The Fortress of Many Turnings [open]

[applesaucemod]

Welcome to Caerdroia. Though at first glance this world seems calm, even idyllic, closer inspection will reveal a startling lack of linearity. A doorway in one place can suddenly lead to another entirely, the locals going about their business seem totally unaware of your presence, and you may find reminders of home that are less than welcome -- and less than safe.

The countryside seems almost designed to set one at one's ease. Gentle, rolling hills overlook a town in the near distance, and herds of friendly cows cluster here and there (with unknown intent).

The Garden of Curiosities is a walled-off park. Inside, streams and paths wind through beautiful landscaping, and animals can be found on the loose everywhere. For the most part, these creatures are friendly (or at least indifferent) toward visitors, though their appearance might perturb. One might see an animal one has never encountered before, or one might find the garden inhabited by creatures from one's own world that are somehow changed, whether in size, color, or behavior. And, of course, one might find something rather more predatory has taken up residence….

The town hall never seems to be in the same place twice. Finding your way through the streets to any one particular building is an exercise in frustration, as the town seems to shift and change whenever part of it is out of your sight. The hall itself isn't much better once you get inside; stairwells have a habit of appearing on the ceiling, hallways turn into dead ends while your back is turned, and floors are liable to open up into fathomless pits.

The Labyrinth is where many journeys seem destined to end. The way out is, more often than not, the way in. Try to leave one part of Caerdroia, and the doorway might very well open into the labyrinth. And, like any good labyrinth, this one is home to a Minotaur. And, like any good Minotaur, this one would be more than happy to tear you to pieces.

[OOC: Once again, the shared dream is open to all characters, including those not currently in the game and those belonging to players who are not currently members. Once again, too, players are free to choose whether their characters see the dream for what it is, whether they are forced to abide by its rules, and whether they will remember this in the morning.]

Comments

[has_a_horn]

This would be an actual glare you're getting here, Peter. Gabriel doesn't really appreciate the insinuation. He's meant to protect innocence, when he can, (though to be fair the Loki name holds that up less than his angelic one).

"There's plenty. Baldur." Okay, not Baldur, but Gabriel hates him and it doesn't bother him to drag his name through the mud. "Zeus. You've heard the story about the swan? That's true. A swan. Fucking prick."

[fucking_ebay]

This is Peter being friendly, Gabe, deal with it.

"I've never understood how that would even work," protests Peter, who has perhaps given too much thought to the subject of avian-on-human rape. He frowns as he toddles after the demi-god whatever the fuck Gabriel is. "Baldur -- isn't he supposed to be...I don't know, sunshine, goodness, all that..." he waves a hand, "stuff?"

Norse gods aren't exactly his specialization, but Peter cast his net pretty wide at a few points in his informal studies.

[has_a_horn]

"I wasn't there when it happened, don't ask me."

If Peter's Norse mythology stretches far enough, he might remember that Loki is supposed to have killed Baldur. He didn't, but that didn't mean he didn't want to. ...There may also be some girlfriend stealing problems he has with Baldur. Yknow what, it's probably better not to get into this. "Yeah, whatever. He was an asshole. Not even an interesting one. Couldn't take a joke. Or understand a joke."

[fucking_ebay]

"Didn't Loki kill Baldur?" asks Peter, trying to make it sound like it's just an idle thought, not really connected directly to this conversation. He's hardly forgotten that Gabriel claimed to be Loki, and is curious to see if he's going to keep that up. Not that claiming to know Zeus and Baldur isn't just as ridiculous.

[has_a_horn]

"I stabbed him," He definitely noticed the way Peter was talking about Loki like he's not actually in front of him. "He didn't die, he's a God." Gosh, come on. "Don't worry, he deserved it."

[fucking_ebay]

"Yeah, sure. Like my television deserved being filled with lake water."

Shit, did he just bring that up?

[has_a_horn]

Shiiit. "The television, maybe not." He raises an eyebrow at Peter. "You, you totally deserved an electronic explosion in your living room."

[fucking_ebay]

Shit indeed. "What did I do?" demands Peter, who knows full well what he did.

[has_a_horn]

"Wow. You really don't know?" Come on, Peter.

...and he's just realized that the hallway has repeated over on itself and they've walked past the same doors twice by now. He stops and frowns at the label on one of the doors before letting his glance flick back over to Peter. "You were a grade-A asshole." And there was the bit where Peter'd asked how the hell he could ever want him as a friend, which stung. a little.

[fucking_ebay]

Peter hadn't even noticed. These hallways are all going to look the same, aren't they? His jaw tightens and he looks away, wishing he hadn't brought it up.

"As opposed to the arsehole who broke into my house," he mutters, though reminding himself what a dick Gabriel is doesn't comfort him much at the moment. There's another pause before he speaks again, and he still doesn't look at Gabe. He remembers what he said right before Gabe blew up his television, even if he'd rather not. "...Sorry."

[has_a_horn]

"I didn't break, I just entered. No B, just E."

Gabriel's attention is pointed in the opposite direction when Peter makes his apology, but that definitely gets Gabriel's attention. He turns around to look at Peter, his eyebrows raised.

"You feeling alright?" He walks up to him, places the back of his hand against Peter's forehead as if checking for fever. "Only I thought I just heard you apologize." He takes his hand away before Peter can swat it away, and smirks up at him, amused. "You're forgiven." That doesn't mean he's going to replace his TV.

[fucking_ebay]

Yes, because entering without breaking makes a big difference, especially when you follow it up with the wanton destruction of one of Peter's main sources of entertainment.

Peter isn't sure what Gabriel's doing, and then it's too late to respond in a suitably indignant fashion. "Yeah, thanks," he grumbles, resolving never to apologize to Gabriel again. "You know, it's your turn now."

[has_a_horn]

What, now he has to apologize? "I left you a mountain of booze, what more do you want?"

Ugh, the things he does for you, Peter. He sighs and tips his head to the side. "Sorry. You're not a piece of shit. You're a lovely jerk and your ass looks great in leather." He cocks an eyebrow at him. He better not be expecting an apology for anything else. "Happy?"

[fucking_ebay]

"A new television?" suggests Peter, whose attempts to procure one from the rebels have been fruitless. As far as they're concerned, Peter is responsible for the actions of his house guests, and owes them for the minimal cleanup they provided for the water damage. It might have helped his case if he hadn't already managed to make himself universally hated by every administrator who's ever dealt with him.

He snorts. "Very. And my arse looks great in anything." Actually, coming from Gabe that was a very nice apology. Coming from anyone who's had significant interaction with him, that was a very nice couple of compliments.

[has_a_horn]

"Get your own TV. And be nice the next time someone's entire family dies, yeah?" Did he mention that before? He could swear he mentioned that part. Anyway, he's done discussing feelings now. He looks down the hallway one way, then the other.

"This whole place it looping back over on itself. We're walking straight and in circles." He lifts a hand to Peter's shoulder. "Hold on, I'm going to try something." And then he's teleporting them...or at least the dream version of the same action, landing them in what looks like a lobby. He tucks his hands into his pockets and goes over to peek through one of the windows out. "Much better."

[fucking_ebay]

Peter stares at Gabriel, honestly not sure if he's just received an explanation of what the hell was going on that day or if Gabe's just fucking with him again. The way the other man launches straight into chitchat about the dream -- it's a fucking dream, of course nothing makes sense -- would seem to imply the latter, but why the hell throw something like that out there?

He's about to pull away, but then they're suddenly somewhere else. For a second, Peter thinks he must have done it, but he doesn't have that mildly shell-shocked feeling he always gets after teleporting. "You never said why you'd come over," he says to Gabriel's back, unwilling to directly address what Gabriel just said.

[has_a_horn]

He replies without turning away from the window. There's someone out there walking by and he watches as they reach a certain point in the street before disappearing completely. "I told you." Just told him again, in fact. Peter can't be that forgetful. It doesn't really occur to him that he hadn't said something to Peter in the first place. "I wanted the company. You're a good distraction." He snorts and turns around, leaning against the windowsill. "Well, you and enough booze to drown in."

[fucking_ebay]

"No, you wouldn't tell me. You just showed up, drank my whiskey, and told me I was a shitty listener." Which was true, obviously, but Peter's not about to let this go. He likes to think he's not enough of a dick to tell someone whose family has just died that he has no use for him as a friend...provided he actually knows what's going on. "What the hell happened?" he demands.

[has_a_horn]

"Oh, balls." He rubs a finger over a closed eyelid, cursing at himself for giving away information that didn't need to be given away. He aborts the gesture after a moment and tucks his hands into his jacket pockets.

"Someone from my universe came through and he filled me in. He didn't know a lot, but he knew enough." He smirks, trying desperately to keep this light. It's not like this is an old wound yet. The very idea of the angels Falling still makes him want to crumple in on himself. "Lucky me not being at the ol' homestead when it went down or I'd be a splat on the pavement like the rest of them."

[fucking_ebay]

"...Oh."

Now that Peter's received the explanation he demanded, he realizes that he really doesn't know what to do with it other than feel like even more of an asshole as his brain helpfully plays back bits and pieces of that conversation. It had been obvious something had been wrong, but he'd ignored it, having decided that Gabriel was too invulnerable for it to be anything that actually mattered.

"Shit."

[has_a_horn]

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it. I went to you looking for drunken bullshitting, not a shoulder to cry on." He went to the TARDIS for a shoulder to cry on. That went pretty well, actually.

[fucking_ebay]

Gabriel's lucky: Peter really doesn't want to ask for details on this one. He feels like he should, but that doesn't mean he will.

"Yeah, you said that part," he agrees uneasily.

[has_a_horn]

"Right, right." See, this is why Peter should have been drunk too, then they both could details of what happened that night.

He's not exactly sure what Peter wants from him here, but he's going to go ahead and assume that it doesn't involve actually talking about anything important. "You missed out on one hell of a turbulent night." He grins, suddenly, as if he's suddenly thought of something, but the truth is he's trying to quickly distract Peter and change the subject. "Oh! I gave the Doc a good grope later that night, want me to do that same for you? I can do a compare and contrast. I'll tell ya you've got a bigger cock. You'd like that, right?"

[fucking_ebay]

Peter screws up his face, train of thought successfully derailed. "You are not touching my junk," he informs Gabriel staunchly, once again discomfited by being the one on the receiving end of sexual jibes. Rallying, he adds, "Unless you turn into a woman again."

...Crap, is Gabriel going to take him at his word?

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel rolls his eyes at Peter. That was way too easy. "You're one hell of a cheap date, I'll give you that." He snorts out a laugh and leans back against the wall behind him. He's not really taking Peter's request seriously. If Peter wants to be groped, he can come over. "You do realize I'm still me, even when you think I've got tits."