applesaucedream | Universal Remote [Open to All]

Current Music: October 13th/14th, 2013

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Universal Remote [Open to All]

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Here's an interesting scene: the dreamers of Manhattan are on a pirate ship. Or perhaps they're standing in a busy ER, wearing scrubs and holding a scalpel they may or may not know how to use. Or perhaps they've found themselves in the middle of a world cup championship game, or an old-fashioned highway robbery, or an interstellar dogfight, or a dramatic, 'unscripted' showdown between arguably attractive people they've never seen before in their lives.

Whatever the situation, rest assured: it probably won't last long.

Maybe the Rift is bored. That might explain why the dream keeps changing, as if someone were idly flicking through the channels and switching up the genre. The poor dreamers are just along for the ride, the only constant amidst a shifting array of scenery, clothing, and overall mood. Perhaps, if things are sufficiently interesting, the dream might settle a little to see how things play out. But given the Rift's definition of 'interesting,' that might not be a good thing for whoever is providing the entertainment.

[OOC: the usual dream party rules apply. All are welcome, regardless of whether they're in the game or not. Dreamers can remember or forget the events of the dream at the players' discretion. Dreamers' clothes may change to reflect whatever scene they're in, but their memories and personalities will remain intact... though the overall mood of the setting might influence their mood, as well. Feel free to throw NPCs into whatever scene you find yourself in, with bonus points added if said characters treat the dreamers as if they're established parts of the 'canon.']

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What it sounds like to Alanna is the great working cast centuries ago to lock all of the immortals in the Divine Realms. It would have snatched up every immortal it could find and flung them all through the newly created barrier into their new prison. Only now, they were the prisoners, and this strange looking city the prison. She nods, trusting Daine in the general sense. This all has to make sense somehow.

"We're talking in dreams, now? But this rift, this New York place, they exist in the waking world? I've never felt so awake in a dream before." And yet her ember stone is cool, none of the usual warning of danger.

Daine nods, feeling a bit better in spite of herself. "It does this - the rift does, I mean. Brings folks' minds together in dreams. But they exist in the waking world, too. That's where my body is." It's where her body's been for ages, trapped on an island that's too small and crowded and noisy. It's a wonder she sleeps at all; Mithros knows it wasn't easy, especially after she moved aboveground.

She feels a pang at the thought that Mithros probably doesn't know. If any of their gods could reach her, surely the Badger would have by now.

After a few moments' hesitation, she adds, "Sometimes it brings folk into the dreams before it brings them into the city." That's how it had worked with Aly, though Daine's not about to say that. She can't just not mention it, though. The Gift might be of more use against the rift than her wild magic was. If Alanna has fair warning, maybe she could defend herself.

She's trying her best to follow, but there's one sticking point that doesn't make any sense, and even if it breaks the dream logic Alanna has to bring it up.

"But Daine, we've been in touch with Numair. If you'd gone missing I'd have heard of it by now."

That's about what Daine had feared. Aly had said much the same - that she didn't recall Daine ever vanishing. Granted, Aly wasn't much more than a toddler when Daine left, but surely she would have remembered. It would have been something they spoke about all the time, in all likelihood. Daine can't imagine finally going home and keeping all of this a secret.

Daine sighs, and her shoulders slump. "That's the part that doesn't make sense to me, either," she admits. "I don't know why no one back home knows I'm gone. I just know I've been in this other realm for..." she pauses a moment for a mental count, "ten months, near enough," she finishes.

Alanna gapes. She manages to stop from repeating, though. If Daine says she's been gone ten months then that's what she means. But it can't possibly be right.

"By the Goddess," she whispers, half hoping that the Goddess will show herself and explain this mad dream.

It hits her like an arrow then, how Daine must feel. Ten months she's been trapped in another realm, knowing that nobody is looking for her. Alanna has had her difficult moments, but she always knew that someone would miss her. Daine doesn't even have that. Now she understands the tears.

"Daine, I swear to you, if it is within my power I will search for you. We'll find you. We'll bring you home."

It took Daine some time to realize just how lost she was. The Rift was powerful enough - and realms are numerous enough - that she could excuse how long it was taking. But that was before Aly arrived, completely ignorant of the fact that Daine was ever even gone. And she still has the Badger's token. If they really were looking for her, if they really were capable of finding her, wouldn't that have been enough? Wouldn't she be home already?

Maybe she ought to tell Alanna not to bother. She'd be sorely tempted, if she thought the Lioness would listen.

"I still have this," she offers instead, tugging on the cord around her neck until the Badger's claw swings free of her clothing. "I don't know if the Badger can trace it so far, but I never take it off."

She chews her lip for a moment, then adds, "Tread careful. I don't want anyone else getting stuck in the city on my account." It's easier for her to imagine the rest of the realm getting along without her than it is for her to imagine them getting along without Numair or Alanna or their majesties.

"The Badger God's token." That would be a perfect anchor for scrying, if it weren't for whatever magic that made it seem as though Daine wasn't gone at all. This posed a problem, and she frowned.

"Have you spoken to him? Have you spoken with any of the gods?" They would all have a strong interest in the girl after the Immortals War.

"Not since Carthak," Daine says with a slow shake of her head. After all that mess, she'd have expected to enjoy not catching any of the gods' attention for a while. But it's been so long, now, that if the Graveyard Hag tried to meddle with her again, Daine would be half-inclined to hug her just for showing up.

She turns the silver claw between her fingertips, frowning. "I know the Badger loses track of time, but it's not like him to take so long between visits." In fact, she's fair certain he hasn't simply lost track of time or gotten distracted. If none of her mortal friends know she's gone - and if Kitten hasn't picked up on it - is it really such a leap to think that the gods haven't noticed, either? Maybe Alanna's from a realm where Daine never disappeared in the first place, and Goddess knows how much work it would be for them to retrieve her and get her back to whatever realm she's actually missing from.

"I don't think they can hear me," she concludes, tucking the claw back beneath her shirt.

"A place where the gods can't hear you," Alanna muses, searching her memory for any scholarly reference that might fit that description. She comes up empty, but that doesn't mean Numair or Jonathan won't know anything about it. She determines to look in the library in Carthak if she has to in order to find so much as a hint of where her friend has been spirited away to.

"It's something to start with, in any case. And it may be that the Goddess will help, if she doesn't know what's going on." She isn't depending too heavily on that, though. The Gods aren't fickle, but they aren't particularly helpful either when they don't have a reason to be. Numair had explained many of their interactions once they had both returned from-

"Not since Carthak? What about in the Divine Realms? Numair said you spoke with Gainel there."

Now it's Daine's turn to gawp. "The Divine Realms?" she repeats in an incredulous squeak. "But I never--"

She snaps her mouth shut as she realizes what must be happening. Maybe she should've expected this straight off, but Alanna doesn't look older - not as much as Aly did. But she's from Daine's future. She must be. And that means she'd best stop letting slip things like that: things Daine hasn't even done yet.

"I--it was the winter just after we got back from Carthak that the Rift took me," she explains. "I don't know about anything that happened after that. And... beg pardon, but I don't think I should." It's enough of a torment just being away from home without also fretting over a list of things she could be doing if she wasn't stuck in the wrong realm.

Alanna eyes the girl sharply, looking for any hint of a lie, any indication that this isn't the real Daine. But she can feel that it's the truth, and she has to trust her instincts, even in a dream.

She nods her understandings.

"If you think that's best."

Daine nods. "It'd only make this harder, being stuck away." That's not the only reason, of course; knowing her own future would take all the freedom out of getting there. But it's a good enough reason all on its own. So much time has passed since she's seen anyone from home, let alone someone as familiar as Alanna, and the collection of days seems to settle onto her shoulders like a weight.

She'd almost forgotten to miss them, she realizes with vague disgust. She'd almost got settled.

"How long has it been for you?" she asks, brow furrowed. "Since Carthak, I mean?" Has the same amount of time passed for Alanna, even if it was in a different realm? Daine's not sure if would mean anything if it had. It might be nothing more than a coincidence. But one of the many things no one in New York can say with any certainty is how folk are getting on in the realms they left behind. Maybe the Lioness is from the same Tortall Daine vanished from, and the Rift is pulling some sort of trickery, leaving a copy of her to keep her friends from suspecting anything. (It wouldn't even be the only time some Rift mischief caused a second one of her to appear.)

"About a year." She doesn't know what else she's supposed to say about that. Daine makes a good point, about the future only hurting her. If she hasn't been missed by her friends, how can it feel to know she hasn't been missed by the rest of the realm? She purses her lips.

"Then we're not so far apart - at least as time goes." Is that good news? It feels like good news. Maybe she's grateful she doesn't have to worry about hearing too much about things she hasn't done, yet. Or maybe it's just a relief that she and Alanna aren't so separated by time that they might as well be strangers.

She hesitates before asking her next question. It's fair foolish; what she wants to know is how folk have been getting along without her, and they haven't been. More to the point, she shouldn't be asking for details, anyway. But she can't quite help herself. "How's everyone faring?" she asks, peeking over at Alanna, almost shyly. "I don't need to know details, but..."

But she hasn't seen anyone in months, and even if she can't know details, at least she could know if everyone all right.

That a year isn't so bad a discrepancy is more than a little worrying. Alanna isn't sure how to answer. Should she say that everyone is doing well? Wouldn't that just make Daine miss them more?

"As well as may be expected," she says carefully, gauging the girl's reaction. "There's trouble with Scanra."

It's not a very satisfying answer, but it's also no more than Daine ought to hear. She doubts any answer would satisfy her, anyway; she'd be satisfied by going home and seeing everyone properly.

Even that would be bittersweet. She's made friends in New York, too - dear ones that she doesn't want to lose.

Daine's gaze sharpens a little at the news of Scanra. "Nothing you can't sort," she says, half-guessing. Not that there's a thing she could do to help, regardless.

"Nothing we can't sort," she agrees. It isn't anything she could handle as the Champion, but she has faith in the soldiers of Tortall and the palace's ability to forge a treaty.

Daine nods a bit dully. She knows there's no use fretting about it. They've handled plenty without her help in the past, and she can't offer them any, now. All she can do is trust that they'll manage without her (or without her her, this her, and she feels a sudden stab of envy for this other Daine, copy or not, who gets to go about living her proper life in her proper realm).

She pulls in a breath, though she isn't entirely sure what she ought to say. Sometimes, conversations in Manhattan feel like crossing a frozen-over river: trying to avoid thin ice, trying not to slip up. It's only natural, what with so many folk being from realms with no magic, or natives of Manhattan not necessarily looking kindly on rifties.

It feels far less natural now, with Alanna. Daine shouldn't have to watch herself around her friend.

It's almost a relief when the scenery abruptly shifts. The living room melts away, replaced by a rain-slicked city street. Manhattan, or near enough by Daine's reckoning. She lurches a little at the loss of the couch beneath her, but manages to right herself without sitting down on the wet pavement. Looking to the Lioness, she says, "This is what it's like, the new realm I'm in." There's a flash of headlights and a hiss of tires, and she hastily adds, "I should probably warn you about cars."

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Universal Remote [Open to All]

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