Once upon a dream... (4th Wall Event/TDM Combo platter)

[missrecalled_mods]

[((OOC note: This fourth wall is open to any character who would be game legal. If a character who posted here reserves or apps in September, these threads can be considered game canon as long as all involved agree. If a character doesn't app, for those in game already... wow that was a weird dream. Wait, what did you dream about again?))]


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For Jordan, still comatose after the magical mishap that had resulted in the first Misrecalled being summoned, it began with a dream. A dream so strong, that it had her stirring fitfully even in her current state; and eventually caused her to release an uncontrolled burst of magic.

For everyone else, unaware of what was coming, it began with falling asleep. Whether or not someone was tired before hand, whether they even could sleep, they simply fell asleep - or a reasonable facsimile - wherever they happened to be. Maybe they remembered falling asleep, maybe they didn't. But either way they suddenly found themselves in... a very strange place.

First all there was that they could see was a vast featureless plain in shining gold and silken draperies. But that was only a glimpse, for just by existing in this space, each dreamer warps it. Changes it. Not all at once, but bits, constantly changing between them and whomever they encounter. Each person brings with them bits of three places... where they had been last, a familiar place from memory, and whatever place they call home. But this is constantly changing and shifting, more so the more dreamers are present in any space. Before long, Bits of different landscapes, different environments, even different weather conditions will cover the landscape like some crazy patchwork quilt. Here a bit of a sunny, idyllic garden, there a section of shadowy, graffiti covered slum. To one side, a chunk of charming cobblestone streets under sunset tinged skies, to the other, a forest of towering trees, some of which seem to be moving. And glimpsed through the gaps between some of the odd terrain sections, some remainder of the poorly defined golden space, hung with colorful draperies could still be seen.

And the ground itself was not immune to the changes. While the ground on which they stood might seem stable enough, if someone walked more than a few paces in any direction, that could change. Solid ground could become shifting sand. Or water. Or a wall might suddenly appear to block their path. Doors might lead to places they definitely shouldn't or open to the edge of a sheer cliff. And if the complete lack of logic to the landscape wasn't enough of an indication that this was some sort of dream, then the unreadable signs would clinch it. Because any signs - or indeed, anything with writing on it that they didn't have on their person when they arrived - was covered with nothing but unreadable gibberish.

And it got even more surreal when a dreamer spotted anyone else in the dreamspace, or even looked at their own reflection - for each person appears in the dream in whatever way they see themselves. So someone with low self confidence might be short, someone with a huge ego might tower. If someone sees themselves as a horrible criminal who needs to repent, they might be in prison togs. If the change is dramatic enough people who know each other well might still fail to recognize each other within the dreaming.

Now normally such a bizarre dream might have been put down to stress, a meal that disagreed with them, or maybe indulging in some sort of illicit substance, but this clearly was no ordinary dream, if for no other reason than that in this dream, they weren't alone. The other people they encounter are not just figments of their imagination, and they too change the shared dream space.

Those already either on the Isle or in the kingdom of Auradon proper would find themselves all thrown together in the bizarre dreamworld. And that would have been strange enough. But more than the current populations of Auradon and the Isle could be found in this place. Maybe the faces where familiar. Maybe they weren't. But they definitely hadn't turned up in the physical world that was home to Ben and Mal. Yet anyway.

Given the extremely variable geography, exploring the area might be dangerous. At least as dangerous as anything in a dream could be. But investigating might help them find a way back to the physical world faster, for those who realize they are dreaming. Or they could just stand around and talk or complain about the latest bit of magical weirdness to happen to them and hope they woke up soon. Or they could go with it and enjoy the weird. It was their dream, after all. They could pretty much do what they liked. Or at least try to. Either way, they seemed stuck there for the present, for better or worse.

Comments

[modified20]

"D&D. Duh. This is clearly VR edition, though I would have liked some warning. But I get to manifest from the whole Vegas saga, so that's something." She shrugged.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"As empty as the tea cup is." Which both was and was not an answer.

[nobodys_puppet]

She shook her head and shrunk back. She didn't want to explore with him. She wanted to hide. She wanted to find Axel and Roxas and Taiki.

But since when did what she want ever get to matter?

[nobodys_puppet]

"S...so you're really okay? You're not.... not lying to protect me?" she asked, her voice wobbly, even as her gloved hands clung to his coat.

[soraing]

".....DOWN?!" Whoever it was called back, the small figure bending on the tightrope on a way that probably gave most people heart attacks when they watched it. It looked like whoever it was was going to topple over.

And the figure did. But a hand reached out at the last moment catching the rope. A few drops of blood rained down to hit the ground in front of Lea.

The figure contorted, twisting upwards until he or she or they was hanging down towards Lea, face first, kept up on the high wire by their feet, crossed at the ankles. The figure tried to call something down again but it was lost to the sound of flames springing to life all around Lea.

In the heat blur, if Lea looked up, he'd see one foot slide off the rope, leaving the figure dangling dangerously high over the flames, by a single foot, upside down on a rope so thin he could hardly see it.

And then, if that was not bad enough, no that wasn't heat mirage, the figure was actually starting to sway.

I love that you have an icon for that!

[aquawayfinder]

"Possibly." A deep breath. "There is a connection between his heart, your heart, and Sora's heart. You're also connected to Xion the same way, though that is a little more complicated." A warm smile. "I met them looking for you, I felt the connection to your heart in them. I may have adopted them on the spot," she admitted.

[souls_of_roles]

What an odd name. But of course she couldn't say that. That would be rude. So she gave another smile. "My name isn't really important," she said. "But I am Mogami. Kyoko Mogami." She set his tea down. "Anything else, sir?"

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Okay..." Deep breath, Ian, "Of you and Luke... which one of you is actually stronger with the Force? For the record, I have ten dollars riding on it being you."

[kaylinneya]

"Well so far no dead bodies, no blood, no screaming. So I don't think it is one of my dreams..." she muttered.

[utauhoshina]

"I'm Ut... three?" her eyes narrowed and she stepped back, the area behind her shifting to dark halls and corridors of an office building that lacked windows. "Who sent you?" she hissed, shifting into a defensive stance. A stance that specifically implied weapon - a two handed weapon at that - though she didn't seem to have one.

[modified20]

"If it was possible it would have happened when we were dealing with Barry and all the planes of reality collided. Nah, this has got to be the GM getting revenge on me. By trying to kill me."

[ubuntu_programmer]

If games were going to be frustrating, this... would not be less so.

"It was far too tame. Given the cast we had, Rent was clearly the superior choice. We had someone perfect for Maureen. And Mimi. I wanted to be either Joanne or Mark, frankly. But no, apparently we were going to do Romeo And Juliet. As if it wasn't the most over played, excuse the word choice there...." They shook their head. "Look. If we were going Shakespeare, why not Midsummer? Or Tempest? But we had a group with perfect pitch and strong voices. Rent would have been perfect. I mean, I get the school was never going to green light Rocky Horror or Something Rotten, which is a shame. But Rent... We should have done Rent."

[modified20]

She flicked another die. Glanced to the side and shifted it to a better number, subtly, as she dodged. "I got a 23 to hit!" she said, she rolled again. "45 damage. To the thing trying," she coughed, "to overcome my save against poison."

[oneahn_ayesh]

"With this flute, that would not be an issue, even were we in an actual plane of reality with firm rules. You may try it if you wish, I can activate it for you." And since she was actually aware that explained nothing, she added, "This is an Oneahn teaching flute. When charged, one has only to think of a tune while holding it and blowing and it will move the players fingers to the proper positions, so that one builds muscle memory. As for my part if you were to play that flute, I know music from many lands. I am certain if I have this flute I also have one of my copper ones and I could follow your lead."

[lovebites_sodoi]

"Isle?" Finally, a lead... even if she had no idea what that answer even meant. "Last I checked, my home away from home was a city, Saint Canard. What Isle are you talking about, and why would me being a villain have to do with it?"

Not that she was denying being one. It was rather obvious, after all.

[mal_contented]

"Huh. so you're not part of this whole nonsense. So why the Dalmatians are you here?" she asked, frowning a bit as she considered that.

[lovebites_sodoi]

Morgana was about to quip that she'd never been technically arrested (because she always got away from the cops before they could) but that little "threat" about changing her personality made her skin crawl. Even her own wicked brand of magic didn't do that. She began to form an escape plan in her mind...

Until he had the audacity to insult her talent!

"Excuse me?" That made her stand up. "Did you just say 'not good enough'?!"

[lovebites_sodoi]

Morgana gave a huge shrug. How would she know?

"Your guess is as good as mine. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary before I came here. My latest gig got cancelled-"

Translation : Her latest scheme got foiled by Darkwing.

"So I went back to my hang-out to rehearse-"

Translation: Retreated to the hide-out to lament their loss and come up with a new scheme.

"Worked on a few new songs, and then I went to sleep in my coff-bed. Went to sleep in my normal mortal bed."

Translation: ... She wasn't going to say coffin. Shush.

"And the next thing I know, I'm wandering in this place full of familiar sights without any familiar faces."

[gregorydeegan]

"Pretty sure you don't get accessories like that unless someone thinks you're an accessory or worse, so should I have said, bad enough?" He smirked. "But you wanna prove me wrong? I'd say I'm down but I think that's you. Unless you wanna keep ducking the issue."

[mal_contented]

"Yeah... former villain here. You can say coffin. If that's where you were going? I doubt you were about to sleep in an allergy attack."

Some days she still wondered about the former part. But fewer and fewer days as time went on. She blamed both Ben and Sylvando, really. Though Evie and Jay and Carlos should take some of that blame too.

[lovebites_sodoi]

There was a hint of blush on Morgana's cheeks, but she tried to pretend it wasn't there. "The point is," she continued without acknowledging the embarrassment, "That I had no say in appearing here, but you seem to have a starting point. Something about an Isle and its magic? Since you were surprised, I'm assuming it doesn't normally go past its own borders in incidents like this."

Aqua and Terra do it all the time! I had to have an icon for it!

[windslept]

Sora....ah! That boy!

[That little boy that had helped him. But he supposes. Sora isn't so little anymore. Given that was a while ago now. At least ten years. Still. Somehow it is not that surprising to hear that Aqua took them in. It's what she had done when Ven had shown up, her and Terra helping Eraqus with him especially initially while he came out of his sort of zombie like state.]

Of course you did.

[queen_butterfly]

She nodded. Well, if Rren didn't want to play around in the castle for the castle's own sake... and agreed that finding the fae would be wise... then that meant it would be all the more reasonable to make it easier to recognize them, didn't it?

"Any of us would welcome another friend," she said. "If my castle isn't standing, find my people anyway."

And with another small gesture, she indicated the grand hall again.

Sia stepped aside to let them through more obviously, though he hadn't exactly been blocking the doorway, big as it was. Past him, the room was no longer unoccupied; the impression of more people was unmistakable. Their shapes, their voices, bits of conversations in the elves' language... It wasn't all clear yet, but they would come into focus as Mallia stepped closer, glancing to make sure Rren was interested in following.

She only had so much attention span, to maintain it all at once, but in a dream, that was easier. In a dream, it didn't require quite as much deliberate effort.

It looked, at a glance, as though they were all elves. A few of them seemed to notice Rren and Mallia, and gave a little smile and a wave or a nod, a few simply holding up their glasses a little to them in what was clearly an equivalent of a wave hello. If Rren were listening, there would be more of the language to pick up -- talk from a parent, about how they'd had to sew their child's dress for the umpteenth time, and the next time he ripped it, they'd make him fix it. A few of them exchanging recipes as they chatted with a little plate of food in one hand. A baby fussing quietly, and their mother taking the tiny one back to feed them. Someone talking about the economy of somewhere, and how they figured it might be well worth it to take some glamour-coins to the neighboring king's treasurers, to exchange for smaller currency to spend in the former place... Someone else barely keeping in their laughter as they told about this one night their sister was trying to be on guard against wolves, and ended up scaring them witless instead....

A few of them stood out, and not just for having been more detailed and solid-seeming, as they were closer, perhaps people from her memories more than her imagination. A very few wore well-tailored leather outfits, despite no one else at all wearing any such thing. In fact, other than those few, leather and bone were basically nowhere to be found, even on their boots and shoes and belts. Those few who wore it seemed to move almost a little differently... something about the way they glanced before so much as turning their head, their ready stances... it seemed almost reminiscent of a predator's mannerisms. And yet, the people around them, that they were spending time with, seemed perfectly relaxed, unthreatened. And, when one was caught eyeing Rren, they gave a hint of a smile and a subtle, respectful little nod in acknowledgement as well. Those, despite sharing the same apparently species-wide features as the rest... they weren't quite like the others. And yet, there was no sense of them not being perfectly welcome here....

Similarly, though for the opposite reasons, were a few more that seemed different somehow. It wasn't how they dressed, like how those other few stood out for wearing leather. Perhaps it was their comparative seeming shyness? It was more than a simple reluctance to be social, for they were mingling with the others. It was a subtle state of being on edge, even though they might've seen largely relaxed. Something about their stances, the way one of them inhaled a little before realizing that it was the person beside them simply putting an arm around them, and then happily relaxing into that casually protective sort of embrace. One of them actually had some sort of spiral-twisted thing hanging from their beltstrings, almost lost in their clothing's folds of fabric. It did look to maybe be bone, but what sort of bone was so evenly wound and pointed like that, a thick wand of some kind? Perhaps it was like Sia's staff? ...But it had no gem.... And these few, like those that wore leather, were part of the party, happy here despite their more skittish nature.... In fact, one of them seemed to be shyly flirting with one of those few leather-clad individuals, sharing some wine with them, cheeks quite pink already.

That part of one's nature, then, was not an impediment to inclusion among Mallia's people. There were more similarities than differences, in at least apparent species, besides: with nearly everyone either being an elf, or looking like one, their ears all had similarly small points to them, their eyes all had irises larger than the average. They otherwise seemed fairly humanlike, though with hair colors ranging from snow white, to colors outside the usual human spectrum. Perhaps they were dyed? Or maybe not dye, but it could have been illusion-magic making that one's hair such a cherry red, even including the details like their eyebrows. Or that other's, a gray that was more blue than not. Assuming they weren't using their magic to disguise themselves as human, there were going to be tells as to what they were, physically. But even still, the language was surely going to be the easiest one....

But... only nearly everyone there appeared, superficially, to be an elf, or perhaps wholly one. There were a few that surely stood out for even more blatant differences than mannerisms and general demeanor.

One of the children was getting some sort of cookies from a table of foods off to the side of the party there, a rag doll of nearly their own size hugged up to their side. It was dressed in similar clothes to the child, actually... and as the kid stretched up onto their tiptoes to try reaching something closer to the middle of the table, they took their hand away from the doll. It not only didn't fall, but it actually took a step on its own, turning to better see the table too, and then found something a few dishes down to reach up to take from.

One of the adults had a bird on their shoulder... and this bird was likewise a construct, wings' feathers made of some sort of thin, stiff material that had been painted, its head and neck and torso done in solid segments that overlaid one another just so, a lovely sort of shell for any robot, one that looked to allow it almost a similar range of movement as a biological bird. It moved to keep its balance as its person did, absently, tilting its head and shifting a little bit from one foot to the other, and then turned to nuzzle into their elf's cheek, interrupting the conversation and getting petted for doing so. Whether or not it was fully sapient, it was a lovely example of someone's workmanship indeed, for a body like that.

There would probably be a few more examples, if Rren wanted to explore around... and of course, one of them would be a certain wooden-looking figure standing quietly off to the side, engaged in quiet conversation with one of those more nervous-seeming people and another elf....

Actual poppets, perhaps? Mallia had doubtless told Rren more about the practice among her people, but it was different, to see them there, interacting with the others, and generally just... being. Being treated like anyone else, being so wildly different in materials and craftsmanship, being from what seemed like a time far too early to have been created with any sort of computers' involvement.... It was surely no wonder, then, that Mallia was so quick to accept Rren's explanation of their own nature, and equate it to this in some way? The rag doll was clearly another child, and a good friend or more to their playmate. The tree-looking one was blatantly holding his own in speaking with the ones around him, an equal and treated as such. The bird... well, it was clearly very much treasured, and those nearby that it wasn't sitting on the shoulder of seemed to appreciate it, one of them reaching over as its person turned a little to let them pet it as well.

She wanted Rren to know what her people were like, that they might find them more easily... well, this was absolutely one way to familiarize someone with them.

"I'll do my best," she said quietly, giving them a smile. Time to puppeteer a crowd, or at least the portion of it that Rren turned their attention toward....

[mal_contented]

"Actually, kinda the opposite of that. Alright. Super speed history lesson cause I am bored of telling it. Twenty years ago, King Beast and Queen Belle rounded up every villain, including the ones who had been dead, healed them up and dumped them on the Isle Of The Lost. A magical barrier went up keeping them all from their powers and left them to their own devices. blah blah blah, fast forwarding to the interesting part. You know, the part where me and my friends enter the picture. Ben's folks, King Beast and Queen Belle, yes them again. They decided they wanted to retire and sixteen is plenty old enough for Ben to become king. So for Ben's first official act, a week before he became king officially, he tried an experiment. Four of us from the Isle, kids of the worst of the worst villains. Bring us to Auradon, the mainland where they have magic and clean water and. food without mold and all that, and see if we could become goody goodie good guys. For the record? Should not have worked. Like at all."

She shook her head. "Our folks only agreed to send us because they had an evil scheme. And they needed us out there to pull it off. And you know what? We almost did. This close to grabbing the magic wand, the crown, everything. Had Ben been... well.... even a little less Ben, we would have. But he stopped us, convinced us we could stay on Auradon if we just gave back the wand. Convinced us that despite everything, we wanted to. So we chose good. Trounced my mom, foiled the villain’s plans, tea and cake all around. A year or two of jumping from crisis to crisis and then one day Genie's daughter granted some stupid wish, and she and Merlin tried to fix it at the same time.. next thing we know, most of Auradon and the Isle are empty. Poof. Almost no people. But slowly people have been reappearing. Both sides, Auradon and Isle. My guess given the people in Auradon is that the old rules are in play. Clearly evil goes to the Isle, clearly good goes to Auradon. And me... I just went where I'd been last. Which was Auradon as it turns out."

Re: Aqua and Terra do it all the time! I had to have an icon for it!

[aquawayfinder]

She chuckled. "You'll love them," she assured him. "And you should see how Sora's gown up. Kairi too." Riku... was more complicated. And given if Ven winds up in Auradon he'd be speaking to Æn'ki and Rren... it was best not to mention Riku if she could avoid it.

Even more so if Khell showed up.