2021-06-08 - What dreams may come

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Are you awake. I know it is like 2:30am, but fuck man...what the hell did you get me into?! First dreams about that damned BabaYaga chick stealing my soul, now this?!! Damn it. I'm going to twhap you SO HARD next time I see you.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Baba Yaga does not steal souls. She changes things. Things that can be souls. But she doesn't steal them. Don't tell me you text me at stupid o'clock for a lecture on Russian philosophy? Not that I'm not awake anyway since this is when my students in Copenhagen start pinging me, but still.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : I don't know...maybe it was metaphoric or something. All I know is the last week I had a dream and the old lady you all kept talking about was there with me, and what was like a river where there was a light version of me, and a dark version of me, and we were linked by the arm and she was talking about surrendering myself. Then a couple nights ago the same dream, but then the dark part of me was yanked away. She said something about having to get it back and having to fight for it. But last night I had one that was even MORE fucked up than that. It was a damned peacock from your fucking carousel yelling at me about blinding it. God damn this place.

Tell me it is just a dream.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You know what one of the most archetypal tropes of fairytales are? There's someone right there on page three who tells you something important. Just, you have no idea what they meant until the last chapter where it all happened anyway, and all you can use this early warning for is to go 'fucking hell, I should have paid attention while I had the chance'. Baba Yaga is like that. She warns us. She warns us in cryptic ways so that six months from now we'll be going duh, but right now? It's useless.

We know there's a storm coming -- not just the one the weather guys keep talking about, but a supernatural one. Half this town has had dreams this week. I had one where she said, 'He's almost here'. But of course she didn't say anything about who 'he' is supposed to be.

Tell me about the peacock because the carousel stuff at least does not correlate directly to a Russian trickster goddess who likes the sound of her own jokes way too much.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Just happened. Like moments ago.

I was in the park, eating a danish, drinking coffee and I heard something behind me. I turn around and there is a damned wooden carousel peacock with hie eyes missing and the gaping holes leaking a golden-green fluid.

It started yelling at me about blinding it, or them, or whatever...and then I woke up to promptly yell at you.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : So now we know that the eyes do matter. They're not just... carousel animal plastic eyes, whatever. I want to pretend I'm surprised, but if I really was, I'd not have taken this seriously in the first place. Are you OK?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Define Ok? I mean, physically I am alright, sure. Mentally, I'm a bit shaken...and that takes a lot given what I do. I mean, I'll live...but I don't think I am going to be sleeping well tonight.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Yes, well, what you do usually follows the rules, right? That's what's so disturbing about all of this. Somebody forgot to give us the manual so we don't know what we're supposed to do, or what to expect. I guess we need to find out, somehow, what this Muriel ghost wants the carousel animals to do -- what her agenda is. And whether we need to go give them their eyes back.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Fuck that. I'm >< close to taking them out back and dropping some thermite on them.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : The eyes or the animals?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : The eyes, but now that you mention it...

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Here's what I know about Muriel. She's an Addington-Baxter that wasn't supposed to happen because no one in those families would ever get friendly enough for her to exist (obviously somebody did). She died sometime around the 1940s. She's connected to the ghosts of dead Baxters -- whom the carousel animals are helping to hide and protect. What I don't know is whether she's good news or bad news. And until we know that, it's difficult to tell you whether to give the eyes back and help her, or set the whole damn thing on fire.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : In other news, I had to spend most of last night in the town hall archives to get this far.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : All I know is that the more dreams I have like this, the less concerned I am about the repercussions of setting the whole thing ablaze. If she is on the 'good' side of things, someone might want to let her know this is not the way to go about things.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Well, I'm trying. Both to find out what the hell she wants, and how to communicate with her. But that's the thing about ghosts -- most of them are shit at communication. I want to know what the other person found out. Michaels -- Fern -- said that there was someone else with her when they took the eyes, and that this other person 'read' them. I need to ask her what they learned. I should have asked this yesterday.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : I don't need sleepless nights, Ravn. It isn't good for work the next day. Hopefully, things get sorted soon.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : It's going to get a lot worse first, Seth. Not just this. All of it. I'm not joking about that storm. Shit's about to hit the fan like you've never seen before. The role I'm playing in this narrative? I'm the guy in the movie who goes around from the opening shot, talking about how the storm is coming, and no one pays any attention until 50 minutes later. We've been warned. Baba Yaga has done nothing but warn us for weeks.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Great. Back to the hag. I don't really appreciate her cryptic shit either.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : No one does. I sure as hell appreciate it a lot more when I'm reading about it in some old book than when she's right in front of me calling me Count to rile me up while her goddamn cormorant is trying to eat my leg. Did you have a reading done by her, I don't remember? If you did, what did she tell you?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : (I am looking up recipes for roast cormorant).

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : No, which makes me all the more pissed off that she has decided to just show up in my dreams. I'd at least understand if I went and sought something from her, but for her to just 'show up' and help herself to my brain meats ticks me off.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You should perhaps consider it. I don't know. It doesn't immediately make sense to me -- that she's here to warn us about the storm and the change it will portend, I get that (and I get that the storm portends change because that's what Baba Yaga means -- change). But why she also goes around giving people readings and collecting trinkets -- I don't know. Maybe just to pass the time. Maybe there are hints we will need -- that'd match the fairytale tropes at least.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Also, what the hell happened to me quietly teaching people how to use a university database and write a paper for a bachelor's while being a pretty crappy bartender on the side.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Hell if I know. What happened to me not knowing any of this shit and just being happy with what I was doing? Oh, right. You happened.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Nice try. Gray Harbor happened.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : No..it was you. I was blissfully ignorant and chalked it all up to my imagination till I started talking to you about it.

I don't care what you say, I will still blame you. As I do in all things.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : That's fair. Communal scapegoat is what I put on my calling card, along with the other titles.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Not much creeps me out. This did. Hell, all these dreams did...but this one more than even the others.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Seth, there's a reason everyone keeps telling new people in town to just get right back on that bus and keep moving. This is the reason.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Now, the real question is, can I dig up who this C.A. was, without ruffling Addington feathers.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Hyacinth would be interested in the truth, but the rest of them? Erin and Atli would just want to keep the spotlight off, but the matriarch is bloody rabid.

Speaking of Hyacinth.... You two ever hook up? Looked to me for a while there you two were on the way to being something, regardless of her attachments.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Never got around to doing anything besides talk about going out for crabs sometime. That was back in February though and now it's June so I figure that boat not only has sailed, it never got into the harbour. This place has a habit of keeping people busy, have you noticed?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Sorry to hear that.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I'll admit that the idea of picking up a blunt object and throwing it at another bloke flirting with her recently did occur to me for a moment. That's life, though, frequently disappointing. At least you and Vic seem to be holding on to each other pretty good. In a town like this, that's more of an accomplishment than it sounds like. I remember Vic herself telling me she was afraid to ever get attached to anyone because things might happen to them.

Ravn, if you are getting urges to fling things at people than maybe you should give it another go. Don't let something as trivial as time let you give up on something that might have been. Shit, time if fleeting as it is, we only have so much of it. Don't waste it. Ask her out, man.

Yeah, Vic and I got lucky so far. We work well together. I can't say that if something ever happened to her I wouldn't take it more personally than I would have before, because as much as people like to think it I am not a cold-hearted bastard. When she has been injured, I do take it a bit harder than I probably should, but that is just what is going to happen when you care.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You've never seemed like a cold-hearted bastard to me. We can't save everyone, Seth. We can't befriend everyone. Some people evict themselves from the human race, and when they do, whatever happens to them is not our bloody problem. See, Liu, Reyes. Not a tear for them from me. 10/10, would try to stab again.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Regardless, go ask Hyia out before I start playing matchmaker as you and Alexander did. Because I am nowhere near as subtle as you two were, and you two weren't subtle at all. I will straight up walk up to her and tell her you think her insert body part here is cute and you want to touch it, preferably with your tongue.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Er. Neuropathy.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I mean, I can see the humour of that, but you better not expect me to actually deliver.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : What, you have neuropathy on your tongue? How in the hell do you eat? I don't buy it. Pretty sure you can lick something just fine.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : For fuck's sake, Seth. I can do whatever I want. If I really want to, and the other person involved has entirely too much patience, and if you think this is pretty much a deal breaker for most of a dating life, you're damn right.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Besides, we got a storm coming in on both the physical plane and the metaphysical, so maybe this is not the time to worry about whether somebody I'm not involved with is being flirted with by somebody else.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Correction, I think it is a perfect time....if not THE perfect time. Who knows who will be standing after the storm if it really is going to be that bad. Life hold no guarantees man. You need to grab it by the horns when you have a chance before it is too late.

**With consent of course. You know what I mean.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Well, if this particular lady gets too distracted, half this town will be out of work since she runs the lumber company that keeps Gray Harbor on the map. I get you. Maybe when all this mess is sorted out people will have time to think about other things than storms and ghosts and carousels and fires on the harbour.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Whatever, man. I just hope it isn't too late at that point.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Being single never killed anyone, Seth.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : No, it hasn't. Not that we know of, anyway. You just seemed happy at the prospect, so I'm bummed for you. But you can't make a horse drink and all that.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Yes. Well. I'm not going to lie and say I'm not bummed either. But I don't need to be in someone's bed to call them my friend. Life goes on. I appreciate the nudge.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Fair enough. I'll drop it.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Just don't connect me with Cassidy Bennett like the Gazette did and I'm happy.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Heh. Could be worse...people could still think you and Bennie are a thing.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Christ. I'd more or less happily forgotten about that. We were never a thing. No fucking idea where that rumour came from. But it's very Gray Harbor, that's for sure -- half the town is being chased by dream monsters and the other half is on fire, now who's sleeping with who behind whose back?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : I miss out on all those rumors.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I wish I did. I could certainly do without being part of them. But that's people for you -- they're scared, they feel helpless. So they turn to something familiar, something they can understand, something they know how to deal with. Cthulhu? Sorry, no manual for that. Guy trying to hit on some bar owner's wife? Yep, we've heard that one before.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Hell, I managed to be sleeping with Rosencrantz, Maggi Gyre and Bennie at once. In somebody's dreams.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : You player you. Didn't know you had it in you.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Hell, Vic is more than I can handle, let alone three. You the man.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I'm sure Rosencrantz in particular was wowed by my seductive skills. That poor, shy wall flower, he just needed some goading to find his true passion.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Oh, yes. That shell he keeps around him. I don't know how you managed to break through it.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : C4.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : When this storm is over, Seth -- let's do that Star Trek night. If Mac won't leave her shop, let's do it at her shop. Anyone else we need to keep an eye on?

Not that I know of. I'll try and get Vic into a 7 of 9 outfit. I'm sure that will float like a lead balloon.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I'll get the camera if you do. Not going to lie, that'd be a sight worth remembering.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : I'm sure. And I don't even get jealous of you ogling her. See what a good guy I am?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Hah. You'd be too busy being jealous of that time she slipped into my bloody bed naked if you were that kind of guy. Vic's not the type to sniff around for other blokes. Also, Vic and I worked together for months and while I like her, there was no chemistry like that whatsoever between us.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Can't say I am sad about that. I would have hated to steal her from you. 😉

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : -laugh- Can't steal someone unless they want to be stolen, Irish.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : As I said, I would have hated to steal her from you 😉

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : -If- I had had her, and you -could- steal her? I'd say you deserved her more anyhow. Since obviously you'd be giving her something I couldn't. I'm not really the kind of guy women look twice at, Seth. People want a partner to focus on them -- and while that's absolutely fair, I'm the kind of guy who wanders off for days because he got distracted by something or saw something he needed to go poke with a stick. Most women are smart enough to get a cat instead -- it strays and stays out all night too but it's cheaper to feed.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Geesh, way to take a joke and make it all serious and shit. 😛 You can't tell, but I am rolling my eyes over here so hard at you.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You and every woman ever. Hello? I am -dull-. Happily so.

How are we friends again?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I pay you?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Wait, I don't pay you, do I?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Maybe I should start paying you to tell people we're friends.

No, I didn't realize there was a payment option? Sweet. How much is my friendship worth to you?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Depends. Will you wear a livery coat?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Will it make me look cool?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : image of Danish royalty

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : See those two assholes in red jackets in the back there? Now tell me if you'd look cool.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : I could rock that. With a kilt even.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Pretty sure Danish royalty wouldn't let you wear a kilt but I would.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : You know me, I have no shame. I'd do it once just for the shits and giggles of it.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Let's make it happen then sometimes, just for those pictures. If we ever go to Denmark? I'll dress you up like that if I have to raid the family vault for some livery jacket no one's worn since 1750.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : You're on.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You think I'm kidding, don't you?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : We survive this bloody storm, I'll put you in a livery jacket and take pictures.

No, no I don't think you are joking. I just have no shame and am down for it. I already told you this.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Let's be honest here too, Vic'd like the pics.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You know, if you're sleepless because bad dreams and not going back to sleep -- help me figure out what kind of car a guy like me should get. The car I rent is a lemon. I should buy one since I am not planning to hitch-hike outta town next week anyway.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Also, this guy keeps emailing me about how he's being discriminated by the university librarian because she's not interested in his war stories.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Yes, Vic would. OR she would break up with me. One or the other.

Car for you? Something practical. Toyota, Honda, Nissan sedan of some sort. Reliable, not prone to breakdowns, and relatively cheap.

What guy? What war? What library? Here or over across the sea?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : One of my vets, from Copenhagen U. I'm technically working, you know? It's day time there. That's why I'm awake at this stupid time of night. Also, I hear you loud and clear on practical and reliable, but I'm also hearing Rosencrantz in my ear saying, fucking hell, Abildgaard, you are so predictable.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Ha. Yeah, that he would. I mean, we can set you up with a Camero or a Charger or something, but I guess the question is what do you want? Do you want to be predictable, or do you want to impress Itz?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : ... MEEEEEEEH.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I better be sensible. Don't want attention, and I do need to leave that thing parked on the marina.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Then maybe one of those SMART car things. They don't take up much space, and can at least get from here to there.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Smart cars? Are you talking about Elon Musk's fantasy cars? Self driving Googlemobiles, something?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : No. One of these things: https://www.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/10/2015/11/2015-smart-fortwo-passion-coupe-angular-front.png?fit=around%7C875:492.1875

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : ... I mean, you're probably right, but why do I feel like someone's grandmother now?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Nah, grandmothers dive old Cadillacs. Hipsters drive these things.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : ... What, do I get a pair of skinny jeans and a man bun too?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : You do you, man.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I actually thought about maybe just getting a bike. Just, driving to Seattle on one in Seattle autumn weather might suck a bit.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Like a pedal bike or a motor one?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : ... You don't seriously think I am considering pedalling to Seattle on the freeway, do you?

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Hey. I'm half awake at best. Cut me some slack. There is weather gear you can get for riding in....weather.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Honestly kind of thinking about it. You know Cavanaugh, the writer? Lives on the next boat over? Used to be an astronaut? He gets around on a bike. I've got a bit of bike envy, I think. I've spent so much time being sensible in order to not draw attention.

Yeah, Joe. I know him. Not well, but I know him. The only thing I have to say about bikes is this, it isn't a matter of if you go down, it is when you go down. You just have to take all the precautions you can to try and keep the worst injuries at bay.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : So like living in Gray Harbor.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : ...

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : You have a point

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : There's a part of me that's sick and tired of just blending in and being like everybody else, I think. But it's maybe not the smart part of me.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Yeah, but sometimes you have to indulge that side as well, or it starts to come up with crazier and more outlandish things.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You're right. I might buy a yellow sweater, or wear socks with sandals. Oh wait, I did both of those. Wiiiiild.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : You monster. Next you will tell me you wore white.

After labor day even.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Oh oh can we do that can we do that can we do that?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : You're pretty fun when you're half asleep, Irish, not going to lie.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Sure...go ahead. Knock yourself out.

Wait, are you saying I am not fun fully awake y abastard?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I am definitely not a bastard. I have a bloody stud book.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : Well, uh...congrats?

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Moo.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : ... I think. Or is it horses who have stud books? Whatever. Bad pun.

(TXT to Ravn) Seth : I have no idea. YOu are talking to the wrong person in regards to any of that.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Seriously, though, when we've restored that bloody carousel, and the storm's over, and we're all miraculously more or less alive -- let's do Star Trek night, and let's do crazy things. I'm tired of being that guy -- the predictable, safe guy. The boring guy.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : Yeah, well. You don't want me to give you a very goddamn boring lecture on European lineages either. See above, guy, boring.

(TXT to Seth) Ravn : I'm thirty-one, I'll just get started on my midlife crisis a bit early.

Sure =) Sleep well