Nightmares and Dreamscapes

[Maeve]

Stella walked up the little road leading to the lodge. Arriving in front of the entrance door, she paused and turned around, looking at the wilderness. Yes, this place is perfect, she thought before turning back and entering the building. Like each year, her parents had asked her to come to the usual family vacation, staying in a fancy hotel in some foreign country. Though she normally liked that a lot, she had other plans for the summer, and the remote mountain lodge seemed like the perfect place for it. The girl shook her thoughts away and walked to the counter, wanting to finish all the reservation business and other common stuff as soon as possible.

"Good morning Mrs. Godfrey," she said with a smile, taking the time to look the name on the woman's name tag as she approached.

"Good morning dear. Can I help you?" the woman asked, a welcoming smile on her face.

"I'm looking for a campsite, close to the river if possible," Stella said, taking her bag off her shoulders and placing it against the counter to rest her back. For what she knew, the conversation could take anywhere from 1 minutes to half and hour, and her bag was heavy.

"You're the second person to ask that this morning," the woman said with a smile. She flipped through some papers, then spoke again. "Hm, yes, we do have a few spots left close to the river." She asked Stella for the usual information and payments before handing her a map with her spot marked on it.

The blond girl said farewell to the older woman and left the building quickly, placing her bag back on her shoulders and heading for the campsite. She wanted to place her things down soon, and she would have plenty of time today to explore the region. On her way, she saw two people, a woman about her age and a man in his thirties or so, apparently trying to get a something out of his shoe. She didn't really feel like having a long conversation with them, but figured it would be nicer to at least salute them. And she wanted to make sure she was on the right track...

"Hello there," she said with a smile, waving lightly. She paused as she got closer to them. "Hm, could you tell me if I'm on the right way to get to the river campsite?," she asked. Maps were not her things, and she had a tendency to get lost... Hopefully the two others would be able to help her.

[BonesTheHeretic]

Shaw slipped his shoe back on, laughing politely. "Yes, I know what you mean. I never did find it though, must have slipped out." As he finished, another young woman approached them.

He forced out yet another laugh at her query, while trying to suppress his irritation. "You can come with us, if you want. I was a touch lost myself, before this young lady came by. She knows where she's going!"

As Shaw spoke, a troubling thought hit him. If Toni -if that was her true name- had been following him for the last decade or so, how did she know where she was going? And why hadn't she aged?

His Angel touched his shoulder in reassurance. She is the one. Do not doubt

"Of course" He whispered, probably too quietly for the other two to hear.

[Keylaleigh]

Malphas's curiosity was piqued, and he decided to follow the group heading for the river. He wasn't much of an outdoor person, and only came to the lodge so he could lie low for a while as he picked out his next city. He already spent a lot of time on the west coast, and now he was looking east. Until then, he had a few people looking for him and it was better to stay out of their way.

As he walked through the woods, he saw the three of them, quickly taking cover to listen into whatever their conversation might be. The more he learned about the people staying in the same area as him, the better. Maybe he could take advantage of some of them at a later date. To make himself harder to notice, he quickly changed into a small Copperhead snake and kept himself to the grasses.

[Tsemara]

Toni hadn't realized that she was going to end up playing tour guide, when she signed up for this trip. Otherwise she would have brought her dickies. No. That would just make her look out of place, and vaguely like a forest ranger. But the latter's uniforms were green, while hers was tan.

She gave a polite wave at being introduced as a young lady. "Name's Toni, nice to meet you.

"You certainly were going the right direction. It's just down this trail and to your right, at the fork," she replied. She checked to make sure the others were in a position to follow her before starting to walk. "I've been there the past couple days. It's a quiet site, not a lot of people. Though that seems to be changing." No wonder the site was so expensive. It was pretty damn popular. She lucked out with having that bloody tree fall.

She lead the others to a large area checkered with numbered lots. There were a handful of tents set up and people went about their business. Further inland, in the cover of the trees was the car park. "Well, here we are. All you need to do is find your number and you're good to go. And you're welcome to park your car over there. There are numbers assigned to each campsite so you don't have to worry about some punk taking your spot."

At a quick glance, she didn't see the reverend. She supposed that he went the other direction and got a site that was closer to her original one. She almost sighed. "Well, I'm certain you guys have better things to do than listen to me talk about the place." She excused herself. "Maybe we'll meet up at some point." The Dreamer took her leave and decided to go make some lunch.

[Maeve]

"My name's Stella. Nice to meet you," the blond girl said while walking behind the two others to the campsite. It seemed like a nice place, with lots of space, and the wilderness around would make a perfect training site. As the other girl excused herself, Stella wished farewell to the other campers and headed for her spot.

After a few minutes of looking around, the girl found the number she had been assigned. She dropped her bag close to a large tree to examine the place before she did anything. She stretched a little while taking note of what her new "residence" looked like. I was a bit farther away from the other occupied spot, with a large rock and some trees around, and few bushes. There was an empty flat spot where the tent were usually set, and some more space nearby to make a small fire. Climbing on the rock, she could see the river, though it seemed a bit far. That's what you get for not reserving your spot sooner, she sighed. She stretched once more and headed back to grab her bag, untying the straps that hold a folded tent to the back of it. She grabbed the piece of fabric and the poles and started building her little shelter.

After a few minutes, she finally had everything in the correct spot, and the tent seemed solid. She opened it and started placing her things inside, which mostly meant a sleeping bag, some extra clothes and a flashlight. She then entered the small space and closed the door. Sitting on her "bed", she went through what was left in her bag. It seemed light enough without all her things in it for her to be able to carry it if she went hiking. With a satisfied nod, she laid down on her sleeping bag for a few minutes, reviewing all the things she wanted to do and in what order she should do them.

[Tsemara]

Toni made her way back to her tent, relieved to be away from her companions. Stella seemed nice enough. However, there was something about the man, Alexander, that bugged her. She couldn't put her finger on it. She unlocked her food locker and rummaged around her small cooler. Her frozen milk jug was doing a good job of keeping her more tempermental foods edible. But she needed to finish it off within the next day. It wasn't going to last longer than that.

She made herself a sandwich and pulled out the box of goldfish. She was proud of the fact that she hadn't finished them off the first day she was out. But she'd still need to buy more if she wanted them through the remainder of her stay. As she put what she wasn't going to eat back into her locker, she looked around for her companions, or the preacher. The girl, Stella was setting up her site a couple rows away from the 'riverside' lots.

Riverside spots, like hers, were anything but up against the river. They might have been the closest, however there was a sizable distance between the campsites and the river. This was to accommodate for swelling that occured when the snow melted in the early spring. All the same, there was evidence that sometimes the river expanded well into the camping area. But during this time of year, it was a nice scene that beconed for hardy swimmers. If you liked swimming in glacer runoff, anyway.

The Dreamer sat on a rock while she ate. She seemed to focus on nothing, or the local wildlife that scurried or flitted around, as she looked about the lots. She was anything but inattentive, though. She was searching. If her mystery men did anything out of the ordinary, she wanted to know about it. It was bad enough she was skulking about. She didn't want to know what would happen if a Nightmare decided to crash the party.

[BonesTheHeretic]

Shaw sighed as his companions wandered away. Finally he could stop smiling. He meandered around the campground, absently searching for his spot. 46, hadn't it been? Or 44?

He ducked behind an empty tent and shifted into his true form, muscles relaxing as his headache all but disappeared. Yes, it was 46. He could think clearly now. Nodding at a few campers as he passed, the Reverend made his way down the line impatiently, breaking into a closed mouth smile as he saw his spot.

It wasn't as bad as he'd feared. He'd gotten lucky, with slightly higher ground then most of the other sites, and fewer trees in front of the river, obstructing his view. A pit for a fire sat off to the side, far enough from where the tent would stand to pose no danger.

Shaw strode over to the flattest part of his site, using the toe of his boot to unearth a rock that had the potential to be an annoyance during the night. Yes, this would do. He gently sat his bags down and began tent construction.

He'd gone camping plenty of times before, though not in resorts like this, and the tent didn't take him long at all. Content, Shaw stretched and decided to explore a bit. He had promised himself a walk, and the tense, headache-inducing journey to the campsite had not counted. Fiddling with the two golden rings on his fingers, he chose a direction and set off, into the woods.

[Keylaleigh]

After vaccuuming the lodge, Tomas had nothing to do. There were no complaints, nothing was broken, and now she was bored. Because of this, she decided to take her break a little earlier than usual and grabbed a sandwich and juice for lunch. She headed down to her favorite lunching spot by the river. As she was walking, she stood in front of the ranger's station for a moment. 'Should I tell them that I saw the wolf again last night?' she thought as she stood there. She shook her head. "Nah. It didn't seem to be bothering anybody, so what's the use of telling?" she continued on.

She then came upon her favorite river spot and sat down, watching the water flow down over the rocks. She always enjoyed the sound of running water. It helped her think. And she had a lot of thinking to do. Mostly about everybody that had come in over the past few days.

First there was Toni. She was a sweet girl and really fun to talk to, but sometimes she seemed as if she was hiding something. That was alright, though. Everybody had secrets, and why should her newfound friend be any different?

Then there was Malphas. He was just plain creepy. Tomas didn't know why he was so odd, but something in her told her that he was a bad person and that she should keep a close eye on him. And she was going to do that.

Then there was the holy man. Once again, she sensed something wrong,but she was unsure as of what just yet. She usually liked church guys and the funny little magazines that they gave her. While she mostly ignored the Jesus articles, there were tons of interesting facts about other places and strange animals. Something about this holy man, though... well, she was glad Toni was keeping an eye on him. He had a bizarre aura.

She decided to shake off these various thoughts and eat her lunch.[/i]

[Tsemara]

Toni nearly choked on her crackers when she saw the man setting up his tent a couple lots away was the preacher. He might have been four lots away, but he still was close enough for her to watch. This could end up being a good thing, or a really bad thing, she thought. After her initial shock wore off, she noticed how quickly he had set up his tent. She figured he must camp out a lot. See? He's just some preacher who likes to camp out. There was nothing, much to be worried about. The talking to people that weren't there bit was a bit hard to comprehend. But as long as he didn't go about shouting at people in the middle of the night, she didn't care.

She put the box of goldfish crackers back into the food locker, having finished with her lunch. She drank some water as she watched the holy guy walk into the woods. One little voice told her to follow him. The other decided that she ought to wait and see. Just for now anyway. She wanted to explore, but maybe not in the same direction as the preacher. She'd get enough opportunities to stake him out. They were living fairly close to each other.

The Dreamer started toward the river, and headed in the opposite direction that the reverend went. She'd rather not run into him, if she could help it. With any luck, she would get far enough away from any people to shift. Periodically she'd kneel down to pick up a rock and skip it over the river.

[Keylaleigh]

Malphas watched both Tomas's friend and the reverend. 'This will be interesting...' He thought. Both people seemed to have a strange aura about them- the same one that he possessed, according to the more "new-agey" types. And the maintenance girl seemed to sense it as well. 'Yes, very interesting.' If he was not a snake at the moment, he would have an ear-to-ear grin.

He watched as the reverend walked off and slipped after him. No offense to the girl, but she was much too boring for Malphas's tastes. He had to find out what this guy was all about.

[BonesTheHeretic]

Shaw stepped down a small animal path, walking much more slowly then his usual impatient stride. Soon enough he was far enough from the busy camp grounds that all he could hear were the sounds of nature. A branch snapped ahead of him, making him stop, but it was only a small red fox.

The Angel held his hand, its warmth reassuring him in his purpose.

He walked aimlessly for a while, finally relaxing, before stumbling upon a small - probably natural - clearing. It was a beautiful place, but Shaw had no time for physical beauty.

The grass here grew tall, almost reaching his hips, pale green stalks swaying gently. He ran his hand absently through them, approaching a boulder that sat roughly in the clearing's center. As he perched himself upon it, a rustling in the grass attracted his attention, and he thought he saw the glinting scales of a snake, or perhaps a lizard. Narrowing his eyes, Shaw mentally lifted a fist-sized rock from the other side of the open space, flinging it at the creature in the grass. If it was poisonous, he didn't want to come across it later, disguised as it was in the tall grasses.

[Maeve]

Stella got up after a few minutes and grabbed some to eat. She had brought a few things with her, but they wouldn't last long. Fair enough, she had seen a small store on her way to the lodge, and the lodge itself probably sold food. Chasing her thoughts, she grabbed a bottle of water and a sandwich, placing them into her bag. She then took her staff. Though she normally preferred a solid one, this one was made of three part and foldable for easy transportation.

The girl got up and exited the tent, bringing the bag and staff with her. Once outside the tent, she put the staff together. It was about 6 feet tall, and except from the two little lines, it look like any solid wood staff. She placed the now light bag on her shoulders and looked around, wondering what was the best direction to choose. The camp was quiet at this hour, except from a small group of people eating together. With a shoulder hop, she decided to head toward the river. With a little luck, there would be some nice size boulders around that would allow her to run a bit.

Stella walked down a small track leading to the river, humming gently and looking at the wildlife around. Some small bird and a squirrel caught her attention, though she forced herself to quickly come back to reality. She would have plenty of time to watch small animals later, but she wanted to train while the weather was good. Arriving close to the river, she noticed a girl in the distance. She looked like the one she had met earlier, though the blond couldn't say for sure. Stella paused for a few seconds. She didn't want to look like she was following her, and she wanted to train peacefully, which in her mind meant alone. She shook her head and decided to go in the opposite direction.

The blond walked down a small path close to the river. Most people would probably have preferred walking closer to the woods, where a larger, flatter path was, but Stella enjoyed having to jump and climb over large rocks to move forward. After reaching the top of a large flat rock, she took a small break and sat, quickly eating her lunch while the sun warmed her up. She then stretched a bit and got up, starting to run along the river and trying to negotiate the few obstacles on her way as best as she could. It was nice, though a bit repetitive to her tastes.

After about five minutes, Stella found herself at the bottom of a high rock wall. She wondered if she could climb to it, but after a few unsuccessful tries, she decided that would be for another day. Sighing and panting, she walked back from where she came from, wondering if she would met the girl she had seen earlier on the way. Getting to the path leading to the campsite, she decided to pursue her road along the river. After all, a nice walk could be interesting.

[Keylaleigh]

Malphas barely dodged the rock that was hurled in his direction. If that would've hit him... he didn't want to think about it at the moment. He had a feeling that the reverend was onto who he really was, the man just saw a poisonous snake and knew it was dangerous. He slid further away to look a little less suspicious.

He watched the reverend, pondering on weather or not he should reveal himself to the man. He eventually decided not to, because Malphas didn't know if he could trust him. Best to keep a watch on him before making any sudden moves. He slid away to keep any other rocks from being tossed in his general direction.

[Tsemara]

Toni looked up, from the river, hearing rustling. A ground squirrel scampered across the path behind her. She sighed, relieved that it wasn't anything bigger. She honestly didn't want to talk to anyone, just now. Besides, with all this sneaking and spying, she was beginning to feel a bit paranoid.

The Dreamer shook her head, clearing her thoughts. Looking up at the sky, she inhaled deeply. She checked onle more time to see that she was alone. Then, she was quickly climbing up to the skies. The cool mountain air rishing past her face felt good. She flapped until she found a comfortable current to ride.

Up above the treetops, she fet a little better about the situation. Here, she could watch anyone she wanted, and no one would be the wiser. Down below people moved about their business. With a more careful inspection, she saw various individuals. Tomas was hanging out at the river, eating her lunch. It might have been the same place she saw the lodge worker at the day before. She wasn't exactly sure. She hadn't really been paying attention when she was retreating from the ravens that were currently not about.

Stella was hiking, well, more like jogging along the river. Fun fun. Myth paused in her thoughts. She adjusted her flight pattern to follow the river. If she got lucky, she'd find the reverend. She saw him enter a clearing and settle down on a rock. Lucky! She could have grinned, if her beak had allowed her to anyway. She looked down at where he was, wondering what he was up to. He seemed to be looking for, or at something.

She followed his gaze until it rested on what appeared to be a snake in the grass. It didn't look like one she ought to tangle with. It looked poisonous. She stared at it, until a rock was hurled at it. Wait, what?! She looked around for the person that threw the rock. There was no one there besides the preacher. And the rock had come from a different direction. No way... The snake slithered away. But the reverend still perched on the rock. No. Bloody. Way! This is bad. Is is very bad. Myth considered leaving, but that would look suspicious. She couldn't tell Tomas that the holy man was, in fact a Dreamer. The younger woman, likely, wouldn't believe her, unless she exposed herself as a Dreamer as well.

Stay frosty, Toni. He might not be a Nightmare. He's a holy guy. They're supposed to be good guys, even if you don't like them very much. That train of logic didn't help much. But it cleared her thoughts a bit. She would return to the ground in a bit. But for now, she remained in the sky, carefully watching to see what the preacher would do next.

[BonesTheHeretic]

((Being not Christian, nor particularly interested in religion outside of mythology, I've never read the bible. So I'm not gonna quote it. Use your imagination ^__^))

The snake moved before the stone could hit it, slithering out of sight. Shaw frowned but didn't pursue it. He'd be careful when he left. Pulling himself more fully on to the large rock and folding his legs infront of him, Shaw picked open the drawstring bag he'd brought. From within, he pulled a sandwich and his bible. The sandwich he rested on his left knee, and the bible he opened to a bookmarked page near the back.

He shifted his weight, getting comfortable, and began to read, lips moving silently. My life, for you.

As usual, he couldn't see the Angel, but he felt sure it was there. It was almost always there. After a few minutes, Shaw placed the worn bookmark into the much newer bible, marking his new spot. He placed the book onto his opposite knee, looking like some strange god - a god of sandwichs and bibles.

"Angel?" He called, quiet enough that any fellow hikers would not hear it unless they were near. "How many of the people here are sinners?"

There are many, here. There is a murderer, a liar, two adulterers, and another who has forsaken God. They must be ended.

"Five? I have never purified so many in one place before."

Something here calls to Evil. You will do your duty.

Shaw smiled. "Of course. I am the Savior. I am not afraid to kill." His Angel gave no reply, and Shaw lifted the sandwich to his lips, satisfied.