The Shavings Off Your Mind are the Only Rent [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

Picture a house. Actually, picture two houses. They're (almost) identical structures that share an uneasy coexistence, tangled together on a quantum level. One of the houses is Good: bright, cheerful, full of comfortable furniture and a pervasive feeling of safety. The other house is Evil: dingy, dilapidated, and haunted by the dreamers' greatest fears.

The good news - and bad news - is that travel from one house to the other is as simple as passing through a door. All a dreamer has to do is walk through a doorway, any doorway, and they'll find themselves in whichever house they weren't in before they crossed the threshold. Perhaps they'll step out of a beautiful library and find themselves in a threatening hallway - or perhaps they'll flee a menacing kitchen and find themselves in a perfectly safe dining room. That is the nature of the houses' entanglement: every door is a portal between the two.

There are, of course, complications. Dreamers in one house can't perceive the other; if you're in the Good house and looking through a doorway, the space beyond will look as nice and inviting as the space you're in now (until you step through that doorway, of course). Dreamers also can't really perceive one another if they're in the same room, but in different houses, though they might see a flash of movement out of the corner of their eye, or think they heard something.

Perhaps the greatest complications are the houses themselves. They have rather strong personalities, and they aren't very fond of one another. Each house will want to keep you if it can (keep you safe, in the case of the Good house, or keep you for itself, in the case of the Evil one). Dreamers may attempt to cross a hall and find the door that looked open and inviting a moment ago is now barred shut, leaving them trapped in the hall - or have doors suddenly close in their faces before they can end up anywhere unpleasant. Still, there's only so much either house can do, and even a locked door can be jimmied open or busted down.

Escape from the houses is possible, but the formal gardens beyond are similarly entangled, with neatly trimmed lawns and expertly plotted flower beds becoming overgrown tangles of nettles and algae-choked reflecting pools. An archway is as good as a door, as far as the gardens are concerned, and there are plenty of arbors and arches over the paths. Of course, dreamers may find that a sound arbor in the Good garden has collapsed in the Evil one… and heaven help anyone who dares to explore the hedge maze.





[ooc: y'all know the drill. ALL characters are welcome, regardless of whether they're in the game. Characters can remember or forget the events of the dream at the players' discretion.

Also, this dream party marks the aforementioned calendar freeze. For the next three weeks, the IG date will sit on July 3rd. Posts dated July 3rd or earlier are allowed and encouraged. The calendar will resume forward motion at a 4:1 ratio on Saturday, July 26th.]

Comments

[eighth]

He sips the cocoa too for a moment (his is perhaps a little heavy on the vanilla), and looks up in surprise at the question. It takes him a few moments.

"Oh, of course!" he exclaims after a second. "A dream, that makes sense." He nods thoughtfully. "You know, I honestly don't know, I haven't had any proper experience with it. I only recently found out that was a thing that happens here. But this place doesn't seem particularly familiar." There was one other dream that seemed unusual, but he didn't know about shared dreams until after it.

[apidae]

"Nor to me," she says. "I think... it might be both of ours? Or maybe... someone else's?" The whole thing is pretty strange. But she might as well go with it. She's already come through a rift in spacetime, what's a little shared dreaming?

Bee moves to the rather tall kitchen table and pulls out a stool, which she has to hoist herself up onto, setting her cocoa down and resting her elbows beside it. She's feeling so much better now that she has a good hot drink and a friend. She quite likes this man - he's so interesting, and he has such wonderful enthusiasm. She wishes she could see more about him - that'll be the dream, she suspects, higher brain functions not operating normally while asleep or something - but then, she could ask him. Like a regular person. He seems the type that wouldn't be shy to answer her either.

"So... I hope you don't mind me asking," she says. "But who are you? I mean, I know you're a doctor - or is it the Doctor? What do you do, really?" He leans forward a little, resting her head on her arm. "I'm very curious."

[eighth]

"Apparently the Rift brings in lots of people for shared dreams sometimes. There might be more people running around in here," he answers, doing the same, having a seat next to her.

"The Doctor, yes, though I am also a doctor," he answers with a nod. He considers the question for while, sipping his cocoa. "I guess you could say I'm an adventurer. An explorer," he answers. "I travel around, meeting people, solving mysteries, usually getting into trouble." He grins. "What about you?"

[apidae]

"Sounds exciting!" she says, thoroughly charmed. "I'm just a beekeeper. No real profession, or you know, life path. But I'm young for that. Mama told me not to worry, not even if I made it all the way to thirty and still didn't know, because your whole entire life is an adventure." She stretches out her arms, an awkward little fidget, then laces her fingers back around her cocoa. "How old are you?" she asks curiously.

[eighth]

"That sounds wonderful. And your Mama sounds like she had the right idea," the Doctor answers excitedly. There's nothing "just" about being a beekeeper. Something people have observed a lot about him, is his real interest in just about anyone and anything. That's why 'meeting people' is such a big part of the adventuring.

"Oh, a lot older than thirty," he answers vaguely. "Are you keeping bees here in the city?"

[apidae]

"Yes!" she says, delighted by his interest. "Well, soon. Actually I think... today's the 3rd, isn't it? We were going to find a colony today. Daine and I. She's a friend of mine. I'm very excited about it. I'm going to keep them on the roof of the Rebel apartments. Are you with a faciton?"

[eighth]

The Doctor nods with interest listening to her. Daine... Hadn't the TARDIS mentioned a Daine while telling him things? He wonders if it's the same Daine.

"Oh, no, I get by just fine on my own. But I'd love to come see your bees! You know, I think I might have some in the TARDIS..." But there's probably plenty colonies that already need looking after, so Bee doesn't need his help finding some, when the TARDIS is already taking care of theirs.

[apidae]

Bee's eyes widen a little at this strange reference. What on earth does that word mean? He says it almost like it's something she should know, but it sounds wonderfully foreign.

"What's the TARDIS?" she asks, bright and fascinated.

[eighth]

"My ship. And also my best friend," he answers matter of factly. "She's here too. In New York, I mean, not in the dream. At least I think..." He pauses for a second and feels around for her presence. "No, she's not in the dream. At least not yet." It doesn't occur to her that he's probably being confusing in a lot of ways at the moment.

[apidae]

"O-oh." Bee tilts her head, thoroughly confused, in fact. She's not sure what to make of his moment of apparent thought, but perhaps he's some sort of telepath? Doesn't seem outside the realm of possibility. She's much more curious about the nature of this friend of his. "She's a ship? What kind of ship?"

[eighth]

"The kind that travels in time and space. Well, usually. We're a bit landlocked at the moment," he answers with a frown. It's very troubling, actually. Not necessarily that he's forced to actually remain in the same place (though that is sure to get tedious soon enough), but the amount of pain it has been causing her. It's not the first time, and it surely won't be the last, so he has no doubt they'll get out of it, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant.

[apidae]

"You're a time traveller?" Bee's mouth actually drops open. She's so thrilled by this information that it takes her a solid moment to notice he's gotten a little melancholy.

"I - I'm sorry. That must be hard." She reaches out and lays a hand on his arm, squeezing gently. "I can't even imagine, after being able to go just... anywhere. Really anywhere. That must be incredible. And then being stuck here."

She frowns. She's only thought about coming through the Rift as a nice thing, in that she rather likes it here. But she's only human. It must be a trial for greater, freer beings, feeling so trapped.

That line of thought leads her quickly to a question she is rather excited to ask.

"Are you... you're not human, then?" she ventures.

[eighth]

The Doctor smiles warmly at her sympathy, and also at her excitement. He doesn't want to dwell on it, not when he has such lovely company. If he could, he would definitely enjoy taking Bee for a trip or two somewhere.

"I'm a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey," he answers, awaiting follow-up questions with a smile.

[apidae]

Don't squeal. Don't squeal.

"Gosh!" she says, just shy of squealing. "You're an alien? I've been hoping to meet an alien!"

She sits back, taking him in more fully. "But you look so human! Are you a lot like humans or can you look different? I-"

She covers her mouth, feeling self-conscious and shy. "I have a lot of questions."

[eighth]

The Doctor laughs at her excitement. He wishes more people were like her, so overjoyed at discovering the different and unknown.

"You look Gallifreyan, actually," he counters, as always. They came first! Not that Rassilon's xenophobia making the dominant species all take this same basic form is really something to be proud of, but nonetheless.

"I'm not a shapeshifter," he answers. Well, maybe technically. But not in the way she's imagining. "Go on," he encourages. If she touches on something he doesn't want to talk about, he'll just evade it or change the subject, but it's very hard to deny her her excitement.

[apidae]

"Oh!" She hadn't even though of that. Humans came from his people? Or... only in his universe? Perhaps he wouldn't know something like that.

"Well, I..." She takes a moment to think. She wants to know everything, music and culture and food, what is life like for an alien? But she'd better just start with the basics. "Do you know a lot about humans? Is this your first time coming to Earth?"

[eighth]

"Oh no, I love this planet," he answers with a grin. "In fact I've spent several lifetimes here. I probably know a lot more about it than you do, to be honest - well, the version in my universe. This one's a little different, not a lot, but a little. Though it's quite possibly you outstrip me on bee knowledge." Unlikely, but, you know, possible. But he definitely doesn't want to make her feel inferior.

[apidae]

"I doubt that!" she says, giving him a playful little jab. She's never one to resist acknowledging her own limitations, especially not in the face of someone so much older and better travelled. "You probably know all about bees - and space bees. I have never met a space bee. Hey, do you know a Lucy? Lucy Cole? She said she's seen space bees."

[eighth]

For a moment his hearts give a jump, but then he's disappointed, and he shakes his head. "I was just traveling with a Lucie Miller, but no Cole, no. Although we do have space bees. Could be she's from the same universe as me," he answers. Although plenty of universes have space bees. This one might too, he hasn't checked.

[apidae]

"Huh." Bee frowns thoughtfully, sorry at having given false hope, though at least he doesn't seem too broken up over it. "What's the TARDIS like? She's... a ship with a personality? Does she talk? Can I meet her?"

[eighth]

The Doctor cheers up immediately again at that. "Oh, I'm sure you'll get to meet her at some point. She has a body too, in addition to the ship part, so yes, she talks. She's about your size, actually."

[apidae]

"My size?" Bee laughs at the idea. "Seems funny for a ship to be so small, even if it is just a... piece. How big is she really - I mean, the ship part?" She hesitates. That almost seems like an impolite question, but... for a ship? This is entirely unfamiliar conversational territory. "Is it all right to ask?" she says a bit shyly.

[eighth]

"Well, the body is primarily just part of how she interfaces with the world. And I don't see why not," he answers. Well, if she was fishing for secret information about the TARDIS inner workings, but she clearly isn't. He's really just delighting in her excitement. "She's dimensionally transcendental, so the outside is the size of a police telephone box, but the inside is practically endless."

[apidae]

Her eyes go wide at that, trying to picture endless space fitting into a phone booth. "Like Mary Poppins' bag?" is all she can think to say. "That's amazing! I can't wait to see!" She takes a moment to drink more cocoa, still eyeing him excitedly over the rim. "Do all Gall- Gallifreyans? Do they all have ships like that?"

[eighth]

He laughs at her comparison and nods. He'd always suspected Mary Poppins was inspired by some Time Lady or other who'd interfered.

"No. For one thing, you have to be a Time Lord. And they're a pretty dull lot, with strict rules of non-interference. You're not supposed to go bouncing around the time stream like her and I do."