It's Saturday night and you're hallucinating in your sleep!

[applesaucemod]

It's that time again! The rift has caught the good little dreamers of New York (and beyond) in its currents and washed them ashore on a desert island in a dream wonderland. This time, however, quite a noticeable change has come over each of the attendees of this nocturnal party.

All the people who arrive in this shared mindspace will find that they have been transformed into some sort of animal they find familiar or that resembles them. They will find that they can still communicate with one another and that they still have all their mental faculties, but might be a little…well…influenced by the forms they have taken on.

They will also find that they have been deposited in the middle of the largest, most elaborate playground they have ever seen. Climbing equipment and slides of the sort meant for human children are in evidence, but so are cat trees, meadows, tunnels, pools and ponds, aerial obstacle courses, and anything else the mind can imagine, for as far as the eye can see.



[OOC: The usual dream party rules apply: players apply the party's theme (in this case, transformation) to their characters according to their own discretion, and both members and non-members are more than welcome to use this post to try out characters not yet in the game. Usual dreaming rules also apply, in that players can choose whether or not their characters will remember this in the morning. Have at!]

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

Daine has caught glimpses of unicorns back home, and remembers them as shy creatures. Seeing one casually wandering the playground is unexpected enough that she has to get a closer look. Her approach is slow and cautious, as she doesn't want to scare the creature off, and she stops a good ten yards away.

"Oh, glory," she murmurs under her breath. What is it even doing here?

[theoldgirl]

Daine's approach is so cautious, the TARDIS almost misses it, nosing through some bushes as she is. But when she does, she turns her head to look at the girl, letting out a neigh in greeting before trotting over. "Hello, Daine."

[wildmage_daine]

There's a voice she knows: it's the TARDIS. For a heartbeat, Daine's concerned: in her realm, if you take the shape of an immortal, you end up stuck that way. But then she remembers that the TARDIS is from somewhere else, and that the unicorn shape is probably more the rift's doing than hers, anyway.

"Hullo," she says, trying not to feel envious. The rift could have made her a dragon or something instead of taking away her ability to shift altogether. "You look a bit different from the unicorns in my realm."

[theoldgirl]

She comes to a halt in front of the girl, wondering why she isn't in animal shape. "This form is based on Earth mythology in my universe; unicorns don't actually exist there," she explains, then tilts her head questioningly. "What do they look like in your realm?"

[wildmage_daine]

Daine cants her head to one side, remembering. "There are two sorts. The normal ones are bit smaller, but otherwise much the same. The killer unicorns are larger, though, and have a bit more bulk to them." It's fortunate that there's a physical difference between the two that regular folk can spot. Then again, only the killer unicorns are bold enough to approach most two-leggers, anyway.

[theoldgirl]

"Killer unicorns?" she replies, ears flicking in surprise. "That sounds rather like the opposite of unicorns in Earth folklore." Not that she's particularly concerned with mythology, or at all really, but learning about other universes is always interesting.

[wildmage_daine]

"Killer centaurs, too," Daine says with a nod. "The immortals in my realm came from humans." How did Numair put it? "Our dreams gave them shape. So it doesn't surprise me overmuch that someone dreamed up killer unicorns. Sometimes you think something's wonderful only to find out it's really nasty."

Not this unicorn, though, and Daine finds herself reaching out to scritch the TARDIS beneath her mane before it can occur to her that it might be rude.

[theoldgirl]

She nods in understanding, having encountered enough psychic projections and morphic fields influenced by unsavory minds to not be surprised either (and to not really believe it's dreams that create them, but she's not going to argue about magic with Daine again). "That is true. Are your people in danger of them?"

And touching her isn't rude at all, scritches are quite nice actually, and she happily holds still, softly blowing a puff of air at Daine's arm in return.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine grins at the puff of air on her arm, taking that as permission to keep up with the scritches. She's spent enough time with ponies to know what she's doing as far as petting is concerned, and she shifts her focus to the hard-to-reach places on the TARDIS's back.

"A bit," she admits, pursing her lips in thought. "Trouble is, we haven't had to deal with immortals in centuries. They were locked in the divine realms by a barrier some mages built, but these past few years, some other mages from Carthak have been opening holes to let things through - usually nastier ones. They were trying to cripple Tortall without having us officially declare war," she explains, her tone making it clear just what she thinks of the political side of things.

[theoldgirl]

Ooh that is a bit nice, the petting, and she visibly relaxes, resting up one hind foot to get comfortable.

At Daine's explanation, she lets out a disdainful snort. "It seems humans in your universe are just as petty as they are in mine. The Doctor tends to put a stop to that sort of thing when he comes across it."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine isn't so sure the mess with Carthak could have been solved by any one person, but it's not as if it matters anymore. "We took care of Carthak," she says, torn between pride at what they'd accomplished and shame for the uncomfortably large role she played in it, "so we won't be getting any more trouble from them, at least. Their new emperor is much more sensible than the old one was."

[theoldgirl]

"That is good," the TARDIS says, arching her neck to give Daine another place to scratch. "Perhaps you will have peace for a little while then." Until the next human thinks of ways to hurt others for their own gain. It just goes on and on with them, really.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine obliges, turning her attention to the TARDIS's neck. "I hope so," she says, frowning a little. "I'd hate to think of more trouble heading Tortall's way while I'm stuck here." She has plenty of faith in her friends' abilities, but she'd still rather be helping them than not.

Which reminds her... the TARDIS was working on the rift problem, wasn't she? "Have you had any luck figuring out how to get folk home?"

[theoldgirl]

At Daine's question the TARDIS gives a displeased snort, shaking her head unhappily. "The rift is causing me many difficulties. The Doctor is having to help me compensate for them all before I can even try to penetrate it." And there's also the fact that the Doctor keeps getting distracted with things in the city. Though she knows he needs those distractions to keep from going stir-crazy. "But we have gathered a lot of information and are working on it."

[wildmage_daine]

The TARDIS's frustration is clearly visible to Daine, familiar as she is with equine body language, and the girl sighs in commiseration. The rift does seem to like causing difficulties, doesn't it? It sounds like the TARDIS is having an especially hard time of it, though, and Daine wonders if the rift's been targeting her especially. "Does it trouble you a lot?" she asks, brow furrowed in concern.

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS doesn't exactly expect humans to be all that perceptive, particularly concerning her own emotional state, so whenever one of them makes an accurate guess it takes her a bit by surprise. She tilts her head towards the girl, ears flickering uncertainly for a moment. But there's no real harm in being honest.

"Yes," she admits rather morosely," it does very much. I am... attuned to reality on a fundamental level, and the rift is a massive, ever shifting disturbance." And there's also the fact that she's completely reliant on the rift's erratic energy output for survival, but that's a weakness too grave to reveal to anyone. "Being in this universe is a strain on my health, you might say."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine has just enough time to wonder if she shouldn't have asked before the TARDIS answers. "But that's awful!" she says, as if her protestations could stop the rift from being every bit as awful as it wants to be. Her hand stills on the TARDIS's neck as she considers what it would be like to have the rift upsetting her not just every now and again - and not just in the sense that it had torn her away from her home - but all the time. To the point where her health was affected. Odd's bobs, that's more than anyone should have to deal with. "I'm sorry."

She doesn't suppose there's anything she can do that the Doctor couldn't, but she still asks, "Is there any way I could help?"

[theoldgirl]

Tell Gabriel to come be friends with her again. If the TARDIS weren't a unicorn right now she'd give Daine a tired smile, but as it is she just huffs softly and inclines her head. "No, but I appreciate your sympathy." On bad days it still irks her that she's required to express herself in the narrow confinements of words and a humanoid form to get some basic appreciation and respect, but on the whole it's just nice to be understood. "I've endured worse than this, and the Doctor takes care of me," she tells the girl, giving her a reassuring nudge with her nose.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine doesn't feel all that reassured - she's still troubled by the thought of the rift causing such a constant strain on the TARDIS (or anyone, for that matter). But what can she do?

"I'm glad the Doctor's helping, at least," she says, rubbing around the base of the TARDIS's ears.