Hello Darkness My Old Friend [Open to Multiple]

[has_a_horn]

The world is dark and there's a war in heaven. The blackness of the scene is deep, lit only by the graceful, inhuman figures of his brothers and sisters. They dance viciously, hands clasped around long silver blades, slashing as they turn and evade. They bleed light and die like a star going supernova. Gabriel stands trembling, watching. If it wasn't so horrible, it might be beautiful.

He's wearing the same vessel he has been wearing for so long now-

Briefly, the scene shifts. He's kneeling before this vessel, a hand cupping the slightly stubbled chin. He'll shave properly, when he takes it. The man smiles, nods. It looks so sincere.

Gabriel smiles back, in awe of him.

-except he can feel the weight of his wings, the power contained there, his own potential for destruction. Behind him, they sweep up at least twenty times his height, closed in and tight against each other, a gigantic extension of his own horrified posture. Next to any of the rest, he would look so small like he is now. Inconsequential. Still, they'll want him to join in, soon. Michael will come looking, or Lucifer. Enough will have died that he will be needed on one side or the other.

He wonders if this slaughter is really what God wanted, then chastises himself for thinking it. He should fight for heaven, for God. Another supernova lights up the black canvas. A triumphant shout echoes back to him along with a ghost of bright piercing pain. How can they deny the feeling that quakes through them with each death? Is he the only one?

He can't bring himself to take a single step forward. Instead, he drops to his knees and prays. The sounds of his prayers rend the air around him, harsh, beautiful, and useless. No one turns to him, and God isn't listening.

He searches for something, any feeling in the darkness that isn't this, isn't here. When he feels something, he pulls on it like a lifeline.

[[ooc: Gabriel has passed out following events that will be happening in this thread. He doesn't have control over his dreaming, and chances are he won't know he's dreaming most of the time, so expect horror, and expect him to take over the dream.]]

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

At first, Daine doesn't dream. She was all used up after returning to the base, and she'd fallen into a sleep too deep for dreaming.

Now, though, she's being pulled out of the dark. It's a strange sensation, but not entirely unfamiliar, and she sees the ocean floor peeling away below her at a fantastic speed. She must be returning to Pirate's Swoop, and the thought fills her with delight and sorrow in equal measure. Sorrow, she supposes, because the kraken won't make it in time to break the siege - but why delight?

Then she remembers New York, and the strange tug takes on a different meaning as the ocean melts away. Is it the rift? Is she really going home? Her limbs move sluggishly as she tries to reorient herself in the darkness, wanting to see where she's headed. Before she can manage as much, her back collides with something - someone? - and she tumbles to the ground in an untidy heap.

Wherever she is, it's still dark, which makes it impossible to not be drawn to the battle overhead. Daine stares at the creatures above her, aghast. This isn't home.

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS hasn't been scouting the Dreaming for long when she spots a shining beacon of misery and fear amidst the resting minds, but before she can identify its telepathic signature she is suddenly and violently pulled towards it. The undertow is so unexpected and powerful that she finds herself dragged into the mind almost entirely, though she apparently doesn't have to worry about being too vast for it, because what she experiences there is nigh on overwhelming even to her.

A profound darkness, and terror and grief and pain, and war; she's immersed in it, her horror and panic mixing with that already filling the atmosphere. A supernova not far above turns into a temporal explosion, rends the fabric of reality cruelly and unnaturally, a wrenching scream that shakes the foundation of her being.

But even this shock only lasts a moment and finally she remembers herself, draws herself together against the terrible image surrounding her, and extricates her mind from this as much as possible. Now she's able to recognize the other consciousness, though nothing reminds of the friendly confidence and slight obnoxiousness she'd encountered a few days ago. But it's enough to stop her from fleeing, instead offering a cautious, rather shaken mental greeting to identify herself and hopefully find out what's happened to Gabriel.

[brink]

Gabriel's dream is like a lighthouse in the dark for Topher, uncommonly intense and painful. Not something he usually goes diving into, rather something he avoids, because it tends to mean trouble. Regular dreamers don't give off quite this noticable sensations, and he mostly stays away from people with dream powers, for fear they'd use them against him.

Still, it's a familiar dreamer, but before he can make up his mind, he feels violently drawn into it, and the feelings are overwhelming from up close. His physical self tumbles in unceremoniously, and he doesn't even have enough focus to disguise himself, though he realises quickly that there wouldn't be much point - he's visited this mind before.

Except last time, Gabriel's mind was rather more controlled. Not as traumatising. Topher has to fight hard to stop the horror and despair and pain from infecting him, and he isn't all that successful.