[Indigo]

In a far distant land, on a continent shaped like a piece of toast, is the city of Gyptia. And over that great city a black shape flies...

Roth landed rather clumsily, not used to carrying three people. Well, two people, but Lysander didn't like being called a dog. He leapt out of the confining saddlebag, his claws clicking on the cobblestones. (Try saying that five times fast!) Indigo followed, sliding carefully off Roth's back and landing with a thump. She spread her arms dramatically and spun around. "Welcome...to Gyptia."

It was something of an impressive sight. The buildings went as high as five stories, which was as high as they could build in Vandermeer, and variously built with bricks, stones, and wood. The street was paved with cobblestones here, though that, too, changed in other districts. They had landed right next to the sidewalk, where most pedestrians walked obliviously on. But one or two noticed Roth and began pointing and whispering.

Indigo sighed. "I really hope they don't realize who I am. Sometimes I hate being the Dream Catcher." She looked up. "You coming, Wolfie?"

[Wolfie_Barrow]

The white haired girl glanced around in aw. She took in the scene before her and began muttering to herself.

"Perhaps I should move out of the cave and come live here..." she thought about it for a moment and said, again to herself, "Well, maybe not permanently, but still..."

She went to stand next to Indigo and, poking her shoulder, said, "You created this? It's amazing."

[Indigo]

"Thanks, I think." Indigo looked around. "I didn't exactly create all of it. This city used to be much smaller. And lots of little rural towns have popped up in the south, and I'm sure I had nothing to do with Sky Atoll...but I think the whole thing turned out pretty well."

"You forgot that time when you moved the doegen here," Lysander added.

"Or when--" Roth started.

"Stop. Please." Indigo looked around frantically for a distraction. "Uh...What's he doing over here?" She pointed to a figure standing in the shadow of a building. On closer examination, it turned out to be one of those wooden mannequins that people use to draw humans. It was wearing a green fez with a pattern of blue flames and a similarly patterned felt vest. Its limbs were thinner than normal, and it appeared to be propped against a staff with a feather dangling from it. "I thought he was in Treebend!" Indigo yelped.

(...I'm dragging a random character in. Because I'm a show-off. Sorry.)

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Wolfie stared, confused. "But... it's just a mannequin. I don't get it." She scratched her arm and sighed, looking down at the red welts starting to appear there. "I must have come in contact with some poison ivy. Do you have any lotion or something? Any shops?" She let her gaze travel, her eyes landing on a store across the street that had different kinds of lotions, oils, and soaps in the window.

"I'll be right back..." she started walking away, but then she stopped and said, "Oh, I don't have any money... Er... That's ok I guess. I've had this happen before, and I lived so I don't see how it could be that bad..." She scratched her arm.

"So, where should we go? I've never been here, so..."

[Indigo]

"Just a..." Indigo watched as the mannequin started walking toward them. "...moment. Pict, what are you doing back here?"

And, surprisingly, the mannequin replied. "I had reason to leave Treebend. It involved many lit matches." Pict gave the impression of staring at Wolfie. "I could not help overhearing your conversation. I happen to have a few inklings* on hand..."

"That's all right," Indigo said quickly. "I have some we can use." Pict shrugged and walked away. "I don't like to borrow money from him," Indigo explained. "He doesn't have much. Here, I have some thoughts. You can use them." She held out a handful of triangular coins.

"The money here is so complicated," Lysander muttered. "I don't see why you couldn't have just used regular dollars and such."

"I didn't feel like it," Indigo replied. "I think...you can use these to get your lotion, and then...I don't know. I'm not sure what all there is to see around here..."

*In Vandermeer, the money is very complicated. There are ten inklings in a thought, fifty thoughts in an idea, and a hundred ideas in a dream. In some of the more dangerous towns, they use shocks, fears, terrors, and nightmares on the same principle.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Wolfie was grinning. "I don't agree, Lysander. I think the money here is awesome. Er..." she accepted the thoughts and, smiling down at them, said, "So awesome."

She turned back towards the shop and, scratching her arm vigorously, she crossed the street and pushed the door open.

"Do you have anything that helps itching?"

The woman behind the desk peered at Wolfie from behind her glasses. "Why, yes, we do. Little poison oak or ivy?"

"Yeah. I don't know when though."

The woman rummaged through some boxes near her desk and came up with a bottle of a light greet substance.

"Rub this on the itch and it should go away within a few minutes... That'll be two thoughts, please..."

Wolfie looked at the triangular pieces in her hand and picked out twenty. She thought it was correct...

[Indigo]

Indigo leaned on the wall, waiting. She heard footsteps behind her suddenly coming to a halt and turned around. A short woman was standing there, wearing a dress far too big for her and staring at Indigo wide-eyed. "Are you the Dream Catcher?" she asked.

Indigo thought fast. "No," she said, smiling patronizingly. "But I'm often told I look like her."

The woman nodded and hurried away. Indigo dropped her smile. "I hate when that happens. Come on, let's go into that store." She crossed the street and pushed open the door of the shop Wolfie had gone into. Wolfie was standing there, counting out twenty of the coins. "Wait. Each of those coins is a thought," Indigo said, trying not to laugh. "You don't want to pay twenty thoughts for something worth two!"

She looked at the woman behind the desk. She didn't recognize her. Hmm. That was odd. Last time she'd been here this shop had been run by Sir Barkley, a retired knight and possibly a were, though Indigo hadn't thought to ask. She leaned on the desk and asked, "Did Barkley sell the shop, or is he just employing new people?" How much had she missed in the time she'd been gone?

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Wolfie felt foolish and her ears grew hot with embarrassment. She handed the woman two and taking the newly bought green lotion, took a seat in a chair a feet away. She opened up the bottle and squeezed some onto her hand, rubbing it into the red rash that was starting to form. Resisting the urge to scratch, knowing that it would just make things worse, she listened in on what the woman and Indigo were saying, curious, and trying to not think about the horrible itch.

"Darn ivy."

[Indigo]

"Oh, Sir Barkley's renting an apartment to me, and I'm working here to help pay for it," explained the woman. "Are--"

"Yes, I'm the Dream Catcher, and no, I won't magic you some money or anything," sighed Indigo. "And please don't spread the news."

"I wasn't going to ask for money," the woman replied indignantly. "I like working here. But I was wondering if you knew anything about Sir Barkley? Whether or not he's a were?"

"I'm not sure. Do you have something against weres?" Indigo asked accusingly.

"Not at all."

"Okay then." Indigo went over to where Wolfie was sitting. "Hey, you want to go see the Workshop? If you do decide to be the Dreamworker, you'll want to know where you're living and stuff."

Lysander stood across the street with Roth, watching. "People are staring," he said. "You ought to go up to a roof."

"I'm waiting," Roth replied. "I'm going to ask if I can go back to Drakonika until they're ready to leave."

[Wolfie_Barrow]

[Hey, I have a question, what about Peyton? Have you asked her? Just wondering]

Wolfie nodded. "Yeah, that might be a good idea." She stood, and glanced down at her arm, noticing that it was already starting to look and feel better. Stepping out the door, she immediately crashed into a girl with messy blond hair, red eyes, a black cloak and many weapons. There were blue lines on her face that looked like tattoos. She seemed extremely dangerous.

"Chouko!" Wolfie exclaimed, laying her hands on the girl's shoulders. "What are you- how did you- did you follow me?"

The girl nodded. "Uh huh. I followed your mental footsteps."

"I told you not to do that," Wolfie groaned. She turned to Indigo. "Sorry about this. She's sort of my apprentice. I found her when she was really little, wandering around by herself near where I live. She's been living with me ever since..."

"You know," Chouko said, fiddling with a thread on her cloak. "You're not my mom."

Wolfie sighed. "I know that. Er... I have things I need to do... Can you... Go home?"

Chouko glared at Wolfie, then at Indigo, and then back to Wolfie. "Fine," she said defiantly and, turning on her heel, she began to walk away in a very irritated way.

"Sorry," Wolfie muttered.

[Indigo]

(...I haven't. If you don't want to be the Dreamworker, you can just tell me...)

Indigo watched Chouko thoughtfully. "I had an apprentice for a few months. Winter Summers. I wonder what happened to her..." She stared blankly at the sky.

Lysander trotted across the street. "Roth wants to know if he can go to Drakonika until we leave," he said.

"Sure." Hearing Indigo, Roth crouched, then took off, flying southwest. "Drakonika is an island designed specifically for his species of dragon," Indigo explained. "I think the Workshop is that way." She pointed down a street called Broad Way, past what she thought was a clever replica of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. It wasn't exact, of course, but it was accurate enough that more than once she'd climbed up to the top window at five in the morning, surprising Stefan and Strawberry Kat.

A red coach went past, a shield with yellow-and-green stripes painted on its side. Lysander chased it instinctively, then stopped, shaking his head. The coach turned onto Market Street. "Hmm," Lysander muttered. "That's the Pessimal coat of arms. What are they doing?"

"Who cares?" Indigo started to walk down Broad Way.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

( it's not that I don't want to be a Dreamworker, I just wondering if you asked Peyton, that's all :3)

Wolfie stared after the coach and said, "Pessimal coat of arms? Interesting..."

She looked down at her arm, which had returned to looking normal and no longer itched. She looked at the bottle and thought, Very interesting indeed. She followed Indigo, staying close behind for fear that she might get lost in the endless throngs of people.

"Hey, so, uh, I'm going to follow you."

"Chouko!" Wolfie barked, losing sight of Indigo for a minute and, in a panic, searched the crowd frantically until she found her. "I told you to go home!"

"Yeah, except I don't want to go home."

"Well go home anyway, because I told you to." Wolfie was getting irritated because she was getting farther away from Indigo.

"But I don't want to."

"Stop being defiant."

"But..." Chouko sighed. "I'm bored. There's nothing to do at home. I mean, do you know how hard it is to read some of the minds of the animals at home?"

"I'm guessing it's hard."

"Really!" Chouko sounded exasperated. "They know English perfectly but their heads at complete garble!"

"No one ever said you had to entertain yourself by snooping around in everyone else's head."

Chouko pouted. It looked out of place on her face, since normally she looked so angry and frightening. "But everything else is even more boring!"

"Don't wine about it to me!"

"Fine."

[Indigo]

Indigo stopped. Chouko was back. It made her wonder exactly what had happened to Winter after that bizarre reality warp. Which world was she in now? It would be really cheesy if she showed up right now, Indigo thought. And, knowing me, that means it's probably going to happen.

Lysander was still watching the Pessimal coach, though it was barely visible anymore. "Why are they going that way?" he muttered. "The Pessimals never leave that old falling-down house..."

Footsteps.

Let the cheesy reunion begin, Indigo thought, and turned around. A teenage girl was standing there, yellow eyes wide, six white braids swinging around her face. Her ears came to a slight point. She was wearing loose gold pants and a dull brown tunic with the sleeves hacked off, her gray-brown skin contrasting oddly with her light hair. A sword and two daggers hung off her belt. She was barefoot.

A large bat-winged hellhound with classical glowing red, pupilless eyes was standing next to her. He was wearing a dog collar.

Winter grinned. "I guess I should've known you'd think up a place like this," she laughed. "Your magic's all over it. And of course, ridiculous things happen all the time around here, so." She shrugged. "This is Blink. Mind if I stalk you?"

"I suppose not." Indigo looked over at Wolfie and tried to shrug apologetically without Winter seeing. She had no proof that the fiesty half-elf had changed at all since they'd parted, and she wasn't eager to be tracked.

[Wolfie_Barrow]

Wolfie saw that Indigo had stopped to talk with someone who also had white hair and had pointed ears. She sucked in a breath of air when she noticed a small symbol on the side of a dagger that hung at her waist. It was a symbol that she recognized, and that Indigo obviously couldn't see.

"What does it mean...?" Wolfie muttered to herself. "Where did it come from?"

"Hey," Chouko nudged her with her elbow. "Isn't that your family crest?"

Wolfie shook her head. "Nah. It... I mean, why? I- That- It's not my family crest."

"Su-u-ure." Chouko rolled her eyes. "Somebody's in denial."

Wolfie glared at the young girl. "It's not denial. My... Why would she have my family's crest on her? It doesn't make sense."

Chouko shrugged. "Why does she just happen to have a symbol on her that looks like your family crest, and she just happens to show up where you are?"

Wolfie made a noise at the back of her throat that sounded like a mix between a grumble, a whine, and a growl.

[Indigo]

(Sorry for the short post...?)

Winter turned and stared at Wolfie, allowing Indigo to see the symbol on her dagger. She pulled out the dagger and examined the symbol. "I've seen this before," she muttered. She looked up. "Why are you staring at her like that?"

"Er, no reason." Winter snatched the dagger back. She began muttering to herself in elf so Indigo wouldn't hear. We can't possibly be related, no matter what. But I know that face. There was a drawing in one of the burned-out villages we passed...that makes no sense...but... She turned to Wolfie again.

"I think I saw you or someone like you once before," she said quietly and almost too fast to understand. "What kind of being are you? And...what is the name of your hometown?" Winter tried to remember the name on the burned sign. Ah. Right. "Oh, sorry. I'm Winter. Winter Summers. Please don't laugh.