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idream_ofmemes2023-02-12 09:48 pm
perchancetodreammods) wrote in idream_ofmemes2023-02-12 09:48 pm
TDM #6 - Planned Outage
TDM #6 - Planned Outage
Pardon Our Dust
Things are a little odd in the Dreamscape at the moment! Typically, newcomers are met with beautiful scenery, a note inviting them to come speak to the Dreamscape's host, an explanation about where they are, and a handy Constellation pendant connecting them to the rest of their new neighbors. But this time, there is something odd afoot, and nothing here to help you make sense of your new surroundings if you've just gotten here. Don't worry, though, it will all make sense soon! Hopefully! Just hang tight. More details to follow... probably? Oh dear.
This is our second Crisis Event, and as such, things are a little different from our usual fare! Details for entry will be in the prompts below, as the rules are a little different from our standard TDMs. There's also usually pictures.
DATE
2/12/2023 (ICly intended to begin 2/15/23, posted early because I love you)
THEME
Crisis Event!
QUICK NAV
We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programming
Valentine’s Day comes and goes, and the romantic atmosphere that the Dreamscape had taken on has dwindled after a good long month as the seasonal excitement begins to dwindle. Those who have been here for a while and are familiar with the Outsider’s antics will no doubt be wondering when and what the next big thing will be. They tend to begin a new and exciting project shortly after the previous one ends. However, regardless of how long you’ve been here, the announcement arriving today will more than likely come as a surprise.
A jingle plays from your Constellation pendant, and a stream of light pours from the little star. A suspended screen of light hangs in midair, displaying the Outsider. A video message.
To Bring You This Message From Our Sponsor
“Hello again, my friends!” The Outsider smiled, albeit a bit anxiously. “I hope that those of you who attended had a lovely holiday, however you chose to celebrate it. I do have a rather important bit of news to share, and it’s regarding a somewhat… unique… situation, so please listen carefully, as I will be starting the process shortly after this announcement.”
“Those of you who were here in early January might recall a certain mishap.” There were many words for the dream-shattering event that took place at the beginning of January. “Mishap” was certainly an interesting choice. Anyway, “Ever since that incident occurred, I have been working diligently to find the source of the problem and rebuild a stronger, safer, happier Dreamscape for all of us. While normally I have never fully lost control of my domain in that way, I’ve also never created anything as large scale or structured as this Dreamscape before, so all of this is new territory for me. As such, at this time, I think the best course of action would be for me to rebuild most of the Dreamscape from scratch, as much as I can without putting all of you into unmanageable conditions or giving you the boot.”
“What I intend to do is to shut down all non-essential functions. The outer structure that keeps the Dreamscape intact and separate from the Greater Illogic, the Nimbus Clouds, and parts of the Torn Oak will remain active. The rest of the Dreamscape will be--- well, a blank slate. You may find this alarming at first, but I assure you it is part of the process. While I am gone, many of the normal functionalities of the Dreamscape, including restrictions, will be non-operational. This means that in all communal areas of the Dreamscape, you all will collectively have as much control over the environment as you do your own Nimbus Cloud. So, feel free to experiment and paint the town, or lack thereof, red! Just be cautious with what you imagine, as I will not be available to correct any issues, and be respectful of one another.”
“Unfortunately I will need to be outside of the Dreamscape for this process, and thus will be unreachable, but I’m certain you all will be just fine. Have fun, be safe, and I will see you all soon!”
And then, without any further ado, the display cuts out, and the Dreamscape goes with it.
Have You Tried Turning it Off and Back On Again?
Before you can even process what’s going on, the world around you begins to break apart into tiny fragments and fall away like a dissolve effect on a bad Powerpoint. As promised, you are in very short order left standing in an empty white void. It’s a bit disorienting, hard to even tell what constitutes as the “floor” in this situation, though after a moment your brain adjusts. If you aren’t thinking too hard about it, you can almost see a flat plane of a slightly different shade of white that serves as your walking surface. The Torn Oak, with its blanched trunk and periwinkle leaves, and the cluster of fluffy pink Nimbus Clouds are all that remain. The Twisted City, the Barren Freeway, the Glass Lake, the forest, the sea, the mountain--- everything else is gone. Everything beyond the few remaining amenities appears to be just a blank, white void that goes on forever.
You have a few options here. You could retreat to your Nimbus Cloud, or take this opportunity to visit that of a friend. After all, there’s usually too much going on in the Dreamscape to spend much time dawdling around at home, so this could be a good time to visit one another. You could also explore the Torn Oak. There’s not much to it right now, but the Outsider is away and this might be an opportunity to wander their unusual home unsupervised.
Or, if you’re feeling creative, you can take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to manipulate the Dreamscape--- with no restrictions. No wish required. Rebuild places from your waking world, create impossible feats of architecture or luxurious amenities, have an adventure of your own making, or just dream up nonsense. Truly the only limitation is what you can imagine. However, when shaping the Dreamscape, take care not to let your mind stray, as you may inadvertently create something out of a nightmare.
Aside from continuing to observe the blacklist and common-sense trigger warning guidelines, there is no restriction on what can happen in the Dreamscape. Create your own fun, or a disaster. The choice is yours. However, the Outsider will not be available to be contacted in relation to this event and will not return until March 1st.
Just Passing Through
Another interesting effect of this little procedure is that the barrier between the Dreamscape and the rest of the dreams of every sentient being in the multiverse is now far thinner. Normally, the Outsider hand-selects everyone whose consciousness is brought into the Dreamscape, but at the moment, it seems just anyone can end up here. Perhaps you are one such member of the unfiltered rabble. (No offense, of course.)
Instead of landing where most newcomers do, you’ll find yourself wandering through a version of a certain H.C Escher art piece that is done up in pink marble tile and wrought iron. Take a staircase or find a door, any door, to be released into the strange white void from a disembodied door perched on the stump of a blanched oak tree, while the severed trunk and canopy of blue leaves loom impossibly overhead. Without the normal orientation for new arrivals, you are on your own. No personal cloud, no instructions, no explanations. Just a beautiful, terrifying tree and a bright, blank world. Maybe someone here can tell you what’s going on.
Instead of landing where most newcomers do, you’ll find yourself wandering through a version of a certain H.C Escher art piece that is done up in pink marble tile and wrought iron. Take a staircase or find a door, any door, to be released into the strange white void from a disembodied door perched on the stump of a blanched oak tree, while the severed trunk and canopy of blue leaves loom impossibly overhead. Without the normal orientation for new arrivals, you are on your own. No personal cloud, no instructions, no explanations. Just a beautiful, terrifying tree and a bright, blank world. Maybe someone here can tell you what’s going on.
New arrivals entering the Dreamscape during the Planned Outage crisis event do not need to abide by normal universe rules. They do not have their own Nimbus Cloud or Constellation pendant, do not require a plot reason to be here, and are not subject to normal restrictions. They can be doubles of existing characters, can ignore cast caps, and can wake up and disappear at any time. They don’t even have to ever figure out that they are in a collective dream. They may ask to remain in the Dreamscape after the event, get stuck by accident, or disappear entirely! Additionally, this is a great time to canon-update your characters by having them wake up and come back later in their canon.
Mod Note: Feather Leaderboard
Hello friends! Earlier I made an announcement regarding a Feather Leaderboard that we'll be launching next week, and the March 1st event, which will definitely benefit from folks knowing how many feathers their characters have. If you haven't read that yet, it's pretty brief, but the gist is that the feather tracker spreadsheet is available now and we'll be checking it on Feb. 22nd to establish the leaderboard and announcing the winners with the plotting post for the March event!
The prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place is a special RP prompt for just those characters and a friend of their choosing, plus bragging rights, of course!
UNRELATED NOTE: I am posting this TDM a few days in advance, meaning it slightly overlaps with last month's Valentine's TDM. I would like to note that while ICly the prompts here state that the event is over, the feather bonus that was in place for Valentine's day is still in effect until Feb 15th OOCly, so you can still collect on Valentine's day threads started between now and then!
tw: violence and implied threats
Lydia felt like she couldn't breathe as she chanted the words over and over, attempting to use them to make herself believe and to shield herself from the two men who stood on either side of her, taunting her with threats and laughing at her fear.
She knows this isn't her memory or whatever it is but she can't deny that she can feel the death around her. It feels like a heavy wool cloak that fogs her senses and makes her as blind as the blindfold wrapped around her head. It isn't her death she is sensing though but it's there, whispering all around her. Just like that night at the hotel so long enough.
The men are saying terrible things though and one is stepping closer, saying something about burning her as she feels a single point of heat near her cheek...and then she smells blood. The sounds that follow are as horrible as the smell of blood that hits her. Their laughter and taunting become surprised cries of pain followed by gurgling as they drop around her, her whole body jerking and stiffening in response.
She doesn't scream though. She merely bites down on her bottom lip, trying to sink down in on herself even as she yanks at the bindings keeping her hands together.
CW: allusions to harm against children/young adults
This time Barney savored the sounds of bloodshed, the wet throes of death as his blade found its home in each soldier’s throat in turn.
When he faces Lydia, the stillness and the silence…
Even drawn in on herself she is the picture of bravery, in possession of a form of courage a woman like her has no reason to own. Seeing it just makes him angrier, as angry as he got when he held Ann in his arms, fighting not to cry against memories of suffering no young girl should ever know.
Striding over, Barney reaches out to lay a hand on her shoulder, spinning her away from him and pulling her back against his chest. He speaks quickly, hoping to calm her before trying to cut her loose—she’s more likely to get hurt standing as she is if she struggles and falls.
“Lydia, it’s Barney Ross—you’re okay, I got you, it’s Barney—it’s Barney Ross, I gotcha. You’re okay, you’re okay…”
no subject
But then he is reassuring her, making her recognize who it is and that she knows him, that he is there to save her, and all her breath escapes her in a rush. Her throat tightens with the urge to start crying as all the emotions and the death nearly overwhelm her again but it's only a shuddering sigh that escapes her.
"This wasn't mine," she told him, her voice rough before she swallows thickly and steadies herself. "They wanted to hurt me but I didn't know them..."
She doesn't want to tell him the things they had been saying, the things they had threatened her with, so she locks them away as he cuts her loose. Relieved, she pulls her blindfold off as soon as her hands are free, trying to turn to look at him even though she glances at the bodies as she does. The scene is horrific but, sadly, it isn't the worst that she has ever seen.
no subject
”This wasn’t mine.”
She says it as he’s cutting her free, and his eyes shut on a swell of revulsion threatening to choke him.
What a fucking joke—as if he had a lick of control over that black thing inside him. The thing that poses a threat to anyone he gets close to, or so much as feels a single insignificant thing for. He thinks of Ann and that hot, ferocious affection she’s infected him with…
He barely knows this woman, but he respects the hell out of her. For that crime, she has to endure this: the demons in his head. It ain’t fucking right.
When she’s free, she’s already facing him, pulling off the blindfold at the same time he reaches for it. His hands settle on either side of her neck instead, squeezing firm and gentle in silent reassurance—dissuading her from looking too hard at the bodies of the figments on the ground, bleeding out.
“They’re mine—I’m sorry.” He rasps, failing to hide the guilt and anguish in his face as he meets her gaze. It’s only there an instant before he manages something like composite, and that mask of pain turns to anger and resolve.
He’d heard those men that night. His Spanish is garbage, but it still keeps him alive in hellholes like this one.
One of the hands on the side of Lydia’s neck reaches up to curl around the back of her head, keeping her gaze steady on his.
“I’m sorry, Lydia…but you’re okay. Nobody’s gonna hurt you.”
He’ll make sure of it. He has to—he’ll keep her away from him, far away. It’s too late for Ann, but not for Lydia. Hell, maybe one day he can manage to keep Ann just as far away, if he can keep a stubborn bitch like this one at arm’s length…maybe.
One day.
no subject
Not all monsters do monstrous things.
She feels relieved when she drops the blindfold to the side but she has to admit to herself that it is also the feel of his hands resting on either side of her neck, holding and rubbing gently as though he could further ground her in the middle of the horror scene around them. He would see the flicker of revulsion that crosses her face when she glances down but she doesn't act like someone who has never seen a dead body or blood before.
Turning her gaze back to his when he admits that this is his memory, his pain, she feels a twinge of pain for him when she reads the emotions crossing his face. Clearly, he hadn't wanted her or anyone else to see this. Not that she could blame him.
"I'm okay," she tells him when he tries to reassure her, nodding slightly after licking her lips and taking a moment to steady herself further. Then she pats one of his arms, unaware of him already planning on keeping his distance from her after this. Not that she'll let him. Not now that she knows he is in pain.
"I can handle myself now," she continued with a nod. "Let's just...can we get out of here?"
Or were they stuck?
no subject
"Yeah, we can--this shit happened not long before I ended up here." Barney replied. Reaching for Lydia's hand, he tugged her towards the door, peering out into the corridor before he moved back into the cell. The blade he used was too large for her, but if the dream was arming him...
He reached for his sidearm, and found the familiar grip holstered at his hip, right where it belonged. It was heavy caliber, but the lean muscle in those arms was betrayed by the heavier curve of the trapezius he'd felt under each hand a moment before: she wasn't bulky, but she definitely did her fair share of strength training.
"You ever fire a gun before?" he asked, checking the clip of his weapon before making sure the safety was on as he handed it to her.
no subject
Sometimes it almost feels like the Nogitsune is still messing with her even though she knows that he isn't.
"Okay," she chooses to stay close to him, still holding his hand after he takes hers and holds on. Pausing when he leans out to look into the corridor, she rolls her shoulders as she decides again that she is grateful that she at least stayed caught up on self-defense courses even if she had let her Banshee skills fall to the wayside.
"I have but I don't need it," she tells with a little shake of her head, wrinkling her nose briefly as she looks at the gun and motions for him to keep it. "Just tell me what I need to be ready for."
no subject
And if this shit was torn out of his head, he wasn't leaving her unarmed. They hadn't made it far, him and Sandra, before they took her and that fuckwad, Paine, had his lackey nearly choke him to death...
"Military forces of a puppet dictator, if it ain't me put a bullet in its eye." he went on, eyes cold and hard as he held her gaze. If she tried, she might, perhaps, glimpse a shred of the worry and the fear for her safety buried underneath the venom.
"You got it?"
no subject
"Got it," she said when he asked for confirmation, letting another slow breath slip out of her. He didn't need to know that she still felt death clinging to them like a heavy cloak. She could practically taste it in the air, lingering on her tongue like the coppery taste of a penny.
She nodded for him to move as she slipped behind him, wanting to stay close to him as they tried to escape this nightmare.