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Sosiqui wandered up the stairs, her hands full of a sandwich of astonishing size. She had no idea why there was a bundle of foot-long sandwich rolls in the kitchen, but the food supplies had seemed well-stocked... and she WAS living here now, wasn't she?

In any case, her hunger was too urgent to quibble about things like that. She'd woken up a good ten hours after she'd fallen asleep the second time, her stomach complaining too much to rest any further. She'd dragged herself down the hall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen - and eaten an apple, sloshed down three cups of milk, and was now starting in on this prodigious swiss-cheese-and-tomato sandwich.

She wondered, idly, if the deity she bore wanted to be fat. Like the Buddha or something.

As she headed back to her room, she heard voices coming from another room and stopped to listen. After a few moments she recognized one of the speakers as Beryl. Feeling a need to see someone besides herself, to reassure herself that all this crazy sleep and the room and the hunger wasn't a dream, she knocked on the door.

"Maybe it's Ea," Prox said. He curled his tail neatly around himself and remained still to be petted. "He has been being kinder, hasn't he?" One ear flicked back thoughtfully.

He ducked his head at the thanks and mewed softly. Then his ears flicked up at the knock. "Who's that?"

Sosiqui poked her head inside the door. "Am I disturbing you?" she asked, hesitantly. "I heard voices..." Her gaze flickered across the room, perplexed. "Did they leave?" She obviously hadn't recognized what seemed to be a cat for anything other than a pet.

"I don't think that's stupid." He fell silent, considering that. Most of the deities were male, weren't they? He'd never realized, really. Hadn't thought about the fact that that might be lonely, to be the only goddess among gods. He thought that over as the door opened.

Someone new? He tilted his head. "Hello."

Sosiqui blinked, then looked down at the cat. "Ah!" she exclaimed, swiveling the sandwich to point it at him. "I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, but you startled me, whoever you are. Um." She looked up to Beryl again before returning her focus to the cat. "Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry..." Sosiqui dropped her voice to a whisper. "Thank you for the loan of the bed... I needed it. A lot." She tilted her head as if trying to glare at the jewel, although that wasn't physically possible. "My, um, friend here decided to remodel in the middle of the night. I woke up and went right back to sleep again, and now I'm ravenous." She punctuated the statement by taking a bite of sandwich.

"Prolixity? Interesting name," she added, swallowing. "Is Keeper of Dreams a title, or...?"

"A title. Revei says that's not his true title," Prox added interestedly. He looked up to Beryl. "He's talking to me now," he told the older deity.

He stretched and tucked his paws under himself again. "I'm usually more human," he said to Sosiqui. A glint of light on the side of her neck caught his eye. "Are you a host, as well?"

Ah... a shapeshifter, then. That explained a few things. She settled down cross-legged on the floor, still taking intermittent bites of the sandwich. "Yeah," she admitted, reaching up her free hand to pull her hair away from the jewel. "Light. He hasn't, um, mentioned a name yet. Or done much of anything beyond slip in sentences after mine, give me odd dreams... well, aside from remodeling the rooms."

"Wind. Dream. Charmed," and Sosiqui looked frustrated. "See?" Just like that! It's very unnerving. I only took on the gem two days ago, dammit. It's too soon." The last was mumbled.

"No," Prox said. "But he said to tell you." His expression went distant for a moment. Then his whiskers went forward in a smile. "He said something nasty about the other one," he relayed.

He listened to Sosiqui's brief explanation and nodded. The shift of voice and feeling when the Light deity suddenly spoke startled him. "Pleased to meet you," he nodded, then said to Sosi, "It's weird that way."

"I wish I could be alone," Sosiqui said abruptly. "He's always there... but well. Nevermind. It's good to be around people I can actually see..."

She studied Prox carefully. "Are you, um, like me then? Still who you were before, or are you a god already?"

Prox shook his head also. They'd be seeing more of Morpheus and his unwilling host, he was sure, and he couldn't interpret what Revei felt about that; it seemed to be a mix of apprehension and nasty anticipation.

"I'm still myself," he told Sosi. "He's being gentle, taking over slowly. It's - I hoped - perhaps yours will, too." He sighed. "It's hard to describe," he said ruefully.

"How the hell did he change the whole damn room?" Sosiqui burst out, taking a savage bite of her sandwich. "It's very disorienting."

Prox stretched and got up carefully, feeling an uncomfortable ache in his bones that told him he'd have to change back soon. He jumped down to sit beside Beryl, giving her hand a quick rub with the side of his cheek.

"He - huh?" He blinked at Sosi, a little confused.

"It was all this glooby jello stuff yesterday, and I wake up and it's the freaking Sistine Chapel. Not cool." She stuffed the last bit of sandwich in her mouth and swallowed. "He burned up damn near all of my energy to do it too."

She could feel a twinge of annoyance coming from somewhere that wasn't her, but she ignored it. If nothing else, she wanted the right to b***h - she could always ask forgiveness later.

He couldn't stay shifted any longer. A swirl of warm air, and Prox sat on the cushion next to Beryl as a humanoid. He couldn't help a small sigh.

"Is that how rooms are made here?" he asked, part to Beryl and part to Sosi.

"I see." Sosiqui wiped her fingers off on the paper towel she'd been using to hold the sandwich, then crumpled it up into a ball. "I think we're, um, still trying to find a balance. He promised me that I'd be safe, though... and happy." Her eyes took on a far-away look. "Because of my sacrifice, I will be honored in his future temples above all except himself, of course..." She shook her head. "It's a nice dream. I hope he's being honest."

"I am always honest," she said, sharply, in that strange otherworldly tone. Sosiqui winced. "Okay, okay... er, he said that last part," she supplied, in case they thought she was talking to herself.

Then she blinked in surprise as Prox shifted. That was interesting.

"You can come by and see, later. If you want," Sosiqui offered. "I trust you, Beryl... and you seem nice enough," she added in Prox's direction, grinning at him. "It really is a nice room, I guess. Just startled me badly, that's all. I need to go out and get some knick-knacks for it, though. Right now all there is is furniture that came out of nowhere... and bare walls."

"D'you mind if I stay here a little longer?" Prox glanced up at Beryl. The massive calm he had awoken with had slipped away from him, and now he looked a little anxious. "I know he'll not want to be too close to people, but not yet."

"Thank you." He glanced at Sosi, a little embarrassed. Changing the subject, he said, "He can speak through you as you are now?"

Sosiqui shrugged. "That's maybe the fifth time he's done the talking-out-loud thing, to my knowledge. I catch his thoughts, sometimes. I'm not sure if that's normal or what. He's never yet spoken without it being tagged onto the end of ME talking, though."

"I guess." She sighed. "I wish there was some accepted norm so that I'd know if I was doing things right. I can't imagine what the first people to take jewels on must have felt like, with nobody to guide them along..." Sosiqui hugged her legs to her chest, and looked small.

"Oh." Sosiqui blinked. "Um, sorry. I didn't know." She did look at Beryl with renewed curiosity. "You were one of the first? THE first, maybe?"

"It must have been frightening," Prox said. "It's frightening enough, even with so much help and kindness." His fingers brushed over the jewel in his wrist, the gesture habitual by now.

Sosiqui caught her hand straying towards her own jewel, but she noticed and stopped the movement with a nervous laugh. "I guess that's a habit everyone picks up, huh." She tapped the jewel lightly with one finger. "Such a small thing for the rebirth of a god. Of course, I could say the same about myself."

"Small sparks break the darkness as well as great flames."

Prox smiled a little. "It's kind of soothing," he mused. "I wonder if he'll still do that?" He covered a sudden yawn. "Excuse me... "

Sleep, Revei urged subtly.

Like a chain reaction, Sosiqui yawned too, then blinked. "How on earth can I be tired?" she groused. "I'd better not spend the remaining time left to me half-asleep, or I'm going to be irritated."

She waited for Light to finish the sentence, but to her surprise he didn't answer Beryl. "Well then." Sosiqui stood up. "I guess I'll retire for now. Beryl, I'll bring back the pallet when I buy some bedding of my own tomorrow. Good to meet you, Prolixity... and, um, Dream." She nodded, then stretched and walked out the door, heading for her own rooms. She paused for a moment outside the door, studying the stained-glass window set into the wood, with its depiction of a stylized rising sun-in-glory, then went inside.