idream_ofmemes | 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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Too bad! Now hurry up! [ They were already sweeping out the door. ]

[ He had to fight harder than he'd fought anything not to let out a groan of exasperation, but followed along, completely skeptical but thoroughly intrigued. ]

[ The Outsider happily led Jon through the fields of albino vegetation, a short distance away to a sheer black platform with an escalator in the middle. The escalator was preposterously tall and seemed to lead up to absolutely nothing at all, but the Outsider hopped right on, undeterred by the implication that they might be dumped off the side of it once it got to the top. ]

[ This is it, he thought, practically rambling himself a novel in his own head. This is how I die. This thing has tricked me into walking off a ledge, into oblivion, and I will never wake up from this, dead in spirit, and more than likely comatose in life. Fuck. Fuck! Why didn't I write a will? With everything going on right now? What the hell was I thinking? Fuck!

He didn't speak a word of it, though, instead finding himself frozen to the step he'd picked as soon as he was on the escalator, twisting himself ever-so-slightways, as if that would minimize the impact he was positive he'd be getting at the very top. ]

Oh, calm down. [ They laughed and brazenly stepped off the escalator, like a cartoon character, and rather than falling, they just kept walking on nothing at all. ]

I am perfectly calm. [ [He replied, but still took a sharp breath when the escalator reached the top, setting his shoe onto what looked like it should've been nothing, but it was firm, and once he'd gotten his bearings, he followed, clearly not pleased but more confident.] ]

There you are! See? Easy. [ They strode forward. Along this invisible strip of road, there were rows and rows of puffy pink clouds, which the Outsider seemed to scrutinize before selecting one, guiding Jon toward it. ] Here we are.

[ In one fell swoop, they stepped into the cloud, vanishing. ]

[ The clouds were... strange. Whimsical, even. Like it was sunset, despite the time of day it was here being distinctly nebulous.

Against his better judgement, though, he stepped into the cloud.

While he'd winced, he was given great pause when he stepped across the threshold. Inside the cloud was something that he'd never expected to see: a quaint, English cottage, reminding him of something not unlike his grandmother's, but with an air of dignity to it. The air was remote, but not rural, as though it were just outside of a city, and a garden, not teeming with flowers but neatly-tended and arranged just so, invited both his and the Outsider's steps as they drew nearer. A front door, made of a deep, rich peltogyne, looked more welcoming than it had any right to.

He was breathless. And, in a temporary moment that let his skepticism slip, he stepped forward, mouth hung ever-so-slightly open, and spoke. ]

What... is this? It's... [ He trailed off, as if he couldn't even begin to know what to say about it. ]

Your dreams, made real. While you are with me in the Dreamscape, this space is yours to use as you desire. It will bend to your will and give you anything you want. The only limit to what you can create in this space is your own imagination.

I hadn't--- dreamed of this. I don't think. [ He was quick to retort, but the look on his face spoke otherwise. He stepped closer, not looking unlike a deer weighing the threat of an animal it didn't recognize, running his fingertips over the basin of a simple stone birdbath. ]

What's the catch? [ He shot back, but the glance that he gave them only lasted a moment, before his eyes were back on the home. When was the last time he'd been in a house? He'd lived in his flat for so long, it seemed like that was the only thing there ever could be, anymore. ] Listen, if you think this makes me trust you for one minute, that you can just--- buy my favor with--- with fanciful things, you---!

The catch is that you can't leave, if you must know.[ They cut him off. ] Not until I send you away. And I have no plans to do so for quite some time. There are others like you here, and when you do eventually wake, it will just be the morning after you last fell asleep, but until then, you stay here. Your task is to form meaningful emotional connections with the other people here. That's all.

[ He finally turned to face him completely as he was cut off, the tangent he was going on fizzling in his throat. The explanation somehow left him more perplexed than he'd been before, though, which was quite a feat. ]

...That's it? What, have a chat or two with other people in the dream? Maybe invite them over for tea? What ends could you even possibly be after, doing something like this?

[ A smug look passed over the Outsider's face. ] Ah, you see, just like the Entities you know, I too am planning a ritual, entitled "None of Your Business". [ They teased, cheeky. ]

[ The first part of the sentence had him looking incredibly ramped up, but at the end, his expression shattered like a pane of glass, leaving him looking profoundly irritated. ]

Oh, har-har. Very well. If you won't tell me, I will simply have to figure it out myself. And I'll have you know that I've proven quite proficient at doing so.

[ Oh, God, he was bluffing like you wouldn't believe, but it was better than nothing, right? ]

Good! Let me know when you've figured it out! [ They smiled. ] Have fun.

[ He squinted at them, doing all in his power not to let out a sharp huff. ]

I will.

TDM #1 - What Dreams May Come

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