Dreaming Wide Awake [Fourth Wall/Open]

[revenancemods]

Who: Everyone! Current characters, fourth wall characters, whoever wants to show up.
What: The portals are closed. Everyone's in Traverse Town, including a whole bunch of new people. This should be interesting.
Where: Traverse Town
When: Throughout the day
Warnings: Depends on the characters. Expect language at least.

You didn't expect to be here. You really didn't. The technicolor buildings are a surprise, as is the little white flying bear telling you you're in the dream world. He gives you a bag full of what looks to be currency, enough shiny things to create a creature of your own (or so he says), and sends you on your way.

Good luck.

Comments

[lessabrasive]

"None of us plan on coming here, by all accounts. This is Traverse Town." The older woman frowned, the scars on her right cheek looking more pronounced, while Tanzanite hopped forwards to greet his fellow spirit. It was always nice to see more pricklemanes. Though the new one's person certainly was dressed...interestingly. That was a very bright green! A good choice indeed.

"Although.. Something's not right."

[userless]

"More than usually not right, you mean?" He grins, though it's a bit shakier than it might be under better circumstances. Sure, he's adaptable, he can deal with strange situations, but it's still a little--

--Well, come on, he is adaptable, isn't he? Quashing some inner doubt, Gibson stands up a little straighter. "What should I expect? From the 'Nightmares' they talked about, I mean?"

Gridbug bounces up and down as only a Pricklemane can and waves his tail in greeting. His Person likes green! He's not really sure why because he's just a couple minutes old, but he'd picked up on that right away.

[lessabrasive]

"I've been here about five or six months, give or take a week. Everyone arrives here the first time. But.."

Lips pressed into a thin line, brows pulling in, before she shook her head. Lin would have to find one of the other long-term 'residents' and see what they'd noticed. The lack of fountain portal certainly didn't help reassure her that something hadn't gone wrong.

So Lin focused on what she could address here and now. "The nightmares have bright red eyes and tend to attack outright once they notice you. Your dream eater there," a nod to the second pricklemane, "can help you fight back. Do you have any weapons or skills?"

There's green paint. There's a younger Person who does painting, she's very good.

[userless]

Gridbug hopped again excitedly. Paint for me? Show? That would sure make his Person happy!

Weapons? Skills? Of course he did. "Certified in disk and baton," he bragged, drawing the baton and flipping it idly in his hand. It looks about a foot and a half long and pretty non-threatening, but he's handling it like a weapon. "So if something starts attacking me, go after it first and ask questions later?"

That's simple enough to follow.

[lessabrasive]

The pricklemane's ears drooped as Tanzanite tried to remember, then he twitched his tail. The moogles sell it!

The baton is eyed not with dismissal but mild curiousity. One of her uncles, best friends with her mother, had used a boomerang as one of his primary weapons during the days of Avatar Aang and the 100 Year War, so she wasn't about to disregard it out of hand. "More or less. So far, none of the nightmares have been intelligent enough to answer back, so if you find yourself facing a talkative opponent, it's better to talk first."

[userless]

The pricklemane bounces around so vigorously at the idea that Gibson tells him to knock it off.

"Good way to tell. And red eyes--I can look for that." Red is--a really unusual color on the Grid. Almost unknown. Even Clu's new Black Guards weren't a true red in color, more of a dark orange. Red is a User color, and so noticeable to Gibson.

Which does bring up a good point, actually. "Am I the only program here?"

[lessabrasive]

What would Gibson think of redhaired humans, you had to wonder.

"It is convenient, but the logic has been consistant and sound so far. If you've accessed your communicator," she pulled hers from her pocket to hold as an example, "There's a map of Traverse Town posted some time ago that indicates the likeliest sources of nightmare groups." All the better to avoid them.

"Program?" Lin frowned, not quite following. "You mean, AI?" Her experiences were rather limited to the Freelancers, the dream version of their ship

[userless]

Maybe if Carolina ever takes off her helmet, he'll find out that is, they'd probably get some really funny looks and a wide berth.

He pulls out his communicator and frowns for a moment - the OS is completely unlike what he's used to - but he is a quick study and figures it out before too long. "Hey, thanks! Handy little thing here."

As for whether or not he's an AI, that's a trickier question. He knows a little about the idea of AI from Flynn's teachings on the subject, but it doesn't really describe the ISOs. That's something more like the old MCP Tron had fought. "The idea's a little bit similar, but programs like me never really interact with the outside world--the User world, we call it. No, most of us only have a couple functions, like, oh--" handily, he pulls out the map from the communicator again "--this is a kind of program, the way you'd see it. Now if you could translate inside this device, like Flynn, you'd see a whole world inside of it with different people like me running around and drawing maps for you or making sure the messages get to the right person. That's a program."