EVENT: Dreams and Portals and 4th Walls, Oh My!

[fatedhearts]

Well, lookie here! We have a new event! And it's a collab with another game, Missrecalled! How will that work, you ask? Here is the event info on their side:

https://the-spaces-between.dreamwidth.org/436.html

And on this side:

Jordan was not the only person desperately trying to fix things that had gone wrong. On Gaia, the Sephiroth native to that world had been running himself ragged for the last several weeks, frantic to find a solution to what he had caused by bringing so many there through portals. It had been an accident, and his intentions when inadvertently activating the portals had been innocent, but that hardly mattered to him. He saw only that he had tried to do something for himself—using the Ancients’ magic to be sane again—and everything had turned on its head.

The Heartless attack had been the last straw. That was dangerous, that was deadly, and something had to be done. He had to send all of these poor people home.

And so he was struggling to open the portals. His will should be able to override whatever was keeping them closed, shouldn’t it? He certainly thought so.

In hindsight, perhaps he should have asked the other Sephiroth for help, given that that Sephiroth had the power of portal-making. But he hadn’t wanted to bother or burden anyone more than he already had. He had caused this on his own. He had to fix it on his own.

So while Jordan dreamed, Sephiroth fought with the portals.

What could possibly go wrong?

As it turned out, a lot. Both magic users, desperate to correct the problems in their worlds, reached out through the cosmos ... and the cosmos answered. A piercing portal developed from Auradon, through the Isle, all the way to Gaia, with the two blue-winged Sephiroths the unfortunate conduits. The dreamscape mixed with the waking world and portals began opening in both.

When this latest disaster exploded across Gaia, Sephiroth stared out the window in shock. Portals were everywhere, but people weren’t going through them back to their worlds. The energy he could feel from them didn’t even feel like the portals that had opened to start this whole mess. He went outside, looking into the nearest portal. The bizarre world on the other side, of flowers growing in the sky and clouds on the ground, looked like someone’s fever dream. Several more inane sights led him to conclude that the portals were indeed all going to people’s dreams. And upon talking with the recipient of one such dream, he made another alarming discovery: the portals were going to the dreams in other worlds.

He groaned and slumped back, running a hand down his face. “What have I done now?” he cried in dismay. Would he never be able to fix anything, only cause more destruction?


OOC Info: This is a collaborative event with the RP Missrecalled (info below). Characters from different worlds can either meet on the dreamscape while sleeping or pass through to Gaia while awake via the portals. But even in the waking world, the dreamworld is insisting on encroaching. The longer the madness goes on, the more the strange sights from people’s dreams are creeping into Gaia.

While there isn’t as much awake time on the Missrecalled side of things (and less and less of it as the event progresses), the Gaia side allows for people to be awake and not asleep if preferred. (Or they can dream on the Gaia side as well, if preferred.) The Sephiroths are dream-walkers and can pass through the dreamscape both asleep and awake. They can also take others with them. Everyone else can also use the portals to wander amid other’s dreams or pass through to Gaia if they were someplace else. The portals popping up in the waking world must be closed from inside the dreamscape, which the Sephiroths will be trying to take care of along with those who volunteer to help them. But there’s so many, it could take some time. And while any are open, things from people’s dreams are getting loose everywhere. Monsters, weird disasters, any distressing scenario dreaming people can come up with. Go wild! Make top-levels and reply to others' top-levels from this post, or from Missrecalleds' 4th Wall at: https://the-spaces-between.dreamwidth.org/436.html
Just mark your threads accordingly if they have any content others may wish to avoid. Also keep in mind that as wild and weird as your dreams can be, you don't have the right to force that weirdness on others' characters unless they're okay with that. I.E., does your dream involve forced transformation into dogs or cats? Great! That's fine for you, but no one else should have to be changed if they don't want that. So either mark your thread that it's for those who want that weirdness, or have it open to all and expect to see some humans talking to your dogs and cats. :)

Given the nature of the event and the need to close so many dream portals, dream-walkers and characters with other dream-related powers will be especially useful. The Sephiroths could use all the help they can get! But everyone is welcome and all characters can help! Just know that if you’re going to try closing dream portals and you don’t have inherent dream powers, you’ll need to go with one of the Sephiroths. This is a combination collab event in which characters from both games can mingle, as well as a 4th Wall in which characters from anywhere and anything can appear, whether they’re in either game or not! Bring everyone! It’s like a test drive, only wilder. If you especially enjoy your time in the 4th Wall, apps are always open at Fated Hearts and open until October 30th at Missrecalled and we would love for you to join us permanently!

And the info on our collab partner: Missrecalled is a game based on an AU of Disney's Descendants/the Isle Of The Lost novels, taking place if the third movie ended slightly differently. The game is split in two parts; Characters who start in Auradon are welcomed to a seemingly-idyllic setting with only minimal power nerf that is exploration, slice of life, and working together plot lines. Characters who start on The Isle are in for a powernerf experience with survival and school themes. There are ways in game to change from one to the other, but they are not frequent and the pace is often player driven. The Missrecalled Mod Squad hopes to see you on the 4th wall... once upon a dream.

Things to note: Missrecalled has a magical no-swear filter, and requires FTB for physical intimacy scenes.

Comments

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth leads him into a portal. The dream on the other side is strange, with cartoon characters acting out an “episode” the dreamer is watching. Sometimes the dreamer is one of the characters.

“Odd but harmless … so far,” Sephiroth says. “We should seal it before monsters enter from another dream or the dreamer starts dreaming of monsters themselves.”

[phoenixwiz]

Harry notices how peculiar the cartoon dream is, but he could also tell that things in there are being serene and harmless for now at least. He hates to see monsters rampaging between worlds and fears of people having some of the worst nightmares ever. And the young man already has enough nightmares from home to last him for the rest of his life.

“Hm, these guys seem to be reenacting a dream of whoever is dreaming this dream,” he observes, “But I haven’t seen the dreamer among the characters present so far. But we will need to do what we can to keep the bad dreams away.”

[3wingedangel]

"Without seeing the waking world, it's difficult to tell who is the dreamer," Sephiroth muses, "although I could figure it out if I try to sense life from the beings present. Right now I'm more concerned with closing this portal."

The dreamer suddenly seems to realize more people have entered. "Hi," she greets, coming over. "I don't remember dreaming of you guys before."

[phoenixwiz]

Uh oh, the dreamer must have spotted them now. What should they do now? Harry could pretend that he might be of this dream, but he didn’t want to lie to anyone right now.

“Erm hi,” he sheepishly replied, “I think that we are very new here and we are also here, um, to be of any help,” Harry is clearly fumbling as he tries to say something to the dreamer before he turns to Sephiroth for some advice in a barely audible whisper, “How are we going to tell her that we have to seal the portal in her dream without making it too obvious?”

[3wingedangel]

"Hm." Sephiroth isn't quite sure either. He doesn't want to say anything that could cause her to start having a nightmare.

"Oh. Well, you could help by joining us acting this out," the dreamer says. "It's supposed to be some episode of Beetlejuice I like, but I don't remember ever watching it for real."

"Unfortunately, I am not familiar with it," Sephiroth says.

"Maybe we can all just ad-lib!" she says.

[phoenixwiz]

“Well, do we have any other options right now? It may be the key to leading us to the portal. Maybe while we are winging it, we might be able to spot the portal in here, then quietly excuse ourselves for a moment before sealing it,” Harry suggests this new change of plans based on what the dreamer told them, “That way, we could try to blend in with the dream’s characters and no one could suspect us for acting very suspiciously despite what we’re here for.”

[3wingedangel]

“Ad-libbing is acceptable,” Sephiroth agrees. Otherwise, if they were supposed to follow a script they didn’t have, they would be outed immediately.

“Great! Let’s all go play. They’re investigating a haunted mansion Beetlejuice is thinking of buying,” the dreamer says.

And the scene changes so that now they’re standing in a darkened room, the only light being from a fireplace. Beetlejuice is sitting by the fire in a robe, trying to look respectable even though he, well, isn’t so much. He’s looking at a book, which he boredly tosses away after a moment.

Sephiroth catches it. “Supposedly books can’t be read in dreams,” he remarks. But he is awake, so perhaps the rules would be different. He opens it and finds it’s a diary of a past resident. The writing is dry and it’s obvious why Beetlejuice got bored with it.

[phoenixwiz]

He wasn’t expecting to deal with a dream involving haunted real estate, but then again he is just going to make do with what he is currently dealing with as Harry proceeds to check around for anything intriguing. As he goes around to inspect the mansion, he saw the book coming at Sephiroth and him catching it.

“So what does it said about the person who used to live in this house?” he asks him while inspecting the mansion belongings.

[3wingedangel]

A strange topic for a dream, and possibly concerning if the dreamer starts dreaming of evil spirits that might get loose.

"Hm." Sephiroth looks over a couple of entries. "He hid treasure somewhere in the house. But even in the diary, he doesn't appear to say where. It may be in code." He turns a couple of pages. "He illustrates different spots in the house. That could be significant. One area is the fireplace here."

Beetlejuice leaps up at that and goes to investigate the fireplace, poking at it from every angle until he manages to open a secret passageway and falls through with a shriek.

[phoenixwiz]

“A treasure buried deep within the mansion itself?”

The topic of finding a hidden or buried treasure strikes a chord to Harry as he has dealt with similar cases at home with Horcruxes, minus the whole destroying to perform some sort of exorcism part. Maybe that clue is why Beetlejuice came to buy the mansion: the treasure could be what he is seeking for.

Now Harry was going to say more when Beetlejuice approaches the fireplace, opens the secret passageway and falls down as the result.

“Hey, we have to follow the secret passage in the fireplace and help Beetlejuice out in finding the treasure before something bad happens to him or the monsters could show up,” he points out as he is heading for the fireplace passage.

[3wingedangel]

"It would seem so," Sephiroth says.

He is not familiar with the character or he would know for certain that's what he wants. But as it is, it does seems clear he's looking for it.

"Yes, we'd better," he says as the dreamer rushes past into the passageway. She helps Beetlejuice up and they go deeper into the passageway.

Sephiroth follows. The passageway is dark and there are eerie sounds. Ghosts are waking up. This is not good.

[phoenixwiz]

Uh oh, ghosts waking up could be mean a lot of things. They probably don’t like it when their slumber is disturbed. What if some of these ghosts might be very bad? Honestly Harry wishes not to find out as much as he wants. The passageway is pretty dark enough for anyone to get lost in so he begins to use his wand as a makeshift flashlight to make navigating around it a little bit easier.

“Okay, just show us the way,” Harry informs the dreamer, “We’ll follow your lead.”

He and Sephiroth will have to be on their guard to ensure that nothing horrible is about to happen as everyone walk very carefully. If he has to, he will throw in some spells to keep any mean ghosts away.

[3wingedangel]

The dreamer walks on, leading them all deeper into the weird place. The sounds get louder. Beetlejuice tries to smooth talk them, but he’s probably making it worse.

“I doubt the ghosts want to share the treasure with you,” Sephiroth grunted. “The very idea is likely insulting to them.”

A vase goes flying at them, probably launched by a poltergeist.

[phoenixwiz]

“Whoa!” Harry’s eyes widen as he sees the vase flying at them.

Without a single second to rethink his choices, he immediately casts a Shield Charm over him, Sephiroth, the dreamer and Beetlejuice to stop the vase at its track. It manages to work as the vase crashes upon impact. He would like to know where did the vase came from and who threw it at them in the first place, though the other noises soon make him nervous about what os happening.

“Something tells me that whoever sent the vase flying at us also doesn’t want anybody to find the treasure at all. Maybe they could be the guardian of this mansion and they took their role very seriously,” Harry speculates on the vase throwing ghost’s motive.

[3wingedangel]

Beetlejuice looks impressed as Harry stops the vase with a shield. "Hey, nice one," he says. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Sephiroth frowns at the vase pieces. "That is possible," he says to Harry. "Or they could be greedy and furious at the thought of sharing what they feel should be theirs alone."

"Finders keepers!" Beetlejuice retorts.

[phoenixwiz]

“Yes. That is also a very likely motive as well. They could be trying to scare folks and possibly even other ghosts away from the mansion so they could track down the treasure more easily,” Harry nods in agreement, he wouldn’t be this surprised if Sephiroth’s theory is also true.

When Beetlejuice asks him about how he is able to cast, the young man sighs, wondering how he will handle his world’s own magic, “I don’t know if my world’s magic would get along with yours, sir. Since, well, you don’t have a wand to perform spells with and I honestly don’t know how your world’s magic functions to begin with.”

[3wingedangel]

"Eh. Bummer," Beetlejuice scowls.

The tunnel comes out in an old wing of the house. It immediately feels wrong, like they're all unwelcome. The spirits are all awake and want them gone.

"We can't stay here," Sephiroth says.

"It doesn't feel that bad," Beetlejuice shrugs. "I've been around way worse!"

And perhaps that's true, but this feels plenty bad enough to Sephiroth. The feeling is growing stronger.

[phoenixwiz]

“This is getting to be more terrifying than I was hoping that it might be,” Harry whispers to Sephiroth, fearing that they may have to resort to brute force if they want to save the dream, find the treasure and seal the portal.

He is griping onto his wand very tightly in his right hand, determined to fend off the evil spirits of this house and protect the dreamer and Beetlejuice at all costs. The young wizard may not have any dream powers to speak of but he can certainly know how to finish a magical fight.

While this is happening, he begins to think about the Patronus Charm and wonders if it could be effective against bad ghosts as it was on Dementors. It does sound odd but he is definitely willing to give this idea a shot at this moment.

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth nods. “People’s dreams are never to be taken lightly,” he agrees.

As the feeling increases, it grows harder to breathe. The dreamer seems to be frozen in fear.

[phoenixwiz]

“No kidding, dreams can be quite unpredictable in nature,” Harry agrees as he can feel the increasingly tense air and atmosphere surrounding the group, “Now what or who is trying to pry into this dream at this time?”

[3wingedangel]

“You think someone’s trying to pry into my dream?” the dreamer exclaimed. “I dream about spooky things all the time!”

“… Heh. Perhaps it’s just the normal denizens of this dream world then,” Sephiroth grunted. “But we hardly want them escaping.”

[phoenixwiz]

“Okay then. Let’s switch topics for now, we’ll might need to find the treasure and hope that nobody mean is going to try to find it first,” Harry notes as the group slowly tries to make their way to where the treasure could be at in the tunnels.

[3wingedangel]

The tunnel swung open at the end, revealing a hidden room with stairs going up.

A table is suddenly pushed towards them.

[phoenixwiz]

“Whoa! There is a table incoming, watch out!” Harry gasps in shock as he sees the table pushing towards the group.

The first thing he could think of is to cast a fire spell at it, but he doesn’t want to accidentally set the whole mansion in fire despite well-meaning intentions. So he decides to jump out of the rolling table’s path as he tries to figure out what to do next.

[3wingedangel]

Sephiroth forces it back with either a blast of energy or telekinesis. "Up the stairs," he directs, waiting to usher the others up before going up himself.