And the Boats Drift On [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

The water is calm, and the night sky is filled with stars. The only light is natural: a patchy, bioluminescent glow coming from the water below, and the bright swath of the Milky Way above. It's not much, but it's more than enough to see by.

The dreamers will find themselves sitting in their own little rowboats, each stocked with two oars, a length of rope, some cushions, and a little picnic basket full of snacks. There is no visible shoreline, but it won't take the dreamers long to realize theirs are not the only boats in this shallow sea. Anything stirring in the water, be it fish or paddle, causes phosphorescent plankton to glow a bright blue, so there isn't really anywhere to hide.

Feel free to paddle around and visit the other dreamers, perhaps tying your boats together and sharing your snacks in an impromptu picnic. Or you could go for a swim - the bioluminescence makes it difficult to see the bottom, but it's not too terribly deep, so the risk of drowning is all but nonexistent. This setting, unlike the last one, isn't actively out to kill you. Or you could simply lie back and look at the stars.



[ooc: Same drill as always, folks. All are welcome, regardless of whether or not your character is in the game. Characters may remember or forget dream shenanigans at the player's discretion.]

Comments

[bluesuit_handy]

So Aiden isn't always the sweet little entity that saved Andrew from a falling appliance. Andrew tries not to be prejudiced against differently corporeal beings, but he's perhaps less surprised than he'd like to admit. Still, attacking Johnny doesn't cancel out everything else Aiden's done, right?

Andrew sobers, sitting up and giving Johnny an intense, disturbed look at the first mention of Zagreus. "I know him," he says darkly. "Bollocks. I should have done something about him a long time ago."

Not that he can, really. The TARDIS and the Doctor haven't been able to wipe him out, so what hope does a meta-crisis have? "Sorry," he says. "I didn't think he could even access the dreaming, much less...has he come after you again?"

[johnny_truant]

Johnny suppresses a sigh. It seems everyone knows about this guy, but no one can stop him.

"From what I understand he basically lives here," he says. "This is like his domain, or something. And yeah, he has. Does. Frequently." He looks down, fiddling with his teacup. He doesn't like to go all sob story on people with this, but... he almost can't help it, either. It's so hard to forget him, what he feels like - Zagreus has made sure of that. "Most nights."

He glances up and forces a weak grin. "I'm one of his favorite toys," he says with the air of a joke, but it comes out a little sick-sounding.

[bluesuit_handy]

And yet Andrew hasn't encountered him. Accident? Oversight? Zagreus avoiding old acquaintances? He probably ought to be grateful, but mostly he's ashamed of himself for knowing that thing was loose in Manhattan and not doing anything about it while Zagreus has gone about torturing human bystanders.

"I'm sorry," he says again. It's my fault, he doesn't say. He has enough sense to override the guilt and know that's not entirely true. Zagreus was defeated twice before Andrew even came into being, and his survival since his reappearance a few years ago hasn't been for lack of trying on the part of certain others. "That explains where he's been," he says mostly to himself. "Is Aiden helping you still? It's not safe for you to sleep alone."

Yeah, safe to say Johnny's probably got that one figured out.

[johnny_truant]

"Not your fault," says Johnny with a shrug in response to the second apology. Andrew seems to feel really bad about this, which is kind of endearing. Johnny appreciates the concern.

"I think the first time was different," he says. "Because like... he pulled me from one dream into another? I guess that displaced my... consciousness or something." He laughs softly. The whole thing is so sci-fi it's absurd. "But I think Aiden could only get into my head because of that. It's a shame, because he was a real badass. Fought him off like a pro." He smiles faintly. He hopes, not for the first time, that Zagreus isn't ever going to seek retribution for that. It's bad enough being the prey without getting his friends involved.

"I've got other people helping me, though," he says. "Gabriel and the TARDIS, mostly. They do what they can."

He doesn't mention that it's not enough. Why bother? It's not their fault. More often than not, it's his.

[bluesuit_handy]

"Funny she hasn't mentioned you," says Andrew too lightly. "The TARDIS, I mean."

It's not odd at all, really. Andrew's hardly talked to the ship in recent months, and it's been made clear enough to him that she doesn't want him endangering himself -- that is, endangering the Doctor's memories -- by going up against more telepathically inclined beings. That he should be out of the loop when the TARDIS doesn't see him as a viable ally and he's repeatedly pushed the Doctor away the Doctor sees him as a responsibility at best shouldn't (and doesn't) surprise him. It does sting, though.

[johnny_truant]

Johnny can't help but misunderstand this remark as thinly veiled territorial jealousy, and it catches him off guard. Is he trying to make Johnny feel like he's less important to her? Maybe he's reading too much into it, but it makes him a little nervous, and he hesitates before changing the subject.

"You said you were a duplicate of the Doctor?" he says, tilting his head curiously. "How does that work?"

[bluesuit_handy]

It's insecurity more than territoriality, but of course Johnny isn't to know that. Andrew lets out a little sigh as the conversation turns to the age old question (or okay, three-years-or-so old question) of just waht he is. There's no need to hide it, though, even if he could.

"Sort of a mishap," he admits with a dismissive flap of his hand. "I got most everything copied over. New hardware, old software."

[johnny_truant]

"Um." Okay. That's not much of an explanation, but something tells Johnny he wouldn't be able to follow a more detailed account anyway. "Sooo like a clone?"

[bluesuit_handy]

"Not exactly. More like an amalgam, really; there's more to me than there is to him." Sort of. And sort of the other way round. He's also being deliberately obtuse; really, Johnny, he doesn't go asking you how much of your dad you are.

[johnny_truant]

And what fun THAT conversation would be!

"Okay then." Johnny laughs slightly and surrenders, finishing off his tea. "Whatever you say."

He sets the cup aside and goes for the beer instead, cracking the cap off on the side of the boat, which is a pretty cool move, actually.

"Well, nice to meet you, Andrew," he says. "Maybe I'll see you topside sometime."

[bluesuit_handy]

It's a pretty cool move and Andrew wonders if it would have worked in the waking world. He'll have to try it sometime.

"Maybe," he confirms. He will, if Andrew has any say in it. He's tired of being out of the loop, to say the least. He gives a little mock salute as he unloops the rope holding their boats together. "Tell the TARDIS I said hi," he adds.