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

[bridge_princess]

"Aren't you a fortunate one, to have such a view. To be able to live through it and access your dreams like that." She growled a little, struggling some. there was so little there. It was almost like looking at Legion, like seeing Kaiba's heart literally in his hands, his jealousy ripped out of him along with his toxic ambitions. Yet, like Legion, it was natural.

She snorted and leaned in close, the air shimmering a little. Whatever passive effects there were, there wasn't much to manipulate and if you didn't have much, you couldn't do much. "What ARE you? You're not like the Geth. For all I don't understand it, I understand why it's immune to me."

[gardenerofavalon]

"It does come in handy from time to time."

Nope, no humility here. Especially not when he's enjoying the sensation of finally being able to do what comes naturally to him once more. He does raise an eye brow at her question, though.

"Haven't I mentioned? I'm an incubus. Or half-incubus, at least."

[bridge_princess]

"A western demon then... a spirit of desire," she nearly spat it out with a hint of derision. In her mind, the two of them were a little bit similar in that moment, though far from identical. The loathing she felt for other bridge princesses didn't insert itself in that instant after all. Desire and Envy weren't quite the same thing.

"That explains a lot about why I can barely touch you. Do you even have desires of your own, or do you feed on others'?"

[gardenerofavalon]

Aha, that's not a terribly surprising reaction. Most people tend to see him as a monster as soon as that word comes out.

"The latter, for the most part."

Merlin does have some few desires for himself, but precious little compared to any ordinary human. Just enough to give him a reason to continue living his long life.

[bridge_princess]

Well 'fellow monster' in her case more than it was in the negative way, though it did explain the irritation and relief mixed together of not being able to effect him a great deal.

"Yeah, that tracks. If you don't have that strong desire? Envy wouldn't be that present."

[gardenerofavalon]

"Something like that, yes."

He's a little more inclined to be frank with someone else who's also not human.

"Do you find that troublesome?"

[bridge_princess]

"I'm not sure I'd use the word 'troublesome.'" She sighed and relaxed a little. "I... can affect you, if I really really tried. Maybe not much but I could. But I already saw Legion, and it can't even understand what I feel other than through my memories. It's just..."

A grunt. "It's strange. That's all. I don't have to worry about ruining your lives."

[gardenerofavalon]

"You haven't had many dealings with something like me, then?"

Yes, something. Merlin doesn't really consider himself to be fully a person, if at all. And arguably doesn't exactly have much of a life to ruin, shut-in that he is.

[bridge_princess]

"Tch not really. I've dealt with plenty of spirits, but not the sort that are mostly immune to my nature. At least not without falling into the same category, and envy and envy should never take up the same space. God, the last time I dealt with a Bridge Princess wasn't pretty." She snorted. "You're ... not unique. I've seen them. Just... rare."

[gardenerofavalon]

"Perhaps you need to get out more."

Oh, that's rich, coming from him of all people.

"But for now, why not take advantage of being in a dream to do whatever you like?"

[bridge_princess]

"There's not 'that' much to get out and visit around here, so I'll take that a step at a time, but I guess I ould develop a hobby." She snorted as she said it. "I could take up knitting!"

Yeah, that was definitely a joke.

[gardenerofavalon]

"Why not poetry? You certainly have a scenic spot for it!"

He's also joking. Probably.

[bridge_princess]

"You're a regular laugh riot there," she muttered and grunted over at Merlin, raising an eyebrow. "And I really suck at poetry. Do you know how much of a pain in the neck it is to get the syllable right for the rhythm?"

[gardenerofavalon]

"Well, that just makes it easier to kill a lot of extra time with it, doesn't it?"

Boy is he being a troll today.

[bridge_princess]

"You can be suuuuch a bastard sometimes, and I think you enjoy it." She snorted and leaned in to look at him closer. "Met your pretty little friend, by the way. The one with the fascination for death."

Why the change of topic? Well, she was testing to see if she could get a rise out of him by mentioning Melinoe. It definitely worked on her.

[gardenerofavalon]

She's not wrong, mischief is one of Merlin's favorite things, right up there with women and humanity in general. Which is to say, he doesn't even bother denying the accusation.

The second remark, however, earns a raised eyebrow.

"You mean Melinoë?" He can't think of anyone else it would be. "I imagine she must be enjoying herself right now."

He does like her to a degree, yes... But in the way one might be fond of a particularly lovely blossom in a garden. No one in this world has yet reached the point of being truly valued as an individual by Merlin.

That, and any feelings he might have are conflated with that of an incubus--a predator's interest in its prey. Especially right now, with those long suppressed powers suddenly active again.

[bridge_princess]

"Yeah, her. She's in hog heaven right about now. Doing the whole Queen of the Damned shtick. Never met her before. She's... about what I'd expect for a god of the dead. She certainly seemed curious about your associates." Which was to say that she smelled the jealousy that one could have. Melinoe screamed possessiveness.

But he... she could feel the disassociation. Not unlike Cole, only a different sort of spirit. So... it was interesting. "So, tell me. What are your powers as an Incubus. I'm a little curious right now. Only ever heard vague insinuations, since the one we had back home never did anything but pranks."

[gardenerofavalon]

"Is that so?" Interesting. He can't help but wonder how the encounter went, now. A pity he's been too preoccupied with other things to make much use of his Clairvoyance to watch. "She was interested in speaking with others who are similar--gods and spirits and so on, so I mentioned you."

And had given her fair warning of what she'd be dealing with. Or at least, he thought it was plenty fair.

"Well, that doesn't sound like a bad way to spend one's time..." Merlin's quite fond of pranks and mischief, himself. "But anyway, incubi feed on the magical energy produced by humans, through things like dreams and sex. So they're capable of altering their appearance to suit the situation, and have influence over dreams. Really, in a sense, I suppose one could think of them as creatures of dreams who simply also manifest in the waking world at times."

[bridge_princess]

It had gone... not great. She'd smelled jealousy in the air, and picked up a snapped 'I'm fucking him' out of her, so there was that. she snorted and shook her head. "I'm definitely not on her level, but people do worship lesser spirits like me, heh. She was interested in my intentions about you." She snickered a bit. "I don't think she was quite ready to deal with being around me."

It had been a fair warning. Buuuut she was much more susceptible than he was. Still, it hadn't gone that bad thankfully. "So, you become what people want most, and then get what you want while they get what they think they want?" Tch. "Do you still need to feed around here?" She didn't actually ask 'are you feeding on Melinoe.' That was rude even for her.

[gardenerofavalon]

"I had noted the shrine." For all his flippant attitude, Merlin's pretty observant. Parsee is most definitely the sort of being Melinoë had been asking about... But Merlin's also not particularly surprised she got more than she bargained for.

Goddesses do have a tendency to be overconfident at times, after all. It can be rather amusing.

"More or less. Or at least, what they think they want." Even with as benign an incubus as Merlin, there's a good chance of people misjudging what they're getting into. And as for an ordinary incubus? Well, let's just say that there's a reason they're associated with nightmares and leave it at that. "And if you mean outside of this present space, no. Nor am I able to."

It's actually pretty darn unnerving.

[bridge_princess]

"That's for the best. If you'll forgive me being blunt? A few of them are at the edge of their jealousies out there, and risk losing it at times. The last thing they need is that sort of feeding." A grunt followed, but there was no element of judgment in her tone. It was a cold, calculated sort of viewpoint. Feeding through passion would cause issues in the long run in all likelihood. In that sense, she could see him as being as cursed by his nature as herself.

"In a way, our lives are simpler in that place, aren't they? Yours, and mine." She grunted. "So, paint me curious. What do you want most... that you're willing to share?"

[gardenerofavalon]

"Perhaps."

Or maybe having an incubus draining them would mellow people out a bit. It's a small population, after all, if he wanted to Merlin could definitely focus his efforts.

"In general? To watch humanity's dreams to the end."

He's absolutely serious about that. It's why he acts to protect humanity, for that matter.

[bridge_princess]

... "So, I can say with absolute certainty that I'm not jealous of that dream of yours. As one of the former members of that race, watching them disintegrate until the very bitter end just doesn't interest me, even if their envies keep me existing long enough." She snorted and shook her head.

"But... if it's desires that are your thing, I get it. You'd see the culmination of all of them."

[gardenerofavalon]

"Ah, but that's just the thing. Humans can be petty and bitter, yes, and yet, as a whole they continue to push forward. Making their homes in a harsh climate more comfortable. Finding a means to make the land more productive. Creating faster communicating and travel. Achieving flight. Temporarily leaving even the planet itself entirely behind to walk on the surface of the moon."

Merlin does genuinely admire and care for humanity... as a whole, more than any particular individuals.

"And perhaps they could use a little nudge from time to time to stay on the right track, but how could I possibly resist wanting to see what humans aspire to next?"

[bridge_princess]

"I mean, I get it. You're a spirit of desires, so you want to see them fulfill those desires. It's kind of like the concept of a Genie, really. The idea of a creature who exists only to make someone's wishes come true. We don't have those back home, unless they're in the west, but I heard the story once or twice." And it really sounded a lot like how he was.

"I think maybe part of why I don't care is that I used to be one of them at one point. I remember still."