Let's Do the Time Warp (Again)

[applesaucemod]

It's that time again, but time seems to be a bit muddled. As usual, people from all over the multiverse are being drawn into the Dreaming by the rift. This time, in addition to (or sometimes instead of) picking up the residents of Manhattan, they take them from their home universe but from a different point in time. You may find yourself suddenly encountering a future version of yourself, or perhaps you bump into a friend taken from long before you met them.

Tonight's setting is also time-twisted. You're still in Manhattan, but it seems to be closer to the 1930s. Specifically, you're in an old hotel. There's the dimly lit lobby, with chairs and tables for relaxed mingling. The bar, where tables are front of a stage, on which a band is playing various hits of the 30s. There's also an outdoor area if you need fresh air. Or you could explore the hotel, but it's mostly corridors, unless you stumble upon an unlocked room.



[Mod note: Usual dream-party rules apply. Both members and non-members are welcome to use any character, be they already in the game or no.

For game-specific characters, you can choose whether or not they will remember their time in Manhattan if they're taken from the future. You can take your character from multiple different points in time, if you want.]

Comments

[brink]

A version of Topher quite starkly different than the one working at ROMAC is roaming the corridors. He shies away from large groups of people, so you won't find him hanging around the bar. He's skittish, tense, fiddly, and avoids eye contact. He may also be difficult to get through to, but strangely enough, he might also be more lucid in a dream state.

Apart from the behavioral differences, he's quite a few years older, and almost frail looking, skinny and unkempt, unshaven and with much shorter hair. Time has not been kind, and he looks worn down.

And this version of Topher does not have any control over the dreaming - at most, perhaps he'll make some phantoms appear by accident.

[bluesuit_handy]

Try not to trip over the jar on the floor -- you really don't want to have to mop up the contents.

[ooc: real Handy thread to follow elsewhere.]

[watchesthebeans]

Aglet, new thing that he is, doesn't have even the slightest glimmer of insight into where he is or what's going on. Unlike many others, he hasn't been displaced in time but is here from the here and now of Jennifer's bookshelf. At the moment, he can be found scuttling along behind the bottles at the bar, failing to hide in that way Borrowers do in dreams when a Bean might dream instead of being naked.

[has_a_horn]

This Gabriel doesn't have the benefit of ever having been to New York, or almost any other place on the globe where he had not been sent by God on a mission. He looks around the scene carefully, at once knowing where he is and that this is a dream, but having no memory of any of the people here.

He's curious, though, so he's not leaving quite yet.

[protectsthenest]

Loki appears in the bar, a couple of tables back from the front of the stage. He frowns in puzzlement, looking around. He doesn't recognize this place and something feels strange, a shift in his magic.

"Bruce? Clint?"

[buryyouwithmysound]

"What the math?"

There's a gray vampire floating around, looking very perturbed indeed. But, still, there's a very nice red armchair that looks delicious so she's not complaining.

Looking quite pleased, Marceline bites down on the chair and slowly drains out the red.

[fucking_ebay]

Not seeing anyone in the lobby when he came in (he assumes he came in by the front door, not thinking about it hard enough to realize that the memories are murky before the moment he became aware of his surroundings), the gangly, rail-thin teenager known as Peter spends a few minutes taking in his surroundings. That gets boring fast, so he hikes his butt up on the counter, swings his legs over, and hops back down on the other side to scope out the employees-only area, idly moving some of the neatly sorted keys and mail around.

The long black hair that will kind of work for him in wig form as an adult has been halfway accomplished for real, though the dyed-black mop looks more like he's just neglected to get it cut in a while. He's clad in black from head to toe with the odd chain or spiked bracelet to break it up, great clompy boots on his feet.

[aly_brighteyes]

There's a very thin girl occupying a corner of the hallway, her eyes darting warily at her new surroundings. She's shaved bald, bruised, and broken in the nose, but the smart observer will realize that Aly is underneath all that. An even smarter one will notice that despite her bruises and marks, Aly isn't afraid. The look in her eyes is one of a sharp, stubborn girl who's determined to master her own situation, even if she's barely wearing a sack for a dress, barefoot, and without any of her knives.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine crouches behind a screen of potted plants in the outdoor seating area, wild-eyed and tense. She's only thirteen, and anyone from New York would find her smaller and thinner than she ought to be, with tangled hair and small cuts on her arms and legs. One hand clutches a knife, one of the few human tools she remembers how to use.

Where is the Pack? They'd been helping her - helping her when no one else would. She'd been safe with them; even amidst the fear of being chased, she'd known they would look after her. Now, she is alone, and too frightened by these strange surroundings to risk calling out for Brokefang and the rest. Instead, she huddles where she is, hoping to stay hidden while she tries to figure out the best direction in which to bolt.

[has_a_horn]

There's a man standing in front of Aly. He's tall and dark haired, and has a strange quality about him that doesn't seem completely human. His expression is half interest, half concern.

"You're not hurt." A quick dip into her mind provides her name. "Aly. You are alright. Presumably. This is a dream."

[aly_brighteyes]

The sense of someone probing her mind prompts Aly to give Gabriel a slightly petulant look, but she does nod. "Broken nose, cut above my eyebrow. I know."

Carefully, she gets to her feet, unsurprised to see that she's acquired yet more bruises.

"Where am I?"

[jennifer_strange]

Jennifer frowns at her opulent surroundings, trying to remember what she's doing there. Meeting a client, presumably... though she can't think who, or what the job would be. Rewiring the place, perhaps, or updating the plumbing?

She glances around for Lady Mawgon and the Wizard Moobin, or even one of the Prices, but she doesn't see anyone she recognizes. This is ridiculous, and more than a little bit embarrassing; she ought to know what's going on, but her mind's gone a all fuzzy on the details. Suppressing a sigh, she wanders over to the main desk. If she can just find her client, that should start to clear some things up.

[has_a_horn]

This mind is...convoluted. Gabriel wanders closer to the man, hoping not to frighten him, and dips into his mind for more information. Very convoluted, indeed.

This Gabriel shouldn't be familiar to Topher unless he can sense his Grace. His entire bearing is different, his body different, his face lacking it's usual smirk.

"Hello, Topher. You needn't be afraid of me."

[bluesuit_handy]

The trick, Handy knows, is to stroll right in like you have every right to be there. His first stop is the restroom -- it's unbelievable how tricky it can be to find a place to use the loo when you don't have one of your own -- but once he's relieved himself and freshened up at the sink, it's off to the restaurant --

Except this hotel doesn't have a restaurant, he discovers. A bar's a poor substitute; here he won't find unfinished plates of food left by careless diners. There'll only be drinks, and he hardly needs that on an empty stomach. Annoyed, he loiters in the doorway, reluctant to leave the comfort of his current surroundings even though he won't be getting any dinner out of it.

[has_a_horn]

"A shared dream space. There's no need to continue feeling these injuries." In fact, he's a bit perturbed that she hasn't bothered to change it for herself already, so he decides to do it himself. In a blink of an eye, her injuries are all healed. "There. See?"

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew is unaware that he's triple-dipped into this dream from three points in his timeline. What he does know is that something feels off here, a niggling at the back of his mind like he's not where he should be, or like he's late for an appointment (not that he's ever been on time for one of those). He pads up a hallway, hands in pockets, and tries to figure out what he's looking for.

[aly_brighteyes]

Aly wrinkles her newly healed nose, pleased to be able to breathe clearly, but rather annoyed that she seems to have gone through the trouble of having it break for no good reason.

"Much better." She narrows her eyes, "You're a god, aren't you?"

[theheroheart]

Charley much prefers a hotel lobby with good music (even a few pieces that sound familiar!) over the ice-encrusted city that took her Doctor that she's currently asleep in. Aren't interdimensional dreams a wonderful thing? She thinks so. Or she would, if she were properly aware she was dreaming.

Instead, she's just bemused, surprisingly calm (a dream will do that), and wandering about with a thick bracelet inset with a deep red gem on one wrist.

"Doctor? Jamie! Halloooo, boys, come out come out wherever you are!"

[has_a_horn]

The corners of his mouth lift into a small smile, amused and a bit pleased at the guess. "I have been mistaken as such before."

The smile soon falters and falls. "I am an angel of the Lord. I was created in the service of God."

[aly_brighteyes]

Seeing Daine like this scares Aly more than she can say, more than even her own predicament has done to her. Aly's used to being afraid, in pain, and in control, but Daine...

Carefully, slowly, she crouches in front of her.

"Hullo."

/quietly intrudes

[nedofpies]

Ned's sitting at one of the little tables by the stage, a tiny cup of espresso in one hand, nodding along to the music. He doesn't remember coming in, ordering a drink, or sitting down - doesn't have any idea where this bar even is - but none of that strikes him as very out of the ordinary. He hasn't the faintest idea that this is a dream. Everything seems perfectly ordinary to him: a quiet night out, to listen to some music, see something other than the inside of his apartment for a change.

[aly_brighteyes]

"Which one?" Aly asks, trying to place him. It's general family policy to find out which gods are making a mess of their lives today.

"The Lord isn't very specific."

[buryyouwithmysound]

Marceline, meanwhile, is happily floating along with a bottle of grenadine. She hasn't mixed it with anything as she plans to drink out the color and maybe some of the sweets. In her other hand is a bowl of strawberries, gray and withered because she's already drank up their red.

"Whoa, are you human?" And here she was, thinking Finn was the last one.

[has_a_horn]

"The Lord doesn't require specificity." There's something defensive about that response, almost petulant. It might be best if Aly not pursue this line of questioning for very long. There are some very fresh wounds here.

"The lesser gods are nothing compared to Him."

[aly_brighteyes]

"Do you mean Mithros?" He's probably the highest of their gods that she can think of. "I've never heard him called that."

She tips her head.