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[whentheroserots]

[it was rough going for about a week there, but the worst of the dreams have passed, it seems. Garry can almost forget the gallery ever happened.

(but only almost. he still needs to remember - Ib needs him to remember. to forget the gallery would be to forsake the little girl who saved his life, and that was bad enough the first time.)

so he sleeps, reasonably assured that he's unlikely to wake up screaming tonight.]

Comments

[whentheroserots]

[... that is Ib, now that he looks closer. his heart leaps - even if this is only a dream, just that vision of his young friend safe...

and then it starts to sink in. the realization of what the nightmare is saying. slowly, Garry turns to face it.]

She... she offered to shelter you?

[he's torn. if this is true, the nightmare has done Ib - and him - a great service. but the thought of what Ib must have given up for this...]

[lightswitchraving]

She agreed to, after I asked it of her.

/2

[whentheroserots]

...

[he wants to talk to Ib about this. to verify, at the very least, and if it really is true... then he needs to be there to support her. he can't let this be in vain.

but he still needs to find her...]

I lied, /3

[whentheroserots]

... Ib and I made such an important promise. We went through so much together in this gallery! Why, I wouldn't even be here today if it wasn't for her, I really wouldn't.

So, it's not enough just for you to find me, no. We promised to meet again. I still have something of hers I need to return...

[here in the dream, of course her handkerchief is in his pocket when he reaches for it. he looks down at it, turning the beautiful lace over in his hand...]

[whentheroserots]

[and then he looks up at the nightmare again]

Please, tell me how I can find Ib again.

[lightswitchraving]

[chuckling]

I figured as much.

There's a bakery that she frequents. I have the address.

[he's rather proud of that. physical locations don't come easily, and neither does rote memorization. dreams just don't do that sort of thing]

If you want to have any hope of remembering it, however, you'll need to hold to it tightly, and write it down as soon as you wake. Otherwise, it will fade.

[whentheroserots]

[o-oh my heart just leaped in my chest ;;]

Ah...! Of course, of course! I'm listening!

[lightswitchraving]

[grins and leans over to breathe the address in his ear. ...something about the way he moves is reminiscent of a python coiling about prey. kind of distracting...]

Do you have it?

[whentheroserots]

[it is distracting. but Garry can't let himself lose this. he screws his eyes shut and listens, repeating the address to himself over and over in his mind.]

Yes.

[lightswitchraving]

[...that grin suddenly got a lot more unsettling, um]

Good. Now, before you muddle it...

[suddenly there is cold water rising up to his knees, soaking into his shoes and pantlegs, and an angry staticky noise increasing in volume—

and if he opens his eyes all he will see is red, the red of the nightmare's eyes as he twists back into the huge, masked mass he'd been shaped as earlier and shrieks:]

Wake up.

[whentheroserots]

[and Garry bolts awake, with a shriek that probably disturbs the neighbors.

he doesn't have time to worry about that right now, though. he stumbles out of bed, getting tangled in the sheets and falling as he scrabbles for something, anything to write with - there, a ballpoint pen, that's good enough - paper, paper, dammit, he has no paper, he's losing it he has to hurry--

in the end he manages it, scrawling the complete address out on his arm just as it starts to fuzz around the edges.]

[lightswitchraving]

[and that probably just makes the whole thing start to seem a little ridiculous, now that he's awake. a sentient nightmare telling him to meet someone at a bakery? what kind of messed up dream is that?]

[whentheroserots]

[yeah, now that he thinks about it, it does. it's not like he hasn't had weirder dreams about the gallery, when they weren't outright flashbacks...

but as much as he's tempted to dismiss and forget it... well, this address came from somewhere. it's worth checking out, if only out of curiosity as to whether it even exists. he's already got it written down, after all.]