Far Side of the Aurora Borealis

[applesaucemod]

Congratulations, dreamers of Manhattan - you get to go to Oxford! It's probably not the Oxford with which any of the dreamers are familiar, though. This one is a bit… different.



The dreamers will find themselves in Jordan College, the oldest and grandest of all the colleges in this version of Oxford, a rambling structure that includes dining halls, libraries, classrooms, chapels, courtyards, a botanical garden, and an extensive network of cellars and tunnels beneath the ground. There are plenty of places to explore!

Sharp-eyed dreamers might notice some subtle architectural quirks. Doors look larger than they'd need to be for solely human use, and every staircase has a little ramp built in - not large enough for a wheelchair, but large enough for, say, a small, scampering animal.

And speaking of - the dreamers are a bit different here, too. Upon arrival, they will realize that they now possess dæmons: physical manifestations of their souls. Be gentle with them; they're undoubtedly confused by being suddenly made manifest. They come with all the side effects and complications inherent with dæmons. They can't travel more than a few yards from their person without it being painful for both parties… and it probably won't take the dreamers long to realize they shouldn't be touching one another's dæmons, what with the shared sensations and all. Still, it's a rare opportunity for the dreamers to chat with their own souls - and the souls of others.

What could possibly go wrong?



[Mod note: you know the drill. All players and characters are welcome, regardless of whether they're current members or not. Characters will remember or forget any and all dream events at players' discretion.]

Comments

[has_a_horn]

Venia huffs out a breath and lowers to the floor, all the better to enjoy the grooming they're receiving. A rumble of a purr becomes background noise for Gabriel and Charley's conversation.

Gabriel props himself on the edge of one of the tables and shrugs. "That's what I've been assuming. This is one of the nicer ones. They're not always as kind. Unless you like the idea of embodying your worst fears."

He looks back at Venia and Horatio, enjoying the sight. Horatio shines in his sight, like a human soul might. That, and him knowing that Venia is a piece of his Grace makes it easy to discern the theme of the evening. When he turns back to her, it's with a small smile on his lips. "Why do you think your soul is a falcon?"

[rae_of_sun]

"No one's called me that since I was five," Sunshine says peevishly.

"Mom shortened it to Rae," Modomnoc clarifies, and Sunshine scowls down at him in mingled indignation and confusion. Okay, so she and the bee have some kind of weird bond thing going on, but how does that translate to him talking about her mother with such familiarity?

But of course the damn bee doesn't want to elaborate on that. Instead, he rises up off of her palm and buzzes over to Fausta, landing on her snout. "Nice to meet you, too," he says, crawling up between the dog's eyes and picking his way through the longer fur on top of her head. Sunshine gapes a little at the brazen display - haven't they been through this? - but somehow it's… different… with just the two animals interacting. It's still really goddamn strange, this vague but persistent awareness of… what? A connection? A sort of… closeness? She throws an uncertain look Spike's way, wondering what he's making of all this, but before she can call Modomnoc back, the bee says, "Sheer. We're fine."

And the really kali goddamn weird thing is, he's right. That's how it feels. Fine. Well, hell.

[adventuressing]

Charley blinks, startled, and looks from Gabriel down to Venia and Horatio, both of whom seem entirely content where they are.

'Is that what he is?'

Charley-- well, Charley hadn't thought she believed in the soul as a concept, really. It went along with not believing in Heaven and Hell; the soul had been invented by religion, and people too terrified to believe that nothing of them survived after they died. Certainly there was something that made a person who they were, but she'd never really thought of that as a soul.

'I-- well, I never really believed in souls.'

But it's as good an explanation as any, and a good word to put to Horatio, whom she's been referring to with handwavey vagueness, knowing him to be part of her, but unclear how. If he's her soul, though... She finds herself smiling slightly as she watches him, a tiny thing, maybe the size of a jay, but with a wicked little beak, the slatey grey of his back glinting almost blue in the sunlight. There's something oddly satisfying about the thought, like the tumblers of a lock clicking into place.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she turns back to Gabriel with a little shrug. 'I don't know. I suppose I've always wanted to travel, to have adventures? Latin peregrinus and all that.'

[has_a_horn]

"It is, yeah," Gabriel responds, feeling complimented by the pair's wonder. Gabriel makes his way around to her former hiding place and offers his hand in greeting. "I'm Gabriel. And this is-"

"Venia." the griffin supplies, it's head twisting down to get a better look at the bushbaby. "Who are you, little one?"

Gabriel tucks his head down, smiling at Venia's curiosity before he answers Dana's unspoken question. "Being a dream, I think there may be more leeway than usual for...more creative interpretations." Like griffins.

[has_a_horn]

"Never been much for religion myself," Gabriel says with an amused smile, a private joke to himself that Venia echoes with a huff of amusement. "but if the shoe fits, right?" He shrugs. "Call it what you like. But 'dream manifestation of the core traits of your personality and being' is a bit of a mouthful."

He chuckles, but her explanation of her animal catches his attention. "And have you had the opportunity?" It's a bit sad, now, that if she hasn't traveled, it's likely that she won't for a while. If she's in New York, she'll be trapped there for the forseable future.

[erratic_hematic]

"So, what, you're a Rae of Sunshine?" Spike laughs, though it's cut short by the bee lifting up and flying over to Fausta. He lifts his hand away from the dog's head as the bee crawls up to fill the same space. He doesn't want to recreate either of the night's human-animal interactions. Fausta, for her part, doesn't seem to mind the bee at all, and Spike finds that he doesn't mind either. He shrugs in Sunshine's direction. Yeah, he's got nothin' here. Sorry.

"So." He starts, then pauses, thinking. "Why a bee?"

[adventuressing]

Charley chuckles at that as well, because fair enough, 'soul' has brevity to recommend for itself, if nothing else.

'I have,' she says with a little smile, half wistful at the recollection, but with a distinct edge of wicked enjoyment to it as well. 'I ran away from school when I was eighteen to stow away aboard an airship; I've not stopped since.'

Of course, her particular circumstances have meant that she can't return home, as much as she might sometimes want to, but she's become so used to the wandering lifestyle that she's not sure how she'll take to being rooted in one place again.

She's more curious about Gabriel than she's interested in navel-gazing about her current situation, though, and she turns a keen eye on him. 'So if these are supposed to be manifestations of one's being, and my soul is a little falcon-y thing--'

'Oi,' Horatio interrupts vaguely, as if he's offended by being referred to in such a manner, but Charley ignores him and he returns to his grooming.

'--then what does that--' she nods at Venia, 'say about you?'

[rae_of_sun]

"Shut up, William," she replies, though there isn't any real malice behind it. Maybe she just doesn't want to piss him off while Modomnoc's in such easy reach of his hand, or maybe she can't muster much in the way of general ire when their respective animals are getting along. She doesn't really want to examine her feelings about all this too closely.

Besides, the truth of it is probably even more ridiculous, because it hadn't even been a deliberate pun (though that's what she'd taken it as at the time). Charlie had just called every kid who came into the coffeehouse 'sunshine,' and since her mom started working there, she'd been there the most often. By the time she realized it hadn't started as a special nickname for her, it had accidentally turned into that very thing.

Well, whatever. At least she didn't earn her nickname by torturing people, so she's still got the moral high ground, here.

His next question throws her, and she blinks. "… What?"

[has_a_horn]

"Powerful, mythological, and covered in feathers. What do you think?" Venia answers before Gabriel can respond.

Gabriel laughs, but he would have never said something so close to the truth himself.

"Probably something about my impressive ego," he supplies to divert her attention, and decides to move on from this topic as quickly as possible. As charming as she is, he doesn't trust just anyone to know what he really is. More than enough people here already know, and the more that know the less safe he is.

There's one part of what she'd said that had intrigued him. She'd said 'airship' like it was a normal thing to her so there's no way that she can be from anything like this modern New York.

"It must be one hell of a shock for you, being in New York. How many years has it been since you left?"

oh noooes

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew lets out an 'oof!' of his own as he runs smack into a shorter body, arms automatically going to grab at her shoulders. Farranfore is right behind him and slams into the backs of his legs thanks to the sudden stop, letting out a yelp as his knees fold and he half falls, half sits on her. She shimmies free unharmed, though, and a second later Andrew can be found sitting on the floor in a slight daze while his daemon stares in surprise at the cause of the kerfluffle.

He looks up sharply at the cry, and his surprise at being dive-bombed by an overexcited bird has to take a back seat to his astonishment at the familiar face above him. He stares, mouth hanging open, and for the moment all he can think to say is, "Oh!"

warning: very slow tags until April 2

[fucking_ebay]

Peter's being stalked by a goat on a lawn at Oxford and he is not the least bit happy about it. Throwing the animal a wary look over his shoulder, he clambers over a short stone wall and drops clumsily down the other side, landing in a crouch. He's never been any good with animals, and he's pretty sure he doesn't trust goats even if he feels kind of weirdly like being followed by this goat is something he should be used to.

"Peter!" yells the (apparently womanly) goat he just left behind, making him freeze in place and turn slowly to stare at the wall now concealing it. "Come on, Peter, don't be a twat."

warning: very slow tags until April 2

[watchesthebeans]

A person might be forgiven for seeing the magpie-shaped daemon first and her human Borrower second...if at all. It's unusual, after all, to spot a bird inside an otherwise abandoned dining hall. "Synechdoche," the bird is saying to the gap under a cabinet. "I don't understand it, either, but that's my name and I'm very sure I belong to you. It's the strangest thing -- I know I haven't been here with you, but I know I have. You know?"

"I don't know," comes a small voice from under the cabinet. He sounds doubtful, but he's at least not trying to retreat any further.

[adventuressing]

Horatio snorts at Venia's answer, and Charley lifts an eyebrow at Gabriel's addition. It's hard to tell, between the two of them, when they're joking and when they're being serious.

At Gabriel's question, though, she wrinkles her nose, mouth pulling off to the side in a self-deprecating half-smile. 'That... is a more complicated question than you probably realise,' she says dryly. 'I think about four or five, but it's hard to tell.'

And it's odd, that, being in a position where she can't even say she knows her own age truthfully. For a moment, she studies Gabriel with narrowed eyes, wondering how much to tell him-- if he's come through the Rift, at least, and is unfazed by his soul suddenly becoming corporeal, she imagines time travel won't be too much of a shock.

Once again, Horatio beats her to it. 'Time travel,' he pipes up drolly, hopping up to flutter to perch on Venia's head, putting him a little closer to Gabriel's eye level. 'Amongst other things.'

Re: oh noooes

[adventuressing]

Charley, of course, has no idea that Andrew is not the Doctor, and for a moment, she just grins breathlessly down at him from where she's sprawled half-atop him. She's about to say, 'Hello, you,' or repeat his oh back at him, when Horatio decides to land on him, and she loses her breath all at once, going shocked and tense.

It's as if she'd brushed up against him and instead had him go right through her. It's-- no, it's like the test tube world in the Divergent Universe, pressing her face into the Doctor's until she could feel him down in her marrow, more profound than any mere touch could be, wonderful and awful both at once. And, she knows in the instant it happens, as if it was knowledge she'd been born with, shockingly intimate, something that should never be the result of merely accidental touch.

She and Horatio process all of this in the space of about two seconds, and then Charley falls back with a little, 'Oh,' of her own, and Horatio flutters over to hook his talons into her shirt, nuzzling up under her chin.

'I'm sorry! I didn't know!'

'No,' Charley says, still a little short of breath, lifting a hand to curl over his small, warm shape. 'I didn't either, that was--' She shakes her head, looking back over at Andrew. 'I don't think our-- whatever these are, I don't think other people are supposed to touch them.'

[johnny_truant]

"Yeah, I can see where that would be a problem." Johnny smiles, affecting an apathetic air: his base state. Nova snuggles up against him, and he picks her back up.

"So where are you from?" he asks. "I mean, like, before the Rift." England, obviously. But time, place, universe... this is like an awkward college orientation, where the conversation starter is always home-state-and-intended-major, and where everyone is probably equally ignorant of everyone else's answers. Maybe a few kids luck out - "oh, we're both from Oregon" or "hey, same freshman seminar" - but mostly, it's just a lot of nodding and polite hmming. Johnny suspects he'll have no idea how to relate to anyone, as that's always been status quo for him, but what else is he going to ask, at this point?

[rae_of_sun]

Sunshine's only been outside for a few minutes when she spots someone else who doesn't appear to be entirely on board the talking animal train (to say nothing of the your soul is a talking animal train). The guy looks familiar, though she doesn't think she knows anyone named Peter.

Well, whoever he is, he probably doesn't deserve what's coming to him if he goes striding off while his goat is stuck behind that wall (which is another odd thing - aren't goats supposed to be spry? Why hasn't his jumped up on that wall already?).

"We should warn them," Modomnoc says from his perch on her shoulder, and Sunshine indulges in a brief eye-roll before heading across the lawn.

"Hey," she calls, waving a hand to get the guy's attention. "You really don't want to do that," she adds with a pointed gesture toward the wall he's put between himself and the goat.

[priordivergence]

"I haven't been looking. I just got here."

She should be looking. Covering the exits. Think, she tells her self. Think like a Dauntless.

[julianbashir]

Julian pauses to look around a corner, then shakes his head and continues onwards in what he hopes is a logical direction for an exit to somewhere. He frowns, confused at the question.

"Manhattan... New York?" he asks, realizing that it sound ridiculous as soon as it comes out of his mouth. There aren't really that many other Manhattans he can think of, at least that Gus would be asking about. While Julian was never really a very good student of history, he figures that at best Gus is from another time of Earth than he is, possibly 20-22nd century. They all blended together, really, he was awful at history... "No, I'm afraid I haven't been there, at least not recently. I visited once, as a student. Arrived as did the rest of whom?" he adds as an afterthought, curiously.

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta takes a deep breath. "Well, you're here now," he says firmly. "We'll enjoy it while it lasts." However much it hurts to think of losing Nilakshi when he wakes up, he doesn't want to spend what time they may have together moping about that prospect. He suspects Daine would agree, so he tries to lighten the mood.

"I understand how Coromotto matches you, but how does an elephant match me?" he asks Daine, a crooked smile on his face. Nilakshi nudges him playfully with her trunk and pushes her back, not at all surprised when she doesn't even sway. "I didn't even know elephants existed until a few minutes ago. What do you know about them? Have you known elephants before? In Tortall?"

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar's seen pictures of the Library, and he tries to imagine dragons slinking through its doors. It's a strange and delightful mental image, and he smiles. /I hope they did./

Reaching up to scratch Merewenna's chin, he glances around the conservatory. /Do you know where we are?/ he asks Jennifer. /I just showed up in here; is there anything else?/

[mr_fring]

Gus isn't sure what to say to that. He had thought the dreams were only subject to Rift-comers, not open season for anyone. Is it even worth getting to know this man?

Or could there be some other explanation - that he doesn't remember, or that he hasn't arrived yet?

"Everyone I've encountered in these dreams has been from Manhattan," he says blandly, deciding to avoid mentioning the Rift just now. "Forgive me, I didn't mean to assume."

The man obviously doesn't sound like a New Yorker, with his sharp English accent, and he seems almost like he doesn't reside on Earth at all. Gus isn't sure how many questions he should bother asking, and so he doesn't say any more just yet.

"Ah," says Cosmia after a moment. "Looks like we've found an exit."

[edgar_sawtelle]

/Me, too./ He stands, stretching a little.

Merewenna does the same before hopping from the bench down to the pathway. "Let's go explore," she says, blinking up at Edgar.

Almondine stands, her tail fanning the air happily, and looks to Edgar. he wouldn't mind a little bit of exploration himself, so he nods before turning to Tris and Hecaterus. /Want to walk around with us?/

[wildmage_daine]

"Not in Tortall," Daine says with a little shake of her head. "The weather's all wrong for them. But I did meet some in Carthak. They're very clever - wise, even. They live about as long as two-leggers do." She idly strokes her wolf's head as she mentally reviews all she knows about elephants, discarding dry facts like diet and habitat. "They travel in herds, big families led by the eldest female, and they look after one another."

"They're very gentle," Coromotto offers. "Mostly, anyway - unless you go after someone they care about, like one of their young."

Daine nods. "Then they can be quite fierce. And if one of them is lost, they… they mourn. In a way that even two-leggers would recognize." She shrugs, looking a little sheepish. "I don't know if that helps."

Somehow didn't get a notification on this, sorry!

[julianbashir]

"That is strange," Julian says carefully. "And you certainly had every right to assume. Seems unlikely that I would be here at all, but somehow I have been arrived despite it all... or somehow been misplaced. I hope I was meant to come here, not trespassing. Though whose dream we have all fallen into,, I wouldn't know," he adds, with only a slight hint of worry.

Agamede runs forward a bit when Cosmia speaks, and a flash of something flits across Julian's face. It isn't pain, exactly, almost a realization. She hasn't gone far from him yet, but after a few more feet of scampering towards the exit, he puts a hand to his chest and says, "Wait, Agamede. Would be nice if there was a rulebook on all this," he mumbles softly. The feeling is unexplainable at the moment, but not something he feels like experimenting with again. Are dreams supposed to be painful? Julian pushes open the door, letting in a stream of outside air, smelling of grass recently cut.

"After you," he says to Gus, as he scoops Agamede back up in his arms.

[peeta_mellark]

Nilakshi's trunk is loosely curled around Peeta's arm, and when Daine mentions the fierceness of elephants, he sees the strength he feels there in a new light.

Some people don't know themselves well, and can therefore be surprised by their own actions or thoughts or feelings. Peeta isn't one of those people, and he recognizes in Daine's descriptions of elephants an echo of himself.

He thinks of Katniss, of fighting Cato to save her life, of holding her in his arms as she slept, of following her to whatever end awaited them. He thinks of painting Rue's portrait on the Training Room floor in big, furious splashes of color, and the ache that even now tightens his chest. He nods.

"It does. Thank you."