Realistic or Modern ꧁𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬꧂ | Private

[Ranix Aurus]

The rental house was silent, even after his long stories. Time would pass a bit more until suddenly, the lock clicked once again. The door swung open just a crack, and Mary, or the tiny part of her that was visible through the slit, peeked out from behind. She still looked wary, evidenced by the dangling security chain, but her voice had lost its previous edge.

"...How long have you been spying on Matthew?" She accuse- no, wrong, asked. Her gaze lingered for another second before she closed the door. Again.

But this time, there was a faint sound of scraping metal. Finally, the door was fully opened, a silent invitation for him to come in.

Mary was standing on the side, making way for him to enter, her face buried in her hands. Her cheeks, usually as pale as a ghost, were drenched in hopeless red.

Citrus Corvidae

 

[Citrus Corvidae]

Declan looked over as she opened the door just a crack, unable to spare a smile for the question. "He won't wake up. Ever. Not unless someone helps him." His voice was soft and serious. "Please, just hear me out. For Matthew's sake." As she closed the door again he stood back up, and he offered her a little polite smile of thanks as she let him inside. Glancing around the place Declan could tell immediately that they had only just begun to move in, based on the scattered half-built furniture and abundance of boxes. That was a little sad, he thought, that this had happened just when the two of them were finally beginning their truly independent adult lives. He turned back to her after his brief scan of the place, expression serious, and considered how to begin this before he spoke.

"I can tell you care a lot about Matthew and you want to help him. I know what's happened to him, I knew he would already be like this by the time I got here, and I know how to fix him." He paused in thought, licking his lip out of habit. "What I'm going to tell you is going to be...difficult," Try 'insane', "but please, if you want to help him, you need to listen. Just let me explain, don't try to interrupt, and I promise, I'll prove that everything I'm saying is true." He raised a brow, waiting to see whether she'd challenge him on this. He kind of expected her to, after what he'd seen of her so far, and he couldn't decide whether he would rather be right, or be listened to.

Ranix Aurus

 

[Ranix Aurus]

She was still hiding behind her hands, unsure on how she should face her best friend's brother after her heavy accusation of him being a salesman, fundraiser, and scammer all in one package. She just want to dig a hole and hide in it. Forever. But when he mentioned about Matthew's condition, that he knew how to fix him, she immediately looked up at him, her eyes sharp of inquiries.

"Go on," she urged, unconsciously taking a step closer to him so that she could hear him better. To not miss a single word. If this man was really the brother he had claimed to be, perhaps he held the key to save Matthew.

But why did he call it difficult? Perhaps it was a family condition? Something inherited?

"Matthew is my friend. I... no matter what it is, I'll do it, as long as I can help him."

She said with conviction. If it was for his sake, no family secret would be too shameful. She was ready to face it head-on, and take it with her to the grave if needed.

Citrus Corvidae

 

[Citrus Corvidae]

Declan appreciated her immediate readiness to learn what was going on, but he could see this going very badly if he simply blurted out the truth and expected her to accept that on the spot. He pressed his lips together tightly, thinking for a moment, then said,

"I think you'd better sit down." The tattered little sofa sitting at an awkward angle in the living room didn't look remotely comfortable, but it was the only place to sit and would have to do. Declan shed his overcoat and laid it on top of the oversized coffee table that had been put together only the previous night as he let her sit on the couch. He wore a pale blue button-up that well-complimented his eyes and dark slacks, dressed as if he'd just come from a business meeting, and the half-rolled sleeves of his shirt revealed toned forearms which he rested on top of his knees as he perched on the edge of the coffee table beside his coat. He took another moment to think about where to begin in his explanation before he spoke again.

"Remember, I can prove all of this, so don't jump straight down my throat once I've told you this," He reminded her. Licking his lip again, he paused, and then began. "Matthew and I have another brother, younger than me but older than him, named Ronan." There was something very complicated in the way Declan said his brother's name, but he didn't provide time to analyse it. "Ronan takes a lot after our father, he's like a carbon copy of him in several ways, but the most significant is in the...ability our father had, and Ronan has." He paused again, looking Mary in the eye to show her just how serious he was about what he was saying. "...It's called Greywaren. He can create things out of dreams." He braced for her shock and confusion, hoping that she would stick to what he'd asked and refrain from interrupting but not really expecting that to be easy considering what he was telling her.

Ranix Aurus

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Mary wasn't in the mood to sit down. However, she still did, in the end. This stranger- err, Matthew's... brother... had a certain charm to him. One that made people willing, or rather, forced, to listen. She was starting to believe that they were indeed related. Different form, but similar quality.

She would've believed if he told her that the blood of sirens run in their family.

He started his explanation. His tone doubtful, as if he feared that she would dismiss his words. For one, she kept on dodging his eyes. Those pair of blue eyes. At one point he stopped to look straight at her, sincerity in full view, and she just looked away in response.

It couldn't be helped. Something about him was stirring her within. It made her restless. A part of her was helplessly pulled in. The other part of her wanted to flee. If it wasn't for the sake of Matthew, she would've disappeared from his sight right then and there.

But there she stayed put. Even when his story turned more and more absurd the deeper he went.

Citrus Corvidae

 

[Citrus Corvidae]

Declan mistook her slight fidgeting and averted eyes for discomfort, and he softened his tone a little as he continued. "I know that sounds ridiculous, believe me. It's more complicated than that, but...that's the most of it I've ever been able to understand. It wasn't something I was made a part of." There was a hint of cool bitterness in his voice as he added that last statement, but he continued right along past it. "In all his years of using this ability, the most significant thing our father ever took from a dream was our mother. A whole, autonomous human being with a personality of her own." He hoped she was beginning to understand where he was going with this now, but he didn't stop. "She was independent from him in every way, our entire lives, but without him...it's like she's an empty shell. Like she's asleep, and can't be woken up."

Declan couldn't bring himself to continue holding Mary's gaze as he struggled to explain himself. Though he'd been trying, he couldn't seem to read how she was taking this information, and not being able to identify her response was making this much harder than he'd anticipated. If he could tell what someone was thinking and feeling, he never had a problem finding the right thing to say to appeal to what he needed from them; that's how he'd always been. But flying blind, like this? It almost disturbed him how much it made him want to work harder to earn her approval.

"Matthew was probably the first dream Ronan every brought to life, or at least the first fully developed one, done with intention. He was only two years old, and neither of us understood at the time. When our father explained this to me years later, he made me promise two things. One, that I would never tell Matthew the truth. And two, that I would protect Ronan no matter what happened." His tone and expression had hardened, becoming serious and determined once more. "A few days ago I learned from a friend of Ronan's that he's apparently gone missing. I went straight back to our home town where he still lives, and while I was looking for him I found another of his dream-creations, inanimate. That's when I knew this would also have happened to Matthew." Declan swallowed hard, a little of the desperation he'd tried so hard to mask finding its way into his voice. "I don't know what's happened to Ronan, but I can't believe he's just gone for good. If I can just get him back, I can wake Matthew up."

Ranix Aurus

 

[Ranix Aurus]

Mary's gaze was trailing out the window, at the passing chevie, at the rambunctious dog running down the street and its less excited owner desperately following behind. Anything to avoid eye contact with Declan. But she was still listening. No matter how absurd it was, he kept on listening. At the end of his story, she brought her gaze back into the room, her eyelids pulled down slightly into deep contemplation.

And then, she went into the kitchen.

Several minutes passed before she returned with two cups in hand. She placed one in front of the guest, while the other was for her own enjoyment. Hot, steaming cup of caffeine enjoyment.

"I don't get it," she summed up her attempt of comprehension in four words. She had realized since long ago that Matthew wasn't entirely right in the head, but his brother... let's say some screws might had been misplaced when they first made him. And more than a few blocks were put sideways. She didn't know whether the whole dream thing was a metaphor for something, like the bees and the birds and the frogs and the wells, or the entire family had been duped entirely by a little too mischievous pair of parents. Must be the dad. It was always the dad.

But, Matthew's affliction wasn't entirely explainable with medical science either. If it was, the doctor wouldn't had shaken their heads in utter confusion.

She took a sip of her coffee. Black, with no sugar, just the way she hated it. She needed that bitter fix to keep her mind up to speed.

"In short, we need Matthew's other brother, this Ronan, but he was missing. So we have to find him." She looked right into his eyes this time, fighting against all the urge to run away from that place. From his presence. "One big problem, Mr. Lynch, is that you're talking to the wrong person. I'm willing to help Matthew in any way I could, but, as you may already know, I'm a Biochemistry student, not a private eye. I don't think information is what you need from me either. I don't even know that Matthew had a brother before this- two, even!"