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

[wildmage_daine]

A monstrous paw swats at her, but the claws are retracted. Daine pulls herself closer to the doorknob, trying to tuck herself into the well between the widest part of the knob and the door itself. In much the same instant, her back erupts with a defensive ridge of porcupine quills. Let the cursed thing try its paws on that.

A moment later, the door shudders as the being on the other side strikes it, and the vibration is enough for her to lose her grip on her mess of a shape - and on the door itself. She falls, tentacles lapsing into something that might be hooves or might be paws, then frantically grabs onto the first winged shape she can think of. She dwindles into a small, black speck of a crow, wings scooping at the air until she rights herself. Then she climbs, hoping to get out of the rift cat's range before it can take another swipe at her (though at this point, it might be more occupied with the door).

[ofschrodinger]

The cat's task is made more difficult by its desire not to kill Daine...or Johnny, for that matter. It drops to the floor with a scattering of porcupine quills in its paw pads, and turns to hiss at the little man glommed onto its tail as it shakes the paw and banishes the quills with an irritable thought.

Though its adversaries are small, they are irritatingly numerous at the moment. Daine need not worry; her falling (and then flying) form takes a backseat to the freezing air that whips through the open crack of the door and heralds the utterly improbable intrusion of the godling. The cat screams with rage, Johnny and Daine suddenly all but forgotten as it pounces on the door, paws bracing low on the door and pushing back with surprising strength.

From deep in the house come echoing yowls. It's not playing now -- one of it is not enough.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny loses his grip on the tail when the cat turns and hisses terrifyingly at him, but apparently it doesn't mean to punish him, not with the door opening. Small favors. Actually maybe big favors, depending on what's trying to come through. Where's Daine gone? He can't see her anymore.

He scurries under the cat toward the door, trying to see if she's made it out, maybe make a break for it himself, but he freezes when he hears the distant yowling of more cats. Shit shit shit!

"Daine-!" he calls frantically. "Daine, where are you?"

[divinefluff]

The sudden, heavy shove back from the Rift throws Zephyr momentarily off, but they don't lose their spot. Now that the barrier has been breached, even a little, they have more of a sense of the inside, of the people trying to help them. They can't let them down, even if they aren't their flock. Daine and Johnny believe in them, just as there are others inside who believe in them.

Zephyr stamps one of their cloven hooves into the snow covering the stoop for leverage - finally there's something good to come of the thick, engulfing white - and tries to kick the other into the crack even as they continue to press forward. If they can just get their hoof in the door, they think they'll have a real chance, no matter how much pressure the Rift puts on.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine lets out a harsh caw of frustration as the cold wind blowing through the door buffets her little shape through the air, and it takes her a few moments to get out of the worst of it and relocate Johnny. There he is, close to the door - far too close for comfort, considering it's the center of a clash between the rift cat and something else. Something big and strong enough to muscle the door open. What if he's crushed?

Here! she calls out as she folds her wings and plummets to the ground, aiming for the arched legs of a colossal coat rack. Goddess knows she doesn't want to try landing in the doorway itself - not with that wind coming in. She lands, claws skittering over the floor, then takes wolf shape and bolts towards him. Can you see what's out there?? They might be able to fit through the door (and with more cats coming, bolting out of the house is starting to seem like it might be a good idea), but they won't make it far if their unknown ally steps on them.

[ofschrodinger]

[Continued here.]