+ Why, you're only a sort of thing in its dream! | MINGLE LOG +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE (Reals AND Mirrors!)
Where: D R E A M S I D E
When: June 6th - June 12th
Rating: PG-13, warn if going higher!
Summary: Mingle log for the Dream Side event! After the girls’ seance, every single person in Wonderland, no matter what they were doing at the time, will black out. When they awake, they will find themselves in a strange and twisted world outside of time - a different one than usual.
The Story:

After the girls’ seance, every single person in Wonderland, no matter what they were doing at the time, will black out. When they awake, they will find themselves in a strange and twisted world outside of time - a different one than usual. Elements may seem familiar, but it's clearly a different place.

Welcome, Mirrors and Reals, to DREAM SIDE. The sky above is dark and speckled with far-off stars but the world below is unnaturally lit and bright. There is a mansion at its center, but it is warped and unusual, as though someone stretched it like taffy, but if you try to enter it, you'll find that the door is not just locked - it appears to be painted on, as though it is just static scenery. It isn't a mansion that can be entered, just a cartoon-ish mansion cobbled together from dozens of memories.

Dream Side, as you might have guessed from the name, is not a static place. It is built from the scraps of dreams of those who cross into that side of Wonderland. Characters on this side of Wonderland are not asleep, but the world they are in is shaped by the contents of their dreams. Unlike the glass between Real Side and Mirror Side, there does not seem to be an obvious thing connecting this Side of Wonderland to the other two - at least, not something visible.

They are not alone in this world either - because the girls were conducting a seance, they have inadvertently called upon the dead. For each time your character has died a mansion death, there will be a ghostly copy of them wandering Dream Side. They will look as standard ghosts do - pale and translucent, looking as they did the moment they died. They will have a tendency to haunt their current living version (and those who care about them), but they will not be able to speak directly with them. For Mirrors, these ghosts can be Unmade versions of themselves, if they were ever Unmade. Some ghosts might be hostile and some might just gently haunt from a distance - it will depend on the character and what they would do if they were a ghost how they behave.

Behold, the world your dreams have built!

NORTH

• Mabel Land Castle


• Sparkly Horse Library


• Clementine's House

NORTH-NORTHEAST

• Fabletown

NORTHEAST

• The Unknown


• The Milano


• Avengers Tower


• Hala / The Supreme Intelligence


• Vault 111

EAST

• Main Street


• Holiday Star - Lighthouse


• The Amagi Inn

SOUTHEAST

• School University


• Secret CDC Lab

SOUTH

• Trost


• The Abattoir


• The Hanged Man

SOUTH-SOUTHWEST

• Dead End Flats


• Prime Kindergarten


• The Man Cave

SOUTHWEST

• Craigh Na Dun

WEST

• The Casino


• Flooded City

NORTHWEST

• Spooky Murder Bridge


• Rokkenjima


• WYBS 89.3 FM

For more details, and for the FAQ thread for this event, please see the plot post! We'll be periodically checking the location thread so we can add to this log as needed.

Comments

[eatsyourscience]

Souji stumbles into the Unknown a bit by accident in his exploration. By accident in that he hadn't meant to linger. Though, like everyone, his mental state has been deteriorating the longer he's in this place, he's doing surprisingly well, mainly due to the presence of his Personas. That many voices reminding him of who he is makes it difficult to get too caught up in the paranoia and despair.

He spots Jean from a distance and at first intends to leave him alone to rest. But when Souji sees the roots begin to envelop him, he reaches out and summons a Persona--Pyro Jack--to cast a fire spell on the tree. It shouldn't set it ablaze--it's not that strong a spell--but he hopes it will make the tree back off.

[angewiesen]

Jean was unaffected by the fire, but the tree itself was not fond of the element. The black, oozing substance that leaked from the face-like gnarls in its bark was highly flammable-- a concentrated form of the oil that could be wrung from its wood if processed through the correct means.

It made a sibilant hissing noise as its thin roots raised up to lash the flames away, and the leapt forth like snakes to try and strike Pyro-Jack. There was only one lantern-carrier that was welcome in these woods, strange sprite.

[eatsyourscience]

The Persona disappears. Souji doesn't want to hurt Jean, so he's limited in the attacks he can make on the tree. He has no weapon himself, either, so he can't attack or defend himself directly.

He switches Personas, then, going with Izanagi because he's the most powerful, and drops Agidyne on the tree. See if it likes that better.

[angewiesen]

Agidyne? From Izanagi? We're going the tactical nuke option? Okay.

The tree fucking explodes. The backdraft it causes, combined with an unearthly screaming, sounds like the maw of hell opening up. Normally aiming fire at a tree wouldn't be so violent, but it was dry, oily and highly flammable, so.

Anyways, it definitely wakes Jean up. Because of the sound, and also because bits of flaming shrapnel were falling on top of him. He practically flew up from where he was sleeping. He'd scream if there were any breath in his lungs. He turned around in frantic circles, swiping around himself like an idiot trying to get the embers floating around him away.

[eatsyourscience]

...Well, overkill, but it did the job.

Souji briefly considers using a wind spell to get rid of the embers but, yeah, okay, that's a bad idea. All he's got is Garudyne and that would be much more likely to hurt Jean than he might already have been.

Souji waits for Jean to calm down a bit before saying anything.

"Are you alright?"

He's probably a little too calm himself. He did almost set the guy on fire.

[angewiesen]

Jean wasn't even aware that Souji was there, at first. He was more concerned with keeping his clothes and hair from catching fire. When he heard Souji speak, he spooked again, and turned on his heel to face him.

"I think so?" There was a quality of incredulousness in his voice made it sound like he wasn't sure of that at all. Because he really wasn't. "I... Don't remember what happened. I think I went to sleep..."

And then there was that horrible sound. Jean turned back around to look behind him, and at the sizzling, splintered trunk of what was left of the tree.

"'The fuck happened?"

[eatsyourscience]

"I set the tree on fire."

More or less. The details aren't important.

"It looked like it was trying to absorb you or something."

[angewiesen]

"You could've woken me up first!"

Jean's first reaction was, of course, to complain. And he kind of had a right to, considering the explosion Souji caused. His second statement, however, actually gave Jean pause. He looked down at himself for the first time, and saw that there were thin vines wrapped around his limbs. He started to frantically try to brush them off himself.

"Shit, shit, shit..."

[eatsyourscience]

"I don't think you'd have just woken up."

He moves closer to make sure those are just left over from the dead tree and nothing new trying to eat Jean.

"We should probably get out of here."

[angewiesen]

"Ya think?" Jean replied quite shortly, still caught up in getting every last bit of brush off of him. "Why was I even sleeping here? I..."

A chilling breeze blew, and a glassy look passed over Jean's face, as though he could see something in the distance. His movements slowed to a halt, and once again, weeds just began to wrap around his ankles.

Whatever he saw, however, was gone in the blink of an eye, and his senses returned to him. As he stepped forward, he yanked the crawling vines out of the ground.

"...But they couldn't be here."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji glances into the distance, then looks back at Jean, worried.

"Who is 'they'?"

[angewiesen]

"You don't see anything? It's kinda... It's in and out, but..."

Jean could have sworn he saw familiar figures hiding in the shadows. The silhouettes of people he once knew, their faces obscured by branches and thorns. He took another step forward and squinted, as if it would make things any clearer.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji shakes his head and puts a hand on Jean's shoulder. "We should head to some other area."

[angewiesen]

"Hey, hands off," Jean brushed Souji's hand off his shoulder. He was growing irritated, not because of Souji's actions, but because of how this forest was openly messing with him. And yet... He was still curious. He couldn't help his reaction to seeing a familiar face.

"...Why here? Why am I seeing things like that here?"

[eatsyourscience]

Souji drops his hand back to his side, not particularly bothered by the brush off.

"Do you want to check it out before we go?"

He's pretty adamant about making sure Jean does get out of here safely, even if his intervention isn't totally welcome.

[angewiesen]

Jean made a noise of consternation. He wasn't dumb. He could tell when something might be trying to trap him, or even just mess with him, but when it came to people from his world, he couldn't suppress his natural curiosity. A bit like a lone wolf that wanted to rejoin its pack.

"...If something crazy happens, do you think you can take care of it?"

[eatsyourscience]

"I took care of the tree that was trying to eat you."

He should be able to handle whatever else the Unknown has to throw at them. He hopes.

[angewiesen]

"So it's not effecting you at all, right?"

Jean knew Souji enough to tell he was a levelheaded guy. And he knew what was going on in front of him that it was probably some kind of illusion. He needed someone who could see through it to confirm his hunch.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji shakes his head. Whatever's going on with Jean, he's not experiencing it himself. Probably because he hasn't been wandering around in the Unknown all that long.

"It might start to if I'm here long enough, so let's check it out before that happens."

One of them needs to keep his head.

[angewiesen]

Souji had definitely been through shit in his life, but was probably still a bit less traumatized than Jean. Whatever would show up here for him might not be as horrifying, and they could deal with it while they got the fuck out.

"Alright. Let's go."

Jean turned back to the thick of the forest. He really had no idea which way he should be going, but he figured if this was some sort of dream, the deeper they went, the more likely they were to see something. The chill grew, and the Edelwood trees groaned in the wind, a strangely human sound.

Jean could catch glimpses of figures darting in and out of view, and far out of reach, in the weeping branches and heavy brush. He could hear the flapping of cloth, like a cloak in the wind.

"You hear that too?"

[eatsyourscience]

Souji follows Jean, sticking fairly close to him. It would be easy to lose one another here.

He pauses for a second, seeing those figures as well, and when Jean speaks to him, he starts a little.

"...Yeah. I hear it now."

[angewiesen]

Jean hummed back in ascent. Strangely enough, this forest was devoid of green, so the Corps cloak stood out in the short distance.

"Fair warning. You might see something grisly."

If there really were people from the Corps here, statistically, it was more likely that they'd be dead than alive. Jean ventured into the thickening foliage, poised. The further they went in, the clearer the figures became. Jean set his jaw.

He recognized the ones that were still walking. They must've been soldiers who died either in recent training, or in the raid on Marley. They had an array of wounds, where tiny sprouts were growing. They didn't attack. They only lingered.

Jean didn't notice yet, but the trees around them... They weren't like the others nearer to the edge.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji glances back at the ghosts following him. He feels like he's already seen something rather grisly in them, but he knows it could always be worse. With a nod, he follows Jean further into the trees.

He does notice when the trees start to change and it sends up a red flag for him.

"You're sure you want to keep going?"

If Jean is, Souji will stay with him.

[angewiesen]

"...A little further," Jean replied, after a moment of of thought. "If I do something real dumb, you can split."

He moved cautiously, trying to watch his feet and the space ahead of him at the same time. The wraiths in green cloaks always stayed just out of reach. Their faces were somewhat blurry. It disquieted Jean. That meant that he couldn't recognize them, even though he knew that they had died for the cause somewhere along the way. They deserved better.

He looked at a tree, took a step, and then did a double-take.

"Wait..."

It's trunk was weirdly shaped, slender yet sinuous, and covered with climbing vines. Jean stepped up to try and clear some of the vines... And then jumped back, while making a sound like something was stealing the breath from his lungs.

There was a face there in the trunk. Now the tree's shape made sense. It had engulfed a corpse.

[eatsyourscience]

Souji stares as well. All he can think is that Jean might have ended up that way if he hadn't done anything to help him.

"Let's go back." He doesn't sound scared, though if he's honest, the sight did shake him a bit.