+ Let's go for a dreamwalk! + [OPEN PLOT CATCH-ALL]

[mviw]

Who: Everyone who wants to participate!
Where: The Mindscape (and elsewhere in reality, if specified)
When: September 6th through September 8th
Rating: PG-13 to R for potentially disturbing, violent, or dark subjects.
Summary: Thanks to an explosion on the third floor, every time a person falls asleep, they enter the Mindscape...

The Story:
Plot information is here!

Comments

dreamscape

[mcgucket]

[Hospital, huh... well, Fiddleford isn't sure what to make of this, but the elevator opening is nothing if not an invitation to move on and try to find something else rather than staying here for too long.

Rather than pushing the buttons at random, he decides to go from the 1st floor here to the 2nd floor next, assuming that it's just going to be another hospital floor he'll see here...]

[naughty_nurse]

[Ding! You have selected Floor Two - Home Life!

When the door opens, the first thing that'll hit is the smell of booze and cigarettes. It's the interior of a small house, with broken furniture and dark shadows. Lights flicker on and off. Empty bottles of alcohol can be seen here and there.

In the living room, there's a faint sound of static on television. In the few moments it's working, there's a pretty love story playing on screen. A very young Mikan is sitting in front of the TV, silently eating rice crackers. But it doesn't completely drown out the shadows of an argument.]

"I've told you not to put out your goddamn cigarettes on the couch! Where the hell is your ash tray?"

"You broke it, you stupid cow! Now shut up, I have a headache!"

"If you put that out on the couch again, I'll give you a fucking headache!"

"FINE! Goddammit... Mikan, get over here!"

[Little Mikan, quietly, begins to stand up...]

[mcgucket]

[Oh nooo, Fiddleford does not like the look of this, and while he had not intended to poke around and interfere with someone's dreams, he can't just stand there and do nothing, so he attempts to speak up first from where he's still in the elevator here, get the younger Mikan's attention--]

H--Hey, maybe that's not such a good idea for you to go over there right now...

[naughty_nurse]

[Little Mikan looks at him, but her eyes are dead. She slowly shakes her head no. Things would get worse if she ran. Much worse. She makes her way over to the shape of her father's shadow.]

"Hold out your hands."

"... Can you do it on my forearm?"

[A startled pause. Little Mikan continues.]

"Th-there are less pain receptors there, and it's easier to wrap with gauze, and-"

"Shut the hell up!"

[She's grabbed roughly, and - well, at least he listened, because instead of her hands, the cigarette is pushed into her arm. Mikan bites down on her lip to keep from screaming, tears in her eyes.

Even though she's so far away, the smell of burnt flesh is now everywhere.]

[mcgucket]

[Oh hell no, he can't... he can't just stand here and do nothing about this, can he? He presses a hand outward from the elevator and into this memory as if expecting to meet a wall, trying to see if he can push his way past it to reach her, do something that will make this poor girl's pain stop.]

[naughty_nurse]

[When the cigarette is out, the shadow drops his hand, and Little Mikan pitifully walks away, trying to find her first aid kit. But as Fiddleford reaches out-]

Please don't look!

[The voice of Mikan, the real Mikan, the owner of this sad dream, is behind him now. She's clutching her uniform, eyes shut, head lowered in shame, like this is somehow her fault.]

Please... don't look. Don't look anymore.

[mcgucket]

[He nearly jumps out of his skin here at the sudden voice, but he will turn his attention away from it now to focus on the real Mikan that's here in the elevator with him.]

I--I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look...

[naughty_nurse]

...

[Mikan sniffles, and the doors begin to close.]

... I-I'm sorry you had to see that. It's... it's not what you think, my parents, they, they worked really hard, and it wasn't easy, and I wasn't a good child, I was so much trouble...

[mcgucket]

[as an actual parent, fiddleford cannot agree with that]

Trouble or not, no child deserves to be treated like that. Not you, or anyone else. What happened there... that wasn't right.

[naughty_nurse]

[yet she continues to try and make excuses for them, clutching her skirt.]

... I-It stopped once I got accepted into the academy... Once the money came in... And... And even before then, it taught me how to take care of myself...

... Please... please don't tell anyone...

[mcgucket]

That still doesn't make what they did to ya okay, Mikan.

[He sighs, running a hand through his hair.]

But I'm not gonna tell anyone. So don't worry your head about that, alright?

[naughty_nurse]

[A slow, sad nod. She still won't lift her head.]

I... I don't want to have everyone worry about me more than they already do. I don't want to cause anymore trouble.

[mcgucket]

Havin' people that care about you isn't "causin' trouble"--your friends here, they just want to make sure that you're bein' given the respect and kindness that you deserve.

[naughty_nurse]

... That I... deserve?

[mcgucket]

Yes: you're a good person, and no matter what your past might'a been like, you're tryin' your best to help people in need and be supportive for those you care about here. Isn't that somethin' worth praisin'?

[naughty_nurse]

[...you're going to make her start crying all over again.]

... Th... thank you very much.

[mcgucket]

No need to thank me; just speakin' the truth is all!

[Mikan is good and deserves good things in life.]