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

[wolfishsurvivalist]

"Jesus, Justin! Watch it!" Mika barely managed to throw herself to the side in time to avoid losing a leg at the knee and possibly a few inches off her tail, and she hung from an ornament and wheezed unhappily. The panic subsided long enough for her to realize what was going on, and her skin paled, scars standing out vivid against her skin.

"Shit! I thought it was just me that got pulled here. Justin, are you going to be okay?" If someone was raiding the Meadous there was no time to lose, they had to find their way back and protect each other as well as their little godcub.

assuming option a?

[deafscythe]

He tears at the paper, ripping it off from around his limbs, pulling tape off his ruff and pulling out patches of fur along with it. It needs to come off, every bit of it, he can't breathe.

(Justin knows he's not but he is in the Facility. Bright sharp knives in the intern's hands, raw muscle exposed, barely conscious barely alive, a whole eternity of a week sewn into a bag made from his own dying skin.)

He's not okay. He's gasping and sobbing and clawing at his own fur like it's choking him. He's at his worst right now, incoherent and terrified, oblivious to anyone else around him. Right now, Mika's voice doesn't even register.

yes i am just a dingus im sorry

[wolfishsurvivalist]

Oh, Alpha damn it all to the furthest depths of the Sunless Crevasse. Dropping down from her perch, Mika stumbled forward, tripping on fallen icicles and tinsel in her need to get to him.

"Justin! Justin! Stop it, you're going to hurt yourself, hang on!" Using her cane for extra reach, Mika was loathe to get close enough for stabbing even though a part of her knew he could shear her head clean off even ten paces away. Hooking the handle around some cardboard still trapping him, she gave it a wrench to try and pull it loose. "I'll help get you out, just...don't stab me or anything, okay? Come on, cub. Focus!"

everyone is a dingus

[deafscythe]

Justin can't hear her. Between the confusion of what he's seeing and what he saw in the past, and the rush of blood in his head, her voice barely registers as noise.

Mika's cane hooks around a piece of taped-on paper and tugs it free.

(something grabbing, something pulling,

Reaver)

He brings his hands up to protect himself (his throat) and takes a step backwards. The tail doesn't fit with what happened before, and he steps on it and trips.

Justin transforms before he hits the ground, forces himself entirely into Weapon form. Where he should be, there's a guillotine toppled over on the floor instead, looking entirely out of place. The wood and metal form trembles, and gasping sobs for breath are still audible, but he's not in human form anymore.

It's so true though

[wolfishsurvivalist]

"Justin?" Her voice is small and worried, and she pulls more of the paper and cardboard away to keep it away from him and give him more space. Tissue is flung as far from her as she can get it, and after a moment she creeps forward, tentatively reaching for him. The wooden part should be safe, right?

"Hey, Justin? It's okay, nothing is going to get you." Gently, slowly, she touches his frame, crouching down next to him and hoping he won't decide to suddenly grow spikes or slither a headlock out to snap at her exposed limbs. "It's Mika, it's just Mika. I'm going to sit with you for a while, okay?"

[deafscythe]

The wooden part is just wood, slightly warm, and as long as she doesn't put her hand in the path of the blade, she'll be safe.

There's a certain amount of distance that comes with being in weapon form, a feeling of looking down at his own reactions. He watches himself gasp and shake, sees a hand placed on his form and even manages to identify it as Mika. But calming himself down is easier said than done, and he's still terrified.

It wakes about ten minutes (an eternity) before he can find his human form again, and he transforms back. The wood under Mika's hand turns to the thick fur of Justin's tail. He's still shaking, but he can almost breathe enough now.

He has to get up. Move forward. Keep going. He can't yet.

(He needs a drink.)

"Wh-where are we?"

[wolfishsurvivalist]

Mika knew better than to put her fingers anywhere near his blade, instead running her hand over his wooden frame and keeping an eye out, watching for any threats as she hovered over her fallen friend. She told him he was safe and she was determined to make certain that he was until he could defend himself.

"I don't know." Mika says, worry etched into every line of her face as she gathers up his tail and begins to groom it. Tempted to pull him into a hug and comb his hair, but Justin was still in a fragile place and she wasn't yet sure of how much physical contact he would allow.

"I've talked to a few other people but no one's really sure. Some of them are freshly snatched, others have been taken before. You're the only one from the Meadous that I've found so far." His fur was thick, it was comforting to bury her fingers and claws in it and comb it out, and he still smelled like home. Zephyr would find them. Zephyr would take them home again.

It was the only thought that was keeping her from panicking with him.

[deafscythe]

A hug would be a mistake. Even the small amount of contact now is verging on too much, but it's something like an anchor, something to hold him in place and help him identify what's real.

He sits up, using his left arm to hold himself up. His right hand rubs at his right leg, at the meeting between prosthetic and flesh.

"It... It's a dream," he says. But he can't even pretend to believe that. Something has them, something else, something that doesn't care about them. They're toys. Toys again, for something that doesn't care about their safety.

Mika is his only anchor. They have to get up. They have to keep moving. They have to find their way out.

[wolfishsurvivalist]

"Something like that." Mika's scowl returned, her fur bristling as she looked around them. Rising to her feet, she stood over him and stared at their surroundings, thinking as fast as she can even though the displace.

"If this is another world entirely, you realize Zephyr's going to be upset when they realize we've gone missing." Mika snorted, mouth quirking. "We'll make it home sooner or later. Let's see what we can go find to help speed the process along."

[deafscythe]

The end of his tail wraps firmly around her wrist, like holding on will make things more solid. He doesn't stand. He can't do this, not with the weight of another world hanging over him.

"Zephyr's not that strong." And Justin Law is not an optimist, especially when panic comes right back without giving him a chance to breathe. "We're.. we can't get out. They'll never save us."

[wolfishsurvivalist]

Mika doesn't move to shake him off, rather gathering up his tail to pet it better, burying her fingers in his silky fur.

"Yes they will." Her voice didn't waver, had no hint of doubt in it. "If they had the power to snatch us all from the jaws of hell itself, they'll find us again. Never doubt a cub determined to see its family again." She looked back at Justin, her tail held high.

"Zephyr's coming, they wouldn't leave us where other powers can hurt us. Not anymore, not if they can help it. You'll see." Patting his tail, she didn't bother to smile. "It's going to be all right, and I'll stay with you for as long as it takes for them to get here. Pack sticks to pack, after all. Right?"

[deafscythe]

"They don't want us." His hands pull at the fur of his tail, catching fistfuls of fluff and tugging. "They... they don't want us. They must have given up on us."

He doesn't look up at her, just keeps his eyes fixed on his hands and laughs bitterly.

"They're finished with us."

[wolfishsurvivalist]

"Justin no, no honey. Shhhhh..." She reached down, covering one of his hands with hers and squeezing it gently. The scars on her knuckles were white, old and faded and glossy in the twinkling light that shone through the tree branches. "Do you think that cub would honestly throw us away that easily? After they took away my ghosts, and took such a shine to you they covered you in fur by mistake when you asked about it?"

Tail still wrapped tight around her wrists or no, she took both his hands in hers, rubbing his knuckles with her thumbs. "Do you think they'd spend so much time doting on you and Grell just to toss you aside? They love you, Justin. As much as any cub can love, and I will bet my fur and fangs that they're going to come looking for us with everything they've got, even if it means tearing this place down with their little claws and fangs."

"I'd turn fully human before I believed Zephyr wasn't coming for us right now. Bet you all my fur."

[deafscythe]

"They're done with us, Mika." He doesn't have any visible scars, not anymore. Bertie cleaned up his face and now all the burned and broken skin is hidden under his clothes. But that doesn't make him okay. His right hand is all wrong, fingers pulled into constant numb curves that refuse to relax under Mika's touch. His left is fine, but they both shake uncontrollably.

"They don't want us. They don't want us." His voice goes calm with the repetition, acceptance and distance and the feeling of exhausted resignation. "Gods get bored easily. We were only ever toys for them."

His hands keep pulling at his fur, but it's just a distant pinprick of sensation. An anchor, like Mika's hands are. Something to keep him from slipping completely away.

"They don't love us. We were just an amusement to them."

[wolfishsurvivalist]

"Justin are you really serious about that?" Mika scowled at him, her ears folding back even as she tries to rub warmth into his shaking hands. "You're talking about the cub that cries when we say mean things about anyone, who paints ducklings on doors, and who will climb into your lap for hugs if you hold still for longer than two seconds. The cub that made you and Grell both suffer extreme veggie mouth until you made up again." Gently she tried to pry his fingers from his fur to stop him from plucking himself bald, thinking over what to say next.

"I think you've gone and gotten the cub mixed up with someone else." Cocking her head, she studied him carefully. "After all, that cub considers you a friend, and you were one of the first people to offer to help me make a shrine for them. Do you really think that friends would abandon each other that quickly? Would you throw them away just because someone bigger and stronger than they are kidnapped us?" Giving his fingers a small squeeze, Mika sighed.

"C'mon Justin, give the cub a fighting chance before you give up on them. I'll stay with you until they get here to take us home, okay?"

[deafscythe]

It's obvious that the fur pulling is a bad habit of his, because his hands are full of fluff and the resulting bare spot isn't the only one on his tail.

A fighting chance. Someone else.

He starts laughing, and can't stop. Mika has his hands in hers pulling, tugging, grabbing and he's laughing so hard that his ribs hurt, he can't breathe.