applesaucedream | Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me

YOU GET THREE.

That's what the signs posted all over this enormous shopping mall say, anyway. The signs are impossible to miss. They're posted in every store, on every escalator, and even in the bathrooms. They're on the gates to the rides in the indoor amusement park and taped to the glass in the aquarium. Those three words appear over and over, standing as some kind of invitation to the dreamers…or is it a warning?

It could mean three of anything, really. The mall is empty aside from the dreamers, no shop clerks or attraction attendants to clarify the rules, nor crowds of shoppers to lead by example. Could it be three items from the shops? Three items from each shop? Or maybe it means three soft pretzels. It could even mean three sharks. It probably doesn't mean three sharks. No one knows!

Sooner or later, though, someone is bound to figure it out by accident. Everyone who finds themselves in this dream will get three wishes to do with what they please. They may find themselves a little more inclined than usual to phrase their desires in I wish statements, but there's no real indication until it happens that that's what they're supposed to do. Surely nothing can go wrong with that.

[OOC: Standard dream party rules apply: you and/or your character don't need to be a member of the community in order to participate, and characters will remember or forget the events of the dream at their players' discretion. Characters may make any wishes they like and have those wishes granted, but the effects of potentially game-breaking wishes (ones that would alter the setting of the entire dream, for instance) will be limited to the threads in which those wishes are made.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Balladeer was too absorbed in watching the stingrays to notice the squeak of an otter, but he looks up at Daine's voice.

"Oh, hello!" He straightens, keeping his now-dripping arm above the tank to keep from soaking his shirt. That tone did sound a tiny bit forced, but he's not one to immediately leap to a bad conclusion. "Been swimming with the fishes?"

Daine sits up onto her haunches and glances back over her shoulder. She doesn't think the water's rising. She certainly hopes it isn't. Swiveling back towards the Balladeer, she replies, Um. Yes. After a fashion. It was... sort of an accident.

But enough about that. How are you? she asks, waddling closer to the pool. Making friends?

An accident? How do you accidentally turn into an otter and go in an aquarium tank?

Well, it doesn't matter. "Yeah!" he replies, beaming. "I've never been to one of these before. I didn't know they let you touch the fish!" Stingrays are fish, right? "I do like just watching the ones in the tanks too, but this is fun!"

Daine braces her forepaws against the side of the tank and stretches her nose up, whiskers bristling. She could probably take a larger shape, but for the moment, it doesn't occur to her.

They don't mind it, she says after a few moments' consultation. Like most of the aquarium's denizens, bred in captivity, the rays don't have any clear sense of what they might be missing. Even if they did, they might be happy to trade in the freedom of the open ocean for the regular meals they get here. It's hard to say for certain; most fish aren't sparkling conversationalists. The octopus was far and away the brightest mind she encountered down below. At least, not so long as folk are gentle with them.

The Balladeer had figured the rays couldn't mind it all that much. The tank's big enough that they don't need to get anywhere near him if they don't want to. What would he do, go chasing after them?

Still, he smiles. "Good. I hope people are - not that there's anybody else here, I guess." It's a dream, so the rays probably don't really exist anyway. God, that's sort of sad.

Shaking some water off, he sits down and leans back against the side of the tank. Towering over Daine while they talk feels too weird, and she seems to be sticking with the otter thing for now. "I've always wanted to go see the ocean," he confides. "Close up, I mean."

By the time it occurs to Daine that she's inconveniently short, the Balladeer's already sat down. Whoops. She lets herself grow into wolf shape - that feels more natural than otter, and now she's tall enough that he won't get a crick in his neck from looking down at her.

It's beautiful, she says, a bit wistfully. And it's so close. I can hear it if I send my mind out far enough. With all the noisy harbor traffic, there isn't as much to hear as their would be back home, but it's better than nothing. As much as she loves all the friends she's made on the island, sometimes it's nice to get a bit of a change. There are dolphins close enough to talk to, sometimes.

"Really?" The Balladeer brightens with interest. Dolphins are supposed to be really smart, right? "What do they talk about?"

They're curious about humans, she says, so they have questions about boats and things. She's done her best to warn them away from the latter - at least the back parts, where the propellors are - but the dolphins have a better understanding of modern boating than she does, really. They know better than to mess around where they might get injured.

More than that, they've been curious about her, a two-legger speaking to them from an island up the river. They've offered to visit, but I've told them not to. I don't think it'd be safe for them, and the rift probably wouldn't let me go down to the water, anyway.

"Oh, it wouldn't. I've tried that before." The Balladeer looks a bit sheepish at the memory. That was one long, weird day, way back when he first arrived in the city. It seems longer ago than it was. Funny, how time can work. "I tried to get out a few ways," he explains. "But once I went far enough, it was like...there was something dragging me back. Didn't even make it all the way down to the water."

Ordinarily, he might have been more persistent, but he'd had a feeling that the Rift's patience might be wearing thin. The tugging got a little violent by the end of his experimentation. Anyway, even if he got out of Manhattan, where was he planning on going? He hasn't got anywhere else, unless he wanted to visit one of his still-living assassins. Which - well.

"It's not that I don't like it here," he muses aloud. "I was just curious."

Daine's made her own attempts over the past year. The only things she hasn't tried are flying straight up - however far the rift let her get, she doesn't like the thought of getting swatted back to earth once she hit whatever limit it fancied - or trying to ride out in one of the minds of her friends. The second option wouldn't really mean leaving the island, because her body would stay behind, but it still might be too close for the rift's liking. The last thing she wants is for it to punish one of her friends for trying to help her.

It doesn't seem to have a problem with her listening, though. At least she can talk with the People outside the island, even if she can't join them.

I wouldn't mind going someplace less crowded, Daine says, flicking her ears back in canine disapproval. I don't know how folk can stand being all stacked atop one another all the time.

She's spoken to enough migratory birds to know that this realm has wild places. It wouldn't be as good as going home, but at least it would be something.

"I like it!" The Balladeer smiles in earnest enthusiasm. "Given the choice I think I might move somewhere a little less urban, but it's fun having people around!" If anything, the noise can sometimes get to him, but he's grown used to that. It just means he gets more variety in his day!

Of course, he would still like to travel. For someone so caught up in its history, he's really seen a very small fraction of the country. The idea of going abroad is still like a distant dream, but America is tantalizingly close; he can almost imagine the mountains and fields and oceans just beyond his reach. He wants to visit the Lincoln Memorial, and go back to see Elberon in the summer, or Washington in the spring. They'd have cherry blossoms instead of black crepe. People would be happy.

But he can be content with his little patch of Manhattan. He's got a home here now. His only responsibilities are the ones he's chosen for himself, and it's still easy to get caught up in the freedom.

"I go to the park most every day," he says. "And except for my friends, I can go a week without seeing the same person twice. So many people are so excited to be living their lives in this city, even if it's only for a little while. It's...I don't know, it's nice."

Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me

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