Field Trip [for Schon]

[smartass_captain]

It's not often that Jim shows up in the Nexus in uniform anymore. Since it's become his getaway form work, it always seemed more prudent to just wear his everyday clothes. He's in Starfleet golds today though, kicked back in an overstuffed chair in a quiet corner of the forum, doing 'paperwork' on his PADD.

There's a nearly empty cup of coffee next to him. Maybe he's waiting for someone. Or maybe he just got tired of being bothered in his quarters. It's hard to tell, with Jim.

Comments

[smartass_captain]

"Yeaaaah we try pretty hard not to just wreck arbitrary planets. They get pissed when I violate the directive to save planets form natural disasters. Pretty sure turning one into a mining colony would go against protocol. Most colonies are set up by territory owned by some region or another. Since there's not already a colony here, I'm gonna assume no one owns this place already, because you know it'd be a tourist destination."

Jim stretches while they walk, happy to just be outside taking a quiet stroll with a friend. He doesn't get to see stuff like this nearly as often as he'd like. Most places are significantly more dangerous than this place is.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"A distinct comfort," Schön agrees. "It could not become a colony, could it?"

[smartass_captain]

"Not unless this planet is secretly owned by a Federation planet." Pause. He can sense the question coming. "And it's not. it's in the armpit of the galaxy, no one owns this place."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Except the natives," he prompts gently.

[smartass_captain]

It's like having a conversation with Spock. Schon is really intent on something, something Jim doesn't understand. but it's important to him, and Jim is trying to be reassuring.

"Yeah. Cept the plants and the grass and whatever that's already living here. This is their planet and your picnic field trip. Yeah, there is a blanket and food set up back by where we beamed down. I figured you could use the break. You're welcome."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

The thin man smiles. "That's very thoughtful of you, Captain, thank you. I may avail myself of it, later, but for now I think we are both quite anxious to meet whoever lives here, hmm?"

Wacky Adventure is a go!

[smartass_captain]

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't think you could get this excited over anything." Jim snorts and shakes his head. The temperature shifts as they hit the misty valley at the bottom of the hill, and Jim casts a glance back at his guest.

"Any chance you know where we're going? I'm just kinda walking aimlessly here. I don't see whatever it is you are, here."

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Nor did I," Schön admits, "but here we are."

"I have... little guidance but intuition," he admits, "but there is a greater, hm, density? In this direction. I believe that whomever, or perhaps several whomevers, are to be found hence."

[smartass_captain]

"...Hey, Schon?" Jim will keep walking toward the large fringe of the forest for a while before he finally speaks up again. "You really think something's living out here? Like...I mean."

Jim makes a strangled noise of concentration. It's harder to explain than he thought it would be.

"Like, I know tons of stuff lives here. Grass and trees and flowers--billions of live forms. But I mean...someone. Like. Sentient. And if so, you think it's a good idea to just go poking our heads in here?" He's seen sentient rock creatures already. And you know. Groot. Jim's not too keen on pissing off that guy's relatives.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Mm. You make a fair point, Captain. I can say with certainty that someone is dreaming out here, and it or they have a mighty imagination. But it could well be the land itself that dreams. And as you ask, whoever it is might not appreciate our intrusion." He pauses in his forward stride, but still savors the wash of imagination sweeping over that world. "You are the explorer between us, Captain: do we press on to uncertainty, or return to the picnic?"

[smartass_captain]

"...Well when you put it like that." Jim rolls his eyes and checks to make sure his phaser is set to stun. And before the cavalry gets any disapproving comments he will pipe up. "It's just for self defense, I'm not gonna go shooting at anything that moves."

Gore Jim to near death once, shame on you. Two or more times, he needs to start being more careful.

How did I overlook this all day?

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"A very keen grasp of diplomatic subtleties you have there," comes the droll reply. "We are almost... somewhere. This forest feels significant." A statement like that would probably make Spock raise a brow right past his hairline, if he were there to hear it.

Dorfs and bad opening songs?

[smartass_captain]

"Yeah my crew would be pissed I"m doing this without a landing party. Well, Sulu would just be jealous. Spock and Bones would kill me. The least I can do is take some safety precaution." Seriously Schon.

You have no idea how many things in this universe want to kill Jim Kirk. He must be like, the tastiest. The number of times he nearly dies on away missions is staggering. As well as on his ship. He is not safe anywhere.

So..you know. Have fun exploring with him!

"Yeah these trees are crazy old." Jim stares at the treeline, taking care to look about in the canopy for any signs of trouble. When all seems safe, he'll head into the forest. There's a sense of...something. Jim isn't certain how to describe it.

It almost feels like the physical sensation he felt when he and Spock mind melded during the Narada incident. But Jim is no telepath, and while he's sharper than the average human when it comes to these things, it is still a dull dull sense.

For Schon the forest bursts with energy, a hum that grows to a hymnal choir when he passes the treeline. They are The Watchers--the eternal dreamers that look over this land. They have no discernible form and no doubt Spock would have been overwhelmed by this had they strayed into the forests before. They are a highly telepathic race, dreaming together and communing in the Collective Unconscious.

They dream because it keeps their world turning. The Dream because it gives life to the soil. Without their dream the planet is naught but a barren husk. The life that exists here is a dream made real by the will of these ancient creatures asleep deep within the confines of the trees.

Quite possibly.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"Oh!" the thin man gasps, at the majesty which surrounds him. "Oh, Captain, had I but words! You see it--you can't accept it, but you see the very barest edge of it." He passes his fingers before his face, as though touching something that isn't there. "This whole world is a thriving dream, a story the sleepers tell themselves."

[smartass_captain]

"Schon?" Jim turns quickly, all business at the breathless tone of the thin man's voice. Something's buzzing right in Jim's ear and it's making everything tingle. Like his brain fell asleep or something and it's making his vision swim.

What are you?

Several of the Watchers have taken note of the intrusion, most notably the feyman with the two faces. They do not stir from their Dream, for the forest is the dream.

You do not Sleep. You do not Dream. Why are you here?

"Schon?!" Jim's voice sounds far away now, unimportant in the presence of something so great and knowing.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön lifts a hand, hopefully quelling Jim for the moment. "I am a visitor, a traveler. I come from another dream, and I intend no harm--only the pleasure of a visit. Whom do I have the honor of addressing?"

[smartass_captain]

Jim may as well be millions of miles away by now. The Forest has crowded around Schon, formless figures seemingly on all sides of him. No eyes, but Watching.

Always. Watching.

If the captain is saying anything by now, it is drowned out. A buzz on the wind, nothing more. He is nothing. A shell. He does not Dream. He cannot Hear, cannot See.

Traveler? Curious...you have a Dream-Shell yet. You are bound to the Dream. Never resting, never waking. Yet you can Hear. Curious. We are Watchers keepers of the Dream Place.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"I've learned to keep a foot in both worlds," Schön admits, "but I was born of the Dream. I hope I am not intruding unwelcome upon your assembly?"

Hush, Jim, dreamed-ups are talking.

[smartass_captain]

Forget about the Jim-Shell, Schon. He is nothing. Unimportant. Insignificant. Meaningless.

Born of the Dream. Not our Dream, but a dream. Curious. And you sought out another?

The forest itself has lost shape and form, and Schon may find himself wearing his True Skin if he regards himself. He is in a world of shifting planes and twinkling lights. Welcomed to the Collective Unconscious.

We do not get Travelers. You are the first. You wish to join the Dream? Is that why you come?

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Schön is quite comfortable in his own skin, whichever skin it might be. Not that the mortals can see it, but he's always wearing his True Skin, just beneath the surface. "I come to visit the Dream; to hear your stories, and share my own, that our dreams might know one another fondly. Everyone grows lonely, soon or late, and reaches out."

[smartass_captain]

There is nothing outside of the Dream. Reaching out is meaningless. But you have come. Curious.

The watchers share images with Schon. Ideas and history from their to his mind. An ancient race, isolated and peaceful. A dying star that killed their world. A sacrifice made to preserve what was, to keep the memory of their home for all time.

They feel no regret for what once was. They only cherish what they have created. They protect it from harm. Anything that trespasses is destroyed. Schon is not an anything. He is a Dreamer. He is the First who can Hear. Who can See. Here Schon is welcome to Dream with them. To create an endless beauty in theirhis envisioning.

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Oh, how tempting, to sculpt a world's worth of dream as he envisions. Arcadia built anew, the Tuatha de Danaan recast as the Tuatha de Schön. But he is descended from divinity, and if he has learned anything from his time in the Nexus, it is that everything comes at a cost.

"Your songs are beautiful, are glorious. I will remember them always, but I cannot join your eternal choir. I must return to the other place, from which I come. But if you like, I can visit again, and again."

[smartass_captain]

What Other Place? Sleep. Dream. There is nothing for you out there.

Indeed, it is difficult to even remember how long he has been here. How he arrived. Hasn't he always been here? Before was destroyed. Destroyed with the shells. Now there is only sleep and the Eternal Dream.

Your Dreams will make the whole even more splendid.

----


"Godfucking dammit let me...go!" Let's visit the magical forest, Jim. It'll be awesome. It's so pretty. Look at how cute the flowers are. Now Schon's been lifted twenty some goddamned feet into the air by branches while fucking tree roots are trying to choke the life out of Jim and get some protein into their diets.

This is why Jim doesn't trust cute things. Or anything, for that matter.

"Schon you better still be alive up there! Wake up you bastard!"

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

The wonder has begun to pall. The simple, singlemindedness of the choir strikes a chilling chord in Schön's heart. Bedlam. Lost ones. This choir has been locked away in their own dream, for how long? His cane is still to hand, and that hand tightens on it. No, not a cane, a staff of ebony, shod in silver and capped with the Eye of Night.

"No. You will not take my dreams, and you will not take me. I offered you fair trade, and you answer me with theft. Is your choir a shackled one, to hold together for so long? If not, then do not dare to shackle me."

[smartass_captain]

Okay, okay this looks bad. Jim scrambles with the tree roots while trying to keep Schon in sight above him. Scientific testing has proven that phaser fire does not work on trees. It has also proven to make them angrier.

The phaser does make a decent blunt instrument to beat away grabby roots, but you know, one of the trees limbs would work better.

"I'm coming man, hold on! Wake up okay?!" When he's able to wriggle free he's going to start climbing as fast as his arms will take him to try to get Schon back.