bakerstreet | Denny's

Hm.

[ he's definitely not convinced it's the end. desire wouldn't just let things lie especially after how dream had left things. he shrugs a shoulder. ]

You don't sleep much so I don't know if you would have noticed the dreaming and the waking world...experiencing some issues a little while ago.

[ maybe fortunate on her part. but, if she had started sleeping and experienced something vivid and real, well, he hopes that she avoided it. ]

[ her sleep has been fitful and minimal as of late, and she considers how he knows that — only to realize, it's most likely the absence of her presence in the dreaming realm.

been looking for me then, morpheus? she wonders.

but her curiosity about that is short-lived, when he goes on to mention conflict between the waking and dreaming worlds, and her confusion deepens a bit. ]

Gran said Desire is the manifestation of humanity's wants, cravings; no direct power over dreams, though — only suggestion. What does Desire have to do with disruptions between the Dreaming and the physical realms?

Edited 2022-08-24 21:29 (UTC)

That's not incorrect.

[ her grandmother was a smart woman and knew what she was speaking of when it came to the endless. ]

But Desire decided that it would be prudent to have a child with a woman who was supposed to be a dream vortex in the hopes that the vortex would pass down to her descendent. And it did and she nearly destroyed everything.

[ it was only through unity's sacrifice that he hadn't had to kill rose walker, instead sending her off to be with her brother. an ending she deserved. ]

[ ...what the fuck.

there's so much to unpack with this, and her mouth moves for a couple of heartbeats before she can form words around it. ]

...I had no idea that the Endless could have children, much less with mortals.

[ ...all of that 'dream vortex' talk, and this is what she came away from his explanation with. ]

It's not exactly something we do often but we can do it.

[ and desire had. he's quiet for a few moments, looking down at the chipped mug in front of him. ]

I didn't know he'd done it until recently but it makes sense now that I think about it. We spoke about it and I would like to think the matter ended.

[ he smiles thinly. ]

I know better though.

[ she doesn't entirely know what to make of this situation — it sounds as though the 'vortex' threat has been dealt with accordingly, but this sibling rivalry he's speaking of sounds nowhere near over.

and it's concerning on many levels, not necessarily just for humanity in general. she's still leaned forward over the table, and now her voice grows more hushed. ]

Could any of the Endless directly hurt one another? Or worse?

[ she doesn't even want to entertain this thought, but: ] Could you even be killed?

There are ways.

[ he remembers vividly how he'd bled when the two worlds had come dangerously close to crashing into one another, to everything being destroyed. he even gives his hand a shake and then sighs, sits back. ]

But there are some things worse than death.

[ like imprisonment for years upon years. he sits up a little straighter, fixing her with a long, unblinking look. ]

But don't worry, I don't plan on going anywhere for awhile. Desire won't do anything so quickly and my other siblings and I are on fairly good terms.

You tell me of your adventures in Hell, battling Lucifer, and then that some of the most powerful beings in existence are busy starting petty fights with one another, and that you can possibly be killed — and then in the same breath, you tell me not to worry.

[ she gives him a short, breathy laugh and a slightly-amused, mostly-concerned headshake, and then looks down to regard her plate as an excuse to avert her eyes and collect her thoughts, reaching with an index finger to absently draw a circle in the mess of whipped cream before popping it into her mouth.

her brows lift as she glances back up at him, hands folded again on the table in front of her. she's caught the other nuances of things he hasn't said, such as that slight flick of his hand, and that long look after mentioning his imprisonment. so much more left unsaid. ]

You're definitely making up for lost time, aren't you.

I'm trying to.

[ because his realm needed it and those that lived there needed his attention. it had taken some time to really understand that but he thinks he does now. he passes a hand over his face and sits back, shrugging. ]

A hundred years isn't so long in the life of an Endless but it's still long enough that there was a lot of damage to the Dreaming. I'm still rebuilding it in spots, trying to bring those that left back. It's a process.

[ one that might take a century to completely fix. ]

But I will do it.

[ the sarcasm in her expression, that bravado she uses to cover nearly everything she says so that she sounds detached, unaffected, drops again like a veneer when he sits back in his seat looking overwhelmed.

she studies him for a long, breathless moment, her gaze unwavering. ]

...Let me help you.

[ there's a new earnestness to her words. ] You can't do all of it alone.

You have a job of your own and this is too dangerous.

[ as it is, if someone finds that he's been speaking with her on a fairly regular basis, it would put a target on her back that he would not be able to shield her from. he has too many enemies and too many people who would like to see him imprisoned once more. ]

You can't help. It's beyond your scope.

— It's not.

[ her retort is quick, sharp and a little wounded, like the expression in her eyes. ]

That's rubbish — you know it's not beyond my scope, as a magic user, like you know very well that I face dangerous situations on a near-nightly basis.

[ and whether he's saying these things because he doesn't want her around, or he doesn't trust her, or for some other reason — whatever it is, it stings, even if it shouldn't. ]

...You said I wasn't like Roderick Burgess.

[ and she'd wanted more than anything to believe him. ]

And I stand by that. You haven't kept me in a cage in a basement as far as I'm aware.

[ and he's glad of that. he has no wish to return to a state like that. he doesn't think he could withstand it once again. once was...too much. endless or not, he cannot do that again.

he rubs a hand across his face as he considers her words, her offer. she's intelligent and strong, capable of many things but he doesn't want to put a mortal in front of lucifer, in front of other other endless. it wouldn't be fair to her. ]

What you face, though, is entirely different than what I'm speaking about. You cannot use what you can do to vanquish Lucifer or one of my siblings. It would only be putting you in danger.

That's not what I meant, and you know it.

[ she'd of course never seek to imprison him, never try to take his power from him. not only because of what he'd done for rachel, giving her a merciful death, but because she doesn't seek to do that to anyone, mortal or otherwise, unless they abuse it.

but what she's meant by bringing his comment up should be obvious, and the fact that he's being deliberately obtuse about it mystifies her.

her features are hardened, brows lowered. ]

It may be different, and more dangerous. I know going toe-to-toe with Lucifer is more your wheelhouse, than mine.

But if you insist on denying my help in any way, shape or form, then I want you to tell me who it is that has your back in all of this mess.

[ dream's met a lot of mortals over the course of his life but she honestly might be one of the most stubborn, bullheaded people that he's known. it shouldn't surprise him, not when he's known her family for quite some time but still.

it would be impressive if she weren't aiming that stubbornness squarely at him. ]

My other siblings.

[ and while that might be true in whatever happens within his family, he doesn't think he would ask destiny or death to stand with him when it comes to lucifer. that isn't their fight and he doesn't want to put them in the middle of it. ]

[ she has no way of knowing what other siblings these are, aside from desire, whom is obviously not one of them.

but: ]

And these other siblings who would help you, did they come to your aid while you were imprisoned in Burgess's basement, for a century?

[ she has a hunch she knows what that answer is, and why. ]

They didn't know I was there.

[ no one had except those burgess had kept close and jessamy. he shakes his head. he knows what she's trying to get at. ]

You didn't know I was there either.

...No, of course I didn't. [ she's stunned to discover that his siblings had been unaware of his imprisonment, though — didn't the endless know everything?

perhaps not. if there'd been no way to let them know, and he'd been trapped with magic as she's certain he was, they couldn't save him. it dawns on her that if the circumstances hadn't happened as they did — whatever they were — to let him free, he might have been trapped there for more than just a century. eons, millenia, if that house had remained standing. ]

You were captured by Burgess, because he used the tools of magic. Summoning spell; binding spell to keep you weak, and trapped within the circle. Demons are just as susceptible.

Regardless if it's Lucifer Morningstar, or another amateur like Burgess who happens to cut some sort of a deal with your wayward sibling who wants you gone — magic is what can trap you, suspend you. You're bound by its laws and rules, the same way we humans are by gravitational forces on earth. It's inescapable.

[ ...and by his own account, without divulging too much of it, he's equated such imprisonment with a fate worse than death, for one of his kind.

she leans further forward over the table, speaking quietly, less bullheaded obstinacy and more an appeal to his rational nature. ]

You need me, Morpheus. Don't shut me out.

[ she does make a point. he'd been captured by humans with magic that they'd had to have learned from somewhere. he knows that it could happen again despite whatever safeguards he takes and the only way to make sure it doesn't is to have a backup plan.

or a backup person who knows that, if he isn't around for some time, what's happened and has ways of getting him out.

it's hard to argue with her. ]

You know, people aren't usually lining up to put themselves firmly in the eyeline of Lucifer Morningstar.

[ she lowers her eyes. ]

Probably not. Though I've most likely already been in the Morningstar's eyeline for a while now, having sent back a good number of her minions to her.

[ and not every exorcism goes as smoothly — rip, kevin brody — as agilieth's, witnessed in the church at their first meeting. sometimes she loses much more than that to the hellmouth.

it's a balance, and johanna constantine is eternally trying to tip the scales in her soul's favor, not always successfully. ]

But I'd do it, regardless of that.

[ lifting her gaze to him again, and she'll leave off there, because not everything needs to be said, does it. ]

You make a fair amount of sense and I will consider your offer but —

[ he holds up a hand to forestall any argument, agreement at all is something he doesn't want to do but knows he should all things considered. ]

Lucifer Morningstar is much, much more powerful than you can imagine. I deal with the Lightbringer.

[ no matter what. ]

[ she looks for a long moment as though she means to argue it with him, even as she holds her tongue long enough to let him speak.

and she knows what he says to be true. lucifer is a being second in power only to god, vindictive and proud, with no regard for human or any other life — there are few who can stand directly in the morningstar's presence and not be overcome. morpheus is apparently one.

johanna sighs, pressing her lips in a line, relenting with a tip of her head after another long, few heartbeats. ]

You deal with the Lightbringer, then. But I'm on board, for the rest.

Fine.

[ not there is anything to be on board with yet. nothing has happened but he knows it's a matter of time. ]

As for my siblings, I'd trust you'd let me know if you suspected one of them approached you. They would be easy enough to discern especially since you know me. You don't need to be tangled up with that.

[ she looks at him, giving a skeptical little shrug at that last comment. ]

If they're anything like you, I don't know how easy it would be to discern them, unless they did something to give themselves away. No offense, but I didn't even know who you were, until that demon named you.

[ all right, she had a point. he takes a breath, let's it go and then says: ]

Then, don't speak to anyone you don't know.

[ before she can protest, he lifts a hand and shakes his head. ]

I'm not being serious.

Denny's

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