Charley Dreams of Viv
Michael
Overnight Thursday into Friday night, Charley dreams.
It's Family Game Night at the Ransoms', and Archie, Melanie, Jane, Eddie, Charley, and Jimmy Trocano are enjoying a game of Go To The Head of the Class. The tokens on the board all bear the faces of past lives of Charley or people involved in those past lives: Melanie is playing Marjorie Cameron, Archie's pawn is King Arthur, Charley's is the photo of Charley's mom from her personnel file, Jane's is Léontine, Eddie's is a childhood photo of Charlie Ransom, and Jimmy Trocano's is Owain. The game's just about to finish; Archie is sipping a wicked-looking and smelling alcoholic drink from his usual late-night cocoa mug, but he's not acting drunk. Charley wins... again, and as she smiles in triumph, the rest of the family except Archie and Jimmy slowly slink away from the living room coffee table, defeated, like knights who've been dispatched in Arthurian times.
"Now Charley," Archie says finishing off his nightcap with a final sip, "You have to put away the pieces. Winners always have to do that, you know." In the dream, Charley accepts this as a rule of Family Game Night. Jimmy sits alongside as Charley starts to put away the pieces. But as she does, every time she looks back at the board with its stylized classroom graphic, there are more pieces from different games. Chess figures. Backgammon discs. Bone dice. And eventually fidchell pieces from the game of her past-life memory before the Ontoclysm. All the while Jimmy Trocano just sits there, not helping. Charley starts to get distressed, thinking How are all of these gonna fit in the box? She sort of stops, wondering why she's even doing this, and why Jimmy's not helping. Every other time Charley looks over at Jimmy, he looks like Owain from her dreams/memories. Then a calming woman's voice is heard from over Charley's shoulder. "Don't worry, Charley. I'll help you."
Charley looks up as Genevieve Abeille sits down Indian-style across from her at the Ransoms' coffee table. But there's something very slightly off about her. Her hair is cut differently, there's a wave and curl to her hair and it looks thicker. Her glasses are much slimmer, much more stylish, like something one of Marshall's rich and famous friends might wear. Charley knows on some inherent level those features are Viv's trademarks: they're in every author photo of her going back to the mid-'60s. Charley is ever so vaguely unsettled.
"I know," Viv says, anticipating Charley's concern. "Something happened. It happened while I was tripping with Jocasta and your father and I don't know what it means yet, but I'm still me. I was born from the womb of the universe to play this game and it doesn't matter who's moving my piece around the board. I know things have been difficult for you this week, and I know I haven't been around. But I have responsibilities to my patients, their families, and something in me, in this new me, told me it was vital that I live up to those responsibilities. We all have to depend on each other. Without that, magick, love, life... it's all a lie. And I'm sorry I haven't been there for you. But I'll be back in the office on Monday and we can sit down and talk. But you have to make sure Mitch doesn't think I'm an agent of … well, 'them' when I do come back. I'm gonna look different to him. But I am who I am. Who I was before I was born and who I was after I'll die in 2018. Mitch, Marshall … maybe even your dad may want to replace me. And Andy. It's vitally important they do not."
"Be not afraid," Viv says with a grin as she wipes away Charley's in-dream tear. "The Anunnaki didn't create me with a cyclotron. My mother and father did. Out of love. And they love you. They want you and all of URIEL to be happy, to find yourselves, to help each other. Even in loss, we live, we persist, we grow, we change, we love. I'll see you Monday, Charley." Charley looks down at the box and the game is neatly put away.
Charley, Nightmares roll, 12 or less to avoid negative impact from this dream.
Mel
>> SUCCESS by 0
Just made it at 12
Michael
Okay, so we can say Charley's a little shaken but doesn't "lose any sleep" over the dream.