Who: Neil & Rost Where: phone, Neil's place When: Thursday afternoon, 01/05 Status: complete
Neil had to wonder just what on earth was wrong with him when he woke up on Wednesday morning. Memories of the dream he'd had the night before kept coming back, vivid and disturbing and he would have liked to blame Jane's painting as he'd thought about it quite a bit the night before, but the dream had been sexual and disturbing in different ways. He'd seen what he could only describe as a succubus doing magic and then copulating with a man he knew pretty well: Rostislav Zelenka. If anyone had told Neil he would have a sex dream about the man he would have been aghast - as he was now that he had. He almost wrote it off as supernatural if only because he refused to think his brain could come up with that and then he wondered if it was Jane messing with his dreams. It wouldn't be the first time but it certainly would be the most invasive one yet.
He tried his best to forget it until Carson spoke to him and verified that this had been a thing with all the dreamers. Not the sex dream, not that Neil knew of, but dreaming of a random person going about their day until their eyes suddenly turned red. That was why he'd thought the lady in his dream was a succubus, definitely a demon something, riding his friend. Now that he knew that it was something they'd all experienced, he started worrying. What if Rost was in danger? Why else would he dream of him? Who was the woman? It was late when he talked to Carson so he didn't want to risk being rude by calling Rost so late. It felt a little silly because what if his life was in danger? Etiquette be damned if that was the case, right? But Neil's anxiety said no. So he didn't call him until Thursday afternoon when he was done with work and home safely. He might have gone by his trailer to see if he was there but it was cold out and if felt wiser to either speak on the phone or set up a meeting somewhere warm.
Wednesday had been a trial for the three lovers in their small mobile home, and despite the fact that it ended with Greer coming back to her senses, it had still worn Rost out. They’d held each other and rested, but he was still tired when Thursday morning rolled around, so he slept in late. It was hard not to worry that Greer would be out of her mind again, but she seemed to be herself, so that was something. None of them had any answers, and they were all worried. Rost was making plans to go out to the O’Reilly’s place and try to talk to Shayna Mae when his phone rang with an unexpected number on the caller ID. Frowning a touch, Rost answered. “Hello?” he greeted, trying to remember the last time Neil had actually called him.
Since Neil so rarely called Rost and he wasn't even sure if Rost still had his number, the way Rost replied made him worry that Rost had no idea who was calling and that just made this all the more awkward. "Hello, Rostislav? It's Neil. Neil Wainscott?" He winced as he spoke and this awkward introduction only made the reason he was calling feel all the worse. "Librarian," he added and realized instantly it wasn't really needed so as soon as Rost made it known he knew who this was he relaxed a little. "I know it's not like me to call, I- don't really have a good reason, I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I had... Well, you're a superstitious man so I'll come right out and say it. I had a strange dream about you and I have reason to believe it may have been more than just a dream. Are you well?"
As soon as Neil started to talk, Rost realized he should’ve been more clear with his greeting, but they got through the awkward moment, with a tiny bit of amusement on Rost’s end at the ‘librarian’ distinction. As he listened to what Neil said, however, that feeling faded right back into concern. He didn’t really consider himself superstitious, more aware of the dangers that surrounded them and taking all possible steps to protect himself and those he loved, but that was a quibble. Rost’s heart had started to thump harder. “I am ... physically well, but the rest is complex,” he admitted. Greer and Dev were talking in the living room, so Rost slipped into the bedroom and quietly closed the door. “What was your dream, Neil?”
There was no way Neil was going into details and he felt his face heat up considerably just at the thought of it. God he hoped that hadn't been a thing that had been really happening or he'd quite literally seen his acquaintance have sex and that was just terrible! "Well, you were with a woman and she uh, she appeared to be a witch of some kind or a demon, possibly. You were talking." What was a little white lie in the grand scheme of things? "And I couldn't hear what about but at the end of the dream she looked up and her eyes were red. Not as if she was just high but as if she was possessed or evil. I dismissed it but I spoke to a friend today and they had a similar dream about someone else and I'm loathe to dismiss that as strange coincidence."
Rost frowned thoughtfully as Neil talked, his gaze ticking to the back of the door as he sat down on the edge of the bed. A woman who appeared to be a witch or a demon? Rost knew a lot of literal witches, so that wasn’t a very helpful descriptor. “Red eyes,” he echoed in a thoughtful murmur. That of course gave him a feeling of unease, and he thought that Greer’s eyes had been metaphorically flashing red the day before ... perhaps that had been what Neil was dreaming about? Rost hadn’t known he was psychic. “What did she look like? Besides red eyes. I know many women who look like witches.” He huffed a tiny sound of amusement.
Describing people was a skill Neil wished he was better at. He enjoyed it when books described people in depth, often in ways that didn't purely rely on shapes and color, but he himself had never had the talent for it. He found himself sorely lacking now, frowning as he thought about it. "She had long brown hair," he said and that was also true for many women so that didn't feel very helpful. "At one point she was reading tarot cards, I think it was. It certainly wasn't Solitaire... She had a blouse on, very... Gypsy'ish?" She'd also worn many necklaces even when she was naked but Neil didn't really want to think about her perky breasts, let alone speak of them.
He winced a tiny bit at the G-word, but Rost didn’t bother to point out the gaffe. Neil was the nervous sort, and that kind of thing didn’t really bother Rost that much. The tarot cards really tipped him off, because he only knew one woman who for sure did those. And he’d actually talked to her the day before, because he talked to her every day. She didn’t have red eyes in any literal sense, but ... dreams were often not literal. “I think that was my girlfriend Greer,” Rost said, a puzzled frown crossing his face again. “She is not quite a witch, but certainly not demon.”
"Oh," Neil said quietly, his anxiety growing. "It doesn't necessarily mean- I mean... It was just a dream. I still would feel ill at ease if I didn't warn you and something went wrong. Since I wasn't the only one who had this dream." Could he tell Rost about the other dreamers? He probably could, he actually liked Rostislav and he knew the man had an open mind. "Things have been strange," he sighed, unsure he really could say everything that was on his mind. "It is not the first time I share a dream with someone and it was... more than one person. So it could just be mind-games and have nothing to do with your Greer, I'm just concerned, is all."
More concern bubbled up in Rost, and he started to get a slight surreal feeling, like he might be dreaming himself. The words ‘things have been strange’ sent a little chill up his spine. He knew what that was like, at least. Things had been strange for them too. “More than one person dreamed of my Greer?” he asked, sounding slightly alarmed. A shared dream was odd enough, but a dream about Greer spread amongst many people he didn’t even know? That was more than worrisome, considering recent events. “Things here have not been ... normal, either,” he admitted quietly. “I am worried, my friend.”
"Oh," Neil said again. "No! No not of Greer... But of people with red eyes. I'm sorry to worry you, I don't know what it means. I thought it meant she was evil, I thought... You were being accosted by a demon if I'm to be perfectly honest. Knowing she's your girlfriend changes everything. I didn't even know you had a girlfriend." He laughed awkwardly, the memory of the very graphic sex flashing in his mind, Greer - if that really had been her - riding Rost like some sort of succubus, lustful and hedonistic and then those terrible red eyes. He cleared his throat, face burning from embarrassment. "I don't know who the others are, it was unclear when we spoke."
Rost wasn’t completely sure of the definition of ‘accosted,’ but he could figure enough of it out through context. It was a little confusing, since Neil said they’d just been talking in his dream, but maybe he was just being dramatic. He was like that sometimes. If the fog monster scratch and the two days of out of character behavior hadn’t happened, he would probably just laugh it off. Only a dream. But this played so strangely into what they’d been experiencing, Rost was taking it seriously. “Yes, a girlfriend and boyfriend both,” he said absently. “She is not evil, but she has been acting strangely. She was hurt, in the fog. By one of the creatures. Since then, two random days of non-Greer behavior ... after the first, we could not wake her all night.”
Neil was momentarily stumped by the 'girlfriend and boyfriend' comment but their conversation was a serious one and he couldn't really linger on that surprise. Of course Rost had... both. He was so odd. Neil was more baffled than disgusted by it, but he didn't really have the time to process it because what Rost said next was concerning. "That... that thing in the fog. It's- it's somehow connected to these dreams I've been having," he blurted out and it felt like some pieces were coming together. Had all those people they'd dreamed about been hurt too? Was it all connected? "How was she hurt? What happened?" Had it scratched her? It couldn't have bitten her, she wouldn't be in one piece if it had but this made Neil think of werewolves and similar myths. Why else would he dream about a woman hurt by the very same monster that had been plaguing him and the others?
Connections rarely surprised Rost. He knew the universe and reality itself was a vast network of overlapping experiences and perspectives and events that fed into one another into a grand spiraling eternal dance of causality. But this one caught him off guard a bit. The things that had hurt Greer and so many others were related to Neil’s dreams. And then he dreamed about Greer herself, with an obviously evil influence over her. Meanwhile she’d acted pretty evil on two separate occasions now. Rost felt his worry start to ratchet upward. “She was scratched,” he told Neil, his heart thundering harder in his ears. “In the back. But the wound, it has already healed. It is not natural, Neil. What do you know about these things?”
Neil realized he was biting his nails once he tore into one too deep so it hurt. He winced and clenched his fist, torn between decisions. "We should meet and talk," he said, brows drawn together as he fretted over all the information he was now processing. "Where are you? You could come over, I'll make tea." They could even smoke a bowl, settle the nerves a little. Neil knew he especially needed that because he was feeling terribly antsy now. He almost missed it when the only thing he was afraid of was AIR, things had gotten so much more complicated lately.
Rost didn’t think that was a bad idea, he had some of his own paranoia about talking about certain things over the phone. Things were better in person. He briefly considered asking if he could bring Greer and Devlin as well, but he knew Neil well enough to know that would go over like a lead balloon. Especially if he thought Greer was something evil now. “I will come,” he decided, standing up again. He was supposed to try and drum up witch support as well, perhaps he could make a couple of other stops while he was out. “Be there within the hour. Thank you Neil.”
It was enough time for Neil to tidy up - which wasn't totally necessary but he still felt better if he dusted a little and did the dishes - all two of them - before getting a guest, even if that guest was as laid back as Rost was. When Rost arrived he had tea ready and cooling down in the living room and instantly went to invite him in and take his jacket. "Come on in, there's tea and some weed if you want some. I know I do, I'm a little... things have been very stressful."
He gave the small man an indulgent smile as he took Rost’s shabby coat to hang it up. It was such a small but sweet, overly formal gesture. That was Neil in a nutshell. The hospitable European in him appreciated it. He walked over to the couch to sit down in front of the tea, reaching to take the cup closest to him. It was nice and fragrant and hot, pretty perfect really, and Rost felt a small sense of calm that was possibly psychosomatic, but still comforting. “I will smoke with you, yes. Stressful only begins the coverage,” he said with a faint chuckle.
Tea really was the only thing Neil felt like he was really good at so it was important to him that people appreciated that. So many people thought you could just dump a tea bag in boiling water and no... No. He sat down with his own cup and got the weed ready, being a good host and all. "I should tell you everything from the start since it now seems like you are - unfortunately - tangled up in all of it too," he started. "I really hoped we could contain it, there's already four of us sharing dreams and... other things. I sometimes worry we're to blame for a lot of things that have gone awry lately.”
Starting at the beginning was usually the best way to go about things, so Rost was glad he wasn’t going to have to ask a dozen stupid questions just to get a broader understanding of what was going on. Leave it to Neil to be thorough and detail-oriented. Rost sat back comfortably and sipped his tea, crossing one leg over the other as he watched Neil’s skilled fingers get the smoke ready. “Do not blame yourself,” Rost counseled softly. “No matter what is happening ... it is this town. It brings darkness to all of us. Please do tell me all you can.”
Neil did try to be thorough and detail-oriented as he started telling Rost what was going on. It helped that it was just the two of them and he had a perfect cup of tea - and within minutes a bowl to smoke as well. It was all so chaotic that a chronological order of events was the safest bet and he began by telling him about how it all began with his mirror. He wasn't sure if he should name the others as he spoke but quickly decided that trying to do this anonymously would only complicate the story. He trusted Rost and trust wasn't easily doled out in Neil's life. He told him how he'd first met Nic and how they'd established they'd shared a dream and then tracked down the others. "It escalated, started affecting our lives more and more, sent us sleepwalking into the middle of the road, made us feel strange and unlike ourselves. It's hard to tell just how much of it is connected to the mirror and the dreams but I suspect a lot of it is." He sipped his tea before putting down the cup to reach for the pipe instead. Talking about it all was making him feel more and more nervous all over again.
"It has been somewhat awkward, considering our fourth is a teenage girl," he muttered with a little wince. "Jules Cooper. She's still in high school, I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be for her to meet us but at least we now have another woman involved. Jane... She has abilities of our own and I brought her in to help." Abilities that may have made things worse, he thought, because what if it was exactly that meddling that caused the creatures out of their dreams and into reality? "She can visit your dreams, affect them or observe them, so I thought she could perhaps find out what was linking us together, help us stop it before it got worse and for a while it seemed to have worked. She saw the creature that's been haunting us and it looks exactly like the monster that attacked your girlfriend." He reached for a book he kept on the living room table, flipping it open to find the little drawing Jane had made of the fog monster so that he could hand it to Rost. "After that nothing happened for a while, until the fog hit and... Now we're sharing dreams again and this dream I had about you and your girlfriend was just one of many."
Rost listened to all of it with minimal interjections, sipping on both the pipe and his tea in almost equal measure. He felt himself start to relax even more, a sense of calm creeping over him. He was still uneasy about all of this naturally, but it seemed a little less dire now that he was getting stoned. Neil’s story was also genuinely fascinating, this type of thing was different than anything Rost had ever heard of. He nodded slowly as Neil stopped for a moment, mulling it all over in his mind. “All of these other dreams ... do you know who they are?” he asked, arching a brow at Neil curiously. “Anything in common?” The monster had turned up in Neil’s shared dreams, and then they had shown up in real life and hurt Greer ... then Greer had turned up in a dream. It was all too coincidental to be a fluke of some kind.
Neil sighed and slumped down in his seat a little. They needed to figure out who everyone was in that dream and whether they'd all gotten hurt too and it just seemed so insurmountable all of a sudden. "I spoke with Carson who spoke with Nic, I think. We didn't have much time to get into details, I was at work." He let out a sad little laugh, shaking his head. "Work seems so unimportant right now. I just go to work every day and do my job like the world isn't imploding before my very eyes." It was funny, which told him he was feeling the effects of the pot already and he was intensely grateful for it. "Maybe those other people weren't hurt in the fog, then I have no idea what the connection is - if there is any."
Rost gave a little huff and nodded -- he understood about work. Especially since his workplace was particularly haunted ground. Rost still kept going though, at least since the unnatural heat and bad feelings left the place. The statues moving all into the same position had been unsettling, but duty called, and there had been a lot of graves to dig lately. He was still burying victims of the fog, grateful every single time that Greer hadn’t been one of them. At least not one of the ones who had died -- she was a victim in another sense, apparently. “We will find one,” he told Neil, sounding fairly confident about that. “Sometimes things are random ... often they are not. I think there must be some connection. If you can identify all people from the dream. I do not know if we can stop anything that is happening, but knowing more could help.”
"I almost wish we wouldn't," Neil admitted. "I just want it all to stop but it keeps escalating. I've lived a lifetime of fear of one thing and then all the scary things end up coming from a completely different direction." It was getting easier to talk about AIR and he wasn't sure if now was just because of the weed or because he'd already told people about it recently. It just didn't seem like such a big deal anymore given the gravity of the more recent events. Of course the two could be connected. He wouldn't put it past the institute to orchestrate something like the fog and the monsters in it. Who knew what they were capable of. "When I was very little, I went missing for two years," he said quietly. "I never talked about what happened, I always claimed I didn't remember but I did. All of us did. Bad things, Rostislav. Bad people... And the ones who got away when I did - they've been going missing if they come back here. Someone out there is experimenting on children and... apparently whatever they're trying to do is working because we all have something... something going on.”
“Some power,” Rost added with a slow nod. Neil had mentioned that the Jane woman could enter people’s dreams, and Neil himself had been sharing dreams with others, so it stood to reason that all of that had come from the place that had taken them as children. Rost didn’t know much about the science of psychic abilities or anything, but he fully believed in them and more. He also believed that there were immoral people who would steal children to do experiments on them. “I am sorry to hear of your childhood pain,” he told Neil at the moment, looking sincere about that. “No one deserves such a thing. But perhaps it gave you a gift that can be used now. I am sure that all heroes wish it would just stop.” Not that he was directly calling Neil a hero, but there had to be a reason these particular people were caught up in this particular mess.
A hero. The word was a terrible misnomer for Neil Wainscott of all people, but it still made him feel a little warmer when Rost said the words, even if he wasn't directly speaking about Neil. It still felt like it and it made him feel amused and bashful but also... good. What if he was going to be a hero? God he didn't want to be, heroes suffered a lot and he didn't want more suffering but... Neil Wainscott. A hero? He let out a little laugh at the thought and tucked his hair behind his ears as if somehow tidying himself up a little could make him more worthy of the title. "I'm sure they do," he mumbled, reaching for his tea again. "I just worry we're... causing this somehow. I don't know how to stop it if that's the case." Yeah, he was far more likely to be the accidental villain, wasn't he... That thought was a lot less pleasant and he wasn't naive enough to think good intentions always resulted in good deeds.
“Hey, my friend,” Rost murmured with a soft frown. He reached over to pat Neil’s shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. “If something is using you to do bad, it is obvious beyond your control. This is no small accident or mistake, it sounds much bigger than each of us.” That probably wasn’t terribly comforting, but he at least hoped that Neil knew it wasn’t his fault. If there was some being using their dreams as an entry into their world, what were they supposed to do about it? Yes, that definitely wasn’t comforting. “Greer and Dev and I spoke of taking our issue to some witches, to see if they are able to help, or if they know anything. Can I speak of what you have told me, or you prefer it secret?”
"One of the people I share dreams with is a witch," Neil said and it was almost funny how easily the truth flowed from his lips now. He'd spent so long keeping it all bottled up inside but the dam had broken and it seemed he couldn't stop speaking. Thankfully it was just Rost and he trusted the man. "Nic Castell. He's found no rhyme or reason to any of this either, despite his gifts. If you know someone who can help, by all means, tell them everything." Everything? He questioned that for a second, a remnant of his paranoia fluttering in his chest, reminding him that not everyone could be trusted but he was honestly just so tired of it all, the fear, the paranoia, the constant vigilance. He didn't quite feel like quitting and 'let them come' was a thought that was quickly shoved aside when it surfaced, but he felt close to it. Everything was so much bigger than him, he wasn't qualified to deal with it at all.
Oh right, Nic Castell. Rost had dealings much more often with Zania, so that connection hadn’t quite clicked in his mind when Neil was telling him the whole story. There was so much else to pay attention to. He grunted softly and furrowed his brow in thought. If Nic knew about all this, surely Zania did too, and if both of the Castell twins didn’t know what to do with their situation, would any of the other witches? It was worth asking, he supposed. Maybe all of them should be aware of what was going on, like a magical network of help. Or maybe that was too idealistic. “I will try,” he promised Neil in the meantime. It was all he could do, but he had to, for the multiple people in his life now who were connected to all this. “Please to keep me informed, if anything else comes into light, yes? I love Greer dearly, and we are all worried for her.”
"Of course," Neil replied with a sad little smile. "I feel like... maybe there are more pieces to this puzzle and we need to talk to everyone involved..." He trailed off, his expression smoothing out into a blank one before his brows drew together in frustration. "Good God, I sound like that lunatic man with his theories... This whole mess is maddening, Rostislav." Maybe Vex was right on some level, he at least had acknowledged that he was crazy - did that mean they were more alike than Neil was comfortable with? He belatedly realized Rost had no idea who he was talking about now so he pulled himself together for his sake. "There's a man Jane introduced me to who was also taken, he has visions, maybe he'll know more. I will talk to Jane again."
Rost was well used to being briefly lost in conversations, so all he’d done was raise his eyebrows questioningly. Luckily Neil filled him in. He made an ‘ahh’ sort of sound and nodded. Rost couldn’t assume anyone was actually a lunatic, since that was an accusation often tossed at him, and he knew how inaccurate it could be. Who was to say who was crazy when they lived in this sort of world? Rost was curious to meet this gentleman now. “If you find out anything ...” he told Neil at the moment, trailing off and nodding. They would keep in touch. They had to, now. “And I will keep you up to date. We all must work together, I feel, if we are to survive.” Rost sounded serious because it all felt so serious. A lot of people had already lost their lives, who knew what was just around the corner.
There was a stressful little thought popping up in Neil's mind and it would have likely caused him to panic if not for the weed: An image of his tiny little apartment full of people as they kept finding more and more connections and needed everyone to come together. It was illogical, they would never choose to meet here, but it was his brain's way of trying to picture the crowd they'd amass at some point and whether it was his apartment or somewhere else, it was frankly unnerving. "I will do my part," he said and took a deep, shaky breath. "We will keep digging and hopefully find something before..." It's too late? It escalates? He had no idea if there was an endgame here. What if they were running out of time?
Rost understood the end of that sentence even without the words, and he nodded and patted Neil on the shoulder again. “Try not to fret, my friend,” he said, aware of just how impossible that was for Neil. For himself too, if he was being honest, but the weed had given him a sense of calm. Light almost always triumphed eventually, and they were on the side of light in all this. Sometimes it was difficult to be optimistic, but Rost was going to try now -- there were too many people he cared about involved in this mess. He finished off the tea in his cup and set it on the coffee table again. “Thank you for telling me all of this, and concern for me,” he told Neil, since it was important to be appreciative when people actually gave a shit. “You are a good friend. I hope to introduce you to my loves some day.” He grinned a bit, thinking he would have to warn Greer not to just grab Neil’s hand to read his palm right off the bat.
Neil made a funny face at the thought of that, entirely not on purpose. Meeting Rost's 'loves', his 'lovers', his more than one lovers... He wasn't sure he was up for that at all, it was so weird. It was also weird to hear he was a good friend, that wasn't really something he heard often - or at all. "Well I'm fond of you," he blurted out a little awkwardly. "So I don't want to see you get hurt." There weren't many people he was 'fond of' in the first place, though he found the number was growing. Not much and certainly not fast but steadily. He could say he actually cared about the people he was sharing dreams with. They might never become friends but he honest to god cared about them now, which felt a little alien as well. He even... cared about Jane. She annoyed him, yes, and exasperated him constantly but he still cared. In a way. He didn't want to examine that too closely and for the moment it was easy to blame the weed. "I fear things will only get worse," he admitted. "But... the more we know- you know. Knowledge is power."
Rost had few friends himself, so he somewhat understood where that awkwardness came from. He knew and was friendly with a lot of people, but there were very few he called true friends. Neil was one of them, though their relationship was fairly low maintenance. Rost understood introverts too. At least, it had been low maintenance until very recently. But they would find their way out of it, he hoped. “I am fond of you as well,” Rost told him, then nodded his agreement about knowledge. “The more we know, the better. We will keep in touch. In meantime, I am going to leave you to your evening.” Rost stood up and rolled his shoulders to give his back a little stretch.
As much as Neil wanted to keep people at a distance, he really did feel weirdly gooey inside when people told him they liked him - which again, wasn't often at all. He supposed that meant he wasn't a sociopath or a completely lost cause but it was just so much easier not to be close to people. People were so messy, relationships were so hard... Still. Rost was fond of him too, he knew how not to overstay his welcome and he didn't require constant interactions to maintain this friendship. It was perfect, really, and definitely played a big part in why Neil liked him. Neil got up as well, setting the cup of tea down neatly. "Thank you for coming," he told him. "It was... it didn't feel right to discuss this over the phone." Even if he was glad his initial flustered reaction to telling Rost about the dream was something Rost couldn't see over the phone. "Do let me know if anything noteworthy happens."
“I will,” Rost promised. He went to the door and got his coat on, then pulled a thick knit hat down over his hair. It was bitter cold out, but he still kind of loved winter and getting all bundled up for it. Once he was all buttoned up, Rost offered his hand out to Neil for a shake. He would’ve hugged him, but he knew the prickly little man had lots of physical boundaries, and bumbling over those was not a way to keep friends. So a handshake it would be for now. “Take care, my friend. We will speak soon.”
Truth be told, Neil wasn't even a fan of handshakes in general and he'd likely wash his hands as soon as Rost was gone, but he still shook his hand and even gave him a little smile. A terse smile to most, but compared to Neil's usual demeanor it was a warm one. "You too. Drive safe," he mumbled and as soon as Rost had turned to leave, he closed the door. There was a nice little hallway that made for a buffer between them and the cold but it was still cold out there compared to the apartment and Neil saw no reason to dawdle once they'd said their goodbyes.