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ways_back_room2015-10-29 07:27 pm
mjolnir_retriever) wrote in ways_back_room2015-10-29 07:27 pm
Conversations With Dead People
There was mention in today's DE of the Conversations With Dead People recurring plot, and it occurred to me that there hadn't yet been an explanation post for any new folk. So... an explanation post!
Conversations With Dead People is a Milliways tradition where any character who falls asleep in Milliways on Halloween* can have a dream about a conversation with a dead person from their past. So what makes this different from any angsty/cathartic/etc dream, you say? Well, it might not exactly be a dream, that's what. It will feel very real -- not just during the dream, but after they've woken up, too. And the dead person will appear as they really were, not as a weird dream-logic version; this is more a visitation than a dream. (That said, you can totally use handwavy afterlife-or-dream leeway for them to know stuff that's been going on in your character's life or afterlife, if you want. No need to spend the whole dream on infodumping, unless of course you want to.)
You can check out some past examples in the plot tag if you want to see how other people have run with the idea in the past. Basically, it's a fun way to add a more serious side of Halloween alongside the costuming hijinks that are definitely also gonna happen!
* I mean, Halloween give or take a day or three. Millitime is a proud tradition, and Halloween tends to last a few days around here in any case.
Conversations With Dead People is a Milliways tradition where any character who falls asleep in Milliways on Halloween* can have a dream about a conversation with a dead person from their past. So what makes this different from any angsty/cathartic/etc dream, you say? Well, it might not exactly be a dream, that's what. It will feel very real -- not just during the dream, but after they've woken up, too. And the dead person will appear as they really were, not as a weird dream-logic version; this is more a visitation than a dream. (That said, you can totally use handwavy afterlife-or-dream leeway for them to know stuff that's been going on in your character's life or afterlife, if you want. No need to spend the whole dream on infodumping, unless of course you want to.)
You can check out some past examples in the plot tag if you want to see how other people have run with the idea in the past. Basically, it's a fun way to add a more serious side of Halloween alongside the costuming hijinks that are definitely also gonna happen!
* I mean, Halloween give or take a day or three. Millitime is a proud tradition, and Halloween tends to last a few days around here in any case.