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 Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:01 pm
Carlisle felt like he'd been doing the same thing for hours and hours and hours, though he couldn't remember what he had been doing just five minutes before. Startled by something, he looked down at his hands and found a piece of newspaper, half-folded into a paper sailboat; littering the ground around his feet were dozens of its cousins, plain-type words crawling across the beige bows and prows.
Then, looking up, he could see (barely) a translucent golden mist that obscured everything more than ten feet from where he sat, on a small rock. He could see caribbean blue waters extending out almost at his feet, foam from the surf splashing up and collapsing the paper ships around his feet. For a moment, he looked down at the half-folded ship in his hand and finished it, dropped it and watched a new and perfectly shaped piece of newsprint appear in his hand.
Feeling kind of hopeless, he looked up again, this time away from the water. He thought he could see someone approaching from that way... Uncertainly, he called out, "Hello?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:01 pm
Galleai, in the guise of a white cat with winged paws, found herself in yet another dreamer's dream. This one seemed to be very misty, she thought to herself. But the mist was a pleasant gold color, at least. A small paper boat floated past her, bumping into her back paw.
"Hello?" Galleai heard the voice coming through the mist and made her way towards it. Her natural knack for grand entrances did well for her as she emerged slowly into the dreamer's view as if the mist itself had formed her.
"Hello." She padded over the water, not in the mood to swim. The landscape of the dream wasn't particularly amazing compared to some she'd seen. But the dreamer... a feline smile crossed her furry face. The dreamer was absolutely beautiful.
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:16 pm
A cat? With winged paws? This normally would throw Carlisle but for some reason he didn't mind and actually he smiled at the cat. Then he looked down at the paper boat he was folding in his hands without even thinking about it. It was weird to watch, like someone had disconnected his fingers from his brain, or something. "You can talk," he said, once it had processed, though he couldn't find his smile again for his life. "Do you have a name, too, kitty?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:59 pm
"Galleai." The kitty said, leaping up onto the rock beside Carlisle and balancing precariously next to him. "These boats are very small..." She tickled the back of his neck with her tail. "Can we make a bigger one?" That would be fun. If they made a bigger boat then they could go exploring, maybe. But that would be up to the dreamer.
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:05 pm
As if the dream had bent itself to the cat's will, a much larger sheet of paper appeared in his hands. Not big enough for the two to fit in, nowhere near, but still a great deal larger. "Galleai, that's a pretty name," said Carlisle, scrunching up his shoulders at the tickling. Thoughtfully, he finished folding the larger origami boat.
It occurred to him that he actually didn't know how to do any kind of origami. Uncle Astaroshe had tried to teach him, but never had he gotten something so perfect and crisply edged as this. Yet, all around his feet were multitudes of disproof to that thought, made soggy and worthless by the tide. "I don't think it would hold up well, anyway," said Carlisle.
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:54 pm
"It will if you want it to." Galleai said, butting her head affectionately against his arm. "This is a magic place. You can make things happen if you just believe them."
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Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 8:00 pm
He snorted, and fingered the new piece of paper, which was yet larger. (Why was the paper getting larger? That made no sense, he decided.) Perhaps Galleai could fit in the resulting boat, but he certainly could not. "No," said Carlisle in a tone that didn't really brook argument, "There's not any such thing as magic."
Pulling the boat open, he dropped it in the water and watched it darken under the onslaught of caribbean blue. The water was so clear he could see his reflection in it, and Galleai's too. It made him feel a little better. "Okay," he said. "Maybe there is." He began to fold the next paper ship.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:09 am
Galleai poked at the newer, bigger boat with a paw, watching it bob in the water. She sniffed at the paper it was made out of. "No such thing as magic?" Galleai murmurred to herself. "No, I dont think so." Her words could barely be heard and instead, she bunched herself up and then jumped onto the paper ship. Either the ship got bigger or she'd grown smaller, but there was definitely room for two.
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Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 10:24 pm
Tentatively, he slipped into the boat next to her. Pieces of newsprint seemed to extend from the side and form a bench seat just big enough for both cat and boy; unquestioning, he sat down on it. "Do you think we'll find anything," he asked, plucking at one of the shifting words on the surface of the craft. It jolted into action.
In a normal situation, Carlisle would have found himself rather queasy; the water was choppy, not good for sailing at all. By some miracle, though, he remained strong of stomach and the boat didn't sink either. Slowly, the waves smoothed out to mere ripples and the rock on the sandy shore vanished into the mist, and all the two could see was a seeming eternity of brilliant blue water.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:02 pm
"I'm sure we can find something. What are we looking for?" Galleai put her paws up on the edge of the little paper boat and peered out at the endless expanse of water. The words on the newsprint tickled her fur a little. Just because there was nothing to see out there didn't mean there werent a million little secrets to be discovered.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:01 pm
He shrugged. "I don't know. You're the one who suggested we leave the rock." It was weird, but the longer they continued to sail, the less ephemeral the ship seemed. The paper was becoming wood, solid and real, and at the same time the overall size was increasing. In fact, the bench seat expanded to make a deck upon which the two could stand. "Do you see something over there?"
Pointing out to the horizon, Carlisle grinned at Galleai. While the water remained the same shade as always, the sky itself was sunrise colors- pink and violet and darkest blue. Silhouetted by the sun was something that looked like a tall tower.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:20 pm
As the boat changed, Galleai noticed Carlisle's clothing changing too. It became looser, more ragged. As if they had been at sea for a very long time. She noticed that her fur was matted too, and smelled like salt. Leaning over the railing, she narrowed her dark eyes and peered at the horizon. Cat-form didn't seem to suit, and so all of the sudden Galleai was just a girl, about Carlisle's age. In that strange way dreams have of not seeming strange at all at the time, she didn't even notice she'd changed shape.
"I see it!" She pointed also and grinned back. "I wonder what it is!" And what adventure it would bring them.
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Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:26 pm
If he noticed Galleai's change, he didn't comment on it, and with Carlisle that meant he didn't notice. "I bet," he said, tugging on the tattered remnants of his collar, "that it is a magical tower, and at the very tip-top we will find an ancient artifact with the power of ten thousand suns." He nodded, self-officiously, and squinted harder at the tower. "Or maybe we'll just find monsters. That would be cool too."
It registered that he hadn't yet shared his name, even though he knew hers. "My name's Carlisle, by the way," he said, in a very offhand fashion.
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:03 am
Galleai grinned as the wind whipped her hair into a frenzy. "Or maybe we'll find both!" She added. Monsters were good as long as they were the sort that could be vanquished and tricked. Boys dreamed better monsters than girls seemed to. The monsters in girl's dreams tended to be the more sinister un-vanquishable kind. At least so far as she had encountered.
They were coming closer and closer to the tower, it could now be seen plainly. "Whats the plan, cap'n Carlisle? Shall we weigh anchor?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 6:05 pm
"D'you know how to swim," he asked, all gentleman pirate. He really did want to go explore the tower, but it seemed it would be easier to run the ship into the shore than have his new (new? seemed like they had been like this for ages) friend drown. "'Cause we can just let down the lifeboat if you can't."
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