Alice

[Morgan Lake] Dreams are funny things, really, a purging of the subconscious - Morgan's shift from sexiness (with her limited knowledge thereof) to abandonment to triumph to mundanity with startling speed. Tonight, it's study in a library, with an urgent need to find something. Pages flip and every now and then someone unseen shushes her if she closes a book to vigorously or coughs too loudly, but that's about it.

[After Summer is Fall] ...as she sits there in the library study dream, she starts to hear music. It was a familiar presence within her dreams. But tonight, in this dream, its a strange way of introducing itself. It starts with a bass thrum, like hearing a car passing by with speakers blowing. She could hear it through the walls, hear it through to where she sat. No one shhhhed or gave cross looks outside...it was if no one within the dream heard it other then her.

It continued to thrum and throb, to the point that it almost called Morgan to go investigate. Bookshelves with nameless titles and numbers scroll by...she finds herself moving into the children's section where a door stood for the reading room. The music could be heard quite distinctly, a loud club bass beat.

[Morgan Lake] And this time, it's her with the cross look and shushing - but still, she's drawn and so she goes (a dream is a dream is a consciousness stream), looking rather cantankerous as she opens the door. It's been a while since Autumn (died [again]) was featured in her dreams, and so it doesn't occur to her subconscious self that this might be pertaining to that; she just wants quiet so she can go back to her studying. There are things to be done, after all.

At any rate, she opens said door into the reading room and goes in, closing it quickly so as not to disturb any other readers any more than necessary. There, just inside the door, she stands to look around and get her bearings.

[After Summer is Fall] ...one book stood out on the shelf as she passed through...

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. It was the corner of her eye before she went through and the door was closed. It was then that the realization this was a dream was rather clear. From a children reading room in the library to an underground club...that's where she found herself now. The lighting was low with flickering shadows and faceless people moving about in the dark, dancing...if you could call the pelvis thrusting and grinding going on dancing.

Oh!
I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet
You thought an angel swept you off your feet
But I'm about to turn up the heat
I'm here for your entertainment

Stepping further towards the music itself, she found Autumn. Autumn was tonight dressed closely to how he had the night he died...though much more akin to a dark prince....dark clothing that fit well over his form. A walking cane with an embroidered silver pommel rested in his hand and he sat in a throne of ivory white bone and black obsidian, twirling the cane around between his fingers.

[Morgan Lake] This new appearance is . . . not startling, exactly, but warrants study that his old - even the emokid chic - mightn't have. There's reaching out (so discerning) with senses at her disposal to make sure this is, in fact, a dream and not some weird other.

Morgan never was a club kid.

Perhaps amusingly and certainly impulsively, she'd grabbed 'Through the Looking Glass' on her way by (Not a children's book, regardless of to whom the story was originally told.), as it was the one that stood out; it's reassuring, in a way, to have the heft of it in her hand, or tucked under her arm.

(Per + Aware!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)

[After Summer is Fall] Something felt off about Autumn. A presence around him that had not been there before...the old Autumn was reassuring, like a safety guard against something. But Autumn now....he felt like Halloween. Not in the good 'Trick or Treat' Halloween...but the vibe one felt doing a seance in a graveyard. The cane twirls before he brings it down, leaning against the armrest of his throne as he smiled at Morgan, gesturing for the chair across from him.

His fingers reach down, to a tray of fruits. On them are grapes that were opulent and full, a row of strawberries red as blood, oranges already sliced and the skin torn away, and lastly an array of apples from luscious red to green as greed. His fingers picked up one of the green apples, offering it to her.

"Hungry?"

Strangely, despite the rhythmic thumping and sound from the music...she could hear him clearly, as if it were somehow like the background soundtrack of a movie.

[Morgan Lake] Morgan is not the sort of girl who's ever had a seance in a graveyard, though she's seen them in horror movies (and even before Awakening, she was the one who scoffed and said things about lack of research) and such - this feeling makes her eyes narrow, and she hugs the book to her chest.

Hungry, he asks, and eyes narrow further - she knows about Persephone and the underworld, and many other similar myths - she couldn't escape knowing, given what her father teaches. And whether or not that's the intent . . . "Everyone knows you don't take food from the dead. Why are you different? All . . . what, pleather and goodness knows what?"

It's brusque, her tone, in a way it hasn't been before - this feels off, to her. She doesn't like it, and automatically curls herself in (metaphorically) against it.

[After Summer is Fall] Autumn arched a brow before he lifted the apple to his mouth, his teeth piercing the skin...juices running down from the ripe fruit as he rolled the piece around his tongue and teeth. He sat the apple aside on a small table next to throne as he grinned to her, the eyes having a strange luster despite the dark.

"Those are good lessons to go with. But it is a bit late not to be taking gifts from dead people, isn't it Enid?"

He says, calling her by her old name...here she was not Morgan to Autumn...she was still Enid...still the girl she had been before. He rubbed his fingers across his jaw, the tips painted black as night in lacquer.

[Morgan Lake] ".....don't call me that," she says in the tones of a girl who's used to being listened to by her peers - a team captain, a pretty, popular girl. It's nearing a glare now, those narrowed eyes; she's far more ill tempered now than she'd once been, and prickly by way of defense. "And as for other gifts . . . well. That's different."

Why yes, that is an attempt at blocking her mind - as far as she'd known, Autumn hadn't even known her real name (and oh, she misses hearing it - but from people who did know. It's strangely unsettling to hear it on the lips of the boy-suicide she hadn't even met until months after Enid disappeared and Morgan took her place.

[Basic Mind shield, we'll go coincidental for dreamscape, -1 practiced]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 10 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]

[After Summer is Fall] The arched brow merely stayed there, before a sardonic smile spread across his features. He bridged his fingers together over the pommel as he spoke.

"How is it different? Because they helped? Or they give you that little bit more? Or was it because it was a from pretty face with a soft smile and soft lips?"

His tone, it was teasing...arrogant...smug. It was like he was a whole different person than the young man she had shared dreams with...who had taken her from dark places...said sweet things....and despite being an idiot...had seemed so genuine.

[Morgan Lake] (Aware-as-Empathy!)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 4, 8 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[After Summer is Fall] ...as she stares at Autumn, there is a rather clear impression that this was not Autumn. She could see it as a flicker at first...the way he was dressed..his attitude...but now she could see through it as well. It started with a stitch at his collar bone...but as she gazed at him, the handsome dark prince of this nightclub dream took on a patchwork expression. Skin didn't mesh quite as well as it should...as if separate bodies composed this 'Autumn'...the stitchwork crossing over his face and cheeks...a little too tan around the forehead, dusky skin that didn't even belong to his ethnicity, even locks of hair showing that were not as dark as the emo kid's own. This wasn't Autumn....just something playing in his skin.

[Morgan Lake] Her arms tighten around the book and Morgan takes a step back - instinctively, of course, giving her more room for study. "Because you're not Autumn. You're . . . who are you really? Are you that white rabbit he mentioned?"

[After Summer is Fall] The grin spread, the stitched face stretching the skin and lips as he smiled at her.

"The White Rabbit...a fitting name but its merely a concept that works for the brains of you people. But yes, you would be correct in saying I am not your Autumn. I am the Contract Giver...the Dream-maker. As for what I am...I am a thing of dreams and even nightmares if you want to see it that way. But I am the one who gave you the power...or rather Autumn did by acting as my intermediary."

The fingers squeezed around the pommel as he laughed, amused to himself.

"You did seem the type to fall for a pretty face and a sad story. Or maybe it was his voice...he did have a sweet voice, indeed indeed. Did you like his little serenades -Enid-?"

He pointedly taunted her with her real name as the dream thing picked up the apple once more...it was no longer the ripe green but now a slime tinge that made it look rotten, the core now a puss yellow as he cocked his head, looking at it and then back to her, his eye almost red like a rabbit's now.

"Do you know why I'm here rather then your precious dead boyfriend?"

[Morgan Lake] "'You people'," she repeats, temper rising - never mind that some part of her has already started to think of Sleepers as 'you people'. It's an all together different thing to be lumped into that dismissive sort of grouping. There's a sneer, and whether she's afraid or not, that slight bit of ground given is retaken. A sneer twists her lips, and she stands tall and proud, uncrossing her arms in front of her and letting them fall naturally to her sides. It's a show of confidence, of course. "I'm not you people."

The fruit goes ignored and breath comes a bit shallower and through her mouth now, so as to avoid smelling it; fruit that looks that way can hardly smell much better, after all. "My name is Morgan. And I think you should tell me what you're doing here, and then get out."

[After Summer is Fall] "Mmm...sass. I'm holding the cards, little girl, so please be polite or you'll find yourself with all the consequences but none of the answers."

The boy threw the fruit aside...his hand empty before three cards appeared. They resembled Tarot cards. The first showed a pair of twins, male and female, wrapped in clover with the symbol of the Clubs suit across their breasts...the imagery had an almost taboo sexuality to it that rose up all sorts of disturbing ideas of the twins depicted.

The second card showed Autumn. Autumn as he was...a gun pressed to his temple with his mouth in an open cry, tears on his face. A chorus of skeletons around him. Diamonds littered his feet but he seemed to ignore it. The last image is a Hispanic woman with a bloody sword in hand, the blood dripping across the ground and pooled around her feet looked like rose petals. Spaded shovels lay not too far away, marking a grave...perhaps her own since she seemed to be moving towards it.

"First thing is first...I won't be leaving. You're in my home, not your own. Second...for every contract...there is a price. I've collected on the last holder. So there's only you left now. But...you aren't ready yet...you don't have what I need...not quite yet. So...we have to change the terms..."

[Morgan Lake] "No way. That's not legal." On this, she is rather firm - she has all those years of mock trial and law class, and is headed for pre-law on the university level in only a couple months, after all. "Inheriting a contract - no, that's not even it, really, because you collected on Autumn's. "And I'll find a way to argue my case, if necessary. Little girl."

The last is spoken in high dudgeon - no one (but her dad) has called her that in years.

"If you want something from me, you need to tell me what and why. There are loopholes in any contract, and even if I've signed one unwittingly, I can find a way out. You picked the wrong girl."

[After Summer is Fall] "Yes...there are loopholes...there are ways out. But..."

He smiled, the cards vanishing one by one.

"You don't possess the abilities to even glimpse the contract itself let alone figure out the legalese of it, as you would say. We're not playing by your rules, mortal. We are playing by the rules of my lands...my world...the sooner you realize, the sooner you know your predicament. Now...the terms as they stand at this current time is that you were given power...power you did not possess...in return, upon usage of said power, I am allowed to take something of you which does not need to be specified in order to fulfill my own needs."

The fingers pressed together as he watched her.

"As it stands, you aren't progressing because you are not using the power...therefor, you're not building your potential and I'm not getting paid."

[Morgan Lake] "Maybe I'm not that greedy." This is said in a tone that implies 'cry me a river, buddy'. "Maybe I want to progress on my own merits rather than cheating. Maybe," and here, there's a shrug - less sassy now, and just honest. "Maybe, like I said, you picked the wrong girl."

There is something that stung, though, something that she answers after a moment's thought rather than saying the first thing that popped into her head - a good thing, maybe. "And I am progressing. Not in the way you'd like, maybe, but that's what you get for not doing your homework."

[After Summer is Fall] "And that's all well and good...but it doesn't put food on my plate, now does it? So...things have to change. You told Autumn you don't really have 'holes' but I know that's a lie. Your biggest hole is that you care about others...you can lie and say you don't...but I can see in here..."

He points to his head where a series of clamps serrated the skin, smirking at her.

"And...you care about the boy...dead as he might be...he's been a bit of a comfort for you...you have a connection to him. So...I have an offer."

[Morgan Lake] "I'm sure you do." This is wry, and less than amused; she says nothing about whether or not she cares about people, or how much she cares for the dead emokid who'd haunted her dreams for a while. She does, though, avert her eyes quickly when her attention is drawn to the strangely held together head.

"But I don't really have a connection to him, not any more than I do to anyone else. So good luck with that."

[After Summer is Fall] "Once I'm done with you...he goes with me. You want to take a guess at what will happen to him there? Its nothing nice."

He smiled.

"I fulfill dreams but I live in nightmares as you can already guess....and the gifts often become just that for those that abuse them far too often. But your gift...your gift is special...its different...unique."

He bridged the fingers together as he stared with the gleaming red eyes of a rabbit.

"My deal is this...you use the powers you have been given...expand on them...let me get what I want...and in return...you get to keep Autumn...he doesn't get to come with me when I finally leave this place. You get to keep your close companion...he doesn't see the equivalent of hell."

[Morgan Lake] "He made his deal," is Morgan's answer to the first, cool, with a shrug - as if she doesn't care at all. But then there's the opportunity to help given, and an eyebrow rises. "That seems terribly altruistic of you, really. What is it, exactly, that you get from me using this . . . gift, loan, whatever it is? Because you're kind of a jerk, and I really don't relish the idea of helping you."

[After Summer is Fall] "I feed...I grow...and it makes it that much more likely that I don't just disappear just as soon as I was made. I am a dream...a dream ends when someone wakes up. But, I don't want to die...no no. So..I just make sure that I'm more than just a dream. I'm something else."

He licked his lips, before that smile returned.

"Autumn served his purpose for me. The contract is merely this...you get the power, you use it...I get what I want...energy...sustenance. A chance to live. Then, I leave. You get Autumn but you lose the power I gave...because its only temporary. The rest just relies on how strong a Will you have...which by what I have discerned...you have a lot of it."

[Morgan Lake] "But what would you do if you weren't a dream? Kill more people?"

[After Summer is Fall] "I didn't kill them. The last contract holder is not dead. Incarcerated perhaps, but not dead. Autumn killed himself...its what he wanted to begin with....as you said, he made his deal. And the first...the first knew as well. She chose the path to kill others...do you think there would not be a price for such? I am neither good, nor evil. This doesn't work by human concepts like that. I give the power, how you choose to use it ultimately decides your fate. But I don't think I have to tell you what happens to those that abuse the abilities they have."

[Morgan Lake] "Well then, I guess we'll see. And if I don't use the boost, and you don't get the . . . energy, or whatever, from it, you just go back to whatever hell you came from?" This makes Autumn an apparent non-issue; Morgan is, by and large, a curious girl. She wants to know as much as she can about what's going on, so she can ask someone with more experience in such things and thus learn more.

"I guess. I'm not making any promises and I'm sure as hell not signing anything, but I'll see what I can do."

[After Summer is Fall] "Oh no...I'm here until the contract is fulfilled. So if you were thinking of doing a waiting game...then understand that I'll be able to access your thoughts...you dreams...even your fantasies. And your secrets. I will get to hear all the things that go on in your head...and most of all...we get to have lovely conversations like this at anytime I so choose. And if I really really want to get nasty...I can always start making your dreams become nightmares more and more often. As you will find, I can do the waiting game if necessary too...but I get impatient so don't expect that it will be so smooth if you decide to try and bide your time."

He glanced over and then back to her.

"...now...its about time for you to wake up and go see your friends with Ars Mentis, isn't it? I'm sure you're hoping they have some way of getting rid of me. But know if you try...you damn Autumn to whatever existence I end up in as well."

[Morgan Lake] "He made his deal," she says with a shrug. "If he didn't read the fine print, quite frankly, that's his problem - he didn't ask me for representation. And I don't think it's Ars Mentis that I need to get rid of you, though enough practice might quiet you to annoyance rather than outright inconvenience."

There's a pause then, and a glare. "I don't damn Autumn to anything, regardless of what I do. He made his own choices, and damned himself. And I don't like the undisclosed bit of me in return for using this power I didn't ask for. What will you take?"

But soon, yes, soon it will be time to wake up.

[After Summer is Fall] The Rabbit smiled.

"...if you're strong, nothing. If you're weak...."

He rose, cane in hand, looking down at her.

"...well...we'll just have to see how far the hole goes down then, won't we...Alice?"

...the darkness of the club starts to give way to light...the glaring light of an alarm clock...