2007-11-09: Talk Of Dream Conferencing

Starring:

Kory_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif

Summary: After a few attempts fell through, the dream-walker and the human power sponge finally meet up to talk about certain things, specifically the idea of dream-conferencing.

Date It Happened: November 9, 2007

Talk of Dream Conferencing


East Village, NYC - The Secret Lair

Sunday afternoons in the Lair are quiet. Okay, strike that. They're usually quiet. But recently a Sunday Afternoon RPG group has formed up. They're currently sitting in the back gaming area shouting at each other. "You guys spill more miniature paint, and you're all out of here. I mean it!" Kory isn't shouting, so much as just pitching her voice loudly enough to carry over their arguing.

She's in a less than cheerful mood, apparently. She stalks forward to the store to go back to her iPod. Her eyes are a little squinted, as if she has a headache. But she rubs at her temples and schools her face out of the irritable expression.

Unaware of the minature crisis unfolding in the back once again, Peter opens the front door and steps inside. Much as he had before, he looks out of place amongst the normal crowd, with his clean lined clothes. Then again, that's just taking the stereotypical costumer— surely there's a couple people in suits in the US who show up at the store to by tabletop games. As he gets inside, his eyes drift toward the young woman rubbing on her temples, and he gives a relieved expression as he moves deeper into the store. "Kory? I was hoping I'd catch you here today."

"Oh, sure, how can I —" Kory's reflexive spiel for the Lair cuts off in mid-sentence as she actually turns to lay eyes on who is asking. "Peter." Her voice goes soft. She glances around the store, worriedly, then gives a soft sigh. "Sure. Come on in. What can I do for you?" Her expression is somewhere between distressed and resigned.

The worried glance around seems to trigger a similar reaction in Peter. He blinks and glances around once too, before moving in closer and keeping his voice down, a raspy whisper. "I— actually I need some help with something. I haven't come to visit you since we last talked because— I got sick. Like in the…" He makes a gesture, hoping she rounds out that sentance on her own. "I'm better now, but there's others who aren't. And it's— there's people who are stuck in… at home, and the possibility of worse than that if we can't find a permenant… fix." Read: cure.

"Sick? I'm sorry." Kory's reaction is immediate sympathy, wiping out the last vestiges of irritation in her face and replacing them with concern. "Well, I'm glad you're better." But her eyes widen as he goes on to describe the situation. "But me — what can I do for you?"

"No, it's fine now," Peter says, shaking his head. "For me at least— it's not okay for everyone else. Not yet. But that's what I'm hoping to work on." There's a pause, as if he's trying to think of the best way to word something. He casually looks around again, then keeps his voice even quieter. "I was hoping that you could… help me communicate with people. You mentioned dream-conferencing before? Secure communications… that sort of thing?"

Kory bites her lower lip. "I…well…" she stammers, still whispering herself, "I only did it the once. It's not something I've gotten a chance to try again often. But…well, of course. I could give it another try." Her brows knit into an expression mingling worry and hopefulness. Emotions flashing across her face rapidly this afternoon.

"If— if it's too much I don't— I won't ask anything of you that you don't think you can do," Peter explains, looking even more worried. Then he seems to realize something. "Right— one other time. It was just in the street outside the cafe. And things were— different then." He knows something more about that than he had before. "Yeah, it might be pushing things to do a full conference. Maybe if we worked together on it, if you taught me how to use your ability, but… maybe it's enough if we just meet with one other person at a time?"

"It's not that it's too much," Kory says, hands folding on the counter in front of her. "It's just that getting the practice for it isn't as easy as it might seem." She shrugs. "Teaching? Well, it's all in paying attention. I get kind of a tingle in my head when someone's sleeping around me and in REM sleep. But with you, and a controlled environment, I'm sure I could get the hang of it. I should've thought to ask, myself, really." Her cheeks rouge with embarrassment. "But of course. Anything I can do to help."

Listening to what the dreamer explains, Peter nods a few times, even if he doesn't look as if he understands everything she explains. There's so many questions. "Might be best to learn by doing in this case," he says, a hint of a smile tugging on the corner of his mouth. "When do you get off work tonight? We could try to meet up and practice as soon as possible."

"We close at nine. School night," Kory grins. "And that would be perfect." A light comes into her eyes. Determination. "A danger room, without the danger. Yes. That'd be great. Is that too late?" People who sleep tend to wind down around that hour.

"No, that should be perfect," Peter explains, shaking his head a bit so she doesn't think it's a problem. "Might take me a bit to fall asleep, honestly— except for when I was sick, sleeping hasn't been the easiest feat for me lately." Not being able to get fatigued has it's downsides. "But I should be able to sleep by then." There's a pause. "Do you need to know the people whose dreams you try to enter?"

"Sorry about that," Kory says, sheepishly. "Comes with the territory. We get most of our recharge from the dreamwalking." She shakes her head. "No. I can get into any dream if the sleeper's deep enough to go REM. But it's just not something I've had much practice at, to do it for more than one dreamer. It's a little overwhelming because I'm just not used to it yet." She shrugs. "But it's worth the effort, so the effort will get made."

"It's not entirely your fault," Peter assures, though he looks unsure how to explain that further. It's true, though, not entirely her fault. There's a thoughtful pause, before he seems to agree with her. "We'll work on it. You're right that it's worth it. Even if just to be able to communicate more easily, not have to worry about bugs or easedroppers." There's a glance around the store. "I guess I should let you get back to work."

"Well, things are staying peaceful for the moment," Kory says, using her free hand to tap the countertop in a knock wood gesture. "But I really would prefer to keep as much of this out of the store as possible. Lee is really not too excited about any of this, and in truth, I think it may bother him more than he lets on." She shrugs, and extends her right hand toward Peter, with a slip of paper between her first two fingers. "Here's my number. Call me, and we can find someplace neutral to talk it out."

There's a tick of Peter's eyebrow when Lee is mentioned, almost a guilty gesture, though he does nod. "Yeah— it's not the best place to talk about this sort of thing." He reaches out to take the card, though, looking over the number and pulling out his wallet to tuck it inside. "I'll give you a call around nine, then. And we'll find someplace." He starts to move away. "I'm glad that we were able to talk, and I hope I'm a better student this time."

"I've never had to teach anyone this," Kory admits, "so we'll both be learning together." She smiles warmly at him. "Call for takeout. We'll be up and we'll get hungry."

"I mean more— you told me to bring help last time, and I didn't quite do that." Peter explains, admiting to a lesson he didn't learn the last time they talked. "I learned my lesson there, so— I'll try to listen to you when you give advice." He checks to make sure his wallet and everything is back in his coat, "I know a couple places that deliver— so I'll do that. See you tonight." With that, he makes way toward the door.

"Oh." Kory says softly, as Peter admits not listening to her. "Well, live and learn. I'm glad you're still here so we /can/ learn." She waves after him as he exits. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I'm glad I'm still here too," Peter says softly, though it may carry back to the rest of the store. When he does open the door, he glances back, "I will. You take care, too, Kory." With that, he steps outside. A few hours to burn and so much left to do.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License