[open post - dream big]

[protagonisthalo]

Luo Binghe does not need to sleep every night, and at home he is too busy to do so. But there is less to do here, and he grows bored in the nighttime when there is no chance of seeing any of the few people he likes. And Nina must not have any nightmares on his watch.

He curls up on his bed now, enduring the ache he always feels to be in it alone. Sleeping alone is one of the things he most despises. The only saving grace is that his powers let him make himself sleep instantly. In his youth, he often ended up fighting his thoughts for hours in place of sleep, even when physically exhausted. He wishes Shen Yuan were here, or if not, perhaps Sagramore—not to do anything that would disrespect Shen Yuan, but just to warm Luo Binghe's bed with his presence. But he would prefer almost anyone in the mansion over no one.

He ignores this customary melancholy and forces himself to sleep. He will first check on Nina, to guide her mind towards its best dreams without intruding, as he promised. After that, all dream paths are open to him.

[If you'd like a Luo Binghe dream visitation, please comment with how and where your character is sleeping, and perhaps what might be on their mind. If Luo Binghe does not know the character well, the dream will be more generic. However, he can read thoughts and memories, so feel free to DM the typist if there's anything you'd like Binghe to pick up on. Sweet dreams!]

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

It may not even bear mentioning, but unless there are extenuating circumstances¹, Lan Wangji does, indeed, adhere to precisely the same bedtime every evening. At hai hour, he is asleep, on his back, forehead ribbon off and hair loosely braided. If he has his way, which he often does, Wei Ying will be abed with him, curled into him from the side or simply sprawled atop him with Lan Wangji's arms tucked firmly around him. With Wei Ying there, alive, his weight a comfort and his breath on Lan Wangji's neck, he typically sleeps deeply and dreamlessly.

The humiliation of the truth spell is beginning to fade, as Lan Wangji knew that it ultimately would. Time does its work. The things that weigh on him are small, heavy, and varyingly familiar: his homesickness. The fact that he would now experience a fresh kind of homesickness if he left the mansion behind without warning. His brother and his seclusion, whether he is embarking on his own path to recovery. Sizhui and his studies; Magnus and his quest for peace.

¹The definition of 'extenuating circumstances' has expanded since he got married. Considerably expanded. 'Wei Ying looks particularly beautiful in the candlelight this evening' is an extenuating circumstance, for instance.

[protagonisthalo]

It was a foolish whim, manipulating Magnus' dreams to get to Lan Wangji, when Luo Binghe can trouble the man directly. It is tempting to make him dream of Luo Binghe's reign, the way he tried to get Magnus to tell Lan Wangji of his successes. He could give Lan Wangji a dream where the people who currently admire him—Claudius, Magnus, his husband—lose interest in him, and fawn over Luo Binghe instead. It would be very funny. But given that Shen Yuan heard about what Luo Binghe did, it's possible that Lan Wangji knows Luo Binghe can manipulate dreams, and would take this as deliberate provocation. Luo Binghe wouldn't care—no one has ever said he's not petty—but he has recently committed to not causing social strife unnecessarily. So.

It would be easy, if uninspired, to simply pull forward Lan Wangji's worst memories for him to relive. But when Luo Binghe dips into Lan Wangji's mind, it surprises him. In person, Lan Wangji is utterly dull, a staid rule-bound human cultivator who thinks this following the proscribed path makes him better than Luo Binghe. Yet his mind pulses with strong emotion—yearning, anxiety, possessiveness. Lan Wangji does not fear isolation, the way Luo Binghe does, but there are certain people he cannot live without.

The dream he constructs is this: There is a cliff over a churning river, its waters rising fast. Near the bottom, a tree trunk is precariously balanced on its center on a crag of rock. Distributed evenly on this tree are the people most precious to Lan Wangji, plucked from his warmest memories: his husband; someone very similar to Lan Wangji who must be a brother; an older man—a father, or perhaps an uncle; an adolescent in the regalia of Lan Wangji's sect; Magnus; Claudius. If Lan Wangji rescues any one of these people, the tree will unbalance, sending the rest crashing into the river; if he does nothing, the waters will rise and take all of them. In dreams, things can simply be true without explanation. If this were the real world, no doubt a righteous and accomplished cultivator¹ like Lan Wangji would find a way to save them all, or dive into the river after anyone who fell, but in the dream these outcomes are absolute.

Satisfied with this, Luo Binghe moves on, not bothering to watch how it plays out. It's not as though it's a real disaster. Even contemplating it should be enough to disturb Lan Wangji and ruin his morning.

¹Luo Binghe is talented enough to be able to think in a withering tone.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji cannot hold everything. He would like to believe that he can. He tells himself that he can, that he is strong, that he can lift and protect everyone that he loves and keep them safe within his arms.

Not so here. His boots are braced against the loose, rocky soil of the cliffside. Everything that matters is arrayed before him, every face that strikes him through with dangerous tenderness, and if only Lan Wangji could be strong enough, he could rip this tree out by the roots and carry it away with no one harmed. The spray of the water soaks his robes, and his grip is slipping.

The worst of it is that they trust him. Magnus grins at him, and calls "Hi, Hanguang-jun," and Sizhui gazes at him with faith relaxing every part of his dear, sweet face, his still-round cheeks, and says, "Don't worry, Hanguang-jun. I'm never afraid when you're around." His brother is silent, but he smiles, one of the painfully effortful smiles he has developed since Jin Guangyao's betrayal, the smile that he puts on when Lan Wangji comes to visit and counsel him. Uncle fixes him with a stern expression and says, "Wangji, don't play around. Back to work." Claudius is laughing, waving a flippant hand, as he says, "Lan Wangji, must thou rescue me again? My ego is beginning to suffer, but please do get me out of here at thine earliest convenience."

Wei Ying looks at him with the corners of his eyes crinkled, his smile so beautiful and broad that Lan Wangji feels it unmaking him even now. "Isn't this nice, Lan Zhan? We get to say goodbye this time."

He awakens with sweat damp at the back of his neck and his pulse too fast in his throat and wrists. Wei Ying pushes his face into Lan Wangji's shoulder and grumbles too tight, you brute, and it is with heroic self-control that Lan Wangji relaxes his hold on his husband, who is alive, who breathes and whose heart beats and who will never leave his side. He shuts his eyes again, but he does not return to sleep.

[timebethine]

Laertes is sleeping soundly at Sagramore's side, dreaming of a garden that stretches infinitely long. His sister is there, barefoot in a shift on the grass, picking violets and pansies and threading them into her hair. "Ophelia," he calls, but she doesn't look up. "Ophelia?" He kneels down beside her and tries to offer her a sprig of chamomile. It turns to wormwood in his hands.

When he reaches for her, he finds she's only a creature of driftwood and thorn.

[protagonisthalo]

Oh—this is Sagramore's husband. That's immediately apparent from the briefest skim of his recent preoccupations. At least, Luo Binghe hopes this is Laertes—if he is merely one of Sagramore's other partners, the degree to which he loves and cherishes Sagramore would be quite tragic.

It only takes a moment of looking through Laertes' memories to confirm what Luo Binghe suspected: that he himself is far more handsome. With that knowledge in mind, he feels more benevolent towards this man. Laertes' dreams are troubled in the way that most here must feel—he yearns for someone not present. Luo Binghe could manifest that person, but he of all people knows that wishing for the impossible only increases heartache. Luo Binghe owes Sagramore for the kindness and understanding he's offered; it is an easy favor, to give his husband a pleasant sleep.

Luo Binghe gives him Sagramore. He places them in an idyllic meadow, somewhere clearly not within the grounds of the mansion, surrounded by long grasses and a colorful stippling of wildflowers. Sagramore's horse grazes nearby—they rode her here together, and will enjoy a long ride back. But for now there is nothing to do but enjoy each other's company, eat the refreshments Luo Binghe has laid out for them, and watch as the sun grows heavy and golden on its journey toward the horizon. After a moment's thought, Luo Binghe changes a few of the surrounding flowers to ones he is familiar with from his own world, with interesting aphrodisiacal effects. Just a little bonus they may or may not stumble into. But before allows Laertes' mind to take over the dream, he makes Dream Sagramore take Laertes' hand, gaze at the meadow and say, "Luo Binghe—don't you think he's exceptionally beautiful?" It may not be the only such remark Sagramore makes.

[timebethine]

"Oh, exceptionally," Laertes agrees readily. He feels giddy and fond, plucking a flower to tuck behind Sagramore's ear. The world feels hazy, soft and bright around the edges, but in the bee-loud warmth of the meadow, he scarcely minds. "Easily one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen."

Already, the specter of his sister is fading. She was only driftwood; the tide carries her away.

[sagramore]

Sagramore is dreaming of Asmodean and of Mordred, and they blur together sometimes in spite of all the differences between them -- but they have the same dark eyes, shrewd and observant, and somehow that's enough for his mind to collect them together into something he desperately doesn't want. He's dreaming of Asmodean rejecting him in Mordred's voice for some half-imagined slight, both of them too proud to work out the truth of it, and then the trivial thing that it was shades into something else, of Asmodean rebuking him for his betrayal, because why shouldn't they kill a king who ordered infants slaughtered? This is what saidin is meant for, this power was made for retribution, not to please an aging drunken fool like Sagramore but to topple unjust rulers, to blind artists and maim the hands of harpists. In the dream these things follow, and Sagramore aches with shame for having followed Arthur for so long. Then saidin sinks its hand into his hair and drags him roughly forward, and he doesn't know which of them is kissing him, Asmodean or Mordred or both at once, a punishment of a kiss that nevertheless stirs him to longing.

He wakes abruptly, sitting up in bed: Laertes stirs and he murmurs something soothing before sinking down again. This time he doesn't dream.

[protagonisthalo]

Luo Binghe has been meaning to talk to Sagramore, after their disastrous conversation under the truth spell. It will be nice to do so in a dream, where Luo Binghe can arrange himself the way he would like to be seen. He wants Sagramore to be impressed with him, but recently Sagramore has seen him in various states of emotional disarray. Here, Luo Binghe has more control.

He places Sagramore in the throne room of his demonic palace, in front of the dais. Luo Binghe sits on the throne above him, chin resting in his hand, one elbow propped on a crossed knee. In place of his ceremonial crown, his hair is decorated with an elaborate headpiece wrought from gold and studded with rubies. Threads of gold mingle with his hair. He is wearing only a red silk inner robe, his legs and feet bare. As far as Luo Binghe knows, Sagramore is not aware that he has the power to control dreams, and therefore wouldn't expect to encounter Luo Binghe's actual consciousness. Luo Binghe will tell him, but first he wants to see what Sagramore's sleeping mind will choose to do.

[sagramore]

His expression softens, the smile more than reaching his eyes, and he bows deeply. His dreams always seem to mold the past and present together, and he's dressed for a tournament in a tabard with his device, gold and black with stars. It makes the bow seem more courtly somehow. "My emperor."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina hasn’t had many nightmares at all since Luo Binghe took charge of her dreams; she used to dream of Jarl Brum all the time, especially since he’s been recently thrust back in her life. She dreams of him threatening her, of being locked away in the hold on the ship, of him putting his hand on her waist at the Ice Court, of him eyeing her in a predatory fashion while she pretends to be the subservient Mila. Sometimes she dreams of the corpses overtaking the Wellmother as well, but that’s a more satisfying dream—- but that’s all gone.

She sleeps deeply in her nightgown, hugging a pillow in her sleep.

[protagonisthalo]

Nina's sleep is untroubled. Good. Luo Binghe could move on, but he hasn't had a chance to talk to her after the truth spell and the attack of the undead, and it would be good to check in. If she were dreaming about something personal, he would keep his word not to intrude on her privacy. But since her sleep is dreamless, he slips into her mind and manifests himself, just as he would appear in waking life. Luo Binghe doesn't recognize their surroundings—perhaps it is somewhere Nina feels at home. He makes a single stray puppy run up and weave around her legs. "Nina! These past few days have been memorable—are you well?"

[ravkanwitch]

Nina looks around. She's standing with Luo Binghe on the docks of Ketterdam, the salt spray of the ocean on the wind, ships swaying in the tide, and the bustle of the market behind them. She almost feels as though she could run to the Slat and sweep Inej into a great, big hug -- but if he's here with her, that could only mean one thing.

"Is this a dream?" She asks, laughing a little and leaning down to pet the dog. "It feels so real! I'm... I'm okay. I'm better than okay. It feels freeing to suddenly have a lot less secrets to keep."

[involuntaryturncoat]

Since maybe the first few days after his arrival, Asmodean hasn't thought to ward his dreams. With no one from his world aside from him, there hardly seemed to be a point.

He sleeps, in his room, and his dreams are fitful. He lies prostrate on the ground overlooking the Pit of Doom, his skull ringing with a voice he fears more than any other. ASMODEAN. YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME. YOUR WEAKNESS DESTROYS YOU. Before he can muster a response, the scene shifts. He is astride a donkey, riding through the desert carrying a banner he refuses to look at. The Dragon Reborn rides beside him, the shepherd carrying the world's hopes, and his own life in the balance. He opens his mouth to explain some intricacy of the Power he knows he won't be able to properly convey, not without... another shift. He stands in a large hall, gleaming crystalline columns holding up a high arched roof. There is a tumult outside but it barely matters. Before him is a line of people, some with sightless eyes, but all staring accusingly at him nonetheless. Faces he's not seen in an Age, but faces he nonetheless will never forget. Out of the corner of his eye, Sagramore is turning away in revulsion.

He pushes it all away. He sits in a music hall, surrounded by silent instruments. The notes won't come.

[protagonisthalo]

Luo Binghe does not recognize this man's consciousness at all. His face, seen through his own mind, brings just a trace of recognition. The library. Heated words exchanged over that book. Luo Binghe can't even remember what the man said to offend him. He was likely easy to offend in his agitation.

Without touching the man's dreams, Luo Binghe peers into his memories to observe the incident from the opposite point of view. Yes—this man's impression of Luo Binghe is unflattering. Luo Binghe can admit that he was in a poor temper, and spoke thoughtlessly, but there was no reason for the man to condescend to him and assume the worst. Vexed, he recedes from the memory and insinuates himself into the man's natural dreams to observe his subconscious.

The results surprise him. War; dark magic; power; wealth; corruption. It is intriguing, but incoherent. Luo Binghe pushes the dream backward, pulling the man out of his music room and back to the palatial hall, where the crowd of people that frightened him waits. He is curious to see what will happen.

[involuntaryturncoat]

The jump back startles Asmodean. He looks at the crowd again. "I am try--" He cuts himself off and his brow furrows.

Although there are others of the Chosen with more skill in walking dreams, he isn't lacking in that regard, and he knows how to sense intrusions and interference.

The room empties; his voice is cold. "Show yourself."

[summerdude]

Magnus is asleep in his tree, trying out the method of sleep Gu Xiang told him about, hanging upside down from a low-hanging branch; he's spread cushions purloined from an old stack of lawn chairs underneath for when he inevitably topples out. So far, he's hanging in there, though. His dreams are frenzied, skipping from topic to topic: scooping out rice at the Chase Space with Blitzen; watching Hearthstone rune magic up some fireworks on the roof; Gu Xiang nimbly stabbing a zombie in its eye; Alex laughing with chocolate ice cream smeared on his nose; Galahad, laughing, in a crown of flowers; Lan Wangji hugging him; Samirah in a wedding dress Magnus has never seen before; Shen Yuan petting Charmander; Loki imprisoned, screaming as acid splashes on his face; an image of Scar with Claudius's face superimposed on top; Magnus himself turning into a branch of Yggdrasil and chatting endlessly with Ragnelle. Some of the dreams feel realer than others.

[protagonisthalo]

Luo Binghe does not often regret his actions. If Shen Yuan weren't involved, he would feel no guilt over deceiving Magnus. It was more of a childish trick than a true manipulation, and intended to irk Lan Wangji, not Magnus. He didn't do anything wrong. But Shen Yuan was hurt. Luo Binghe does not want Shen Yuan to feel that an association with him risks damaging his friendships.

Magnus' dreams are chaotic. Luo Binghe easily halts them in the middle of the flow, quickly ridding the dream of the lion-abomination with Claudius' face. No one wants that.

Magnus must have learned that Luo Binghe can manipulate dreams, if Shen Yuan heard about it. Luo Binghe could appear as himself and—not apologize, Luo Binghe does not apologize—but acknowledge what he's done, and inform Magnus that it won't happen again. But it would leave him vulnerable to rejection, if Magnus is angry. To have a non-apology rejected by a child Luo Binghe's boyfriend loves would be vexing indeed.

Without appearing corporally, Luo Binghe drops a piece of paper at Magnus' feet. It reads:

I have previously used my power over dreams to deceive you. This was not intended as harm. To show good faith, you may speak up to five words aloud, and I will create the dream of your choosing. I hope this will clear any debts between us, for Shen Yuan's sake.

Luo Binghe

[wickedwit]

When Claudius dreams, he’s a child again, but nothing is as it was as a childhood. The courtiers have the heads of animals, foxes and swans and stags with full sets of antlers. One stops him, a mongoose-headed man, which Claudius only recognizes because he’s read mongooses eat snakes.

Oh, no, that won’t do at all, tuts the mongoose. You can’t walk around like that. He leads Claudius away, it doesn’t matter where, because the edges of the space are dream-dark, and the shadows twist when he looks too long at them. When he looks behind him — and he tries, tries to remember the castle back into being — the halls crumble away into nothingness, and into the roar of the sea.

The mongoose sits him before a lady whose head is a mask, floating above the ruff of her dress. Her hands are pins and needles.

That won’t do it all, she agrees. Her pin and needle fingers find his face. They hook into a seam in skin he didn’t know existed, and before he can scream himself awake, she starts to pull.

[protagonisthalo]

Luo Binghe has been avoiding Claudius' dreams. It would be an easy arena to torment him further, one with no social consequences, as long as it seemed to be a natural dream. He thought of doing exactly that after releasing Claudius from the blood parasites, his petty desire to hurt Claudius still not sated despite Nina's excellent counsel. But he did not want to betray Nina's faith in him. And after the childhood curse, the thought of interacting with Claudius at all stirred a tempest of emotion that threatened to drown him if he tried.

Perhaps that is why this dream catches his attention: because Claudius is a child. Luo Binghe watches it, discomfited by how strongly averse he is to seeing this child in distress. When the nightmare creature starts to pull off his skin, like the Skinner Demon from Luo Binghe's disciple days, he freezes the dream without thinking. Afterward comes the flood of justifications—Luo Binghe swore to protect this child, and he keeps his word; he repays his debts, and the child Claudius did him a service, even if his adult self would not have deigned to.

Then he is caught. The nightmare women's talons have peeled half of Claudius' face off; the rest is twisted in terror. Luo Binghe cannot let Claudius' mind regain control of the dream, so he must choose something to replace it, and every choice is fraught.

He no longer wishes to torment Claudius, not even if no one would know it was his doing. It would say something about Luo Binghe that is all too clear after their compelled conversation. But neither can he stand to give Claudius an idyllic dream like the one he gave Sagramore's husband.

However... Claudius does not know Luo Binghe can manipulate dreams. Whatever Luo Binghe shows him, he will believe it is the product of his unconscious mind. So perhaps the question is, what would be most amusing for Claudius to believe he imagined of his own accord?

When he comes back to his awareness, Claudius will be an adult man once again, in a lounge redolent with incense and perfume. He will be dressed in fine yet provocative silks, and surrounded by beautiful women. These are the quarters of Luo Binghe's harem. Let him picture himself as one of Luo Binghe's wives; let him gossip with Zhu Naonao and Qin Wanyue, speculating about when their handsome and virile husband will come tend to them. Let his heart leap with excitement at a footfall by the door, hoping it is Luo Binghe; let disappointment settle over him like a shroud when Luo Binghe chooses another wife as an evening companion. Let him wonder, on awakening, what hidden desires inspired this vision.

[temnota]

Deeply asleep in his bed, Aleksander has the same dream he's had since he arrived here. He is in the Shadow Fold, running endlessly across the sand that was once a verdant valley full of life and beauty. Because of him, it's now a wasteland full of the wreckage of sand skiffs and skeletal remains. He is being chased by volcra, descendants of the men twisted by his use of merzost into monstrous abominations. His shadows are of no use against these creatures - the only thing that can stop them is the light of the sun and he lost that when Alina threw off his control over her power.

Midway through this dream, he sees a flash of light and he runs towards it while the volcra dive at him, scraping his face with their talons. He can feel the blood running down his cheeks in black rivulets and a unceasing pain from the cuts on his face. It's what he deserves, isn't it, for what's done?

He reaches the the source of the light and sees Alina, illuminated like one of the Ravkan saints but she looks wrong, somehow. Her brown hair has turned white and Morovoza's collar is missing. She looks at him with a mix of pity and disgust. "Are you proud of what you've done? Will you destroy the Mansion like you've destroyed Ravka?"

He tries to speak but no words come, only black bile.

[protagonisthalo]

The content of the dream intrigues Luo Binghe, although he doesn't know the dreamer. As with the man he encountered earlier in the evening—who must have been the Aleksander that Shen Yuan mentioned—he observes without intervening for some time. A battle of light and dark, shadows and blood. It is unclear whether these are fears or memories.

Well, Luo Binghe has never met this man, but in such a small space as the Mansion, their meeting is inevitable. He might as well use dream cultivation to improve the chances of a favorable encounter. The nightmare continues as before, but with a subtle change. Luo Binghe seeds in the knowledge that there is a benevolent emperor who can help the man defeat his enemies, if only he could find him and learn how to please him. Luo Binghe will allow only glimpses of the emperor from afar—glowing, beautiful, untouched by the conflict that rages around them, but forever out of reach.

[forgethertoo]

Physically, Aornis is lying in her bed peacefully asleep, wearing a classic white satin nightgown and curled up under the comforter. She's cleaned up the glass shards and the ten-sided die from her earlier experiment but the curtain is still down on the ground; she'll take care of that tomorrow.

Aornis doesn't dream. On a typical evening when she sleeps, she falls asleep and it feels like only a second passes before she opens her eyes again. If Luo Binghe enters her dream, he will only find darkness, nothingness.

[protagonisthalo]

Aornis is a mystery to Luo Binghe. In their first meeting, she was outwardly polite—even admiring of him—but something about her seemed cold and dismissive. Most importantly, he cannot tell whether or not she actually liked him. Not that i matters, but he cannot stop his curiosity. He indulges himself in sinking into Aornis' memories to view their encounter from her point of view.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan also doesn't need to sleep every night, but he likes sleeping, and he'd intentionally developed the habit over his years in PIDW as a sort of defense mechanism because otherwise he would spend every night either horrendously bored or endlessly contemplating his own inevitable death. It's been easier, in the Mansion; he's been emotionally exhausted a lot of the time, and these days he's been spending a lot of time reading and painting so it's an easy jump from resting his eyes to dozing off.

He doesn't often dream—or if he does he doesn't remember them. Maybe that's a defense mechanism, too. Damn, maybe Freud did make some points.

[protagonisthalo]

Because Luo Binghe sleeps infrequently, he does not always sleep at the same time as Shen Yuan, and this is the first time he has since they started 'dating.' Even a week ago he would have taken time to set the scene, like he did with Sagramore, making himself impressive and crafting an atmosphere for romance. But when his unconscious mind nudges up against Shen Yuan's he is so excited, and so confident that Shen Yuan will be pleased to see him, that he just crashes in like a Black Moon Rhinoceros Python. He wraps his arms around Shen Yuan's waist from behind and slots his chin over his shoulder, squeezing tight. "Beloved, it's me."

The dream halfheartedly bleeds into existence around them, some vague meditative garden of the kind that Luo Binghe's human realm palace has all over. If anyone looks closely, they will notice the flowers are really just pink and purple blobs with no detail, and the grass is a springy blanket without individual blades.