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

[rae_of_sun]

The dream-whammy isn't so strong that Sunshine doesn't feel a flicker of irritation at being called 'babes' by a total stranger. She looks up, brow furrowed, and - oh gods and frigging angels is that a ghoul?!

Sunshine's up off the bench and ten feet down the path before it occurs to her that it's a bit sunny for a ghoul to be strolling around, and then she slows, looking back over her shoulder at it - at him. He's not chasing her. Okay, points for that, but she still has absolutely no desire to lose any chunks of herself today. She halts after putting another fifteen feet between herself and him, eyes narrowed in suspicion (and no small amount of bafflement).

"I've… been better," she says slowly, frowning. He's pretty articulate for a ghoul, too.

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse just stares at her in astonishment, then bursts into laughter, after she answers him. He grins, waggling his eyebrows.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to spook ya. C'mon, come back and say howdy. I won't do nothin'!"

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine stays right where she is. She's pretty sure nobody leaves the house looking like that unless they're out to spook somebody, and there are plenty of unpleasant things he could be besides a ghoul. "What are you?" she asks bluntly.

[betel_geuse]

Betelgeuse turns from side to side, his limbs flailing comically, as he looks around him.

"What, me? Nothing! I'm, y'know, just a guy!" he protests, though he can't quite subdue the sly glint in his eyes. Finally, he gives her an "aw, shucks" look, smirking.

"Well, technically, I'm a poltergeist, you could say."

[rae_of_sun]

He doesn't really look like a poltergeist. Then again, poltergeists don't really have a look; they throw your stuff around to get your attention because they can't just stand there and talk to you.

Then again, given the way he's flailing around, she can't help but entertain the possibility that 'geists are just incredibly clumsy as opposed to spiteful. Most people who find themselves beset by one don't really try to figure out it's motivation, they just invest in a good cleaning and a few decent wards.

"You're pretty visible for a 'geist," she says with a dubious little frown.

[betel_geuse]

"I'm the ghost with the most, babes," Betelgeuse tells her, grinning with pride. He snaps his fingers and becomes translucent. "I can look all sorts of ways, if I want."

[rae_of_sun]

And there he goes with the 'babes' again. "My name is Sunshine," she says pointedly, hoping he'll take the hint. If he wants to use nicknames, he can use the official, endorsed one. (She's more likely to respond to that than her given name, anyway.)

Okay, so the transparency trick is kind of interesting. Unnerving, but interesting (and more of the latter than the former, all thanks be to dream-whammies). "So are you usually invisible?" Hey, it's not every day you get to talk to a 'geist. Might as well see what she can learn.

[betel_geuse]

"And what a bright ray of that you are," Betelgeuse agrees, leering. "Ah, well, no. Ghosts, poltergeists or otherwise, aren't usually invisible. It's just you living types don't see us. Your choice, not any doing of ours!"

He holds out his hands, shrugging.