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

[fucking_ebay]

"You too here." Peter gives her a puzzled look, foggy brain not quite getting what the source of her confusion is despite him having realized he's dreaming. He's been getting better at that, but not at other brain things. "You did notice I've been gone for months, did you?"

[insatiamy]

Amy gives him a look right back.

"Pretty sure I just saw you a few days ago," she answers, in a way that suggests she assumes he's drunk. Which... usually doesn't lead to him saying stuff like that, but it's the most likely explanation.

[fucking_ebay]

"Pretty sure you didn't," he replies, mocking her tone. Then he's serious -- serious in the way he usually is only when something is seriously wrong. "Amy, where's Charley?"

[insatiamy]

"He's..." She stops. Where is Charley? "I dunno," she answers after a moment. She's not quite sure if this should worry her yet. It's not like they're that co-dependent. But she should probably have some idea, right?

"Where... where are we?" Because she just realised she doesn't know that either, and her calm indifference to this is starting to fade away with Peter's serious look. Because it's a pretty rare look. In fact she doesn't think she's seen it since... well. That night.

[fucking_ebay]

She doesn't know? She said he was here, what the hell?

"You don't know?" Peter sniffs in a breath as several things suddenly make more sense, then regrets it when he gets a good whiff of himself. "Fuck. Were you in New York?"

[insatiamy]

"Nooo," she answers slowly, confused by this conversation. She's also confused whether he means 'you don't know where we are?' or 'you don't know where Charley is?' She adds, "But that doesn't really answer my question."

[fucking_ebay]

"Fuck," says Peter again, letting out the tiniest of sighs. He shouldn't be upset, he tells himself. It's good she hasn't been pulled through -- unless she has and just hasn't woken up yet. He wouldn't know where to look for her if that happened, though.

No, it's good she's still back home with her dweeb boyfriend. He shouldn't wish that a high schooler would be subjected to the things he's been subjected to. "It answers mine. You're dreaming, Amy. This is a dream."

[insatiamy]

"Is this going to be some weird 'in your dreams' joke?" she asks, giving him a skeptical look. She's a bit lost now, to be honest. His line of conversation doesn't seem to make much sense, and she has no idea what he's upset about.

[fucking_ebay]

Alright, for just a second Peter can't help it -- he lets out a short, soft laugh. "You said it, not me. So -- what? You just fell asleep in Vegas and woke up here, presumably -- probably the least consequence anyone's ever seen for doing that -- and I'm still there? You didn't notice me duck out into another dimension?"

[insatiamy]

"Alright, seriously. What's with the 'other dimension' crap? We just saw you a couple days ago. Remember?" she asks, getting annoyed and impatient at not understanding what's going on. "Charley's birthday? You threw a big party? Ring any bells?"

[fucking_ebay]

"No," says Peter, taken aback. "I don't."

And that kind of freaks him out. He was expecting her to name some event that happened before he was lifted from his nice penthouse and deposited in Manhattan, but he doesn't remember ever throwing Charley a birthday party. Unless.... "How drunk was I, scale of one to ten?"

[insatiamy]

She frowns. "Five, six?" she answers with a shrug. "Not drunk enough to forget the entire night," she adds, figuring that's what he was getting at. "...You really don't remember?"

[fucking_ebay]

While they didn't establish what a one would be, five or six sounds pretty well within the normal. Peter gives her a troubled frown. "No. I really don't. I haven't been there in half a bloody year, and I don't remember throwing a party for Charley."

[insatiamy]

For Amy, one is sober. Or only very mildly drunk, as Peter is extremely rarely completely sober.

"Wait, so... I've somehow ended up god knows where, you're talking crazytalk at me, so obviously you're right in that this must be a dream," she says, walking past him to go out the door and get a better look of the place. "So I don't really feel all that inclined to figure out what the hell you're talking about."

[fucking_ebay]

Getting sober would involve having a hangover. Fuck that.

"It's a shared dream," he points out impatiently. "It happens all the time here." But no, he wouldn't believe it either if their positions were reversed. Fat lot of good it's done him figuring out it's a dream this time.

Outside, some large creature in the distance lets out a resounding bellow.

[insatiamy]

"Uh-huh," she answers, totally and utterly convinced, obviously. Perhaps if she had actually also had the experience of falling through a rift in space and time, she'd be more easily convinced, but not right now.

She jumps a little at the sound, turning towards the direction it came from. "The hell is that?"

[fucking_ebay]

Peter rubs a hand over his face in frustration, knowing exactly how it sounds. Hell, for all he knows this isn't a shared dream and he's just imagining she's here. He looks up sharply at the sound, though, and takes a little step to peer out through the open door.

"I don't know," he says slowly. "But I don't think I want to meet it."

[insatiamy]

Amy is tempted to agree, but she's also curious. And if it's a dream, it's not like it's dangerous. Of course, it could still hurt, but...

"So... My where are we question seems kind of important now," she points out, stepping forward towards the sound rather than backwards.

[fucking_ebay]

"In a godforsaken jungle, obviously," replies Peter, despairing as he realizes she's going to investigate. He winces, looking behind him and deeper into the building, where he presumes safety lies, but there's nothing for it. He mutters something under his breath -- he'll deny it's a prayer if she asks -- and follows her out the door.

Whatever made the noise doesn't do it again immediately. There's another sound, though, closer by, as a pair of creatures emerge from the foliage perhaps fifty meters away. They're not coming toward Amy and Peter, and don't even seem to notice they're there as the dinosaurs amble along.

"...Fuck," says Peter in surprise.