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

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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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"No that's, that's fine." Noting the shift in body language, Daniel decides it's safe enough to advance. He lets his hands drop at the same time that Aliyah darts forward again. "I mean, hey - neither am I, really. No respect for the chain of command, I'm sure it drove everyone up the wall. But I think they knew they needed someone like me around. Keeping them honest."

At this point the extra reasoning feels superfluous, but Daniel doesn't like the idea of Seth being ill at ease around him. They went through that once in that prison-base dream and once was bad enough, thanks.

"Sorry about that," he adds, not fully sure what is he's apologizing but entirely certain it's warranted regardless. "I forget that's not always the best mental association. We good?"

Seth has to smile at the mental image of Daniel driving various military superiors bonkers. He'd be good in that situation though, Seth realises. His stubborn optimism and need to make sure everyone's alright, mixed with that intense humanitarianism on both a broader and a more personal level. Yeah, Seth can see it.

"Yeah, we're good," he answers with a nod, and looks down to watch Sephronia give the large cat - what is that, a snow leopard? - a friendly nudge with her nose. It makes him feel strangely happy.

"Looks like match, too," he comments. Is that weird to say? That their souls match? That feels a little bit weird.

Aliyah lets out a delighted huff and bats at the other cat with playful interest. Her enthusiasm for the friendly company seems to have thankfully overridden the pervasive wariness leaking out from every tree and foreign shadow. Daniel grins, pleased to see her more relaxed than she's ever been.

"Looks like." He folds his arms and watches with distant amusement. "That's um - she's Aliyah. Almost didn't realize how different it was having her on the outside, it just felt so, you know." Normal. Though in a way, Daniel supposes that it is normal. It's just a matter of displacement and materialization of certain parts of himself that wouldn't ordinarily be visible. Parameters set by the dream no doubt, though Daniel will be a little sad to wake up and no longer have the reassuring physicality of his soul beside him.

Seth nods a little thoughtfully. He had realised it was different - the situation still feels a little surreal to him, but even so he feels instinctively comfortable with her, and she with him. And, well, Seth is used to feeling like what's going on is surreal. It's almost normal and expected by now, if the ways it felt surreal didn't keep changing all the time.

"Um, Sephronia," he says, suddenly remembering he should maybe introduce his too, smiling and gesturing at the smaller cat that seems to be purring now, happy to have found a play mate apparently. "She's a margay. Apparently, according to her." Seth's never been to a zoo that would have something like her - interesting, really, that he's never been to a zoo but he has been on a safari. But of course they wouldn't have margays in Uganda.

"Oh, wow, look at that." Daniel drops into a crouch to study both cats, peering at the twin spotted coats. Aliyah makes a pleased rumble in her chest. "A margay, hm? Well she's really - she's gorgeous."

He stretches out a hand to hover it in front of the pair, like a gesture of greeting to a cat that would sniff his fingers.

"Are you complimenting my soul?" Seth asks jokingly, before he can stop himself. Again: weird. Just, inappropriately personal, probably.

Speaking of which, when Daniel reaches out to her, Sephronia steps up and nudges her nose against Daniel's hand, and a shiver runs down Seth's spine. Not a bad shiver. Just. Surprisingly intimate, but also pleasant, in a way that worries him a little, yet Sephronia doesn't seem at all bothered.

He grins when Sephronia rubs against his hand and responds with a tentative brush of rough fur on the top of her head, but glances up in mild alarm when he registers Seth's reaction.

"Sorry." Daniel hastily withdraws the hand and stands again, shoulders drawing themselves up to his ears. "I, I didn't realize. I guess it would be a little...weird. I mean that is, that's, she's your soul and all. Should've - sorry."

He shoves his hands into the pockets of his BDUs, ducking his head apologetically. Touching someone else's soul, even if it's an organic manifestation, feels like an obvious personal violation of some sort. He should have recognized it.

"It's alright," Sephronia says before Seth has a chance to, and he closes his mouth again with an awkward smile.

"What she said," Seth adds with a shrug. It had been kind of nice, actually, but he's not sure he feels comfortable telling Daniel that. That seems like he's admitting something he rather wouldn't.

In the interest of moving past the awkwardness and reassuring Daniel it's definitely No Big Deal, Seth changes the subject. "So, I hear you met Johnny."

"I - Johnny." He cocks his head and scratches at it, eyebrows knotting to form a hard frown. "Umm. Hang on. Let me - yeah, wait, I think we were - it was some underwater place, I was drowning and I think I, um. I think I grabbed his leg."

The memories are a bit fuzzy, but they're there. He coughs a little, embarrassed. "That was a dream, I'm pretty sure. At least I think I -"

He breaks off when Aliyah takes the opportunity to rub against Seth's leg, almost bizarrely domesticated in its motion. Yes, that definitely feels - odd, he'll agree on that one.

Seth nods a bit at the recollection of the underwater place. Johnny had said it was the previous large shared dream. He wonders if that was after Seth, well, died, or before. He knows the dream sometimes resets you or something, or maybe you're dreaming multiple things at the same time - Seth's not sure, but he knows it can be difficult to know the order of things in them. It all makes sense when you're asleep, like now, and then you wake up and suddenly it's a bit more intangible. But no, Daniel had texted him right afterwards, hadn't he?

He's so lost in his thoughts that he jumps a little at the other, larger cat suddenly rubbing against him. He's not sure how to react for a moment, but, well, she does seem... very friendly. Seth's trying not to read anything into that.

"Uhh... May I...?" he asks awkwardly, glancing up at Daniel as he kneels down a bit. He copies Daniel though, not reaching out for Aliyah, just, letting her come to him if she wants to.

"Sure," says Daniel with a distracted nod. He's not sure how he'd describe the sensation, but it's not unpleasant. Aliyah seems to understand that, letting out a low rasping purr as she rubs her head against Seth's hand. He focuses on the feeling, frowning. It's very low and tingling and visceral, a bit like how Daniel thinks Aliyah's purr would feel like if it were transposed into metaphysical sensation.

Her apparent eagerness to initiate the physical contact soon translates into the abstracted feeling running through him. Daniel shivers, feeling almost like someone just tickled his soul - whatever that means - and breathes out a faint breathless laugh.

"Yeah that's - ha, yeah. That's odd. Not...bad odd, just. I dunno." As if that helps define it any.

Seth grins at Aliyah rubbing against him, giving her a few scritches while Sephronia watches curiously. Having just felt for himself what it was like to have his.. well, soul touched in that way, and how personal it felt, he's actually quite touched that Aliyah would seek it out.

He doesn't want to overstay his welcome though, straightening up after not too long. And it just feels.. a little too intimate to keep doing.

"Yeah, it's strange," he agrees with a nod.

He kneels again once Seth backs away, this time to rub at the back of Aliyah's ears.

"Dreams aren't always nice here," he murmurs, pausing to rest his cheek on her forehead. "And this one doesn't seem to be very, er, friendly. But I guess they're not all bad, hm?" He directs the last statement partially at Aliyah, who responds by butting her head beneath his chin.

"We've met," she reminds him in a tone that straddles affection and well, obviously. "Though - not in this form, perhaps."

"I'm not sure it actually is that unfriendly," Seth answers, glancing around them. It's still creepy and unnerving, though the appearance of Daniel has distracted him for the moment from the general feeling that they're in the middle of a horror movie. "No one I've spoken to so far have actually met anything other than other regular dreamers in here. It might just be trying to freak us out."

"What, like some sort of - automated response, maybe?" He gets back to his feet with a puzzled frown. "Like the dream wants us scared?"

That certainly might explain it. Daniel's been on edge this whole time but he can't remember anything jumping out at him in particular. Though he has reached reflexively for the sidearm that isn't there a few times, and now he's wondering if he should start suppressing that instinct. It probably wouldn't go a long way in making Seth comfortable.

"Exactly," Seth says with a nod. "It wouldn't be the first time. Unfortunately I haven't met anyone with strong enough telepathic powers to confirm it. So I've just mostly been trying not to let it get to me." Daniel's presence is helping, even if his outfit isn't. But it's also kind of difficult to see him as a military man while he's snuggling a giant cat, both of them all gentle and affectionate.

"I wouldn't worry. You know if Daniel sees anything," says Aliyah matter-of-factly, piping up before Daniel can respond, "he'll probably just do something stupidly heroic to put a stop to it, like throwing himself dramatically in the way." The 'you idiot' goes unworded but is painfully implicit.

Daniel levels an expression that's meant to be a stern glare at her but in actuality ends up halfway between bafflement and guilt.

"Okay, that? Now, now that -" he begins with self-righteous indignation before abruptly deflating, "doesn't sound too far off, actually."

He's not sure what this constitutes. Is he arguing with himself in a roundabout sort of way? He's fairly sure internally debating the specifics won't do much by way of understanding why the manifestation of his soul is making loud (and uncomfortably astute) observations about his probable disaster reactions. He'll settle for trying to scowl at her with little success.

Seth tries really hard not to smirk at Aliyah's comment, he really, really tries. And fails.

Well, at least Daniel is aware of it. They thankfully haven't been in a situation in the waking world where it would be necessary, but it's enough of a pattern in the dreams.

"Well, at least that's actually dealing with a problem," Sephronia comments pointedly, nudging Seth's leg. "Instead of shutting himself in and pretending it doesn't exist."

"Oh, you too, huh?" Seth answers, clearly not amused. "Great, thanks."

It's not entirely unfair. Then again, you'd probably be unlikely to get an unfair character assessment from your own soul. Unless you're that deeply in denial, which, Seth isn't even sure that's possible.

"Guess we're two-for-two on the whole 'scary personality insight' thing," Daniel answers, vaguely amused by their respective souls' complete lack of tact but sobering a little in response to Sephronia's little comment nonetheless.

"Well yes," Aliyah says, sounding thoroughly exasperated. "When your frequent humanitarian impulses get you, us even, killed on a semi-regular basis, one tends to notice."

That's fair. In fact, Daniel won't even pretend to protest at that one. He scratches the fur on the top of her head and shoves his hands back into the relative kinesic safety of his BDU pockets.

"What've you been up to, then?" he asks in a poorly concealed attempt to shift the subject away from (a) uncomfortably accurate portraits of personal attributes and (b) the resurgence of anxiety that prickles at the nape of his neck. It feels an awful lot like something's watching him, however much Daniel tries to convince himself that it's the dream equivalent of a psychosomatic reaction.

Seth's just going to go ahead and pick Sephronia up before she can make any more comments, holding her for a second before letting her settle around his shoulders, gripping onto his jacket with her claws for balance. Considering she's a tree cat, balance and climbing is something she does rather well.

"Same old," he answers with a shrug, which causes Sephronia to bat at his nose to remind him to maybe not move his shoulders as much when she's up here.

"Um, but yeah, Johnny said you'd met in that underwater dream," he says, remembering suddenly what they were talking about before Aliyah had distracted them. "He's a friend of mine, and neighbour. I said I could invite you both over sometime, so you could meet outside of horrific nightmare settings," he continues with a small smile.

He can't suppress his amused look at the sight of Sephronia balancing on Seth's shoulders. The image manages to present itself as both completely natural and faintly ridiculous, something Daniel's one hundred percent certain only Seth could achieve.

"Yeah, okay, I remember. Er, kinda." He wracks his brains for a minute. "Not sure how great an impression I made, using his leg for leverage so I wouldn't drown. Pretty sure we saved each other's lives though, so I guess that's something. Non-horrific nightmare settings would probably be preferable to...yeah, that."

He remembers pieces and shreds of it - at some point they'd both mentioned knowing Lucy, and then Johnny had almost been strangled by that masked thing, and there's some inconclusive bits about ankles and needles that Daniel's not sure he wants to examine too closely.

Seth is about to comment that Daniel seemed to save several people's lives in that dream, but then they don't really need the reminder that in the end he had tried and failed with Seth. It's not a thing he wishes to dwell on, and it had been a slightly too intense way to get to know someone.

"He said you seemed like a nice guy, so it can't have been too bad," he reassures with a smile instead. "I met him through Gabe, sort of. They're a couple."

At this Sephronia gives him a look which he staunchly ignores. Yeah, it's possible he's mostly mentioning that to first of all see how Daniel feels about guys dating. It's kind of difficult to ask about these things without being obvious.

"Really?" Daniel cocks his head, chewing on his lower lip thoughtfully. "Huh. The archangel thing isn't an issue? Is that technically an interspecies relationship? Oh god, don't tell either of them I said that out loud."

Aliyah nudges him, none too gently, and Daniel winces. Yeah, he can definitely see how that'd be interpreted as insensitive.

"Sorry, sorry. Just - what about the different lifespans? Isn't Gabe like, you know...ageless?"

Seth smiles a little at Daniel's instant realisation that he said something inappropriate. But he didn't even seem to blink at the gay thing - well, not gay, Seth corrects himself, presumably they're both bisexual. If you could even ascribe such labels to an archangel. Who knows.

"Questions they are dealing plenty with, yeah," Seth answers with a nod. He stops himself from shrugging again. He also stops himself from talking any more about that, since, well, it's not really his place, especially to share it with Daniel who they barely even know.

"Every relationship's gotta end sometime, right?" he says, and the sort of subdued way he says it and how Sephronia gently nuzzles his neck afterwards probably hints at his personal history with that.

End.

"Yeah," whispers Daniel.

His typical verbosity isn't an option; the back of his throat has closed. He has a long and intimate relationship with the concept of the end, primarily because his experience with it disallowed a definition that was easily categorized. It never happened in one panicked instant. It happened gradually and over an aching, protracted period of time, broken up in the periodic snatches of optimism and the fragility of hope, in an erratic, inexorable downward pull, and once it happened Daniel couldn't even wrestle at the ridges of his own distorted grief because that grief expended itself, had been expending itself since the end began.

Years ago. It was years ago.

And Daniel shouldn't be tangling with those memories right now.

"Yeah," is all he can say a second time, uselessly, and his hands clench in their pockets. He can see his own muted regret mirrored in the slope of Seth's shoulders and the slant of his head, and takes comfort in that there's very little he can say to alleviate that for either of them. One can't fix the damaged space the mind exists in after that collision with the mindlessness of grief. One just learns to live there.

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