My Online Dream Journal

Sharing the psychic damage my brain deals every night.

[duskys-dreams]

Hello! My name is Dusk, and this is my sideblog where I share my dreams. They tend to be long and follow a strangely cohesive plot, and can be strange, funny, or genuinely fascinating. You can assume every named character who I don’t specifically say when they tell me their name is either an existing fictional character or a person I know IRL (since he shows up a few times I’ll say it now, Marcel is my brother.)

Feel free to ask questions, I occasionally leave some details out in the actual writing but I’ll generally remember them.

Also, posts tagged with “dusk’s stories” are dreams that have a more serious tone to them, like a real story. You’ll see.

My other blogs are @leopardusk and @mcsm-catified, the former where I’m most active and could contain anything, and the latter where I’m less active, posting art about the video game Minecraft Story Mode. You’ll see that game pop up a few times in my dreams as well.

[duskys-dreams]

Skandar went to a new magic school for his final year. It was a lot more serious than the Eyrie, and spirit magic was not outlawed here. There was only one spirit instructor.

The prologue was interesting. It had Bill Cipher talking to two women with raven-themed outfits in a dreamscape. A distance away, someone else stood up, watching them with glowing white eyes. Bill realized someone else was there and ended the dream.

Skandar met with the spirit instructor. She was an older, no-nonsense woman that reminded Skandar of Agatha. He had a conversation with her as they wandered through the school, where he admitted he was a spirit wielder. She didn’t seem surprised, and told him that the spirit element was practiced here like all the others. Even so, the students seemed to neglect it in their training.

They talked about unicorns, where Skandar mentioned that the Eyrie put a lot of emphasis on controlling your unicorn. Here, it seemed to be focused on working with them instead, and he liked this notion. Scoundrel’s Luck was never a fan of their tactics.

As Skandar was about to go back to his dorm, the instructor admitted that she was leaving. She was going to the spirit tree and she would not be returning. Skandar was surprised at how devastated this made him. She said she’d write back to him, and took off on her unicorn.

Skandar flew after her, trying to stop her, but she deflected his magic. He fell back to earth.

Skandar wandered through the training yard. When others asked him why he was so glum, he said that the spirit instructor was leaving. This shocked the other students, and multiple went to chase her down like Skandar did. Skandar wondered if she had adopted the rest of the students here like she had with him. Something felt off though, but he couldn’t put his finger on what.

He watched her deflect their magic, then somehow turn invisible. He could still see a faint outline of her, and suspected that it was because he was spirit-allied. Interesting. He’d have to find out how she did that.

He woke up in the middle of the night, and found a letter on his pillow. He opened it, and found that it was from the instructor. She explained that the rest of the staff caught her, and she would be dead by morning. She was grateful to have met another spirit wielder, and she wanted to give him a gift: a branch from the spirit tree. They had destroyed it when they found her, but a piece of it would still live now that Skandar had it.

Something appeared on Skandar’s arm as he finished reading. A word, etched in magic: “vehemently.”

Skandar was upset, realizing that he was to blame for her getting caught since he had told other people. He vowed to plant the branch and grow another tree. But where?

On the back of the letter were directions to the spirit tree. North, then west, south, then east at specific landmarks. It was complicated, and explained why it was hidden for this long.

He grabbed Scoundrel’s Luck, then started to fly north for the exit. Staff began chasing him, and Skandar realized that maybe spirit wielders weren’t as welcome as he thought.

They made it out of the building and kept flying. Scoundrel was fast, but they were strong. Outrunning them would not be enough, so he tried something different.

Scoundrel spun around in midair to face his pursuers. He tapped into the air element alongside spirit, and the unicorn began to change, turning into a three-dimensional Bull Cipher. The air element was tied to the multiverse and Weirdmageddon. They used his chaotic power to strike down multiple guards, but they started using earth magic to deflect it. They abandoned this method and kept flying.

As they flew over a lake, Skandar activated his bond-sight and targeted the closest guard. He tangled up their bond, wrapping it around the unicorn’s wings, and it began to fall. He did this to a few more guards, and they were almost past the lake before an elite snapped Skandar’s bond. Skandar fell off and Scoundrel couldn’t fly, but he managed to grab the bond with his teeth and keep them tethered. They rejoined midair and turned east. They were almost there.

There were only two elites still chasing them, but they were stronger than the rest. They cut off Scoundrel in the air, forcing him to dive and take cover in a house.

The house was owned by a fire wielder that had been friendly to Skandar previously, but he didn’t trust that dynamic to remain. He avoided the family and the potential buyers touring the house, and found himself cornered in the living room.

The elites, an older woman and a large man, approached slowly, preparing to kill Skandar. He looked around for an escape, but the house was near-indestructible, having been built with unicorns in mind. He looked out the window, felt something click in his mind, and focused on his element as the elites came even closer. Then, after flicking through some options relating to the house’s price, Skandar and Scoundrel teleported outside. They immediately took off again as the elites gaped at him.

The woman looked up at the ceiling and saw an equation written in blue writing. A word appeared on her arm — “envious.” The lost power of teleportation had been rediscovered.

As the elites ran out of the room, the fire wielder from before hid in a corner. He liked Skandar, and the authorities of the school had been abusing their power for much too long. He wasn’t strong enough to fight them, but he could distract them and give Skandar precious time.

A word appeared in his arm with this realization: “annoying.” Yes, he could annoy the elites. Anger was an abusable emotion.

Skandar flew back to the school. He had a different plan now, to plant the tree in the middle of the training yard and show the school that the spirit element was here and it could not be ignored. The hard part was going to be getting there without being seen.

As he neared the school, he thought he saw the guards from before behind him, but they disappeared, the sounds of battle and flashes of fire following them.

Scoundrel landed on the ground and started running. Skandar tapped into the spirit element again, and managed to turn the both of them invisible. They could still see their own faint outline, but this clearly threw Scoundrel off, and he slowed his gait.

Skandar planted the branch in the ground and used the earth element. He wasn’t sure if this would do anything, but he wanted to try. The branch grew before their eyes, turning into a magnificent tree. Now to get the students to see it.

Inside the school, it was eerily quiet. Everyone was hiding. He needed to find a way to draw them out.

The fire boy from before appeared, and he had an idea. Skandar had found hidden abilities for multiple elements tonight — if he set up stations where others could learn them, that should intrigue the students enough to come out of hiding.

Skandar set up desks and colour-coded blankets for the air, earth, and spirit elements, but he hadn’t found anything for water or fire. The boy set up his own for fire, explaining he had found one on his own, where he could create lines of fire he could manipulate like whips. Still nothing for water, though. They decided it was good enough.

Fire boy went to the hiding places and told everyone about the training stations, while Skandar hid. They might not come out if they knew he would be there.

The stations worked perfectly, and a lot of people went outside to see the spirit tree as well. They looked at it with wonder instead of contempt, and it made Skandar proud.

He went to his dorm and laid down in bed. A moment later, the large man who had been chasing him entered the room, reaching out to grab him. Skandar’s roommate, who was his dad, told him that campus rules were in place again, and students could not be touched while in their beds. The man was annoyed, but didn’t try to grab Skandar at least. He just stood there, waiting for him to leave his bed for any reason.

Skandar whispered to his dad to find him some sort of weapon, and he came back with a gardening spade. Skandar tried to stab the man, but he missed. At least now he gave him a little space.

With nothing else to do, Skandar went to sleep, hoping he didn’t roll off his bed. When he woke up the next morning, the man was still there, awake, waiting for his chance. Skandar turned away from him and tried to do some studying, which was annoying when he couldn’t leave his bed.

An announcement rang through the building, calling Skandar Smith and the elite guard to headquarters. They were obligated to come, so Skandar left the bed and walked there alongside the guard, glaring at each other the whole time.

They met with the headmistress, who gestures for the elite to come closer. When he did, she killed him on the spot. Then, she turned to Skandar, apologizing for her previous elite’s behaviour. He should not have been harassing one of her best students.

She took Skandar by the shoulder and led him outside. Then, she produced what looked like a square pouch and put it on his head like a hat. This made Skandar an elite, and he was shocked.

The headmistress walked with him to the training yard, where students were practicing the new tactics Skandar had taught him. She explained that the school was like a hive, and she was the queen bee. If her drones didn’t do the work she wanted them too, she would kill them and easily replace them with someone who would. Skandar had proven himself a powerful rider with evading capture and discovering lost elemental tactics, and that was someone she would rather work with than against. So now he was an elite, or a “bull,” as the headmistress put it. She liked insect metaphors.

A student who had been cruel to Skandar turned a corner and almost ran into them. Seeing Skandar’s hat and associated status, they immediately ran away. Respect wasn’t something Skandar was used to, but he liked it. He would help run the school and make sure nobody was hurt like he was. Changing a system from the inside will always work, after all.

[duskys-dreams]

There was a battle between the devil, the angel/demon secret boss from cuphead (also the demon’s son) and Logan Sanders for the right to become president. The Angel and the hybrid both wanted it, Logan was mostly trying to stop them from having it for fear of the consequences.

After a minigame in the sky where they tried to gather points, they got the message that the meteorite had landed. The person to find it would become president.

The devil immediately jumped down, the hybrid close behind. Logan hesitated for a moment to find the best jumping point before following.

As he flew down the mountain and into the town, he heard people talking about the Theatre of the Mind. Logan changed course and flew there.

When he got there, he was surprised to find it actually there, and it came to him. The others had gone to their buildings hoping it would have come straight for them, but Logan was chosen. The rest of the sides (including myself) were waiting there to congratulate him on becoming president.

We went back to the hotel we were staying at, and declared that instead of the elevator, we would take the long stairway up, as a toast to Logan somehow.

Halfway up there was an elevator, and Roman and Janus went in. I stood in the doorway, debating whether I would join them, but decided to take the stairs with everyone else.

I caught up with the others, and we got to the room just after the elevator people. I argued that we had gotten exercise, which made us winners. We all settled into the room for the night.

I sat next to Logan as he did work on his computer. Being the president of the country meant he had a lot of responsibilities suddenly. The first thing he did was take an interview with the people in northern Nunavut, and he asked me if I had been there before. I said I hadn’t, but I was pretty sure my dad grew up there. I leaned on his shoulder and watched sleepily as he did his work.

The next morning, we gathered our stuff and prepared to move out. It wouldn’t do for the president to live in a hotel room, and that meant we had to find somewhere else. They were considering a mansion, but I said I liked the coziness of all of us being near each other all the time, so a smaller house would be great. We decided on a nice residential house instead.

A random girl wandered in as we were almost ready to leave, and she asked for something to take. I offered her an empty water bottle, and she said that was perfect.

We got into a big carriage that was just a platform on wheels. There was a wedding we had to visit on the way, and we wanted to show up in style. It was difficult to stay on the platform, and I nearly stumbled, but Logan caught me. I kept my arm linked with his for the journey.

We made it to the wedding, and someone who was directing the carriage jumped off and walked down the aisle. This was apparently her wedding. The other sides went in, but Logan and I stood on either side of the entrance.

The ceremony was short and sweet, and the bride came back up the isle and tossed the bouquet straight to Roman. He took one flower from it, and tossed it again into the crowd. He then handed the flower to Virgil.

We made it to the house and settled in for the night. My room was right by the door, everyone else’s was further in. During the night, a bone-thin white creature with long limbs and no face walked down the hallway and into the bathroom. This freaked me out a bit, but I did remember Logan mentioning that the house already had an owner who was sharing with us. This must be the guy.

Logan woke up first he next day, and I joined him. We decided to explore the house, and found a bunch of word puzzles in cabinets with increasingly suspicious labels. Logan was better with math than words, and couldn’t guess the word “energies,” so I took care of those. We talked about how this was kind of a new era for all of us. Logan was a bit apprehensive about it all, but I assured him that I — and everyone else — would be behind him no matter what, president or not. He’s still Logan first, and that was who was cared about. He thanked me for the reassurance.

Later in the day, we were all in the living room. I was reading a news article about how birds are drawn to thin hair and would sometimes trade toupees, but nobody was listening to me.

Remus showed up. He looked different somehow, but we couldn’t place it. He told us we had a mission, and had us chase him all the way to the mall.

We lost him soon after entering the building, but figured he probably went to the roof. The escalator up was blocked in by a fence made of basically just fabric and canvas, and we all did cool ninja flips over it as other shoppers shook their heads.

Up the escalator we went, and after a few levels, we were on the roof. We still didn’t see Remus, however.

As we walked across the catwalks, a crow swooped down and attacked Patton. He screamed and fell all the way down, back into the mall. We went after him, but weren’t fast enough even as we ran down the escalators.

We found Patton sitting on the ground, talking calmly to the bird. It was offering him a toupee, which he accepted.

I laughed, declaring that I knew that story was true. If only the others had listened to me, huh? Logan admitted I had a point. We grabbed Patton and went back home.

As we settled back into the house, I went to wash my hands, and saw Remus standing in the other room. I loudly asked where the hell he had been, and everyone else came over too. Remus didn’t seem to know what we were talking about.

I went back to the living room, where I found Logan, Virgil, and… Remus? Now that I had seen the real one, this one was definitely different. He had a rounder face, and the moustache seemed to be drawn on. I asked who he was, and he lowered the book, revealing flat purple bangs. “You foolish dummy. I was actually Virgil all along!”

The real Virgil held out his hands incredulously. “N… no. I’m right here.”

Not-Virgil looked between the three of us, blinked awkwardly, then disappeared. That was strange. We went to bed after that. It was a lot of shenanigans for one day.

I woke up around 4am to see that strange pale figure walking back from the bathroom again. He went back to his room, which was next to mine with walls made of glass. I called out to him, and he froze, surprised someone else was awake. I asked who he was, and he told me his name, which was an extremely long string of noises that took fifteen seconds to say. I asked if he had a nickname, to which he replied that he already gave his name. I explained no, a nickname is like a shortened version of your name. I suggested Mumoza, since it sounded like the start of his name. He accepted it.

I looked back at my room and was started to find Not-Remus there, crouched on my bed. He said we had a new mission to complete, and to speak to Hooty. I asked who Hooty was, and where we would find him, and he said he was right there in the cardboard box he brought. Then, he vanished again.

I opened the box to find a small brown owl. He sat in the middle of my moth plants and offered me a bunch of random rewards, one at a time.

Logan appeared, saying he had been hearing some strange noises. I introduced him to Mumoza and Hooty, and explained Not-Remus had been back. Logan woke the others, and we all gathered around Hooty.

[duskys-dreams]

I, Jacoblyn, lived in a large house with my parents, big sister, and little brother. My dad owned a party company, so we would often throw giant parties with thousands of guests. My sister was in charge of the living room, and it looked great, but our father forbade us from using these cool drape-lights, stating they used too much power. Considering everything else that as plugged in, I thought that was bull.

As I was being forced to make a giant bed and watching my brother (who lives in the bathroom) and restock the litter box, I finally had enough. I ran away to my friend’s cottage in a meadow.

As I walked around the cottage, I found some icy growing on the walls with pretty blue flowers scattered in it. As I got close, it traded up and looked at me. These were Singing Nettles, and they were very toxic. I wisely stayed away.

The friend, Murilyn, didn’t own the place either. She worked with her half-snake brother under her strict father, who cared more about profits than he ever did about family. They sold magic flowers.

After getting a harsh lecture from his dad about spacing out on the job, the brother went to find me. He and Murilyn were both done with their father, but he didn’t know what his sister was planning.

Someone ran across the field, then a few more. I knew something was wrong. I told the brother to lay down and plug his ears for five seconds, and I would turn us into small animals that could escape undetected.

I turned into a little white moth, but I wasn’t fast enough for the brother. A bunch of people burst in and grabbed him. Murilyn approached and was about to do something to him, but I finally completed the spell and turned him into a black fly. I hid in a crack in the wall until everyone’s back was turned and flew out the window.

Outside, I started to realize just how many people were under Murilyn’s thrall. Thousands of people… many of them from my father’s party.

The shapeshifting spell wore out, and I started to run as the people gave chase. I climbed up the building, and the singing nettles protected me. But it still wasn’t enough.

I changed the plants around me. As more people were about to climb, the singing nettles attacked. But instead of a painful rash, they got second and third degree burns. The grass began doing the same thing. Everyone was forced to climb in or on top of the building, while I stood safely in the grass below. Murilyn approached me, also unaffected by the fire, and I was ready for fight for my life. Then, something happened.

A giant woman emerged in the sky, looking down on us. She called to me by Cyan Night, and told me to break the spell. I killed my best friend… but the thrall on the people didn’t break. They screamed at me, tried to find a way down, and I realized that Murilyn had earned their loyalty through words. That would not do.

With the help from the woman in the sky, I casted a giant spell that killed almost everyone. Bodies slid off the roof, burns mutilating them further before I cancelled that spell. I gathered the bodies to float in the sky (which was harder than it looked) so that we wouldn’t have to deal with them.

The survivors, of which were only a few that had genuinely been put under a spell by Murilyn, awkwardly hung out in the cottage for the rest of the night, trying to enjoy the party with the mass of corpses just outside. Murilyn’s half-snake brother told me he didn’t think he could ever sleep again after seeing that.

Still, I had liberated the people. The giant woman gave me a nod and disappeared below the horizon.

[duskys-dreams]

I need to update this blog more. I have a huge backlog of dreams written down

[duskys-dreams]

An older teen named Chris worked at a haunted house of sorts. People would pay to explore the basement and would sometimes be attacked by ghosts, it was the staff’s job to keep the ghosts in check and make sure they got out safely.

The boss was a strict old woman, and she had a daughter named Mari. She was unusual, speaking only in specific retail sentences. Chris thought she was beautiful, but more than that, he had a bad feeding. Something about the way her mother acted made him suspicious.

One night, Chris was working with one other person, Jo, and they received word that two patrons had been attacked. This was the second one in rapid succession. Jo went to deal with the ghosts and told Chris to find someone to work the shift with them. They would need more hands. Naturally, Chris called Mari.

Mari responded in the odd way she did, pausing for a strange amount of time before confidently replying with the retail jargon. She seemed nervous tonight, said she could help them but would need Chris to come to her.

Chris drove to Mari’s house, a large and ominous mansion right next to the ocean. The mother didn’t seem to be home, so Chris parked in front of the garage and opened it. He wasn’t expecting what he found.

Mari was standing in the middle of the room, and on the walls were covered in writing, the exact phrases she would always say.

Chris picked up a laser pointer off a shelf and pointed at the different phrases. Mari read them in the exact cadence she always did. There was even a lone “E” on the wall. Chris always thought that it was a vocal tic she had, probably picked up from the customers, but even that was written into her.

As the pair walked out of the garage, Chris’ car moved by itself, driving straight into the ocean and disappearing. They ran back to the mainland on the edge of the island, using trees to avoid the ghosts and monsters that tried to push them into the sea.

They made it to work. Jo was waiting for them, and told the two to deal with the ghost attack. There has been another one since Chris had left but he had to stay at cash.

They went downstairs and found two people passed out. They woke them up and sent them back upstairs, but before they could go with them, there was another sound. Someone else was in the basement.

Chris peeked out the door and found himself immediately face to face with the boss. She saw Mari out of her room and immediately grew furious, attacking them with bryokinesis (manipulation of moss). They ran, and she gave chase.

Chris asked Mari what was going on, but Mari didn’t have the words to explain. She only knew the words she had been taught and didn’t actually know English at all. Still, she was starting to pick it up thanks to Chris.

The boss’ powers were stronger than anyone else, able to manipulate 50% of all moss. They thought fighting her was hopeless, but they noticed that she was actually taking supplements, a thick off-white liquid from a syringe. They came up with a plan.

Mari showed herself, and her mother attacked. While she was distracted, Chris snuck behind her and stole the medicine, replacing it with gabapentin.

Mari led her to the outside, where there was a sheer drop into some rocks and surrounded by massive trees. Mari jumped, grabbing the limb of a tree, and Chris yelled what she was doing, she could die. Mari yelled back “trust me!” which is a phrase she learned from him.

The boss gave chase to Mari, but not before injuring Chris to make sure he couldn’t follow. Mari swung across the branches, and her mother was using her moss manipulation to keep up. She had run out of her personal stash and was relying on the moss growing on the trees, and there wasn’t that much.

Eventually, she slipped up, and Mari swung around to kick her mother in the chest, sending her falling to the ground far, far below. Mari watched her mother hit the ground and stop moving, then kept going, reuniting with Chris on the ledge. He praised her for her clever plan and they had a nice moment, before Chris heard something and grew concerned. He asked if she was sure the boss hadn’t landed on moss, but before Mari could reply, a hand made of moss latched onto the ledge. The boss survived and swung back here, but her supplements had worn out, and she didn’t have enough to carry herself onto the ledge. She went to get more, then saw it had been stolen.

Mari leaned over the ledge. Using words that the woman had never taught her, Mari declared that she had been a horrible mother, and had created her doom herself. With her own hand, Mari sent a blast of magic to the moss, destroying it, and her mother fell straight into the sharp rocks. There was no doubt this time, as Chris looked down at the rocks spearing through the woman’s chest. She was dead for good. He and Mari left together, holding hands, and found that after the sun rose, everyone else had shown up for work at the same time. Mari explained that their corrupt boss was no more, and they could run the business their way. Everyone cheered, and for the first time, Mari felt like she was truly loved.

[duskys-dreams]

I was a selectively mute elf who lived in the forest with my family. Communication was always difficult, and I typically relied on gestures and facial expressions. My parents didn’t like me very much, and I also had a very unpleasant uncle I would try to avoid.

While travelling through the forest, I heard music playing. Music was forbidden in elf society, and I found myself drawn to it. The source was a traveller playing a pan flute, a human and a bobcat. He was nervous to see an elf and tried having friendly conversation, but I only stared at him. He grew uncomfortable and told me that he was here to search for two lost people, but they clearly weren’t here so he would just leave. I followed him out of the forest and watched him go into a corner store, where he bought a trans pin.

I was curious about those two lost people, so I went back into the forest to look for them. I unfortunately found my uncle instead, who sneered at me and said some cruel things about how I was barely an elf, too dumb to speak and too weak to fight. I left, furious and upset.

Under a hollow tree I found two cats, one a dull ginger-brown and the other a well-groomed tuxedo. Tuxedo stepped forward and shifted back into a human, asking me if I could help them escape these enchanted woods. With gestures and expressions and a drawing in the dirt, they figured out that I would take them to my father, who could discharge them. They agreed to come with me.

I had them hide next to the house with my best friend to watch over them. I then found my mother by the door, who knew I had plans to confront my father, and she took me inside.

Father asked me what I was doing back, and Mother said I had finished my grapes and needed twelve more. She elbowed me, and I nodded vigorously.

When he turned around to find the grape jar, I moved to a confrontational pose. He was surprised when he turned around and saw me, but seemed to immediately understand what this was about. He looked… sad, and admitted there was something he hadn’t told me about my past. I was expecting a fight, so this surprised me.

My father explained that he wasn’t my dad. I am the child of my uncle; my creation was an accident and he wanted nothing to do with me. Mother and Father hadn’t really wanted children either, but they set their feelings aside and took me in, and were glad they did so. I was their child in every sense of the word.

I was touched, and we had a nice moment together. I was supposed to come here to threaten my dad into letting the two lost shifters leave, but I didn’t want to do that anymore. Instead, I asked mother about when I last heard music, when a stranger had come to the forest. She nervously said that never happened, it was just a bubbling brook.

Outside, the shifters heard mom say that and panicked, immediately fleeing. My friend who was watching them was confused and said “but that’s literally none of your business-“

My old goal forgotten, I swore I would confront my uncle for abandoning me and having the gall to treat me cruelly. My parents agreed, and we left to his summer home.

As we crossed the street, dad said how I was a gifted roleplayer, I had learned in one year what it had taken my uncle a hundred. Being better than him made me feel proud.

We climbed the stairs and found my aunt there with my uncle. Father filled her in, and she went to fetch something from the kitchen.

The confrontation began, but it didn’t go as well as the previous. My uncle yelled at us and shifted into a bear before attacking my father. My parents gave chase, and my aunt had arrived at that moment holding a ceramic plate with a shard on top. I took it from her and ran after everyone else, immediately knowing what I had to do.

I heard my uncle roaring, and slashed the plate with the shard. There was a yelp, and then silence as he fell through the floor, leaving a puddle of blood behind. My aunt led me to the basement, knowing the job wasn’t finished yet.

There my uncle was, struggling to stand with a clean slash across his back. He growled at his sister, but she offered no rebuttals, only grabbing him in a headlock and waiting for me.

I slashed the plate again with the rapidly diminishing shard, leaving another bloody line across his back. With a flash of inspiration, I turned the plate over and sliced the bottom. A scratch appeared on his stomach, and there was finally fear in his eyes.

It took many more slices, but the seam gradually opened, spilling his guts across the floor as he screamed. My aunt released his cooling body and gave me a pat on the head before ascending the stairs, where my parents waited.

I only looked at my uncle, his insides spread across the floor, open to me in a way he never was in life. I offered him only a silent sneer before joining my real family.

[duskys-dreams]

Kris was on a family vacation, and was not having a good time. Being possessed by the soul was one big reason, but also they just didn’t want to be here. I didn’t either, but I was trying to make the most of it

The arcade had a lot of things, but the best part was Ant. He looked like Bezel, but with a tv head, and he acted a little different, like a mix between him and Tenna.

After an army of rats just kinda decided they didn’t want to fight us and got swept away by the river, I went back to my family, who was eating at a diner. Kris didn’t seem interested in eating, so I went to the bathroom.

Kris tore out the soul, which was a bit rude. Then they left, locking the bathroom and trapping me inside. These slug-like things began moving across the floor, and they covered every tile so nowhere was safe. Touching one would start an encounter like in the dark world, but it was just the soul, and I would automatically run away.

To escape the slugs, I hopped on the sink. One of Undyne’s spears was there, and I took it and made a body out of it, not unlike Pluey’s. I accidentally destroyed the sink as well, but I was too busy trying to escape.

I found a vent that connected to the outside world, and jumped trough it. I fell down on the other side and it made a giant crashing sound. Kris rushed over and shoved the soul back in them, flipping on the ground as if it was them who just broke out of the bathroom.

People were staring. I just maneuvered Kris back to the table and pretended nothing happened.

There were a bunch of kids at the table, and to mess with them, I turned into my spear form and began sliding around. The kids thought it was cool while Kris kept trying to grab me and my remote control. Suddenly, a hand appeared to grab Kris by the scruff and drag them away. Stealthily, I followed.

Mom and dad were yelling at Kris for apparently destroying the bathroom sink. They were much angrier than I thought they’d be, and were threatening to leave them behind. Kris was trying to defend themself, poorly, because they couldn’t admit it wasn’t them.

But I could.

“It wasn’t Kris, mom. It was me. Don’t get mad at them. It was me.”

Kris looked up in alarm, obviously hearing me speak. But mom and dad didn’t react, so out of options, I entered Kris’ body.

“Don’t get mad at Kris,” I told my parents, with Kris’ voice. “It was me, not them, and I’m… something else.”

It took some explaining, and an improvised system where Kris and I would indicate who was speaking by standing in different squares on the ground. But they started to understand — at least, they weren’t upset anymore. I was Dusk, and Kris was Kris. We were not the same entity.

I took Kris back to the table, noticing the entire batch of lasagna was empty. Kris said it was them, and I cringed, apologizing for not feeding them better. I don’t feel sensation in Kris’ body, including pain, so I can easily forget about that sort of thing.

We went wandering through the iHop, running into Kris’ friends, the seven fallen humans. They were all non-binary, somehow, so we were starting a club. Kris decided not to tell them what was going on for now, and I respected that. We found a baby bunny underneath a shelf and took turns cooing at it. We had to take it with us, but we’d need an enclosure first. Kris left the non-binary to figure it out.

We bumped hard into a shelf on the way back, and mom asked if we were okay. I said we were fine, my possession dampened pain. Kris asked me to leave, so I did, a little confused. I floated away to find something else to do.

I caught the tail end of Kris’ words as I left. “The hell it dampens anything. The damn thing just doesn’t feel pain, but I do…”

Kris caught up to me later, and we walked side by side. I was slower than them, but it was nice to just exist as equals, rather than puppet and puppeteer.

There was an announcement on the PA that [real name] was looking for something or other, but I stopped listening the second I heard that name. I was here as Dusk — how could the real me be in this same place? I jumped into Kris and immediately took us to checkout.

There I was. Standing with a family that looked like mine, I was real, and looked over at us. I couldn’t get closer, but I waved, and touched my chest in a heart shape. The other (real?) me’s eyes widened and pointed to who looked like Mom, but with a strange jester’s outfit. Ze pointed back at zirself, one hand on zir chest and the other next to their head in an antenna shape. I understood — ze was from the simulation timeline. I got flashbacks of Cain running the convenience store despite his depression, because if he gave up then the game would crash for everyone; shadowguys that would take you to the back of the store if you dropped something, forcing you to eat a gross plum as punishment; mom appearing in this digital circus, digital hell, and taking too long to adapt. I gestured that the two of us should stay away from each other, and the other me nodded.

I stopped possessing Kris once we were away, and they asked what the hell was all that. I told them that I was entitled to my own secrets, just like they were to theirs. Kris scoffed, asking what kind of privacy did they have when being possessed by an otherworldly entity. I pointed out their connection to the roaring knight, and how they seemed to be working with them in some capacity, not to mention the voice on the phone. Kris got defensive, asking what I would do about it.

“Nothing,” I said, as I slipped between shelves. “You’re entitled to your secrets, as I am to mine. As long as you’re willing to help us seal fountains and protect our friends, I won’t ask you any questions.”

Kris seemed mollified by that, but their eyes still narrowed. “My friends, not ours. Not yours.”

I did my best approximation of shaking my head. “I’d like to move past that. You have much more freedom now, more than I thought I was capable of giving. Now that we’re closer to equals, I would like to have the chance to let your friends be mine, now that they can know me for who I am.”

“Fine,” Kris said. “But do that yourself. They don’t know you yet, so don’t jump to conclusions.”

That seemed like the best I could hope for. We wandered around the store a while longer, before mom called us back and said we were leaving. Kris had two human siblings (presumably Frisk and Chara) who had also made friends with Ant, and we all began hatching a plan. We had to take Ant with us — he deserved more than life in the arcade, displaying games for ungrateful kids, never having any real connections.

We found Ant’s charging station just sitting in an unlocked garage, and snuck it into the trunk. Somehow mom didn’t notice, even though it was as big as a bed. We ran to the arcade to convince Ant.

Ant wanted to come with us — we were his first real friends, after all — but he didn’t think it was possible. He had never set foot out of the arcade before, and he needed to stay charged. We already had the charging station, and I told Ant that he should be able to leave. I thought I couldn’t exist for this long outside of Kris, but I could, so maybe these boundaries were all in our heads. As a darkner (?) Ant was able to hear me, while Frisk and Chara couldn’t (although they were briefed on the soul situation and were chill with it). Ant perked up, and said he would try. He stepped out of the arcade doors without issue, and we directed him to a city bus that would take him close to our house. We simply didn’t have the space for an eight-foot-tall robot in the car, and also we weren’t sure how our parents would react to taking a strange man home with us.

Kris and I went back into the store to check on the fallen club. They were building an enclosure, but the rabbit kept running around and had already broken a large piece. Kris took the rabbit and said it wouldn’t be an issue anymore, and gave me a meaningful look. I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but I entered the rabbit’s body, and found I could possess or just fine. I had it settle down on the counter and loaf quietly while everyone worked, fascinated by the rabbit’s sudden change in demeanour. Kris must be a bunny whisperer.

The enclosure was finished, and the rabbit was placed inside. I left it and returned to hovering next to Kris, who gave me a nod of appreciation. Someone else would be taking the bunny, since we didn’t have space, but we would see it again soon. We went back to the car.

We drove away at the same time as the city buss, and we waved to Ant. He was apparently a small celebrity now and soaking up the attention, but happily waved back at us.

Mom asked who we were waving at, and Frisk hesitantly broached the subject with “so, if some guy started living in our house…” because even if we got Ant home flawlessly, we wouldn’t be able to hide him and his massive charging station forever. Mom was not happy with this hypothetical at first, but Chara and Kris eventually convinced her to give it a shot.

We stopped for gas, and the city bus stopped too. We went to say hi to Ant, and when it was time to leave, somehow squished him into the car. Chara sat on his shoulders while Frisk was resigned to the trunk, but this was the best we could come up with. We were on the last leg of the journey, and the bus would have been going further away by this point.

We got home and dragged his charging station to the basement. I also set down a laptop, a couple of cards, a broken jingle bell, and a purple cat plush. We had taken some of Castle Town with us on the trip, so it was time to bring them home. We had school tomorrow, where we could talk to Susie, and Ralsei would be waiting for us like always. I couldn’t wait for them to finally meet me.

[duskys-dreams]

Something bad was going to happen to Earth. I left with Marcel and Xander, and we stopped at a restaurant for food, where I met someone new.

I was posting some art I made, and she posted hers right after, which was rude. I started arguing with her, at one point asking about the art she posted, where she revealed interesting Sonic lore that intrigued me. We put the argument behind us and hung out for the rest of the time. I learned that her name was Ally and this was her first time visiting Earth, but now that it was getting destroyed, she has to leave. I introduced myself as Moon and offered to go with her.

We went into her spaceship, which was more like a tiny sphere. Ally started driving, but she started to breathe heavily and stoped steering. She was having a panic attack, so I had to take over flying.

We were approached by three similar-looking spaceships, except they were darker in colour. They fired at us, which I managed to dodge with an uncontrollable sharp turn. I managed to return fire on one spaceship before I had to flee, dodging and weaving with terrifying speed.

Before long, a large mothership that somewhat resembled a hover drone came into view. I dove underneath it and turned back to my pursuers, who had wisely decided to back off. I managed to direct the spaceship in through a hole at the bottom, and Ally and I exited the ship. She was doing better now, and complemented me on my flying skills. Few flyers could direct their ship like that. I laughed and thanked her, but added that I was probably not the best candidate for flying.

Ally led me to a group of girls our age, and introduced me as a new cadet. They were friendly, but went back to their own thing quickly.

More girls joined the group, clearly already familiar with everyone there. To my surprise, a boy wandered in, and everyone began baby-talking at him and acting really condescending. He told us that Admiral Heather would be here shortly, and left.

I asked Ally what that was all about, why did everyone react to the boy like that. She looked confused and said that’s the way it was here — males weren’t as capable as females, and would remain on the ship doing menial work while the women went on important missions. Sexism was alive and well on the mothership.

Admiral Heather made her appearance, and all the girls snapped to attention. She welcomed everyone back from their scouting missions to find Warg outposts, and told everyone to report any findings to her office later. This group had proven themselves as worthy warriors, and would be welcomed into the next rank. Then she dismissed us, and we all went back to our quarters.

Ally took me to her room, and we talked. I asked her what happened back on the ship, when she shut down, and she nervously said that it just happens sometimes. She doesn’t know why.

I told her that it was most likely a panic attack, and I had them too occasionally. I explained how they worked and how they were not a symptom of weakness or anything of the sort. Ally seemed mystified, telling me that everyone thought she was suffering from some sort of disease, and no treatment had worked, in fact they often made it worse. Fearing that it was contagious, nobody would share a room with her.

I confidently told her that I would stay here with her, and she seemed genuinely surprised, and thanked me earnestly. I offered a hug, and Ally hesitantly tried, the concept apparently new to her. I hugged her, and she whispered that it was nice. I’d have to sign up to officially be able to stay in this room with her, but for tonight it was fine.

I took the empty bed on the other side of the room and watched as Ally took out a journal and started writing. I was curious, and managed to catch a glimpse of a sentence that had my name in it, but decided not to push the issue. She was entitled to her privacy. We went to bed.

I woke up in the middle of the night to find Ally breathing shakily. I came over to her and quietly asked what she’d like me to do. She gasped out that she didn’t know, so I sat on the edge of her bed and wrapped her in a bear hug. It seemed to help, and Ally regained control of her breathing in just a few minutes. I asked if she was okay now, and she said yes. I asked if she’d like me to stay, and she said yes. I held her for the rest of the night, and we fell asleep that way.

We awoke early the next morning, and Ally said it was time for training. They were going to assess everyone’s abilities individually, to make sure they hadn’t fallen during their time away. I stopped by the front desk and signed up as Ally’s roommate, and the clerk registered me in the system. I could now train with everyone else.

The first was flying. I was naturally skilled at evasion and aerial battle, but making sharp turns and navigating tight spaces turned out to be an issue for me. At least I knew now.

The other lesson, surprisingly, was on water. I went on a jet ski with two guides, and we took off. I actually found it easier than flying, but the exercise was a lot longer, and familiarizing myself with the jet ski’s controls turned out to be a steep learning curve. I couldn’t fit through the last doorway and got marked down for it.

The tests were over, and I met up with Ally by a refreshments table. We talked about our results, but the conversation turned back to earth. Ally was not supposed to be there at all, as the people here were forbidden from ever visiting the primitive earth for fear of one group infecting the other somehow. They were told stories about how males dominated the society there and the injustice all around, and were made to believe that this backwards planet had nothing good about it. But Ally found it beautiful, and wished she could return and befriend one of the fluffy creatures she saw, a dog. Such an idea was treason, of course.

I noticed a guard looking directly at us. Her name was Luna, and she started to approach us stiffly. We ran. Ally turned out to be very bad at sneaking, and we ran all the way back to our room with Luna close behind. We were cornered.

Luna looked down at us and reached into her bag. We tensed, expecting her to pull a weapon, but she drew out a small white creature. She placed it on the floor and shut the door without a word.

I recognized this creature. This was my dog, Ferdinand! I had no idea how Luna happened across him. We made sure to make Ferdie a hiding spot during the way, and spent the rest of the time cuddling the old dog.

Ally leaned against me, and I took her hand. I asked how she felt. She said she felt… home, for the first time. This place finally felt like home, and it was because of me. We spent the rest of the night at each other’s side.

[duskys-dreams]

Amaterasu was travelling across Nippon with a group of people to help her, not unlike Chibi’s partners. They found a baby bird on some stairs and Sunny told her to hatch it in a hidden yard so it would be safe.

As she was doing that, she was attacked by a demon that she managed to fight off without damaging the egg. She also noticed that one of her partners, Lukas, was absent for this fight, which was odd. That partner appeared in a raft a moment later, alarmed and apologetic for not being there when she was in danger. He was scouting the house, and hadn’t found anything specific, but it had bad vibes.

They all kept moving through the massive house. Every doorway was covered in darkness and seemed to teleport everyone who walked through it to a random room. Eventually it was just Amaterasu and Lukas walking together.

They were ambushed by a group of people, not demons strangely, who captured Lukas and demanded that he give up the locations of all the people they’d save along the way. Lukas refused, so Aiden punched him in the face.

Amaterasu didn’t want to abandon Lukas, but there was an item in the horse barn that could make it so easy for them both to escape. Lukas assured her he would be fine, so Ammy took off as he continued to get pummelled.

The horses were scattered and panicking, with one horse trying to calm everyone down with some chants. Amaterasu snuck past and took the item from the barn with little issue.

When she returned, she found an odd sight. Her partners had found them and tried to help, but it seemed like time had been frozen. When Amaterasu spoke with individual people, they would become unfrozen enough to talk, but both Lukas and his captors were still completely stuck.

When Amaterasu approached, a woman explains that Lukas kept taunting them, daring them to hit harder, be worse. They were going so fast at this point that time had frozen. This tactic wasn’t working.

The woman smiled. They did have other methods they could employ, that even the goddess of the sun would not be able to stop.

Lukas unfroze and started moving erratically, as of being pushed by invisible forces, before vanishing all at once. Amaterasu could hear odd sounds around her, but they weren’t from this world.

The woman grinned and vanished, and the rest of her team quickly followed.

They had taken the fight to the real world. They had kidnapped her roommate.

Amaterasu’s team gathered around her. She said that she had to go rescue Lukas, and it’s possible that she might not be able to return. Everyone said their goodbyes, and Amaterasu took off her vr headset.

It was strange to be human again, after so long of being a wolf. Ammy crawled up the stairs on all fours, eyes out and ears pricked for where they could be keeping Lukas. She found the room easily enough, but charging in now would be a death wish. Instead, she targeted a room on the other side that contained the leader. She crept forward, knives out, and launched her attack.

She had learned how to wield weapons as Amaterasu, and so managed to hold her own quite well. When she held out her hand to use her celestial brush, however, nothing happened. She couldn’t rely on that in the real world.

She managed to kill the leader, and looked for the next room. She found my mother, and used a glaive to stab her through the next to finish the fight quickly. Then, she had to face my dad, who was much stronger. It was difficult, but Ammy managed to kill everyone in the house.

At last she came to Lukas, bruised and bloodied but alive.

[duskys-dreams]

I was part of a field trip run by my English teacher, Mrs Hills (real person, fake name). Marcel and I were the oldest students by far.

I noticed a strange adult man dressed in grey watching us from afar, and I convinced everyone to get on the bus and leave before he could do anything. I sat down in my seat, closest to the door, and I heard a voice behind me. Somehow, the man was on the bus and standing in the aisle.

Somehow I knew this man was incredibly dangerous. I got out of my seat, along with a young girl who followed me, and jumped off the bus, landing in downtown just by the hill to my house. I waited there for a long time, armed with nothing but my throwing spear.

Mom eventually found me, and took me home along with Marcel and Xander. She took us to the trampoline behind our house and explained the situation. We were part of AkiraTheKersonine’s Wings of Fire map, and we had work to do.

Mom handed each of us three small eggs and one large egg. We had to hatch them for part of the project. Somehow, Xander had accidentally broken all three of his eggs before mom had even finished talking. She yelled at him that he wouldn’t be getting any more eggs and sent Marcel and I to get out jobs done. One of my eggs rolled away, but Xander caught it and handed it back to me. The egg was broken too. He was very apologetic.

The large egg hatched into a beautiful blue-spotted toad, and I set to work animating my part. It was an AU map, where Darkstalker promised Fathom power if he did some terrible things for him. But at the end, instead of turning him into a high-ranking Blue or Green, he turned him into a Collector, the lowest possible rank. He started freaking out while Indigo hugged him and screamed at Darkstalker. It turns out Marcel had done the exact same map part, and also hatched a blue-spotted toad. Mom said she would deal with it.

We would trade these animations for Advil. We had run out, and Mom needed to take it every day or else a horrible headache would overtake her. She had been unable to have her phone calls with Dad in the mornings because of how much pain she was in. She brought down the mood.

As for me, I needed some lozenges. My throat was horribly cracked. Mom had me call some people who could deliver the medication for both of us, and they were very confused when they didn’t recognize my voice.

Mom took Marcel and I back to the spot I first landed at, where we met the young girl from earlier. A few teachers pulled up, including Mrs Hills, where she confirmed that these were indeed her students, more or less. The girl went to another school but was visiting for this field trip.

We had to keep running though, because the man had caught up to us.

There were two people, who could become one. Red had red wings, that would turn blue when their partner Blue merged with them. Red also had powerful wild magic that they couldn’t really control, but when they and Blue worked together in one body, it could be harnessed. But aside from this partnership, Blue had no powers of their own, something they were self-conscious of. They felt that they were only useful when leeching off of Red.

The girl from before had powers of her own, much weaker but still useful. And Jake had healing and strengthening abilities, something that would be very useful in their battle against Janus. Janus was a two-headed snake, incredibly powerful and dangerous. They took the form of a giant black snake with non-solid body, allowing it to fly and slip through small gaps.

In their first clash, Red and Blue found a small white dog left behind where Janus had retreated. They took it with them back to their base, which was the roof of my house.

This dog was Ferdinand, my elderly dog. He wouldn’t be useful in the fight, but they still needed to keep him alive and safe. They gave him these medication shots to help with his health. They also discussed their next plan while they were here, which would be for one of them to wait in the sky as bait, and when Janus revealed themself, the others would perform sneak attacks. With that, they flew away to take their places. They had to leave Ferdinand behind in a kennel, but this would keep him safe.

Red and Blue waited in the sky, flying in loops like they were on a scouting mission. The girl and Jake watched from below, ready to attack the moment Janus appeared. And Janus did, but with both teammates wrapped in their coils. Somehow, he had foreseen their plan and put a stop to it. They taunted Red and Blue as they tightened their hold, slowly suffocating their allies.

There was no other option. They challenged Janus to a death duel, invoking an ancient call to battle that had long since been outlawed. Janus could not refuse.

The battle began.

Red and Blue powered up each other’s attacks, hitting Janus with more force than should have been possible. But Janus wouldn’t go down. They activated invincibility, which would last for eighteen minutes, but somehow they kept taking damage from Red and Blue’s attacks. Special defences like that didn’t work in these ancient death duels, one of the reasons they had been outlawed.

Red and Blue found themselves victorious. Jake and the girl were released, and they came back down to earth, where everyone was waiting and cheering. But here was something they had to do first.

Jake was part of their team, but the girl was not, and she never wanted to be. She has asked that once this was all over, they make sure she never had to fight again. So, they took her to a field and transformed her into a soft brown moth, and she flew away to live her life in peace.

Before they could rejoin their group, Blue paused. There was something they wanted to talk about.

Blue worried they they were holding Red back. They had all these incredible powers, immeasurably strong. They could do anything. But when Blue was there, that power was weakened. And they had nothing to bring to the table, either, powerless as they were. Maybe it would be best for them to become a moth too, and leave Red to allow them to be whole.

Red disagreed. Blue’s presence made that power manageable, when before it was too strong to safely wield. They were also incredibly smart and loyal, and Red wasn’t sure where they’d be without them.

And… even if Blue didn’t have powers, they were still glad to be near them every day. Because they love them. Only together were they whole.

Touched, Blue allowed Red to guide them back to the group. Everyone offered their congratulations, but Mrs Hills was concerned. She saw what they’d done, invoking the outlawed death duel, and worried that the cosmic law would come to seek trial. Red and Blue assured them that as most of Earth didn’t even know aliens existed, the planet was not bound by intergalactic law.

Not even a moment later, They were summoned to the courtroom. Red and Blue sat at a desk before the judge, a thin green vine snake. This was a well-known and respected judge. Hopefully she would listen to what they had to say.

The trial began. The judge declared that she had seen what Red and Blue had done, invoking the death duel. This was an illegal and unfair act. The courtroom was shocked. Nobody had tried to do that in decades. Why would they, now?

Red and Blue confessed that this was true, but argued how it was necessary. Janus was a dangerous criminal and planned to wipe out Earth. This was the only way to stop them. The judge disagreed. While Janus was a criminal, the death duel was a criminal act. This put Red and Blue on the same level, and they had earned the same punishment.

As the gavel was about to drop, Mrs Hills appeared in the back of the room, in her true form as a yellow octopus person. She marched forward and said that this trial was null, as Earth was not bound by intergalactic law. As residents of that planet, Red and Blue could not be charged for breaking laws that did not apply to them.

The jury was agreeing, and the judge bristled. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Under her breath, she muttered “if only you had stayed dead the first time.”

Blue stiffened. Mrs Hills had been killed by Janus earlier, revived by their defeat. How did the judge know that had happened? In fact, how did she know of the death duel when everyone else in the room had been surprised?

The judge turned back to look at Blue and winked.

Blue began to freak out, concerning Red. The judge in front of them was an imposter, a fake. That was Janus, seeking vengeance. But nobody else had put the pieces together yet, not even Red.

The judge disappeared behind her desk, done arguing with Mrs Hills. The lights dimmed, and a long dark shadow appeared behind the desk, taking form into Janus. Then, they began to attack everyone in the room.

Red and Blue started to run, but as Janus whipped past, Blue was sent flying into a wall and knocked unconscious. Red quickly merged with them so they could both escape.

Outside the building, they met with Jake, along with a few other aliens who weren’t sure what was happening. They all flew away, back down to earth and to their base on the roof.

They landed when it was dark, and Red separated from Blue and gently laid their partner on the ground. Jake set to work healing them while Red turned to Ferdinand to give him his medication.

Blue woke up with a start, their eyes landing on the white dog. They yelled out for Red to stop, and they did, confused. Blue explained, breathlessly tripping over their worlds. Janus was a shapeshifter and had taken the form of the judge in an attempt to see them punished for winning. They could have taken any form.

Their eyes locked on Ferdinand. How had Janus known of their plan to ambush them? It was almost as if…

The dog’s cloudy eyes turned pitch black, and the shadows around them strengthened all at once. Janus was here all along.

[catchymemes]

[duskys-dreams]

This blog exists for exactly this reason

[duskys-dreams]

The Animorphs split up into groups of two to drive a bunch of cars. I, Rachel, was with Jake.

We saw Ax crash into a tree, so we parked and ran out. Jake ran a different direction, which was odd, but I didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

Marco was there too. I opened up the car door and hauled Ax out. He was unconscious and packed into a strange ball from the impact. I held him as I begged him to morph human.

After a few horrible moments of nothing, he began to move, and stumbled across the street as he slowly morphed to human. Marco and I followed him as he went into a sort of restaurant.

Something was wrong here, we knew that well enough. Ax wasn’t right.

I spotted Jake as we were going up the stairs, and I caught his eye. He nodded back at his younger cousin that he had to watch, but I pointed up at Ax. He sighed and went up after us, and I filled him in, saying that Ax had crashed his car into a tree and was taking it extremely personally.

Jake ordered a couple of muffins for us as Ax wandered around the small restaurant. Eventually, he left again, and we followed. Ax asked us if we had heard him earlier, and we said no. He seemed relieved and kept walking.

I had seen him with a packet that looked awfully similar to sugar, and realized that it was a cleaner packet. Those are poisonous to eat. We dragged Ax back up the stairs and sat him down. I pulled out my phone to Google what to do, and Jake just looked at it in wonder.

Every time I searched something up, it would just show me the cast of this weird cleaner movie, and after multiple different attempts, I just gave up.

We tried to get Ax to vomit or eat something to cancel it out, but he refused to cooperate. In his mind, crashing the car was so egregious that he deserved death in the most dishonourable way possible.

The restaurant cleared out, as it was closing time, but we remained. Ax morphed back to Andalite, but we still had to work to make sure he wouldn’t try anything.

We noticed the cashier watching us oddly, but we just wrote it off. We had bigger things to deal with.

The rest of the Animorphs finally showed up, and Cassie had the idea of taping all of Ax’s fingers. We decided to do that.

We then noticed the cashier taking a picture of us. We told them to cut it out, but they didn’t want to. They just said they were positing it on social media, nothing to worry about.

Then we heard a group of people walking up the stairs, and I turned to everyone else and asked “what are we supposed to do if they point a Dracon beam at us?” Jake sent the rest of us to the nearby closet for battle morphs.

We did that, and returned as a chubby older woman was pointing a gun at Ax. I ran up to her from behind and knocked the dracon off the aim just as it fired. I couldn’t see the beam at all,  but it turns out I had just blocked it with my paw. And holy crap it hurt.

Battle ensued. Everyone was scattered across the two rooms, fighting for our lives. The cashier from before was still filming, and I got pissed off at them and just yanked them into the fray, saying that if they enjoyed watching us being killed so much, they could join us. They were ready to wet their pants.

But suddenly, everything went quiet. A controller had a dracon beam right at Ax’s skull. They told us that they would spare him if we agreed to fight for the yeerks. They went to us one by one, and the others agreed, but I did not. A controller readied a shot, but I managed to duck out of the way and run toward the storage area.

POV shift to Marco. He was frustrated that Rachel would mess up the plan, but he ran after her anyway.

As he and Cassie crouched behind a shelf, Cassie pointed out a car. If they could sneak a bomb in, Marco could bring it over to the controllers and explode them. He agreed, and slid underneath the car as it rolled toward the group of humans.

He realized that he would get caught in the radius too at this point, and wondered why Cassie hadn’t thought to warn him. Even so, he hucked the car toward them and crouched down as it exploded. He was fine, and realized he was the only one who had he ability to both throw the car at them, but also survive.

I woke up before the battle ended, but with that car bomb move I can only assume we won. Hope Ax was okay.

[duskys-dreams]

The cast of HTTYD was in the library. I was trying to find some gay romance books, but it was tough going.

There was an older woman with a really nice purple suit. I told her I liked her outfit, and she just laughed because literally everyone had said the same thing to her. She tried to find a stew recipe to thank us.

The Dragon Riders left the library and flew to a small house, resting on the grass just outside.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut wanted to play a prank on everyone. When they went to sleep, they set up some crystals on the ground to swallow up the other dragon riders. They nearly got Fishlegs and Meatlug, but Hiccup and Toothless woke up in time to warn everyone.

As they all recovered from that near death experience on the grass, some gold lights began approaching them. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had no idea what this was, and neither did anyone else.

It got closer, and they all flew away, regrouping in a field. It looked like they had gotten away, but they would take precautions this time.

Everyone slept a short distance away from each other and took some sort of protection with them, like a helmet. Snotlout forgot to pick up his pot helmet, and I threw it at him as he was about to fly away. It clattered noisily on the ground.

Everyone went to sleep, but Astrid didn’t. She didn’t trust that they were safe.

She began nodding off anyway, and woke up when the gold lights were almost upon them. She yelled for everyone to get up and run, but it was too late for them.

Astrid ran. She had to find a way to save her friends somehow, with no dragon, all alone.

Well, not completely alone, she realized as Gustav peeked out from behind a tree. He had been hiding from the malicious lights as well. Astrid took him along, despite her reservations toward the boy.

They climbed a tree and were hopping from branch to branch, hoping that the altitude would protect them from the lights.

Astrid heard a whisper as she walked along a branch. It sounded eerie, and she didn’t recognize the voice. “With the boy, you can do anything.”

She asked Gustav if he had said anything, and he shook his head. They continued navigating the branches.

Another whisper. “The next branch is dangerous. You must find another.” Astrid was just about to leap to another tree limb, but she decided not to. She went for another one a bit to the right.

As they continued, they noticed that some of the tree’s branches were specifically reaching out to grab them.

There was yet another whisper. “Find the right port side to get past.”

Astrid jumped to the left, but there was nothing there. Midair, she pivoted to the right, and found a safe branch.

Who was this mysterious guide? Could they really be trusted? Gustav seemed to think so.

They reached the end of the forest and hopped down to the ground, into a small pile of red hibiscus flowers. Gold lights surrounded them for a moment, before riding up to take the form of ancient cats.

They explained their story. They had once been a peaceful race of cats, living in a beautiful valley. But one day, they were attacked by a huge pack of coyotes, and their village was wiped out.

Their spirits sought revenge. Blinded by hatred, they saw every life form as a coyote or a descendant of. The only way to protect oneself from the malice was to show you truly weren’t one of them.

“But how could we do that?” The spirit explained that the river that lead to their old home was powerful, but harmless to good spirits. If they could let themselves be swept along, without struggling, the spirits would see that they were not the enemy.

Astrid and Gustav thanked the spirit and left for the river. The gold lights followed, and they ran, finding themself on the bank of the river before long.

Gustav went in first, letting himself be swept along without so much as a paddle. Astrid jumped in as well just as they lights nearly had her. The river was fast and terrifying, but Astrid forced herself to relax and not try to find the surface.

The river eventually spat them out in a flooded and ruined town. It was beautiful, but fallen far from its former glory. Floating in the water was an unusual amount of red hibiscus flowers.

The two Vikings were lucky to be alive. On impulse, Astrid snatched Gustav into a tight hug.

The lights fell into the water and formed into more cats, who approached and apologized for their aggression. They were clearly not the enemy.

But they still had to rescue the other dragon riders! They climbed out of the settlement and ran through the forest, the lights chasing them once more. But they weren’t in danger this time.

The found the other riders in the same place as before, surrounded in lights and seemingly turning to stone. Astrid and Gustav started dragging them toward the river, and the lights who had witnessed their demonstration helped them.

They pulled them back through the forest and tossed them into the river. They washed up at the end safe and sound, and no longer stone.

As they were all gathered, the lead spirit stepped forward and offered to show his memories, what really happened that fateful night.

The coyotes attacked, and left dozens of cats floating in the water, dead. But a few had survived, pretending to be dead as the coyotes surveyed the damage they had caused. When they were gone, they stood and climbed out of the valley, searching for a way to revive their friends and family.

One of them, called the Blue-Eyed Saviour thanks to an earlier prophecy, made it the furthest out of any cat. But as he was about to climb a wall, he fell, turning to golden light and his body turning to red hibiscus flowers.

The rest of the cats had also turned to light, and they left the valley, searching the forest for the coyotes who had hurt them. The light would extinguish the darkness on this land.

But now they had friends, allies who had proven themselves to be trustworthy and good. They still sought revenge on the coyotes, but the dragon riders were granted free passage in this cursed woods.

With that, the movie was over. I was watching it with my dad, along with Nick, and I loved it.

Still alseep, in the kitchen I tried to find the movie online, but it wasn’t anywhere. It wasn’t a real movie, it was invented by this dream. I was sad, and said it could’ve had a cool name, like “Hallowed: a Hollow Lie.”

[duskys-dreams]

I was watching a warrior cats series on YouTube. It was an AU, and regarded as one of the best accomplishments of the fandom.

Fireheart had joined a clan of cats that lived in a fortress of sorts. The leader was a slim, tall, bronze she-cat named Leapstar. She was rather strict, but a very good leader and well-liked.

The premise of the series was that Scourge was trying to end the clan, because he despised IceWings and that was what the clan cats were, apparently. He had three henchmen, a tom, an eager and rather violent she, and an anxious tom who everyone regarded as loyal and stupid.

It turned out that Princess, Fireheart’s mother, was part Unicorn, which granted great power that she had no idea how to use. It turned out that Hollyleaf was also Princess’ daughter, so she and Fireheart were half-siblings.

Meanwhile, back with Scourge’s army, they were planning their next move. Scourge demanded that they find four suits of armour for half off by the end of the day. The anxious tom did some mental math, dividing the cost of armour by half and them multiplying by four, and deduced that they had enough money for that, and something else. He slipped away while everyone else was arguing.

He returned with the armour, and dropped some books in front of everyone. Scourge had to read them upside down from his position, but he was pleased. The tom had picked out books on IceWing weaknesses and strategies. He had done well.

The she-cat went to Princess’ home and prepared to push her off the balcony.

Scourge’s army travelled to the fortress under the cover of night. All the clan cats were gathered inside, but it was dark enough that they could go inside too and not be noticed.

Leapstar noticed that something was off. She stepped forward, ears alert, searching for the intruders. She stopped just before Scourge, unable to see him until he suddenly attacked, killing her instantly. Leapstar stumbled back, her wounds glowing white for a moment before disappearing. She had lost a life.

The clan cats leapt into battle. They heavily outnumbered Scourge’s army, but he was formidable, and took down cats left and right.

The anxious tom saw a chance to prove himself to Scourge. Leapstar had paused to catch her breath, and he lunged, killing her with a powerful blow to the neck. She fell and lost yet another life. He looked around to see if anyone had seen his act of loyalty.

Scourge hadn’t even noticed.

At one point, Fireheart and Scourge found themselves face to face. Scourge gleefully hissed that he was going to kill Princess, or maybe he had already done it. Fireheart swung at him, but he dodged and started running, toward Princess’ house.

Fireheart turned to a brown cat, the fastest in the clan, and sent him after Scourge. He began running, and it looked like he was gaining on the little cat.

Just like that, the battle was over. Scourge’s henchmen were all dead, and the leader was gone.

But Leapstar was dead.

Fireheart carried her out of the fortress as the other cats followed, and they met on a hill nearby. They had to decide on a new leader, since the clan didn’t technically have a deputy.

After a long moment of hesitation, Hollyleaf offered herself as leader. Eventually, the rest of the clan did too.

But suddenly, Leapstar was revived! She was down to her last life, but she wasn’t gone yet. She jumped on the top of the hill, and Fireheart pushed aside her wings so he could stand next to her.

The battle had been won.

The brown cat managed to stop Scourge, so Princess was okay. She visited the clan to show her gratefulness, and offered to show cats how to become unicorns themselves (she had to adopt them).

The credits were a joy to watch. Cats were becoming unicorns, Fireheart was named the official deputy, that one girl who had a crush on the friendly robot got together with him, Scourge and his henchmen sulked in the Dark Forest, everything was good. I was so happy I decided to watch this series.

I decided to Google what the hell the unicorn stuff meant. It took some time and a lot of specifying, but it turned out that unicorn was one of the forms a cat could take if they were destined to be leader. It was dependent on moon signs and astrology and stuff. I saw an image of Lionheart looking like a wolf, and someone’s OC named Ivytree who took the form of an imp. “But she only had like three horns because she was so docile.”

I thought that was weird, because it didn’t really make much sense in the context of the series, but who am I to judge. It was the best thing in the fandom, after all.

[duskys-dreams]

The king was leaving on a boat, and nobody wanted him to do this. His subjects were all lined up on the dock, begging him to stay. In front of them all was his daughter, Merida.

She was upset, and angry. She screamed that he wasn’t her father anymore, as no man worthy of that title would abandon her like this. The King was clearly hurt by this, but he had already made up his mind. The ship started to sail away, into the darkness and stormy waters.

Merida stood there for a long time, watching, completely still. Then, she whipped around and stormed back, declaring that the king had abandoned them. Everyone sadly hailed her as the new queen.

Years passed, and Merida was known as the Ice Queen for her cold disposition. She didn’t really know how to feel about this title, but that simmering anger still remained. Her Uncle, Beast, did his best to guide her through life, but Merida would fight him every step of the way.

Merida was tired of being cooped up in the castle, so today she marched out, startling the subjects wandering nearby. They were respectful, but asked if she should return to the castle.

Ignoring them, Merida pushed a sunbathing person out of the way and laid down in his spot, happy to enjoy the sun for the first time in a long while.

Beast appeared. He silently stood before the young queen, disappointment radiating from him. This was enough to finally get Merida to look up.

He explained that Merida was much too pale to be out here, as her skin would burn very quickly. She looked down at her arms and saw they were bright red. She yelled in pain and agreed to come back inside, as long as he had a way to make the pain go away.

Beast led her through the castle, to the very top floor. Her room was on the left, but he led her to the room on the right, a place where even she was not allowed to go. Beast explained that he did have ointment here that would help, but there was also something that she should see.

Inside the room was a small whale, sitting next to the door. Merida noticed something strange about the way he held himself, and asked Beast if this was her father. He said yes, and that some fishermen had found him while out on the sea. The boat was capsized on an unusual rock, and he was found in this form.

The whale spoke up, saying that this was true, and he was so sorry for leaving Merida alone. The truth was that he was searching for her mother, who had gone missing not long after she was born. This had to be kept a secret, for fear of it reaching her ears and making her disappear further, but in the end it seemed that he had only hurt his surviving family. He was incredibly sorry.

Merida, fighting back tears, said she understood. She had always wanted to meet her mother, but didn’t understand when her last parent disappeared like she did. But it made sense now, and she was so sorry for the things she said to him on the night he left.

Beast stepped forward, handing Merida the ointment. He said that he was glad to bring closure, but the king would have to remain here, under the guise of being an exotic pet. They didn’t know how to reverse his form, and it would only bring confusion if the public knew.

Merida was upset, and asked why they hadn’t searched for a way to reverse it. They had the technology to read minds, surely there was an answer in there.

Beast’s face was grave. He said in no uncertain terms that nobody should ever do that to the king. The technology had only been tested on humans, and could very well kill a whale, or cause permanent damage. It was too dangerous.

Things were cut short by the appearance of the twin princes. They were Merida’s younger cousins, and she disliked them greatly.

One turned to Merida as she was leaving and asked her to do up his lips like she always did. With an irritated sigh, she took a white lipstick and scribbled on his face with it. This satisfied him.

Some time later, Beast came downstairs and went into a conference room, where he was to give a presentation to thirty representatives from another kingdom. He was not to be disturbed during this.

The princes came downstairs a bit later, dragging the small whale with them. Merida demanded to know what they were doing, and one of the princes explained that they were going to experiment with the mind-entering technology on him. Beast said it was okay.

Merida was conflicted as the two continued down to the basement. She did like the idea, since they could find a way to save the king, but Beast had warned her against this. Why would he approve of his sons doing it?

Glancing back at the conference room, she doubted he had at all.

In the basement, the princes had the whale connected with the wires into his head. Merida shouted for them to stop, and they froze, staring at her. She told them what Beast had warned her of, and asked why they would do it anyway?

They shrugged and said it was just a whale, she shouldn’t care so much. So what if things went wrong? It’s not like it was a real person.

When she told them that it was her father, their uncle, they rolled their eyes. If this was true, then he would’ve turned back by now, but he hadn’t.

They turned on the machine.

Merida dove, trying to take it off before it was too late.

It reached full power just as she made contact.

She vanished before their eyes.

Beast, hearing the commotion, appeared in the basement to demand what was going on. The princes sheepishly looked at each other.

Meanwhile, Merida was in the ocean, in the form of a whale. Some people had the ability to do this, but she never had, so she had no idea what to do. Neither did she know where she was, or why. Hadn’t she been in the basement moments ago?

Today had been a clear and sunny day, but now it was night, and a storm was howling. What on earth?

Beast’s voice cracked to life inside her head. He explained that he was using the mind-reading technology, but instead of seeing the memories, it appeared she was living them. He wasn’t sure how to get her out, but promised he would try everything from his side. Merida should try as well, but also use this time to find out exactly what happened that fateful night. The king had always been vague when asked.

So, she started to swim, following the small boat which held her father.

On the other side, Beast was tinkering with the device, attempting to switch it off, unplug it, change the settings, everything. Nothing seemed to work. He kept cursing under his breath and glaring at his sons, who sat together on the opposite side of the room looking very guilty. A few other people came down the stairs, heeding Beast’s call, and they were here to help.

Merida had caught up with the boat and swam next to it, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening on the deck. Her father was standing at the helm, with crew members running around, but she couldn’t make out any of the words they said.

Three people seemed to rise from the water and jumped onto the ship, causing panic. They attacked everyone, and the king attempted to stop them.

He managed to push all three of them into the water, but fell down himself. He shapeshifted into a whale as he hit the water and kept chasing them. Merida followed from a distance away.

The attackers were surprisingly deft swimmers, managing to stay ahead of her father despite not shapeshifting themselves. He chased them into a monument under the ocean and cornered them there.

The three seemed to have enough, and lashed out at the whale with their blades. With a shock, Merida realized that the wounds her father received also appeared on her body. She needed to stop them.

It was already too late as she approached. He was on the brink of death already, and so was she. He had already stopped moving, floating dead in the water. Which was… strange, as she was still alive and could move.

The three, satisfied with their work, left the dead whale and swam away, returning to the ship, which had hit a rock with nobody to steer it and was slowly sinking. They jumped on the rock and met with a woman, but Merida was too far away to see who it was.

Her father appeared behind her, still losing blood. He swam past her, seemingly unaware of her presence, but seemed to falter when he caught a glimpse of the four people standing on the rock. Did he recognize them?

They all swam away, and the King went to the ship, to see if he could save anyone. He could not. Everyone was either dead by blade or drowned. He had failed twice.

Beyond the wounds in her body, Merida felt strangely weak. The world around her seem to phase in and out of existence. She was dying too.

Back with the Beast, he was growing frantic. Sharing memories like this shouldn’t be possible at all, and was clearly taking a toll on his niece. If he didn’t get her out now, she would die.

Sap, a man who was about an inch tall, jumped on the unconscious whale and started jumping on the connectors. Beast had failed to remove them, but he knew he could. However, being this close to them as they lost connection would bring a huge surge of electricity, which might very well kill him.

He didn’t care. He wanted to save Merida.

The room glowed brighter and brighter as Sap worked, white electricity crackling all around. With one final leap, he landed square on the connectors and dislodged them, the surge of electricity blinding everyone in the room.

When their vision returned, Merida could be seen on the floor, still bleeding from the wounds her father had sustained. Beast scooped her up and carried her upstairs, vowing that this time, he wouldn’t leave. She was going to be okay.

The king opened his eyes. He had burns across his body from the botched mind-reading and subsequent electrocution, but he was alive. He looked down at his hands.

He had hands.

He was human again.

[duskys-dreams]

I finally played Bugsnax. It was not what I was expecting.

On a dreary island, there was a house with a single young grumpus. She wanted to go on an adventure, but she had no way of travelling safely. She couldn’t swim or climb. So of course, I had to help her.

We left the house together, navigating through the maze of doors between her room and the outside. Then, off we went.

We travelled through forests, talking about the effects of climate change and how we could help stop it. We met all sorts of grumpuses along the way, but most of them were quite unfriendly. We made sure to avoid deep water and found safer paths when we could, as making a mistake would send us back to the beginning of the area.

Eventually, we made it to the island at the very end of the journey, containing one single house. The house was empty and kind of eerie, so we left it.

There was a small boat on the edge of the island, and we rode it straight ahead. We found the starting island not far away.

The girl went to bed, and I told her I would join her soon. I wanted to explore the area a little first. I watched the father and mother play around in a shed, shooting paintballs made of different sauces and writing things on the walls and ceiling. They calmed down and started to just talk, and I lost interest. I went to the house as her brother appeared, walking towards the shed holding a large egg.

The next morning I woke up horrified. My yellow fur had turned charcoal black. The girl was worried and told me to come with her, someone in her family was a doctor.

As we exited the house, the entire family was lined up, staring at us. The brother pointed at me, declaring I was the traitor, and everyone moved to grab me. The girl tried to reason with her family, but they ignored her pleas as well as my confused shouting. They dragged me onto an airship and closed the door before the girl could get on. She could do nothing but watch in despair as we all flew away.

The father approached me, all the joy and love I had seen last night replaced by a stern disgust. He told me that they knew I was the one who put their daughter in grave danger. Grumpuses would die permanently if they were not on their island, so I could have killed her. They were taking me to the mainland so I could be properly dealt with by authorities.

Obviously I wasn’t going to let them do that. Since I was a journalist and was given permission to leave the mainland, I could respawn regardless of where I was. Maybe these grumpuses didn’t know that, and even if they did, how would they stop me?

While everyone was distracted, I leapt off the side of the airship, falling into the ocean. Grumpuses couldn’t swim, and I was about to take full advantage of that.

I swam to the bottom with my arms still bound. Just as the last bit of life left my body, I turned around and looked up at the surface, a smug smile on my face.

I was back on the airship. The brother rolled his eyes and told me they knew of my little power, so they set my respawn place on the ship. I wasn’t going to be whisked away so easily.

In a panic, I leapt off the ship again. If death wouldn’t save me, I would just swim away.

The uncle leapt off the airship, a cable attached to his back. Somehow, he managed to grab me, and started dragging me back to the ship. I panicked, but there was no way to free myself. I was back on the airship in moments.

This time, they attached a chain from my neck to the floor. They asked me what kind of bugsnax I liked, and I told them I wanted nothing. But somehow they could tell that ham was my favourite.

The mother came back holding a jelly donut bugsnak. She told me I wasn’t going to get what I wanted, including nothing, so I had this. They forced me to eat it, and I passed out moments later.

When I awoke, we were at the mainland.