Odd. Very Odd. Very Freaking Odd. Very Freaking Odd Dream.

Weird dream last night. Featured some people who i know online, but not in person, but for some reason i knew who they were.
It started with autumngray (who i've not met outside of the virtual world) getting a new apartment, and enlisting people to help her move into her new place, which was on the fifth floor of a building without elevators. Among those i recognized were cadmus (who knows her), revseandoe (who probably doesn't) and retcon (who also knows her, i think). The four of us ended up carrying a baby grand piano up all these stairs, with incredibly tight turns at every landing, and with bunches of people spectating and offering opinions on how we needed to do it, including damashita, jacksontwobears, furrymouse, gwynn_aaron and ithilien (who don't even live in the area yet), and Christine. I think Neil Gaiman, Trent Reznor and Tanya Huff were there also.
Anyway, when i think of people to move large, unwieldy, heavy objects, none of the four of us come to mind particularly. As it ended up, we got the piano to AutumnGray's new place, and found that her new roommate- who was someone I recognized, but couldn't place or name, although she looked vaguely like Tori Amos did in the mid 80s- decided that it couldn't stay there, apparently in a completely capricious moment. Exhausted and battered from getting the damn thing up there, we all did the sensible thing- looked at each other, and responded simultaneously that there was no way that was going to happen, at which point she turned around, picked it up as if it weighed absolutely nothing and threw it out the window, whereupon it grew wings and flew away.
At that point, everyone came to our house, for a post-move party, except i'm not quite sure where we were living- looked vaguely as if it were somewhere around Greenlake, but getting there wasn't right, because there wouldn't be a reason to go through Queen Anne and Ballard going from the U District to Greenlake.
So we get back to our house, and the party starts, and Christine announces that we're going to bed, and proceeds to drag Damashita and me off to the back bedroom, where we all end up sharing naked cuddles but nothing else (apparently i'm still repressing anything really overtly sexual) with the bed covers pulled up to our chins even though it's in the upper 70s outside. About ten minutes after we go in, everyone who has come to the party ends up coming in and sitting somewhere around room and trying to have conversations with the three of us all at the same time, so there end up being seventy or so people, some sitting on the bed, all talking to us at the same time, and we're just lying all nicely spooned trying to ignore them.
Weird. Very weird. Factor in that i have about five dreams a year that i remember, and it's even weirder.

Melpomene's Daughter, Part 9

Previous sections of the serialization are posted at http://www.avarielelf.com/melpomene.html for your convenience. My apologies that at present this is still a single long page. Hopefully this weekend i'll get to breaking it up into more manageable chunks.

“Is this. . . ?”

“It is indeed.”

“Where am I?”

“That all depends on your perceptions- or perhaps more accurately, how you choose to perceive things. In a sense, you're in a hollow hill- for in one sense, that is all this realm is. In yet another sense, you're in a completely different place and time. Whichever one you choose, you are now in my world, and in as real a way as I was in yours.”

“How did it happen?”

“Remember when I talked about special places, midway between light and darkness- realms of shadow, if you will? Being in the eternal twilight of the Underground Tour was one such place, and there the veil between the worlds is as thin as it ever is at midnight on Samhain.”

“So I'm in the Underworld now? The world of darkness? But things are so bright here- I don't understand.”

“Why do you assume that this is the world of darkness? Therein lies your error. Perhaps it would be significant to tell you that my people are also known as the Shining Ones. There is far more light to my world than you realize, and the soul of ours is nowhere as dark as yours. No one hunts for sport here.”

Alexei looked about and had to admit, although he dared not voice it, that she was right. This was a world which appeared to be in every way as real as the one from which he came. Looking at Nimuë, he noticed that, in addition to her beauty, she was simply radiant, and he wondered why it had taken this long to notice.

“You're gaping,” Nimuë noted. “Haven't you spent enough time staring at me?”

“I don't think so- not if I were to continue to do so throughout the rest of this lifetime.”

“Well, we haven't that long to stand around- there are a few things we must do here- and things you must understand and accept, even if you don't like them. First of all, there's a great deal of this you're going to have to do yourself- you're going to have to trust your own instinct, because I'm not going to be around.”

“Wait just a minute. You drag me into your world, and now you're going to run off and leave me?”

“Trust me, Alexei. If there was any way I could be with you, I would be, but there are things which I must do which you would be unable to do; and things you will have to do which I am unable to. You're not going to be alone, though. An old friend will be around to help guide you, and you'll have a few others around to make certain that things don't get out of hand. Remember that this can be a dangerous place, and keep your wits about you.”