Weakness [Open]

The abandoned, empty field was tinted orange by the evening sun that was starting to set, the lone figure standing idly on the grass casting an elongated shadow on the ground. Cyrus watched the sun slowly set beyond the horizon, looking distressed and anxious as opposed to calm, collected, and in control. Because he wasn't in control. Not here. Here he had fallen from an omnipotent god to a mortal. A feeble mortal whose strength was sapped with every passing breath, at that. When he could endure no longer he'd simply vanish, finding himself back in his own domain once again. Not to mention that his mind and imagination held very limited power here, and to exert such power would only drain him faster. Typically, he did not mind the fact that he was powerless and benign in the real world, because he was truly godlike in dreams. But the real, waking world was the one that mattered, wasn't it? Not some dreams that were all imagined?

A heavy sigh escaped from Cyrus' as he sat down on the grass, continuing to watch the sunset in silence.

Light footfalls on the grass disrupted the silence, but her resistance to do so was proven through her gentility. Sophie stepped lightly, feeling the tickle of the grass on her bare feet. She was wearing a black chiffon dress with blue flowers on it, the one that had lain in the back of her closet for years, going unworn. Until the winter formal, she thought she hated wearing dresses, but now, tonight, in this funny mood she'd found herself in, she adorned the light, flowery dress that stopped just below her knees and walked outside in the cold. She took her steps slowly, one at a time, watching carefully before setting her foot down. After all, who knew what was in this field? It was likely that some of her neighbors came out here to drink and left broken glass lying around. It was equally likely that nature had its own little traps; prickly bushes and other unpleasant things to step in.

Since she was watching each step so carefully, she'd hardly lifted her grey-green eyes to see what she was walking towards. She looked up when an unexpected color and shape entered her peripheral vision; mere feet from her, seated on the grass, a blue-haired boy sat silently. She gasped in surprise; she thought she was alone out here. She'd wanted to be alone out here. She had wanted to fight with her mother, last night, but she had stayed silent to avoid hurting her feelings. Taking care of her, always, as if she was the mother and Ellie was the teen daughter needing guidance, provision, and protection. Who is protecting me? She had asked herself as she'd tossed and turned all last night. Today, she took care of her responsibilities, finally giving herself a break in the late afternoon. She'd left without saying goodbye to her mom, who was napping.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," Sophie stammered, blushing as she realized how stupid that sounded. I didn't see you, a blue-haired boy, sitting alone in an empty field, even though I apparently walked right to you. "I guess I was kind of... off in my own little world." She smiled at her own ludicrous behavior, then cleared her throat gently, hoping to avoid any intrusive questions by changing the subject. "What are you doing out here? Just watching the sunset?"

Cyrus didn't bother to turn his head towards the girl, continuing to look straight ahead. "Yes. It feels strange when the sunset and everything else is real. Staying in reality is tiring, though. I don't think I will be able to stay here much longer." He paused for a moment, slowly taking in a deep, tired breath. "Rather than wait for you to ask what any of what I just said means, I will just tell you. You're real. Everything you experience is real. I'm usually not real, and I won't be for very much longer, I don't think. Making myself real is tiring. Do you understand?" Cyrus spoke the words as if they were no big deal, as if they were something everyone heard all the time. He was fully aware of how it sounded, but he didn't have all the time in the world to slowly explain his situation, or to play mind games. Now was the time to be direct, for a change. He could save indirect, roundabout explanations for when he didn't feel like he was fading away, as he probably would be soon.

Concern colored the young girl's face, and she resumed her approach, albeit more intentionally. She reached out and touched his shoulder, as if not believing his assurance that they were both real. She lowered herself to sit beside him, letting her fingers fall, brushing against the upper part of his left arm. She looked at him, her eyes seeking his, searching his face. "Where are you going if you're not going to be real anymore?" she asked. Her mind had jumped to the worst-case scenario, which was understandable, considering the amount of information she had been given. She had assumed he was suicidal, using unfamiliar terms to mask his intentions. All alone out here in this field, it was easy to see how he could be saying goodbye to a world he thought didn't care about him. Maybe I came out here for a reason, she thought. Maybe the tension between me and Mom happened so I could come out here and ask him not to go.

He decided to finally look at her once she found his eyes herself. "Back into dreams. That is what I am after all. A literal dream that I have temporarily made into reality. I'm not good enough with my gift to fix this permanently. So I'm stuck not being a real person." He yawned, before blinking a bit. "In the world of dreams I am a literal god with infinite power, but here, when I am actually real, I exist on borrowed time. Sometimes I miss when being real was permanent." Cyrus let out a sigh that was equal parts exhaustion and despair as his gaze ultimately stayed on the girl, his face displaying the same emotions.

Sophie nodded, understanding but not understanding at the same time. So he wasn't leaving on his own accord, and he wasn't leaving for good. She was relieved to hear that, but the fact that he could not stay, even if he wanted to, disappointed her. He was interesting, to say the least, but talking to her more would be hard for him, and eventually they would be cut off. She wanted to take advantage of the time she had with him, though she didn't know him well enough to cheer him up. "Is there anything we can do to make it permanent again?" she asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. He seemed pretty resigned to his fate, but maybe, with help, he could change it.

"Probably not anytime soon. That isn't something that you should be worried about though." Why would she worry about him? She had only just met him, so why should she care about what happens to him? Cyrus couldn't honestly say that he would care so much if their positions were reversed. After a moment he fell back, laying on the grass now whilst looking up at the orange sky. Could anyone else understand how tiring it was simply to exist for too long? As much as Cyrus had a growing interest in this girl and what she intended to do, asking about her took more effort than he was willing to exert at this point. He'd been out here for quite some time before she arrived, and now his borrowed time was running rather low.

Sophie remained seated for a moment, searching his face for more answers. When she realized she wouldn't be getting any more without further prompting, she slowly eased back so that she was laying next to him in the grass, taking care not to let her chiffon dress ride too far up her legs; though, she was vaguely aware that a gentle breeze would easily lift it, anyway. Based on their new positions, lying side-by-side in the grass, if the breeze did bother her dress, he probably wouldn't see anything from this angle, anyway. At first, she lied next to him, on her back, but as she stared up at the slowly-darkening sky, a number of unanswered questions flooded her mind again, and she turned onto her side, propping her head up with her left arm. She didn't mean for her gaze to be so direct and penetrating, but she was lying closer to him than she'd intended. Her face flushed with embarrassment at the intimacy of laying like this next to a boy she had never met, but she felt it would be more awkward to back up, now, so she held her position.

"What's your name?" she asked finally, settling on a question that would be easier to answer than all the probing ones swimming in her brain.

It was a shame he was too tired to care enough to use his name situation as an excuse to start being confusing for awhile, seeing if she could make sense of it before giving her an explanation, lest she get deadset on the wrong conclusion. "Haungu Vu. But I usually go by Cyrus. Most people have an easier time saying and remembering that. What about yours?" He turned his head to look over at her, seeming not to care about how close she was one way or the other. If he were more awake he might even just find it a little nice and comforting. Maybe.

He seemed sleepy, and she found it endearing. She smiled gently. "Cyrus. That's a nice name. I'll try to remember how to say Haungu Vu, too, but I'm not very good at foreign names," She blushed as she tried to pronounce it correctly, knowing she probably wasn't. Her long brown hair was falling in front of her face, so she brushed it away with the hand that was propping up her head. It wouldn't stay for long, but that was just part of having long hair, and she liked it, most days. "I'm Sophie," she said. "My friends call me Soph, sometimes."

"So, using your powers makes you tired?" she asked. "And you don't have to use your powers to exist in the world of dreams... but you say you're projecting yourself into the physical world, which takes energy." Suddenly another question came to mind, and it popped out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Can you feel anything when you're in the physical world? Like when I put my hand on your shoulder... did you feel that? And when you're in the dream world, can you feel things there?" Her curiosity was getting the better of her, and she was having trouble restraining herself, even knowing he was tired and didn't have much time left.

Cyrus nodded along as she spoke, and the movement was both to confirm what she was saying as much as it was to help keep him awake. "Yes, that's all correct. And I do feel things both here and in dreams. In addition to being able to exist freely in dreams, it is effortless to control them. It's like a permanent lucid dream, except it goes beyond even that. I can go into other people's dreams whenever I want and affect their dreams or move them to other ones. Unlike here, I am truly a god inside of dreams." More yawning escaped from him as he rubbed his eyes. "I am going to return while I can still do so of my own free will. If you want to talk more, dream." Upon saying that, Cyrus just stayed where he was for a moment before, in an instant, he was simply no longer present, leaving Sophie alone in the field.