Earth Day is upon us!

[applesaucemod]

To what dark realm will the rift bring the dreamers of Manhattan tonight? Another dark, craggy island? A deathly, abandoned place where they will be forced to confront their deepest, darkest demons?

No, not so much. Tonight the dreamers of Manhattan will find themselves alighting in a beautiful, sunlit zoological park. Well-kept paths wind between spacious enclosures, state of the art habitat design allowing visitors close-up views of the animals without depriving the latter of room to roam. One might wander into the indoor aquarium with its tropical microclimate, or go for a stroll in a shady arboretum. Food stands dot the pathways, each one serving up a variety of oddly themed foodstuffs, free of charge. It's hard not to be happy in such a wondrous place.

No, really, it's hard not to be happy. Feelings of well-being permeate the air and the people and animals breathing it -- one has so much to be thankful for, after all.

Oh, and those animals? Probably not what one would expect to find at a typical, earthly zoo. Creatures of myth and fantasy occupy the many enclosures: sea serpents in the aquarium, winged horses in the aviaries, and everything that flies or crawls or slithers through the imagination of the universe's many cultures in the various enclosures.


[Mod Note: Once again it's time for a shared dream! We're back to optional themes this month, so players are free to choose whether and how much to have the happiness whammy apply to their characters. As always, all players and all characters are welcome, including players who are not members and characters who are not in the game. Memories of this and of all dreaming threads may be retained or forgotten at players' discretion.]

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

'Surprised' about covers it, though Daine's unaware of what the horse has to be surprised about. "Easy," Daine murmurs, silently adding, I told you he's all right. You're safe.

The horse lets out a huff of air and watches Gabriel's approach before turning back to Daine. I'm not frightened of him, he says, sounding just a trifle indignant. I just wasn't expecting the wings.

"Yes," Daine says absently in response to Gabriel's question, most of her focus on the horse, now. What wings?

His. The horse gives Gabriel a gentle bump with his nose. Seems like they ought to be bumping into things, but they're not.

"… Huh." Well, this is interesting. She'd thought that Gabriel had perhaps lost his wings (they had been in quite a state the one time she saw them), but maybe he's just been hiding them. She glances around him just to confirm that they're not visible to her, but she trusts that they're there. It's not as if the horse would be making it up.

She raises her eyebrows at Gabriel, deciding that she may as well have a little bit of fun with this. "Your wings are showing."

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel smiles when the horse nudges at his shoulder and strokes a hand across the creature's nose. A moment later, however, Daine mentions his wings. He looks upwards immediately, checking for himself that they're not visible. They aren't, and he raises his eyebrows back at her. "I don't see anything. I thought I told you. I don't really have wings."

"You, however," he says to the horse, "have a fine set. How do you groom them, magic? Or do you get a friend to do it for you." As he speaks he trails his hand along the horse's shoulder and up to where one of its wings is resting. Idly, he straightens a few errant feathers and smooths them down. Let's just say he's familiar with the process, and it has nothing at all to do with having wings of his own.

[wildmage_daine]

Too late, Gabriel. That little glance would have given it away even if the horse hadn't. "Are you sure?" she asks, canting her head a little to one side. "Because the horse says you have them, and I know he isn't lying."

[has_a_horn]

"Oh, well, if the horse says, it must be true." He rolls his eyes at her, though he knows he's not getting out of this quite so easily.

He huffs and, when she doesn't back down, he relents. "Fine. Yes, I have wings. What's the big deal?" He asks, as if he wasn't the one making them a big deal.

[wildmage_daine]

Finally, he admits it! Daine grins. "It's just nice to hear you not lie about it to my face," she replies with good-natured bluntness. Sobering a little as she remembers the state they were in the one time she saw them, she adds, "And I'm glad they're okay."

[has_a_horn]

For a moment, he's not sure why she's worried about his wings, but then it hits him. Of course. The last time she saw them was during his capture, during that nightmare of his. His wings had been injured in his capture and escape from ROMAC, but they have never been as bad as that nightmare he'd had presented them. He might not have survived if they had been that hurt.

Normally, this topic might cause a bit of a panic attack, but now he just raises the corner of his mouth into a lopsided smile. "The feathers are flappin' just fine, thanks. I was hurt, but not that hurt."

[wildmage_daine]

"Could I see them?" she asks. Maybe she's pushing it, but she's curious, and it would be nice to see them when they're not all banged up. "Or I could ask him what they look like," she concedes with a nod toward the horse, but she'd rather see them for herself.

[has_a_horn]

"Oh, sure," he answers with a grin. "Just been waiting for someone to ask." In the next moment, he projects an illusion of shining, bright pink butterfly wings at his back. He gives the fake wings a flap and chuckles. "Like them?"

In case she was wondering, he's being sarcastic, and the answer here is definitely a no.

[wildmage_daine]

Yes, she pushed it. Oh, well; at least he's not angry about it. "I would've gone with dragon, myself," she says, idly scritching the horse's neck. "Or falcon - more speed."

[has_a_horn]

"I'm going for style here, not speed." And, actually, he's going to keep the butterfly wings for a bit. They're fun.

He moves further down the horse's side, going over it's wings once more looking for askew feathers he can right. "Can you grow wings?" He knows that she can transform, but he'd never really thought about it in-depth. She can have eagle eyes, sure, but can she grow things she doesn't have to start with?

[wildmage_daine]

And what a style it is. It's just as well they're illusions, elsewise he'd be getting wing dust all over his shirt. "I could just shift my arms into wings, I suppose," she allows with a shrug. "But there wouldn't be much point. I couldn't fly like that."

[has_a_horn]

They may not be shedding wing dust, but they are shedding a bit of glitter down onto his shoulders and into his hair. So stylish.

He nods to her response. It;s a shame, but she could still transform her entire self into a bird, so he's not going to feel too bad. She's probably done more flying than he has since they both got to New York. "Physics is a bitch."

"Before you ask," he adds, "Mine aren't much different than Pegasus here. Brown, most of the time. Feathery." Is she enjoying this incredibly vague information? "Bigger than his, of course."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine shrugs, not particularly bothered by the limitation because it's not much of one. It might be nice to be able to fly without ditching her wardrobe, but then she'd have to deal with two-leggers gawping and pointing and shouting and such. Much better to just go full bird and avoid being bothered.

And yes, she actually is enjoying this incredibly vague information. At least it's not a denial. "Only most of the time? Do they turn white during winter?" Does he molt? Her brain treats her to a mental image of Gabriel sweeping up several pillows' worth of his own feathers, and she has to bite down on the corners of her mouth to keep from grinning.

[has_a_horn]

He snorts out a laugh. "No. I meant they're not all the same. Not all brown. How boring would that be? Think..." He pauses, trying to think of an appropriate bird. "Golden eagle, maybe? But that's not really it. Mine are so much cooler."

Belatedly, to the horse, he adds, "No offense."

When he looks up from his work on the horse's wings, he catches her smile. "What's so funny? Imagining me with fluffy white wings and a harp?" He does lose feathers and grow new ones, but it's occasional enough that it's never very noticeable.

[wildmage_daine]

She might look a little less skeptical if he wasn't still sporting enormous, pink, glitter-shedding butterfly wings. It's sort of hard to picture his real wings as anything else while those are flapping away behind him.

She's about to pass along the horse's reassurance that it's not an eagle when Gabriel catches her out. Whoops. Should've hid the smile better.

"No," she replies. Well, she is now, but that's his fault for bringing it up. "I was just wondering how much they worked like birds' wings… but it sounds like they might be closer to griffins' or something."

[has_a_horn]

"Griffins wings do work like bird wings. At least where I come from." Yup, they totally have griffins. And yes, he's aware that he didn't actually give her any clarification there.

He finishes with the section of the horse's wing he'd been working at straightening feathers, and smooths a hand over it. "There. Better?" He tilts his head in Daine's direction, hoping for confirmation.

[wildmage_daine]

"They're not quite the same where I'm from," Daine clarifies, because she doesn't want Gabriel to think she's some sort of anatomy slouch. It's one of the few topics where she tends to know more than everyone else around her. "They've got a similar structure, but griffin feathers have magical properties. And they don't molt so often." There, she said it.

The horse has little trouble understanding Gabriel with Daine there as a conduit, so before the girl can respond, the horse turns to lip appreciatively at Gabriel's hair. "Better," she confirms, grinning outright at the sight.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel smiles, lifting a hand to smooth his hair back, then rubs a hand down the horse's nose. "I got that." He chuckles. "Haven't actually seen my own wings in a while. Minus a feather or two." He frowns briefly before smirking in her direction. The only feather of his not currently attached to him is presumably still sitting on an illustrated manuscript in the TARDIS library. "Maybe they've changed."

"No molting. Can you imagine?" He snorts out a laugh. "No."

He steps forward and the horse takes the opportunity to stretch out and back the wing Gabriel had been working on. "Maybe I should do the other side," He says to the horse, "even you up."

[wildmage_daine]

Maybe he should make them visible, just to be sure. She suspects he's just teasing, but she still raises her eyebrows as if to say that he's welcome to make them appear any old time he likes.

"I can imagine," she says, though her smile slips a notch as she remembers the state they were in in that dream. But that wasn't molting. That was… something else. Something worse. Recovering herself, she adds, "I'm sure you'd only look all ragged for a day or so before the new feathers grew back in."

The horse nods in agreement to Gabriel's suggestion, and Daine ducks under the creature's neck so the angel will have more room to work. Feeling like she ought to contribute, she turns her attention to the horse's mane, checking for burrs and tangles.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel starts working on the other wing, deftly smoothing and straightening feathers. As Daine starts looking over the animal's mane, he chuckles. "Look at you, getting the full treatment."

To Daine, he adds smugly, "I wouldn't be so sure about that day-or-so. My longest are taller that you are."

[wildmage_daine]

The horse lets out a pleased whuff of air, drawing up a hind hoof. Daine raises her eyebrows at Gabriel from over the horse's back.

"What, you couldn't speed things along with your angelic powers?"

[has_a_horn]

"Could, maybe. But I wouldn't. No molting, no need for it."

He flaps the glittery butterfly wings behind him twice before he lets them fade away, replacing them instead with the image of his own wings. Each is a mottled golden brown, and built as if they were arranged for speed and dexterity rather than long flights. They definitely seem like they would be too heavy for his human frame, but when he does move them, they move easily. Each nearly twenty feet long, he extends them out and they phase through the surrounding trees. He's made them visible here, but not physical. He'd need a bigger clearing for that.

While all of this is happening, he maintains his work on the horse's wings, but he can't resist lifting his head up to smirk at Daine.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine isn't sure if she should feel disappointed or relieved when he finally lets the eye-smarting butterfly wings fade away, but then he conjures up a different pair, and the old wings are immediately forgotten. Daine's breath catches. Is he actually showing her his real wings? A quick, silent word with the horse confirms that yes, those are what he's been seeing all along, and she grins.

"Now, there's a proper pair of wings," she says quietly, leaning out a little so she can better take them in. Odd's bobs, they're huge. Their size makes perfect sense to her - if a normal bird's body was scaled up to two-legger size, that's about how large their wings would be - but it's still an impressive sight. She notes the falcon-like shape and nods to herself, imagining what it would be like to fly with them. He must be fast.

Well, that settles it. "We're going to have to go flying sometime," she decides.

[has_a_horn]

"In Manhattan?" He snorts. "I'd be bouncing off walls like a pin-ball." He lifts a hand from his work to illustrate a swift bouncing back and forth motion. The walls of the city are as good as a too-small birdcage for him, and there's a barrier above the city too. He can fly, but not in any satisfying way. It's all short hops and uncomfortable turns. "Anyway, it would disturb the locals." That's putting it mildly. He frowns briefly before continuing, meanwhile folding his wings back up along his back.

"If we did," And he's stressing the if here because he likes the idea, but he really doesn't like the possibility of even more people finding out about what he is. "it would have to be in dreamland. Your dreams, unless you have the ability to jump into other people's heads and forgot to tell me."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine hums thoughtfully. She hadn't thought the buildings would be much issue, as she hasn't had any trouble soaring over the rooftops, herself. And she'd sort of assumed he could make himself at least look like a bird or something, but it sounds like he's a lot faster than she would have guessed. On the other hand, there's no denying that flying through her memories of Tortall would be far more pleasant than flying around Manhattan.

"I've gotten pulled into other folks' dreams by accident, but never on purpose," she admits. "But I expect my dreams'd have better scenery, anyway."