NIGHT 31 MINGLE (+ dreams)

[crittersheep]

It's a night full of tumultuous feelings, in the pasture. A good night's rest would be nice.

Or, one could run themselves one last bit ragged!

Comments

[secondbornsun]

[ it's a greenhouse^[1][2], but not Lily's greenhouse—the flora is much more varied, with almost everything in the garden being a useful ingredient for one potion or another, and it's huge, even having its own waterfall and river system. the plants, for the most part, grow in their specific climate niche, but there are also tables with potted plants as well as standalone plantbeds, both labeled with some sort of nonsense portmanteau name like Heartslabyul or Diasomnia.

notably, all the plants are very identifiable, but not by sight—rather, each have their own distinctive scent, easy to isolate from each other—except for the Savanaclaw table full of potted cacti, which are easily distinguishable via both scent and sight.

this might be the best indication that this is a dream sequence—that the thoroughness of details are inconsistent—but if that's the case, then you have to contend with the fact that tart, in a school uniform, is . . . lying down in the grass, seemingly asleep.

napping in a dream. that—

actually it's tart so that checks out. still, bizarre. ]

[wants_the_phd]

[Oh—


What if... What if she just lets sleeping lions lie?

What if, maybe, she leaves the greenhouse?]

[rugpull]

[in the same uniform

curled up with

no need to thread theyre just sleeping]

Dream

[wants_the_phd]

[You stand outside the wrought iron gates of a haunted mansion. Every part of this place, from the gate, to the yard, to the building itself, is overgrown with big, thorny tangles of rose vines. In the way of dreams, you recognize this place as the Rose barn, the way it has always looked.]

[The gate to the path is ajar — a skeleton laying facedown on the ground keeps it from closing completely. Somehow, despite it looking like it's been decaying here for ages, you know it is actually extremely fresh. In fact, you recognize this skeleton. It was someone you cared about.]

[There's a sword sticking out of its back, though.]

Re: Dream

[pleasantmisery]

This place is falling apart...

[she recognizes the skeleton as Ozro, an aasimar girl she grew up with and then grew apart from. things are...difficult between them, now, but she never wished for Ozro to die, not like this.

still, she takes the sword, before continuing forward through the gate.]

🌱

[featherduster]

[ You're standing in an enormous fuselage lined with glass pods, each containing a person sleeping. Given the size of the space, there are surely thousands of them. (You might even recognize yourself in one!) It's frigid, like standing in a walk-in freezer. On a wall reads Project SEEDS, above a long console of computers.

Behind you is a large metal doorway, the sliding doors ajar. For some reason, a single white lily in a vase sits on the threshold. ]

Re: 🌱

[endsjustified]

[…bends to the lily in curiosity first, of course, brushing light fingertips over the petals]

Re: 🌱

[ohlord]

[oh.

this is familiar...

but also it's fuckin' cold which means going to those doors, frowning at the lily.]

Re: 🌱

[rugpull]

Holy shit magic science!

Re: 🌱

[terraria]

( ...

wandering through the glass pods. with his wings around him, he doesn't feel the cold as much. he wants to see if he can recognize any faces. )

Re: 🌱

[arrowace]

[ yyyeah they are going straight 2 some pods. Whomst inside?? ]

Re: 🌱

[mykidisthebest]

[the lily feels like very obvious symbolism, so despite the fact that he is curious about everything else, he's going to go pick up that vase]

Re: 🌱

[noarchitact]

[ going to approach the computers. ]

Re: 🌱

[heavyliesthecrown]

[He is freezing. Wrapping his arms around himself, he moves toward one of the computers in order to see if it shows anything or will boot up.]

Re: 🌱

[secondbornsun]

[ cold . . .

too cold . . .

wandering over to the nearest glass pod to try to open it . . . he wants to go inside . . . he wants to sleep . . . ]

🔥 dream 🔥

[afineknight]

[ It's dusk.

The first thing you notice, before you can really see anything, is the smell. It's a few different smells intermingling together, but one is much more powerful than the others. And while the smell of livestock — obvious, given the hooves of cows that can be heard scuffing against the dirt in the distance — and a salty, earthy smell — lake water, most likely — are strong here, they are not so much as the smell of dying embers, burnt wood being carried on the wind.

When you open your eyes, a half burnt down cabin at the edge of a lake stands in front of you. Really, it's incredible how much remains intact given that a couple of villagers are still standing at the edge, working on putting out what still remains of the fire. It's also notable how old, how very old things seem around here, like one might have stepped back in time.

The door to the lake cabin is ajar slightly. An impossibly tall man in a trench coat with a hat and a gleaming pendant on stands in front of a group of villagers, watching the others work stoically. In the distance, a wolf howls.

What do you do? ]

[adorabrawler]

[ ...

Where on earth...

It doesn't look like there's elsewhere she could go, really; tentatively, Spinel approaches the group of villagers, eyes darting between them and the burning cottage. When she's close enough to any of them: ]

Hey, what's going on...?

dream ☀️!

[noarchitact]

_caw caw. ^caw caw. [ the cries of the vultures circling overheard stirs you from your heat induced stupor. you've been baking in the desert sun for archons only know how long and it's uncomfortably hot. ]

[ a cursory look around reveals a dried up oasis, damn!, and more sand. so muCH SAND. ]

[ a temple peeks over the sandy dunes to the right of the 'oasis', but if you're enjoying the arid climate, then you can definitely go exploring. ]

[ no matter which you choose,
everything's definitely going to be a-ok.
except not. ]

Re: dream ☀️!

[hardpity]

[ opens the map menu to warp back to liyue ]

🏕️dream🏕️

[arrowace]

[ You are in a dark forest. I mean dark dark. When you look up there is no sky, no light, only an impenetrable canopy.

To the North, beasts howl.
To the East, the restless undead moan and wail.
To the South is the smell of freshly spilt blood.
To the West is the dim light of a camp fire, where Mute is talking to someone else.

Make the right choice here. ]

Re: 🏕️dream🏕️

[rugpull]

[do you want to chat with your little buddy Mute]

[mykidisthebest]

[you're in a massive cavern that stretches farther than the eye can see, only faintly illuminated by flickering torchlight and pale, glowing moss. in the distance you can hear the rumblings of a large, angry creature searching for prey; the shadow of the beast catches the light and it's enough to fill you with an otherworldly terror. there's a body collapsed in your arms, a young man so slashed up that it seems like only sheer willpower could possibly be keeping his organs inside of his body. the stench of blood and poison is overwhelming, and you know none of it is your own. you hear one quiet exhale of breath. and then no more.

"...Did you die?" you hear yourself ask. it's not your own voice, but it might be one you recognize. "Are you making things harder for me until the very end?"

there's a faint ding in your head as a window starts to pop up in front of you—

you're yanked away from that dream and dumped into a huge pile of oversized pillows in an incredibly fluffy and pink child's playroom. there's no smell of blood, no dim cavern: everything is bright and colorful and nice in here. there are flowers decorating the windows, fake glowing stars dangling from the ceiling, books stacked properly on a little shelf, a pile of snow in the corner, and a cute, round canopy bed on the end of the room opposite the door. and you appear to have the whole place to yourself! was that rustling you just heard? must be your imagination.]

[arrowace]

[ Mute is extremely uncomfortable and would like to go back to the spooky horrible death cave.

In fact.

They would really like to go back to the spooky horrible death cave and not in an opulent pink bedroom. They turn rapidly, looking and listening and smelling for signs of the cave and the blood. Back to where they belong. ]

[shortforever]

[You dream of darkness, a long stretch of a dream within a dream where you bide your time gathering your strength. The Host is in control, as he has been for some time. He does not yet know how to call out to you, but this is fine. You have only been with this Host for eight years, and he has not yet reached adulthood. He will learn with time.

But waiting is a little boring, and you are not as deeply asleep as you have been in the past. The Host's mind is free to roam, he can't keep you out of even his deepest thoughts. You are free to explore as you see fit.

Where would you like to poke around in his mind? He has many years of memories to sift through, or you could approach him directly and try talking to him. Which option will you take?]

[heavyliesthecrown]

[He does not understand all of where he is. But since when have dreams had to make sense? He simply looks around as though it is entirely normal. But it seems to be a memory he is drawn toward.]

[all shepherds + biscuit]

[survivaltricks]

[later that evening, probably before anyone falls asleep and creeps into dream land, the pasture Shepherds all get a cube call!]

Do you guys remember those star fragments. . .?

Thistle found another one today, after the— block party. Did anyone else get one?

Re: [all shepherds + biscuit]

[endsjustified]

No, Lily still has only the one.

[finalefantasy]

[sometime in the later night, the fountain bubbles and roils. for the second time in as many weeks, a bunch of black birds' souls heave themselves out of it

instead of darting towards the woods this time they just huddle in a heaving heap on the fountain rim all together for a moment, though. weary.

then they vanish.]

((THIS IS OBSERVABLE BY ANYONE BUT I'M NOT REPLYING TO ANY TAGS TO IT THANK YOU))

[pleasantmisery]

A.

[In this dream, at least to start, you seem to be a passenger in Shadow Fiend's mind, reliving the night Rose went out to rescue Angel Devil.

By the position of the moon in the sky, it's the middle of the night, but you see the scene before you as if illuminated by dim light--after all, Shadow Fiend can see in the dark, so you can, too. In the grassy outer meadow, you catch a glimpse of a huge red wolf, just before a spear of ice erupts from the ground in front of you, with enough force to send you flying into the air.

Hitting the ground knocks all the breath out of you, but Shadow Fiend's thoughts are light and happy as she catches her breath and gets to her feet, glaive in hand. She's...having fun? She's getting tossed around by a berserk werewolf with too many magic AOEs and having fun.

What about you?]

[OOC: the first part of this dream is just riding along in Shadow Fiend's memories through the Wolf Angie boss fight, with a Twist(TM), but once it looks around there'll be more chances to affect how the dream goes]

B.

[You're in an enormous, incredibly fancy ballroom. Dotted throughout the room are pairs of dancers, some of them recognizable from the pasture and some of them totally unfamiliar. No one's particularly dressed up, though, so this doesn't seem to be a fancy party situation.

At one end of the ballroom stands an enormously tall person in a frilly purple gown with matching enormous frilly purple hat. She has four ball-jointed arms, one holding a conductor's wand, one holding a huge martini glass, and the other two on her hips.]

Let us begin, my darlings! ONE two three, ONE two three...

[A goblin orchestra off to one side begins glumly sawing away at oversized instruments, music filling the air.

Meanwhile, Shadow Fiend grabs your arm, pulling it over her shoulder, and taking your other hand in hers--a waltz position, with her leading.]

Come on, let's just get this over with.

A

[catposting]

[ excuse you, he was having a nice peaceful sheepnap. what the fuck, Shepherd.

not only that -- apparently he's enough of a noodle to get flung back by ice magic??? what the fuck, Shepherd.

lands on his ass on the ground, too surprised by the force to break his own fall or you know, hover in the air with his usual minimal effort. huffs and sits up, dusting himself off. ]

Shadow Fiend??? Can we change channels???

CW Potential cannibalism warning

[pictureimperfect]

[It's a lovely day in the pasture and you are having the most wonderful time playing with Yata. He's chatting your ear off with a big bright smile, laughing at one of his own jokes and you find yourself reaching to ruffle his hair--

--His head caves in where you touch. You feel slime against your hands as he appears to start melting, looking at you with a stricken expression, dozens of wide eyes opening up across his body--

You're laying on your back, being dragged through the dark by your ankle. Your whole body feels numb and heavy. The boy holding you bounces along humming cheerfully, his grip inescapable.]

Re: CW Potential cannibalism warning

[secondbornsun]

[ . . .


what the fuck

trying to see . . . anything, really, what else is around, who the fuck is this, what the fuck just happened ]