Tender Lumplings Everywhere, Life's No Fun Without A Good Scare [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The woods are dark and deep, but not particularly lovely. If anything, they feel dangerous, as if something terrible might come lurching out from behind any given tree and tear into the nearest warm body. What that terrible thing might be is anyone's guess. A cat with hands? Slenderman? Stegosaurus? Actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf? All of the above in a horrible mob? It's anyone's guess. But every dreamer will be absolutely convinced that there is something unspeakable out there, and that it's after them.

The dreamers have two things on their side. The first is that there is actually nothing dangerous lurking in these woods (with the possible exception of other dreamers). The pervasive terror the dreamers are feeling is just that: a rift-given feeling, nothing more and nothing less. That snapping twig or rustle in the undergrowth is almost certainly just a squirrel or something else equally harmless.

The second is that no dreamer is alone. They all will be reunited with - or introduced to - their dæmons, a source of comfort in this dark, intimidating wilderness. However frightened the dreamers might be, at least they have someone with them who definitely doesn't want them dead.

[OOC: as ever, any and all are welcome! You don't have to be in the game to join the fun. Dreamers can remember or forget the events of the dream at the players' discretion. And the party only stops when you want it to; feel free to backtag forever.]

Comments

[peacefulexplorer]

There is something watching him.

He knows there is. He knows it. Something - beyond the range of peripheral vision, beyond what he can perceive - is behind him or above him or on some different plane, prickling at the back of his neck and chilling his lungs. It's watching him.

There are too many places to hide here and too many ways something could leap out at him. The trees are all too tall, too wrong, with thickly spread-out canopies that block out any means of celestial navigation. There's the occasional breeze, the hiss of leaves and twigs rustling, but none of it does anything to put either of them at ease.

There is something watching him.

Daniel doesn't like being watched by things he can't watch back. Aliyah doesn't either, but she elects to say nothing about it other than to emit a low, nervous rumble in her chest. The glare of her white fur is at least highly visible even in the trees' long-cast shadows, a constant and reassuring reminder of her presence.

She stiffens for the third time in what feels like the last few minutes, prompting Daniel to do the same, but nothing confronts them, no great and terrible monstrous thing comes bowling out at them from the underbrush. For a minute Daniel's tempted to relax - as much as he can in these circumstances, anyway. But immediately after, Aliyah's ears flick up and her already dilated pupils widen even further. Daniel sucks in a tense breath and holds it. He can't hear anything.

Aliyah can.

Something's coming. Possibly something bad.

[brink]

Topher surprisingly hadn't been a part of the previous dæmon dream, but he had heard about it, which is why he adjusts very quickly to Phonea, who rides on his shoulder, her tail losely wrapped around his neck.

They do a very good job at keeping each other calm, helped by the fact they can both sense that the threat of this forest is fabricated and imposed upon them, rather than natural instinct. That doesn't mean Topher is entirely calm, because he does still have some fear of the dark, even if it is just a dream, in which he has a lot more control than otherwise.

So he's just going to wander until he bumps into someone. It doesn't take particularly long. They seem to notice him before he notices them though, he's pretty sure, given they pretty much radiate anxiety into the dreamscape. As if the dream didn't have enough of it.

"Hello!" Topher calls cheerfully, to make it obvious he has no intention of sneaking up. "It's alright, we're nice."

He carefully jogs up, causing Phonea to have to cling onto him as he approaches. She has a much better night vision than he does, though, so it's she who recognises who they've found.

"Daniel? Daniel Jackson?!" she erupts with sudden glee, and Topher responds with "What, really?!"

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel jumps at the sound of someone calling out but Aliyah immediately assures him that it's a human scent. Also something of the lower primate variety, but it's less specific. The owner of the voice gradually comes into view - a young man with a species on monkey on his shoulder, both of which seem...oddly enthusiastic?

He jumps again when the primate yells his name and Daniel frantically tries to remember if there was any point in his life in which he divulged his name and life story to a monkey, which he's almost certain he hasn't.

"Uh," he says carefully, staring at the man and his communicative monkey in complete and utter confusion as they draw closer. "Hi?"

[brink]

As they get closer and Topher can hear his voice, oh this is very exciting, his grin grows very wide and excited.

"Hi!" he answers, just a little bit high-pitched, and clears his throat, reaching out his hand eagerly towards Daniel. (And haha! No sweaty palms in the dreamscape!) "Topher Brink. Very excited to meet you. That's Phonea, she's a night monkey."

Meanwhile Phonea bounces of his shoulder and onto the ground to say hello to the very large kitty. Normally not something she would do, except this kitty is basically Daniel Jackson, so there's very little threat there.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Uh." He takes the hand but doesn't quite have the processing power to remember to shake it, still trying to sort out how this guy could know his name. "Daniel Jackson. But, um, I guess you knew that? How do you know that?"

This raises a lot of questions. A lot of questions, first and foremost being - how does this person know him? Is this a Rift thing? It could very possibly be a Rift thing. Aliyah sniffs at the indicated night monkey curiously but her scent explains nothing about how either man or monkey could know Daniel's name, just casually on the fly like this.

[brink]

That's okay, Topher is excited enough to shake their hands enough for both of them.

"Uuhhhh," Topher answers, not having thought this far ahead. It's not that often he gets to meet people who are fictional in his own universe. But it's always exciting. "I'm.. a friend of yours from an alternate universe."

"You can't tell him that, you moron!" Phonea exclaims, looking up at Topher.

"Well, it's sort of true?" Topher answers, annoyed.

"It's sort of delusional."

"No, it's not -- Well, okay," Topher turns back to Daniel again, gesturing vaguely for a second. "I'm a fan of yours. Still from an alternate universe, though." He then gives a pointed look seeking approval from Phonea, who shrugs and nods.

[peacefulexplorer]

He transfers his stare between monkey and man periodically, entirely unsure who he should be looking at to supply the explanation. Said explanation, when it comes, is...oh god, no.

"You're not one of those Wormhole X-treme people, are you?" Daniel asks sharply. Figures that show had to exist in multiple versions of the same universe. "Cause they kept promising me they'd killed Dr. Levant for the last time but then they kept bringing him back -"

"Alternate universe, though?" Aliyah asks, unable to restrain her minor spike of anxiety.

[brink]

Topher grins brightly at the reference. "No, I'm not. We don't have that show in my universe. But-- sort of, I mean..." He trails off, gestures a little in place of words, and then exhales noisily, planting his hands on his hips, unsure what to say.

"I think you'd better tell him, yanno, the whole thing..." Phonea answers, climbing back up onto his shoulder, making his clothes a little disheveled and crooked.

"Right," Topher says nods. "Sorry, let me just..." He gestures a bit to the side of him and creates a lamppost (making the area suddenly quite a bit less creepy) and a bench, which he sits down on. Completely forgetting, of course, that Daniel might not even be aware that they're in a dream.

[peacefulexplorer]

Reality warping is not something Daniel anticipated happening with this guy anytime soon, and he takes a step back and squints at him oddly, like he's expecting him to sprout wings at any moment. Which he is, actually. The only creatures he's seen capable of this are angels. And the Devil, who he supposes also counts as an angel. Sort of. Physiologically, anyway, if that's a thing with them, which he has no idea if it is but it seems a safe enough bet to assume so.

"איך עשית את זה?" he asks edgily. He doesn't sense any weird auras but if this guy is something angelic or equally powerful, there's a possibility he'll understand anyway.

[eighth]

Something is most definitely coming, and it is coming at very high speed.

It's a short, wild-haired man, coat flapping in the wind, feet pounding on the forest floor, though a lot more softly and deftly than one might expect at this velocity. By his side is Theta, a large winged cat coloured like a red panda. As the Doctor leaps over a fallen log, as does Theta, a flap or two of her wings carrying her much farther. They'd taken almost no time at all to become familiar with each other.

There's nothing chasing them as one might suspect, nor do they even think there is. They're simply relishing in the exhileration of running and exploring, as much exploring as you can do at this speed, looking for trouble or perhaps a friendly face.

And then suddenly a very large man and a very large cat come into view, and both the Doctor and Theta skid to a halt, their latent telepathic connection enabling them to spot the others and decide to stop at pretty much exactly the same time. Theta uses her wings to break her speed gracefully, and while the Doctor looks like he might come to a graceful stop, he overbalances and falls right on his backside.

This doesn't particularly bother him though, and he enthusiastically grins up at their new company. "Hullo!" he and Theta say in unison, the Doctor keeping seated for the moment while Theta ruffles her wings a little to make them lay more smoothly.

[peacefulexplorer]

Oh geez.

Daniel's been bracing himself for the inevitable discomfort or pain or death since he first heard the rapidly approaching crackle and rustle of a large incoming object hurtling toward him only to stumble backwards with an aborted yell of confusion when the approaching object divides into two - a small man and a large winged red thing, no less. The man doesn't seem surprised at all, and nor does his...winged red catlike animal, which is more than what Daniel can say for himself or for Aliyah, who's now denying in fierce undertone that she'd made any indignant, distinctly un-snow-leopard-like noises or sprang gracelessly backward at all. She most certainly didn't.

The preliminary shock wears off mercifully soon, tension helpfully defused by the fact that the other man is smiling at him brightly, in the most un-malicious way possible.

"H-hi," Daniel gets the words out after a couple soundless tries, lifting one hand tentatively. "Hi."

[eighth]

Oh, good! They seem friendly! Or at the very least, not immediately aggressive or overly defensive. Just a bit alarmed but the Doctor's suddenly appearance.

"Hi!" he echoes, even though they've already covered the hellos, and gets to his feet, brushing leaves and dirt off his trousers and coat, before he advances on Daniel with an outstretched (only slightly dirty) hand and a bright grin.

"I'm the Doctor. This is Theta," he introduces himself cheerfully. Theta pads forward to sniff the snow leopard with friendly interest.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Daniel," he says, bemusedly accepting the hand. "Also a doctor. Well, academically. And, uh, that's Aliyah." He indicates the snow leopard with a nod as she inspects the cat-thing's wings dubiously. Theta, Daniel supposes. This man seems awfully...bouncy about the whole situation, considering they're lost in a forest with all sorts of unpleasant things making unpleasant noises around them. But then, he's also being tailed by a large winged red cat-thing, so maybe he doesn't have to worry about being attacked so much.

[eighth]

"Oh, an academic fellow, splendid!" the Doctor answers, straightening a little and folding his hands behind his back, in the way he always does when he is trying to look respectable. (Usually when he is giving lengthy lectures to his companions.) Kind of difficult to look respectable when you've just run in and fallen over, but he is unconcerned by this. "What sort of fields are you in?" he asks curiously. Meanwhile, Theta inspects the snow leopard, folding her wings down a little and straightening.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Archaeology, predominantly." If Daniel seems distracted, it's because he's eying the wings on the back of the red cat-beast with rapt fascination, because he's never seen such a oddly harmonious blending of different anatomies. Aliyah seems equally enthralled by the opportunity to study it up close. "Philology and, um, anthropology."

He snaps his eyes back to the speaker with some effort, it having occurred to him that this man hadn't exactly given him a first name. "What about you? Doctor, um...of what? And who? I mean, well, you know."

It's very possible he doesn't know because Daniel is not being very lexically accurate at the moment, but his attention has been partially captured by the presence of the winged catlike organism; for all his galactic travels he has never seen anything like Theta before.

[eighth]

It's probably a good thing Daniel is distracted, because at the mention of archaeology, the Doctor looks politely interested at best, and definitely unimpressed. Unless it's Indiana Jones style archaeology. Which is usually isn't. There are only a few people whose style of archaeology actually interests him - which hey, he wonders how Benny's doing these days. It's been a while since he's bumped into her. Probably because she's been hanging out with the Doctor's brother, and while he loves to meet up with Brax every now and then, he'd prefer to know very little of his actual affairs. Actually, when was the last time he met Benny? The Christmas party at his brother's collection? Probably.

The next two on the list grabs his attention a bit more, however. Philology is definitely an interesting subject, especially when you can go back in time and visit the people speaking whichever language. No such thing as a dead language then. And anthropology, well, that's the Doctor's life in a nutshell, isn't it? Certainly a solid portion of it.

"Oh, all of those," he says, in reply to the 'what'. "And a few more to start. And just 'the Doctor' will do. Do like Theta's shape? It's quite an appreciable blend of creatures, isn't it? I've appeared that way a few times myself. Of course, she is me, so that's hardly surprising. We had something quite like them on my planet, though not exactly, of course. A bit like myself, naturally." A main difference being of course that while Theta's shape is peculiar, it's still reasonably mundane in appearance, unlike what is contained inside.

[peacefulexplorer]

"All of...all of those?" He raises an eyebrow, entirely uncertain of how he should be interpreting the man's reluctance to give him a definitive name. It doesn't seem to be of malicious intent so much as just something practiced, habitual. He looks human enough but, well, Daniel of all people would know that physical appearances are hardly a basis for species differentiation. He also does a deft job of redirecting Daniel's attention back to Theta, but then his next string of sentences answers a small portion of Daniel's questions for him as easily as it raises a dozen more.

"I take it you're not human," he says carefully, not worded as a question so much as a safe assessment. It's reasonably deducible from his phrasing alone: the mention of an ambiguous planet of origin and perhaps an ability to alter his appearance? Daniel can't help but wonder if he's being purposefully unclear, though he wouldn't exactly blame him if this turned out to be the case; Daniel's a frequent employer of the same tactic.

[powerdealer]

Seth has bumped into several people by now, so he thinks he's pretty up to speed on the whole soul creature thing that's going on, and him and Sephronia are starting to get used to it. It's certainly very helpful that his inner spirit animal, or whatever it is, is a night creature though, because Seth still can't see shit, but Sephronia can.

She spots the other cat first, the bright white fur much more easily visible than the human-shaped figure next to it, and alerts Seth to it. There's surely plenty of people he doesn't want to bump into in here though, so he doesn't call out. Instead the two of them advance carefully, Sephronia a little ways in front of Seth, until they figure out who it is.

[peacefulexplorer]

Aliyah tilts her head and sniffs then, abruptly, her entire demeanor changes. She bounds forward with a spike of excitement.

A minute later, Daniel sees why.

"Seth," he breathes, the relief palpable in his voice. "Oh, thank god. Are you - you're okay, right?" With the assorted strangeness, the various oddities Daniel's run into, and the constant jangling terror in the back of his skull, he wouldn't be surprised if the dream had decided to do something exceptionally nasty to one or both of them. But Seth looks fine, at least physically, and so does what Daniel assumes is his soul-animal.

He slows as they draw closer, realizing he might look a little odd in his old BDUs to Seth, who he doesn't think has ever seen them before.

[powerdealer]

At first when they grow tense when they suddenly realise they've been spotted, but then there's a sudden relief and Seth realises he knows who it is even before he sees him - presumably because Sephronia can tell? He's not really clear on how much they actually share when it comes to knowledge and feelings, but they do seem to be connected.

Seth grins when he hears Daniel's voice and he comes into view. For all his worrying, they've only really seemed to bumped into people he likes so far. "I'm fine," he answers, as Sephronia excitedly greets Aliyah.

He can't stop himself from frowning a bit as he registers what sort of clothes Daniel's in, the grin fading. His first impression is definitely of the military variety, but then perhaps it's more utilitarian camping or exploring gear or something. "What're you wearing?" he can't help but ask.

[peacefulexplorer]

It seems Aliyah's just as happy to see Seth as Daniel is. She butts her head against the other animal eagerly - he can't see what it is in the dark but it looks like some sort of spotted cat, just like her.

Upon Seth's question, a quick glance downward reaffirms it. Yep, still in the BDUs and that is probably a very strange impression he's making.

"Uh, yeah. About that." He looks back up with a sheepish grin and shrugs loosely. "I think it's the dream. My old job, exploring the universe, that was with the Air Force. Hence," he makes a small up-and-down sweeping gesture as if presenting himself to the class, "the BDUs. Typical about-to-save-the-galaxy uniform."

There's probably something to be said about a reflection of his inner self or the dream presenting Daniel how he sees himself but he doesn't want to look too deeply into that right now. He also isn't sure if that theory means it's a good or bad thing that the dream won't equip him with any weapons. From a practicality standpoint that's a tactical failing but from a moral standpoint, well he - he is not going to look into that at any great length.

[powerdealer]

Seth can't quite hide his distaste, and even Sephronia seems to get a bit more guarded at the news.

"Didn't know you were with the military," he answers, and he's not sure exactly how much is the dream's influence in putting him on edge. He can talk about saving the galaxy, but that doesn't really mesh well with Seth's experience of any part of the government that uses force.

His discomfort is probably not helped by the fact it's only been a couple nights since Seth saw Daniel kill several men right in front of him. He had dismissed it afterwards, because of the strange nature of the dream, and Seth himself having been quite different in it. For one thing, he is absolutely sure that Daniel has never been with the rebels. A lot of Daniel's behavior had been quite off in that dream, though mainly when he was masquerading.

Still, thinking back to it now, while looking at Daniel in this outfit, becomes quite uncomfortable. Especially because of how strongly it clashes with how Seth knows Daniel to be.

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel's visible connection with the USAF seems to have put Seth on edge, especially as evidenced by the wary expression and his soul-creature's retreat from Aliyah. Her ears flatten in discomfort and confusion.

"Air Force," he repeats, raising both hands as if in surrender. Daniel can't fully explain why that seems like a good course of action, except that maybe it'll make him seem as physically nonthreatening as possible, which is really not the easiest task when one happens to be a six foot man in military gear. Seth's discomfort means there's going to have to be some clarification. "And I wasn't so much 'with' them as I was a civilian consultant. I helped them unlock the key to interstellar travel and they let me stay on as, uh, kind of a diplomatic, negotiator ethics guy. They needed someone who felt that shooting things indiscriminately wouldn't cut it."

Maybe a more thorough explanation than necessary while simultaneously not thorough enough. How does he describe how necessary the presence of a nonmilitary personnel member was for exploration? Or how many times Daniel's insistence for a more humanitarian outlook had happened to be, miraculously, often randomly, the key to solving a potentially violent issue? Regardless, the subject clearly makes Seth uncomfortable. Yes, thank you very much Mr. Rift for making it all very obvious.

He doesn't get any closer, keeps his reasonable distance, and smiles with that faint and ever-present optimism.

"It's still me," he finishes with another little shrug, pitching the words hopefully. "Daniel. Same as always."

[powerdealer]

To be fair, 'won't shoot things indiscriminately' isn't necessarily the best reassurance. Kind of a minimum requirement, that. Still, the intense urge to explain and reassure is definitely the Daniel that Seth knows and, uh, and likes. Negotiator ethics guy does sound like him.

Seth sighs and shakes his head a bit at himself, and smiles faintly back in a way that says he might not be entirely comfortable with that, but he accepts the explanation and assurances.

He finds it very difficult to distrust Daniel, especially after what they've gone through, and Daniel's intense loyalty and friendliness. However much Seth might dislike the military and police and such things, Daniel obviously doesn't embody the things he dislikes about it, and Seth really should know that by now. There's just something about having it presented to him so visually.

"Sorry," he says, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I'm just not very, yanno, good with authority."

[peacefulexplorer]

"No that's, that's fine." Noting the shift in body language, Daniel decides it's safe enough to advance. He lets his hands drop at the same time that Aliyah darts forward again. "I mean, hey - neither am I, really. No respect for the chain of command, I'm sure it drove everyone up the wall. But I think they knew they needed someone like me around. Keeping them honest."

At this point the extra reasoning feels superfluous, but Daniel doesn't like the idea of Seth being ill at ease around him. They went through that once in that prison-base dream and once was bad enough, thanks.

"Sorry about that," he adds, not fully sure what is he's apologizing but entirely certain it's warranted regardless. "I forget that's not always the best mental association. We good?"