knock, knock, knock...

[pj]

Awakening in her own bed with beads of sweat falling from her forehead, her blonde locks matted to her forehead, Lucie sat stock-still in her bedroom. Taking in deep breaths, she attempted to decipher the strangeness of her dream, while getting over the complete terror she felt in the pit of her stomach. Was that an explosion? And what about that turkey...? Lucie wasn't typically accustomed to remembering her dreams, but for some reason she could recall this particular dream with a dizzying clarity.

Scared out of her wits, Lucie slid off of her bed, and pulled on a flannel nightgown that was hanging from the edge of her bedroom door. Wrapping it tightly around her, she checked on Maddie, making sure that she was still in her bed, safe and sound. Sure enough, Maddie was in her bed, tucked in just the way Lucie had earlier.

Lucie walked into the kitchen, still in a weird haze from her bizarre dream, trying to piece together the odd things that occurred, trying to figure out it's meaning. But she was no Freud, and she had no clue what any of it meant. Making her way to the fridge, she tried to calm her nerves by pouring herself a glass of milk. She sat at the table, and sipped at the milk, contemplating the dream. All she got from it was the aftertaste it left her; an incredibly uncomfortable feeling and the idea that if she didn't decipher it's hidden meaning, something bad would happen. Lucie wasn't sure why this was, but for some reason she got a bad taste in her mouth, and it wasn't the milk.

The milk having failed it's purpose, Lucie rose from her seat at the little table, and placed the glass in the sink to be washed later. She had to talk to somebody; anybody. Lucie bit her lip, thinking that it probably wasn't a good idea to leave Maddie alone, but if she visited Alexei, she'd be close at least... A glance at the clock next to her fridge told her that it was a touch past 3 in the morning and Alexei would probably not be pleased with her unannounced visit. But Lucie was a nervous bag of terror and she didn't know what to do.

Lucie put on her slippers and left her apartment, closing her door quietly behind her. Tightening her bathrobe around her, she took quick steps towards Alexei's apartment and arrived at his door. She raised a shaky hand to his wooden door, and knocked swiftly three times, praying that he would let her in and give her some clue as to what she should do.

[Louis de Saint-Just]

Alexei had, according to all accounts, been slumbering peacefully away on the bed underneath his bed. The apartment was dark, the sounds of the city were soft, and Alexei was even sleeping without headphones.
Of course, the door might have muffled most sounds, but the sound of someone's fist pounding against it (at least, that was how Alexei perceived it) shocked him right out of his peaceful slumber.

He managed to hit his head on the bed's metal grame above him before his headphones slipped over his ears. He glanced over at the clock as he scurried out from underneath the bed.

He had on no socks, and only jimjams, which happened to be flannel, and plaid.

He padded over to the door, after emerging from his room and making sure that there wasn't anyone out there to jump on him. "Comin'," he said, scurrying over to the door, where he ever so cautiously creaked it open. He peered around the edge, and upon seeing that it was juse Lucie-May, he proceeded to slide the chain lock so that the door could open.

It swung wide with the sound of well-oiled hinges, and Alexei rubbed his eyes in tiredness.

"Whassit?" he asked, blinking slightly awkwardly. "Is there something wrong?"
He decided not to bother with covering up his accent: she woke him up, and she could deal with it. Of course, it twisted his words a bit, but surely she'd understand.

[pj]

Lucie tapped her slippered foot nervously on the floor before she heard the familiar metallic sliding noise of the doorchain about to be opened. Hugging herself out of pure fear from her bizarre dream, terror was written across her face when Alexei opened the door and she nearly collapsed at the sight of him.

Swallowing her fear, she looked up at Alexei and bit her lip. What was she supposed to say? "Alexei! You wouldn't believe the dream I just had. I think someone's going to die, something about a bomb, maybe? Oh yeah and the turkey. What do you think talking turkeys mean in dreams?" Lucie's eyebrows furrowed in self-doubt. There was no way she was going to just come out and say that. She had some shame after all.

"Can I come in?" Lucie asked after a moment, shifting slightly in her spot, with a pleading tone.

[Louis de Saint-Just]

Alexei, concerned, stepped aside to let her in. "Jah, Miss Hawkins. You are always invited over if you need it. There is something the matter, yes?"

He gestured towards her person, and shrugged sheepishly. "Your heart, she is beating very fast. More faster than the regular peoples." He cleared his throat, closing the door behind him, and pointing towards the living room in desperation. "We can go to sit? And start to talk about what you have happened to?"

He swallowed, feeling the nervous sounds coming off of her, which were making him nervous, and awkward, and slightly frightened. He felt like whining, but then he remembered that he wasn't ten anymore.

[pj]

Lucie walked into Alexei's apartment, her steps quick and frightened. She nodded to him gratefully and made her way to his couch, sitting down and wrapping her arms around herself, still terrified by her strange dream. She still wasn't completely sure how to tell Alexei, but she knew there was a reason she came here; he had always been there for both her and Maddie, this time was no different.

"The reason my heart's beating so fast," Lucie started, her voice trembling, "Is that I just had the strangest dream. You're not gonna believe me when I tell you that I think it was some kinda premoniton." She looked back at Alexi, biting her lip. "I know it sounds crazy, I really can't even believe that I said it out loud, 'cuz it sounds only crazier out loud, but that's all I can figure. I reckon that something real bad's gonna happen soon," she finished darkly, unaware of how ominous that sounded, even though she still hadn't even explained what had actually transpired in her dream.

[Louis de Saint-Just]

Alexei nodded, and shut the door behind her. "So, er, all you are needing is a company, then?" he asked, relieved that he wouldn't have to decipher some sort of recipe to make something. Not that he was sure why he would need to make something when he so obviously couldn't.

"Would you like a...coffee?" he asked, since it was something that he did know how to make, and warm things were often comforting. "Or just you would like to tell me what is this dream, yes?"

Tentatively, he went to sit on the couch: not near her, exactly, he was pressed up against the edge of it, bue he hoped that the sentiment of sitting near her, at least, would count for something. Nina, however, came a-running, and leaped up onto the couch in between the two. She was very excited to see Lucie-May again, although she was a bit disappointed (visibly) that the woman hadn't brought over any food.
Honestly, the nerve.

[pj]

"Coffee would be wonderful," Lucie replied, her hand reaching down to pet the raccoon in between herself and Alexei. Pulling a tiny cookie from her bathrobe she held out her palm to the raccoon and let her nibble the cookie. Lucie gave Nina a smile and said, "You didn't think I'd forget about you, did you?"

Addressing Alexei and wiping the crumbs from her hand, she bit her lip anxiously. Lucie didn't even know where to begin. "The problem is that the dream wasn't like regular dreams, I mean, not in the sense that it was a premonition or nothin'- in the way that it was just..." Lucie searched for the right word, "It was just odd, y'know? At one point I coulda' sworn I was talkin' to a turkey! And there was some sort of explosion near the end..." Lucie trailed off. Disappointed with herself for not being able to articulate her dream, she threw her hands in the air. "Aw, it's no use. I don't know what I'm tryin' to say. I remember the dream- clear as day!" She clarified, hoping that Alexei didn't think she was completely nuts, "I just can't explain it..."

Lucie dropped her hands in her lap and sighed. "I heard voices," she said after a moment, "There were male voices- one of 'em I think sounded awful familiar- the others I didn't recognize at all." A frown tugged at her lips and she stared at a spot on the floor, trying to remember if she actually saw any of the faces that belonged to the voices she had heard. Sighing heavily, she came up blank. "I couldn't really see anything, though. All I heard were their voices..." Lucie broke off, and absentmindedly petted the raccoon next to her.

[Louis de Saint-Just]

Alexei fixed the coffee while he listened, and then he turned around to see Lucie-May feeding Nina a cookie. "Sugar's bad for her," he said, leaning back against the counter, and waiting for the coffee to finish.

"Sure it wasn't just a dream?" he asked, after seveal moments of thought during which he was busy wondering just what to say in response to such an opening-up. "I dream of sometimes strange things. They are hard to explain, and I never have seen a turkey in my sleep, but I dreamed once of a cliff made of chickens. Chickens are like turkeys, sort-of."
He nodded matter-of-factly. "Hard to have a real dream 'less you have a gift through your ages. You have not dreamed of things like this before, no?" he asked, pausing to rub at his eyes while the coffee gurgled happily behind him.

"I mean to say, if it is not a dream, you would have a knowing of. And you will have had a dream before. I never have hearing of a person getting powers so late into life. How is there way to test it?"

[pj]

Lucie rolled her eyes at Alexei's comment. "A little bit a' sugar won't hurt her," she said softly, almost tempted to quote Mary Poppins' 'A Spoonful of Sugar Makes the Medicine Go Down'. But she didn't see how that was at all appropriate other than the fact that it had the word 'sugar' in it. Sometimes her mind was a bit scattered- and after that intense dream it could only mean that her mind was even moreso than usual.

Lucie craned her neck to see Alexei's face and the expression on his face, her own face reflecting worry. "I dunno- I think- or, I reckon I like to think it was just a dream." Listening contemplatively at Alexei's words, she rubbed her arms, becoming anxious and doubting herself. She'd thought it was something more than just a dream, that maybe she'd had something special about her for once in her life. Being the youngest and most forgotten in a large family, she didn't get that feeling often.

"I guess you're right- there's no real way for me to know or anything, I wouldn't know how I could test it or nothin' either-" Lucie stopped midsentence as Nina crawled across her lap fondly. With a small smile, Lucie continued, only slightly surprised. "I wonder if it's somethin' like ESP? Like, maybe there's a way for me to see what card you're holding- if.." Lucie's eyes searched the living room for a deck of cards, "I don't know if this would work- I doubt it will, but it's the only thing I can think of. Do you have a deck of cards lyin' around anywhere?" Lucie bit her lip, totally unsure if it would even work. But, hey, if it didn't work, they could still have a good ol' card game.

[Louis de Saint-Just]

Alexei raised an eyebrow. "I do have the deck of cards," he said, and then went to fetch them. He had to do a bit of digging to find them, but at least she hadn't asked him to find his camera. That thing was as lost as Alice had been in Wonderland.
He returned, brandishing them proudly, and just as the coffee finished brewing, too.
He poured two cups, and brought them over to the couch (while managing to keep the deck of cards in his pocket).

"Here you are, Miss Lucie-May" he announced, and sat down. After taking a drink of the coffee (it was either very late or very early, and when he couldn't make the distinction but had to be awake, it meant that it was time for caffeine), he passed her the cards.

"What do you want me to be doing with this?" He was generally unsure about the premises of this card deck adventure that they were about to undertake. Would he choose a card and she would guess what it is?