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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well, hey." He raises his dream-manifested coffee mug in a mock toast and smiles crookedly. "To saving the world."

And since he supposes Topher would know, him being apparently privy to most of the developments in his life, he continues:

"I'm guessing I should try to keep quiet about the Ascension thing, huh?" That'll mean no more divulging details to the people he meets in dreams, no matter how friendly or interested they seem in the matter. That's not a terrible stretch, at least. It just seems the sort of thing some of them are interested in and he won't fault them for that, but he doesn't want to be attracting the attention of higher-ups who might have a curiosity in cheating death and gaining knowledge of the universe's many workings.

Topher raises a spoonful of sugared pineapple in toast, which might not work quite as well, but get the point across.

"Probably a good idea, yeah," he agrees, nodding thoughtfully. "I mean, it's probably not the top of the list of things they'd be interested in? You not currently being Ascended and all. But probably best not to shout about it?"

"Yeah, I um. I figured." He...might have been a little slow on the uptake there. Hopefully the few people that do know of his sporadic run-ins with his own fickle mortality will have the sense to stay quiet about it. Daniel doesn't like the philosophy of assuming mistrust in others, as he typically makes it his own policy to do the exact opposite in contrast. "I just think maybe the death avoidance thing could interest them. And the, uh. Universal knowledge. Even if I don't really..."

He lapses into silence and doesn't know what else to do with his hands, so he drains the coffee that has helpfully remained pleasantly hot this entire time. He wonders if caffeine has an effect in dreams. Maybe if he consciously wills it, but he doesn't feel particularly tired, nor interested in running experiments over dream-manifested caffeine and its effects on the sleeping human mind.

Bored of the pineapple already, Topher lets it disappear again. And then he reaches over and moves his index finger in a swirly motion (which is of course entirely for show) over Daniel's mug, refilling it in case he wants more.

"I think they've got plenty people to ask about death avoidance, to be honest. And your universal knowledge may not even apply, because, you know, different universe," he says. Also, Topher's doing a really good job in restraining himself from talking about show plot holes or trying to fill out backstory or ask about details that were left purposefully vague by the show. He's just trying to remind himself that his nerdery is actually about the life of an actual person. (It's not easy.)

"Knowledge of the universe wasn't exactly restrained to a single universe," Daniel replies seriously, looking at Topher halfway over the tops of his glasses. "Time and boundaries worked differently up there. We might not have had complete free reign and our access was restricted but there was definitely...crossing."

He shivers a little as he says it, almost imperceptibly, and looks away and hunches his shoulders a little more securely around himself. It's still not the most comfortable thing to talk about, ambiguous as most of his memories of it are, and he's unclear how much Topher knows about it either way. Ascension would be a difficult thing to depict on the visual medium, what with a higher, often undetectable plane and all.

"Knowledge was always the motivation there," he says, quietly. "If there were ethical objections to multi-universal breaches they wouldn't have cared one way or the other." Morality was also different up there, after all. And extremely centric on a set of foreign, non-interference principles.

"Sounds familiar," Topher comments darkly. Of course, nothing on such a scale, and quite different, but knowledge and progress over ethics is definitely something he is familiar with. He's pretty guilty of that himself, even if he slowly learnt, slowly became more aware of the consequences of his actions.

It's weird to hear Daniel talk about it though, because really, he doesn't know much. And even the stuff they showed, well, it has after all been many years since he watched it. And it wasn't one of those where he'd have regular re-watches or anything.

Daniel looks back at him at that, eyebrows lifted in curiosity, but there's nothing about his tone that would imply Topher wants to talk about his own presumed brush with immorality.

"I'll just stay clear from both of them, then," says Daniel, vaguely cheerful in an effort to steer them away from the somber route their conversation abruptly took. "Rebels and ROMAC. That seems a safe enough bet for now."

Topher nods in approval. "Sounds like a plan," he agrees. Staying clear can be surprisingly easy, really, but it rather depends on whether you run around getting involved in, uh, current events. Big, Rift-y current events. Which he can easily see Daniel doing. So he'll probably have to face them at some point.

"You might want to, yanno, find a new place to live as well. Living in their building probably doesn't count as 'staying clear," he points out. Not an immediate concern, since Topher doesn't think they look into it that closely, but. It does put him in very close vicinity to them, which can be risky.

"That's - a really good point," Daniel admits. "Though I'm not technically registered in that building so much as just kind of staying there." He's not sure how permanent that residence is going to be, especially if the rebels ever find out about their intended tenant having left that particular apartment. He's not fully comfortable living in an illicit space.

"Anyplace you can recommend in terms of moving?" he asks, a fair blend of genuine curiosity and simply making conversation. "I haven't even worked out a steady source of income yet, so."

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

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