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idream_ofmemes2022-09-13 10:03 pm
perchancetodreammods) wrote in idream_ofmemes2022-09-13 10:03 pm
Entry tags:
TDM #1 - What Dreams May Come
What Dreams May Come
Dream On
Welcome to the Dreamscape. A beautiful, endless dream where you and a bunch of other unique and interesting minds from across the multiverse have been gathered to connect, commiserate, and make the impossible... possible! There are many fantastical realms to explore and even more to come, and you are given your very own Nimbus Cloud to serve as your home. This puffy pink cloud will host a pocket dimension just for you where the only limit to what you can create is your own imagination. Missing personal items or locations from the waking world? No problem--- the only thing you have to do in order to earn feathers, the local currency, is make meaningful connections with others. In fact, making these meaningful connections seems to be the only task assigned to you by your mysterious host, the Outsider.
The only catch? You can't wake up until the Outsider wakes you. And it's not clear when that will be--- if ever.
Make your way in this ever-changing dream realm, find friends and allies to earn Feathers, and navigate strange and fantastical Dreamscape-wide events as you and your new neighbors try to unravel the mystery of what exactly the Outsider wants, and what it will take to escape the never-ending dream. The Outsider isn't just an NPC, either--- they're joining you on your adventures!
The only catch? You can't wake up until the Outsider wakes you. And it's not clear when that will be--- if ever.
Make your way in this ever-changing dream realm, find friends and allies to earn Feathers, and navigate strange and fantastical Dreamscape-wide events as you and your new neighbors try to unravel the mystery of what exactly the Outsider wants, and what it will take to escape the never-ending dream. The Outsider isn't just an NPC, either--- they're joining you on your adventures!
WHAT
The grand opening of Perchance to Dream!
WHEN
9/13/2022
QUICK NAV
I'm Only Sleeping
♫♪♩♬
When you go to sleep that night, it is like any other night. After a long day of living your life in the waking world, you dress down for the night, lie your weary head down, close your eyes, and begin to drift off, as you normally do. However, just as you are about to fall asleep, there is a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that something has changed.
But you drift off nonetheless.
When you rise, you find yourself still in the same bed you went to sleep in, but that bed has been… transported, somehow, to a broad and otherwise empty room. Your feet hit the black marble floor, but even if they are bare, they don’t feel cold. Around you are tall arches, beyond which is a rich, pink, sunset sky, and fluffy clouds drifting lazily by, sometimes close enough that parts of them intrude on the room.
On one side of the room, there is a door. Tall and austere, it looms overhead, bearing a carving of a strange blue eye. You feel awake, yet you know you are dreaming. Never in your life have you had a dream like this, so breathtakingly lucid. You feel foreign here, but welcome, like a guest. It’s an odd feeling, but perhaps it is familiar.
At the foot of your bed, there is a note on a small black slip of paper, written in lavender ink. It’s addressed to you by name.
“If you want answers, come find me at the Torn Oak. Otherwise, make yourself at home. Welcome to the Dreamscape.
-The Outsider”
The only way out is through the door. When you exit it, it slams behind you, and is gone if you turn around. You begin to get the sense that you’re going to be here for a while.
The Dreaming Tree
♫♪♩♬
The first area that you come into contact with is a sprawling field of stark white vegetation under a deep purple sky. At the base of the hill upon which you stand, you can see a tree that is particularly large, that seems to be standing perfectly upright despite being torn completely in half just above the stump. A blue wooden door with a silver handle stands in the gap between the body of the three and the stump below. It seems this place has an interesting penchant for disembodied doors. Still, this is probably the “Torn Oak” referenced in the note from the room before.
Should you go in, you’ll find before you a fantastical structure that looks almost like a shrine--- four shimmering crystal pillars, a glass chandelier, and a pedestal with a glowing sphere swirling with light. And beside that, there stands a strange figure. A person with periwinkle skin and a long, slender body, draped in a cloak with golden eyes that moved and blinked. On their head, a pair of horns and a golden halo, and a pointed tail flicked around their ankles. They had three eyes, one seated up on their brow, all of which were that strange, eerie blue that the one carved into that large black door had been.
“Hello there!” They greet you cheerfully. “I’ve been expecting you. I’m sure you have questions!”
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
♫♪♩♬
The Outsider, your host, is more than happy to explain the purpose of this place. You are in the Dreamscape, a special pocket of the collective unconscious of the entire omniverse, and they’ve plucked the dreaming minds of a hand-picked selection of people out of their own dreams, to be here in this mystical place. They cannot tell you why, exactly, but they want you to make meaningful emotional, mental, and physical connections with other dreamers, particularly those who you do not know, and they’re willing to reward you for doing so.
Perhaps you want to get started on collecting right away. The Outsider has kindly informed you that the best way to do this is to go and make some new friends. The likelihood that you’ll find another dreamer or two walking around the grassy knoll outside the Torn Oak or heading up or down the colossal escalator leading up into the sky itself is pretty high. Perhaps you’ll even find someone who wants to walk with you over to the Glass Lake, where the water’s surface can be walked on to get a better view of the Rainbow Koi. For some reason, no matter how many people go there or how inviting it seems, no one else besides you and the person or people you went with ever seems to be anywhere around, making it surprisingly private.
Sleepwalking
♫♪♩♬
If the immediate area doesn’t strike your fancy and you’re looking for some other options, you might consider heading to the Barren Freeway. The long stretch of paved road is oppressively isolating and terribly eerie, but it can lead to so many other places, be they strange, temporary locations from the corners of your mind that disappear when you leave, or the Twisted City itself.
Bustling and full of life, there is always something to do or see in the Twisted City. Restaurants, shops, night life, libraries, parks--- and it almost looks like a normal town, if you can ignore the bubbles in the sky, uncanny structures in the street, and the fact that nothing ever seems to stay in the same spot. Though if you get lost and need to get back to the Freeway, the Submarineway has a stop right by there. Maybe in the process of finding your way, you can find a friend.
no subject
John had seen similar looks on kids in the war.
“Hello.” He greeted him quietly, standing at parade rest as the young man approached. He glanced down at the water for a moment, then back up at the young man.
“They’re very pretty fish, aren’t they?”
no subject
"Yeah.... I have a friend who would love them too."
no subject
“C’mere, I wanna show you something.” John offered softly, beckoning to the boy with a small smile flirting at the corners of his mouth. “It’s okay—don’t be afraid.”
Crouching, John carefully reached out to the surface of the water. Though he stood on it without trouble, his fingers breached the surface easily. Holding still, eerily still, he waited with the patience of a hunter…
One of the rainbow koi came swimming up to his hand, allowing John to gently caress its iridescent scales. He was rewarded by the fish twisting around to mouth at one calloused fingertip.
“See?” John laughed softly, looking up at his companion. “They’re friendly.”
no subject
He is, however, leery of walking on the water. But it's all a dream, so he goes over and then chuckles at the cute sight. "That's really sweet."
He finally bends down to try it too.
no subject
This kid wasn't living inside his own fear just yet, and there was something...healing about giving him a little more separation from it.
"You are afraid, though." he observed softly. "That's good. Fear's for the body, keeps it alive. Navigates danger. The trick is..."
He reached up to tap his own temple.
"...to let yourself feel it without letting it get up here. If it gets up here..."
He moved to tap the left side of his chest.
"...it gets in here. Not the heart, but the spirit."
John looked back down into the water, slipping his hand back in to let another fish come up to him.
"Things like rainbow fish and magic water? You look at 'em right, and they can keep the fear in the body where it belongs. That make sense?"
CW: Brief reference to torture
He nodded thoughtfully to the advice. "I used to be a lot better at doing that," he said. "Things that have happened lately ... they've wore me down closer to my breaking point."
He had outright snapped not that long ago, when he was sent to his rival's mine where people were literally tortured. He had physically healed from that, but emotionally and mentally ... not really.
CW: Brief reference to torture
"Breaking points can change." he reassured him. "There's also something past them. Places where no one can hurt you...where the only person that can cause pain is you, and you can choose whether or not to do so. It requires sacrifices, but it is possible."
John extended his hand, watching the young man's face.
"Name's John Rambo. It's good to meet you.
Re: CW: Brief reference to torture
"Radley," he says, shaking John's hand.
no subject
“You seem like a good kid, Radley. Trust me: those are sacrifices you don’t want to make yet.” He assured him. Withdrawing his hand, he clapped Radley on the shoulder good naturedly.
“If you want, you can stick as close to me as you like. I’ll make sure you don’t have to—I’ll watch your back.”
no subject
"Thanks. I'm hoping things won't be dangerous here, but it all feels off to me, so I'm not sure of anything right now."
He sighs.