The Tropical Vacation of Your Dreams

[applesaucemod]

The communal dreams of Manhattan have been downright pleasant lately, haven't they? Here's another sunny day for dreamers to enjoy in their sleep, though of course the tropical climate may prove just a little uncomfortable for northerners. The verdant jungle has its own sort of charm, though, teeming as it is with all sorts of exotic animals.

Make that very exotic animals.

Those who arrive close by any of the old buildings or fences will see that it's been a long time since the humans that made them disappeared. Everything here was once sleek, shiny, and state of the art. Now formerly electric fences stand bent and torn, automated SUVs sit rusting on their tracks or lie smashed to pieces where they were thrown by some enormous creature, and the jungle slowly works to reclaim a mildewy hotel and visitors' center.

Whether one finds oneself in the formless jungle that was once paddocks, in the aviary that would have housed a luxury resort, or even in the halls of what should by all rights be the most heavily fortified hotel in the world, one is always in danger here. The barriers that once separated human from dinosaur have long since fallen. Here dinosaurs have eked out a new ecosystem, the carnivores not particularly bothered about eating herbivores from entirely different epochs…or, for that matter, the funny little hairless apes that have appeared here on occasion. Here one is always in danger of running afoul of hungry tyrannosaurs, stampeding triceratops, or cunning deinonychus velociraptors (they're totally velociraptors, yup). Enjoy the eye-searing venom of that strangely undersized dilophosaurus, by the way, as well as the toxic bite of the swarms of compsognathus. Or maybe the dreamers will luck out, and the worst they'll encounter is an indifferent, bumbling brachiosaurus or an unassuming microceratops. Who here is ever that lucky, though?

Welcome to Jurassic Park.



[Mod note: Same drill as always. All players and characters are welcome, current members or no. Characters will remember or forget any and all dream events at players' discretion. Death in the dream does not result in real death.]

Comments

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Probably?" Andrew squints about at the empty air, not sure where it went after it literally buzzed off. Truth be told it had been a good way to get a sting on the nose, but the bee is not currently in evidence.

[sadie_doyle]

Sadie slumps against Frank with a little moan of relief. "Bees," she says, her tone conveying both residual terror and general disapproval. Some things just shouldn't be allowed.

[bluesuit_handy]

It's rough going through the jungle, and Andrew keeps having to glance back at Edgar to make sure he's alright -- he can hear the teen crashing through the undergrowth after him, but obviously there's no actual communication. After only a couple minutes, though, he stumbles out into an open area...sort of.

"...Make that a paved game trail," he says thoughtfully, kicking a fragment of pavement churned up by the growth of jungle plants.

[frank_doyle]

"There, there, darling, the bee's gone," says Frank, giving her a loving pat. "Little Barty was quite the hero! THIS CALLS FOR A DRINK!!" And he immediately turns his attention, fully engaged and animated once again, back to their liquor stash.

"Gin for you," he says, handing the bottle off to Sadie; "gin for me; and for you, Barty?"

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Cider?" suggests Andrew, not holding out much hope. He's never been much of one for hard liquor. Also, it's good they haven't got hold of the humanoid Andrew. "Or a nice cuppa."

[sadie_doyle]

"It does!" Sadie agrees with cheery enthusiasm. How can her spirits remain dampened when she's about to be dampened with spirits? She hurriedly knocks back the remainder of her whiskey so she can refill her glass with gin, only slightly put off by Barty's lack of interest.

"Perhaps we packed some mixers," she says, though she rather doubts it; it's not that large of a bag and real estate had been at a premium.

[frank_doyle]

"Hmmmm..." Frank inspects the bag thoughtfully, albeit with marked displeasure. "We-ell..." Finding nothing un-alcoholic in the bag (naturally), he turns to scan the surrounding environment. What on earth does he have to offer a tiny stubborn pony intent on remaining sober? "There's... tree... bark? Would you like that? Would that be good for you??"

[bluesuit_hoofy]

Really, they just shouldn't ask him his opinion if they want to get anywhere with him. Barty -- Andrew -- gives Frank a look like he's just dribbled down his front. "Not at the moment; I'm trying to go easy on the fiber."

[sadie_doyle]

Well, Sadie's not about to let a guest of hers go without. Perhaps he's only a guest atop their cabbie and not in their home, but the rules still apply.

"You did well with the rye before," she says decisively as she gets back onboard Penelope. Once she's perched beside Barty, she tops off her glass of gin, replaces the bottle, and pulls out the rye. It's a little tricky removing the cap without spilling her gin, but she manages, and a few moments later, she's waving the mouth of the bottle in front of his nose. "You know how to drink from a bottle, don't you, Barty?" she asks. "You just put your lips together and... glug glug glug."

[frank_doyle]

Frank tugs at his collar a little nervously at this positively seductive display. "Why darling, have I ever told you that you are at your most ravishing whilst imbibing?" he says.

[sadie_doyle]

A coy smile spreads across Sadie's face as she turns to Frank. "Not nearly often enough, darling," she purrs, before adding, "though, to be fair, it is a statistical certainty." She's always imbibing, after all.

"Have I ever told you that you're at your most ruggedly handsome while sitting beside me atop a dinosaur?" she asks in turn, giving Penelope's back an inviting pat. She's all but forgotten Barty, now, and the bottle's hovering a foot above his head (though there's no threat of it spilling; she would never).

[edgar_sawtelle]

Though the vegetation is unfamiliar here (wherever "here" is), plodding along behind Andrew isn't all that different to exploring the woods back home and Edgar lets his mind wander under those trees while his feet lead him through the jungle. He's brought abruptly back to the present when their little party emerges on a road.

Edgar glances first the left, then to the right, following the path of the pavement, which curves out of sight about a hundred meters away to the left, and disappears over a rise about the same to their right. The road bears clear signs of neglect: the edges are crumbling away, giving it the appearance of a shakily drawn line, and Edgar can see buckles and cracks in the surface. A few feet to the other side of the pavement, the jungle takes over again.

Coming to a stop beside Andrew, Edgar lays a hand on his arm. Should we follow the road or keep going straight?

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Have I ever told you that you seem to have a drinking problem?" asks Andrew, batting his eyes at each of them in turn. Whether he wants to glug glug glug is beside the point just now. "Where are you two from?"

[stronglikebear]

"New York...." Yuri sounds puzzled for a moment, as if he's forgotten why they should be in New York, or why there shouldn't be dinosaurs there. Then the world seems to realign and he looks around with dawning understanding. "Oh. Oh, right -- yeah, there wouldn't be anywhere that looked like this for thousands of miles, even without the dinosaurs."

[aly_brighteyes]

Aly nods and then shrugs. "They don't look provoked. It's fascinating to watch though."

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew puzzles over the question for a few moments as he squints in first one direction and then the other along the road. Why there's a road in a land of dinosaurs he doesn't know; somehow he'd thought they were in the actual prehistoric era on Earth. Well, scratch that theory.

"Something the size of Gertie might still use this as a path," he points out. "If nothing else, it might lead us to something that'll tell us why there is a road." Not as exciting as dinosaurs, maybe, but he's genuinely curious about it.

[edgar_sawtelle]

That makes sense. Edgar finds his own curiosity piqued; dinosaur and road don't mix.

He gives the road another left-to-right survey and suggests, Left, then?

[frank_doyle]

"A drinking... problem?" Frank considers the curious turn of phrase. "Well I don't see how it could possibly be a problem. The incident with the snifter, now, that seems to be your drinking problem." He huffs, gradually finding the delightful little pony less delightful, impressive show of bravery against the air shark notwithstanding.

[sadie_doyle]

"Yes," Sadie agrees. "It's only a problem if it's not happening, darling." What a strange attitude this little pony possesses towards the inarguable joy of nigh-constant liquor consumption! She proffers the rye once more, though with considerably less vigor this time. Does he truly not want any?

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"If I have some, will you try to get us out of this jungle before the velociraptors find us?" sighs Andrew, weakening.

[frank_doyle]

"I'll take it!" announces Frank, happily offering the bottle. "Velociraptors, you say? Quite like to see one of those. Little turkey sized things, as I recall. Much easier to bag!"

[sadie_doyle]

"Let's bag three of them!" Sadie declares. "One for each of us!" Leaning over a little to give Penelope an encouraging pat, she says, "Take us to some velociraptors!"

[bluesuit_hoofy]

Andrew's true to his word, at least, so he's mid-swallow when Frank and Sadie reveal their fundamental misunderstanding of his request. He chokes, tries to spit, fails as more liquor comes rushing in from the tilted bottle, and swallows an overlarge mouthful instead. Sputtering and coughing, eyes watering, he protests, "I don't want one! I meant let's go away from them!"

[stronglikebear]

Yuri grins. "Yeah. I've seen them in movies, but this is -- this is something else. Think we could get one to come over here?"

[aly_brighteyes]

"I'm afraid I haven't Daine's gifts with creatures, but I suppose it's the same as approaching any large animal."

Like a horse, only the size of a building. It's perfectly similar.