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

[antitimelord]

Zagreus and the chimaera have struck up a strange and armoured sort of friendship, not that either would know to call it that or be comfortable doing so. Plurality of self is unsettling, and what's the point of any of his usual displays if the audience is a rather mysteriously acquired spiritual manifestation. Not that that stops Zagreus from talking, naturally. And not that it had stopped Alecto ignoring him for a spell after he'd asked for riddles. Turns out that's sphinxes, he'd known it was of course, but he had to ask.

He's almost too busy looking for more book titles to mock to notice the little animal scurrying around the corner. But the chimaera is emphatically not, and he feels the creature's prey drive surge joyously. The rabbit, naturally enough, freezes in fear, while the chimaera pounces, snake-tail feinting and one lion forepaw caging the rabbit underneath. It's a savage display, but rather playful as well. With no feline tail to wave, the snake's head resorts to making abortive little strikes periodically instead, as both the rest sniff at the rabbit rather indelicately. Clearly this is a creature that can no more ignore vulnerability than its counterpart.

"What have you got now, you unruly thing?" he asks, giving the monster's shoulder an affectionate shove as he moves in to inspect. He hauls Alecto's heads away from the trapped rabbit by the goat's horns, though she seems agreeable enough to let him see. Before the rabbit can dart away, he scoops it up by the ears.

[johnny_truant]

It only takes seconds for Johnny to feel Novatiana's terror surge through him, and he staggers against the shelf from the shock of it. He can't see what she's seeing, she's not even sure what she's seeing, but it's definitely not good. He shoves himself back off the bookshelves and cuts into a run after her. "Nova?" he calls frantically, feeling her terror reach a higher pitch as her grotesque assailant toys with her like a mouse on a string.

And, then, just as he's rounding the corner, it gets so, so much worse.

"Johnny-!" she cries, flailing helplessly in midair.

It's so, so wrong. It's not just that it's Zagreus - that doesn't help of course - it's that anyone but Johnny should touch her. He understands that in an instant. She's not to be touched. It's like someone has just reached into him and clenched a hand around his heart. He stumbles and falls to his knees, clutching uselessly at his chest.

"Oh god, no," he gasps, forcing himself to look up at Zagreus and his horrific creature-self. "Put her down," he growls through his teeth. "Put her the fuck down."

[antitimelord]

So it is, as he'd expected, the same sort of thing as the chimaera, albeit on a wildly different scale. Zagreus does not put the bunny back on the ground, but he does support it on his other arm, half cradling it rather than dangling it like a snack. He'd begun to expect the chimaera might not have the best impulse control, though he couldn't imagine why he might feel that way.

There's still a lot about this business that doesn't make sense, even for a dream. Poor Johnny seems excessively distressed, even for the fact that a monster has captured a part of his spirit, or whatever these things exactly represent. He hadn't even done anything, just picked it up after Alecto gave it a good scare. "What if I don't?" It isn't even a threat, he's honestly curious about this state of affairs. Though given that that curiosity would probably lead to some type of no doubt immensely ill-received experimentation, it may as well be a threat. Johnny has such impeccable timing, he'd just been starting to wonder.

Alecto, disappointed that the bunny is no longer being precariously dangled, starts to flank Johnny where he kneels, though unlike with the bunny she does not engage further, snake-like tongues testing the air despite the presence of at least two perfectly good noses. The monodirectional rumble of a big cat's purr sounds distinctively hungry.

[johnny_truant]

Nova squirms indignantly and Johnny feels another wave of violation roll over him as Zagreus holds her closer. No no no.

"Let her go," snarls Johnny viciously, feeling an uncharacteristically proactive fury boil up inside him. His fingers curl into the carpet as though seeking out a weapon. None is to be found. (None except, perhaps, the building itself, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

He's wary of Zagreus' three-headed monster stalking him, but that doesn't stop him from making the only move he has to make, which is stupid, but at the very least it might buy him a few seconds. He propels himself forward, lunges at the chimaera and seizes it by the goat head, which seems like the least imposing of the heads, all things considered.

In a simultaneous burst of vengeful energy, Nova jerks her body around such that she can fire off a powerful kick right into Zagreus' jaw, dislodging herself and bouncing back to the floor, where she immediately scrambles back behind Johnny.

[antitimelord]

Traditionally speaking, the particular head that Johnny is grappling breathes fire. Johnny is very, very lucky that this particular mythological iteration is a little less geared for destruction, or that choice, though logical, could have gone very badly. As it stands, it doesn't go nearly so poorly as it could--Alecto had no expectations of being grabbed rather than doing the grabbing, and is responding with loud chimeric indignation. Zagreus too, though that is likely due in some part to getting kicked in the face. Rabbits are deceptively strong in the hind leg area, it turns out.

In a blind fury Alecto clouts the side of Johnny's head, though curiously the claws aren't expressed. They don't need to be, since even in an awkward grapple the chimaera's paws have the force of velvet-muffled hammerstrikes. The serpent strike to Johnny's shoulder could easily go unnoticed in the struggle.

[johnny_truant]

The very moment Nova gets free, Johnny is more than happy to let the chimaera go, but he's already crossed this bridge and the consequences are too fast for him to evade. The club to the head leaves him dizzy and breathless, sound suddenly coming muffled through the abused ear. He falls away, and he's sure he's bleeding, but he feels like he's been submerged, everything suddenly blurring together. There's a sharp, stinging pain in his shoulder, so brief he barely registers it. Just curls up on the floor.

Nova vaults herself over his fetally turned body and buries herself in his arms. "Johnny?" she says, pawing at him desperately. "Johnny??" She can feel him slipping in and out, not quite gone, not quite here. She turns her tiny, adorable, wrathful face up to Zagreus and demands, in as loud a voice as she can muster, "What did you do?!"

[antitimelord]

Zagreus, for all he's worth, looks a bit set aback by this turn of events. Agency, of his own but not directly from him, it's too much for a moment. Plurality of self, claws and fangs and red-gold mind, savagery and warm little prey, suddenly it's all more than he wanted. These spirit beasts are vulnerabilities, they are exposures, this is the opposite of what he seeks in the Dreaming, at least for himself. Being on the same level as someone he would normally prey upon is deeply abhorrent, even if the snarling creature at his side is hardly defenseless.

"He is alive," he answers, and Zagreus has surely never done something so stupid-feeling as talk to a rabbit before. "Though I doubt he will be happy about it," and his contempt for the curled up wreck on the floor is more than evident.

[johnny_truant]

"You didn't answer the question," Nova says angrily, baring her overlarge front teeth. "You never answer questions."

Johnny's hearing this as if through water. He curls around her protectively, barely aware of himself but knowing nonetheless that he needs to keep her safe. Don't make him mad. Please, please, don't make him mad.

He can feel her seething, but she's cooling at his behest. She's trying to find something to use against him, as if such a thing exists. But Johnny's smarter than he gives himself credit for, and Nova taps into it easier than he ever would: "Is that a chimaera?" she says. "What do you suppose that says about you?"