Walking In Dreams

Demiurge says "Okay. You're at Sistine's, and about to head for the secretary's dreams."

Azalea nods.

Azalea was going to go upstairs and sleep in her room, to get to the Marches.

Demiurge nods.

Azalea lies down on the bed and drifts away, using whatever methods necessary.

<> Azalea rolls the d666 and gets 2 1 CHECK: 2.

<> Demiurge says "Admirable. ;)"

There is a moment of dislocating speed, and then you find yourself standing in a dreamscape.

The secretary's dream is of a large Regency room. She's sitting at the piano, playing, as the sunset light comes in through long windows. There's something desperate about the whole image, a yearning for control.

Azalea watches quietly from across the room.

Azalea changes her appearance.

<> Azalea rolls the d666 and gets 2 6 CHECK: 3.

The woman continues to play, finally coming to the end of the piece. She's in a low-shouldered silk gown of dark green, and her hair is up in a matching style.

Demiurge says "You've failed for the moment, Azalea: you can try again in three minutes. For the moment, you look like your vessel."

Azalea asks, quietly, "What troubles you?"

The woman starts, turning, her skirts swishing as she comes to her feet. She says, dully, "Have I not served as I was ordered, mistress? I thought that I had done well enough to be allowed to dream in peace."

Azalea smiles, faint. "I told you not to call me mistress."

The woman bows her head. From outside the room comes the sound of a string quartet.

Azalea says, quietly, "It's lovely."

The woman looks, for a moment, puzzled. Then, as though convinced this must be a dream, she says, "I needed somewhere quiet."

Azalea says "Why?"

The woman says, "They told me what would happen after I died. They showed me. So I'm concentrating on staying alive as long as I can, but I can't dream at work. How could I? There's only here."

Azalea says "Why can't you dream at work?"

The woman says, hazily, "All they do is make nightmares there."

Azalea says "Is that all they do?"

The woman says, "They take bodies in, they take bodies out. I hadn't been working there long before they spoke to me. They said, don't look, don't listen, just do what you're told, or we'll be waiting for you. Now. Always. So I didn't look or listen."

The woman walks across to the window. She doesn't look at Azalea, but her shoulders sag as she says, "What _could_ I do?"

Azalea says, carefully, "So you don't know what they do with the bodies."

The woman says, numbly, "I know they take some of them out at night. The numbers are wrong, though."

Azalea says "How is that possible?"

The woman turns back. She says, "I don't know. All I know is that they bring in more people than they take out."

Azalea says, softly, "Will you show me?"

The woman begins to pace, wringing her hands. "What am I supposed to show you? I don't go down there." She repeats the words as though they will save her. "I just see them bringing the bodies past sometimes. Dangling like sacks. Still faces. Sleeping."

Azalea asks, in wonderment, "Why do you stay?"

The woman says, flatly, "Because they've told me what would happen if I tried to go. They say that when I retire they'll let me go. Or sooner. Just don't make waves. Do what I'm told."

Azalea says "They won't let you go."

She turns away again, and paces, saying, "No. I'm useful."

Azalea says "And when you are no longer?"

She puts her hands to her head. "I don't want to think about that. They'll let me go. They have to let me go."

Azalea laughs, harsh. "They don't *have* to do anything."

She turns back. "So what am I supposed to do? Stand up and get killed?"

Azalea says "You are risking your immortal soul to answer *phones*. Did it never occur to you that if there are those who can destroy, there are those who can protect?"

The woman turns away, avoiding the question. She says, dully, "It's too late. They told me so."

Azalea says "They *lied*."

Azalea laughs. "Haven't you read anything? They lie. They cheat. They cause pain. There is no upside, no reward, no final peace."

She shakes her head. "No. You don't understand. There is nothing. All there is is death and hell. One of them showed me it. All there is, all I can hope for is this, this dream..."

Azalea says "And I've ruined even that."

The woman's head lowers, and slowly her shoulders begin to shake. Between sobs, she gasps, "And don't you see that if I was wrong I've wasted it all? I've been wrong all along, and I've _done_ wrong..."

Azalea asks, gentle, "What wrong have you done?"

Azalea quirks a smile. "Other than call me 'mistress'."

The woman's shaking slows a little. Her voice is flat. "Inaction. I knew and I didn't do anything."

Azalea says "What did you know?"

The woman lets her hands fall. "The bodies. And we had elves going through there all the time. I mean, that's what you are, isn't it? Elves?"

Azalea says "Elves." She laughs, and it's not a pleasant sound. "No, we are not elves.""

Demiurge says "The woman stares. "You aren't?""

<> Azalea rolls the d666 and gets 3 3 CHECK: 6.

Azalea says "(I tried to change how I look)"

Demiurge says "Yes, this time it does work."

Demiurge says "You can alter details all the way up to what the dream is like."

<> Azalea says "(If I show her the office, would that alert the dark side?)"

<> Demiurge says "You can show her a dream of the office, Azalea, and that won't alert anybody."

<> Azalea does so, then.

The woman blinks, looking around her as the Regency room shifts into the secretary's office.

Azalea shows herself as a demon, briefly, and then flickers back.

The woman gasps, flinching away.

Azalea says "Show me Bellman's. Show me what you know."

The woman shakes her head, trying to clear it. She walks out of the office, down the corridor, and touches the door that Azalea came out from when she went upstairs from her underground arrival.

The woman says, "Here. They take them down here."

Azalea says "Are there guards?"

The woman says, slowly, "Not at that door. I think there are guards downstairs. There are security people. Sean Phad. A big guy, he runs them. Deadly quiet eyes. Always so polite."

Azalea says "What other security is there?"

The woman says, "Mr Bellman is kind." She shakes her head. "I'm sure it's not his idea. Security. I think there's an alarm system. I know some of the fences are electrified."

The woman points at the swipe card bit by the door. "You need a security card to get through that, and I think that somewhere below there's a number pad system. You know how people try and remember numbers."

Azalea says "What else do you know?"

The woman thinks. "I know they distribute films privately. There are separate account books for those. They have regular lorries twice a month to ship them."

Azalea says "Where do they keep the separate account books?"

The woman takes a deep breath, then something seems to give way. She sags, and says, "I think they're in Mr Bellman's office. I don't know where, but I think they're in his office."

The woman says, "But who are _you_? I thought you were one of the elv... them."

Azalea says "Is that why you told me all this?"

She looks at her hands, then says, "I suppose I wanted to tell someone. Even if it's only a dream."

Demiurge says "Azalea, you can sense you're reaching the end of the time you can spend in her dream, for the moment."

Azalea says, quietly, "You can escape, child. Please try. Even the damned can escape, and you are not that yet."

She says, "Give me time." Her voice is numb."

Azalea touches the woman's hand, carefully, and then leaves her, in the room she began in.

Demiurge says "You return to the Marches, Azalea."

Demiurge says "You can either descend to your body, or do anything else you want to do while up here."

<> Azalea descends to her body.

Demiurge says "Your body is still asleep in Sistine's, Azalea, and wakes comfortably."

---

Fiat Justitia