I was talking to my old college roommate, as we walked around a mall-type area that seemed like it was in a Las Vegas casino.
me: "Are you awake or asleep?"
roommate: "I'm asleep."
me: "What I really want to know is...what kind of mall is this, and have you figured out how things work here in dreams?"
roommate: "I'm not sure what you mean by 'figured it out'. But I have come to realize that there is no death. You just start living in worlds to which you have fewer and fewer attachments."
He went away and I poked around inside a ritzy restaurant. Meeting a group of strange beings, I mimed the question at them while talking.
me: "Y'know, are you guys asleep...or Awake?"
I did a gesture to indicate my head on my hands like a pillow, and then held my eyes open to evoke "asleep" and "awake" for them. A human-looking guy wearing a crown did some interpretation for the other weirder looking beings. They nodded, shrugged, and walked away.
king: (to me) "You do realize you're 'awake' right now, right? Your body is sleeping, but you are awake."