Dream's answer wasn't much of a shocker. In fact, it was what Kate had pretty much expected it would be. This was, after all, the same Dream that only granted her the gift to walk into her (lover? Boyfriend?) -- Into her partner's dream only if she had his explicit consent to do so.
Honestly, she could only hope that every being as powerful as Morpheus is shares also his work ethics.
"It's okay, I get it." She told him as soon as he reminded her of his rules. But, it was after Dream reminded her that there was other ways to find the answers that she could do little but stare at him in surprise. Well, that was her own words, her own point, all shoved right back to her face. Sometimes, when there's distance between you and an issue, you can give the best kind of advice. And Dream just did that.
"That's true. I've... Sort of heard this before. But I keep delaying seeing my mom. Telling myself I'm too busy to do it or to even think about it." Avoiding it is so much easier.
Many who met Dream for the first time did not welcome him. Oh, he was far more loved than Death by mortals, but still. There were many who held animosity over what their dreams told them. Nightmares that people fled from rather than facing. Dream didn't know what the interactions between Kate and her mother in the waking world had comprised of entirely, but he did know some truths about the situation from the nights she spent trying harder and harder to run away from unseen troubles. That Kate didn't push him for answers showed that she was indeed a friend, and not merely a desperate person looking to a higher power for help. He appreciated it, as he genuinely didn't like disappointing people. Some of his siblings could perhaps be bargained with, but he wouldn't say the world was better off for it.
"It would appear that you are not too busy to think about it." He said it simply and plainly, pointing out the obvious. Slowly he took another bite of the sandwich and a sip of tea. "What are you afraid of facing when you see her once more?" It was perhaps not a question most of polite society might boldly ask, but Dream didn't always play by normal society rules.
Matthew hopped closer to Kate, laying a wing on her arm for a moment. "Listen, as someone who died randomly before getting any of his shit together, don't delay things too long. 'cause now I get to help fix other people's problems but not everything I wanted to get fixed, you know?" He felt Dream's eyes on him as he said that. Dream had been very clear that Matthew had to severe all his past ties to the waking world, and Matthew had done that. It didn't make it any easier, though.
Even though Kate seemed content with Dream's answer, his questions were a completely different story. Grabbing her soda, she had just taken a sip and almost choken on it, spitting it back into her glass before she was caught in a coughing fit.
"Shit, Morph, you really don't hold back your punches," she groaned as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Matthew took the chance to approach her and, while he was being nothing but kind with his advice, it was still a tough pill to swallow.
"I..." Kate took a deep breath, for once avoiding Dream's dark and profound gaze. "I know. I know what you guys are saying." At least, what the raven did. Morpheus seemed to be genuinelly asking, wondering about Kate's reasoning to avoid her mom. "I know I should live life at the fullest and I shouldn't waste my time. I already lost my dad." And back when Fisk wanted to blackmail her mother, the possibility of losing Eleanor had become a terrifying reality.
But how to explain what was holding her back right now?
"I know I'm not too busy, but I'm busy enough to convince myself that there's other things I should be worrying about first." Even though she did some basic work on the fundraiser and the office, unless there was an unavoidable meeting then Kate could get away with sneaking back home whenever she pleased. Of course, she tried to do the basic hours almost every day, even if sometimes she did arrive a little later if her night had been specially rough.
Fisk and the task force, she told herself, was something she should be worrying about first.
Her relationship with Matt too, that had been her light at the end of the tunnel. A distraction that was all too sweet to ignore, luring her away from her latest worries.
Anything was easier than thinking about her mother.
"I guess -- I guess it's easier telling myself that at some point I'm gonna reach out, but that it's never the right moment to do it." Would there ever be a right moment? "It's kinda tough to think of facing her. I do miss her. I do miss who my mom used to be before I figured out that she'd done all those horrible things."
"There are no right moments. There are merely moments, for you to do with them what is wished. It sounds like you have told these excuses many times by now then, to yourself and others. It will do little good for you to keep repeating them." He didn't say it with the intention to be unkind, merely pointing out the obvious from what Kate has stated. Dream was what his function was, and that meant having little patience for people attempting to lie to themselves. "If it is easier for you to avoid her, then that is your choice. The waffling though does no favors, and you already know the risk." That putting it off for so long might mean there won't be time left. "I would think you want the choice to be up to you and on your terms, rather than the choice being taken from you." He gave a small shrug. "I merely wish for you not to have regrets."
Like leaving a lover in Hell for 10,000 years, or leaving an estranged son wanting to die for several millennia.
He could empathize with Kate's avoidance, but he couldn't say it would end happily because of it. In his experience, the longer the delay, the worse off the situation became. Although, Eleanor was the one who'd hurt Kate, unlike Dream who'd inflicted the pain of his estranged loved ones. That added an extra layer of guilt into the mix on his end that he was trying not to let influence his talk with her.
What if he'd dealt with Orpheus sooner, before that tragic night where his body had been torn apart? Pride and fear had caused the torment of the being he loved more than anyone.
His gaze was no longer on her. It was somewhere far past both of them.
"Time may heal some wounds, but other times, it causes them."
Kate listened to what Dream had to say. How, even though he most times he seemed to be quiet and distant, he now became patient as he talked away. Kate, picking a fry, stirred the ketchup in the little container that had come with her meal. But, despite of her silence, she didn't feel as if she was being called out. Honestly, the more she heard Morpheus talk? The more that sensation he fed to her heart, fooled her into imagining a very young kind of grandfather that was merely looking out for her through sharing his experiences.
He didn't want her to have regrets.
"Yeah, I get it," she was quick to point out, after she finally dared to give that fry a bite. "I know I need to listen. That you've seen it all and you know better." That she looked a little moody herself, that she seemed to have captured a little of his normal vibe by falling quite quiet herself. But in all honesty? She knew this was out of love.
Grabbing a fry, she reminded herself of how Matthew had attempted to steal one while she wasn't supposed to be looking. This time she openly offered it.
"I already have someone who offered me to be there for me if I can't do it on my own. I know I need to get my shit together and go for it. With him or on my own." Kate had the strenght. As much as she wanted Matt to be there. "I know mom may have changed, but I also know she still wants to look after me. That everyone deserves a second chance."
"I have seen a good deal. Not everything." As powerful as he was, Morpheus always was quick to state his limits, or if someone else was more powerful than he was. That sort of precision and boundaries mattered to him. "And I know a good deal." A beat. "In part because of mistakes of my own." Perhaps he should let humanity think the Endless were infallible. Was it kinder to keep that lie, than to let them know that these powerful beings sometimes made mistakes? Perhaps. He wasn't a very good liar, though. "Some of these mistakes are ones I have yet to rectify myself. So I can say with the wisdom of that experience that yes, waiting does not help. In many cases, it makes it worse."
Matthew took the fry and held it in one of his feet while he started to chomp on it from the other end. How a bird with just a beak managed to eat all that Matthew did was indeed some magic of the Dreaming.
"We're big on second chances, yeah. I mean hey, I guess you could even call ending up a raven as a second chance." That was at least a positive way to approach it.
Even though Kate wasn't exactly known for listening and following advice, it was obvious that she wasn't taking Dream's or Matthew's advice for granted. In fact, listening to her friends did ease some worries away.
Sure, it's not like her situation with her mother was now any easier. But it was easier to accept that she did miss Elanor. And that, even though there was no wrongs or rights here? At least reaching out wouldn't bring her the worst of regrets. This advice, coming from someone as old as Morpheus and that has seen as much as him? That, oddly enough, gave Kate some comfort. Because, as independant as she claimed to be, sometimes it was nice to be told which is the best road to take. To stop worrying about those worries themselves.
"I'll reach out," she finally told the pair. "Thank you, guys. I kinda... Was just set on avoiding this." And even though things wouldn't be any easier between her and Eleanor, now at least she did have the drive to swallow this bitter pill. "But your opinons matter to me. A whole deal, I promise you."
Grabbing a fry of her own, Kate ate half of it in a bite.
"Like, no offense, but advice doesn't get any better than when it comes from someone as old as you are, Morph." A beat. Kate couldn't help but sharing a look with his raven. "Unless we are talking about fashion advice."
"You're much more gracious accepting advice than many others." Including him. Dream knew he was notoriously bad at accepting advice, though he'd gotten better about it from Death and Lucienne. Sometimes even Matthew. A wry look came to his face as she noted his age. "I wish I could say that with age always comes wisdom, but that is not always the case. I have tried to be more... adaptable... of late. There are many gods and immortals though who do not see past their own pettiness." Dream considered at least one of his siblings like that, if not both the twins. "When one doesn't die easily, then learning from one's mistakes can at times become more difficult." With all the time in the world, some beings became lackadaisical about actually making improvements.
He took a small sip of tea, an eyebrow raised over the cup at what else Kate said. Glancing down at his long black coat, black pants, and black boots, he questioned, "What is wrong with my attire?" Surely everything still went with black. It was a style choice he hadn't changed in all the eons he'd been around in existence.
As Kate took a sip of her soda, she could have sworn that somehow, in Ohio, Clint was having a laugh. "Maybe. Maybe sometimes." Did she always follow advice? Definitely not always. She certainly didn't always follow advice or the rules. "Maybe sometimes." When it cames to emotions, rather than actions perhaps?
Was she changing for the better?
Again, Clint was probably instinctively laughing.
"Are you guys actually capable of dying?" It was hard not to be curious over that fact, since that last encounter they shared had Kate worrying and wonderin about Morpheus. Late at night or early in the morning, whenever she finally made it to be and she wasn't too tired to simply pass out, sometimes she thought about Dream. And even though knowing that the Dreaming was still alive and thriving, she couldnt' help but wonder about him.
At the question, she couldn't help but share another conspiratory look with Matthew. "Oh, there's nothing wrong. But... Black for a whole eternity?"
"Yes. We are capable of dying. It is not a death quite like you might understand it, though." He took another slow, measured bite of his sandwich and sip of tea. Somehow the tea never went cold despite how long he was taking to finish it. "I am an aspect of my function. Should I cease to exist, another aspect would take my place. More like a change in a point of view. So long as there are dreamers, there will be a manifestation to rule the Dreaming. However, once the last dreamer in the galaxy dies, then I will cease to exist entirely. There will be no point of my existence without the function I serve." He said it quite matter-of-factly, because while the end of the galaxy is hopefully a long way off, it was something he always knew would come eventually.
He watched the look exchanged between them wryly. "It goes with everything." That was his story and he's sticking with it. "Death often wears black and nobody gives her grief about it."
Kate's own chewing slowed down as she took in Dream's words. This ancient knowledge on how the universe worked. Things beyond anything her mortal self would ever see and, things that were basic to her existence. All while eating her cheeseburger.
"I think I get it, yeah." The world kept going while things sometimes changed. "Guess it would be really awkward if your sister showed up one day telling you that you're dead."
Funny, how much simpler it is to discuss this now that she doesn't fear he might be gone. At least, for now, the Dream she knows is still here.
"Well, I don't know Death personally. Thankfully." A beat. "No offense towards her, she sounds super kind considering the job she has." Kate doubts she could take that role. Showing up at the office almost every day was challenging enough. "But a colorful Death can't be that bad."
"An aspect of me on another world has perished in the past. I sensed it of course, as we are all interconnected and exist at the same time. And in this world, my sister Despair has died once. Those are my only experiences thus far with the Endless perishing and yet, of course, persisting." A pause and his lips pursed before he added reluctantly, "And one of my siblings abandoned his realm, so. He is as good as dead, in some sense." It wasn't even turning his back on his family that bothered Dream so much, as he could think of many good reasons to want nothing to do with his family. No, it was abandoning his realm that stuck in Dream's craw the most.
"You have met Death, you simply do not remember it. Everyone meets her at least twice. At birth, and then at their end." It was a quirk that Dream always found interesting, that nobody remembered that first meeting with his sister. Yet when they saw her again, they eventually realized they did know her, and knew who she was. "She is colorful in personality, if not attire. Out of all my siblings, she is the one people fear most and yet the most personable of us all." He was far more terrible than Death, he could say that for certainty.
Kate frowned lightly as Dream namedropped another one of his siblings. Despair? Suddenly, he imagined him and a bunch of colorful beings sitting inside of someone's head, with a panel control and colorful spheres like the ones in Inside-Out.
She tried her best not to let those thoughst distract her too much.
But whenever Dream explained more about his family and the way the universe worked, it was easy to dedicate him her full attention. After all, there was something definitely reassuring about thinking that Death was something familiar and kind. It even helped Kate feel better about her own loses. To think that her father met someone that woke soem vague memories and offered kind words before she helped him through that last journey.
It didn't mean she missed him any less, but this knowledge was another gift on itself.
"Can a person actually meet Death without, hummm, actually dying?" Or being born, apparently.
"They can, yes. Death has her own friends and colleagues, though admittedly, many avoid her as much as possible." It was something that, as a younger sibling, Dream had never really considered until Death pointed it out. How it was difficult for her too sometimes with her role, how sometimes it was more difficult than his existence. He'd taken for granted that his older sister was perfectly fine and there for him when he needed her, until she made it clear she sometimes needed people, too. More than needing him, she needed them. The people whom she took to the Sunless Lands.
"She does not tend to dally long, given her duties. I could see if she is amenable to meeting." Was he a little jealous that she wanted to meet another Endless? Perhaps. Not that he'd admit to it. "Normally she merely tells me what I need to do better than departs." Now he was being unfair and he knew it. Death was the most supportive of all his siblings. A bit grudgingly he added, "She gives adequate counsel."
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2025-07-10 10:37 am (UTC)Honestly, she could only hope that every being as powerful as Morpheus is shares also his work ethics.
"It's okay, I get it." She told him as soon as he reminded her of his rules. But, it was after Dream reminded her that there was other ways to find the answers that she could do little but stare at him in surprise. Well, that was her own words, her own point, all shoved right back to her face. Sometimes, when there's distance between you and an issue, you can give the best kind of advice. And Dream just did that.
"That's true. I've... Sort of heard this before. But I keep delaying seeing my mom. Telling myself I'm too busy to do it or to even think about it." Avoiding it is so much easier.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-10 12:25 pm (UTC)"It would appear that you are not too busy to think about it." He said it simply and plainly, pointing out the obvious. Slowly he took another bite of the sandwich and a sip of tea. "What are you afraid of facing when you see her once more?" It was perhaps not a question most of polite society might boldly ask, but Dream didn't always play by normal society rules.
Matthew hopped closer to Kate, laying a wing on her arm for a moment. "Listen, as someone who died randomly before getting any of his shit together, don't delay things too long. 'cause now I get to help fix other people's problems but not everything I wanted to get fixed, you know?" He felt Dream's eyes on him as he said that. Dream had been very clear that Matthew had to severe all his past ties to the waking world, and Matthew had done that. It didn't make it any easier, though.
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Date: 2025-07-10 07:20 pm (UTC)"Shit, Morph, you really don't hold back your punches," she groaned as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Matthew took the chance to approach her and, while he was being nothing but kind with his advice, it was still a tough pill to swallow.
"I..." Kate took a deep breath, for once avoiding Dream's dark and profound gaze. "I know. I know what you guys are saying." At least, what the raven did. Morpheus seemed to be genuinelly asking, wondering about Kate's reasoning to avoid her mom. "I know I should live life at the fullest and I shouldn't waste my time. I already lost my dad." And back when Fisk wanted to blackmail her mother, the possibility of losing Eleanor had become a terrifying reality.
But how to explain what was holding her back right now?
"I know I'm not too busy, but I'm busy enough to convince myself that there's other things I should be worrying about first." Even though she did some basic work on the fundraiser and the office, unless there was an unavoidable meeting then Kate could get away with sneaking back home whenever she pleased. Of course, she tried to do the basic hours almost every day, even if sometimes she did arrive a little later if her night had been specially rough.
Fisk and the task force, she told herself, was something she should be worrying about first.
Her relationship with Matt too, that had been her light at the end of the tunnel. A distraction that was all too sweet to ignore, luring her away from her latest worries.
Anything was easier than thinking about her mother.
"I guess -- I guess it's easier telling myself that at some point I'm gonna reach out, but that it's never the right moment to do it." Would there ever be a right moment? "It's kinda tough to think of facing her. I do miss her. I do miss who my mom used to be before I figured out that she'd done all those horrible things."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-10 08:21 pm (UTC)Like leaving a lover in Hell for 10,000 years, or leaving an estranged son wanting to die for several millennia.
He could empathize with Kate's avoidance, but he couldn't say it would end happily because of it. In his experience, the longer the delay, the worse off the situation became. Although, Eleanor was the one who'd hurt Kate, unlike Dream who'd inflicted the pain of his estranged loved ones. That added an extra layer of guilt into the mix on his end that he was trying not to let influence his talk with her.
What if he'd dealt with Orpheus sooner, before that tragic night where his body had been torn apart? Pride and fear had caused the torment of the being he loved more than anyone.
His gaze was no longer on her. It was somewhere far past both of them.
"Time may heal some wounds, but other times, it causes them."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-10 11:13 pm (UTC)He didn't want her to have regrets.
"Yeah, I get it," she was quick to point out, after she finally dared to give that fry a bite. "I know I need to listen. That you've seen it all and you know better." That she looked a little moody herself, that she seemed to have captured a little of his normal vibe by falling quite quiet herself. But in all honesty? She knew this was out of love.
Grabbing a fry, she reminded herself of how Matthew had attempted to steal one while she wasn't supposed to be looking. This time she openly offered it.
"I already have someone who offered me to be there for me if I can't do it on my own. I know I need to get my shit together and go for it. With him or on my own." Kate had the strenght. As much as she wanted Matt to be there. "I know mom may have changed, but I also know she still wants to look after me. That everyone deserves a second chance."
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Date: 2025-07-12 02:06 pm (UTC)Matthew took the fry and held it in one of his feet while he started to chomp on it from the other end. How a bird with just a beak managed to eat all that Matthew did was indeed some magic of the Dreaming.
"We're big on second chances, yeah. I mean hey, I guess you could even call ending up a raven as a second chance." That was at least a positive way to approach it.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-13 04:52 am (UTC)Sure, it's not like her situation with her mother was now any easier. But it was easier to accept that she did miss Elanor. And that, even though there was no wrongs or rights here? At least reaching out wouldn't bring her the worst of regrets. This advice, coming from someone as old as Morpheus and that has seen as much as him? That, oddly enough, gave Kate some comfort. Because, as independant as she claimed to be, sometimes it was nice to be told which is the best road to take. To stop worrying about those worries themselves.
"I'll reach out," she finally told the pair. "Thank you, guys. I kinda... Was just set on avoiding this." And even though things wouldn't be any easier between her and Eleanor, now at least she did have the drive to swallow this bitter pill. "But your opinons matter to me. A whole deal, I promise you."
Grabbing a fry of her own, Kate ate half of it in a bite.
"Like, no offense, but advice doesn't get any better than when it comes from someone as old as you are, Morph." A beat. Kate couldn't help but sharing a look with his raven. "Unless we are talking about fashion advice."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-13 12:43 pm (UTC)He took a small sip of tea, an eyebrow raised over the cup at what else Kate said. Glancing down at his long black coat, black pants, and black boots, he questioned, "What is wrong with my attire?" Surely everything still went with black. It was a style choice he hadn't changed in all the eons he'd been around in existence.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 12:22 pm (UTC)Was she changing for the better?
Again, Clint was probably instinctively laughing.
"Are you guys actually capable of dying?" It was hard not to be curious over that fact, since that last encounter they shared had Kate worrying and wonderin about Morpheus. Late at night or early in the morning, whenever she finally made it to be and she wasn't too tired to simply pass out, sometimes she thought about Dream. And even though knowing that the Dreaming was still alive and thriving, she couldnt' help but wonder about him.
At the question, she couldn't help but share another conspiratory look with Matthew. "Oh, there's nothing wrong. But... Black for a whole eternity?"
no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 03:28 pm (UTC)He watched the look exchanged between them wryly. "It goes with everything." That was his story and he's sticking with it. "Death often wears black and nobody gives her grief about it."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-14 04:03 pm (UTC)"I think I get it, yeah." The world kept going while things sometimes changed. "Guess it would be really awkward if your sister showed up one day telling you that you're dead."
Funny, how much simpler it is to discuss this now that she doesn't fear he might be gone. At least, for now, the Dream she knows is still here.
"Well, I don't know Death personally. Thankfully." A beat. "No offense towards her, she sounds super kind considering the job she has." Kate doubts she could take that role. Showing up at the office almost every day was challenging enough. "But a colorful Death can't be that bad."
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 12:40 pm (UTC)"You have met Death, you simply do not remember it. Everyone meets her at least twice. At birth, and then at their end." It was a quirk that Dream always found interesting, that nobody remembered that first meeting with his sister. Yet when they saw her again, they eventually realized they did know her, and knew who she was. "She is colorful in personality, if not attire. Out of all my siblings, she is the one people fear most and yet the most personable of us all." He was far more terrible than Death, he could say that for certainty.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 02:42 pm (UTC)She tried her best not to let those thoughst distract her too much.
But whenever Dream explained more about his family and the way the universe worked, it was easy to dedicate him her full attention. After all, there was something definitely reassuring about thinking that Death was something familiar and kind. It even helped Kate feel better about her own loses. To think that her father met someone that woke soem vague memories and offered kind words before she helped him through that last journey.
It didn't mean she missed him any less, but this knowledge was another gift on itself.
"Can a person actually meet Death without, hummm, actually dying?" Or being born, apparently.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-15 03:00 pm (UTC)"She does not tend to dally long, given her duties. I could see if she is amenable to meeting." Was he a little jealous that she wanted to meet another Endless? Perhaps. Not that he'd admit to it. "Normally she merely tells me what I need to do better than departs." Now he was being unfair and he knew it. Death was the most supportive of all his siblings. A bit grudgingly he added, "She gives adequate counsel."