Maxis

I've forgotten completely how I became lucid, but I became lucid at one point and I only remember the following after that, so no point in color-coding.

I'm in my house upstairs with my brother Zach. Once I go lucid, I attempt to recall any dream goal of mine, but struggle with it and eventually give up. Instead, not wanting to waste LD time, I turn to Z (who knows I'm dreaming) and say, "Show me something interesting."

He cooperates and leads me outside. Like my house, the street looks much like it would in waking life, but the sunlight was extremely bright, the grass a vivid bright green, and there just seemed like there was an aura of happiness resting over the dreamworld. I smile, taking in this sight for a moment, and then Zach jumps and takes flight from the ground. I follow him up, and the moment I'm in the air, I notice the area past my street is much different than it should've been. He began flying away in a straight direction and I follow him, looking around at the massive town as I did so. It was completely and utterly random at this point--colorful structures and tall skyscrapers stuck up in every direction, with the woods bordering everything around. My interests are piqued as I wonder what Zach's going to show me.

Eventually we float back down to the ground, in which he leads me into a small, square, basic dark building. Inside the ground is all carpet, the lights are dim, and people are chit-chatting in every direction. It was very dark, but the atmosphere was very welcoming, much like a bar or a small party.

Zach leads me to the left and the right again into a large room where electronic music played in the background with a couple of bars and something interesting in the center--a small tennis court with maybe 3-4 people on each side. Most of the people looked like older teenagers, say around 15-19. They're playing...tennis, but with a few peculiarities. Firstly, they're playing with their hands (much like volleyball). The ball was mostly transparent, but the clear ball was surrounded with an intricate glowing orange design that left a motion blur behind it in the air and was quite easy to see. There seemed to be no way to take score--players just played until they got bored. The biggest difference to this kind of tennis and IWL tennis was the fact that the physics were very trippy. At the weirdest moments the ball would go in slow-motion, or shoot towards the ceiling, or fly past the players towards the wall.

Zach explained to me, "This is dream tennis. Kind of an interesting sport, I think. Do you want to try it out?"

I nod and grin and Zach and I join one of the teams together, and we play a few rounds. At first I mostly suck (no, really, I blatantly made the ball hit the 2-foot-tall net at one point), and I'm teased by my teammates about this, but I eventually (and proudly) get the hang of it. At one point in the middle of the game I question Zach as to why it's not called dream volleyball since you play with your hands. He only says, "I don't know, I didn't make the rules, I'm only a dream character!"

All in all the game and the dream itself was rather strange yet fun, and I totally wouldn't mind playing dream tennis again in a later LD. Eventually I wake up after a few rounds and I DEILD back to sleep, though the contents of the dream that followed are a bit more... private.

On a side-note, I remember a non-lucid dream fragment from earlier in the night where I was playing one of my favorite MMORPGs called Mabinogi, but that's all I can remember from that.

(I know I haven't done any DJ entries like ever, which is why I plan to change that. )

non-lucid lucid awake/other stuff
backstory: Austin is an 8-year-old DC from a vivid non-lucid I had a couple of years ago, involving a plot of him being traumatized from visiting a wicked haunted house and me trying to help him. I eventually died at the end of the dream (because of said haunted house) and it was partially my fault, so I came up with the goal last week of seeing him in a lucid dream and apologizing, then trying to help him again (you can say I'm really attached to my DCs).

The dream starts off a little strange (you know, like most dreams do). I'm in public school--currently in virtual school IWL and being in public school is a common dreamsign for me that I've managed to miss--with old classmates in the gym. We were in what were like lab desks with 2 people at each desk, and our fairly b**chy reading teacher was in the gym with us for some reason, showing us some sort of sitcom that "I'd seen before" (false memory). Yup, in a school I'm not even in anymore, sitting at desks in gym class, our reading teacher supervising us, watching a sitcom.
It didn't make much sense.
Like most people I wasn't really paying attention to the show, just talking to others. We were never given questions on the show, so why bother watching? Eventually there's this random skip where I'm in a giant Wal-Mart with Mom, and of course I was obsessing over the candies and ice cream that were there. I don't remember much of this part, only that it was big and huge and grand and wonderful, much unlike a typical Wal-Mart. Anyway, eventually there's another weird skip (maybe the start of a new dream) where it's much later in the day; to be precise, bedtime. I have a schedule in the house for going to bed; I say good night to my friends online, I shut down my computer, Dad gives me my anxiety medication, I say good night to my parents, and then I go to bed.
All goes well until I try to shut down the computer. I'd been playing a rhythm game called "osu!" (been quite addicted to it lately) and even after I had shut down the computer, a demo or replay of the game would keep playing itself against the black monitor. The computer was off, so how could that have happened? This seriously concerns me, so I go into the kitchen to find my tech whiz dad preparing my medicine and explain what's going on.
I expected some sort of logical answer or fix from him or at the very least for him to go check out what's going on, but all I get is, "That's strange."
Annoyed, I stood there trying to think of what could've happened. Why was a computer still running if it had no power? Then suddenly everything clicked together, and I realized I was dreaming. Dad looked at me the moment I realized--didn't say anything, didn't do anything, just looked at me--as I did a quick RC to make sure I was really dreaming. I thought of what I would do, and remembered my goal instantly, then turned to Dad who had put down my medicine and was still looking at me, and I asked,
"Did you know that you're part of my dream?"
"Yes I do."
"Will you help me?"
"Yes I will."
What do you know, a cooperative DC for once.
I flew out the kitchen window and Dad followed me, but I was immediately unsettled by the darkness of the night. No, really, it was pitch black outside. I didn't like the idea of not being able to see the area, so I decided I would make it daytime. First I tried going back inside and, when looking away from the window, deciding it would be daytime. It didn't work. I realized I had to be more creative with it and--I can't remember if I came up with it or if my dad suggested it--but I decided I would use a lightswitch to light up the world. I summoned a lightswitch on the back of our house, and without further ado, flicked it up. What I expected was it to become suddenly daylight. What actually happened was much more extraordinary than that--it wasn't daytime, but above my head, all the stars in the sky began to 'light up' and glow white and silver one at a time. The sky tinted a lighter blue as a response--not daytime blue, but not like the space-like black-blue it was before. What looked like thin, white, electrical waves passed between all the stars here and there, which were still glowing a bright and beautiful white. The area was lit up almost instantly as if it was nearly daytime. It was an absolutely tremendous image, especially since I was right under it.
After a minute of being awestruck at the stars in the sky, I eventually start flying around with Dad thinking about what I was going to do. I can't remember why, but even though I planned to stick to my goal and I knew my time was limited, I wanted to spend some time exploring the dreamworld. Unlike our typical backyard out the window it was all forest or plains, with no other civilization around. I came across some beautiful structures that were simply there as art--a variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes, all towering up to the clouds. Eventually I found the Wal-Mart from earlier in the dream, though completely empty and could be easily stolen from.
(pssht, do you really think I'd steal from there?)
We turn around and I notice something a little more eerie: there was a wooden post stuck into the ground, and surrounding it were stuffed animals sitting against it tied to the post. Well, most of them were stuffed animals, anyway--there was a single live chicken tied to the post, looking right at me. I approached it with a curious mindset, but the chicken was hostile, trying to get to me and preparing to attack me. Eventually, to my surprise, it rips its way from the post and heads towards me. I'm more confused than afraid, especially since I felt no pain or really, no anything when it started pecking at my ankles. I summon and draw a sword from my side, attempting to kill it, but everytime the blade touched it, the chicken would multiply itself and all the chickens would continue to try to attack me. I just stand there unharmed and confused, and look up to Dad. He smiles at me, then looks at the chickens, shouts "Look!" (in which all the chickens look up at him), and then makes a sort of shoving movement with his arms. When he does, poof, the chickens just vanish, leading a cloud of smoke behind them at my feet.
I grinned and thanked him as I felt myself waking up. I let it happen, preparing to DEILD.
When I'm awake I slowly peek my eyes open to roughly check the time by how light it was in my room. It's light out, so I know it's morning. I cut straight to business this time and start envisioning Austin's house in front of me. Eventually, I'm back in the dream.
For some reason I'm in a third-person camera view when I start the dream, so I take this opportunity to look around the wooden, low-class house for a moment. Then I force myself to get back into my dream body maybe twenty feet before his front door.. Dad's standing a good distance behind me, continuing to accompany me, but giving me privacy for my goal.
I don't have to go to his front door--Austin bursts out the door, and runs toward me with a big grin preparing to hug me. I fall to my knees and hold out my arms as well, and the exceptionally short 8-year-old boy gives me a big, long hug. I was preparing to give him a big long emotional speech and then try to help him, but what came out was quite different. I think I'm crying at this point, and I tell him I'm sorry maybe about a thousand times, in which he just says, "It's okay. You don't have to be sorry. I'm just happy you're here."
We stay like that for maybe a minute, and I'm both happy and sad, and eventually I can feel myself waking up again (in response to a familiar noise, I think my dog jumping off my bed and being let outside by my dad for the morning). I let it happen, again, and feeling some sort of relief and closure, I finally get up for the day.