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WHO: Anders, OPEN
WHERE: Dreamscape!
WHEN: Nighttime.
WARNINGS: N/A
SUMMARY: Anders goes to sleep and taps into his dream-walking powers which means he can enter your dreams and have a nice chat. You get to make up the scenario and it can be super outlandish since it's, y'know, dream-world.
FORMAT: Anything you want.

This wasn't the Fade. He could tell that right away what with his special mage super powers. It did not pull at him in the same way the Fade always did in Thedas. It felt more...malleable, like it was responding to what he remembered or wanted. Though, at the moment, being back in Circle tower was the last thing he needed.

He walked down the halls, pressing his hands against the doors and stone walls, feeling the texture underneath his palm. At first, he thought he might have been back--that he was captured some how and kept here the whole time under some spell. But there was something off. It was the Circle, but it wasn't the Circle. There was a shift and it deeply unsettled him.

Anders stopped in his tracks and turned to a wooden door on his right. He stepped back, observing carefully. This one was something. He didn't know what, but it felt like a low hum pulling him in by the hears. When he lowered his eyes, he noticed a light shining from underneath the door. Curious.

He checked for his staff, strapped securely to his back, before pushing on the door and venturing forth.

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[it had been one of those recurring dreams. the kind of dream that felt like it had been some sort of reality, but upon waking up, you'd know that to think such a thing would be stupid.

but for now, here she is, ruler of the world with everyone at her beck and call, lying poolside in her penthouse of a headquarters, wearing an emerald studded bikini with a grotesquely muscular blue man feeding her grapes. a thin, redheaded girl wearing a shock collar and an outfit resembling Shego's original catsuit stands vigilantly next to the reclining woman, acting as some kind of guard or a precious attack pet.

meanwhile, other people meander in and out of the dream room, wearing similar outfits and tidying up the place. one cautiously moves close to Shego, bearing a magazine.]

Madame Supreme One...

[the redhead flinches at the approach, an animal-like response, but the green-skinned woman waves her away and accepts the magazine, grabbing a grape off the cluster the blue man's holding and popping it in her mouth.]

Might as well get some poolside reading done before I have to go to that stupid meeting. [she snorts, crossing her legs and flipping open a page.] You gives a bunch of doofuses second-hand control of all the lesser counties, and all they do is whine whine whine. I'd kill them if I didn't want nothing to do with those lame places.

[the whole dream reeks of some sort of dystopia, but to Shego it seems very much like a utopia. she certainly seems to be enjoying this nonsensical relaxation.]

Oh.

[ Anders stares at the luscious scenery from where he standing, just a few steps from the door in case he needed to bolt. He recognizes that voice and when he moves in closer, he finds Shego in nothing, but her small clothes, being waited on. ]

I wonder, is this my dream or yours? Because it could go either way. [ He pipes up, looking appreciatively up and down her body. ]

[Shego drops the magazine down onto her lap, and stares at the intruder. the blue man feeding her grapes stops, and both he and the redhead start to head towards the man who dared to speak so casually to their ruler.

Shego presses the back of her hand against the chest of the man who stops, and grabs a remote that appears to materialize out of nowhere to shock the redhead into submission.]

And speaking of doofuses...look who finally decided to show.

[funny how dreams seem to just go with the flow. she stands and starts to approach Anders. what he says seems to catch her off-guard.]

...Dream? [her eyes narrow. she shakes her head and eyes Anders up and down.] Why aren't you wearing your uniform?

I hope my uniform is something skimpy. Ooo, do we match? [ His eyes shined, excited at the prospect of naughty uniforms with Shego. ]

[her eyes narrow even more and she snorts.]

You really are an idiot. But, if you are the best cabana boy Europe has to offer...

[she seems to doubt it. she snaps her fingers and the hulking blue man brings over green-and-black harlequin print board shorts.]

Now, put them on.

The best? I don't like to brag, but... [ He didn't know any Europe, but he is already liking where this is going. The big scary fellow steps forward with his 'uniform' and Anders almost laughs out loud. ]

Oh, you mean right here? If you insist, 'Supreme One'. [ Anders starts on unlatching the complicated clasps holding together his robes. ]

I'm not insisting. But, ehyeah. Right here. If you need help, Dr. D will be more than happy to assist you.

[the blue man turns and glares, but the glare she shoots back at him causes him to grumble and cross his arms, turning away from anders. she waves him away and turns around, headed over towards the pool to dip her feet in.

her judgmental frown remains, but she's not looking away. she rules the world, why does she care about the decency or indecency of those lower than her?]

When you're done you can start with my back.

No offense to your man servant, but my robes are delicate. [ He steps away from the hulking man to make a point and resumes removing his robes. It didn't take long to put on the shorts, modesty be damned in dream-world. He takes a moment just to preen shamelessly before joining Shego poolside. ]

A bit tight around the thighs. Or is that just how you like it?

[she gets a better look at him as he approaches, and basically sizes him up.]

It's your uniform. You'll deal.

[she points at her shoulders, rolling them back and cracking her neck.]

Now start massaging. I haven't got all day. The Supreme One's a busy woman.

[she snaps her fingers, and a monkey descends from the ceiling with a nail file. he sits to the opposite side of the woman and starts to skillfully file her nails. she pointedly looks at the nails on her other hand.]

Well?

Squall hates this dream.

The sky overhead is a rippling, metallic grey-green, and as far as the eye can see in every direction there is nothing but flat, cracked, barren ground, blurring into an indistinct grey haze against the liquid metal sky at the far horizon.

In the middle of this, Squall stands, his gunblade weighing so heavily in his hand that the tip of the blade almost drags the ground. He stares numbly off across the distance, looking battered and seared and dirty as though he's just been through a battle; he looks exhausted. He has nowhere to go.

If Anders doesn't look quite directly at him, he can see the faint shadow of some huge animal shape crouching still and silent behind and beside Squall, wings folded against its back.

When he entered, he looked back at the door to find it just floating there with no wall to support it. Anders cocked his brow and circle the door, finding the other side the same. At least he still had a way out--presuming the door actually opened back into his dream.

He finally looked around at his surroundings finding them painfully drab and depressing. There was only one figure there, looking haggard and holding a weapon. Anders approached cautiously.

"I hope you killed whatever it was you were fighting, because I'm not in the mood to go on the offensive just yet," he babbled, just to fill the silence hanging heavily in the air. "I'd offer to heal you, but..."

Squall turned his head towards Anders at the sound of the other man's voice, something like dull surprise crossing over his face at the sight of another person in this empty place. Maybe he was further gone than he'd thought. At the moment he wasn't sure he cared.

"...it's fine," he said after a moment. "She's dead." A pause. "Going to be dead." Something like that. Stupid time loop.

Anders stared. The man appeared to have the personality of a grave site. He looked around for any women in the area, dying or otherwise, but there was no one save for themselves.

"I could help if you just pointed me in the right direction."

That roused a bit more of a reaction from Squall, mostly in the form of an incredulous look. "If I knew that," he said a little more sharply, "I wouldn't still be here." He jerked his chin in a vague gesture encompassing the empty scenery. "I don't think we're even inside time any more."

--blink and between one moment and the next the ground seemed to have fallen away on all sides, leaving them standing on an island of bare rock floating in nothing, the doorway Anders came in on still standing near its edge.

Alright, Anders supposed he could not blame him for looking so defeated. In this landscape, he would be feeling a bit blue as well.

"Do you even know where we are?" He ventured to ask as the endless land became a floating island. A bit unsettling, but the door was still there, standing ominously at the edge.

"I'm not sure 'where' is really the right question," Squall said. "Time compression, probably. Or whatever's left afterwards."

At that, though, he hesitated, and frowned in visible uncertainty. That couldn't be right. The hand not weighed down by his gunblade lifted to rub absently at the side of his head as he tried to sort out his memories.

"Time compression?" He sounded out the unfamiliar phrase and frowned to himself. "Being dumped in another world is one thing, but this is starting to get too ridiculous even for someone such as myself and I know ridiculous. I suppose jumping off this rock is out of the question?"

"Time compression," Squall repeated. "It's magic. Past, present, and future, all jumbled up together." He held up his empty hand, closing it into a fist around empty air as though in demonstration: squish. If one imagines the concept of linear time as something that can go 'squish,' at any rate.

Anders' question seemed to give him a momentary pause, and he wandered a few steps closer to the edge to peer down past it at the seething grey-green nothing that surrounded the little island of stone, growing gradually, almost imperceptibly darker. "I don't know," he said eventually. "I'm not sure what would happen if you did that."

Teddy doesn't have this dream often but it is a bittersweet one.

He's standing on a rooftop in what appears to be New York City, looking human but in his usual uniform. There's an older man with him, dressed in a red and blue costume with two gold bands around his wrists. A cooler on the ground behind Teddy but neither is paying much attention to it. They're both smiling, talking quietly. After a moment, they both laugh and the man gives Teddy's shoulder a squeeze. Following this, the man takes off into the air, flying away from the rooftop slowly.

"See you later, Dad," Teddy calls after the man, waving and watching him go. His smile fades slowly as he stands there, Teddy stretching and then turning to pick up the cooler.

Anders remained silent by the door, watching the young boy and presumably his father converse. He could not remember his own parents. Their faces were just a blur as were the Anderfels where he was born. In his youth, he thought he could pinpoint his mother or father's faces, but it was always someone generic just to fill their shoes. He has since given up thinking too heavily on his parents if he could even call them that. The Circle raised him and Fereldon was all he ever knew.

When the father flew away and the younger boy turned, Anders tensed, feeling like a voyeur just standing there without a word.

Teddy didn't notice Anders at first, his thoughts elsewhere. When he did see the older man, Teddy was startled but he quickly brought his smile back. Standing back up straight, he turned to face the man.

"Hello," he greeted, not sure what else to say just yet. He'd never seen the man before and he was hoping he wasn't hostile.

Well, at least he wasn't going straight for an attack or yelling at him for being a spy. Anders could do with less yelling in his life.

He waved at him and quickly brought his hand down, realizing too late how foolish that looked.

"Hello...don't mind me. Just enjoying a stroll."

Teddy was a little puzzled by the quick hand movement but let it go, just smiling.

"A stroll on the roof?" he asked, arching both eyebrows. "Oh, I'm sorry...is this your building?" he was feeling a little bad about using someone's roof for a lunch-spot without asking.

"No," he said too quickly. This was diving into awkward and uncomfortable fast. "It should be, but I'm just a selfish man like that."

"Is something wrong?" Teddy asked in concern. He as feeling on the awkward and uncomfortable side as well. "You want the whole building?"

Hank was not waiting for a train, as he'd already boarded.

It had taken him weeks to track down the science-criminal Mortimer Tennyson, but his calculations told him that this would be the next place he would strike. The revolutionary new internal combustion engine was en route to the patent office for examination, and Tennyson would be sure to try to try to intercept it. He never was any good at creating his own designs!

Hank adjusted his pince-nez and checked his watch. It wouldn't be long now.

As soon as Anders stepped aboard, he nearly lost his balance. He leaned against the wall for support as the train sped along. He couldn't have known what he was even in. It was just another dream device and it had the unfortunate side effect of making him feel sick.

The wall was narrow with sliding doors into separate rooms. Anders drew one door back--

One man-cat was enough. Now this was getting ridiculous.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to intrude on your..." Anders had no idea what man-cats did in their spare time that didn't involve sleeping and catching mice. He struggled for something-- "...cattiness."

Hank raised an eyebrow at the visitor, but motioned to the seat across from him. He still had some time to kill. ...Though he couldn't tell you how he knew exactly how long.

"Think nothing of it, you're welcome to come in, if you like."

Perhaps all man-cats were friendly by default. It certainly was contrary to the cat part of man-cat. Still, Anders stepped inside, letting the door slide shut behind him. He welcomed the seat before him since standing was starting to make his stomach churn really unpleasantly.

Looking out the window, he found they actually were moving almost like a high speed ship, but on land.

"Are we going somewhere I should know about? I do like a bit of a warning beforehand," Anders started, turning back to the man-cat.

Hank crossed a leg and looked quizzically at Anders. "You boarded the train without being aware of its destination? Ah, but I suppose from your garb I should've been able to deduce you to be a pilgrim of some sort."

He adjusted his glasses again. "We're headed in the direction of Washington D.C. And where do you hail from, stranger?"

"That sums up my life, doesn't it? Not the boarding trains bit, but--oh, never mind." At least he had a name for what he was riding in and giving him horrible motion sickness.

He wished the Porter would at least have given him a more detailed pamphlet explaining what trains were and where Washington D.C. was. It would have made this conversation go smoother.

"Born in the Anderfels, raised in Fereldon, and no, I do not smell of dog," Anders slipped in the joke before he realized the man-cat wouldn't know whether the average Fereldon smelled like Mabari or not. He sighed. "Alright, why are we going to Washington D.C.?"

"Because that's where the train is heading, of course. This is the regular route it's always run." Hank wasn't sure if he wanted to tell this fellow about his mission, there was always the possibility he was an agent sent by Tennyson to sabotage his efforts.

But something felt off about the whole thing. "You've never been on a train before, have you?"

"Yes, I can see that," Anders responded, turning to the window again. The landscape gave no indication as to where he was. He doubted it was anywhere in Thedas. Thedas did not have trains...unless this was an Orlais invention.

"You've caught me," he smiled to himself before his stomach did an unpleasant somersault. His smile quickly turned into a wince. "And this first time is not exactly agreeing with me."

"Ah, motion sickness!" He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a surprisingly modern stomach relaxant. How does he have that in this setting? How would he know what it is? Best not to worry about it.

"Take two of these, it should help."

Anders eyed the tablets suspiciously before taking them from the man-cat. It shouldn't harm him...theoretically. He could feel pain in the Fade and it was never pleasant, but the man-cat looked trusting with bonus points for looking like a cat.

He popped them in his mouth, immediately grimacing at the foul taste. He tried forcibly swallowing the pills and he nearly gagged, but they went down.

"I am never taking those again," he whined.

Hank scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, the results may be considered to cancel out the taste, but you'd typically take them with a glass of water! ...And, perhaps, a spoonful of sugar."

Marry Poppins wouldn't be made for another seventy years. Somehow, he knew this, and yet he was still knowingly referencing it.

Something here didn't add up.

He frowned, looking around their compartment to find no glasses of water or spoonfuls of sugar. Of course, he also wasn't going to mention that he never took a pill like that nor did he even know what it was other than an apparent cure to his motion sickness.

"You didn't offer any!" He retorted, because nothing was ever his fault.

"My apologies, how rude of me!"

And then he produced a pitcher of water out of nowhere and filled one of the glasses that was on the same suddenly-there-how-did-it-even-happen tray. Handing it to Anders, he continued. "I've felt a little out of sorts actually, as though there was something a bit off about this setting."

[Through the door is... a forest. Lush and primordial, the forest is a riot of colors and rich scents. Massive trees arch overhead, throwing the forest floor into a sort of green twilight. Exotic, foreign birds sing in the canopy; and beautiful, enormous flowers and vines trail through the trees and along the ground.

Despite the strangeness of the forest, it feels... welcoming. Like coming home.

The forest floor is overgrown with ferns and moss. But up ahead, light shines through a break in the trees. Where the trees break, a grassy valley begins. Tall grasses stretch across the bowl of the valley, and in the center are a series of palatial buildings with golden domed roofs.

But closer to the break in the woods, right on the edge of the grassy valley, a series of carved runestones are set in an intricate series of circles. Small orbs of colored light are spiraling around the stones as though dancing, accompanied by the sound of faint, wordless singing.

And in the center of the array is a tall elven woman with green hair and horns, dancing. It's a slow, almost regal dance, but there's an energy to it as if it's drawing everything around toward the woman. In fact, the grasses all around, and even the trees on the edge of the woods are leaning inward toward the woman as if watching, or listening.]

[ The forest is a welcome deviation from the strange places he has been before. He smiles up at the tree tops, taking in the beautiful scenery. The benefit of walking in a dream forest is that he wouldn't be sneezing on everything, thank the Maker.

He begins to walk, clearing the way with the help of his staff. Anders enters the clearing with familiar archaic architecture, but his eyes immediately draw to the elvhen woman, dancing in the ruins. He watches her, caught in a trance. ]

[More of the glowing lights flit out of the forest behind Anders, and some swirl around him, rather than joining the circle. If he looks closely, he can see tiny laughing faces in the balls of light as the faerie wisps flit around him and join the song.

A few moments more, and then the dance falters as the woman comes to a stop, facing the stranger in her dream world. Her eyes are closed, but her eyebrows are raised in surprise.

Unlike other dreamers, she knows he's not part of the dream. This is her dream, her sanctuary from the homesickness of the City, the place she escapes to for a too-brief few hours now and again when the City becomes too much. This is her memory of home. No ordinary dreamer could just wander in here without an invite.]

...How did you get here?

[ He's knocked out of his stupor when the elf finally speaks. He shakes his head and refocuses on her, trying not to get too distracted by the flickering lights. ]

That is a very good question--I came through a door, believe it or not, and I liked what I saw here so much, I thought I'd stay. [ He's sincere, at least. Hopefully she won't be hurling fireballs at him for intruding. ]

[The wisps continue to flit about, gathering around the standing rune stones. Ysera pays no attention to them, instead focused on the stranger.]

A door; to here?

[She frowned faintly before tilting her head and stepping forward to the edge of the circle, her gauzy green skirts swishing around her bare ankles.]

My home is lovely, yes. But who are you? [Implied in the question is as much a request for his name as for what kind of being he is to be able to get here.]

Funny thing isn't it? One minute I'm...somewhere else and now I'm here. Doors. That's how they work. Yes. [ At least Anders knows that he can always count on his lack of brain-to-mouth filter even in the Fade or whatever this place is called in the City. ]

Anders, and that's really all there is to it. [ Advertising that he is a mage and/or Grey Warden never got him results here. ]

[Her ears flicked slightly as her mouth wryly quirked up at the corner.] A door does need to lead somewhere, Anders. But how is it your door lead here?

This is not a place just anyone can find their way to.

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HOPE A QUICKIE IS OKAY~

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now that LJ is finally behaving again... (sorry for the delay!)

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[ooc LJ has been a complete arse, so sorry for the delay]

(it's alright! thankfully it appears to be almost working now)

(backtags forever)