[PRP] what (Theo/Gloom)

[Smerdle]

Theo didn't dream anymore. He used to, before iMom had gotten into her accident and he'd met his ex, but all of his fanciful nighttime adventures had shriveled and died since, probably in some conscious moment when he'd decided it was time to grow up. A therapist would have loved the symbolism. Too bad he wasn't interested in visiting one.

Needless to say, he was quite surprised to find himself standing in the middle of a deserted, rainy street when he clearly wasn't awake. Was this what his dreams had become while he had been shunning them? He distinctly remembered more color. Theodore sighed.  

[azuredreams]

Theo would have found himself not that far where Rider-Waite campus would be, were he to go that direction. Instead he was near where Bibliophile was and, even closer, was the 4th wall. Not that there were really any signs marking the businesses.

Most signs looked faded, perhaps because it was a dream and they were obscured due to the light fog and rain.

Echoing from in front of him was the sound of something skittering, the shuffle of paws on pavement, and the darkness seemed more poignant on the street corner just ahead. As soon as he noticed it, noticed the dark spot, it would still.

... and move towards him.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Being the only sound he'd heard besides his own sigh, Theo latched onto the skittering in spite of what a horrible idea it surely was to do so. Following strange noises seemed ill-advised, like something out of a horror movie. He wasn't particularly surprised that his first dream in five years was gearing up to be more of a nightmare.

He took a step toward the sound, only noticing the shadow once it came right for him. Theo hopped back, holding out a hand.

"s**t!" A dollar for the swear jar. "Sorry." Why was he apologizing to a shadow? Why was this dream so clear? And where was he? He might have been past this part of town twice since he'd arrived if he was lucky, both times in a car when he'd barely been paying attention. Without the signs, this might as well have been Italy.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No! No! No!" A voice called out suddenly. Theo would feel the weight of something scrambling up his pant leg, the back of his shirt, and then something heavy and yet not curled on his shoulders. "Don't touch them! Run away!" The voice was soft and in his ear, darkness all around the edges of Theo's vision now.

The darkness on the ground was suddenly not darkness anymore but instead several small hands reaching out to grab at Theo.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Theo cringed and slapped at the thing that was climbing him, but he was quick to stop slapping and follow its advice when he saw the hands. He hadn't straight up ran anywhere in ages. Thankfully, keeping up with a pair of toddlers was exercise enough. Theo ran away from the empty space that would have been Rider-Waite in the real world, slowing to a jog three or so blocks away.

"I'm glad you warned me, but you'd better leave too," he told his passenger. He didn't slow. If the thing wasn't inclined to jump off, he would throw it off.

azuredreamsisshredded

 

[azuredreams]

"... hey, rude," the shadow said. It was fur, or it felt like fur, that pressed against his neck and then was gone. A moment later it was keeping pace beside him, two glowing points of light in the darkness beside him watching him. It solidified into what looked like a weasel.

Maybe a mink.

That long fluffy tail wasn't right for either.

"Do y'even know where y'are?" it asked, head turning to look over it's shoulder and then back up towards Theo. "Or what y'almost got grabbed by???"

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

He downshifted to a jog once the thing had fully appeared, stopping a couple of steps later. It looked like a cartoon animal, something designed for maximum toy sales.

"I'm sleeping, so..." He was sure this was a dream, though it did trouble him a little that everything was so clear and he was uncomfortably out of breath. "I'm in my head making up cute, fuzzy animals to save me from the shadow hands." He snorted and shook his head, glancing back the way they'd come. "I wonder if that chicken was bad."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Duh, y'sleeping, but you're really here." The small creature seemed to pull at the shadows around them, his size increasing until he was larger than before.

"Not a fuzzy animal," a huff, "M'Gloom."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"I am, am I?"

The creature's introduction and decidedly odd behavior rendered Theo as silent as he usually was in his waking life. He watched Gloom suck in some shadows and grow, folding his arms and tightening them against the mist.

"Theodore. What are you, then? And where am I?"

azuredreamssparkleslikethesunouo

 

[azuredreams]

"Gloom," the shadow creature repeated. "Y'players don't do so good in rain. Not like the kind in the box." His tail swished.

"Follow me. Y'need to be dry." His eyes glowed in the shadows of his face, watching Theodore closely before he turned to scamper down the street. He turned and to look and make sure he was being followed before he would go.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Nothing that was coming out of Gloom's mouth made any sense at all. Not a word. Well, except the part about being dry. Still, there was nothing to do but follow, so he did, sparing a look back in the direction of the hands as he broke into a jog.

"Do you find a lot of... players here?"

Theo hadn't seen a soul since he'd shown up, which he had to admit was strange for a dream, even one so out of the ordinary.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Y'coming over lots now. Never met a dreaming one 'til now." Gloom was turning a corner and there was a building there. He seemed to merge and disappear with the shadows as they billowed up and pushed the door all the way open.

"In here." The shadows said. "This place isn't for everyone. Just certain ones."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Theo stored that piece of information away, stepping through the door as soon as it was fully open. He even closed it behind them, trusting that he couldn't crush a shadow.

"Okay," he whispered. "Are we safe?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

He couldn't.

One the door was pushed closed, the shadows coalesced and formed again. Gloom's white eyes glittered in the dark before his form was visible once more.

"Yes." His tail swished from side to side, bits of shadow flickering up into the air and disappearing. "I'll keep y'safe while y'dreaming."

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

"Sure, yeah. Thanks, I guess." He looked around as he spread the dampness across his arms so it might dry more quickly.

"If you won't tell me what you are, then at least tell me what the hands were. Or what I do now." He didn't think sitting in a room with a Gloom all night would make for much of a dream.

azuredreams