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

[wildmage_daine]

Daine, on the other hand, is a bit envious. She'd prefer to be in her own realm, of course, but if she had to be pulled somewhere else, a universe full of ponies and dragons sounds tailor made for her. "You've got dragons, too?" she asks, a little wistfully.

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"A few," he nods, answering Daine first because he likes her better, so there. Also, her question actually makes sense. "The TARDIS is a blue box," he says dryly. "Unless you've hit your head recently?"

[alwaysalright]

He'll let that slide, because he would've had the same reaction too, and satisfying his curiosity is more important at the moment.

"She's that too. She constructed a body," he explains briefly. So not from her universe. But maybe... "Hold on, are you the metacrisis?" Because he might actually be from the same universe as the Doctor, then. Well, before he went to Equestria, that is.

[wildmage_daine]

Dragons and ponies. Some folk have all the luck, at least where rifts are concerned.

"'Metacrisis'?" she repeats, baffled.

[bluesuit_hoofy]

That's...very strange. And more than a little bit titillating exciting, except Handy's not given much time at all to think how interesting it would be to talk to the TARDIS and have her talk back with a human(oid) tongue before the Doctor barges in with a painfully personal question. The sharp breath he takes is probably reply enough, but he gives a reluctant little nod as well to confirm. "I got pulled through from Pete's world a few days after...everything," he admits, wilting a little with the realization that he can no longer get away with Daine thinking he's the real Doctor.

[alwaysalright]

Pete's world? Pete's world?! Okay, hold that thought.

"He's the same as Andrew, but from a different universe," he explains to Daine. "Perhaps even my universe, actually..." He trails off, uncertain how to proceed. He has a lot of questions, but he's not sure the metacrisis will answer if he realises the Doctor is from an earlier point. Andrew didn't.

"How was Pete's world?" he asks Handy cautiously.

[wildmage_daine]

"... Huh." Daine frowns a little, wondering why the pony was calling himself the Doctor in the first place. She can see that he doesn't seem overly pleased about admitting the truth, so she offers him a smile and reaches out to give his back a little pat. "It's all right. Andrew and I are friends."

[bluesuit_hoofy]

"Same as we left it," he tells the Doctor with what would be a shrug if he weren't using his front legs to hold himself up, "minus the Cybermen. Are you saying this Andrew is me?"

He looks back and forth between the pair of them, confused and disturbed by this development. "I thought you'd got yourself copied again in my absence," he admits.

[alwaysalright]

"Not to my knowledge; one metacrisis only," the Doctor answers, though at the moment he's mostly thinking to Other with metacrisis, there's more pressing issues. After 'everything' could mean anything, and if they can get the metacrisis into Pete's world... Well. Long story short. "What about Rose?" Just give him some information, damnit. He needs to know, though he's trying to subdue his intensity.

[wildmage_daine]

Daine considers asking for clarification as to who Pete and Rose and Cybermen are supposed to be, but one look at the Doctor's face convinces her that it'd probably be unwise. It's obvious enough that they're talking about folk from their realm, anyway. So she keeps her mouth shut, though she has to bite back a grin at the thought of what Andrew would say if she told him she'd met a version of him who was a pony. A tiny pony.

[bluesuit_hoofy]

There is nothing more pressing than finding out there's a direct copy of him and that copy is calling himself Andrew. What kind of stupid name is Andrew, anyway? Why would he even come up with that?

Everything, that is, except for Rose. "She didn't come through to Equestria with me," he replies unhappily. "She was alright the last time I saw her, but it was months ago now." And it kills him that he doesn't know how she's doing now.

[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.