[open to all] Room full of people in your head

[applesaucemod]

The rift has gotten bored, and has decided it's time to bring people together for another dream party.

This time, when you find yourself within the dream, you'll be somewhere familiar. Perhaps somewhere you feel safe or at home, some place you miss, or were particularly happy at some point in your life. It might not be the same place every time you come back here, though.

There will also be a door where there didn't use to be one, even if there's no wall to surround it. If you go through this door, you will find yourself in endless simple corridor, lined with unmarked doors. And if you go through them, you'll pay a visit to someone else's room.


[There will monthly Dreaming party post like this. Same procedure as last time. Non-members welcome to tag in!]

Comments

[fucking_ebay]

"And I'm not!" snaps Peter, still stuck on the fear thing. He doesn't need her explaining why he shouldn't be afraid, because he isn't afraid, thank you. He's killed vampires; why should he be scared of some short woman with dumb hair and a dumb name?

"Oh, fuck you," he says, perhaps a bit uncreatively. "Like it's not enough I've got that arsehole in all my dreams, now I've got you as well. You know what? You two can fucking have your carnival -- and I didn't ask for this fucking bear!"

And with that, he throws both his bear and his remaining candy at the TARDIS's feet.

[theoldgirl]

She should have known better than to even bother trying to be reasonable. It never pays off with humans like him; stupid, small-minded, ungrateful, conceited little shits. With a glance at the scorned gifts on the ground she makes them disappear in a tiny lick of fire because she needs to focus her anger somewhere and Gabriel can just deal with her affecting his projection, before glaring up at him again.

"And I didn't ask for your company! Why are you even here?" Why couldn't he leave as soon as he hated her butterflies, instead of ruining her and Gabriel's tenuous companionship. "You are doing no one a favor allowing him or anyone else to make you do things you so obviously don't enjoy! And I can assure you I have no intention of wasting any more of my time on a nuisance like yourself, in dreams or otherwise."

[fucking_ebay]

She burned up his teddy bear! It's a good thing Peter never cared about that imaginary teddy bear and absolutely meant what he just did, or he might be upset that the TARDIS apparently set it on fire. And it's a good thing he doesn't even like seaside carnivals in the slightest, or butterflies, or Gabriel, or all the attention Gabriel gives him, or else he might have to give her an answer.

Of course, since Peter has very firmly decided that he doesn't give a rat's ass about a single one of those things, he couldn't give her an answer even if he wanted to. Which he doesn't, obviously. "Good," he growls, circumventing any explanation. "Because both of you can piss right off."

Lifting a hand and extending his middle finger, Peter does something he's never done before: he teleports deliberately. It's only a dream, and he knows it would make a dramatic exit...were he not to reappear only five feet closer to the door and have to whirl on the spot and stalk away on foot.

[theoldgirl]

Well that exit is certainly a (badly done) surprise and she watches him leave slightly perplexed. After seeing him require help just for a simple wardrobe change, she wouldn't have expected him to be able to do this at all. But then she recalls Gabriel mentioning someone with a teleportation power, and that clears up this little mystery she didn't care about in the first place.

Having dealt with Peter, she marches over to a likely even more unpleasant confrontation. When she reaches Gabriel waiting by a candy stand, she demonstratively plants her own teddy bear on the counter in front of him, not meeting his eyes. Her voice low and cold, she says, "Don't ever speak to me like that again."

[has_a_horn]

He picks up the bear from where she set it down and runs a thumb over its ear. This had been going so well right up until the time everyone started overreacting. He doesn't like it at all. The carnival setting feels pointless now, but he keeps it anyway. He takes a few steps away from her to sit down on a plastic chair. There's another one beside it if she decides to join him, but they may need an umbrella if the weather gets any worse.

When he speaks, his tone is much lighter than his meaning, and dripping in sarcasm. "This coming from the woman who just set a man's teddy bear on fire. Even if it's imaginary, it's still cruel." He sighs and looks down at the teddy bear instead of up at her. "I told you he's scared, and your response was lighting his things on fire? You know, as far as poor choices go, that's one for the record books. Congratulations."

[theoldgirl]

She's going to stay standing right here, thank you very much. And no, she's not going to be berated for hurting some stupid human's feelings. She did her duty assuring Peter she wouldn't harm him, and how dare he call her cruel. It strikes her deeper than she wants to admit, and she can't help clenching her fists at the word.

"He didn't want it. And why should I care about his feelings, his comfort, when he didn't show me the same courtesy?" She presses her lips together, trying to contain her bitterness at the familiarity of the argument, even if the offender is a different one this time. "Why do you?"

[has_a_horn]

Well if she's not going to come over, he's going to continue to talk without looking at her. "He did want it. You couldn't see that because you were too busy being offended." He groans in frustration, knowing this isn't going to get through to her. "You can't take him at face value. If you do, you'll miss everything under the surface." And hello, nice to meet his own insecurities today. Because if she can't see past Peter's obvious posturing, what is she missing with him?

"You expect him to show you courtesy when you couldn't muster any up for him. He's looking for a sign that you're not two steps away from frying him up crispy because he said the wrong thing. It's a Catch 22. Neither of you get to elbow out of that little two-step without compromise." He rolls his eyes and his voice takes a harder edge. "And fuck compromise, right? It sucks. A lot easier to just be an asshole and convince yourself you're the bigger man."

[theoldgirl]

For a moment as he goes on she suddenly feels like she can't be sure who exactly they're talking about, but that's nonsensical and her confusion is soon pushed aside by more seething anger. None of what he says convinces her that she should care to see under the surface, or whatever it is that he's arguing for. Her native way of getting to know people is literally by seeing into their minds, so she considers herself an excellent judge of character, without realizing that she is quite the opposite when she has to rely solely on surface impressions. And did he just call her an asshole again?

"I am perfectly willing to make compromises, as you well know," she snaps, "if I consider them worth the effort. And continuing to show him courtesy after he scorned my room would not have changed anything." Because she was lenient with him, letting him stay despite his rotten mood, inviting him on the porch swing, telling him to relax.

"I know humans like him; you have no idea how many of them I have had to tolerate." It seems he needs it spelled out, and she can't contain her disgust anymore anyway. "How many I have housed, provided for, protected, and shown the universe to. And all they do is complain that I don't serve their every whim, treat me like a machine or the Doctor's pet! Act like I'm malfunctioning when they don't like the destination or when I refuse to launder their dirty clothes. As though I am not worth a second thought, even when he tells them I'm alive." She takes a sharp breath, not having meant to reveal quite so much, but now it's out she barrels on and fixes him with a hard look. "I will not be held responsible for his happiness. You will not hold me responsible for his happiness over my own."

[has_a_horn]

It takes an effort of will not to wince when she snaps at him. Yes, he hasn't forgotten their makeshift compromise. It had made their friendship possible, after all. But yes, she clearly has her limits. Up till now, she's found him worth the effort, but after this? He doubts it.

He's about to say something to that effect when she just keeps on talking. And wow, now he understands where all of her anger is coming from. She's throwing all of her displaced frustration at the Doctor at him instead...probably because he's easier to piss him off than the guy that handles all her switches and nobs for a living. He understands, but that doesn't mean that he's going to excuse her for being an ass about it.

He turns in his chair to look at her, meeting her hard look with one of his own. "I never asked you to put him first. I had hoped you might both raise the bar to some level of human decency. Maybe that was too much to ask, given that Peter isn't decent and you're not human." He smiles, but it has no warmth to it. When he speaks again, his voice is sharp and clipped. "I'm not the Doctor. And Peter isn't your charge. Remember that."

[theoldgirl]

She almost snorts at human decency, as though she cares one bit for that. Basic respect for another living being is universal decency, and enough humans do manage it that she feels justified in expecting it from them all. But before she can argue anything like that, his last remark hits her like a slap in the face and her eyes widen.

"How dare you think I take you for the Doctor," she says, low and threatening, when she finds her voice again. "You are nothing like him to me." Even though just this morning he'd comforted her in a way few beings can, and she'd found herself wanting to share things with him she can't even truly share with the Doctor, and his friendship had begun to ease the pain of not belonging. Perhaps this argument is hurting so much because he isn't the Doctor, because she'd found a friend independent of her pilot and still ended up in this same age-old fight, like she can never escape it.

She's suddenly struck by the realization that for all her strife with the Doctor, she always has the utter security of their love, the knowledge that they could never lose each other over something like this. But she has no such luxury with Gabriel, and were she less emotional she'd be surprised by how much the thought of losing his friendship hurts and frightens her. Still, she can't back down, not after this slight to her bond with the Doctor.

For a moment, her cold expression falls apart as though she is going to weep, and her anger and fear bleed into the room. "You are supposed to be different," she manages, quieter, before pulling herself together and taking the only logical course of action in the face of so many conflicted feelings - flight. She turns away and makes for the exit without another word.