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

[all_the_gifts]

Melanie's taken to creeping out along low-lying branches, the better to observe what's going on below without actually putting anyone at risk. There isn't much to see so far; it's mostly just confused people milling around and climbing out of whatever box or sack they found themselves in. She's leaning out a little to admire the colorful paper on one of them when a muffled series of pops emanates from within. Was that gunfire? The noise is so startling that she actually loses her grip on the branch and lands on the top of the box in question, feet sliding over the surface as she scrambles to right herself. Oh no, oh no, that was so stupid, if someone in there has a gun they'll hear her and…

… Wait. She knows that voice.

"Aziraphale?" Melanie drops into a crouch, ready to move in an instant if he shouts a warning. "Are you okay?"

[bibliophale]

"Melanie?" She seems to have landed on him, and he fights his way through the mounds of tissue paper to rest his hands on the lid of his prison. "I'm trapped in here, and I... I can't do anything." It sort of spills out of him awkwardly, without any explanation, and he feels tremendously ashamed having to admit it to her. Still, though, he's seen what she can do, he knows how strong she can be. Stronger than him, probably, at this point. "Can you get me out, Melanie?"

[all_the_gifts]

That's not at all reassuring. "Why can't you do anything?" she asks, even as she moves to the edge of the box and starts feeling for a seam. "Are you hurt? What was that noise before?" Her fingers find an edge beneath the thick paper, and she presses into it, tearing along the seam that runs the width of the box.

[bibliophale]

"No, I'm all right. That was just the bubblewrap." He cautiously avoids pressing upward too hard, lest he pop another bubble of it. He realizes Melanie probably has no idea what bubblewrap is. What an unfortunate way to meet it.

"You'll see in a moment," he says. "And I - sometimes the Rift doesn't let me do things in the dreams, I don't know why. Just to be difficult, I suspect. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

He listens with relief as she tears neatly through the wrapping around the box. He doesn't think he could stand being in here much longer.

[all_the_gifts]

Melanie frowns, not liking the idea of the rift taking Aziraphale's powers away - especially since those powers keep everyone else safe from her. Of course, they keep him safe, too, and it's strange to be confronted (more or less) with an Aziraphale who can't even get himself out of a box without help.

She tsks her disapproval as she tears along the central seam that runs the length of the box, then along the other side. That done, it's easy enough to patter back to the middle of the box and pry up the flap, lifting it up over her head. She peers down into the box, offering Aziraphale a little smile. "Hello. Can you climb out now?"

[bibliophale]

"Hullo," he says, smiling back at her. "Yes, I think so. It's a bit awkward, is all - no footing." He reaches up for the edge and hoists himself inelegantly up and out, tumbling onto a neighboring box. He takes a moment to look around them, stunned and incredibly unamused, before giving Melanie's arm a little pat. "Thank you, darling, much better. Are you all right? Did you wake up like - like this?"

He feels a little surge of preemptive anger at the thought. Hasn't she been caged enough?

[all_the_gifts]

"I'm fine," she reassures him, smile widening. The concern of total strangers might be difficult to process, but she's grown to rather like the way Aziraphale fusses over her. "I was only wrapped in paper, so it was easy to tear my way out. It was like a cocoon." Which isn't to say she enjoyed it, but it wasn't as bad as being shut up in a box.

[bibliophale]

Aziraphale is ruffled regardless by this information - yes, it's good she wasn't so thoroughly trapped, but still! Who does this to a child? All right, so she exists in a default state of being caged, bad example. But the question of who does this is still very forefront in his mind.

He stands up carefully, a bit dubious as to the sturdiness of the pile of boxes - not as good as the floor, but he can't just take them down there, can he? He clicks his tongue in mild frustration.

"Well this is highly disconcerting," he says uselessly. "Shall we try and find ourselves a way out of here?" He's not particularly keen on being present when or if any house-scaled children arrive to open their presents, if that's in the cards for this event.

[all_the_gifts]

"Okay." If Aziraphale doesn't have his powers, that means she's going to have to look after him and keep him safe, which should be easier if they're not lumped under the tree with all these strangers. She pads over to the edge of the box and eyes the drop to the floor. It's a bit higher up than she'd want to jump, and definitely higher than she'd want him to, so she turns back to him and holds out a hand. "If you lower me down, I'm sure I could push over some shorter boxes. It'd be like a staircase."

[bibliophale]

He doesn't want to need her to help him, but - it is a practical measure. And she seems happy to do it. It might be nice for her, he reasons, to offer him help just as he's given her so many times.

"Yes, all right," he agrees, trying to look pleased by the suggestion instead of perturbed at being foiled by something as meager as a relatively high place. Good grief. He peers over the edge, then at her. "How shall I..." He takes her hand a bit bewilderedly, as though he doesn't know what to do with it. "Ought I to get on my stomach, or...?"

[all_the_gifts]

Melanie hasn't really done this, either, so it's not as if she has any experience to lord over him. "I think that would work best," she says, tugging him to the edge of the box and sitting there, her legs dangling over the side. "Then, if you hang your arm down, it won't end up being much of a drop for me."

[bibliophale]

"All right." Aziraphale rolls his shoulders back doggedly, preparing himself for this bit of legwork, so to speak, and then lays himself out flat, long legs sticking out awkwardly behind him.

"I still have a bit of strength in me," he says lightly, clasping her hand a little more firmly. "So I shan't drop you. Are you ready?"