dream_station | Dream Station TDM

Entry tags:

!tdm

Dream Station TDM

You dozed off. Or passed out. Or perhaps you were experiencing a more... permanent 'sleep'. Whatever the case, your eyes were shut and now they're not as you awaken sitting on a train. Around you, others in similar situations. At your feet sits luggage. It has a name tag on it with your name. Inside are some of your clothes and small personal belongings.

Out the window you see that the train is rolling into a sration. Cherry blossoms line the track leading up to it. A beautiful, scenic town lay beyond those gates.

Welcome to Dream Station.

Home Sweet Home:

As the train rumbles into the station and stops you step out onto a platform. A perfectly normal looking station, all things considered. There are people waiting. Guides here to help the latest batch of residents. People who live in this world. Either due to being born here or having been brought here sometime before and agreeing to help newcomers.

The guides explain to you the situation you are in. You otherworlders are common here in the city of Dream. Your guide reassures you that it's fine. They have accommodation for newcomers. And you are brought to the Sleep Tight Apartments. While outside it looks a little small, it's actually quite expansive inside. Must be magic of some kind.

Your apartment will be a one bedroom with a kitchen, living area and bathroom. But don't worry. There will be ways to expand later.

For now you are given a cellphone with an app installed on it for the local social media, Sleepr. As well as a Nightmare Tracker that will alert you when Nightmares crop up. And finally a little banking app where you will find you already have an account that has a decent amount of money for you to spend for the month. Don't worry about rent or bills. That's all covered in return for you helping with those Nightmares.

If you refuse to help... well. Best find your own accommodation and a job, friend. They can't help anyone unwilling to help in return.

There's a lot of new faces so maybe you should get to know your neighbors or get a walk around your new neighborhood.

This Is A Beach Episode:

The Dream Beach is open for business! Come lay out a towel and get some sun. Or go splash in the waves! Seashells are a plenty and there are designated fishing spots. Just don't swim too far out.

Hungry? Thirsty? The boardwalk has plenty of delicious options from icecream to fries to ice cold lemonade.

For those seeking something fun to do, there are paddle and pedal boats available for rent. And some diving to see the beautiful coral reefs. As well as a boat that will take you on a little trip out to an island resort!

The Resort:

I mean, you're basically all on vacation from your regular lives already in the wonderful world of Dream! That said, who doesn't love to spend a little time with their feet up in a nice resort?

Come out and stay in an ocean front room with complimentary continental breakfast and free room service. There are lots of little souvenir shops to check out, run by some bipedal frogs? They don't accept money here. But they'll glady trade their wares for any seashells collected on the beach. Lots of fun tropical themed goodies and swim gear galore!

For the adventurous sort, there is plenty to explore including a forest with hiking trails and a supposedly haunted cave. Legend says some tourists got lost in there and never came back out. They were looking for a treasure apparently. But... maybe don't follow their example and get lost in there?

The Nightmare Fuel:

So remember you were told about Nightmares? Seems they're cropping up throughout the city. Some are taking the form of shadowy crabs about four feet tall that are stealing from people and carrying them off in their little crabby claws. Give them a beat down or just trick them into dropping their stolen goods.

Others look like reverse mermaids. Fishy heads atop human legs. These ones are causing problems for the local restaurants and shops by slipping on in and stinking up the place. You can fight them if you want, but they'll be just as easily dispersed by herding them to the beach where they will return to the waters. They don't seem very threatening, just confused.

However while those two aren't very dangerous, there are some very aggressive bipedal seacreatures with the heads of crocodiles and some very sharp claws that have taken to lurking around the island out in the woods. These ones won't leave peacefully. You'll have to fight them or run away from them. Watch out they don't catch you. Those teeth and claws aren't just for show!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Home Away From Home?
The last time Cal had fallen asleep on a train it had not exactly ended well. So waking up on one, even as different as it was, had him on edge. Even more so than just having no idea where he was might warrant. He did his best not to show it of course, smiling to others and listening to the guides with a growing sense of confusion once they had stopped. BD however, started beeping away on his shoulder, hopping down to check out everything.

The space in the assigned bunk is... so much more than he could have anticipated. And no Empire to worry about? If Greez and everyone else were here this would almost be perfect. Thing was, he had so much left to do back home, but he didn't know how to get there. And seeing as they needed help here? Why not do that while he tried to figure it out.

He headed out and started walking around, BD running ahead to scan everything he could. In his enthusiasm the small droid ran smack into another person's shins and let out a slow trill as he looked up.

Cal gave a soft laugh as he caught up, shaking his head. "Sorry about that, he just really likes exploring."

What is a Beach Episode?
Cal's exploration brought him to the boardwalk. He snagged a variety of food from some of the stalls, much of it sweet and none of it healthy. He ate while checking things out. Every so often he would stop and put a hand on something, as if drawn to it, closing his eyes as he took in the memory of a moment.

And then after he stepped back he would focus on the droid perched on his shoulder, recounting moments he hadn't been there to see. He did this quietly, not wanting to be overheard, but he's so used to travelling alone, he didn't consider that his voice might carry. Or that he might end up overheard by someone from one of those moments.

Nightmares? Yeah Now it Feels More Familiar
As nightmares went, he'd dealt with worse, even the particularly aggressive ones didn't take much more than some solid force shoves to run off. The problem? Look. The problem was the crabs. Or rather. BD was making himself the crabs' problem.

He watched BD shock yet another of the large crab's claws so that it would drop the object. And this one was annoyed Shaking his head he went over to rescue his little droid. Before, y'know, he became the object a crab decided to run off with.

BD beeped and scampered, going to shock the next one. Not that he was trying to get Cal to chase him through or anything. Nope. Not at all.

"BD, if you get grabbed, don't expect me to save you!" BD gave a trill that Cal was pretty certain was a laugh. "I'm not kidding." This was not made any more believable by the fact Cal was chasing after the droid.

Despite any parallels regarding being on a train, BD at least was someone Webmind had not met before.

"I'm all right," he assured, with a surprisingly deep voice for a skinny robot frame.

"I am not injured, in any case. Though, may I have your name? I am Webmind."

Perhaps he could run a more exact match against his past experiences that way.

Cal knelt down so BD could scramble up his arm and then stood again, smiling to the unfamiliar droid.

"Of course. I'm Cal and this is BD. It's nice to meet you." The little droid gave a couple whistles that seemed to agree with that sentiment.

Webmind waved in greeting as well.

"Cal and BD; I greet you also."

He gestured at their current moving locale.

"Have you been on a train before? ... I have been on one where ending up on it unplanned is common, but I believe them to be exceptions rather than the rule."

Cal could only pause a moment. While he paused BD swiveled his head about to look around.

"Nothing like this one... You mean you didn't chose to be here either?" Don't panic. Panic would hinder thinking clearly. Just trust the force.

Webmind nods, the expression on his 'screen' face shifting from curious-happy to concerned.

"That is correct. There may be a mechanism behind us not being asked first, but to be sure of that we would have to find the right person to ask."

Which may be the train itself, in Webmind's experience, or someone entirely different! Or at their destination, if this train has one.

Cal took a moment to really take in the other passengers and the overall air of confusion. It seemed like they were hardly the only ones who had ended up here. "Well, I can start asking around, but I'm not sure anyone in this car is much better off than we are."

As they spoke the train started to slow, causing Cal to look out the window. They seemed to be approaching a station of some sort. He looked back to Webmind with a bit of a grin and a shrug.

"Well. Maybe someone here will know?"

Webmind nods.

"That would not surprise me." Though he expects there will be much more surprising content as this journey goes on...

And is quickly proven right. "I believe those are sakura trees by the platform," he notes, not that it is necessarily relevant to their problem.

"Once we come to a complete stop, we can go check." Presumably this train would not appreciate having its windows improperly opened!

Cal leaned against the window and took in the trees as they approached. "Sakura trees," he repeated, smiling faintly. "Huh. I've never seen those before. I bet Greez would love them." He was quietly pondering how to go about collecting either seeds or clippings for whenever he made it back.

He looked down at the bag he didn't remember packing. "The sooner the better. Though I at least don't think we're captive or anything. I still want some answers." Not only were there no obvious guards, they probably wouldn't have been granted their belongings if that had been the case.

"I have not met anyone named 'Greez'," Webmind noted, more quietly than his speech thus far.

"Would you tell me more about them sometime? Later, of course."

They have more immediate concerns afoot, after all.

Hefting his own (smaller) bag, Webmind settled in to watch the rest of the view as the train pulled in to what was, in fact, a fully-functional station.

Since this was different from the last time he'd had a train pull in to a station, he of course watched with rapt attention.

Cal shifted his attention back to Webmind, smiling a bit. Yeah, he wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to talk about his family. "Sure. Greez is one-of-a-kind."

He returned his focus to the window as the train came to a stop. And of course BD hopped from his shoulder and ran ahead to check outside as soon as the door opened. All Cal could do was shake his head fondly. "Well, time to see if anyone knows something." And stop the tiny droid from accidentally tripping someone in his excitement.

Webmind shook his body's head in bemusement at BD's enthusiasm.

"It might be better not to run, with so many people here..."

But he didn't need to tell Cal that, hopefully!

"I do not wish to be crushed against a wall, like this."

Fortunately Webmind did not have to tell Cal. Doubly fortunately the small droid managed to somehow not trip anyone. How was anyone's guess.

The guides were kind and very helpful for some things, but they didn't have the answers to questions on how or why people ended up on the train.

Cal gave a sort of half sigh to Webmind. As much as he wanted to know, talking to these people also had him a little more at ease. (Hey, no one had shot at him yet, it felt like a record with how the past few years had gone.) "Well, I saw a couple things around I want to look at a bit closer, see if I can pick up the history on them a little?"

It wouldn't be much probably, but maybe something the guides hadn't noticed might come up this way?

Webmind had had his own set of questions, and while the guides were quite pleasant they were still very much not secretly digital beings, and he got the impression he had overwhelmed them a little.

Oh well; he did his best to make apologies before he, Cal, and the rescued BD moved on.

(If BD ever wanted to, he was welcome to rest atop Webmind's own frame's chassis. More views from on high!)

"Picking up history - is this an ability, or something more like cold reading?"

He had heard of that trick, though at least by this point Webmind had had a few eventful months to get used to the idea of more unusual methods being normal on other worlds, as opposed to just in fiction.

Cal looked back to Webmind and gave a small smile. Given that the Empire wasn't exactly here hunting Jedi, he saw no reason not to be open. (Because, of course, wearing a lightsaber on his belt was the epitome of subtlety.) "An ability. I pick up sorts of echoes in the Force when I touch objects, always have."

BD made a whistle that seemed to be a confirmation, and possibly more of a description. The little droid had seen him react to the visions enough times.

Webmind altered his expression to one notably more intrigued.

"Does it work on living beings as well?"

Or, more importantly,

"Which objects did you have in mind to start with?"

Cal shook his head. "But it makes sense, living beings change and provide their own voices? I know there were Jedi who could pick up overall emotions or talk amongst themselves, but I never really got training in that."

He paused, considering that a moment. "Some objects seem to kind of draw me? I guess the best way to put it is the echoes around them are louder than elsewhere. There was a bench we passed getting off the train, then a lamp post just outside. A couple other things like that."

Webmind nodded once, to show he understood.

"... Does the train itself show any echoes for you?"

Or perhaps it counted as a living being; he could more easily imagine that possibility than he could have a few months ago.

Given that he was already headed for the bench, it didn't take much to direct some focus up at the train itself. "I suppose it's possible, I'd have to try to know for sure. But, no none that are drawing me the way those places are."

"That is alright."

They'd work with what they had.

"Let's see what's significant about this bench, then."

"Sounds good." Cal said, pausing in front of the bench.

With an exhale he put a hand on it, swaying for a moment as he closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes he shook his head. "Well. It's not bad exactly, but it's not exactly encouraging for getting back home. Someone stopped by here a lot, trying to figure out how to leave, or if anyone they knew would show up. But... they weren't hurt or distressed, if anything I think they were happier the last time they visited than the first."

Webmind's expression was much more neutral as Cal delved into the echoes - the Force - and he let the man say his piece before starting his reaction.

"So no harm came upon them here? Or no greater harm."

Which was better than the other extreme.

"That is one experience. Shall we find if any differ?"

"Yeah, I think so." Somehow Cal was both disappointed and relieved by what he had seen so far. He seemed a bit less warm, but also less tense already than he had been on the train.

"So where are you from anyway?" Cal didn't note that he'd never seen another Droid of Webmind's model before. Look, he was curious but not rude. BD might have noted it as an aside in chirps though, and Cal shook his head fondly at the small droid, heading for the next echo that drew him.

"I'm from Earth - an Earth," Webmind modified.

"But this frame is courtesy of the Voidtrecker Express, the train I was previously on. My mind, if you'll excuse the pun, is normally contained in a much more distributed fashion than what you see here."

He kept pace with them, smiling at BD in particular at his chirping.

"I'm not familiar with any Earths, you, BD?" The beeping in response to that was a clear negative. "Where about was the one you're from?"

"So the chassis is from this other train? I guess that's why I haven't seen the model before." Did Cal just miss part of that explanation? Yes. Give him time. He'll probably catch it eventually. Probably.

BD was distracted too, hopping down to go check out the trees and other plants around the station.

Cal Kestis | Star Wars (Shortly post JFO) | OTA

Home Away From Home?

no subject

no subject

no subject

Should we have the train pull into the station during this thread? Up to you.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Mini-timeskip? Or fade-to-black?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject