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When Dream decides he’s serious about his friendship with Hob, he creates a clock to help him keep better track of their time together. Hob has proven his patience, but Dream means not to make him wait again if he can help it.
(Also @dsudis has written some fics lately about Dream having time blindness, and I love this idea desperately.)
The clock sits unassumingly in his bedroom where no one else can see it, gilt details on ebony wood, with four dials instead of a single face.
(If only there was a pop culture reference that might make this kind of clock more clear. Ah well. Too bad there isn’t. Fuck TERFs. Protect and cherish trans* people.)
The first dial shows the time in the Waking where Hob is. This is to prevent him from appearing in the early hours of the morning or at other inconvenient or atypical times, or at least do so knowingly.
The second dial allows him to set the time and date of their next meeting and counts down to it. It makes a musical chime that none but him can hear, but the gentle sound reaches Dream anywhere within the Dreaming.
The third dial tells him a general idea of what Hob is doing: the slender gold hand points to Teaching a great deal, and At the New Inn. It shows With Company when Hob is hosting others so that Dream will not interrupt, despite Hob’s assertion that Dream is welcome any time. Occupied covers a great number of messy human experiences that Dream understands are not to be discussed in polite conversation. He has no desire to embarrass his friend.
Sleep also sits on this third dial in a place of pride at the noon slot. Dream doesn’t need it, knows when Hob dreams without any assistance, but every time he sees the hand point to sleep pulls a faint smile from him, and that is reason enough to have it.
The fourth dial tells Dream how Hob is faring. It has categories like In Peril, Lonely, Unwell, Typical, and Celebrating. The spidery writing on the dial changes as needed, updating with information Dream is meant to use to be a good friend.
It is completely unhelpful. Since Dream created the clock, it has pointed unwaveringly at In Love. Hob has not mentioned any type of romantic entanglement since Dream’s return. Dream is too afraid to ask.