2025-03-11 - A Hint of Magic: The Fire and The Looking Glass

It's 1871 and Artemisia Jones is dressed neatly in a long grey skirt, white blouse, and a crocheted lace shawl draped over her shoulders. Her blonde hair has been pinned back in a low bun and she sits at attention for the lecture - although she can't quite recall the subject - as she sketches what is being demonstrated. She's a visual learner.

Phineas had been asleep back in his apartment. No harm, no foul. Only until he is not, and he wakes up in 1871. Blue eyes take in the surroundings and he tries to act like this is no big deal. Right? This is normal? No need to panic. He looks down at the clothes he is wearing that would fit this setting. Giving a small nod as if he approves. Someone is talking, and his attention goes there as he sits in the back, where he can see the other audience members and Dr. Alexander Weaver. He's got a notepad in his hand and a pen as he takes notes. There are already a few lines written. He makes a soft mm sound but not so loud as to disrupt those sitting by him.

Robin is busy working on sketches in a book. He is dressed in worn trousers with suspenders which look quite big on him due to his whip thin frame. His sleeves are rolled up to the elbow showing his burn scars up his right arm, neck, and part of his face. He's very engrossed in the lecture and like Artemisia drawing very visual notes rapidly until his left hand cramps. Fingers comb his newsboy haircut from hanging in front of his eyes trying to find out what happens next until it hits him and he looks around. This is not a tiny tiny house. Interesting.

Finding herself perched beside Robin, Mac is in a simple dress, no bustle for her, no sir. She holds a pad of paper, but her pencil is tucked behind her ear. She looks over at Robin's notes, then pulls the pencil out like she's just realized she is supposed to be taking notes.

Leaning over, it's Robin's notebook she writes on, instead of her own. We're dreaming she writes, in case he wasn't sure.

"What's the date?" she asks someone nearby. She definitely doesn't want to be in this building if it's the date of the fires.

Jett looks down to the notepad that's sitting before him on his knee, as if he was one of many taking lecture notes here. He blinks up from the almost similar drawing on the page to what's happening up front with the guy in the brown suit. He's also... wearing a suit. What the hell! He has tailcoats?! A waist coat?! What is this shit around his neck?! That itches enough that he has to tug at it with a sudden grunt for how hot constricted he suddenly was with a silk neck tie and all the fixings. He scowls at the clothing for a minute; it chafes against what he knows but then he's glancing up from the notebook toward the speaker. His hair too seems a little WEIRD. It's slicked back and styled in the times. He happens to be near to Robin and Phineas, which he isn't quite sure he recognizes well enough but he does psssst over toward their general direction, holding up the note book and tapping on it, with a little 'Do you know what is this?!' kind of shrug and pleading look.

Drea's head jerks up as she snorts her way awake, "Ohshit," she mumbles to herself, shaking her head to try and clear it, the motion sending her high ponytail dancing. Looking from side to side, she lowers her voice and stage-whispers, "No idea what the date is, sorry." She looks up, and around, blinking and rubbing at her face. "Wait..." and then she groans, and starts peering around suspiciously, looking for other people who are reacting out of the ordinary. "This is one of those dreams, isn't it?"

Arrow’s dressed in layered black attire, a long dress, platinum blonde hair swept up under a hat tipped on her head. She also has a notepad but isn’t taking notes, distracted by those around her and finding herself again in a strange place dreaming of period specific things. This time, a theatre. It’s not that strange. This isn’t the first time she’s been to a theatre dressed in turn of the century attire.

It is the first time she’s done so in a dream like this. She doesn’t really focus in until she spots first Robin and then Mac, both of her roommates in this crowd. She tips back in her seat and glances around, studying those she can see in the crowd, looking to see who else is familiar. Is this a dream slip or one of Those Dreams? She squints at the stage after a long moment.

"Sorry. Uhm. Doctor?" Artemisia raises a hand, flushing a little. "What mechanism are we using to do that?" She squints at the board. She missed a trick.

A frown as Phineas is still listening to this lecture. Seeing Jett's frantic, he writes something quickly and shows it to the other man. It's a dream. I think. Especially with all of us in this get up. He knows Drea from having dinner at his apartment with Parker, and he's scribbling another note to ask her. You think this is the time frame for the fire? He's not asking any questions quite yet, as he is just trying to get a feel for what is going on here as he looks at his other co-workers. A slight frown to his features as he assesses the situation.

Drea gives a double-take as she recognizes Mac from the last strange dream that she was in, "Oh! Good." She lowers her voice even further, "I was worried I was the only one here." Twisting around in her seat, she spots another couple of folks looking like they just woke up, but focuses on Mac and Robin first since they're close -- only to look up sharply to the front of the theatre, "Uh... wait... did he just say poking holes into other worlds?" And there's Phineas, and she lets out another breath of relief, offering a little wave and then leaning over to read the note. She doesn't write down an answer, however, stage-whispering back instead, "I think it's related. And we should keep an eye out for smoke. Or a nose."

Mac frowns at that date, because of course after the last dream where a few of the dreamers found themselves in 1871 in a crowd fleeing from the Chicago fire, she'd looked up when exactly that took place. She scribbles on her notepad this time. chicago fire 10-8-1871 and showing it to Robin, glancing around at the others and catching sight of Arrow, and shows it to her, making a face.

But that doesn't mean she's not absolutely curious as to what the doctor is talking about. Multiple realities? She's halfway interested in the topic, and for once in school, doesn't want to be distracted by other things.

Drea's not-so-quiet whispers find Mac grinning just a little, and she taps her nose at the comment about smoke. "Big day today," she says, with a nod to indicate is in fact the day of the big blaze.

Jett's eyes flicker back toward the front when Dr. Weaver concludes the lecture that he evidently missed about a one-way study of what might lie beyond. His arm flings up into the air! PICK ME moment has arrived. If and when the Doctor allows questions (who even knows but he raised his hand anyway) he will ask, "Has anyone successfully found a connection and made a study of another reality?" He sounds so smart in the moment but hey, he's watched enough sci-fi movies to sort of figure out a worm hole when he sees one! Or time travel. Or whatever the hell the cone represents! Okay let's be real, he flunked out.

If his question wasn't just blurted out terribly rudely (if this session had no questions) he puts his hand down and tugs at the waist coat that is like so freaking form fitting that it's like cutting off air. How did people wear these things? He makes another little frown at the constriction of it all.

He does see Phineas' response and blinks. "Oh shit..." he breathes out. Shit is probably a bad word to use in 1871 but he mutters it quietly enough.

Leonora is at the back of the classroom, sleek legs crossed at her knee while she lounges back in her chair. She has a cigarette poised between her fingers, and she brings it to her lips almost instinctively as she takes a drag. When she speaks, smoke leaks from her scarlet-painted lips, wicked and draconic. "Poking holes is hardly something we should worry about." She poises the cigarette at her lips again, lounging slightly with her long legs crossed at her knee, revealing far too much sleek skin and lean muscle.

Robin holds up his hand to make a gesture that suggests overlapping circles. A venn diagram of opportunity! He glances over and pats the seat by his for Arrow and then looks to Jett shaking his head with a shrug and then gesturing to himself and Jett suggesting he's as confused as the other is. Looking to Drea he nods , picks up his tablet of paper and pokes it with his finger. Right through.

Looking to Mac's notebook he squints and his eyes get huge. The positive to this is he manages not to fall into a meltdown of panic. Looking to Jett he taps his sleeve and draws out:

🔥 ➡ Chicago Fire today

Arrow's wandering attention sharpens on the stage when she hears Weaver mention weak points between this world and others. Mac's notepad gets her attention, especially considering the last group dream they had. Her downturned lips turn further into a frown. She thumbs up though, and looks down the way at Robin. That fire emoji gets a sigh. "At least we aren't stuck inside a dollhouse this time. One emergency evac was enough for me." She probably shouldn't have said that out loud, fate being what it is, especially in a dreamscape.

She looks over when Jett asks his question and glances toward the stage, occultist in her interested in these theories, no matter how dated they are. Even though she knows there's imminent kindling by way of torching over two thousand acres. "These boots were not made for running," Arrow murmurs, glancing down at her leather boots embroidered with little flowers, granny heel and all. She calls to the stage, "Have you considered how to close a door once opened?"

"I've read it," Artemisia says with a quick smile. "So... filtering like light through a prism, then." She misses the back and forth about the fire, the notes passed, the looks shared, she's focused on the lecture. Although as Dr. Weaver weaves deeper into his subject matter, her fair brow furrows deeper. She can't keep up with that. She glances towards the others in askance as if someone - anyone - else will be able to make it make sense.

Phineas waves back to Drea and gives her a small smile. He had heard of this dream that others had shared and feels like he is now in the smack dab of it, especially when he peers at what Robin drew towards Jett's. "Well, then." He mutters. It doesn't help when commotion is outside and the streets get dark. "This is not good."

Trying to sit up and get a better look at the outside. He decides to hell with it and ignores the speaker because the outside call has his attention instead. Hearing or reading the warnings the others have done thus far. "Kinda wish this had just stayed as a talk...." Phin is too distracted by the shouts. "I think it's happening now!" He tells the group.

Jett glances toward Robin's clearly depicted mention of today being the day of some... Look, Jett didn't like school ok. He gives Robin a blink or two, but at least he knows that a FIRE named after a whole city is probably a BAD fire. "Are we... using the Looking Glass to experience ... that?" He asks in a hushed voice because Artemisia's question is being asked and he totally doesn't want to be rude to that whole outcome.

Now when it's his question that's being answered his attention snaps back up front. "Uhm... so what if I am from another reality, would that be considered you receiving something?" He gives a weak smile. He's totally not from another reality dressed the way he is right? Because he's going to throw that out there and let the Doctor decide if it was a theory or something entirely else!

The commotion obviously nets his look toward Robin mouthing and sorta whispering, "Is it happening?!"

Drea gets to her feet at the confirmation from Mac, twitching aside her dark skirts and scootching out to the end of the aisle so that she can start to pace. It's totally because of how mind-blowing the scientific mumbo-jumbo is (it's not). She stops as the Good Doctor starts to answer questions, her eyes widening. "Gods. Scientists." There's frustration, annoyance, and a little disgust in the word, and she shakes her head, unbuttoning her cuffs and starting to roll up her sleeves like she thinks that she's going to have to do manual labor soon.

The cigarette smoke from Leon catches her attention -- and something modern about her lounge, "Do you have another one of those?" But she's immediately distracted by the commotion outside, starting toward the window to look out.

Mac tugs on Robin's sleeve, then signs, we can wake up before anything happens. It's ok. Her expression that accompanies the gestures is firm, and she nods to amplify that message.

Still, she is curious about the lecture, and lifts her hand up, like a very earnest and avid student (the sort she never was). "What closure? What reversal?" she asks. "And have you considered that maybe the other side might respond via different method -- not through your device, but something else? Dreams, maybe?"

She can't help but offer a cheeky smile at that, and a wink over at Arrow and Robin. She doesn't seem too worried about the commotion outside, though she does uncross her cutely-booted ankles to get up and move if she must.

Leon arches a brow at Drea, almost smiling around the cigarette poised against her blood red lips. She starts to smile other for her words to be smothered out. She presses up to her feet, standing too tall on the heels she's chosen—or her dream self has chosen—and she steps forward with a gracefulness only achieved by someone who has spent too long on delicate, murderous heels. She steps forward, tucking elbow in close as she holds hte cigarette too close to her lips. "Sure," she murmurs, and offers a cigarette to Drea.

Robin listens to the answers curiously. Here he still signs as it's his voice and even his mental projection of himself. There are still letters floating around him to translate as is needed in the dream. 'What are the risks so far that we need to take into account on making this attempt. Are we committed to this once we start or can we back out once the catalyst is activated?' His fingers fly through concepts that he's heard about phrased on various episodes of Farscape. Watching shows helps here.

He looks over to his roomies and actually manages a silent laugh. Looking to teh rest of the class and then the Doc he signs again with captions, 'how close are we to test again?'

The light flickers through the windows, warming the night sky with an unearthly glow that's enough to send a shiver down the most resolute spine. Gathering her book, Artemisia gasps as she drops her pencil onto the ground. It rolls - rolls away - bouncing off someone's shoe and for a moment she moves as if to pick it up. She stops herself, looking towards the others with wide eyes. Some of them she recognizes but only vaguely. "Where can we go?"

Arrow smothers a laugh behind a little cough when Mac brings up dreams as a vehicle for piercing realities. She moves from her seat at the commotion, and rests a hand on the back of the one in front of her, turned to face the girl that runs in yelling about fire. Of course, several of them expected that. What she didn't expect was to see the girl from the dollhouse. There's a glance to Robin. "Follow them?" She knows they go to the house. "We saw part of this play out already."

Had she not seen Weaver gather his notes, she probably would have snooped for those.

Phineas watches all of this as if he's watching a movie. That is what dreams are like, right? In a way, watching a movie within? It's the girl who comes rushing in towards her father who catches him in surprise. Listening to the others that have experienced this before. He moves to follow those that may go out, whichever direction that is.

"We could try to get to the boat, but I'm going to guess we won't see any more than we did last time," Mac murmurs to Arrow when she suggests following the father and daughter, her gaze following after them as well. The pencil is brought to her lips to nibble on thoughtfully.

"We could steal his notes..." she suggests, brows lifting as she looks at those around her. "I mean, this already happened, yeah? It's not really stealing."

Drea looks out at the flickering light, grimacing and turning around -- and there's Leon with a cigarette. She takes it out of instinct, "Uh, thanks," and then looks past the other woman to Mac and Phineas and the other people she's pretty sure are all from the present (the future?). "Um... we might actually have a bit more smoke than I need right now, but thanks." Focusing on Phineas, she asks, "Waterfront? Wasn't that where they went in the other dream?"

Drea pauses for a moment, looking to the people with notepads, "Someone looked at all the science-stuff real well, right? Someone with a good memory? Might be good to write down right when we wake up. But for now... um... northeast? Since I've got no idea where we are in Chicago. And unless something's changed since then, we aren't going to be able to keep his notes when we wake up, right?"

Jett glances over at the others who have been in the dream with him but his attention is fixed on Dr. Weaver over there and the little girl. He follows after the girl and notes, "If you need help sir?" He queries and looks like a totally legit gentlemen in this day and age! He'd pass as one at least even doing a little tug tug on his coat as he tries to breathe in the waist coat and tail coat combination. He even thumbs the waistband of the trousers a little, looking over his shoulder toward the others.

Close behind the others, Leon blinks at the lick of flickering light. A frown tugs down at her lips, contorting her usual smile into a serious frown so few would recall her bearing no matter the ill tidings. She glances over at Drea before her gaze cuts to Mac and Arrow, once more settling into something far more foreboding than the usual optimism of the villainess. Her steps bring her close to Robin, standing behind him, as she tightens her coat around her sheath dress, covered in tassels of glinting threads. "Test?" She murmurs as she catches his signing, and her eyes cuts to the Doc. Confusion tightens her brows. "I feel like I'm missing something... like skipping an episode in a series. What do you know that I don't?" This is asked to both Robin and Artemisia. She's close behind the two, making sure that no one is left behind, but also that she is not at the back of the group.

Robin makes some emoting of agreement. Shaking his head he closes his notebook and says to the others by way of flashing marquee letters we need to go. I'm not getting my ass kicked by a burning building twice' Looking to Mac, Arrow and Leon he signs 'not stealing, preserving. We need to get her out of here. What is her name maybe we can find her later?' he signs and points to the kid.

"I don't know anything," Artemisia protests as they seem to hurry along, her gaze pulling back to the inferno outside. She frowns. "We were here to learn, weren't we?" This to Leon and Robin. She clutches her notebook close to her chest, curls twisting against her cheeks. The marquee letters cause her eyes to widen, glancing towards Robin. "We need to do what he says," she says insistently, nerves edging into her words. "We need to go."

Jett glances behind at the people that need to get out safely, "Look I don't owe them anything! But you were talking about the Looking Glass. I can at least help you find your wife?!" Jett glances to possibly who ever is closest to him, Phineas or ... Artemisia? Or well... who ever. "I'm following the Doc!" This sounds vaguely like some Back to the Future reference and he's scooting out the door after him, "Doc wait up!" Definitely Back to the Future reference!

"Yeah, you are right," Phineas responds to Drea. "Let's go there." Confirming with the rest of the group, "Waterfront right? The shipwrecks were from there?" He might be wrong. He was paying attention to the storytelling during the dinner that he and Parker hosted, but now here in this situation, it has him fumbling for words even as he keeps a good composure.

A small groan when Jett goes the other way, then the rest of the group. Looking to Drea, "Right? That is where the shipwrecks were or something else?"

"When we saw the device in the boat last time, we studied it and each memorized a section. I was thinking we could do that again, but..." Mac glances over at the man as he moves away with the little girl. "Maybe this is enough."

She probably can't do it on her own.

"If we go to a safe space, and study the drawings you all made, and memorize them, we can recreate them when we wake up," she says, with a nod to Drea. "I should be able to bring a few over with me to my dreamscape..." She chews her lower lip, and adds, "Maybe not everyone."

Jett is running after the Doctor, so that's one less.

Arrow takes one last look at the stage, then nods, turning to look at the others. She doesn't recognize all concerned from the park, but by now the dreamers tend to stand out in the crowd. She looks to Drea and Leon, then Artemisia, Jett, and Phineas. Lastly, her roomies, Robin and Mac. "Let's get out and don't stop moving. Thousands of buildings burn."

"They make it home," she says, following along to do her best to exit the theatre without getting shoved this way or that. "Do they make it to the ship?" When they spill out into the streets of Chicago, she heads vaguely in the direction of the water, trying to keep the scientist and his daughter in sight. In a press of crowds of panicked people, that's not an easy proposition. If it comes to a point where she has to decide, it's the waterfront over the science.

Not even spooky shopkeepers are immune to fire in the dreaming.

Robin might be fortified that it's a dream, or that Mac's taught him something about trying to keep a grip on his environment, or that the security of roomies and friends are around. He looks shaky as hell but sticks close taking a deep breath. Arrow said move. Every part of him makes the effort to not curl in a ball and remain useful.

Finally he signs 'is the thing here? Can we make a hole now??'

"He just said -- " Drea protests at Jett's decision to follow the Doctor, and then she smacks her forehead with her palm and shakes her head, pointing toward the stage, "Back door. Everyone's going to be in the streets." Phineas gets a nod, "Yeah. One of the shipwrecks came from here. And some people got onto a ship during the fire in another dream." A pause, and then she shrugs, "I think."

Starting up toward the stage to look for a back door, she nods to Arrow, "Yeah. Let's go." And to Mac, "If you can take us while we go, that's awesome. But I think we should keep moving. I really don't want to dream about getting burned alive."

At Mac's Dreamscape:
The roar of the fire is replaced by the roar of the ocean -- the air is salty on the lips, though a cool breeze cuts through the remaining warmth of the day's sunshine. The sand itself is still warm, will be for a few hours yet, unless one goes closer to where the tide laps against bare feet.

In the distance, the lights of a city twinkle -- Los Angeles. In the distance, fireworks pop off high in the sky.

Mac stands waiting for those who heed her call to join her. She's barefoot at the edge of the water, in a black sundress. Spork, the bulldog, bites at the water, and retreats back, only here, Spork is still a puppy, forever.

At The Townhouse:
Jett reacts to the smoke with a visible recoil and an arm across his mouth, sputtering a little against the onslaught of the gathering smoke. He looks back over his shoulder briefly to see if anyone else was following him and for a moment he thought ... well she isn't there now. He quickens his pace to not lose sight of the doctor because in this mess that would probably be very bad. He's running too and keeping pace with the Doctor and his daughter. His foot steps are heavy behind them.

At Mac's Dreamscape:
One moment, Drea is coughing on smoky air, trying to figure out where Mac went, and the next she's... not in 1871 Chicago. Even as she covers another cough, getting the last of the smoke from her lungs, she looks around, then lets out a sigh of relief. Her dark dress has changed to riding boots, jeans, and a button-up Western shirt of dark blue with orange stitching, but the sleeves are still rolled up past her elbows. She starts at the sudden beach, blinking and looking around.

"Well that's... uh... different. Very good different, too. And hey, a puppy!" Some things are important.

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Artemisa stumbles and falls into the sand. Her dress from the dreamscape is washed away with the waves of the ocean and she's left in a pair of heart speckled pj bottoms, a hoodie, and a walking cast. "What..." She peels herself back from the sand, a tremor in her voice. "What is this?"

At Mac's Dreamscape:
All Phineas knew was that he was going towards the waterfront to try and make a comparison of the shipwrecks people had been talking about. The next he is spat out in the sand. White t-shirt, gray sweats, and white socks. Eyes wide. "I don't know...." He answers Artemisia. Safe to say this might have been his first time being in someone else's Dreamscape. "I like this view much better." Smiling at the puppy as he gets up and brushes himself off.

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Arrow slows and reaches back to take Robin's hand to give him a squeeze, then she slides her hand up to hold lightly to his elbow, so she doesn't block his ability to maneuver his arm, nor to sign if needs be. What she feels in his body language, the look on his face, has her looking over to Mac and nodding, some silent communication passing between them. It's not telepathy, it's roomie looks. It's also how they communicate in line in the coffee shop when they see some sus shit going down before their eyes. "We got you," she says to Robin. Roomies take prio over scientists doomed to die in a shipwreck.

Getting schlooped from one dream to another is kinda weird, but Arrow's braced for it by the time they blorp into Mac's Dreamscape. "... Much better," she says, when they step into the salt spray and cool breeze of a California oceanside view. She smiles when she spots puppy Spork. "Yeah, this'll do." It's a rare and wide smile from Arrow at that, not self conscious at all. Her gaze shifts to Artemisia and then Phineas. "All good. We're safe here."

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Robin falls to the sand in the dream letting his fingers dig into it, the other still holding Arrow's hand. The adrenaline crashes all at once in relief, a sob, and- a puppy? Spork. Deep breath as he gives Arrow's hand a squeeze and gives a short double whistle to the puppy in a hullo. Standing Arrow, actually smiling, gets a hug from the wall, gangly man now in his normal street clothes.
he signs to the group, letters explaining 'hi spork.' looking around, the heel of his palm wipes his face giving Mac a grateful look and then to Phineas, and Arte 'we're safe. that's what happened. ty mac.'

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Turning at the sound of the others, Mac smiles, nodding to Arrow, and then to Robin at those words of thanks.

"Just my dream. You're safe here. You can hang out as long as you want, and wake up in your own beds when you're ready," she says quietly, moving away from the water to plop down in the still-warm sand. "I was in the other dream. There's a cargo ship that that weird device was on -- the one that's at the bottom of the lake. We didn't have enough time to do anything different than the last time, I don't think, so I figured it was better to come here and get out."

She looks around, smiling as Spork goes running to Robin to bounce up on his paws in front of him, then over to Drea as she says hello, too. "That's Spork. He's always a puppy in my dreams, but he's a monster now."

Pulling her knees up, she wraps her arms around them, resting her chin atop. "When you wake up, try to draw whatever you can remember, maybe, of the notes. I didn't take as good of notes as some of you. We did that when we saw the device last time. Not sure what good it does, but eventually maybe we can figure it out. Or maybe we don't want to. Talking to other dimensions... I don't know. I could barely understand physics, let alone quantum physics."

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Drea looks over to Robin's signing, frowning as she tries to follow it with her very poor understanding of ASL, but the letters that follow make it significantly easier. "Sooo..." she looks around the group, "Hi, my name is Drea and I work at Spellbound too." A beat pause, her fingers signing that very slowly, and then she admits (without signing, because she's working on out-loud-word-thoughts), "And I don't think that I'll ever get used to being in a Dream like that. But this one is way nicer than fighting science-guards or seeing the Chicago Fire firsthand."

She takes a long, shivery breath and lets it out just as slowly, working to calm her racing heart, kneeling down in the sand to offer a hand out to Spork to sniff and then to give him some scruffles and pats. "Hi Spork. Whosa good baby monster? Um, I was in another one you were in. With the science-guards and fixing the McGuffin. But yeah. I didn't get any good notes, and I doubt I would understand them anyhow. But I got the Alice in Wonderland idea, and that he was poking his way into another world and getting something back. Maybe magic."

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Phineas is better at drawing plant matter or ghosts but is a pretty good note taker. Nodding when he hears Mac and takes in her words. "I only knew of all this..." He gestures with a hand to where the dream that they just escaped from was. "Because Parker and I had hosted a dinner party at our place. Drea was there. This is all somehow linked to the park."

He rubbed his hand up and down his face as he tried to remember all the information shared. "I remember something about shipwrecks such as the one found on the waterfront in Chicago, and there was a fire." Oh yes, the professor talked about dimensions and an understanding comes to him as he looks at Drea and says, "The clock tower, do you think it came from another time?" Hopefully he makes sense to the woman as he says that.

"Oh and I am Phineas." In case the others do not know who he is. Quieting when Drea speaks up. Taking in another calming breath. It is one thing to talk about fire, but the potential of being in one? That is a little harder to shake off.

At Mac's Dreamscape:
"A cuddly monster," Arrow says of Spork, moving to drop into a seat on the sand, even in a dream gown. Doesn't matter. Not like there's a dry cleaning bill with that. She makes it look natural, not like she's seated beside Robin in case he needs an emergency hug. She nudges him with her shoulder and then drags her free hand through the granules of sand, tracing absent patterns. "Arrow. I work at the Boo'ed Walk in the occult shop. Last time I dreamed this, I was lost in that little girl's dollhouse. So we keep seeing different snippets of this story. But it's always the device, the ship, the scientist, or maybe a bit of each? Maybe it's about his daughter somehow too. I don't know, but something's showing us different cutscenes of their lives on the same night." She adds this to what Mac says, repeating bits.

She looks over at Phineas. "Nice to meet you." She nods to Drea too, whom she's seen around at some point. "It's all tied up with our abilities and our weird little amusement park home. We're getting closer. I think we are." She looks over to Mac, then Robin. The I hope remains unspoken.

At Mac's Dreamscape:
"That's right. I remember now," Mac says with a smile to Drea when she is reminded of that shared dream. She suddenly sits up straighter.

"That was the guy!"

Maybe they all knew that before her, but it suddenly clicks. "That was the guy who told us to fix the device that got hauled off by the brute squad."

She realizes she hasn't introduced herself, and clears her throat, a little awkward. "I'm Mac. I usually work at the Haunted Estate, but I work other ride ops. Super boring. But anyway. Everyone write down what you remember, and we can start a group text to fill in the gaps, hopefully?"

To her roommates, she adds, "First one up makes us pancakes."

At Mac's Dreamscape:
"Deal." Arrow agrees, trusting in two things. 1) Together they can all make some kind of progress on this mystery, and 2) she'll be making pancakes shortly.

At Mac's Dreamscape:
Drea points over to Phineas at his description, "There's something to do with magic under the shipwreck near Spellbound. The wreck was a boat that left the Chicago docks during the fire. There may have been zombie pirates involved too? And then there was running through tunnels away from creatures. And then a scientist getting kidnapped by some science-guards with wrench-maces -- you're sure that was Dr. Whatshisname from today? I couldn't remember if he had the British accent from today. Tonight. Whatever."

She nods over to Arrow, "Hi. And I hadn't heard anything about a dollhouse." She blinks, "Oh, yeah. And to what Phineas was saying. There's a clocktower somewhere, and the tunnels with the creatures and the kidnapped scientist and the McGuffin that we had to fix are under the clocktower? Close to it? That's what the salt said, anyhow." That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but she plows on anyhow, "And they could be somewhere else... I was sort of thinking maybe the Alice-Poking was how magic got into this world. But yeah. I'll try to write down what I remember."

At Mac's Dreamscape:
There's a nod that comes from Phineas when he hears Mac—smiling when he hears the deal between the roommates. He looks over at Mac. "Uhh. Is there a way I get out of here or do I close my eyes and wish myself back to bed?" He really does not know how this works. Apparently he does not know a lot of dreamers, so yes, this is his question. Whatever way he's to leave he does so.

Before hand he says, "I am around the Boo'd Walk. I'll see you all around." He smiles at Drea when he does the summary. "Thank you. I couldn't remember everything."