Sweeter than the First Time [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

Hello, dreamers of Manhattan. The Rift knows that things have been kind of rough, lately. The last dream didn't go as well as it had hoped. Consider this an apology of sorts, and a hearkening back to the good times you've shared.

It's a grand old (and potentially familiar) cabin house that the dreamers will find themselves wandering. The furniture is plentiful and comfortable, the floors are strewn with cushions and blankets, and there are cheerful fires burning in the grates. It seems a little odd that the house still manages to be on the chilly side despite looking so warm, yet it is.

Oh, well. You'll just have to find another dreamer or two and spoon up and fall asleep like little baby cats get cozy. It shouldn't be difficult; most of the dreamers (excepting those with strong telepathic defenses or deeply ingrained cuddle-averse personalities) will find themselves feeling friendlier than usual, along with an almost overwhelming desire to snuggle up to someone. How convenient that the house seems designed for that very purpose!

And if some of the cushions are Hello Kitty themed, well, that's just coincidence.


[OOC: Standard dream party rules apply. Characters will be affected by the dream-whammy to whatever degree makes the most sense for them, and will remember or forget the events of the dream at the player's discretion. Backtag into infinity.]

Comments

[peacefulexplorer]

It is pretty cold, isn't it, which is why Daniel is going to rescue a spare blanket from the nearest sofa and wrap it around himself a bit. There, now they match, almost.

"I'm really very sorry about that." He's already apologized but if she - she, yes? - isn't coming out it might be that she's too startled still. She sounds fairly young, but until he can actually see there's no way to tell. "It's okay if you want to come out, though. I promise I won't hurt you. I'm Daniel," he offers with a tentative smile, the conversational olive branch.

[starlightcalliope]

"I'm, um, I'm Callie," she replies, having practiced this introduction so it feels a little less like fibbing. She wasn't expecting him to want to hurt her at all, but the reassurance is another friendly gesture, and she feels a bit calmer already. If only people weren't so insistent on wanting to see her when she is dreadfully unworthy of being seen, though.

"I would prefer to remain covered, actually. It is preferable for both of us," she hurries to add, lest he think she is suspecting him of any ill will.

[peacefulexplorer]

"It's nice to meet you." But Callie apparently doesn't want to come out. Was the glimpse of green indicative of a different species, something she doesn't want people to know about?

Not to be deterred, Daniel tries again.

"It's okay, really." She really does sound very young, and probably still startled on top of it. He silently berates himself over that less-than-ideal first impression but forges on, voice steady, "I used to be an explorer in my old universe. I met a lot of different people, different species, of all shapes and, and sizes and colors. Honestly, some of my best friends were aliens." He isn't sure he's making the right sorts of assumptions here or if this is even helping, but he adds, "quite a few of them were green."

[starlightcalliope]

As Daniel goes on talking, the heap of blanket perks up visibly, indicative of Calliope's captured interest. Although she wasn't afraid of him as such before, she feels a little safer again hearing that he is an explorer. Those are always such fascinating and lovely characters. And he sounds like he would have a lot of stories to tell, about the different people he's met, the places he's been to.

"They were?" she asks, astonished, hood bobbing in surprise. "What were they like?" Probably not monsters. The mention of green tipped her off to what he is trying to get at, but if he talks about his friends he just might forget to prod her about coming out again. Also, she really would love to hear more.

[peacefulexplorer]

That's some definite sparking interest in her tone, though she still seems intent on remaining burrowed beneath her blanket fort. Maybe if he keeps talking and she learns a bit more about where he comes from she'll be less wary about coming out.

"I'd travel all around the universe, to explore all sorts of different planets," he explains, scooting back to lean against the foot of the sofa. Conversing with a pile of blankets isn't the ideal conversation backdrop, but if it means she's more comfortable he won't challenge it. "It was usually my job to make friends and explain why we were there to any other lifeforms we ran into. Couple times it got me in trouble. A friend of mine, big green horned guy named Chaka, well, we actually met while he was trying to kidnap me. For a while there I thought he was planning on eating me. He looked pretty scary."

The memory, like all associated with the SGC and home, comes with a faint pang of regret. Getting home has begun to feel like an insurmountable task, but he presses on. "Turned out we got to be pretty close friends. Learned each other's language and everything."

[starlightcalliope]

Calliope is absolutely delighted to see how right she had been about Daniel. He is full of amazing tales of travel and exploration; interplanetary even! Goodness, he must have encountered just oodles of different places and cultures and friends. When he gets to the part about his green friend kidnapping him she gasps softly and scoots forward a bit, all rapt attention. His story is so thrilling she can even stomach the mention of his friend's scary appearance, though it hits rather close to home enough that she feels a little pang of shame at it nonetheless.

Fortunately, his story has a wonderfully heartening ending. "Oh, that is lovely!" she exclaims, clasping her claws together beneath her blankets, a muffled clap of joy. "I am so pleased to hear you became friends after all. Aren't other cultures splendid? I myself am an avid student of human and troll culture, learned a language or two as well. But you must have encountered so many diverse people and worlds! Did you have a favourite?"

[peacefulexplorer]

She's so enthused by the whole story that Daniel can't help but grin even wider, thrilled that they share that similar interest. Callie almost sounds like something of an anthropologist herself, though the phrasing of human and troll leads him to believe that his assumption that she herself isn't quite human is correct. But then, the Rift brings all sorts to Manhattan, and she wouldn't be the first alien he's met, even here. He just wishes she would feel safe enough to come out but, well, he isn't going to force it.

"Oh, gee. I dunno. There was a lot. Um, well." He squints at the cabin's wooden ceiling, chewing on his lower lip as he considers. "There were these friends of ours, race called the Asgard. Looked kinda like - small, three-foot gray aliens with very large black eyes. They looked a bit odd but turns out they were way, way smarter than any human."

Daniel peers at the blanket clump again, but still nothing. "I'm an archaeologist, so my job was more or less learning about other cultures, meeting other people, stuff like that." He frowns, jaw jutting to one side curiously. "Haven't heard of trolls, though, other than, um, what you get from Earth mythology. Are those from your universe?"

[starlightcalliope]

Oh how she would love to meet these Asgards, or at least learn more about them; who knows what fascinating sorts of social dynamics they might have, what curious history and lore, and what stories to tell. Not to mention she can't help being rather partial to grey aliens, to boot.

It's so delightful and a wee bit ridiculous, how many of the people she's met since her revival are explorers, scientists - scholars of some kind. It's certainly helped her feel right at home, and does so in this case as well. She relaxes as much as the chill allows, shifting into a more sustainable, cross-legged position under her covers. If he's going to get her talking about trolls, they both had better be comfortable!

"Not technically!" she begins, fully aware that this is a confusing and therefore hopefully engaging opener. "The entirety of my sources on troll society came to me via a series of complicated inter-universal causalities, almost certainly authored in that universe which was created through the heroic shenanigans of a group of trolls. Not what you would call a primary source, I know, but they have nonetheless offered me a wealth of knowledge and fuel for speculation."

She chuckles as though at a private joke, which she is naturally going to share with him. "It does not surprise me to hear that trolls have left an impression on Earth mythology, seeing as how it was them who assured the creation of Earth and its universe in the first place!" Finding it infernally difficult to see her audience's reaction from under a hood that covers very nearly her whole face, Calliope raises her head just enough to peek up at Daniel. If she now shows the barest hint of imposing fangs and prominent lime green cheekbones among the blankety shadows, she's too caught up in her storytelling to notice.

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel listens intently, rapt with interest over Callie's universe, something that sounds miles from any universe he's interacted with. Inter-universal trolls as the catalysts for the Earth's genesis is easily an acceptable theory considering the truth of his own universe's conception.

"God, that's fascinating." So she is an anthropologist of sorts, or at least someone with a healthy interest in other cultures and multidimensional history. "My universe, well, our creation wasn't quite so interesting. There was a race of beings called the Ancients, and they more or less engineered how the human race came to be." He shrugs that away quickly - he's less eager to discuss the Ancients at any length. "These trolls, you got to speak to them or, or a source of their knowledge personally?"

That'd be another oddly specific similarity between them, aside from the deep-seated appetite for learning: conversing with the beings who made their respective universes, one-on-one.

The line of her makeshift blanket hood lifts a little in her enthusiasm, and Daniel can just barely glimpse a curiously angular face, either green or simply cast that way in the light, and possibly some rather large canines. It doesn't look like a human face, but humanoid almost certainly. Daniel decides against calling attention to it; Callie doesn't seem to want him to know of her appearance, even these vague, darkened hints, and if he says anything she may retreat back into her veiled cave. Maybe if she sees that to him, blatantly non-human appearances are perfectly normal, she might be less worried about him seeing her properly in the light.

[starlightcalliope]

Calliope is pleased as punch to have successfully offered him something equally thrilling and smiles broadly at his reaction, blanket slipping back a little further. His origin story sounds a little confusing, but perhaps he is simply under a slight misapprehension, or maybe Ancients is what trolls are called in his culture, and then he brings up something far more captivating anyway.

"Oh I wish," she exclaims emphatically. "What an amazing opportunity that would be, to see just how much of my fanciful speculations measure up to actual fact. And to have all those enigmas and maddening gaps strewn about their tale solved once and for all! Alas, all I ever had access to were the written records of a magnificent scholar." She pitches forward further, as though imparting a great trade secret. "But I have been getting to do just so much hands-on research on humans since I woke up in this city!"

[peacefulexplorer]

Callie's features become a little more distinct as she leans forward and her hood slides back, confirming Daniel's first impressions of fangs, clearly defined cheekbones, and an oddly lurid green complexion. Her face almost looks skull-like in the shade of her little blanket cave, though her expression of academic glee is unmistakeable.

"There's certainly no shortage of humans of here." As well as a myriad of other beings, some which probably warrant a fair amount of research and plenty others in which attempting research may result in death, but bringing up either would just be needlessly complicated at this early point. "In fact, if you want we could meet in the waking world, and I could tell you a whole lot about human culture or any of the other cultures I've seen."