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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Johnny grins outright at Venia's comment. Touching them had been almost an accident, but he feels disinclined to remove his hand now. They seem amused and Gabe doesn't seem uncomfortable, so... maybe it's okay. Maybe it's like touching his wings.

He wonders what that would feel like for him. His only brush with the sensation in the last dream was when Zagreus picked her up, which does not count. This is different, and he's curious as hell. And he could really use the distraction.

"Yeah?" He peers up at Gabe and curls his fingers, combing them gently through Venia's fur. "Is it nice?"

"You're terrible!" Nova declares, and immediately waddles her way from Venia's head to Gabriel's lap, climbing right up. "See how you like it."

Gabriel dips his head down and closes his eyes as Johnny digs in his fingers. "It's nice." That's a bit of an understatement. It is like Johnny touching his wings, but also somehow more direct than that. Less of a conduit to his Grace and more like he's touching the actual thing.

It's only when Nova climbs up into his lap that he reopens his eyes. He's tentative to touch the little rabbit for a moment, but Johnny isn't voicing any objections and he's curious how he'll react. Carefully, he brushes his knuckles along the little rabbit's fur, then looks to Nova for a response. "How was that?"

"I'm just asking," Johnny retorts, smirking even as he watches the rabbit make her way over to return the favor. He lifts his eyes to Gabe, feeling a flutter of warmth and anticipation - as much danger as the woods represented moments ago, it's all very distant now, overtaken by how much Gabe is visibly enjoying this, that he's letting Johnny do it, and that he's about to return the gesture.

Nova quivers in delight and nuzzles into Gabe's touch; Johnny goes abruptly still, then buckles slightly against Venia's side, pressing both his hands into warm fur and feathers.

"Jesus," he gasps. "That - it's - I've never felt anything-"

Sentences are too much work. He rests his forehead against the griffin, breathing out slowly. What he'd been anticipating was a familiar brand of sensation, like a touch to his his skin or his hair, but it's not like that at all, it's internal, and it's intimate beyond anything he's ever felt before. He wants to just lie down but he doesn't want Gabe to worry about him and subsequently stop.

"K-keep-" he says softly, cutting himself off when Nova butts her head against Gabriel's hand.

Encouraged by Johnny's enthusiastic response, Gabriel digs his fingers into Nova's fur with both hands, massaging back over the little rabbit's back. Venia huffs out a pleased breath when Johnny increases his contact, and Gabriel lets his eyes slip closed again. After a moment, Venia very carefully lowers themself to the ground. Gabriel shifts back, then forward as the griffin sits, their body making a loud thump against the leafy ground.

"Guess we're sitting down." Gabriel takes a deep breath and carefully picks up Nova, cradling her in his arms as he slips off of Venia's back and onto the ground. He can't do much to change the creepy feeling behind the dream, but he can change the atmosphere a bit, and he does, adding a blanket and around them in the trees - untouched white snow and a single bright lantern hanging from a post. The effect makes the place look more like Narnia than Sleepy Hollow.

Nova makes a soft, contented sound as Gabe moves his fingers through her fur, while Johnny all but collapses. "Fuck," he says breathlessly. It's almost painful, so nuanced he can't begin to categorize it.

Venia lowering themself down is a huge relief - Johnny slips down with them, sliding to the ground and resting against their back. When Gabe comes down beside him he immediately leans over, reaching out to Nova without reclaiming, just lacing their fingers together across her back and pressing against him and kissing him avidly, unfocused and unnaturally, unabashedly intimate. It's like being drunk, but so much better.

He's so, so close to saying it again - the thing he really doesn't want to say, once was too many times - but he's saved by the sudden shift in their surroundings. He breaks away long enough to take in the sudden appearance of snow, strangely comforting, giving everything a more picturesque quality. Colder, but it's hard to be cold pillowed by a giant griffin. He grins and rests his head on Gabe's shoulder.

"Thanks," he says, whether for the environmental change or just everything, ever, is open to interpretation.

It almost doesn't need to be said, Gabriel thinks, as he pushes forward into the kiss. Johnny can see how different he's reacting now, how the experience has changed since the last time this happened, because Gabriel has changed. He wants to tell Johnny that he loves him, but this isn't the right time. Not when Johnny might not remember it in the morning, and not when it's so obvious anyway.

As Johnny settles in next to him, Venia curls around them, first stretching out a massive paw, then turning just a bit further to rest their head down onto Johnny's lap. Venia sighs, contented, when Johnny lifts a hand to rest on her beak.

"Yeah," Gabriel replies, though if he means to accept the thanks or say it back he doesn't clarify. Probably both.

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

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