Every culture distinguishes prophetic dreams as something separate, and for good reason, because that sort of dream comes from the outside, while the others only come from within.
[She hums softly, nudging his foot right back; she's still a little miffed about the lack of cuddles, but having a project to think about is certainly helping somewhat with distracting her from it.]
Another strong signal is being able to recognize that a part of the dream does not make sense. If it is a dream entirely of your own creation, then it will always seem to make sense, even where it is nonsensical. To be able to recognize that something is wrong is a hallmark of something else causing it.
[There will be more cuddles later. Promise. Cross his heart even. For now, there will just have to be this. And listening very carefully while spreading half of the eggs on the toast to just eat everything in one fell swoop.]
Well, the message point will be tested shortly, although I doubt that was the point of the whole thing.
[If anything, that felt like an after thought. But Sypha keeps talking, and he nods along.]
It could be small. But it would be the sort of thing that the dreamer could not ignore, once he'd observed it. It could be something as simple as...hmm. As simple as, "these walls are blue, but I know they're supposed to be red"! Even something like that, so long as it's wrong, could be enough. What makes the difference is what happens after you notice it.
[She shrugs a little, finally relenting enough to reach for her own breakfast.]
If the wrongness fades away, or you start to ignore it, then it isn't a real dream. If it wakes you up, it isn't a real dream. But if the dream persists despite the wrongness, then it's much more likely to be true.
[But none of it quite jives, does it? Aside from his mother being there at all and the interaction being far more real. Perhaps this is just something that won't match up with centuries of lore behind it. Just a dhampir's gut instinct and nothing else.
It's something to chew on, literally in this case.]
[He's halfway through the egg-on-toast already. And Trevor's probably checked out because this has hit exacting theories or, more accurately, "nerd time."]
So, in a place where you would have expected her to be.
[Hmmm. She ponders a little more, poking at her eggs and toast not because she's playing with her food instead of eating it, but because there's something about the nudging that's helping her to think.]
...Most cultures would seem to agree that spirits will more easily be drawn back to places they were comfortable with in their lives. Things they had attachments to, as though they had created a sort of magnetism between themselves and those things in life. Like having a tether, and a lighthouse. Something to guide the way to the correct place, and something to help hold there once they arrive.
[She hums.]
You know how you feel about the study. How did your mother feel about it?
[Yeah, well, as Sypha totally doesn't play with her food, Alucard eats the last bit of what's on his own plate, and he moves it aside. Forearms on the table, leaning forward just a little bit more. At this point he'd debate getting up to make seconds (not unusual), but this conversation is more important.]
Usually it was the natural starting point for looking for where my father had gotten to. Then the library. Then the lab. Then the rest was just waiting for him to find her instead.
Ah. [So, that's one logical part of this explained.]
The former. That particular pattern isn't unfamiliar to me.
[He's careful not to clarify if he means in dreams or in the waking world. The answer is both, and they don't need to know how much time he spends in that study brooding when they're not home.]
Have you ever had a dream of seeing someone else in the study? Like me, or Trevor.
[Or your father, she thinks, but it's far better to leave that one alone.]
That goes to the form of the dream. If it's a model your dreams are used to following, and you only fit in a different person every time, that's one thing. But if the person you meet there isn't interchangeable, that's another one entirely.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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[Which, of course, really just prompts him to dig it further into her side, even as she squirms and he play-wrestles her until they're some semblance of comfortably settled again.]
And just how long is "a bit" before you explain this dream of yours, exactly? You can't keep mentioning it but then keeping us in suspense!
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He has the eggs in the pan and is working on them by the time the war's over. While he works, he begins to explain.]
Well, I wasn't very well going to talk over you two while you were doing that, now was I?
[The eggs are done. He takes them off the stove, the rest of the cooking done by the pan's remaining heat, and then he goes for the bread box. Good, crusty rye for toast. A bread knife lives in that box, so he takes that out too.]
I had an actual, lucid conversation with my mother. Not just a replay of memories.
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And that's...well, that's just...]
In...in your dreams?
[She glances at Trevor, who looks just as perplexed and at a loss as she feels herself.]
How did...that come to pass...?
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[Nerds. He comes from a line of nerds. Sure, one was a vampire king for centuries, but still a goddamn nerd.]
I'm sleeping in between the two of you again this evening. To test at least one theory.
[The bread, once sliced, gets stuck onto a long skewer. Alucard then walks over to the fire box for the stove, opens it, and sticks the stake-o-bread in for just a few quick moments.
The toast gets pulled out seconds later, and maybe the most remarkable part of all of this is the total lack of grief around Alucard as he's discussing this. A thawing well. Slow and sure.]
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[Hypothesis: can she and Trevor summon back the dead by creating some sort of weird magical resonance that acts on whatever is dropped in-between them. WILD.]
...Alucard, you're...sure it was her? From the way she spoke, and the things she said to you...?
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[Sypha, he's going to turn around, and point an entire stake of bread at you for doubt.]
Believe me, certain things said would be beyond myself to create. Such as notes on how to repair the castle.
* it's funny because it means bread in french
Notes for repairing the castle! That's...very specific! But it would also be immensely helpful, considering how broken it happens to be, at the moment...
[Because you broke it, Trevor reminds her, helpfully.]
GROANS
We can focus on that part later. The point is, the dream was much realer than it ought to have been, and I put stock in it.
[And clearly, he is happier for it.]
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Well. Even if it is, it's good to see you so happy. You don't look even the slightest bit gloomy!
[She doesn't mean to imply the for once that's suggested on the end of that, but it's probably there anyway.]
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...but really, Sypha. He heard that implied for once. He's not going to call her for it though. Better approach: distract.]
Do your people have anything in your histories about distinguishing true dreams from the more mundane ones?
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Trevor, on the other hand, knows what he's about, and what he's about right now is breakfast. So Sypha ends up lifted and carried over to the table, where she can be comfortably deposited in a chair of her own before Trevor claims one within reach of the breakfast plates.]
Mm...that depends. Do you mean distinguishing them while you are having them, or after the fact, once you've woken up?
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[It's ridiculous how Sypha just refuses to accept that food means the end of cuddle o'clock. He'd point out that if the two stayed in bed this problem wouldn't exist, but they made their (very sweet) choices.
Alucard does nudge his foot against hers though. Since she's now terribly free from being cuddled.]
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[She hums softly, nudging his foot right back; she's still a little miffed about the lack of cuddles, but having a project to think about is certainly helping somewhat with distracting her from it.]
Another strong signal is being able to recognize that a part of the dream does not make sense. If it is a dream entirely of your own creation, then it will always seem to make sense, even where it is nonsensical. To be able to recognize that something is wrong is a hallmark of something else causing it.
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Well, the message point will be tested shortly, although I doubt that was the point of the whole thing.
[If anything, that felt like an after thought. But Sypha keeps talking, and he nods along.]
I see. How obvious will that hallmark be?
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[She shrugs a little, finally relenting enough to reach for her own breakfast.]
If the wrongness fades away, or you start to ignore it, then it isn't a real dream. If it wakes you up, it isn't a real dream. But if the dream persists despite the wrongness, then it's much more likely to be true.
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[But none of it quite jives, does it? Aside from his mother being there at all and the interaction being far more real. Perhaps this is just something that won't match up with centuries of lore behind it. Just a dhampir's gut instinct and nothing else.
It's something to chew on, literally in this case.]
And the rarity of it all goes without saying.
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[She takes a bite of her toast, humming softly.]
Was there something wrong with your dream? Something about it that wasn't as it should have been?
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[He's halfway through the egg-on-toast already. And Trevor's probably checked out because this has hit exacting theories or, more accurately, "nerd time."]
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[These boys and their inhaling their food.]
So you saw your mother, and that was all. Where did you see her...?
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The study. Which...is not terribly unusual, in truth.
[He just doesn't go there when the other two are home. He also keeps the door closed when he isn't in there, naturally.]
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[Hmmm. She ponders a little more, poking at her eggs and toast not because she's playing with her food instead of eating it, but because there's something about the nudging that's helping her to think.]
...Most cultures would seem to agree that spirits will more easily be drawn back to places they were comfortable with in their lives. Things they had attachments to, as though they had created a sort of magnetism between themselves and those things in life. Like having a tether, and a lighthouse. Something to guide the way to the correct place, and something to help hold there once they arrive.
[She hums.]
You know how you feel about the study. How did your mother feel about it?
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Usually it was the natural starting point for looking for where my father had gotten to. Then the library. Then the lab. Then the rest was just waiting for him to find her instead.
Ah. [So, that's one logical part of this explained.]
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[Things add up, indeed.]
Were you already there when it began? Or was she there first, and you found her?
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[He's careful not to clarify if he means in dreams or in the waking world. The answer is both, and they don't need to know how much time he spends in that study brooding when they're not home.]
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[Or your father, she thinks, but it's far better to leave that one alone.]
That goes to the form of the dream. If it's a model your dreams are used to following, and you only fit in a different person every time, that's one thing. But if the person you meet there isn't interchangeable, that's another one entirely.
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