idream_ofmemes | TDM #1 - What Dreams May Come

Entry tags:

!tdm

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!

WHAT

The grand opening of Perchance to Dream!

WHEN

9/13/2022

QUICK NAV

Locations

Feather Info

The Outsider

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Of course." She said, perhaps a touch more quickly than she intended, arms squeezing tightly around him. "Please. I do not want you far from me, my love." Not until they were sure this place was safe and they could find each other easily once they were willing to do their own thing again.

Listen, they'd more than earned the right to be codependent children, after all this. "Then I shall not go far from you," he promised her, easing back enough to bring both of her hands to his face, pressing kisses to her palms. "And whomever takes issue with that, can go fuck themselves."

She smiled warmly and stroked her thumbs along his cheeks, pressing her own lips to his forehead and nose and lips when she could. "No one will cause us trouble, my love. I will be sure of it." She assured him, starting to rise to her feet, lacing their fingers together. "Come now, darling. Let us be done with this so we may enjoy our time together in the strange new land."

Again, Astarion thought bitterly, but did not say so out loud bitterly, because he was making some effort not to be a total curmudgeon. He was, however, going to cling to her hand and send anyone they passed a mildly suspicious glare, on the off chance that they were, or were associated with, their new Overlord. He wasn't doing a great job at enjoying the scenery, even though it was fairly spectacular.

The only thing that seemed to concern her, was when the door to the room they awoke in slammed shut and vanished. Lioriley gripped his hand a little tighter while they walked, making sure to keep an eye out for the mentioned Torn Oak while checking out the rest of the scenery. It certainly seemed dreamlike, if nothing else.

"The letter welcomed us to the Dreamscape. Do you think it is another Fae, perhaps?"

"Mm. Possibly." At the question, he took a harder look at their surroundings. "Though the Archfey are hardly the only powerful beings in existence. Doesn't quite look like the Feywilds, does it? It's more...ethereal. Some sort of astral plane, perhaps?"

"True enough." Although she could think of a few with powers very similar to the Outsider. Little did she know just yet, that they were far less malicious when trapping people in dream lands. "Mm. Could be. I suppose I could add that to my list of questions. Do you have any others... without vulgarities, preferably."

"Yes. What do we have to pay to get our bloody cabin back," Astarion replied with a testy sigh. "You can leave out the 'bloody' if that's too crude."

Lioriley gently squeezed his hand and slowed her pace. "Darling." She said softly, urging him to stop so she could loosen her grip on him and cup his face with both hands. "Whatever the cost, I am sure we will manage it quickly enough, hm?" She leaned up, arched on her toes, and kissed the tip of his nose. "And I will gladly make this unpleasantness up to you once I have finished speaking to our new host. I so dislike seeing you upset."

He supposed he shouldn't have been quite so sour, and more grateful that they were still together. But that sort of optimistic outlook wasn't really in his nature. He sighed softly and laid a hand over hers, turned to nuzzle the tip of his nose against the inside of her wrist. "You have nothing in the world to make up for, darling," he assured her, pressing a kiss to the delicate skin. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I'm quite tired of these sorts of omnipresent beings making us their pawns and playthings."

"I know." On both counts. She didn't have anything to make up for. And she knew why he was frustrated - she was equally as annoyed by the sudden upheaval into another strange realm with none of the things they had earned. But they were together, and even if they came with nothing - she didn't need anything but him. They would figure this out, one way or another.

She raised her free hand to stroke his cheek, smiling softly. "Perhaps I should have said I can distract you from such frustrations, hm?" If you catch her drift. "Hopefully the Outsider has been kind enough to give us a place to live while we are here, and a means to earn our cabin back."

Edited 2022-11-13 02:42 (UTC)

They would, absolutely. Nothing was lost that couldn't be regained, more than likely. But he was absolutely going to be a temperamental little pissbaby about it.

Case in point, the way the smile on his lips at her teasing comment was quickly turned into a sneering curl; they shouldn't have to EARN things again! Fuck! Fuck these people, honestly! "If they know what's good for them, they will," he remarked, giving the inside of her wrist a delicate little nibble before kissing it again. "I've no problem at all being very inappropriate in public spaces if not." Fuck with him and he fucks back! Literally!

Well, it was nice while it lasted; all four seconds of contentment before Astarion's frustration reared its head again. It wasn't as if she wasn't equally as annoyed by the whole ordeal - she just didn't express it so openly and vehemently, mostly for her beloved's sake. If she was visibly upset, it would only frustrate him more.

"I know you do not, love." And while the nibbling and kissing and promises of making scenes in public was, admittedly, a little bit alluring, now was not the time. She leaned up to kiss him. "Shall I stay a bit longer, or should we be done with this as quickly as possible?" She nodded to the oak a few paces away.

Edited 2022-12-02 00:09 (UTC)

Astarion narrowed his eyes at their destination, fingers squeezing her hand a little tighter before slowly and reluctantly loosening enough to let her go. She could take care of herself, he knew that, but he was still loathe to let her go. "It's...probably best to have it done with," he sighed, turning to wind his arms around her waist and lower his head to the top of her shoulder. "If you sense even a hint of something foul, say the word." And he'd rip a bitch to shreds with his fucking teeth if he had to.

Lioriley smiled and reached a hand up, fingers stroking through his hair soothingly as she kissed the top of his head. "I know, love. I will be swift." With that, she reluctantly dislodged herself from him and headed into the torn Oak, vanishing as the door closed behind her a moment later.

Not long after - ten minutes, at best - she would return looking, perhaps surprisingly, relatively pleased. She smiled over to Astarion and reached for his hand the moment he was close enough. "Well, good news - our cottage awaits, at the very least." She said, pointing off toward a seemingly random cloud. "In that direction, supposedly. Adaptable to our liking thanks to this being a Dreamscape. We will have to earn some things back, but it is not sexual intimacy the Outsider desires... it is friendships, more so. A cultural exchange, they said." Which she, personally, was ecstatic about.

Astarion was pacing about like a stalking panter, his gaze focused on the place she'd vanished, only ceasing when she reappeared. Relieved, he moved to meet her, reaching for her hand and holding on while she explained what she'd learned. His eyebrows lifted in surprise and interest, though his eyes narrowed a bit with mistrust. Nothing came for free, after all, so it was odd to him that this Outsider was willing to give them anything at all to start with. "Really?...Hm." Unsurprisingly, he made a face at the idea of the entire thing. Really? Really? Friendship?! Ugh. Well, at least it would be pleasant for Lioriley. ""You shall enjoy yourself a great deal more, I think," he quipped, lips quirking as he brought her knuckles up to kiss them. "Well then, shall we go and see if our home is as it should be?"

She had a feeling that particular bit of information may not have suited him, but she was confident he could make friends if he put his mind to it! Either way, she would be happy to assist. "I do enjoy obtaining friends more than sexual partners, though I hope such an arrangement is suitable to you as well? The Outsider did say such intimacy will still count for rewards." And, ideally, just having sex with him would be more than enough for her.

She nodded and leaned up to kiss him, fingers squeezing around his and tugging to start guiding him toward the cloud that held their home - a pocket dimension that held a cottage that looked exactly like the one they had left in the feywilds.

"Mm, I suppose one certainly could argue that shared intimacy counts as a cultural exchange," Astarion quipped with a smirk, laying his arm around her shoulders as they fell into step beside one another. "It's fine. I can be friendly when the situation calls for it, or when I choose to." He just, you know, very rarely chose to! "If anything I suppose one must applaud this Outsider for branching out a bit."

"I know that you can, dearest." She had the utmost confidence in him, should he actually choose to indulge in the request. Although she also had no problem just introducing whomever she befriended to him to save him the trouble. Surely that counted, right?

She chuckled softly and stepped onto the strange escalator, leaning hard into Astarion's side as they ascended. "It is an interesting change of pace to be sure." The whole thing was, somehow, even weirder than the Feywilds had been. She stepped off the escalator and turned to the right, stopping in front of a cloud that looked seemingly like the rest. "Mm. This is it, supposedly. Would you like to go first?" He often did in strange situations, just to be safe. Thankfully, beyond that door would be their cottage, looking exactly as they had left it inside and out.

It was weirder than the Feywilds. Which was saying so much, because the Feywilds had been incredibly weird. "I would, yes," Astarion replied. Yes, he knew Lioriley could take care of herself, more than he could, even, but she meant far too much to him for him to risk that so casually. But there didn't appear to be any concern. Just their cabin, just as they'd left it. He exhaled a sigh of relief, and reached back to take her hand and give it a squeeze. "Gods. Isn't it good to be home."

She followed close behind, sure to keep an eye out just in case something happened to come up on their flanks or backs. When all seemed well, she smiled and took his hand, carefully lacing their fingers together and giving a squeeze of her own. "It most certainly is." Although the silence was new. After so long with Scratch greeting them upon entry, it was so odd to hear nothing now. Lioriley sighed softly and shook her head, willing away any negative thoughts in favor if pushing forward and gently nudging Astarion toward a seat in the living room. "Let me see if we have our tea and wine stores still. Which would you prefer, if we do?"

"Tea would be lovely, darling," Astarion replied, after a brief odd little moment of his own while they moved further into the living space. It was a bit strange not to hear the clipping of dog toenails against the floor. "Difficult to tell the time of day, but it might be a bit early for wine."

Lioriley quirked a brow when she turned back toward him, amusement hinted in her voice. "For you, love?" Surely it was never too early for wine where Astarion was concerned. Regardless, she would fetch him some tea, the sound of her rummaging through the cabinets heard only a few seconds later, along with the sound of water being poured into the kettle they apparently still had. In fact, everything was in place save for the living creatures she already missed running around the place. She sighed again, maybe a touch louder than she intended.

Astarion playfully gasped and clutched at his chest as though wounded, grinning easily as he puttered about in the kitchen with her for teacups and saucers and, hopefully, some biscuits, assuming their little cookie stash hadn't been tampered with in the transference of realms. "Now really! I rarely drink wine before breakfast, darling," he teased, canting his head at her wistful sigh as he arranged cups and saucers and biscuit tin on the table. "Something wrong, love?"

There was a joke there somewhere about him having his breakfast in bed, but Lioriley would be the last person to make it. Instead she shook her head with a laugh and resumed waiting for the water to boil, arms folded over her chest while she stared down at the kettle, glancing over to Astarion only when the question was asked. "Hm? Oh. I was just thinking that it was quiet here." Too quiet her words seemed to imply. "I grew so used to Scratch greeting us when we came home that it feels a bit more... empty than it should." But maybe she was being dramatic. Or ungrateful? Both, maybe. "Something to get used to, I suppose."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject