Sleeping after a long day [Ciar]

[Kage Hana Jemu]

Kage Hana made her way to the girl's dorm. She then found her room and went inside. It was a very nice looking room. Two beds, two dressers, a living room of sorts, and a mini kitchen. There were also a few closets and a bathroom.

Kage Hana found that her stuff had already been put away. She walked into the bathroom and changed into her favorite pajamas. The pajamas were pink with red floral patterns on them. Kage Hana took a shower, brushed her teeth and then got in her bed. she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

After a good long hour Kage Hana finally drifted off to deep sleep. She started dreaming of the past. Kage Hana was dreaming of the time her parents were killed. She was floating in the air looking at the scene unfold. This dream was a nightmare and Kage Hana had it every single day. "Why? Why do I have to keep remembering this event? Why can't I just forget it" Kage Hana asked aloud. Since it was a dream nobody could see or hear her but that didn't stop Kage Hana from trying to prevent the events that were occurring.

[Ciar Schläferin]

"Personally I'm surprised you can work out that its an event that happened - the whole area this vision in your mind comes from is covered in locks. You don't remember anything else about that time, do you?" Needless to say, the replying voice was quite unexpected. It was an almost androgynous voice, the pitch hit the octave range that was just too high for a man, and just too high for a woman. The lingering trace of accent didn't seem to be German, but was the closest to it anyone would think of.

At first there was no sign of the owner of the dream. Then they began to introduce themself, Cheshire cat style. First the hat appeared - a top hat simply faded slowly into existance, floating upside-down just in front of Kage. A moments respite, and then eyes appeared suddenly, as if invisible lids had opened to reveal them. They were unnerving eyes; entirely white, save the black pupils, but the pupils themselves were the slitted kind, going horizontally across the eyes as opposed to the usual vertical.

The eyes winked at Kage, and for a few a time it seemed as if that was all that would appeared. Then the suit appeared in the same fashion as the hat; a swallow-tailed jacket, the tails never showing any indication that gravity was against them. A pair of black dress pants, fine boots that were crossed together at the ankles, and matching gloves; outstretched fingers woven together to make a cross, hovering over the lower part of an invisible face.
It didn't stay invisible for long. A pause to breath after the clothes, and then the person was simply... There. Appearing without any of the previous theariatics.
Ciar looked different in the dream world, though it would take a moment to work out why. His hair was as long and girly as ever, but the chin was broader, the fitting jacket lacked any tell-tale swell in the chest area. Here, at the very least, his continual insistance was true - he was a man. Ciar himself didn't seem to realize the difference, instead grinning and raising his eyebrows at Kage, "Having a nice dream, mein freudin?"

[Kage Hana Jemu]

Kage Hana heard a voice that sounded creepily familiar. "You're right. I don't remember anything else" Kage Hana replied to the voice's question. Kage Hana looked around for the source of the voice but didn't see anything. Her attention returned to the scene unfolding before her. It was a lot to take in, her family being persecuted, scared and angry villagers forming a mob, and a young Kage Hana running for her life. Gee what a great childhood memory that makes.

Clothes started appearing in front of Kage Hana starting with a familiar looking top hat. Eyes and a swallow-tailed jacket appeared as well. Kage Hana knew instantly who it was. With the voice the pieces fell into place making Kage Hana one hundred percent sure who it was. "Ciar. What an unexpected surprise" Kage Hana said sarcastically. She knew he'd be coming just not in the fashion of a Cheshire cat. "Did you come to make this nightmare more nightmarish or did you come to see little 'ol me" Kage Hana asked teasingly. She knew the answer but figured that she might as well have at least a little fun; if possible. "Nice dream? No I'm not having a nice dream" Kage Hana said simply. It was obvious that this was a nightmare for her, why bother asking such an obvious question?

[Ciar Schläferin]

"Well then, maybe that's why you always dream about it." Ciar said simply. Dream-Lost tended to be simple like that. The flickering red light of a non-existent fire began to cast patterns and shapes across his face, as though there were an inferno on the spot Kage stood.

"Glad to see that you've finally put the pieces together. Faster than most Dream-Lost, I suppose, but not nearly as fast as the ones that usually attract my attention." There was no teasing in his voice. No insult, but no compliment either. Rather he was stating a fact - 'not bad, but not good either'.

Ciar gave Kage an offended look, "Really blood-moon-lover, do you really think that I'm some kind of amateur? 'Make this nightmare more nightmarish', pah! I suppose you want me to do something like..." His face changed without any sort of preamble, splitting at the neck into multiple inhuman heads with multiple horns, long lashing tentacle-like tongues waving out of wide open mouths filled with far too many and disprotionate fangs. He let out a screech that would have made glass shatter, sending rank breath all over Kage's face.
Then Kage blinked, and the monster faces were gone, leaving Ciar looking as composed as ever, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Perhaps it hadn't. "Something like that? Give me some credit, freudin, I'm a professional. I'm not going to ruin such a nice dream with something so horribly tacky."

[Kage Hana Jemu]

Ciar said something and Kage Hana looked at him curiously. "What do you mean by that" Kage Hana asked. She was curious about everything that was going on. Nothing made sense to her anymore and Ciar didn't make it any easier to understand. Kage Hana just looked around and wondered if this is what it was like in her dreams or in her mind in general.

Ciar spoke and Kage Hana realized he wasn't insulting her but he wasn't complimenting her either. Kage Hana looked at him and began to wonder something. "Hey Ciar I was just wondering, do you only see dreams or can you read minds as well" Kage Hana asked. His answer could change some things. Kage Hana watched the scene unfold it was almost to the point where she had lost her memories before.

"Do not call me blood-moon-lover. I have a name and would appreciate it if you would use it" Kage Hana said calmly. She watched as Ciar began to change. "Not really what I meant. I was just wondering why you were here; aside from the fact you said I'd see you later" Kage Hana said. Ciar spoke again and Kage Hana was a little surprised by what he said. "Nice dream? Well I must be in the wrong head because this looks like a nightmare to me" Kage Hana said. She looked around and figured she may as well explore what was inside her own head. "What're those doors with locks on them" Kage Hana thought to herself as she studied them.

[Ciar Schläferin]

"What do I mean? Oh come now girl, its elementry. Think, you can work it out. I mean what I mean which is what I mean." He bared his fangs in a grin, "But, since I'm such a fantastic and wonderful person, I'll give you a hint. You see how you're merely seperate and observing this? That's not what happens in most dreams."

There was a careless flick of his wrist, and then everything stopped. The dream, not yet at its point of completion, froze. A movie had become a photograph. Ciar winked at Kage, "That would be telling." The answer was yes and no, in the order of maybe and sort-of. It didn't even matter, regardless of what Ciar could do, Kage could not follow. There was no link between dream and mind, or memory, for a Dream-Lost.
"I know you have a name, but like I told you when you first introduced yourself, I hardly have time to learn the names of everyone I play with. Make yourself worth remembering, and then perhaps we'll see. " He leaned back, crossing his arms over his head and lying on his back. The world suddenly shuddered, spreading in ripples around him as if it were some strangely-painted water he was floating in, and he kicked a foot to float towards the dream still playing out in front of Kage.

"Nightmare? Nothing of the sort! Nightmares cause horror, fear, terror. This causes none of those things. Perhaps it did once, but only a very long time ago. Now? It merely causes anguish." Ciar pulled the head of Kage's father off his body and studied the non-descripit face for a few moments. Apparently Kage's memory of her parent's faces was fuzzy, too.
He held the decapitated head out to Kage, apparently offering it to her. But before she could take it, even automatically, the skin broke away, worms eating away the flesh and eyeballs from the inside out, and then Ciar was only holding a skull. He stuck a hand inside to make the jaw move, "I wouldn't try to play with those, if I were you, fraudin."

[Kage Hana Jemu]

Ciar spoke and Kage Hana just got more and more confused. She then heard a question and an answer so Kage Hana spoke up. "Well then what usually happens in dreams" Kage Hana asked curiously. This is how she normally saw her dreams so it didn't seem too unusual. Kage Hana wondered what relevance any of the things Ciar said had.

Ciar really knew how to push Kage Hana's buttons. "Well even if you consider it telling I want to know. i mean if you can read my mind then I would try as hard as i could to not think of private or embarrassing things so please tell me" Kage Hana said although it sounded like she was begging. Ciar spoke again and it may have been a simple misunderstanding or wrong wordplay but a certain word caught Kage Hana's attention. "Play with!? What do you think I am? Some sort of doll you can do with what you please" Kage Hana asked. She was probably making a mountain out of a molehill but Kage Hana had a short temper when it came to how people treated people.

"You're wrong Ciar. This is nightmare, for me at least. It does create fear and terror, anguish and pain as well. So to me that is a nightmare" Kage Hana said defiantly. Ciar yanked the head off of Kage Hana's late father. "What're you doing to my father" she asked in shock. Kage Hana remembered her parents' faces and expressions quite well. Once again Ciar spoke and Kage Hana wondered what he knew. "First of I don't like being told what to do or what not to do. Secondly Why not look at the doors? What's behind those doors" Kage Hana asked curiously as she turned to look at Ciar. She wondered what he had to say for himself.

[Ciar Schläferin]

"Thing is, you're not actually scared. You've become desenstitised to this scene. But you think you should be scared, trick your mind into thinking your scared, make adreniline pump through your body and go through all the motions that should occur once you are afraid - but the fear itself isn't really there. You go through the actions of fear without feeling it. Iluusion fear, you might say." He sighed, "And that's a real pity, because I'm hungry. Still, its good for you, being another hint and all."

Ciar laughed, "Whether or not I can read minds doesn't even come into the equation. This is your dream; everything you think echoes through this place like thunder in a storm. You can't hear it, but I couldn't drown it out even if I got ear plugs." He winked at her, "Oh don't worry, there's nothing you could think that would embarress me - unless you start thinking about how pretty my eyes are."

"I'm turning him into a puppet!" Ciar replied brightly. He pulled his hand up through the skull, leaving no signs of penetration. There was suddenly a skeleton body extending from the head, comically small by comparison. One could faintly see the strings hanging from Ciar's hands attatched to the puppet; a small twitch of the fingers, and the skeleton did a rather cheerful irish jig.

"I've noticed that you don't like to heed advice, even when given with good intentions." Which was what he had done, not tell her what to do, "You really need to work on your personality. Father-puppet here is very disappointed with you; you're irritable, twist words, get upset for no reason, and are generally bad-tempered." A bone finger wiped and imaginary tear from a dark eye-socket. It was perhaps rather telling that he never actually answered her second question.

[Kage Hana Jemu]

"You're right this scene doesn't scare me anymore" Kage Hana said. She looked at Ciar with curiosity in her eyes. "Do you eat dreams" Kage Hana asked. She watched Ciar's movements to see what he was doing. Kage Hana wasn't sure what Ciar was capable of so she kept a close eye on him.

"I didn't mean I would think of embarrassing things about you, rather embarrassing things about me" Kage Hana clarified. She had personal things that were meant to be kept secret from other people just like everybody else and Kage Hana didn't want Ciar to know about them. Knowing Ciar's personality he might be like everybody else and tease her endlessly if he knew what secrets Kage Hana had.

"A puppet? What for" Kage Hana asked moving closer to Ciar. Kage Hana asked as Ciar messed around with her dad. "Leave him alone. You're distorting my memory of him" she said. Kage Hana didn't want her only memory of her father to be twisted. She got angry as Ciar messed with her father and turned him into a puppet.

"I'm sorry Ciar. I've been a little on edge lately. I didn't mean to take it out on you" Kage Hana said apologetically. She decided to ask her question again. "Ok, so why shouldn't I go towards those doors" Kage Hana asked curiously. Ciar used Kage Hana's father to show he didn't like her personality. "If you have something to say about my attitude then at least say it to my face, don't use my only memory of my father" Kage Hana asked. She was trying as hard as possible to keep her anger in control.

[Ciar Schläferin]

"Told you. See, just admitting that I was correct and superior wasn't so hard, was it?" He tipped his head back and laughed at Kage's question. His fingers twitched so that the puppet did the same, going to far to fall to the ground and slam a fist up and down in mirth, "Oh no no no, moon-puppy. Dreams wouldn't be very tasty, would they?"

Ciar waved a hand dismissively, "Oh, who cares about you?"

"Because puppets are fun. Everyone loves puppets! And no I'm not, I'm merely distorting a dream. You do know the difference between a dream and a memory, don't you?" That was perhaps yet another hint, but they all seemed to have flown over Kage's head so far. She wasn't very good at the 'conclusion' game.

Once again, he completely ignored the question about the doors, pointly ignoring the question she had voice. It was fairly obvious that he had no intention of answering. "But when I did tell you straight to your face, you got irrational for no reason." Ciar countered simply, and continued his game. The puppet cheerfully strutted along, and then pulled a flower out of nowhere, which it then placed between its teeth.

[Kage Hana Jemu]

"I only said you were right, not superior" Kage Hana said calmly. She got the answer to another question, Ciar does not eat dreams. Kage Hana watched as Ciar laughed and laughed at her question. Was it really that funny of a question? Even if it was funny was there really a reason for Ciar to fall to the ground and slam a fist up and down in mirth and even make the so called 'puppet' do the same?

Ciar spoke and Kage Hana felt a little hurt. [color=red"I care"[/color] she said. Kage Hana tried her best to keep her personal thoughts hidden away from Ciar just in case he could read her mind or something like that. Kage Hana had learned one thing while being around Ciar, he knew exactly how to make her mad. Kage Hana knew that Ciar probably didn't mean to make her mad but that was what happened. She held back the urge to hit him.

"Ciar, please stop playing around with my father" Kage Hana said calmly. The idea of the last memory of her father being twisted by Ciar was too much. Ciar spoke and Kage Hana thought for a moment. "I think I know the difference" she replied honestly. Kage Hana wasn't one hundred percent sure but she had a good idea. Kage Hana waited to see what Ciar said and while waiting she decided to look at everybody's faces again.

[Ciar Schläferin]

"Right, superior, same thing to you Dream-Lost. You don't need to see many dreams to know that. Do the other Dream-Lost, the ones you pretend to be - uh, hoohums? - have a species-wide esteem complex?" He didn't actually know what all the different kinds of Dream-Lost were called; hence why he could only decribe Kage by off names such as blood-moon-lover. It was just one of those things that just didn't seem important enough to bother with.
"Yes, I do. Because if I didn't pound the ground in mirth, how would you know that your guess was nothing more than a very good joke?" Ciar answered the upspoken question, making it very clear and straightforward that that thought, at the very least, he had been able to hear clearly.

Ciar disappeared suddenly, puppet and all. There was a long pause before the puppet itself suddenly sat down on Kage's shoulder, Ciar speaking directly into the her other ear from right behind her, "Well, since you know the difference you know that you don't have to worry about what I do with my puppet. This stopped being a memory the moment I engaged you, after all. But hey, if you still don't like it, how about I just put this down and turn 'mother' into one instead?" He suggested, jerking his head towards where her mother was frozen in place.

[Kage Hana Jemu]

Ciar spoke but only succeeded in confusing Kage Hana. She wasn't sure what a dream-lost was. How could Kage Hana answer a question which confused her? "I never pretend to be anything except myself" Kage Hana said calmly. Kage Hana promised herself that she would not get too riled up at Ciar.

Ciar spoke again and Kage Hana's eyes widened in shock. "How did you---? Oh so you can read my mind" Kage Hana said. She tried her best to hide any personal and embarrassing thoughts. Being around Ciar made Kage Hana a little uncomfortable. She decided to keep a safe distance away from Ciar, just in case.

Kage Hana looked at Ciar disappeared with Kage Hana's father and then reappeared. Kage Hana's father sat on one of her shoulders while Ciar whispered into her ear from behind. "No, leave my mother alone...please" Kage Hana said with a slight hint of begging in her voice. She couldn't stand to see her parents toyed with. "Ciar may I ask you something? You can invade dreams right? Well do you have the power to make people feel their dreams? Like normally when people dream they can't feel pain, so I was wondering if you had the power to alter that" Kage Hana said. If Ciar could do that then Kage Hana would have to remember not to make him mad.

[Ciar Schläferin]

((My web browser keeps dying when I try to post! ))

"Of course you pretend! You pretend to be hoohum all the time - is that what they're called, hoohum? The Dream-Lost the ones that look like you right now but don't love the moon or feed on blood. The ones you're maybe scared of, and blame for this." He waved an arm to the scene in front of them, with Kage's mother still frozen in mid-death.

"As I said, it doesn't even matter if I can read your mind or not. This is your dream, you project your thoughts loud enough for anyone in them to hear, whether they like it or not. My kind can turn off the projection, but Dream-Lost don't seem to be able to." He leered at her, but since she was standing in front of his she couldn't see it anyway.

"You don't?!" Ciar sounded genuinely surprised. He leapt up onto Kage's shoulders suddenly, though he seemed to weight no more than a feather, skeleton-puppet sitting on her Kage, feet dangling over her forehead.
He leaned over, twisting his back to look Kage in the eye from an upside-down view, "You Dream-Lost really don't usually feel pain? I've never noticed! They're always honestly in agony when I want them to be. I suppose that I must have that ability then, though I never knew I was doing such a thing."
He considered this for a moment longer, and then grinned wickedly, revealing a mouth full of shark teeth.

[Kage Hana Jemu]

Kage Hana looked at Ciar, her eyes widen a little due to shock. "Me? Pretend? How dare you suggest such a thing. I am me and never pretend otherwise. Besides I don't even know what a hoohum is" Kage Hana said. She was a little hurt that somebody who didn't even know her accused Kage Hana of pretending. She didn't look at Ciar but instead looked at the scene below. Kage Hana's mother was frozen in place right before her death.

Kage Hana listened as Ciar spoke. What he said filled her with nervousness but she tried not to show it. Kage Hana also did her best to mask and hide her most personal and embarrassing thoughts. Kage Hana did her best to keep her mind blank as best she could. Having someone like Ciar around was turning Kage Hana into a nervous mess.

"No I don't" Kage Hana said calmly. This was the first time she'd actually seen an expression on Ciar's face. Ciar spoke and Kage Hana's heart almost stopped. It seemed like he didn't know that dreams don't usually involve pain yet Ciar placed people in agony without knowing it. Ciar grinned showing a mouth full of shark teeth and Kage Hana gulped and knew she had given him a bad idea but hoped it wasn't to bad.