Serena

Serena dreams of Byron, dreams that he's in trouble, lost & calling to her, dreams of searching for him in dark & swampy landscapes. She should be above & beyond these kinds of primal nightmares, she should be able to enter the dream realm at the spot of her choosing, she should be able to control the events there, and nothing should frighten her. She's aware of this as she continues her frantic & futile search for Byron, his voice like a will-o-wisp calling to her from every direction, but she carries on, running toward his every cry, each time with just enough hope that it might actually be him, trying to get through to her...."Serena, I'm here, I need you," he calls, and Serena pursues the voice, tripping on rotted stumps, slipping through slimey mud as she struggles up the hill toward the sound of his voice. She reaches the top, and hears his voice, coming this time from the other direction, back down the hill she just climbed...hot frustrated tears course down her face as she turns to run back down the slippery hill, she's sobbing as she trips & falls, sliding painfully through the mud, until she lands in her bed, in the waking world, where she lays curled & sobbing, afraid she's losing not only Byron, but her own abilities. "Ssssssh, it's just a bad dream," Byron whispers, stroking her hair, uncurling her arms and legs with passionate caresses. Serena feels pure joy & relief as Byron kisses her...everything is all right.....Of course, it's not Byron, she realizes, and pushes him off her as she sits up. "How dare you try to trick & seduce me, Larna!" she hisses angrily, and then folds her arms over herself as she starts to cry. Larna drops the Byron disguise, appearing in the form she's used to, and touches her shoulder: Serena would like to push him off, but the love god has warm & comforting hands.."I wasn't trying to trick you, Serena. I was just trying to fulfill your desire. It's what I do, and this whole house weeps & moans with your desire." Serena just cries harder, and lets Larna put an arm around her. "Why does my realm frighten you so?" he asks. Serena rises angriliy, "I'm not frightened of anything, least of all your realm," she says, and blushes, remembering how very frightened she was just moments ago, in her nightmare. Larna laughs lightly, "Don't try to trick me, Serena," he says, "You know I can taste your fear. And your desire...," his voice is deep, hoarse with longing, seductive. But it always is, it's in his nature. "My realm shouldn't frighten you, Serena, it's all pleasure, all beauty," he says, rising to stand by her, reaching out to her with his irrestible hands, "Why do so many mortals fear that? Fear me sometimes more than War, or Death...?" Serena shakes him off before he gets a hold of her.

Serena goes to Byron's studio to meet Alison. The would-be director says she can't get in to see Byron herself lately, she's having no luck finding a way to get him down to see Serena. The psychic senses she's losing her ally: Alison wants to help Byron, but like him, she's completely wrapped up in filmmaking. That's why Byron puts so much faith in her, of course, she'll sacrifice anything in the name of this film, sacrifice herself, sacrifice him...Behind her, Larna is talking with one of the actresses, despite having been told to keep quiet & not interact. Serena collects him & gets him away before he causes any trouble.

"You aren't getting anywhere like this," Larna says as Serena sinks into her seat, "What you need is a distraction." Serena sighs: she's used to her solitude & rather prefers it. "You distract me enough, Larna, I need to think." The love god laughs his sultry laugh, "Not for you, Serena, you need something to distract Odessa's attention from your man, so you can get to him." Serena looks up at him in surprise: he has something with that..."What would distract her?" she asks. "I used to distract her," Larna says sadly, starting to physically fade away as he does when he gets nostalgiac over his former glory. Where are they from? Serena wonders, who worshipped them, what was the nature of their cult? Larna's form re-solidifies "You know she went as far as Death's realm for me once?" he asks, "She challenged Death to bring me back to her side....Now she won't see me, and if I went to Death....." Larna flickers & fades out, disappearing. Serena has heard that story before, in the 'mythologies' of several cultures: it tells her little about where they might be from, but it reveals their age. This love goddess & her consort are ancient indeed, their cult forgotten by almost everyone, it's a wonder they still manifest at all. "She wants her cult back," Larna says, all voice at first, like the Chesire cat, his body appearing behind it, "The only thing that will divert her attention away from this mortal would be another mortal who could give her what she wants." Larna has explained this to her several times, but Serena still doesn't understand how the goddess is mistaking 'celebrity worship' for the status she once enjoyed. "Byron can't create the kind of cult she's looking for," she says, and Larna laughs. "Not on his own, he couldn't. But with her by his side, he could," he says.

Ancient gods suddenly manifesting after thousands of years, seeking a place in the modern world, Serena can't help but wish them well, pity them for their strange, immortal existence, still around long after anyone has had any call for them. Larna has the right idea, Odessa could be distracted from Byron if she had another means of getting what she's after. But is that the right way of going about it?Should Serena be trying to stop Odessa altogether, rather than just getting Byron out of her clutches? "How do you think you could stop such a one as her?" a gentle, probing voice asks from behind her. Serena turns, expecting Larna...though he can't read thoughts like a telepath, he's so closely attuned to her emotive states that he can almost sense what she's thinking, and often intrudes on her private meditations, treating them as dialog. But it's not Larna, at least, not the form she's used to seeing Larna wear...this looks like the star of Byron's film, Gavin, in his movie costume. Serena senses immediately that this visitor is no mortal, though he uses a mortal form. "Using a mortal form is one thing, living among mortals, playing the games they're playing...it alters the course of things," the Gavin-stranger says. "I wouldn't normally concern myself, but we feel the effects of changes in your realm in our realm before they happen. We've been anticipating Byron's latest film: Odessa's interference must be stopped." Serena stares at the stranger, trying to figure out who he is, what 'realm' he might be from, and is he it's lord or it's emmisary? "Lord," he answers her unasked question: he's clearly a greater power than Larna. "Oh, yes, on a completely different order," he confirms her last thought with wave of his hand, "But it doesn't mean I can just stop her, I will require your assistance." His tone makes it clear, he expects Serena's acquiesence.

Serena lives to serve, but not just any immortal who her appears in her yard demanding her service. She doesn't even know who this one is, what he represents. "I am what my form suggests," he explains, "Lord of the Dream Realm: I chose this form so you would recognize me," he says, his voice sounding puzzled. "But that's a work of fiction," Serena objects: despite some of the true elements she's found in Byron's script, this personification of 'Dream' is wholly fictional. "We don't make those kinds of distinctions," he says. "Our realm is made of dreams...dreams are made of fiction, fiction is made of dreams,....this is why Odessa must be put aside. The mortal Byron was working on an important 'piece of fiction', he must resume." That would more than gratify Byron's vanity, Serena thinks wryly, or it would have, before Odessa. "Not just vanity, Serena," the stranger chides her, "If I were a god, the man would be my priest....I am not a god, I have no religion, no priests & no worshippers. But we have our mortal servants, nonetheless, like your Byron. I won't lose him to 'Odessa' like that, won't see him used as a priest in her dead & useless cult." Serena stands mute, torn, Odessa is a goddess, after all, and Serena serves the Goddess in all her forms...she's always wished Byron, with his great gifts, would join her in that service. Now, he serves a goddess, and Serena is desperate to free him to return to his slavery to his films. The immortal laughs, silvery & sharp, "He lives in service of his gift, just like you, Serena. This goddess has no business taking him for her own." Then, Serena realises this strange meeting in her garden has just been a dream, and wakes. But when does Serena ever have 'just a dream'?

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