And the Boats Drift On [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The water is calm, and the night sky is filled with stars. The only light is natural: a patchy, bioluminescent glow coming from the water below, and the bright swath of the Milky Way above. It's not much, but it's more than enough to see by.

The dreamers will find themselves sitting in their own little rowboats, each stocked with two oars, a length of rope, some cushions, and a little picnic basket full of snacks. There is no visible shoreline, but it won't take the dreamers long to realize theirs are not the only boats in this shallow sea. Anything stirring in the water, be it fish or paddle, causes phosphorescent plankton to glow a bright blue, so there isn't really anywhere to hide.

Feel free to paddle around and visit the other dreamers, perhaps tying your boats together and sharing your snacks in an impromptu picnic. Or you could go for a swim - the bioluminescence makes it difficult to see the bottom, but it's not too terribly deep, so the risk of drowning is all but nonexistent. This setting, unlike the last one, isn't actively out to kill you. Or you could simply lie back and look at the stars.



[ooc: Same drill as always, folks. All are welcome, regardless of whether or not your character is in the game. Characters may remember or forget dream shenanigans at the player's discretion.]

Comments

[antitimelord]

Johnny is disadvantaged by still thinking vertically, not to mention the whole needing to breathe regularly thing. Zagreus, by dint of physiology and better control of dreams and fear, isn't even really trying to stay afloat in the first place. Johnny's blows are strengthless, easily ignored, and Zagreus claws at Johnny's shirt, tangling their legs, keeping Johnny from treading water or kicking off. He fights like something that belongs in dark water, weighing Johnny down, a constant insinuation, slinging an arm around his neck when he reaches for the boat. Johnny wanted him in the water, so in the water they both stay.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny manages a last gulp of air before Zagreus drags him back down, and he holds it tight as they sink together. Zagreus evidently doesn't need air like he does, and he feels another surge of fear at the realization, that Zagreus will keep him down until this is done. This won't be the first time he's died in one of these fucking dreams, not by a long shot, but it never hurts any less and his desperation to survive never leaves him. He writhes helplessly against Zagreus' hold, his lungs burning, reaching pleadingly back toward the surface, while all around them the pleasant glow of luminescent plankton swirls in their wake.

DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT (srsly there will be drowning and death)

[antitimelord]

He considers letting Johnny go, letting this be retaliation enough for the mark. He also considers letting him go only so he can catch him again, what a surge of hope and then despair that would be for Johnny, swimming for the light of the stars only to be pulled back down. But he opts against it in the end, generously, not the least of which because the water isn't all that deep--they're nearing the bottom even now, despite Johnny's struggles surfaceward. It's possible that he can make death a permanent state of affairs in a dream, a gift to take back to the waking world. Zagreus doubts it, of course, but perhaps this is as good a time as any to find out. Zagreus doesn't loosen his various grips no matter how Johnny writhes, until he's sure it won't be any use, that Johnny doesn't have strength or oxygen left to struggle away even if he does break free. He wants just enough distance to be able to pay attention, holding Johnny securely but at arm's length, mouth a firm unbreathing line and eyes avidly bright. What a rare treat, to murder someone and have them survive to remember it unfondly.

(DEATH INTENSIFIES I'm serious this is pretty bleak, I'm so so sorry)

[johnny_truant]

Johnny gives up, not all at once, and not because he wants to. He gives up the way bodies give up. He doesn't want to know what drowning feels like, but that doesn't mean he's not going to learn.

He twists and grapples as the final tremors move through his body, and he looks Zagreus in the eye, his stare overpowering, cutting deep into him. He needs to breathe but there's no air, only water. Oh no, no, please.

His grip loosens and his visions fades out, and there's some minutes of lonely darkness before he wakes, violently, throat too dry to scream, in his bed.