#miranda walker

The palace of the lord of Dreams is no longer the ruin it was when he first returned from captivity, not that the sleeping Rose Walker is aware of its history. She dreams of elegant towers and walls studded with jewels and gems, covering not so much acres, as what seems like square miles. Lucien, reading from his ledger, walks up a driveway to a huge gateway, guarded, to Rose's alarm, by three huge mythological beasts: a wyvern, a hippogryph, and a griffin. They allow him to pass through the great outer doorway.

The palace of Dream contains many rooms. As befits a dream, and Rose's dream in particular, none of them appear to have any logical connection to each other. The hallway is lined with suits of armor. Lucien bustles through, lost in his calculations. In the next room, the suits of armor give way to storefront mannequins, unclothed, lining a huge swimming pool. The only way to walk across is by means of a long, unsteady plank. Lucien pays it little heed.

Each room presents new inconsistencies. Rose's dream seems almost random in its variety, yet Lucien is a constant factor, refusing to be distracted. The room through which subway trains pass is of no consequence to him either.

Lucien isn't walking around different parts of the Dreaming- he's walking through the palace, one long path taking him to Dream in the throne room, and as he walks from room to room, his surroundings are changing around him in that classic dream logic "I'm walking on a hallway oh now in the next room it's a swimming pool oh now in this room the wall has a face oh now it's a train track, huh ok that's cool" kind of way.

I just think that's so cool, and I literally didn't get that from just looking at the page. It wasn't until I heard the audiobook that I looked back at this page and I was like- ohhhh, panel 2 is the gatekeepers and the palace door, and then Lucien is walking through the palace. I needed the description to make that click for me. (I may just be dumb though lol)

Similarly, at the beginning, with the description of the Threshold of Desire:

The threshold is larger than you can easily imagine

Ok

perhaps a thousand feet high

Oh!! So like- the height of the Eiffel Tower? Ok yeah that's way way taller than i was picturing

And this is my appreciation post for reading the comic and listening to the Audible at the same time, because the combination in magic <3

Small Changes

Comic Miranda: "Free holidays in England don't grow on trees!" / Audible Miranda: "Free vacations in England don't grow on trees!"

When Unity first tells Miranda she's her mother:

Comic Miranda: "You're mad!" / Audible Miranda: "You're wrong!"

Two tiny tiny changes to make Miranda's dialogue more American, I am guessing ;)

Dream Line Readings

James McAvoy is relatively calm in this episode!

Morpheus only appears on 5 pages (and only 3 of them are speaking pages- the other 2 he is just hilariously lurking in the dollhouse), and James McAvoy is excellent, as always, but he doesn't do any yelling that sends me into hysterics this time around.

I would like to share this, possibly one of my most favorite pages of the entire comic:

It is gorgeous

Look how good The Dreaming looks! Look at him rebuilding!

I just really really like to think of Dream being like- oh I hear Lucien about to come in, time to ✨strike a pose✨

The mistrust on the ward never settled, especially not after several of the men asked to ‘help’ when Unity went into labour.

Using to power of the nurses that wanted those men to be hurt, to regret their choices, Desire sent them miserable things. If they called in one or two favours to their twin, well that was between the two of them.

They sat at Unity’s side, held her hand, pushed her shoulders back down when she tried to move, to writhe away from the pain, and wiped the sweat away from her brow.

(Desire held their wife’s hand, stroked her hair, whispered encouragement and jokes to help her, promised that they would get through it together.

“If we’re doing this together,” Unity gasped out at one point, “you can carry the next one.”

Desire pressed a kiss to her forehead and ignored the aching want inside them. “Whatever you want, my love.”)

Imbued with the power of an Endless, the baby girl came out shockingly healthy and with an incredible set of lungs. The women gathered around Unity cried, laughed, whispered promises that she was done.

Desire ached with the need to reach out and hold their child.

(Desire leaned in to their wife, peering down at the tiny baby that blinked up at the two of them, so unaware of how angry her waking counterpart was.

“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Unity whispered, stroking over the tiny fingers that stretched, confused.

“Looks just like you.” Desire replied, reaching around to cradle them both close.

Unity laughed, “Flatterer.”

“What do you want to call her?”)

“It’s a girl,” the nurse said, wrapping her efficiently in swaddling cloth.

“She needs a name.” One of the others said.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, the orphanage can name her.”

(“Miranda,” Unity said, thoughtful. “I’ve always liked that name.”

Despite everything, Desire smiles, “Hello Miranda.”)

“What about Miranda?” They say, before they can stop themself. “Just a basic name.”

One of the nurses – Desire never bothered to learn her name – softens slightly, as if she can see straight through Desire. “Sure, we can suggest Miranda.”

Another squeezes their shoulder. “She’ll be in good hands at the orphanage, she’ll find a nice family.”

Desire doesn’t say that she has a nice family, just nods, rises, and walks away. They can leave this place now, they’ve done what they needed to do and set the downfall of their brother into motion.