A Storm of Dreams

it’s a “this is my one and only life, and i’m going to milk it for all it’s worth” sort of deal 

it’s a defiant “i didn’t actually think i’d make it this far” sort of deal 

i’m not trying to say, “oh just think positive and everything will be fine” because that’s not true, but we are what we practice, and i think it’s important to consciously practice joy and appreciation and treating my life like it’s special because it is. 

And like here is the thing. That child- Faramir Took, i mean- has never felt alone . Ever.

For as long as he could remember, he felt like someone was with him. Some sort of presence. Not in a creepy sort of way. It was comforting and made him feel protected and safe. He remembers how his nightmares would suddenly shift into happier dreams and how during storms there was a soft voice telling him stories and singing till he fell asleep. Everyone described him as a happy baby because he was usually heard laughing hysterically and clapping in delight, which is normal, except that some of those times, no one was with him in the room.

Faramir never questioned it though. He only did when the incident happened.

He was never supposed to go into the forest on his own, but he saw a fluffy, white rabbit playing among the trees and decided to watch it for a while then simply get out of the forest. Except that he followed the rabbit deep into the forest and ended up losing his way in there. He wasn't scared. He thought that this was an adventure if you will. Then it started raining and he was soaked, cold, hungry, lost and alone. So terribly alone.

But then the comforting voice returned. It reassured him and told him that it would lead him home, that he just needed to follow it and he did. But as he walked, he saw footprints of one of the Big People beside him in the mud, but what disturbed him was what he saw in the water puddles. It was the face of a man with dark hair and grey eyes, but Faramir couldn't see anyone around him.

The voice did help him get back to The Smials. Everyone fussed over him and asked him where he went, but Faramir was too distracted to answer them. All he could think about was The Man.

And as his father was tucking him into bed for the night, Faramir told him about the comforting voice and how it led him home, but most importantly, he told him about the man in the water puddles.

"Do you know who that could be?" Faramir asked

And Pippin, with tears in his eyes, answered him.

(…look, regardless of anything else about it, the movie ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy II’ had a lasting effect on me in regards to the effectiveness of a purse full of rocks as a blunt-force weapon.)

And then her friends and associates start showing up a few at a time, and one of them hands her a ball of string, because she’s been mentioning the whole series that she really ought to be carrying one at this point. And another one tells her that the alchemist she gave it to managed to replicate that awesome, water-proof war-paint she showed them and sent her a couple tubes of it. Someone else pays her back for a meal she helped them get.

Someone even found and returns her nail-clippers.

I have played in LARP games on city streets where, because real world cries for help would be understood literally by those uninvolved, we had in-game codes for calling for authorities to assist in-game. Those games still had codes for making gameplay itself stop, and making it clear that real life assistance was needed.

"In faith, there's trouble brewing between X and Y!" = X and Y are play-fighting and doing a scene!

"In sooth, X and Y are fighting!" = No, really, the actors are really throwing down, help for real!

(A crisis actor (aka actor-patient or actor victim) is a trained actor, role player, volunteer, or other person engaged to portray a disaster victim during emergency drills to train first responders such as police, firefighters or EMS personnel. Crisis actors are used to create high-fidelity simulations of disasters in order to allow first responders to practice their skills and help emergency services to prepare and train in realistic scenarios as part of full-scale disaster exercises)

we were told in first aid training that their safe word is ‘no play’

i cant remember/find the post, but there was one that was like “dramatic twiyor reveal except they instantly freak out about leaving anya alone” and. yeah. i agree