Dream didn't know what his brother got out of Fable, but he knew something had to have happened for him to return her. The child tackled Dream and went to hide behind him as Nightmare dropped her off and closed the door once more. The negativity clinging to her made him weak and nauseous as he hugged her and pet her, trying to calm her down. "you're ok, now, you're ok... the bad man won't touch you again... are you hurt?" She gave her head a tiny shake. Her emotions told him that mostly, she'd been terrified, and something had happened to confuse her. He wished she could speak something other than her name... he needed information. He needed to know what happened so he could stop it. He... was gonna have to teach her her words. She was young enough to be learning how to read and write... yes. When she was calmed down, he would teach her how to speak, only to him. It could be the advantage Dream needed to get them out of this place. Anything useful she could tell him would bring them closer to escape. But for now, he held her, his little sister.

🟡🟣

Fable blinked at Dream as he made sounds at her. "a, e, i, o, u. those are your vowels that go between your consonants. so... like... cat. can you say cat?" Fable's confusion only rose. Dream frowned. He'd never had to teach a kid words before. It was harder than it looked. "kah-ah-t. cat. can you say that?" Fable played with her hands, emotions associated with boredom poking through. She wasn't even interested in Dream's lesson. The Guardian of Positivity drooped and sighed. "yeah... blue was always better with kids... i mean- i'm great with little kids, i've just, uh, never done this before. trying to teach other people is new." Dream tried to explain himself, but all Fable got out of any of that was that he was insecure and a tad embarrassed. She went to comfort him. Dream chuckled. "you probably didn't understand my words, huh? you only get... the emotions associated! that's it! i think i know what to do!" If he could shape his aura, he could translate the emotions that went with the word he was saying to help her understand the word better! He wasn't sure if it would work, but it was better than nothing.

🟣🟡

Fable decided that Dream was silly. Really silly. His aura kept shifting, not allowing for her to quite read what he was feeling, and sometimes he would act things out, and she would giggle at the silliness of it all. He was still making sounds at her, too. She didn't get it, though. She didn't understand what he was trying to say. At least she wasn't bored, though! "sss..." Dream froze up, excitement bubbling up in him. Did he finally get through to her?! "sssssillee... sssillee d-drreeeeemm!" She declared with such childish confidence that Dream couldn't help bursting into laughter. This time, he was the one who didn't really get it, but it was something that wasn't her name, so I was a start! "y-yes, yes! silly dream, that's me..." He wiped away tears of laughter, noting how proud Fable looked. She was proud. She made Dream laugh! He'd been so sad and scared, and now he was happy, and she felt that was a huge step forward. Of course, she wasn't too much better, but now it wasn't scary, so she didn't really care. Dream hugged her, his emotions portraying how proud he was of her... it made her so happy.