Maxis

Sorry for all the tense changes and conversational tone, I rushed this a bit.

So I have some really fuzzy WILD that I admittedly had forgotten to stabilize (oops), I start off and I’m in my own dining room, but I’m standing next to a couple of dudes and I’ve got no idea who they are. Immediately they start saying they need my help saving some Princess; while I do like to see where the story in lucid dreams takes me, I recall how often I get annoyed when I get sucked into dream plots before completing my goals, so I tell them to wait a sec with a hint of annoyance in my voice and I walk outside through our backdoor onto the balcony.

My lawn looks a little bit Autumn-y, though I think the most unusual thing was the fog. Yeah, the area was pretty foggy, and I couldn’t see further than a couple hundred feet. I eventually focused on a few points here and there to try to clear up some of it and I find that far out past some woods are a bunch of mountains, which to me, are an obvious confirmation that I’m dreaming. For whatever reason, I decide to ignore these anyway and come up with a plan of my own.

These random dudes followed me outside onto the balcony and are wondering what I’m doing, and I basically just ignore them as I decide I’m going to fly directly up into the sky and somehow come crashing back down. I climb onto the railing of the balcony and make a confident leap up towards the sky. I don’t go very far—I end up kind of floating around a little above the house like I’m in space. The guys are watching me astounded, but I’m just a little frustrated as I try to push myself up towards the sky.

It was weird—first I tried swimming up, but it ended up going pretty slowly. So, instead, I tried to envision that the air under me would give me some sort of push towards the sky. Not only did it work and I felt myself suddenly rising, but it gave me the momentum I needed to keep going. Eventually I felt myself rising pretty steadily, the wind going past my face. Though it didn't last long, this moment was pretty vivid. I'd even look down and it would look like the ground was literally being eaten up by the fog. I kept rising, and I ended up passing these flaky clouds--they weren't soft and liquidy, but more like... thin cotton candy. Weirdly enough, my cat was sitting on one of these clouds. Just lying there, chilling, watching me fly.

I laughed at this sight, and took a moment to stop and lower myself down to him to say hi. He gave me a couple of blinks and I kept going about my way. I flew up and up, though I never passed or even saw space. I just kept flying up towards the blueness of the sky. It always felt out of reach, neverending.

Eventually I stopped, gauging it was high enough. I had no idea how high I actually was, or how long it would take me to fall. It was so foggy, I couldn't see the ground, and since I could never reach space either, everything around me was just blue. And I was just... floating.

Then my wonder turned to confusion as I realized the problem: how was I going to get down? While I was skilled enough in flying, I was certainly not skilled in not flying while flying...er, or something to that effect. All I was familiar with was landing, which I couldn't do a thousand feet in the air.

I got a little creative and came up with the idea of pretending I'm flying because I'm tensed up, or holding onto something. Although there was nothing actually there, I gripped the air like I was holding onto something, and I tensed up my body as if I was really trying to hold on tight. Though it wasn't visible, I did get the feeling that something was in my hands, and my feet gradually started dangling, as if it was the reason I was still in the air.

I let go, and I immediately started falling--well, everything was still blue, but I felt like I was falling. Apparently there's no such thing as terminal velocity in my subconscious, because it constantly felt like I was accelerating. I would go down and down, and the air would whip past me, and I'd get butterflies in my stomach. This feeling lasted for maybe a dozen seconds--it was right when I started wondering if I was stuck, if I'd have to wake up or get creative to get somewhere, when suddenly the fog unveiled itself and the ground was right there.

Yeah, fog is trippy, I didn't see the ground until it was 20 feet away.

I hit the ground on my stomach with a slight bounce, but it wasn't painful in the slightest. Actually, it was much more shocking, like a sudden adrenaline rush or as if there was an unexpected drop on a rollercoaster. I desperately held onto the dream though, feeling the grass with my hands and taking in how it smelled, and thankfully I didn't wake up. As soon as I was confident I'd stay in the dream and the shock faded, I stood up casually and brushed the grass off my clothes. I noticed I ended up in my lawn, so I started heading back up the balcony.

One of these other dudes asked me, "What was that for?"

All I said was, "Just proving myself as a God. So, what was all this about a Princess?"

Lucid dare done.

So now he started telling me about how some Princess was captured by this other clan in the jungle that they're rivalling against. Honestly, it's some cheesy plot where people go to war over some hot 17-year-old chick.

He starts telling me more but mid-conversation I feel the dream fading, so I let it happen and perform a DEILD. The moment I'm back in the dream, I'm in the jungle they were talking about.

(side note: still forgot to stabilize)

So the guys I was with were all dressed pretty urban-y like they were actually civilized, but these jungle people I'm with now are all dressed like cavemen. These guys expect to get their Princess back?

I went around talking to some of them to find they don't actually have any sort of plan to get their Princess back either. I'm a little annoyed, so I try to think of my own. I see one of the dudes I met earlier (still dressed civilized unlike the rest) and ask him for more information on our side, if we have any weapons or even a base. He tells me their clan is part of some snowy place which apparently borders the jungle (biome logic; are we in Minecraft?), but as I glance around for it, he hastily tells me that it's getting dark and that we should be getting to sleep. I ask why that's so important, and he says that the rival clan is guarding the snowy territory.

I then wonder why we're in the jungle, but I just kind of say, "okay, whatever," and lie in the grass beside him. Eventually that other dude that was with him in the beginning of the dream came by us as well. We just kind of hung out, not saying much, and I took note of how swampy and wet the grass felt. Vibrant green leaves were on the ground besides us as well. Eventually the dream fades, and I DEILD again.

It's nighttime, and instantly I stand up and think, "oh wait, this is the perfect time to do something important." I started basically writing the plot in my head--I decided that back in the snowy territory was some stone or whatever that possessing would defeat the rest of the clan (on hindsight, it really would've just been easier if it was in my pocket, but oh well). Now would be the best time to get it, because everyone would be asleep.

I made my way to the snowy place in which I just instinctively knew where it was, but to my dismay there were people all geared up with guns that were guarding the place. I wondered how I'd get away with this, then decided I would transform into an Arctic wolf as a disguise. Since doing this task, transformation has never been a problem for me, and I especially could relate with already having specifically transformed into a white wolf in a snowy territory. Most of it was will--I just ran through the edge of the territory, and looked down at my hands until they began pounding against the ground. I felt fur surround my body, and I knew the transformation worked.

I look around and the guards are completely ignoring me, I see this hill where there's this glowing blue stone at the top of it, so I end up trotting over no problem towards it. The guards continue ignoring me, and I even manage to get the stone in my mouth. I get a little nervous at this point, and just try to casually walk back towards the jungle. My nervousness gets the best of me however as I hear a shout to my right--one of the guards saw me with the stone, and boom, just like that, all of them were on me. I took off at full speed, somehow managing to dodge their bullets. I made it back into the jungle, but they kept chasing me, and the commotion quickly awoke everyone else. For whatever reason everyone else had guns too (maybe it was because of the stone?), and everyone was quickly wide awake fighting clan versus clan in a nasty gun battle in the jungle. I turned to human form as well which wasn't too hard, kept the stone in my pocket, and quickly summoned and took out a gun from my other side. It was a simple trick I used a lot in dreams: act like I was pulling out a gun from my right pocket, and it would suddenly be there in my hand.

What was most interesting about this part is that I felt invincible--nothing really affected me, but I could kill anyone by just looking at them. So I did, in plain sight as well, just shot the DCs I knew were from the other clan.

I don't really know why, I guess it was just coming to the end of my dream time, but I felt the dream fading once again. I knew it was getting late into the morning, so I decided that would be it--but not without taking the stone out of my pocket and quickly finding one of the dudes from the beginning of the dream. I gave him the stone and told him to use it to get the Princess back. He mumbled something back, but it was so fuzzy I don't really remember what, and just kept going about shooting these other guys. Because of that, I'm going to assume whatever he said was a good thing.

I woke up, and I like to think that they ended up succeeding in getting back their Princess from the jungle.

(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.