So I feel like this should be put here, in the Newbie zone, given it's my first Lucid Dream.

I was standing on what felt like some dodgy piece of set. It was green and sloped up at one side to gain access to a second level. The whole thing was vaguely rectangular and at all four corners there were brown poles that held it all together.

So I'm on this weird set and there's a female dream character there who randomly says to me 'I think it's working.' She was trying to tell me that this was a dream.
'Whatever.' I reply.
'No really I can breathe through my nose if I pinch it shut.' She insists.

I still didn't believe her, and told her as much, and went off a little way to explore this random set that we were standing on. But then I thought to myself 'Why don't I do a reality check and make sure this is bullshit.' I pinch my nose and find I can still breathe through it.
'HOLY SH- I'M DREAMING!' I yell as I spin around to look at the dream character that was attempting to tell me as much. But when I turn around, she's facing away from me and immediately disappears. That was so surreal. It was as if she'd served her purpose and was no longer necessary.

I won't bother you with the details of what happened next, but to explain, briefly, I didn't have much control over the dream and expecting things to happen wasn't changing that for me. That's just going to take time.

I'm more interested however in how I came to do a reality check. Has anyone else been told by a Dream Character that they're dreaming? I kind of feel as if this was cheating (lol) or cheapened the experience a little. I understand she — the Dream Character — is a part of my subconscious but I almost feel as if I've attained lucidity here by means of some form of crutch.