The Train came to a slow stop, bells and whistles jangling as passengers stood up to make their way off board. A young rabbit lying dead asleep in his particular booth is knocked forcefully into wakefulness by a beam of sunlight hitting his face. He stands up, and with no luggage to speak of, walks off the train.
His bow tie is a little askew, as well as his pants being perhaps one size too big. It's late evening and the sky is lit with a beautiful cotton candy orange group of clouds as his feet walk the cobblestone path. "Dresden train station.." He reads.
"Well, I must have..had quite a nap if I've already made it." The rabbit says. His heart begins to race in his chest as he considers the crowd around him. What is the most unforgivable, he imagines, is the noise.
Noise from the clack of feet on pavement. Chatter of people talking. Automobiles rumbling down the roadway, backlit against high buildings that reflect the sun.
The sun! He realizes what a glare it is, beating down upon his head, lighting up thousands of different places for the eye to track. Color between the cobblestones, watches on wrists, ladies hats, garish wares in store windows.
His heart began to beat harder, if that were even possible. Blinking several times and taking a deep breath, a voice comes back to him. "Breathe. Just breathe." It's almost audible. He looked around, but no one appeared to be talking.
With a few unsteady steps forward, he finds himself walking down a riverfront, thousands of flowers steeped along the banks, in cages hung by streetlamps, and of course, being sold by vendors.
He kept his head down as he walked, noticing more of the cobblestone than anything else. "Where am I?.." He mumbled to himself.
"Well Dresden, obviously, but..why am I?" He began to reason. "I jumped on the train, but..where did the train come from? Where did I come from? I should remember this, like it's on the tip of my tongue..but it's just not there."
He rubbed his forehead. There were a few bald patches, as if they'd been shaved away. "t..fuck?" He mumbled. As he walked down the street, the crowd seemed to thin. As the sun pulled down the shades of the day into the cool nursery of night, the crowd seemed almost to disappear.
Ducking into an ornate doorway, he blinked at the change of light.
The rabbit found himself standing in what was once probably someone's basement, but had been well converted and well loved, and possibly coerced with the threat of death into being someone's bar. There was a stage at the far end, currently empty, with patrons all across the multiple tables and chairs setup. An actual bar sat to the left of the entrance, raised above the rest of the setup. A young grey wolf was constantly moving back and forth. Even when he was not serving drinks, he found something for his paws to do, something to play with.
"Uh.." He stumbled into the bar, and immediately ran into a taller squirrel.
She took a deep breath, not quite suprised, but not quite expecting it either. She glared at him, lips pursed.
"S-sorry!" He said, backing away and heading immediately towards the bar. He passed a row of patrons and sat at the back of the bar, dimly lit. The rabbit bites his lip, taking in a shaky breath. As he adjusted to the situation, he came to a realization.
"This clearly was a mistake..." He mumbled. Some new form of music, with nonsensical words and a heavy emphasis on strings floated through the crowded room, which seemed hot, even...oppressive.
The sound began to wash over him, the bright lights of the bar glinting off of the bottles, and the spotlessly shined bar. He blinked, hard.
The voice returned. "Just breathe."
"I can't!" He said. "I can't breathe!"
The wolf bartender, the only one in earshot, looked up. What struck the rabbit first was his amazingly blue eyes. It was if lightning had been dipped in ice and ran through a particle accelerator. Intense was not the right word here,dear reader. They were simply beautiful.
The rabbit looked down and began to tear up, biting his lower lip and clenching his paws into fist as he struggled to maintain a steady breath.
The grey wolf made his way over, crimson paisley vest catching the light. The rabbit noted that one could almost lose themselves in such a vest, highlighted by those eyes. He laid a paw on the table, not quite touching the rabbit. "...What's wrong?" He said after a moment. His voice was not at all gruff. In fact, it sounded more like one had been playing a harp with velvet gloves.
The rabbit looked up. "Wow." He paused. "Subtle much? I mean...at least your cute." His eyes widened. "...I didn't mean to say that out loud."
The wolf grinned. "I work a bar. I get it all the time. Welcome to the elbow of the elbe. You new here? Claim any certain allegiances?"
"allegiance...what? Yes, I'm new, I just came from the train." His voice cracked.
The wolf looked over to the other bartender who had come out of the back, and had been reaching under the bar. The wolf shakes his head. "Stow it, screwhead."
The other bartender dropped whatever it was, and went back to his business.
The rabbit blinks several times.
"Name's Daniel." He leaned on the table, taking up almost all of the rabbits view. "Let's start with that. Got a name?" You could almost hear the smile in his voice.
"I..it's.." The rabbit frowned and shook his head.
Daniel grimaced a bit and sighs. "C'mon, you. Let's go outside. Sun's probably down by now." He grabs a small cane from a coatrack and waits. "Ey Sven, take my shift for awhile."
The other bartender nods.
The rabbit gets up and slowly edged his way past the patrons. He followed Daniel outside, where Daniel began to walk along the just night-fallen Riverwalk. "You're okay." He mumbles. "Just breathe."
He receives a funny look in return. "Where'd you hear that?"
Daniel shrugged. "Just something I learned to say. So..wanna try for me one more time?"
"Calvin." He said. "My name's Calvin."
"There. That's a lot easier than just rabbit, now isn't it?" He yawned. "Come on, we really shouldn't be on the streets." Daniel led Calvin up the river walk and through various winding streets until the reached a two story building built into the surrounding buildings. "This is home, I guess. I uh, live on the downstairs, and somebody else lives upstairs."
Calvin nodded. "What do you do when you're not bartending?"
"Mostly tinker. Always have to have my hands busy." Even as Daniel talked, he spun a pen in his paws. Unlocking the door, he ushered Calvin inside and flipped on the lights.
One could best describe this space as homely, if by homely one meant "a wild frump has gone through my home, looking for contraband, and only tried to be subtle." Various tables were setup with models of airplanes, toys, and different scribbles on different parchments, notes, and books. A large couch dominated the back wall, upon which was a rather new radio, one of those portable-types. The air smelt of old books and new wine, the best sort of comfort.
Catching Daniel's yawn, Calvin padded inside and began to head towards the couch, slumping down into it's semi patterened green cushions. "This is the most relaxed I've felt in ages."
"Perhaps you should take a nap. We can talk more after you get up. I'll still be here. Here, i'll turn on the radio for you." Daniel walked over and turned on the radio. The radio station buzzed and whirred before spitting out some new tune.
Calvin sunk deep into the couch and closed his eyes with a sleepy grunt. As he took a deep breath in and out, he lost feel of everything besides the sound of the radio in his mind. The same music from the bar, some gaggle of dames no doubt, began to rattle around his head.
"Wake up and live, it may be love is yawning
"up on your toes, a better day is dawning!
Don't let up, get up and give,
Give yourself a shake up just to wake up and live!
Wake up!
Wake up!
1...
2...
3...
Wake up, Virgil. The session is over!"
Virgil blinked himself back to consciousness. He yawned and stretched, looking around. "Did I fall asleep again?"
"No, but you did enter a state of trance I hadn't anticipated. Another supposed past life. I thought we talked about that?"
"Yea, I know. Deal with the now, the today. Not the so far past that I'm dead and reborn." He gave her an impish grin.
"That's fine, I think we did some of the work we needed to do today. Was there anything else you'd like to say before our session concludes?"
"Yes. Doctor, could I borrow another book on Hypnosis? More the how it works, the neuroscience of it?"
- - -
