[ACTION LOG: TEN'S DREAM].

[allons_y_alonso]

WHAT:  An alien dreamscape.
WHO:  Anyone is welcome!
WHEN:  Portions of each night Thursday-Sunday.

On Gallifrey, halfway up a peak in the Mountains of Solace, its crown wreathed in snow and its foundations hidden by long burgundy grass, was the house of Lungbarrow.  Like all the residences of the Time Lords, it was a wonder, but right now it lay empty, or nearly so, inhabited only by guilty visions of ghosts.  Just past its front steps, gasping into the lawn and fiddling with the fastenings of his old and hated Academy uniform, sprawled a tall, lanky Gallifreyan with untidy brown hair, caught somewhere in hysteria, between laughter and sobbing.

"Horrible, beautiful planet," he murmured, clutching the grass by its roots with one hand, expecting it all to dissolve into the next moment.  "You can't be here.  And even if you were, I couldn't be here."  He had woken in his old room -- so old it was almost forgotten -- and found himself already dressed for what he knew would be his first day at the Academy.  The rest of the house had been less nostalgic, however, and he had escaped, as quick as he could, onto the south slope of the mountain, his favorite place to stare out and watch the dawn.  Here, at least, he felt safe -- inside he could see the faces of those he had left here, or hear the gavel strike as judgment was rendered against him, or worse -- the terrible, world-altering throb of the Untempered Schism, as terrifying as it was transcendant.

Gallifrey.  Gallifrey, and a second chance, even if it was plagued with reminders of centuries of failure -- maybe this time, he could do it right.  There was an answer to that question, he thought, and he stared down the mountainside and waited for it to appear.

Comments

[downtorest.livejournal.com]

The creature doesn't give a reply, instead it raises its hand to signify battle. It's difficult to say if this has happened before to others in this dream, or maybe on this planet. It could be a memory, or perhaps something made up by two minds meeting.

The snow around them begins to crack, the rock beginning to threaten to give way.

[allons_y_alonso]

"Hang on!" The Doctor cries indignantly, hopping back a few steps and holding up his hands. "Now just wait a minute! There's no need for that! I know who and what you are -- we've met more than once -- and you should know by now that you're not going to be able to do anything with me without having a bit of a chat first! Right?"

Well, he thinks. Certainly worth a try, at any rate.

[downtorest.livejournal.com]

If anything, it buys the Doctor some time. If it were anywhere but a dream, Death would not hesitate—or perhaps, if Death was merely Death and nothing else. The scythe held high, it pauses, an eerie silence surrounding the two of them. For now, it's as if he's offering him the time to speak.

[allons_y_alonso]

"Look around," the Doctor offers. "Look at this world. This is Gallifrey. Of all the planets in the universe, not many can be said to be more dead and gone than Gallifrey is. Everything on this world, everything that belongs on it, you've long ago harvested and dragged off. Either I belong here, and there's no point in collecting me another time... or I don't, and you might be making a mistake you can't afford to make when you swing that scythe."

[downtorest.livejournal.com]

The voice that begins to speak is not low and menacing as would be expected, instead it's light an gentle. Somehow familiar.

If there is one thing that is certain, it is that everything that lives must die. Death does not take, Death arrives. It is time, and then, it was time. It has nothing to do with belonging, but realizing the inevitable. There are no mistakes, Doctor. Cast away your grief and accept the end that has befallen this planet. If you do not, the consequences you sow will be catastrophic.

And the scythe swings, the snow peak beginning to chip away. The pieces that fall upward are large and unnatural, they coil upward towards the sky, twisting like they're writing in their last moments before turning to ash. As the landscape begins to disappear, there's no where to go but the depth of the darkness below.

[allons_y_alonso]

The Doctor took another step back in alarm, and his eyes fixed on the disintegrating landscape, but a whisper of a smile twitched at his mouth.

"In that case, maybe there's a friend of mine you ought to meet..."

[downtorest.livejournal.com]

Everything fades, and darkness sets in.

For a while, it's quiet.