The mind is crafty:
I was walking through an almost empty movie theater. On one side was a girl I used to know, and on the other was all her exes. I stop and think “there’s absolutely no way these guys would be together at the same place, let alone sitting with one another”. I laugh a bit and say aloud “I’m dreaming”. Just as I’m about to do a RC, one of the guys, who’s a prankster and a jerk, stands up and says sarcastically “Oh yeah, you’re dreaming. Come on, do one of those reality checks or whatever they are. We’d all like to see.” I know he’s trying to make me look stupid. So I ponder if it’s really appropriate to do a RC now? It’s not very critical thinking, in fact I just kind of freeze and wait for an answer to come, doubt leads to forgetfulness, and I walk out of the movie theater and continue with my ND.
Why don’t you have a mental RC as a backup in such situations then? I.e. remembering where you came from etc.
I’m not lamenting my lost opportunity at lucidity. Yes I could/should have done that. I do that RC in WL and just did not bring it along with me into the dream. More easily I could have just looked at my hands or exit sign and not made a spectacle of myself had i been mistaken. I’m posting to literally ask the question "has this ever happened to anyone?’ as I find it interesting, especially because for me, anytime I speak of dreams to a DC they freeze and become idle. This guy talked back to me and froze me, and it was really me freezing myself, as it’s probably a manifestation of me not being comfortable performing RC in WL in front of others.
When you ask this: No, not exactly a dream character.
I remember one instance when I was walking down a road in a dream. I got a strange feeling. I thought: “Maybe this is a dream and I should do a couple of RC’s?”. Then I thought for a second or two and said: “Nah…”, and continued down the road as if nothing happened.
When I woke up I was about to beat myself up for not doing RC’s 
. Yet no DC was involved, but that was as close as I could get.