At this, Phineas could no longer keep his eyes dry. He buried his face in his hands and wheezed a few squeaky sobs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he murmered, pressing himself into Shan's embrace, face still hidden behind his bony fingers. He quieted, seeming to surrender to the pursuit of sleep, shivering occasionally with the fear of finding himself waking up only to find it all gone.

[[OMG Steffie claimed the 1000th post~
PARTY~]]

Shan ran her fingers through his hair slowly. "Don't be sorry, Phineas, it's not your fault . I understand." And she did. Part of her still couldn't believe she was holding the young boy in her arms, but she was looking right at him now, and that would have to be enough to defeat her disbelief. She felt awful for having been the root of his tears now.

((1001, actually. At least from this angle. XD ))

Turtle scooted himself closer to Yuki and laid his newly-recovered head gently on the boy's waist, rolling bloodshot but loving eyes to look at his face.

Phineas probed at the pitch-black mass of sleep that floated in front of his closed eyes, looking for an entry that would be dreamless and hopefully restful. He came upon a blank and promising doorway, mindless and deep, wherein he could drift without obstacles. He opened wide the door and let himself fall into the space, relieved at the reprieve from sensations and emotions.
After a long while, he felt the blank world of unconsciousness shake, once and then again. Startled, he stopped his floating and looked around at the nothingness, knowing somewhere deep down that he was about to...
He opened his eyes to find himself face to face with the straw-covered floor of his cage, the tumult of the circus around him. Scrambling into an upright position he found a rotting piece of raw meat in the cage next to him. A centipede the length of his whole forearm weaved its way in and out of it. His stomach grumbled and turned at the same time, and though he didn't want to, he saw himself reaching for the food.
The DreamCatcher appeared in front of him, bent slightly at his waist, one foot tapping while his hands were held behind his back. The business end of his whip hung down between his legs and wound its way into the edges of perception."Did you have a lovely DREAM my good boy?"
The side of the man's suit suddenly blossomed a bright red, and blood dripped from it onto the floor, where cockroaches scuttered to it and picked it up as if it were solid, scrambling off with lumps of it on their backs. "Well welcome back!" the DreamCatcher hissed, as if he didn't notice what was happening below. He blinked and his eyes were suddenly yellow slits. he flicked his tongue, which was long and forked. "We missed you horribly, my little Ssssssstar." The whip which was dangling below started to wrap itself around his leg, climbing up his body and tightening around his neck.
All the while, the meat was slowly approaching his face as if it were in slow motion. He could smell and feel as well as see the corruption and disease housed inside of it. He could feel his mouth opening wide, wider than it had any right to, wider than his face was. "Tonight we're going to have a great ssssssshow, and your friendssssss won't be here to sssssssave you thissss time. Sssso you can just sssssave your sssssstinking voice for the audiensssse."
Phineas closed his eyes as his teeth plunged through meat, maggot and mold.

((at least it's obviously a dream this time. Heading off for home, see you later tonight!))

[[Oh, I mean besides the first post, LOL. I'm looking at the "replies"XD

Later Steffie, I'll work on art in the meantime. Oh lord the CHAIN.]]

Yuki touched the hound's head repeatedly and absentmindedly until at last he fell asleep. He'd been more tired than he'd realized, and the force of his tiredness had not hit him until the moment right before he fell asleep. Now his chest rose and fell steadily, and his hair partially covered his face.

Shan was fighting her sleep, at least for a little while. The task was getting increasingly difficult but each minute she told herself to wait a bit longer. She could see her son already sleeping, and Phineas, although much less comfortably. She hoped that it would get better for him as time went on, and laid him down carefully. She lay beside him and held him close. At last, when she was no longer aware of herself, she fell asleep. The days would only get longer, rest would soon grow shorter.

(Eep! Sorry! I had to go drop off my tuition money for sept classes and along the way met some people I hadnt seen in a while, which turned to going and getting pizza and catching up. XD))

Her eyes closed as she felt Phineas fingers run through her hair in a comforting gesture.
Ani heard Yuki's question, but her eyes had closed before she could form the words to tell him, tomorrow she thought to herself as her conscious mind closed and led her into her subconscious dreams. There was green grass all around her as she stared up at the light blue sky. She could hear laughter in the distance. Sitting up she looked down at herself, her black hair was long and moved with the wind. She wore a golden summer dress with lacing along the edge. Her eyes scanned the area and found the source of the happiness, it was a family, four little children ran around screaming in laughter as their father chased them. It was a memory that Ani always dreamed about. It was the day of her transformation, her 20th birthday. She didnt know that anyone knew about her secret place, this patch of greenery..but she didnt mind who she was sharing it with. As she left to head into the forest to meet the spirit that had taken her in, she glanced behind her once to find that the family was gone. She never knew what it would mean to be a servant of the Earth Spirit, and she never got that until it was too late. Ani's dream followed her into the forest and as the spirit took over her body, Ani woke up with a shock. She sat up in the bed, looking around her at the sleeping figures. Breathing hard, she shook her head before leaving the room quietly.

((The chain does look like a pain in the butt XD but it's pretty! and at least you inked it all right. I always get lazy halfway through and the second half of things look silly.))

Turtle didn't have to dream. He didn't even have to sleep, but watching the others do it made him feel left out. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, then forced himself to think of something dreamlike. His mind veered towards his first master, but he didn't like the idea of sad dreams in such a comfortable situation. He plopped Phineas and Yuki into his dream instead, imagined them rollerskating in the park while he ran ahead on a leash. He revised it a little so that Phineas was on a skateboard, pushing himself swiftly on the wheels. He dreamt that they stopped and got ice cream, and that he got to eat their cones. Panting happily in his mock sleep, Turtle dreamt.

[[It's okay, Dusty, that's important! And I'm glad you met with your friends~

Steffie~ The chain looks bad up close, I'll never dare show it, but I'm done!
CLICK~
Can Steffie see dA images?
LOL Turtle is so cute

Oh, and I think I'll wait for the others to post before making them all head out. Or at least one of them. Maybe. If I can stop myself from posting.

And~ Do you guys think it's a good time to accept new RP-ers?]]

((I CAN see DA images!!! AND WOW! That looks great! (are you SURE his father ain't a horse? ^_-) I love the things in his hair, for sure. And the colours are very smooth and pretty, especially his skin.))

((It would be interesting to see what happens if new RPers join...
Everyone better post soon so we can see what happens next!
Platty-do you know how many stages there are going to be in this RP? I get this awful feeling it's getting close to an ending since Yume said to hurry up... T_T and can we do a sequel? XD
<---ADDICT. ))

[[Aw, Thank you~ I finally have a good reference picture for him~

I can't be absolutely sure since I plan on separating some stages and merging others OTL

But don't worry, I'll be sure to drag it out a bit.

LOL A sequel would be hard, but I was thinking that once they find her and all I make this into a private RP(or a separate thread that's related to this one but still private) where everything is done with but they're still hanging out at Shan's place or something.~

It will be interesting to see your reactions to Yume, for those of you who don't know her personality yet :XD

For some reason I pictured Micheal getting taken to Disneyland...]]

((Micheal! Micheal! Now that's you've finished your quest, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to Disneyland!!!"
XD hehehehe... wow, I have to draw him saying that, while wearing an apron.
I never actually understood what time period this whole RP is set in... I mean, I let Turtle have a perhaps anachronistic dream because he IS a dream and who knows what dimension he was dreamt in.
Yes! A continuation RP with them all living together XD it'd be like one of those reality TV shows!))

[[ROFL. You reminded me of those food battles on youtube.

It's set some time in the near future. I didn't put a date because I don't want people feeling anchored. This does involve dreams after all.

Hehehe, Reality TV would be funny.

Watch Yume's temper flare~]]

((HAHAHA! Near future! I was SO off!))

[[LOL what did you guess?]]

((I was seeing it as a sort of Meiji-era/Medieval thing. What with the swords and outfits XD I love that Micheal is all Western-themed. It reminds me that I need to work on the Western-style comic I was working on a while ago...))

[[Oh, Shan's just old-fashioned LOL

I just pictured Micheal in the hat AND the apron... ROFL]]

((of course he NEEDS the hat even with an apron. XD))

[[YUP! >w>

My computer just lagged and I forgot what I was going to say....

gah, deciding on the new applicants is hard. Yay or nay? But I kind of like the tight-knit group right now... ]]

((I do like our group a lot XD do you think many people would want to join an RP this far into it? They've missed out on a lot.))

[[Yeah, that too. I'd have to fill them in. I think I'll just keep it like this and if we need it to be more lively afterwards I'll just break the 2-character rule~ ]]

((Waiting... *hums and taps on her desk* So... what's up?))

[[Not much. My extreme lack of motivation is keeping me pretty braindead LOL

But watching Dead Fantasy never gets old.
Click~
The fighting sequences can be described like this>> :drool: ]]

((Ah yes, and it's so long!!!!!!!!! I just got lunch X3 the thai place across the street is to dieeeee forrrrrrr))

[[The animator did an amazing job~

Gah, I just had white rice~ Not luxurious, but I adore it LOL
I should just go ahead and declare this RP full >w> ]]

((HEHEHEHE! Full indeed! Who are we actually waiting on? Maybe everyone thinks they ended this stage on a good note already...))

[[Fai and MooMoo mainly, since 3 of us have posted recently. I wonder if I should have this moved to "private" too..

I'll see what the others think~]]