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applesaucedream2015-03-31 06:55 pm
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Entry tags:
- character: asmodia antarion,
- character: daine sarrasri,
- character: eliot waugh,
- character: greta baker,
- character: iman asadi,
- character: johnny truant,
- character: peeta mellark,
- character: rashad durant,
- character: sunshine,
- character: the balladeer,
- dropped: daniel jackson,
- dropped: jay merrick,
- dropped: mako mori,
- dropped: seth,
- dropped: tara maclay,
- dropped: tim wright,
- party post,
- retired: bee,
- retired: melanie,
- retired: peter vincent,
- retired: yuri kostoglodov
Between the Roots and Branches [Open to All]

Don't worry, dreamers of Manhattan. There will be no humiliating episodes of sudden-onset-clumsiness tonight - at least, nothing more severe than what you might experience naturally. Your physical and mental faculties will be left perfectly intact. What a treat! And what luck, because if you do lose your footing, it's a long way down to the forest floor.
But hey, who wants to be on the boring old ground when there are so many wonderful treehouses to explore? There are dozens of them spread throughout the surrounding forest, connected by a series of bridges and catwalks (some, admittedly, a bit more stable than others). It's easy to forget - or fail to notice - that there really is no easy or conventional way down to the ground when you're surrounded by such splendor.
The houses' styles range from charming and rustic to modern and sleek, with many falling somewhere in between. There are viewing platforms for bird-watching or simply taking in the scenery (trees, mostly, though if you venture high enough, you'll be treated the sight of the forest canopy stretched across a valley far below). But the insides of the treehouses are comfortably furnished to varying degrees as well, so there's no need to immerse yourself in nature if you'd really rather not. Some are complete houses in their own right, with all the amenities of a Manhattan apartment and then some.
Go for a climb, or kick back and relax. The only enemies you'll find here are other dreamers... and, potentially, gravity.
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He is especially not fond of them now.
There's a house, solidly situated several feet from him and supported by several gracefully arching branches, indisputably well-constructed and ordinary-looking, if only he could take the steps necessary to shift himself along the thick bough he's found himself on and propel himself to that relative safety.
The sole thing separating him from a terrifyingly steep drop is this gently creaking, swaying limb, and this is not a good thought for Daniel to be having right now. His grip tightens on the wood. He's going to scoot along his branch and get into that house and everything is going to be okay.
Any minute now.
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Neither, apparently, does the man she sees clinging to a tree ahead of her as she comes around the corner of a platform. She comes to a standstill, Biscuit at her heels, and frowns at him in mild concern.
"You alright?"
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He glances up, suitably startled at the voice and only slightly more so at its owner, who seems to belong to some fascinating species he can't put a name to.
"Oh, yeah," he says airily. "I'm, er. Well. I appear to be stuck, actually, but that happens to be entirely my fault." The smile he offers is far too bright and far too concentrated. "I'm, ah, not good. With heights."
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The answer snaps into place with a familiar alacrity both reassuring and disturbing in its reassurance, and he makes a small noise of subdued revelation. Not remembering where he was before plus not knowing how he ended up here, specifically, well - those are signs he knows only too well.
"Another dream." He eyes slip shut. "Great."
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"Yep," he confirms apologetically, sounding equally put out by their shared misfortune. "Shared group dreams. Rift likes to toss us all together into one metaphysical space every once in a while."
It's a temporary diversion, but he seizes the opportunity to inch his way steadily forward while keeping his attention locked on the - apparently non-human? - rifty. Maybe if he isn't thinking too hard about the merciless, sheer drop beneath him -
"I'm Daniel," he supplies with a fleeting, encouraging tug to one side of his mouth. "Came through like you, just over a month ago."
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"Hello, I am Baymax. If you wish to drop down, I will catch you."
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"Hello," he says cautiously, then gulps - it's an alarmingly steep drop. "Er. Are you sure you can - manage that?" Because it really, really is - quite a drop.
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"I just wanna be sure," he says. "For, ah - obvious reasons."
He swallows hard, shuts his eyes briefly, and shoots a wobbly look at the densely leaf-carpeted floor and the too-distant white blot at the foot of his tree. Oh god. Oh god. He is incredibly high up. Oh god.
"You sure you won't miss?" he asks, squeezing his eyes shut again, trying and failing to keep his voice level. "If I just -" He flutters a hand downward in what he vaguely hopes is an appropriately demonstrative manner.
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"My purpose is to aid the sick and injured and prevent potential danger."
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And, well, trust is a fundamental aspect of the Hippocratic Oath. Is that hardwired into it in some way?
He's desperately hoping this is the case.
"Okay," Daniel calls back, the thready edge of panic straining his tone. "I'm - I'm coming down. Just, ah," he struggles briefly to find his voice and when he does it's pitched a great deal higher than usual, a clear indication of his escalating terror, "just give me a minute."
He tightens his grip on the bark, a press and squeeze of fingers over the roughness to establish some sense of security, of anchoring, then takes a deep breath intended to be calming. It has, as predicted, the opposite effect.
He lets go.
Fingers slide loosely away from the bark in a tearing of skin across an uneven surface, and he relaxes the grip of his legs on the branch's conical sturdiness until he pitches over and drops, a pale streak against the spectrum of green-browns.
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His current patient falls into Baymax's embrace and then the robot blinks a few times, calculating a safe route to the closest building.
"Can you rate, on a scale of one to ten, any pain or discomfort?"
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"Ah," he says shakily, still adjusting to the sensation of no longer being in motion, now comfortably cushioned against the thing. Verbal processing is still taking a minute. He blinks several times, finally reaching up with his assessing hand to feel for his glasses which have, miraculously, stayed on for the duration of the downward trip. "I'm - okay. I think. Nothing broken."
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"Alarmed. Human, are you alright?" he asks, in a voice that to Daniel is probably one of the most monotone, dull things he's ever heard. Erryl is also communicating his worry through scent, very slight body movements, and subvocalized infrasound, but all that is probably far too subtle for Daniel to pick up on.
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There's a disorganized flurry of limbs as Daniel's grip slips out of shock and he frantically readjusts so he doesn't plunge to his death. When the wild burst of motion stabilizes, Daniel has wrapped himself almost entirely around the branch to compensate, chin nearly pressed to the wood, practically horizontal.
"I," he begins tentatively, and realizes he has no idea where that sentence was meant to go. What was the question? He shouldn't be staring. That's probably impolite. That's definitely impolite.
This creature is decidedly non-terrestrial. This, he is fairly certain, can be safely posited.
"I'm stuck," he admits pleasantly in what is probably the most utterly contrived tone of nonchalance imaginable. "But that's, you know, fine. Par for the course, really."
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"Concerned. Do you require assistance?" he
dronesasks, taking careful steps towards the edge of the platform, making the branch sway marginally. He doesn't want to get too far out - elcor may be extremely resilient, and the gravity here isn't anywhere near as strong as on Dekuuna, but a fall from this height would still at least injure him.no subject
Well, whatever species this is, they certainly seem helpful and friendly? But Daniel's not liking the way the branch bobs and creaks menacingly whenever they advance a step, the wood seemingly bowing beneath the added weight.
"Please just, um, stay where you are?" he asks, a desperate, strained edge to the request.
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"Reassuring. I am going to help you," he says, a definite tone to his odour. "Gently warning. I am going to take another step so I can reach you. Please remain still." With that he carefully steps with on arm out onto the branch, gripping the wood with his large fingers, very slowly putting his weight on it.
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"Exasperated insistence: It is a good, strong branch. It will hold," he answers. Trust him on this, he's good at judging what will or won't make solid support. He leans forward, gripping tightly onto the branch with one hand, his feet firmly planted on the balcony still. He reaches out with his other hand, but Daniel's just out of reach, especially now he went even further out.
"Confident encouragement: You will be alright. Take my hand, and I will help you to safety."
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- and is so very not the point right now.
"I'd rather not risk it, if it's all the same to you." Daniel's talent for negotiation at a breakneck pace kicks in, and his rate of speech ramps up considerably. "I'm really entirely capable of getting myself off this branch without, um, without outside assistance if you will - if you will just - please?"
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