Welcome!

If you want my personal view on dream characters-- They are (tentatively) part of your own creation and mind, even if molded after someone you know. I don't see why sensing a person with the impression of how you feel about them couldn't be. Sensing how they feel about you seems harder to believe, and could easily be misconstrued by how you think they feel about you since all information is retrived internally. ("She hates me", but that may not be the case.)

Anyway sorry about the mini-rant! Glad to have you aboard.