lucid

2017, 08-22
Game of Dreams – A Mountain That Jousts

Eddard: I am at a jousting tournament with my daughter. She is sitting beside me and watching very intently. The first two contestants come on the field. One of them I know is named Jamie Lannister, and the other one is called The Hound. I am thinking they are both assholes and wishing they could both lose. On the first attempt Jamie almost knocks The Hound off of his horse. On the second encounter, The Hound gets a good hit and Jamie falls off his horse. The Hound has taken him down. Jamie's horse runs off and Jamie is left rolling in the dirt with dented armor. This is made even more comical by the fact that Jamie’s helmet has been dented and turn backwards. He can't see or get it off. He ends up being led off the field since he can't see where he’s going. They are probably going to a blacksmith to get it removed. There is much laughter, and I hear the king laughing louder than anyone.

Next match is between someone who looks like Legolas from Lord of the Rings and a really big guy that I am thinking is a mountainous asshole. I am thinking he could be called Hugh. With the last name of Jass. Hugh Jass would be perfect. The asshole’s is riding a large stallion which is being very uncooperative. Legolas’ horse is a mare, and I'm wondering if she's in heat. She might be making the stallion want to mate. They ride at each other, and the asshole is having such a problem controlling his horse that he doesn't even get a strike it. Legolas knocks him from his horse with ease. The asshole is so big that when he falls he takes his horse with him. The Hound is laughing his ass off. He disentangles himself and gets to his feet in a fury. He calls for his sword, which his squire brings quickly, probably fearing for his life. He moves to kill his own horse. I focus on a telepathic signal to warn the horse, and the stallion moves quickly and bolts for safety. The mountainous asshole is a bigger asshole than I thought.

More enraged with his horse escaping, the asshole goes towards Legolas, sword in hand. He knocks Legolas off his horse in one blow. He clearly wants to kill Legolas. Definitely a sore loser. The Hound, who is the asshole's brother, comes onto the field and tells him to leave the boy alone. This Legolas is actually just a boy. The Hound and the asshole duel with swords as Legolas is taken to safety. They fight until finally the king decides to put a stop to it. He bellows at the top of his lungs, “Stop this madness, in the name of your king!” The two knights are now surrounded by guards. When the king speaks, The Hound immediately falls to one knee. This causes the assholes’ next stroke to miss wildly. The asshole finally drops his sword and just glares at the king in fury. He storms off the field in a rage. I am thinking someone should stop him, he might hurt someone in his rage. But no one dares to get in his way and the king says to let him go.

My daughter clearly favored Legolas, and she is relieved that he is OK. Legolas soon comes back to the field. This time he is not his armor. He forfeits the last match of the joust to The Hound, saying he owes The Hound his life. The crowd is cheering wildly, cheering Legolas because they like him, and cheering for The Hound because he is the winner and he saved Legolas’ life. I hear some people nearby talking. One of them says Legolas had to know his mare was in heat, and since Sir Gregor (the mountainous asshole) always chooses a large stallion with more spirit than sense, it was surely planned. He sounds like he finds the tactic amusing. Another man says there’s no honor in trickery. I comment that it’s all part of knowing your opponent, which is something you should always try to do. An unknown foe is much more dangerous. The next event is about to start, but I wake up.

2017, 08-21

Meeting at the Café

I am outside on a very nice day. I am in what looks like a small town. I don’t recognize anything about it, however. I walk down the street, I am going to meet someone. I just know that I am meeting them at a corner café. I soon find my way to a nice little café with some outside tables and a few people sitting there enjoying drinks and snacks.

I look around the place and someone catches my attention. It’s MoSh! I head over to the table where he is sitting. I say hello to him and he says hello back. I sit down with him, though I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do now. Whenever I spot MoSh I’m supposed to tell him he’s dreaming, so I tell MoSh he’s dreaming. I think he is going to do a reality check when a woman comes and joins us. It’s Asuka. She is carrying a tray with three little cakes and three cups of tea.
She gives one to MoSh, one to me, and keeps one. She asks if anyone is lucid. I said I just told MoSh he’s dreaming. Asuka sets down a jar she was carrying. I see some small metal objects in it. I ask what those are. Asuka says she has been collecting them, so if I see any, let her know. They look like trash.

I tell MoSh again that he’s dreaming. He says no, he’s not. I say I can prove it, I can fly. He doesn’t believe me, so I get up. There isn’t much room so I am having problems getting off the ground. I lift myself up on a chair and push myself up as if I was in a pool swimming. I drift upward instead of falling back down. MoSh stares at me as I’m floating. I reach down and pick up the cake Asuka brought and take a bite. It’s delicious. I hover there and eat the cake, not really thinking about what I could be doing with this dream. MoSh is watching me float with some interest but he hasn’t tried to do anything himself. Asuka is looking through some of her metal objects which are little things that have strange markings on them. I ask her what they are, but I don’t get a chance for an answer before I wake up.

2017, 08-21

Darkness Rising

I am in a pretty normal looking small town, but there is definitely something wrong here. It only looks normal at first glance. The more I look the more off things seem to be. There are people around but they all seem scared of something, and there is a negative feel to the place. No one talks to me, but I am able to overhear what is going on. The town is getting corrupted by evil energies. People are being murdered and left in obscene positions throughout town. No one can move the bodies, anyone who tries suffers a horrible sickness and then death. A young girl was hung from the ceiling and her parents grieved to leave even her body like that. A young blonde girl looking and acting like Diana from Grimm managed to use telekinetic powers get the girl's body down without becoming ill. The family is having a funeral today with a public viewing after.

I follow a procession through town and no one notices me. I follow them to the funeral behind a church. I stay out of the way as family members say their goodbyes. Everything is peaceful. Soon they tell the people outside they can come in as long as they’re respectful. No one has been disrespectful, but as soon as the people come things seem to change. I get a feeling of dread it both looks and feels wrong. Diana looks over at an antique dagger hanging on a wall. She takes it down. She cuts some fruit left for the people with the dagger and it instantly turns rotten. She touches some people gently on the face with the flat of the blade and they look like zombies. She says they can be saved, however. She finally reaches a little girl who acts scared. Diana says not to be scared, the dagger reveals corruption, it doesn’t cause it. She touches the girl, gets a shocked look on her face, then runs the dagger through the girl’s neck. The mother is hysterical, but the reason is revealed… the girl turns into a monster as she dies.

Diana says she’s sorry, but that wasn’t the woman’s daughter, that was a demon. The mother wants to know where her daughter is, Diana doesn’t know. The monster body dissolves into the ground. The ground shakes and cracks open, a demon much larger comes out, laughing menacingly. The demon says he has won, they killed an innocent! Diana says no one is foolish enough to think killing a demon counts as killing an innocent just because it was disguised as a child. She steps towards the demon, but then stops. She says he’s stronger than she thought. The demon says now she will belong to him. Diana looks at me and says she needs my help. She knows I can wield light energy, and we can send the demon back to hell. I don’t know how she knew that, but I go to help her. She creates a whirlwind of light energy pulling the demon back into the crack, but he resists. I use the song Battery by Metallica to hit the demon with a bolt of lightning. With a roar of anger the demon loses his focus and is sucked down into the ground. The cracks close themselves. Diana says it’s ok if I have to go, she knows how to remove the corruption from the people. I wake up.

2017, 08-18

Game of Dreams - Oceans of Green

Daenerys: I am outside on a beautiful sunny day, and I am riding a beautiful horse. There is a vast valley stretched out for me. It is completely filled with green grass. The grass is waving, making it look like an ocean. There are some people with me. One of them is a knight. He is talking about the grassy valley. He says right now it’s all green, but there are times of the year when it is in bloom. He says this grass blooms with a bright red flowers. I am thinking about how beautiful that must be, when the knight goes and ruins it by comparing it to a field of blood. I give him a sideways glance, wondering why he had to make that comparison. He goes on to say there are other kinds of grass mixed in with the blood grass, and those grasses bloom in so many different colors it looks like a rainbow. He says there's a kind called ghost grass that is semitransparent, and it murderers all other grasses. I don't really care to hear about homicidal grass.

I kind of want to go off on my own for a while. I tell the knight that I would like to have a few moments alone. I tell him to have the others to stay behind for now. He says he will tell them. I ride my horse out in the grassy fields. The grass is much taller than I realized. It's almost up to my horse’s belly. I get the urge to go down into the grass. I see some color down there, some pretty flowers I want to see closer. So I climb off my horse and get down in the grass to look at the flowers. They are very pretty little blue flowers that smell very sweet. I hear birds singing in the surrounding grass. I wonder what other animals might live out there.

The peace is disturbed when I hear some loud argument from back on the top of the ridge. After the yelling which I can't quite tell what was said, I hear hoof beats. Apparently someone didn't feel like staying put. The rider appears and pulls up on the reins a bit too quickly and as for rears up and throws him off. I laugh as he lands on his ass. It is amusing. I see that the writer is my asshole brother. He's being an asshole again. He is pissed. He asks how I dare give him a command. I think he is taking this much too seriously. I just wanted to be alone for a bit. He comes over closer to me and starts being a pervert. He put his hand up under my vest, and pinches my breast. That is annoying. I push him away for me and tell him to cut that out. He falls back on his ass. He glares at me. He gets up looking angrier than ever. He says he thought we had that cleared up, that if I ever dared to oppose him again he would seriously hurt me. I tell him if he wants to try, go head and bring it on. He gets back up and starts to come at me.

I am about to give him a kick to his family jewels when he gets suddenly pulled back. I look and I see that he now has a whip wrapped around his neck. He is pulling at the whip with his hands, and having trouble breathing. There is one of the people that had been with me on the top of the ridge, he is on a horse and has his whip around my asshole brother's neck. He asked a question in a foreign language. The knight has caught up to us now, and he translates. The man with the whip is asking if he should kill my brother. I told him no, don't kill him. The knight translates. The man askes another question. The knight again translates. This time the man has asked if he should remove one of my brother’s ears to make him remember his error. I say no, don't hurt him. The knight translates. The man removes the whip from around my brother’s neck. My brother chokes and gags as he tries to catch his breath.

I look around and see that my brother's horse has wandered off. I figure that doesn't matter. He can walk back, I don’t feel like finding his horse. The other people on horses find that amusing. My brother acts like a child. He sits down on the ground and refuses to move. I tell the others that if he wants to sit there and sulk like a child, let him. I get back up on my horse, and all of us start heading back up to the top of the ridge where the rest of our huge group is. So far my asshole brother is not moving. I lose sight of him. I wonder out loud if he could get lost out there. The knight says that there's no way you can get lost. He says our group is leaving a path like a highway. I find the idea that our groups passing is causing that much distraction to be sad. I rejoin my husband on the top of the ridge and we start moving out. And then I wake up.

2017, 08-17

Game of Dreams – Tears Falling

I am having dinner with my family. My dad and sister are there. It is a large table and there's a lot of food on it. My teacher is here. I remember her trying to teach me needlework. It was not very effective. So I'm sitting there and looking at mine, but I'm not really feeling very hungry. My sister is sitting several seats from me and she isn’t paying any attention to me. She is with her friend. I have the feeling that her friend is an asshole. My father says there's going to be a big tournament in his honor. He says he really doesn't want to have anything to do with it. It's just a big expense that the kingdom can't afford. My sister and her friend find the idea of the tournament exciting. She asks father if she will be able to go. Father considers and then says he will get both my sister and me good seats. I think it sounds stupid. I say I don't want to go. My sister says the tournament will be an amazing event, I'm not welcome there. Father is annoyed. He says he is getting sick of my sister and me fighting. He says we are sisters, and we should start acting like it. I'm angry at my sister. But for now I don't show it.

Father announces that he has no appetite, and then gets up and leaves. I look at my food, and it does not look tasty. I decide I have no appetite either. I get up. My teacher asks me where am I going. I realize that maybe I should be polite, so I politely ask if I may be excused. She says no. She tells me to clean my plate. I tell her to clean it herself. I get up to leave. As I go passed my sister, I pause to tell her off. I tell her that we both lost our wolves, but at least she knows hers back home and safe in Winterfell. My wolf is somewhere out in the wilderness and I don't know if she is dead or alive. Talking about that makes me feel like crying. I hurry from the room before my tears fall. I don't want anyone in there to see me cry. I hear my teacher behind me yelling at me to come back. I ignore her. I go running upstairs to my room. I go through the door and slam it behind me. It’s a heavy wooden door with a very satisfying to slam. There is no lock but there is a bar that I can slide down to keep the door from being opened. So I do.

Once I am safe in my room I feel safe to cry. And I do. While I am crying, someone comes up and knocks at my door. It is a hard and angry knock. And it is a not very friendly voice is speaking out there. A woman, my teacher, tells me to come out there in mediately. She says if I don’t come out immediately my lord father will hear about this. I don't care. I tell her to go ahead and tell him whatever she wants. She goes away. I open my clothing chest, and dig through it until I find a sward buried on the bottom. I think the sword out, I remember it is named Needle, and I start practicing with it. I am shit. I am in the middle of practicing with it but I am thinking about other things. I briefly considered going out the window and running away. Maybe I can find my wolf in the wild. I am thinking about that when there is a knock at the door. This time it is a gentler knock. And it is also a gentle voice that speaks. It is my father. He does not sound angry, he just sounds sad. That makes me feel kind of bad about my behavior. Anger I can handle, but disappointment not so much. He says he wants to come in. I raise the bar blocking the door, and open it. He comes in.

My father sees the sword in my hand. I had even thought to try to hide it before he came in. Yes it's me who's short is that, and I just see at night. He asked where I got it, but I don't want to rack out my brother so I say nothing. He says it doesn't really matter. He takes it and is looking at it. I have the feeling I'll never get it back. He wants to talk about things that of been happening lately. He says he doesn't like it when my sister and I are fighting. I tell him I don't really want to fight with her, but then I trail off. We talk about different things and I am close to tears again. And then it just all comes out, I don't even know what I'm about say untill I say it. I am crying as I tell my father that I had to throw rocks at my wolf to make her leave because I knew if she came back with me, they would have killed. The queen and the king. And I couldn't stand the idea of seeing that. I told her to leave and when she wouldn't leave I threw rocks at her. There be plenty of wild game out there for her to eat, and I do even heard other wolves out there, so she might even find a pack. My father seems to agree with my theory that she'll be OK out there. He says she was born to be in the wild, and she will surely adapt to it quickly. And she will certainly be the leader of any pack she joins. I am in my father’s arms still crying but it's stopping. My father asks me about the sword again. He asked if I really want to learn. He says I've got a wild streak, like a lot of others in our family. He says he will ask around and see about someone to train me. And then he hands the sword back to me. That comes as a surprise. He hugs me before leaving the room. And then I wake up.

2017, 08-17

Game of Dreams – A Knife in the Dark

Catelyn: I am in a room that looks like a bedroom in a castle. I am sitting in a chair beside a bed. There is a boy lying unconscious in the bed, I know he is my son, Bran. I am carefully feeding him a mixture of honey and water in a desperate attempt to get some hydration and nutrients into his body in a time long before intravenous drips have been invented. But this is too little I know, and if he doesn't wake up soon he'll... but I don't let myself think the word. I stop the feeding and hold his hand, little more than a skeletal hand now but still warm to the touch, focusing on healing him. I don't know if it's doing anything. A man comes into the room and starts talking finances. I don't care about money. He is also talking about positions that need to be filled because of people who have left town. I don't care about that, either. All I care about is Bran... I tell him to leave.

A boy comes in... this is my older son, Rob. He tells the man he will discuss the finances and positions to be filled tomorrow. After handing my son a piece of paper, the other man leaves. Rob is now talking to me about other responsibilities I'm ignoring. My younger son is crying for me, he's only 3 and he needs me, especially with dad away. He pauses and then says he needs me, too. He says he can’t handle everything all on his own. I want to turn to him and be there for him, but I have the persistent thought that if I let go of Bran's hand he will die. There is a commotion outside. Rob says the library tower is on fire, he will take care of it. He rushes out and takes a guard by the door with him.

Shortly later a man enters the room. I don't recognize him, but he is holding a dagger. He starts towards Bran and then sees me. He says I wasn't supposed to be here. I say that's too bad, because I am. Just what was he intending to do with that dagger? He looks at Bran and says he would be doing the boy a mercy, really. I tell him there's no way he is killing my son! He comes at me with the dagger. I change my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and block his blow... but then I realize my arm didn't transform! Of course not... Catelyn Stark is not infected with the Mercer Virus! The blade cuts painfully into my arm. I grab his wrist with my left hand and twist it until he lets go and then I push him away, he falls onto his back. I am about to move in when there is a blur and then there's a wolf on top of the man ripping his throat out. Rob comes back and asks what happened. I tell him that the dead man tried to murder Bran with the dagger. Rob sees my arm and says someone should take care of that. I agree to that, starting to notice the pain more with the incident being over. I leave the room with Rob and then I wake.

2017, 08-10

Game of Dreams – Innocence Saved, Innocence Lost

Eddard: I am in what looks like a living area in a castle. I am pacing, worried. My daughter is missing. A man tells me my daughter has been found. I ask where she is then. The man says she is in the throne room seeing the king and queen. This pisses me off. She’s been missing for four days and that’s the first place they take her?! I go out the door, heading for the throne room. I know where to go and I get there to find my daughter surrounded by a bunch of hostile faces, I see them as assholes. The king and the queen are there with the prince. I go over and put my arms around my little girl, asking if she is ok. She says she’s hungry and tired, but not hurt. I am pissed, I demand to know why my daughter wasn’t brought straight to me and been given a chance to rest and have something to eat before being dragged in here. The king, a fat man I know to be named Robert, says he thought it was best to get this business over with.

I am still annoyed, but I let things go on. The Queen claims Arya and her friend attacked Prince Joffrey and then her wolf bit him. Arya and Joffrey both tell different accounts of the event. I ask how serious Joffrey’s injury was. They seem hesitant to discuss the injury. A man comes into the room with Sansa, she claims she doesn’t remember what happened. Arya calls Sansa a liar and attacks her. I hold Arya back and tell her that is not productive. The Queen wants Arya punished, but Robert says sometimes children will fight. He says I should take care of disciplining Arya and he will take care of Joffrey. He gets up to leave, he has clearly had enough of this whole affair.

The Queen isn’t done yet. She says there is still the matter of the wolf. I say I have yet to see any evidence that Nymeria has done anything. The Queen holds up a shirt with a shredded and bloody sleeve. Nymeria chewed Joffrey’s shirt? She said Joffrey’s arm was in it. Joffrey says his arm was almost chewed off but there’s no injury because Sansa is a sorceress and healed it. I ask if I’m seriously expected to entertain that notion. If Sansa has healing powers then we’d better get her back to Winterfell to heal her injured brother! The Queen says she will not have a vicious beast in her castle. I tell her it wouldn’t be right to throw Joffrey out, he’s only 12. She gets red with anger and says she meant the wolf! Robert reminds her that the wolf got away. She said she wants both wolves put down. I tell her no one is going to hurt those wolves. I am thinking to keep protesting until the wolves can stay with Sansa and Arya but then I am thinking the Queen might arrange something to happen to them just out of spite… so I think better of it and say fine, I’ll have Lady, and Nymeria if we can find her, taken back to Winterfell. The Queen says she wants them dead. I tell her that’s not going to happen. I’ll send them back to Winterfell… for their protection, not hers.

I take my daughters from the room before the Queen can protest any further. Once outside Sansa is saying it isn’t fair to have to send Lady away, she didn’t do anything. I tell her I agree, but the only way to keep Lady safe from the Queen is to send her away. If Lady stays, then the Queen could fabricate another attack or just order her guards to get rid of Lady and I might not be in a position to stop her. Sansa looks sad about it but finally agrees. I tell her that Lady will be waiting for her at Winterfell when she comes to visit or if circumstances in Kings Landing changes enough that we can safely bring her back. Arya asks what about Nymeria. I tell her I’ll get some people to look for the wolf, and if we can find her, she will go north with Lady to be safe, too. I tell Sansa we should go say our farewells to Lady and get the wolf beyond the reach of the Queen as soon as we can. Lady is tied up outside and I leave Sansa to have time to say goodbye to her wolf before she is escorted back home.

Some soldiers on horses ride into the area. They have a bloody sack on one of the horses. A man, the name Sandor Clegane, The Hound, comes to mind, comes over and looks pleased with himself. He says they haven’t found Arya but they got her little pet. I think they already killed Nymeria and I am pissed. The Hound dumps the bloody sack on the ground and laughs. He opens the bag and I react quickly, turning Arya away from the horror. It’s not Nymeria, it’s a boy, no doubt Arya’s friend, practically cut in two. I want to kick The Hound’s ass. I ask if he really had to cut down a child?! He smiles and says the kid ran. I ask if he’s trying to tell me he’s so incompetent that he can’t capture an unarmed fleeing child without cutting him in two?! We’d better hope Joffrey never gets distraught and runs away! You’ll come back to the King and Queen saying, “I have good news and bad news, your Graces. The good news is we brought the Prince back. The bad news is he’s in two pieces.” Sandor says no one dares say that to him! I ask him then which is it? Is he too incompetent to capture an unarmed child without cutting him in half, or is he a sick and pathetic fuck who takes pleasure in murdering defenseless children?! I notice Arya is holding on to me and crying. I immediately feel bad about making that scene in front of her, making a painful moment even worse. I put my arms around her and tell her how sorry I am about what happened to her friend. Sansa comes back with Lady, she is also crying. I want someone to pay for making my daughters cry. Sansa wants Lady in her bed with her just one more night. I am walking with them back to our quarters when I wake.

2017, 08-08

Game of Dreams – Of Weddings and Bullies

Daenerys: I am at a wedding, a big outdoor wedding. I realize I am getting married, but that can’t be right… I don’t see Altaïr anywhere. I want to marry Altaïr. The man beside me is a large and strong looking man with black hair down his back in a braid as long as Sephiroth’s hair with small bells hung in it. He is speaking a language I don’t understand, not paying attention to me. And I’m supposed to marry this guy? My brother is sitting below me on a hill and glaring up at my periodically. There is food and drink constantly brought to me and I eat nervously. Some men fight over a woman and one of them dies, everyone accepts this as normal. Then there are lots of gifts. Some slaves (I don’t want slaves!), some cool looking books, three egg shaped stones they say are dragon eggs, and the man I married gives me a beautiful silver horse. He lifts me easily onto the horse and I ride her around a bit. I immediately love that horse. Now it is time to go? My asshole brother grabs my leg too roughly and says I had better please my new husband or I will wake the dragon like never before… I see no dragon! I kick my leg to shake my brother off and tell him he had better stop being an asshole or I’ll shove his face up a dragon’s ass! He looks surprised and asks what has gotten in to me.

I ride my horse after my new husband. We find a spot and I know he wants to have sex… but I don’t even know this guy! I don’t want to have sex with him! I expect he will just start violently having his way with me, but instead he starts caressing me, being gentler than I’d expected from the way he acted at the wedding. But I still don’t want to have sex with him! I’m crying and he pauses to brush the tears from my face and say the word no. No as in don’t cry? No as in don’t be scared? I’m not sure… And I don’t have to do any more because the dream ends.
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Sansa: I am riding a horse outside under bright blue skies. The skies look bluer than I ever remember seeing them. I am not alone, there is a boy, Prince Joffrey, riding beside me. My first impression is that he is an asshole… but I think better of calling him that. My next thought is he is a prince I am supposed to marry… but I don’t even know him, though I guess I should give him a chance. We ride through a forest, exploring here and there. Joffrey seems like a decent guy, I’m not sure why my first impression was that he’s an asshole. We keep going and soon find a couple of children playing with sticks as if they were swords. This is where Joffrey shows his true colors.

Joffrey gets off his horse and shows me why I thought he was an asshole. Joffrey starts making fun of the boy for beating on a girl. The girl is my sister, Arya. The boy drops his stick and kneels before the prince, but that does no good. Joffrey pokes at him with his sword and tells the boy to pick up his stick and fight like a knight. I tell Joffrey we should just leave these two alone. Joffrey says this boy was beating my sister, we can’t just leave. He pokes the boy’s cheek and draws blood, saying he won’t hurt the boy… much. That’s when chaos breaks loose.

Arya attacks Joffrey with her stick to keep him from hurting the boy. Joffrey turns on her and attacks viciously, breaking her stick with his real sword. The boy runs into the trees with no thought for Arya’s safety. A wolf comes flying from the trees and clamps down on Joffrey’s arm, making him drop his sword. Joffrey cries out and says to call the wolf off, which Arya does. She looks at his mangled arm and says the wolf didn’t hurt Joffrey… much. Arya picks up Joffrey’s dropped sword and throws it unceremoniously into the river nearby before chasing after the boy with her wolf going after her. I go to check on Joffrey’s arm and he gets pissed at me. I tell him it’s his own fault for being a bully. He says he’s going to tell his mother, I resist an urge to slap him. I tell him not to be such a baby, I can fix his arm. I grab his arm and focus healing energy through it. The bite heals completely, much to Joffrey’s amazement. But he doesn’t thank me, he scoots away from me and says I’m a sorceress and then runs off into the trees. What a loser… Everything fades.

2017, 08-07

Game of Dreams - A Fall and A Healing Touch

Bran: I am playing a virtual reality game of Assassin’s Creed. I am in a medieval setting and I know my goal is to make it to the top of a broken tower. I climb a tree to reach the roof. I make my way across the rooftops, jumping and climbing with ease. I reach a stretch with a row of stone gargoyles just perfectly placed to swing from one to the next like on a child’s jungle gym. I swing from one to the next and then I hear voices from what I’d thought was an empty part of the castle. I get closer and hear a man and a woman talking about getting rid of the hand of the king, I immediately think they’re talking about my father! I swing to the gargoyle over the window and hang upside down to see who the culprits are, I’ll need to know who they are when I tell my father. When I peek in the two of them are making out. I remember hearing the man call the woman “sweet sister” so that means brother and sister are making out… I make an involuntary sound of disgust. The man looks over and I recognize the queen! The man comes towards me, I try to climb back up but the gargoyle breaks and I fall, grabbing the ledge by the window. The man reaches for me and says to take his hand. Not a chance! I’m sure they don’t want this secret getting out! I try to move away from the window but I’m too slow… the man grabs me and pushes me out into open air, I fall into my bed and wake.

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Tyrion: I am in a library. It is an old fashioned looking library with old leather bound books. I get up and leave the library. There’s a stairway going down outside. I hear people below talking about a boy who got hurt. A man calls the other as a prince, the prince sounds like a boy. The man says he wishes the injured kid would hurry up and die. The prince says it’s the wolf he can’t stand, the howling kept him up all night. The man says he could put the wolf down. The prince says there’s so many that the Starks would never notice. What a couple of assholes! I go the rest of the way over to them and respond to the boy’s comment that no one would notice the missing wolf. I say I’m quite sure the Starks can count to six, unlike some princes I could mention. It then occurs to me that the boy should go give his sympathies to the parents of the hurt boy. He calls me his uncle and says he doesn’t care about that boy! What an asshole! Someone should slap him in his ugly mug… so I do. He looks stunned then whines that he’s going to tell his mom! So I slap him again, making his cheeks a matching red. I tell him he can tell his mom all he wants, but first go tell the boy’s parents how sorry he is that their boy is hurt and emphasize if they need anything at all, the boy is glad to help. He runs off, I’m feeling quite satisfied as everything fades.

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John: I am in a stairway that seems to be leading up a medieval castle tower. I am going up to say goodbye to my brother, he has been hurt. I also know that he is actually my half-brother, and his mother doesn’t want me there. But I want to see my brother before I have to leave. I climb up the stairs more quickly and when I get to a door at the top I open it slowly. The woman is sitting in a chair beside a bed where my brother lies, unresponsive. The woman asks what I’m doing here, I say I’m going to say goodbye to Bran. She says I should leave. She gives me a dirty look that could curdle milk. I ignore her look and walk over beside the bed, on the other side from the woman. She says she’ll call the guards. I tell her to go ahead, I have every right to say goodbye to my brother. I go over and take Bran’s hand. He is so very skinny, almost skeletal. I see under the covers that his legs look like they’re bent wrong… didn’t anyone even bother to set the bones? I know it’s a medieval setting without a lot of medical knowledge, but really? I wish I could do something, something to heal him. I am focusing on healing him as I hold his hand. There’s movement under the covers. The woman gets excited and looks, but the movement stops. The legs look better now. The woman is talking. She says she prayed for this… she prayed to the seven that Bran could stay with her, that Ned would change his mind… she’s crying. I don’t know what else to do, so I say this isn’t her fault, she didn’t want him to stay with her like this… She gets mad at me and says she doesn’t need my absolution. I say of course she doesn’t… but she needs her own absolution, don’t blame yourself. Before she can respond I leave the room and everything fades.

2017, 08-05

Game of Dreams

John: I am in a large room full of tables and a lot of people. There is a procession of what look like VIPs going down the center aisle towards a raised table at the front of the room. First a stressed looking man with a distracted looking woman, then another woman with a really fat man, followed by a little kid on his own then two more pairs of kids, two boys and two girls. Next comes a nice looking man standing alongside a short guy that looks more like a dwarf than a human. But I don’t see any other races around so I assume he is a short human. And then a feast begins. I am eating various meats and breads and drinking a sweet wine when something brushes my leg. There is a wolf pup down there so I give the pup some of the meats. A man comes over and we start chatting about various details we have noticed. The name Uncle Ben comes to mind. He says they can use observational skills like mine in the Knight’s Watch. This idea immediately appeals to me, but in spite of the fact Ben is the one who brought it up, he keeps saying I can’t do it because I am just a boy. If I am too young then why did he suggest it in the first place? I get mad and then realize I’m making a scene and that gets me even more upset so I run outside. I see the short man from the procession earlier and he says he drank too much wine and it’s considered rude to vomit on your brother. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now so I keep going and then everything fades.

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Catelyn: I am in a bedroom of what looks like it might be a medieval period. I am a woman, and I spot that immediately because I am naked. I am lying in bed naked while a man in the room is standing by an open window and apparently enjoying a cool breeze that is blowing in. He says he doesn’t want to leave Winterfell. I tell him if he doesn’t want to go just say so. A man knocks on the door with an urgent message, or so he says. The message is for me. I open it and at first it looks like gibberish, but when I look at it in a slightly different way I can see what it means. Ned’s (my husband) friend is dead, but he was murdered by the Lannisters. I tell Ned that is another reason not to go. He says this letter changes everything, now he has to go south with Robert to find out the truth of what happened to his friend. He says Robert may even be in danger. There is a bit more talk about where the kids will stay, he is expecting I will stay behind to run Winterfell while he’s away. I’m not feeling good about the conclusions we reach, but then everything fades to black.

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Arya: I am in a classroom working on arts and crafts. I look at my work I am not pleased. For some reason I have been sewing a very crooked line of stitches. I hear a group of girls not far from me whispering… about me? They say they were talking about a Prince who is so handsome and gallant. There is another group of girls with the teacher. I am sitting by myself as happened throughout my actual school years. The teacher comes over and looks at my stitching. She says it will never do. She says I have the hands of a blacksmith. The other girls are all staring, some are laughing… even my sister looks amused. I am embarrassed. I want to leave. I get up and head for the door. The teacher asks where I think I’m going. I’m mad about the blacksmith comment and I tell her I have to shoe a horse. I leave the room and slam the door behind me. I go down some stairs and find my wolf pup at the bottom of the stairs tied up. I untie her and decide to look around. I walk for a while and find a covered bridge with a boy gazing through a window into the combat training yard. I look there and see some kids practicing with wooden swords. One boy is saying he wants to use live steel, and another boy is saying to bring it on, but the instructor won’t allow it. I am still watching when everything fades.

2017, 08-03

Living Another Life

Daenerys: I am in a room with a man that I am thinking is my brother, though he looks almost like a girl. I am looking at a really pretty purple dress that my brother says was a gift. Then he cops a feel on my breast and pinches hard. I push his hand off and tell him to quit that, he says something about waking a dragon… but I see no dragon, just someone who likes to feel up his sister, what a pervert. He takes my silence as a response and leaves. Soon a couple women come in and fill a tub with hot water and scented soaps, apparently I’m supposed to bathe. I get in the tub and the women bathe me even though I could do it myself, the young one chatting constantly about a man I’m supposed to meet who is hot and strong and brave and… After bathing I get dressed in the pretty dress and step outside to where my brother is waiting. The nicest thing he can say is I don’t smell like a horse, which is good since Kahl Drogo has thousands of horses and wants a different mount tonight. I call him an ass. He stares at me in stunned silence as a fat man comes up in a cart and says I look regal, we must go right away before we’re late.

The three of us ride through a town that looks like an old style pueblo, but bigger than I have imagined a pueblo. We get to a huge palace like house and go inside. There are lots of people there, they are all men it seems. The fat man points across the room and says that’s Kahl Drogo. He says he will make introductions and heads over. My brother is saying I had better satisfy Kahl Drogo so he can claim the lands that are ours by blood. I ask him if he really expects me to sleep with a man just to get him a crown. He says he’d let Drogo and every man in his khalasar take me and all of their horses if that means he gets his crown, I should be thankful it’s just Kahl Drogo. I am about to call him a few choice words when the fat man returns and says Kahl Drogo is coming. My brother is telling me to stand up straight, hold my head up, smile… I tell him to stop being an asshole. He grabs my arm painfully and I stomp on his foot painfully and we both give forced smiles to Kahl Drogo as he approaches. Everything fades.

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Eddard: I am a man now, and I am at the gates of a castle watching a lot of people arrive. I am waiting for my friend to come, he is with them and he is king. As they arrive I don’t see my friend. I see a woman in a crown and I have to resist an urge to call her a bitch. A fat man in a crown gets off a tired horse and comes over to give me a bear hug. I realize that is my friend! He’s gotten fat! He wants to go down to the crypts to pay his respects to someone. The Queen bitch doesn’t want us to do that now. There are introductions made and then the king and I go down into some crypts under the castle, finding our way by torch light. Stone statues of people with wolves at their feet line the wall. We reach the last of the crypts and the king, his name is Robert, pays his respects. We head back and he tells me how my friend John Erin got suddenly sick and died. And he wants me to take John’s place as the King’s Hand. I don’t like that idea, it would take me away from my home… so I say I am not worthy of that honor. Robert says it’s no honor, he wants me to run the kingdom while he eats, drinks, and whores himself to an early grave. I want to call him an asshole. I feel like I’m surrounded by assholes.

2017, 07-17

Star Trek Lucid

I am at my friend’s house spending the night. I roll over on the air mattress I use when I stay over with my friend and think I have to pee. So I get up and go to the bathroom but forget completely about peeing and I go into the kitchen instead to look for a midnight snack. Something just feels strange. I pinch my nose to do a reality check and I find I can breathe a little, but not much. Am I really dreaming or not pinching hard enough? I go outside and look up at the night sky. I then attempt to fly and I find I can. I am definitely dreaming. So what should I do now? I fly over the neighborhood a bit because I love flying in dreams. I then think I shouldn’t let this dream go to waste, I should do something worthwhile. I focus on Through the Never by Metallica and open a portal, concentrating on going somewhere I am needed. To my surprise, a portal opens right away. I am pleased with that because often times it seems my full lucidity gets in the way of effective dream control.

On the other side of the portal I land on what appears to be the landing platform of a space station. While the station doesn’t look exactly like the ones in Star Trek I see a lot of people in what look like Star Fleet uniforms. I look around and I can see out of the station to where there is a fight going on. I go to the edge of the landing platform and look out on the fighting. I could help if I had my Fire Valkyrie. I hear someone calling to me from behind to get back from the edge. Instead I jump off of the edge, right out into open space. I find I am falling strangely, I pass the force field that keeps the station pressurized, but breathing is no problem. My Fire Valkyrie forms around me and I join the fight. I don’t recognize the attacking ships, but I do recognize the Star Fleet ships. At least the big ones. There are also fighters that are styled like the Star Fleet ships.

I fight to defend the Star Fleet space station for a while, then I hear people saying the Borg are coming, too. I am thinking I will have to change things so these Borg won’t assimilate by force unless they are being attacked. I keep fighting the enemies until the first Borg cube appears. I then fly over closer to the cube so I can get a connection to their main collective through my ship computer. I hack my way in and figure all I really need to change is their primary directive. I don’t want that to be “Assimilate everything.” anymore. I want it to be to survive instead. To exist peacefully in the galaxy, peaceful exploration is fine, and so is self-defense and the defense of others. The only case where assimilation is acceptable is if the subject for some reason agrees to be assimilated or if they are enemies attacking the Borg. No more trying to forcefully assimilate entire races for no reason other than expanding the collective. I go into the code and make these changes and then disconnect. The Borg cube pauses, perhaps to analyze the situation, then it attacks the enemies but not the Star Fleet ships. The Star Fleet people seem to notice this and they do not attack the Borg. I am about to go back to fighting the enemies but I wake up.

2017, 07-13

Night Raiders

I am outside on a dark and moonless night. I peer into the darkness, using night vision to see what is going on around me. I see a village like one out of a fantasy RPG close by. I also see that there are a number of people sneaking up on the village. The people sneaking up on the village looked like armored warriors. Even as I am thinking that the attack begins. All of the warriors hidden in the dark charge forward, crying out loudly, words I can’t understand. The village doesn’t have any defenses that I see. Sleepy villagers come out to see what is going on and get cut down. I am not going to let this happen. I charge into the open myself, creating a fence from the tendril ability of Alex Mercer to keep the attackers from progressing any farther. They try to cut through the tendrils with their swords but that is ineffective. People are gathering on both sides of my fence now.

There is a lot of commotion going on and soon someone comes forward who appears to be the leader. He asks what the meaning of the holdup is and then sees me. He orders me to remove this strange barrier from his path. I say no, I won’t allow him to attack this village. He identifies himself as Theon Greyjoy and says he’s the prince of somewhere called the Iron Isles. I comment he must not be much of a prince if he finds attacking defenseless villagers to be amusing. He says he doesn’t need to explain himself to the likes of me then orders his soldiers to kill me and remove the barrier. For some reason I am reluctant to kill these people so I decide to scare them instead.

I make a very obvious display of shifting my arms into Alex Mercer claws adding some tendrils reaching out from my body and moving around me and glowing red eyes to give the impression of something demonic. A man attacks me with a sword and I use tendrils to take the sword from his hands and bend it in two, breaking it as if it was a child’s wooden sword. The soldiers are now calling out that I’m a sorceress and a monster and as I advance slowly they are in quite the hurry to retreat. Theon drives his sword through my middle but I feel nothing. I pull it out and melt it down with intense heat from my hands. The wound immediately regenerates. That’s all Theon has to see before he turns and retreats with his soldiers. I call after him that if he comes back he will see the full extent of my powers. Everything fades to black and I wake up.

2017, 07-07

Beaten by a Girl

I am on the streets of what looks like a medieval town or something out of an RPG. It is raining rather hard and I can’t see the buildings too well. I walk for a short ways and then I see what looks like an inn. I go over to it and walk inside to get out of the rain. I am now in the pub part of an inn and it is very quiet. I look around and I see only one or two customers in the room. The innkeeper comes over and asks what he can get for me. Since I feel like I should buy something if I am going to take advantage of his roof to keep me dry I ask if he has anything sweet since I don’t like regular alcohol. He says he has just the thing. He disappears and returns with a mug of something. I taste it and it is delicious. I reach into the pockets of my Assassin’s robes and find a silver piece. The man says it’s too much. I say I’ll be staying here until the rain lets up, so just keep my mug full of this stuff for as long as the silver will pay for. He agrees and leaves as I sit down at a table in the corner.

I haven’t been sitting here for long when the outside door opens and a rowdy group of men crowd through the door. They look like they might be soldiers of some kind, no doubt glad to get out of the rain. They crowd around the tables closest to the bar and order a round of drinks. The innkeeper seems glad of them because he hasn’t had much business. I sit there and drink my drink and watch the men. One of them is huge and cranky looking. All of the men clearly know to leave him alone when he’s like that. I notice that there is also a young woman helping to keep all of those men in drinks. The rowdy men keep trying to grab a feel when she’s not looking… how rude. Finally someone goes too far and she cries out then runs into the back as the men laugh. The innkeeper comes back out and addresses the big man respectfully and asks that he get his men to stop harassing his daughter. The big man says to bring the daughter out. The innkeeper does, perhaps expecting an apology. Instead the big man grabs the daughter and rips her dress half off and starts assaulting her in front of her shocked father!

I get up from my table and call out to him, “Hey, double ugly! If you like picking on girls, why don’t you try me?” The big man looks over at me, his men are staring at me in dumb shock. The man is holding the girl by the arm. I go up to him. I am looking up at him since he stands over a foot taller than me, but I look him straight in the eye with no fear. I tell him to let go of the girl. He asks who’s going to make him. I say I don’t care how big, ugly, and stupid he is, he will not get away with that behavior while I’m around. I take hold of his hand that is holding the girl and use my enhanced strength to twist it until he releases the girl’s arm. The girl runs to her father and they back away. The big man looks shocked by my strength and also pissed off to the point where I expect steam to come from his ears. A perfect target for Ranma Saotome’s Hyru Shouten Ha attack! He starts attacking me and I dodge to the side. He’s faster than he looks, but still easy to read. I insult him. “Your head is too thick, you’re built like a brick, your face makes me sick, you’re dumb as a stick, you ain’t got a dick…” He keeps coming at me, getting angrier and angrier, building up his hot aura of anger. I remain completely calm as I dodge his attacks and lead him in a spiral. We are nearing the center of the spiral… “You’re as dumb as an ox and smell twice as bad!” As his hot aura and my cold one mix I land one uppercut punch that sends him crashing right through the ceiling.

I look around the room as the rain starts falling in through the hole in the ceiling that the big man made. Everyone is staring at me in total shock. I hear a crash as the big man lands outside, his armor making quite a racket as he lands. I tell the men they might want to go check on their asshole leader… They quickly hurry from the pub. I look up at the hole in the ceiling… oops… I hadn’t intended to trash the man’s pub. He and the girl are both still stunned. I say I’m sorry about his roof and I pull out some more silver coins to give him. Both of them seem to have lost the capacity for speech. I ask the girl if she’s ok. A young man comes up from a cellar and looks around, confused. The girl finally says she is unharmed… but how did I do that? I tell her it’s a secret fighting move from the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. She just has time to ask what that is before I wake up.

2017, 06-29

Off With His Head!

I am in what looks like a medieval city of some kind. The buildings lining the narrow streets are made of stone and wood and they look like something out of a fantasy RPG game. I walk along the street and I notice that everyone seems to be heading in the same direction. I figure that is probably the direction I should also take, so I follow the crowds. We move through the city streets and approach the largest building I can see from where I am. It looks like it might be some kind of church or temple. The crowd is tightly packed here, and it is hard to move forward to see what is going on. Finally I get closer and I see everyone watching has their attention fixed on what is happening on the stairs leading into the temple. There are numerous guards in mail and plate armor at the foot of the stairs to keep anyone from advancing farther, and more people up above. Whatever is about to happen begins.

There is a young boy wearing a crown who somehow seems to be in charge of things there. He stands and begins to speak loudly and with authority. "My mother wishes me to let Lord Eddard join the Knight's Watch... stripped of all titles and powers, he would serve the realm in permanent exile. And my Lady Sansa has begged mercy for her father.” He pauses here and looks over at a girl who is standing off to the side with a woman in a crown and some other guards. He smiles at the girl and she seems visibly relieved. After pausing, the boy continues. “But they have the soft hearts of women... so long as I'm your king, treason shall never go unpunished! Sir Ilyn, bring me his head!"

As one of the guards advances on the prisoner the girl off to the side is in hysterics, screaming unintelligibly, trying to pull away from the guards who are now holding her back. Another guard forces the prisoner to his knees as the guard approaching produces a large sword. I don’t know where the feeling comes from, but I am at once filled with the determination that this should not happen, that man should not die here. But I have to act fast. I get up to where the guards are barring approach to the temple, so I go off to the right and climb the side of a building with more agility than I knew I had. Some people are calling after me to ask what I’m doing, but I ignore them. I feel like I’m playing Assassin’s Creed. I’m almost out of time! I run along the roof and jump down on the other side, surprised I didn’t hurt myself at least a little… I’m not going to make it, so I focus on a force field around the prisoner so when the executioner brings the big sword down he hits an invisible barrier. He is stunned by the force of his own blow and stumbles back.

The boy gets mad when he sees the sword bounce back, saying he wants the man’s head and he wants it now. He’s a little boy having a tantrum. I come forward, and the guards immediately threaten me with their swords, surrounding the boy protectively. I tell them not to worry, I’m not here to harm the boy who wants to pretend he’s a king. That makes the kid even angrier and he starts yelling that he IS the king and now he wants my head on a pike next to the traitor’s. The woman in the crown is glaring at me. She says she knows who I am, I’m that magi that stole her wolf pelt from her before! She asks why I have to keep interfering with her. I tell her I’ll stop interfering when she stops trying to put the innocent to death. The prisoner is looking around, apparently confused as to what is happening. The girl that had been screaming runs over to the man. The guards are distracted by me so they let her get away. My force field lets her through to the man and she hugs him, crying on his shoulder. The boy is calling for all three of our heads now, though no one is paying him any heed. I am wondering what to do with Eddard and Sansa but I don’t get time to think. Everything fades to black and I wake up.

(Q says they are in my inner world, Eddard was in bad shape and is healing now.)