A Reality in the Dream Realm
The story is set in present-day New York City (specifically The Bronx), but the world truly comes alive when everyone is asleep. Like the episode of Spongebob Squarepants when SpongeBob dream hops, people's dreams are visible. Between the dream bubbles, mythical creatures run loose. To get into a reality, they use windows from the sky to step into a dream cloud, effectively stepping into the present day and being able to do whatever they do. There are demons that slip into people's unconscious bodies and hurt them if they aren't protected. Their protectors, sandmen, fend them off by putting sand in the corners of people's eyes, which is like putting sandbags on the windows of the soul.
The story is focused on the fairies, particularly the tooth fairies, that come to children and sprinkle fairy dust on their foreheads to keep their souls from wandering between realms while they move their bodies. If they forget, the soul can get up and walk off, which the fairies can't stop. Typically, the soul runs back to the body within a few minutes, resulting in a "falling dream" or a sense that the body has hit something in the dream world which wakes the person up. The fairies don't have much of a purpose though, which is my struggle. There could be "dark fairies" that want to take the teeth and grind them up to create make-up to keep them looking young or some other grown-up shit. Therefore, the tooth fairy would have a portal where they put the teeth into a sack that distributes the teeth to the parents' "safe space" (typically a closeted locked box that appeared when they gave birth with the child's name etched on it) that keeps the teeth safe from the safe space.
My characters are very young so I don't want to put them in danger so if their souls wander and get hurt or damaged, they just have a "falling dream" and wake up, but they don't remember anything which means they could get separated. That's not dangerous enough for a plot to be furthered though, and just because they are kids, doesn't mean they can't get hurt. Maybe they would be witnesses to something, but I'm not quite sure yet. I have two tooth fairies thought out already that have some flesh on them though they still need to be fleshed out more. I'd be at their knees in flesh right now, which is only enough for a Lifetime movie.
I do have how they got to be tooth fairies. They were born human, as most of the mystical things in this story are, but they are in a sort of purgatory where they can "earn their wings" in a sense. Though one loves her job and the other is terrified of what could happen and the occasional pissed off hamster, so I don't think the purgatory thing holds water. I just don't want them to be "born that way" and for there to be something to be learned. Maybe they're in the in-between space because something tethers them to Earthly life? I just know the female tooth fairy is from Lansing so far, is barely twenty-six years old, and loves being a tooth fairy because she's always believed in them and now she gets her chance. Unlike her, the male tooth fairy is new and has no idea what to do and is trying to just do his job as best he can.
Maybe it is more than a job? I still have no idea where they go afterward when the Western world is asleep. The obvious answer is to some breakroom style place or they just go to the East and never stop working. What if it's torture? (This is moving further and further from "kid-friendly") Or what if it's a Monsters Inc. type set up where they don't meet kids until she accidentally talks to my main character? I guess I have a lot more thinking to do, though it's coming along nicely compared to everything else I'm doing right now.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Please, I want to improve this!