onepassingnight | 002 | iridescent |

[ The dream tonight is a rather empty one, compared to the brilliant things that people could find themselves in. A simple beach surrounded by mountains, clear blue skies and a deep blue lake, and a small picnic area set to the side. The moon can be seen, despite it being day, rippling in the water. By the waterfront is an old station wagon, and of course the Doctor. He stands with his hands in his pockets, staring out over the restless waters, with his back to the dreamer.

He seems older than normal. He doesn't look a day older, but his shoulders are sagged and his head held as if he were carrying burdens upon burdens of the universe - similar to Atlas. With a deep sigh, he tilts his head back and looks up at the sky. ]

(ooc: This is Future!Eleven for the time event! As explained in the ooc post, it means this is the Eleven we see from the beginning of Impossible Astronaut as opposed to the Eleven from The Doctor's Wife. Your character doesn't need to be affected by the event to tag him, but Eleven will be acting as if he has known your character for nearly two hundred years~ )

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Even when it's in your head?

Even then. [She turns it away from the current example and makes it a generality.]

Even when no one's looking, what we choose to do, isn't that who we really are? Even when it's just our own thoughts, isn't that the most important?

[It's the same worry of the girl who'll call herself despicable and horrible for deceiving the people around her who can't see the nasty thoughts.]

I think your thoughts should be the place where you can be you without others dictating it.

[She smiles ever so slightly.]

Then if the 'me' I want to see is someone who obeys the laws and is a good person, I have to be that in my thoughts.

It sounds like you are just telling yourself that.

[But she shakes her head.]

It's not that. It's just something I think is important: To be a good person, is to be a good person inside and out.

[Which has really gotten away from the point now, but it's a logical progression.]

Or you are doing what you're told to be a good little soldier and not your own person.

[Her faces fixes into a frown, the closest she'll come to offended.]

Please refrain from rudeness.

I'm very frank. If you don't like it, then I suggest you leave.

[It's ironic that it's the same: the girl living up to expectations and refusing to accept that's all there is to it.]

Frankess can still be had without rudeness, I think.

You make it sound as though... [She trails off looking for the right words, even as the realization begins to set in: What has she ever done to step outside the lines prescribed for her?]

You make it sound as though loyalty, and duty, are bad things.

No. You can be loyal and do your duties, but still have your own opinions and thoughts.

I do.

Is it unbelievable I'd want to help the people close to me?

No. What's unbelievable is that you would restrict what you do in your dreams to conform to people who will never see them.

If it is my own dream, why should it be different than I wish?

[Morality doesn't disappear. Not for her. She holds fast to her beliefs, even in the face of this darkness this man brings.]

If you want to be what someone else has made you.

[Her lips press tightly together.]

I cannot understand why you, a stranger, should address me in this way, as if we are well-acquainted, and presume to know my mind.

You do not. And I will ask you to desist.

[She detests being this direct herself, but it is merited.]

I know you in the future.

[For a long moment, she seems to consider this. But the picture he paints is so at odds with the picture she knows, with her sense of herself, that she cannot easily accept it; the disparity makes her wary. The sudden chill in her increased formality does not leave.]

I am sorry. I can hardly credit this. You speak intimately, but wrongly; I cannot believe the intimacy stems from experience.

I understand.

[Something buried in her eyes shows the faintest glint of humor as her demeanor relaxes.]

After all, was it not you who said not to change who I am, for anyone?

Except yourself.

Except myself. [She says it as though it's agreement, though her smile remains opaque.]

[She almost feels as though she needs to clear her head; the situation is a challenging one, finding herself at such a loss and disadvantage. But she summons a resolution to do just as she's said, and she looks back towards the water, and the reflection of the Moon.]

I wonder if it would be as strange for humans to see Earth in the sky, as it is for me to look at the Moon from here.