Sweeter than the First Time [Open to All]

[applesaucemod]

Hello, dreamers of Manhattan. The Rift knows that things have been kind of rough, lately. The last dream didn't go as well as it had hoped. Consider this an apology of sorts, and a hearkening back to the good times you've shared.

It's a grand old (and potentially familiar) cabin house that the dreamers will find themselves wandering. The furniture is plentiful and comfortable, the floors are strewn with cushions and blankets, and there are cheerful fires burning in the grates. It seems a little odd that the house still manages to be on the chilly side despite looking so warm, yet it is.

Oh, well. You'll just have to find another dreamer or two and spoon up and fall asleep like little baby cats get cozy. It shouldn't be difficult; most of the dreamers (excepting those with strong telepathic defenses or deeply ingrained cuddle-averse personalities) will find themselves feeling friendlier than usual, along with an almost overwhelming desire to snuggle up to someone. How convenient that the house seems designed for that very purpose!

And if some of the cushions are Hello Kitty themed, well, that's just coincidence.


[OOC: Standard dream party rules apply. Characters will be affected by the dream-whammy to whatever degree makes the most sense for them, and will remember or forget the events of the dream at the player's discretion. Backtag into infinity.]

Comments

[whofrownedthisface]

"That's a real mouthful of a name, but then I suppose you are Welsh." The Doctor doesn't have any ready sarcasm for being called an arse though, nor indeed any real argument, point of fact. Blanket man's pretty much got the right of it, there, though that's a lot of stones in a glass house for someone who introduces himself with a punch in the face.

So this whoever he is at least knows who he's assaulting/addressing, that much is clear. Shame that knowledge isn't mutual, but knowing his name wouldn't make him any less wrong. "Don't be so stupid, you don't know what you're talking about in the slightest," he argues, angrily but not very eloquently. He just doesn't understand all the details, and the Doctor's been caught too flat-footed to make a good start. He takes a quick breath and recalculates, digs his hands into his hair roughly. "This isn't travel. I'm not putting her in danger, she was already there. There's something hunting her, something huge and terrifying that's already killed her once, and anything might end up in Manhattan through the rift, and already has. What exactly would you do in my place?"

[i_jones]

"You think you're going to keep her safe." He lets out a huff of air, a disbelieving laugh, the morally elevated man's cha, right. What Ianto would do is get her and all children and just everyone, really, as far from the Doctor as possible, but that's not really a Plan B and he knows it. It's still a good idea, it's just not really a good debate point. "You're the worst thing that could come through that rift." He takes a step forward. It's much easier to be aggressive when he doesn't need a cane, when he can just imagine that his muscles aren't atrophied. "And if you really want to keep her safe, then stop pretending you aren't and stay away from her."

[whofrownedthisface]

"Yeah actually, I do think that. Or at least I have the best chance, who else, ROMAC? You? Or should I put her out and hope for the best?" The Doctor could accurately be described as borderline yelling now, incongruous with the dream's atmosphere, unable to contain the offense of being so questioned, so absurdly. Are you going to stand between any children and their monsters? Have you got an impregnable fortress of a home to call your own? What nonsense. And the Doctor is worse than Satan now? And who knows what else that's turned up, that's just the first menace he's been told of. This is only getting more ridiculous, and he is starting to suspect the motivation is more personal than concern about child welfare. Which is all well and good, except he's only just got here, so whatever it is that this argument is a stand-in for, he's only inheriting it.

The Doctor refuses to be intimidated, stands firmly in place, and if this man wants to get in the Doctor's face then more fool him. No longer yelling, but grave and admitting absolutely no doubt that he is in the right, "You still haven't answered my question. Either of them. Who are you, and what would you do in my place. Tell me exactly."

[i_jones]

"It doesn't matter who I am. I would find her a family so maybe she could lead a normal life." Imagine that, any of them leading normal lives. "And I would fight anyone who tried to hurt her."

Ianto was taken apart elementary particle by elementary particle while protecting a child, and he still confronted the 456 to defend a few millions more. There is no monster he won't stand in front of.

And now he's intimidated himself into a corner, thanks, and if the Doctor's not going to back down then he is, because getting in the Doctor's face was far more unnerving than he anticipated. Bordering on terrifying. And weirdly familiar. Him sitting on one of the far end of the couches is not him giving in, for the record, it's just in the spirit of his 'Nobody Ever Go Near the Doctor' rallying cry.

[whofrownedthisface]

None except this one, apparently. "Oh that's big of you, to fight, that's very noble, and nevermind the logistical flaws in trying to give a normal life to a murdered refugee from another universe. But I think you forgot the point of the exercise. You'd fight, but would you win?" Retreating to the end of a couch says no. Honestly, reality says that too. "Because otherwise, what have you accomplished? Put more people in danger, but oh well, at least you made some kind of point." The Doctor has misplaced his threatening calm once again, ranting caustically and weirdly knowingly instead. "You know, I'm starting to think it matters very much who you are."

[i_jones]

Ianto resolutely avoids looking at the Doctor, bringing his feet up onto the couch and wrapping his blanket a little tighter around him. Regret catches up with him in waves. He knows he's being childish. He's the most well-aware that every time he confronts World Eaters or weird beaky-headed aliens or cannibals or memory creatures (that he can't remember) he utterly fails and people get hurt and die. Or he gets hurt and dies. Or both, frequently Is this a terrible argument? Yes. Should he have punched the Doctor for the reasons he did? Nnno. He just has a lot of feelings and no one to punch about it, okay.

He leans back against the couch and stares at the knotted wood above the windows. He takes a measured breath. Why does he ever fall asleep? "I traveled with you. In another universe. You tried so hard to fix me." The rest of his breath leaks out in an irritated sigh. "Ianto Jones."

[whofrownedthisface]

And there it is, that's better. Well, it was always going to be something like that, wasn't it. The Doctor crosses his arms sullenly, leans against the bricks of the fireplace, now absorbing radiant heat rather than nearly setting his sleeves on fire. He doesn't seem that keen to look at Ianto either, but does so anyway, as though coerced. He had a feeling it was something like this, but that doesn't make it any less strange or unfortunate. What's the protocol for being angry and regretful about something you didn't actually do, but probably would have done, if the opportunity presented itself? "And let me guess. I didn't." He doesn't sound like he needs any confirmation. "Which one was it?"

[i_jones]

Ianto rolls his eyes. "Does it matter?" Is any one Doctor more likely than the rest to treat companions like pets rather than people? Would it be more understandable if it were one of the rude, abrasive ones? Or is it not so bad if it's one of the nice ones, like good intentions could ever justify the decisions the Doctor made for him. He turns his head to give the Doctor a shrewd look. No, he can't be asking because he cares. "You're want to know if it was you."

[whofrownedthisface]

Despite his most recent thoughts about how strange it is to both have done and not have done the thing he's being attacked for, Ianto's response is still somewhat shocking. Since this iteration of this incarnation hadn't traveled with Ianto, clearly none had, was his unconscious assumption--which is completely unfounded. It could have been him only once removed rather than twice. And that hadn't been why he asked at all. "No. Well yes, now I do," he revises truculently. He hesitates on the edge of another question. Does he even want to know? Why borrow trouble, when he already has such an ample supply? Ianto is rude but not wrong, what's the point now? "I wanted to know who to blame. See if that would let me guess what happened." A fun puzzle for all ages. Okay, so he wants to know, he just doesn't want to ask directly. But after being punched in the face, he deserves at least a little information.

[i_jones]

In another universe, maybe, Ianto met this one instead of that one and maybe that Ianto is nice and dead somewhere, but this Ianto just had to go and make friends with the clingiest fucking Doctor this side of the multiverse. He folds his arms on top of his knees, which only serves to make his blanket enclosure that much more turtle-like. Why should he tell? Because the Doctor is curious? Because maybe he wants to have a body to pin this mistake on, so he can assure himself it's nothing he would ever do in this universe or incarnation?

"It was your seventh regeneration." Well, not his. Someone's. Are the Doctor's bodies multiversal? Maybe there's a reason he's never met this one before. "Erm, he had curly brown hair and a frock coat and a... steampunk aesthetic." He drifts off and shakes his head, dismissing this description even as he gives it. What good does that do if it's a version this Doctor has never known? A little wearily, but with bite, he adds, "I've had enough Doctors guess at me. I'm not a game."