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]

Daine is not overly fond of menageries as a rule, so she's regarding this one with no small amount of suspicion despite any feel-good vibes permeating the air. The animals seem happy, though, as far as she can tell. She hasn't talked to all of them yet, but she's working on it.

At the moment, she's in the aviary, well off the marked path (to the surprise of no one who knows her, undoubtedly), and in deep conversation with a winged horse. The creature lips at her hair as they talk, its posture relaxed, the feathers on its wings a perfect match for its chestnut hair.

[jennifer_strange]

It's not every day you see a Quarkbeast enclosure. More to the point, it's not every day that you see a good one, which is why Jennifer's so impressed.

To the untrained eye, it looks like someone has taken what could have been a perfectly serviceable pen and turned it into a scrap heap: there are piles of metal odds and ends throughout the enclosure, and at least one rusted Buick half-sunken into a puddle of mud. But a closer look reveals several Quarkbeasts, some sunning themselves on bare stretches of rock, others chewing on bits of metal or tossing idle 'quark's at one another.

Jennifer leans against the railing and watches them, a rather wistful smile on her face and a styrofoam bowl of melting pumpkin ice cream in her hands.

[watchesthebeans]

Off in a climate-controlled building housing small animals of all descriptions, one in particular might catch the eye. The lower part almost looks like a dollhouse behind glass, all sorts of tiny, homespun furniture cluttering up narrow little rooms running parallel to the glass wall, arranged in several levels. The whole thing looks like it could fit inside a hollowed-out wall -- indeed, has been designed to look like it is. Above the 'house' layer is a deeper area meant to look like the space under floorboards, and above that another larger area, this one separated from visitors by mesh rather than glass, this one high-ceilinged and bright, a mural along the back showing the interior of an old house.

Inside one of the little rooms is a little teenager, a scant few inches tall. He's oddly unperturbed by his predicament, at least for the moment, and peers out through the glass...from behind a couch. 'Oddly unperturbed' only goes so far for a Borrower.

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine is in an unusually good mood considering how the past few days have gone for her - and considering the fact that she's in a zoo. She usually doesn't go in for this sort of thing; she likes seeing animals out in the wild, but years of having them hang around the coffeehouse and beg for handouts takes a lot of the charm out of seeing ostensibly wild animals up close. This place doesn't seem so bad, though, and the food is interesting.

At the moment, she's sitting on a little bench partway through a savanna-themed section of the zoo, enjoying the bright sunlight while taking slow, assessing sips of a cranberry smoothie and trying to decide if it's worth emulating in some way.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew grins and bounces on the balls of his feet as he strolls through a jungle-themed area, head turning to look at the animals he can see as he passes various enclosures. So what if he's still missing a chunk of himself in the waking world? Right now he's feeling like it'll all turn out alright. He stops at a stand and gets a handful of stuffing-on-a-sticks...someone, it seems, is not concerned about maintaining his figure.

[has_a_horn]

It's no surprise that Gabriel has an affinity for animals, and finding himself inside the aviary might be natural given his own winged state. Today, as usual, his wings are hidden, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying the variety of animals around him.

He's walking along the path when he catches the feeling of a familiar mind, and leaves the path to go in search of her. When he gets nearer, he announces his presence by calling out Daine's name. The birds nearby don't seem to be too bothered by the intrusion. That in itself seems odd, but he's not really worrying about that at the moment.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine and the winged horse both turn toward the sound, though he's not yet visible through the thick vegetation. Still, Daine thinks she recognizes the voice. "Gabriel?" she calls back before returning her attention to the horse. "He's all right," she reassures the creature, though the horse hardly seems upset by the prospect of a new arrival. It does lower the hind hoof that it had drawn up a few minutes ago and gives its feathers a ruffle, but then it resumes nosing at her curiously, in no apparent hurry to depart. Which is fine with her. There are winged horses in Tortall, but they're shy; she doesn't often get a chance to talk to them or examine them up close like this.

[has_a_horn]

When Gabriel finds his way into the clearing, he pauses a moment to take in the sight of the winged horse. He's seen something like it before, but it's been a very long time since anything like it existed on Earth. "Oh, hello."

He wanders in closer and the horse takes notice of him immediately, making what sounds to Gabriel like a surprised whinny, but Daine would know better. He raises a hand, first to let the horse know his intentions, then down along the length of it's neck. "You two been chatting?"


[ooc: i've decided the horse can see his wings. They're huge, prob phasing through surrounding trees.]

[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."

[theoldgirl]

This is exactly what the TARDIS has been hoping to find in the dreaming lately; comfort and happiness. The positive atmosphere is very pleasant and she allows it to soothe her moodiness to some degree, settling into the dream for as long as it'll exist.

But she's still not in a terribly communicative mood, so she disguises herself in her unicorn shape, which she thinks ought to help her blend in with these particular surroundings. Of course, it doesn't occur to her that someone might recognize her anyway, or that a unicorn standing by a food vendor and licking the ice cream out of its container might be a tad conspicuous.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine's initial impression is that someone's escaped their enclosure, though she doesn't see that as a bad thing… unlike the ice cream, which can't be a very good choice for the creature, immortal or no. Frowning, she starts toward the unicorn - maybe she can redirect it toward something a bit more appropriate, like grass - but she pulls up short a good fifteen feet away when she realizes she's seen this particular unicorn before.

"Oh." Despite all the time she spent in the TARDIS during Andrew's little crisis, she never actually spoke to her about it. The ship's two-legger shape had been conspicuously absent for all the excitement, and the next time Daine saw her, it's been comparatively brief, and they'd both been focused on Ianto. She chews her lip, wondering if it's too late to apologize for the all the paw prints on the floor (and for inviting her friends in). "Hullo, TARDIS," she offers.

[theoldgirl]

So much for being disguised and left alone. The TARDIS raises her head at the greeting, a little surprised that Daine was able to recognize her. But they did talk during that other animal dream, and maybe her telepathic affinity with animals is also giving her an advantage the TARDIS hadn't expected.

She licks the remaining ice cream off her muzzle and lets out a moody snort, but the dream's calming effect keeps her from getting properly irritated at the interruption. Daine, she finally replies evenly.

[wildmage_daine]

Oh, dear. She might not be able to sense the TARDIS's moods the way she could if she was a proper unicorn, and the ship doesn't sound upset, but Daine has a lot of experience with ponies and horses - enough to recognize when one doesn't want to be bothered. Best to just get the apologies over with quickly, then.

"I'm sorry - I should've apologized earlier for getting paw prints all over your nice floors," she says, blushing a little at the memory. It's not as if she'd tracked in mud, but it hadn't taken much to mar such gleaming surfaces in her wolf and dog shapes. And then there was the cat. And Almondine. And Sarge, and Molly. And Edgar and Aly. Her blush deepens. "And for, um… so many visitors." She really had been doing her best, and even in hindsight, she's having a hard time imagining a better way that she could have handled things. But that doesn't mean there wasn't a better way, or that the TARDIS wasn't annoyed or upset by it all.

[theoldgirl]

Oh, now that occurs to Daine, two weeks after the fact? And probably only because she's wearing a face the girl can talk to, as it seems too difficult to consider her when she is 'only' being the ship. Her head twitches at the reminder of that day, how she'd felt more trampled through than a train station, and her ears turn back in irritation.

Yes, you should have, she agrees sternly. Your friends may be trustworthy enough to you, but what made you think I would agree to them learning of my existence and location?

[wildmage_daine]

Daine ducks her head sheepishly. All right, so she shouldn't have taken it for granted that the TARDIS wouldn't mind Edgar and Aly knowing about her… but she doesn't see how she was supposed to guess that she would mind. She could have locked them out if she'd wanted to, surely.

"I don't know how to talk to your ship shape," she says. It's mostly an explanation, though there's a hint of protest under it all - because part of the reason she didn't make as much of an effort to talk to the TARDIS when she was 'only' a ship was because she didn't expect much of a response. It'd be like when she's in animal shape and trying to make herself understood to two-leggers, wouldn't it?

And the fact that she was in animal shape for much of the time didn't help matters. Just trying to get her meaning across to Andrew and Edgar was difficult enough. How was she supposed to get anything across to the TARDIS?

"I was mostly just thinking about Andrew," she admits.

[fucking_ebay]

Like minigolf, zoos are on the list of things Peter doesn't really do. It's not that he can't deal with crowds or even that the whole sunlight thing conflicts with his image -- he lived in a desert back home, for fuck's sake -- but that the appeal of lining up alongside a bunch of screaming children to stare at bored, boring animals hasn't really been clear to him since he stopped being one of those screaming children himself.

Now that he's here, though, it turns out zoos are more interesting than he remembered. He peers over a guard rail at a trio of kelpies, two of which are just lazing around in their pond or on its banks in their natural horse shapes, with one currently projecting the image of a naked young woman that stares back up at him with an imperious sort of look.

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS can make herself understood just fine, she thinks; the problem is that most people don't make the effort to try and listen. Andrew's worrying state was the only reason she didn't express her displeasure as much as she normally would, anyway. She could certainly lock out anyone she doesn't approve of, but she can hardly do that when they're standing in front of her with little Andrews in their care.

But in their concern for him they can agree, and she has to admit she shouldn't be too harsh with the girl. She snorts softly as she reconsiders, and lets her ears and stance relax somewhat. I do appreciate what you did to help him, she replies more neutrally. I could tell how tiring it was for you. But it ought to have been common sense not to share my secret without explicit permission. She shakes her head as though trying to get rid of bothersome insects, but it's more at Daine's ignorance. Next time, try addressing me. I have ways of expressing myself in any shape.

[wildmage_daine]

To be fair, Daine only told Aly about the TARDIS; Edgar heard about her from Andrew. And Aly's very good at keeping secrets - moreso than any other human she knows.

She also has her doubts about how well the TARDIS could make herself understood, at least to her. Daine has ways of expressing herself in animal shape, after all, and hardly anyone gets it unless they're good with animals to begin with. And while she has plenty of natural skills, being good with space/time ships obviously isn't one of them. She wouldn't know how to translate the blink of a light any more than most people know how to translate the twitch of a tail.

But she can see that the TARDIS is relaxing a little, and she doesn't want to argue. "All right," she says, rather than voice her doubts. "I'll try."

[stronglikebear]

Yuri's enthusiastic about the idea of a zoo as soon as he realizes that's where he is. He treats himself to a turkey leg before setting off on one of the pathways, wanting to go see the sea lions. Oddly, though, lots of the animal silhouettes on the arrow-shaped signs are mythological creatures. Spotting one in the shape of Nessie, he decides that's close enough to what he's looking for -- apparently they have everything themed here, which is fine. Water critters should all be in one place, right? So it doesn't matter that they don't have a real water critter on the sign. Logic!

It doesn't take long, though, before he realizes there's something amiss here. He never makes it to Nessie -- instead he has to stop, stand, and stare through a glass wall at a manticore.

[bluesuit_handy]

Now, that's not what he was expecting to see. Or the unicorn is, more or less, but not a unicorn on the loose eating ice cream...no. It's sort of adorable, though, even if he doesn't recognize her in this shape.

"Don't mind me," he says in the soft voice one uses to talk to horses and other large, easily spooked animals as he approaches the cart. Reaching in, eying her to be sure he's not about to be gored, he snags another of those lovely deep fried stuffing sticks like he had earlier. Really, lately all he's wanted to do is eat, and not the usual things. It's weird.

"Come here often?" he chuckles, retreating just a foot or two and leaning against the cart. He might not know who she is, but that's not going to stop him from hanging out with a unicorn.

[stronglikebear]

"What the --"

Yuri is still meandering, having realized by now that this is not a normal zoo with normal animals, but still not aware of the sheer variety he's liable to encounter here. He almost passes the enclosure and its lone viewer by, just giving it a weird glance when he sees it's full of garbage, but then something moves in there and --

And okay, that thing just tore a bumper off a car. And now it's eating the bumper. Not just chewing on it, eating it. Yuri steps closer to the railing, transfixed and more than a little horrified at the sight of the toothy, deadly-looking little creatures.

[jennifer_strange]

Jennifer glances over at the new arrival, takes in his horrified expression, and smiles wider. "They're called Quarkbeasts," she says, belatedly remembering her ice cream and spooning out a glob of it. "Don't worry, they're not as vicious as they look."

[stronglikebear]

"It'd be kind of hard to be as vicious as they look," he replies, still unable to tear his eyes away from the one methodically dismantling the carcass of a classic car. "They can't climb, can they?" he asks nervously, eying the dry 'moat' between them and the animals.

[jennifer_strange]

"Not very well," she replies, going for the reassuring answer instead of the more technically accurate one (which is that they have a rather uncanny ability to just show up wherever they want to be). Jennifer swallows her spoonful of ice cream, then adds, "I don't think they'd want to try. All the interesting metals are in there, not out here."

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine is ambling down the same path as she polishes off her smoothie when she spots a vaguely familiar figure up ahead. She watches him for a moment, sipping at her smoothie and utterly failing to place him. SOF, maybe? Not one she knows, but one of the randoms milling around the Goddess of Pain's office? Probably not. He has the build, but not the bearing. And she's pretty sure no SOF agent would be gaping at a manticore like that. Okay, so no one's actually seen one in ages and they're presumed extinct, but still: SOF tend toward the unflappable end of the spectrum.

She sidles over, thinking that a little conversation might help her figure out who he is. "I thought those were extinct," she says, nodding at the creature through the glass. It's sort of unnerving being so close to one, but the glass looks thick enough to stop it from shooting any spines at them.