The Shavings Off Your Mind are the Only Rent [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

Picture a house. Actually, picture two houses. They're (almost) identical structures that share an uneasy coexistence, tangled together on a quantum level. One of the houses is Good: bright, cheerful, full of comfortable furniture and a pervasive feeling of safety. The other house is Evil: dingy, dilapidated, and haunted by the dreamers' greatest fears.

The good news - and bad news - is that travel from one house to the other is as simple as passing through a door. All a dreamer has to do is walk through a doorway, any doorway, and they'll find themselves in whichever house they weren't in before they crossed the threshold. Perhaps they'll step out of a beautiful library and find themselves in a threatening hallway - or perhaps they'll flee a menacing kitchen and find themselves in a perfectly safe dining room. That is the nature of the houses' entanglement: every door is a portal between the two.

There are, of course, complications. Dreamers in one house can't perceive the other; if you're in the Good house and looking through a doorway, the space beyond will look as nice and inviting as the space you're in now (until you step through that doorway, of course). Dreamers also can't really perceive one another if they're in the same room, but in different houses, though they might see a flash of movement out of the corner of their eye, or think they heard something.

Perhaps the greatest complications are the houses themselves. They have rather strong personalities, and they aren't very fond of one another. Each house will want to keep you if it can (keep you safe, in the case of the Good house, or keep you for itself, in the case of the Evil one). Dreamers may attempt to cross a hall and find the door that looked open and inviting a moment ago is now barred shut, leaving them trapped in the hall - or have doors suddenly close in their faces before they can end up anywhere unpleasant. Still, there's only so much either house can do, and even a locked door can be jimmied open or busted down.

Escape from the houses is possible, but the formal gardens beyond are similarly entangled, with neatly trimmed lawns and expertly plotted flower beds becoming overgrown tangles of nettles and algae-choked reflecting pools. An archway is as good as a door, as far as the gardens are concerned, and there are plenty of arbors and arches over the paths. Of course, dreamers may find that a sound arbor in the Good garden has collapsed in the Evil one… and heaven help anyone who dares to explore the hedge maze.





[ooc: y'all know the drill. ALL characters are welcome, regardless of whether they're in the game. Characters can remember or forget the events of the dream at the players' discretion.

Also, this dream party marks the aforementioned calendar freeze. For the next three weeks, the IG date will sit on July 3rd. Posts dated July 3rd or earlier are allowed and encouraged. The calendar will resume forward motion at a 4:1 ratio on Saturday, July 26th.]

Comments

[rae_of_sun]

And just like that, Aziraphale goes from overwhelming Other to potential customer. Sunshine sits up a bit straighter, trying not to appear overeager. "I work in a bake shop. One of my specialties is Cinnamon Rolls As Big As Your Head, though I can make a lot of other stuff, too. Um. Considering…" she gestures vaguely towards the door they came through, "I thought, if you wanted some free samples…"

So much for not appearing overeager. But she likes feeding people, and it really is the least she can do.

[bibliophale]

Aziraphale's eyes widen visibly as Sunshine goes on, until he looks like a round-eyed child staring down a cadre of golden retriever puppies.

"Yes," he says, clutching her hands tightly, this time in excitement instead of comfort, then he quickly lets them go in mild embarrassment. "Er, yes. I'd love to see your bakery. And eat your baked goods." He grins, getting to his feet and helping her up, back into her armchair. "Where is it? I'll come visit you as soon as we're awake."

[rae_of_sun]

His obvious excitement is encouraging, and Sunshine feels a good deal better as she settles back onto her armchair. "It's on First and 87th," she says. "Glaser's. Um. I'm usually in the back, but just ask for me."

So now there's an angel on her roster of new clientele. At least he won't stick out quite as noticeably as Croach does.

[bibliophale]

"Fantastic," he says, beaming at her as he sits back down. "In the meantime, the tea's still hot, if you'd like some more." He leans over, offering her cup back, slipping a biscuit onto the saucer. She may not notice him vanishing the Wicked Bible; for once, or maybe just for the first time in a very long time, Aziraphale has found he prefers his company to his book.