Arc042
Lad

This is the closest thing to a truly lucid dream that I've experienced to date. It's now a recurring dream I suppose, since it's happened once or twice before. In this one, I fade in and out of awareness (that I am dreaming) and seem to have some limited control at times.
In the beginning, I'm back in that funhouse mansion - but now, the changing rooms have all stopped, like a powered-down amusement park. It almost seems like they were the same rooms all along as they are now. Was the rest all an illusion?
I'm somewhere on the second floor - whoever I am. I'm dressed in a light black robe and I have red hair (I don't).
I make my way through the rooms and down the stairs to the exit. I'm a little afraid to go, but I have to. There are points where I close my eyes in anticipation of what I'll see in the rooms - events are the same as the first time I dreamed this, and in this dream I remember that. For a moment, though, I'll remember either who I am or that I am dreaming and move more confidently. The feeling would fade away after a short time.
After besting the trials of the manor, I exit into a dark and humid urban environment. Before me is a long straight road, with hazy light fixtures on either side. It looks like I'm seeing it through a car window, but I'm just standing there. Elsewhere there is a grid of featureless buildings and between them, a labyrinth of little roads. A few people come and go.
Someone speaks to me -- I don't remember ever seeing him -- and I am running as he does, following some unfamiliar girl. She falls and is injured, and a man appears and carries her. He's stocky, but quite agile, and fairly vulgar from what I remember him muttering.
The disembodied voice is telling me that I am looking at one point in my life, in the universe, on a time line. That everything has already "happened," and as I hear him, things slow down. For a moment I feel aware again, and I move back and forth through time by a few seconds. It feels more like reading a book, though -- but I don't feel disillusioned. It seems so right and reassuring.
We three runners come together before some fourth figure -- the source of the voice, no doubt. Some words are exchanged but things have faded heavily and I enter a different dream.

A typical scene: a school+hotel (not dorms), but strangely vivid for something so mundane. I was kicked out of one room as I was about to take a shower. Apparently I had stayed too long. On leaving, I forgot my key, which looked more like a car key than one for a door. At this point the building became a school.
There were 4 floors accessible by at least 3 elevators. Joined by some past acquaintances, we entered elevator #3 and headed for the 3rd floor. As we ascended, the elevator swayed. It came to a stop so that half of the exit could be seen. I jumped across and the others followed with some help. We called management to tell them about the error. Later, a repairman spoke to me and told me that due to some mechanical wear, had we not alerted him, the elevator would have shut its doors and fell, trapping whomever was inside. I remember noticing that the repairman was surprisingly intelligent -- not for his occupation, but for a human being in general. As I listened to him, I felt he knew something important that I did not, but should.
There was more but it has already faded - a sinus infection broke my sleep into small unsatisfying sessions with dreams less memorable.

One of my favorites, a recurring scene that I've been through 4 times now, I believe: I find myself in this immense mansion. Things change quickly inside -- When I walk into a different room and look behind me, the room I just left is often completely different, or gone, and upon looking forward again, the room I just entered could be different too. Rooms are rarely functional -- almost zero bedrooms, kitchens, etc. They are, for the most part, divided into safe rooms and danger rooms. In the safe rooms, I might find something useful, like a friend, an artifact, or a weapon. In the danger rooms, I find danger... duh. Often there are others in the house, and they too behave like dreamers - they can shape themselves and their environment, to a degree.
I'm never sure what my objective in the manor is, but I do know that leaving is not only very difficult, it feels very wrong to attempt to do so. I'm intrigued, because usually my dreams never stay in one area, perspective, or theme.
This time I found an elegant black knife that felt delightful to wield (I'm used to objects, especially weapons, being uncomfortable, slow, weak, and heavy).
I came into a small library with no books on the shelves. There I saw two strangers fight. One was very green (literally), and the other seemed to hate me. I think the green one was defeated, but I did not stay long.
I received a gift of a powerful machine gun, but it was impossible for me to aim it straight and I quickly ran out of bullets.
The dark rooms manifested mostly as half-plant zombie things.
I remember finding a letter, but I cannot remember what it said. A shame...
I ended up in a great hall with a dear friend of mine, and we fought with some vile old man who was in control of the plants.
The whole ordeal tends to be very video-game-like. I guess that's just how my imagination works after 15 years of RPGs. I wish I could recall more of what goes on, or become lucid, in this dream more than most any other. Lots of action, but I feel like there's something of value to learn in there, too...