Reid Finley (
drawtheline) wrote2020-03-17 10:39 pm
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background & history
(cw: elements of and just barely describing sleep paralysis)
NYC starts out as our world, set in 2010, with the possibility of dimension-hopping. As the story progresses, it becomes a mesh of our world, and the dream realm.
The dream realm is a different dimension, only known to be accessed by Reid. Reid's friend, Sybil, is from this dream realm, and manages to tear a hole between that realm and ours. Magic is possible here, with different people being born with specialties (with the exception of Reid, who was not born there, but has magic there.) Magic comes from within, and takes energy. The setting of the dream realm is medieval, though it's hard to pinpoint a time in Earth's history that it looks exactly like. This particular dream realm is slowly being taken over by the Ash King, a dark being who feeds off sadness and despair. (He looks like a shadow person, really, but he can take human form, too.)
Reid grew up in NYC, in Brooklyn, with two loving, hippie parents. She's always had a boundless imagination, spending most of her time with a notebook and pencils in her hands, drawing away. When she was 16, she got into a bad car accident. It took a long time to recover, but eventually she could walk with a cane, but with a noticeable limp. She went to college for art, and got the degree, but struggled to find jobs.
She lives with her parents, with her limp, and some other problems that doctors have called sleep paralysis and vivid nightmares. She works as a barista at a coffee shop, and while she appreciates the job and her coworkers, it's not what she wants. She has a best friend there, Jill, who's sarcastic but secretly really nice and a kick-butt kick boxer. She also frequently serves a guy who's blond, pretty, and dumb, but entirely too sweet for his own good, Paul.
Reid starts having vivid nightmares every night, until one night, she dreams she's in this other realm. She's confused and believes it's a dream until she accidentally starts a fight and gets cut. The pain and blood feel real. A man steps in to save her, and just when she's about to be hurt, they all drop – well, not dead, but asleep. The man turns out to be a sellsword, Merek, and he tells her she has powers. He's a moody fellow, sarcastic and a bit of an asshole, but when he shows Reid the land the Ash King has killed, she agrees to help him on his mission to bring down the Ash King.
Reid wakes, shrugs, and thinks it was all a dream. She tells Jill everything. But the next night, she wakes up with a gasp in a bed at an inn. She's back in the dream realm, though Merek doesn't believe her when she tells him about her dimension-hopping. They start out on the road, and run into a bunch of people in chains being held captive by undead soldiers. Reid jumps into a fight to get them released, despite Merek's protests. He helps her, and they win. They release the prisoners (farmers and workers to work for the Ash King), and one woman is insistent she has nowhere to go. Merek argues they don't need a companion and starts walking off. Sybil (the woman) asks where they're going, and Reid tells her, much to Merek's chagrin. Sybil reveals that he's been leading Reid in the wrong direction this whole time. Merek tries to run, and Reid knocks him out, telling Sybil she doesn't know how she knows this, but she can enter his mind. She and Merek argue before he agrees to hear the ladies out. They argue that the king (the real king) would reward them with riches beyond their imagination if they took down the Ash King. Merek eventually agrees, grudgingly.
She wakes in NYC, but has sleep paralysis, with the Ash King hovering over her. She's unsettled but he soon fades away. Then she sleeps and wakes in the dream realm. And so it goes as they journey. Sybil helps her master her powers, and reveals she has some of her own, though she's skittish about sharing more. Reid doesn't tell Jill in our world any more, worried she'll think she's crazy. She learns Merek was an orphan and had a hard life growing up. He teaches her and Sybil to fight, and one day, Sybil accidentally shows she has time and space bending powers. That night, Reid reveals to Sybil that she's not from this world. Sybil believes her.
In our world, Reid's applied to an artist job, but it would require a lot of travel. Her mother's worried she couldn't handle it with her disability. In the dream realm, they finally meet and face the Ash King, and lose dearly. They're all injured, and Sybil goes ballistic, her powers going off. The dream realm 'leaks' into our world, meaning some people (including Merek, Sybil, and the Ash King and some of his undead army) and creatures are brought to our world. Reid calms Sybil down, and they flee. The Ash King terrorizes New York, threatening to take over this world too. Reid gathers Merek, Sybil, her parents, Jill, and Paul in her living room. Reid's trying to develop a plan.
(I will add more later but ending it here since this is her Prisma canon point.)
NYC starts out as our world, set in 2010, with the possibility of dimension-hopping. As the story progresses, it becomes a mesh of our world, and the dream realm.
The dream realm is a different dimension, only known to be accessed by Reid. Reid's friend, Sybil, is from this dream realm, and manages to tear a hole between that realm and ours. Magic is possible here, with different people being born with specialties (with the exception of Reid, who was not born there, but has magic there.) Magic comes from within, and takes energy. The setting of the dream realm is medieval, though it's hard to pinpoint a time in Earth's history that it looks exactly like. This particular dream realm is slowly being taken over by the Ash King, a dark being who feeds off sadness and despair. (He looks like a shadow person, really, but he can take human form, too.)
Reid grew up in NYC, in Brooklyn, with two loving, hippie parents. She's always had a boundless imagination, spending most of her time with a notebook and pencils in her hands, drawing away. When she was 16, she got into a bad car accident. It took a long time to recover, but eventually she could walk with a cane, but with a noticeable limp. She went to college for art, and got the degree, but struggled to find jobs.
She lives with her parents, with her limp, and some other problems that doctors have called sleep paralysis and vivid nightmares. She works as a barista at a coffee shop, and while she appreciates the job and her coworkers, it's not what she wants. She has a best friend there, Jill, who's sarcastic but secretly really nice and a kick-butt kick boxer. She also frequently serves a guy who's blond, pretty, and dumb, but entirely too sweet for his own good, Paul.
Reid starts having vivid nightmares every night, until one night, she dreams she's in this other realm. She's confused and believes it's a dream until she accidentally starts a fight and gets cut. The pain and blood feel real. A man steps in to save her, and just when she's about to be hurt, they all drop – well, not dead, but asleep. The man turns out to be a sellsword, Merek, and he tells her she has powers. He's a moody fellow, sarcastic and a bit of an asshole, but when he shows Reid the land the Ash King has killed, she agrees to help him on his mission to bring down the Ash King.
Reid wakes, shrugs, and thinks it was all a dream. She tells Jill everything. But the next night, she wakes up with a gasp in a bed at an inn. She's back in the dream realm, though Merek doesn't believe her when she tells him about her dimension-hopping. They start out on the road, and run into a bunch of people in chains being held captive by undead soldiers. Reid jumps into a fight to get them released, despite Merek's protests. He helps her, and they win. They release the prisoners (farmers and workers to work for the Ash King), and one woman is insistent she has nowhere to go. Merek argues they don't need a companion and starts walking off. Sybil (the woman) asks where they're going, and Reid tells her, much to Merek's chagrin. Sybil reveals that he's been leading Reid in the wrong direction this whole time. Merek tries to run, and Reid knocks him out, telling Sybil she doesn't know how she knows this, but she can enter his mind. She and Merek argue before he agrees to hear the ladies out. They argue that the king (the real king) would reward them with riches beyond their imagination if they took down the Ash King. Merek eventually agrees, grudgingly.
She wakes in NYC, but has sleep paralysis, with the Ash King hovering over her. She's unsettled but he soon fades away. Then she sleeps and wakes in the dream realm. And so it goes as they journey. Sybil helps her master her powers, and reveals she has some of her own, though she's skittish about sharing more. Reid doesn't tell Jill in our world any more, worried she'll think she's crazy. She learns Merek was an orphan and had a hard life growing up. He teaches her and Sybil to fight, and one day, Sybil accidentally shows she has time and space bending powers. That night, Reid reveals to Sybil that she's not from this world. Sybil believes her.
In our world, Reid's applied to an artist job, but it would require a lot of travel. Her mother's worried she couldn't handle it with her disability. In the dream realm, they finally meet and face the Ash King, and lose dearly. They're all injured, and Sybil goes ballistic, her powers going off. The dream realm 'leaks' into our world, meaning some people (including Merek, Sybil, and the Ash King and some of his undead army) and creatures are brought to our world. Reid calms Sybil down, and they flee. The Ash King terrorizes New York, threatening to take over this world too. Reid gathers Merek, Sybil, her parents, Jill, and Paul in her living room. Reid's trying to develop a plan.
(I will add more later but ending it here since this is her Prisma canon point.)