Only In Dreams

More Story Seeds from Dreams:

I get a big, glossy, double-sided flyer/poster in the mail, advertising an escort service. The male on the back is an old friend, and it's his ex-wife (whom I've only ever met once in passing, in real life) who is running the business. I go to check it out, because I'm worried about my friend- he and she have a son together, but beyond that don't seem to get along well enough to be entering into a business together- especially not one that's her making money off of him. I discover that the service offers more than just sex for hire- there's also drugs and (for some reason) a girl who can See Things when pain is inflicted on her (which is a direct pull from a different story I have). She has two "handlers"- one to push harder ("She can take more!") and one to protect her ("Too much!").  Between the two of them they keep her on the edge of Seeing as much as possible without being too damaged to See more.  I witness her being put into a car against her will, without her handlers- and when I try to find out what's going on, the Push one is really worried- says she's already been pushed too hard for this client. I'm trying to find my old friend to help me get her back, but he's gone missing, too, so I call in a different old friend, who is weirdly fascinated/horrified by the whole thing- but I know he'll help me rescue her, because that's sort of what he does: rescue people. We're sitting in a trough-shaped hot tub set up on a couple of ladders, discussing our strategy, when two-year-old Beetle pops her head up over the edge, looking for her Dad. So now I have to keep her safe while I go on a rescue mission for at least one psychic escort, and possibly my first old friend, as well.

(My dreams are so weird.  And strangely non-sexual for such a sexual setting.)

Rough Draft from a Dream

Last night's dream I found a powerful magical artifact made of rose quartz (one of two "keys" that had to be combined to actually be used) and was rescued by an elderly witch who told me I'm a witch, too.  She helped me escape the bad witches chasing me for the key, using long-step magic to get us to Scotland.  We turned ourselves into dogs to run better, and I was beginning to turn into an Irish Setter (for my hair) until I realized that's not who I am, and instead turned into a large silver pit bull with powerful jaws (I very specifically thought about my powerful jaws).  We went to her house, where her husband was, and my baby was there with him, his diaper being changed- but her husband gave us a wink and a nod so we knew that the enemies had beat us there, and then they revealed themselves and even though I was in human form I stood over my baby growling and snarling and knowing I would literally crush the throat of anyone who came near him.

(We did escape, and I managed to get the other key, and fit the two of them together.)

And if that's not a damn fine story seed, I don't know what is.  Although I suppose it would be helpful if I'd gotten to find out just what, exactly, the artifacts did... the fact that I thought of them as "keys" implies that they opened or unlocked something... perhaps greater power?  Hmm...

Perchance to Dream

Sometimes these photos are a last-minute thing.

like tonight

It's Not the First Time I've Been Called Cold-Hearted

Last night's dream was and intense, and kind of bizarre.  And my husband laughed at me and my arrogance, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because quite frankly I think there's a good story seed at the core of it- I just need to let it compost for a while.

Anyway.

In my dream I was in a large parking lot and came across a guy packing up his truck (big truck, like a moving truck.  It was teal.) after a sort of farmer's market bazaar type thing had come to an end.  He was alone, and asked for help, so even tho' I felt a little weird about it I went ahead and helped him- but I was smart enough to call Nathan and give him a description of the truck I was helping to load before I came home.

Turns out dream-paranoia was all for the best, because I totally ended up being kidnapped, drugged, and put to work in a sort of extremely high-end brothel that catered to the very rich (mostly lawyers, for some reason).  The drugs they kept in our systems removed our emotions, so we didn't feel anything, and certainly didn't care about anything.  Because of this, no one tried to escape because, as mentioned, no one cared.  Except, in my case, they'd underestimated my ability to think without emotion (this is the part where Nathan started laughing, damn him).

See, even tho' I didn't actually care about the situation I was in, I could remember not wanting to be there- so I got all coldly logical about following through on the decision I'd already made, even tho' it didn't have any sort of current emotional meaning for me.  I saw people who knew me, and they were shocked to see me working in that place, but since I wasn't upset they assumed I was okay where I was.  During one part of the dream I managed to find a cell phone and call 911, and calmly tell them what had happened to me- and I was hyper aware of the fact that they weren't likely to believe me, because I was so dispassionate about the whole thing.

Very strange.  But also, I think, a potential story seed.  Also perhaps my subconscious screaming a commentary about something?  Who knows.

Here is a sketch of a winged girl for you:

I just realized she totally doesn't have thumbs.  Crap.  This is why non-sober-doodling is not the BEST of ideas.

Tomorrow is Cooking Baking Day.  That's right, three capitals on that.  Three.  Ponder that, why don't you?

Dead (Wo)Man (Dream)Walking

Last night I dreamed I was a vampire.

Now, this sounds like it's setting up to be a pretty fun/cool dream, but I assure you, Readers: it was not. Rather than being a supernatural being gifted with terrific speed, strength, and canines, I was more like a human cancer patient. I was weak and sickly, and although I didn't know how I'd gotten that way (apparently not important to the dream) it seemed to me that turning me into a vampire was the only thing that was keeping me alive. I was shuffling around in a hospital gown in a dream-version of my mom's house (set up high on a cliff overlooking the ocean- perhaps the Mediterranean?- with lots of windows with white sheers blowing in the breeze. Apparently I wasn't the light-sensitive sort of vampire...), keeping myself alive by sucking down the contents of hospital-style blood-bags. It was really gross to have to drink blood that way, but I could only be grateful that they'd been modified with a little straw for my convenience, I think by my mom (who was my caretaker in the dream, trying to get me well and strong again), so that I wouldn't have to bite into the bags and drink that way.

Speaking of which, I had two sets of horrific bite marks on my left breast, one in the upper, more pectoral-y region, and one on the underside, and with them was a very distinct memory of how incredibly painful it had been to receive those bites (what had turned me into a vampire, I suppose). I kept looking down at them and reliving bracing myself to feel that pain, knowing it would save me.

In case all of this isn't disturbing enough, the dream progressed to me opening my closet and finding three high-heeled shoes in it- two of which contained the severed left feet of two of my best friends. The third shoe belonged to a third best friend, and I knew this meant that at least two of them were dead- and I was full of grief but also desperate to find the one still alive. These grisly mementos had been placed there as a way of warning me off of forming attachments, by pointing out how vulnerable you were if you cared for people. The point being that if I had no attachments, I could put all of my focus on saving the world. But, as I pointed out to my mother, who was trying to comfort me- if I have no attachments in this world, why would I care about saving it?

Yeah- my dreams don't mess around.