[open to all] Room full of people in your head

[applesaucemod]

The rift has gotten bored, and has decided it's time to bring people together for another dream party.

This time, when you find yourself within the dream, you'll be somewhere familiar. Perhaps somewhere you feel safe or at home, some place you miss, or were particularly happy at some point in your life. It might not be the same place every time you come back here, though.

There will also be a door where there didn't use to be one, even if there's no wall to surround it. If you go through this door, you will find yourself in endless simple corridor, lined with unmarked doors. And if you go through them, you'll pay a visit to someone else's room.


[There will monthly Dreaming party post like this. Same procedure as last time. Non-members welcome to tag in!]

Comments

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel finds himself in Heaven. It's a bittersweet comfort, but definitely familiar. It's warm and he has the feeling that his family is waiting for him just outside the door. The...door. Right, this is just a dream. He takes a moment, looking over Heaven before he shakes off the image. He's definitely had enough of that lately.

In its place is a Karaoke bar. It's pleasant, and there's a plate of mini-pizzas sitting in front of him as he watches some drunk guy murdering a Journey song.

[beastisbeauty]

Bruce peeks in the door and grins on seeing Gabriel.

"Mind if I come in? The room I found myself in was kinda depressing."

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel looks back at Bruce and waves him in. "Sure thing, cuddles."

[beastisbeauty]

Bruce laughs, coming in and shaking his head. He eyes the room with interest, especially the pizzas.

"I'm pretty sure this is a dream. What do you think?"

[has_a_horn]

"Oh, it's definitely a dream." He pushes the plate of little pizzas towards Bruce. "See, there's pizza. That's how you know." In the background, the Journey guy has moved on to slurring out the words of 'More Than a Feeling'.

"That, and I'm the best singer here." He scoots over, allowing Bruce the seat next to him in his little booth, then reaches across to pick up a little pizza for himself. "Well, I usually am, but here it's guaranteed. Unless you've been holding out on me and you're really a rock god."

[beastisbeauty]

Bruce laughs, taking one of the pizzas and biting into it. He clears his mouth.

"I've had pizza while awake though. How is dream pizza different?" Bruce challenges. He shakes his head at the rock god comment. "You don't want to hear me sing, not that it actually qualifies as singing."

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel bites into his own little pizza, humming a pleased sound in the back of his throat. "What are you good at? Intruments? Science, of course. Oh, I had a nice flirt with the Hulk last time we met. You remember that? You told me I had pretty eyes." He chuckles, thinking over exactly what it was. "Nice brown, like dust from smashing." He smiles, raising an eyebrow in Bruce's direction. "I might have gone with...hm, like warm honey, but I appreciate the effort."

[beastisbeauty]

Bruce groans, a bit embarrassed, but he laughs a bit too.

"I almost never remember being the Other Guy. If his flirting is that cheesy, I'd rather not know," Bruce scoffs, grinning. "Although, you probably should be flattered. Being compared to smashing is definitely a compliment in his books."

[has_a_horn]

"I don't know," He shrugs and leans back into his seat. "So far, he's the better flirt." He redirects his attention back to the horrible singing going on on stage. Yes, Bruce, that was a challenge he just issued. Flirt better than comparing his eyes to falling debris and you win a prize.

[beastisbeauty]

Bruce manages to look both pained and amused by that piece of news. He gives a wry chuckle.

"He's just shameless, that's all," Bruce protests mildly.

Still, he refuses to be outdone by the Other Guy. That's too embarrassing even for him. Bruce considers, knowing that attempting a metaphor of any kind will lead to his humiliation. He looks up at Gabriel through his eyelashes, a bashful smile in place.

"He may be better with words, but I like you more."

Sincerity, he can do.

[has_a_horn]

"Ah, see, that wasn't bad." He chuckles, "And give yourself credit, I think everyone is better with words than the Hulk."

[beastisbeauty]

"He got his point across, though, right?" Bruce teased. "That's what counts."

[has_a_horn]

"There's something to be said for style. You've got a one-up on him there." He takes a bite of pizza, then turns to Bruce, an eyebrow raised. "Where did you show up? You said it was depressing."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine's not in the room for more than a second before her nose wrinkles involuntarily. Definitely wrong. She's been poking around for long enough that she's beginning to forget what, exactly, she's looking for, but she's fair certain this isn't it. Daine doesn't frequent bars of any sort.

It occurs to her that Kitten would find the place to be even more overwhelming, as the young dragon doesn't even frequent the 21st century, in the same moment as Kitten lets out a loud, indignant squawk. Grimacing, Daine rubs her ear. "Kit, hush. It's not that bad." Except it kind of is. Most of the rooms she's seen are quiet and peaceful inside, not... this. What is that singer even doing?

[has_a_horn]

At the squawk, Gabriel twists his head around from the show to see who's come in. When he sees that it's Daine and...a dragon? he hesitates for a moment before smiling and waving her over. "Who's your friend?"

[wildmage_daine]

So this is Gabriel's room. Somehow, that makes things a bit less puzzling. Kitten squirms to be put down, and Daine stoops a little to comply as she answers, "This is Kitten - Skysong, really, but most folk call her Kitten."

Once Kitten is on the floor, she marches right up to Gabriel's chair and commences scolding him in a series of chitters and shrieks. "Kitten!" Appalled, Daine hoists the squirming dragon back onto her hip. "Sorry, she's not usually like this," she says to Gabriel before directing a firm, "Mind your manners," to the dragon.

[has_a_horn]

"Hi there, Kitten. Not...Veralidaine?" It's just that there's a weird sort of signature stamped into the soul of the little dragon, and it happens to say Veralidaine. It's not something he's seen before.

He looks back up to Daine. Is there something about him in particualar that's setting the thing off? "What'd I do?"

[wildmage_daine]

"Veralidaine's my name," Daine replies with a puzzled little frown, wondering where Gabriel had heard it. It's written down in whatever records the rebels have of her, but no one actually uses it. Plus, he seemed to think it belonged to Kitten.

The dragon looks almost as surprised as Daine for a moment, then goes back to glaring around the bar as if its patrons have all personally offended her, her blue scales taking on an angry scarlet tinge around their edges. Before Daine can ask her what's wrong, Kitten lets out a trill, the pitch rising and falling like music. She ends the phrase with a loud chk! sound - and the scenery shifts. It's almost imperceptible, just a brief change in the quality of the light, and then the bar is back to normal. Kitten repeats the trill, altering the tune a little, and the next chk causes the sound to muffle for a beat. Her third attempt is more successful - for an instant, Daine catches a glimpse of somewhere else entirely before the bar snaps back into place.

"Oh! Is this... did you make this?" she asks Gabriel, gesturing around them. If so, you can color her impressed; she's never seen an illusion this good before. "It's just that Kitten can tell when something's an illusion, and she doesn't always, um..." she winces as Kitten makes an undeniably rude sound, "... appreciate it. Sorry."

[has_a_horn]

He frowns at the brief change. He knows what's happening here, and he's not all that excited for it to go any further. Daine's already seen a little more of his mind that he's comfortable with. If this little dragon goes on with what she's doing, they'll be brought back to a cosy little corner of heaven.

When Daine explains, he nods. "Yup. I could change it. Something more appropriate?" he snaps his fingers, and now they're sitting in plastic chairs, a field of wildflowers surrounding them on all sides. He'd picked this location because it happens to be a real place. He's hoping that a copy of something will be less offensive to the creature than an outright creation.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine's eyebrows shoot up at the change of scenery - and all it took was a snap of his fingers. He's good at this. It's a welcome change, too, as far as Daine's concerned, but if Kitten's expression is anything to go by, a nice illusion isn't much more welcome than a less pleasant one.

"Stop it," Daine says firmly before the dragon can voice her displeasure. She may be curious about what the illusion is there to mask, but if Gabriel would rather keep it private, she doesn't want to pry. Besides, she still feels as if she owes him after Yuri's breakout. "It's not as if he's trying to trick us, so just leave be." Kitten turns grey and crawls beneath Daine's chair to sulk, muttering under her breath.

"Sorry," Daine apologizes yet again. "She's still only a baby, really."

[has_a_horn]

"I'll try not to take it personally." He tilts his head a bit to look at the little dragon, thinking that Kitten might be right not to like him. That tends to be the case with people that can see past his facades.

Speaking of. He looks out at the field (the central valley of California in the spring) and keeps his tone purposefully light as he speaks. "Do you remember much about out last dream together? It was snowing then." Also the intense pain and awkward mistaken identities, but he's going to stick with the weather. Mostly he just wants to know where his footing is with her. It doesn't seem that she remembers much, but it's hard to say.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine blinks at the question, then gives an awkward shrug. It's not a subject she'd would have brought up by choice, in part because she doesn't remember enough for it to be worth talking about, and in part because what she does remember isn't pleasant. It's the feelings that really stuck: fear, confusion, helplessness, guilt. Everything else is vague or in pieces.

"Not much, no," she replies with some reluctance. Now that he's gone and reminded her, she mostly just wants to ask if he's okay - and maybe apologize again for not even trying to break him out - but she's not sure her pity would be welcome. "I remember your wings," she says instead.

[has_a_horn]

He almost asks which ones she remembers, but stops himself. Instead, he raises his eyebrows at her and lets out a brief "Huh" as if he's considering the meaning of having wings in a dream, as if he doesn't remember them himself. "What were they like?"

[wildmage_daine]

Why is he asking her? Doesn't he remember? Her own memories of the dream might be a bit foggy, but she doubts the image of those bloodied wings will be leaving her mind anytime soon.

"They were a mess," she says bluntly, frowning at him. "How can you remember the weather and not that?"

Kitten pokes her head out from beneath Daine's chair, more interested in the conversation than in sulking. Plus, now that her mama seems less happy with Gabriel, Kitten might be allowed to scold him again. The dragon sits up on her haunches next to the chair, watching the angel closely.

[has_a_horn]

He shrugs. "They say when you dream about having wings it's about escape. If they were a mess...maybe that means I feel stuck. Whadaya think?" He rolls his eyes as he seems to mull over the thought. In truth, he knows that he'd been presenting one of his worst fears to her.

"I bet that's how all the rifties feel, though." He stretches out his legs in front of him, keeping his tone light. "I've never been very good at dream interpretation."