[mingle] what's the dream and what's the reality?

[lovetheme]

Lately the castle's nights have been very clear and almost warm, even up so high among the clouds as they are. But regardless of the weather, they are generally peaceful nights, and few things seem to stir during them...apart from the castle's inhabitants, be it with late-night roving or with sleep. The dreams, by extension, are at least undisturbed...if maybe not always pleasant. That sort of thing tends to vary by the person, of course.

But now--and for several nights, consecutively--the castle residents may find their dreams starting to take on stranger shapes: memories they've never had, friends that don't usually arrive, strangers they've never seen. These odd impressions might cling and continue to confuse even upon waking, vivid as they were; was it really just a dream, or maybe something more...? Does that newcomer in your dream remember you there too, in the daytime?

Either way, there seems to be an strange energy in the air during these nights. And it's bringing dreams together.

((ooc: And here's the catch-all post for the dream-sharing event! Feel free to top-level with your character's dreams here, or thread around in others! The event should only last about a week, but backtagging is eternal c: The ooc planning post can be found here!))

Comments

[dr_awesome]

He's more than nervous. This just doesn't make sense. After all, Watts himself had been hailed as more sturdy than monsters. Why couldn't he be the volunteer for the procedures instead? Why did Sans wave him off when he tried to argue?

Back at Sigmund, Watts didn't get work done out of laziness. Here, he can't get work done because he doesn't know what the work is, and apparently no one trusts him enough to tell him.

The static tries to creep into his head, and Neil physically shakes it away before offering a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, yeah, sure. I got you."

He can at least guess from the display, the waving lines, that it's not quite calibrated properly, and he fiddles with one of the knobs until he gets it back to a straight line. "How's this?"

He holds out a hand for the reports as well. Hopefully if Gaster's done with them, Neil can just... double-check that this is okay.

[sansational]

"nah. maybe a word search, though. plus, some block puzzles, a couple of hidden buttons, some ice sliding, an electric maze...man, papyrus has really gone all out for this human."

They walk together, side-by-side and hand-in-hand as Sans lays out the plan. The scenery seems to blur a little around them as they go, undeniably pleasant but strangely indistinct. It's probably all right, though. They're probably just distracted by one another's company.

The world snaps back into focus as a voice calls out: "Sans, you lazybones! Hurry up!" Suddenly, they're at the edge of town, looking out over a vast bridge that stretches out in the distance towards the woods. A tall figure waits for them on the bridge, painting a familiar silhouette even if its features remain indistinct at this distance.

Sans stops in his tracks for a moment. He grins in excitement and open happiness up at S-4, squeezing his hand for a moment, before calling out to the figure ahead. "be right there, bro! we've just got a skele-ton to catch up on!"

He's answered with a groan that's audible even over the distance remaining between them.

[sansational]

"i dunno." He shrugs carelessly, waving a hand. "do they have a name? we're, uh, not exactly on speaking terms even if they do. not a lot of humans fall down here, anyway. so it's not like we can miss 'em."

They suddenly find themselves at the edge of town, facing a bridge that stretches a vast, vast distance towards the forest. Another skeleton is waiting for them there. He looks rather like S-4, except taller, stronger, more confident. He's wearing a strange sort of armor, heavy gloves and boots, and a red scarf that's wrapped quite tightly around his neck.

He beams to see them approach, waving them over. "Ah, excellent! You've successfully recovered the new trainee - well done, Sans!"

"well. she was on the way."

[lostlegacy]

...This is making no sense. And...that guy kinda looks like S-4, but not much? Is he a grown-up skeleton?

"Who're you?" she asks him.

[antitemporal]

He can't make or use a SAVE point himself (they say that one day he'll be that strong). But Sans-Serif still recognizes just what he's looking at, and lets out a panicked, strangled gasp of realization. He points a shaking fingerbone at them the best he can, bound up as he is, and tries to stammer out a warning. "you..! it's, it's...you!"

It's the anomaly and he has to fight but he can't, he doesn't want to, and he's not supposed to be alone when he does...

Sans-Serif scrambles up desperately to his feet and tries to hide behind his other self. But it makes no move to attack. It just stands there, motionless and waiting, looking from itself to Frisk and back again. It won't attack without being told to, and the other scientists don't listen to Sans-Serif's warnings. They just sigh in exasperation, and make more notes. "Mistaken, deluded, jumpy, overly sensitive, needs recalibration..."

One of the scientists calls over to Frisk: "Tell it to get moving again."

[sansational]

"Eh?" The taller skeleton scratches at his skull, staring down in surprise at Sophie. "Didn't you read the pamphlet?"

Sans shrugs up at his brother. "i don't think she read it, bro."

"Hrmph. It seems my brother is proving a bad influence on you already." Sans grins in unashamed agreement of this much. The skeleton strikes a dramatic pose, and it will probably become quite clear just who Sans was imitating earlier. "Very well! I am the Great Papyrus, aspiring member of the Snowdin Royal Guard! I am here to instruct you in all the dazzling intricacies of puzzles, tricks, and japes, as he work together to capture a human!"

"and since the human is showing up today, we're kind of on the clock."

"Well, that, too. Anyway, come along, both of you." Papyrus waves for them to follow. Sans releases Sophie's hand and, moving as quickly as Sans ever does, takes a hold of Papyrus' hand instead. The taller skeleton doesn't protest. The two of them simply start off together down the bridge, trusting Sophie to follow.

[exuviiated]

...might as well keep the kid close so they don't get hurt, especially if there's a battish interruption. "We're going to be ripping files off a server and then wiping the server to make sure it seems like simple equipment failure. You know how to do that, right? If not, that's okay. I can teach you."

[dustless]

Their smile disappears. "Still just me," they say, because why wouldn't it be? What was he expecting?

Why do those scientists think they're the boss of them? Frisk stomps in place. "Okay! Fine!" They hold their hand out towards the doll to take. "Let's get moving. This way."

There's a door just off to the side, now, and they're going to bring the skeletons through it. That way, they're not going to need to deal with the rest.

[ofthehellguard]

Uriel meets Tauriel's gaze-- and mirrors her frown, because she remembers, but she's in a slightly better mood now and...

...Well, knowing her reputation meant nothing here put some things in perspective.

"Good evening. Avoiding sleep?"

[dustless]

"All kinds of books here." He peers at the window. "Were you talking to a customer? Nobody can hear you through the window. It doesn't open."

[lovetheme]

Lucas nods a bit, when Grune confirms this is an acceptable course of action, and starts forward towards the pond. There's an opening in the ramp where people can reach the water; the man in the hardhat turns to them as they approach.

"This is the wonderful Hippo Pool," he informs them blandly, tapping his pencil against his clipboard. "Here, you can swim with Hippo Launchers, gaze at Hippo Launchers, and observe Hippo Launchers eating. You can even fight them! That's dangerous, though."

"I'd rather not fight them," Lucas tells Grune gravely, slowly stepping down into the water. It's moderately deep, almost reaching Lucas' shoulders. "I think they'll leave us alone, mostly. They did last time, anyway..."

He tucks the baseball bat under an arm, slowly wading forward. The hippos surrounding them barely seem to notice them; they drift listlessly about the pond with peculiar, muffled mechanical whirs. Occasionally one of them huffs a burst of steam. Lucas stares at them with a frown as they pass.

"...Grune, were there very many...tall buildings, where you're from?"

[lovetheme]

The mirror seems to be as singularly comfortable but unremarkable as the rest of the room. (Though, as Chara appraises their own reflection, a brief notion that they're lookin' handsome may occur very vaguely to them. For no particular reason.)

The door opens easily; and beyond that, another room opens up behind it, this one just as woody and comfortable as the last. Morning sunlight streams through a pair of windows; a fire burns heartily in its grate; the aroma of a recent breakfast still hangs very faintly in the air. A dining table for four sits directly across from Chara's door.

And seated at this table, with her back to the door, is a brown-haired woman in a red dress. She seems to be bent over something on the tabletop in front of her; the sound of a pen scratching away at paper mingles with the crackle of the fire. But the woman pauses, now, head shifting slightly. She turns only a little, enough for the edge of her smile to be visible.

"Oh, you're finally up. Good morning, sleepyhead." Her voice is warm--and suddenly, the room is just as warm to match, as an overwhelming sense of calm and safety inexplicably fills the air. "The boys are already outside. They've been up for awhile now, playing with the Dragos. I hope you're not planning to play in your pajamas, though...you should scoot upstairs, and change your clothes."

She shifts again, her attention returning to the paper in front of her. For some reason, moving closer to her is impossible; no matter how many steps Chara might take towards the table, the floor moves beneath them but the distance stays the same.

[dustless]

They aren't afraid of any bats or any cops!

"...I know how to take the files, but not the deleting. Not so it was like that. Alphys always did that part."

[lovetheme]

Definitely something completely different. Something Lucas knows for a fact he's never seen before...and yet--the shape, the teeth--the similarities, even faint as they are, set a such a numbness in his fingertips that the hand carrying his stick shakes. (It feels like an age ago now, that he used to wonder at how something so large with so many teeth could be so friendly....and be made to do such terrible things--)

There aren't any mechanical whirs, but for some reason Lucas could almost swear he hears them anyway. The air smells like sweet lemons. He's not sure how he manages to make himself move forward at all, barely able to feel his own legs. He's slower to react, at any rate, and Frisk reaches the--the chimera?--first, as it lunges. Teeth snap down on a stick, and splinters fly, close enough to Frisk's hand that a part of him finally snaps to alarmed attention.

"...No, not--not lying. Not..." He reaches Frisk's side, his own stick raised at the ready and his thoughts already half-reaching for that place where protective PSI lies, in his head. It seems, they'll probably need shields...his voice feels terribly small and weak against such a multiple (or just one?) resounding shout. "They all say it because they do. We do. We want--to help..."

[lostinmyway]

Grune watches the hippos with delight as they pass, her dress swirling in the water around her legs. When Lucas asks her a question, though, she turns her attention right back to him.

"Oh, yes," she answers. "Some of the buildings in Werites Beacon are two storeys tall. And there are some very tall monuments in the Quiet Lands."

[lostinmyway]

She shakes her head. "No, I was talking to my new friend."

She points at the child in the window.

[lostlegacy]

And follow Sophie does. She's still pretty confused about...everything, but Papyrus seems cool, and Sans is pretty cool for being a weirdo. So she'll figure it out.

As she tags along, she asks, "Pie, why do we gotta capture a human?"

His name is too long and she likes pie. So he's gonna be "Pie" now.

[lovetheme]

Seemingly it's just the one mailbox right now, sitting there on the water's edge, but now Lucas isn't so sure if he wants to take the risk of spotting any more of them. (And spotting--what comes with them...) He stares down at the shimmering water they continue wading through, trusting Sans to keep them relatively on track--wherever they're going. And he listens, both to Sans' questions and to...the other sounds that start rising up now.

In a cave like this, it's difficult to tell where they're coming from or how close they might be, but they send a deeper chill through his thoughts all the same. Is it getting a little darker already? Lucas' wading steps waver a little, but it's a longer pause before he finally answers, voice very quiet.

"Stopping those bad things from happening again...yes. That's something you could do. If you can't fix what happened before..." Lucas glances upwards, considering the glowing stones on the ceiling. "But needing to be punished...depends. A lot of people might have a different idea of what should be done, about something like that. So I don't know. But..."

He looks over sidelong to Sans, finally. "I do know that--you can't stop bad things from happening, and punish yourself at the same time. It can't be both. If you do more of one, you can't do enough of the other to help. ...You have to choose."

[lightofthestars]

"I do not sleep as mortals do." She looks over the other woman. It is clear she is no human. And so she asks, "Do you?"

[lovetheme]

The lights in the elevator flicker a little, and dim, but not before Lucas notices the burn Frisk acquires on their palms--the scent of heated metal is hard to ignore all by itself anyway. He wants to scoot a little closer, to be reassuring, but the baseball bat is suddenly an impossibly heavy weight between them, immovable against his shoe. So Lucas sighs quietly, tilting his head back against the elevator wall behind them instead.

"Yeah," he mumbles--or was that out loud? He's not sure if Frisk even said anything, either, but he already knows what they would say anyway. They're really such a kind kid. A kind friend. "...I'm glad you're here. I can't--can't make it through this building without friends. I'm not strong enough by myself...and I left the others behind."

The pause is a moment, but it feels long and slow. "Don't feel bad. I never told you about him, because, I hope he never comes to the castle. I don't want him to." The elevator's hum really is getting so loud...and his voice feels like it's getting swallowed in the process. Lucas wonders if Frisk will even hear it. (He hopes they can.) "We're going to have to fight the commander eventually, though. ...Always have to. That's--how it is..."

He frowns down at Frisk's shoes. "Don't let yourself get rooted to the ground." He peers at their hand, too. "Does that burn hurt a lot?"

[lostlegacy]

This is the best! Most of the time when she wants to pet kitties, they run away long before she's done. Not these ones, though!

"Hi!" She reaches out to pet the nearest one. Rei told her to be gentle, so she's going to do her best.

[dustless]

"...they'll catch up," Frisk says quietly. "But. Still glad I'm here, so you're not alone."

The spores start growing--up, not down. They slowly climb up Frisk's shoes and socks. They don't seem to notice.

"Why? Wouldn't that be good? The castle's for help and new chances," they say, raising their voice before the noise cuts them off. Frisk is firmly certain about that.

Commander. They imagine a fusion of Undyne and Asgore, and the pan sends out a handful of sparks, tiny Asgore-attack bullets. They flinch back, hiding their hands in their folded arms. A little.

[dustless]

The child shrinks back.

The man stares. "Ma'am...I...don't think your reflection is--are you sure you're alright? Do you have somewhere you're supposed to be?"

[dustless]

The splinters stick into their skin, and Frisk hears the melody of someone's pulsating flesh.

Dusty sweat falls off of it in waves, and she grows eyes that peer down at him from their looming height.

Frisk starts to hum, or tries. The notes come out half-formed, not at all, too loud, too soft, wrong. Wrong. Lemon Bread hisses its dissatisfaction at the terrible tune.

"Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell." "Welcome to my special hell."

She isn't listening, and disembodied white teeth appear all around, penning Lucas and Frisk together. Pulsing orange-blue rings fall from their eyes like tears to hit the children's SOULS.

[regalduchess]

The white and orange kitten fight and clamber over each other to climb all over her feet, while the black one simply lets her pet him how she wishes; the other two fairly demand her attention.