[The City] IC Contact

[hypnagothic]

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[keepgodwaiting]

You're just responsible for ours.

[ There's no heat behind the statement, though there's some wryness. Not responsible like she blames him for her dreams -- responsible like a teacher is responsible for his students. ]

... People still dreamed when you were down there. I know I did.

[hypnagothic]

Mortals may still create their own dreams and nightmares. Those who were sensitive to such changes were the ones affected by my absence.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ She nods slowly. Mortals do create their own nightmares, don't they. ]

Strange how the world keeps moving when you're not there for it, isn't it.

[hypnagothic]

[ he goes quiet again, no reply to that question. if she glances at him, she'll see the way the muscles of his jaw tighten, too. ]

[keepgodwaiting]

[ The silence has a subtly different feel to it than when he's simply acknowledging her with a nod. She glances over, spots the clenching jaw. Shit. Good job, Jo. ]

... Sorry.

[ Dream should count himself lucky. Usually it takes her weeks or months to apologize for anything. ]

[hypnagothic]

[ he returns the glance, if she's still looking at him. ]

Why?

[keepgodwaiting]

[ A short breath of laughter. ]

Seriously?

Because you seemed upset. I'm capable of noticing.

[hypnagothic]

You simply spoke what I now know is the truth. The universe continues, even for the Endless. I suppose I should have realized it centuries ago ...

[keepgodwaiting]

[ She shrugs. ] When would you have had a chance to find out?

[hypnagothic]

[ his jaw clenches again, his expression closing off. ]

[keepgodwaiting]

[ All right, that one, she has no idea what she might have said wrong, though clearly something hit him badly. Apologizing for trampling over a sore spot she understands is one thing; she's not going to apologize for a rhetorical question.

... So this silence is gonna get a little awkward, then. ]

[hypnagothic]

[ soooooooo awkward, with Dream remaining tense. it's only after several long moments does he ask quietly: ]

What do you know of the Endless?

[keepgodwaiting]

I don't know.

[ She shrugs; it's an honest answer. ]

There's things I think I know. I tried to find out more after we met, but it wasn't easy. Gran told us stories about the Lord of Dreams and the Lady of Death, and the Lord of Destiny's garden. And I found someone saying something about a Desire appearing in the Nag Hammadi codices, but that whole exegesis was a bit hysterical.

[hypnagothic]

Desire does tend to cause hysteria where they appear, in person or otherwise.

[ said mostly even, but there's a note to his tone like one might imagine an elder brother speaking of an irksome sibling. ]

Are you aware of how many there are, at least?

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Oh, yeah, as an irksome younger sibling, Johanna knows that tone. ]

No, I don't think so. Five? Seven?

[hypnagothic]

Seven, which you have already named four of them. There is also Desire's twin, Despair, and the youngest of us is Delirium.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ She counts in her head. Death, Dream, Desire, Destiny, Despair, Delirium -- Delirium? That's curious. ]

That's six.

[hypnagothic]

[ that hard expression of his makes another appearance now, the muscles bunching around his jaw briefly before loosening once more for his answer, his tone flat. ]

Destruction has abandoned his purpose.

[keepgodwaiting]

Destruction?

[ Her eyebrows go up, bemused. ]

What does "abandoned" mean, exactly?

[ Since obviously, like dreaming, mortals are fully capable of destroying on their own. ]

[hypnagothic]

That he has left his realm and ignores his responsibilities as the personification of destruction and creation, no longer directing the affairs over which he has control.

[keepgodwaiting]

And ... would things be better or worse if he was around?

[ Even as she asks it, she suspects it's a foolish question. "Better" and "worse" is a simplistic binary, and she knows it.

Still: she thinks of heat waves and cold snaps that blanket London more and more lately. Grenfell Tower. Bombs in the tube. Would the havoc humans wreak on the world around them be different if someone was there to oversee it? ]

[hypnagothic]

I cannot say. But it is obvious that what was his continues without him. As you noted earlier.

[keepgodwaiting]

Right. Yeah.

And he left centuries ago? Where'd he go?

[hypnagothic]

We know not. It was his wish that we do not enquire of him upon his leaving.

[keepgodwaiting]

Ah. Well, I can imagine how he feels. Family's complicated like that.