[closed] Embroiled in the wars of illusion

[brink]

When Topher slips into the Dreaming, there is already someone inside his head. And since he wasn't given much choice about falling asleep just now, it doesn't come as a surprise who it is.

"Don't you ever knock?" he asks, looking up at the ominous figure in front of him, hard to focus on, the edges of her blurred. He's never seen her face, as it's always been hidden in shadow the few times he's met her, like the rest of her. It's like she's a void - in a place that is nothing but empty greyness, she manages to be less substantial than even that. Yet somehow he can feel her smile.

"Pleasant as always to see too, T̤̘̥͎ͨo̺̖͚̱̟͉̔̈́ͭ̃p͚̮̝̫̬͖͆ͭ̓̈̂̉́h͎̣́̑̚ẽ͉̪̜̗̘͙̪̊̑̂r̔̇ͩ̐," Beatrice answers, her voice echoing around them in the void.

"So," he says, getting to his feet. She still looms over him. "You can pull people into the dreaming despite them being awake now? That's neat trick."

"Not at all. I just turned you against yourself."

Topher stares at her, until he has to shake his head to clear the buzzing in his mind and surroundings that results from doing so. "You... made me use my power of entering the dreaming at will?"

Her smile widens. Or at least he thinks it does. He shudders. He's fairly sure she didn't used to be able to do that.

"Right. So what do you want? To recruit me?"

"We've been doing this dance for a while now. I believe we could help one another out. A mutually beneficial arrangement. Your employers aren't too pleased with you these days, are they?" she asks, but Topher remains quiet. "It'll get worse. And you know the rebels don't have the resources to protect you or reward you as well as I can. When it gets too bad, keep my offer in mind, won't you?"

"You kill people," Topher points out, mostly to see what she'll say.

"Only when we have to, and the same could be said for your employers, as well as the rebels. I won't be asking you to. You have other uses."

Topher looks away, wrapping his arms around himself and frowning deeply. He doesn't want to be having this conversation at all. He just passed out in a near stranger's living room, and she's keeping him here, which frightens him that she's able to do.

"I'll leave you to think it over," she says after a short silence. "Without any.. outside influences."

And with that, she's gone.

Topher makes an effort to wake up, but it's still just as impossible. She's not there anymore, her presence has gone from his mind, he can sense it, and yet he's still trapped. This worries him quite a lot more. In fact this is exactly the thing he's scared of. There's something itching at the back of the mind, perhaps someone else's presence or power over him, but nothing for him to really focus on. Switching over to plan B, he tries to reach out to the rest of the dreaming. But in the sea that's usually filled with the light of other people's minds, he finds only darkness. He's cut off.

Comments

[theoldgirl]

The TARDIS is very alarmed by Andrew's message, hearing that Topher seems to be in some kind of danger with no information to go on as to what's wrong. After quickly checking that the Doctor isn't very likely to get into trouble any time soon, she does as she's told, letting most of her focus flow into the telepathic current to feel out Topher's presence.

It takes longer than it should. Most organic minds, especially those with telepathic abilities, have unique signatures she can sense easily, and not immediately finding Topher's worries her. What if his mind isn't here at all? What if it's already gone? But she refuses to consider that possibility and continues her search, extending more of her self into the current and brushing over minds more thoroughly.

When she finally does find his mind, it's isolated and strangely turned in on itself. She's relieved, but something is clearly not right, so she allows only a fraction of herself to enter, cautious of whatever happened to him. Fear is the first thing she senses and it's all around, but there is something else, a foreign influence she can't pinpoint. It could be a danger to her, but right now she's more concerned about Topher than about herself, and so makes herself known in her humanoid shape, calling out for him.

[brink]

Topher has been sitting curled up with his head burrowed in his arms, a defensive posture that doesn't do all that much to make him feel better. The moment he can feel the TARDIS's mind against his, he looks up.

He can feel it's her almost immediately. She might suddenly feel it's a lot more difficult to stay in here though, Topher's powers trying to toss her out against his will. Topher himself is just immensely relieved, as the TARDIS should be powerful enough to withstand him.

Not being currently much in control of his own powers, he hasn't materialised anything around him, and no proper dimensions, so there's no real distance between the two of them. And nothing that really brings them closer except him realising she's there, suddenly just a few feet away from him, as she'll suddenly discover him being too, sitting curled up on what passes for a floor.

"Don't leave," he tells her immediately, desperately, lest she thinks his powers' attempts to evict her means he doesn't want her here. Even as his powers work against her however, his relief floods noticably into the surroundings.

[theoldgirl]

Despite Topher's plea, the TARDIS's projection starts to fade as soon as she's noticed him, suddenly finding herself pushed away quite firmly. Even though she was on guard she's taken by surprise, not having expected his influence to be fighting her, and for it to be as strong as it is. Given that she'd barely entered his mind to begin with, she's nearly evicted for good.

But she realizes this isn't his doing almost at once, still feeling his relief and desperation, and she pushes back decisively, his powers no real match for her. In fact, she isn't even responding with her full strength out of fear of harming him, though that does make it more difficult to stabilize in his mind. Still, within moments her projection is back, a look of utter confusion and concern on her face as she crouches down beside the boy. "What is happening to you?"

[brink]

For a moment Topher's terrified he's actually managed to push her out, or that she took his mind's hostility to mean he didn't want her here, but thankfully she returns a moment later.

He clutches at her projection almost instinctively, her physical presence comforting despite technically being imagined. "Someone's making me use my own powers against myself," he tells her immediately, lest this someone finds another clever way to try to kick her out.

Emotionally and consciously he's happy about having her here, but part of his mind is starting to hurt from the effort of trying to block her out, like having a very localised headache.

And she disappears from him and he disappears from her, as the someone seems to have decided letting Topher talk to the newcomer might not be a good idea. In an effort to confuse and distract the TARDIS, a setting appears around them, just projecting the most familiar place in Topher's head: the Dollhouse. The TARDIS ends up in the middle of the large room, by the pool, while Topher finds himself locked inside his bedroom slash server room.

[theoldgirl]

Well that's very disturbing news. His powers pose no threat to her, but she can easily imagine how painful and terrifying such a manipulation must be. She hugs him back comfortingly, only to have him torn out of her arms as the surroundings shift violently.

Startled, she straightens up and looks around, quickly realizing that this is a memory of Topher's, though clearly not by choice. Protectiveness and anger rising in her, she foregoes trying to look for him in order to cut straight to the source of the problem, and glares at nothing in particular. "Whoever you are, let him go," she says, her voice cold and warning. "I do not take kindly to anyone hurting my friends." She still can't pinpoint the source of the foreign influence, can't find a specific presence, but it's obviously there and aware of what's going on in Topher's mind, so she deliberately fans out her contained wrath to underline her threat.

When no response is forthcoming, nothing she can talk to or fight off, she swallows her frustration and does decide to find the boy, hoping he might have some information that would help her free him. She could simply take down the whole thing and force his focus back to her, but that would definitely be painful to him and put his mind under even more stress. So she starts to search the upper level first, because that's where the computers are.

[brink]

Topher can feel what the TARDIS is doing, where she is in his mind and what she's saying, but he can't reach out to her. He's simultaneously touched and scared by her anger, but he realises the only scared part of him is the one actively fighting against her, and that's not really him.

When she makes her way upstairs, he tries banging on the door to draw her attention, but he's not sure how effective it is, as there's another door between here his office, and the walls here are pretty damn thick.

But this is his mind, damnit, and his office, and he should be able to open any damn door he wants. For a moment he tries to wake up again, hoping that either he'd be able to because the presence is distracted with the TARDIS and the setting, or that he can manage to draw its attention away from the setting. When he fails to wake up, he quickly focuses on the door and fights against, well himself, willing himself to unlock it, putting his weight against it both metaphorically and literally.

Finally he manages to stumble through, again both metaphorically and literally. The next door he accidentally causes to go up in smoke, but hey, whatever works. He grins in relief when he steps into his office and sees the TARDIS.

"How do you like my crib?" he jokes, her help having lifted his spirits somewhat, although his levity is mostly for show and giving him something tangible to focus on. The slight air of fear and desperation is still lingering underneath. If he hangs onto this setting, really digs his heels in, then they can't change it and split them up again.

[theoldgirl]

Before she even has to start searching in earnest, Topher enters the room, and her relief joins his as she realizes he still has some leverage in his own mind. That's a good sign, and it should certainly make this a little easier.

His words manage to momentarily startle her out of her determination just because they make no sense to her. "Your crib?" she asks with a frown, but then shakes her head and returns to more pressing matters. "Do you know who is doing this to you? And what would stop them?" To give his focus something to hold onto, she takes his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

[brink]

Topher waves his hand dismissively at her first question. Earth slang, whatever. Coping method. Never mind. He makes jokes when he's scared. Actually he makes jokes when he's not scared too, but that's besides the point.

He squeezes her hand right back though, keeping hold of it to ground himself a little. "No," he answers. "Well, sort of, I know who they're working for. And I think I just need to wake up, it's just... hard." There's no guarantee they won't simply try again, of course, but he doesn't think they have reason to. As far as he could gather, this was mostly to prove a point.

[theoldgirl]

After his explanation she's quiet for a spell, considering their options. She can't find any fault with simply running away, which seems to be what he wants to do, though she really wouldn't mind knowing who is behind this. And then making them stop for good and perhaps even regret it so they won't do it to anyone ever again, preferably. But it wouldn't be right to make Topher's mind the battleground of such an encounter; he's already hurt and frightened enough, so she nods in agreement.

"Andrew could bring you to me; I would be able to shield you from the telepathic current," she ponders aloud. "Or I could try to do something similar here, pull you into my mind until the connection is severed..." She's housed sleeping minds before, but those were floating freely, as it were, not twisted and turned against themselves. And there's the small risk that whoever is doing this might try to latch onto her instead, which would give them immense power, but if even Topher can resist them here to an extent, she should have no difficulty dealing with them.

[brink]

Topher is very good at running away, ok? He only stands up and fights if he really has to, or if other people are in danger. Neither seems that applicable here.

He supposes bringing him physically to the TARDIS might work, but it would take some time. They live all the way down in Chelsea. That's like fifty blocks, and what would he do with Topher's unconscious body? Take him in a cab? Doing so telepathically, however.

"Right. Yes. Do that," Topher agrees a little nervously. He has very little idea what that will actually do, but if there's anyone he trusts to know what she's doing with this stuff, it'd be the TARDIS. And he's not sure he can keep this up forever either. Already their surroundings are turning kind of hazy, like they're not in focus.