songerein | Player Event: "Imbalance" [OPEN]

Who: Everyone! Even the newcomers! What a time to jump in, huh?
Which: OPEN Dreamscape
What: On the night of the 10th a strange dreamscape appears, dividing some dreamers into two, each bearing just half of themselves... how will they pull themselves together?
Warnings: Probably a lot. I trust you fine people to please mark your content appropriately should your threads make mention of anything triggering. I'm watching you.

Quiet nights never seem to stay quiet. It began with the slightest flicker within the crystal lanterns, a ripple, perhaps the sound of coins clinking together.

Then, with a distant scream, there was a torrent of blue and orange flame. It's hot but it doesn't burn, swirling and dancing with the frenzy of a desperate dancer. It blinds to familiar surroundings, twin colors that seemingly never end...

Until one's feet touches sand-dusted stone and marble. The air is hot and arid, ripe with burning kindling in myriad torches that line walkways. The flames rhythmically sway, catching the glimmer of golden archways and decor that embed the city... palace...? That lay before you.

Something is wrong. Really wrong. Something in you feels... different. Blank. But before you can comprehend it much further, something is running down the pathway in the distance to enter the palace like the devil was on its heels. That something looks just like you...

You pursue this weird other you... or, you don't. Perhaps you were drawn to the palace's splendor and decided to explore, maybe find some sweet treasure while you're here. Whatever the case, nothing about this place smells dusty or aged. It feels brand new... lined with statues and tapestries of what appeared to be great warriors, all humanoid and bearing twisted horns atop their heads and long, craggy tails covered in scales. But some of them have been altered in some way... some are missing their heads, and one or two "lucky" ones have simply had large claw marks ripped across their face. What would put claw marks in stone was anyone's guess.

Those who tire of the architecture may find some doors are unlocked. Yes, such a lavish place seems all too eager to lay itself bare for you, perhaps bearing a sparkly trinket or two to your liking. (Note: Unfortunately, any treasures obtained in the palace will only come back with you in the form of candies shaped as said jewels, crowns made of shortbread, tapestries spun from candy floss, etc. It's all food. Enjoy!)

Deeper and deeper you delve, either arms full of treasure or having bumped into friends who don't exactly act like your friends normally would, you find more motifs of the warriors, more intact the further you head through this weird city-palace. Near the center are statues depicting two... figures... each holding a pair of scales.

Yet no matter how much you wait and watch them, the scales continue to sway from one side to the other. There's nothing on their respective plates, however... what could be throwing them off?

If you place anything on the plates and mend the swaying scales, you are given a single shard of a strange crystal rife with dreamotion energy with a sense of wholeness and connection. It shifts colors as you turn it this way and that in your hand. Maybe that'll help put some of these people back together if fighting or talking to them won't do it...

[ooc: Information and Plotting post is here for easy review. The shards are meant to simplify putting people back together if needed, but are the only thing that can be taken into the semi-waking world as a pretty bauble. Also, a reminder that this is optional. Enjoy!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ This dreamscape has already been... kind of a lot. And considering it's the second one she's ever found herself in, with the first being designed as a practice, Violet feels nothing short of overwhelmed. Is this what it is always going to be like, living in this strange world? Waking into someone else's reality, someone else's dreams, someone else's nightmares, with seemingly no way to escape? She has heard of dreamscapes being a way to obtain unique and interesting treasures, but right now, Violet just wants to get out, to go back to whatever dreamlike state her new "real" is.

She has made her way back from the depths of the dream to the place she first entered, when she spies something different, something she doesn't recall being there before. With its height, she assumes it's a statue - until it moves, and the girl, a little taller than a quarter of his height, yelps in shock and fear.

Still, he seems peaceful enough, indicating the overlarge tapestries as he is and asking questions of her, of others around. Seven Heavens? She shakes her head. No, in her world, there are some who believe in one - others who believe in none at all. But seven is new to her. And so she finds herself listening intently as he talks, a youthful curiosity blooming on her face.

When he walks, she hurries to follow, her small steps needing three of his, calling out to him. ]

Um... excuse me? If this is a place you know, does this mean this is your dream?

[ And what of the other Heavens? If there is one of Fire, is there one of Ice, too? Of Light? She has so many questions.

But also... will he even hear her, given that the top of her head comes only to his knee? Perhaps she could try flying again, like she did back when she first arrived and was practicing her skills... ]

[She needn't have worried. Although Emet-Selch's steps do not slow, his head tilts by a few degrees as he glances askance at her. His facial features may be obscured, but he seems to have no problem navigating his surroundings.]

Mine? Of course it isn't. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say it belongs to Madhuri. Who else's version of Aglaia would be peppered with statues of the Xaela?

[It's a rhetorical question at best, for he does not expect the other dreamwalkers to know the answer, much less this one he's never seen before.]

'Tis a realm of myth, and one that exists in the skies above my world. That is how I know of it.

[ As predicted, Violet does not know the answer to his question— even less does she understand the words thrown around so casually by his statement. In fact, the only thing she can garner from his words is that Madhuri must be another of the dreamwalkers in this place.

It takes her a moment or two to realize that he, like her, wears a mask over his features, and there's a moment of curiosity— although it's one she puts aside for now in favor of the rest of his words, her eyes wide. ]

So we're walking in the halls of the... um, of your world's gods? That is truly amazing!

[ And if his world has magnificent structures such as this... ]

Your world must be incredibly beautiful...!

So many would claim. Though what they truly are is debatable at best.

[Emet-Selch sighs impatiently, trying half-heartedly to stamp down on the irritation that flares within him at such words. 'You think this is amazing??' he wants to scoff. Yet he doesn't. If only because he's lived too many lives of watching the new races of the world waxing poetic about beauty and giving impassioned speeches about injustice and cruelty. He's known the best and worst of both, and Aglaia is simply another set piece to him. It's pretty, it's fine, but it is far from amazing.]

Beautiful? Well it was, once. And it will be again if I've anything to say about it.

Enjoy the scenery if you must, but know that things are likely to become quite dangerous once I track down my quarry.

[ If she's honest, she very suddenly has a lot of questions. The man's response to her comment is quite obviously irritated, which sets off an immediate guilt that the girl only just stops herself from promptly apologizing for. She's curious, not only to know more of this place and of the gods in whose existence he seemingly places no belief whatsoever, but also to hear of the determination he holds to set his world to rights— After all, isn't that something he has in common with her friends?

But perhaps the more pressing issue is the one of his "quarry". Based on her experience here so far, she can only assume that the person in question is the other part of himself, which makes his threats of danger all the more worrying to her.

She frowns. ]

Why will it be dangerous?

Well, why wouldn't it be dangerous?

[This seems a very obvious question with a very obvious answer, but he'll relent somewhat and offer a simple explanation nevertheless.]

The single time in history anyone or anything has ever truly had the gall to try and impersonate me was when we encountered one of the noctaere some few months ago.

Yet what I saw here was even more convincing than the creature who appeared before us on the moon. So, either this someone or something is extremely powerful, or the dreamscape itself has somehow managed the utterly impossible.

[ He talks like the other version of himself is a different person entirely— an impersonator, to boot. For a moment, she wonders if he truly doesn't know, or if he simply hasn't accepted it for what it really is. She frowns, her eyes dropping from where they were previously following him. ]

Um.... I'm terribly sorry for saying this, but... do you feel any different to normal, Mister...?

[ She trails off with a frown. Not only is she asking him out of hand if he— a person she has never met before— is entirely in his right mind, but she doesn't even know his name. If this doesn't go well, she'll hardly blame him for it. ]

Different in what way?

[The words are curt, blunt, and slightly defensive yet he doesn't seem precisely angry about being asked. If anything, his words seem more like an introductory question as part of a list. If she has anything to say about the place, or any suggestions that may aid in contextualizing this situation, he would hear them.]

[And because he hardly desires walking these halls being referred to as "Mister"...]

...and it's Emet-Selch. Just Emet-Selch. The name is a title and the title is a name.

[Not his true one, perhaps, but then there's only three people alive he'd allow to use it.]

Player Event: "Imbalance" [OPEN]

let me know if I should change anything!

All good! o/

as she immediately says the wrong words

oh dear

Re: oh dear

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