Once Upon A Dream - 4th wall

[etcircenses]

The Tributes will not be warned for when their injections will occur. For those who are known to be compliant and willing to work with the capitol, they may be taken aside and told they are getting a shot or whatever else may convince them. Others may be injected within their sleep (and have been drugged earlier to keep them that way).

If you are not a tribute, your injection comes on your decision, having cashed in your ticket at Hypnogogia for a good rest and stay.

Everyone is ushered to bed at once and everyone will be quick to discover why.

The first effect is a sort of paralysis - not the terrifying inability to move, but a signal to the brain that says why move? Moving is so much effort. It's quickly followed by drowsiness, and then a chill that radiates from the needle into the body, and finally, unconsciousness.

This shared dreaming carries on whenever you sleep for seven total days, with the Expos running during their waking hours. Those with Vistors will meet them within the dream.

Day 1: It starts as a typical day in the tower. You may very well not realise it to be a dream. The only difference is that there are others here, ones who won't be around when you wake. They've been instructed to wait for you. You can show them the whole of the Capitol in this time, if you wish.

Day 2: On this day, the world is... yours. Some of the world will bleed into the mini worlds of others, so long as you have the wish in mind to visit them. Some details about the worlds may be off but it will initially seem as though you've finally returned home.

Day 3: A paradise. Any paradise. Whatever your characters would personally deem as a paradise. Like with day 2, the dream worlds will bleed into one another.

Day 4: On day four, it starts off somewhere inspired by a District. It's been tailored to suit the Capitol of course but

̨̙̟͒̒̔ͬ̄̌̓̓s̋͒ͩ̈́ͯ́̾ͭ͑͘҉̮͈̪̲̼̜̟͡ó͔͔͖̼̂̓̌̓m̰̹ͩ͑̽̆̽̚͟͞e͙̰̬̻̋ͣ͑ͭ̄̌̀ṭ̡͈͔̺̀͂̈́ͯ̎͛̓́́ḣ̍̉͌҉̮̖͔͉̜͉̘͓į̶̥̼͙͒̏́̈n̼̬̼͖͖̳͊͐̈g̷̱͈̦̀ͣ͒̒̅͛ͯ̐̿ ̵̡̻̳̯ͫ̓̃ͭͨg̵͚͚͖̏̒̏ͨ̐̏ͦ͞͡ȏ͚̳͓̱̩̞͚͙ͮ̊̄̐̂͊e͇͇̦̳̦ͥ̽͌̆͂̇͆ͤͅs͙͙̠̝͍̹͔͓͛̽̾͑͂͆ ̠͖̘̥̤̑ͧ͘w̛̰̰̗͕̻̯̰͕̃͌͘r͖̰͚̋o̵̭̺̺̘͈͕͆̐̇̌ͣ͆͗͟n̷̫ͦ̆ͯ̀g̛̥͖͎̺͙͈ͮ̓͐̄̇.

The dream world seems to distort. From the setting, to those in it, for five seconds everything is warped and wrong, caught in an echo chamber. Then it goes dark and silent. From the dark, the nightmares crawl out. The nightmares may have things taken from memory, but most of it is a new and horrible scene where making sense isn't mandatory.

Capitolites are quickly awoken and refunded. They are given a (poor-tasting) drink that will offer them totally dreamless sleep. But they don't have to drink it if they do not wish...

[OOC: This is the day that D13 players will finally be able to participate and on every day following. You are allowed to post for this early.]

Day 5: The Capitol tries again to take back control of the dream, starting out with a fun and cute arena with super-soakers, glitter bombs, and weapons made from foam. It's happy and colorful. But it doesn't last long.

Soon enough, the dream warps again into a nightmare. The arena loses its harmlessness, becoming one that's very much a threat. This may be an arena from memory or something totally new.

Day 6: The Capitol hasn't given up fighting District thirteen's interference but they've taken to a new tactic. In attempt to drive them out, or at least pin some of the blame on thirteen, the sixth round of sleep is set in a bad memory. It can be any memory at all; something in the arena, something offworld, even things around the capitol or area around so long as it could've been caught on camera. Essentially, unless it's a blind spot, it's fair game.

Individuals who are free of or manage to fight through this torment are free to help the dreaming characters as they will-- or make things worse.

Day 7: War. Terrible war. This is what will be heard on the final day. It will echo out over the dream world. And that dream world will reflect the very terrible war spoken of. Is that your friend over there, looking shell-shocked? Is that your family laying there motionless? Who is that in the fray crying out? Could it be the one you love most?

This dream will leave very few survivors and will not last long. Those that do, will hear this: "Know the cost of selfish acts. Consider what you stand for."

[OOC: With this you may consider the fourth wall live! All tributes and any guests, Capitolites, and D13ers who are signed up may tag in here. Alternately, you may make your own logs! If you are tagging in here, you MUST warn with headers for any relevant topics that may upset players.]

Comments

[raavashing]

He didn't answer right away, his eyes focusing on one of the earth discs as he considers the best way to word his reply. He knew Aang was looking for advice, for hope that things would go well with his own struggle against the Firelord.

Wan takes a deep breath and nods at the earth disc, "I died a failure. Right over there. I lived a very long time, Aang. I died an old man in the middle of the war that created what remains of this battlefield. But while I did defeat the person I set out to defeat, the one that attacked the air nomads, imprisoned him and stopped him from spreading darkness and chaos across the world... I never managed to fix my mistake. And every Avatar that has come after me has had to take up responsibility for my actions and continue to try."

He turns his head to look Aang in the eyes, "Defeating the Firelord will begin to mend the wounds his family has caused, but it won't fix the mistakes of the past. You blame yourself for the death of your people, the entire Air Nomad culture. Defeating Ozai won't bring them back. It won't 'fix' that mistake, even if it were your fault. And it's not."

Wan pauses just to make sure that sets in before going on. "Things will never be the same as they once were. Change is an important part of life. But even though they won't be the same, they can be just as good. Or better. And that's what we have to work toward. That's how we fix our mistakes. All you can do, all any of us can do, is continue to try. To never, never give up. In this life and every life to come."

[actually112]

Had this been a couple years earlier, when Aang first rolled out of the iceberg, he would have been deeply disheartened. There is no fixing what happened. Defeating the Fire Lord is just the beginning of a long and arduous journey, one that may have no end. The Air Nomads are dead, and there's no balancing the world without them.

Now, he just listens. He listens until the end, then nods solemnly. He's learned that things are never so easy as that. There is no such thing as 'fixing' the world. There is only making mistakes and moving forward, trying to mitigate and heal the damage as best as he can.

He'll probably die a failure too. Even if he goes back home, defeats the Fire Lord, and starts rebuilding, there are no Air Nomads and there won't be any left except for any children he has in the future.

"Maybe failing isn't so bad." He meets his past life's gaze evenly. It must have been hard, dying in a battlefield, knowing that you did what you could and still failed. Maybe that's Aang's fate too, beating himself up while he dies in the dirt. "It seems like all my past lives failed at something. Avatar Roku couldn't stop the war. Avatar Kyoshi couldn't make sure the Earth Kingdom stayed peaceful. Avatar Kuruk couldn't protect his fiancee. I'm sure Avatar Yangchen made some mistakes I haven't heard about yet." Yangchen and Kyoshi are constantly fighting for the 'most intimidating past life' position. Kyoshi made a new island and towers over seven feet tall, but Yangchen was so effective at her job that no one dared make any trouble for Kuruk's whole generation because they feared her memory. "The world's still here after ten thousand years of the same failure protecting it lifetime after lifetime, isn't it?"

So maybe it'll still be there after he gets back. Maybe they'll still find a way to limp along long enough to rebuild. After all, the world has done it before.

"I won't give up." He takes a deep breath, then says, with more confidence, "I won't give up. I'll find a way back home. If I can't do it before I die?" Aang gives his past life a small, crooked smile. "Maybe District 4 will have a waterbender baby born there." He doesn't know if the reincarnation cycle will continue, but he has to have faith that it will. There's nothing he can do if it doesn't. The uncertainty just means that he has to be careful to not waste the life he has now on doing something stupid.

[raavashing]

Wan stares at Aang for a moment before his smile breaks out into a full-faced grin. He reaches out to pull the boy into a playful hug, "That's the Avatar I know."

When he releases his younger self, he tilts his head thoughtfully, "How did you know it's been nearly ten thousand years since my time? I thought you didn't recognize me."

[actually112]

"I didn't know it was ten thousand years since your time. The Capitol just keeps saying that it's been ten thousand years of the Avatar, so I guess I just started saying that."

Aang narrows his eyes, tilting his head, but he doesn't look surprised. He had suspicions. "You're the first one, aren't you?"

[raavashing]

"Yeah. I am. Sorry for avoiding that," He shut his eyes and nodded in apology, shrugging slightly. "I thought it would help you more if you weren't distracted by that. Not many of our lives have need to call on my memories anymore."

[actually112]

"You were right. I would've been asking you too many questions to really listen."

That doesn't mean he can't ask questions now. He hugs his knees, staring at the very first Avatar intently.

"I don't know. I have a lot of questions that I think only you can answer now." He tilts his head and puts his cheek on his knee. "Is the Capitol telling the truth? Am I half spirit?"

[raavashing]

Wan tilted his head, frowning in thought, "That depends on how you want to look at it. You're fully human. But you're also fully spirit. You can say that makes you half-spirit and half-human, but it's not strictly true. Raava is a part of us now, but she is also separate from us. We are bonded, not blended. We exist together in harmony and share many of the same thoughts and feelings, but we don't always work together. We can act separately through our shared body. You've seen it before. When the Avatar State took over. Raava acted when you could not."

And he knew that was something of a sore spot for Aang, but it was the truth. When Aang had been too angry or hurt or without the personal knowledge to act on his own behalf, the Avatar State had kicked in. Raava had taken control and did what she felt was needed. To protect the soul she shared eternity with.

"So the answer is... both yes and no. I like to think I'm not complete without her, but I know that if we hadn't joined, I would not be any less of the person I am. She is what gives us our power, though. That part of us that is spirit, is what makes us the Avatar. The Bridge."

[actually112]

Anyone else would have a headache at the philosophical, yes-and-no answer, but Aang grew up around monks of all people. This makes sense and is comfortable for him. Or, well, the way the answer is told is comfortable. The thought that he is blended with a spirit is... while not immediately unpleasant, still requiring a little bit of digestion.

"So... she was the one who froze me in the sea?" He's not sure how to feel about that. On one hand, far be it from him to question a spirit who saved his life, but on the other, couldn't she have thought of a way to save him that didn't involve clocking out of the world for a hundred years? "Is she... Is she behind all the times I've entered the Avatar state? Is she the one who controls it then?"

He's not sure. He always feels not himself when he enters the Avatar state, and yet more himself than he ever can be otherwise. Sometimes he's not entirely sure if he's making the decisions or some other version of him is, and yet at other times he feels like he's calling all the shots, but he tries to push questions like that away because he doesn't want to face the people dead and wounded by him when he enters that state.

The Capitol says over 100,000 Fire Nation people died during the battle of the Northern Water Tribe. The number makes his stomach churn.

[raavashing]

"Not all the times, but most of them. And yes, she did freeze you in the sea." His voice remained calm, understanding. Aang's relationship with Raava was not the same as Wan's. Or the same as the other Avatars before Aang. It was rockier. Trust had been strained because of actions taken that didn't sit well with his reincarnation's world view. While that was a strength of reincarnation - having access to so many world views and experiences outside of the life you lived - it was also something of a weakness. It meant that sometimes the bonded souls would disagree and sometimes they would hurt each other.

"You didn't have the knowledge to seek out your past lives for aid in saving yourself yet. Actually, you were running from your past lives when it happened. We couldn't reach you then the way Roku eventually did. Raava could. So she acted to save you as best she was able. Your training should have enabled you to be in control at all times, but you never got it before the ice... The other times, when your anger and pain was too much for you to handle alone, she took over until you could be grounded again."

Wan smiled at Aang, "Katara's love for you has been a blessing."