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 looks at Lucy disbelievingly, then back at the (thankfully??) male-again Gabe. Then at Lucy again. In a theatrical hiss, he asks, "Do you seriously want to go there?"

Because wow, this is not a direction he saw them going.

[has_a_horn]

"Don't I know it." Gabriel answers while he ignores Peter's frantic hissing. "I, however am usually great at compliments." Usually? Whatever. "And you, Lucy, are bangin'." See, look, he's not just suggesting this to freak out Peter.

[essentiallyharmless]

Oh, don't fret, Peter, she's not about to change allegiances. She smiles and gives his shoulder a comforting pat to let him know this. It was a relevant point to be made, that's all.

Her smile widens at Gabriel's compliment. "Thank you," she answers cheerfully, then gives Peter a look as if to say, see?

[fucking_ebay]

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Peter scowls at the pair of them. I give you compliments all the time, Lucy. "I give you compliments every once in a while, and they're not always backhanded."

Irked, he steps away from Lucy's comforting pat. "We agreed not to talk anymore," he tells her sharply, then turns to stalk away.

[has_a_horn]

He grins back at Lucy. As Peter starts to leave in a huff Gabriel rolls his eyes, but doesn't stop grinning as he entreats with him to come back. "Oh, come on Peter. Come back. You can have compliments too." The possibility of compliments is probably enough to bring him back, right?

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy sighs with annoyance, not in the mood to deal with Peter's prickliness. She was hoping maybe he'd manage to contain himself, they could eventually ask Gabriel for some privacy, and continue what they were doing.

"If you're going to be like that, why don't you just teleport away?" she asks impatiently.

[fucking_ebay]

No, Gabriel, it's not enough. Or okay, it might be, but not if they're pity compliments.

Peter pauses, looking back at Lucy with a confused frown. "I got rid of that," he says, not without a little twinge even though it's not something he's particularly intended to keep secret, and he's not trying to lie now. I told you that. "I thought I told you."

[has_a_horn]

"What." Sorry, Peter, were you worried what Lucy thinks of this, because you should really be worried about Gabriel instead. "Peter, you gullible-" Okay, not going down the insults that could be true route.

"How stupid are you? Seth, right? That little shit. Keeping a low profile my ass." Okay, they both have no idea what he's talking about, but he can't help it. This is pissing him off. "Please at least tell me he gave you something good for it." Seth had said he trades powers. There is the distant possibility that Peter actually managed to trade for a different sort of power, but Gabriel doubts it.

[essentiallyharmless]

"You what?" Lucy asks in unison with Gabriel, but doesn't continue because Gabriel seems to know more about this than she does. Which seems to answer her question about whether something like that is even possible. She has to agree with Gabe though, that that was probably pretty stupid, so she just looks at Peter expectantly, waiting for him to answer.

[fucking_ebay]

"Hey! I am --" He catches himself about to say something positive about his own intelligence, and stops abruptly before he can (probably) spit out an agreement that he's a complete fucking moron. "-- I don't have to okay it with you," he says instead, mostly to Gabriel, though his gaze flicks to Lucy as well. "It was my power, and he offered to help me get rid of it. No more teleporting in my sleep -- you were the one that pointed out how I nearly went out the window," he says to Lucy.

Confused, he adds, "What do you mean, gave me something? He bought me a couple drinks, if that's what you mean."

[has_a_horn]

Just...give him a second to bury his head in his hands here. "I could kill him." Probably not comforting that that came out without alteration. Whoops.

When Gabriel looks back up at Peter, it's with as much of a patient expression as he can muster. Which, to be fair, isn't much at the moment. "Seth's business is trading powers, Peter. You got tricked." In the least, Peter should have been paid more than a round of drinks.

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy does note that Gabe is being truthful about potential murder there, but doesn't comment on it. Archangel and all, goodness knows what they get up to. She doesn't feel like asking.

Instead she just sighs again. She's actually not that upset Peter got rid of his power if he was never going to learn to control it well enough for it not to be dangerous, but still. She's annoyed he hasn't told her, and that he made such a big decision apparently without consideration or asking advice. And to someone who apparently tricked him into doing it. Just. Oh, Peter...

[fucking_ebay]

"...Trading." Peter stares at Gabriel as that sinks in. His first thought, however, is probably not what Gabriel's most concerned about. "Did he put something in me?!" he asks, alarmed. "That -- that fucker!"

Because goddamn, like it wasn't bad enough walking around as a loaded gun when he knew he was loaded.

[has_a_horn]

"Peter. Peter. Just...stand there and look pretty. You're embarrassing yourself." He sighs, because really. Wow.

"Relax. Unless you're leaving a quickie in a back alley out of the story, I'm pretty sure he didn't put anything in you. He could have payed you what it's actually worth." He raises his hand to point at Peter. "Not that you should have done it at all. That was so stupid." Well, stupid in his opinion, anyway.

[essentiallyharmless]

The idea that Peter could've gotten something else entirely hadn't even occured to her, but at least she doesn't have to worry about it for very long. (And she knows he didn't have a quickie, as he said so earlier.) Still, you'd think with how much Peter whines about not having money, he'd've asked for something in return.

She shakes her head in exasparation, and turns to Gabriel. "How do you know this Seth, anyway?"

[fucking_ebay]

"...He said he was getting rid of it," says Peter slowly, the truth of the matter finally dawning on him. "I thought he just pulled it out and it...went away."

Great, and now he feels even shittier about doing it. Not that he wouldn't have anyway, he tells himself. He just would have asked for more money. Notably, he does not voice this opinion.

[has_a_horn]

"He lives with me. Sometimes." This is probably not the best of all possible explanations, but it is the truthful one. "He's got another place, but he likes my company." See, lots of people enjoy his company.


"We're definitely going to have a talk about this," he reassures Lucy. He doesn't want them thinking that he's going to let this go just because he lives with the guy.

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy blinks at Gabe saying Seth lives with him. Slightly unexpected turn. But given how much he was just badmouthing the guy about being an ass, she doesn't expect it to fly by unnoticed, and she nods at his reassurances. At least if Gabriel knows the guy, he'll be easy to track down.

"So what do you intend to do? Make him pay Peter, or make him give the power back?" she asks Gabriel.

Because yeah, she's not asking Peter directly about this. She's fairly certain even if he does regret giving up his power, he's unlikely to admit it was a mistake. Well, unless goaded into it here, he's already pissy from being tricked and from being more truthful than he wants to be, so she won't tempt fate at the moment.

[fucking_ebay]

Peter continues to ignore Gabriel's previous advice about standing and looking pretty. "Who the fuck is this guy?" he asks, finally thinking to ask that question long after he handed over his one supernatural aspect to Seth. Then, sensing a more important question, he adds, "...And how much do you think it was worth?"

[has_a_horn]

"Maybe you should have asked that before handing over your power." Honestly.

He doesn't bother answering Peter's second question. The worth of his power shouldn't matter. To Lucy, he answers, "He's getting it back." That he's sure of. And then he's going to let me teach him to use it. "And then I'll try convincing Peter into letting me teach him to control it."

[essentiallyharmless]

Lucy nods her approval to Gabriel's plan. "I'll help," she agrees. "Both with the convincing and the teaching, if necessary." Because hey, guess what, Lucy actually has practiced her power and uses it quite often. Even though the consequences of her failing to use it sometimes would've been great.

[fucking_ebay]

Peter's going to take that as an answer to his second question, though, because clearly that was the more important of the two. "Fuck," he grouses, taking it to mean that the cost should have been very high indeed. He might not have had to do any busking at all this month.

Bristling, he asks the pair of them, "Don't I get any say in it? I'm the one who chose to get rid of it!"

[has_a_horn]

No. "Yes." Gabriel sighs demonstratively. "You get a limited say, based on how much you make decisions to your own benefit."

He'd nearly forgotten that Lucy has a power of her own. If she's offering to help, that means she's learned how to control it since he last saw it in use.

[essentiallyharmless]

Yes, well, Lucy has very deliberately not used her power in front of Gabriel. Well, not that she's had cause to, anyway. She knows she can't use it (effectively) against him, as he'd remember what happened anyway, and there hasn't been any reason for her to use it for him. She also generally prefers not to use it against people she actually knows. It doesn't seem right.

"Do you really not want your power back?" she asks Peter. "If you were able to control it, that is."

[fucking_ebay]

Peter fumes. Who is Gabriel -- for that matter, who is Lucy -- to decide he can't make his own decisions? He's a grown man, for fuck's sake.

I really don't. "I'm not sure," he snaps. I never wanted it; it was more trouble than it was worth. "I'm afraid of trying, oohhh, fuck off! Both of you, just fuck off!"

And now he really will storm away.