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

[has_a_horn]

Yeah, well, if Sam starts prying into Gabriel's life again, he might reconsider the up close and personal approach, but so far it seems to be paying off. He raises his eyebrows at this new revelation, and considers it for a moment. it could be assumed that usually at least one of the Winchesters is close to death at any one time, but Sam had been looking particularly ill when he last saw him.

He ignores Sam's sudden pause and continues. "Thanks. I think I've really perfected the look. Now, what was it you couldn't finish?" Okay, so he may be being a bit hypocritical here after he went off on Peter for taking advantage of the same situation, but who ever said he was fair?

[ginormotron]

Nothing, Sam means to snap. What comes out is, 'Purifying myself,' and then, horrified, he stumbles to correct himself, 'I mean, the trials.' And no, no, that's hardly any better. 'I mean, my death was gonna fix things if I'd finished--'

And seriously, the fuck, no. He wrenches himself up and away from the wall, staring at Gabriel, freaked out and furious and jaw clenched so tight it makes the veins in his temples stand out.

'Dude, is this you? Have you laid some kind of truth-whammy on me?'

[has_a_horn]

"What if it was?" Gabriel evades the question instead of answering outright, and remains sitting for the moment, even though that means that Sam is towering over him now. He has more of a chance of getting info if Sam doesn't know that the dream is effecting him just as much as anyone else here.

He sighs and leans his head back against the wall. "Oh, Sam, Sam, Sam. What have you been up to? Purification trials for what?"

[ginormotron]

If Gabriel has done something to him to compel him to tell the truth, then Sam has to be incredibly careful about what he says, so instead of answering right off, he takes a deep breath. He can't lie, evidently, but maybe he can talk around the truth. At his sides, his hands clench and unclench.

'Give me one good reason why I should tell you anything.'

He feels the impulse to hotly add that it doesn't matter, it's over, but he's wary of things other than what he intends coming out of his mouth.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel shrugs. "I'm curious?" Okay, he knows that's not a good reason, but it is worth noting.

"You an me are the only ones from our messed up little universe that got snatched up by that rift hanging over central park." He directs a glance up a Sam that's attempting to communicate just how stupid Sam is for not wanting to tell him everything he possibly can. "Maybe if we can figure out why us, we can figure out how to get back." He's not going to try to make a judgement about whether or not he wants to go back. Right now, he's not sure just what choice he'd make given the opportunity.

[ginormotron]

That glance gets a bitchface, because fuck you Gabriel if you think Sam's stupid for not wanting to spill his guts to him. Sam can't think of any time in his life when he hasn't been keeping a whole boatload of secrets; being unable to do so now is kind of terrifying.

However much he hates it, though, Gabriel might have a point. So slowly, carefully, he says, 'I was running trials to close the gates of Hell.' Even that didn't come out entirely as he'd meant it; he'd wanted to say we. He tries again. But we stopped before we could finish the last one. 'Dean stopped me from finishing the last one. But that was two or three days before I came here.'

Stubborn and annoyed, he hikes his chin at Gabriel. 'What were you doing before you got snatched? If I'm gonna have to spill my guts here, you should at least return the favour. Since we're both stuck here.'

He's not sure whether it's to remind Gabriel that, at least for the moment, in this dream, he can't go zipping off, or whether it's to try and convince Sam himself that they're on something like equal footing.

[has_a_horn]

Gabriel frowns at the question. Before, he'd told Sam that he was killed by Lucifer and showed up in New York not long after. That's kind of the opposite of the truth. "Will you sit back down? This is like talking to a flannel covered Sequoia. Without the comforting shade and the fresh scent." He huffs out a breath, trying to think of a work-around for Sam's question.

"Last time you saw me in the flesh was back at the big showdown, right? What do you think I was up to before I got dragged here?" The implication here (hopefully) being that he was completely and utterly dead. "I wasn't exactly having the time of my life, I'll tell ya that much." That much is true. He'd mostly spent his time after that confrontation feeling uncertain and listless.

[ginormotron]

He sure as hell isn't going to sit down next to Gabriel again, but Sam does at least pay the request some attention, pacing a few steps back and forth before lowering himself onto an old wooden crate to sit. He's half afraid it'll collapse under his weight, but it does nothing more than creak.

It's pretty obvious Gabriel's trying to talk around answering right-out, but Sam doesn't actually care about what he might or might not want to keep hidden. 'You were dead, then,' he says bluntly. 'So not only can this thing nab people out of different universes, it can bring the dead back to life.' Not encouraging. In Sam's experience, it's generally only the holy or the demonic who have that power, and he's had it up to here with both Heaven and Hell.

A thought occurs to him which gives him a moment's pause, then, and he cocks his head at Gabriel. 'What happens to angels after they die? You guys get an afterlife?'