Sweeter than the First Time [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

Hello, dreamers of Manhattan. The Rift knows that things have been kind of rough, lately. The last dream didn't go as well as it had hoped. Consider this an apology of sorts, and a hearkening back to the good times you've shared.

It's a grand old (and potentially familiar) cabin house that the dreamers will find themselves wandering. The furniture is plentiful and comfortable, the floors are strewn with cushions and blankets, and there are cheerful fires burning in the grates. It seems a little odd that the house still manages to be on the chilly side despite looking so warm, yet it is.

Oh, well. You'll just have to find another dreamer or two and spoon up and fall asleep like little baby cats get cozy. It shouldn't be difficult; most of the dreamers (excepting those with strong telepathic defenses or deeply ingrained cuddle-averse personalities) will find themselves feeling friendlier than usual, along with an almost overwhelming desire to snuggle up to someone. How convenient that the house seems designed for that very purpose!

And if some of the cushions are Hello Kitty themed, well, that's just coincidence.


[OOC: Standard dream party rules apply. Characters will be affected by the dream-whammy to whatever degree makes the most sense for them, and will remember or forget the events of the dream at the player's discretion. Backtag into infinity.]

Comments

[powerdealer]

About bloody time the Rift gives him a non-horrific shared dream. Seth can't even remember the last one. The high school one, maybe? And that was a month ago. How many has he had since then that have ranged somewhere between 'awful' and 'deeply traumatising'? Too many to count, it feels like. The only pleasant ones he's had has been most definitely private. So you'll excuse him if he still feels a bit wary about this one.

...The cheer does creep in a little though, so depending on the company he might feel a little more amenable to relaxing. For now he's just aimlessly wandering, peeking carefully into rooms, exploring and looking for familiar or friendly faces.

[peacefulexplorer]

It's just as well Seth wanders by when he does, because Daniel looks up from his book at precisely the right moment and waves.

"Hey." He's grinning, vacillating between pointing almost excitedly at the armchair, then the bookcase, then the fireplace, Seth, and looking downright thrilled to be having a dream that's for once promised to be pleasant.

[powerdealer]

Seth can't help but grin at Daniel's excitement over such basic things. Simple pleasures, probably. But then it is pretty rare for them to even get simple nice things in the dreaming, so they should probably enjoy it while it lasts.

"You've settled in nicely," he observes cheerfully, entering the room.

[peacefulexplorer]

"What, can you blame me?" He stretches languidly, one arm hooked over the armchair's back, still-open book deposited facedown on his lap. "Short of an actual digsite or my old office, this is pretty much the ideal dream setting." The inclusion of Seth just goes to complete the picture, but Daniel's going to keep that one to himself.

"Think we're overdue for one of those," he adds, and regrets it at once. As if they need reminders of the plethora of truly awful dream experiences the Rift has seen fit to drag them through as of late.

[powerdealer]

"I was just thinking that," he agrees, heading over to the fireplace and warming his hands, rubbing them together. Despite the very cosy interior and the fireplaces, it is rather chilly to just be walking around here.

But at least it feels very solidly safe, like he just wants to curl up somewhere and relax. Preferably with Daniel someone, but... Even with the dream making him a lot more eager for touch, he has a certain barrier of awkwardness to stop him from just doing so.

"Have you even had one before? An actual nice shared dream, I mean. The previous one that I was part of was before you arrived, I think," he says contemplatively, a small frown creasing his brow.

[peacefulexplorer]

No way is he just going to let Seth stand there - Daniel immediately shifts over absently. There's enough room on this sprawling cushion of an armchair for the both of them. Why, it's almost a loveseat.

"No," he says easily, very carefully choosing not to think of the scattered, actually halfway pleasant dreams he's had since his arrival. It's a sticky topic still, bounced around sporadically in his subconscious without any rhyme or reason. "Which makes this one even better, I guess. In its own way. Anticipation and, and whatnot."

That - he - that didn't even make a little sense.

*trash*

[powerdealer]

Those particular dreams have crossed Seth's mind as well, but they're not shared, so they don't really count. And as nice as they are, they always make him feel a bit sad upon waking, like he hates saying goodbye to the feeling they give him. Though it's probably preferable to waking up in cold sweats from another nightmare. Well, maybe. Because as terrible as they are, at least he knows how to cope with them, and they're about something that's past, over and done with.

And they don't leave him with this painful, fluttery ache in his chest that he has to desperately try to ignore because he doesn't know how to soothe it. Well... he does know how, he just can't. Or he's afraid to. At least with the nightmares, it's a fear of the past rather than the future. It's done, it can't be changed, nothing is hanging in the balance.

With the - the other thing, so much depends upon him, and it makes him nervous, and so he keeps putting off dealing with it. It's hard enough just to try to be sort of cool around Daniel, not too excited to see him, not too eager to please. He feels like a lovesick teenager, and then usually like a moron afterwards. He just has to... try to keep his distance a little, for his own heart's sake. Of course he usually fails.

He has to shake himself out of his reverie a little, to actually think of a reply. "Are you saying the real point of all that trauma was just to make us appreciate this one more?" he asks lightly, a smile pulling crookedly at the corner of his mouth. Well, suppose it worked.

And hey look, a seat. He hesitates for a moment - there's not really anywhere elso to sit here, is there, unless he's going to end up lounging on the floor and that - no, that's a bit too reminiscent of another recent dream, so he's going to push that association out of his mind. After a moment he goes and takes a seat next to Daniel. He tries to keep a little space between them, but it's kind of impossible with the size of it. The body heat is nice against the cold though. He tries not to focus on how Daniel is kind of turned against him, his arm still on the back of the seat, now behind Seth.

"Well, if the Rift had a suggestion box, I'd tell it that I don't really need those other ones just to make this nicer in contrast," he adds, staring down at his hands, unsure what to do with them.

[peacefulexplorer]

Seth seems distracted, almost, though he recovers from it well enough. His withdrawal did only happen a few days ago in the waking world, so it wouldn't be odd to assume he's been having a bit of a rough time. Maybe a relaxing dream like this will do him some good.

"Mm, what can I say?" he answers, pleased to see Seth settle in next to him. Not a whole lot of breathing room between them, but the dream seems to have decided that's the general theme. "So I'm an optimist. And if the Rift is really so big on putting us through the wringer then I will take the silver lining when it comes around, thanks."

He gives the book an appraising look before taking careful note of the page he was on - as if it matters, really, it's not like he can come back to it once he's woken up - and closing it to stow it beneath the chair.

"What, you're saying the Rift does give us actual nice dreams once in a while?" That's certainly news to Daniel, given his past experiences.

[powerdealer]

"Mmm, though recently you wouldn't think so," he answers with a small smile. "There was, uh.." He reaches up to scratch his face a little, considering, but no, he doesn't think there was another one more recently.

"Just before you got here, there was a high school prom one? That was alright," he says, nodding a little. "Even though everyone was very.. teenager-like. Johnny and I got really drunk and trashed the science building, because, well, blow off steam, and it's a dream. Who's gonna care, yanno? And then we, uh..."

He frowns a little, thinking back, and then, oh, oh, right, that was that particular dream, wasn't it? They never properly talked about that, did they? "Uh. Did, did stuff," he finishes awkwardly, not sure how to rescue that sentence, nor sure whether the sudden realisation showed on his face.

[peacefulexplorer]

He lets that sentence trail off the way it does. Whatever it is, sounds like Seth isn't up for discussing it, though that leads Daniel to believe there is, probably, an it that could potentially be discussed. Though probably not now, and likely not with Daniel. Johnny, maybe, though Daniel won't say his curiosity isn't a little piqued.

"Hmm. High school, huh?" He frowns a little. "Can't say I see that as much of a progenitor for fond memories but, hey, I could be wrong."

[powerdealer]

Seth would probably answer if prompted, it just seems a bit strange to just bring up out of the blue. He's not a hundred percent comfortable with it still, and at the time he was still trying to pretend to himself that it was nothing. And, well, Daniel's the reason that Seth's had to stop pretending it's nothing, because it's very clearly not. So there's... a lot of confusing emotions involved in bringing something like that up.

"Well, nor for me, but it was a party and nothing was trying to kill us," he answers, giving a half shrug and sinking a little down his the seat, giving in to the relaxing atmosphere of the place. It's a little sad that 'no immediate threat of death' is the minimum requirement for a nice dream, but...

"Before that, um..." He considers, licking his lips, thinking back. "Mythological creatures, I think? Um, we were. We became hybrid creatures. Very strange, but not outright bad." Some people probably had more issue with it than he did. He just... tried not to focus on how weird it was to have plants growing out of him. At least in a dream it's easier to ignore that sort of stuff.

[peacefulexplorer]

"What, really?" Now that actually sounds halfway interesting. Maybe not comfortable, per se, but that lands a little more in Daniel's area of expertise.

"I mean, this right here is about as close to a 'nice dream' as I'll expect from the Rift any day but, uh." He gestures at the bookcase and the hearth with an easy shrug then leans forward a little, a smile quirking up one side of his mouth. "Why, what were you?"

[powerdealer]

"Um, one of those..." He trails off, frowning, trying to remember the name. Mythology isn't one of his strongest suits. Unlike Daniel, who could probably ramble for hours about something like that.

"Like a tree spirit? Covered in plants and leaves, growing out of my skin," he says, making a slight face. The word he's looking for is dryad, but it's eluding him.

After a while he had decided it was sort of like hair, since even if it was growing out of him, it wasn't like he had any sensation in it, and it didn't hurt him to have any of it torn off. But it was also the only thing that was covering him, so he hadn't tried to remove it, since walking around outside naked would be even more awkward and embarrassing.

[has_a_horn]

Hey, a Seth! Gabriel is wandering around as well, but he's taking a little more initiative on getting a cuddle buddy. When he spots Seth, he hooks his elbow and tugs him toward the first open room. "Heyyyy, aren't you cold? Come 'ere."

There's a fire going in the room and Gabriel lets go of Seth to grab a blanket and plop himself down in front of it.

[powerdealer]

Seth should really be getting used to this by now. It isn't that frequent for him to be ambushed by Gabriel, but mostly because they don't see each other that often - at least, when you take into consideration the fact they live in the same house. But then most of the time he does see Gabe, it starts with him being ambushed. He doesn't mind though, given the general cosiness of the dream and Gabe's cheer.

"Nice to see you too," he answers with amusement, allowing himself to be pulled along and following Gabe's example in getting himself a blanket and taking a seat. There's a large selection of pillows too, plenty to sit on or lean against.

[has_a_horn]

"Cosy, right? We had one like this right after I showed up." Instead of the many cushions he could lean against, Gabriel leans into Seth instead. He could fight the dream's influence, but he doesn't really want to do that. "I like this a lot better that what we've been getting."

[powerdealer]

Seth doesn't know exactly when Gabriel showed up in Manhattan, but he's decently sure it was while Seth was locked up and blocked off from the Dreaming, so that explains why it's not familiar to him. But he's not going to mention that, because this dream is quite pleasant and he's rather just enjoy it for once.

"Yeah, me too," he answers. "Only good ones I've had lately have been regular non-shared ones, which is kinda unusual." And he's just going to sling an arm around Gabe's shoulders, because it's just more practical and comfy the way they're sitting. And it's very easy to be a bit more tactile with Gabe than with other people. Or Seth might just be underestimating how much the dream is affecting him.

[has_a_horn]

Hey, more cuddling. He could get used to this. "I haven't done much dreaming at all lately. I'm glad I caught this one instead of...what was it, giant cats?" That doesn't sound like a good time.

"What happens in your good dreams? Ohh, lemme guess." He smiles, not actually wanting to guess, but definitely wanting to joke around. "Everything is made of waffles and I'm there. Naked."

[powerdealer]

"Honestly, the cats wasn't even the worst - we woke up wrapped as gifts," he says with distaste. Seth only really had a very brief interaction with any of the giant cats: getting carried into the basement. But the whole gift-wrapping thing was really bad on his claustrophobia. But that's probably more of a personal problem.

Listening to Gabe make inappropriate jokes is a lot more fun than focusing on bad dreams, though. Seth gives a small snort in response. It's a lot easier to joke around this stuff when Daniel's not around.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Don't forget the whipped cream. On both you and the waffles," he jokes back. Well, someone is occasionally naked in them, but it's not Gabe. And there's generally no waffle-based surroundings.

[has_a_horn]

"I would never forget the whipped cream. And I'm offended that you would think so," he answers back jokingly. "maraschino cherries too. Ask Johnny if you want confirmation." He chuckles, "Actually, don't ask Johnny. He'd deny it and then your fantasies would be ruined. Catastrophe."

[powerdealer]

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can take your word for it," he replies with amusement. He quickly dismisses the mental image of Gabe plus Johnny plus whipped cream. Not really something his mind would come up with on his own, but still mildly distracting once it's been brought up.

"Though honestly, I think I've ended up with a pretty low standard for what qualifies as a good dream. At this point any time I don't get horribly murdered can be counted as win," he answers, only partly joking. Which, you know, not much to be done about it. As long as he's not horribly murdered in the waking world, he can probably deal with it.

[has_a_horn]

He frowns briefly, then sighs and rests his head against Seth's. What he said reminds him of how often Johnny has told him he's died in dreams. Knowing Johnny, there are many more times that's he hasn't yet told him about. He's uncomfortable knowing that this torture is happening to his friends and, short of some pretty extreme measures, he can't do anything about it.

He snorts a short laugh. "I'll get you a nightlight."

[powerdealer]

"I already have one, but thanks," he answers with a smile. Another left-over from the base. It's not so much that he's scared of the dark (although he is pretty uncomfortable not knowing what's around him), but they always kept the light on in his cell, so he just got used to it.

"What've you been up to lately, then? Traumatised any more people via giant lizards?" he asks jokingly, eager to get the subject back to something more befitting the comfortable atmosphere of the dream.

[has_a_horn]

"You have someone in mind?" He chuckles, then shakes his head minutely, "No. Can't go repeating myself, can I? I'll have to come up with something new." He lifts up a blanket-covered hand, gesturing vaguely. "Haven't been up to much. I should surprise you with breakfast more. I keep waiting to see more of the hunky archaeologist."

He smiles, happily. "Johnny's been taking up a lot of my time. In a good way." He pauses a moment and nuzzles his nose down into Seth's shoulder. "I think you might've been right. Yknow, telling him I love him. It was the right choice."

[powerdealer]

It's probably a good thing Seth doesn't easily blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, because if he did then his response to Gabe hoping to see the 'hunky archaeologist' for breakfast would be 'I wish'. As it is he just lets out a small snort.

"Yeah?" he answers, twisting his head a little to look at Gabe with a small smile. "That's good. Communication, and all that." Not that Seth is in a great place to give advice on that. He's not particularly good at it himself. But supposedly honesty is an important ingredient to a healthy relationship. And he'd like Gabe and Johnny to be happy and healthy.