applesaucemod: (Default)
The Big Applesauce Moderators ([personal profile] applesaucemod) wrote in [community profile] applesaucedream2014-10-30 06:02 pm

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

 photo spookydream_zps6b871cec.jpeg


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.]
antitimelord: (sometimes fuckers get cut)

[personal profile] antitimelord 2014-11-09 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
The sensation of being watched is, as always, unwelcome. The moreso for the fact that on some level, both Zagreus and the chimaera are still afraid and feeling unpleasantly exposed. Being afraid is one of the surest ways to make him peevish, and that probably goes double for the monstrosity at his side, exchanging increasingly barbed quips in hushed tones. Frankly, it's probably best that a new target presents itself, even if it's currently an unknown. With eerie, unspoken accord both creatures whirl and turn their attentions sharply behind them, around them, scanning intently for anything nearby and alive. It's become something of a routine, though without any of the comfort that implies--feeling watched, and trying to catch the watcher only to find a mocking nothingness. Only this time, something is actually there, someone, actually. A man, and a big cat that all but glows in the dark, to which they've grown so accustomed. Whatever these two are, they're obviously not whatever's lurking in the forest. Zagreus exhales, and the chimaera chuffs, frustration and relief commingled.

As they approach the newcomers, Zagreus can tell the man's a stranger. Also, he's plainly terrified, that's hard for something like Zagreus to miss. "Relax," he says, and it might sound reassuring, if he could manage that without any disdain slipping in. Not to mention, the presence of Alecto at his side might go a considerable distance in spoiling that particular game; it's hard to imagine anyone believing that he's not a potential danger, with that manifestation. That's the trouble with having your beastly soul on the outside. "I'm not...whatever's in these woods."
peacefulexplorer: (Confused | Seriously? | Wary)

[personal profile] peacefulexplorer 2014-11-09 08:16 am (UTC)(link)
Daniel takes issue with that statement on both a rhetorical and ideological level but not so much as he takes issue with the anatomically accurate representation of a chimaera keeping pace with the speaker. God, is that thing the extension of his soul, tantamount to what Aliyah is to Daniel?

Either way, the man's urge to "relax" inspires nothing to that effect. Daniel stands rigid as ever, a nervous hybrid of aggression and unease radiating from the tensed curve in his shoulders.

"Who are you, then?" he asks, dragging out the words with much more suspicion than intended. Aliyah sniffs experimentally, recoils, regards man and beast with equal amounts of mistrust. Neither seem to be victims of the same fear rapidly coalescing in the pit of Daniel's stomach; they seem more mildly unnerved than anything so extreme.
antitimelord: (you're fucked)

[personal profile] antitimelord 2014-11-09 09:03 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, it had been technically a nonsense statement, Zagreus was more than aware, but really, it was essentially true. More true than anything else he could have said, anyway; what, that he's harmless? That they come in peace? The best Zagreus can do is say that he's not the main monstrous attraction of this particular venue.

"Zagreus, if that helps you any," he offers, watching the leopard's reaction with amusement. The chimaera gaps one set of jaws in a quick yawn, a fairly standard gesture of dissipating tension. See? Relaxed. This is how it's done. Nevermind that it's a show. Nevermind that nothing that size ought to look like that, in the mouth, all fitted for a snake's tongue instead of what should be there. "And I am Alecto," says the head currently fixing Daniel with a leonine stare. It's a surprisingly feminine voice, considering the mane, but that's all purely incidental anyway, when you're a myth. "And you are?" Zagreus asks, pointedly, annoyed at sharing the spotlight with his own much flashier manifestation.
peacefulexplorer: (the blood will wash away your sins)

[personal profile] peacefulexplorer 2014-11-09 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Daniel," he says slowly, torn between the faint excitement of being in such proximity to such a complex organism and wanting to keep his eyes trained on the man in front of him. Even the perpetual state of unease he and Aliyah have been caught in doesn't quite align with the entirely different sort of faint automatic terror response this man generates. It feels, if such a thing is possible, even less traditionally quantifiable. He inclines his head at the snow leopard. "That's Aliyah."

Introductions past, Daniel tries to arrange his expression into something less blatantly wary, more politely interested. This entire forest is playing havoc on his senses, after all, and it might not be person-specific. It's possible this Zagreus is -

Wait, Zagreus?

"Zagreus as in the Dionysian Greek god?" he asks, a hint of the old caution creeping back into his tone. As skittish as he is, his grasp of even the more obscure branches of mythology remains intact. He's had good enough reason to more or less memorize the entire pantheon, after all, even its lesser known branches.
antitimelord: (distracted)

[personal profile] antitimelord 2014-11-10 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
Really, again? Everyone's a mythology buff when you've been dumped through a universal rift, apparently. "No relation, I'm afraid. I predate that by some time," he says, faux-apologetically. It's technically true, sort of, inasmuch as chronology exists. He prefers to skip any further specificity entirely. Though maybe some day he'll just roll with it, for entertainment's sake. It would serve someone right. Maybe next he'll ask if that's the Lycian chimaera, looking bored and wary (why limit yourself? No shortage of faces) at his side.

Now, Zagreus is hardly an expert on human(oid?) anything, but this is someone dressed...tactically, for lack of a better word. A soldier, or part of a crew, though a quick look reveals no obvious weaponry. As often as not, the people Zagreus encounters aren't people at all, or if they are, their talents don't lie anywhere so mundane, if they have any. That makes this encounter a very minor novelty. "Very interesting cult though. Why are you so afraid?" It could just be the sudden appearance of a couple of mythological monsters, but Zagreus doesn't think so.
peacefulexplorer: (Wary | Surprise | Concern)

[personal profile] peacefulexplorer 2014-11-10 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Predating. That - is not good. Daniel can't help but wonder if this dream has dug out a remnant of his encyclopaedic knowledge of gods of various origins to fashion a nightmare specifically for him. Though Zagreus did also say no relation, implying there's no a-god-am-I mentality there in the first place. He has a feeling he'd know if that were the case; there tends to be a less subtle approach for everyone involved in that situation.

"Well aren't you?" Daniel fires back, more perplexed than hostile. The entire area feels so deeply unfriendly that he can't imagine anyone not being at least a little on edge here, though he supposes if one has a chimaera on their side the prospect of exploring might not seem as frightening. There's nothing about this man that implies he's as openly unnerved.

He makes a faint, halfhearted wave at the vast expanse of trees that appears to stretch infinitely in every direction. "I think it's this place," he offers tentatively. "I think it's just - I don't think it likes people being here."

Which sounds mildly ridiculous when one puts it out loud, but that's the best way Daniel can explain it. It's not as if sentient forests are the strangest thing he's seen. Case in point - Zagreus has a chimaera, and why draw the line there? It's entirely possible this is some sort of...sapient deciduous loci, maybe, that simply doesn't like strange souls wandering around inside of it.
antitimelord: (but a question mark)

[personal profile] antitimelord 2014-11-10 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
Don't be fooled by the humility, Zagreus can get apotheosize with the best of them, when he's of a mind. And don't be fooled the lack of obvious fear, either. He and the chimaera are on edge, deeply unsettled by their surroundings and the feelings of being watched by something just out of sight. Something that understands what it sees, well enough to offer a knowing wink, well enough to make fools of them both. It's deeply unnerving, wrapped up and given wings by his native paranoia. Showing real fear, he feels with his instinctive understanding for unspoken rules, would set things in downhill motion fast. But the flipside of the coin is that if he follows those rules, things will only stay as foreboding as they are now. None of which does Zagreus feel compelled to voice aloud; he ignores the question completely.

The rest of it, though...far from sounding ridiculous, Zagreus is exactly the kind of person who will accept a sentient and malevolent forest without question. Why not? It practically goes without saying, by now. "Well, why would it? If someone threw a party in your house uninvited, you'd probably feel some resentment too." Did he just empathise with a hypothetically sentient forest? That's the worst thing to happen in this dream so far. Maybe he ought to bring out the imaginary axe. "But you haven't seen anything? You know, aside..." Zagreus waves indiscriminately at himself and the chimaera.
peacefulexplorer: (Wary | Frown | Downcast | Suspicious)

[personal profile] peacefulexplorer 2014-11-10 05:47 am (UTC)(link)
As if summoned, the mention of seeing anything reinvigorates the prickle on the back of Daniel's neck that leaves his neck muscles screaming to whip around and investigate what could be watching them. He resists the urge through simple application of a distraction, choosing instead to mull over the question. It is a good question, so simple and matter-of-fact in its core that Daniel probably could have gone hours before considering it. He exchanges a frown with Aliyah, who replies with slow swish of her tail. Daniel assumes he's just earned the snow leopard equivalent of a shrug.

They haven't, he's realized. They haven't seen anything more substantial than mist and tree bark, neither of which have displayed any intent to harm them. It's all been unformed flickers of movement at the ridges of their periphery, menacing shadows stretched outward and thrown by some formless unknown light source - it is so very dark here, and acutely disturbing.

"Nothing," Daniel says, shaking his head slowly. "I haven't - we haven't seen anything. At all." His eyes flick back up to peer intently at Zagreus, sharp and curious. "What d'you think that means? Is it angry at us?"