#Sandman vortex

[rey-jake-therapist]

Could Jessamy be the first Vortex?

Several times I saw the idea floating on Twitter and Tumblr that Jessamy was a former lover of Morpheus that we'd never hear of, because of the way Dream reacted when she died. I don't have any strong opinion on the question except that it irks me a bit that whenever a man is devastated by the death of someone close to him, people automatically assume that he was in love with this someone, or used to be. I for one think that Jessamy could have mattered deeply to Dream while having a platonic friendship with him, even when she was alive.

That said, if Jessamy used to be Dream' lover, AND was also the first Vortex, it could tie in with something that Desire says in Season of Mists, in a very devastating way...

Desire teases him by asking him if he killed any girlfriend "recently", which heavily implies that Dream had at least one girlfriend killed in the past. Naturally many readers think they refer to an actual murder that Dream would have committed, but since there's no story telling of such a crime, I personally tend to think Desire rather referred to an accidental death, but one for which Dream blames himself. @writing-for-life I think it's a topic we discussed recently?

Desire also refers to a girl who lived on a pretty plane with twinkly lights, and says that what he put her through was "not pretty at all". I'm not sure about the twinkling lights here, but one thing's certain: when he not only had her killed but also the entirety of her civilization, what she went through because of Dream's reluctance to kill only her fits Desire's description.

Granted, there's no real reason to think that Dream was in love with the girl who was the first Vortex, as he's adamant that he was reluctant to kill her because he didn't want to kill an innocent. He says he spent time with her and thought she was a good person, generous and kind, he clearly was fond of her but again, a man can like a girl very much without being in love with her.

So it's all speculation/headcanon, but it has the merit of giving a canon explanation to Desire's claim that Dream "killed a girlfriend". Now, imagine that Jessamy used to be the first Vortex, who was invited to spend her after life in the Dreaming. Imagine that she became Dream's raven and his closest confident and friend. Imagine that when he saw her die while attempting to rescue him, it was the second time he indirectly caused her death, since if she hadn't tried to break the fishbowl she would still be alive...

Don't tell me I ruined your day, I already know.

You're welcome!

[azi-sings-calliope]

Something that I'm discovering about myself is that if I set a specific list of things to draw I will never draw them. Just gotta wait for an idea to come I guess. Anyway here's Rose Walker!!

[streettealee]

Some thoughts

Morpheus is kind. I know a lot of folks say he isn’t or he is but only to those who matter, but... hear me out: he’s the personification of dreaming. He’s literally king of The Dreaming. And we see time and time again how kind he is. And how powerful.

I remember watching about the first half of the season - or, say, the very first few episodes - and thinking “wow, maybe some of these characters are right, dreams do seem pretty useless.” That’s where I realised, at first, the kindness. The kindness of a pleasant dream while you die in your sleep to ease a horrible suffering. The sort that perhaps not many understand. But it is still a kindness in the only way Morpheus can do. I thought he was still sort of weak then, but kind. He could do this for people. Give them peace and temporary joys.

Morpheus genuinely seems to mourn Lyta’s loss, as much as she and her accidental involvement in The Dreaming due to the vortex damaged his realm. Now, I haven’t read the comics or graphic novels, so I don’t know anything beyond Netflix’s first season so far. It is with regret that he has to send back the ghost of Lyta’s husband and tell her she could not come to The Dreaming pursuing a life in it anymore. In the moment, it feels horrible, but he lets her keep the baby, I think, as one last favour. The idea that he was cruel in stating the baby belonged to him because it was conceived in The Dreaming and that he would come for it (unknown when) is fair, and maybe it would be perceived as a twisted sort of kindness. And unless I’m mistaken, he did not specify when he would take the child. He may yet either change his mind or retrieve this child much later down the track after a full life (you can argue with me on this as I’m not entirely sure about any background lore or if I’m forgetting something from the episodes). But I consider this another demonstration of the kindness that he is allowed to show, that follows the rules of dreams.

As an aside, I think that’s pretty incredible, the way the writers were able to convey the subtlety of Dream’s power. There are rules, of course, that the Endless seem to follow, but also limitations for each of their purposes (Death can only deal in death, Dream only with dreams, Desire with desire, and so on). This has all probably been said before, I didn’t dig deep enough yet, but I still wanted to express my admiration and awe over all this.

Anyway, back to subtleties and power and small acts of kindness. It wasn’t until Morpheus, Dream, was facing down Lucifer Morningstar in Hell that I really understood his power. At first, I was very afraid for him, because I also did not see how Dream could win out against all that Hell represents, no matter if Dream also includes nightmares. (Honestly, the episode title ‘A Hope In Hell’ should have been a dead giveaway for me, but hush, I was thinking of a song by that title instead at the time.) Of course, there was Matthew’s kind of cheesy line that “dreams don’t fucking die”, and then Morpheus’ winning move against Lucifer was “hope” which is very much the essence of dreams that I really understood the level of his power. Hope is what persists, as is famously known to do so with teeth bare and knuckles bloody, and maybe it was simple but it really hit me then. There is a lot that can be done to crush hope, but look to yourself: even in the most hopeless points of your life, there are dreams. A dream of something better, something different, something else, something full of revenge maybe, something that is beautiful and soul-saving - whatever it is, I believe, there will always be that. There will always be a hope in hell. And I know I’m just spelling out the whole idea behind that episode, but the simple power of hope, and the kindness of dreams giving that hope to you - the kindness of Dream himself - is pretty fucking powerful.

Perhaps Morpheus was not always this way. We hear from many characters that he has changed since his containment. We hear often, too, that he is selfish. But there is so much commentary from others about who he is, what he’s like, his true ugly self and yet... all I see is kindness. The kindness, perhaps, that these otherworldly only know how to do. They do not know of human acts of kindness as they do not have the luxury of being human. But they understand a sort of mercy. And gentleness. We see many struggling to understand over the course of the show that the Endless only exist because of humans, and we see Morpheus learn this, and that is perhaps where he finds this deep respect that fosters his kinder side.

Nightmares are awful. But Dream removes those too for those who do not deserve the torture of them in the show. If I recall correctly, he does at one point address nightmares as being challenges that dreamers have to face to overcome their fears, and it is in that way he is trying to do them a favour. For he also works in revelations too, to aid in a dreamer’s understanding. But when a nightmare is focused on a trauma or horrible event, we see Morpheus provide comfort where he can and, in some cases, remove these nightmares. We can also see him alter people’s entire perspectives too, through various means, and again, I am just amazed at this subtle power. He does not have to use thunder and lightning like some god, he does not have to hold a knife to anyone’s neck, he does not have to speak very loud at all or deliver threats of dismemberment. No, he works in smaller ways. And I absolutely love that.

Look, I’ve only done one watch through over the course of three days. There’s probably a ton I’m missing and this is just the very on-the-nose, tip of the iceberg sort of thing. There’s probably stuff I’m forgetting, background things I don’t know, and overall, this is probably just a very basic look at obvious key themes. Whatever. The point of this was to express my excitement and enthusiasm for this new discovery I’ve made. I think this show is brilliant in so many ways. Morpheus is a fascinating character. I have a feeling him and this story will be on my mind for a while.

[horrorcrypt12]

Now Watching:

The Sandman S1.E8 ∙ "Playing House"

As Morpheus closes in on one of his missing creations, Rose ramps up efforts to locate her brother - and unwittingly makes a friend's dream come true.

Stay Spooky!

[merinsedai]

Day 10- Fate

From the sandtober prompts by @orionsangel86 thank you!

‘Unity Kincaid should have been the vortex of this era’. Unity accepts her fate.

Silly little sketch featuring Unity, Lucienne and Rose.

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

the problem with dream having a tendency to over-blame himself for things is that it's really hard to ever tell him something wasn't his fault because he's existed since the dawn of time and he is a chronic bad decision maker so no matter the situation, if you go back far enough, it was probably his fault somehow

and that's all he's gonna focus on

[sunfl0wer30]

The Sandman 🖤

[best-wishes]

Dream of the Endless has many names.

One of the lesser known is Trolley Man.

Out of all the superpowers out there, you consider yours the most sadistic; you can save any number of innocent people from death in the face of danger, but to gain that ability, you must kill an innocent person. Named after the infamous moral thought experiment, you are… Trolley Man.

[isaac--r]

Browsing the sandman tag... it's funny how people were mocking racist bros who complained about forced diversity, only to then fill the tag with white people mostly

Fucking Lucifer gets more spotlight than Rose, literally the main character of the second half of the season. Death is the only black character that gets some decent attention and even then it's only as a matchmaker for the main white boy and his 15mins of screentime blorbo

[yeagerprogram]

I’m reading Endless Nights and that was kinda shitty of Desire in my opinion. I mean did Dream even do anything irredeemably wrong by that point?? What’s the timeline here? I forget if the timing for Dream’s chapter was supposed to be left unknown or not. But like bruh they didn’t even apologize. Basically just “Yeah I thought it was funny! Where’s your sense of humor?”. Christ Desire what did he ever do to you? By that point in time? Genuinely asking.

[ornii]

Hello, how are you doing?

I was wondering if you would write a story with Enid x Wednesday x M!reader where the reader is a vortex, like from the Sandman series/comic, and after his and Wednesday's first date he goes to sleep and has a smutty dream before accidentally travels into Wednesday dream. Wednesday's dream was the reader eating her out with her wearing a blindfold while Enid is in the corner rubbing herself.

Due to his confusion and hornyness, the reader accidently travels to Enid's dream. Enid was dreaming that she was being double penetrated by both Y/n and Wednesday with a strap on. Seeing this caused the reader to accidentally break the barrier between their dreams so they all saw what the other was dreaming. This caused them all to wake up and the reader to go over to their shared room to apologize. However, when he arrived and explained what happened, they reached an agreement to make the others dreams a reality. After a full night of sex, the reader and Wednesday are spooning Enid and agree to let her into the relationship.

Take your time and sorry if this is too much.

Night Terrors, Indeed. (18+)

A Vortex, dreaming being beyond comprehension and understanding. Admittedly you attempted to sleep after your first date with Wednesday, turns out explaining to her the demons that the vortex attracts. Haunting a dream together was a first good date, which lead to an.. interesting night.

Lying in your bed your mind begins to fade into mist. Everything slowly solidifying into a bedroom, an old castle on the coast of England, you sat up and felt an unease about your body, as if you were.. sick. “H..hello?” You spoke into the dimly lit room, a few candles, a fireplace illuminated the front of the bed, candles along certain walls and frames. You could make out a door opening to your left and a figure calmly stepping out of it, Wednesday. She didn’t have a Nevermore uniform on her, it was a thin black lace nightgown, Carrying a single candle she approached.

“Mi querido..” her deep black eyes peered into yours, and she gently placed the candle on the bed rest and leaned into your face.

“You’ve had a long and strenuous battle… allow me to relive you.”

“Wednesday I…” her finger slowly pressed against your lips as she gently crawled into the bed and straddled you. Her cold pale plan gently pressed against your chest, this dream felt so.. real, you wanted it to be real, and her left hand slowly began to train down your abdomen, her fingers softly drag along your skin and the sensation felt so pure. But before you could feel he grasp it, your eyes awoke to the Hellway of Wednesday and Enids dorm. You were standing up, and a look of surprise was on your face. “Am I… no.. dreams must be interlocking.” You thought to yourself and walked along the hall. Nearing the door, you heard a gentle moan behind the door. Curiosity and arousal fill your mind and you twists the door knob and peer into the bedroom, and your eyes went to the right side to Wednesdays side and to the origin of the sounds.

Her hands were bound by handcuffs, though a rail of her bedframe, her eyes bound by a wrapping and her bottom lip was bitten, as she was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her neck to her back, bare chest with supple breasts softly shaking as her shaky moans echo though the room, you couldn’t take your eyes off of her, this was definitely Wednesday’s dream. You watched a pair of very familiar hands move upward and grip her waist, it was yours. You saw yourself right between her legs, using your tongue to lap against her walls and the warmth of your breath brush against her flesh. Her legs instinctively wrap around your neck, inching closer to an orgasm, the soft whimpers of Enid catch your ear and you lean in a bit further, your eyes caught Enid, her legs gently rubbing together as one hand was in between and the other gently massaging her own breast, her eyes so crazily focused on watching Wednesday and the dream version of you being so… intimate. You closed the door swiftly and tried to press those thoughts out of your mind, and turned left, and blinked somehow you were back at the same door, as if the world itself moved to be fixated on your eyes. You reached and gripped the handle again and opened the door, this time the positions changed, you watched yourself lie on Enid’s Bed, her on top, palms gripping your shoulders as she rides the dream version of you, Wednesday was also behind her, her arm grasping her neck as she was also behind Enid, using a strap on she also decided to plunder the Werewolf’s body. Enid was in bliss, a mix of pleasure and wolf like mating she was enjoying herself a lot more than most. And admittedly you wanted to put yourself in the mix, you gripped the handle harder, biting your lip you felt the arousal build up and take over, you closed the door once more, but hard, and with that slam you woke up from your invasion of dreams. Sweating and with a very abrupt form of morning wood. You took a deep breath to compose yourself. Sitting up you exhaled and felt a deep feeling, and you had to alleviate it.

Gently knocking on Wednesday’s door, you waited, it was a bit of shuffling and you watched it open to Wednesday in a gown, and Enid looked a bit, awkward. “Can I.. come in?” You asked, and Wednesday stepped back to let you in. You saw Enid in her bed, curled up slightly, not able to make eye contact with you. Wednesday stood in the room, a bit uncomfortable herself. You had a very good idea of why they looked like that.

“So… I’m sorry about, all of that.” You spoke up first, and Wednesday took a breath. “You upset Enid.” Wednesday frowned, she wasn’t angry about her dream being taken advantage of, she was upset that Enid was upset.

“Enid… I’m sorry I didn’t mean to.” You bit your lip to try not to say something dumb. Enid finally looked up at you, cute puppy dog eyes, “It’s okay.. I know you didn’t mean to.. I just, didn’t want you to see what I was—“

“Fantasizing?” Wednesday finished, “Yours was no better, you like me watching?” Enid replies, Wednesday for the first time was actually embarrassed. “Well.. no, your infectious personality just corrupted my dream.” Wednesday lies, but gets an idea. She turns to you, and looks you up and down.

“I have a way of you to repay us… help us make our dreams a reality.” She said, which piqued the interest of Enid. She walked over to Wednesday, a bit conflicted but when she met Wednesdays gaze, she accepted and also turned to you.

“I mean.. it’s only fair.” She said hiding a sly grin, and you were obviously stuck between a rock and.. two very hard places. You sighed and gently gripped your shirt. “Well.. we can all at least enjoy it.

And Enjoy you did.

Dawn began to crack though the glass windows and hit your eyes, they flickered opened and you looked to the roof off the room, Wednesday was already awake, just not particularly motivated in moving. Snuggled up with your left arm she tilted her head near yours.

“I half expected you to die during it, Enid gets insatiable during the mating season.” Wednesdays palm gently pressed against the center of your chest, feeling your heartbeat. “I’m… actually glad you’re alive.”

“Well of course, would he too much work getting rid of my body.” You said jokingly, you couldn’t see it, but she smiled slightly. “That too… but I’d be upset we might not be able to continue this… Polyamorous relationship more.”

“It’s not because I’m really good at working my tongue, is it?” You moved your hand down her backside. Wednesday bit her lip to avoid admitting that her moans were louder than she’d like to admit. “Your performance was.. sufficient.” Wednesday said, “Well I’m sure Enid loved yours, although you were a pain in her ass.” You smirked, looking at the roof.

“Was that an attempt at a joke?” She said.

“Yeah, funny wasn’t it?” You asked, moments pass, silence, until Wednesday uttered;

“No.”

[tryan-a-bex]

I LOVE THIS FIC SO SO MUCH!!!! I had the privilege of beta reading it and I recommend it so highly! I’m a bit of a science nerd, but it’s very accessible! (Possibly not quite as much fun if you truly hate math and science.) But it has so much cool stuff, I don’t want to give away spoilers, but definitely go read it! And you don’t have to worry about it not being finished because it’s complete, so start now!

Vortex Street, my beloved!

Omg look it’s even dedicated to me! I have tears in my eyes now! Thank you so much, @best-wishes!

New fic is out!

The fluid mechanics Dreamling fic I've been working on for the last six months is finally finished, so I can start publishing chapters! It's called Vortex Street, and it's about how Hob, now a physicist, tackles the problem of the Dream Vortex with Science, and falls in love in the process.

It's very nerdy (it's a fanfic featuring *fluid mechanics* of all things), and the longest I've ever written (it's 45k words, it's longer than my PhD dissertation I reckon). I did my best to make it accessible to anyone, regardless of knowledge in science. Because the important thing is how Hob loves the science of the Dreaming, and how it entwines with his love for Dream.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: MCD (temporary)

Ships: Dream/Hob, Gault/Lucienne, Henri Bénard/Theodore von Kármán

It's here !

[mrsdesade]

They were a defiance of the cosmic order.

They met in a dream, a sprawling city of neon lights and endless possibilities. Lara was a dreamer herself, a soul lost in the labyrinth of her own imagination. The Corinthian, was a enigma. They were drawn to each other, a moth to a flame.

Their bond was a secret, whispered in the dead of night. They walk in forgotten corners of the Dreaming, beneath the watchful gaze of the stars. A human and a nightmare, pure rebellion against the universe.

It was a curse. It was a poison, a blight upon the Dreaming. The angels wept, their tears falling like stardust upon the world. The universe trembled in fear.

And so, the end came. By Morpheus order.

They were dragged into the heart of the Dreaming, a place of darkness and eternal silence. Trapped. As everything collapsed around them, they held each other.

The sand enveloped them, pulling them into its swirling vortex. And as the last star winked out, they were gone, dissolved into sand, into nothingness. They vanished into the void, their story, now a timeless tale whispered in the wind.

But as they were consumed by the light, they knew that their journey was far from over. Because in the Realm of Dreams, nothing is ever truly lost.

Can we please admire for a moment the Sandman themed comms I got from the talented @hikaruchen ??? I'm speechless, thanks again for working with me!✨

[rey-jake-therapist]

Reading Overture trying to make sense of it while simultaneously thinking of the best way to make my Sandman fic work with the concept of alternative reality like:

For example I've been bugging a certain time on the Alianora case. Morpheus told Hope about Alianora and their fight with the gods, so we can assume that this story definitely happened in the reality where Morpheus refused to kill the vortex AND the killing star. We know from AGOY and TKO that Alianora still existed in the new reality -the reality where the star died, presumably from Morpheus' hands after he blew up the first Vortex's planet-. I observed a slight discrepancy between the story he tells Hope in Overture, and what Morpheus says about Alianora in TKO. It's about her scar! In Overture, he tells Hope the gods did it to her:

He even says, and I think it's important, "I cut the creature from her face myself, bound her damaged cheek with dreams, and with my love."

So it seems that not only Morpheus wasn't responsible for Alianora's scar, but this scar couldn't be associated in Alianora's mind with the heartbreak caused by Morpheus when he abandoned her.

But in TKO, he says that HE left the scar on Alianora's cheek. And clearly, in Alianora's mind it's associated with heartbreak.

And now I'm wondering how much the story become different after Morpheus pulled that ship into reality. In both realities, his love affair with Alianora ended with a heartbreak for her and a world created just for her. But how crazy would that be if, for example, he had met her in totally different circumstances? And this scar thing really intrigues me: why would have Morpheus left a scar on her cheek? I can't see him as a wife beater but what the heck happened? It must have been significant enough for Alianora to predict he would have his own scar one day, and for Morpheus to remember she said that.

And the even craziest thing to think is that if Morpheus and Desire hadn't done anything to prevent the star from destroying the world, Morpheus would have probably not gotten this scar, maybe he wouldn't have killed his son and he wouldn't have died, at least not this way... I mean.... 🙉🙊🙈

Requiring once again the big brains of @writing-for-life, @tickldpnk8, @marlowe-zara and @poobtato on this one... Whenever you want ☺️

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

One thing I never got about the TV show or comics is the vortex and while Dream says they are naturally reoccurring and have nothing to do with him in that regard I find that confusing since Unity didn't become the vortex due to the sole reason of Dream being trapped and Rose didn't become the vortex until Dream was free. It feels like a huge plothole to me and also another thing I don't understand is why wasn't Unity's and Desire's family line dream children like Daniel.

to answer the second question first, since that's the one i can give a concrete answer for! daniel was a very unique situation

the show and the comic have two different explanations for what made daniel half dream, i think the show was a lot simpler and easier to grasp, but both are explainable

in show canon, daniel is half dream because his father straight up was a dream - hector was already dead by the time daniel was conceived. lyta is the only physical parent here, the rest is dreamstuff

in comic canon, lyta was pregnant before hector died, but she then spent years and years in that dream, extending her pregnancy far beyond the nine months it should normally take, and that much exposure to the dreaming while being formed (in an unnatural way bc it was so drawn out) made daniel half dream

as far as unity and desire's daughter goes, that's more of a demigod situation? she was conceived in a dream because unity was asleep, but desire isn't just a regular parent, and conception when it concerns the endless is a weird topic altogether (desire doesn't really have dna this is canonically a thought baby sort of situation). given how the endless interact with each others' realms, i'd imagine just desire being part of the equation cancelled out any influence dream might have had here. and aside from that, it was a normal pregnancy that took place in the waking world, for a normal duration of time - the walkers aren't 100% human but they aren't really any % dream

and then we get to the next part of this - being half dream isn't the only thing that made daniel daniel. dream chose daniel for this, appointed him as successor when he visited lyta in season of mists

and daniel as a toddler trailed dream sand behind him and had the ability to walk into the dreaming, but he was still half human, and still not yet a perfect successor to dream of the endless

until kindly ones, when loki stole him and killed him. daniel-dream tells lyta in the wake that that fire burned away his human half, leaving only the immortal dream

and for a final piece, morpheus gave him the emerald. granted, this probably wasn't a necessary step, i think it was a gesture to help him control his powers a bit better when first ascending. but it was yet another thing that made the universe mark him as the person to ascend if the original incarnation of dream died

which are all things that set him apart from miranda walker (or her mother, in show canon)

as far as vortexes go, honestly that's something i wish either the show or the comics told us more about, there's so little lore or explanation on it

but if you want my educated guess - there's a difference between dream not making the vortexes and dream having nothing to do with them

vortexes are naturally occuring, yes, but in a healthy dreaming, a living dreamscape. they are an inevitable consequence of the way the dreaming works - an entire universe of minds, all forming a dimension together, with no knowledge that they are doing it together, the natural push and pull and chaos of such a place, somewhere you're going to find a place where it's the most concentrated, the eye of the storm that everything else is swirling around. part of dream's job is to keep that great ocean relatively level, so you don't end up with whirlpools - and since he doesn't make them and doesn't know how they're formed, sometimes that means you just need to manually get rid of them whenever they show up

but you also won't get whirlpools if you drain the ocean of water

which is what cutting dream off from the dreaming did. the endless and their realms aren't wholly separate entities, a part of dream is the dreaming and a part of the dreaming is dream. when you cut a being in half like that, by keeping dream magically shut out from the realm, they've both lost vital functions, and they'll both be weaker and hurting for it. and we see, in both the comics and the show, the effect that dream's imprisonment for that long had on the dreaming - it's broken and dead. and dream himself is equally lacking in power and life (show dream especially, he is visibly starving)

and the doll's house arc doesn't begin until dream breaks the ruby, and gets back all the power contained within it. even with dream physically back in the dreaming, they both needed time to recover fully before anything like a vortex could form

[smallerontheoutside]

I'm watching the sandman and I love the little occasional references / similarities to doctor who

-big one / one that means the most to me: Jenna Coleman appears in it

-there's a Rose who seems very ordinary at first but is very powerful - she is a vortex (sound familiar 🐺? also in the comics she's blonde)

-sonic technology was mentioned

-Neil Gaiman wrote it (he also wrote for doctor who)

-Morpheus is implied to be able to travel through time

-he gets trapped in an unbreakable (to him) prison for a long time that he would be able to leave just by saying a few words (similarly to the doctor's confession dial)

-there's an evil and flamboyant blonde man

-there's an important raven

anyway that's all I have for now but I might add to this later as I continue the show :) (I'm on ep. 8)