So Make A Wish On Heaven

[these_balls]

Who: Participants of the Dream Plot!
Where: In your dreams!
When: Anytime your character is asleep on April 17th!
Summary: As promised, this is a catch-all log where people can post a character's dream as a top-level comment and allow other holders of our Mysterious Feathers™ to come visit them! Remember that the content of your dream is entirely up to your discretion, but we ask that you only have one, and to please also warn for content as needed!
Rating: PG, and please warn for threads that may go higher!
Log:

[Under the light of the full moon, the Mysterious Feathers™ begin to glow.

In the hours that follow after they sprawl out to sleep, those who had the good fortune (or at least the insatiable curiosity) to pick up one of those feathers earlier in the week will come to discover that something very strange is happening across the regions of Johto and Kanto. There's a saying about what happens when you let your mind wander; this time, though, it's a little more than just one's mind that's going wandering, as dream after dream stretches out before you like a horizon just begging to be chased.

Don't worry about getting lost, dreamers; as real and vivid as they may seem, your surroundings are really only visions and illusions, and in the end the failsafe way to escape from them is to simply wake up. If and when you do, you might feel perfectly well-rested or as on-edge as if you'd just jolted awake from a nightmare; like the dreams themselves, there's really no telling how the experience will play out for you, being different and unique to everyone.

But for now, you've got the whole night ahead of you, filled with places to go and people to see. Might as well make the most of it while it lasts...]

Comments

[foolishwren]

Well, she can say one thing for whatever the hell is going on here-- it's at least a much more peaceful, tranquil wandering than the last time everyone had slipped into a collective dreaming limbo.

It's not necessarily pleasant, but that feverish haze that had buzzed over everything last time isn't around, and she'll count that as a comfort.

The cavern appears quite suddenly, and without any particular lead-in or warning, she's standing on the edge of the cliff next to Envy, hands in her pockets, eying the trapeze appraisingly.

"... That's a pretty big drop, Tree-head. What's on the other side?"

[exeggutorhead]

Heather's sudden appearance is clearly startling; Envy whips his head around to look at her with widened eyes before he blinks, confused. He'd felt strange before, not awake.

But the surprise seems to have jolted him enough that he's waking up. He looks back out towards the trapeze, but this time he realizes that, y'know, it's not actually supposed to be there and certainly wasn't there the last time he was here in the real world.

"I don't know, actually. It just...feels like I'm supposed to go for it."

He puts his hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you really here, or are you part of this too?"

It's a valid question!

[foolishwren]

It IS a valid question!

And Heather makes a thoughtful noise, looking down at herself and patting her legs and sides appraisingly.

"... Well, if I'm a figment of your imagination, I'm a pretty convincing one. Pretty sure I've got a consciousness and everything. Also, I've never seen anywhere like this before, so... can't be something I dreamed up."

She doesn't seem overly concerned with the possibility that she might not exist, though-- actually what she finds more worrying are the shackles on his arms and legs, which she leans down to prod.

"Who put these on you, dude? I don't care if it's a dream, you shouldn't be jumping off of anything with this shit all over you."

[exeggutorhead]

Envy makes a noise that's almost amused.

"If you were dreaming about this place, I'd start wondering if you had an extra cross-world reincarnation somehow. Not even a whole lot of people from my world know about this place."

The chains don't react to her prodding them, but they do react when he tugs at them. They tighten around his limbs and almost seem to drag backwards. They're a tangle that wouldn't hold anyone outside of a dream. Some of them are attached to the ground at his feet, but others run along the ground back into those ruins.

"I don't know, they were on me when I got here...I don't think I can jump with them on me."

[foolishwren]

"Well, stranger things have happened."

Her tone is light, and she's still got the smile, but at the same time, this whole scenario is a little concerning. Sure, it's a dream, but Heather knows better than most how volatile dreams can be.

She stands up again, sifting the chains through her hands, eyes following them back to where they disappear into the shadows of the ruins. The ones on the ground right there don't bother her as much as the ones she can't see the anchors of.

"Yeah, or do much of anything for that matter..."

Curiously (though warily), she starts to follow them, still letting them run through her hands.

[exeggutorhead]

Envy frowns when she starts following the chains, because they go straight to those Gate children and he's stuck right where he is. He knows she can take care of herself. Hell, she'd probably kick the things right off the cliff if they tried latching on.

But he doesn't know what they'll do, or what else is back there. He hates feeling like there's nothing he could do if something did happen. Nothing but watch.

(Isn't that exactly what he always did for so long, though?)

"Be careful, yeah?"

[foolishwren]

"Don't worry. Careful's my middle name," she calls back over her shoulder. Because NOT joking would probably worry him more than acting like she's not taking any of this seriously.

Even though she is, as much as one can in a dream.

She follows the chain towards the shadows, smile fading into a line once she's got her back turned on the trapped Homunculus back on the cliffside.

What the hell are those dark things?

Are those BABIES?

What the fuck.

[exeggutorhead]

Those are ABSOLUTELY babies.

The creepiest babies you can imagine.

They're even making bizarre, echo-y giggling sounds as she gets closer.

But while they're clustered around the chain, they don't seem to actually be holding the thing. And if she goes into the ruins, they'll drift around her, and even reach to brush their tiny creepy hands against her arms. But they don't attack or hold on.

The chain continues to lead back into the shadows, plainly visible on the ground even though it shouldn't actually be.

Envy calls out, "WHAT'S BACK THERE?"

[foolishwren]

"Fuckin'... Envy, you're gonna have some EXPLAINING to do after this. Why the fuck are there so many goddamn babies back here?"

She keeps walking, at least until the damn things reach out to touch her.

At which point she stops DEAD in her tracks, turns to affix the offending shadow infants with probably the most terrifying glare she has ever affixed on anybody, and says a single sentence.

"Bitch, I will cut you."

[exeggutorhead]

"Oh...shit, uh. I'll explain later! Don't make any deals with them!"

HE WOULD REALLY LIKE IT IF SHE KEPT ALL OF HER LIMBS.

The shadowy babies don't stop grinning or staring at her. But they DO just sort of.

Slowly withdraw their hands.

[foolishwren]

Why the hell would she make deals with EVIL DEMON FETUSES? She's pretty sure there is literally no chance whatsoever of that happening, so she hollers back, "You couldn't PAY me to bargain with these fuckin' creepos!"

The slow withdrawal just gets an irritated sneer and a mutter of "Yeah, you'd BETTER back off," before she continues to follow the chain.

[exeggutorhead]

Heather would be very surprised to hear about the unexpectedly large number of people who are willing to make deals with demon fetuses. Not a LOT, comparatively, but a lot more than there should be.

"GOOD."

The shadowy children follow after her as she walks, still letting out creepy little giggles now and then. They don't reach out again. In the real Gate, they wouldn't be deterred. But this is Envy's dream, and he knows Heather.

But after she gets a little farther in, there's a new sound. A woman's voice, calm and decidedly motherly in a way that's more likely to make the skin crawl than soothe, whispers from somewhere in the gloom.

"Envy...why don't you come back here?"

[foolishwren]

She really would be.

Common sense dictates that creepy infants made of T H E V O I D are probably not to be trusted! C'MON, PEOPLE!

Keeping the babies firmly in the corner of her vision lest they try anything else, she carries on-- but the silky, slithering maternal voice sends the hairs on her neck up even more than the Gate Children did. Her eyes widen automatically, an instinctive attempt to gather in more light to bring the darkness into focus.

Slowly, her fingers curl into fists.

Shouting over her shoulder to Envy to ask him who else might be back here occurs to her, but well, he's already out of view, and she's already clearly in the presence of something. So she just speaks, tone flat and no-nonsense.

"I'm not Envy. Who's there?"

[exeggutorhead]

"Oh? And who are you then? One of his friends?"

The voice sounds pleasantly--or unpleasantly, honestly--amused at the very idea. It doesn't sound too close by, even as quiet and calm as the tone is, but farther down the length of the chain.

"You must think you are, to have come back here."

[foolishwren]

In a flash, Heather knows exactly who this is.

Not even in that way that you just know things in dreams.

It's an even deeper certainty than that.

The grinding of her own molars blots the voice out for a second. She's not going to give anyone or anything the satisfaction of getting defensive and sounding like she has to prove something. She doesn't think, she knows.

So instead she says simply: "Damn straight. Now come out where I can see you."

[exeggutorhead]

There's a peal of light laughter from the darkness.

"I don't take orders from deluded children. You sound so certain...you wouldn't be if you knew. I'm the only one who's ever had a use for the sort of monster he really is, you may as well find a better friend now and save yourself the trouble."

Back on the cliff, Envy is starting to get decidedly antsy. Heather hasn't said anything that he can hear in longer than he'd like. He calls out, although by the time it reaches Heather's ears it's not very loud at all.

"HEY! Heather, can you hear me?"

here she com

[foolishwren]

The woman-- or what Envy's mind can come up with as a substitute for the actual thing-- apparently knows precisely what not to say to Heather Mason. And she went right ahead and said it.

Her fingers curl inward into fists, so hard that her nails leave indents in her palms.

She can hear Envy's voice faintly in the background, but it takes her a moment to decide if she's going to answer or not. After a beat, she calls back-- "YEAH, gimme a minute, man, I've got something to take care of back here! I'll be back soon!"

Then she cracks her knuckles.

And steps forward into the darkness.

"Lady, I don't give one single shit if you're the only one he's useful for. He can lie around on the couch like a slug watching soaps and eating chips for all I care, as long as he saves some for me. Friends don't need to be useful. And they don't need to be the best one out there, either. There is such a thing as having more than one friend, you know. Anyway, you had your chance. Now the deluded child's comin' to find you."

oh shit son

[exeggutorhead]

"Hm. So optimistic, for your friend who isn't even real."

It isn't long before Heather finally finds the source of the voice. The woman's appearance is vague, almost cobbled together as though made from a lot of different impressions. She's wearing an elaborate period ballgown, and she's standing beside a rock that almost looks like a person sitting hunched-over. Her hand rests lightly on top of the rock.

And in that rock, where the "person's" hands would be resting on its knees...that's where the chain ends.

The woman smiles, and her appearance solidifies into the one that Envy most recently saw her in: a young, black-haired girl. She laughs.

"And what do you intend to accomplish here?"

[foolishwren]

Oh, you bitch.

"I'll show you real," Heather can't help but mutter under her breath as she continues forward into the darkness. When the shape almost MATERIALIZES out of the gloom, she comes to an abrupt halt, but only long enough for her brain to ascertain just what she's looking at.

Then she's moving forward again, with no hesitation whatsoever in her gait or expression.

Dante's appearance is a surprise.

She'd expected someone older-looking-- perhaps not ENTIRELY decrepit, if she was still around after the hundreds of years that Envy had apparently existed, she'd probably found ways to avoid looking like the Cryptkeeper. She'd expected, to be entirely honest, someone like Dahlia Gillespie.

Not the young woman in front of her.

Hell, she doesn't look that much older than Envy does.

But even the surprise doesn't remove the hardness from her voice.

"I intend to fuck you up, ma'am, but I'll settle for getting that chain. Give it to me."

She doesn't care that it's embedded in a rock, OBVIOUSLY DANTE IS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS EXISTENCE SOMEHOW SO.

[exeggutorhead]

If this weren't a dream, if Dante was the actual thing, Dante would have certainly reacted to the threat, even if only with annoyance. But she's only a projection of Envy's head, and one that's far away and out of sight of his actual "self" right now.

In his head, she's always calm and entirely in control of the situation...and in a nightmare, all the more frightening for it. Unruly monsters aren't something to bother over.

So that smug, disdainful little smile stays unmoving on her face.

"As you can see, I'm not the one holding it. How could I give it to you?"

[foolishwren]

Ugh.

She KNOWS this is a dream, and not even one of her own at that, but this witch's face is downright infuriating.

"Don't give me that shit. You expect me to think you're just hanging out in this spot because it's comfy??"

But Dante does have a point.

There's not much Heather can do about it if it's stuck in a rock. Lifting a leg, she plants a foot on it and attempts to give it a shove to see if it has any give to it.

[exeggutorhead]

Dante doesn't make any move to stop her. It's as though she's more of a projection or a talking mannequin than a real, living person.

The chain sticks at first...and then starts to come loose with the grinding scrape of metal against rock. At least until Dante finally moves enough to place her hand back on the rock, and the chain sticks where it is.

"Did you think it would be that easy? He belongs to me, he always will."

[foolishwren]

The give of the chain is an unexpected-- but not unpleasant-- surprise, and Heather starts to yank it out hand over hand... until Dante stops her.

Her eyes narrow.

She knew that bitch was holding that thing somehow...

"Does he? Does he really?"

With a growl, she lets go of the chain. The time for talking is fast approaching its end.

"Well, I've got news for you. People aren't property. And even if they were..."

She strikes out with one arm, quickly and forcefully, snatching the front of the woman's dress (if she can) and yanking her forward, conveniently into the clenched, fisted knuckles of the other hand.

"Property can be confiscated."

[exeggutorhead]

Well, Heather has finally managed to shut Dante up.

She doesn't resist being grabbed or pulled forward, in this dream she doesn't have the autonomy for that. But punching her feels real enough, and seeing the blood stream from her nose--it smells strongly of rot and decay--is probably very satisfying for Heather.

Less satisfying is the fact that the dream Dante doesn't actually make any noise or indication that she's just probably had her nose broken, keeping that same smugly neutral expression.

[foolishwren]

Heather's not arrogant enough that she expects a single punch to somehow devastate this apparently-immensely-powerful woman-- but well, she did at least expect some kind of reaction.

Sure, it's satisfying-- but not as satisfying as it should be.

Lip curling, Heather gives the woman a vicious shake, fingers still curled into the dress.

"What, cat got your fucking TONGUE?! Bitch!"

Furiously, she reaches out with the punching hand to grab at the chain, yanking on it hard. Fine, she can just keep that shitty-ass smarmy look, but she won't stop Heather from taking the chain.