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

[queen_butterfly]

When Rren took her hand back, she accepted, looking back to them.

"If you'd rather?" She turned more toward Rren, still smiling, ready to take their lead. She was offering the ballroom full of guests, of course, but it could wait! She wanted to see what Rren would do, honestly. She could cast illusions even while awake, to do a lesser version of this later on, in the real world, if Rren wanted. But here... here, surely Rren had equal capability to hers?

This would be a treat, she was sure.

Behind them, the crowd began to fade, though the sense of them lingered, the sounds of the conversations still carrying....

[cheep_soongbird_knockoff]

Rren tried to focus, flickering from physical form to code, annoyance rippling its way through the light of the latter. But nothing around them changed. "Well ah, I guess I am not that good at manipulating this place. Sorry. I was so sure I would be able to." It was not at all like manifesting a hologram of something they wanted to show.

[queen_butterfly]

"...Perhaps it has to do with this being my home. Let's see if you have more influence outside it...?"

She tilted her head back toward the hallway, indicating the courtyard in that direction. "Shall we?"

Down the hallway, out the courtyard, through the side, and out past the forest beyond the garden, right?

[cheep_soongbird_knockoff]

"It is certainly worth a try." Rren followed Mallia out. They were a bit more solid while following her, not so much in that they actually felt more solid here, but because keeping pace with someone without necessarily looking around involved much less flitting about. They were still curious about what they passed, but that wasn't the full focus.

Would they be able to share with Mallia as she had shared with them? They certainly hoped so, but they wouldn't know for sure until they were out of her home.

[queen_butterfly]

She smiled a bit more as they went; she might have been bringing the two of them outside, but she was happy to take that little trip at whatever pace Rren wanted. There was plenty to see, and she'd have been lying if she tried to claim she didn't want to share it. It was rather the point of her home being as it was, after all.

The evening air was pleasantly cool, the scent of roses faintly everywhere in the courtyard and its bit of garden... and she led out through it, to the forest just beyond.

"These," she said quietly, gesturing to the trees, "are ents."

As they approached, it became more obvious that their little movements weren't simply a matter of the breeze stirring a couple leaves here or there; the ones they were approaching were starting to move of their own accord, pulling their roots up closer to themselves. They shifted, beginning to rearrange themselves, forming a bit more of a path for them, pulling branches aside and everything. Those were the trees she'd mentioned approaching carefully, on account of them having a more empathic nature... which probably explained them parting now, in the dreamscape; she would expect them to be able to figure out that she wanted to leave, so this was how they'd behave for her.

"Were they real... I'd say that this might serve as an introduction enough, honestly."

[cheep_soongbird_knockoff]

Rren paused to take in the trees. These were not the sort of life forms they typically encountered, but that also was not that strange. They grinned back to Mallia. "It is nice to see the people and beings you've talked about."

[queen_butterfly]

"Hence the gathering," she said, her mouth hinting more amused a smile despite herself as she glanced back, indicating the hall of illusory people they'd left behind. "But it can wait. If you'd like, even in Auradon, I could 'introduce' you to them... but perhaps not so effectively all at once, especially without a proper power source to draw from. My home -- the real one, I mean -- is at the intersection of several ley lines, so that wouldn't be an issue there... but is it just me, or do you find juggling several things at once easier here as well? It feels to me as though this place wants to assist in maintaining what I try to do...."

Off through the forest she led them, the trees smallish close to her castle, but quickly growing in size as they went, showing their age in both individual height and girth, and in how many of them had grown together into one organism; it was not a mere handful that looked as though they had started out as several individual trees that were collaborating to form something bigger, something that looked distinctly older, their bark having smoothed together into a single surface despite their form suggesting multiple trunks leaning against one another, and roots following suit. Those were taller, as well, though size aside, they seemed not to be any different from the smaller ones. They still had the little black polished eyes on their trunks. Several had fruits, including those black spherical berries Mallia was so fond of, hanging from their branches, and even lowered them quite obviously, in a silent offer to the two as they drew nearer. The forest wasn't just alive, it was demonstrably aware... and friendly.

Absently, she reached up to one of the lowered branches, hand out... and a few of the big berries dropped right into her hand, prompting more of a smile from her. She gave the tree a nod in thanks, and put one in her mouth, offering the others to Rren.