2019-06-25 - Dream A Dream Of Rasputin

Summary:

Some dreams just look interesting and Isis lucks in on one.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Tue Jun 25 23:34:11 2019
Location: RP Room 1

Related Logs

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Theme Song

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mikhail-rasputinisis-marik

He had one job: keep the crew safe as they went through the rift. Mikhail's superiors assured him that he was capable of it, that he and the three other cosmonauts would be the first men in history to successfully, deliberately, pass through the rift. They'd been wrong. It was a lot worse than any of their reading indicated from the outside.

At first, he was able to shield their ship from it all but that changed quickly. He couldn't direct the energy away from them because it was already all around them. It was like trying to move water from in front of you to the side when you're completely submerged.

The ship started to break apart and he was forced to start absorbing the energy just to try to keep it away from the others. But there was too much of it, a never ending supply. He couldn't contain it all and soon reached his limit. No, surpassed his limit. He exploded. The ship broke apart. The other cosmonauts - his friends - were killed. The energy itself couldn't harm him but he had no such protection from the shrapnel from the ship. The other end of the rift led to a barren wasteland and he was violently thrown into it among the wreckage, not only of his own ship but that of others as well. Too hurt to do more than take shelter and try to scavenge food and water from what supplies he could find, he slept when he could.


The Dream Dimension is plane just like any other - it touches on other dimensions as well. Most beings dream in one way or another after all.

Tonight is one of the nights that Isis can slip into the Dream Dimension and she's hunting for hints of the person that attacked Nick. It's been a fruitless search so far and as aware of how dangerous this realm is, she's still a bit reckless.

Mikhails dream shimmers on the horizon like a beacon. It's hard to describe how they look. All Isis knows is that it looks interesting and cat that she is, she's going to look.

Mikhails dream is chaotic, the timeline of the accident all mixed up as his subconscious works on it. It's into this confusion that Isis manages to slip - he'll notice her, how could he not?

There's a slim female in oversized clothing standing on the bridge where the first officer stood just a moment ago. As strange as that might seem, it gets stranger when the dreamer takes in the cats ears that sit on her head and the slitted grey/blue eyes that look around. "Hello…" is all that she says.


Mikhail stands there, arms stretched to the sides, palms outward as if he's holding something back that only he can see though a glance at the ship's instruments would show it's in the middle of an energy maelstrom and chinks and gaps in the hull are letting in streams of energy that Mik is absorbing. He's starting to glow. "Strap in." he tells the woman. "I don't know how much longer I can hold it. Get us through, Alexei!"


Isis blinks, that long slow blink that a cat often gives. She's human looking except for those cats ears and the feline caste to her features. Alexei. That's who she is … alright.

The first officer follows the instruction, slides into the seat and buckles up. It's funny how she seems to know what to do … dreams are like that though and for the moment she'll follow along. This doesn't look good though and Mikhail might feel the slight tug on the dream as the edges start to warp slightly, slowly rippling inwards.


Mikhail Rasputin strains against his invisible burden, an obviously losing battle, but then seems to focus on Isis more than he has since she first appeared. "You're not Alexei." he accuses. "Who are you? How did you get on board?" Then he barks a laugh. "Not that it matters. You won't live to regret your decision."


Isis hadn't expected that. Mikhail being Lucid but he is. At least he hasn't tried to eject her from his dream. "I am Isis." She tells him, "And this doesn't seem like a nice dream. Who are you?" Around them, the dream continues but now where the ship starts to explode, it seems to hold.

The pressure on Mikhail is immense of course, he can feel the point where he explodes with the energy … and feel himself hold.

"What's happening here?" Curious cat is curious.


"I am Lieutenant Mikhail Rasputin." Though he still strains against the energy outside the ship, the other cosmonauts are at their stations, frozen between seconds. "Cosmonaut of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics." If he heard the mention of a dream, it doesn't seem to register. "We are traveling through a rift between dimensions. And we are about to die."


The name gets a tilt of her ears and instant feline attention. She's out of that chair in an instant and in his personal space, sniffing at him. Her ears may tickle under his chin as she 'inspects' the russian cosmonaut. "Rasputin…" Those cat slitted eyes peer up into his face, like she's looking for something.

The comment about being about to die, has her letting out a low feline growl. "You're not going to die. You're dreaming … here …" That ripple hastens a bit and the dream shifts. To a memory that Mikhail has, one that is more comfortable and happy perhaps.


As the woman springs out of the chair, Mikhail steps back, his concentration on the energy wavering which lets it tear a hull plate off. Doing his best to ignore her, he pushes back against the energy, keeping it from damaging the ship further. For now. Then he staggers as everything changes around them and he's standing in a freshly plowed field. In the distance is a barn and a young boy working just outside of it. "What? Where is… Who are you?" he demands.


Mikhail is going to be even more confused as the feline-like mutant he's talking to keeps in his personal space. She doesn't seem to be worried about it, or even realise how rude she might be. "I told you, I am Isis…" As he starts to get agitated with the sudden change, there's a gentle wave of calming emotion that seems to wash over him.

"I … walk dreams and I found yours." The field is interesting and the young boy in background gets her attention for a moment. "This is your memory, I just changed the dream to let you experience something less … stressful."

"How did you get on that spaceship?" She's assuming a space ship, of course. As she talks, she stalks about the man taking his scent a little more.


Mikhail Rasputin moves back a few steps till there's enough space between them. "That was no dream. That was happening." Happened. "I told you. I am a cosmonaut. We were on a ship to travel the through the rift." But this… He turns to look toward the barn again. "But this is home. The house is just beyond the barn. And that is Piotr, just like when I saw him last."


The Isis that Piotr rescued three years ago wouldn't have picked up Mikhails subtle body language. She doesn't say sorry though, just stops to look at him, head canting in a very feline way. "It was a dream, from your memories probably. It happened but why do you think you di——"

It's Piotrs name that does it. "Piotr Rasputin?" it slowly comes together. "Who are you to him? Father?" Poor Mikhail doesn't look that old.


"Da, Piotr." Mikhail says then laughs. "Father? Nyet. We are brothers though I am older than him by seven years. He is ten there. His birthday is soon. In a few months I will be leaving for training. He does not know I will be going away so he is still happy." Taking a deep breath, he relaxes all of a sudden. "Spasiba. I am glad to be able to see him one last time."


Isis goes very still at that information, blue/grey eyes narrowing a bit. "Brother…" Mikhail will feel it, the empathic projection. It's warm and love filled. Not quite familial but something akin to it. "Piotr … " is it the same man that she knows?

They're both russian and gee, Mikhail looks similar.

"Do you want to see him again?" she starts walking, letting the dream shape about them. "What … stories did you tell him?" She's digging.

Between one step and the next, something pushes at the edge of the dream. It's probably nothing, but Mikhail might get the feeling of being watched.


Mikhail Rasputin starts walking toward the barn but then stops and shakes his head. "I have seen him again and that is enough. To speak with him would be too much." At the mention of stories, he smiles. "Do you know of Baba Yaga? The witch who lives in a house that walks around on chicken legs and flies around in a giant mortar. Our mother would tell us tales while we sat around the stove in the winter."


Baba Yaga was one of the stories that Piotr would tell Isis in the dark of the night at The Institute. When she'd sneak into his room and curl on his bed, like the feline she closely represented. "He used to tell me that one. After he rescued me." What on earth is the woman talking about.

"And the space dog, Lakia. That might have been my favourite."

That feeling of being watched grows a little stronger as the woman lets out a feline growl.

"Did you argue or something? Is that why you aren't with him now?"


Mikhail Rasputin glances first left then right, brow furrowed as the feeling nags at him. "Argued? No. I will be leaving soon for training. I had never been away from home before. It was difficult for everyone. I just want to remember him like this. If I speak to him, it will be too difficult when this ends. You say I am dreaming and you might be right. Dreaming or hallucinating,it doesn't matter."


Isis frowns as Mikhail speaks. She's seen similar to this before but never dealt with it. Her power was offensive in nature, she was a weapon. Deployed to walk dreams and cause harm. Trying to help people through them … that's new and she'd really messed with the last person she did this with.

"What if you could see him and it didn't end?" She asks slowly. She's empathy to boot, but her interpersonal skills are severely lacking. It's time like this she really needs Nick. "Where are you now? Show me … think about the last thing you were doing." That's a bit dangerous. It could be anything.


Mikhail Rasputin doesn't answer immediately, instead just watching Piotr and the barn, maybe hoping his parents would make an appearance. "It must end. All things end." Just like he's ending. The last thing he was doing? That's… not easy. The dream is still fresh in his memory, trying to save the ship. "Dying." He knows that much. He just has to remember where. Slowly, the farm fades and is replaced by a rocky, barren wasteland. The wrecks of at least three different ships are scattered about in pieces. "Here. Wherever here is."


Just before the dream changes, a voice sounds out from the edges "Isis … we know where you are. We can always find you …" Isis trembles and the colour drains from her face. Thank goodness for Mikhails next words, because they focus her again.

"Dying …" Isis looks around the dreamscape that has formed. It's a pale representation of the waking world. "… you can't … You don't know where you are?" The feline-like mutant frowns again as she takes in the scene. "Finding people in dreams is difficult but … maybe there's a way I can remember this. I can bring help."

Can she?


Mikhail Rasputin smiles at Isis' words though it doesn't reach his eyes. "Maybe." he says, humoring the dream figment of his imagination. 'You're nothing but a pack of cards.' "This is the other side of the rift. I was the only one to make it through alive." But not for long. "It was good to see Piotr again, even in a dream. "


Isis is thinking. She needs to make this dream a bright beacon. She needs to find the people who can help. Not the Institute. She won't go there, it's not comfortable her.

"Dream of your brother when you sleep each night. Dream of the stories of Baba Yaga and Lakia. Of Mama and Papa by the fire. Dream of me, if you can. It should help me find you again, with help."

A rift? She's no idea about. She's also not sure how they'll get him back. But she's going to try. She owes it to Piotr.

Has it occurred to her, though, that Mikhail might not be what he seems? No, no, it hasn't. Impulsive feline that she is.

"Can you do that, Mikhail Rasputin?"


"I will do what I must." For the moment, the Mikhail who would never give up is back. But then, it's just a dream and he's not bleeding here.


Isis fixes the Rasputin she's found with a cold blue/grey stare as he talks. "You sound just like him." Is all she says. If this had Piotr, she'd be rubbing her head against his chest to console him. But Mikhail is giving off really strong back off vibes.

"Remember your brother, Mikhail Rasputin. Remember me …" The dream shifts again, leaving Mikhail back in that field. "And dream sweet for the rest of the night."

When he looks again, Isis is gone.

Was it even real?


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