I just woke up from an extremely detailed Baccano! dream that is now fading…better write down what I can remember.
I received in the mail some sort of official short story written by Narita and drawn by Enami in the mail from my parents, since the book (it was white and felt like one of Enami’s artbooks) had been delivered to their place. They’d spilled applesauce and a few other things on it so it was stained and a bit wet, but at that point I didn’t care I was so excited. The story was illustrated all the way through in a similar manner and style to the Czes-centric short story in Enami’s real artbook - not chibi-esque style necessarily, but I remember Begg’s eyes were button-like (black dots). He also had longer black hair, instead of brown hair.
(So I was both reading the book, and experiencing the dream like, y’know, a movie I guess).
Yeah, Begg. It was a Begg-centric story. Lessee…he was traveling with Maiza, Donny, Jack, Edith, and one other person whose identity I knew for certain in the dream but I don’t anymore. He was romantically involved with Edith, but he wasn’t Roy. I think Czes was there too.
Oh man, it’s already fading. Hmm, I think - I think it was viciously cold while they were looking for a place to stay. They were all wearing coats, but Begg gave Czes his own coat to wrap around him against the icy wind and snow. Begg didn’t let on that he was freezing - badly - as a result. They eventually found some sort of scummy cheap hotel to stay at, and Begg practically collapsed in his room.
Something something something…I think Edith left to go make some sort of deal the next day, and Begg left the hotel later that day and happened to walk past an alley next to the building she was making the deal in. He found Edith kissing either the man she was romantically-involved with or another man in the alleyway, and they untangled themselves. Edith was beyond upset that Begg had found them, and I believe [she and] her Juan assaulted Begg pretty viciously. Some passersby noticed and pulled them off Begg, and while the passersby dealt with Edith and the man Begg staggered off away down the street.
(Note: How could my brain have done this to Edith, who is a Good Person? Shame on me).
Begg returns to the hotel, the others soon notice that Edith and the guy are missing (they never return), and Begg is filled with guilt over being the reason for Edith and her beau never coming back. He stops eating entirely, becoming even gaunter than he was. He also keeps spending his money on something, on what I can’t remember. Maybe drugs, but I don’t think so, I think it may have been more beneficial for the group. At some point they secure a safe place for Czes to live, and he leaves the hotel.
Begg leaves the hotel again, in awful condition at this point, to spend his last ‘packet’ of money on something. To make some sort of deal; I can’t remember what it was. This part is…very hazy. I think he went to some sort of huge conference room in a hotel to make the deal, and things go south between the men and some sort of opposing group. Fighting and killing breaks out, and Begg slips out of the room before he can be caught in the crossfire. He passes some tough looking people who are clearly headed for the hallway (they say “hey, watch it” but don’t pick a further fight, maybe not realizing that the fighting had already started when Begg left. So, close shave.)
Begg makes it into the elevator and slumps against the wall, honestly I am not sure how he has been walking around for the last few days he is not doing good. He might have passed out.
Er, ‘timeskip, I guess. The next scene was that of Donny and Jack sitting at a table in some sort of cafeteria/eatery, possibly the hotel’s dining area - there’s been a bit of a running joke in the story in which they show a shot of the same table with increasingly less people at it - Edith/Beau, Czes, and now Begg and, oddly, Maiza, are missing. Jack looks around (his eyes are dot-like too, I think), clearly perturbed.
Here’s where this gets weird.
I don’t listen to Bruce Springsteen. Not deliberately, really, I just couldn’t tell you much about his music if I tried. I don’t know what he looked like when he was young. But Bruce Springsteen and his band show up (I know for a fact he was Bruce, his name was said loud and clear, I don’t know why my brain picked Bruce) sporting counterculture 70s-80s clothes, mustaches, slightly poofy brown hair, a few wearing those large glasses…
…And Maiza and Begg are with them (dressed normally). Begg looks better than he has in months, or so the story tells me. Maiza is smiling quietly. I think the implication is that somehow or another Maiza had gone after Begg and figured out that the band had found Begg and decided to do him a good turn. I don’t know if Begg offered them something or if they did it out of the goodness of their hearts.
Anyway, Jack springs to his feet, glad to see that Maiza and Begg are safe/in better health/haven’t gone and left them, and Bruce talks for a bit…about something. He also says that he has a “great idea” for the name of his band: “The Get-Togethers.” Jack thinks this is an awful name and they settle on something else. I don’t remember what that something else was.
And…yeah, that was the majority of the story from what I remember. I can’t tell you if there was more to it because dream-me was more focused on and irritated with the applesauce and other stains in the book (there was still some…wet applesauce left in the center?). My mother in the dream was very cheerful over the phone when she admitted to the applesauce accident. I went to Amazon to check for more copies of the story, but this was an extremely rare one/sold in a limited quantity so prices were expensive. By the time I was waking up, I’d realized that there weren’t actually any copies I could buy because the story didn’t exist; I’d made it up.
That’s the high and low of it, I think. I know I forgot some of the details upon waking up, but I definitely knew what was going on in the dream. To be honest I am A) impressed that I remembered anything and B) astounded that I had such a detailed dream in the first place. And C) I really want it to be a real story now.
I mean, why did I dream it as an Enami Katsumi illustrated story? Why was Begg’s hair longer and black? (His hair was shaped in the way it is in that LN#4 drawing where he’s got the gun to a certain someone’s head). Why Bruce Springsteen? Why did I give Edith the short end of the good character stick? Why were these various characters traveling together? Just…????? me.
Oh, not that I’m complaining. I’m delighted that I had such a long Baccano! dream at all. (I’m also so pleased it was Begg-centric, and wow, making Begg go through all that was so me. Even in my dreams, I love seeing my favorites suffer). Given that I got either around or less than five hours of sleep, I’m just generally !! all around. I wonder if I was coming out of Rem sleep. 4.5 hours, maybe?
Welp. I hope you are entertained somehow by this slightly patchy recollection of my dream. I know I was.
