Dreamweaver.

Normally when I go to sleep at night, I don't dream and/or don't remember my dreams. But once in awhile, I have these crazy vivid, panoramic, picturesque, detailed dreams. I had one of these a few weeks ago that I meant to write down because it was really entertaining and I don't really want to forget it.

Anybody heard of Steampunk? Keep that in mind. And yes this is romance based, so shut up.

So, these epic dreams are basically like watching a movie/reading a book inside my head.

I'll set it up for you.

The main characters are the Father: a nationally known/recognized shoemaker, esp. women's shoes. He's getting on in age, has no wife and no other offspring besides Annette: his daughter. brown/auburnish hair, fairskin, green eyes, about seventeen?, and has the eye for The Assistant: a quiet, dark featured, twenty-five-ish man, who basically just helps with the cargo when things are shipped. Then there is the Rover, a dark, badly scarred man, and the Wisp Man, an enigmatic shadow croucher who can hide in shadows and disappear in the dark(most likely with magic, but you'd have to catch him first).

The story is set in an Old West type of town probably in Missouri/Tennesee/Kentucky area. Towns are becoming industrialized, trains have been invented, iron is selling like hotcakes, but people still really use horse/wagon to get places, the roads are made of packed dirt, sidewalks are wooden, saloons happen, and the sheriff is still the boss in town.

Magic is still a probability in this world, a vague, mostly unknown thing, that people still take for granted unless you are one of the extremely rare people who are born with it, usually its hereditary. Normally the magical people are apothecaries, doctors, etc. It is not a common thing and more often than not, people haven't heard of it (being bred out maybe).


Okay, anyway, story!


The shoemaker is an extraordinarily gifted leather worker and shoe maker and makes shoes to be sold all across the nation. He is especially gifted at making ladies shoes and ladies boots. His daughter of course is required basically to wear all these shoes because of what her father does. So she puts up with it and for her birthday he makes her this unique pair of boots that are a light leaf green and cream suede with little brass buttons. These boots are the most comfortable shoes she has ever worn and she loves them so she wears them all the time. The whole town's youth/female population are jealous but her father won't make another pair for anyone.

A little while after this happens, her father's shipments to other towns (via rail) are starting to be stolen, trains highjacked, boxes ransacked, etc. Its ruining his business so in his biggest yearly shipment (early springish) he decides to accompany it himself, with his daughter (of course he can't leave her by herself!) and his assistant and a few guards.

So they take a train and basically keep the crates of shoes in their car with them. (In my dream for some reason, I kept thinking "they're going to Dodge" so basically that's what I'll call the city, but mid Kansas type? I'm not sure why the train ride took this long, or how long it really should have taken.) The first couple of days go well, and then people start to become easy, a guard disappears (they figure he jumps train), and people keep saying they're seeing a man in the shadows, somebody is watching them, but they can never catch his eye, and they can never speak to him, at a second glance he is gone.

So a few more days pass and this uneasiness grows to fear/anger. All the guards have been killed, thrown off the train, etc. Only Annette, her Father, and the Assistant are left with the shoes. They all think this shadow man (read: Wisp Man) is causing these disappearances and deaths, and so they stay awake, and fear for their lives, there's only a day's ride left until they reach Dodge. Reeaaalllly early in the dark of that morning, the Wisp Man appears and her Father wakes up and they have this slightly sad, pathetic knife and pistol fight in which her Father is quickly killed. Of course the Assistant runs quickly to his aid to continue the fight, in around on breaking flipping the crates of shoes. Annette hides near the door, of course being a woman and having no idea hat to do. She sees the Assistant get shot in the face, and freaks out and jumps train. (I mean seriously, what else was there to do?)

Luckily she doesn't break any bones, and she rolls into some kind of brush where she passes out and lays inert most of the day. She wakes up late afternoon, and after a quick (where am I?) begins to walk in a perpendicular line away from the track (who in the hell would follow that train?) and after about an hour is spied by the Rover, who is out checking for a stray calf or something of that nature.

She is slightly afraid of him, but goes along with him (what else is there to do), and he takes her to his house where his mother/father feed/give her new clothes/etc. She explains her story and the next day they ride into town (which just happens to be Dodge) and explain everything to the Sheriff. Surprisingly, he says no train has come through, esp. one with dead people and millions of shoes, but he'll keep his eye out.

She isn't really sure of what to do, so she kind of just hangs out in the town for a little while, too afraid to go back alone. So she works a little bit on the Rovers farm for her keep and stays there slowly becoming really good friends with Rover. After a few weeks, the rumors of the Wisp Man seem to be circulating around town but nobody knows what to do or how to catch him or really what he is. Rumors of magic, fear, etc begins to encroach upon the people. Rover finally convinces her that she should go back to her old home, at least to pick up the pieces of her life, even if it is to come back there. Plus it would be best because this Wisp Man seems to especially frighten her.

She eventually agrees to go back as long as Rover goes with her so she doesn't have to travel alone. He agrees, and they pack their bags and leave as soon as they can.

Dodge of course has a huge train station, six or seven tracks across in a huge open ended barn with wooden platforms, etc. The two are waiting there for their train when suddenly the Wisp Man appears making an attempt on Annette's life. Of course Rover's seemingly inhuman response time saves her life as he pushes her out of the way. And so ensues one of the greatest knife and gun battles I have ever witnessed. This involves flips on and off platforms, hiding around trains, on trains, over trains, under trains, crazy shots and ridiculous response times. This goes on for a good twenty minutes and finally the Wisp Man is maimed, perhaps dead.

Rover ends up on a train in motion heading out of the station, and he yells for Annette to jump on. She of course runs after the train, as fast and as hard as she can leaving their baggage, etc. Somehow, she makes it. And they ride off into the sunset. Blahblah.

With nothing else to do and no idea where they are going, they begin to talk, and try to figure out what in the world the Wisp Man is doing. After a long drawn out talk, the come to the conclusion that he wants her shoes, and more importantly, her. Apparently they discover, her shoes are magic (meaning her father was one of the rare people who had a magical gift and he sewed the magic into them) and she also possess this same power.This is why through the two of them, they made the shoes so comfortable, wanted by all, when she was scared, the Wisp Man couldn't find her and how she didn't get hurt jumping of the train, and how she caught up to the train that she shouldn't have been able to. Perhaps the Wisp Man wanted to force her to have his kids and make sure this power between them passed on, he could control his kids, etc.

Anyway, after figuring this out, the Rover explains he has something to say to her, that he's been lying to her the whole time. And to her absolute astonishment and disgust, he peels off the scars on his face and they come off, as is magic. Guess who?! It's the Assistant who was told by God that he failed at his first chance protecting her and was sent back for a second chance but she couldn't know who he was, etc and he couldn't tell her until they killed the Wisp Man, and figured out what he was after because apparently he works for some evil entity or something like that.

And they live happily ever after.

The end.

Best. Dream. Ever.