Thread: Things To Run Away From Really Fast!

Go to the moon was kind of my madness mantra last night. Attempted to remember that I wanted to do this.



Things to Run Away From Really Fast #12: Voices Trying To Limit Your Dream-Control

I'm in the basement of a building my grandparents used to own. It's been extensively remodeled since. I try to apply the actual blueprints to the dreamscape, but it's too confusing. I hear newborn kittens. I see a few heads of bread-mice scattered around. The mice here are made of bread. I pick up a half-eaten copy of one of Neil Gaiman's books, and decide that this is all his fault somehow.

Shift.

I'm in a love story, switching between two of the three main characters' points of view. I leave down the stream with the guy who's not me? This is confusing.

Shift.

I'm in a forest, hearing a Voice that gives me instructions. I'm happily running through, surrounded by green, green grass and trees, when I come to a stream. I jump straight over it, but land awkwardly on the other side, not having gone as far as I thought I would.

Water saps your power away, The Voice explains, That makes rivers difficult to cross.

I'm frustrated, because dreams should be doing whatever I tell them to, but the dream-logic makes sense for now. I consider another, wider, river nearby.

I'm near where the forest was, but now I'm surrounded by stone: banisters and stairways and what could make for some very fun parkour sequences. I glide up onto the banister, ready to jump, when I suddenly realize that because this is a dream, I really can go anywhere.

Go to the moon.

Oh, yeah, I was gonna try to do that tonight. I hop off the banister, landing easily on the stone floor. I hold a hand out as I had visualized, feeling through the dream-fabric. I feel and hear a buzzing, and watch in amazement as the dream within stone building abruptly disintegrates, leaving only the night sky. I look down, fully aware that I made it and I'm on the moon and -

Too much surprise.

I'm lying face down on the bed, just like when I last went to sleep. Everything is dark and I keep my eyes shut, trying for another shot at the dream. I feel plastic beneath my hands*, but I aim to kneel down and feel the moon rocks that must be at my feet.

Shift.

"How the hell are we going to stop that thing?"

"I'll take care of it."

"How?"

"I'll take care of it."

I'm using a fellow officer as bait, but I don't have any strong feelings on the matter. The monster is approaching from down the hallway, turning a corner toward me. It spots me, and I retreat into the room, leaving the door open behind me. I'm standing just around a corner, out of sight from the door. The monster steps into the room, and spots the injured officer lying on the bed. I remind myself that this is a dream and I will be able to do this.

The monster rounds the corner, snarling, and I grab it by the scruff of the neck and somewhere along the back (it might have been wearing clothes) and I throw it - hard - toward the window. It goes flying as if it weighed a pound, crashing either through the mirrored door of the closet and the wall behind it. It didn't land as if it weighed a pound.

I'm outside, on the red, ceramic tile rooftops, no longer worried about the monster. I consider taking another shot at getting to the moon. I hold up another hand, trying to feel the dream fabric. I little bit of deep blue bleeds through where my hand is. I put up the other hand, trying to force myself through. It doesn't work. New method.

I'm standing at the edge of a rooftop, unable to see into the abyss that lies before me. I jump, only concerned that this might make me wake up. I land. Without looking, I can tell I'm still in the same dream-scape, so I jump again.

This time I fall and fall and fall, visualizing the black tower that Nomad described. I land, easily, and I can tell that I am, in fact, on the top of a black tower. When I open my eyes, though, I consider that this might not have been the one I was looking for. This one is only three or four stories high, and it's surrounded by brick buildings on all sides. A watchtower. I sigh.

I hop down onto the dirt and paving stones, and look around at the DCs in the area. There's a cute blonde with long, wavy hair, chatting with some friends at the edge of the courtyard. I consider that I might be half in the moon-dream somehow and these might be real people, but I dismiss the thought as unlikely and walk toward the girls.

I step through her friends, smiling at the blonde girl and holding out a hand. She takes it, and I spin her around and kiss her. Oddly, I have the sudden ability to smell and taste (morning breath) and I quickly block it out. And suddenly I'm playing a game of the Sims, and there are a bunch of options on the screen. Now I'm talking to family members on the other side of the courtyard and looking for the girl so I can actually talk to her?

Voices Trying to Limit Your Dream-Control. Scare Factor: 2. Though the bread-mice were somehow creepy.

*So very much a false awakening.

Things to Run Away From Really Fast #13: Dream-Style Karate Tournaments

This dream took place over the course of several days, with time-skips between unimportant parts.

A woman shows me a new kata.

I'm on a farm, apparently visiting my Oma. She gives us (myself and a girl) a ride into town. I make fun of her car.

We arrive at the tournament, which takes place in my hometown. The girl (I have the feeling I knew her) and I are going to perform some kind of strange team kata that's some kind of dance, and the one we're doing has a male and a female character. I'm playing the male character even though I'm female in the dream.

It's about 10AM, and our part doesn't come around until around 1PM. I'm not dressed yet and I can't find my sword. I might have to ask my Oma (whose car I made fun of) for a ride home to look for it.

My mom brings my sword, but I'm still not dressed. It's into the afternoon now. I peek out of the dressing rooms to check that they're not calling for us.

For some reason, I'm not wearing my karate uniform, but something more like a dress robes. There's a red dress long... robe-like thing made of a kind of satin-like material, and an outer set of long black robes that look more like my gi than anything I've seen yet in this dream.


Oh, yeah, definitely. That is totally what I meant.

I'm standing beside my partner for the team kata (who looks a bit like a geisha), wondering about the feminist implications of this performance. I mean, one of us doesn't actually do anything.

Oh, yeah, you do that fan kata.



Wait, we actually both have a kata to do.

This is followed by several minutes of panic, within which I realize I've forgotten my kata.

Then we're standing in front of the judges, and I'm going through the motions of my sword kata, which I've known for a very long time.

You know, my partner hasn't said anything this entire time.

Shift.

I'm at a boarding school with my high school classmates, or I'm finishing off a karate class. We're all actually at a dream-changed version of a parish hall in my hometown.

"Line up!" Calls Sensei B, one of my old instructors.

My high school classmates mill about (quickly) in confusion, most of them not having been in karate. In the chaos, I'm trying to figure out which line I should be in, with my... red belt.

I'm a green belt, right?

I'm standing in line when I realize that my already ridiculous costume has been substituted for a sheer lingerie-style robe.

I think Sensei B is making fun of me.

Dream-Style Karate Tournaments. Scare Factor: 3.5. Would prefer to avoid.

Things to Run Away From Really Fast #14: Restaurants With Poor Customer Service. Also: Missiles.

Non-lucid.

Briefly, I'm Shawn Spencer from Psych. I check my backpack for water. I have a little over two bottles left. It's around 4PM. I decide to do the 3KM hike instead of the 5KM hike; I'll probably be back by 6PM and I'll get to the first peak of the Chief. The route is a combination of my running route here and the real hike in Squamish. I don't have a map with me, but I know the trail well enough.

Similar location, female form. I'm talking to either my Oma or my Aunt Audrey. They keep switching. I'm watching the fire. There's something flammable (fireworks, ammunition?) in one of the wooden containers being licked at by the flames.

I'm in a restaurant of a hotel with my mom and great grandma. Our tables are switched. I have a copy of a menu in my hand, and two spoons because I was holding one from the other table.

I'm (working) in an office building. I keep speaking to bosses higher-up. I think one of them looks familiar (might be Jameson from Spider-man movies).

I'm an American sniper in America and I'm being shot at. I'm with several other snipers at the top of a very tall tower surrounded by water surrounded by a city which might be San Francisco. I'm standing up, but I'm quickly pulled down by another man when I become aware of being in someone else's sights. A missile heads toward us on a crazy, spiralling course. It explodes over our heads.

Patrick and Spongebob's houses are split in half and combined with Squidward in the middle, freaking out. Flashback to Patrick and Squidward trying to play a practical joke on Spongebob. A stone statuette of a face embedded in rock.

Restaurants With Poor Customer Service. Also: Missiles. Scare Factor: 2.

I didn't get much sleep last night. Non-lucid like whoa.

Things to Run Away From Really Fast #15: Hey, but I thought I was supposed to be the -

Using characters from Fox and the Hound. I think the hunter is my father. I'm walking around our property, noticing that some areas are places you really shouldn't be hunting around.

Henry Spencer from Psych takes over the role of father. He's giving me a lift via boat to some point on the lake. Promises me lessons in something or other. I'm writing out a list/schedule for training.

The devil is sabatoging our bet by making my workouts easier. I notice every once in a while that the machines are on an easier setting than they're supposed to be.

Hey, but I thought I was supposed to be the - Scare Factor: 2.

Fragments only. Yay, cold medication.

I think I heard a variation on "I think I'll miss you less and less, as every day goes by." Also, wandering around a college campus, which is what I did yesterday.

There was something else, but it's trickled out of my ears over the last five minutes.

I was going through some old dream journals and thought I'd type up a couple for reference. The first dream occurred shortly after I heard that my family had been in a minor car accident. Everyone was fine. Well, except for the wildlife involved.

Things to Run Away From Really Fast #16: Mortality

August 2009

I'm rock climbing at the local crag (but in a different city) when I get the call. Mom hands the phone off to a grief counsellor or something. She tells me that my dad has passed away, but do I want to see my huge birthday cake? Hey, do I want to have the phone held up to the body's ear so I can talk to him? I'm watching the head get cut off of the body, presumably having to do with cremation. I close my eyes, nauseous.

Scrambling down a steep trail now, made of granite and overgrown with tree roots. I'm thrown into what seems like a very vivid memory on top of the dream I'm in. I'm a black man in South Africa, and I'm brandishing a knife, trying to fend off two men who attacked my wife.


Except with roots.

My dream-ego, still looking on from the first dream, hopes that I'm not going to hurt anyone.

My strike goes wide, and I injure my wife instead, watching with horror as her blood spills to the red ground. She's dead so, so quickly. Our local equivalent of a doctor appears, and she tries to slice my wife's body down from the roots that are binding her, thinking she might still be able to save her. She won't. Our son! Our son us still here. I take him and run.

Mortality. Scare Factor: 8. I remember chalking up this one as "The Nightmare of 2009".

I didn't remember the dream until I read about it though. It's not quite so scary when I remember "Dad's fine; I saw him yesterday."

Within the dream, the dream-within-the-dream was a memory of a previous life. It was so vivid, I practically felt the same way when I woke up.

I have the feeling that I ran into a recurring character last night, a woman I suspect might be my dream guide. I'm leaning toward a name along the lines of Elaine/Lane/Lana, and I think I used Elaine while I was talking to her. I don't remember what was said.

Things to Run Away From Really Fast #17: The Ninja Maid

The people taking a first aid course become evil vampires and Quickton (nickname for the city I'm living in) becomes Sunnydale.

I'm arguing with a character from Naruto (which is odd, since I don't watch it). I think it might be Sasuke. We spot an ambassador for something and make a bet that I can't catch him.

The man is being driven either by a car or a coach, but it's black either way. I follow from the rooftops and then from within buildings, tracking my progress mentally while I can't see the car.

I take a shortcut, arrivin at his home before he does, coming across hostiles as soon as I do. Before I even realize that I've reacted, there are bodies on the floor. I inspect them, coming to the realization that these people were here to kill the ambassador. I just saved his life - this is an in.

Half a dozen people walk happily through the back door, as I wait around a corner for my entrance. Hm. Too many. Presumably the ambassador's wife and family. The bodies disappear with the lack of a thought, and I step out of my hiding place, all smiles.

Well, I'm the maid, of course! I tell them, playing on my gender, charm, and general blondeness. Who wouldn't trust a sweet, unarmed woman? (I tuck the knife/gun in the waistband of my jeans.) You mean you didn't order maid service? I say to the wife. Oh, dear, I say, the company must have made a mistake. Perhaps you can help me with the directions?

I take out a couple pieces of paper with scribbles on them, making up street addresses as I go.

An opportunity to talk to the ambassador arrives, and I take it. It's time to reveal my true purpose. I propose an alliance of sorts, leaning on his gratitude for saving the lives of his family. We have a common enemy after all. Blackmail is also involved.

The Ninja Maid. Scare Factor: 2.