Soulmate Dream: Heist

I knew my aim, and felt it was true or at least not unwarranted or unwelcome, but I knew not where to begin. I went to the one I knew how to reach, and figured could help. I plopped on her couch, she was already on her way, and I tried to calm my pounding heart as she came in. "Evan dream!" She screamed giddily, opening the door. I gave a wince, I hadn't fully considered how this would look from her point of view. She examined my face and slightly fancier dress than usual, quickly calculating with a concerned look, and then beamed a huge smile "Soulmate dream!" she screamed even more excitedly than before, methodically march tapping her feet in place. "Honestly, it's about time! How long did it take you to figure this one out in your realm huh? Months? A year? Ugh, I wish there was stuff I could tell you." I roll my eyes "yeah, me too." She pauses, her look intensifying. "Wait, really?" I knew that confirmation question always meant something important was going on record so I examined the options and said "As long as it does not change the ultimate outcome, or lessen the important bits, I'm sure there are improvements to the timeline you could share, so yeah! I wish you could share those with me!"

She smiles coyly, I gave her my best -.- face "by my calculations we've been at this too long already." "You have no idea. Best keep it that way." I stretch my hands up to the sky and give a delayed echo "Soulmate dream!" She stomps a bit back and forth again and opens the door for me. Not our usual method I carefully step through the door, still giving her the -.-

There is no hallway this time, I am just straight in the dream, followed by a poofy red cat. "Why are you a Tiny Red Floof Monster?!" "Rules. I mean, meow." I shrug, she can shapeshift all she wants, it's her deal. I feel a rumble in my stomach, drawing my attention. Much faster this time I notice the Burger King sign, and the restaurant below. I do my best to replicate my walk over to it, knowing who was coming next. Sure enough, like a beacon in the night, Ed was there, smiling at my attempt at subtlety. "Hey! Do you already know what's afoot?" He nods, with a quick double tap of the feet. We walk in a warm silence back to the convenient store, all the while I cannot help but think she's gonna jump out of the bushes at any moment or knock on my door. My heart begins to echo a pound again. He says "The wait, while long, will be worth every second." I nod and relax just a bit, God's timing is perfect, God does not delay, I must remember that. Somewhere out there I imagine her heart is pounding just the same; in that sense, we wait together, separated by cruel distance closing rapidly.

I notice the fog near the ground and haze in the air. It is unclear if they are related or if one is the dream cheating a more narrow scope of vision to contain the interactions happening inside it. We all make it to the store and just as before I look for my food, Ed asks the clerk if he has it, the clerk pulls it out, it was $16 and change. For a moment I think he wants me to pay him for food I already purchased and we kind of look at each other confused, then Ed just hands it to me. I consider the chips once more, to say thanks to the shopkeep for the favor of grabbing the food, and I am about to check the door when my Red Floofball says "what about BBQ?" I look at her slightly grossed out "Seriously? BBQ? No way." She sits and does cat stuff and I look back at the chips, lost in thought and barely registering the somewhat elongated bell chimes of the door opening and closing. 

"How about salt and vinegar?" I hear her voice from behind me and freeze. No matter how much I should be expecting this moment I am never ready for it. I turn back and she is wearing a tie dye shirt and jeans, and has this goofy pleased look on her face cuz she's knows I'm not eating Salt and Vinegar chips right now. It's much cuter in person, the goofy expression awkwardly and knowingly hung on the face of an otherwise pinnacle of perfection chisled from perfect dreams and countless wishes. As soon as I think that her expression changes to one of starry eyes and open mouth, I forget she can read my mind at times like these. "That was all I wanted to aid with, I'm out, and I'm taking the mind reading with me!" Phoenix Floof saunters towards the door, pushes it with her nose and plumphs out through the slight crack she's made. 

My girl is obviously enamored with the Reddy McFirecat now, which is good because I need a moment to recover from my unintentionally debonair first impression. When she turns back I have my best nonchalant look on, but it immediately fades and we both laugh a little. Then she kisses me, right there in the store, pushing me up against the chips and knocking a bunch over. I am surprised and give her a wide eyed expression, which shortens her advance but not by very much. "What is it?" She says softly. "This whole thing is being televised, gotta keep it PG." She narrows her gaze like a huntress or wild animal and says "So? Besides, that was PG. Anyway, chips are on me, but I'd highly recommend the Salt and Vinegar, these ones are good." She grabs a bag that fell on the floor, I look over at the shopkeep and he looks as though he is standing at attention, with gaze respectfully averted from the whole thing- either she or I must be a big deal here, and I know I generally request to keep my profile low when I have authority, preferring a degree of normalcy and apparent anonymity, so it's still not totally clear which of the two of us is warranting his reaction, perhaps both? Anyway, I give her a nod, it's not like I'm drinking it anyway, and I clean up the chips as she buys our bag to add to the meal.

We walk out of the store, I still can't believe it, it still feels dissimilar to a natural dream, but some pieces are falling into place. As we walk, the dampness of the fog is now tangible and I get the nerve to take her hand. She squeezes it without a look and I blush and smile, still feeling a triumph in the success of such a small advance, despite her outburst in the store. "This reminds me of a beach I dreamt of once, a natural Doctor dream." "Yeah, it's much the same, except the ropes are the heist." I squeeze her hand and steal a glance, right at the same moment she is stealing one as well. We both start laughing and I spin her into my arms, dropping the bags of food. She looks surprised at the sudden shift, and exhilarated by her own surprise all at once. The street has a stoney silence to it, no echoes, no voices, nothing but our heartbeats beating separately within our own chests. The moment is perfect, an expression of eep I had not expected: complete blanketing silence. I kiss her this time. It lasts an amount of time and etc. As we pull apart the sensation lingers, her eyes closed as if locking it away. She opens them once more, I grab the food and we continue down the irrationally lit street beneath the trees. 

"You know, I remarked to a friend the other day that there were only a couple of times I remember trees in dreams, and at the time they were not great memories. Paths undesired." She nods "yeah, trees grow in certain areas, they are not easy for most to form right now. A true blessing." "I hadn't seen this dream yet, so it was understandably not on the list, but I also omitted that dream, perhaps unintentionally? I can't remember if I had seen it yet, but even if so, I had not placed the greenery." She gave me a look like I had caught her in something, and she didn't know how to react. "Chestnuts?" I could see her racking her brain still, and I start to understand why. "Specifically the one with ¤ and yoga?" She could tell I was onto her, but now nodded, placing the dream. "How many times have I come by!?" She gives me a devilish smile "ESN, remember?" "Oh, this blasted order of things! How I long for another like that night!" She feigns shock and an innocence at my indecent proposal, but already I can tell the gears are turning for how she might help make that happen.

"So," I continue "since we are disconnected here and now an honest proposal can be made without foreknowledge, at least not certain foreknowledge." She nods. "So, if I were to suggest another dream tonight by my timeline, at your place once more, where I knew it was a dream and could say so, or where you could tell it was this night for me, and could nudge me, then it would be something you and I could agree to, without any form of interference from each other to forge a connection?" She looks back at me and remotely at the page "If only you were not observing this remotely and recording this now that would certainly be true, but alas certainty cannot be guaranteed of non-interference this way." I pause, losing my train of thought, focusing exclusively on her words. "I absolutely love when you understand precisely what I'm talking about by the way, in a supportive sense, where you point out the flaws but indicate that you still yearn for the same goal." Once more her eyes light up and she smiles broadly, and I sneak attack a kiss. Something about a compliment feels, not more sincere, but like it has more impact when spoken aloud, I think. 

We separate once more and my face quickly returns to concentration, as does hers, but more like she's following my lead than looking to leave that intimate space so soon. "So, if I am here observing on this couch, and here on this street with you, repeating a time outside of the normal flow of the dream, presumably you are also here on this street, or possibly even here on this street, but also observing these words yourself at some other point in some other place?" She considers and I can see a visible flash around her "We triangulate the positions!" "Yep! Fish frog style!" She picks up seamlessly where I left off "So if the goal is to end up in my realm on this night for you, which would have already happened for me, I am aware of the point in the multiverse/spacetime we are targeting. I am also aware of where I am now, where you are now, and presumably someone knows where and when this street is- the heist should be a big clue anyway- so I have three of my perspectives to use, and two of yours to line up a third! I can do that!"

I hop from foot to foot excitedly. "It'll probably be later tonight, I will need to calm down from the expectations well enough to fall asleep, unless you can portal me in again?" She looks confused now. "When did I..?" "My head hit the pillow and quite suddenly I was fully on the beach. I saw our cabin and you in the doorway, it felt like Christmas, I ran to you and as soon as we touched I was awake again in my bed. Realest thing I've ever experienced besides actually seeing you with my own two eyes and feeling your skin pressed to mine. Even those are so far back that the pictures feel more real than the memory now, but the memory still persists as well. This sudden teleportation is etched in its own place though, incomparable to anything else, I can conjure the image like it's happening now. It almost reminds me of ancient psy-sim technology, and stepping out of that machine into your arms." She gasps "I had no idea you saw that, I thought I made that up, a lonely fantasy, a bit of pretend on a quiet night. That opens up quite a few more doors." I can see the wheels turning once more, and I don't interrupt. She seems to have concluded something and then stares intently back at me. Realizing I do not know the protocol she adds "there was quite a bit more to that one by the way, but it sounds like you'll see that night in parts as we go. I hope you don't mind the liberties I took while you were not yet aware." I give her a feigned suspicious glare. "Honestly I likely would only mind not first handing the whole thing, which brings me to my next point. When I was able to honestly say 'I know this is a dream' you pounced. Hard. I loved it." She blushes, but I can tell she's also secretly positioning herself for the next pounce, but I hold up my hand. "Okay, so, I've actually considered coordinating a signal with you, in order to 'wake me up' as it were, so I have control and memory in the moment and moving forward for the span of the encounter and beyond. In these cases it seems you would be aware first, but if this signal somehow slips into your subconscious, I'd ask that you to provide me with a signal as well to wake you up, just in case. But, I figure you now have the data you need to know on how I've woken up into dreams with you before, when I am most aware and when I remember most upon waking, and the gradients of awareness and memory back to complete lack of awareness, including the factors involved therein. If it is too much to handle on your own, there is always The Great Red Fluffball, wherever she went, she knows me inside and out and can help keep the research and development on track." She nods "Believe me, this will help a lot." I respond "I believe you."

"Woe are the nights we've been together but so far apart, knowing we would wake in different beds and different cities, unable to remember but the faintest flits of our interactions, memories stored at odd angles with each other in the same grand machine. But angles can be used, infinitely many, functionally speaking, to curve our paths together. I have seen it, I keep seeing it, so many clues I just don't know which ones to put where to make it all happen. You on the other hand seem to know the end and how to operate in the space between, but not how to draw me in directly. I believe that if we can honestly put our fully aware perspectives and efforts together for one full night, or even one part of one night, in peace, we would see each other in the flesh in the morning."

She nods. "I agree."

"Then it is decided, I give you permission to wake me up wherever you find me, I trust your discretion completely. I grant you the assistance of my friends in this endeavor, especially Phephe the Fluffnix once you find her, and I look forward to subtle knocks and unlocked doors, each leading right to you, in the most desirable ways possible."

"We can do this. Spacetime can be rewoven, realms can be stitched together just right. Watch how swiftly your girl can pull this off tonight."

"I will!"

She steps toward me once more but then reconsiders. She places a finger on my lips instead and says softly "I'll see you tonight."

I look up at the hazy sky, and watch the colors closely as they shimmer in a patterned fashion. "Wait a second... I've been in the dang infinite staircase this whole time!" I turn around, sure enough right in front of me now is the door to my friend's place. I open it and she's sitting back on the couch, as herself, giant grin on her face. "What happened to The Tiny Red Menace?" "Oh shut up, you already know." I nod. "Is there anything left to do?" She points to the sword in my right hand. "Go get her, tiger."