dreamphibian

The sun is setting and I am on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean on one of the main decks in the midst of a milling crowd of people. We're not on top of the ship but there is still a beautiful view through long openings on both sides. I hang out with several different friends from different times of my life at different parts of the boat. We drink at a bar with good drinks and really chill vacation vibes, walk around on the top deck chatting and enjoying the view, and gather in an auditorium for some kind of show we never actually see. My first crush is there most of the time and we have fun flirting cheekily with each other. Sometime during all of this I become semi-lucid and remember the task to compliment someone but never do it.

Later that night when it's pitch black outside and almost everyone is back in their rooms sleeping something goes wrong with the ship. Nothing noticable happens and there are no announcements or warnings, I just somehow know that something has messed up. A feeling of unease comes over me and I enter my crisis state of mind and become focused on doing what I need to to escape.

I enter some sort of emergency hatch on the wall which leads to a small corridor that runs along the outside of the ship's hull. It's some kind of slide system that leads down to where everyone is gathering to deal with the problem. There are small windows that show the blackness outside and there is water rapidly flowing along the floor like a water slide. The walls are white with a horizontal blue stripe near the bottom and little vents and things all along them. I let myself be pushed down the bumpy slide by the current. It isn't very steep so it's not very fast either. The passageway becomes smaller and my uneasiness increases as I reach a corner. The current is stronger now and it pins me against the wall. My foot is resting on a grate in the floor and suddenly becomes burning hot so I move it up against the wall where it immediately gets freezing cold. I attempt to push myself out of the corner and further down the slide.

I'm suddenly lucid due to the building stress and I calm down significantly. I choose to let go of reality, knowing it isn't "real". I kind of "push" with my will and the scene dissipates into smaller and smaller spheres which float up and away from me into the black void.

A bright sunny scene quickly appears around me. I'm in a small yard between the backs of some old brick buildings in a town. The buildings are painted different colors. I'm standing on a low wood platform with partial railing and a narrow boardwalk leading away between the buildings. The grass is overgrown and pretty, having fluffy weeds and vines that cling to the railing. I feel warm.

A knight in full armor is galloping around the outside of the platform on a nondescript brown horse. There is barely room for them. The knight's armor covers their entire body and is bright orange with silver glitter throughout and a seemingly plastic texture.

I recall the compliment task and I say to the knight, "You're so pretty!" I do not recall getting a response. I remember thinking I'd finished the task and that I should wake up. I walk down the sidewalk along a main street and attempt to wake myself using my "sitting up motion while feeling my body with expectation and intent" method. This may or may not have worked; I can't recall because I went back to sleep several times.