Enchantment Under the Sea

[applesaucemod]

Tonight, the dreamers of Manhattan will find themselves transported to what is unmistakably a high school gymnasium. Granted, it's lavishly decorated in blues, greens, and violets. There are jellyfish made of tissue paper and streamers, painted cardboard fish are dangling from ceiling, and an abundance of transparent balloons serve as substitute bubbles. Tables and chairs are clustered around the periphery for those who'd like to sit, but the majority of the floor is open for dancing. Along one wall, folding tables hold snacks and bowls of punch. There's no DJ to be seen, but a sound system is playing a steady stream of classic dance songs.

It's impressive work for a nonexistent prom committee, all things considered.

But the setting is not the only thing that hearkens back to one's teenage years. The dreamers will find, regardless of age or species, that they're now saddled with the hormones of an average sixteen-year-old human being… and with the delightful mood fluctuations and bouts of irrationality that come with the package. (Dreamers who are already teenagers might be said to be getting a reprieve… but dealing with adults in such a state will be trying enough on its own. Someone has to chaperone, right?)

The good news for dreamers who aren't into dances is that there's an entire high school to explore, though the hallways will only be half-lit and many of the classrooms will be locked up. Even the parking lot and athletic fields are accessible, but dreamers may find themselves getting mysteriously turned around if they try to actually leave school property.


[ooc: you all know the drill. Any and all characters are welcome, regardless of whether or not they're in the game. Dreamers may remember or forget the events of the party at the player's discretion.]

Comments

[johnny_truant]

"You betcha," says Johnny, slouching deeply and leaning his head back to peer up at the distant ballooned and jellyfished ceiling. He snorts under his breath. It's such a standard prom scenario - like from Back to the Future or something.

He tips his head back up and looks over at Seth. They haven't had an excessive amount of contact since their last particularly eventful brush - just some in-and-out fussing over Gabe. "You doin okay, man?" he asks, briefly somber.

[powerdealer]

Also, a friend who worries about him. That's nice too. There hasn't been an excessive amount of people worrying about him in Seth's life.

"Yeah, man," he answers with a reassuring smile. Even though yes, he hasn't exactly shaken the paranoia and turmoil of his brief stint with Johnny's power, and his nightmares have taken a turn for the inventive, but Johnny doesn't particularly need to know that. Seth doesn't want him to feel guilty about it.

"Got any more spike minus the punch?" he asks, holding out the empty glass.

[johnny_truant]

"I got punched by Spike, if that helps," says Johnny with a shit-eating grin. He doesn't know if Seth knows Spike - hell, he doesn't know Spike, but it's kinda hard to forget when a pretty girl calls a guy Spike with an unconcerned air of 'oh, you' - but the pun seems at this point like the most brilliant thing he's ever come up with. Obligingly, he pulls the flask back out of his jacket, now magically refilled just like the punch bowl, and gives Seth a nice jigger to chase the trashy high school cocktail.

"I'm like Santa," says Johnny cheerfully, and is about to regale Seth with the tale of how he produced some quality weed in his pocket by just thinking it seemed appropriate, but then he thinks maybe he better not mention that.

[powerdealer]

Seth groans and shakes his head a little at the pun. He doesn't know Spike, but the pun is bad enough even without context. So the drink is welcome.

"How do you keep making guys hit you?" he asks, thinking back to the aborted fight with Peter. He specifically does not use the word 'punch', to avoid more puns.

[johnny_truant]

It was an amazing fucking pun, thank you very much. Johnny rolls his eyes at Seth's reaction. Philistine.

"I guess it's just because I'm so fucking hittable," he says with a shrug. "I guess I should thank you for never hitting me. Or hitting on me." He saw what you did there, Seth. He smirks.

"Not to say I mind getting hit on," he muses, not as a suggestion at all, just 'cause... he doesn't. Not from Gabe, or Eliot... he likes that. Man it would be fucking nice to see either of those guys here right about now. But it's nice to see Seth too. Seth's nice.

He takes a swig straight from the flask and leans heavily across the little table. "Can you get sick in dreams?" he groans.

[powerdealer]

"Right. I'm leaving," he says as Johnny brings a second pun, and sits up a bit to make his point, but he's clearly only pretending and doesn't actually go anywhere. He does however take a nice drink. Seth is probably a lot more likely to hit Johnny than to hit on him - at least if he keeps it up with the puns. He can flirt, but he's not even slightly smooth enough to actually hit on someone.

"Probably," he answers, cocking his head at Johnny. "Maybe you should slow down," he adds, leaning over to fish the flask out of Johnny's hand.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny laughs at Seth's display, then rests his head facedown on the table. "It might be too late for that," he mumbles, but he lets Seth take the flask.

"Will you hold my hair back if I throw up," he asks with a muffled, embarrassed giggle.

[powerdealer]

Seth pockets the flask for safekeeping, and for topping off his own drink when necessary. "What if I just braid it so it doesn't fall in your face?" he asks, playing along. Although actually, forget he said anything, he definitely doesn't know how to braid hair, let's pretend.

[johnny_truant]

"Good fucking luck taming this beast." Johnny runs a hand demonstratively through his increasingly unruly hair. "Oh god. I might need to lie down."

He slides placidly out of the chair and onto the gym floor, sprawling out. "Ooookay that's better," he says, though it isn't, entirely. The room is spinning a little. Urgh.

[powerdealer]

For a moment Seth imagines Johnny with cornrows and he lets out a snort of laughter. And then suddenly Johnny is on the floor. Okay then.

Right, they're in a high school. Is there anywhere here that has a couch or a bed or something? Teacher's lounge, maybe. Unfortunately Seth has no clue where or how far the teacher's lounge might be.

"You wanna go somewhere more quiet?" he suggests. "Or maybe get some fresh air?"

[johnny_truant]

"Yeah," mumbles Johnny from the floor. "That'd be nice. Either thing." He reaches out a hand, groping for Seth's. "Help me get up."

[powerdealer]

The outside presumably has both fresh air and quiet, and shouldn't be too hard to find, so he'll aim for that. He empties the plastic cup of alcohol, sets it on the table, then gets down on one knee next to Johnny.

"Just promise not to puke on me, yeah?" he says, taking Johnny's arm and putting it around his shoulders, then hoisting him to his feet. Good thing Johnny's not particularly heavy. "Oh, and if you make another pun, I might drop you," he adds jokingly.

[johnny_truant]

"You're a true friend," says Johnny as he lopes unsteadily alongside Seth, hanging off him like a baby sloth. He has no intentions of throwing up on another person, but motion is making him uncomfortable. "Let's find a bathroom," he says with some urgency. "And then let's get outside."

[powerdealer]

"Why is it everyone else gets your cheerful drunken flirting, and by the time you get around to me, you end up on the floor and have to throw up?" he asks, arm around him to make sure he keeps moving in the right direction and doesn't topple. At least a bathroom presents itself fairly quickly.

APOLOGIES FOR VOMIT but come on, somebody had to vomit

[johnny_truant]

Wh... uh, what? Johnny side-eyes him subtly, wondering exactly what that was supposed to mean. Probably nothing. It was probably just a joke. He always overthinks everything.

"What, that time I accidentally kissed you wasn't enough?" he says, and immediately regrets bringing that up, laughing nervously. "Lemme just get this out of the way and get back to status quo." He pushes his way into the bathroom and into a stall, dropping down to his knees, hugging the bowl and throwing up almost immediately. Oh fuck. Ughhhh.

wouldn't be a proper prom without it

[powerdealer]

Honestly, it was more that looking after a puking Johnny isn't exactly an ideal night for him, and it seemed like what Johnny had mostly been doing before was flirt. And get punched, in both meanings of the word.

He's kind of glad he doesn't need to address Johnny's reply. He winces sympathetically at the rather unappealing sound, grabs a few paper towels for Johnny to wipe his mouth with when he's done, then goes over to rub his back comfortingly.

[johnny_truant]

Well, that's what friends are for. And Johnny does appreciate the back rubbing. He slumps back and reaches up to flush as soon as it's over, coughing and groaning a bit, then accepts the paper towels with a mumbled "Thanks."

Once he's feeling a little more human, he gets up and edges back out of the stall, over to the sink to splash his face and thoroughly rinse his mouth out. He's feeling almost immediately better, and he offers Seth a weak but well-humored grin in the mirror. "That's better." Would it be too implausible for him to be carrying breathmints? Apparently so, but he does find a pack of cigarettes. Thank god.

"Let's get outside," he says, sliding a cig into his mouth and lighting it promptly. "Want one?"

[powerdealer]

If only they had the sort of dream control that would allow them to sober up or not get sick. Since really, it's not like the alcohol is doing anything except as a placebo effect, but it's still pretty effective at getting them drunk.

He declines with a shake of his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets and heading towards the exit. "So, this is an interesting introduction to the prom experience."

[johnny_truant]

"This is pretty much par for the course, man," says Johnny falling into step beside him. "We could go set something on fire, or..." Get to second base on the football field. "...Something. Break into a science lab. If you want the full immersive experience."

[powerdealer]

"Well, at least we wouldn't get in trouble for it," Seth answers with a shrug. Or at least not any more than very temporarily, until they wake up. "...Actually that sounds kind of fun." He thought he'd outgrown mindless and pointless acts of vandalism and rule-breaking, but apparently they're back at teenager level for this dream, so.

[johnny_truant]

"All right then," says Johnny with a laugh, and promptly steers them toward one of the science labs he'd passed with Jodie earlier. He breaks them in and doesn't bother with the light - just stands there smoking. "Let's wreck shit."

[powerdealer]

Seth takes another good drink, getting himself in the proper state of intoxication for this sort of activity, and starts looking around once they get inside.

"Think they have like... stuff that explodes when you mix them or something?" he wonders aloud, opening up cupboards and looking through them. Chemistry was never his strong suit (then again, academics in general was never his strong suit) so he doesn't what exactly he'd need to mix together, but whatever.

[johnny_truant]

"Probably," says Johnny with a shrug. He puts his cigarette out on the nearest lab table and tucks it behind his ear, for later. "I'm just really in the mood to smash things."

He seeks out a closet full of equipment and forces it open without the aid of his power. He whistles appreciatively. "Lotta breakables in here."

[powerdealer]

"Oh yeah, not lacking in that," Seth agrees. He picks of two Erlenmeyer flasks, and starts trying to juggle them. Seeing as he is not a good juggler by any means, it doesn't take all that long for him to fumble and one of them to smash on the floor. It makes him feel gleeful rather than embarrassed. "Whoops," he says with a grin.

Some part of his brain is wondering what the hell he's doing, and another part - presumably the part influenced by the dream and hormones - is going aww yeah, fuck shit up! But then he's pretty sure he won't be the only one embarrassed by his behavior come morning.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny returns the grin, grabs another thing (he doesn't even check to see what it is) and hurls it at the blackboard up front. It shatters satisfyingly across the wall.

Johnny knows very well this is largely hormonal. But he also knows that a good round of breaking shit is inherently satisfying no matter how old you are. And here, there's no consequences. He's due for it. He figures they both are.

He gropes around the room for some kind of implement and settles, a bit ridiculously, on a yardstick, which he sweeps across the teacher's lab table, knocking everything onto the floor. He laughs, a bit manic, and climbs onto the now empty space, perching there as one might on a throne.

"Do as you will," he pronounces, feeling ridiculous and embracing it whole-heartedly.