CanisLucidus

This was a short but pleasant lucid after drinking a 3-bag brew of peppermint tea during my WBTB. I woke up for the WBTB on the late side (4:45 or so), so I didn't stay awake for very long. Probably because of this, my waking life memories were a little tough to access.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #64: The Menthol Arcade

I'm in a dark arcade playing Street Fighter II with my friend SC. We're talking smack and he says, "I bet you can't win a sumo wrestling match." I say something really brilliant like, "Bring it!" and the game starts.

I'm on the righthand side and both of us are playing as E. Honda. I look down at the game's controls and I'm disappointed to see that it has no joystick and each side has only 3 buttons instead of the usual 6. The weirdness of this sticks in my mind and after thinking it over, I realize that I'm dreaming.

The game starts and neither of us moves at first. I jam on the buttons a bit and my player starts E. Honda's signature "Hundred Hand Slap". I will him to start drifting to the left and he slides along for a few seconds.



Before I can land a shot, the screen goes black. I look over to my left and SC has vanished. I'm completely alone and all of the machines are off now. I turn away and start to explore the rest of the arcade.

The arcade's divided into two sides, and the side that I'm on is arranged around an enormous air hockey table that's at least 4-5 times larger than a normal one. I wonder what someone would do if the puck got stuck in the middle of that huge thing. On the opposite side of the room I see an emergency exit. I think about exploring the other side of the arcade but it occurs to me that I probably have goals I want to work on, and outside seems like a better bet.

I keep verbally reminding myself that this is a dream until I reach the exit. I push on the crash bar, the door swings open, and I'm staring out into a milky gray void. I'm nervous about walking out there but I feel like there's no going back now.

There's a bit of a drop as I step into the void, but my feet land on something solid a couple of feet down. I feel like I'm wearing my work shoes. The scene goes totally dark, but I'm ready to DEILD. I start swinging my arm around, imagining that I have a gladius. Nothing happens for a few seconds, but I still feel relaxed. I start swinging harder, throwing in a few man-grunts for emphasis.

Some sort of wind sweeps up from below and picks me up off of my feet. The wind starts to swirl and soon turns into a cyclone. I can feel myself spinning and spinning, and I think that this is great -- LaBerge suggests spinning as a way to change scenes. I'm confident it will work, and sure enough I see a colorful, spinning scene start to emerge.

The wind dies down, the spinning slows, and I'm gently set down on a vast, jeweled mosaic that stretches in every direction as far as I can see. There's a slightly reddish glow on the horizon and what looks like a set of distant mountains. I'm awestruck by what I see, but it's just a few seconds before the dream ends.