songerein | [open] under the sea darling it's better down where it's wetter

Who: Anyone!
Which: Interactive Dream
Where: Sora's dream of Disney's Atlantica
What: It's May and Sora is dreaming of an under the sea oasis. Turn into mer-creature and explore the Kingdom of Atlantica!
Warnings: Finny Fun

Dreaming of underwater oceans and deep dark depths of the sea could be anyone's dream. But the dream that opens here is one that is uniquely vibrant and full of magnificent colours and glowing corals. Playful schools of fish and seahorses that swirl around while singing songs. Crabs and lobsters clack away to a beat of a song and whales fill the waters with long sweet notes. Dolphins kick and play and push for others to join in. Jellyfish gloop about and nest in hair and whisper secrets. And devoted sharks prowl and patrol around a large standing castle in the distance.

You might find yourself in this dream surrounded by a school of baby guppies that poke and prod at your new form. Half of your body seems to have changed to help you with your new underwater situation. Perhaps you have a powerful dolphin's tail or several long octopus-like tentacles in lieu of where your legs were. Or perhaps you've gained gills and water-cutting fins on your forearms or flippers for feet. Maybe your hair has been littered with starfish and your eyes glow with the ability to see through the darkness in the water. No matter what happens to your body here it seems you're now referred to as Merfolk.

A. Forest of Seaweed. Upon arrival you may find yourself lost in a forest of long strips of green and blue seaweed. The green is almost dizzying as you try to navigate through the wispy plants with your new body. The seaweed seems to easily attach to you or wrap around a limb if you're not careful. Perhaps you need to find a weapon or sharp piece of broken coral to get yourself through it? Or can you adapt quickly to your new fins and are able to dodge your way through the forest?

B. Singing Seahorses. Once free of the slippery pieces of seaweed the ocean opens to a deep and beautiful chasm of glowing rocks, crystals and plants. Schools of fish swim by and all of them seem to be heading towards that beautifully lit castle in the distance. But before you can proceed several dragon seahorses swarm up to you and demand to know your name. They kiss at your cheeks and forehead as if trying to coax information out of you. Asking you all sorts of personal questions like what is your favourite food or asking you to sing them a song or tell them what the real use of a Dinglehopper is. They won't leave you alone until you indulge them!

C. Emotional Seashells. Along the seabed there are several glowing seashells that can catch your eye. If they are picked up they tend to glow a certain colour to reflect your mood or personality. They will look very nice in your water-swept hair! But be careful because if a broken or chipped seashell is picked up and worn it might induce the wrong or opposite emotion into you.

D. Sharky Noctaere. A dream isn't complete without the presence of noctaere. Make a wrong turn and you might find yourself face to face with a noctaere in the shape of a very strange looking shark. These huge beefy sharkmen are not happy to see you and look like they might make a snack out of you if they can get their hands on you. Swim or fight!

E. Atlantica Castle. Upon swimming into the castle grounds you will be greeted by a plethora of merfolk happy to bring you into the castle. They will make sure you are fed with all sorts of underwater treats like fresh scallops, crab bits or kelp cookies. They will shower you with bits of gold jewellery and pearl bracelets as welcoming gifts. There seems to be an entire festival of some sort going on to welcome in all the dreamers. There is a big hustle and bustle about a music performance coming up and they are missing some key players to sing, dance or play instruments. And they want you to do it. A pretty mermaid might try to pull you to her as a dancer or a merman may hand you a set of handheld drums or a coral horn.

"Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play now it's very easy, come on in! Just take a chance and shake a fin!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Since Sora is not new to these sorts of things he can't help but laugh a little when he sees the other trying his best to determine which way to flip his tail so he goes forward. Sora is a fellow half-dolphin (he's blue!) so he swims nearby and grins.]

Ahah, looks like you're starting to get the hang of it! It's kind of tricky to do at first. But all you gotta do is trust your tail fins!

[It's easier than it looks once a powerful thing like a dolphin tail gets going!]

[Alastor tries to turn to see the speaker...and ends up sending himself spinning. He grabs hold of one of the large seaweed plants to bring it to a stop. His stomach feels like it's still doing flips for another second or two.]

I think mine are glitching, to be honest!

[He lets out a snort. He swims closer and offers a hand.]

Alright, grab my hand! You just gotta learn which way is up and down again.

[Which is hard in the water, honestly!]

[Alastor visibly hesitates. Bad enough he's shirtless (WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE SHIRTLESS?!) but touching someone else isn't fun. At least Sora isn't just grabbing his hand.]

[He does reach out to take the offered hand.]

Honestly, I need to re-learn up, down, left, and right at this point!

[If Alastor wants to wear some coconuts or a shell bikini top they can probably find some! Then he wouldn't be half-naked!]

Just follow me for a second!

[And Sora will tug the other mer upright so he can start getting himself turned the right way.]

Now move your fins like me!

[He'll show him how to swim in a straight line! His dolphin tail swishing as he moves through the water.]

[No, he wants a shirt with long sleeves so there's barely if any skin visible to the rest of the world. Please and thank you.]

[Alastor watches closely before doing his best to duplicate the motion. He starts veering off to the left so he has to stop and give a few flicks of his tail to course correct before trying again. The undulating motion isn't easy to get to maintain a straight line.]

I take it this isn't your first time with your tail!

[Sora grins and flicks his tail very expertly before doing a little flip in the water.]

Yup, this isn't my first swim around the ocean that's for sure.

[Although it's really weird that he's here again. He knows this must be a sort of dream he's having. But it's been so long since thought about Atlantica.]

Once you get the hang of it it's easy. You almost got it!

So either this is your dream or you've been in a similar scenario before.

[And going to give it another few powerful flicks of his tail.]

[Good news: He can now go forward and quite fast, too!]

[Bad news: What are brakes? ~~Other than just crashing into Sora.~~]

Whoa! Watch it!!

[At least Sora is slick enough to dodge out of the way before Alastor comes crashing into him! He lets out a laugh and does another swish in the water.]

I'm guessing it's my dream from the looks of all this. See that big huge castle in the distance? [He points.] I'm pretty sure that's Atlantica castle. It's a world I visited a long time ago.

[Hang on! Almost -- Nope, never mind. That's the "flip myself head over tail multiple times in a row" maneuver.]

[Once he stops, he sorts of floats there for a moment, waiting for the rest of the ocean to stop spinning.]

Is it? I would've thought it was Atlantis.

[Sora can't help but snicker at the other. That's just a little funny to him. His tail swishes a bit like a puppy. Or a guppy.]

Atlantis? It sounds similar but what's that?

A story from the time of the Greeks about a city whose hubris offended the gods so badly that they were punished by being cast down into the sea.

[Okay, fully righted himself and the rest of the ocean is staying still...ish. Try again.]

[He's nothing if not persistent.]

[He doesn't quite get it mostly because he doesn't know what the word hubris means but he gets the general gist of that.]

What's with Greek gods doing stuff like that? It sounds just like something Hades would do.

[But Sora does know some of his Greek mythology!]

[Alastor shrugs.]

Haven't the foggiest. And as I said, Atlantis is a myth. Or at least in my world it is.

[Sora swims backwards and floats away from another piece of seaweed that nearly wraps around one of his fins.]

As far as I know, Atlantica has always been here! No big gods crashing it down into the sea or anything, though.

[So, subtle differences.]

You doing okay now? We better get away from the seaweed before it starts getting a mind of its own!

My ability to stop is questionable but I think getting away is the priority right now.

[He flicks his tail and begins swimming forward. At least he has this part down...]

Just don't aim for any pointy rock and you've got it.

[Sora grins and leads the way! They both have dolphin tails so they're swift swimmers, to say the least. Soon enough they'll be free of the seaweed forest!]

[Alastor suppresses the urge to look this way and that as they swim. Largely because he's afraid he'll send himself spinning again if he tries to do so.]

[He's not a bad swimmer usually, but swimming like this is not like swimming as a human. Or even in his demon form.]

[It sure isn't. Moving a tail and fins is an entirely different feel. But it does raise a question in Sora's head.

As they swim along.]

Hey, have you ever had any dreams where your body changed like this before this one?

[open] under the sea darling it's better down where it's wetter

A Forest of Seaweed

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