Paper Faces on Parade

[applesaucemod]

The residents of Manhattan will once again find themselves drawn into the currents of the rift when they sleep tonight. Once again, too, the rift is drawing in people from other worlds, both those who might one day find themselves pulled through in waking life and those who might yet escape its grasp.

Tonight, it seems, a celebration is in order. The ballroom of a country manor is the setting for tonight's gathering. Wood and marble gleam in the gas lighting, and a bar at one end of the room provides the, ahem, social lubricant some guests may require. At the other end, a staircase leads to a walkway that runs the entire parameter of the room, allowing guests to watch the dancing from above. While the party is localized in the ballroom, who knows what secret passages and hidden ways a grand old house like this one might conceal?

Those who appear here will find themselves wearing a disguise on arrival. Should the rift cause one to appear in a costume not of their liking (as it is fairly likely to do), an enormous wardrobe can be found through a door near the bar. In it, guests will find a seemingly infinite assortment of costumes and masks of all sizes and varieties ready for their use.


[Mod note: Usual dream-party rules apply. Both members and non-members are welcome to use any character, be they already in the game or no, and players can choose whether to have their characters remember this in the morning.]

Comments

[alwaysalright]

The Doctor is feeling deeply conflicted. On the one hand, he's glad Rose is alright. He assumes she too was in Pete's world. Handy doesn't seem to assume she should be with the Doctor, anyhow, but he does apparently think she should've joined him through the rift. Does that mean she's with the metacrisis, then? As much as he hates it, it makes sense. He's half-human. He could have that life. It's the only reason he could see for why she wouldn't just join the Doctor on the TARDIS again, if they could travel between universes. Although what does that mean for Andrew? What happened in that continuity? Where's their Rose?

Seems like the Doctor's just going to stew in his own thoughts for now, so Daine should probably take over.

[wildmage_daine]

... Well, this is awkward. Daince glances back and forth between the downcast pony and the preoccupied Doctor for a few moments, casting about for something useful to say.

"Maybe the rift will bring you back to the same time you left," she ventures. That makes as much sense as being taken in the first place, and anyway, that has to be how their rift works - elsewise Aly would've known Daine had disappeared, and she'd had no idea. Why should the pony rift be any different? "That could happen, right?"

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Possible," agrees Handy reluctantly. "But there are people in Equestria who have been through this before and just got sucked through a second rift instead of going back home. There are much worse places to end up than Ponyville or Manhattan."

[alwaysalright]

"Probably better places too," the Doctor comments with a sigh. "The TARDIS is here too, but she's land-locked. She doesn't work properly in this universe."

He turns to the railings and bends over it, looking down into the crowd, scanning it. "Have you seen Andrew here?" he asks Daine.

[wildmage_daine]

"He's around here somewhere," Daine says with a shrug. "It's been a while since I saw him, though." And if Andrew joins this conversation, too, she might just end up excusing herself. Best to get away before the talk gets completely incomprehensible.

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"You mentioned he was from another universe," interjects Handy. "When did he start calling himself Andrew?"

[alwaysalright]

"I'm not sure," the Doctor answers. "He doesn't exactly over-share. I don't know much about him besides his creation, and even that is a bit vague. He hasn't told me who the human was for him." He may be sort of trying to trick Handy into revealing more.

[wildmage_daine]

"What's wrong with 'Andrew'?" Daine asks, a little defensive on her friend's behalf, but also genuinely baffled. It makes more sense than calling himself 'the Doctor,' surely.

And, all right, little as she liked the idea of Andrew getting pulled into this conversation, she'd prefer that to talking about him behind his back. Maybe she should offer to go look for him. It might shame them into better behavior (or at least give her an excuse to leave).

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Bit human, isn't it?" Handy replies to Daine. "I mean, nothing wrong with human, of course, but. Well. It's not very me, is it?"

He pauses, giving the Doctor a funny look. "It wasn't Donna?" he asks, confused. He still assumes the Doctor already knows all about his origins from being there, so the only reason he'd be confused on that point would be if he had reason to suspect it had been someone else. He's honestly a little relieved by the idea, if perplexed -- if this Andrew came from some other human, he might be quite different from Handy after all.

[alwaysalright]

Ha-HA! ...Huh. Well. That explains a few things. But also actually makes Andrew a bit more likable. The Doctor's face goes through a range of subtle reactions, still trying to pretend like he knows what Handy is talking about.

"I don't know," he answers. "There might be many differences from universe to universe." He hesitates for a moment, sober. "Was it a two-way metacrisis for you?" he asks, not really looking at Handy the exposition pony.

[wildmage_daine]

"It suits him just fine," she insists. And Handy should consider himself lucky that Daine's too polite to suggest a few names that might be more fitting for the tiny wee pony that he is. Mithros knows 'the Doctor' is a strange name for a horse.

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Him, maybe," acknowledges Handy, still stubbornly clinging to the belief that Andrew will turn out to be quite different.

He narrows his eyes at the Doctor. "Yes," he says curtly, not appreciating being asked all these things the Doctor already ought to know.

[alwaysalright]

"We might actually be from the same universe," he comments, pretending that's the reason he's asking. Though really he's taken a turn for even gloomier. He can't imagine that had many positive results, though he tries not to dwell on it. And he knows that once he finally gets out of this universe, he'll have to forget it.

[wildmage_daine]

"I don't s'pose a human name would be very fitting for a pony," Daine says mildly, feeling compelled (as usual) to defend Andrew against other versions of himself.

Glancing between the Doctor and the pony, she asks, "Do you want me to try and find him? Andrew, I mean?" She might not try very hard; she's as much looking for an excuse to let them continue talking over her head without her head being in the way.

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"I don't see why we'd need to have another name at all," retorts Handy, feeling more than a little like he's been rubbed the wrong way by this whole conversation. Having to crane his neck to talk up to them isn't helping; and he finally rears up and hooks a foreleg over the railing in order to get his head higher. Does he want to talk to Andrew, though?

"...Yeah, I'm kind of curious, to be honest."

[alwaysalright]

The Doctor gives a shrug. He both wants to talk to (interrogate, scold...) Andrew, and outright avoid him. "I think he's gotten... less me, over time." He's sure there are reasons for that. And he's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[wildmage_daine]

As far as Daine is concerned, the pony's interest and the Doctor's ambivalence add up to a 'yes.' "I'll be back in a minute," she says before heading down the staircase and lowering her mask. She will find him, she decides, and tell him what's going on with the pony version of himself, but she's not going to haul him back if he'd rather not talk to them. She can just tell the others she didn't have any luck.

With the wolf mask covering her nose, it's easy for her to do a bit of subtle shifting without anyone noticing. A real wolf muzzle sprouts from her face, and she commences sifting through the various scents available to her until she finds Andrew's. He still takes some finding - this far into the party, he's crossed the dance floor several times - but before too long, she spots him and is able to shift her nose back.

"Hullo, again," she says, pushing up her mask. "I've found another you - and he's a pony." A little pony.

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew has set himself up with a drink and a chair to watch the festivities and see how many familiar faces he can pick out behind the masks. With this many people here, he's not sure how many of them are actually rifties, how many are currently in other universes, and how many are just confused New Yorkers.

He looks up, his thoughtful expression brightening when he sees Daine. "Fancy seeing you again --" he starts, but the rest of the words jam up in his throat and he has to gape at her in startled silence until his brain kicks back into gear.

"Did you just say a pony?" he asks, for once foregoing the usual round of 'what'-ing.

[wildmage_daine]

Her grin widens in spite of her attempt to contain her glee a little for his sake. "A pony," she confirms. Then, "A tiny pony." She has just enough restraint to keep from adding 'adorable' to the list, but only just.

"Anyway," she says, sobering a little, "The Doctor's talking to him. I wasn't sure if you wanted to be there for that or not. I think the pony wants to meet you, though."

[bluesuit_handy]

"What do you mean another me?" asks Andrew, already getting to his feet. "Is he the Doctor? And why's he a pony? No one else here's an animal tonight."

Is Daine making fun of him? Weird trick to pull, though.

[wildmage_daine]

"He called himself the Doctor at first," Daine explains as she starts to work her way along the wall, heading in the direction of the grand staircase. "But the Doctor guessed he was a meta-whatsit. As for him being a pony... I guess there's another rift out there that takes folk to a universe where everyone's ponies - or dragons, he said there were dragons, too." She can't help letting out a wistful little sigh. "I wouldn't mind seeing it. It sounds wondrous."

[bluesuit_handy]

"Meta-crisis," supplies Andrew, coming along. "But there was only one -- ever. Does he --"

He's about to ask whether the pony looks like him, but thinks better of it just in time. "Does he sound like me?"

[wildmage_daine]

"He does," Daine confirms with a nod. "He even has a bit of poof to his mane, though it looks more like the Doctor's hair than yours."

[bluesuit_handy]

The pony's mane looks like the Doctor's hair. Andrew can't quite stifle a laugh at that, imagining it. "Has to be an alternate universe," he decides. "If he's still calling himself the Doctor...."

That or he's a very young Andrew, but Andrew doesn't remember ever turning into a pony. It seems like the sort of thing that would stick in one's mind. He peers ahead, not sure where Daine is taking him but eager to see his hairy counterpart.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine glances back at the laugh, feeling compelled to add, "Be nice to him. I think he's a bit overwhelmed." And she is definitely not going to mention the part where he got his head stuck in the bannister.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether the pony will be nice to Andrew, and then there's the Doctor on top of it all. She's not sure if she should leave them to it or stick around in case they need a few more reminders to be civil.

She cuts across the dance floor to the staircase and pauses to make sure Andrew's still with her before starting to climb. "They should be just at the top," she says, and a glance upward confirms that they haven't gone anywhere.

"Found him," she says once she's reached them. To the pony, she adds, "This is Andrew."