I guess I viewed the first volume as a story of rebirth for Dream. At least rebirth of purpose. I had this knocking around my head and felt compelled to write it down after finishing the last story. A little off topic I guess.
Activation
It started with a small electric shock. It started with a static shock, the kind you get sometimes when you open your car door on a cold day, or from a doorknob after walking barefoot on carpet. This one came from a hand shake.
This shock was different. In the center of her palm, where it started, felt just like every other shock she has received in her life. Under her palm, following the branching paths of her nervous system, it flowed smoothly up her arm and into her spine in less than a second. There was no pain as the energy flowed but was still disconcerting just the same.
It was over in an instant, and it quickly left her mind. It would be much later before she would realize the effect that small shock was having on her. Slowly, to slow to notice, her palm warmed. Just as slowly, the warmth spreads to her fingers, across her wrist. The warmth reaches her elbow before she notices the change.
As the warmth continues it way up her arm she notices the tingling, as if the center of her palm has fallen asleep. Opening and closing her fist does little to lessen the tingling, but does highlight the swelling of her hand. As the warmth reaches her shoulder the tingling crosses over her wrist.
Genuine worry fills her mind as the warmth reaches her spine, in the same location the shock travelled to an hour before. The tingling numbness was halfway to her elbow. Her eyes lose focus, only for a moment. Sitting down, she tries to move her arm, only to find it stiff and difficult to move. The warmth spreads into the center of her chest. The numbness reaches past her elbow.
As the warmth invades her heart it starts racing, as if the warmth was a shot of adrenaline. Her breath quickens and she fight hyperventilation. The warmth seems to pause, if only for a few seconds, waiting for the heart to assimilate. The tingles are almost to her spine.
The heat generated though most of her chest now begins to express itself in sweat. Tiny droplets form on her skin around her neck, on her arm. The warmth starts to creep into the other arm, the tingling so very close to the heart.
The warmth in her neck is so subtle that she reaches instinctively as if taking off a scarf. Again she notices how hard that arm is to move, and how the warmth has made it to her elbow, to the bottom of her ribcage. She takes her temperature with a thermometer under her tongue but cannot read it after it beeps. Her vision is not consistently blurry.
By the end of the second hour the chill starts. As the chill solidifies the tingle in her palm into cold pain the warmth flows up into her head, down to her other hand and through her stomach. The tingle has taken over the chest, turning every heartbeat and breath into an overload of sensation, distracting her from the cold now crawling slowly up her arm.
As the warmth envelopes her head she slides from the chair onto the floor. She may not have notice the change as her mind swims in fever. As the chill flows up one arm the warmth finishes it way down the other. Tingle is quickly following behind. It chases warmth down her torso as warmth escapes into the legs. Chill is far behind but making steady progress. She wants to remove her shirt, to wipe the sweat from her body but no longer has the energy or control to move. She lies on the floor, an awkward shamble as waves of energy slowly take over her form.
She is barely conscious as the warmth reaches her toes, as tingle takes over the other arm, as chill reaches the heart. As quickly as her heart beat and breathing spun up, they slow down. Far past the normal resting place, her heart is barely perceptible to her. Her mind has become a fury of split second pictures and sounds. Smells that mismatch the experience. Touch overwhelmed by the tingling of her skull.
In the third hour tingle reaches the end of it's journey and child has wrestled control of the body, the arms, the head, gaining speed as it moves. Her mind closes down into quiet darkness. Only the legs left, soon they too succumb to cold and stiffness.
The fourth and fifth hour are placid. Her rumpled form barely shifts from slow, quiet breath. Her heart so quiet and infrequent that it cannot be noticed. She is as close to death as anyone has ventured and still came back.
Almost exactly a quarter of the way through the sixth hour warmth and tingle reappear. Not in the center of her palm, but the center of her chest. They come together, hand in hand, softly and kindly. Moving slowly, together, they invigorate the heart and lungs. Ever so slowly, gently warmth and tingle push chill out of the chest. Push it into the shoulders and stomach. Vacate it from the neck.
Warmth and tingle make their way down both arms in parallel. She shifts slightly as she lies on the floor, her muscles waking up after their long sleep. Soreness wells up from the areas warmth and tingle have revisited. Welcome sensation.
Her mind slowly awakens, as if a stage light is raises over her brain, illuminating the corners of her brain as it goes. The legs have lost their stiffness, have begun to tremble as they come to life. Her surroundings are visible now, if blurry. As the seventh hour starts she pulls herself into a seated position, stretching our her limbs. She works the last chill out of her feet and hands as her vision finally clears.
As she waits for the rest of her control of her body to return, she ponders the experience. She is not sure what has happened, or what she has not become.
Part of why I like Sandman is because it fits with some short stories I had written before I ever read Sandman or Swamp Thing.
The first story is part of a series about a world that existing between the Creation Day 5 and 6. I have let the idea sit unfinished for a bunch of decades and one of these days when things get quiet, I will continue it. (The other parts can be found in "Bittersweet Chocolate".) http://suzycc.wordpress.com/bittersweet-chocolate/cir-part-1/
Oh, do we have any SF folks here? There's a Sandman exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum, well worth a visit I'm told. J H Williams III was there last weekend with all the original Overture artwork. *jealous*
I'm in Sacramento, Sus. A trip to the Cartoon Museum is now on my agenda. Huh, it ends on my birthday. Maybe I can plan something around that. Thanks for the info!
@MattTroedson Barron Storey who contributed to The Sandman: Endless Nights book will be speaking at the Cartoon Art Museum on April 12. This would be a great additional reason to attend The Sandman exhibit on that day. The exhibit runs until April 27. https://guestlistapp.com/events/240492
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I got to meet Neil Gaiman at his LA signing of Ocean at the End of the Lane last year, and gave him a Death pony. He seemed to like it, so yay!
(I'm actually working on another pair for a commission. Will post them when they're done.)
http://imgur.com/hRoR6nG
The first story is part of a series about a world that existing between the Creation Day 5 and 6.
I have let the idea sit unfinished for a bunch of decades and one of these days when things get quiet, I will continue it. (The other parts can be found in "Bittersweet Chocolate".)
http://suzycc.wordpress.com/bittersweet-chocolate/cir-part-1/
The other story was based on an idea for a Tarot card series (the major arcana cards being stops along the way from beginner's mind to mastery). It too is incomplete.
http://suzycc.wordpress.com/bittersweet-chocolate/the-fool/
But it gives a taste of why Sandman and The Dreaming feels like home for me.
The first is a photoshop of a real cover.
The other seems to be its own original piece of art.
I've had them on my computer for quite a while and only just remembered them.
I found this by accident: http://laughingsquid.com/neil-gaimans-sandman-comic-series-25th-anniversary-art-show-at-mission-comics-and-art-in-san-francisco/ Really love the first piece (by Catherine Moore).
Oh, do we have any SF folks here? There's a Sandman exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum, well worth a visit I'm told. J H Williams III was there last weekend with all the original Overture artwork. *jealous*
And, speaking of art (and not knowing where else to put this), here's something that might interest the UK folks: http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/comics-unmasked/ I am so excited for this.
https://guestlistapp.com/events/240492