Remember lots of things from last night’s dream. None of it clearly, though.
- The Rummer paid me a visit. He chided me for not coming to him when I wanted to see him. I said something about being formal, not wanting to impose myself on him, and not sure how to approach him even after a year of knowing him. He laughed, reminded me I’m still “not yet an adult” by having these reservations. “Let me put it this way, girl. If I didn’t want any part of you, you’d be talking to one of my servants, if you were talking at all!” He reminded me I have means of finding things out. He said other things, but I do not remember. Only that I found the richness of his cigar, comforting.
- A discussion with the house Regulars about their nature and why if most of them are/were human spirits, why they appear so inhuman. Some have wandered so long, they forgot what they were. Some willfully let go and reshaped themselves to follow a desire. Some were reshaped in encounters with others.
- Gotta admit, a giant ten-legged spider with a top hat chiding me about how I brew and drink tea is pretty damn awesome. And it had a point about the tea. I’ll try to stop forgetting it for an hour.
- Then there is the guy that kept wanting to speak to me, but kept hiding himself whenever I looked at him. Told him to come out or quit bugging me. Tall lanky guy. Has a bookish air to him. Human from neck down. Coyote head. Started to give me a sob story about how he pissed off some spiritworker by refusing her advances and had his head changed so others would think him a problem. “Or maybe she got tired of your bullshit and called you out. Reworked your appearance so others would know you’re tricky with your words. I know you’re not that Coyote.” He started backtracking while a few other Regulars laughed at him for being called out so quickly.
- Tophat Spider wanted to crawl on my shoulder. I told it ‘No’ because it’s HUGE (no room) and I’m still wary after “David”. It understood and was happy to just cling to the wall.
- Head In Chest just sat near me the whole time. Sometimes he would hold my hand, sometimes just content to be near. I dunno what to do about him.
- This house being what it is, is 150% my fault. Granted I was a kid when I opened the gate, but it is still my doing. Do I have a responsibility to these spirits now that I’m able to see and interact with them clearly?
- Left the house, meant to go bug Snake for a while. Wound up at the Telling Tree where the Little Folk called me. It was unnaturally dark there. I was told something attacked them. They led me to a dense grove of twisted trees. I had to crawl through the brush. In the midst of this gnarled and twisted wood were the wounded that would never recover. Forever suffering, unable to heal, unable to die. Some of the wounded, I was able to remake. They became other types of denizens of this realm, but they were not in pain anymore. But neither could they remember who they were anymore. I was told this was a better outcome than expected, because their dolls were still intact. They could become Little Folk again someday.
- But there was one I could not remake. Ke looked like a beast had taken a bite of kir body, leaving only the upper torso, one arm, and a head behind. Ke was alive, and so much in pain, ke had gone mad. I asked about kir doll. Was told it was destroyed. I said I couldn’t help kir. “Yes, you can. Unmake our friend.” I didn’t think I could. I did. I mourned kir ending. They took notice I shed a tear (or five) for kir, but said nothing. They took me back to the Telling Tree, where I left them.
- I wound up at a train station, trying to get home. A series of bad timed events put me in the hands of a stalker. Instead of taking me home like he said, he took me to his apartment building. He tried feeding me drugged food and spiked drinks in the car. He tried offering me psychedelics, saying he would be my sitter and I would be safe. I kept feeling very hot, like a fever. I felt a strange desire to strip. The fever turned to arousal, but I refused to give in to the emotion, nor his insistence I leave the car and go upstairs. He leaves the car and I ransack it. Found a poppet in the glove compartment, wrapped in a cloth with “Desire Me” and “I Command You” oils. I take apart the poppet’s stuffing, find my hair. Removed my hair and scattered it. The fever stopped at once. Found a pinch of dog shit and stuffed that in it. Put poppet back together, wrapped it, placed it back in glove compartment. He returns to the car. Takes me to his favorite coffeehouse. I run into old friend. Stalker goes to get us coffees. I tell friend I’m kidnapped, get me out of here. Instead, “friend” tries to juju me into obeying him and being his lover. Stalker comes back, sees what’s up. Now stalker and “friend” are fighting over who owns me.
- Fuck everything about this.
- I stop dream and step outside it. I see a giant loom that the fabric of my dream is woven on. I call my feather sword and cut the entire woven piece off the loom. As I do, I can see where foreign threads were being woven into the pattern. Three of them, but I can only identify one. And that one is not desired. I tie individual weights to the three foreign threads and throw them far away from the loom. I rethread the loom with the threads of my dreams and start the giant loom up again. Sadly, time had run out. Guess I’ll see what comes tonight.