New Dream Adventures of Raven Knight

2017, 06-06

Night Swim

I am at the swimming pool at the local YMCA with my friend Alicia. We are outside the main pool area, waiting to get in. Alicia pays her admission fee and goes in. I go to pay and I give the guy in the office the usual $1.50. He says it’s $1.75 now. I do a double take, but then I decide that’s not really that much of an increase, and I hand over the extra quarter. I follow Alicia into the pool area. There are people in our usual spot so we go to the other side of the pool where there’s an area I didn’t know about, with some of the plastic chaise lounges. I go to get one, glad they have the hard ones that don’t stick to my skin. Alicia prefers the soft ones and goes to find one.

When I get mine back to our spot I see Alicia already has what she wanted. Alicia wants to go get in the pool but it’s not open just yet, it’s being cleaned. I see someone has a bunch of Pokémon cards laid out to trade, so I take some Pokémon cards of my own from my bag and spread them out. The other guy has a lot of cards I wish I had. The pool opens and he ignores the cards to go jump in the pool. We haven’t been in the pool for long when the lifeguards say it needs cleaning again, everyone out. The guy who’d left his Pokémon cards spread out gets frustrated and leaves without coming back for his cards. I go over and start collecting all of the cards, both his and mine. I figure if he comes back I’ll say I collected them to keep them safe and return them. If he doesn’t come back, they’re all mine.

The pool is still closed, and Alicia is nowhere to be seen. So I leave the pool carrying a bag that contains my towel, sunscreen, and the two stacks of Pokémon cards I now have. I look around the rest of the YMCA for a bit, trying to find Alicia. There is no actual gym, just a lot of people climbing tall rock walls. I don’t notice that as strange and I don’t find Alicia. I go back to the pool area and look through the fence. Alicia is still in there, I feel dumb for not finding her sooner. I go to return to the pool but the man at the office window says I have to pay. That’s annoying since I already paid. He says I left, so I have to pay again. I take out my wallet and he says admission is $10. No way! I refuse to pay that. I go around the other side of the pool area and find a way through the fence, so I sneak back in for free.

I notice it is getting dark and the underwater pool lights come on. Alicia is swimming and the water where she moves glows, looking very cool. I put my things down and I get in the pool. I start doing all kinds of underwater dance moves. After I do a move I can look and see a light reflection of myself doing the move I just finished. The strange glow has the effect of making my rather unimpressive dance moves look really cool. Alicia is doing the same thing. But I notice I can’t seem to hold my breath for very long. It’s as if I am compelled to take a breath while still underwater. This seems disturbing to me, but I go along with it and I don’t go under for very long. I am still playing in the pool with my light reflections when everything fades and I wake up.

01/25/12

School of Magic
I am in a large building with a group of people, we are there for a class. The instructor is a man I don't recognize, and he is teaching us about magical energy. The school seems to be some form of Hogwarts. The room we are in is a sort of auditorium. The instructor fires a blast of magical energy into a designated target at one end of the room. He says it is time for everyone else to show what they can do. A lot of the other students don't seem to know how to create the energy blast. I hear a woman's voice through some kind of speaker system. She is standing up on a balcony looking down on us. She says she will vaporize the lot of us if the instructor doesn't come up there and face her like a man. He clearly doesn't want to but decides he has no choice.

He goes through a door that leads up to the balcony from behind. I follow him, and several other students come along as well. A couple of them are saying I need to stay out of that, let them deal with their own problems. I ignore them and we get to the top of the ramp. There is a room off the balcony where the woman and the instructor are facing off. They both fire a beam of energy at each other, the energy intercepts in the middle… but hers is clearly stronger. I get closer to them and I focus on drawing some of that energy out of her attack and into me. Her energy beam actually curves off and heads into me, allowing the instructor's energy beam to get through and hit her. It was apparently a stunning spell of some kind as she is knocked unconscious. Now everyone is staring at me in amazement. I am feeling quite energized. Everyone seems speechless.

Card Depression
I am in a card shop that is in a large mall. I go into the shop and start looking around at the various things on the shelves. Most of it is too expensive for me to buy, but I am enjoying just looking. I wonder if I might be able to jack something small… maybe just a pack of cards or something. I glance around and I don't see anyone looking, I grab a pack of Pokémon cards and slip it into my purse. I feel I have done enough stealing here. I look around a bit more and I see there is a gaming room in the back. I go in there and people are comparing their Pokémon cards. Hey! I have Pokémon cards! I see the others are using their cards to summon real Pokémon. Cool! I open my pack of cards and I find I got two cards with Pokémon on them. The rest of them are assorted effect cards and other stuff I don't know what it is. The two cards with Pokémon on them is a Pikachu and an Espeon. I summon both of the Pokémon and they join a few others that were summoned by a couple other people in the room. All of the Pokémon are playing with each other. One of the others wants to have a match between them… my Pikachu indicates he is not interested, my Espeon seems to be trying not to laugh.

So my Pokémon follow me out of the card shop and into the mall. I wander through the mall for a while. I leave the mall and find there isn't really a parking lot, but there is a lake there. There is also a large dump truck pouring trash into the lake. The trash turns the water black. I tell them to stop doing that, they're poisoning the lake. A man driving asks why that should matter. Pikachu zaps the truck with a bolt of lightning, Espeon telekinetically throws the truck into the air where it disappears from sight. I look at the lake, there are dead animals floating in the water. I find that sight to be so depressing… I am wondering what I can do, and what good will it do if no one even cares? Pikachu and Espeon seem to be trying to cheer me up, but it doesn't help.

09/13/11

EVE: War Sucks
I am in a game of EVE Online. I am flying my drake in low security space, I know I am looking for trouble. I wonder if maybe I should've brought a smaller ship. Griefers might be afraid a drake might fight back. But I'm looking for a specific griefer. Back Hoe is his username. I finally find the system he is in. I call him out in local. I say I challenge him to a fight, my drake vs. whatever he has. He agrees to a one on one. I arrive and find there are somehow three of him all out there at the same time. So much for one on one. Well, I also got a secret. I launch my Fire Valkyrie from my drake. He can't seem to hit that no matter how many of him there are. I blast all three of his ships and then triple pod him when escape pods launch. Ha! The joke is on him. 3 vs. 1 but it was him that didn't have a chance!

EVE: Betrayal
I am in low sec space in my drake, looking for someone to fight, preferably some asshole who likes to pick on those weaker than themselves. I scan the system and locate a tengu. That's a pretty powerful ship so I warp to the location to see if he attacks. It turns out the player is Xenoace, who is a member of a friend corp. Oh, well. No fight there. But I was wrong. He attacks me and blows up my drake, this took me by surprise. My Fire Valkyrie ejects instead of my escape pod. This clearly surprises him. That's a fancy pod, he says. Now it go boom. He's trying to warp scramble me, but I don't have any intention of running. I attack Xeno's tengu an blow it up. His pod ejects. I hesitate just a bit too long and it warps away before I can pod him. Why was Xeno attacking me???

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09/15/11

I Am Sailor Moon
I am Serena Usagi, also known as Sailor Moon . I am meeting with the other sailor scouts and we are discussing how to keep the silver imperium crystal safe. Every time I start an idea Rae says it's a dumb one. She follows that by insulting me a lot. No one is objecting. I get pissed. I finally throw the crescent moon wand at Rae and tell her fine, if everyone there hates me so much, I quit. Rae can be leader, she can be the new Sailor Moon. I'm out of here. I leave in a huff, almost in tears. I am near a plant shop when I hear something. I follow the noise. A weird mutant plant woman is attacking Rae, who is in Sailor Mars form now. The plant woman has Rae cornered. Hey! Double ugly weed bitch! Over here! She glares at me then comes at me. I turn and run, I have no wand to transform with. I go to the plant shop. Where is your weed killer? A shelf of Weed-B-Gone. I take several. Plant bitch is here. I spray her with weed killer. The weeds all over her die, leaving a disoriented woman. Rae comes. She says that was the second dumbest thing I have ever done... the first being when I left... I interrupt. The dumbest was ever thinking I could have a real friend. Fuck off, I'm still out of here. I leave, I am still pissed. I ignore Rae calling me to stop. I wake up feeling so very isolated, so alone.

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09/17/11

EVE: Revenge
I am once again in a game of EVE Online, I am in my Fire Valkyrie. I am hovering outside a station where I know there are several assholes holed up. The list on my screen shows Back Hoe, Menardii, Draco, Marley... and a couple others. They are all showing as war targets. I wait for a bit and finally Back Hoe tries to leave. I blast him... ship and pod. I wait some more. Draco tries to leave. I blast him, too. Ship and pod. This is amusing. They are cursing at me in local chat. I don't respond. I warp away. One of them tries to leave again. I warp back so fast. Boom, I blast Menardii... ship and pod. You guys are screwed. Whenever you step out of the safety of that station I'll be here to pod your asses! I will be here and POD YOU every time! How do you like it, assholes? It sucks to be you!

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9/19/11

Pokémon Hunt
My mother and I are in a forest searching around for pokémon, my mother is looking to catch herself one. My mom says what she really wants to catch is a pikachu. I remind her we already have a pikachu back at the house, in fact we have several of them. She says one can never have too many pikachus. We have pokéballs and my mother asks me where she should look. I tell her most of the pokémon will be in the tall grassy areas and in the bushes, most of them will be hidden from sight. They don't realize we aren't there to hurt them. My mom and I look for a while longer, I really want to find a feline pokémon. My mom surprises me when she throws her pokéball. It opens up and successfully captures a pokémon, though I don't get a good look at it before it vanishes inside. She asks how she's supposed to convince it she will be nice to it. I tell her she has to be friends with it. She opens the pokéball and reveals the pokémon she caught. It is about the size of a house cat, but it is a bug type… it looks like a lady bug with iridescent spots. The pokémon flies around my mother a few times as if assessing her, deciding if it will trust her. It apparently decides it likes her energy because it lands beside her and seems relaxed. My mom is ready to go home even without a pikachu. I say I'm going to keep looking for a feline.

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Summer Gift Day
I am at school, it is like a high school, and it is the last day of the year before summer break. The entire school is participating in a secret gift-giving event. Everyone will draw the name of another student and then give them a modestly priced or homemade gift. I figure that since I am so extremely popular (NOT!) I'll probably get someone's dogs shit wrapped up in a brown paper bag. But I'm not going to do that. I don't know what the person would like… I get a name of someone I don't know. Gloria. I decide to get her a gift card from somewhere that her money might go a bit farther than with new items. I will get her a gift card from Bookman's. If she likes books, she's set. Music, movies, video games… Alicia is there with me and she thinks that is a good idea. We are leaving for Bookman's when someone tells us not to be late for graduation.

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09/28/11

Cleaning House
I am in a large house, more of a mansion than a regular sized home, and I am exploring the place. The entire house is really creepy, it looks abandoned and haunted. But I somehow know it isn't supposed to be like that, there are people who live here, or there are supposed to be. I wonder if they are still here with the mess. I start cleaning up some of the mess I find around, doing so seems to brighten the place up a bit. I open a door that is on the third floor, thinking I will find a room. But instead the door leads to empty space, an exterior door on the third level of a house that doesn't lead to a deck or a stairway, just to a three story drop. Well, that seems odd, I wonder if I should put a warning sign on the door or maybe board it up so no one opens it and strolls through… only to find themselves in mid air. Outside it is dark, there is a breeze blowing through some large trees. A rather nice view if someone would just put a deck there. I go inside and continue cleaning the place up, I am actually making some decent progress. I wonder where the people who live here are… have they left? Will they come back?
Note: After I woke up I got the feeling I had been inside MoSh's inner world.

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09/29/11

Save Me
I am in MoSh's inner world, this is something I do not question at all, and it doesn't lead me to do a reality check. It seems perfectly normal for me to be there. I look around, trying to get my bearings, wondering where MoSh and Asuka might be… and their kids, too. Right now I don't see anyone… but wait… I do. There is a strange woman standing alone in an open area of dirt. I can hear her crying. She says she only wanted a safe place to hide, she didn't mean to cause any harm… really… she just wants to be safe… I wonder what she is talking about. Is she somehow responsible for the problems going on in here lately? Could it be an accident? She says she needs help, someone to save her… but she's not sure if she is worth saving. She says probably not. Some weird things erupt from the ground at her feet, wires and such are forming all over her body, it makes her look like some kind of strange robot. She is screaming the whole time that happens, then she suddenly attacks me. I am forced to fight her, and I finally use a water based spell that is shorting out the robotic circuits. The wires retreat, pulling back into the ground. The woman is also gone, now there is a little girl huddled on the ground sobbing. I try to approach the little girl but she disappears before I can reach her.

I am in a forest, I am lucid at the beginning of this memory. I am remembering the goal of stopping some assholes who are using animals here as slaves, working them to the death to try to find some stupid ore to make them rich. I am thinking how these people need to have their asses kicked. Since this is going to involve hunting, I have brought a company of pokémon with me, quite a few persians and several others that enjoy the hunt. The pokémon with me disperse through the forest, they are waiting their chance for the hunt. Right now all of the assholes are in one place, forcing the animals they have to clear out large areas of the forest so they can dig their mines and get to their precious ore. I make my way through the forest to where this is taking place, I find them there.

The first thing I think when I got there was how could these people actually force those animals to do anything they don't want to? The answer comes to my mind right away as if someone is right there speaking to me, is it Q? Maybe… It says that these animals are generally peaceful, not wanting to hurt anyone, which they might be willing to fight here except for the fact collars they have on are controlling them, so any resistance is rewarded with a blast of excruciating pain. What a bunch of assholes! I went into the open, looking at the people and the animals, the animals were large, they really looked like miniature brontosauruses with fur, each one about as tall as a tree. Right now they are knocking the trees over, tearing them up by the roots, and tossing them to the side like so much trash. I can feel their energy, though, and all I can feel is a sense of hopelessness… none of them dare resist because of the collars, if they resist they will die in pain… I watch that only briefly before one of the animals drops a tree a bit too close to one of the people, the collar activates, and the animal's cry of pain is horrible… it sounds like a cry of death… I am really pissed off.

I go over to the man who seems to be the cause of the animal's pain, the one who had been closest to the tree that had been dropped, though he had clearly not been in any danger of getting hit… I walk right up to him and give him a sharp shove, and I tell him to stop that or he would regret it. It seems they have to focus to make the collars work… and he loses focus when I shove him. The animal is able to get up very quickly considering the pain it seemed to be in, and the man is glaring at me, he asks who the fuck I am, and says I had better get out of the way or I will be sorry. I tell him to stop hurting the animals, he laughs at me and asks why I would care what happened to these dumb animals? They were so dumb that they just let them put on the collars with no resistance… he says that anything that stupid deserves to be used by their intellectual superiors. I tell him I will give him to the count of ten to start getting those collars off, or he will find himself wishing he had never been born. As if to show how little he thought of my threat, he activated the collar on the closest animal, who made a cry of pain. I make a stupid sounding rhyme to do a spell… "The pain you cause will not get through, instead it will come back to you." The animal stops crying out, and the man is now screaming in pain. That makes him lose focus, and he stares at me, dumbfounded. I say he's the one who looks stupid now. He tries to hurt an animal again, he only hurts himself. Several others do the same thing, and are all screaming out in pain when they try. While watching stupid people hurting themselves can be amusing, the idea is to give the pokémon something to hunt, so I pull out a sword and start attacking them, cutting a couple down before the others give up on trying to hurt the animals and disperse into the trees.

"Run!" I tell them as they do just that, "You can run but you will never escape!" Now they are where the pokémon want them to be. Scattered in the forest to be hunted. I decide I don't want to miss out on things entirely, however, so I go into the trees as well. I transform into a cute little rabbit, and hop through the trees. I hear some people out in the forest screaming and yelling, a lot of cursing… I hop farther through the trees, hoping I will come across one of the people soon. I hear movement in the trees off to my right, so I hop in that direction. I hop out of a bush to see one of the people cowering back against a tree. When he sees me, however, he seems to relax… he talks to himself, telling himself to not be so jumpy, it's just a fucking rabbit after all… He gets down on his haunches, and starts talking to me in baby talk, "Who's the stupid little bunny?" he asks in a mocking tone, "Who's going to make a nice stew for me tonight? Who's gonna be dinner?" The man takes a couple steps towards me, reaching out. I hop towards him, he says I must be a really stupid bunny, and as I get closer to him I transform into an alien like those on the movie Alien. The man stares in shock, he pisses and shits his pants just before I run my long spiked tail right through his gut, he tries to scream but all he does is vomit blood and die.

Well… that was entertaining… I turn back into a bunny to see if I can sneak up on another one. I hear movement, and I hop in that direction. I soon hear screaming from over there, and I wonder what is happening. I hop through the bushes and peek into a clearing on the other side to see someone is over there holding one of the people to the ground… and eating him?! I wonder who that is, I don't think any of the pokémon would have taken human form… I hop through the bushes so I can see the scene better, and I recognize Walms… he is the one eating the asshole… He really looks quite disgusting right now, covered in blood and eating some guy that is weakly struggling to free himself. Another of the assholes comes through the trees, maybe following the sound of the other one's scream, then stops and stares at the scene in stunned and horrified silence. Walms glares up at him with a really nasty looking smirk on his face. The man starts stumbling backwards, trips, and falls flat on his ass… a foul odor wafts over from him. Walms gets up and wipes some of the grossness from his face, then tells the man in front of him to get up and run… Walms says he at least wants this to be some fun… The man is blubbering, but he finally rolls over onto his front, scrambles up, and stumbles into the forest. Walms walks calmly after him, chuckling to himself. The guy Walms walked away from isn't quite dead, he is still twitching… The last thing I see before I wake up is the life fading from his eyes as he dies.