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

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

[((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.

Threaded | Flat

What one might find would be perhaps the oddest hawk in any universe. Not just an imperial hawk, but an actual hawk. Feathers and all. Small. But still... hawk.

Of course her wings were too small to ever carry her in flight. And not only were they too small, but they were also covered in some sort of odd markings that blurred like writing when looked at too closely. Her feathers were shining soft gold, except where they were the various coulours of blood and human bruising. They were also an akimbo mess. Her eyes were very human looking eyes, plain brown. There was an odd marking on one clawed foot. On the foot that wasn't bound with jesses.

"What the actual happinesses?!" the hawk asked. Then jumped as if startled. "Happinesses. Ocean wall it what the happiness is... why the happiness can't I say...." a small scream of frustration erupted from the bird. She tried what sounded like a different language. From the tone, same problem. Another language and this one... it sounded weird to hear what sounded like an angry cat coming from the beak of a bird. She went through a few more languages.

"Okay, either this is an ocean walled nightmare or I am actually in on of the happinesses. NOT HAPPY! NOTHING ABOUT THIS IS HAPPY OCEAN WALL IT!"

Another frustrated noise.

Just wait till she notices her daggers are gone....

The setting around her is an odd mix of worn floor boards, desks piled high with paper, and a night sky with two moons. She froze as the sound of a distant howl filled that odd broken night. Her wings flexed as she reached for...

And so started another spate of attempts to swear. The word Quartermaster was in there, as on of the few intelligible words...

Compared to some in this odd dreamspace, Leia looked rather ordinary; a petite older woman in a white gown and hooded cloak combo. Even the gown itself wasn't especially remarkable, though it might well be familiar to some. Those with more awareness of fashion might recognize its quality by its clean, elegant lines and how well it fit and flattered her; clearly something that had been tailored or specially made, rather than gotten off the rack. But she wore no jewelry other than a single ring with two blue stones. Really the only thing that marked her as unusual was the fact that- despite appearing quite solid, she was surrounded by a soft, ethereal blue glow.

The environment she appeared in was far more impressive looking. A huge, elegant bedroom featuring an equally large and elegant four poster bed. The other furniture was similarly elegant. A sitting area with a few comfortable looking couches and chairs surrounding a coffee table. A writing desk and chair in one corner. A vanity table with a cushioned stool in another. A wardrobe that, if opened, would be found to contain a number of elegant gowns and accessories, though also several far simpler and mor practical outfits. A plush, white oval-shaped rug that took up much of the floor space not occupied by furniture. A cushioned window seat and large window that looked out over a beautiful, futuristic city, and in the distance a snow-capped mountain peak.

If one opened the door though, they'd be met with quite a contrast. Instead of the hallway of a palace, they would be met with the interior of a light space freighter, reasonably tidy, but worn, battered, and a bit grimy from much use. There were seating areas here was well, some with retractable safety harnesses, and a round holographic game table, currently inactive. A bit further in, one could find a small galley stocked with some basic provisions, though this wasn't immediately visible. And a bit further still one could make their way to the cockpit for a veiw of the star-speckled blackness of space.

The contrast would be immediately apparent to anyone approaching, as both the bedroom and the freighter arts ended in such a way as to be missing part of their walls. Upon seeing all of this, Leia simply smiled. "Well," she said, "as dreams go, this one is fairly pleasant. Though I have a feeling this is no ordinary dream." Partly because she hadn't planned on taking a nap. Partly because she could sense other presences here with her, some familiar, some not.

Which meant that she should probably investigate. So she set out through the missing wall and into the dream space to find out what- and who- might be waiting for her.

The images Rren carried with them to this shared mindscape were not all easy to decipher. Oh, some were obvious. The art room where they had been working on art before contributed tables here and there, the better part of two dozen sheets of paper spread out on the table and floor both, containing colorful lines. And then there was the inside of a small spaceship, the galaxy visible through the transparent sections of bulkhead, odds and ends littering shelves, getting mixed in with the papers on the art tables.

But the final part? It was a space both real and imaginary. Those who'd entered the datascape wouldn't even recognize it, as this version had not been translated for organic minds and the other had. It was code, it was input from a ship full of systems and the buzz of the subspace net in the background. Form had no point in this place and those who stepped into it would not find ground underfoot, but they wouldn't fall either.

Rren's nature had much in common with this place, and sometimes they seemed to flit out of existence, trailing along as a string of light through the art room, or materializing to float in the middle of the computer. It was strange how much this felt like home, it wasn't something the could ever have expected. They enjoyed having a body, but the human pattern of thought and existence were both limiting. Would they go back? Absolutely not, in a very real sense this swirling mess of code had been a prison. They hadn't always been able to travel with their best friend. They hadn't even been able to truly leave the ship, merely cast projections of themself into other systems.

Strangely, they never visited their original body in this place, this dream? Oh, they saw it, sitting propped against a wall in a corner, damaged beyond repair, what it had been when they'd first been integrated into the computer.

They willed themself to materialize, though the remained translucent, glowing orange as they floated in the space outside the ship. How had this happened?

"Hello?"

"Anybody?"

Were they alone here?

Entering a Dream Space as a Jedi with psychometry, added complications to what Cal brought experienced. Normally when he touched an object that spoke to him, he saw the images, heard people, often from ages past. Here anyone would see them. And even his own experiences appeared in whispers, sometimes solidifying, but often fading away. And because of this, they included not just the places, but moments, pieces of time.

Cal looked very little different from normal, a young man with red hair scruff, freckles, and a ready smile. He wore attire that would almost seem more in place on a smuggler than a Jedi and had the Scrapper tattoo on his arm. He had his blaster in holstered on one hip and light-saber on the other. One blade of the saber remained lit even holstered, though it didn't burn him or anything it touched while like this. It cast an exaggerated blue light up on Cal's features from below, elongated shadows in a strange way. But occasionally the kyber crystal seemed to almost bleed, swirls of red entering the light, but never dominating.

The whispers around him coalesced to form the interior of a ship. Behind him stood a holographic table with a map of various worlds, and in front of him was a curved bench and a table, with an instrument leaning against the side. Further still sat a long table and a small cooking area. To the side sat either a shelf with items, or a terrarium. It seemed to sit between the two. And to his right the door opened out to a settlement with a star destroyer visible in the sky above, but at second glass it was a quiet world the sky full of swirling lights.

He didn't exit to either, but instead picked up the instrument on the bench and played a simple tune. One he'd learned through telemetry what seemed like a lifetime ago. Cere had taken this with her when she'd left and he hadn't seen it in so long, and it felt right to play it now.

As he played, a scene came visible, and if anyone wandered in, they would see him playing the instrument, but also whispers of a slightly younger version of him in a poncho, Merrin, a young Nightsister with grey skin and white hair in red and black, Cere, a human woman with dark skin and very short hair in tight curls, Greeze, an older Latero with fur tufts from the side of his face like mutton chops and four arms and BeeDee, a hyper little droid bouncing about. The group was arguing good naturedly, Greeze trying to shoo Beedee off the table, and Cal lifting his plate of food so he could keep eating while his droid friend took flight and blew raspberries at the Latero.

With the last note he played the scene, the entire ship, faded from view. It left behind a strangely blank landscape and the looming threat of the empire overhead in the form of the slightly translucent star destroyer. Cal shook his head, looking to his shoulder out of habit. "Well BeeDee, this would be a lot more fun with you with me." But it seemed the little droid was not an active part of his dream, so he ventured out into the unknown, searching for other Dreamers.

A section of beautiful, well-tended gardens and flagstone paths surrounding a glowing crystal structure met the eyes of anyone who wandered into this area. The air was warm and pleasant and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves of the plants and trees now and then. Brightly colored insects that might have passed for ordinary butterflies if they didn't have a wingspan of nearly a meter fluttered about peacefully, largely ignoring any visitors.

Next to a rather art-deco looking building, there was a pool of clear water under a covered pavilion in which a small number of hand-sized axolotyl-like creatures were swimming. And sitting at the edge of the pool, watching the creatures peacefully swimming about, was a being. Overall, the being was humanoid, clad in a dark, hooded robe and birdlike half-mask that made their features hard to discern. And in this place, it's even harder, as even the visible parts of the being's face are blurred and indistinct. They seemed harmless enough though, and almost unconcerned with the strangeness of the situation. Maybe you should go and say hello?

Edited 2023-09-13 22:19 (UTC)

[ooc note: Voice-testing here! ** Light Endwalker spoilers** I will try to keep it to a bare minimum and keep it light as I pulled her from post-canon. For now, feel free to see a flying blue birb (birb!) or in her seemingly human form. Meteion is a thousand-year-old birb who is super empathetic and has telepathic powers so let me know your permissions]

I. Meteion's dream garden
It was a long sleep. From having lived a thousand years, searching countless of stars for signs of life and civilizations in eternal space in her quest to find the answer for her Master's question, to the End of the Universe where the Warrior of Light freed her from the exhausting prison of despair and guilt, she woke up in this world with a light heart.

This place works differently than how she works with dynamis and aether but perhaps the selfsame principle of shaping reality and dreams as she sees fit. A field of flowers with their ethereal glow of hope, the way she remembers the flower fields in Elpis and a night sky of stars inside a cozy abode made in Ascian architect.

That's the scene she woke up to. But there are people here, beings pulled from their worlds. While she can tap into their thoughts, feelings, and she could interact with them for information of this star as she investigated and see different landscapes and environment, a garden here, a forest there, shaped by the other dreamers perhaps? She need to investigate the land and its people more.

In a glow of light, she took form of a blue bird and took flight, glancing her surroundings from a bird's eye view. This star seem to be stable. By her nature, becoming more curious she flew onward to explore.

II. Meteion make contact
After her joyful reunion with Hermes, her Master, she continues to venture forth to gather information, curious she is, and perhaps make friends. Perhaps a blue bird flew into your dreamscape, into your home, and there's a convenient window or door open and she flew in.

Whatever you're doing now, she flies around you, scoping out and investigating your cozy home and its environment, curious and wondering what kind of world you're from and she would very much would like to hear your story and your world.

"Greetings." The blue bird spoke as she finds a safe place to perch, speaking in a friendly voice, kind and warm. "Can you hear me? Please don't be alarmed. I'm not here to harm you. I just wish to know your dreams, your thoughts, and your feelings." For science and intellectual curiousity. "I would like to be your friend."

You're not imagining things. The blue birb can talk as if it's ordinary.

III. Wildcard
[Feel free to write your own starter and let's make adventures!]

Edited 2023-09-14 19:37 (UTC)

From Nita, there came no imaginings, no whimsical alterations or scenery design. No traces of the Speech, the Between, or even the Void.

Only destruction. In whatever ways her power had not been limited by this place, let alone Jordan's dreaming, objects would dissolve, crack, or turn into multicolored mass simply by being near her. Using empathy or related powers near her was... unwise.

And her mind? Well, unfortunately, it was almost totally gone by this point. Trying to reason with her, or plead with her, was not going to cut it.

For those who simply wished to confront her, however - good luck. You'll need it.

For the most part, the girl sitting at the table looked like your fairly standard human woman in her mid twenties or so. Her blond hair was loose but pushed back. The table looked like a mix of multiple other tables and she had several sheets of paper and a whole bin full of various dice around her. But when she stood up, the table vanished. The pages - black and white, looking like some sort of ornate form - circled just above her eyeline, and the dice moved to circle her hips.

"Wow, when you said VR edition, you weren't kidding...." she said, seemingly to someone... who wasn't there. "Wonder what I can do..." she asked as she grew about two feet taller and more muscular. Armor appeared on her, fantasy armor but not the kind usually on female characters, something that looked like it might actually work as armor. A red lightsaber appeared in one hand, and a trek phaser in the other.

"Alright, looks like I can manifest. This... is going to be fun. I minmaxed to the max."

There was part of a brightly coloured hallway standing on its own. The wall to one side was in bright cheery orange and yellow mostly, but the posters had far more variety. The wall was papered with them so thick that they overlapped in places. The poster's words, like all in the dream scape, blurred. But there were lots of happy smiling faces, and shining sparkling hearts - the pretty sort not the anatomical sort.

The hall was the one wall and at the corner just enough of another wall to hold what looked like a sign up sheet with a magnetic plate with what was probably a name stuck to it next to a door frame. Only half the frame existed, and there was no door at all.

The hall, what there was of it, was silent except for any noise that Lea made, and whatever was beyond the door was obscured in darkness. Or maybe Darkness. Hard to tell from this side.

Should one step through they would be ASSAULTED by noise. Sound. Like 3 different soundtracks playing at the same time, with no intentional thought given to making them work well together. The ground was a mix of dirt and saw dust over the occasional tatami mat. The only things to see in the room were two very tall poles. At least, until one looked up. Each pole was topped with a platform so high up it was hard to make out. A thin rope was string between them. From that distance the rope should have been invisible, it was so thin. And yet it was clear and obvious. There were also what looked like weird swings, that could also be clearly seen. The silvery string supporting them looked ethereal and delicate.

What there wasn't... was a net under all of that.

What there was, tiny and hard to see as the distance should have made it was a figure moving slowly across the tightrope. But the figure dropped into a terrifying crouch given the thinness of the wire on which it was standing. From this distance it was hard to make out details. Pale skin, colorful clothing, dark hair that was either short or pinned up or pulled back.

The figure called down, but the noise of the competing musics swallowed some of the words and distorted what was left. Of course distance helped. So it was impossible to recognize the voice, or even identify any qualities to it. Of course, responses would probably be likewise broken and distorted.

".... room... reserved.... Sora!" the voice called down. "....later...?"

Edited 2023-09-16 12:47 (UTC)

There in the dream, a young man looking decidedly younger than normal stood in the oversized clothes of a certain other man, flanked by taunting skulls. Around him, the world was a melange of the gloom of the Isle, the melodious streets of the French Quarter, and a particular stretch of New Orleans road that a particular man might well recognize, after all, even his shadow still haunted the corner within Louie's messed up and mixed up dreamscape. The shadow was long and slender like a scarecrow, stooped over a hat that matched the suit Louie wore, making the specter look halfway between a man and a frog.

Louie looked around, his face a mixture of shock, horror, and nostalgic loss. "Great. First the messed up vision, then my dad, and now this?" He said, looking at his arms, far too small for the slender sleeves he comically wore. He thought darkly to himself about the situation as he looked about, trying to decide between chasing the slight scent of freshly baked bread and trying to find his way out.

Threaded | Flat

Page 2 of 2

Kaylin Neya | Elantra | CW: Potentially all | OTA

Leia Organa | Star Wars (CRAU Wake + Voidtrekers) | OTA

Rren | Star Trek OC |OTA

Cal Kestis | Star Wars JS | OTA

Hermes | Final Fantasy XIV | OTA

Meteion | Final Fantasy XIV | ota

Nita Callahan...? | Young wizards + CRAU | Voidsickness in its inevitable conclusion.