Chapter 2 - The hunter´s Dream

It was a most useful quirk of entering a dream that you would leave all the dirt and grime of the waking world behind and awaken fresh and clean. Although she would have liked a warm shower from time to time she had to admit that it was not necessary if she could just return to the workshop and get the layers of dried blood off of her form. Her employer seemed hell-bent on robbing her of every small humanitarian comfort he could.

Her employer – that was how she taken on calling the mysterious entity which controlled this dream. The Doll had called him "Flora" on more than one occasion, but she guessed that was not his real name. Who would name themselves "plant" after all?

Thinking of her whole situation as employment made it easier to grasp and comprehend. Especially in the early days she had been extremely confused until she had adopted this mindset. She might have had no choice in picking her current occupation, but that wasn´t anything new for her. Her supernatural employer was at least better than Being X in that aspect that he A) left her completely alone and B) didn't demand fanatical worship.

In fact, he never forced her to do anything. If the Doll and Gehrman had not indirectly alluded to his presence then she wouldn´t have even known he existed! Which was fine with her. Although a little more guidance would be nice, it was a pleasant contrast to Being X´s way of dealing with things. AE making things as bad as possible for her and then pressuring her to give into his moronic desires.

Now that she knew that "Flora" was the creator of this place, the Hunter´s Dream, she only needed to turn her eyes to the massive moon that perpetually hung over the small island above the endless fog, to find him. She instinctively knew that this was not a mere source of light or decoration, but something alive. It always looked slightly wrong, like it was an illusion created by someone who had no concept of what a moon really was and that caused a weird wriggling and twisting sensation inside her brain. Needless to say, she never looked up for very long.

From what she had been able to gather from Gehrman´s ramblings, all that was required of her was to go out into the waking world and slay the beasts and other monsters that she came across. Nothing what she wouldn´t normally do, so it was a mutual beneficial relationship in her opinion.

All in all, killing was her job.

"Hello Doll, I have returned." She addressed her favourite inhabitant of the dream.

"Greetings Good Hunter. I have awaited your return. Would you like me to strengthen your spirit with the blood echoes you collected?" the sentient puppet smiled.

Her ever present gentleness and calm professionalism had made Tanya respect her from the beginning. The doll was the ideal customer service representative.

"Yes, please do." she said tiredly.

Like usually Tanya sat down on a small stone wall and closed her eyes as the doll worked her magic.

While before the vague shreds and remnants of other people´s essence in her blood had been fleeting and hard to grasp, they now properly settled in her being and actually became a part of her. Through the process that the doll called "channelling" she permanently gained the experience and skill of the foes she struck down. Tanya could feel how her muscles became just a bit firmer, how her senses became just a tad bit sharper and how her awareness expanded further outwards. It felt glorious.

This was her payment.

Growth for blood. Blood for growth. What did it even matter? Pondering things she was unable to change was the height of foolishness. Nothing could release her from the contract and from the dream as far as she knew. Not even death.

That had been a very unpleasant lesson to learn.

When she had first woken up on a dirty table in the depths of an abandoned hospital she had not known anything about her new world. One moment she was going to sleep in the Empire, dreaming of the finally approaching armistice and in the next she was in an entirely unfamiliar place. Without her weapons, without her computation jewel and completely alone.

The only possessions on her person had been a pair of dirty trousers, a too big shirt and some uncomfortable shoes.

Armed with a sharp needle and an IV pole that she had both found on the filthy floor she had ventured deeper into the dilapidated building only to soon find a werewolf-like beast feasting on the entrails of a doctor. She had slowly backed up to avoid the beast noticing her, but the creaking floorboards of the old house had betrayed her at last.

In two mighty leaps it had been upon her and had instantly overpowered her defences. Its strength had been far greater than anything she could put up without an enhancement formula. She was a malnourished, underage girl after all. Tanya could have probably killed it even without a gun, but the lack of a computation jewel meant that casting spells was painfully slow and she had never seen a creature like that werewolf before.

So as a result her impromptu weapon was ripped from her along with most of her forearm. Those claws were no joke! The incredible pain had stunned her for long enough to allow the beast to grasp her head in its rotting maw and crush it like an overripe fruit.

Everything had gone black and then...

She had awoken for the first time in the Hunter´s Dream.

To call such an event haunting and confusing would be an understatement. Tanya could cope better with the reality of her demise than most, because she had died once before; even though she barely remembered anything of it. Nonetheless had it taken a solid minute for her to confront what the hell just happened and she could begin exploring her surroundings, more carefully this time.

The Hunter´s Dream was basically a small island in a sea of mist that stretched to the horizon. Leafless tree stumps protruded from the fog high into the unchanging sky and seemed to stretch for the unnaturally close moon. A small house had been build on top of the island´s sole hill with a miniature cemetery around it. Most of the gravestones Tanya examined had been unreadable either due to their age or because she did not recognize the language of their inscriptions.

The last grave though...

Had her name on it.

All of that had been a long time ago. How long she could not say, because whenever she died or travelled to the dream, time in the real world tended to either stop or rewind entirely. For the citizens of Yharnam not even a full night had run its course, but for Tanya it might have been months. Or years.

Dreams were irritatingly illogical places that did not lend themselves well to critical inspection. In general this world held many secrets that defied common sense and bordered on lunacy. How the Old Blood worked for example. Or how a Beckoning Bell could call upon other hunters from different fucking dimensions!

Back then she had sought logical explanations for everything, because that was what she had been taught. The scientific method had shaped her worldview and so it was one of her strongest beliefs that knowledge was power. Only through understanding yourself, your goals and the world around you would you be able to always choose the most optimal path forward. But she had to admit over time that even if all the strange phenomena in Yharnam had a reason she possessed not nearly enough insight to understand any of them.

On her first visit to the dream she had not even been able to properly perceive the doll. She had just looked like a regular lifeless mannequin, motionless and silent. Only after she had touched a weird cracked, glowing skull that she found in the sewer had she been able to interact with her. It made her sometimes wonder how many other things were hidden in plain few from her, because her brain was not able to comprehend them.

"Are you perhaps tired Good Hunter? It is not much, but I could make you some tea that little ones have graciously provided me with. I am certain it would do wonders to ease your exhausted spirit."

Ah she had been so lost in thought that she had not noticed the doll finishing her ritual. How embarrassing.

"Yes, I would like that very much. Maybe you would like to sit with me for a bit? Your company is always appreciated. If you are not too busy that is of course."

"I exist only to serve you Good Hunter. There could be nothing more important to me than your wellbeing."

The doll hid her smirk not as good as she thought. While she insisted on merely being a simple creation without free will or desire for agency, Tanya did not believe her. There were too many genuine emotions to ignore for her to accept that. And if all the little micro expressions on the dolls face and the subtle fluctuations of her voice were faked then that ran counter to her whole machine narrative. Why would she go to such lengths to pretend she was human when she claimed she was not after all?

The day that Tanya had brought the hair ornament back from the abandoned workshop the doll had cried tears of joy and sorrow upon its return. Later she would deny such a thing ever happening as if compelled to refuse every bit of humanity inside her. Truly strange.

Maybe she feared what her superiors would do to her once they understood that she was not the soulless puppet they designed her to be? Understandable. Tanya herself had often times struggled with the expectations placed upon her in the imperial army.

Being heralded as the "Symbol of Victory" had forced her in the most impossible of situations, because the general staff had believed her to be incapable of defeat. And in order to not lose their favour or worse, face a court martial for disobedience, she had always given her best to fulfil their unrealistic desires. Time and time again.

The doll vanished inside the workshop and returned a few minutes later with a fine china service that she elegantly sat down.

Ahhhhh... It was no coffee, but it indeed worked to soothe her tense nerves. Always being on guard expecting either grievous injury or certain death at the next best moment was more than stressful. The breeze was comfortable, the lack of blood and decay refreshing and the drink was calming...

She sighed in bliss.

Her employer wouldn't have a problem with her catching a small break, right? As soon as she turned her gaze up to the moon the place behind her eyes began to rhythmically writhe and twist like it normally would. Somehow that was comforting.

Wouldn't the tea taste better with a drop of blood?