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

[bibliophale]

"It's Melanie!" Orisa immediately relaxes, loosening her coils and sliding down Aziraphale's arm a little ways. Aziraphale feels oddly shy having her talk directly to the girl, but Orisa doesn't seem to care as she says, "Hallo darling. I'm called Orisa. Quite a lovely beassst you've got there!"

After regarding both Orisa and the dog uncertainly, Aziraphale turns his attention to Melanie, smiling kindly and reaching out to stroke her hair. "Have you been all right?" he asks with mild concern. "Managing all by yourself?"

"She's not by herself, sssilly," says Orisa. "She's got her friend here, just as you've got me. You can take care of yourself, can't you?" She slithers easily from Aziraphale's arm onto Nikolaos' immense head and shoulders, curling around comfortingly. Aziraphale suffers a moment of displaced tension at the contact, but it's fine - in fact, it's rather nice.

[all_the_gifts]

"I'm Nikolaos," he replies, ducking his head bashfully even as his tail continues to fan the air. He wants to say he's not half so lovely as her, but he can't quite bring himself to utter the words aloud.

Melanie leans into Aziraphale's hand a little, her smile softening. "We're okay. We saw Crowley and Bayan earlier, and we know it's just a dream." She looks over at Orisa, a little surprised at the way the snake just casually flows over Niko's head and wraps around his shoulders, instead. It's not at all unpleasant - the opposite, really - but it does make Melanie's eyes go wide, and Nikolaos's tail wags so hard that his entire rump swings from side to side as if he's doing a ridiculous sort of dance.

It seems only natural that Melanie should drift over to lean against Aziraphale's side and loop her arms around his waist. Feeling the need to say something on her companion's behalf, she adds, "Niko's been looking after me. He's taken all kinds of different animal shapes. We're not even sure what some of them are." Tilting her chin up, she asks, "What about you two?"

[bibliophale]

"Oh, good!" Aziraphale smiles, though he wonders, distractedly, where Crowley's got to. Weren't they together not very long ago? He brushes the confusion aside; some bizarre effect of the dream, no doubt. He smiles indulgently and rests his arm around Melanie's shoulder as she pulls closer.

"We're all right," Orisa volunteers. Aziraphale can sense her eagerness to pass over that question quickly - just as they remember meeting Crowley, they can remember at least two other encounters, with beings they do not want Melanie knowing about, and vice versa. The serpent is quick to change the subject, asking Nikolaos, "You can change? I'm fairly certain I can't change. Can we ssssee?"

[all_the_gifts]

"Oh. Yes." Nikolaos looks a little embarrassed at being suddenly put on the spot, but he obliges by changing back to the brindled lion shape he was in before. He doesn't want to make too drastic a shift lest he upset his passenger. "I don't always know exactly what I am," he admits. "I've just been trying to stay big in case something scary actually does come along."

"But we haven't seen anything," Melanie hastens to add, so Aziraphale won't worry.

Niko changes again, then shuffles one of his paws through the leaves. "Is this a panda?" he wonders aloud. "I feel like I might be a panda."

[bibliophale]

"Oh!" Orisa slithers and shifts her position slightly to adjust for Niko's transformation. "Mossst impresssive," she chuckles.

"That's fascinating," murmurs Aziraphale, just as Niko changes into a 'panda'.

"Ahh..." Orisa peers down at him, studying his odd and rather unnerving feet.

"Not exactly," says Aziraphale delicately. "I suppose you've never seen a proper panda before, have you?"

"Doesn't matter, at any rate. This shape'll properly scare off any missscreants," says Orisa. She starts crawling back toward Aziraphale, who extends his arms again to help her up. She loops back around him and settles there, loose and lazy.

"I believe they're our souls," says Aziraphale, regarding Orisa a bit dubiously as he says so. He's still not quite ready to accept that his soul is apparently beffiting the body of a serpent. Some sort of cosmic joke, must be. "I wonder if yours is able to change shape because of your - condition?"

"Perhapsss," says Orisa thoughtfully. "Because you've got more than one lifeform living in you. Can fungusss have a soul?"

"Search me," says Aziraphale, shrugging and jostling Orisa a bit, causing her to hiss in his ear. "But nor do angels, really. Certainly not souls that look like you."

"Oh, get over yourself," sighs Orisa.

[all_the_gifts]

"Look at your feet!" Melanie says with a grin, letting go of Aziraphale so she can crouch in front of Nikolaos and heft one of his oversized forepaws in her hands. He dips his head to nuzzle her hair fondly, then sighs as Orisa crawls back over to Aziraphale.

Their theory about Niko's shape changing abilities makes her frown a little. Not that she has any better ideas. Maybe they should be asking why Orisa can't change into other animals.

But it's Niko who responds, and with a surprising amount of force. "No," he says firmly, shifting into a more recognizable lion shape, his tail twitching uneasily. "I'm not the hungry part. I'm the Melanie part." He butts the crown of his head against Melanie's chest, and she puts her arms around his neck, both flattered and embarrassed by the outburst.

"I think he's right," she says, giving his neck a comforting scritch. "If the cordyceps had a soul, so would all the trees and things, right? So would that," she points out a moss-covered rock, which is conspicuously short any talking animals.

[bibliophale]

"Oh," says Aziraphale, a little startled by the vehemence of Nikolaos' denial, though he realizes he shouldn't be. "No, of course, you're right. You're all Melanie." He smiles at the two of them, how sweet they are.

"Might just be a human thing," Orisa offers.

"Well, whatever the reason," says Aziraphale, running a hand absentmindedly along her scaly body. She hisses softly in pleasure, and it does make him feel better, he notes. "It's good that he's here and can protect you. These woods are a terrible place to be alone, even if there isn't actually anything out there. Though I'm not sure of that, one way or the other."

He lifts his head and scans their surroundings, still feeling a bit paranoid. "Do you want to explore?" he asks the committee. "Or just rest a while?"