31
It's been ages since anyone entered Leo's home. Long enough to where it may as well have been the first time.
Leo's face swelled with pride as Quarks and Pulse's gasped and showered her cozy home in praise.
Succulents took up every spare empty space on the shelves books had yet settled into.
Plush, emerald green couches, chairs, and ottomans provided ample spots to cuddle up with a book,.
The windows were stained glass with a assortment of blues and purples, made to always let in just the right amount of light to read.
Of course, Quark was enthralled by the plants and reading material, picking up an arms' worth of the books without discretion for its actual content. They were books; that was all they needed to be.
Pulse was content with the size of her cozy abode.
The ceilings were tall to accompany the stained glass, and an open floor plan with a kitchen, dining, and living room.
The only rooms with privacy were her bedroom and the bathroom.
Yes, Pulse was content, but Leo wanted the wow.
She instructed them to the doors on the far side of the room.
Unlike the homey greens and the plush, humble room before, the bathroom was her area for luxurious pampering.
The bathtub was more of a steaming pool than it was a tub.
Between the rose gold walls and the warm flickers of candlelight, Leo could see in Pulse's face instantly draw to the water.
Stepping into the room activated the waterfall shower head in the middle of the pool.
Pulse barely contained themselves. This cool beauty beamed with the same excitement a puppy would with a new toy,
Her stars—her precious, lovable dorks, eager to explore. Now there were stories to read, succulents to tend to, water to simmer, wash, and indulge, and above all, their bedroom, for all of them to rest. Their room to share as long as sleep permitted it…
Pulse touched her cheek, smiling. “How are you doing, love?”
“Better, much better.” 'The best I have ever been.'
Quark looked at her wrists and ankles. Her feet had healed satisfyingly enough. Quark was relieved seeing her wrists clean. "You okay, then? Be honest."
“I am. I don't think I've been any okay. Thank you—both of you—for everything.”
“You deserve everything,” Pulse said with a kiss to her hair. “We're just glad you are out of that nightmare.”
'And I never want to go back.'
It was time for the past to rest.
“Where do we go from here?” Quark asked.
Oh yeah, there's still the future to worry about.
Pulse replied: “We can stay here, I suppose. That's all I'm sure about.”
“Is that okay?”
Certainly, Leo had her share of questions, a decent handful about what happened with her stars. The events of the catalyst played in her mind. Why were they wrestled away from her? More importantly, what force stole them away?
Before all that, she had to help them. "I’ll handle all that; if you need to hide, I know all the nooks, crannies, hidey-holes, loopholes, and everything else you need to help you out."
“You've done so much already–” Leo pinched Pulse's lips and hushed.
"You've done everything, both of you. But the fact is, you guys are a bit clueless about some of the nuances of dreaming. I've been a lucid dreamer for a spell. I know this place better than I know my ABCs."
"Then can you tell us about how we can hide? Will we have to stay in this house the whole time? It's lovely, don't get me wrong, but what do we do if someone comes here?" Quark was a breakneck between questions. Leo repeated the action on Quark and pinched his lips.
"Relax, sweety, let me handle it. I'll get everything we need. You two should rest. You looked ragged as shit."
Pulse didn't resist a moment. Their arms wrapped around the smaller beings, a hand on Quark's hip, the other on the small of Leo's back.
However, Quark was not ready to relax. Because, he needed to ask every question with no filter as soon as they popped into his mind.
At times, he couldn't be patient enough for Leo's full explanation before jumping into a solution.
He kept going, even as they laid in her bed and Pulse clothes their eyes.
Leo became concerned it was preventing Pulse from sleeping.
Instead, it looked as though Quarks' rambling exuberance was soothing them.
So she told him all he needed to know. Leo explained to Quark briefly about Lucid Dreaming and being a Lucid Dreamer before moving to the power of manipulation.
"There are some dreamers who can fully rewrite the whole dreamscape," she said. "I've never met them in person, but they always shared their stories of changing their dreams on a whim on blogs and such."
“Change how?”
"Like having a nightmare one moment, then the next, they're having the best dream of their life."
'Like earlier.' "Some have said they can fly on command; there is an extensive list of Lucid Dreamers on this web page. But I think I'm different in the sense that they have never seen the things I have. Not many people mention stars, space, or the like. Things like you, Pulse, and Ruin."
“No one else?”
"Maybe they're out there, but I believe it's more of a rarity than it's supposed to be."
She stroked Quark's arm in thought. Even if she can move between the cracks of dreams and has found how to be her own shadow, there is so much about this world that eluded her.
“You know Gamal then?” Quark asked.
"Gamal?”
“The manager of the Wish-Fulfillment, where Pulse and I met you.”
“I wasn't quite aware of the autocracy of dreams on your end. Who is Gamal?”
So Quark entered his bedtime seminar on the stars' side of dreaming. Seret Gamal was an interesting character, Leo noted quietly. Quark mentioned with their second meeting that gods were more an idea than an actual thing, but Seret sounded like a kind of godly being.
“But does she answer to some higher power?”
"I can't even picture who they could be and what they mean in this whole thing."
He shared a lot of information—a lot of useful information.
There it was, as her thoughts became fast-paced with plotting and planning, and her energy spiked. All she's learned invigorated her too much, and before she knew it, her body was becoming translucent.
Quark held onto the remaining physical touch. “Please don't go yet...”
Even Pulse appeared to hug them tighter, though they were deep, deep in their slumber.
"I'm sorry sweety," Leo kissed Quark's eyes. "Trust me, I don't want to go. But I swear to you, I'll be back very, very soon."
Even with her promise, Quark still clung to her hands.
"I don't have anything going on in my life tomorrow. I'm going to call it an early night. I plan on sleeping for a long time."
She continued to fade.
"You and Pulse have kept all your promises to me, so I will do the same. Swear on my life, I will not leave you two alone longer than a night."
Her waking world began to fade into view before her. She clung to the memory of the stars' warmth, refusing to let the curse of forgetfulness take hold.
"I'll be back. I will always be back. Especially when I have you and Pulse to look forward to."
His kiss lingered on her lips until she became fully conscious.
The vivid smells of oak were replaced with fake lavender air freshener, and her beautiful, rich forest colors were replaced by old, stained-gray walls.
Something about the feel of her second-hand comforter and yellowish pillow was disproportionately disappointing.
The sun that peaked through her black-out curtains straight into her vision was the wrong star. It wasn't her star.
Her laptop was open on her orders page. A groan escaped her, seeing that the new telescope she ordered two months ago was delayed again.
Today, as she jumped out of bed with unusual eagerness, she threw on her shirt, correcting the fit after finding the tag tickling her chin while at the same time tripping over herself to squeeze into her jeans.
First, it was class. Then, it was the shift at the coffee shop on the other side of campus. Leo could start heading home at five and go through her exhausting routine for bed.
There was no room for chance. If she had her insomnia episode tonight she is going to–
No, there was a way to circumvent that possibility. All it would take was the leftover money in her reused jam jar and a trip to the pharmacy.
Tonight, she fully intends on a long rest.
Her stars need her.
She needs them.