fandomhigh | Good Omens...And Bad: Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Lab Five

Friday, October 6, Second Period

The room is arranged in a combined of big, extremely comfortable looking armchairs and piles of large, also comfortable looking cushions and pillows. The lights are dimmer than usual, there is the faintest hint of a scent, as if of fresh spring air, and very soft music is playing.

"First off, I want to remind everyone to hand in your take-home test from last week. And in honor of Homecoming, there will be no homework today.

We're veering from the printed syllabus a bit for today's class, because I want to match our labs a little better to the class lectures. On Monday, we discussed dream interpretation. Today, we're going to experiment a bit with our dreams.

Before we begin, I want to stress two things to you. First: this lab exercise is entirely voluntary. Anyone who feels uncomfortable participating need only speak up, and I will assign a different exercise. Second: you are completely safe. This room is protected from any outside interference, and the only...energies, so to speak, that will be able to access it are those that are connected to you personally. The source of your own sight, your own prophetic abilities. Nothing can hurt you, and I will be keeping a close watch on everyone.

Now, the exercise. I want you to get comfortable. Curl up in one of the chairs, find a place on the cushions, whatever you prefer. Count to one hundred, or recite Latin verbs, or whatever it is you usual do to calm your mind so that you can sleep. I'll help you along, so that once you're in a relaxed state, you'll be sure to fall asleep. You may not reach a dream state, but if you do, once you awaken I'd like you to write down anything you recall about the dreams you had in your journal. You won't be sharing these with the class, although you are more than welcome to come and see me next week if you have anything you'd like to talk about with me."

Anyone who decides to participate in the lab will find that the atmosphere of the room is incredibly relaxing, and very conducive to sleep. The naps will actually only last about twenty minutes, leaving plenty of class time afterwards for writing down notes or chatting with the other students.

[ooc: As the professor says, this is an entirely voluntary lab exercise. If your character is absolutely dead set against trying it, just let him know. Anyone not participating might be asked to help monitor the others. If you do dream, and you want something to happen, please ping me in the OOC thread so I know to keep watch on your character specifically. ~~Please wait for~~ OCD threads are up. Have at!]

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Nadia stretched out on a big ~~nest~~ pile of cushions, setting her dream journal down well within easy reach.

Was she a bit nervous?

Well, yes. But Mr. Aziraphale promised there would be no outside influences or anything.

She wondered if Rambaldi counted.

Phoebe settled down near Nadia and got comfortable with her dream journal close by.

Nadia wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of having one of those dreams like, in public, but on the other hand, one of her reasons for taking the class was learning to control it.

And she wasn't injured or sick or anything, so usually that would mean she wouldn't have one. This would be the test then, to see if she had one after all. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate in a sleepy way on the future.

It worked.

Too well. While she slept, her hand automatically picked up her pen and began to write a rather complex formula out on the page.

Aziraphale kept a close eye on Nadia. At the moment, though, she seemed to be handling the dream fine on her own. If it began to look as though she was becoming deeply distressed, or if it went on too long, he'd bring her out of it.

In fact, the only distress Nadia showed on the outside was increased speed and force in writing the formula (which, were someone attempt to solve it, would lead only to something extremely muddled and half-remembered). The dream did seem to last rather a long time, though.

When it seemed as though Nadia had been caught up in the dream for too long, Aziraphale knelt down and lightly touched his fingertips to her hand to bring her out of the dream state and back toward wakefulness.

Which resulted in an instant startled response from Nadia, who snapped her hand up to strike out at whoever touched her.

Which, if she managed to actually hit something, would make her feel rather guilty, later. But one does not spend several years sleeping on the streets of a city without developing certain reflexes.

Aziraphale caught Nadia's hand and held it, firmly but not tightly, until she settled down again, sending a very gentle soothing energy along the physical connection.

Nadia struggled against the grip for a moment before slowly realizing where she was. "Oh dios, I'm sorry,"

"No reason to be sorry, Miss Santos," he replied gently. "It's quite obvious you've been dreaming. Try to write down what you remember, if you can, and then if you like we'll talk about it."

In the meantime, he set a cup of tea on the floor next to her notebook.

Nadia swallowed, but nodded slowly.

Two teachers and five friends, all the images filled with blood and doom? How was she supposed to describe that?

She picked up the tea and kind of stared at the formulas in her notebook, trying to figure out how to put it all into words.

"It doesn't have to make sense, or be in complete sentences even. Just words, images, will suffice. This is just to help you remember what you dreamed, so that you can make sense of it later."

He patted Nadia's arm and smiled. "If you want to talk about it, you let me know. Doesn't have to be here, or today, but my door is always open."

"I . . . maybe. Thanks."

She could write about that eagle thing at least. That hadn't involved anyone else, who might not want someone to know that stuff.

Aziraphale stopped at some point and said quietly to Phoebe, "It's so good to see you back, my dear. Can you stop for a few moments after class?"

Phoebe nodded and smiled. "Of course."

Good Omens...And Bad: Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Lab Five

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