[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

[bluesuit_handy]

"Talking animals, seems right up your alley," grins Andrew, though he knows perfectly well it isn't the same. He squints at the screen and tilts his head, slightly uncomfortable with the knowledge that her complaint about the hyenas is perfectly valid.

"They're the villains," he explains. "More or less. Simba's uncle -- you know, I could start this over. Or show it to you when we're awake."

[wildmage_daine]

"Villains?" Daine repeats, incredulous. Even Kitten gives an indignant squawk. "But hyenas are marvelous! They can smell anything, did you know that? I thought wolves had a good sense of smell before I tried hyena shape, but they aren't even close."

Daine sinks back into the couch with a dubious frown at the television. She might not be so irked if the hyenas from the Carthaki menagerie hadn't helped her hunt down Emperor Ozorne, but still. Painting any species as a villain is just ridiculous.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel chuckles at Daine's objections. She's probably right. "It's probably better to think of them as humans that happen look like animals."

[bluesuit_handy]

"Can they?" asks Andrew, mildly surprised. He turns to look at Gabriel when the other man speaks, and gives a little nod. "Safe bet whenever humans make a movie about animals, it's really about humans," he tells Daine.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine hums in response, still frowning, though less because of the movie and more because she misses Teeu, Iry, and Aranh, the hyenas she'd hunted with in Carthak. They were nothing like the trio in the film - well, except for a willingness to eat any lion cubs separated from their pride. A meal's a meal.

Kitten huffs out a breath and sprawls onto her back between Daine and Andrew, her eyes glued to the screen even as she begs for a belly rub. "Are there any that are actually about animals?" Daine asks, looking up at Andrew as she gently tickles the dragon's scales.

[has_a_horn]

"Mm" Gabriel shrugs. "Documentaries on animal behavior, stuff like that."

[bluesuit_handy]

"Well," Andrew considers this, "Usually. Sometimes. There's a bit of projection that goes on there as well, really. Suppose there's Watership Down, but of course it's all guesswork."

He gives Daine an earnest sort of look. "It's a story about rabbits."

[wildmage_daine]

A documentary might be interesting. "It'd be weird, not being able to hear them," she muses to herself. "In my head, I mean." It wouldn't be entirely alien to her - she's closed herself off before, usually in menageries - but it would still be strange.

"Watership Down?" she repeats, unable to make any sense of the title. Rabbits, in her experience, have little to do with water or ships. "Is it like Redwall?" she asks, brow furrowed.

[has_a_horn]

"Same anthropomorphized animal idea. Watership Down is less out-there, but it's still a big allegory for human things. And infinitely more traumatizing. I don't recommend it." What? It's a depressing book.

[bluesuit_handy]

"It's not like Redwall," protests Andrew, not liking Gabriel's assessment of the book. Then he pauses, looking troubled, and asks Daine plaintively, "What's wrong with Redwall?"

[wildmage_daine]

"But how do ships come into it?" she asks, still a bit suspicious of the title. She's also a bit wary of Gabriel's take on the book, if only because she's more inclined to trust Andrew's judgment than his when it comes to what she might enjoy. Andrew knows her better, after all. Plus, she's still just generally irked with the angel.

Andrew's question flusters her a little; she hadn't meant to upset him. "It's not - there's nothing wrong with it. But it's a bit like this." She gestures pointedly towards the television. "The animals are just two-leggers, wearing clothes and using weapons and cooking and such."

Kitten squirms a little, alerting Daine to the fact that her hand had stilled. Biting back a sigh, she resumes tickling the dragon's belly.

[has_a_horn]

"Watership Down is a place," Gabriel provides. "Pretty, actually. Lots of grass and flowers. Downland. A down is a hill...good land for waskily wabbits."

He pauses for a moment, watching the movie. "The place probably didn't start off as Watership. Language changes. Might have been 'worship down' or something, originally."

He shrugs and shifts his glance down to look at the little dragon, and reaches his hand out to mimick Daine's movements. He really hasn't learned his lesson yet.

[bluesuit_handy]

"That's English for you," chuckles Andrew. "Borrowing and changing so much that even humans can see how nonsensical it is. And I don't think you'd like Robin Hood, in that case."

[wildmage_daine]

"Huh." Daine digests the new information, trying to remember if they have anything similar in Tortall - maybe they do, and they just call it something else - and is consequently too distracted to see what Gabriel's doing and warn him against it.

Kitten had her eyes shut, but she opens them when she feels someone besides Daine touching her. When she sees that it's Gabriel and not Andrew, her scales flash scarlet. She darts her head forward like a snake and sinks her sharp, silver teeth into Gabriel's hand.

"Kitten!" Daine gasps, and the dragon releases her hold with an angry screech. The girl grabs the dragon around the middle and holds her at arm's length to keep her from going after Gabriel again, then looks over her shoulder with wide eyes. "Sorry! Are you okay?"

[has_a_horn]

"Ah, fuck." Gabriel stumbles back from the couch, surprised by the bite. It only takes him a moment, though, to remember that this is a dream space. He removes the wound from his hand and holds it up to Daine. "No harm done."

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew had started feeling a little inclined to try petting Kitten, since both she and Daine seemed to be enjoying it so much. Any such inclination vanished, though, the instant the little dragon buries her teeth in the other man's hand. Andrew startles away along with Gabriel, though he doesn't go far due to remaining on the couch. The video on the television screen flickers, replaced just long enough by the image of a man being attacked by what appears to be a giant crab for them to hear a scream. Then, in response to a sharp look from Andrew, it goes black and silent.

"Sorry," he says, turning his attention back to his companions, looking to make sure Gabriel and Kitten remain separated -- and that the dragon's not about to bite him as well. "Sorry."

[wildmage_daine]

"I should've warned you not to touch her," Daine says, though to be fair, she already sort of did warn him not to touch her. To Andrew, she adds, "She doesn't normally bite folk, it's just that Gabriel was doing illusions earlier, and Kit doesn't like them. I'm sure she wouldn't bite you."

She could add that Kitten probably would have showed more restraint if Daine hadn't been irked with Gabriel as well, but given that Gabriel's in the room and all, she doesn't. Kitten lets out a pointed chk! from her perch on Daine's knee. It doesn't have any impact on their surroundings, but it probably gets the dragon's point across.

[has_a_horn]

"What has she got against illusions?" Gabriel doesn't lean back against the center of the couch, choosing to walk over and perch on the arm near Andrew instead. He'd missed the brief change of programing on the TV, but he knows Andrew had been shocked as well. He tips his head towards him. 'Sorry 'bout that."

[bluesuit_handy]

"Isn't a dream all illusions?" asks Andrew curiously. He's still a good bit wary of Kitten now that he's seen she's willing to use those teeth of hers on other sapient creatures. "It's fine," he tells Gabriel a little too quickly, not sure if either of them saw what his mind put on the screen a moment ago.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine was too preoccupied with wrangling Kitten to notice the television, and she's rather inclined to ignore Andrew's question, as well, if only because it's a bit too philosophical for her.

Gabriel's question is one she can answer, though putting it politely might be a bit trickier. It doesn't help that Kitten has no such concerns about displaying good manners; she glares resentfully at Gabriel and snorts.

"Enough," Daine says sternly before turning to the others. "She doesn't hate all illusions as a rule, but she doesn't like it when folk use them to lie or hide things from her." Which, in Daine's opinion, is a fair complaint. She's a little surprised that Gabriel even had to ask.

[has_a_horn]

"I wasn't hiding anything." There's a lie. "I'd just changed it to something more interesting." Perhaps true, certainly more entertaining, for him.

[bluesuit_handy]

While Andrew doesn't particularly enjoy being ignored, he's just as happy not to have to explain the whole macra thing. He looks at Gabriel in interest. "You changed your room, I take it?"

[wildmage_daine]

"Of course you were," Daine says as Kitten lets out an indignant squawk. Unlike the dragon, Daine is more baffled by his denial than upset by it. She doesn't much care what his original room looked like or why he felt the need to cover it with something else, but it's a bit silly of him to act as if he wasn't hiding anything when he obviously was. "He did," she adds for Andrew's benefit.

[has_a_horn]

"Technically hiding, I guess?" He shrugs and frowns down at the squawking animal. "I wasn't changing it maliciously. A karaoke bar is way more entertaining than what was there before."

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew's face lights up. "Oo, karaoke!" he exclaims. "It's been ages since I've sung karaoke. Never seem to get round to going."

Vapid as his response may seem, he is paying attention. It's not terribly surprising that other dreamers might have something to hide, and he tucks away this tidbit about Gabriel in the back of his mind. Well, and he really does think karaoke sounds like fun.