applesaucedream | The Tropical Vacation of Your Dreams

Current Music: May 20th, 2013

Entry tags:

The Tropical Vacation of Your Dreams

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sadie's face crumples into an indignant pout. Why is that ragged youth shouting at them in a manner that is not conveying gratitude? "Why, Frank, it seems as if we've upset them," she cries, so taken aback that she fails to finish off the tyrannosaur or her drink. She peers at the girl, one eye narrowing as she focuses - to the extent than any extremely inebriated person can focus, that is.

"Do you see that, darling?" she asks, gesturing unsteadily with her rifle. "It looks as if the dinosaur has produced a ghost!"

---

"I'm okay," Jodie insists through gritted teeth. "It just… hurts like hell when that happens." She's hoping the implication that this has happened before will reassure him a little, but a moment later, Johnny's on his feet and shouting at the people on the triceratops. Not just shouting, in fact, but accusing them of being drunk, and suddenly some of their previous hollering makes a horrible kind of sense.

"Oh, god." Jodie forces herself back onto her feet, though she can't quite straighten. It still feels like someone's cut out a chunk of her torso and done a shitty job stitching it back up. "Are you fucking serious?"

And then the rifle swings in their direction, and Aiden curls around the both of them, a ripply distortion appearing in the air.

"Odd sort of ghost, isn't it?" Frank shields his eyes from the sun for a moment, peering at the apparition. "Why, now its GHOST seems to be terrorizing the angry youths! Better finish that t-rex off, just in case." He fires off a shot himself this time, and that's that for the tyrannosaur, but the ghost does not fade.

"How peculiar," he says. "Something's keeping that dinosaur spirit tethered to this mortal plane." He clears his throat and raises his voice. "Excuse me, young people!" he calls. "Did you know there's a ghost with you?"

---

When the shot fires again, Johnny hits the ground, dragging Jodie down with him, which isn't necessary, since they weren't aiming for them and Aiden's protecting them anyway.

"They're sloshed," he snaps indignantly. "Jesus Holloway Christ." He struggles back to his feet and pushes through Aiden's shield cover. Aiden bristles palpably at the contact, but Johnny's out of patience. "Let me through, goddammit!"

"What a determined tyrannosaur!" Sadie exclaims, eyes wide. "Even in death, it will not stop devouring those young people! What a pity it couldn't turn its single-minded efforts toward a less harmful activity, like drinking." She glugs down her own beverage as the triceratops continues to lumber steadily toward the downed dinosaur and its vengeful ghost.

---

Jodie winces as they hit the ground again, but the pain is fading, and she's soon back on her feet. As Aiden lets Johnny through the barrier (and he probably should have taken a little more convincing, but this is a dream, so she'll let it slide), Jodie flaps her hand. Just stop, okay? She can barely make out what's happening on the other side of the barrier, and it's not as if it fucking matters if they shoot her. She'll just wake up. There's a sullen murmur from Aiden, but the barrier vanishes, leaving Jodie free to glare at the two plastered socialites approaching on their triceratops.

"Oh my," says Frank in a hushed tone. "Why Sadie, I do believe that ghost is actually attached to the young lady. What have we stumbled upon!"

The boy is approaching them. "Hello there, young man!" he says, and generously offers the bottle of vodka. "Care for a drop? You look much too sober by half."

---

The sad thing is, Johnny actually really wants the vodka.

"Put the guns down first," he says as diplomatically as he knows how (which is not saying too much). "And get down off the dinosaur. And then tell us who you are and what you want."

"They're frightened, the poor dears," Sadie concludes, her indignation rapidly displaced by pity. She slides off the triceratops and staggers a little upon landing, as much because of her high-heeled shoes as her high blood alcohol level. "Well, there's no need for that," she says reassuringly. "I'm Sadie Doyle, and this is my husband, Frank." She gestures to Frank with her glass-bearing hand as she makes a little show of setting the rifle down with the other, propping it up against their obliging cabbie's flank. Then, every inch the gracious hostess, she says, "Do let us make you a drink before we…" and now she gestures vaguely toward Jodie, "exorcise your friend."

---

"Wait, what?" Jodie takes a step back, scowling suspiciously. Did they just say 'exorcise'? The tether hums with Aiden's displeasure, and there's a sudden, marked drop in the ambient temperature. "I don't need an exorcism," she snaps, her breath fogging in the previously hot, humid air.

"Oh dear, she is quite in the throes of it, I'm afraid. We'd best hurry." Frank also lays down his arms, and sets about pouring drinks for all present. "Here you are, dear boy," he says, all but forcing the glass into Johnny's hands. "And another for your ecumenically compromised friend."

---

Johnny takes the drinks, staring at them both, silenced by sheer confusion.

"You..." He downs his drink, and Frank and Sadie both applaud him lightly. "You can... you can see Aiden?"

"Is that its name?" Sadie brandishes her glass in Aiden's direction. "Aiden, I command that you release that short young woman at once! The power of gin compels you!" A moment later, the glass flies violently out of her hand, and Sadie gasps indignantly. "My drink! You're a very naughty ghost!"

---

Jodie folds her arms tightly and shakes her head. "He's not a ghost," she protests, though her heart is pounding in an uncomfortable mix of excitement and fear. What if they could separate her and Aiden, sending him back to the infraworld? Should she really try to stop them?

Of course, that assumes these two drunkasses could actually do it, and Jodie's far from convinced. The fact that they can see Aiden is alarming, but that doesn't translate to being able to do anything to him (as Johnny sort of proves).

"How DARE you! Impudent spectre! Why I oughta!" Frank drops his own glass in solidarity and raises his fists to the impertinent Aiden. "En garde!"

---

"Leave her alone," says Johnny with gritted teeth. "You two need to just ... back up off. You have no idea what you're getting into."

He hesitates, then offers Jodie her drink.

"Careful, my darling!" Sadie cries, though she is deeply thrilled by his display. "We've seen this spirit's callous disregard for our spirits - he's surely willing to hit below the belt, as they say!" A hesitation. "And by belt, I mean bottle!" Again, hesitation. "And by below I mean directly!" She moves with surprising dexterity to their bag of drinks and pulls it toward her in a protective embrace, keeping a wary eye on Aiden all the while.

---

Jodie eyes the drink dubiously for a moment, then figures 'what the hell' and takes it. She swigs, coughs, and then swigs again. "Don't hurt them, Aiden," she says, shaking her head. She's still not entirely sure what the hell this is, but 'a fair fight' it isn't. Aiden lets out a clearly audible growl of frustration at the request, but he does refrain from directly attacking either of the Doyles. Instead, he picks up Frank's discarded glass, pointedly waggles it in front of the man's face for a moment, and then hurls it across the field.

"Why, you SCOUNDREL!" Frank takes a swing at the ghost, which is perhaps a bit silly, as his fist passes directly through and the force of his momentum sends him careening to the grassy floor. Already he can see the ghost whisping toward Sadie. "You stay away from my wife and our booze!!" he says with a shaking fist. "I'll have you exorcised directly for your impudence!" He gets to his feet and staggers toward Jodie.

---

"Aiden..." says Johnny warningly. "Aiden maybe... don't..." He's not keen to piss off the people with the guns and the pet dinosaur... especially since they've pretty much proven themselves to be complete idiots.

"Jodie he's not listening to me," he says tersely, as well as irritably, but it doesn't matter because the male drunk idiot is on his feet and moving. "Hey! Hey! Sit down!"

Johnny is not good at crowd control.

Sadie lets out a gasp of indignation as the spectre begins to tug insistently at her bag of liquor. "Exorcise him quickly, Frank! He's going for the gin!" She digs in her impractically high heels, refusing to give up the bag. "My sincerest apologies, shoes, but sacrifices must - be - made!" she cries as her heels sink into the turf.

Despite her determination to hold out until her husband dispatches the ghost once and for all, she only has to maintain her vice-like grip on the canvas handles for a moment before the spirit releases the bag and rushes back over to the ornery young woman to whom he's so literally and metaphorically attached. Sadie almost overbalances, but is saved from a tumble by the considerate efforts of their cabby, who gently nudges her upright until she can tug her shoes loose. "Thank you, kind cabby," she says to the triceratops before shouting, "Frank, it's coming your way!"

---

Jodie hands her drink back over to Johnny. "For fuck's sakes!" she shouts to the group at large. As dreams go, this isn't just stupid, it's embarrassing. She steps back as Frank approaches, not really wanting to tangle with him - more because she'd rather not be forced to knock over a plastered socialite than because she's worried he'll actually be able to do anything to her bond with Aiden. Aiden, however, seems to view the man as an actual threat - enough of one that he abandons the booze bag and curls back around her like a shield before Frank can even get within arm's length.

"Can we all just stop?" Jodie calls from within the shimmery bubble, her voice slightly muffled but no less exasperated for that.

Frank ducks, but Aiden swoops right over him to curl protectively around Jodie. Frank straightens back up, studying the field thoughtfully.

"Is the booze all right, darling?" he calls over his shoulder. "Hmm." He taps his finger experimentally against the shimmering wall, and chuckles as it ripples pleasantly. "I say, Sadie, darling, I think we've got it all wrong! It looks to me like this ghost is trying to protect its lady companion! From the likes of us! Hah!" He turns to Johnny, shaking his head. "We must have given you a right scare!"

---

"Jesus. Okay, shut up for a second." Johnny rubs his hand across his face. "It's not a ghost. It's... we don't know what it is. That's not important. His name is Aiden and yes, he is protecting us. Well, Jodie. That's Jodie. I'm Johnny." He's not inclined to offer his hand for a shake, though at least he seems to have the socialites' full attention now.

"Aiden was in the t-rex when you shot it. Which..." Actually, he can't say he's sorry to have the t-rex gone, now that he stops to think about it. "Uh, yeah, good... good job on that one. Except for the... shooting it with Aiden inside... thing."

He shoots a look at Jodie, as if to say anything else to add? Although Aiden is still covering her with his bubble, he seems to be shaking his head nonetheless.

Whatever, Aiden. Johnny makes a mental note to tell Jodie that it's fuck's sake, not multiple sakes. Right? That seems to make a lot more sense. But this is not that moment.

Edited 2014-02-24 20:01 (UTC)

There had been a few clinks of the alarming variety when the ghost released the bag, but a careful check of its contents reassures Sadie that everything is as it should be: intact and ready for consumption. "Yes, darling!" she calls back. "Everything's fine!" Enormously relieved, she wanders over to join her husband in observing the barrier, though she refrains from poking it. No sense in goading the apparition into attacking their liquor supply once again.

"Ooh," Sadie coos in response to Frank's observations. "A ghost who hangs around to guard the living? I would watch that TV show!" She almost feels a sort of kinship with Aiden; heaven knows she'd do anything to protect her darling Frank from harm. "You've nothing to fear from us; we're here to help. And drink." She's already produced two more glasses from her bag of miracles, and she passes one to Frank.

---

Jodie's not sure how helpful they've been (even shooting the T-rex has robbed them of a bodyguard who isn't three sheets to the wind), but this isn't the time for an argument. Now that the Doyles are no longer on the offensive, Aiden's willing to begrudgingly take down the barrier at Jodie's silent prompting.

"It's okay," she insists, to all parties but particularly to Aiden. "He's an entity - that's what we call him - and he's always been with me. It's…" she lets out a humorless huff of air at the term she's about to use, "… normal. He's just trying to protect me, like Johnny said." After a beat, she adds, "But it hurts like hell when a body that he's possessing gets shot. It hurts both of us. That's why he was… testy."

Edited 2014-02-25 15:25 (UTC)

"Aha! Well, silly of him to be possessing a tyrannosaur, when it's liable to be shot by a big game hunter! But... sorry about that." Frank gives Aiden a dubious, but somewhat apologetic, glance. "Gin?" he offers.

---

"Who are you people?!" Johnny explodes, exhausted by the prospect of trying to bridge the apparently massive gap between their respective parties' outlooks on this situation. It's no use reasoning with them. They're obviously living in an entirely different world, a headspace neither he or Jodie have ever had the luxury to experience. This will be over quickest, he thinks, if they just agree to settle in for a moment, and then part ways pretending it never happened at all.

Sadie hums in agreement - honestly, if one's going to go possessing creatures, one should really choose something less enticing to hunters on safari. After observing the ghost's hesitation at the offer of gin, she smoothly steps in. "I'll take some gin, darling," she says, offering her glass.

As Frank tops her off, she gives Johnny a look of faint bewilderment. Has he forgotten their introductions already? He only had one drink. "We're the Doyles, darling - the Park Avenue Doyles." Surely he's heard of them, even if he is from a rather different socioeconomic stratum.

---

Jodie can feel Aiden's bewilderment at the offer of a drink. It bleeds into her own bewilderment at this whole fucking situation. "Yeah, we got your names," she says with strained patience. "We just don't get why you're riding around on a triceratops with rifles and booze." After a beat, inspiration strikes. "Is this your dream?" It has to be someone's, right? And unlike her and Johnny, the Doyles seem right at home.

"Hmm... our dream?" Frank takes a full minute to consider the strange question. "No... no, can't say that it is. At least I don't believe so. Sadie, we're not dreaming, are we? That wouldn't seem right. I'm definitely feeling this liquor, and I never feel my liquor in dreams. That's what makes dreams so overrated. Dreams." He shakes his head. "As for the rest of it, well... why not??"

Honestly, he can't imagine why anyone wouldn't just jump at the chance to roam the countryside on the back of a triceratops with rifles, booze, and the best companion a man ever had.

---

Johnny pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. "So, in your estimation, showing up in a jungle populated heavily by dinosaurs is just run of the mill," he says. "Do you remember getting here? Do you have ANY idea where-"

He stops. Something, for some reason - maybe it was the vodka - has slipped into place. He turns, slowly, eyeing the treeline. He turns again, even slower, eyeing the distant fence.

"Oh," he says. "Oh, Jodie. Oh holy shit. I just figured it out. I know where we are."

Sadie takes a full minute to consider her drink, and only then turns her attention to the question. "Dreaming?" she echoes with a dubious little frown. This doesn't feel like a dream to her, either, but then again, she's never been in the habit of lucid dreaming. Or lucidity of any stripe, really. "Usually we just black out," she muses.

Dream or not, though, she is of a similar mind to her husband: why shouldn't they enjoy themselves? Besides, their idea of run of the mill is a good deal broader than most. "Well, live dinosaurs are a bit unusual," she concedes. "The last one we met was a ghost - but no less charming for that," she adds in deference to Aiden.

It's a pity these young people are being so grim about it all, but that's nothing a little liquor can't fix. Jodie seems a bit averse (and Aiden a bit incapable, the poor thing - no wonder he's grumpy), but Johnny downed his first glass like a champion, so she thinks it only natural that she offer him another. "Let me pour you another, dear," she says, approaching him with vodka in hand.

---

Jodie is straight-up gaping at Sadie when Johnny has his little revelation, and she shuts her mouth and turns toward him. "Wait, seriously? You know where we are?"

Johnny takes the drink as offered, stares at it, then at Jodie, with a grim, tight-mouthed expression.

This is so absurd that he can't believe he's about to say it. But he remembers the layout stupidly well. And with a bit of alcohol running in his veins, he is 90% sure.

"Jurassic Park," he says, and knocks it back.

"I was going to guess Costa Rica," Sadie comments as she refills her own glass. Giving their surroundings a proper gander, she adds, "Dominican Republic, perhaps. Ooh! Or Hawaii!! Or, ooh! The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden!"

---

Jodie interrupts Sadie's listing before she can build up a full head of steam. "What, like the book?" she asks, frowning at Johnny. It's not that she disbelieves him - right now, she's willing to grasp at any and every explanation on offer for what the hell is going on - but first this is a dream, and now it's a dream about a work of fiction?

"Like..... like the movie." Johnny frowns at her. "The book? Really?"

Granted, neither one makes any sense to him. And in Jurassic Park none of the dinosaurs had any feathers. But what the hell else would it be? Anyway it makes him feel better having an actual explanation for the mayhem, even if it is a ridiculous explanation.

---

"What's so Jurassic about it?" wonders Frank with a glance around. "Seems more Cretaceous to me."

Jodie gives a small, defensive shrug. "Yeah. I like to read." And it was a hell of a lot easier to arrange for new books to be brought in to the lab than it was to arrange for a field trip to a movie theater. Well, she'd been too young to see it in the theater. Even when she was old enough that she probably could've handled it on video, Nathan wasn't keen on letting her watch anything that might freak her - and by extension, Aiden - out.

---

Sadie hums thoughtfully. "Yes, I agree with that assessment, darling. We were riding on a triceratops, after all." After a pensive sip of her drink, she adds, "'Jurassic Park' does have a ring to it… though not as nice a ring as this." She toasts Frank, then lets out a pleased (and boozy) little laugh.

"I'll drink to that!" agrees Frank; and how. "Time for another! Join us, won't you children?"

---

Johnny has never seen anyone drink this much in one sitting in his life. Not even Lude - Lude certainly liked to party, but he didn't do it so cheerfully. Johnny's not sure what to do around insatiably happy drunks.

"We, uh, we should probably... go," he says, glancing at Jodie for backup. "We have a lot of, you know......... irons... in the fire."

This is truly a Jodie quality untruth. And yet, he can't think of a single reasonable explanation for needing to go anywhere on this horrible, stupid, wrath-of-god island.

"We should keep moving," he says finally, deciding that will have to do.

Jodie gives Johnny a level, unimpressed glare. For someone who criticizes her lying skills (or lack thereof), he's not proving himself to be much more adept. Not that there are that many decent excuses to be made here, anyway.

"Yeah," she says, following his dubious lead. Glancing at the Doyle's mode of transport, she adds, "We were gonna try and make it through that fence, so…" it's a safe bet that dinosaur won't fit.

---

It's not a very elegant attempt to extricate themselves from the conversation, and Sadie isn't so drunk that a more subtle attempt would have gone unnoticed. She is drunk enough not to begrudge them, though. It's all well and good, meeting new people, but at the end of the day, Frank is all the company she needs.

"Well, the best of luck to you!" she says, lifting her glass. "And do try to avoid being devoured." Pity they don't have a gun, and she frowns thoughtfully. "What do you think, darling - could we spare one of the rifles?"

"I don't see why not!" says Frank brightly, and without any warning he tosses his rifle to Johnny, who barely manages, with much fumbling, to catch it without setting it off. "And a merry journey to you both!" He raises his glass, drinks, pours, and then turns his full attention to Sadie as though Jodie and Johnny have already left. "It occurs to me, my dear, to wonder how we plan to transport this felled tyrannosaur, even with the assistance of our faithful cabbie!"

---

Johnny stares at the gun, then, slowly, at Jodie. He hands it over with no hesitation.

"Welp," he says, which about sums it up, and sets off toward the 10,000 volt carrying fence.

"Thanks," Jodie says. That was easier than she thought it was going to be. She takes the gun as Sadie suggests obtaining 'additional cabbies,' and then hurries after Johnny.

She waits until they're well out of earshot before saying, "So, that was weird," and risking a glance back. Neither of the Doyles seem to be watching their departure; rather, they're both standing between the dead T-rex and the triceratops, glancing between the two and making the occasional critical gesture. She turns away, shaking her head.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject