applesaucedream | I'll See You in My Dreams [WIDE-OPEN PARTY THREAD]

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I'll See You in My Dreams [WIDE-OPEN PARTY THREAD]

Sometimes the rift only gives the denizens of Manhattan strange dreams. Sometimes, two people will find themselves together in the Dreaming. And other times? Other times, the Dreaming takes hold of dozens of people at once, throwing them all together into one shared mental space while they sleep.

Tonight is one of those nights -- what's more, the rift has outdone itself this time, telepathic tendrils reaching out through the rift into other universes to pull in even those who haven't been physically transported to this world...yet. You might meet a stranger from another world, or you might run into your next-door neighbor. You might notice right away that this isn't the waking world and that you are not alone, or you may drift through blissfully unaware that anything is out of the ordinary. You might not even remember this in the morning at all.

And that's probably going to be fortunate for at least a few people, because what you will notice is the overwhelming desire to get cozy with someone. It's chilly in this big house where you've found yourself, but luckily for you, there are beds, beanbags, and blankets galore, all of them just perfect for getting cuddly with your new friends. Consider yourself lucky that dream-world cameras can't upload photos to the real-world internet.

[It's a Dreaming party, and everyone is welcome! Tag a friend, tag a stranger, whatever! Everyone who's been pulled in will be feeling unusually friendly and cuddly, so get a-snuggling. Some characters (particularly those with strong telepathic defenses) may not be as strongly affected as others; the extent of the Dreaming's effect on each character is up to the mun's discretion.

Also, when we say everyone, we mean everyone. Non-members are welcome to tag into this post, so feel free to voice-test new characters here, and to invite friends who aren't in the game to come do some meeting and greeting. If you've come upon this post and aren't a member of this game, you are welcome to tag into this post.

For those who are familiar with the brbG parties, this is basically like that. Post a tag with your character's arrival and await replies. Time is bendy in here, so each character can have multiple replies/threads. Have fun!]

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"Oh, you do? I'm thrilled for you." Andrew sits up a bit quickly, like he's thinking of making a run for it...but decides that there's not much point anymore, and doesn't. He gives the Doctor a wary look, not consciously realizing that he's waiting for the Time Lord to say something condemning. Uncomfortable, he shifts his gaze to the ruins of the pillow fort, one side of which has been pulverized, the rest of it drooping without the support of the full, intact structure.

The Doctor spends a few more moments mulling it over. Part of what he feels is pity, but he's not going to let Handy know that. If he were completely honest with himself, he'd say there was some dislike there too, but that would mean admitting he dislikes himself, which he generally pretends not to. Still, they're kind of in the same boat. Andrew gets him, which is both good and bad. In the end though, he decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. Because it is kind of exciting as well.

"Well, that's alright then," he decides suddenly, standing up and giving Andrew a smile. "Sorry about the wall. I should help you rebuild," he adds, looking around them.

Andrew blinks up at him, still sitting on the floor. "What?" he asks, confused. Back in his own timeline, the Doctor hadn't had anything to say to him other than what a bloodthirsty and dangerous thing he was (and that not even to him; he'd talked about Handy to Rose like the former wasn't even there).

"And that's...that's it?" he asks.

Well, that was under slightly different circumstances. He was busy being upset. And the Doctor doesn't know about the genocide -- and it's probably best to keep it that way, too.

"Well," he answers. "I can't really ask you much more about what happened without endangering the timelines. And you probably know everything about me already." He pauses a bit, then grins. "Plus, it's a bit exciting, isn't it? Two of us."

Froooown. Andrew has spent the few years of his life carefully not thinking about what he would say to the Doctor if they met again, because every time he does think of it he gets hurt and angry all over again. And here the Doctor is, smiling over meeting him like it's nothing.

No, that won't do. "But you hate me," he points out, sounding plaintive when he meant to sound gruff.

The Doctor frowns at that, his feeling of pity increasing, but again he ignores it. "Not any more than I hate myself," he answers, which... might not be that helpful. "And I don't really see a point in doing that, so why should I?"

Of course, could be that Andrew knows something relevant that the Doctor doesn't. "...Do I have reason to?" he adds warily.

"...No," lies Andrew, looking away. He knows full well why the Doctor hates him -- some of it he agrees with. Not the genocide; that was only doing what he had to, but being a pale imitation, putting Donna in danger of overload -- he doesn't even know what's become of Donna. Those things do deserve hatred.

"Alright then, then that's it," he answers, despite not really believing Andrew's answer. Or rather, he doesn't think Andrew himself believes it, regardless of whether it's true or not.

And if he were to know Handy's reasoning, he'd say that that wasn't his fault. You can't blame a child for how it's born, or for what happens to the mother. This version of the Doctor is removed enough from events that he could manage to look at it more rationally than while in the middle of events. (And let's not tell him about Rose either, cause then he'll definitely have a bone to pick.)

But given he doesn't know these things, he just starts picking up pillows, setting about rebuilding and making sure the rest doesn't droop further.

After a few moments, Handy climbs to his feet and halfheartedly starts helping rebuild his fort, starting by putting the barricade pillows back where they belong as a sort of fluffy carpet. Then he goes to join the Doctor in dealing with the collapsed wall, picking up pillows and things and trying to remember how the support structure worked.

"I'm called Andrew," he says after working in silence a little while. "I've been around a few years now."

Oh good, he didn't have to ask. He might've still been calling himself the Doctor. "Nice to meet you, Andrew," he answers with a smile. It's nice that they think so similarly though, it makes collaboration on things like this much easier. He automatically goes to help Andrew hold up some pillows while he works in the supporting ones.

"Have you found some place, or are you still traveling?" he asks. He's trying really hard not to ask impertinent questions here, he deserves praise. Like the name thing, or anything relating to physical differences or life span - though he might eventually get to that.

For a good long while, he was. The Doctor is lucky not to be meeting him sooner after his creation; while he still hasn't let go of his resentment and his identity issues (far from it), he's had plenty of other things to think about.

"A little of both," he shrugs, making a sort of a pillar out of a big, stiff couch cushion. "We had a spaceship for a while, but the rift put paid to that."

"Yeah..." the Doctor answers, obviously troubled. "The TARDIS is stuck back on the other side." At least Andrew will understand how big a deal that is. "Who's we?" he adds, because yay, companions. Much nicer to discuss than the seperation from your soulmate/transport.

Andrew pauses, giving the Doctor a sort of stricken look. He hadn't really thought about the implications of the Doctor being here -- and the last time they'd ended up in a separate universe, he and the TARDIS had been together. "I'm sorry," he says, but is almost immediately distracted by the alternate topic of conversation.

"Ah," he says, not sure whether to be embarrassed. "James and me. And the dogs, but they're still on the other side. William's still there looking after them, though -- William's our robot."

"So James is here too, then? That's something," he answers. One one hand, it would've been nice to have Donna here, but on the other it's probably best she didn't get dragged into this, when he couldn't take her home.

...Hopefully Donna will keep the TARDIS company. As long as she doesn't try to fly her on her own.

Andrew nods, wedging a few cushions into place. Now they at least have a decently stable wall, even if there are gaps and the ceiling is still fallen in. "He got here the day after I did."

Brow furrowing, he asks, "What about you? Are you alone here?"

"Yep," he answers, sounding way more unaffected than he really is. "A week now. It's so... linear," he adds with distaste, completely forgetting of course that Andrew probably had to give up time travel - or at least TARDIS travel.

"Soo..." he says, looking upwards. "I guess there's just gonna be a skylight?" He doesn't think they can reach and manage to actually keep it stable enough to finish. Or, well, they would if Ten remembered this is a dream and the rules are bendy.

Andrew knows not to trust the Doctor's casual tone, but Andrew still snorts at 'linear.' "Don't I know it," he chuckles ruefully. "Could be worse -- we could have landed in Kansas."

He looks up and shrugs. "It could be a courtyard."

The Doctor gives a big shudder at the idea of Kansas. At least NYC's filled with distractions. And the rift has brought up a fair few intersting things.

"Works for me," he answers, adimiring their courtyard, and stuffs in a few last pillows to fix the wall. He then arranges a few pillows that used to make up the ceiling into a nice, comfy chair.

It doesn't seem bigger on the inside anymore, though. Maybe it's because they actually had to think about how it goes together and how it works. Andrew flops down into the chair, not pausing to question whether maybe the Doctor wants to sit down.

"Did you meet the warring factions?" he asks curiously. "I've only had a chance to talk to the rebels."

"Yeah, but they don't seem to be warring so much that it currently concerns me," he answers. "Rift first."

"And hey!" the Doctor answers and throws a pillow at Andrew's face. "Make your own chair." And then he shoves Andrew off it. Fortunately, Andrew's really only shoved onto more, not quite as high pillows.

"Might be useful to see --" Andrew's commentary is cut off with a squawk as the pillow hits him. He doesn't recover fast enough from the attack to resist getting shoved off the chair (not that he could do much anyway), and goes sprawling on the squishy floor. He's up on his hands and knees a moment later, aiming to get right back on. "Consider it payback!"

"This was my payback," he answers, ready to defend his position on the chair. They are two completely mature, responsible persons, totally.

"You knocked down my fort!" protests Andrew, planting his hands on the Doctor's shoulder and side and giving him a good, hard push.

"I helped you rebuild it!" the Doctor protests just as firmly. He's got his feet planted firmly to resist getting shoved off.

"You pinned me down!" retorts Andrew, giving up on that approach and going to grab the Doctor's feet and drag him off instead.

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