Title: Strange and Beautiful
Author: Am-Chau Yarkona
Fandom: The Sandman
Character: Dream (also known as the Sandman, Morpheus, Prince of Stories, etc.)
Theme set: Beta.
Summary: For 1character, 50 sentances about Dream of the Endless.
Disclaimer: Neil Gaiman created the Sandman and all the other characters featured here (although, to be fair, the ancient Greeks helped, too). I'm playing with Neil's toys, have attempted not to break any, and will return them when I'm done. I make no profit.

#01 - Package

A dream wrapped in mystery wrapped in enigma wrapped in a long black cloak, Morpheus is half-hidden from conscious beings and yet also known by them.

#02 - Obscure

Page four hundred and seventy-seven of the Magdalene Grimoire makes some additional comments about the illustration of Dream: "the Prince of Stories," (it says if translated correctly), "travels far, knows much, and sees more; but the dead god whose skull he uses as a helm protects him from apples as well as lemons."

#03 - Skeleton

"You can still see every bone of that boy," the Crone mutters to her sisters as they fade from the Dreaming, "someone ought to feed him up."

#04 - Nurse

The nurse whom Morpheus selected for Orpheus would not have been Calliope's choice; but he did not allow her to question his judgement.

#05 - Domino

In the back of the White Horse tavern dominoes click down through the centuries, a regular pattern which Dream learns to listen for when his conversation with Hob falls into companionable silence.

#06 - Thaw

"We m,m,must go skating before the lake t,t,thaws," Abel declares, and-- though they know that Dream observes them from afar-- they take turns to slide, laughing and undignified, on the pristine ice.

#07 - Waves

The tiny red ripples in the bowl seem as loud as the waves crashing on the island's shore had been, mere minutes ago.

#08 - Burglar

When he chooses to, Dream can creep in the back door of your dreams, and take a ride, or a bottle of wine, or the nucleus of your next nightmare.

#09 - Frame

A book, an ankh, a mirror, and an empty frame: to make the penultimate match the last is dreadfully tempting, but Dream will not let his realm crumble again.

#10 - Carpet

Hob notices, when he finally gets to visit the castle, that none of the rooms are carpeted, and he wonders whether this is because Dream has not thought of it, or because he does not feel the need of such luxuries.

#11 - Insect

Dream's servants seem to think that their boss should brush off the remains of a shattered relationship as they would brush an insect off their clothes; he sighs, and ignores them, for they do not see the blood-stains such an insect leaves.

#12 - Mentor

The role of Mentor, named after a character Calliope inspired, is one which Dream finds he must fill for himself; he realises this rather late, as he is already teaching Daniel.

#13 - Spirit

In theory, the dead have no substance with which to injure; in practice, Dream is more hurt by dead Nada than by living Thessaly.

#14 - Wax

In Caxton's time, Dream's library waxes daily fuller, as the rise of print brings fresh dreams of new books.

#15 - Trash

John Constantine may take out the trash but Dream has always left ill-bred persons to fend for themselves.

#16 - Womb

From wombs come trouble, or so the Greeks taught; and Dream knows it well, knows that Death is a woman and that were it not for women, Orpheus would never have suffered-- or loved.

#17 - Burn

Flames dance in the hem of his robe as he whirls away, stalking out because Hob, intending only to speak truth, has accidentally angered him.

#18 - Flash

Lightening illuminates Dream's gaunt face for an instant before he plunges back into darkness.

#19 - Anima

Dream and his servants have been mistaken for many things over the years-- Hermes, Apollo, angels, even Auberon-- but he is somewhat taken aback when young Jung first identifies the Fashion Thing as an anima.

#20 - Gamble

With such powerful siblings, every childish game is a gamble.

#21 - Statue

Dream sits perfectly still, and the casual dreamers who wander past do not all notice that he is not carved of white marble.

#22 - Perfume

When Dream, copying a move he learned in a policeman's nightmare, tips Desire's head back threatening, he catches a scent of wine and summer grass so strong he nearly lets go.

#23 - Wine

Chateau Lafitte 1828 was much more common in 1889, and so when Dream hunts for it again in 1990 it is meant to bring back memories to Hob, though the poetic toast was not what Dream had intended to stir up.

#24 - Reflection

The trees of Fiddler's Green shimmer on the surface of the lake as the first Corinthian, hand-crafted by Morpheus, shivers with his first breath.

#25 - Take

The dream stuff is, if not infinite, then at least more vastly immense than even Dream can conceive, and so he feels no guilt for taking from a mortal's dream; it can all be dreamt again, and more than once if necessary.

#26 - Magic

Matthew knows a thing or two about magic, and he sees that dreams are not made by magical means: Dream is not, however much his tricks may make him appear thus, a wizard.

#27 - Fragment

Six apples with crabs' legs are chasing you up a spiral staircase.

#28 - Cats and Dogs

All animals dream of their wild selves, and Dream likes to let them chase each other in Fiddler's Green.

#29 - Hum

Dream does not usually sing any more than he dances, but occasionally Lucien, walking the castle on silent feet, hears from around a corner a faint wordless echo of one of Orpheus' tunes.

#30 - Flinch

He flinches the first time Titania touches him, not because her hand is cold-- his skin is cold too-- but because he was not expecting her to be so forward.

#31 - Rush

More haste, less speed, his sister likes to say: Dream remembers this as he braves the wastelands between his home and hell, and takes the time to feel the wind on his cheeks.

#32 - Jester

The freedom to say distasteful things is a necessary one for someone to possess, but Dream prefers that someone to be Death, whom he trusts, than Desire, whom he does not.

#33 - Haven

Any port in a storm, say sailors, but Dream finds a haven in the storm itself, comfort in the wild winds and peace in the pouring rain.

#34 - Dusk

When the boss is watching, Mervyn likes to make the Dreaming's sunsets splendid, rainbow coloured affairs; when Dream has turned his back-- and Dream knows this-- the sun slides unceremoniously from a plain sky.

#35 - Chord

The three highest strings of Orpheus' harp escaped when the Bacchae attacked, but Morpheus snaps them with a savage twang before Calliope can find it.

#36 - Indulgence

"Indulge me, brother," Death says, when Dream suggests that it is a waste of time to stop at a mortal drinking-house; and eventually, Dream is glad that he did.

#37 - Freezer

Death keeps ice-cream in her freezer, but Tamaris, on his master's instructions, keeps only lemon sorbet.

#38 - Passage

The passage of time has not worn Alianora's features any more than it has Dream's; it has, however, rubbed down the skerry until it is wearing into the waking world.

#39 - Coast

2089: due to the melting polar icecaps, the White Horse pub is now at the seaside, and Dream agrees with Hob when he suggests that their next meeting should simply be on this coast, wherever the waves have reached in a hundred years' time.

#40 - Keepsake

He does not mind that Nuala wears the crystal, but-- without fully knowing why-- he is vaguely bitter that he does not possess a souvenir himself.

#41 - Morbid

However much it puzzles him, Dream has come to expect mortals to fear his elder sister; so it hurts him all the more when Nada decides that death and hell is better than a life in his arms.

#42 - Shipwreck

Even Prospero, who chose to leave his island, would have been throughly miserable if removed from it without his consent.

#43 - Socks

It is one thing to select your clothing from dreams, but as human dreams tend to reflect reality, it can be difficult to find a pair of socks which are both clean and matching-- and so Dream goes barefoot once in a while.

#44 - Sand

A quick scatter, and a man is asleep; another grain or two, and he has been pulled into a far-off land, whose King wishes a word with him.

#45 - Coin

Intending to return, Dream ensures that the coin he passes the innkeeper will not become a leaf by morning.

#46 - Guile

To trick a person into believing that you are someone else is one thing; to have tricked Hector Hall into believing that he was someone else was, in its way, impressive, and Dream finds a certain satisfaction in knowing the Brute and Glob had managed it.

#47 - Eyelash

Her eyelash still carries a fleck of sand.

#48 - Drive

Dream asks Matthew to be driving instructor to Delirium, not because he could not do it himself, but because he knows there are limits to his patience.

#49 - Net

Fighting had made him tired, aching, ready to rest, so that when the tug of a spell-knotted net fell about him he did not resist as he might sometimes have done.

#50 - Destination

Dream does not think he has a destination, and if he does, his eldest brother keeps it secret.

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