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

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.]

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It's easy enough for Aly to adjust her Sight so that her vision is as good as a cat's. The darkness worries, but doesn't frighten, her. No, it's what's out there in the dark that Aly is concerned for. The woods whisper and skitter in ways that remind her of spidrens and gryphons, all sharp and foul. She's clever enough and deadly enough against normal humans; it's the Immortals that worry her. The beasts are big and deadly and she's only one small mortal.

At last Angeron, dear dear crow, is on her shoulder. Reassuringly, he preens her hair and whispers contingency plans into her ear with Trick. Between the three of them, she knows, they're clever enough to find a way. If only Angeron could fly away without making them feel ill, then they'd truly be able to get a lay of the land and learn how to proceed.

"Angeron, my dear," Aly whispers, running a finger down the back of his glossy wings, "I do not like this place."

"Nor do I, Aly-child," Angeron agrees, tucking a lock of hair behind Aly's ear with his beak.

Lucy hasn't been to one of these particular dreams before, so she was pretty baffled at first to meet a rather large swan. It had calmly introduced itself - himself as Helaku, and Lucy had decided to take him for his word, considering there are rather more pressing matters.

Namely being that the location they're in seems decidedly hostile. She hasn't seen or heard anything out to get them, but she feels like someone or something definitely is, and Helaku does too. She knows swans can be pretty vicious, but probably not enough to ward off what or who might be lurking in these woods.

So the best course of action seems to be to start moving. Even if there's nothing out there, they can't very well stay here, in the middle of nowhere. It feels pretty strange with a swan as her companion, but somehow not unnatural, and given it's a talking swan, well, better just go with it. Better to stick together.

Helaku can keep a pretty decent speed, it turns out, though it's a little awkward-looking when he's on land, and sadly there doesn't seem to be any rivers nearby. She can still walk quicker than him, but even if she ran, she's pretty sure he'd be quicker if he took wing. They haven't tasted that theory, though.

"Hello?" Lucy calls out at random intervals, deciding the chance of coming across someone who can help is more to hope for than the risk of something unfriendly hearing them.

With her vision adjusted, Aly has little trouble making out Lucy's face in the darkness. They've encountered one another often enough that Aly might suggest they are friendly, though perhaps not truly friends. Neither of them is precisely in a business that allows for such luxuries.

From her shoulder, Angeron croaks once and then tilts his head at them, pretending in that moment to be little more than a pet.

"Hullo. It's Aly," she replies. "We've met before."

Lucy jumps a little when she finally gets a response, while Helaku spreads his wings a little, as if ready to take flight or defend himself from attackers, but they both relax a little almost right away when it becomes clear there's no danger. She wonders how on earth Aly can make out Lucy in this darkness, but then she had been calling out quite a bit. And both her and Helaku are rather light, and therefore easier to spot.

"Goodness, you made me jump," she answers, approaching Aly. Not someone Lucy knows too well, but someone she knows enough not to be frightened, at least. "Are you alright?"

"It's terribly dark here," Aly agrees, frowning a little and playing meek. "I don't like the feeling of these woods, do you?"

She wonders at Lucy's swan, a creature regarded for its beauty and not as well known for its ability to kick, beat, and peck anyone who disturbs it. It's not dissimilar to the way that Angeron looks to be only a handsome black crow and Aly knows him to be a much cleverer beast indeed.

"Not a bit," Lucy replies, glancing over her shoulder, something she feels like she's been doing an awful lot, and there's never anything there. She notes the crow sitting on Aly's shoulder, looking about as odd and out of place as the swan trailing Lucy. Well, the swan might look a little more strange, actually. The crow looks strangely fitting in a way, especially for their location.

"I haven't seen anything, but I keep thinking I hear something. And it just feels like something's watching, you know?" she confides uneasily. As least she feels slightly safer knowing she's not alone. Well, not safe, exactly, but comforted. At least if they get terribly mauled, they'll have company. Lucy tries not to think these brutal, fatalistic thoughts, but it's very difficult not to here.

"Yes, I can't help but feel jumpy." It's a truth she's willing to admit, because it's clearly what any sane person would feel.

"I hate dreams like this," she says in a low voice. "As if I'm being forced to feel fear, no matter how calm things really are."

Lucy considers that. She's known these dreams to impose moods and beliefs before, so it's entirely possible that's exactly that they're doing. Which actually makes her feel a bit braver, because she refuses to bow down to that sort of manipulation.

"Well, then. Let's not give it the satisfaction of having us scared," she says, straightening up a little bit. "Shall we keep walking?"

Aly smiles at that, even though she feels pressured and jumpy. She thinks she quite likes Lucy's sentiment and she nods stubbornly. "Chin up and feet forward then?" she suggests.

Angeron flaps his wings approvingly, looking back at Helaku thoughtfully before glancing back at their humans.

Lucy nods in agreement, and continues more or less in the direction she was going when she bumped into Aly. Helaku stretches his wings for a moment and follows.

"Oh, I forgot to mention," says Lucy suddenly, glancing back at the swan. "This is Helaku. Apparently." She assumes Aly knows at least as much as Lucy does on what's up with their companions, since she hadn't actually asked.

"And my friend here is Angeron," Aly says, because if she doesn't introduce him then he will for them. She slides two fingers over his back and glossy feathers, smiling.

"Remarkable, what's happening and appeared," Aly says, thinking she'll be quite sad to wake up without Angeron again.

"That's one word for it," she answers, sharing a glance with the swan. They're both a little baffled, to be honest, but taking things in their stride.

"I don't... We don't really know what's going on," she admits. Some parts had become obvious with the insight from Helaku, but why or how this is happening, or how to deal with it, all that stuff is still pretty blurry.

"No, not at all." That's always something Aly hates, waking or sleeping. The less she knows, the less she can control of her own fate. It's a balance of power that asks for trouble.

"Not to mention it makes your head all fuzzy, not knowing what fear is the dream and what fear is natural."

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

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