Let's Do the Time Warp (Again)

[applesaucemod]

It's that time again, but time seems to be a bit muddled. As usual, people from all over the multiverse are being drawn into the Dreaming by the rift. This time, in addition to (or sometimes instead of) picking up the residents of Manhattan, they take them from their home universe but from a different point in time. You may find yourself suddenly encountering a future version of yourself, or perhaps you bump into a friend taken from long before you met them.

Tonight's setting is also time-twisted. You're still in Manhattan, but it seems to be closer to the 1930s. Specifically, you're in an old hotel. There's the dimly lit lobby, with chairs and tables for relaxed mingling. The bar, where tables are front of a stage, on which a band is playing various hits of the 30s. There's also an outdoor area if you need fresh air. Or you could explore the hotel, but it's mostly corridors, unless you stumble upon an unlocked room.



[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.

For game-specific characters, you can choose whether or not they will remember their time in Manhattan if they're taken from the future. You can take your character from multiple different points in time, if you want.]

Comments

[brink]

A version of Topher quite starkly different than the one working at ROMAC is roaming the corridors. He shies away from large groups of people, so you won't find him hanging around the bar. He's skittish, tense, fiddly, and avoids eye contact. He may also be difficult to get through to, but strangely enough, he might also be more lucid in a dream state.

Apart from the behavioral differences, he's quite a few years older, and almost frail looking, skinny and unkempt, unshaven and with much shorter hair. Time has not been kind, and he looks worn down.

And this version of Topher does not have any control over the dreaming - at most, perhaps he'll make some phantoms appear by accident.

[has_a_horn]

This mind is...convoluted. Gabriel wanders closer to the man, hoping not to frighten him, and dips into his mind for more information. Very convoluted, indeed.

This Gabriel shouldn't be familiar to Topher unless he can sense his Grace. His entire bearing is different, his body different, his face lacking it's usual smirk.

"Hello, Topher. You needn't be afraid of me."

[bluesuit_handy]

Andrew is unaware that he's triple-dipped into this dream from three points in his timeline. What he does know is that something feels off here, a niggling at the back of his mind like he's not where he should be, or like he's late for an appointment (not that he's ever been on time for one of those). He pads up a hallway, hands in pockets, and tries to figure out what he's looking for.

[bluesuit_handy]

Try not to trip over the jar on the floor -- you really don't want to have to mop up the contents.

[ooc: real Handy thread to follow elsewhere.]

[watchesthebeans]

Aglet, new thing that he is, doesn't have even the slightest glimmer of insight into where he is or what's going on. Unlike many others, he hasn't been displaced in time but is here from the here and now of Jennifer's bookshelf. At the moment, he can be found scuttling along behind the bottles at the bar, failing to hide in that way Borrowers do in dreams when a Bean might dream instead of being naked.

[has_a_horn]

This Gabriel doesn't have the benefit of ever having been to New York, or almost any other place on the globe where he had not been sent by God on a mission. He looks around the scene carefully, at once knowing where he is and that this is a dream, but having no memory of any of the people here.

He's curious, though, so he's not leaving quite yet.

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS senses Gabriel's presence before she spots him and makes her way over to greet him, only to draw up short when he isn't who she was expecting. She recognizes this body of his from his past, but that doesn't tell her what exactly is going on here, so she cautiously closes the remaining distance, refraining from a mental greeting for now. "Gabriel?"

[protectsthenest]

Loki appears in the bar, a couple of tables back from the front of the stage. He frowns in puzzlement, looking around. He doesn't recognize this place and something feels strange, a shift in his magic.

"Bruce? Clint?"

[bluesuit_handy]

"Excuse me --"

There's a rather short man just come around the corner. He looks like he'd be lucky to top out at 4'7", and he frowns as he tilts his head to look up at the stranger. "Have you seen someone else who looks like me?"

[buryyouwithmysound]

"What the math?"

There's a gray vampire floating around, looking very perturbed indeed. But, still, there's a very nice red armchair that looks delicious so she's not complaining.

Looking quite pleased, Marceline bites down on the chair and slowly drains out the red.

[spiritofwinter]

"What are you doing?"

Serious, honest confusion here. Jack stands with his head cocked and his staff held idly in one hand, staring at the -- is she a spirit, like him? She's got to be; he's never seen any human floating around or...doing whatever she's doing to that chair.

[fucking_ebay]

Not seeing anyone in the lobby when he came in (he assumes he came in by the front door, not thinking about it hard enough to realize that the memories are murky before the moment he became aware of his surroundings), the gangly, rail-thin teenager known as Peter spends a few minutes taking in his surroundings. That gets boring fast, so he hikes his butt up on the counter, swings his legs over, and hops back down on the other side to scope out the employees-only area, idly moving some of the neatly sorted keys and mail around.

The long black hair that will kind of work for him in wig form as an adult has been halfway accomplished for real, though the dyed-black mop looks more like he's just neglected to get it cut in a while. He's clad in black from head to toe with the odd chain or spiked bracelet to break it up, great clompy boots on his feet.

[has_a_horn]

Hey there, ickle little Peter. Gabriel laughs aloud when he sees him and heads on over. Even if the modern Peter is still mad at him, he really can't pass up this opportunity.

He sidles up to the reception desk and leans against it, peering over at Peter. "Hey there, kiddo, rent me a room?"

[essentiallyharmless]

Hello Peter, you're being approached by a stunning lady in a skimpy dress, who looks like she might be slightly drunk. Unfortunately for you, she's not the most balanced and compassionate woman at this time.

"You shouldn't be doing that," she comments with a slightly predatory smile.

[jennifer_strange]

Jennifer steps up to the desk and eyes Peter for a few moments, wondering if his outfit is an indication that he is a foundling or that he isn't one. The oversized-looking boots suggest that he is, and she could imagine an establishment like this dressing their foundlings all in black in an attempt to look more professional, but the way the young man's idly poking about hardly screams 'professional.'

"Excuse me," she finally says, "but I need to speak to the owner."

[aly_brighteyes]

There's a very thin girl occupying a corner of the hallway, her eyes darting warily at her new surroundings. She's shaved bald, bruised, and broken in the nose, but the smart observer will realize that Aly is underneath all that. An even smarter one will notice that despite her bruises and marks, Aly isn't afraid. The look in her eyes is one of a sharp, stubborn girl who's determined to master her own situation, even if she's barely wearing a sack for a dress, barefoot, and without any of her knives.

[has_a_horn]

There's a man standing in front of Aly. He's tall and dark haired, and has a strange quality about him that doesn't seem completely human. His expression is half interest, half concern.

"You're not hurt." A quick dip into her mind provides her name. "Aly. You are alright. Presumably. This is a dream."

[wildmage_daine]

Daine crouches behind a screen of potted plants in the outdoor seating area, wild-eyed and tense. She's only thirteen, and anyone from New York would find her smaller and thinner than she ought to be, with tangled hair and small cuts on her arms and legs. One hand clutches a knife, one of the few human tools she remembers how to use.

Where is the Pack? They'd been helping her - helping her when no one else would. She'd been safe with them; even amidst the fear of being chased, she'd known they would look after her. Now, she is alone, and too frightened by these strange surroundings to risk calling out for Brokefang and the rest. Instead, she huddles where she is, hoping to stay hidden while she tries to figure out the best direction in which to bolt.

[aly_brighteyes]

Seeing Daine like this scares Aly more than she can say, more than even her own predicament has done to her. Aly's used to being afraid, in pain, and in control, but Daine...

Carefully, slowly, she crouches in front of her.

"Hullo."

[jennifer_strange]

Jennifer frowns at her opulent surroundings, trying to remember what she's doing there. Meeting a client, presumably... though she can't think who, or what the job would be. Rewiring the place, perhaps, or updating the plumbing?

She glances around for Lady Mawgon and the Wizard Moobin, or even one of the Prices, but she doesn't see anyone she recognizes. This is ridiculous, and more than a little bit embarrassing; she ought to know what's going on, but her mind's gone a all fuzzy on the details. Suppressing a sigh, she wanders over to the main desk. If she can just find her client, that should start to clear some things up.

[bluesuit_handy]

The trick, Handy knows, is to stroll right in like you have every right to be there. His first stop is the restroom -- it's unbelievable how tricky it can be to find a place to use the loo when you don't have one of your own -- but once he's relieved himself and freshened up at the sink, it's off to the restaurant --

Except this hotel doesn't have a restaurant, he discovers. A bar's a poor substitute; here he won't find unfinished plates of food left by careless diners. There'll only be drinks, and he hardly needs that on an empty stomach. Annoyed, he loiters in the doorway, reluctant to leave the comfort of his current surroundings even though he won't be getting any dinner out of it.

[theheroheart]

Charley much prefers a hotel lobby with good music (even a few pieces that sound familiar!) over the ice-encrusted city that took her Doctor that she's currently asleep in. Aren't interdimensional dreams a wonderful thing? She thinks so. Or she would, if she were properly aware she was dreaming.

Instead, she's just bemused, surprisingly calm (a dream will do that), and wandering about with a thick bracelet inset with a deep red gem on one wrist.

"Doctor? Jamie! Halloooo, boys, come out come out wherever you are!"

[eighth]

"THERE you are!" the Doctor exclaims as he hears Charley calling for him. "I've been looking for you everywhere" he says, which might be an exaggeration, as he bounds over and takes her hand with a grin. "Have you heard the band? They're magnificent!"

/quietly intrudes

[nedofpies]

Ned's sitting at one of the little tables by the stage, a tiny cup of espresso in one hand, nodding along to the music. He doesn't remember coming in, ordering a drink, or sitting down - doesn't have any idea where this bar even is - but none of that strikes him as very out of the ordinary. He hasn't the faintest idea that this is a dream. Everything seems perfectly ordinary to him: a quiet night out, to listen to some music, see something other than the inside of his apartment for a change.

[buryyouwithmysound]

Marceline, meanwhile, is happily floating along with a bottle of grenadine. She hasn't mixed it with anything as she plans to drink out the color and maybe some of the sweets. In her other hand is a bowl of strawberries, gray and withered because she's already drank up their red.

"Whoa, are you human?" And here she was, thinking Finn was the last one.

[alittlemad]

Well, this is one way to make a fellow feel really small-town. It's not like Norman is under the delusion that the Bates Motel is anything more than a small-time place that's past what little moment in the sun it had, but there's always something weird about going to a 'real' hotel and seeing how it's done in the big city. Not that he's done so often, of course; Mother has always needed him with her, and there hasn't been much money for travel.

He's not terribly interested in examining the lobby, and the sight of the bar sends him awkwardly looking for somewhere less threatening. He fetches up in the garden/patio, his spotless white shirt and hunched shoulders making him look like a particularly awkward stork perched among the plants.

[eighth]

There's a rather different variation of the Doctor wandering around. This one is several hundred years younger, and not so burdened as his future selves by horrors yet to come. He's still rather early in this body's life, still filled with wide-eyed enthusiasm. At the moment he's enjoying the band, having gotten himself a colourful drink that seems more fruit and sugar than actual alcohol.

[powerdealer]

This is not Seth's first foray into the Dreaming, but it's his first in a long time. Any form of telepathy was cut off where the rebels kept him - couldn't have him communicating with the outside world, after all. Yet it's familiar enough. Enough for him to recognise it for what it is, at least. He'll keep a low profile here too, but he feels slightly safer knowing no one can figure out his physical location or lock him up here. Well, probably. He's seen a lot of powers come and go, no doubt one exists for that purpose as well. So he'll just hang back a bit, sitting at a table at the back of the garden area, watching the people, keeping an eye out for familiar faces.

[watchesthebeans]

Aglet has slowly made his way through one room after another. He wouldn't normally be inclined to go a-wandering outside, but this is the first place he's seen that hasn't been packed with Beans. Despite his efforts to find somewhere out of the way, he's doing remarkably poorly at staying out of sight in this dream; just now he can be seen skulking about under the tables as he makes his way to the back of the garden.

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS that arrives in this dream isn't all that different from her usual self. She's still a time ship, still in a female human body with big brown hair and blue clothes. But she's taller, and wearing a ragged Victorian dress, and she's a lot more animated. She looks at her surroundings with big eyes and a wondering expression on her face like she's never seen anything like this before.

"So that's what the off-switch does."

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel is walking away from the music when he feels the TARDIS' presence in the dream a little ways ahead. With a smile, he picks up his pace and heads into the lobby, only to find...well, it's definitely the TARDIS, but not the one he'd been expecting.

He pulls to a surprised stop, but it's only a brief moment of hesitation before he walks the rest of the way to greet her. "Hello?"