[Anniversary] Morpheus strikes at noon

==> Strings

Strings had a lot more to ask but Mikhainon sudden interruption to her 'interview' began to... intimidate her. Strings never knew fear-- or at least, she doesn't remember that feeling. She couldn't say it was fear though. She could probably still try and assert herself but at the back of her mind, something was telling her otherwise. It might be the 'human' part of her that Mikhainon mentioned. Strange that she never realized.

Her grin faded to a blur and her features became masked again. For a second, she would blink out of sight and as she reappeared, her features seemed to match the area. Her appearance blended with the tint, her sharp-toothed grin turned to a frown, tendrils floating above her head, "Do I really look like a fool to you? Being a rift entity is all that I am right now. A concentration of energy. I have no proper form in the other worlds. It'll take a whole lot longer to decide on that, Demon."

The offer was tempting, Strings would admit but if 'returning' as a human could strip her off her abilities then she would rather not risk it. Not yet, at least.

<font size=1>[[ OOC: yolos this one ]]</font>

==> pre-rift!Strings (Erika Cavendish)

Erika had been treading the forest path for a while now and she has come to a conclusion that she was hopelessly lost. Not even the mechanism on her glove (that covered most of her arm) could help her figure out her location. Every time she would try, she was greeted by a black screen with the text Coordinates Unavailable.

"Oh, come on." Erika let out a heavy sigh as she continued to follow the winding forest path. Here she was supposed to be researching for her dissertation but now she found herself in the middle of nowhere. It was possible that she was in a non-scanned dimension but that meant her stay isn't going to be all too fun because non-categorized meant potentially dangerous. The mechanism on her arm could only transport her to another dimension after a full 24 hours, just until after the elements she had materialized into would settle. She was going to add this to the troubleshooting report later and hope they would fix that problem in the later mods--whichever problem actually came up this time.

From a distance she could see lights through the forest and found hope in civilization but as soon as she found the clearing, she was even more confused. To one side, just a little ways a few meters far from where she stood seemed like a classic circus tent, and to the other looked like... a night club? A restaurant?

"What the fuck??"

She felt and heard Chloe before she saw her. "I just wanted a name that he uses that isn't for customers. Plus it was worth a shot." Before Kaya realized it however she was now sitting at a family style restaurant. "Well that's a total tone shift..." She said as her clothes went from Dinner Gown to some of her more usual clothes. Tight Tank top, Short shorts. Her hair stayed longer though, she had started to like the longer hair style since she met Henry.

"To be honest we don't have much more to talk about, I'm thinking that you wanted to get information from me in the guise of a conversation. You adamantly deny this and where are we left? I'm to cautious to talk about my family with other demons and you simply won't tell me what your after. If you want information about the family go find my sis. She's a little more open to these sort of discusions."

Lochlann had woken up because he needed to hurl. Mixing whiskey, tequila, and rum was probably a bad idea, but to be sure, he drank another tall glass and fell back to sleep.

Now, he was having that dream.

Being naked infront of everyone was okay; Lochlann was pretty confident at least someone would enjoy the view.

But this was worse.

He was standing inftont of everyone in his real shape, his Horse Shape. His black mane and tail weren't damp and covered in seaweed, but rather full and flowing, sparkles trailing off of them. There was a lipstick print with crossbones on his hind flank.

Oh and he could levitate. He was levitating and in his dreams, puking rainbows, and offering thoughtful advice to everyone.

"HELLO MY FRIENDSSSSSS" he whinnied. "ITS A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN PARADISEEEE!! Does anyone want to go for a ride?"

Inside he was screaming kill me!!!!
This was the worst dream ever.
He hated ponies.

“A great father,” Chloe repeated with a smirk. She didn’t quite laugh – amused as she was, she wasn’t sure if that would be appropriate. He was a great mentor and ally, sure, but nothing like a conventional father figure.

And now Kaya was trying to tell them off. She sighed. “Kaya, if we really wanted dirt on your family’s internal affairs, we wouldn’t ask. Thanks for the hot tip about your sister though.” She sipped at her drink. Her now-red hair lost its exotic shape and fell down to her shoulders, while her outfit changed into a fashionable red dress. “To change the subject to something less tedious than demonic politics, such as literally anything else, any guesses as to why we’re all sharing a dream? There’s a – excuse me for a second.” Chloe and her chair seemed to phase halfway out of existence. Her hand shot out to the side, catching –

Meanwhile, on Morgan’s floating island, the fifteen-year-old Chloe nodded to Morgan and struggled to her feet. She had a feeling that the skeleton was after Morgan specifically. Therefore, if she ran out from behind the shield that could stop bullets, she would be less likely to get killed by a bullet. This seemed like a very good idea to Chloe.

We all make stupid decisions sometimes, when we’re dreaming.

Chloe bolted out from behind cover. She made it five steps before tripping and falling to her knees again. The skeleton took aim. A split second before he could fire, a woman in a red dress appeared on the island. She was sitting in a chair, and she seemed insubstantial, in a way, like she only half-existed. Her hand shot out to the side, catching the bullet meant for her head, right before disappearing again.

Back in the restaurant, Chloe became completely substantial again. She was now holding a flattened bullet in the palm of her hand. “As I was saying, there’s a fifteen-year-old version of myself here, and a skeleton with a gun just tried to kill her. So, time travel related stuff. That’s pretty weird.”

On the island, a golden ring fell into Chloe’s hands. Though she had no evidence of this, she felt certain, as one often does in their dreams, that this was The One Ring to Rule Them All. She put it on her finger, and sure enough, it made her invisible.

But instead of seeing Sauron’s eye off in the distance, she saw a woman in a red dress.

The skeleton fired his gun at the other girl under the impression it was Morgan who had left her shield behind, but his bullet was stopped by some chick in a red dress! Whatever aint like that bullet was meant for her anyway, she could keep it, hell if he cared! Then the chick slipped something on her finger and became invisible, the hell was this kid?! Hed have to fight her after he took care of Morgan. He aimed his gun back at the shield.

"Yo! That was pretty risky of your friend to jump out of the way like that, coulda got shot if not for that lady in the read dress, the hell was that anyway? That her stand or something?" the skeleton said cackling "Whatever, it dont matter what she got, my gun will take care of it.". He made a weird motion with the gun and put it behind his back for a second "Alright Morgan! Say your prayers cause this is it! My finishing move!" he pulled his hand out from behind his back and his revolver had been replaced by a massive railgun, he charged up the weapon and readied a shot to fire at Morgan.

Morgan pushed the shield forward with all her strength causing it to collide with the barrel of the skeletons railgun, she used the opportunity to lunge forward and create a cartoonishly large hammer and slam it against her opponents torso. The hammer shattered apon hitting the skeleton, but it managed to knock him off balance, and it knocked the railgun out of his hand. The railgun quickly returned to its original shape, though if anyone were to attempt to use it, the gun would only fire blanks.

"Welcome home," came a voice that seemed to be both everywhere and nowhere. It was frightening to him not see what was talking to him. Of all the times for him to now have his gun staff, of course it would be--

His staff was in his hands. Of course it was in his hands, it was always in his hands. Wei never left home without it, you never knew when you would need to defend yourself against disembodied evil creatures that entered your home without your permission...

Except he was having a distinctly difficult time seeing whoever it was until.

Snap snap. Like fingers, snapping to get his attention. "Over here." He whirled around almost one hundred and eighty degrees, a scowl on his face, looking ready to fight only to actually, literally drop his staff on the floor with a clatter. The Monkey King.

But--how was--he said--but the ring!

"You... how are you here? You--You said--" Wei's mouth opened and closed like a fish as the monkey king sat with his legs crossed on their low, crooked table, his body possessing an ethereal glow, his fur mostly matured golds and reds in a wild but respectable mane. The shorter monkey was hyperventilating. Oh god, he thought he'd never see the Monkey King again. "You said I could only talk to you with--"

"--the Jade Ring?" he finished helpfully, leaning his cheek on his own staff, made of shining iron and much larger than Wei's puny staff, which was now sporting dents and pocks from years of use.

He wanted to hide how poorly he'd been maintaining his final gift from his--oh god, was the Monkey King his mentor?

"Silly child. You have the ability to commune with all manners of spirits and immortals. It's not my fault if you never attempted to talk to me."

"But I have!" He insisted. "Every night when I dream I try to talk to you but all I get instead are--"

"--Nightmares?"

"If you know all of this then why didn't you come to me?"

The monkey king cracked a smile and straightened up. "Well. This is your first dream connected to other people."

Wei looked confused.

"You haven't encountered anyone else," The monkey king explained, holding out a spinning orb that showed scenes from elsewhere in the dream. "But there are other people on the island connected to the same dream you are, all dreaming in the same space.

You are a great student HuSun, and I believe you will do amazing things. But you're still just a child, still just starting to learn about what you can do. It's because of them, stabilizing the dream, that I can be here without causing an incredible strain on your body. So. It's been a long time."

Emotions welled up, filled every nook and cranny of his being. He didn't know how to react. The Monkey King was a familiar face on an island where no one was really his friend, he was a teacher when no one seemed to know exactly what he needed to learn. But the Monkey King had also left him alone without a single bit of correspondance in years. Years! He refused to believe that he couldn't have just dropped a letter under his pillow as immortal and omniscient that the Monkey King described himself to be.

Wei hung his head.

"You're upset." It was a statement of fact.

"No."

"You're mad at me for leaving you alone like that."

"No 'm not."

"I left you with questions I should have been there to answer and I'm sorry."

Wei lifted his head only a little, looking at the Monkey King through his eyelashes.

Silence.

"Right. Well, to make it up to you, I'll answer any two questions you have completely truthfully. No lies, no tricks. I'm an open book."

Evante twitched as he seemed to come to, pale blue eyes scanning the surrounding with a wariness not normally seen in the goofy young man. Too many times he had come too close to the business end of swords, guns, and axes to ever truly relax upon awakening in a new environment. Once he deemed his environment safe, if not necessarily reality, he relaxed, tense features lighting up with childish glee. He was surrounded by piles upon piles of Rubik's Cubes.

Humming happily, demi-Titan got to his feet, bending down to scoop two of the cubes up before wandering off, fiddling with one while the other lay snug in the crook of his elbow. Eventually, his meandering brought him to the area with the most people-- some seemed to be off in their own worlds, while others took stock of the dreamers around them. "The imagination truly is an odd miracle." He murmured to himself, then shrugged, shuffling into a smithy that had suddenly appeared-- or had it always been there?— and proceeding to create several large explosions that had fire-work-like balls of metal flying right through the roof of the smithy and out in random directions.