idream_ofmemes | TDM #1 - What Dreams May Come

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TDM #1 - What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come

Dream On

Welcome to the Dreamscape. A beautiful, endless dream where you and a bunch of other unique and interesting minds from across the multiverse have been gathered to connect, commiserate, and make the impossible... possible! There are many fantastical realms to explore and even more to come, and you are given your very own Nimbus Cloud to serve as your home. This puffy pink cloud will host a pocket dimension just for you where the only limit to what you can create is your own imagination. Missing personal items or locations from the waking world? No problem--- the only thing you have to do in order to earn feathers, the local currency, is make meaningful connections with others. In fact, making these meaningful connections seems to be the only task assigned to you by your mysterious host, the Outsider.

The only catch? You can't wake up until the Outsider wakes you. And it's not clear when that will be--- if ever.

Make your way in this ever-changing dream realm, find friends and allies to earn Feathers, and navigate strange and fantastical Dreamscape-wide events as you and your new neighbors try to unravel the mystery of what exactly the Outsider wants, and what it will take to escape the never-ending dream. The Outsider isn't just an NPC, either--- they're joining you on your adventures!

WHAT

The grand opening of Perchance to Dream!

WHEN

9/13/2022

QUICK NAV

Locations

Feather Info

The Outsider

I'm Only Sleeping

♫♪♩♬

When you go to sleep that night, it is like any other night. After a long day of living your life in the waking world, you dress down for the night, lie your weary head down, close your eyes, and begin to drift off, as you normally do. However, just as you are about to fall asleep, there is a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that something has changed.

But you drift off nonetheless.

When you rise, you find yourself still in the same bed you went to sleep in, but that bed has been… transported, somehow, to a broad and otherwise empty room. Your feet hit the black marble floor, but even if they are bare, they don’t feel cold. Around you are tall arches, beyond which is a rich, pink, sunset sky, and fluffy clouds drifting lazily by, sometimes close enough that parts of them intrude on the room.

On one side of the room, there is a door. Tall and austere, it looms overhead, bearing a carving of a strange blue eye. You feel awake, yet you know you are dreaming. Never in your life have you had a dream like this, so breathtakingly lucid. You feel foreign here, but welcome, like a guest. It’s an odd feeling, but perhaps it is familiar.

At the foot of your bed, there is a note on a small black slip of paper, written in lavender ink. It’s addressed to you by name.

“If you want answers, come find me at the Torn Oak. Otherwise, make yourself at home. Welcome to the Dreamscape.

-The Outsider”

The only way out is through the door. When you exit it, it slams behind you, and is gone if you turn around. You begin to get the sense that you’re going to be here for a while.

The Dreaming Tree

♫♪♩♬

The first area that you come into contact with is a sprawling field of stark white vegetation under a deep purple sky. At the base of the hill upon which you stand, you can see a tree that is particularly large, that seems to be standing perfectly upright despite being torn completely in half just above the stump. A blue wooden door with a silver handle stands in the gap between the body of the three and the stump below. It seems this place has an interesting penchant for disembodied doors. Still, this is probably the “Torn Oak” referenced in the note from the room before.

Should you go in, you’ll find before you a fantastical structure that looks almost like a shrine--- four shimmering crystal pillars, a glass chandelier, and a pedestal with a glowing sphere swirling with light. And beside that, there stands a strange figure. A person with periwinkle skin and a long, slender body, draped in a cloak with golden eyes that moved and blinked. On their head, a pair of horns and a golden halo, and a pointed tail flicked around their ankles. They had three eyes, one seated up on their brow, all of which were that strange, eerie blue that the one carved into that large black door had been.

“Hello there!” They greet you cheerfully. “I’ve been expecting you. I’m sure you have questions!”

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) 

♫♪♩♬

The Outsider, your host, is more than happy to explain the purpose of this place. You are in the Dreamscape, a special pocket of the collective unconscious of the entire omniverse, and they’ve plucked the dreaming minds of a hand-picked selection of people out of their own dreams, to be here in this mystical place. They cannot tell you why, exactly, but they want you to make meaningful emotional, mental, and physical connections with other dreamers, particularly those who you do not know, and they’re willing to reward you for doing so.

Perhaps you want to get started on collecting right away. The Outsider has kindly informed you that the best way to do this is to go and make some new friends. The likelihood that you’ll find another dreamer or two walking around the grassy knoll outside the Torn Oak or heading up or down the colossal escalator leading up into the sky itself is pretty high. Perhaps you’ll even find someone who wants to walk with you over to the Glass Lake, where the water’s surface can be walked on to get a better view of the Rainbow Koi. For some reason, no matter how many people go there or how inviting it seems, no one else besides you and the person or people you went with ever seems to be anywhere around, making it surprisingly private.

Sleepwalking

♫♪♩♬

If the immediate area doesn’t strike your fancy and you’re looking for some other options, you might consider heading to the Barren Freeway. The long stretch of paved road is oppressively isolating and terribly eerie, but it can lead to so many other places, be they strange, temporary locations from the corners of your mind that disappear when you leave, or the Twisted City itself.

Bustling and full of life, there is always something to do or see in the Twisted City. Restaurants, shops, night life, libraries, parks--- and it almost looks like a normal town, if you can ignore the bubbles in the sky, uncanny structures in the street, and the fact that nothing ever seems to stay in the same spot. Though if you get lost and need to get back to the Freeway, the Submarineway has a stop right by there. Maybe in the process of finding your way, you can find a friend.

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"Yes, something like that." Although the old dueling grounds had been destroyed, the people had constructed a new area for it in the ruins.

"At least that endures." He supposed, as did his own love for the game. Looking down the road at some of the shops then back to his current companion. "Perhaps, we can discuss this more later but I really should keep looking for my friends." ... Even though they might not even be here. Atem could have asked the other along, but that would have felt too much like an imposition.

"Yeah. The more things change, the more they stay the same," Radley said.

He nodded in agreement. "Sure." He hoped they were there, but it was hard to say. "I've got nothing to really do. I could help, if you want?"

So far there hadn't been any indication that they were here, but he had to make the effort. Atem hesitated a moment at the offer, but ultimately he gave in. It would be easier to search this bizarre changing landscape with two sets of eyes.

"Yes, I would like that, if it's not too much trouble." Though he supposed that his new friend here would need a better description. "You've seen Yugi in videos, but did you ever see his friends with him?" Stay with him this is leading up to something. "If you remember seeing a Joey Wheeler or Téa Gardner... they look a lot like the friends I was looking for. Joey looks like Jono, and Téa looks like Teana... though really I would be relieved to find any of them."

"Yeah, I have," Radley said. "Joey's a really good duelist in his own right." He had gone pro by Radley's time.

He had to raise an eyebrow at this, though. "... Hmm, is there anyone who doesn't have a double?"

"Great!" That would make this a LOT easier. To hear about Joey's success drew a smile to his lips. How his friend must have improved, and how he longed to see it for himself even though technically Joey was more Yugi's friend than his.

" ... Mokuba doesn't... nor Tristan." He answered before he thought about it but one look at Radley's face and he chuckled nervously before placing one hand to the back of his neck. " They.... say everyone has one, right? Isn't that a saying...?"

Radley was about to quip Why were they left out until Atem continued. "They do say that, true," he mused. But it was starting to sound like a cartoon.

It was about this point where the prince started thinking about how much information is too much? Granted, his life and the people he knew were in the past so how could this guy alter the outcome? This probably wasn't an issue.

"So... heh.. let's get started." You know what he should have asked for a lot earlier? A name. " I'm Atem by the way, you are?"

"Radley," he said. He smiled and held out a hand.

With a nod, he extended his hand shook Radley's firmly. "It's always nice to meet another duelist."

"Is there anyone you're looking for?"

"It sure is," Radley agreed with a smile.

He sighed. "There's a lot of people I'd like to find here, but they're probably not here. I wonder how people are chosen for this program. Is it completely random? Or are we observed for some time before they decide we're perfect?"

After a moment passed, Atem retracted his hand.

"It's too early to give up hope, yet." Hadn't he met Seto Kaiba here, already? He almost said as much but thought better of it. The successful businessman could have a polarizing effect, and he wasn't sure whether Radley was a fan or not. "I wonder that myself. It does seem random."

"....Tell me, is the Kaiba corporation still fairly prominent?"

"It's more that I wondered if the Outsider would have told me if my friends are here," Radley said. "But maybe they don't know or maybe that's something they wouldn't say."

He nodded. "It is. The building looks completely different, but it's the same place."

"Did you get a chance to ask them that?" He looked up questioningly at the other.

"... And how do people see it? Do they think about it favorably?" More specifically, do you think of it favorably? Probably should have phrased it that way.

"... No, I didn't," Radley frowns a bit. "I should have."

He ponders the question. "Some people blame them for a disaster that tore the city apart," he says. "A reactor exploded. KaibaCorp owned it and the scientists working on it were on their payroll. But they repaired a lot of the City and made it arguably better than before. And I have a business deal with them, so I can't complain."

"That makes two of us."

Well, with that sort of description, Atem still wasn't sure how much to reveal. An incident like that was on a whole other scale than what one would generally expect from a entertainment and leisure based company. Just what was Kaiba Corp working on in that time?

Well, Radley didn't seem all that upset about it.

"I did run into Seto Kaiba here.."

Radley wasn't too upset. The Kaibas themselves hadn't wanted such a tragedy, and he knew what it was to be a businessman caught in a tragedy he didn't want.

"Yeah, I saw him too. He looks the age he was in some of the old tournament videos."

Edited 2022-10-06 06:58 (UTC)

Knowing that Radley had already met Kaiba here was a bit of a relief. "So.. all of this must be pretty strange to you."

"He's.. different than I remember him too."

"Being trapped in a dream world is sure strange," Radley said.

He blinked in surprise. "How is he different?"

"Oh... it's nothing really. Just.." What's a nice way to say 'less obnoxious?'. ".. more cooperative." ~~#nailedit~~

With that, he turned back towards the selected path to start combing the landscape for any indication that more of his friends might be here.

Radley chuckled. "I guess he wants to get home pretty badly."

He also looked around. No sign of any of them yet....

"I guess so," There was something else that Atem kept to himself. It was personal and had been said to him in confidence, so he didn't feel comfortable sharing.

As time passed it eventually became evident that either no one else he recognized was here or the dreamscape was too expansive to fully explore in one day. "Thank you again for your help.. I think we've done all we really can."

Radley was coming to the same conclusion. "Sure," he said. "I guess I'll see you around some more?" He wondered how close the house clouds were to each other.

At the question, a smile drew across his lips. "I don't think I'll be leaving anytime soon, so I'm sure I'll see you again." Ideally the next time would present a better opportunity to get to know the fellow duelist from the distant future. Atem realized that he had been too consumed with his own concerns to be much for company.

"Cool." Radley gave him a thumbs-up. "I'll see you around then."

"I'll see you around," Atem mirrored the phrasing and gesture. He might not have found his own friends, but making a new one would make his stay here infinitely more tolerable.

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crystalmaster - 2022-10-19 22:57 (UTC) - Expand

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