The Book (PM until opened)

[shadowoftheheart]

I woke up early the next morning, the TV screen blue. The DVD player automatically shut off, but I had forgotten to set the TV to shut down as well.

I sat up, stretched the stiffness out of my arms, legs, back. I stood, frowning at the little wet spot I had left on the couch.

I didn't remember what I had dreamed while sleeping on the couch, but apparently it was enjoyable at the time.

I placed the DVD into storage, and padded to the bathroom. A quick shower, a breakfast of eggs, and I dressed in a conservative blue dress that reached down to just below my knees. On my feet, I slipped on blue half-inch heels.

I checked my land and cell phones for messages. Nothing. Good.

I drove to the store, and entered it, turning off the alarm. There was the Book, lying where I had left it. I sighed softly. I felt that I was going to regret taking this on. Well, I sat down, and set the laptop up on its dock again.

As the computer began its search, I unlocked the door to the back area, and quietly looked around back there. No sounds yet. They were apparently still asleep. Fine.

I sat down, glancing at the book, and at the comuter screen.

I never really noticed myself falling asleep, but I did, leaning my head against the Book ....

 

[scribe_m]

James woke up. It would have been nice to have done so in bed.

Instead, he felt hard stone underneath him, and he was naked. The good professor and Casey were unclothed as well. Now, in other circumstances, he would have enjoyed being with his two favorite women (you know, women who would put up with him). But waking up in a huge cavern with a large flame wasn't his idea of foreplay. A malachite table held several loaves of bread, jugs of water, and a strange, shiny, crystalline wool. He sees three knives, one ancient and ornate, another sharp and oiled the third a thin veneer of rust on the blade. A passage lie ahead.

Nudging Ariadne, James whispered, "Professor, I don't think we're in Arkham, anymore. You're also naked, and no, that wasn't my idea. I think that book briefly mentioned this place. Do *you* know where the hell we are?"

OOC: Arrrrgh. I neglected to mention that there *is* clothing here. Sorry about that!

Scribe.

 

[WindDancerBlue]

I woke to whispers, one side of my body cold and growing numb. And naked. In a cave.

No, Toto, this ain't Kansas, I thought to myself as I rolled to sit up. Or New England, I bet.

"Whose idea was this?" I asked sarcastically as the couple sitting several feet away looked at me. "I was at least dreaming about a nice white beach in the tropics."

No sense being shy. No one had clothes and there seemed to be none around.

James stood, then lent a hand to each of us to join him.

Damn, the more I got to look at this kid, the better it got. Nice butt.... Oh geez, Casey, get over it....

"Where's the book?" Ariadne asked. "I fell asleep on the book."

"You know, I don't know beans about this crap, but I don't get the impression we were left bread and three knives to have breakfast," I said, wandering closer to the table, but not too close. "And one of these has old blood on it."

Oh, yeah, THAT got their attention.

 

[shadowoftheheart]

"This looks vaguely familiar. There are legends, rumors really, that some people can enter ... a Dreamlands. A parallel world if you will, through their Dreams. James, I believe you need to tell me, now, what wierd things have been happening to you since you found the Book. Believe me, I have worked with the Necronomicon, Nameless Cults, the King in Yellow, Ghouls and their Lives, and other wierd texts. I know the creepy shit books like that can do. So ... out with it."

I can deal with being naked. Seeing James naked is a little more difficult. The other girl is also quite ... distracting.

 

[WindDancerBlue]

I looked at James as his mind went into a search mode, but the fact that sexual activity was a part of all this seemed to become pretty apparent before he gathered enough facts to speak verbally. His body said plenty as he began the tale.

Parts of it I'd heard. Some I'd witnessed. A little I'd been an unknowing participant in. Hearing him explain it was a little mind-bending.

And... hot.

Despite being unclothed....

Leading us back to the introductions and greetings with the beautiful Ariadne...

 

[scribe_m]

"Well, Professor, there's not much more than I told you. The book was written by various ancient authors from different cultures, none of them I'd particularly like to visit. I have a bad feeling that we're in *their* stories and we have to get out. I hear Dreamers can change the Dreamlands, and I have a bad feeling they're a century or so ahead."

He approached the table and pulled up a piece of clothing. He showed the women the silken men's gown. It was red and gold, with patterns of circles. "I don't like this. At the school library, students outside of the library reported hearing Asian voices, a man and a woman. This is a man's Asian gown."

"I get the black one," smiled the Professor.


OOC: Val, I found some outfits for the characters...

http://www.auksjonsboden.no/auction/auctionimages/uploads/8850_1.jpg
http://www.surprisehim.net/sunshop/images/products/8923.jpg
http://images.google.com/images?svn...A:2005-10,DVXA:en&q=chinese+dress&btnG=Search


Scribe.

 

[shadowoftheheart]

I glanced to Casey, picking up the black silk dress with its dragon pattern.

"Well, if you don't mind that is. We need to dress, that's clear. The knives, are intended for us, though I don't know why one is bloody. And the bread, unless I miss my mark, is of a particularly filling variety. One bite will do for a fair time. Long enough to reach Thran, Kirin, Nir, or perhaps Ulthar, where it is forbidden to harm cats. But, I am ahead of myself, and assuming that we are, indeed, in the Dreamlands I am familiar ... I mean, that I have heard tell of."

 

[WindDancerBlue]

I reached for the remaining lake of silk the likes of which Americans never see, deep forest green, ample enough to wrap comfortably around me in cool, feathery shimmers.

The knives were really gnawing at me until the professor's little Freudian slip. I'd have bought the "familiar with" until she abruptly corrected it.

Why... why oh why oh why do I end up in ...

Wait. Just where AM I?

She keeps calling this Dreamland. Why are we all seeing the same thing??

Damn, I don't get any of this. I don't like it. And I think I'm going to wish I had my gun, wherever it may be. If for nothing else but to shoot at the stupid cats.

I took a deep breath. No sense being obstinate.


"Okay, now where do we go?"

 

[scribe_m]

James wore the Chinese gown. Red and gold, it draped across his chest, the adorning patterns of circles belieing that it was small for his frame. The knotted buttons did not reach. He was forced to expose his chest. The silken pants were comfortable and cool, but touched his body in a way he was not accustomed to.

He helped the others pack their possessions, and they walked out of the cave. It led outside, blue sky in the air and green grass underneath. They could see a carnival, of oddly dressed folk in Asian dress. A small man spied them.

"Ahhhh... visitors..." the little misshapen man grinned at the party through mismatched teeth. He gripped Jame's hand, pulling him, strongly. "Welcome to the carnival. There will be sights to see, pleasures to experience. Come, come. The feature is about to begin." Two lithe women escorted his companions, insistantly.

They were sat down on odd benches. The benches ran at an angle to the stage, almost perpendicular. Rather than sitting side-by-side, the patrons sat back-to-chest. Large men were directing them to sit closely together, pressing audience members closely together. Casey sat in front of James, and James in front of Ariadne. Packing more people -- or at least he hoped they were people -- in, James was pressed against Casey, and Ariadne against him. The little man was yelling orders, making sure the seats were full. He could feel Ariadne against him, and, giving up, leaned against Casey. He then realized that this was not a bench he was sitting on. It was a soft supple spongy substance. A dryish moss seemed to cover it, and porelike holes in it breathed a spicelike scent into the air. He looked at what should have been the poles and wooden structures, and instead saw things twisting and organic.

The lights grew dim, as if the sky itself were turning black. The little man seemed to speak through a megaphone, several different languages, only a few he recognized. When he came to English, he finally said, "And welcome to the Stage of Pleasures, where our actors shall perform for you, and you shall peform for the actors." James would have reacted, but a strange scent had permeated the air, making him feel calmer and more relaxed.

On the stage, a woman began to dance. She was accompanied by a man.


OOC: Yes, writing while sleep deprived.


Scribe.

 

[shadowoftheheart]

(OOC: I think that is pronounced "depraved," Scribe dear. )


I was once more lost. I remember seeing this mentioned in the Book, and this was like nothing in the Dreamlands that I had visited, a time or two, over the last few years.

When I sat, the small, slit skirt of my dress rode up, and I felt the cool, spongy surface of what we sat upon directly against my skin. I could feel a tingle, where the skin of my inner thighs, rear, and area between my legs touched the strange substance. I squirmed, and pressed in closer to James.

When the dancer started, my gaze locked onto her, watching her sinuous movements, her lithe grace. I was unfamiliar with that style of dance, but with my lust beginning to rise from both the view of the lovely being and the tingle against my skin, the analytical part of my mind was beginning to ebb into the background....

 

[scribe_m]

The dancer was vaguely Asian. And my "vaguely" I meant she had two extra arms where arms shouldn't be and she wasn't even Asian. Jet black hair, a body painted of golds and reds, a face an figure that only suggested a woman of the East. Her name was... Yolanda? How did I recognize she was Yolanda? I didn't know any Yolanda, yet her face seemed familiar. Whoever she was, she writhed and gyrated, her sinewy body creeping me out as much as it was arousing me. It didn't help that others in the audience were beginning to gasp, moan, and touch each other. I wasn't sure if it was a better idea to look at the half-human members of the audience to keep myself from being aroused, or keep my eyes on the dancer to keep myself sane.

Casey must have known how much the dancer stirred my desires within me. Certainly I knew how much it was arousing Ariadne. I could feel her breasts pressing into my back. A hand of mine involuntarily began to touch and caress her outer thigh.

A man began to walk onto the stage. He was a tall, lean man of dead black coloration without the slightest sign of Negroid features, wholly devoid of either hair or beard, and wearing as his only garment a shapeless robe of some heavy black fabric. He, or I might as well have said, it, began touching the woman, then taking her. Her legs wrapped around him and she arched backwards, her face facing the audience. Two of her hands continued her strange dance, while the others fondled and touched herself in inspeakable manners. Her moans and high-pitched groans were an odd music accompanying her movements. The man just fucked her.

And that's what I wanted to do too. I wanted to fuck Casey. I wanted Ariadne to fuck me. My other hand joined in feeling Ariadne's hips, and my cock began to rub against Casey's back, oozing a clear liquid. God help me, but he certainly wasn't here.


Scribe.

Scribe.

 

[WindDancerBlue]

Seated on an odd bench, James behind me. No ideas what to expect... and then arrived a dancer.

There was an inhalation from the crowd, though not all of them completely resembled humans. I watched others more than I did the female dancing until the male (again, I was hesitant to even call them woman and man) joined her.

As his cock entered her, I felt ... something... between my legs, much like the something that touched me other places. I didn't need to look to know it wasn't James, despite an erection against my back.

I turned my attention back to the stage, and an interesting thing happened, or at least I think it happened. When I blinked, just before my eyes were completely closed, the male looked vaguely like... a dragon. Wings barely opened, large claws, long neck and great head.

And then I felt one of James' hands reach around my waist as he leaned forward against my back slightly.

I felt the desire, the extreme passion surrounding us, and try as I did, I had trouble resisting, trying to stay focused on something besides the images and sensations I doubted were real.

Struggling to remain rational, objective... until something slick and hard slid between my labia and was buried deep inside me. I groaned, leaning back onto James.

 

[shadowoftheheart]

I shuddered to see the Black Man on stage ... knowing what I know ... knowing what Horrifying Things the Necronomicon and Witch Cults in Europe describe and how they Link Together over the thousands of years intervening between their publications ... but even so, I cannot help it.

I spread my legs wide, pressing close to James, my hands reaching forward, sliding along his arms, running over a chest ... I press close as I can, my breasts mashed firmly against James' back, and as I reach, I feel a breast, a nipple, and PINCH! it through the silken fabric covering it.

I squirm, feeling a strange, tickling feeling along my body, up between my legs and even inside my pussy.

 

[scribe_m]

James pulls apart his shirt-like gown, letting Ariadne press and fondle his nipples. He leans backwards against her, his head in the crook of her neck and begins to lick her ear. He lifts up Casey, and rubs his cock against the folds of her pussy, then finally enters it in. "Oh. Ohaaaaaahhhhooohhhh...." Pushing and fucking, his low moans joins that of the chorus of the other attendees.

The great black creature stirred. As he fucked the groaning woman underneath, he smelled the odors of desire and lust in the audience, mixed with the heady incense. However, today, he detected a slightly different smell, of two... three... travellers to this world. It was traditional that newcomers perform on stage, though rarely were they told so before coming.


Scribe.

 

[WindDancerBlue]

The sensations surging through my body were not ... human. I struggled again on that concept. I knew some of what I felt was James, but again, not.

The black creature's attention turned to us, and after the next time I blinked my eyes, the three of us were on the stage, without the bench, still a tangle of bodies.

It stunk. Like something long dead and not quite done decomposing. The smell made me turn away and into the hands of my partners. Hands, lips, bodies in general. The tangle was nearly frantic, searching for satisfaction, yearning to reach climax. I was unable to resist, even had my mind not finally given in to the lust. James had turned to Ariadne, fucking her, and yet I wanted to be filled...

And just before I realized the mistake of the wish, I felt ... hands... on hips, lifting me, turning me around, and the great black monster thrust into me in a motion so violent it lifted me from the floor before dropping me back to my hands and knees. It was huge, and the pain was incredible, followed by a wave of pleasure. I looked to see the dancer discarded onto the floor nearby.

Before I wished something else, I tried to block out everything around me...

It didn't work. Ariadne's mouth met my own, desperate, sweet. James' hands reached for my breasts, his tongue flicking nipple so sensitive I wanted to scream.

Maybe I did. Maybe I'd been screaming all along. maybe....

 

[shadowoftheheart]

I blinked, suddenly finding myself on stage. I gasped, as James turned to me, lifting me by my hips and sliding his cock, slick with Casey's juices, into my wet, tingling pussy. I wrapped my legs around his waist, my shoes falling off my feet.

I reached toward Casey desperately, squeezing a breast, tweaking a nipple ... then before my eyes the Black Man was there, lifting her up, turning her, and impaling her on his massive cock,and I moaned softly feeling James thrusting into me and watching Casey being filled so completely.

James turned me on his cock, placing me on my hands and knees, facing Casey, and I pressed my lips hungrily to hers, probing her mouth with my tongue as hard and agressively as the two men were fucking our pussies.

Somehow, James was reaching over me, fondling, caressing Casey's breasts, and then kissing and tongueing her nipples.

I was pressed down under Casey's body, whimpering softly desiring to taste her mouth ... when I saw someting far more tasty. I grasped her thighs to steady myself, and licked, starting at the bottom of the Black Man's ball-sack, up his rapidly moving cock, and to Casey's pussy, where his cock was spreading her wide. I flicked my tongue rapidly between his cock and her sopping-wet pussy, then pressed in closer, kissing flesh, tasting juices, before kissing up Casey's slit to find her clit, slide my tongue along it, my lips capturing it and sucking, grazing it with my teeth.

My mind was gone, rational thought vanished, and I was no longer sure if what I seemed to be doing was what I was doing ....

 

[scribe_m]

I was fucking Ariadne... I was fucking Casey... oh, god, it was a dream I never wanted to wake up from. It was a bloody nightmare. My cock slammed into Ariadne's wet body, my balls slapping into her cunt. Every once in awhile, my cock would come out and feel Casey take it out, sucking and licking it, then plunging it back into Ariadne's hot pussy. I groaned, I sweated, I closed my eyes, "Oh god..." I yelled.

"YOUR GOD IS NOT HERE" boomed a voice. My eyes opened to make contact with the red glowing orbs in that fiendish creature's head. Black lips drew back from a vaguely reptilian skull. The thing smiled evilly at me, and its head seemed to drift forward. That creature gripped the sides of my head and stuck its thick filthy toungue into my mouth, lunging and slurping me. Revulsed, I pulled back, made a fist and...

"Or this this more pleasing to you" the feminine voice said. Gripping my hands, it... she... placed them on her black beautiful breasts. As I felt again Casey's lips on my cock, and my balls rubbing against Ariadne, I felt her firm small breasts, and her delectible, Asian face. Her pouty lips and sullen eyes looked at me -- as she... it continued pounding into Casey. I leaned forward, my face against Casey's sweaty back, holding her down so she would not look up to see the horror I saw. I closed my eyes focusing, focusing on pounding into Ariadne. The creature's soft breasts pressing into me, I could only hear the soft yet mocking feminine laughter of the creature that was fucking Casey...


Scribe.

 

[WindDancerBlue]

It was extreme pleasure physically, mentally it was torture, trying to break free of the dream. Ariadne kept talking about dreams, so this had to be a dream, I kept thinking... just a dream.

A nightmare...

And just before I reached a tremendous orgasm....


It was gone. All of it. We were left in a jumble of arms and legs, breathless, unsatisfied and utterly alone.

"What happened?" one of them asked as I struggled to my feet to see where we were.

I had no answer, so I let the question hang.

 

[shadowoftheheart]

"What happened?"

I knew the answer to my own question, but the sudden wrenching back of mind, of reason, drew the question out of me.

I untangled myself from her and James, and stood, smoothing down my dress.

We were in the midst of a forest. I no longer took for granted that we were in familiar realms. Yes, I recognized ... the Man on stage (and shuddered to think what I had Done to him) but nothing else of what happened seemed ... right.

We were all dressed again, and while we were out of breath, and frustrated (I was!) there was no evidence that what had just happened ... had actually just ... happened.

"We need to ... stay focused. Keep our minds clear. I don't know what is going on, but I am fairly sure it isn't entirely safe."

 

[scribe_m]

James picked himself off the ground. His gown seemed plain and simpler. The bright gold and reds duller and more somber. The forest was darker than it should have been. He began to hear flutter, flute-like noises, and a distant faint gibbering. Strange weird eyes began to appear in the growth, the creatures flitting, small, unseen. It was important that they flee, but where? Small, brown, rodent-like creatures began to appear. Small tentacles dangled from their snouts. He was afraid what their teeth would be like.


Scribe.

 

[WindDancerBlue]

It was easy to see that James was seeing something in the surrounding forest I didn't.

Dreams...

Wherever it was, whatever it was took out dreams, our fantasies and made them real enough we responded physically.

I grabbed him by the shoulder and slapped him. "Stop it!"

He looked suitably stunned.

"If you think there's something out there to be afraid of, there will be. Clear your head and just focus on ... " hmmmm on what? Well, it worked for Dorothy... "on home. On getting home."

Ariadne chimed in. "Yes, if we allow ourselves emotions, they will be used against us. Lust is one of the strongest, and you see what that got us?"

James nodded, looked around, and smiled. I guess what he had seen was gone...

 

[shadowoftheheart]

I had seen them too. James, fortunately, listened to us, and allowed fear to melt away from his bodies.

I, in contrast, felt rising joy, and a sense of familiarity.

"Zoogs. I recognize where we are now. I don't know how long we will remain here ... but while we are here, we have no reason to fear."

I stepped forward, making a series of meeping, fluting sounds that wouldn't have been possible from my waking body.

Strange eyes, brown rodent-like beings with tentacled faces, and sharp teeth came up to me, making similar sounds. I knelt before them, caressing some gently, feeling others stroking my bare legs with their tentacles. They abruptly left the clearing, and I stood, turning to the others.

"We have free passage, through the path to our north. If we follow it, we will come out in safety to a plain. It isn't home, but it will be safe, in contrast to the woods. What say you?"

 

[WindDancerBlue]

I reached down and rubbed a "Zoog's" ear, if that's what the little appendage was (and I was hoping it wasn't something else!) It made a contented sound, and I laughed.

"I hate to keep referring to Dorothy, but I'm all for moving right along here... You lead, I'll bring up the back," I said.

I didn't want to think about why Ariadne knew where we were or where we were going. I'm far too left-brained to even begin to ponder and so I fell in step behind James, humming in my head something about yellow brick roads until I thought better of it. We didn't need any more phantoms.

The forest reminded me of some of my hikes into the forests in California and Oregon, old growth woods that seemed to go on forever, one footstep at a time. Without the weight of a backpack, this journey was less physical effort, as the landscape I could see around us was only gently rolling hills.

As we walked, I swear that once in a while a treelimb bowed so a leaf could brush my face. When it happened, I felt more than actually heard a little sigh from somewhere behind us.

And we walked...

 

[shadowoftheheart]

...And we walked.

The woods seemed to stretch on forever, blended new-growth forest and small patches ancient when the first people set eyes on these woods, like the cut-back , regrown forests of my native New England. And like those woods, they seemed to roll on along the low hills forever.

I could sense the Zoogs running along the trees on either side of our paths, every so often the mischievous beings would lower a branch into our face, tickling us with leaves, or sometimes they would reach out and I would feel a scratch along my legs, which they believed was playful, not realizing that humans bled, even in dreams.

A soft, mournful sound behind us, for all the world like a sigh, was something I could not explain. I fought back panic, fought back the desire to run. That would turn our peaceful if disorienting trek a blind, running night-mare of clutching trees ....

 

[WindDancerBlue]

With nothing else to occupy my mind, I started counting steps. I figured when I reached 5200, we'd have walked two miles, based on Ariadne's pace. Neither of them were very talkative, and the cadence thing I had down from years of hiking in the wilderness.

I'd always felt more at ease outside. On one of my favorite hikes, I'd reached an abandoned fire lookout shelter at the top, shucked my pack and sat down on the deck to enjoy the view. I pulled a bag of snacks form my pack, only to look down in time to see two little eyes pop over the edge and widen a bit.

I don't speak chipmunk, but by the reaction around me, he had to have stood up on his back legs and screamed SHE'S GOT TRAIL MIX!!

In ten minutes, several had gotten bold enough to crawl right up on my legs to take nuts from my fingertips.

We didn't have food to spare for the Zooks, though they seemed just as content to tag along without. I was afraid to wonder what food would taste like here, you know, like that food chasing us? If all was as psychically charged as what we've run into thus far, thinking about a little BBQ could be fatal, I decided. Heck, even the plants might not take kindly...

But I wasn't hungry, and we came to a small spring at exactly where I anticipated two miles to be. Hmmm... how convenient.

Maybe I could count on finding horses to ride just around the next corner, too...