Better to Receive than to Give [open to all]

[applesaucemod]

Somewhere in the cosmos, there is something bright, and young, and playful. Somewhere, this being watches over their little flock and does their best to make those people safe and happy. Somewhere, that godling and their flock celebrate the winter holidays in the happiest of dreams.

And somewhere closer at hand, a sleeping giant stirs.

The bright tapestry of dream threads gathered by Zephyr is suddenly yanked hard enough to pull it from its temporary mooring. Something entirely unlike the little godling reels in the dreamers so neatly gathered and packaged up for it, bringing its own toys back to their proper place and taking all the others it can with them. Unsatisfied, it reaches out again and again, dragging in dreamers from all across the multiverse. It will snare them, all of them, and then it will possess them completely.

Perhaps it's fitting that when the stolen dreamers arrive in this new shared mindscape, they'll find they've been designated the Rift's Christmas gifts to itself. Each might awaken inside a dark box, or cocooned in…is that tissue paper? When they claw their way out they'll be greeted by the sight of an enormous evergreen tree laden with twinkling lights and kitschy knickknacks looming overhead. Beyond the shadow of the tree the rest of the world -- that is, the living room -- is just as large. Or is it that the dreamers have just become very small? Giant packages wrapped in bright paper form an obstacle course, but the wooden floor of the room is wide open between the tree and the hearth where an enormous plate of cookies and glass of milk await a cataclysmic Santa Claus.

All in all, things are fairly normal as far as the rift's dream gatherings go…at least on the surface. The more telepathically sensitive among the dreamers may notice an undercurrent of something darker, more urgent, and more possessive than normal. The rift isn't just sampling the wares of other worlds tonight; this time it means to play for keeps.


[OOC: This is the second part of our crossover with wethelost! Part one can be found here. Usual dream party rules apply: all players and characters are welcome regardless of whether they are currently in the game, and characters may remember or forget the events of the dream party at the discretion of their players.

For reference, characters of average human height are roughly four inches tall according to the scale of their current surroundings. There is an entire giant house beyond the living room; characters will find a kitchen and dining room on the same floor, a staircase outside the door of the living room that leads up to a second floor with two bedrooms and a bathroom, and another staircase off the kitchen that goes to an unfinished basement. Feel free to add details as needed!

This event takes place on evening of August 8th/morning of August 9th in Applesauce time, and December 31 in WtL time.]

Comments

[spiritofwinter]

"You and me both." Jack isn't expecting an answer -- as far as he knows, there's no one here who can see him. He stands at the end of one of the tree's lowest boughs, balanced as easily as though he were on the ground rather than perched on something the relative width of a railroad track. He's been watching people fight their way out of the boxes for a while; he'd almost find it funny (has found a couple of them funny) if this whole thing didn't feel so wrong. Yeah, it's all set up like it's waiting for a giant North to show up with the goodies and scarf that plate of cookies, but beyond the inexplicable size change there's something about the atmosphere of the place that doesn't feel even the slightest bit like Christmas.

[watcher_giles]

In the process of pushing the remaining tissue paper off of himself, Giles goes still at the sound of a voice. It came from slightly above him, and it doesn't take him long to spot the source. He gives the figure a quick once over.

The speaker is a pale young man - no more than a boy, really. He gives off the general impression of youth (he isn't even wearing shoes, for goodness' sake), but there's something terribly old in his eyes. And the way he's balancing on the tree branch is, there's no other word for it, inhuman.

Giles is equal parts curious and wary, but the "Hello" he offers comes out simply friendly in tone.

[spiritofwinter]

Jack isn't really paying attention to Giles for a moment, but he glances down again and stiffens when he realizes that the guy's looking right at him. This is the second time that's happened in as many -- days? His brow furrows and he grips his staff a little tighter to him despite the distance between them, remembering how the last encounter with adults who could somehow see him turned out.

"...Hello?" he returns, a little excited by the prospect of a conversation despite having been burned once.

[watcher_giles]

Giles catches the boy's hesitation, and wonders at it. Thinking back on it, the boy's initial tone of voice did seem like that of someone talking to himself - perhaps he wasn't expecting Giles to hear him? But the boy hadn't spoken softly, so why wouldn't he expect to be heard?

Giles also catches the slight excitement in the boy's returned greeting, and he offers him a small smile. "Hello. I'm Giles."

[spiritofwinter]

"Jack Frost." For all the sudden feelings of caution thanks to a certain pair of inebriated mediums, Jack feels silly staying up in the tree while he's talking to this Giles person. He's not going to go around being afraid of regular adults now, he decides -- and he's pretty sure that's what this guy is; other kinds of beings are usually pretty obvious. It's just smart to be a little bit careful, that's all. He steps lightly off the bough and a brief draught kicks up for a moment to break his fall and allow him to land lightly on the floor near Giles...but out of arm's reach. "I'm guessing you don't know who wrapped us up, either?"

[watcher_giles]

Jack Frost? Giles feels his eyebrows rise in surprise. That explains the feeling of otherness he gets from the boy. Well, it isn't like he hasn't met beings that weren't supposed to actually exist before. He keeps the smile in place - and the eyebrows raised - as Jack all but floats down to the ground near him.

"No, I have no idea," he says distractedly, taking his first real look around. The tree itself draws his gaze up - to a ceiling that seems far too far away. "This is... odd."

[spiritofwinter]

"Right? I mean, I like Christmas as much as the next guy, but I don't think I'm a fan of the whole suddenly tiny thing. It doesn't feel right, either -- and no offense, but it's kind of weird that you can see me. You're not...I dunno, the Groundhog in disguise or something?"

Jack's already taken a cursory look around and concluded that none of it makes sense. What he's interested in right this moment is why he's suddenly visible and whether it has anything to do with those drunk people from before. "You're not friends with anyone named Frank or Sadie, are you?"

[watcher_giles]

"I don't know anyone by those name," Giles replies with a slight shake of his head. "And I am not the 'Groundhog,' whatever that is," he dryly adds.

He tilts his head slightly, studying Jack. "Are you normally invisible, then?" That wouldn't be an unheard of trait for a spirit, but it's still unusual enough that Giles finds it intriguing.

[spiritofwinter]

"...To most people," confirms Jack, trying to sound as though it doesn't bother him. He's never mastered the art of hiding his feelings, but then he's rarely had the opportunity to practice. And then, to clarify (or fail to clarify) his reason for asking about those people, he adds, "As long as you don't start shooting me with rock salt, I think we'll get along fine. What do you say we go find out whose tree this is?"

[watcher_giles]

Jack might be the embodiment of the actual, ageless spirit of winter (or something of that sort), but he still acts very much like his perceived aged. Giles doesn't miss the loneliness and sadness in Jack's voice, and a rush of warm protectiveness comes over him. He can imagine all too well what it would be like to be invisible.

Before he can get all fatherly, though, Jack has moved on. Giles blinks at him in surprise. "Someone shot you with rock salt?" he says half to himself, incredulous. He shakes his head before turning his attention back to the tree and Jack's question. "If you have an idea of how to find out whose tree it is, I'm all for it."

[spiritofwinter]

They really only threatened to shoot him, but by now Jack's built that memory up into an enormous ordeal at the hands of a pair of spirit hunters. Or something. It absolutely didn't involve him breaking into their flat and stealing their stuff, nope.

"Well, we could start by looking," shrugs Jack. The frown that takes over his face reveals that he doesn't know how to start any more than Giles does, though. He glances around, then makes up his mind. "Wait here, I'm going to fly to that door and see what's out there."

He hardly even seems to leap as the winter wind draught kicks up again and lifts him off the floor, carrying him abruptly upward, out from between the presents...only to come crashing back down amongst other nearby packages in an equally steep fall that comes complete with a shocked yell from Jack when the little draught gives out in the face of the house's central heating.

[watcher_giles]

A smile twitches Giles' lips at the nonchalant way Jack announces his intention to fly across the room. There's something disarming about his complete lack of pretension about his abilities.

Giles watches with interest as Jack takes off - lifted by wind without a visible source - interest that turns to concern when he almost immediately plummets. "Jack! Are you all right!" he calls, hurry over to where Jack his the presents nearby.

[spiritofwinter]

"I'm fine!" comes the slightly strident answer. "Just bruised my pride a little," he mutters, sitting up with a hiss where he landed in between two giant boxes. He reaches behind him for his staff and gives a start when it's not where he assumed it landed. Jumping to his feet, he ignores the approaching Giles in favor of a sudden, urgent survey of his surroundings, spinning in place until he thinks to look up and sees one end of it sticking out from atop one of the packages. "...Great," he groans. "That's just great. Perfect landing, ten out of ten for me."