I think I was doing okay with the future. And with being able to turn into a sand monster. And with getting the equipment back into good working order. But I just spotted Green Lantern walking along a river that was flowing from the sky to the floor, and, and, and I could sort of ignore it while the other guys were around, but now I'm on my own.
I feel like the mask is… Like it's holding my mouth shut so I can't breathe. I know it's not, but that's…
Perhaps OL can redesign it for you, after all this? If it's still modelled on the
wartime style, I don't
doubt it's awkward-feeling.
What would Wesley do?
Leave the mask alone, stay calm. Straighten up. They can't see your face, and people always find that intimidating. Humans, anyway. And these people are mostly-. Okay, that guy isn't, but most of them sure look human. Walk like I've got a purpose, like I know where I'm going.
Hmm... An elemental spirit, or one of their descendants, I wonder? At any rate, it's unimportant. Good to see Sand focusing on
a goal...
I don't know where I'm going.
Green Lantern's been a super hero for… Seventy years now. He always knows what he's going. Orange Lantern looked like a guy who always knows what he's doing too, even if it's something crazy. The negro wizard seemed like a fellow who can just go with the flow, and the demon is a demon.
I know, he's a product of his time, but... I really hope you don't use
those words in public, Sand. Some folks might take violent exception to them...
I'm pretty sure I never felt this unsure when I went out with Wesley. But now I've gotta make my own decisions…
That building. People are going in and coming out, and I can hear loud talking. It could be a bar. No, wait, do moslems have those? Maybe a restaurant then. Whichever it is, there'll be people to talk to.
Something like a
restaurant, yes...
I walk confidently towards the door, push through and take in… The scent of coffee? Oh, right, I think I remember something about moslems being big coffee drinkers. It makes sense that they would serve something like that here. I'm not sure that coffee gets people talking like liquor does, but I can give it a try.
"Sir?" A fellow with a tray -probably a waiter- bows politely. "Your table is this way."
Yeah, the Middle Eastern countries did like their
coffee back in
this Baghdad's day. Even if it's
maybe a few centuries anachronous, the original version of Baghdad coming from the 8th century as it did...
They actually seat people at a place like this? Ah, okay, that helps with me not knowing how the locals place their orders.
"Lead the way."
Let's hope this isn't a lead-in to
trouble, then. It would be entirely in character to such a realm.
I follow him across the main room, through another door and down a short corridor, out into a small garden. There's a fountain in the middle, a couple of benches and some plants that I… I don't recognize. That one's some kind of cactus, and its flowering. I don't think I've ever seen one of them do that before.
There's also a table, with a tray on it. On the tray are a coffee pot and a couple of small cups, and on the other side of the table…
Probably a
dream of a Cacti, then, since they're not particularly common in the Middle East.
"I will leave you with your guest, sir."
I see a wealthy merchant, but at the same time I don't. I see expensive clothes, but it's almost like they're floating around him rather than being worn by him. Not literally, but there's a sort of… Lack of connection between the accoutrements and man. And that man's got the same Mediterranean skin color as the other locals, but it's… Make-up, with… Pure white underneath. His hair is jet black and he… Both is and isn't wearing a turban.
Let me guess, his robes have a stylishly
subtle flame-pattern motif? It is a recurring design motif of
his...
Oh. Orange Lantern told me about-.
"Please, be seated."
Ah, yes. The
voice of an Endless. That subtle impression that you're not just hearing it with your ears, but also your
soul...
I walk towards the bench opposite him as he pours me a cup of coffee. "You're him, aren't you? Morpheus. Dream."
"Those are two of my names. How do you take your coffee?"
Interesting. I wonder what brought him here. Sanderson's arrival in the Dreaming?
I frown. It's just the pot… And jars of sugars both are and aren't there, along with jugs of milk and cream. I'm not sure that taking anything from those is a good idea.
"Thank you, but I'll just take it straight."
...Probably a good idea. Mortal flesh and figments of Dreaming might no be as
compatible as you'd think.
"As you wish."
I… I can't drink with this mask on. I'm not sure I should take it off-.
"Sanderson Hawkins, most creatures wear many masks, but there is nothing you can do that will obscure your identity from me."
Certainly, Morpheus himself has a natty
helmet, but he doesn't wear it all the time. And i don't think
anyone here is going to care who you are.
Orange Lantern didn't say exactly what he is or what he can do, but he's supposed to be real powerful. This whole dream place is his. Which means that's probably true, and I can't think of any other reason to cover my face up. Not if he can just make anything he likes whenever he likes. I reach up, then take off my hat and mask and put them on the table next to the coffee pot.
"Ah-. Thank you." He looks at me… I want to say 'blankly', but the floating… False face? Dream face? Makes it a little hard to tell exactly what his real expression is. "For telling Orange Lantern that I was still alive. I'd have stayed trapped for even longer if you hadn't."
To be fair, Morpheus' default expression is generally a mask of blank amusement (or bemusement) anyway. When he isn't changing appearance to match his observer's expectations, anyway.
"It seemed appropriate. Your mentor was hurt when he touched my realm, and yet chose to aid others with what he learned. Even taking one of my sobriquets as his own in tribute."
"That wasn't you? I mean, you didn't give that to him?"
Certainly, he was better than fellows like
Doctor John Dee (Who did, for a while, possess Dream's
Ruby.) Not one of the nice ones,
him.
"I was indisposed. Had I been free to act, I would most likely have warned him off."
"So do you not want people doing good in your name? Or are you annoyed that he was here without your permission?"
Morpheus cares little for what mortals do, I think. Few of them make any mark in the world anyway. At least, until they impact on him or his
responsibilities...
"I have spent some time thinking about that. Personally, I care very little either way for sages who uses the Dream to learn of the present or to try and divine the future. The Dream is a place of wonder, both wondrous joy and wondrous terror. If someone was using the Dream to injure others as your captures were then it would be a different matter, and I would personally act against those who took my domain for their own."
"Wesley Dodds was in the former category, and came by his connection accidentally so I cannot even fault him for a mindful intrusion. I should however credit him for portraying the Dream in a positive light without thought of reward, even if that was not his intent."
And when you're on Dream's good side, that's pleasant enough. Now, if you get on his
bad side...
"Does that credit extend to helping us get into the Tower of Fate?"
"The Tower of Fate? That would be outside of the Dream."
And thus outside his area of concern. One thing Morpheus
is big on is proprieties and boundaries... In his own series, that's ultimately responsible for his
downfall, in a way...
"Yes, but we're getting in from the Dream. Doctor.. Mist made it sound like that's pretty dangerous, so if there's anything you can do to help us out..?"
"When the Tower was created, the Lords of Order made a pact with me so that I would allow it to exist within the Dream. It would violate it for me to simply transport you inside."
...But providing a measure of aid in acquiring what you need to gain access yourselves, that's
another story.
I nod. "I understand."
"Why do you want to get inside from the Dream? It must be easier for you to get in through the entrance in the material world."
Ah, yes, that's the rub. After all, if the Tower's owner doesn't
want it being found...
"We think there's a guy called John Constantine trapped in there by the current Doctor Fate. We want to free him, and Doctor Fate's not exactly going to let us in the front door."
"Constantine? Hm. Then perhaps there are things that I may do without breaking my word. Tell me, do you intent to take up your father's mantel?"
Ah, yes, another mortal to which he owes a debt. And Morpheus honours debts, no matter how small.
"As a super hero?" Am I? I wasn't sure. But the moment Green Lantern asked, I couldn't get it on fast enough. Guess I couldn't even fool myself, even if I do need to get back in training first. "Not right now. But I probably will in the future."
"Constantine spent some time in possession of a piece of my property. A bag of Dream stuff. Given how much exposure to the Dream you already have, it would be a simple matter for me to grant you the ability to feel it."
Well, that
would be quite helpful... What's the catch?
"Okay. What's the down side?"
"I would do so by bounding narratives and stories to you. You would almost certainly begin sharing your father's prophetic visions, and I know those greatly pained him."
A power he
did eventually possess in the comics, no less. Though not a
pleasant benefit...
"Oh."
I look down at my gasmask again. It's Sandman's mask, but it didn't make me Sandman. And it didn't make Wesley Sandman. But those visions, and wanting to fix them, those kind of did.
Well, don't complain
later if this bites you in the ass...
"Okay." I look back up at him. "Hit m-."
He blows the sand right in my face, and then-.
...Because you did
ask for it.