All DJ Entries

07/24/10

Something about angels that die at the same time as their human mates... I should really stop reading bad fanfiction.

I'm running away from zombies. I want to take to the water, so I steal my uncle's boat and go down the creek.

I need supplies. I find another boat, but apparently it's owned by the still-surviving Mafia. I steal the boat.

Now I'm being chased by thugs sent by the Mafia, as well as zombies. I run into a building, blasting holes through walls and ceilings, trying to make a route to the roof. I realize that I'm dreaming. I try to black out and go to the first location I think of (the apartment in Ixburg). I stop, everything around me faded to grey, and wonder why the hell I'd want to go to Ixburg. I fade back into the dream and keep running.

I make it to the roof. My enemies are right behind me. I jump down onto a white truck, and make a run for it, laughing.

Later. I'm on the road in a camper-trailer. I'm making dinner and doing dishes. Oma wonders if there's not enough protein in the pasta I made.

We're going to see a movie in Moose Jaw (real place, I do not kid). We park the camper and I step out with my cousins. I look at the showtimes, but Despicable Me isn't playing in that theatre anymore. Apparently this is the first day it's not showing. I'm very sad.

The Mafia. Scare Factor: 3.

Notes: I'm writing up an especially epic dream from two days ago, which seems to directly follow up Seven Minutes in Heaven. Basically, Castiel (from Supernatural) gets captured by someone, and I take the opportunity to thoroughly mindfuck Team Free Will.

Key:
Non-Lucid, Lucid, Commentary/Notes, Hypnagogic Hallucinations
i inner awareness, a action, f form, c context

Escape: Death Bus

I was on a bus headed in the direction of my house. I was on the back seat next to the emergency exit. Next to me was N, an old fr-enemy from my school days ( c ). Next to him there was a Chinese man -- some kind of guard I thought ( c ). Walking up and down the bus was another Chinese guard. Also on the bus was C, an old friend also from my school days ( c ).

I knew we were being held captive by the Chinese military ( c ). Looking around the bus I saw more prisoners and more guards. I knew I wanted to escape ( i ).

I realised that the emergency exit had not been secured, so I could open it and escape if I dared. The bus was travelling pretty fast. I turned to N and whispered my plan to jump off the moving bus to him. He was hesitant. I felt guilty that C probably wouldn't get off the bus with us due to the exit being blocked by the guard sitting next to N.

Somehow I managed to open the emergency exit without anyone noticing ( a ). I looked out on to the road. There was a lot of traffic coming in the other direction, and a lot of traffic behind the bus. I felt as thought the bus was moving in excess of 100mph ( c,f ). I closed the door. Nobody had noticed, and the door alarm hadn't gone off, but I didn't find it odd at all. I was afraid to jump, knowing that my chances of survival were slim.

The bus slowed. A chance to escape had now presented itself. I quickly opened the door and jumped out. N followed me, and somehow C was also able to escape the bus ( c ). We were near the primary school I attended, not too far from my house. I pointed in the direction I thought we should run: towards the railway running along side the school.

We ran in that direction, followed by a number of the guards. N and C were ahead of me as we reached the houses that back on to the railway. N and C hopped the fence, but I was caught! The guards wanted me to point out where they were running to, but I refused. They made me stand on a bush, which I struggled to do because... it's a bush ( a ). Eventually I stood on it and I could see that C was still there and hadn't run off. He was hiding behind a low wall in the next garden. I didn't know what to do so I just pointed in a random direction and said they had run that way.

Escape II: Paddle for your Life

I was on a beach with several other people. We were being pursued ( c ). Quickly we jumped in to the longboats sitting there ( a ). I and some others ended up in the water because there was not room. I held on to the side of one of the boats near the front.

Our pursuers were in boats behind us despite all the boats having been taken a moment earlier ( c,f ). At this point I noticed that myself and everyone else was dressed as a pirate ( f ). I was afraid that we would be shot at but then realised that nobody had guns ( c ). I looked back and could see some of them had swords. I knew that all we had to do was stay ahead of them and find land to escape.

Now there was somehow room in the boat and I climbed inside ( f ). The perspective shifted to third person briefly and I was somehow in mental control of the rowing ( i,c ). I remember thinking about it. I realised that everyone had a single oar out of the right hand side of the boat, and I knew that it would just make us go round in circles despite the fact that we seemed to be going straight ( c,f ). I was able to change it so that there was a balance that I thought would produce a straighter heading ( i ).

Back in first person now, we neared land. It appeared to be a small island with a large walled town on it taking up most of the land ( f ). We landed on the beach and headed for the gates. Most of the others trying to escape must have been captured because there were four of us. Upon reaching the gates, the people inside wouldn't open them for us. The gates were constructed of steel railings but I knew we couldn't squeeze through.

Myself and the others turned in to twist ties ( f ). Yes, twist ties. and slipped through the bars. Back as a person now, I looked around at the townspeople ( f ). Everything looked like a cartoon ( f ). Thinking on it now, it all looked a bit like the style in the Professor Layton games. The people were just standing there staring at us, expressionless ( c ). It seemed really creepy. I decided to run further in to the town and asked the people not to say which way I had run. Somehow the pursuers had also got through the gates and I turned to see several of them standing there ( c ).

[Nasty habit I'm developing, writing down dreams RIGHT before sleeping again after sleep deprivation. Kills all recall..]

I am in my NY house. I think we are back there for the summer again. There is this rabbit identical to Zooni behind the TV. We don't know how it got there or anything, but I pet it and befriend it. It disappears after a bit. I feel anxious. There is also a puppy in the house, yapping around like annoying little puppies do. I feel intense fear; I think the puppy's going to attack th bunny. I see it woofing towards the bunny and I immediately pick it up and shield it. My mom asks me what I want to do with the bunny. There will be no one to take care of her when I leave for uni, but at the same time I've grown too fond of this bunny in the day or so that she's been at my house. I'm town, the thought of letting her go is so saddening.. I fear that she'll end up in a crappy household and get abused. But I can't leave her at the mercy of my family members. Guilt overcomes me and it's sickening familiarity disturbs me yet again.

I had another "escape" dream, I don't know why. I have these ever so often, and they all have such weird vividness attached to them.

I'm in my VA house and hiking around my bedroom. I know that tonight is the night I run away. I try to gather things I will need. As the dream starts i feel anxious to just get out, but then I slow down and be practical about it. I peer in the fridge and debate bringing food. Then I give up the idea, just grab crackers and water. I shove necessary things into a small backpack and then just throw all my cash into the backpack. I can't be carrying heavy loads. I leave quickly out the door. I start running. that familiar feeling overcomes me, the knowledge that as soon as I leave the house and start running my family will spot and run after me. All will be lost. I sprint into the lawn from the gravel road, and I think about how I can't give up because I'm doing this for my brother. (Apparently the purpose of the running away was to make sure an operation happens to my brother.) I feel anxious and disturbed. Every detail of running into the woods is clear. I can smell the grass, feel the humidity on my skin, the backpack flapping against my back. It is just the beginning of night.. I come across a weird little cabin where pig-human-creatures reside. They invite me in or something, I don't know, somehow I am there having dinner with them. I am spending the night there for safety, but it makes no sense because my parents are there too. This is weird because of their extreme aversion to pigs. We sit at this really small table and I recall their squiggly tails and all. It's fucking disturbing, don't ask me why. Just the fact that they're pigs talking and acting like humans I suppose. A little fire is going on somewhere. It's so small. I feel claustrophobic. I need to get out to find my brother. We are now going to retire to bed, and I see my father in the doorway. He tells me not to worry about the strange appearance of the cabin. I see a very recognizable face of a man but I forget who it was.. He'sin one of the rooms and we quickly glance at each other while I pass through a maze to the bedroom.

That's all. I need to stop being a lazy ass and put my pen + notebook back on to my bed.

this one was strange. before i went to bed, i fixated in my mind that when i became lucid, i would try to find my dream guide. the dream took place in a mall, where i was trying to hide from someone, i think it was a small, blue, alien sort of thing, i dont know what it was. i escaped it, but after a memory gap im back in the mall, trying to hide from it again. i then start becoming lucid, right in the middle of dream thinking lol. it was like "man, i have to get away from that, and-i-am-dreaming, great!". i then went to the nearest bathroom, started to go into the boys bathroom, but then i remembered that somewhere i read that dream guides are usually the opposite sex, so i went into the girls bathroom instead lol. i passed this girl looking at herself in the mirror and stood in front of a bathroom stall. i then said to myself, "when i open this door, my dream guide will be there...". but when i opened it, it was empty. i must not have believed it enough or something. so i turned around and decided to ask the girl if she was my dream guide lol. but when i did, an officer of some kind came in and grabbed me lol. thats all i remember.

07/09/10

They'll never let you leave.

I'm in a department store with a bunch of people. We're trying to escape, but a malevolent presence won't allow it. A few people find an exit sign, but when they open the door, space loops back in on itself, sending them back through a door on the opposite side of the room.

I wake up, briefly, and automatically chain myself back into the dream. I'm standing in front of a set of steps leading straight into the ceiling - a dead end. I take a breath, and hurl myself into the air, over the obstacles blocking my path up the steps. I land on my right foot, spring up over a metal bar, flipping upside down and twisting. I land at the top of the steps.

There's an attic access now. I pause to imagine blue skies, and gently push the melamine panel out of the way. I stand up, and look at the sky. It's nearly blank, with a decidedly greyish tinge. There's a bit of blue mixed in.

I decide that if I fly, the dream will resolve itself. I take off into the air, fly up and up and up. The grey shifts into clouds, and the blue becomes stronger and stronger as I get higher.

A DC joins me in my flight. He has a warning for me, but I don't remember it.

I ponder on how interesting it is that I can turn into other characters in my dreams, and then utterly become the character. I land back on the ground and shapeshift. I'm Neil Caffrey from White Collar.

I wake up again, but I fall asleep right away. I'm back in the dream, muttering about dream-chaining and going over the events of the previous dream so I don't forget them.

I talk to a DC who's supposed to be a newborn cousin. She can say her own name, but is unable to pronounce most words. It's an interesting conversation.

Sears. Scare Factor: 2.

Monday, June 28, 2010

A couple weeks ago, I implemented a new rule: DC's aren't allowed to drive. Apparently, I'm one to talk.




I decide to give up my job in Quickton. I'm never going to have enough money for this, so it's time to leave. I hop on a bus, going west.

Calgary is on a terrorist alert; somebody tried to get into the States and do something bad. As such, travel into the States is practically cut off for the time being.

I'm on a boat, out in the ocean. It's a small boat, and I'm just sitting on a bench holding my backpack. I might be drawing on my ridiculously oversize tablet. The captain comes up to me and says we're getting close to the path of my next ship, so I should pack up. He hands me a whole bunch of change to cover the fare for the next boat.

I wander onto the second boat with my tablet and my backpack. I'm shown to my room. The room itself keeps changing. There are huge windows looking out into a hallway at first, and the whole hallway is covered in posters. Later, the windows look out over a hostel-style common room that I remember from another dream. I remember thinking that it would be really cool to have one of the rooms overlooking the common room on the second story.

I step through the wall and grab a book from one of the shelves.

---

"They're fucking cannibals! Close the door, close the fucking door!"

This has happened before, I register dimly, we're on another loop. I'm too busy slamming the door on someone's fingers to notice. I kick them free and slam the door again. I'm turning the key on the ignition - Ben, why didn't you turn the car on while I was fighting - and barreling through the two dozen people in front of us. One hits the windshield, scrabbles for purchase, and goes sliding off as we pick up speed.

We're on the highway to Regina. It's night. I'm panicked and trying to decide if I should pull over and calm down or keep driving as fast as I can.

"Slow down," says my brother, "This isn't helping." We're fairly far away from the compound.

I slow down to 110 clicks, but I'm still passing other vehicles. This shouldn't be a double lane highway, should it?

My brother gives me a look.

"Shut up," I say, "The speed limit is 110."

The road is twisty and I'm not sure where the lanes are and I'm starting to get confused. Abruptly, the car takes a random turn to the left, and I'm in the ditch, driving through a field that doesn't feel much different than the road.

We come to a stop on another highway, adjacent to the first.

"Maybe we should go this way?" No response from my brother, so I put the car back in drive and start moving at a reasonable pace.

The road ends. We go flying off of a cliff. I see everything from the third person, the camera angle far above us and looking down at the mountains below.

This wouldn't happen in real life, I reason. This is obviously a dream. I remember making a car fly in one of my previous dreams, so I try to do that now.

I'm alone, falling through the air without a vehicle. I've slowed my descent reasonably, and I land at the base of a cliff crawling with rock climbers.

I ignore them. What were my lucid goals again? Oh yeah, pyrokinesis. I bring my hands together like I'm holding a ball between them, and slowly bring them apart. Nothing's happening.

I take a deep breath, focus on all of the rage and anger and fear that I felt in the previous dream. I bring my hands apart, and this time a chain of beads of fire forms between them. I wave my hands and the fire dissipates.

Huh. Apparently it's easier to summon fire when you're actually being threatened. Good to know.

I grab a cardboard box wedged in the rocks behind me and try to do the same thing. The cardboard smoulders on one edge, but doesn't catch fire.

I climb up the cliff face and sit on one of the ledges. The place has shifted into an immense cavern, and sunlight is streaming in through the many entrances. The rock varies from pure white marble to pale grey granite.

I see a pack of wolves in the distance. They're beautiful. They're on the same level as me. They get closer, and one comes over and sniffs at me. I growl at him, and he dances back, cautious. He comes closer again.

We're standing at the ground level of the cave, trying to communicate. The wolf catches onto English quickly, and soon we're having a conversation that I can't remember.

At the same time, we hear someone approaching in the distance.

"It's a hunter," I tell the wolf. "You should run. Take the rest of your pack with you."

Suddenly, I'm a lot younger, and won't be able to stand up to the hunter.

The hunter shows up and realizes that his quarry got away. He gives me a ride back to town.

"This place is totally empty," he tells me, "You might not be able to get a ride out for a while."

"No worries." I eye the empty stretch of highway, remember what someone said on the forums. I hold my thumb out, and someone shows up within seconds.

I climb into the car with a bunch of girls - there's one seat left - and we drive off to wherever we're going. I try to pay attention to the roads so I can remember how we got there.

---

A dream about a bunch of different worlds. Apparently Aslan kicked everybody (including the animals) out of Narnia. Now talking animals and fairies and Faeries are wandering from world to world, trying to find somewhere to live. So am I, for that matter.

I knock on the door. It opens to a short old woman, who asks what my name is.

"I'm Rory."

"No, you're not," she says, sounding angry. Apparently there's a prophecy about a girl named Rory.

"I'm Rory, but I'm a guy?"

"Oh, well, that's okay then." She invites me inside.

There are fairies in cages. I can see the daring rescue from here.

---

I'm Harry Dresden, and I'm in a city... somewhere. I remember that I was looking for ways to travel in dreams, and I wonder if I can use the Ways through Faerie.

I'm reading the new Dresden Files book. My mom is in the room.

"Oh, come on!" I say. My mom looks up, questioning.

"Everyone is Michael's vessel. Dean Winchester was Michael's vessel. In that last thing I read, Lucifer was Michael's vessel. Now Dresden? This is getting ridiculous."

Besides, Dresden already got possessed by an angel.

My Driving. Scare Factor: 4.

The Ways might be an interesting way of getting around, though. Dissolve the dream, wander through the Void, find what I'm looking for.

(The Void being that blackness that seems to be behind every dream.)

Sunday, June 27, 2010

My journey from ambitious underling to rival archangel.

I'm sitting at my desk, poring over some ancient text, but my mind is elsewhere. My team has just made a fascinating discovery, a book that could unlock ancient magics unknown even to the angels. Whomever can harness its power could go so far as to take over the world.

Unfortunately, we're working for Lucifer (from Supernatural). It's not by choice, I can assure you.


Sandman!Lucifer could kick your ass.

I hear the alarm go off. Immediately, I'm running down the stairs to our secret underground laboratory. The place is collapsing; dirt is streaming from the walls and rocks are falling around me. I run to the desk where Lucifer was working earlier, and grab the grimoire, the codex (decoder), and the journal that he was translating it into. Beside the books is a black LED keychain that's supposed to be a portkey. I pick it up, but nothing happens.

I'm running for the exit, not sure if I'm going to make it. I'm at the entrance hallway, but all of the main-level exits are blocked. An old man - possibly Amon - appears beside me. He says that there's a ladder I can use.

Sure enough, there is. I climb up the ladder - Amon is behind me - and we both make it out.

Lucifer is in the common area, sitting at a table with his head in his hands. He looks really mad - probably because the grimoire is lost. I try to turn down another hallway, but he sees me and the grimoire before I have the chance to leave. Suddenly, Lucifer seems very pleased.

Once we're out of sight, I turn around and smack Amon over the head, wondering why he had to take us directly past Lucifer. Comprehension dawns on his face, and he asks me if I was trying to betray our boss.

Yes! Obviously!

Amon wants to know if I really think I can get away with it, but I shrug and tell him I'm not worried.

Lucifer corners me later and asks why I'm not grateful that he brought me back to life.

What? Of course I would be... oh, I remember now. My character was really mad for some reason.

"Thanks for that, by the way," I say. I'm still taking over.

---

I'm at some Misha Collins fan-thing. Everyone around me is all excited, but I have things to do. I go and try on jeans in a store. They don't fit, and I'm tired of clothes-shopping already.

---

On a bus, I see Lucifer again. He's avoiding me. I try to unobtrusively sit beside him, but he switches seats when people get up to leave.

I see Sally, from school, is on the bus too. This can't end well.

Why am I not worried about myself, though?

Oh, right. I'm Michael. Duh.

I tell Sally that she has to get off the bus. People are turning into piles of maggots around us, and she has to leave before she does too.

"Ask the bus driver to open the door." I say.

She points to the bus driver, who's a pile of bugs covering all the controls.

I run over to the front of the bus. I plunge my hands into the squirming mass of maggots (and I can feel them wriggling all over my skin), and pull the lever for the door to open. Sally gets off the bus and starts running.

All of the maggots on the bus are streaming towards Lucifer, somehow going to power him. He looks weak right now, though. He's lying down on one of the seats, and I go over to him.

He asks me if I'm going to give one of those good-guy speeches about love an acceptance. I tell him that just because I turned out to be an angel (again) doesn't mean I'm one of the good guys.

I call up a small amount of light energy to cleanse the pile of bugs. It starts off tiny, and gets bigger and bigger...

---

I'm in a dark hallway with the same LED keychain from earlier. The small flashlight doesn't actually create light, though. When I click it once, the lights go on. When I click it again, the lights go off. Every second time I click it, something scary happens in the hallway, and if I'm in the hallway when it happens... who knows?

Holly, from high school, shows up, talking about Sailor Moon. I'm at the top of the staircase, and I think she's one of my enemies. When she's almost at the top, I telekinetically blast her down the stairs.

She gets up and informs me that it wasn't very nice to do that. I shrug and apologize, sheepish. Apparently she actually is on my side.

---

I'm watching clips of a cartoon. It's about animals running farms. I think this is ironic, and the cows suddenly start acting strange.

There's a little yellow chick trapped in a flipped-over bus that's about to explode. The other animals are trying to figure out how to rescue him.

One of the adults holds up a diagram of a kite, which the people inside the bus can hold onto and fly out the door with.

I'm flying with the kite over a sea-side city. I'm just over power lines, and I don't want to hit them. I'm on top of a marina. I have to make it past the cruise ships, out to sea so I can fall into the water.

The Devil You Don't. Scare Factor: 4.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

I seem to have a thing for slamming people into walls. I blame Supernatural.

My partner and I were subtly infiltrating a top-secret military prison. Unfortunately, it didn't go well, and I'm currently on my own, trying to stage a massive escape.

You know you should watch out when getting in is way too easy.

I'm rushing back to the entrance, a mob of angry prisoners behind me (though I'm more worried about the guards). I come across a control panel, key in random numbers and watch the door slide open, Star Wars-style. I'm through the door, looking at a massive warehouse. The only way out is straight through the exterior wall, a solid mass of cement blocks and brick.

"Blast!" I command, letting kinetic energy tear its way from my hands. I barely even recognize that I'm saying the word. The far wall falls apart into a pile of rubble and dust, leaving only -

Another wall is behind it. Pure cement.

"Blast! Blast! Blast!" The walls keep falling down, replaced by more walls behind them. No way I'm getting out through here.

"I was hoping you'd come this way," says a menacing voice.

A giant steps out from behind the tall stacks of crates in the room. He looks like Hyde from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie. He's several times taller than me, and can move freely in the gigantic warehouse.

Huh. This is kind of like that rancor level in Jedi Academy, I think to myself. I visualize the layout of the game - lots of jumping and running away, that won't work. I have to dodge as Hyde throws a few crates at me.

Now, how do I take him out? Fighting won't work, I'm too small.

Stop. You're fighting a giant during a mass breakout from an underground prison. Wake up, you moron.

I don't mean that literally.

I'm lucid. I barely have to think about it as I grow several meters taller, causing the room to seem average rather than cavernous.

Hyde is charging me. I stop his attack easily, spin him, send him flying into a wall. Chunks of mortar fall down around him.

Not a second later I'm on him, pinning him down and delivering a punch to the jaw.

Hyde has something of an inappropriate reaction to this.

Mr. Hyde. Scare Factor: 3.

Kill them! Kill them all! BWAHAHAHA! Ooh, pretty flowers.

My partner and I are divvying up guns and ammunition from a trunk he brought with him. The pistols are old-style revolvers that take forever to load, so I grab two, stuffing one each down the front and back of my jeans. Which is probably a bad idea, but hey, we're in a hurry.

Our team is comprised of settlers - space explorers even. I think we've decided that we want the planet, and we're going to kill all the people in the compound ten feet away. I don't know; I haven't been paying much attention. I just want to fight.

Vicki hangs a flare gun over one of my shoulders, and I'm smoking a cigarette, for some reason. There's a fuse on the end of the flare, and I accidentally light it with my cigarette, which is now a lit match. Hurriedly, I aim over the wall of the compound and fire, starting off the battle.



A man inside the compound aims some kind of explosive firework at the rest of the team, but I'm not concerned, since I'm not part of the big group standing together like bowling pins. Morons. Things explode, and we rush the compound.

I'm behind the rest of my team, so I don't get to shoot many people. I'm a little nervous about it actually. By the time we've cleared most of the place out, most of my team members are down.

We're only shooting the people with guns, which happens to be the men, mostly. Men and women and children are all standing together, and if you would take cover, I wouldn't be shooting you! I'm holding dual pistols, sending twin shots into the chest of a man that just. won't. die. Never mind, he's down.

I get a message over the radio, saying that some kind of failsafe has been activated. Plant life is withering around the ship, and it's going to kill us, too. The ship is about to evacuate the planet, and I have to run if I don't want to be left behind.

I take off down a grassy path, trying to run as fast as I can. Quickly, I realize that I can pull in more speed, and my surroundings simultaneously blur and come into sharper focus. I was just talking about running really fast in dreams, with Puffin, and it really is the best feeling - wait a minute.

I'm lucid. I stop and look around, urgency of the Run Away task starting to dissipate. I look around at my surroundings, which are very green and very floral. It's beautiful, really.

I wander back to the landing site just because I can. The plants are dead all around the ship, and nothing's left but mud. Most of the crew are off to the side, away from the ship and avoiding whatever deadly contagion plagues the soil.

I walk right through, calling up plant life as I go. I want to talk to one of the DCs, but I'm being pulled back into the dream plot.

Suddenly, we're all peaceful and getting along with the inhabitants of the planet. I'm talking to Johanna, who's playing one of these people. I'm given a tour of the compound, and I make ivy spring up along the walls, which starts flowering immediately. It should start growing fruit within a few days (you know, since we destroyed their supplies and all).



***

Wandering around an RV, which seems to fit an entire house in it. Linkara's giving me a tour, and I'm still making flowering ivy grow along the walls. I wonder what it's feeding on.

***

My brother is driving the same car we crashed into the harbour last night. We're driving along a road that's made entirely of ice, and he's going way too fast. We're driving into an underground castle-like structure where his music lessons take place. There's a steep downward slope, and PEDESTRIANS! LOOK OUT! SLOW DOWN! And a sharp turn right after a quick ramp THAT SENDS US FLYING into the air and we're going to crash and I telekinetically shove the car back onto the road.

We come to a stop.

"Okay," says Ben, catching his breath. "Maybe I'll go a little slower next time."

Border Skirmishes. Scare Factor: 3.

New rule: DCs aren't allowed to drive. Ever.

Two girls hide in a closet behind the bathtub. The dream has been third person for a while now, focusing on the girls, who are part of a super-secret experiment involving clones or superpowers or whatever.

The Matron is walking into the room, and the pre-teen girls - Rae and Johanna - are hiding from her. Rae is about to leave the room and face her, hoping that she can still save Johanna from a horrible fate. Rae takes a deep breath and steps out into full view of the office -

Only to be blocked from sight by an adult stepping in front of the door. It's me. The Matron is coming in behind me, and I'm distracting her from Rae.

"It's always an... experience, hosting a representative of Cypher Industries." The Matron says, ushering me toward one of the chairs facing her desk.

"I've no doubt," I say, sending a wink at the girls hovering at the bathroom door. No doubt the Matron knows they're there, but she's ignoring them so far.

"If I may ask," she says, sitting down, "What brings you here? Our corporations have not been on the best of terms, as of late. Your safety is not assured."

"I'm supposed to give you this." I throw a sheaf of papers onto the desk in front of her.

She doesn't touch it. "And this is?"

"Oh," I say, rolling my eyes, "Roundabout legaleze that doesn't mean much. It's basically demanding access to what we consider to be our property."

"Really?" says the Matron icily, "And what property would this be?"

"You are in possession of two very special little girls. We want them; I'm taking them."

"Why shouldn't I kill you right now?" Her hands are folded on the table, her head tilted to the side.

"Oh, that's easy," I say, leaning back in my chair. "The term is 'Tactical Nuclear Missile Strike'."

"Excuse me?"

"My team is currently flying directly overhead," I say, leaning forward, "If I flatline, then they will immediately make the entire island -" I wave my hands, "Explode."

There is a beat of silence.

"Get out."

"I'll be taking the brats, then." I jump from my seat, smiling widely, and make for the door. "Pleasure doing business with you!"

Rae and Johanna are right behind me. The three of us run down the glass staircase, laughing, as the world unravels around us.

Corporate Sabotage. Scare Factor: 2.

...I am a psychopath.

I'm Dean Winchester. We're on a hunt, and I'm running from the thing we're trying to kill. I jump over the piles of wood at our job site, aiming for the window of the just-framed basement.

I'm lucid out of nowhere. I'm still running and jumping, and nothing is chasing me. I shapeshift to default, frame slimming and I'm moving faster. I vault through the window, over a chain link fence and take down the guard on the other side. He gets up and I shoot force-lightening at him, blue electricity arcing from my fingers.

The Job Site. Scare Factor: 2.

I'm running up an underground staircase. I had the route planned out ahead of time, parkour sequences that he won't be able to duplicate. I've run through the attic of a school and into this place, a spiralling staircase with nothing but a thirty-story fall down the center.

I get to level ground, and something feels off. I look at my hand. It's clawed, and pale-white, and moving on its own. I watch with sick fascination as the fingers move in impossible patterns, until I tear my gaze deliberately away, trying not to get more freaked out.

When I look behind me, nothing is following. I look down the staircase and wonder what would happen if I -

I jump.

I feel the sick thrill of falling for a few seconds, before I reach out and catch myself in a web of orange and yellow, meters from the stone floor. I float in mid-air, close my eyes in contentment, and wake up.

Spiral Staircases. Scare Factor: 5.

I'm running away from something. I'm underground, and it's dark and brown and I propel myself forward upward through the cave system. The thing I'm running away from is catching up to me, but I realize that I'm dreaming. I spin on my heel, turn around to confront the creature. I feel an icy thrill of fear when I see it. An inky black miasma chokes the air around me, and I can feel the creature's energy trying to infect my every pore.

I use that against it.

I expand my awareness, absorbing the black energy and forcing it to change, twisting it into an approximation of my own energy. I blanket the creature in a cloud of soft red and black, my aura, and allow the energy to dissippate.

All of my surroundings are gradations of red and black, and I find the atmosphere calming. All that's left of the monster is a swathe of black fabric on the ground, and a round plush toy that doesn't make much sense. I step over the toy and peer out into a gigantic cavern.

The very air starts to hum. I can feel bright blue energy spiking through the dream, interrupting the calm dark colours, and the energies start to clash as everything fades to white.

Something Blue. Scare Factor: 6.

And then I went to the dentist's office and found this:


It's identical.

I'm a cross between Alice (in Wonderland) and the human form of The Last Unicorn. As per usual, I'm utterly convinced that I'm the character. I'm a lot more nervous and soft-spoken than I normally would be, and I feel completely out of my depth. I feel no indication that this could possibly be a dream.

The hunters from this clip get killed by a shapeshifter as they leave my forest.

I somehow end up with a group of soldiers. They're protecting me. I'm wearing one of their uniforms, which comes complete with this hat. The hat only makes an appearance once. After I get dressed, nobody else is wearing one.

We go into an atrium to get food. There are birds nesting on the ceiling, and we can't look up. If we do, they'll attack us. I can see them in my mind's eye. They're brightly coloured: red and blue and yellow, and they look remarkably pretty swarming above us. I have to resist the urge to look, and I keep my eyes straight ahead as I grab a vat of mashed potatoes. Of course, one of the other members of the group looks up, and we have to run away without the food.

I'm trying to draw the layout of the building we're in. Drawing seems to stabilize everything, and the rooms rearrange themselves to fit the drawing. As soon as I get involved in the plot again, everything starts back to shifting.

There's a stage. I don't remember why the stage is important. Chairs are set out for the evening, but it's mid-afternoon and no one is using them yet.

The Last Unicorn. Scare Factor: 3.

I was boring in this dream.

I'm in water, dog-paddling, and it's dark. Someone lifts up the lid, and I shrink back from the light. He doesn't see me, but he puts down the blade of the propeller inches from my head, and I curse. I swim around the boat and climb on, quickly dispatching the three guards with strikes to their temples. I go about tying them up with the single length of rope I have, using slip-knots. I look for my allies in the other boats.

Something goes wrong, and I'm captured. I'm tied up, but slip free of the rope almost immediately. They take me to their leader, who looks suspiciously similar to me.

I'm with a class of young people, led by a teacher who might be from a university or college. We're shovelling rocks over the cracks in a hollow, rocky hill. The hill is shuddering as the monsters inside ram themselves against the rock, trying to break through and kill us all. We avoid these spots, trying not to antagonize them as we bury them alive. There have been attacks lately; we're trying to strengthen our defenses.

We finish that edge and go around the corner. The wall is missing. Our group freezes, coming face to face with dozens of the creatures.

They look like penguins. Misshapen, evil penguins with claws and teeth, but still. They're kind of comical, but they're still trying to eat us.

Most of the group takes off at a sprint. I hang back, along with one other student, for the first charge. Two of the little monsters come straight at me. I swing the shovel at one, knocking it away. I pull my weapon back, swing it through the second one until the shovel hits sand, impaling the penguin on the blade edge.

We've given the others some time to escape, and we take off before the rest can charge. I run fast, catching up to the others and greying my vision at the edges, when it finally clicks. I'm being chased by mutant penguins. I turn around, blasting our pursuers with telekinetic energy, scattering them into the lake/ocean behind their hills.

I've still got to find Walms, but I'm not trusting my abilities with portals lately, so I try to find one that's already active. I walk right past what might be a stargate, and look out through the windows built into the walls of the hill building I'm in.

When I look back, I see Marge Cartwright and her youngest daughter, sitting in chairs that have appeared around the room. Cartwright's eldest was in my graduating class. I say something to the effect of "Another Other Mother?" and claw my way out through the plastic-covered window.

I try to imagine a great fall out of the window, so I can get into another setting, maybe a skyscraper, but I fall four feet into the sand and land hard. I can feel the impact. Ow. I keep exploring the dream-setting.

I escape from a prison using a tazer and a group of accomplices, pick a car in the parking lot and drive it through an iron fence, and have to drive it away with an invisible hand because it won't take much more damage. While we wait for the car to get repaired, I explore an underground fairy hutch and almost get trapped inside.

Penguins. Scare Factor: 3.[/QUOTE]