Storytime

From TLJwiki

AKA Dreaming

The Storytime is another undefined place and time, like the Winter. It appears as a dark, rugged landscape that is either shadowy or in perpetual night, not unlike the Guardian's Realm when the seat in the Tower is empty. Overhead, lights like stars seem to be falling, while a curious vapour rises from crevasses in the ground. The only features yet seen in the Storytime are a tree and a fire burning nearby. The fire is tended by a curious figure known as the Vagabond, who appears to be waiting for someone.

The Storytime is also host to less savoury powers. When Brian Westhouse is sent to Arcadia from the Tibetan monastery, he first ends up in the Storytime. The Vagabond is not pleased to see him, and urges him away quickly, saying that he should not be there and that he does not belong there. From the sky above them, a black mass not unlike the Chaos Vortex issues forth, and attacks Brian. The Vagabond names this mass 'the Undreaming'.

According to what the Vagabond tells Zoe Castillo, the Storytime seems to be very much like the Aboriginal concept of the 'The Dreamtime' or the Dreaming. It appears to be a place where storytelling has power, and possibly where dreams can be spoken or thought into reality, a little like the state of lucid dreaming that Project Alchera is supposed to evoke. However, there is absolutely no evidence for this aside from the name and a few hints here and there.

When the Vagabond greets Zoe, he says they don't have much time, but he is much more interested in the story Zoe has to tell him, and there is no sense of urgency when he speaks to her. There is a marked difference between the way he acts towards Zoe and his reaction to Brian's presence, possibly because Zoe is a 'Dreamer' and Brian, presumably, is not. The Vagabond's antagonism towards Brian appears, oddly, to be personal; he stresses "What are you doing here? You cannot be here."

When Zoe is in the Storytime she asks the Vagabond if she is dead or not. He replies "I don't know. It doesn't matter here. This is where everything is. Here...you simply are. Alive or dead, you just are."

The Storytime appears to be a between-place or a place where things are created, rather than a world in its own right. It also bears striking similarity to the Winter which, indeed, looks like the same landscape viewed through a foggy lens.