JAWS • DECEMBER 2025 EVENT/TDM

[uruz]

TDM & EVENT: JAWS

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Show Me Those Pretty White Jaws

The dream has been coming in waves for those new to Sleep's touch, as a shoreline that never stays still. As a sky that never remembers to include its stars. Beneath it all, there is a voice. Her voice: silk-sweet, coaxing from just beyond the approaching wave that towers like a moving mountain. She tells you to come home. She promises it won't hurt, even if she never tells you what waits beneath. You see the shape just before the dream ends: a massive black tidal wave, yawning wide and black until it looks like a pair of jaws breaking upon you. You don't have time to resist.

You and your veteran Vessels will awaken in water.

There is no surface. No bottom. No sky. No sound but your own heartbeat and the echoes of water being slashed though, dull and endless in the still, frigid dark. You are suspended, weightless— Some may have difficulty to breathe without inhaling water the first few times, while those aligned with the waves will feel it come like second nature. Once you acclimate yourself, you'll notice that around you drift glowing filaments; thin, pulsing threads that coil like jellyfish tendrils, softly luminescent. They curl and twist through the water, and when you look closer, you realize: they show you things. Memories, maybe. Dreams, maybe. Each one unique to your gaze: a hand reaching for yours in the dark, a goodbye that never finished, a face you haven't seen in years. They are what you think love looks like. What you once needed it to be. And when you touch them, they wrap around you, gently, warmly . . . Hungrily— and begin to pull you down.

To ascend into the next level, you must let go. But not everything that binds you wants to be released. The filaments drifting through the water show you what you think love looks like— what you've built it into. They are gentle at first, beautiful even, but the longer you cling, the more they pull.

There are ways to escape them: You may bind your filament with another's and together speak aloud a shared truth: what you believe love really is. If your hearts align or at the very least come to an agreement, the threads dissolve into light and lift you upward. If your beliefs clash or contradict, the threads knot tighter, and something . . . May take interest in you.

Beneath you, something moves. Huge, silent and almost regal. It glides through the deep like a phantom, almost too large to be real. You feel its presence before you see its flash of pearl white and glowing red eyes, three on each side of its face: a shark.

The shark is here to choose its next meal. It smells grief, fear and seeks out trauma most of all. It is drawn to the most unspoken parts of you, the very parts you thought were buried, roused from the tightened ropes of what you crave in your heart. And when it chooses you, it does not bite immediately. It invites, with its jaws opening like a sanctuary and slow towards you.

Inside is I, whispers Sleep. Allow Me to have you whole, and you will be at peace. Show Me love.

Fight against her, or even with your current partner about what love is, and Sleep will open her maw, spilling tendrils from her throat and begin to stalk you. Best be prepared to fight the possessed Megalodon— She will laugh, amused as you do, like a great cat playing with its food. And if you were to be caught, well. You'll wake in the dream's next level with an undeniable prey drive, whether Token or Offering.

She will do anything to keep you here.

NOTES:

• There is no surface visible at first. Light only comes from the filaments. As characters resist, act, or ascend, a faint stained-glass shimmer begins to pulse upward, hinting at the dream's next layer.
• Sound is muffled— speech emerges as bubbles, but meaning travels regardless. Words feel heavy here. Some phrases may literally change the water (turn to light, birth dream-objects, or ripple with tension). You will do better using The Murmur as a means of communication. Luckily you have your mask on!
• The Shark always circles once it senses trouble within you. Sometimes close, sometimes far, but always felt. If characters listen closely, they can hear the echo of One's voice coming from inside it: pleading with a haunted, at times screaming melody.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• The dream bends subtly around Tokens, especially at the whims of an Aquamancer. Walls of pressure open before them, and filaments shift course as if expecting them. This can make their path easier, unless they start to doubt their purpose.
• Tokens perceive emotional resonance as currents in the water such as subtle flows of energy. These can guide them (or others) toward escape paths, or signal when the shark is near.
• When a Token speaks or acts with strong intent, the dream sometimes translates it into a symbolic structure: A word might become a floating glyph. A gesture might alter the filament's shape. A moment of clarity might reveal a hidden path. Other characters can interact with these dream-objects, but they're fragile, unstable, and prone to distortion by doubt.
• The deeper Tokens go, the more they feel themselves pulling apart and begin to experience dual awareness: one part dreaming, one part watching— some may even see flashes of within the shark's belly, and One's voice much louder. The deeper they go, the more detached they become, and the more they lack the ability to act at all.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• The shark is more fascinated by Offerings. It circles them often, sensing kinship— or potential. The more monstrous the Offering, the more the shark "pauses' near them, almost curious.
• Offerings feel "the pull" more clearly, particularly Merrows and other aquatic-based Offerings—they can sense where the surface might be, and where the shark intends to strike next. They may even see pulses in the water that others miss, similar to Spider Man's "spidey senses".
• An Offering may experience rapid body changes submerged. Fins may appear, bones may shift, teeth may lengthen without warning and so on. This makes their movement easier or harder, depending on how much of themselves they're holding back or how apt their monstrous forms are at swimming.
• Some Offerings may feel drawn to the shark— not in fear, but in understanding. They may see themselves in it, and vice versa— One's song in particular is hypnotic, and for split moments you may understand his pain through his words. This might make you more prone to being consumed, though, so hopefully your partner can help you out of it—?.

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Watching Me With Eyes Of A Predator

The surface you breach is not water— it's glass.

You strike it with the force of falling sky. It fractures beneath you in a bloom of painted light. For one weightless moment, the dream hesitates, sputters. Then the world shatters, and you fall with the cascade.

Water pours through the crack in the ceiling, carrying you down in ribbons of color and a shattering splash. Stained glass shards drift like petals through the now collapsing roof, and you eventually land not in sand, but upon a cathedral floor, slick with tide. Around you, the water spreads, pooling across the stone and swallowing the walls in a rising hush as it finds escape through the doors.

The cathedral is vast, impossibly so. Its architecture towers, crooked and immaculate, built more from longing than stone. No altar awaits you. No congregation. Only the sensation of having trespassed into something meant to be private. Veteran Vessels may recognize this cathedral as St. Patrick's— before it was drenched in One's blood sacrifice.

High above and surrounding you, the stained-glass mosaics churn with captured light. f you linger beneath one of the window's rays, your appearance may begin to change under the light. You appear as someone else sees you. Be it a hero. A monster. A disappointment. A god. A weakness. A temptation. Even a burden. That version of you clings to your dream-body like a second skin; uncomfortable, intimate, and undeniable. For some, it may be beautiful. For others, unbearable.

If you and another stand beneath the same window, you may each appear as the other secretly imagines. There is no control and no negotiation. Only truth twisted through the lens of want, resentment, fear, or love. And it doesn't go away until you leave the light.

Eventually, the cathedral doors open by dream's will. Beyond them lies a cloister garden: narrow paths, pale trees, and wild flowers that bloom in stillness. At the far end, behind the overgrowth and ruined arches, you see a hollow.

It is a corridor where the dream collapses inward, twisting, warped, half-swallowed in fog and dread. Its stones pulse faintly beneath a shallow film of water. Black tendrils reach from its depths like roots, veins, twitching toward sound, warmth, and movement. You see them dragging matter into the earth, and between them lie bones, contorted and fresh, half-consumed.

And farther still, a body that still breathes. Glimpsed only briefly, A masked man's form is stretched by the hollow's gravity, arms pinned behind the veil. He does not move, or speak. Or perhaps, he cannot. The hollow does not let him go and will not, should you make your attempts. If you step foot in the hollows that have consumed him, you too will be consumed. A three eyed Tod sits at the hollow's edge, a single bushy tail splitting into three, as its body plays with illusion like smoke put to dance over fire. It says, as its head floats up and its maw splits into a grin too cheshire to ignore: Wearing shoes, yet no feet in sight. You'll hear steps pound in the death of night. What is it that you need, to cross this narrow blight?

It disappears and only leaves you the riddle to chew on.

Nothing living can cross the hollow, you'll soon find. Nothing except . . . The Nightmares.

Just outside the garden's boundary, you'll find horses built from wind and shadow, flickering at the edge of your vision. Their bodies are black— not the color, but the absence, swallowing all light. Some of their craniums cound be seen, others have a jutting horn of bone from their foreheads. Where eyes should be, there are six: three stacked on each side of the skull, glowing dimly red like distant embers beneath ice. Their manes flow like torn fabric, like drifting vapor that trails behind them like the smoke from a snuffed candle. Their maws are too damn wide to be herbivorous, yet they seem to enjoy the act of grazing. They wait, unchained and wild in a herd.

This is the only way forward. Only they can pass through the hollow untouched. But how to ride one—? You may chase them. You may plead, command, kneel. You may offer them all your need and all your love, promises that you will provide if they become your steed. But they were not made to answer it. For every Vessel, there is one single Nightmare that will choose them, and thus you will choose each other. They have their own personalities, some more aggressive or shyer than others. The harder you reach, the faster they vanish or harshed they will attack if unready. Try to mount one through force, and you'll regret ever trying. Try to bind one, and it will break you.

But if you are patient, if you figure out its nature and how to please it— your Nightmare may come closer. One may circle you. It may bow its head. Their snort is warm and real against your palm. If successful, it will lower itself to its knees. If you've got the height, they will simply wait, patiently, for you to get on their backs (Or not; there are plenty of sassy mares out there).

If you accept, you might not be taken somewhere safe, but you will be taken somewhere true, away from here. And if you force your want upon them, if you cannot let go— you will be left with something else.

In the distance, across the flooded cathedral floor, you may see One again. Flashes, glimpses. Always chasing a mare he never reaches, or the opposite— the mare chases after him.

NOTES:

• If a character successfully forms a bond with their Nightmare, it will return with them in the form of a waking world steed, officially introduced in the next event. You're free to give it the personality you wish.
• If a character attempts to force a connection with a Nightmare at any point (tries to catch, mount, command, etc.), the mare will bite or kick, which Vessels will suffer as a persistent dream-mark that will carry into the waking world.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• Light clings unnaturally to Tokens in the cathedral, especially near the stained glass. It bends around their bodies like a false halo, casting them in divine or monstrous outlines depending on who watches.
• If a Token casts or channels any magic within the cathedral or near a Nightmare, the spell does not manifest, but instead, a cold mist escapes their mouth, and the Nightmare turns to look. The dream rejects force.
• When a Nightmare looks directly at a Token, their eyes eclipse, pupils vanishing into rings of shadow. In that moment, a fragmented vision floods the Token's mind . . . not from the Nightmare, but from another character nearby. It shows the Token how that character once dreamed of them, what they feared, needed, or hoped they would become.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• The stained glass causes a subtle change in scent and physical appearance turning into a more grotesque version of this— Offerings begin to smell or look like what others most want from them.
• Offerings may always know where the Nightmares are, even when hidden. But the more they try to act on this knowledge, the harder the Nightmares are to reach.
• An Offering's body will react before they realize it, flinching from lies, bristling in moments of emotional pressure, pulling away from contact, and so on. They may startle even at gentle contact, as if something inside them is as reactive as they are.

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Where The Delicate Stops

As your Nightmare takes you through the misty hollow, you may begin to notice the empty city of Manhattan as veterans remember. There is no warning but the eerie silence that surrounds you like impossible weights. The cathedral once behind you folds inward— wrong, deep and full of pressure. It bursts through the hollow's path, through the city's street, and then— The dream ruptures.

Stone peels backward like paper. Glass liquefies mid-air. The sky above the city pulls itself inside out. Time bends sideways. And from the edges of the dream, something, someone, begins to hunt. Sleep's presence moves like the very shark she chose as a vision of her physical manifestation. She does not speak or rage. But you feel Her, rising like fever beneath the skin of Her world as the hairs at the back of your neck do. She does not want you this deep, and neither does One.

Somewhere within the collapse, you may see them— entwined, shifting, trembling. One's face is turned toward you, screaming something that doesn't reach your ears. Sleep's hands are tangled in his body. She pulls him back with a gentleness that breaks the sky, and he screams, reaching for you with his last breath before consumption. The dream convulses.

The Nightmares bolt with you still on them.

The city rises to meet you from the shadows, but it's not the city you know. Skyscrapers twist at unnatural angles. Streets flood, then dry, then flood again. Tendrils burst from subway grates and gutters, slashing upward like tongues. Streetlights spin like compass needles. Cars levitate, crash, freeze midair. You move through it all at breakneck speed, but the exit keeps shifting— a hole in the world that flickers just beyond reach where you see your body, fast asleep.

Somewhere in the chaos, a few Nightmares are caught. Sleep strikes like lightning— she coils like a viper and tightens like a vice. One touch from Her, and your Nightmare collapses mid-gallop, its body unraveling into smoke and light. No sound. No scream. Just absence. And you fall right off it like a ragdoll.

Others fall beneath impact, too— a wrong turn, a shattered wall, a burst of heat from One's grief. A broken leg. A crash. A wound too deep to ride through. If your steed is lost, you fall. And if no one reaches for you, you stay fallen. Others are near, and their Nightmares still run. All of you have a terrible dread in your bones— if you are caught or left behind, the consequences will be dire. You might not even wake up. So, call out. Cling. Climb. Share. Two Vessels on one mount. Anything to survive and flee as the dreamscape tightens its wrathful grip around you.

Sleep calls inside your spine. You can't make out what She says. One answers, the same blur of garbled words in your marrow. And then, just before the dream can take you, just before you reach an exit— you rise.

Your body lifts from the Nightmare as it paddles the air with desperation, it too rising. You're pulled upward, weightless, as if a thread inside your heart has been yanked by a furious god. You float, twist in the air. Your vision glows white.

We've got you.

And then you wake up— mid-air in the waking world.

Your body slams into your bed, floor, street, soil, wherever it was that you had slept. Reality greets you with terrible impact.

NOTES

• If a character does not find a mount in time, they may be caught in the dream collapse. They still wake— but they wake broken. These characters may wake up bruised, disoriented, or emotionally fragmented, and this can be explored in the next waking world event.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• Any Tether they feel becomes unstable—splintered. For brief moments, they feel it breaking and re-forming again and again, with slight differences each time.
• The more emotionally charged they are, the more the dream pulls toward them; tendrils snap faster, debris veers unnaturally close.
• Their body flickers with signs of their own magic—sigils, symbols, runes— burning just beneath the surface of their skin like constellations. These glow brighter as the dream collapses, as if trying to tear free.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• Where Offerings are grazed or injured, they bleed light, not red. It floats up like mist.
• They hear One's heartbeat, not theirs, and it speeds in panic. It affects their own pulse, the mare under them . . .
• The Nightmare no longer follows the Offering's will—it will respond to their fear instead.

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OOC NOTES

➤ Welcome to Somnia's third TDM, which doubles as the month's gamewide event!
➤ This TDM is considered game canon. You are free to have your character remember as many details as possible when they wake up.
➤ Only new characters are free to experiment with the Vessel options, Token or Offering to your liking; this is a dreamscape, so multiple/different situations for you to really test which option you like most is possible. Current characters must remain as their chosen Vessel type unless you requested a switch, which can be done on the Taken page.
➤ All TDMs take place within a dreamscape, meaning characters can interact with the setting without needing to apply. Come have fun with us!
➤ Veteran players, I ask to please refrain from making post-event threads for the time being! We have some important information to take into account in next month's event when characters are slated to "wake up". At the very least, please wait for the information to be offered on the next plotting post. Thank you everyone for your patience!
➤ Please comment on the TDM's INVITE TL if you are a new player interested in joining the game, but don't yet have an invite. Current players or the mod may reach out to extend an invite. Once you've got one, please don't forget to comment on the Invite page so you may properly link it in your reserve and app.
➤ Questions? Please direct them to the designated questions comment linked below!

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Comments

lee seonghae / gdcg / new player

[dollpin]

show me those pretty white jaws!

( how long has she been here? she couldn't say, but it's been long enough that she wades through these waters like she was meant to be here, her giggle bell-like in the depths as filaments brush across skin not otherwise covered by her suit.

these little things offer quite the nice dream, visions she can't say she fully understands as it's nothing she's ever seen in life. picturesque in its perfected happiness. directed, framed, cut and edited.

this, to her, is 'love'!

but she can feel something else out here, something sonorous in the chorus of life and warmth. it sticks out because of it. it makes her want to see. to chase. to find out why. how could something still be so sad when surrounded by such a lovely scene?

she should know better than to seek something like that out, though. it's not as if she's unaware of the dangers, but going for the odd point of the picture and getting at the heart of the story is just the sort of thing they do as daydream employees.

and she'll do so armed with the most curious thing, a glow-in-the-dark sticker that shouldn't be as illuminating as it is, stuck to the back of her hand as she looks this way and that. )

I think it's a little shy.. ( she's talking, but her eyes stay locked in a point in space further ahead. ) Maybe if we struggled more it'll come closer? I think fish like thatt. ~

( surely she doesn't mean to lure the giant scary shark over?? )

watching me with the eyes of a predator.

( a new awareness seizes her here, similar to that draw from the shark but for more. thinking on it more makes her think that it isn't an apt word for it; it is less a draw than it is simply that, an awareness. a knowledge that there are even more things she cannot see beyond the ruined walls of the cathedral, edging further and further away the more she pursues.

which means there are plenty of ways one could encounter this one in this space. without much more clue than the riddle to chew on, she's off to investigate to supplement what she does not know.

⟡ stepping like she's frolicking amidst the crumbling stone, poking her head here and there and flittering in and out of the light cast by the shattered, colored glass. first impressions are easy. she's a cheerful sort, brightens up when called on, will even excitedly tell whoever she's with to step in and out of the beam of light when she notices what it does. but it's a vision that could get distorted if they'd seen her rescue attempt before this.

⟡ before the man stands the woman in her suit, pulling with a force just below what she thinks those joints of his could bear. she does not know she cannot hurt or maim him if she tried, so she stops before she tears something. that makes this a failure of a rescue attempt, but she does not mourn it, merely crouching in front of him with her hands folded neatly over her knees as hums something about it being a shame he can't tell her what had happened.

⟡ and lastly, her dealings with the mares. breaking in wild horses isn't exactly something people can just do even at the best of times, and these ones aren't exactly normal. it's not long until a yelp rings out, followed by an impact of body into some bushes and the galloping away of an indignant nightmare. she's full of twigs and leaves by the time she crawls out, and she's reaaally sorry if she scared you! hello there! do you maybe know how to break in horses!

normal things girls get up to when at a vista like this, obviously. )

wildcard and notes!

aka the fuck it we ball section. there's lots of stuff i didn't get to do in the tl and i'm down for it if that's what you wanna do. if you wanna plot stuff out or discuss some stuff, hmu in pms! i didn't settle on a specific offering for her but that's what i'm gonna play around with in the tdm. like, merrow and seraph seems like the obvious choice for miss dolphin but there's so many fun ones.......

!!!!!!! > predator / mares

[dedicate]

[ as for agent choi, following the sound of a nearby yelp will reveal to him a young lady dressed head to toe in a suit, all bounce and bubble even after being rewarded for her efforts with a crash landing into the nearest bush. his own attitude is little different, smile on his face as he reaches out, offering a hand to pull her out and up. then it's a once-over to asses the damage and extract any other information that a momentary glance might be able to offer him. ]

Hm? No, no, the horses don't seem to like me too much either, haha~

[ maybe they can smell the predator scent that clings to him in the waking world? it's too bad, but he doesn't mind some human company as a consolation prize. ]

But hey, I haven't seen your face around before.

wow mr. k lee himself!!

[dollpin]

( oh, my! well, isn't that a familiar face indeed. last she recalls, there was a noose around that neck, yanked away like a bad actor forced off the stage before his performance was even over.

she tilts her head about it, but still she carefully takes the hand. it's a nice gesture to help her out, so she shouldn't spurn it just because something feels a little strange, even if that very instinct is what's kept her alive for all of her tenure with daydream. )

Did you forget about me already, Mister Agent?

( it's her turn to look him up and down, less subtly than when he'd done it. his neck is where her eyes land for a good beat, but she meets his gaze before long. )

Are you feeling okayy?

round 2 but this time for real

[dedicate]

[ ?

her words hit him like a brick to the head. his smile doesn't falter, but someone as perceptive as herself will be able to tell—from the moment she says it, it becomes a little bit too still, agent choi's mind beginning to race. of course, the first thing to do regardless of what's happening internally is reassure: ]

Oh, I'm fine. Just fine.

[ and then consider. think. he's not the type to forget a face, after all, no matter how briefly they might have crossed paths. the fact that he has—does it have to something to do with his time in manhattan? it can't have been before; he'd been attending his checkups diligently.

there's just no other way, right? someone like him, he's serious about this kind of thing. really. but just in case, he asks: ]

Sorry, can you remind me where we met, Miss?

[dollpin]

( for some reason, even though she doesn't really know him all that well, he strikes her as the kind of man who can reassure her that he's fine just like that even if he were bleeding all over the floor. ever-smiling, just like that one director he seems to have some beef with. )

Is this another trick questionn?

( it doesn't look it. still worth asking though!

but in the event that it's his memory that's the issue, she doesn't think it wise to overwhelm him too much with what she knows. they're still in volatile territory, and she does not know him well enough to know how he'd react to something like that.. all she knows is that he's a very capable man who's very good at impaling strange directors with swords!

worst case, this isn't even his face and is someone(thing) else entirely. )

You reached out to me for a little bit of help looking for someone!

( true, but harmless enough without getting into how he reached out to her or how she thought he's like, dead? )

[dedicate]

[ that's a talent of his indeed, but her comments are helpful enough to guide him without being too shocking. it rubs him the wrong way that he's the one at a disadvantage regardless of everything else, but in the same vein, the bait she chooses to use is perhaps the most effective of all. ]

Roe Deer then, huh. I definitely wouldn't have forgotten about something like that though.

[ seeing that suit of hers in a new light now. it's not hard to understand what would have pushed him to such lengths as to reach out to who he can only assume is a daydream inc. employee for help—it's the fact that not only does she know about it, but he'd even gone so far as to reach out to her first. did he find some kind of clue related to her? but even then, he can't just go approaching random daydreamers; he'd have needed some kind of collateral too.

his mind turns and turns, and the result that he finally reaches is this: ]

But you don't seem too bothered even though you're from that cult company and I'm an agent, so I take it things went amicably, yeah? Why don't you tell me what I should call you.

watching me with the eyes of a predator.

[roedeer]

[ this darkness goes on and on, on and on.

backtracking only gets him so far, he's unable to reach the water world which is a flaw to him. it forces the player to move forward and that's all soleum can do is move forward when he's like this. in the cathedral, light spawns down upon them causing their reflections to shift left and right. he's grown accustomed to this especially when he's been trying to understand the layout and find a backdoor out of this darkness.

much like sekwang technical high school.

there has to be an item that pops this world and allows them to exit, if only he could find it. soleum kneels down, bare hands pushing around the shards of glass in case there's a trap door. no matter where he sweeps them, the palm of his hands start to bleed, the side of his fingers have been cut, but soleum doesn't give up.

as long as he keeps it up then there has to be some way, right?

smack, smack, smack.

a rough thump of something trying to break through, sometimes when he looks at the mirror, he can see hands on the other side. they smack against the surface laving behind red, defined handprints of different sizes: some small, others large, and even the number of fingers are never the same.

smack, smack, smack.

the sound goes again, and soleum notes the sound of voices not too far away. ignoring the mirrors that are toying with him, it doesn't take long for him to find the owner, and soleum's eyes widen behind his mask only briefly. in the mirror as the girl steps in and out of the light, soleum can only wonder if this is right, if this place is messing with him again?

seonghae.

seonghae.

he left her behind, but he wanted to rectify that, he wanted to get her back because he had messed up.

though what if this is a trick, even though the actions she displays adds up. ]

Ms. Dolphin?

[ even in his voice there's a "is that really you?" ]

[dollpin]

( she knew if she disturbed the place enough, something will get stirred up eventually in the disturbance. it would seem her hunch was right!

just not in the way she thought it'd happen.

the voice is familiar, recognizable even if most the time she's spent with him has been in bodies that were not his own. maybe it's a lingering effect of her time with the yellow mascot, but she knows with certainty that this isn't another play of the fickle darkness. there's simply no way that some other can influence that tie. not if it's - )

Mister Roe Deerr!

( her face bright, eyes sparkling with wonder, rushing over to the mirror with the same excitement of a girl who's seen her favorite toy in display in the shop window.

she knows in her mind that he should be dead. that he took her place when the forest dangled a noose in front of them. this man made sure she boarded the train even if it meant he didn't, and it's a level of selflessness so rarely seen that she can't help but be warmed by the gesture. if only more people were like him. the world would be a much better place indeed!

but it also means that he shouldn't be here. not unless this is just past the forest.. which she doubts. )

You don't look so good? Did you eat something bad?

[roedeer]

[ does he look unfit, horrible, is it the bags under his eyes that convey his tiredness? his mind has been working terribly hard, even now, he's having issues accepting the sight before him, bt who else would it be? even as she closes the distance between the light, he sees a woman with a halo above her head, when she's no longer under the light then she becomes normal.

blanketed again? he notes angel wings, but they turn and curl, eyes peek through underneath the feathers until she's no longer in the light.

what is he seeing? ]

...It's been awhile since I've eaten anything at all.

[ as 130666, that luxury is gone from him, he doesn't get that satisfaction, and within the darkness there's no time to eat a thing.

he's found her, she doesn't seem to be hurt, nor does she show any signs of contamination due to how this cathedral works. with a sigh, soleum regains his composure on the situation, just because he found her doesn't mean he can relax. ]

Though, it's not the time for that. How do you feel?

[dollpin]

Has it? I didn't think it's been that longg. I still have a snack or two if you need any!

( .. it hasn't been that long for her, anyway. the sharing of rations and watching a man starved of nutrition put away all that shelf-stable food was quite the sight indeed. how could she forget? it's why she asked. it's possible he ate too fast, too soon and upset something. maybe?

but my, mister roe deer has found himself in a different shape yet again! it's a good thing she's so used to seeing him a little changed, or she'd be taken quite aback by the new silhouette for what, the third time? maybe next time she'll see him as a pink rabbit.

actually, now that she squints, in the light he definitely looks more mascot than freaky gas mask smoke creature stuffed into a suit? wow! so maybe they went back to that board game somehow? did he bring them to relative safety? it's just like him to figure something like that out.

but anyway, he's asking her a question so she's looking over herself just in case, items and all, but eventually she holds a thumbs up his way. what she sees pretty much checks out with her! )

What's with the mirror, though? Is it safe to break so I can join you over there?

( definitely not a weird or scary thing to hear something in a mirror say, )

[roedeer]

Ms. Dolphin, you know the rules of breaking mirrors.

[ in the light, yes, he is adorned in that attire he knows so well, miraculously he doesn't find this unnerving. for a moment, he does close his eyes to remind him that he has his body back, and that his love for the theme park hasn't corrupted his mind. the love for his staff doesn't overwhelm him, but still, it's a part of himself, so he welcomes it with ease. ]

We wouldn't want to place you under any years of bad luck. You already went missing once.

[ if only he could make light of it.

staring at his body, the creature takes a step forward still within the light for seonghae to see him as a mascot—

no, no, no. he shouldn't grow accustomed to this within a different darkness, but it's easy, it doesn't feel like anything's changed.

holding out his stubby arms, the mascot sighs. ]

But, smashing them would limit how much light gets into the building. If we could find a tool...

eyes

[trashblaze]

[ One of Caelus's most notable traits is his optimism and inclination for hope. So, when he encounters this young lady at the cathedral, all he sees is her lovely form under these lights. Sweet, innocent smile, perfect hair and skin, and maybe a cute little dress to match. His female friends back home had already drilled it into his head that girls should always be treated nicely and appreciated properly. This comes naturally to him now.

Caelus doesn't hesitate to approach, quickly making himself known with that standout energy of his. He's smiling for her reassurance, then stops at a respectable distance, but still close enough to be considered friendly range. He sees that she's unharmed, so that brightens his expression a little more. But he can't assume from just visuals, so he tries to verify it. ]

Hey, there! Are you all right?

i was telling the soleum player like what if i did a 180 and kick the door down with sparkle (no)

[dollpin]

( and the girls of his corner of the universe is right! thank you for your service in helping raise a stellar young man who knows how to appreciate a cute girl when presented with one.

that he thinks to ask her if she's alright first before all else immediately colors her opinion of him, of course. she's worked with plenty who would've simply slinked on by without paying her much attention; concerned with their own safety, and no one else's.

she thinks she sees a wagging tail when he approaches, gone again in a blink when he steps beyond the reaches of the refracted light. )

Don't worry, I'm okayy!

( even after the shark and everything before this, chipper as can be.

which means she'll be the one to close the rest of the distance if he's going to stop so far away, her steps light as she waves her hand in greeting. )

You don't look hurt, so that's good! Wandering around all willy-nilly might get dangerous thoughh, so do you want to come with me? I was just checking to see maybe there's an underground passage or something.

SPARKLE!! 🥺 Ah, but regardless of who, I will fully appreciate either one ✨

[trashblaze]

[ Forever appreciating the girls and ladies, it's true. That's what Caelus learned to adjust to when he's constantly encountering so many independent women back in his universe. Any of them will beat his raccoon ass if he doesn't.

It seems he just met another. Reflexively, he nods right away, wanting to keep her good mood. Though, to be fair, he still would've nodded either way. He doesn't want to leave her alone, not in a dangerous place like Sleep's nightmare. Staying together will be a lot safer. ]

I'm glad you're not hurt, either. And, yes, you can count on me. I'll have your back!

[ The sincerity in his voice is true, especially paired with his brave eyes. He's not just saying that, he means it. ]

Also, I'm Caelus, the Galactic Baseballer! It's nice to meet you.

[dollpin]

( that's quite the title he has! she'll use that to refer to him, then. she's still under the assumption that this is a darkness to be explored, which means the usage of real names is inadvisable given they don't know the real nature of it. )

It's myyyy pleasure! You can call me 'Dolphin', for now. ~

( like her name is some kinda reward he can have once they escape? it's really not that special. )

Did you see anything strange on the way here, by the way? Something that you feel an unnatural draw to, for instance!

( standard question, as far as she's concerned. just sussing out the place as well as his current mental state - )

[trashblaze]

[ What an adorable alias. Caelus will be glad to call her that and look forward to learning her true name eventually. ]

Sure thing, Dolphin.

[ With introductions out of the way, Caelus ponders on her question. There's always something strange in Sleep's dreams. He's never experienced peace for long in them. Even this seemingly quiet space might not remain safe for long. ]

I do feel a pull sometimes, but I always try my best to fight them. You wouldn't want to give in to those whispers or illusions. It's how Sleep attempts to pull people closer to her influence. It's called Succumbence.

predator 2-> dude check this loser out?

[inverseye]

[ It's a regular Daydream alumni reunion. Hypothetically, this bodes poorly on the company's ability to manage whatever Darkness is in Sleep's dominium. If Saheon keeps running into Field Operation's team members, they must really be on the ropes, and he's not even certain they'll get backpay since he arrived here without a Dream Collector. Hopefully it won't be another situation like Manor of the Blind, with thirty or more of his annoying co-workers running amuck here.

Saheon's impression of Assistant Manager Dolphin are fairly limited, so she appears much as she does in the halls of the company, a tiny women bursting with energy. If her teeth are a little sharp, her hands blacked and bloody, well that's not an absurd vision of Saheon's direct superior would probably leave him for dead with her famous moral absolution.

He ends up walking up beside her as she pulls at trapped mans arm in a fruitless struggle. ]

Assistant Manager.

[ So polite! Isn't he such a great underling? Saheon's always dotting all his i's and crossing all his t's when it comes to anyone from the upper teams. Promote him, will you? ]

There's no point trying to save a hallucination in a dream.

woowww saheon so behaved

[dollpin]

Mmmm?

( she perks - a voice she recognizes - that's someone from the company!

not that she knows him, but she's encountered him before. on the way to a different job with butterfly and roe deer, the train that she ended up jumping out of quite a few times. he was pretty helpful to them then, as she recalls. she didn't butt in whenever roe deer would talk to him, but even from afar there's something about it that looks.. strained? on his end, anyway. )

Fancy meeting you again, Supervisor! ~

( or maybe cowed is the better word, but hey. the man's hardworking if motivated and encouraged properly, so they're peachy keen so long as he continues to behave! )

It's worth trying. He might have something to say? ( a hallucination, though.. he doesn't think this guy's real, even though they both see and experience him as is? which means he's already dismissed the possibility that this is a stranded civilian, and she can't help but wonder why. )

Are you feeling okayy? ( or, if he's not sure how to answer that: ) Does this guy look special to you, maybe?

( he sort of did zero in on the guy that roe deer needed to talk to even though none of them have been in the car before.. which to her says he's very likely an incredibly perceptive sort! )

[inverseye]

[ Even if it was a stranded civilian, what's he gonna do about it? They aren't here to save people! ]

Again? Er... Sure, miss.

[ He doesn't remember doing anything to deserve such a warm greeting, but hey, lets keep this ball of goodwill rolling. Saheon's probably got about ten minutes until he fumbles this good impression. ]

I haven't met him personally, but I can guess who it is.

[ He doesn't sound like he likes this individual very much. In fact, Saheon leans over Seonghae's head like he just might spit on him. ]

The bastard won't die.

[dollpin]

( it's okay! she remembers, and that's what matters! ♡ she also remembers a bunch of other stuff, but that's irrelevant.. until he makes it relevant.

like, rescue isn't the job, sure, but letting them suffer unnecessarily is no good either?

besides, there lies a possibility that they'd be a source of information. not that communication with the heavily contaminated is usually fruitful.. there might still be a clue rattling around in there somewhere. )

I see. ~

( is that something saheon should be saying in front of his face though? she's not sure. her disapproval is slight with the narrowing of her eyes, but she doesn't do much more than that beyond smile. )

Can you please tell me more about what you know?

[inverseye]

Uh, sure?

[ Saheon felt a chill down his spine just now... but it's been ages since he had to give a proper report, so he settles his mind by focusing on that.

He puts a hand to his mouth with a short cough. ]

I entered this Darkness... about three months ago? I didn't come with my Dream Collector, so I assumed it was unrelated to work. [ With this, he gives the assistant manager a hopeful look before continuing. ]

I would tentatively give this Darkness a C grade, with an potential to upgrade to B. This dream is only part of it, there is a larger area it has dominion over that resembles the city of New York. It's not hard to survive long term, but contamination is almost unavoidable.

[ With that out of the way, he points down at the man beneath them. ]

This...thing triggered a large scale contamination event last month. I am skeptical it's human, and have semi-credible information that it's death might be important for our escape condition.

predator, man

[sacral]

[ Between layers of the dream, this cloudy interstice is an dreary one to behold. Sunken, wet, too alive to be sacrificed, too dead to be saved. A perfect in between. Subaru stops a short way off from the one-sided struggle when he catches its motion on his peripherals. The garden's horizon and its nightmare herds are within distance, but he's drawn here first. It's not precisely a kind touch, but neither is it violently overt. Another perfect in between.

Carefully concealed behind the four eyes of his veil, his own two flinch soft in half-blindness. Pull, pull, tear. No give. This is the weight of sleep. ]

What would you ask, [ he ventures ] if you could save him?

[dollpin]

( she sounds thoughtful for a moment, like she's got a long list of questions handy and only able to pose one for the purposes of this even in a hypothetical.

given the circumstances, getting an answer at all would be surprising, so if they only had the time for one? )

'What would you like me to tell your loved ones', maybe.

( ? how does she think she's going to pass that sort of information on? she doesn't really know, but dying must be better than being stuck in this state, right? she's still weighing that one out like it's her judgement to pass. )

If I think he'd be stable after being removed, then that's different! I'd ask if he's seen anyone else. If he has, then: what he's seen them try, what happened to them, and where did they go.

( she finally turns to look at her new companion then, all smiles and cheery disposition like she's meeting an old friend, )

What do you think, is he salvageable?

[sacral]

[ Practical, pretty; funerary, friendly. He's quiet a moment to let her answer stretch along the fibers of the dream that bind them all together, gaze rising from her face to the trapped man's mask. Neither dead nor alive, asleep, but not dreaming the same as they do... as a practitioner, he's always been taught to have a reserved relationship with the divine, to navigate the balance between so as not to upset the boundary between human and god.

But his heart does soften slightly, more instinct than rationale. ]

No, not from this layer of the dream.

[ Subaru steps forward to stand beside her, lifting a gentle hand to the man's mask at his forehead. His magic hasn't worked since arriving in the cathedral, but the motion seems to seek resonance, anything that might tell them something more than they can see, that might ease some of his suffering. ]

He's here as a warning, at best. At worst... an example, I suppose.

[dollpin]

A warning..

( she had a feeling that might be the case. ghost stories are oft littered with examples, after all, and this is quite the textbook case.

and yet she does not intercept when he reaches for this man-made warning, her eyes following his hand to see what he might attempt next. his hand offers a gentler handling than hers, and it seems that something ought to have happened from the touch,

but didn't.

it's only then does she hop up to stand, hovering close to his side as she peeks around for a better look, her fingers now laced behind her back like this is merely some science project they're working on. magic isn't something she's a practitioner of, but there are items in her world that offer supernatural weal and woe. it's enough to infer, but she still has to fill in the blanks. )

What was supposed to happen there~?