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Palace of Dreams;
Chatterbox: Pudding's Place
Palace of Dreams;
Palace of Dreams; A Non-Death Ski Lodge
The renowned Palace of Dreams was created purely from imagination, once upon a time ago. It is Located in the In-Between, somewhere in the middle of life and death, good and evil, sushi and tacos.
The City of Illusions sprawled both elegantly and chaoticly over a large majority of the Dreamscape, with the Palace at it's heart. The rest of the Dreamscape consisted of the mountainous, fragrant, and mildly wild jungle of Thoughts.
But more information on that another time. After all, some hopes and dreams last forever.
The Palce of Dreams never wears the same dress more then once, so to speak. It is fluid, always changing shape, size, style and color. For instance, one day it would be a large, sleek (though admittedly drafty) medieval castle, stay that way for a month, the abruptly change into a big farmhouse only to switch to a modern mansion the next day.
The rooms never stayed the same long either. Something new always popped up, as dreams do. But, as dreams do, old things also rolled back through.
And the best thing? You could reside here. Easily. All you have to do is imagine.
Who's offering sanctuary, you wonder? Well. That depends.
If you read this in the past, then, I'm offering. Mr. Yesterday, a pleasure to meet you, and I'm sure to see you soon.
If you're reading this now, then I'm the on asking! Miss Today, at your service!
And finally, if you are reading this in the future, then it happens to be myself, Mx. Tomorrow, telling you all this.
Rather confusing, isn't it? Aren't you reading all of this in the past, present, AND future, technically? Perhaps it would be best to assume we are all extending an invitation.
We will be accepting and unlimited number of CBers (and CBer's only, please). There will be no explicit to NO violence, blood, or pickles, given this is a non-death ski lodge. Pickles are rather murderous on a bad day.
Slots will close on June 21st, and the first part of this ski lodge will come out around a week later. I will not be revealing my CBer self until the end of this ski lodge. Anyone leaving for the summer, I'd be happy if you entered regardless, so long as you actually want to! You could always read once you return :)
*FORM:
Name:
Pronouns:
Appearance:
Regular wear:
Personality:
Do you consider yourself good, bad, or just In-Between?:
Design a room (be creative!):
*burst out laughing for no apparent reason*:
Are you a dreamer? What type?:
How easily do you forget something?:
Favorite season/s (and why?):
Opinion of physical exercise:
How does the word "magic" settle with you?:
What made you decide to accept our invite?:
What is wrong with this statement?:
What qualities do you value in a friend?:
Ask a question:
Other:
Thank you for emerging yourself briefly into the In-Between~
*We apologize for the tedious length of this form.
submitted by ~The Time Trio~, age Never same, Always changing
(May 30, 2024 - 12:08 pm)
(May 30, 2024 - 12:08 pm)
I love this!! it's kind of whimsical and playful, but also it definitely hooks you :D Great job so far, and I can't wait for more! And yes, Poinsettia and I are sisters, and it's fine by me that we're in the same house.
(June 27, 2024 - 4:04 pm)
(June 26, 2024 - 2:14 pm)
This is amazing. I love the writing :D
(June 26, 2024 - 5:04 pm)
This is so good!
(July 1, 2024 - 3:56 pm)
Hello! I'm so sorry for this, but can I leave this ski lodge? I don't feel like I'll be able to fill the form out anytime soon.I'm so sorry I just can't put in the commitment for this at the moment.
(July 2, 2024 - 4:37 pm)
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(July 30, 2024 - 6:21 am)
It's so good so far... I can't believe I didn't comment on it yet. I love the train of thought concept!
Are you Lyric...?
(August 15, 2024 - 9:27 am)
Day 0, Part 2
Moon Wolf
“Attention, Palace guests!”
Moon Wolf startled at the sudden static of the train's speakers, a play card slipping from her hand and onto the floor. She lurched forward and snatched it up, returning it to the splay of cards in her right hand. She faced Lyric again, and they both continued their silent game of Crazy 8’s as they listened to the speaker.
“That rather violent jolt you probably felt a few moments ago was the Train Passing from Life to the Dreamscape. We will arrive at your station shortly, please prepare to disembark. Thank you for riding with us!”
The speakers fell silent.
“Yay!” Amethyst exclaimed, Peeling herself away from the colors swirling outside the window. “I’m excited to see the City.”
Moon Wolf nodded, agreeing, and collected the cards into their case. She slipped it into the drawer below her seat and looked out the window herself.
It was really fascinating, outside the window. The entire trip, no blurred scenery had shown itself, only color. Waving blues, swirling reds, flashing yellow, and dotting spirals of purple against a black background. Almost as if proving that this train seemed to be running purely on imagination.
Moon Wolf was quite excited, really. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but she was sure everything would exceed expectations.
The Train shuddered. The girls fell hard against their seats, and Poinsettia let out a gasp as the air was pushed from her lungs.
“Wow,” she said, recovering. “The Train went from full speed to nothing!”
Moon Wolf raised her eyebrows, the fact ringing true, impressed. She started to turn her head to look out the window again, but the compartment door opening distracted her.
“This is your stop, dears,” said the kindly lady who had brought them lunch.
“Thank you,” Moon Wolf replied, and the girls stood, slightly off balance, and left the small room.
The corridor outside the room was poorly lit, but Moon Wolf managed to find her way to the exit. Others moved to the square of daylight, making a crooked line to leave the train.
The conductor, an older man with twinkling eyes and scruffy beard, informed the group that someone would be arriving to take them to the Palace.
“Have fun now!” he said after everyone left, shutting the door on the side of the train car.
The daylight outside indicated mid-afternoon at least, Moon Wolf decided, The air was stale and still, though not overly hot. The station consisted of a wooden platform and a large ticket booth blocking any view of the City behind them. The station looked old, run down, and besides those who’d exited the Train, empty.
Moon Wolf then scanned the faces of the others, She recognized all of them. She saw WildWolf, looking around curiously, Celine, bouncing on her toes, Gloomy, scowling at a rotten board on the platform like it had personally offended them,and Hawkstar, studying the blue sky, among the large group.
The Train let out its shrill whistle. The smokestack puffed shimmering smoke, and with a blink of an eye, was gone. All that remained was sparkles and a faint streak of a rainbow, There were no tracks. And the City of Illusions was fully revealed.
And Moon Wolf’s jaw dropped.
“Holy-” someone exclaimed.
“Elegantly chaotic?!” another quoted incredulously.
Moon Wolf rubbed her eyes, blinked, and looked again.
The City was, for one, completely deserted. Not a single person, animal, or insect (save the fly buzzing annoyingly around her head) could be seen. There was no movement.
Second, from what she could see, the City looked very old, overgrown, quite out of function, old fashioned and dirty. Nevermind that it looked like it had been abandoned in 1900 or something.
The street before Moon Wolf was made of cracked, old pavement, with dry weed sprouting from crevices. Old, rusted cars were parked haphazardly on either side of the streets. Store fronts were boarded up and in desperate need of a new paint job. Trees were dead, brittle leaves hanging from their branches. The rest of the City was hard to see, and it just looked like a splotch of sad and ugly brown. It looked depressing. The very air felt depressing.
“What a dump,” GloomyBear said with disdain. “I can’t believe I came.”
“Poor City,” Amity said, more sympathetic.
“Is it too late to call the Train back?” Blossom asked hopefully.
“Shhhh,” Hawkstar hissed suddenly. “Do you hear that?”
They all fell silent. Moon Wolf strained her ears, and she did hear something. It sounded like a meowing cat with a coughing fit. All eyes were fixed at the end of the street, bodies tense, as the only sound in the entire City drew closer, and got louder.
A few moments later, a bus that was probably 200 years old rounded the corner and slowly bumped toward the station platform. Belching clouds of exhaust, the bus was filthy, and probably one a blue color, it was no sun bleached white and spotted with rust.
It carefully parked beside the station, and the engine died filling the air with silence and gasoline smell. The bus doors shuddered open, and a man got out, the bus creaking wildly.
“Hey there, folks!” the man cried, smiling. He removed his baseball cap and scratched a balding spot on his head. “Welcome! Come on down!”
Moon Wolf and the others slowly made their way down a few steps to the ground.
“Well, welcome to the magnificent City of Illusions! I’m William, but call me Bill.”
Bill was a large man, plump and with smiling eyes, He wore a pair of scuffed up boots with overalls.
“Sorry I wasn’t here on time. I even left the Palace early, but did NOT anticipate the size of the crowd today!” He gestured around at the ghost town streets. “Traffic around here can really be terrible! But still, busy streets around here are a good thing, obviously.”
The Chatterboxers blinked at him.
“Is he for real?” Gloomy wondered under their breath.
Bill clapped his hands together.
“Whelp! All aboard, then? You’ll love the sights!”
END OF PART 2
Departed: 0
Present: 17
(August 16, 2024 - 12:58 pm)
I really like it! I wonder what the City will be like inside?
(August 16, 2024 - 8:25 pm)
nice part! interesting how the city seems abandoned and old...(illusion, perhaps?) Though something about old and historic things have a charm to them :)
(August 16, 2024 - 9:55 pm)
Yay, a new part! I absolutely love the whole concept and setting of this ski lodge - it's so original and interesting!
I like the character of Bill, he sounds quite agreeable :)
I can't wait to read the next part!
(August 17, 2024 - 9:10 pm)
(August 16, 2024 - 1:03 pm)
Day 0, Part 3
Amity
Amity wasn’t so sure the bus would be able to make it half a block empty of people, nevermind wherever they were going with a bunch of CBers squeezed in. The Train, in which she’d shared a compartment with Blossom, WildWolf, and Hawkstar, had been luxurious, smelling nice, and up to date. The bus in question was NOT.
The moment Amity had stepped onto the bus, the smell of fresh mildew and mold had almost been enough for her to turn around and say, “Nevermind! Scrap this trip!” And never return. But nobody else seemed to be hesitant not to get on the bus and to go back home, so Amity forged on through the icky, humid air inside the bus.
She had walked and settled in a seat at the second to last row, her bottom already uncomfortable from a spring poking her. She scooted to the window instead, where the seat was damp, but no spring bugged her. She tried to put her feet down, but instead her foot scraped metal, and with a gulp, she pulled her knees to her chest, looking at the rusted hole in the floor.
Amity looked out the window instead, which was grimy and had a large crack in it that obscured and distorted the world outside. She sighed.
“Is this seat taken?” Amity heard. She turned and saw Morgana le Fay smiling expectantly at her.
“No,” Amity shook her head.
Morgana sat down, wincing as the spring jabbed her. “Nice bus.”
“I know,” Amity rolled her eyes.
If this is how the transport is, I’d hate to think of what the Palace,” Morgana observed.
“Yeah…” Amity trailed off as Bill called out, “Here we go!” and the bus rumbled to life. The noise was even more deafening when inside the beast.
It shuddered and squeaked and sputtered at odd times, and then lurched forward, jostling everyone wildly. Amity looked around desperately for a seat belt of some sort, but couldn’t find one. She dropped her legs down on either side of the hole (stanchly refusing to look at it) and clutched the seat top in front of her for more balance. Sempverde, sitting in it, glanced back at her with understanding and a bit of worry.
“This thing can NOT be safe!” Amity exclaimed.
“Leopards make me sneeze too!” Morgana yelled back, while Verde said, “Questioning the judge is crazy talk!”
“What?!? That’s not what I said…!!” Amity shouted back. Verde shrugged, and Morgana nodded with a shouted, “I guess, but not right now!”
“Nevermind,” Amity mumbled to herself, and gave up talking at all.
Looking back out the window, Amity observed the scenery zipping by (not that she could see anything, really) . The bus was now going at an alarming pace, as though it had turned onto a highway only the driver could see. Despite being unable to see much of anything out the window, Amity kept on seeing flashes of out of place things.
A neon sign advertised some night club, but at second glance it was actually a rare splash of color from a spray painted picture on a building. A tall, sleek skyscraper, which turned out to be a shadow of a cloud falling at an odd angle. A group of people waiting to cross the street - Amity had almost fainted in relief of other people at this fantasy glance - just a bunch of potted, dead trees. Amity got tired of all the tricks her eyes were playing on her mind, so she closed them and lay back, the road now smoother.
Laying back with her eyes closed, it almost seemed like she was somewhere else. The seat didn’t seem so wet, the bus seemed so much quieter. The air, cleaner. She shifted her feet around, but couldn’t find the hole. Her eyelashes fluttering, she attempted to open her eyes…
Amity must’ve drifted off, because moments (or hours?) later, Morgana was shaking her awake. “We’re here.”
The bus was off, and all was still. Amity kept her eyes closed, listening. She could hear the trickleing of a fountain past the murmur of the other guests, the chirp of a bird. The air felt cooler as the bus doors squeaked open, and Amity snapped her eyes open.
Any illusion of perfection faded when she did so.
Hot air rushed over her as she stood and filed out of the bus with everyone else. Outside, the grass crunched brittley under her feet. Behind the bus, a gravel road meandered down a hill and disappeared around the corner. The City was nowhere in sight, dead tree branches obscuring anything beyond the horizon.
In front of them was the Palace. Which is to say, there was a falling apart shack with a dead forest surrounding it. A pipe trickling water was the sound of the imaginary fountain, and a creaking sign proclaiming, Palace of Dreams was the fake bird call. Everyone stared in disappointment at the shack in silence.
“Whelp, the Trio should be out shortly,” said Bill, hands in his pockets. “I’d better go and park this thing.” He jerked his head at the bus, nodded to the group, and left. The bus trundled down the hill and out of sight.
“What now?” wondered Sempreverde. In response, the front door to the shack flew open, and the footsteps hurried toward the group, grass crunching. Amity thought there may be three people, but she couldn’t see anyone.
“Hello, welcome!” a breathless voice came out of the empty air. “Did everyone have a good trip?”
Amity and the others stared.
“Um…!” came the voice again.
“The drinks,” a more masculine voice said.
“Oh! Right. I thought I had sent them along with Bill… You’ll have to get a second drive through of the City. Sorry, it’s been a while since we've had invited guests here,” the first voice apologized. “Mx. Tomorrow?”
There was a clinking of glass and a number of flasks appeared on the ground, a few at a time. “Drink them,” a third, low voice said. “It will help break past the safety illusions of Dreamland.”
The group shifted uneasily. Amity looked at the glass flasks. The liquid inside was clear.
“Got nothing to lose,” Wreeboo shrugged, and they grabbed the first glass. After a few more moments, WildWolf grabbed one, and Amity followed. Soon everyone had a glass.
“Bottoms up!” Celine brought her flask to her lips.
Amity uncorked hers, and drank the mystery liquid. It was completely flavorless, but her nose burned and eyes watered as though it were highly spicey. She finished drinking, then gasped in air, wiping her eyes. She looked around.
The rest of the party were having similar experiences. Amity then looked all around her. Nothing was different. But then the world seemed to tilt and shift, and color and life exploded into existence.
END OF PART 3
Departed: 0
Present: 17
(August 30, 2024 - 3:58 pm)
Ooh, exciting ending! :) This is all very mysterious...
(September 1, 2024 - 8:03 pm)
Exciting~ Also as to the voices - could the Time Trio possibly be invisible?? And ooh, I want to know what the Palace really looks like :} Great job so far.
(September 3, 2024 - 7:19 pm)