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 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."

[essentiallyharmless]

Yes, well, perhaps there was a lot more trust that Peter just violated with Lucy than with Gabriel. Also, Lucy can't actually harm Peter that much, so she doesn't really need to stop herself.

Lucy looks at him, almost with an expression of disgust. At the moment she doesn't really give a shit if Gabriel's secretly a three-headed donkey, and she's even more angry that Peter's trying to distract her.

"Why did you trick me like that?" she asks, completely ignoring his revelation.

[fucking_ebay]

Seriously?? Peter just about shat himself when he found out, and Lucy's acting like she didn't even hear him. He gives her a wounded look in return for her demand for an explanation. Can't she see that this is hard for him?

"I wanted to know," he says unhappily.

[essentiallyharmless]

Difference is, Lucy had already guessed the first time she met Gabriel. He'd denied it, of course. She already knows he's obscenely powerful, so it's not really news.

"And you couldn't have just talked to me, like a normal human being?" she asks, completely lacking sympathy at the moment. "Why? Why do you care? Not like you aren't fucking around with anyone who's got boobs and will give you the time of day." Even when they're archangels.

She puts her hands over her face for a moment, then wipes away the tears that spilled as she said that. "Just fuck off," she finishes, walking away again.

[fucking_ebay]

No, he obviously couldn't. And what lie was she trying to tell him that made her realize she couldn't? He looks away, not wanting to face her accusation because it's going to force him to admit something he doesn't want to, one way or another.

It's either face it or watch her walk away, though. Peter takes a faltering step after her, then curses and grits his teeth. Nothing for it. "I'm not!" he calls after her. Slightly more quietly, he elaborates. "I haven't fucked anyone else. Not for a month now."

Give the boy a trophy.

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy comes to a halt, turning hesitantly back towards him. That surprises her, actually. For a moment she wonders if he's just trying to appease her, but then she remembers that he's presumably forced to tell the truth just as much as she is. Not that this news exactly makes her jump for joy. Big deal, he's not sleeping around. It doesn't mean anything. Right?

"You're gonna have to do better than that," she tells him after a few moments. Another tear spills as she says it, but she's reasonably collected now. It's like she's resigned herself to the worst possible outcome.

[fucking_ebay]

Again, can't she see how hard this is for him? How can she be so cruel? Peter huffs, sighs, draws a hand down his face, and very much does not look at Lucy as he says, "I want us to be exclusive."

[essentiallyharmless]

If he were to actually call her behavior cruel in this situation, there would be hell to pay.

She can't help but feel a pleasant twist in her stomach when he says that, though. It takes her a while to process the whole situation. He's not rejecting her desire to be exclusive or throwing her aside completely, in fact he's reciprocating it. It slowly starts to dawn on her that he really must care. How much is impossible to tell, and it's not like all her worries are cast aside just like that.

But at the moment she's too upset to push him for more or to walk away and be on her own. What she wants right now is comfort, so she steps towards him, reaching out for him. She wants to kiss him, but her movement is hesitant, searching, more of a meek request than a demand.

[fucking_ebay]

Peter is really not the right person to go to for comfort and displays of affection. For a second or two he gives her a look like he simply can't deal with what she's asking for, but he recovers enough to open his arms and take her into them.

"Fuck," he mutters into her hair as he awkwardly rubs her back. "Sorry."

[essentiallyharmless]

That fact that he does still give comfort and displays of affect, and even apologises, probably should prove he cares. It's difficult to really take it in for her though, to properly believe it. Particularly so soon as after that rather gross violation of privacy.

"You're still an asshole," she informs him, but this time it's accompanied by a wry laugh (if a rather teary one). More familiar, Lucy calling him out on his usual dickish behavior, even as she's burying her face against his chest.

[fucking_ebay]

He gives a wry laugh of his own. "I never doubted it."

Maybe self deprecation doesn't work so well when people know you really mean it.