If you feel comfortable playing a male, then by all means, do, but otherwise it doesn't particularly matter to the game balance if you play a female. Do whichever you feel most comfortable doing.

And Jer, I would still be completely willing to bring in your first friend, if he gets to a point where he feels comfortable joining. But if you want to send your other friend this way as well, feel free. I think a little more blood would be good in this game.

Unfortunately, I have a bit of bad news. Due to situations at home, I will be moving, shortly. Within the month, most likely. My fiance and I are taking a break for a year. Unfortunately, this may mean I will be out of internet service for a little bit, but no more than a month, I hope. If nothing else, I can try and keep you guys updated through a friend's computer. During this time, I would like for you guys to keep on gaming, but I don't know how well that will go. I'm hoping I can get you two to a point where you would be safe to continue by yourself, but I think I'd have to pull you out of this place you are in right now and put you back into your "waking selves". That means it is infinitely less exciting, I think, so I understand if you guys would rather pause while I am away. After all, there is only so much you can do without me to tell you the particulars.

I want everyone (including our missing person who has rather unexpectedly disappeared. Did Cows say anything about being gone?) to let me know what they think we should do about this.

Hey guys I'm back from my trip...and a lot happened while I was gone apparently...

Kierys I'm sorry to hear that things have gotten so hectic for you, like Jere says focus on yourself and we'll find a way to keep ourselves occupied. Either that or Morgan and Audra are going to go for blood...hopefully my post wasn't too mean. I wanted Audra to kind of poke at Morgan's whole dream mentality without being like "You're dumb, this is real wake up!!"

Ladies, I do apologize for the abruptness of the "dream"'s ending, but tonight is my last night of internet, so I wanted to have things ready for you two. Please play through your morning, afternoon, even evening if you would like, but you'll have to string it out until I get back. If you two should like to meet, you will have to figure out a logical way to do it. Audra, if your character chooses to leave her apartment, she might run into Morgan at that coffee shop or on the street. Obviously if you two do see each other, you will recognize each other because your appearances have not changed between the two worlds. It is up to you where your relationship goes from there, but obviously any theories you might come up with about the Dreamworld will have to remain just theories. There are no books, no films, nothing documenting anything like this before beyond pure myth.

Try to behave while I'm gone and I really look forward to coming back as soon as possible. I am hoping I will only be out of commission for a month and a half, tops. If I ever get a chance to get online, I'll be sure to update you on the situation.

Thank you ladies for all of your patience and your flexibility, you both have been absolutely wonderful. I honestly could not ask for better players. I'm really looking forward to getting back to this, so let's keep the ball rolling while I'm away, okay? Hopefully I'll see you both in under 30 days! Wish me luck!

Just checking in to say I'm still out of commission, but I will hopefully have internet by next month. I hope you ladies have been doing alright in my absence, and I want to say I really appreciate your patience! I need to change the thread to announce my hiatus. I'll check in again when I can, but I don't know when that will be.

Jer: I giggled. Very nice way to give an opportunity to tie together without forcing Audra into contact with Morgan. I like. You two seem to be doing very well so far (I realize it has only been 11 days...) Keep up the good work; I can't wait to get back and read all you two have gone through! Oh, and one note, since Morgan may look into it: If she does go to the doctor, she is found to be in good health (Or at least, in as good of health as she usually does), with only very minor traces of some unknown substance on her clothes. They are being sent to the lab for analysis and the results will be returned to her upon completion. You will not receive these results until I return, however, so feel free to roleplay through the long wait, depending on how fast you guys go through a day.

UPDATE: Hello darling starlings! Popping in for a quick update on my situation: With any luck, I'll have internet by the end of the month! I got a check that should cover the modem cost plus activation fees and all that, so hopefully I should be up and running before March swings around. I'll try to keep you posted if anything comes up, but we're going to hope for an early return! Meanwhile, I caught up with you two and you are both doing a good job of keeping the flow steady; good work! I really look forward to being able to move back into the game and pick up the plot again. I really enjoyed both of your reactions to each other finally meeting, very nice. I better go, but I just wanted to let you know what was going on for the internet situation. See you by the end of the month, I hope!

UPDATE: Hello again lovely ladies. Well, it's looking like my hope to be back by March is clearly not going to work out. I'm waiting till next week to get my paycheck and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, I'll have enough for installation and the modem and all that. Because I really, really, really want internet back. Thank you for being such absolute dolls while I've been away; I pop in occasionally to check on you two and I'm really glad to see you're both still in it. Thanks for all your patience and let's cross our fingers for a nice big paycheck this Friday!

Unfortunately at this point I may have to concede to out of ideas. Morgan's just going to sit there and read, so unless you'd like me to NPC in a problem customer to spook them, I can't...really think of anything else to do. :cry:

yeah...I'm running out of ideas as well, hopefully Kierys will be back sooner rather than later.

I think we did pretty well for how long she's been gone. She's due back any day now, by the latest estimates, so...I think we're okay?

We're hoping for within the month but until I have my paycheck, there's no real way to know. If I can, I'll log in tonight and give you both something to work with; I don't know if my brother will be home or not. If he is, then the likelihood of me getting on is pretty nil. Again, thank you ladies for being so patient; I wish I could give you more than a maybe. But with money being how it is, I don't want to hook up internet unless I'm certain we'll be okay financially. Paying bills kind of takes precedence. But if I'm lucky, my check will be good. I'll let you know once I have it. Still not getting it till Friday.

On the off chance that I don't get to write up something tonight, here's something you two can do in the meantime.

Audra, while you are in the stacks, working and trying to relax a bit, you think you spot Sanaii. Should you attempt to pursue her, however, you somehow manage to lose her amongst the shelves, despite your extensive knowledge of the layout. You do, however, notice a disturbed book. If you choose to investigate, you will find a slip of paper tucked into the first chapter. The book itself is a study on dreams, basically detailing a group of scientist's theories on the subconscious. You are a smart girl, but somehow you find it impossible to focus on the words and process them, like your brain refuses to cooperate. If you choose to read the paper, it has written upon it an address. Depending upon how closely you paid attention the other night, you may recognize it as the place you went with Sanaii. Underneath, it has a time: 9 o'clock. You do not recognize the handwriting, but it is very elegant and stylish, like it was written with a special pen. Disregard all of this, of course, if you do not choose to pursue her or investigate the misplaced book. Otherwise, you get a distinct feeling of being watched that makes the hairs on your neck stand up and gives you chills. Occasionally you get that fleeting feeling that you got in the dark room with beds, when you were sure something was in the room with you. It's never as bad and never for long, but it's enough to make you very uncomfortable. That, and the fact that you keep seeing something out of the corner of your eye.

Morgan, just before Audra thinks she sees Sanaii, a young woman with pale skin comes into the store. You notice her skin first, because she is wearing a black hooded jacket, with the hood pulled up, and it makes her skin look even paler by comparison. The white hair doesn't help. Not even pausing to look around, she almost walks right past you. She stops when she sees you, staring for a moment, appearing very confused. Whether you look up or not, she says, so quietly you're not even sure if you imagined it, "Why are you here?" You hear her footsteps receding and if you choose to watch, see her disappear into the bookshelves. Shortly after the bell on the door announces her departure, or another customer's arrival. Strange, but you don't remember it ringing when she came in. If you choose to pursue her, you follow her all the way to a dark alley, a couple of blocks down. You don't know why, but you feel compelled to stay away from that alley. The shadows don't seem to move right and it gives you chills every time you get near. If you fight the fear and storm steadfastly into the alley, you find the usual things. Dumpster, trash cans, litter. Cigarette butts everywhere. A chainlink fence that looks very world weary, another street on the other side. A sleeping bum. No sign of the girl, unless she's hiding in a dumpster or magically changed into a 40+ year old man with a scraggly beard and no teeth. But that's ridiculous. Maybe she went down another alley. Disregard if you decide against following her into the alleyway. If you turn back and decide to go elsewhere, you get a distinct feeling of being watched, and seem to notice a lot of people in black hoodies. Did people always dress so darkly, or are you just now noticing? Every time you see one, you are reminded of the girl from you apartment last night. Was it a girl? Were you hallucinating? Your day just seems to fill up with uncertainties and second-guessing. You feel exhausted even before the clock hits six. The rest of your day goes by without incident (At least, not on my part. You of course can add to it in your own ways).

UPDATE
At last! It is official! I have ordered the modem and it should be coming by Monday. I will have internet all hooked up! Unfortunately, I will be occupied all of Monday with my boyfriend, but I might be on Tuesday morning or evening, depending on when I work that day. So expect me to be back and running within the week! Thank you both for being absolutely wonderful and patient and fantastic and great and all manner of other wonderful adjectives! I'm really looking forward to getting back into this game. I will inform you now though that with my boyfriend and me picking up more hours at work, I won't be on as long or often as I used to, but I will try not to let it interfere with the game. I'm really looking forward to moving this game ahead on its track; we've been in a bit of a rut for the past month or so and I do apologize for that. Thanks for seeing it through the hard times, ladies, I really appreciate it. We should be back on track by the end of the month.

Hello? Is anyone around?

I'm still here, of course. Waiting for a time when my services are needed.

Kierys I was wondering if Jer doesn't respond by say Wednesday if I may fast forward time so it's closing? I would like to move the story ahead a bit.

By all means dear, go ahead. We'll give her till Wednesday. My game night is then, so unfortunately you won't get a response from me until the day after, either before I go to work or when I come back, unless I manage to have time after gaming. If she hasn't responded by then, I'll send her a friendly reminder. Does she know I'm back from hiatus? I'll just drop her a message Wed. night/Thursday.

yeah sure Jer no problem I can post when I get back from class this evening. As for the scatterbrained don't worry about it, I'm coming up to finals week here and I can feel my brain slowly oozing out of my left ear.

Don't worry about it, dear. Just focus on feeling well again. *Snugs* I'll send some "Feel better" vibes your way. <3

Clever girl! Yeah, if she wants to, just remember, if she's trying to inhale it, she's going to inhale whatever is on her floor, so let's hope she keeps a clean house! ^-^

Yes, I think an Intelligence roll would be appropriate here, to help her decide whether or not to go through with it. Due to the fine texture of the sand, it would be nearly impossible for her to pick out bits of dust from bits of sand though, unless there were particularly big clumps of dust. She doesn't strike me as the type to have dust bunnies though. She is a particular kind of person, and since she doesn't socialize too much, I expect she would have lots of time on her hands for things like cleaning. Don't worry, all of us have our little neurotic tendencies. I'll make a roll for you and you can decide from there what to do.

Heya Kierys just posting to say that as in my post, Audra is gonna try to flee from the area via one of the doors in the hallway. Fighting right off the bat doesn't seem her style so I figured we'd try this avenue first!