Warning includes singing

[therealkaichan]

Chapter 4.


Aislinn was sure hours had passed since they had started with the explanations. For such a small child, Lyall knew a lot of technical details about how the machines worked in the place. He had also reminded her that maybe it was a good idea to have dinner before she made her first immersion in this place, so she had eaten a bit as well. She made a note to herself so she wouldn’t forget that on top of being super nice, Darius was also a good cook. Had she been looking for a husband, she would’ve married him in a heartbeat, even if she had the impression that he came with a certain Attis-shaped baggage.

And now, one dinner and a bit more chatting later, she was sitting on the unoccupied recording mat, ready for her first trip in this place. She noticed that while Darius was sitting in Milah’s mat, his side of the machine was turned off.

“We will make a short one today. I will look for you in the shared dream, and try to pull you to a different one, to see if it is possible or if the blocking also includes that. It is a temporary solution, but it should be useful for the investigation.”
“I understand.”
“I will set the alarms for an hour.” Attis was checking the machines without looking at them. “Should she have any trouble to wake up, you will pull her when I use your anchor.”
“Of course.” Darius smiled, nodding. “We have no reason at all to experience issues, but it’s always good to have a contingency plan in case of something going wrong.”
“If you do well with this, we will work on your anchor tomorrow. With that you will be able to travel alone with either Milah or Lyall. I’m most interested on how you would react to making contact with their dreams.”
“All right.” Aislinn sighed. The man was as creepy as he was at the beginning of the day, and she wondered if he would ever stop being so.
“Once you are out of your dream, we will leave you on your own for a bit. We will be watching you closely, so don’t worry, just do the same as you used to do before.”
“Got it. I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go.”


Aislinn opened her eyes, and the blank greeted her. There was the silence as well, and for a moment she almost panicked. It took a bit of time for her to find her focus, but once she did she started remembering. Remembering the day, remembering the promise of the investigators, and the chance that maybe she could get back what she had lost... The one thing that made her feel complete.

So she waited, even if it was hard to not be nervous, she waited.

And in the end, her waiting paid off. She could feel Darius’ soft voice calling her name, and after a bit, she managed to listen to him clearly.
We are crossing over, his voice said, and as she was nodding, looking around for him, she felt a soft pull, along with the quiet sound of rain falling over grass, and she smiled. The silence was gone, and she would see a new dream soon.


She was Jason, and Jason seemed to be lost. The strange thing, was that the corridor where he was walking was full of pictures of whales.

Oh, they were nice pictures, mind you, and he had no problems with whales. He did appreciate that they were super well framed like fancy paintings of historical nobles, but they were still whales in the end. Even if the more he thought, the more it made sense, after all he was walking to meet the Whale Lord when he got lost, and— Was that whale wearing a top hat?

It was a really fancy hat, maybe he should ask where to get one. It would be a good idea, especially since he had decided that it was a good idea to come here in just swimming trunks. If top hats were in fashion, then it would be well seen if he had one.

So he decided that, since he was already lost and getting late, he should get himself a hat.

Stealing a hat would be terrible manners. That was Darius, and for a moment she wasn’t Jason anymore, she was just seeing what happened. That rarely happened, and she wondered if it was because of him.
“Is this normal? Just seeing the dream?” She asked, as Jason started walking, looking for a hat he could use to impress the Whale Lord.
“It’s the best way to do this, yes. Identifying too closely with the dreamer could give you trouble, as it makes you far more easy to locate...”
“I usually do it the other way.”
“That is why your IDEAs were so powerful and clear... It is truly a miracle you hadn’t been found yet, either by him or by us.”
“Do you know why...?”
“We will study that later on. I’d say we had a good enough look to get started today...”
“All right... So, we are good...?”
“Yes, you can go back to the dream if you wish, we will be monitoring you, so you should be safe.”
“It doesn’t look that much like a good IDEA material, but is it fine if I sell these?”
“If it is not explicitly forbidden in the contract, then it is allowed. Have fun.”
“Thank you...”

Aislinn couldn’t really smile, but she still felt as she could, as she let herself slip into the dream one more time, to see the end of Jason’s strange adventure.


Attis was taking notes when she woke up, several hours later. Darius was nowhere to be seen.
“You can use our old Recording Machine if you want. It’s in the back of the room.” He said, not looking up from his tablet. “We barely use it, so take your time.”
“Thank you, that’s really useful.” Aislinn smiled, sitting on the mat for a moment. “I missed dreaming...”
“It sounds like a sad thing to lose.” Attis stood from his chair, walking to one of the computers and turning the screen on. “I will begin compiling the data now.”
“Understood.” Aislinn finally stood as well, walking to the Recording Machine. It took her just a little to work it, since it was a pretty different model from her own, but the soft noise started after a little, and she got ready to record the dream.

She was getting started when the music started playing. It wasn’t loud enough to bother the ones in the rooms, but enough for her to notice. Attis was working in silence, apparently concentrated with his notes, but it was quite likely that he was the one behind the music. It was fine, she didn’t mind it at all.

The next half hour she spent recording every detail she remembered from the dream. Her chat with Darius hadn’t been that long, so it was easy to fill the less detailed parts, or the things she missed with her own imagination. As soon as she was done, she picked up the disk, and made sure to leave it in a safe place, to take with her when she left. She was wondering what to do next when Attis interrupted her thoughts.
“You said you would listen to a certain song before moving to a different dream.”
“I did...” Aislinn walked a bit closer, her curiosity getting the best of her once more.
“Which song is it?”
“I... I don’t know. I haven’t heard it anywhere else.”
“So only the instruments were familiar, but not the tune?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting. Can you sing?”
“A-a bit, yes...” It was a little embarrassing to realize that she had just stuttered a bit, the man’s eyes were locked on her and it was more than a bit intimidating.
“Then do it. I can use that to make your anchor.”
“Ah... I’m not too good.”
“I don’t need ‘good’. Just sing the song as you remember it, that will do.”
“All right... Is it fine if I sit?”
“It’s fine.” Attis answered, turning to the computer to stop the music. He then looked at her, letting her take as much time as she needed to get ready.

Aislinn was thankful for that, with how nervous she was she didn’t want to risk falling down like an idiot. So she brought a chair closer and sat. She hadn’t sung for anyone outside of her family before, so it was a little weird to be doing this, but if it could help then she didn’t mind pushing her doubts away. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and started singing.

After having heard it every night for the last few years, she could remember the song perfectly down to the smallest details, so after a few shaky notes at first, she finally managed to steady her voice, and sing the song as she remembered it.

During the whole thing, Attis was silent, looking at her sing. He was still doing so when she finished singing and opened her eyes... She would have felt pretty embarrassed had she noticed before, so it was a good thing she had been smart.
“That’s good. Sing it again.”
“A-all right...” She was stuttering again, but she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started singing again.

This time, his voice joined hers, carefully working the notes into a song that was much like hers but so different at the same time. She opened her eyes, a bit shocked, but he didn’t stop singing, so she didn’t either. There was something different about his voice, it was strange... So heartfelt.
Did he know the song from before? Or was he a musician in the wrong profession? She wouldn’t ask, not yet at least, but it was a question that she couldn’t stop pondering until they fell silent.
“Good. Once more, listen well this time.”
“Yes.” This time she didn’t stutter, and her voice showed no hesitation.

She understood now, the anchor. It was her own song, but it was different enough for her to realize it was not. It was something she held close, but at the same time it wouldn’t confuse her... It was good.

“You two should quit this and become singers.” Said a female voice from the door, and Aislinn jumped a bit, quickly turning to see where it was coming from.
“Are you back for more, Milah?” Attis’ voice was back to normal, and as he turned back to his computer he was smiling just enough to make this a bit scary.
“As always.” The girl walked closer, sitting in her mat. “I didn’t get to talk to you before, welcome, new girl.”
“Ah... I’m Aislinn, it’s good to meet you.”
“It’s nice to see a new face. You were making your anchor, huh?”
“I think yes...”
“It’s okay to chat now, it will be a little until I can actually sleep again.”
“Ah... All right.”

There was something really calming about knowing that it was fine to talk to her as well. The first impression had been a bit uncomfortable, but this changed things quite a bit. Aislinn threw a small look Attis’ way and realized he was already back to his work and the music was already playing once more, so she moved her chair a bit closer to Milah, and sat there.
“Have you been here for long...?” She asked, a little curious.
“About a year. It has been pretty good, and the pay is awesome.”
“Do you do anything other than this?”
“Yeah, I’m in High School, so it gets kinda crazy during certain months. It’s still pretty okay, but sometimes I spend a few days without popping up. How about you? You don’t look like much of a student.”
“I’m not... I’m a runaway, so I spent the last few years without studying so I wouldn’t be found. I’ve read a lot, but it’s not the same, I guess.” Aislinn smiled a bit. She really liked the idea of someday going back to finish studying, once she was sure that her parents wouldn’t find her.
“Oh... Wow that’s surprisingly cool. And here I thought you looked super plain.”
“You what...?”
“Well, you look like a normal person. Runaways should be cooler.”
“That’s...”
“It’s okay. That should teach me to not judge, huh?”
“Certainly.”
“Noted down. So! When did you run away?”
“A few years ago. The first days were complicated because I wasn’t used to living on my own... I managed. Then started selling Thoughts to use for IDEAs, and things got a lot easier from then on.”
“Is the pay any good for that? I’ve thought about selling some of my own.”
“It’s decent. They pay better here. Do you live with anyone else?”
“Lyall already told you that I usually go back home, huh?”
“He did, yes...”
“I live with my parents and an older brother. Things are pretty okay with them.”
“Do they know...?” Aislinn found it a little curious, she was pretty certain her parents wouldn’t have let her do anything even remotely dangerous when she was younger.
“They think I help with paperwork and that it’s because of my studies. That’s okay, leaves me more time to do my job, and they don’t worry too much about me when I’m outside.”
“It is a good idea, yes... I would’ve done pretty much the same in your place.”
“One of the older girls used to study in the university. She had to quit when things got too crazy in here.”
“Does that happen often?”
“Sometimes. It can be really time consuming, especially when they are onto something.”
“I see...” Aislinn was thoughtful, while Milah moved a bit in her mat to check the machine. She took her time to set the alarm, and then push a few more buttons.

“You should quit whenever you want to quit. No point in staying around if you hate it, it really makes your dreams go crazy when you are uncomfortable, and that really ruins the .”
“I’ll remember that.”
“So, why are you here? You don’t look like the kind of person who would do it for the money.”
“I have been blocked out from my dreams... I’m not sure why, but I would very much like them back.”
“So you are hunting for your dreams... What will you do if you get them back?”
“I don’t know. They mentioned that I could help with the whole Dragon issue, and I think I like the idea. I wouldn’t mind helping more.”
“Ah! So you are a dragonslayer! No wonder Mr. Creepy over there looks so excited to have you here.”
“A dragonslayer...?” Aislinn smiled a little, it was a bit too much. “That sounds more badass than what it actually is.”
“Yes, but it is what you are. Nobody said you had to kill the dragon on your own.”
“I guess...”
“No ‘I guess’ allowed.” Milah chuckled. “You sound like a good girl, no wonder Lyall is so excited about you.”
“Is he?”
“Yeah, a lot. He loves talking to people, and he rarely gets to talk about these things... And well, I’m not the best conversation partner most of the time, I can’t blame him for being happy.”
“He seems to care a lot about you anyway.”
“He picked up the best things from Darius. It’s a surprise he didn’t pick anything from Mr. Creepy, considering how much time they spend working together.”
“He has my work method. You are being too loud.”
“Well, that’s about the only good thing you have other than your good looks. Weirdo.”
“Just don’t be loud.” He said, looking at his computer again, Aislinn smiled a little.
“You two get along pretty well...”
“Me and Mr. Creepy? Yeah. It’s because I’m totally okay with him being weird. So we manage pretty well once you get over that. Plus he helps me with the creepy nightmares. He’s pretty okay.”
“I understand... That’s a good thing of having only a few people to work with, isn’t it? It’s easier to get along.”
“True that. Say do you want to grab something to eat? There is a cute place not too far, and they send food, so we could ask for lunch for everyone.”
“Food sounds good, just guide the way.”
“I think we are going to get along super well.”

They both smiled, and Aislinn couldn’t help but hope Milah was right.



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I'm running out of plot halp.