33 - Sweet Dreams

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: A mysterious plague of dreams is sweeping through gods and shinki alike.
When: Jan 30 & 31
Where: Wherever the dreamers go...
Summary: A strange sleepiness is spreading through the Heavens. Those who succumb to sleep find themselves dreaming vividly, and even wandering into each other's dreams. Will they be able to escape the seductive power of their dream worlds and return to reality?






Waking World

Everyone in the Heavens, gods and shinki, new and old, seems to be vulnerable to this sleeping contagion. For those who remain among the waking, it's a frightening experience: people can be found slumped by the side of roads, white-robed shinki doze at their duty posts, and some people even fall face-down into their dinner plates or drift off in the bath and need to be rescued. If you're still awake, you'll need to help them out! Are you up for the challenge? Or is this a time to flee the Heavens before the sleeping bug bites you too?

Be careful -- touching the sleepers makes it much harder to stay awake. You might be dragged into their dream even if you've woken up once already. At least it'll be easier to realize it's just a dream the second time around....

Sweet Dreams

Some dreams are hard to wake up from, and some of the dreams that come with this mysterious sleep are especially hard to abandon. Friends and family, happy times, achieving your heart's desire, or maybe your best dream is living in a world entirely made out of giant ice-cream sundaes!

It's possible to wander into others' dreams whether you understand that you're dreaming or not; those who wander in not realizing that it's a dream will find themselves swept up into the dream logic in whatever manner suits their own subconscious. Those who know it's only a dream will have the unenviable task of convincing the dreamer that their ice-cream sundae world isn't real after all, freeing them to either travel into other dreams to save their lost dreamers or return to the waking world as they choose.

Shinki characters may have dreams that involve memories that they have not regained. However, when they wake from those dreams, they will not be able to remember any detail that hints at their past-- and although other characters who witnessed the dream may, any thought of telling the shinki what they learned from the dream will freeze them with a sense of impending doom.

Nightmare

Not every dream is a happy one. Those who find themselves lost in nightmares might be trapped in painful memories, pursued by terrible monsters, falling from a great height, or just called on to write the answer on the blackboard when they're not wearing pants. Whatever your nightmare is, this, too, has to be overcome before you can escape to the waking world, and while it's easier to accept that a nightmare isn't real life, it might be much harder to fight your way through it.

Those nightmare monsters might just be a dream, but any injuries that they inflict are real. And you know what they say: if you die in a dream, you die in real life.

Mystery Dreamscapes

It's possible for more than one person to wander into the dreams of a third, and among the many dreamscapes that a sleeper may travel, some strange ones appear.


• A vast, shining building of many rooms is hung everywhere with wooden plaques that rattle like dry bones in the breeze. Each one has an urgent and desperate prayer written on it, and they keep falling from the walls, only to catch fire and be reduced to ash as soon as they hit the floor. The sound of hurrying footsteps is audible, but the dream's owner never quite comes into view.



• The street is crowded, packed shoulder to shoulder with strangers who shove rudely and refuse to move out of the way. Their voices make it almost impossible to hear, and the crowding makes it almost impossible to move. Despite this, anyone who enters this dream will have the irrational conviction that there's someone or something at the other end of the street they have to reach. As they push through the crowd, though, the people around them grow angrier and angrier, and might even start to fight back.



• A giant crystal glows blue in the middle of a room, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of tiny straw dolls in intricate traditional clothing from all over the world. A middle-aged man is crafting small dolls on the far side of the room, muttering under his breath, "This one, this one." He can't be roused or distracted from his task, except if the room's door is opened, in which case he screams and flees outside into what appears to be an endless, dense, ancient forest full of strange shadows and ominous sounds.



• A huge lecture hall is filled with students sitting in folding seats. At the front, a vast man, easily eight feet tall and wearing a tweed suit with patched elbows and a traditional demon mask, is pointing out students in turn and forcing them to come to the board to answer increasingly bizarre, arcane or deeply personal questions. He turns to point at the newest arrival.



• A beautiful springtime meadow filled with fallen twigs spreads out around the visitor, who innately knows that picking up one stick in each hand will allow them to fly. Above, other dreamers circle and swoop in the blue sky. As they rise to join them, though, flocks of giant crows almost as big as people swoop in and begin attacking the fliers, trying to knock the twigs out of their hands and force them to plummet to their deaths.

In Summary:

• Help out the sleepers
• Have a good dream
• ...or a nightmare
• Explore others' dreams
• Have fun~

Comments

Nightmare

[phantomtrick]

[ That shady woman looks like bad news. Stumbling upon this scene kicks him into gear. Ren isn't the type of person who spends so long beating around the bush. He understands what he needs to do at this very moment. With a loud voice he shouts: ]

Run!!

[ There's no time to waste. If Pyrrah stays where she is then she might be next? Maybe she'll join those people on the floor? Yikes. Big no. Ren's not going to let that happen if he can help it. ]

[incinerators]

No!

[ she should run. she should run. but keith and shiro and roxas are there, and pyrrha isn't one to back down when there are people who need her. including ren. ]

I'm not leaving them! [ she turns to ren. ] Go, I'll take care of this!

[phantomtrick]

You can't be serious.

[ Ren doesn't even consider running if he can't go with her. Cinder's not messing around. Three people are already dead.]

Do you think you'll be able to take her alone?

[ Really now, rushing ahead without a plan isn't the brightest idea. ]

[incinerators]

I have to do something!

[ hi ren, welcome to pyrrha nikos. she's too selfless and sacrificial for her own good. it's what lead to her demise, after all. :)

this is a nightmare, but it's one that feels so real, and pyrrha's continuing to sink deeper and deeper the longer this goes on. still, she pulls out her weapon, miló, and gets ready to fight. ]

Go, or you'll get hurt, too!

[phantomtrick]

You've made up your mind, haven't you?

[ Wow Pyrrah's sticking to her guns. She's not budging from her spot. Ren mutters something inaudiable under his breath. She's stubborn but so is he. What a good combination. ]

I'll fight too.

[ As soon as he says that Ren's clothes change on the spot. It's like a magical girl transformation! For some reason he's now wearing a mask and what appears to be a stylish long coat. That's the will of rebellion manifesting along with Persona nonsense. He can explain this later. They have some fighting to do.]

[incinerators]

[ that was

something, alright. the change of clothes catches her off-guard, but the strange woman is already starting to charge at them before pyrrha can protest. she holds up her shield to block an incoming blow, and she looks over at ren. ]

I'll keep her busy!

[phantomtrick]

Not alone you won't.

[He's dead set on protecting Pyrrah and lending assistance when necessary! Ren's not an inexperienced fighter. He can barely remember how any of it works. The feeling of combat somehow comes naturally as if it's instinct. For now he's able to keep up with the pace of the fight. ]

She's coming.

[Here's Ren arbitrarily referring to her as a random lady because he doesn't even know who Cinder is.]

[incinerators]

[ she's not going to tell him to leave, now that he's made his mind up. it's too late to try and convince him. there's no point when cinder's starting to rush at them.

cinder makes contact with pyrrha's shield. pyrrha skids back on her feet from the sheer force of cinder's attack. she looks over at ren, gesturing for him to strike. ]

[phantomtrick]

[Pyrrah's doing a good job of keeping Cinder distracted. It looks like she's a seasoned fighter in her own right.

So Ren takes a moment to step back and preposition himself for combat. If there's anything he learned from Pyrrah it's that he should have a comfortable stance before striking. No need to tense up so much at the sight of battle. ]

Come forth!

[When he speaks a large demon with wings appears behind him. It's fighting Cinder using powerful blasts of dark energy. Ren's using a persona without knowing what it is. Don't judge his poor decision making. If it works, it works. ]

[incinerators]

[ cinder is just that much stronger with the fall maiden's powers. she falls back before holding up her hand to send a blast of fire pyrrha's way--

but then akira's demon starts fighting cinder, and pyrrha's eyes widen. just what is that thing? it's putting up a good fight, and effectively keeping cinder distracted.

pyrrha runs in to attack from behind, swinging her javelin down, but cinder pushes her away. pyrrha skids onto the ground. ]

Ugh-!

[phantomtrick]

[ Apparently the demon's attached to Ren's soul. Whenever it gets hurt he feels the pain and it stings. For a second he staggers back being unable to withstand his position. He takes a moment to recollect himself. Once he's ready he'll offer a hand to Pyrrah who seems to be struggling too. ]

Here.

[They can't stay down like this.]

[incinerators]

Thank you.

[ pyrrha takes his hand and immediately gets back up onto her feet before she charges at cinder again. cinder's fighting her with a mix of fire and raw strength alone. she's strong, and pyrrha knows it.

she looks over at ren and notions for him to attack her from behind, once pyrrha gets her in a chokehold. she manages to at least get cinder distracted. ]

[phantomtrick]

[ Cinder's really tough. This isn't battle isn't going to end in misery. He runs behind Cinder and shoots a dark burst of energy in her direction. ]

Eiha!

[ If Cinder doesn't notice the attack on time then he might be able to get a hit in. Ren doesn't understand what these powers mean or why they're there. He only knows that he needs to rely on them to help Pyrrah. Thankfully Pyrrah's strong herself. So maybe they'll be able to push back Cinder with their efforts combined.]