diary of dreams

[the_siobhan]

I had a very silly dream last night that I belonged to a race of people who had landed on this planet a couple of centuries ago and who lived to be over 500 years old.

It was a secret, but a pretty loosely-guarded one. Lots of friends knew about it, but most people didn't say anything and those who did weren't believed anyway. Individuals moved around every few years so nobody would notice that we didn't age properly, and we had an enclave in the north-east US where we could take time out from the rest of the world and just hang out with others of our own kind until we got bored and headed back out into the world. We were rabid historians, keeping copies of every newspaper article, work of fiction and copy of art that we could get our hands on. We'd been doing this long enough to amass an impressive library, and research facilities all over the world would often contact us for access to our records.

I was turning 200 soon and needed to lay low for a bit, so I went "home". caspervonb and the_axel came with me just for the sake of the trip. Everybody there knew they were human but since they were with me, nobody cared.

There was a third race we'd had some dealings with that were even longer lived than we were, easily reaching 1000. We called them the Thombadorians. (I keep thinking that's from something I've read somewhere.) Unlike us, they lived for pomp and ceremony. A trio of representatives from their settlement was presenting lee_chaos with an award and arrived in state in their full ceremonial garb -- massive great coats with elabourately decorated vests, massive hooped skirts and, as markeris puts it, "Reagancy sofas on their heads".

lee_chaos, by the way, is 132.

The ceremony was a riot. As a tribute to their status, the ceremony had to be conducted by our most senior family member, who was utterly senile and kept trying to hide under his podium. The Thombadorians dealt with this the only way they knew how, by sticking completely to the script of the ritual, even while the head of the family started tossing things at them and while strange people were wandering in and out of the room looking for things.

Lee accepted his award graciously, and then the Thombadorians took off for some other obligation and we all convened down at the pub. We had beer. The elder drank milk.

Not one of my more creative dreams, although it made for pretty amusing viewing at the time.

Does pretty much sum up my feelings about ceremony.

Comments

[lee-chaos.livejournal.com]

It's all true. And I don't look a day over 120 in the flesh... ;¬P