004 - Lucid Dreaming

[tabularasa_mods]

Lucid Dreaming Event Info Pt.1 ▲ Event Info Pt.2 ▼ Comments Please see the two info posts linked above for details on the nature of the event, the nightmares within, and the setting it takes place in. You may ask any unanswered questions in either post. If your character dies at any point during the dream event, please leave a comment in the death report thread to notify the mods.

As a final reminder, all characters will fall asleep for the full duration of this event whether you decide to take part or not. You may continue tagging threads that take place before the event, but everyone will fall asleep simultaneously.

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Falling Asleep, Waking Up
The shift happens without warning, much like the first time people appeared in the world. Perhaps you remember what you were doing in the last moments before a strange feeling of exhaustion overwhelmed you - or perhaps you remember nothing at all. Whatever it may be, you've appeared somewhere new. A seemingly ordinary train station, if not for the bizarre walls of flesh blocking the only exits. The only path forward is down into the pulsating depths, a humid breeze pushing at your back.

There may be others here with you, or you may be alone. Could there be more people trapped in this strange place? You won't find them just by standing around.

Nightmares
The screeching of a distant train will echo through the tunnels on occasion, shadows flicking through the translucent flesh of the walls. Sometimes, however, instead of fading away the noise will only grow louder, closer, until it sounds like the train should be upon you. It never appears, but something else always will.

The train is a siren call for nightmares, and you're unfortunate enough to be their victim. The shadows turn alive, twisting and growing as they rise up from the ground and begin to transform. What form they take varies, but the shadows of the mind know the true fears of those who walk among them. Are you prepared to face the darkness?

Volcanic Panic

The shadows congeal at the edges of the floor, and soon after a hot orange glow begins to fill the room - molten lava is pooling in from the other end of the tunnel. It rolls slowly forward, devouring everything it touches with an unquenchable searing hunger, leaving behind only the charred bones of its victims... although, strangely, the tunnels themselves appear to be completely unharmed.

Outrunning the flow of lava shouldn't be a problem, but there seems to be no end to it. How long can you run from something that never stops? Or worse, what happens if you find yourself surrounded? You'll need to find a way to higher ground before that happens.

A Radiant Plague

The shadows rise up into familiar shapes, and at first glance it'd be easy to mistake them for people. They may even share the faces and voices of people you know, stumbling towards you with wide, open arms... and empty, glowing eyes filled with an orange light. Something smells sickly sweet, and it's only once they're close enough to grab you that they begin to attack.

These are not your friends, and they'll do whatever it takes to make you one of them instead. Unfortunately, it's not an experience you'll be able to survive. Your only hope is to fight back before the plague can take hold, lest you become another mindless husk that knows only to further spread the infection.

Trust No One, Not Even Yourself

The shadows stretch and fill the air, choking everything in a thick blanket of darkness... before dispersing just as quickly as they'd appeared. A few moments pass and nothing else seems to be happening. You must've gotten lucky this time!

... Or did you?

Surely it can't be that simple. Nothing else here has been, so something must have happened just now. It's only you and the person you're currently traveling with... but are you sure that's really them right now? How do you know they haven't been possessed by another nightmare, waiting until you let your guard down to stab you in the back? Should you interrogate them to be sure, or start with restraining them and ask questions later? Wouldn't it be better to just kill them before things get out of hand? The sooner you strike, the safer you'll be when their true form emerges.

Yes, that must be the real explanation. It has to be them that's been possessed by a nightmare. What else could it be?

Joker’s Wild

There’s no limit to what form the shadows can take. The world may have its own perception of fear, but your nightmares are something only you could understand. What darkness lurks in the depths of your heart?

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code bases by tricklet

Comments

Parsee Mizuhashi | Touhou Project | OTA

[bridge_princess]

No Power Option 1) Don't touch the floor, the floor's lava!


[She was panting as she ran down the railway of the subway station. She had to get out of this god-damned tunnel. She could see the flowing lava behind her as she ran, and the sight of another figure in the flight was definitely not very reassuring. They hadn't found their way out after all.]

Damnit, where are the steps! We need higher ground!

[No time to be jealous. She was SCARED]

No Power Option 2) Join Us... it's Bliiiiisss


Yuugi?!? The hell did you get here?

[She was, for one moment, a little shocked to see a face familiar to her starting to approach slowly. It was the glowing orange eyes that were the tip-off, as one might have expected. Parsee's own gaze narrowed and she scowled.]]

Oh, seriously, fuck this and fuck you! [She hurled a piece of brick and started running.] Let's just hope you're not as strong as the real thing!

Powers Live 1) Trust No One, Especially me


Stay back!

[It's the first warning, the only warning that someone isn't alone as they enter the room of shadows writhing all around. There's a huddled figure crawled up and into the far corner, barely visible. She's breathing heavily, clearly panicked. One eye is open, glowing a sickly, unholy green light as she almost seems to be bleeding out green trickles from her eyes, even though they were just tears glittering in the light of her eyes.

The air around her seemed to glow, tiny little balls of green light forming and fading.]

Get out of here! Leave me alone!

Powers Live 2) And What Makes you Jealous?


Hehehe

[Inside of one of the rooms was an expanse that opened up wide and in it was a briefly, seemingly familiar location. It was a bridge. A familiar bridge. Here in the midst of the nightmare, had one come back to the Void finally? The air of having found the way back ended almost immediately when the full environment was taken in. While the bridge looked like the one in the Void, it crossed through an immense chasm towards a great city beyond, one teaming with life.

The giggle came from a figure seated on the railings of the bridge, eyes glowing as she grinned over at the person, lost in her urges, in her powers. She was back home, in her mind, and there was a stranger on her bridge, someone to play with.]

And what brings you here?

(OOC: her powers are the sensing and manipulation of jealousy - Given the situation, jealousy isn't easy to manipulate into unpleasant or unwise choices, so in some ways folks luck out here that it can't cause too much harm. But feel free to use the de-powered options for regular interactions. She'll be too scared and tired to use her powers.)

Powers 1

[forwearemany]

(The figure is, perhaps, more than a little menacing in the dimly lit tunnels: large and distinctly inhuman, covered in blood, armed with a huge gun, possessed of a single unblinking eye. Though, admittedly, the last one might actually destroy the intimidation factor, because it made it clear that it was only Legion there, emerging from the tunnels.

They look around the room for a moment, chattering, then fold up the Widow: there does not appear to be any threat here.)

Parsee?

(They approach, but not too close. She may be an illusion, or under the influence of this location. Additionally, she appears to be afraid.)

This unit is non hostile.

[bridge_princess]

You don't know that. Stay back, Legion.

[She recognized the Geth at the first hints of chatter, knowing that it might be the real one quickly. The first indication that there was no orange light, no soulless automaton was ... well, it took one worry out of her mind and yet left a slew of others. Bright green eyes glowed in the darkness while she bit down on one of her fingers.

The orbs that surrounded her started to brighten, seeming to mindless snake outwards into the back half of the room, away from Legion for now.]

How can you know I am not hostile? How can you know that I am safe? I'm not, you know. Never have been.

[forwearemany]

(That gets an awkward burst of chatter, and a protest-except then she continues.

She is referring to herself.

Why?

They remember their previous conversations. They consider their current condition.)

You are no longer bound by the rules of this location?

(For her, those restrictions were freedom. After a moment, they begin to approach.)

[bridge_princess]

Were you not listening to me? I know you figured it out. It's not safe to be close to me, Legion.

[She shifted back towards the corner, an alarmed look in her eyes. They glowed more fiercely, and the green orbs of energy lanced out, though the moment they connected, the moment she looked, it was just...

Nothing... There was something so very foreign to how this creature processed its sense of envy that it wasn't something she could detect properly, much less manipulate. It made her eyes widen briefly in shock.]

[forwearemany]

(They pause, watching her.)

We are not afraid of you.

(They resume their approach.

She doesn't want to hurt them. They doubt her capacity to harm them more than they already have been.)

[bridge_princess]

[When the green didn't seem to do much, if anything, her eyebrows shot up and she folded her arms. What the hell was going on? She tried to stare, to get a feel for Legion's motivations and she couldn't ...

She couldn't feel anything?

Her eyebrows climbed in very obvious shock.]

I... can't feel anything from you, or almost anything.

[forwearemany]

We do not experience jealousy.

(They're not sure it's even possible for them.

Is it really so surprising? What use does a collective have for such a divisive emotion?

Not that Legion is quite able to put it in those words. They know what they feel, and, for the most part, they know what they don't.

They continue to come closer. If she does not retreat, they will come to stand in front of her, looking down.)

[bridge_princess]

[Legion just kept coming. The green auras washed over the robot as it drew closer. Washed over, passed through, and did nothing. It could have desire, but in all that binary code did it even understand the concept of jealousy when it simply could collectively determine the way to acquire desired resources, rather than waste perfectly good milliseconds on fuming about not having?

Somehow, she knew that. She blinked and rose up, running over and clutching the robot. She should be afraid... but she wasn't. She ... didn't have to be afraid it would judge her for being this. She wasn't hurting it. And she just started sobbing. Even Yuugi had to drink to be around her. Legion... didn't need anything.]

[forwearemany]

(There were things that not even a being with their capabilities could acquire, many of which they longed for. However, seeing others who did possess what they lacked was unlikely to stir envy, but relief: at least for someone, somewhere, it was possible to have and to keep what they desired.

They started, taking a step back when she came running, though they did not prevent her from latching on.)

...Parsee?

(After a moment, they hug her.)

[bridge_princess]

You're safe... you're not going to freak out.

[She sighed, the shaking and sobbing fading. She held her hands to Legion's shoulders and lingered there for a second. Her body sagged a little, and the green stared to fade around them. not completely, but it wasn't actively doing much.]

I'm not safe for most to be around. I breed the worst in people like this, and it's hard to resist or stop.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

(They consider her reaction to them, and the crying.

Their headflaps ripple.

She is lonely. This is a non ideal state.)

We will stay.

[bridge_princess]

You... You don't know that. Don't promise me that you'll stay.

[Yes, deep down she was well aware that Legion was probably only talking about right now, but she'd found out about several disappearances already, which meant that nobody was safe. She could disappear. Legion could disappear. None of them would have a say. None of them would get to warn people. And that was just how it was.

Her fingers clenched.]

bu...But if you leave me at some point, I'm not going to be mad at you. We don't control that here.

Powers 2

[theforgottenboy]

[The bridge is familiar, if not the landscape on the other side of it. And of course he knows Parsee... that is her, right? Something is different. He's not surprised that she can see him, despite this dreamscape making him how he normally would be. Which, if his powers are back, then it's likely the same for her too...]

You know why I'm here.

[To help people. Dream or not, there's so much fear here.]

[bridge_princess]

[The feel of her. It was a thing that might be more familiar, more natural to what she was. Her eyes glittered a fel, unnatural green. And with them, the green eyed monster within her seethed, full of insecurities and yearning.]

Come to save Envy, have you? Finally got your tricks back and now you're here to help...

Because of course you would, compassion. How could you not? [A warning gesture.] Keep your distance. I'm not sure even hell would forgive me if I corrupted you too much.

[theforgottenboy]

[She does feel more like what she should be, from what he knows of her. And of course, tied up in that, there's the envy.]

Is this how you always feel?

[Despite her warning, he takes a shuffling step closer.]

[bridge_princess]

Of course it is. I was created in Envy, and that's all that is left of me. There's always someone better off than me after all.

[She shuffled back on the bridge, eyeing him warily. Depending upon how deeply he could look with his knack for sensing the sources of problems, there was an old, very old bitter wound deep deep down. But it had healed over like scar tissue a long time ago.

It was just a roiling stream of one small slight or another, like a constant stream of self-fulfilling prophesies.]

What about you? What do you envy, little compassion? Or are you always like that too?

[theforgottenboy]

[That she's explained some of her past to him helps give some context to the old wound, even if he can't force the details to rise to the surface.]

[Or maybe he could, if he really wanted to. But he really doesn't.]

You carry a lot of envy with you. That part of you is old, frigid but festering... but I don't think that's all you are.

[He doesn't need to read any deeper to feel that way. They may both be spirits, but that doesn't mean she had to be so accepting of him.]

[What does he envy? He thinks of when he forgot what he was, the despair and fear and loneliness that came with believing he was real, but forgotten. The desire to protect Rhys over anyone else. Lambert claiming he came through to feed off all the things he can't have. Was any of that envy?]

I don't know. I've felt a lot of things. Most of it hurt.

[At least he's honest, but then, when is he not.]

[bridge_princess]

[She snorted, though he wasn't entirely wrong. There was part of her that was still human deep down. She was a spirit of envy, but she'd been a human being once upon a time.]

Fine. I suppose there might be something in there deep under the surface. If I was just envy I couldn't be trying other things. [She grunted.]

And you aren't envious of the ones who don't hurt ever?

[theforgottenboy]

Is it that deep down? If you were only envy, you wouldn't care about anyone else.

[He's decided that must be true, at least.]

[Ones who don't hurt? What would it take to be like that? The simplest of spirits, maybe, wandering the Fade free from the influences of any deeper emotion... or the Tranquil, wandering their lives in much the same way.]

There were times when I did. I thought that it might be nice, to not feel anything anymore.

But I don't think I could be me, like that. I just want to be me. Cole.

[Even if he's still learning for himself what that might mean.]

[bridge_princess]

...You're probably right. Much as part of me refuses to admit it, I wouldn't actually care how you answered the question if I was just envy. [A sigh.] There's a difference between being a vengeful spirit of envy and just being envy.

...

Yeah... I could envy that. It'd be simpler wouldn't it?

[theforgottenboy]

I'm glad that you're not vengeful.

[They probably wouldn't get along as well if she were.]

Simpler, yes. I don't think you should envy Tranquility, though. Not even the Tranquil envy the Tranquil.

[Which, if you don't feel anything then of course you wouldn't feel envy... but look, he knows one that got better, it's complicated.]

[bridge_princess]

I 'was.' I was created in order to repay someone a very long time ago, after all, but holding onto vengeance after you're done's just foolish. I'm just the after-effects.

Besides, he had it coming. [Snort] Why wouldn't I envy them?

[theforgottenboy]

But you aren't now. You can just be you.

[Sorry he's like this, but I mean, that's pretty much what he decided to do.]

Being Tranquil doesn't really make all your feelings go away. It just hides you behind glass, watching yourself live like a silent dream. You know something should be wrong, but there is nothing to be wrong. You can only wait to wake up and feel meaning again. But you never do.

[bridge_princess]

That...

[She listened to him describe and other thoughts fell away as she considered the poetry of it, thought of it like a spirit. Her arms folded and she frowned, growing less and less pleased. That really wasn't a solution. It was like sleepwalking or deadwalking.]

That's like dying so you can go through the motions of living. That's not enviable at all. That's just stupid.