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

Current Music: Evening July 27th/Morning July 28th

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Literal Satan," he puts in, and quickly starts talking again before that can become their next conversational lead-in.

"And it's unified, that's the most interesting thing," Daniel muses aloud. "It's, it's all coming here, isn't it? Well obviously not here but I mean, I mean Manhattan, it's all ending up there. The multiverse bleedover, it all ripples out and forms at one epicenter, one central universe, and that's this one. But why this one?" He's moved on from initial rhetorical excitement to the amorphous questions, the ones that can't be so easily answered, as is his pattern of thought. Almost unconsciously he starts pacing, repeating his own internal thought processes aloud until the intellectual inquiries build up. "It could be randomized, that's always an option, but nothing's ever completely random, is it? Truly randomized intervals mostly only occur on a very molecularized basis and this is really not my area of expertise."

Then again, if Topher's allegedly been watching his life on TV he would probably have guessed that already.

Daniel can probably tell that Topher has heard of Satan's presence as he merely inclines his head a little at the mention of him. He has kept a very wide berth however. After all, Topher met him that one time, or rather he met Gabriel's memory of him, and he has NO desire to say hello to the real thing. Nope, no thank you, not today. Not ever, hopefully.

"Oh, no, it's not all coming here," Topher corrects. "I mean, first of all, there's plenty of rifts on this planet alone, I actually landed in San Francisco before I came here. And there might be rifts just like this all over, in the middle of deep space or on random planets who the fuck knows where. But it's not just this universe. I have it on pretty solid authority that there's plenty of them of them in other universes too. Some connecting from one specific place to another, like wormholes, or some that are just sucking stuff in from wherever, like ours do."

"So what's the pattern, then?" He folds his arms, cocks his head, studies the tree trunks like they might yield some answers for him. "Why is it that some universes get matter pulled out and others get matter dumped in? Is it limited to individuals with consciousness, or is there more matter transferal happening that we just don't know about? Well no, okay, that's probably exactly what's happening, but how? Is there, is there a pattern, an algorithm, anything to decide which universes are the entry points and which are the exit points? Are they, are they fluid, ever-changing, do some universes oscillate between incoming and outgoing? Does this one?"

Daniel just keeps launching his theoretical questions, one after the other after the other after the other, regardless of whether or not there are answers. This is honestly not his area, something much more up Sam's alley, but it helps tremendously to have someone who is a) obviously highly knowledgeable about the subject matter and b) more than willing to discuss it.

"Which one of those do you want me to answer first?" Topher asks with an amused grin. "Though, yeah, some of those I couldn't tell ya," he continues, and starts to work his way through the questions. "The Rift both gives and takes people, but when it takes, it mostly seems to take people who were brought here in the first place. No clue why, except maybe the Rift trace stuck on them makes it easier for the Rift to pick them up again." He shrugs. "But it's strange, cause sometimes you get people who know each other coming through, right? Often from different points in time though. But the thing is, that's not necessarily the Rift staying connected to one place. Like I said, I got spat out through the Rift in San Francisco, but someone I know came through this Rift! I mean, that's one hell of a coincidence."

He crosses his arms, leaning back a little, but then seems to change his mind, uncrossing his arms and sitting up to gesture further. "And it's not just individuals with consciousness, we get all kinds of matter coming through. The interesting thing is that it's not just matter though, it's also consciousnesses. Like this dream! I guarantee you, there is someone presently in this telepathically linked dreamspace who is linked not just by the Rift but through the Rift, who are still happily asleep back home in their universe."

Daniel shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. Topher thankfully seems to be very much in the know about the specifics of the Rift, or at least the questions that can be reasonably answered.

"It's incredible," he mutters, and forces himself to stop pacing because it's making him slightly dizzy. "I mean it's not particularly my area - actually you'd know that, wouldn't you, this is more Sam, er, Carter's thing - but the possibilities of this? It's like a, a less precise version of wormhole travel. And possibly irreversible, unless you can figure out some way to get the Rift to take you back which, as far as I can tell, isn't the most dependable process."

"Irreversible as far as we can tell at present," Topher answers with a nod. "To say it's not dependable is sort of like saying..." He trails of, gesturing circularly for a few moments, trying to find the right comparison. "I dunno, it's not at all dependable is my point. In fact, it's kind of way more likely to depend on it chewing you up and spitting you out in a coma, or dead, or worse. That's what usually happens."

"Well, if you know me then you'd know that none of the above are necessarily big obstacles for me." A bit of dark humor, then. And it's true and Topher would theoretically know it's true, so there's no real harm in any of it. And it also helpfully allows Daniel to not think too hard on how he would know about the gruesome ways in which one can be mangled by the Rift. He's even more eager to avoid discussing how Topher knows there's a "usually" to that equation at all.

"But you're right. I'm in no rush to become comatose or dead, um, again. So until there's a more concrete method, here I am. Manhattan. Or, uh," he pauses to reevaluate his surroundings, discounting the recently materialized bench and lamppost (which he's still not a hundred percent on how Topher put them there), "physically, anyway. Where exactly are we right now? Did the Rift put us anywhere in particular?"

Edited 2014-11-05 21:08 (UTC)

Topher does know that, but it's strangely a bit different to just... take a moment to realise that all those horrible, terrible things that happened to Daniel on the show most likely actually happened to Daniel, the person standing in front of him. Suddenly the jokes of frequent deaths aren't quite as easy to swallow. Then again, Topher is pretty decent at dark humour, since joking is definitely one of his primary coping methods, so he doesn't let himself be too terribly bothered by others behaving the same way. Phonea, however, gives Aliyah a gentle scritch behind the ears.

"Don't think so," Topher answers, glancing around himself. "Non-particular spooky forest intended to creep us out. Actually, it has been very intentionally creeping you out telepathically. It does that sometimes, affect your mood. I blocked it for you when I joined you, though." So, you know, you're welcome.

"Really?" He hadn't been focusing overly on the dimming of the high-strung nerves that have been present since the dream began, their gradual fade-away having felt so organic at the time. Also there was the your life is fiction in my world thing, which had very much taken precedent in the string of things Daniel had been paying the most attention to. "Huh. Thanks. Um, that was nice of you to, uh, do that. So thanks."

Then a secondary thought strikes him, and it of course bubbles out in the form of a question before Daniel can work out whether or not it's remotely tactful.

"How? Is that, can you just...do that in, in dreams?" He's doing a poor job of wording it as anything but broadly, unsure of how universal that application of dream manipulation can be over the spread of individuals.

"No problem," Topher replies with a practiced smile. It really is no problem for him, to that to one person's mind while he is interacting with them. At least when it's something as simple as just blocking interference from the Rift, not actively influencing them in any particular direction. It would be impossible to try to do it to everyone here however, just like he can't do anything about the setting in more than the immediate area surrounding them. The dreamscape is too big for that, he'd need someone to boost his power. He knows this because he has actually done that once, and it had been very useful.

"Yeah, just dreams. I don't go fiddling with people's minds, certainly not without asking their permission first," he answers. Hah. As if he's never done that before. It is true though, he has most definitely put those days behind him, as interesting and exciting as it was to do. Given that ninety seven percent chance of apocalypse involved, he does not intend to give this universe the imprinting technology or information.

He does sort of do it in the dreaming, but he tries to keep it, you know, ethical and positive. Actually helping people. And respecting their boundaries when they don't want him to, like with Sunshine, one of the few people he goes to see in the waking world instead.

"It's my Rift-given superpower," he says, materialising four balls and starting to juggle with them, then turning them into apples mid-air, then making them disappear entirely. Phonea may be preening and strutting a little throughout this display. "Dream walking, dreamspace manipulation, and falling asleep and waking up at any given time," he explains, grinning a bit. "Mind you, I know people who could do the same thing in here because they can actually do it while they're awake, but that's different."

"Well that's...wow, that's actually useful." He can already think of a situation or three where a power like that would have been exceptionally helpful, mostly with the preventing of suffering or having to watch his friends suffer in dreams. That would have been nice.

The confirmation that Topher won't go rifling through anyone's subconscious mind is a welcome thing to hear, though Daniel has no idea if that will even matter in his own case, seeing as Topher has evidently been getting extended glimpses into his life for some time. He trusts the man's assertion, however. He's been given no reason not to, and Topher's marked lack of hostility feels like a good verification that he means well.

"If only I could be so lucky." Daniel finally sits beside him. Now that he knows the dream isn't actively going to harm him, there's little reason to remain standing and tensed to run at any minute. He closes one hand in a fist and concentrates for a moment to demonstrate. It opens with a small pile of staples on his palm, which he shakes his head at in mild disgust.

Topher looks curiously down at Daniel's hand, then blinks a bit at the pile of staplers.

"Well, that's... anti-climactic," he says honestly. "Can you make other things?" Because otherwise it is a bit useless, yeah. Then again, based on evidence, does Daniel really need a superpower? Doesn't he already kind of have one? Maybe the Rift just figured he was awesome enough as he is.

"It's pretty much limited to office supplies," he replies as he pockets the staples ruefully. "Those were supposed to be paperclips, but I'm still working out the details of how it, um. Works." So far his understanding of the power is little more than the general rule of how the bigger and more complex the object, the more concentration and accuracy required in the visualization prior to materialization. So far Daniel hasn't purposefully managed anything more impressive than a ballpoint pen.

"Control of a dreamspace sounds much more helpful." He shakes his head, gnawing on his lip. "These dreams are, well. They can get pretty intense, and I'm still hammering out a definitive way to separate reality from the Dreaming. Getting better at that, at least."

Well... Office supplies. Suppose it could be worse. It's not actively working against Daniel, at least, even if it's not overly impressive or useful. But a little bit useful is better than a little bit or a lot harmful.

"Yeah, the Rift loves messing with us. But like you said, one does get better at it with practice, if you have the aptitude for it. It often varies how easy it is to tell, though. Some Rift-given dreams make it so difficult even I have trouble telling for a moment." That had been some pretty impressive telepathic trickery. Which had annoyed, impressed, frightened and delighted Topher, all at the same time. "You can also control the dreamspace yourself, to a certain extent, with practice, though that also depends on the dream. This one isn't very friendly to being changed, for example. And it's often easier to change how you yourself appear in the dream, like changing your clothes. And sometimes you change the dream without even noticing, like if you assume something is there, then it might suddenly be."

"So one of these days I might be able to imagine myself a P-90," Daniel mutters, one hand automatically dropping to the place where his sidearm would be if the dream had been nice enough to provide him with one. Self-defense seems to be a mixed bag based on what the dream decides to throw at him, but over the years he's found the heft of even a potentially useless firearm to be an uncomfortably reassuring familiarity. He glances sideways at Topher in sharpened interest.

"What about waking yourself up? Is that, can one learn to do that with, with practice?"

Because Daniel would like to be able to wake up in a way that doesn't entail the shock of watching a friend die. That would be nice.

"Well, I mean you can do that even without Rift interference. It's probably harder with shared dreams than just regular ones, though. But, yeah, probably?" he answers, with a half shrug. It came to him so naturally, it was difficult not to do, really, if he wanted to. Then it suddenly became an issue of trying not to suddenly fall asleep or wake up upon wanting to do so, but actually be able to resist the instinct.

"What's a P-90?" he asks, and then creates one in his hand, letting Daniel's imagination fill it out. This is probably one of the easiest ways to manipulate a dream, especially when he's in someone's head. Just prompt something, facilitate the change, and let their minds fill it out.

Of course, the moment he realises what he has in his hand, he reacts with distaste, jumping a little. "Ew, one of those, no thanks," he says, disapproving, and with that it disappears again. There are very, very few circumstances where Topher will willingly use a gun, and things have to be pretty desperate and intense for that to happen. Usually he just tries to avoid the situations where it would be even slightly necessary.

Daniel hums an acknowledgement to the answer, dissatisfied. He's yet to find a way to forcefully wake himself up that hasn't been unpleasant in some way, so he makes it a private goal of his to work out a concrete method.

He opens his mouth to answer the question but Topher gives him absolutely no time to explain. He just goes ahead and manifests what appears to be a very accurate, very functional dream representation of the weapon in his hands.

"Hey," he says sharply, but it vanishes before he can get any further. A distant part of him can't help but commend Topher's apparent no-guns policy, but his eyes still flick up in mild suspicious discomfort. "How did you - were you in my head to make that?"

"Nah," he answers casually. "Like I said, your mind can influence the dreamspace too, I just made it possible, gave it a little nudge. It doesn't take getting in your head, I just sort of... had you make one for me, basically. Of course, if you hadn't been listening to me, and you'd been thinking very clearly about a pineapple at the time, I'd have suddenly had a pineapple in my hand. Which I suppose would've been nice, actually..."

You know what? He's just going to make a bowl of nicely sliced up pineapple bits with powdered sugar on and start eating. Good idea. "Want some?"

"I'm good, thanks."

Aliyah's head jerks up, intrigued by the sharp new scent, but soon drops with a huff of disinterest.

The ability to alter dreams is still an intriguing possibility to him, even if Topher seems to be solidly anti-guns. Daniel understands that, to an extent. He's moved past the point where he was the same way but it's affirming, almost, to run into someone with that policy. Affirming, with just enough regret over how Daniel can no longer afford to be the same.

"Are there limits?" he asks, ever curious, "I mean, to what you can materialize from someone's head? In, in function or size or anything like that?" He imagines there must be, but Topher did apparently create a lamppost and bench with very little effort, so Daniel has no idea what those limits would be.

"Mmmm, size and complexity?" he answers. "Also depending on the strength of the dream, whether it's Rift controlled or just belonging to someone else's mind. In my own dreams, I have more or less total control, although sometimes of course, deliberate intention conflicts with instinct."

Topher usually wouldn't go on about this to someone who is technically a total stranger - it's generally a bad call to give someone all the details of your powers and their limitations and possible uses, before you actually know what that person might do with that information. Topher feels like he does know with Daniel though, and trusts him not to go blabbing about it or using it against him. Familiarity breeds trust, and all though, although Topher has gotten intimately familiar with why that is sometimes a very bad thing. Repeatedly. Not that he's really learnt from it.

"In a regular person's dream, I can do a lot, like change setting and also mood and emotions of the dream, or show them things, and, yeah, you know. Sometimes I pop by just to stop someone from having a nightmare. I mean, it's tricky to try to control someone's dream, but I never really have reason to do that. Introducing them to stuff they're not familiar with is also a bit of effort. Mostly it's just simplest to nudge them in the right direction and let their mind fill in the rest, you know?" he goes, shrugging a bit. "With people who have like massive brainpower or telepathic abilities or dream powers of their own, I can really only do stuff if they let me. But then they're nicely in control themselves, so there's no reason for me to go poking, really. And then of course there's the huge parties, dozens if not sometimes hundreds of minds coming together in the same event, like this one. Here I can only really influence my immediate surroundings, and often with a lot of caveats. I couldn't make Phonea go away even if I wanted to, for example, because she's one of the core elements of the dream."

"So the Rift sets these pre-established 'rules' for the group dreams where everyone's drawn in," Daniel summarizes with a nod, "and since you're in the unique position to access and manipulate the dream on multiple levels, you can tell what these rules are and how to work for or against them."

It's a power that he wouldn't have thought could hold much weight but here, where dreams are vivid and sometimes harvest their circumstances from the dreamers' real lives and involve group consciousnesses, Daniel can see why that would be incredibly useful.

Especially in terms of the nightmares.

He hesitates before asking his next question.

"Do you, uh," he presses on tentatively, "would you be able to maybe...well, only if I ask him, not without his permission or anything, but would you maybe be able to help a friend of mine? He has these uh, nightmares. Really, really bad ones." And semi-regularly if his reactions to them are any hint.

"Exactly," Topher answers, making fingerguns at Daniel. Succinctly put. Topher doesn't really do succinct. Or at least not without using made up language and or completely losing whoever he's talking to. He needs to go the long way to actually bring people along, although he's pretty sure Daniel could keep up better than most.

At the request, he straightens up a little bit. "Oh, yeah, sure. Probably," he answers. Doesn't take much convincing for him to agree to do Daniel a favour, and it's something Topher spends a lot of time doing anyway. "Who is he, what's his name?"

That prompts a longer pause. Topher has been friendly and agreeable and Daniel...well, all right, he likes him. But he also knows Seth isn't exactly eager to broadcast his name on all channels, for very understandable reasons even if he's still a little dark on the details. And it isn't really Daniel's decision to make. He wishes quite abruptly he hadn't brought it up, at least not before actively consulting Seth. It's his mind, after all.

"I'll have to get back to you on that." He winces as he says it, restrained and apologetic. "Sorry. He's um, in a bit of a tight spot right now in terms of, well, everything. But, uh. Is there a way I can contact you once we wake up?"

Topher shrugs in reply to Daniel's apology. Topher knows very well the challenge of keeping a low profile, and he appreciates Daniel's loyalty in not doing or saying anything with his friend's permission. Even though Topher's very curious now.

"Give me your number and I can text you?" Topher suggests. He'd just give Daniel his number, but chances that Topher will remember something from the Dreaming is infinitely higher. "And, when you're dreaming, if you like, really want me to come find you, chances are I will notice. Especially if you have telepathic powers. But I don't think you do, do you?" he asks, frowning suddenly, like he's trying to figure it out. There was all that Ancient stuff of course, but...

"Nothing so overt," Daniel admits with a smile and relays his number, grateful for Topher's willingness to go along with it. No questions asked, probably in full understanding of the complicated relations between ROMAC and the rebels and everything that Daniel's only just starting to get a handle on. "Just office supplies. And some, um, sensory stuff. Telepathy's a bit out of my range."

As far as he can tell, anyway. He's only just starting to adapt to the fact that some stuff got left behind in his brain post-Ascension and can make his synapses fire off without much warning. He's not sure if this is natural - as natural as it can be, anyway - or something exacerbated by the Rift or if it's unique to him or if it's just the collaborative efforts of all of the above. It's so poorly defined that Daniel doubts he'll have a significant grasp on it anytime soon.

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