I was seated in a red cozy chair at some kind of bar. I felt kind of snoozy, as if I had drifted off to sleep. A black woman with short hair took notice of me, and gave me a hug and a kiss sort of from behind. I turned to face her and was friendly but not reciprocating.
woman: "What's wrong, baby? Black - white - we're all from the same!"
me: "No it's not really that, it's just...I'm not particularly sure how I got here. In fact, I was sitting in this chair. This kind of thing doesn't happen to me unless I'm asleep, I must have drifted off. I bet if I just sort of jolt myself a little you'll vanish."
So I did the wake up jolt, and she did vanish, but the rest of the room stayed in place. I got up and began to walk around, it was something like a flourescently-lit toy store with lots of aisles. My mind began to ponder the idea of there being "spirit forces" in the world that use whatever is at hand to reach you; as if the minds of people around you could be suddenly taken over by them and act very differently. I looked at the people as I walked by. One pretty girl with blondish/reddish hair stopped me.
pretty girl: "Exactly. I come to you all the time, with what the environment has to offer. But just like earlier, you push me away."
me: "Okay, fine! New dream philosophy: you don't have to ask me twice. Here we go."
I embraced her but we tumbled to the ground as she fought me off.
pretty girl: "Not here!"
me: "NOW WHAT?! I thought we were going to not be concerned about this. Is the problem that this place - this toy store - is a somehow coherent reality and these people are living lives and we're inhabiting them and that has to be respected."
pretty girl: "No. It just looks amateurish to the other players, and we're better than that."
me: "Playing what?!"
My point of view fuzzed out and I thought I was going to wake up, but it shifted to where I was watching a cartoon on a TV that seemed like it was at the end of an aisle at the toy store, although the room now seemed dark. It was vaguely anime-like, and it had some futuristic military dressed people. One looked like the girl with the red hair, and I focused on her until I was in the TV scene. A 3D environment that had a bit of Cel Shading kicked up and we went into something that looked a bit like a courtroom.
I was taken up to a counter of some kind, it seemed to be made out of black marble. It was too high for me to see over but it gradually stepped down to lower levels. At the center it was lower. A man stepped forward with a slip of paper.
man: "Oh yes, we've heard about this. Disturbing, a poisoning."
He and the girl had some back and forth, and he began writing "Cesium 137" on the paper.
The girl and the man began to debate some things, including about a particular portable CD player that I had apparently picked up for free on a street corner. I hadn't done any such thing, but as they spoke I pulled some headphones out of my pocket.
pretty girl: "You have to think back. In the past week, have you seen her? The singer from Sixpence None the Richer?"
me: "No, not by name. I mean, if she walked by I wouldn't recognize her if I saw her."
As I walked out of the court my attention was caught by a room that seemed to have bunk beds in it and guys playing conventional video games.
me: "That's a very ordinary looking video game. But is there a way you know of to put yourself into a game, so that you're actually immersed into it... like a virtual reality?"
goatee guy: "Yeah, I've got some equipment for that under the bed."
me: "Do you remember who you are while you play?"
goatee guy: "Yeah...and your team members know who you are, but other people don't."
me: "But how could someone not know about any of it? Is it memory erasure? What?"
goatee guy: "That's called 'going Juno', you do the whole thing."
me: "Who would anyone do that?"
goatee guy: "I think it's crazy. But you have to complete several classes before they let you and pass some tests."
The guy shuffled some stuff and spoke to someone on the opposing bunk.
goatee guy: "Yeah, I can't afford the lezzy episode, 2 girls at once is pretty good."
He turned back to me.
goatee guy: "Something you should check out though is this episode, 'the crush', this girl totally stalks this guy."
We somehow became immersed in what felt like a 3D TV show. People were walking in the show but on areas that were cutaway from the people who were in it.
me: "Are lives recorded? Is my life a recording? Is there any way of determining whether you were the first to live an experience or living it without free will and only thinking you're experiencing it...like in Strange Days?"
goatee guy: "There are contracts for the games, and the players own their playrights, but there are three strong incentives for sharing them."
I watched the people inside a house and noticed there was a doorway by which I could step into it. So I did. A surprised guy confronted me.
surprised guy: "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
me: "Hi, do you know you are being watched? I'm from out there...the people..."
Stepping back outside the door I found all the people I'd been with and watching had vanished, and it was a fairly ordinary cul-de-sac. But as I looked closer, all the vehicles were made out of what looked like large LEGOs.
me: "Okay, what was out this door a second ago was entirely different. But you have to admit something is askew here. Who has cars built out of LEGO? And look up there... planes and helicopters made out of LEGO and... that one is dive bombing us and about to hit your house."
I got out of the way as a LEGO helicopter went into a tailspin and smashed into the house. One of the LEGO cars was a police car with all four of its doors open. I jumped in and the steering wheel had the Decepticon Logo on it. I drove down the street and tried to pull the doors closed while driving. I tried to pull the doors closed, and while I was doing so a hand reached up out of the back seat and grabbed my arm which woke me up.
Yet I was still in a hypnagogic state and I could hear some music. It had an industrial/electronic vibe to it, and I could tell it was not actually playing so I tried to listen intently
What was planted inside you / It's how you live your lifeEven in your dreams still / You fascinate meAll theirs will be ours for me and youNote (pause)All theirs will be ours for me and youNote (pause)'Cause God forbid them / God forbid them...Yes, God forbid them / God forbid them