+ Ahh~! Like a good old fashion nightmare! | [OPEN] +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE
Where: Your dreams!
When: Friday February 17th - Monday February 20th (The length of the event!)
Rating: PG-13, warn if higher!
Summary: A catch-all log for everyone's dreams in this event, and all of the subconscious shenanigans within them!
The Story:

Over the course of the event, characters will find themselves falling asleep at random moments of the day, spacing out only to find themselves in a dream moments later. Whenever this happens, characters will find themselves in visions or nightmares. The content is entirely up to you, but must be something that would have some significance to the character, whether literally or metaphorically. They will likely be about a character's true feelings about a matter, or their hidden fears.

Either way, these dreams are trying to tell you something - something that you've buried, willfully ignored, or flat out just haven't realized about yourself. Within their dreams, they will meet people (from Wonderland) who represent their subconscious. These people will have uncanny knowledge of the dreamer's most inner thoughts: fears, desires, guilt, regrets, even their private thoughts of what they imagine their future to be like - and they will absolutely want to shove it in the dreamer's face, as though these repressed thoughts and feelings are rising to the surface.

OOCly, people will be able to play either awake in Wonderland or as versions of their characters within someone else's dream, taunting them with their subconscious thoughts and feelings. They will mostly be themselves, aside from the knowledge of what's going on in the dreamer's head. It's possible the dreamer might not even realize it's a dream at first, but it's equally possible that a character within someone's dream can be twisted or altered in some way if it helps them better deliver their message. They can even do standard nightmare things, like completely breaking the laws of physics or appearing and disappearing as needed.

Characters will feel sufficiently rested from these dreams, even if they don't like the content - which is good, because caffeine and all other stimulants one would use to keep themselves awake will be rendered completely ineffective.

Feel free to make use of this post for dream shenanigans! All top-levels are assumed to be for the person dreaming and the replies will all be within their dream, threads with characters who represent their subconscious. Prose and [brackets] are both welcome and if you have any questions you can over to the plot post! ♥

Comments

[choosetruth]

"So? It has to be someone's priority!" And maybe that makes her a bad person. It certainly makes her a bad friend. And probably a bad sister, though Shaun would never say it to her face. It makes her a hell of a journalist.

"Do you know how deep this thing goes? How many people they were killing before I even got there? It needed to be unearthed! People needed to know! They needed to be stopped."

[postictal]

"So the lives you ruined were just - what, exactly? Collateral?"

It makes her a hell of a journalist, at the expense of everything else. Because she "has to," she tells herself. As if that justifies any of it, the lives that she left devastated in her wake. That she continues tear asunder, as if that makes it all right.

"You think maybe your collateral was a bit more devastating than that conspiracy ever was?"

[choosetruth]

"No." Her voice regains some of its confidence. This, at least, she has an argument for. "They were already killing. Eakly, Rebecca Ryman.... I may have gotten my team into the line of fire, but we wouldn't have started looking into them at all if people hadn't been dying."

Then again, she only knows what happened up until she died. Shaun is still digging. Does his collateral damage fall on her head too? What was the fallout of her final article? She doesn't know, and it's not like Shaun has been eager to talk about it. There's a good chance she committed treason as she died and encouraged the world to do the same. What were the consequences of that?

[postictal]

"And that just completely justifies any and all placing of others into the line of fire now, is that it?" A one-time occurrence doesn't justify the deaths and misery left in the wake of someone so determined to rake live coals across the truth that she'll sacrifice all else.

"And it's not just that, no. You think you're allowed. You're entitled to it."

[choosetruth]

"I'm licensed. It's literally my fucking job!" She holds up her wrist, revealing the red and blue tattoo with her license number. "Alpha-Foxtrot-Bravo-one-seven-five-eight-nine-three. Class A-15. I'm not just allowed, I'm paid."

Clinging to technicalities doesn't really help, but it's what she has, and it lets her gather her thoughts a little.

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt. But I couldn't just back down because I was afraid, either. I would never have made it as a journalist with those kinds of instincts."

[postictal]

"You didn't want anyone to get hurt." He won't bother trifling with the same technicalities she does. It's an obvious stalling tactic, at best. He forms a blade with two of his fingers, jamming them down onto the top of the podium.

"Eventually, it'll come down to making a choice." And she knows it, assuming it hasn't already. "You'll find your hallowed truth, or you'll watch everything you love die."

For the briefest moment, his lip curls with something like scorn.

"And you'll pick the story. Every time."

[choosetruth]

"There's not really any times left." It's another quibble, but a pretty relevant one. Even if she keeps all her memories, this is the story that kills her, and she already chose it.

"And I can tell you for a fact, I'm not watching everything I love die. They get to watch me die instead. The choice is made."

[postictal]

"Not in Wonderland, it isn't." And therein lies the crux of it. The fulcrum upon which this issue, and every other, remains nested.

"So you have to make your choice, Georgia Mason. Whether you're going to continue down the road you picked..." And watch everyone else suffer for her choices, again and again and again and again - "...or watch everything you've built your life on slip away instead."

Somehow, he thinks he already knows her answer. But he would, wouldn't he?

He's not even really here.

[choosetruth]

She shakes her head. Without sunglasses, she can't hide her expressions, so she doesn't try. She smiles, a thin, sad expression, and looks up to meet his eyes.

"I made my decision long ago, and I have to stand by it. If I don't, I wouldn't be me anymore. For better or worse, this is who I am and what I do, and I've come too far to back down. No matter how high the cost."

[postictal]

"Then I hope you're ready for everything to burn behind you." Because he wants her to remember that, and this moment, and everything that comes after. He wants her to remember that she made this choice. Maybe she isn't one for regrets, but if she cares so much about facts?

Perhaps she can draw a few conclusions from the inevitable damage her facts will leave in her wake.

"Again."

And they say you can learn from your mistakes.

[choosetruth]

She straightens, steeling herself. She doesn't know what the consequences of her choices are. She never can. But she knows who she is. Georgia Carolyn Mason. The girl who tells the truth no matter the cost.

"That's the thing no one ever seems to understand," she says, holding her voice steady. "You assume I don't want things to burn."

[postictal]

"Look. We already know you're self-absorbed and self-destructive to a fault." He even adopts a patronizing tone, the wry lift of an eyebrow.

"It's not justice you're pursuing. It's leaving a mark. On everything."

[choosetruth]

She clenches her fist hard enough for her nails to dig into her palm. She wants to punch that patronizing look off his face. How dare he. No one patronizes her. Not if they want to live, anyway.

"The two are not mutually exclusive. And when you're somewhere as fucked up as Wonderland, it can use some shaking up."

[postictal]

The subconscious always knows how best to rub the wound raw. It always knows what buttons to push, what feathers to ruffle, what scabs to pick.

"So you'll watch the world burn. You'll even facilitate the burning. And then - you'll know exactly whose fault it is."

Like he said. Self-absorbed and self-destructive to a fault.

"And you'll know that it all could've been avoided, too."

[choosetruth]

"If you say it could have been avoided by lying I swear to you I will punch you in the mouth."

He can call her what he wants, but there are some lines she will not help. Even if it means she really is as much of a monster as he seems to think.

[postictal]

"It could've been avoided by doing literally anything besides going in like you're about to change everyone's lives." That's scorn coloring his tone now, the quality of his words frosted over, his glare flinted.

"It could've been avoided if you'd thought about literally anything else besides the nebulous greater good you always seem to be fighting for. Funny, how that always seems to directly benefit your interests. Isn't it?"

[choosetruth]

She gives him a flat, unimpressed look. He's had some good points about how destructive she is, but that last one is just... not wrong.

"Remind me again how dedicating my life to telling truths nobody wants to hear was benefiting my interests? Or uncovering a vast governmental conspiracy that assassinated me to try and keep me quiet? Cause I'd really love to hear that. Unless you think my ego is truly so large that I'd find that worth it for the five minutes of fame it bought me."

[postictal]

"Or it makes you feel like you're making a difference."

He braces an elbow on the podium's surface, chin resting on the heel of his palm.

"Makes you feel relevant, for however long you're going to last. For however long you're still here for this world." Or the next.

[choosetruth]

"Is that so fucking bad? Wanting to make a difference?"

She scowls at him, crossing her arms over her chest. If no one ever tries to make a difference, everything will always stay the same. And considering the status quo has corrupt politicians and oh, can we ever forget, zombies, someone has to make a difference.

[postictal]

"'Course not. Only it's not the difference that matters, is it?" If only it were that simple. But, nah. Her psyche is the best person for the job, it turns out, when it comes to sequentially dismantling everything she is.

"It's the fact that it's you making it."

[choosetruth]

"I've never claimed I didn't have an ego!" She glares again, missing her sunglasses and the easy shield they offered. "I'm a fucking journalist. Ego's a job requirement."

[postictal]

Not so easy when you can't hide behind a convenient mask, is it?

"And when it interferes with your oh-so-important job? Is it acceptable then?"

[choosetruth]

It's a medically necessary mask, excuse you.

"I've always been very clear about my biases. They're registered, and I keep an op-ed blog so people can know what else might be coloring my facts despite my best efforts."

[postictal]

"A cursory effort. Yeah. Real commendable." Note the sarcasm if you will, Ms. Mason, and the scornful lift of the words, the downward curve of lowered brows. "I just hope you're ready to watch your own biases ruin everything you've worked to protect. Again."

[choosetruth]

"And how exactly is that going to happen?" She scowls, glaring helplessly up at him. She'd get rid of her biases if she could, but no matter how hard she tries to excise all opinion from her fact, she's still only human. Her bias even shows in what she chooses to report, what she deems newsworthy. But she's always fought them.