A Day Late and a Dollar Short

[applesaucemod]

As far as dreams go, this seems surprisingly...normal. True, the dreamers of Manhattan and beyond will find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean on a fairly deserted rocky island, but it's nothing so unusual as the labyrinth from last time, and no one appears to have become an animal or reverted to an insane past (or future) version of themself. Besides, well, rocks and grass, there's nothing here but an abandoned lighthouse, the doors and windows broken, and the spare furniture worn by the weather. You can go up the spiral staircase to look at the view, but there's nothing to see but the endless ocean. One might almost think tonight was a night for simple socializing via the telepathic current.

As if anything to do with the rift is ever that simple, you silly bumpkin. How quickly each person realizes what is unusual about tonight's dream will depend in large part on their personality. Some might go the entire night without noticing (except from the distress of others, naturally), but some will find out the instant they open their mouths to converse with another dreamer. You see, each and every dreamer will be completely unable to tell a lie for as long as the dream lasts. The truth might be evaded by omission, but any attempt to say that which is untrue will result in the corresponding truth emerging instead.

Good thing it's just a dream and everyone's going to forget in the morning, right? Right??


[Mod note: As usual, players can choose to have their characters remember or forget anything that happens in the Dreaming. As per usual party rules, both members and non-members are welcome to play any character in this post, regardless of whether that character is currently in the game. Unlike usual, tonight's theme is not optional; all characters will be subject to the enforced truth-telling. Have fun!]

Comments

[fucking_ebay]

Peter idly throws the little rock, sending it clattering down the slope in front of him. "Been better," he admits, then winces. How is he supposed to answer with platitudes under these circumstances? Not wanting to go into it, he attempts to shift the conversation off himself. "Talk to anyone interesting yet?"

[essentiallyharmless]

Honestly, 'been better' is hardly something uncommon for Peter to say. She gives his shoulder a comforting pat.

"Met Ianto," she answers. He is fairly interesting, though perhaps it's mostly because of their shared history. Though Lucy's probably seen more of him than he's seen of her, given the erased timeline.

[fucking_ebay]

Considering his idea of acting casual is to pretend to be chipper, perhaps it's good that Peter is prevented from doing so. Not that his overall demeanor is all that chipper just at the moment.

"Who's Ianto?" And isn't that a Welsh name? Since when does Lucy know any Welsh people?

[essentiallyharmless]

"Ex secret agent defending the Earth against aliens in my universe," she answers with a shrug. "I don't really know him that well. Friend of the Doctor, I think." Which is sort of the reason she doesn't know him.

[fucking_ebay]

That's a good reason not to know him, yeah. Peter dislikes him already. "Lot of people from your universe, aren't there?" he asks. "How many is that now?"

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy frowns, counting. "Six, I think. That I know of. Could be more, people I haven't met yet, or that I didn't know in the other universe. It's rather strange that there's so many I know."

[fucking_ebay]

"And no one I know," agrees Peter, though of course he isn't jealous. It's not as though he had any friends back home anyway. He falls silent again and lets his fingers hunt out another small rock from the crevices, failing to hide his current moodiness.

[essentiallyharmless]

Obviously not at all jealous. She doesn't bother asking if he misses home -- not like he doesn't complain about his lack of money/penthouse/fame often enough. Instead she reaches up and tucks some of his hair behind his ear, letting her hand rest at his neck.

"If it helps, they're not people I trust. Nor people I particularly want to have here, beyond giving a sense of familiarity," she tells him. She hadn't really meant to add that last part, but it doesn't give her much pause.

[fucking_ebay]

People knew who he was. His apartment smelled of rich mahogany. Peter wants to nuzzle into her hand when she does that, but instead he just turns his face a little to look at her and lets the moment pass without reciprocating. "That does help," he admits with a rueful little chuckle. And then, because he didn't learn from his encounter with Gabe that maybe he oughtn't to take advantage of unsuspecting friends, he asks, "So no past flings?"

He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes and his body is oddly tense for a man who's asking a joking question of his sex buddy.

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy gives a short laugh and retracts her hand. "Thankfully, no," she answers with an amused smile. Technically the Master counts as a past fling (or something), but thankfully no one has actually told her he's been around. That would probably end badly.

"You're more than enough to make me happy."

She had meant to say that he was enough of a hassle, and this time it does give her a bit pause. Still, it is true, and she doesn't get so worked up about being honest as Peter does that she's worried. It just sort of slipped out.

[fucking_ebay]

Peter draws in a sharp breath, then tries hard to be casual. "Really?" he asks, not exactly faking his surprise. "Just me? You don't want to...do things...with other men?"

Yep, totally casual. Completely normal conversation that led to this question naturally and without premeditation or shoehorning. Peter is the master of subtle interrogation, clearly.

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy frowns at him in confusion. He's really failing at being casual.

"Are you... Are you jealous?" she asks with a bit of a smile. Because it's very difficult to intepret this as anything else. And honestly she's rather touched.

[fucking_ebay]

What, really? This is totally his casual face, because his casual face always involves staring intently at her like he's waiting for her to hit him. He gives her a look of exaggerated surprise and shakes his head vehemently. "What, me? Of course I'm --" WRONG WORD ABOUT TO COME OUT, ABORT ABORT "-- I'm asking an honest question. Women! Would it just be men?"

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy raises an eyebrow at him. He's behaving very oddly.

"I've fooled around with women," she answers, intentionally honest now. "Are you about to suggest a threesome?" she then asks plainly. Because this is the most likely way she sees this going, and it would explain Peter's weirdness.

[fucking_ebay]

No, he's behaving normally. This is normal. Peter is a very normal guy.

"Really?" And congratulations, she just sidetracked Peter from his jealous fussing with the mental image of Lucy fooling around with a woman. Or women, multiple. He realizes he probably ought to feel as jealous over that as the thought of her with a man, but finds that he really, really doesn't. That in mind, he decides to just go with her question, because damn, that might actually appeal. "Is that an option?" he asks.

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy gives a half shrug. "Presuming we find the right woman." She's very selective with girls, much more rarely attracted to them, but sometimes you meet someone who's energy is just the sexiest thing. She wouldn't mind, actually. Also presuming Peter still paid attention to her, and Lucy got to have her fun with said woman, because otherwise, yeah the jealousy would set in.

[fucking_ebay]

Oh good, she's also assuming it would be a woman. For a moment after he asked, Peter had the terrifying thought that Gabe would probably want to be in on something like that, and the even more terrifying thought that Lucy might go for it.

"...But it'd be a threesome. Not...you and someone else." Yep, circling back to that, give him an answer already. And no, he's obviously not jealous.

[essentiallyharmless]

Well, if Peter wanted a threesome with a guy, he wouldn't be asking Lucy if she liked women, would he? Not that she would mind that either, actually. But she'd only really go for it if Peter's also into it, since part of the fun is putting on a show for him. She likes showing off like that. Or she used to. She hasn't actually tried it after the Master, and they had a few threesomes that she was not very into.

She frowns at him. "Peter, I completely understand why you'd be jealous--" She stops suddenly, looking surprised at herself. She meant to say the opposite of that. "I mean. If you were with someone else, I'd be upset."

What.

She gets suddenly to her feet, walking a little away from him, pacing and gesturing agitatedly as she turns back to him. "That's not what I meant to say." That's not what she meant. She didn't mean that. Goddamnit.

"I" don't "need us to be exclusive." Her eyes widen. "Oh god."

And with that she starts walking quickly down the path, panicking, running away from this conversation, because oh god. She's fucked things up now, hasn't she? Peter's the kind who likes to sleep around, he's going to find her clingy and jealous and controlling, and oh god, she may be going through a string of curses in her head that would rival Peter's best.

[fucking_ebay]

This honesty thing is kind of great, isn't it? If by kind of great one means the opposite of that. Apparently this is Peter's night for violating the privacy of everyone he knows. Surely his morbid curiosity is more important than anyone else's feelings.

Peter sits up straight, unsure if he's going to prompt her to say more or explain what's going on. There's a flutter in his chest when Lucy admits she wants -- no, she said needs -- exclusivity, and he hops to his feet in a flash to follow her.

"Lucy!" he calls, scurrying to catch up and reaching out to catch her by the arm. "Lucy, stop, come back here!"

[essentiallyharmless]

"Don't!" she says, turning towards him to pull her arm out of his grip, though she stops walking. She can't bear to look at him right now however, staring anywhere else instead, and there's tears in her eyes.

She doesn't say anything more, just wraps her arms around herself protectively and waits for what he has to say.

[fucking_ebay]

Somehow it had not occurred to Peter that being forced to tell him the truth about her feelings might be unpleasant for Lucy. He'd been thinking mostly about how he was going to feel when she inevitably told him she still only wanted him for casual sex.

Now that he's got her attention, he doesn't actually know what to say to fix this. "Fuck," he says, rubbing his eyes in a way that would smear his eyeliner were it not dream-eyeliner. I didn't mean for this to happen. "I meant for this to happen -- fuck!"

[essentiallyharmless]

"What?" she asks, looking at him now. What does he mean, he meant for this to happen? "What the fuck is going on, Peter?"

Because if this was some sort of plan, he better own up to it. Or she might want to punch him. Actually, the revelation that he meant for this to happen does make her want to punch him anyway.

[fucking_ebay]

"It's a truth dream," admits Peter, making a face like he's swallowed something bitter. "We have to tell the truth. I figured it out when I was talking to Gabriel earlier."

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy stares at him for several long seconds.

Then she punches his shoulder.

"You asshole!"

Hey, at least it wasn't in the face. She reaches up to run her hands through her hair, turning away from him, unsure what more to say. Maybe she should just walk away again. She's pissed and upset that he would trick her like that, since if he'd just had the fucking courage to talk to her honestly like a decent person, she probably would've told him anyway.

[fucking_ebay]

Funny, he actually got a less violent reaction from outing Gabriel as an archangel. Peter takes the hit (though not without an "ow!" of protest and a step back, hands raised against further attacks), and watches keenly to see if she's going to run off again. When she doesn't -- at least not yet -- he jumps to the solution of Distract Her With Something Else.

"Gabriel's an angel," he informs her suddenly. "As in the Gabriel."