It's Saturday night and you're hallucinating in your sleep!

[applesaucemod]

It's that time again! The rift has caught the good little dreamers of New York (and beyond) in its currents and washed them ashore on a desert island in a dream wonderland. This time, however, quite a noticeable change has come over each of the attendees of this nocturnal party.

All the people who arrive in this shared mindspace will find that they have been transformed into some sort of animal they find familiar or that resembles them. They will find that they can still communicate with one another and that they still have all their mental faculties, but might be a little…well…influenced by the forms they have taken on.

They will also find that they have been deposited in the middle of the largest, most elaborate playground they have ever seen. Climbing equipment and slides of the sort meant for human children are in evidence, but so are cat trees, meadows, tunnels, pools and ponds, aerial obstacle courses, and anything else the mind can imagine, for as far as the eye can see.



[OOC: The usual dream party rules apply: players apply the party's theme (in this case, transformation) to their characters according to their own discretion, and both members and non-members are more than welcome to use this post to try out characters not yet in the game. Usual dreaming rules also apply, in that players can choose whether or not their characters will remember this in the morning. Have at!]

Comments

[fucking_ebay]

"I have hands pretending to be wings!" he snaps, losing his grip with one thumb and scrabbling to get it back. "Put your head near --" he nearly says the ground, but remembers he really doesn't want to be down there. "--Near something so I can get off."

[theoldgirl]

Oh this is pathetic. She's sorely tempted to just scrape him off on her own foreleg, but that would likely be painful to both of them and she's not actually that cruel. So with another angry snort she starts trotting towards the nearest tree, not caring about his comfort during the rocky movement.

"You ought to do everyone a favor and wake up," she comments disdainfully, because he clearly isn't enjoying this dream (as usual) and she doubts there's anyone here who would enjoy his company either.

[fucking_ebay]

He was enjoying it just fine until she nearly stepped on him and started telling him off -- and that vaguely familiar Daine person had been exceptionally nice to him, actually, and puzzled him by inspiring him to be nice tolerable in return. "Wake up?" he asks, confused as hell. "Would you slow do -- AAH!"

The trouble with a horse's face is that short of puncturing the flesh (which his tiny claws would be hard-pressed to do), it's really not all that great in terms of claw-holds. With each jarring step, Peter feels his grip becoming more and more tenuous until he slips right off and tumbles toward her enormous, bat-crushing hooves. He flaps furiously, no concrete thought in his head beyond 'UP!'

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS doesn't even notice he's slipping until he falls off, which tickles her nose in such a bothersome way that she's distracted for a split-second. Her leg bumps against him hard and she flinches back mid-trot, trying to bring her hooves down away from him. But she's too startled and the complicated motion makes her trip over her many legs, nearly bringing her down.

She does manage to stumble to a halt without falling though, and after shaking her head once in response to the shock she turns around to scan the grass for a sign of the tiny bat. "Peter?" she asks with the smallest tinge of worry, for the moment afraid that she actually trampled him.

[fucking_ebay]

It's a bad start from an awkward position, but there's enough bat in his brain that Peter gets himself upright midair and fills his wings with wind...just as the TARDIS's leg comes forward and hits him like a giant wall of bony flesh. Any chance he had at staying airborne is dashed, the wing on the side she hit crumpling and sending him falling like a very small stone. His impact is cushioned a little by the grass, but there's little more he can do than lay there, dazed, as enormous hooves impact the ground around him.

By some miracle, she misses him. Peter groans and reaches up to rub his head, but hisses in pain and stops moving again even before he can realize the motion doesn't work very well with wings. "So much for not hurting me," he says with a bitter laugh.

[theoldgirl]

Having heard and spotted the tiny creature, her moment of worry dissipates and is replaced by customary irritation at him, made worse by the fact that he'd nearly made her fall. She snorts in disdain at his over-dramatic reply before bringing her head close to the ground again. "It was an accident. You fell off." It's certainly not her fault that he failed to hold on properly.

[fucking_ebay]

"You kicked me!" he argues, trying to turn over and get off his back. "Fuck!" he hisses when it proves too painful. He's silent for several long moments as he tries to figure out what to do. What can he do? He can't move, and she's either going to stomp on him or she isn't, even if he doesn't reveal that he's hurt.

"...I think I broke something," he admits.

[theoldgirl]

She does wonder why he hasn't moved into a more dignified position and why his delightful stream of expletives suddenly ceases. But at his admission she only lets out a put-upon sigh, which translates as a long stream of air from her nostrils that shakes the grass around him, showing no real concern.

"This is a dream," she informs him haughtily. "Just heal yourself." Okay, so she may be conveniently forgetting that he couldn't even change his clothes properly last time.

[fucking_ebay]

He shudders, feeling like she's going to eat him or something. Unicorns are basically horses, though, right? They can't eat bats.

"It -- oh." It's news to Peter that this isn't real, but, "That explains a lot."

Peter draws in a breath and holds it, concentrating. His sore ribs protest, and he can't feel any changes -- he tries to move again to be sure, but it's just as bad as it was before.

[theoldgirl]

Horses may not eat bats, but they still have an imposing set of teeth. Not that she's going to bite him, or actually leave him lying in the grass with imaginary broken bones. He'd have to piss her off even worse than he already did to push her into being that vindictive.

Which doesn't mean he can expect her help without asking for it nicely. "Well?" she asks impatiently, shaking her head slightly at the overall fact that she's having to put up with this.

[fucking_ebay]

He lets out the breath he's been holding, pulling off the closest thing to a wince a bat can manage. "Not working," he informs her, terse from the (imagined) pain. "Shit," he curses, feeling extremely sorry for himself. Is this it? If he can't heal himself....

[theoldgirl]

What a pitiful heap of insufferable human this is. She still isn't feeling sympathetic, not really, but there's also no reason to let him suffer any longer.

"Perhaps you would like to ask for my assistance?" she tells him derisively. Because remember how she'd controlled the butterflies, and knew Gabriel had changed his own room, and set his teddy bear on fire? She kind of has a lot of power in the dreamspace.

[fucking_ebay]

"Are you offering?" he asks dryly. Now that he thinks of it, though...that's right, she did that thing with the butterflies, and she set his bear on fire. She could set him on fire as well heal him, couldn't she? He licks his nose, uncomfortable with the idea but more uncomfortable with laying here until someone steps on him and puts him out of his misery. "Help me?" he requests.

[theoldgirl]

That's probably as nice as he's ever likely to get, so she takes a step back and lowers her horn to tap lightly on his belly. It's not strictly necessary, she could heal him with a thought, but that doesn't mean she can't show off a little. That done, she huffs at him again, waiting for some appropriate gratitude.

[fucking_ebay]

She's going to gore him! Wait, no. With just that little tap, the pain flows right out of him, leaving Peter whole. Surprised, he rolls over, pleased to find that he has full range of motion back, even if it's limited to a bat's full range.

"...Thanks," he says grudgingly, knowing she could have left him like that. Hey, at least he didn't grab onto her horn while it was within reach.

[theoldgirl]

Don't strain yourself with that gratitude or anything. "You're welcome," she replies sardonically. He'd better appreciate just how generous she's being with him, considering that he ruined her friendship with Gabriel, which was really very important to her.

She is quite tempted to leave him in the grass until the next unfortunate person stumbles over him, but she's already helped him this far, might as well get him out of the way entirely. So she lowers her horn close to him once again, because that's certainly more comfortable than having him claw into her nose again. "Hold on then, if you're not going to wake up."

[fucking_ebay]

Peter hesitates for a second or two, not understanding why she's being nice to him now. Maybe she feels sorry for him. Well, he's not above using someone's pity to his advantage.

It's awkward to try to get a good grip with his feet, but snagging the horn with his thumbs first gives him a boost up and he manages it. "You could wake up if you're so sick of my company," he mutters.

[theoldgirl]

Once he has a grip on her, she raises her head high enough that she can walk, but keeps her horn fairly horizontal to the ground. Then she resumes her way to the nearest tree, even sticking to a slow walk this time to avoid another disaster.

Not that that keeps her from bobbing her head irritably at his complaint. "I don't sleep. And I am enjoying this environment; I won't have you sour it for me. Not again," she adds darkly.

[fucking_ebay]

He was sort of thinking of taking off from her horn as soon as she lifted her head and have done with it, but in the moment it seems better to wait and get off where he knows he won't just end up right back on the ground (or under her hooves) again. Of course, the fact that she's making him seasick doesn't help with his resolve to fly his way out of the situation.

"Who said I wasn't before you came along?" he demands irritably. He has the decency to feel a little bit bad about the ruined carnival...though he feels that was more her fault than his, and Gabriel's not-so-veiled threats back in the waking world haven't made him feel any better disposed toward either of them.

[theoldgirl]

What, is he trying to say it's her fault he's in a bad mood, once again, when she's the reason he currently isn't being trampled by anyone? She's almost ready to fling him into the next bush for his audacity, but dredges up her last reserves of patience and instead just whips her tail angrily.

"I have seen no evidence that you are capable of enjoying anything without finding something to complain about," she argues, voice low and bitter. "All you can do is sulk and sow discord."

[fucking_ebay]

"You," he'd point meaningfully, but no, "don't even know me. Or what, you're magically the expert on people? You know all about them after five minutes? Fuck off."

He's not like that at all, he tells himself. So he has off days every now and then -- everyone does. He has a life, he has friends. Well, friend, singular. She's just being presumptuous.

[theoldgirl]

Maybe she is being presumptuous, but it's on a solid foundation of experience. "I have known enough humans like you to recognize the type," she says derisively, "and to avoid them when I can." Not that the Doctor gives her much choice on that matter even when she makes her displeasure known. Nor did Gabriel. She tenses up with the remembered hurt of that fight and walks faster to reach their destination. Under an apple tree she comes to a halt and raises her horn up to the lowest hanging branch for Peter to finally get off for good, too morose now to even give him a dismissive order.

[fucking_ebay]

"You're no prize yourself," grumbles Peter. "And I'm not a type." He's a special snowflake unique showman with intriguing qualities, and why the fuck do people keep forcing themselves on him and then bitching about the results?

He snags the branch with a thumb as soon as it comes within reach, and within moments has hoisted himself up and latched on with his feet. What need orders, when he's just as eager to be away from her?

[theoldgirl]

Finally he's off, and she shakes her head as though there's bat germs to get rid of. Once more she snorts, having no interest in continuing this pointless conversation and knowing he's too self-absorbed to actually show some gratitude.

"Stay away from me and I will do you the same courtesy," she declares and then turns her backside on him to be on her way.

[fucking_ebay]

"Promises, promises," he mutters, getting comfortable and getting his wings in order. He glowers after her, the idea of thanking her after she insulted him and broke his bones not even occurring to him.