Notes:
Not a sequel for last chapter.
And well...this is an experiment. I hope you enjoy.
Sheldon was almost five when the world changed forever. Not just his world, but the world in general.
"Dear lord…" Mary Cooper said, horrified at the information being shown in the news.
Sheldon sat with his Pop-pop on the old recliner chair he loved and didn't allow anyone else to use, well, almost no else could use it. Sheldon was allowed to sit in his Pop-pop's spot.
"Pop-pop, what does that mean?" Sheldon asked innocently while pointing at the TV.
His Pop-pop didn't reply, busy staring at the breaking news on TV.
'Fairy tales are real!' The banner proudly stated.
And the world changed.
While in similar but wholly different worlds this announcement led to wars, bloodshed and genocide, in this particular world cooler heads prevailed and a previously hidden world now could walk freely under the sun.
Except for the vampires of course.
Sheldon Cooper grew up in this world and surprisingly his life did not change much, he was still forced to go to church by his mother, his Pop-pop still set him on the road of science, his Meemaw still ran an illegal casino, George Jr met Mandy and had Ceecee.
Life continued to move on in the same way it had for many different versions of Sheldon across the multiverse.
Lamia, Vampires, Werewolves, Dullahans, Goblins, Succubus, Oneiros, Somnia, Kappa, Kitsune, Banshees, Centaurs, Unicorns and more joined the everyday world.
Prejudice still existed of course, but as the two worlds got closer and adapted to each other, it became clear that coexistence was possible.
Centaurs thrived as cattle ranchers, others found success in the newly founded race circle. Vampires became the workforce of the dark, police officers, hospital workers, bakers and any work and profession needed to keep a city running 24/7. Goblins and Orcs were happy to join existing construction companies and eventually create their own. Elves preferred to remain hidden for the most part and only a couple of them have made their way into the world of man as poets, writers, painters.
Of course, this was an overgeneralization as Goblin Death Metal became a popular genre of music and Yolmar the Orc was a popular newscaster loved for his smooth voice and passionate delivery.
Other fairy-folk were able to find their own way in the human world. Like the Oneiros and the Somnia, whose expertise with dreams and nightmares were able to offer those previously haunted by their own dreams a way to find peace during sleep.
And it's in one of these families that we find Penny.
In other worlds she's the child of corn farmers, but in this one she's the child of dream farmers. She grew up in a world in the first steps on integration and as such was able to make friends with both humans and fairy-folk, too young to notice the prejudice and hate she was able to have a relatively normal childhood in Nebraska.
Penny didn't just want to be a dream farmer, just because she descended from Somnus didn't mean she had to spend her whole life in Nebraska as a dream farmer.
Like many versions of her across the multiverse, Penny decided to run away to California in order to chase her own dream of becoming an actress.
And it's in this new and weird world that Sheldon and Penny will meet once again as countless other versions have in the past and will do so again in the future.
"New neighbor?"
"Evidently."
So the wheel turns once more.
Penny brushed her hair and tried to keep the apprehension at bay.
She had left Kurt in a hurry and hadn't been able to take everything with her. Her TV and her warding array.
The TV she could do without, but the warding array was a must. As much as she tried to step away from her dream abilities, the reality of it was that they came naturally to her, it was like breathing, something she did simply by existing.
And here she was, in a new building with people surrounding her from all sides. She knew that the moment she closed her eyes in bed it would be the moment that all of the dreams around her would materialize like bonfires in the dark.
Her new neighbors seemed like nice people…but she knew better. Dreams always brought their innermost desires to the front and she was forced to experience them just by existing in the same building.
She stopped brushing her hair and looked at the bottle of vodka sitting on her coffee table. It could help…
But no, she had just broken up with Kurt and alcohol was a bad idea in her emotional state.
Sighing, she put her brush away and went to bed, better to get it out of the way. Pulling the covers back she stopped and went to make sure her door was properly locked and deadbolted. She knew how easy dreamwalking became sleepwalking and wanted to avoid wandering the building in only her cami and sleeping shorts.
Penny loved her glittering hair, a proud statement that she was a child of Somnus, but it and her pupiless green eyes had also attracted the wrong type of attention more than once.
Better to be safe and put a chair as well against the door.
Finally feeling confident enough, she went to bed, made herself comfy and closed her eyes. Like an explosion, stars were birthed right behind her eyelids and her dream form took shape and suddenly she was aware of both the Penny sleeping and the Penny standing among the countless stars.
Penny looked around at the stars that shone against the darkness. Each one a dream.
Almost against her will, her dream self started walking towards the closest stars. One was a regular dream and the other was a star so bright that it hurt to watch directly.
A brush of her fingers and the regular dream revealed itself to her and almost immediately she closed it again. Her hand shook against the dream and she struggled to control herself.
This was Leonard's dream, and he was dreaming about her.
It made her sick, it brought back memories of learning to control her dream abilities, of how boys saw her only as an object.
She wanted to rip out Leonard's dream open and turn it into a nightmare but she managed to stop herself. She was the one peeking into dreams, as sick as it made her feel, she's the one that shouldn't be looking at this.
Still, Penny made a note to get back her warding array ASAP.
With a steadying breath she let go of Leonard's dream and moved towards the supernova that could only be Sheldon's.
She knew it was impossible but she could swear that it was radiating heat. Her hand went up to peek and it's only for a moment but there's warmth against her hand.
Sheldon is dreaming of winning the Nobel Prize.
Everything shines with a golden light, confidence or arrogance, she can't tell. But what she can tell is that this is a good dream to bunker in.
The dream eagerly welcomes her in easily.
Penny walks as Sheldon dreams, she doesn't want to peek in too much, she just makes sure to chase away the shadows he can't see. Penny makes sure that this dream stays on course and that the darkness of nightmares doesn't corrupt it.
It takes her but a moment, however she doesn't want to leave. There's comfort here, so she sits just outside of Sheldon's consciousness and listens to him giving an acceptance speech.
Before she knows it, her flesh and blood body is waking up.
She feels a strange sadness leaving Sheldon's dream. She thanks him in her head and moves to leave the dream that became her refuge for the night.
Penny kisses her fingers and presses them against the wall of the dream. A small gesture of good luck that her mother taught her.
Penny wakes up and stretches. She feels fully rested, nothing like spending the night in a beautiful dream to recharge her batteries.
Now it was time for coffee.
Notes:
I don't know why this came to me while listening to 'Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler' but it had to be put into paper.
I honestly liked this Universe a lot. I think I will write more for it.
On other notes, finally Friday. Stay safe peeps.
Ps. Seriously, go watch Spaceman, it's good.
Pss. Don't go watch it if you have arachnophobia.
