Neptuna put her hand on her chest but couldn't feel her heart beating or herself breathing. “I can feel my hand on my chest, so I'm physical somehow but not necessarily alive. What exactly is going on?” Neptuna spoke out loud as she walked down halfways. Branching paths making it like a maze and foggy glass windows with nothing but darkness on the outside. After some walking she spots a section of hallway that is separated from the rest, covered in a translucent purple with a flat barrier between herself and the next section of hallway. “I feel like I'm going the right way for some reason.” She slowly reaches her hand out and into the purple. There's little resistance and the purple ripples when her hand passes the threshold.
Neptuna looks at the purple drenched area and the small opaque purple balls floating in it. Just as she's about to step into the purple she hears a voice shout “Wait!” She steps away from the purple and looks around. “Percy? Are you there? What's going on here? Where am I? Why does this feel familiar?” She nearly jumps as Perseus manifests floating just off to her side. “This is a recurring dream I used to have. Sort of. It's a bit different each time but these always obey the same rules. So it looks like it's my turn to be your guide. Not sure why this dream turned out like this, but I think it's best we play along until I wake up.”
Neptuna corrected him. “Until we wake up. This is my dream too now. Okay, so instruct me then. Explain what is going on and the rules.” Perseus looked around and passed his hand through himself a few times. “Just give me a moment to acclimate.” After a bit of messing around he stops. “Okay. So these hallways are part of a sort of liminal space. Between two areas these hallways don't obey traditional rules of spacing. Going straight forward can drive you in circles and doubling back can take you someplace new.” Neptuna sighs. “So what, the hallways move?” Perseus shakes his head. “That's not at all what I said. There are patterns and rules and although difficult it's not impossible to navigate.”
Neptuna points to the purple area. “Okay, so is there some danger with that then?” Perseus nods. “You have to hold your breath when going through it, you can't breathe it in. It's also denser than air so it's like walking in the bottom of a pool making it more difficult than one would initially think.” Neptuna runs her hands through it a few times. “But it's harmless to my skin and eyes? What happens if I breathe it in?” Perseus shrugs. “I assume nothing good. It might be fatal. Oh, and the harder you push the harder it pushes back. So remain calm and walk. If you push too hard it'll exhaust you and make it harder to hold your breath.”
Neptuna gives a single not before starting her way in, taking a deep breath just before her face enters the purple area. She could feel the air in her lungs as she did her best to slowly and calmly walk her way through the area. The air itself felt thick and heavy, all she wanted to do was run. When she reached the end panic began to set in as her chest began to ache. She pushed her way to the other side and gasped breathing hard for a while. “That… was… a miserable experience.” She huffed and puffed, catching her breath before continuing.
Neptuna walked the halls taking turns whenever Perseus tells her to. “Right. Straight. Right. Left. Right. Right. Right. Right.” Neptuna hesitates. “That's the forth right turn in a row, won't that take us back where we started?” Perseus then asked “Do you remember passing a hallway that would be a right turn before the first one we took? It was a blank hallway for quite a while before we turned. Did you forget normal logic doesn't apply there?” Neptuna grones. “Where are we even heading? What exactly is the end goal here?”
Perseus looks around. “We are looking for an exit, obviously. Or an entrance. Either way we are trying to get to one side or the other of the two spaces this one sits between. Look for a sign or door that says exit or a door that says library.” Shortly after saying that Neptuna spots an exit sign in a purple zone. The sign is pointing upward where the ceiling seems to go up in a vertical hallway. “Okay, how the heck am I supposed to get up there?” Perseus looks around. “There should be a dresser, bookshelf, and or end table nearby. We'll need to jump off of stacked furniture and swim the rest of the way by using the push back of the purple zone to your advantage. It'll be difficult and exhausting, but doable. A ladder would be nice if we can find one too.”
Neptuna looked around the corner to the right as the path split in a T intersection just before the purple zone. Down just a bit was what looked like a small room set up like an office. A wooden chair sitting next to a wooden deck with a really old fashioned looking lamp on it. She placed the chair on the desk and started pushing it down the hallway and into the purple zone getting it as far in as she could without sticking her face in it. “This next part is going to suck, I'll be drained by the time I get the desk in place and I don't think I can hold my breath that long.”
Perseus sighed. “You'll have to push it a bit, come back out, then go back in and push some more. Once it's in place you'll have to come back out one last time before you do your final entry and jump off the chair and start swimming in the purple air till you reach the top.” Neptuna let out an exasperated sigh and got started. After multiple pushes the desk and chair are in place and she's huffing just outside the purple zone. “I felt like we should have woken up by now. How long have we been here?” Perseus shrugs. “Time isn't exactly normal here. It is a dream after all.”
Neptuna grumbled and groaned before doing some breathing and calmly walking into the purple zone once more. She makes her way to the desk and chair climbing into it. She lifts her leg into the back of the chair and lifts herself kicking off the highest point and moving her arms and legs like a swimming motion pushing herself upwards. It's difficult and straining and she nearly runs out of birth when she grabs the corner at the top and pulls herself up and out of the purple zone and into a new hallway. “This… sucks.” She huffs and puffs as she lays on her back for a moment before picking herself back up and looking for the exit sign. Once spotted she starts following it.
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“So is this what your dreams are normally like when you're not having the tyrant dream?” Perseus was looking around as he floated behind Neptuna. “Well this one specifically I stopped having but I do often find myself lost in a strange area wandering around.” Neptuna continued to follow the signs as she talked with Perseus. “So other than the tyrant dream and being horribly lost in strange places and situations what kind of dreams do you have?” Perseus thinks for a moment. “Well sometimes I see myself living in a city made up by my brain. Lately I've been having dreams of my life as William every so often. I had another dream not long ago I think might have been a past life taking place sometime in the early nineteen hundreds I think. The twenties or thirties. Before world war two. I was a woman and I was being homeschooled. The details are fuzzy but I clearly remember tossing rotten fruit at Thomas Edison.”
Neptuna laughed. “You would do that wouldn't you.’ Perseus quickly retorted “Well yeah, the guy was a hack. Tossing rotten fruit is tame compared to what he deserved. Father of electricity my foot. Man was a scam artist who happened to be really good at finding ways to mass produce products others invented after “helping” them file patients.” Neptuna chuckled as she finally reached a door that read “exit”. “Ah, finally. We can get out of this place. She heads through the door and finds herself walking out into a city at night. She turns around to see an ordinary building behind her as the door closes.
Perseus looks around the city. “You want to hear something funny, if you were to open that door it would lead somewhere new.” Neptuna grumbled. “Okay, now what?” Perseus shrugs. “This city is still part of this dream so it's not like it matters that much. There's no danger here outside normal city dangers. Maybe just walk around till you see something familiar.” Neptuna sighs before walking down the sidewalk. “You know when I noticed I had a body that could feel things here, I thought this would be more fun. I've always wanted to explore having a human body.”
Perseus hums. “Well maybe you can find somewhere to hang out and do… whatever it is you wanted to try. Honestly having a body isn't all it's cracked up to be. You've yet to experience pain.” Neptuna continued to wander down random streets until she stopped in front of a large library. “You said something about a library before. Is this it?” Perseus shook his head. “This is just a normal library, not the one connected to the maze we were in.”
Neptuna walked up to it anyway and grabbed the door opening it and walking inside. “Shouldn't this place be closed and locked up if it's night?” She then notices only dim lights are on and no one is inside the library. “Oh, I guess it is closed, just not locked. At least there are chairs.” Neptuna sits in one. “So about the people I saw in the city…” Perseus knew what she was going to ask. “Dream NPCs, basically. They fill out the dream world and only do basic functions and have limited interactivity. They exist to make things look more realistic. You can buy stuff at stores but don't expect a meaningful conversation.”
Neptuna started feeling and pulling at her clothes. “I still can't get used to this. Everything feels so real.” She then looks at her skirt. “I wonder if-” Perseus raises his voice. “Don't even think about it. I'm right here, remember.” Neptuna sighs. “Couldn't I do what you do when you shower and stuff and just ask you to vanish for a while?” Perseus still has his voice raised. “I don't send you away to do that!” He then calms himself. “I actually haven't done it since you properly manifested the first time. Although you vanish I don't assume you can't see stuff as you can talk to me even where the personification isn't visible.”
Neptuna shuffled around. “I can see through your eyes when I'm not manifesting, but I can also enter a sleep mode where I'm just in a dark area. I can only hear muffled talking from time to time unless you call out to me. So I am capable of giving you privacy.” Perseus hummed and passed his hand through a table. “I feel like I can almost feel things when I pass through them. This role reversal is definitely an interesting experience. One of the stranger dreams I've had, that's for sure.” Neptuna glares at Perseus. “Don't change the subject. Am I getting some time alone during this or not?”
Perseus looks around. “Ehhh… maybe next time if this happens again.” Neptuna raised her voice slightly. “There might not be a next time. May never get this chance again.” Perseus tries to put his hand on her shoulder, but no luck. “Recurring dreams are not unusual or uncommon for me. However… there have been one offs as well.” He sighs and vanishes. “I'll be in the background for a while I guess, call me if you need anything.” Neptuna waits a moment, then looks around to once again double check that the building is empty.
Once she's confirmed that she is in fact alone, she reached a hand up her skirt and confirmed there was in fact cloth underneath covering her most sensitive area. She hesitated for a moment, and found herself feeling too weird about it to follow through. Besides, what exactly was she going to use for aid? Her imagination? She sighed as she pulled her hand back out. “Okay, now I get why you have trouble doing that sort of thing even when I'm in sleep mode.” Neptuna decided to explore the library instead. Going up and down rows of books, eventually stopping and pulling one out.
Neptuna opens the book to find all the text inside is blurred and illegible. “Damn, even if they had good books here I couldn't read them. I saw signs that were legible outside and the gate labeled on rows were intact, so I don't get why the books might as well be blank. Some of this looks like someone with no idea what text is had tried to recreate it. Letter placement that makes no sense. Mirrored and upside down lettering. Melded letters.” She closed the book and put it back. She let out an exasperated sigh and left the liberty to start walking again. After a while she spotted a hotel and went inside.
The building’s lobby was completely empty minus one guy behind a counter. Neptuna walked up to them. “Hello miss, would you like a room?” The guy looked average, nothing of note about him. However, he didn't look like anyone Neptuna had seen before. So he wasn't a copy paste of a random person Perseus had seen as far as she could tell. “Yes, one room.” The guy responded in an almost monotone voice. “That'll be” but the price sounded distorted. Neptuna pulled out a purse and handed him money without even counting it.
She received change and a key then went to her room to lay on a bed. “That's much better. I'll just wait it out right here. This dream has to end eventually.” She laid on the bed in silence for quite some time before checking the room. Nothing that wouldn't be in a hotel room. Then she plopped back on the bed with an exasperated sigh. “Maybe I should have grabbed a book. Then I could pretend to read it to pass the time.” She then put herself in the blanket like she was getting ready for bed. Her hand feeling the edges of her skirt. “...I've got nothing better to do I guess.”