“Well I'm certainly not going back in there,” Dash mumbled as they brushed down their now-singed collar - a couple of Trope Cards gleaming in their hand.

“Don't say I didn't warn you,” chuckled Brake-Neck as they glanced up at the door.

Here Be Dragons

“Yeah, but look what I found: 'A Narrow Escape'” Dash exclaimed, to her wide-eyed friend.

A recent exchange between two young Muses.

Vignettes are the representation in Dream of stories that Jo is aware of, both those that Jo has read or watched, and memorable scenes from Jo's life. Muses can enter them and see the scenes acted out by Jo's Impressions of the characters, while using their powers to reshape the narratives around them. When participating in Vignettes, Muses can also take the part of characters in a scene, to act it out as they think it should be. Once they've shifted from being an external observer to playing a part, most Muses are stuck in that role until the end of the scene. If the alterations get Jo's attention, the Muse's Creative Juices are replenished.

As well as representing existing stories that Jo knows, they contain drafts of the stories Jo has written (or considered), when Muses break new ground and create Vignettes from the undifferentiated landscape of Far Dream. This more significant feat of creativity has the potential to produce far more Juice, but requires a much more significant investment of effort from the Muse, and (for a Vignette of any considerable size) the cooperation of several Muses.

Muses frequently visit Vignettes to contribute to Jo's creativity and stave off Fading, explore, try out story ideas, promote their Ideals, collect Tropes, and just to visit the Impressions that live there.

Although the insides of Vignettes contain fictional worlds, the only parts of those worlds that actually exist are those that have been depicted. Wandering away from canon, a Muse would see the world becoming vaguer, until it gives way entirely to Far Dream. Vignettes that Jo doesn't remember well are poorly detailed like this throughout, and will only become worse the further a Muse ventures.

The characters in Vignettes, known as 'Impressions', apart from playing their parts in the story, can also become aware of their place in Dream and interact with Muses as normal people would. Introductory leaflets are usually handed out in new Vignettes that are discovered to help the Impressions through their conflicting awarenesses. Those that are interested can acquire tickets that allow them to travel to other parts of the Dreamscape, and they are sometimes found in Spindle petitioning Muses for help with bringing their home Vignette to greater importance and thereby assuring them a continuing presence in Dream.

Impressions have, to some extent, the same skills they're depicted as having, such as magic, but the scope is always limited and no matter how the character was originally depicted, they lack Muses' ability to effect change within Dream. Their own personalities won't develop beyond what is in their story without a Muse's intervention.

They spend most of their time in their home Vignettes playing out the story, but there are sometimes also scene breaks where, like actors off set, they can do other, non-canon things such as socialising as Impressions rather than being in character. This doesn't mean they don't have their ordinary personalities when 'off camera', but rather they may take things less seriously and won't be looking to advance their Vignette's plot.

Muses can travel easily between scenes within a Vignette, but it's also possible to transfer between thematically related works, or between Vignettes and elsewhere in Dream, via particular locations within the Vignette. Transitions generally take the form of some element of a scene thematically related to transferring from one place to another. Doors are most common, but gaps in dense foliage, mirrors, rabbit-holes, wardrobes and bodies of water are all possible. Muses gain an intuition over time of what is likely to be a Transition, but those who are not particularly sensitive can only find out for sure by actually travelling through them. Impressions have no native ability to use Transitions, but can travel through them with the direct help of a Muse or using a Muse-created travel ticket.

Door-shaped Transitions to important Vignettes are stored in Spindle, in the building known as 'Hub', with those with the most influence and attention collected towards the centre. As Muses interact with Vignettes and bring them more to Jo's attention, the doors move accordingly. Less important Vignettes are only accessible via other Vignettes, or random Transitions found in Far Dream. Known routes are sometimes mapped by Union and the NFWS, but in many cases will still require a fair bit of Vignette-hopping.

Vignettes require a constant small supply of Creative Juices in order to remain accessible after Jo's initial rush of enthusiasm. Doors stored within Spindle are plumbed in to the Juice network, and a small amount of Juice naturally turns up within the Vignette and spills through the Transitions into connected Vignettes. However, if a Vignette is only discovered long after its creation, or is too far away from Hub, portable rucksack-sized Juice tanks can be used instead to facilitate exploration. It's also possible in extreme cases for a Muse to supply a Vignette with their own internal Juice, but this is very taxing and so is generally avoided.

Vignettes appear on a surface level to be physical places such as would be found in real-life, or depicted in a film (plus occasional rivulets of Juice), but Muses are also aware of the deeper narrative structure that controls them. When a Muse is participating in a scene and interacting with a theme that is strongly present there, it is sometimes possible to reach out to it and force the abstraction to take on a concrete form like an object within the scene. It is then possible to pick up the new Trope Card and take it to redeploy elsewhere, or keep it for other purposes. Places within Vignettes where valuable Tropes regularly appear can become established as Trope mines, where Union workers visit to collect the Tropes. Vignettes do replenish Tropes in Trope mines over time, but not at the rate that Muses are mining them.