The Woods, Thursday

[endsthegame]

The cracks on the stone were alight by now, a soft, blue hum that reflected the dreams already swirling within. But it was not yet done - it was not yet time. There were more dreamers to be found.

And so it continued to sing.

[[ nfb. for dreamers and fruitless searchers. ]]

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[in_sidon_we_trust]

Even though traversing through the wooded terrain of the forest lacked the sort of assurance and grace by which Sidon moved through other elements, Sidon had no problem making his way to the stone. After all, he'd done this once before, many years ago, longer for him than probably most others that would recognize that song, that pulsating beckoning that would call them forward into the woods and the softly glowing rock.

Like Luminous Stones, radiant with the shine of the moon, said to hold the spirits of those departed from the world.

He knelt down in front of it, once he'd managed to finally find it, and reached out a hand, hesitating a moment before finally setting it softly on the stone, ducking his head, and closing his eyes.

Immediately, he felt his chest thrum softly, a surging beating of his heart. He had thought, maybe, he was just imagining this all happening again, a sort of longing created from sharing her story so recently, but...

"It's okay, dear sister," he said softly. "You needn't worry about me. I'm much better now. I think you'd be proud. But it would be dishonest to say that it would not bring me great joy to see you again..."

And as he withdrew his hand, he found a deep frown settled on his face. He opened his eyes, the yellow bright with concern as he regarded the rock and felt something...different. A certain urgency.

But even though he waited, even though he listened, even though he felt with everything he had, the song of the stone was now quiet, and there was little else there in that moment, so he stood back up and left.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it really was just wishful thinking. But he supposed he'd have to stick around the island for a bit, after all, and find out.

[somethingwithturquoise]

After talking with Rey and Stark about this weird feeling in the air last night and finally giving in to following that pull that was drawing her into the woods, Summer started to realize why this was all so familiar to her.

"Ohmygod."

And, sure enough, as she started to suspect, when that sense of deja vu solidified itself in the appearance of a glowing humming rock in the middle of the damn woods, she remembered.

"This is the dumbest thing ever," she informed....no one in particular, maybe the rock, just in case it didn't know, as she rolled her eyes, and it all fell into place and she remembered, several years ago, this same thing happening and her touching the rock and a few days later, her brother showing up and they played video games or something, so she placed a hand on the stone with a sigh and thought about how at least Morty would appreciate the newest PlayStation or whatever.

But she pulled her hand back with a blink. She remembered that none of her dreams this past week involved Morty at all, except maybe tangentially. Instead, they'd all been about...

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

She gave the rock a withering sort of look, murmuring, "At least after this time, you'll have run out of dead family members."

A beat.

"Ugh, I hope."

Another beat.

"I am definitely going to have to hide my portal gun..."

There were...probably a few things she was going to have to hide, actually. She should start getting on that.

[stykera]

Whatever was happening on the island had Stark feeling uneasy. It wasn’t a familiar feeling, not quite, but it was almost familiar. It felt something like Valdon had felt, only far kinder than that planet could ever be. The Other Side had felt threateningly close there. This feeling was more inviting but Stark knew quite well that inviting didn’t necessarily mean safe.

And there had been more dreams. Dreams every night this week. Dreams of the dead, dreams of Zhaan were hardly unusual but these dreams felt different. More vivid. More intense. More real.

The feeling had only intensified since it began, along with a sense that there was something he ought to be doing. Something was nudging at his awareness. He didn’t like being compelled, particularly by forces he couldn’t understand, but eventually the pressure had become enough that he felt a need to do something about it. Something, it turned out, was walking into the woods without realizing where he was going until he’d ended up in this clearing.

“Are you doing all of this?” he asked the stone in front of him, voice soft as he crouched in front of it. “Why? I don’t understand.” There was a small part of him, perhaps, that did. He wasn’t acknowledging that right now.

He reached out a hand, tentatively, pulling it back once before he could touch the stone. Then he shook his head and placed his other hand on the rock for a moment. The pressure, if that’s what it was, lessened, and he stood up, turning to go.

[grayskollar]

Adora had had mixed success with following dream suggestions into the woods, but here she was, against her better judgement, patting a glowing rock.

Given that patting the rock was a lot more soothing than the dreams, she might be here longer than was strictly necessary.