dream_station | Dream Station TDM

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!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

"He is quite something," Webmind said, smile as bright as ever, and reached up to offer the little bot a pat.

As they kept walking, Webmind took half a moment to look around while composing his response.

"I'm far from used to weapons, and prefer to use conversation to better understanding... but I also know not all people are that way."

Or, depending on the world, most.

"Not all missions we were on required fighting, as well. Sometimes it was what you would call 'fetch quests', or it was about renewing a shrine's flame, or venturing to an abandoned location to recover data."

BD gave a happy trill at the pat, bouncing from foot to foot on his perch.

"Gotta say, I like the sound of those missions better than having people shooting at us." Cal said with a laugh. "BD and I have gotten to explore some old ruins and crashed ships before. Though lately it's been a lot more fighting." And he didn't want to admit to himself he'd reached the point that was generally his first reaction.

"There was some fighting even on those missions, but we were divided up such that people who weren't suited for fighting still had something vital to do."

There were many such multifaceted situations... except the particularly dire ones.

"There was a mission where our main purpose was to deflect an asteroid, and chase away some criminals seeking to mine on a world that was all nature preserve."

Though mining what had never been quite clear to him.

"Huh. How many of you were there?" Cal was used to functioning with his family, and on missions that usually meant BD-1, an occasionally Merrin. Cere mostly managed computers, though she had left the ship to save him from a tight spot a time or two, generally only if an Inquisitor showed up.

"While the distribution of team members changed from month to month," Webmind explained.

"When we are asked to split up, we can be in units of fifteen to thirty or more, though splintering off to groups of three or four was also common."

Especially if there was a particularly niche task to handle.

"There were four teams for categorization; the total roster had exceeded one hundred persons at my last check."

Cal considered this. That was more of an organization than he'd considered at first. "Anyone in particular you connected with or were teamed up with more frequently?" Cal looked around as he spoke. Some of the possible echoes were close enough to others he might be interrupting their space, so he opted to skip those for now, looking for others instead.

"If I recognize any of them here, I'll be sure to tell you," he says.

Then starts the list.

"Conan Edogawa, Curufin, Glorfindel, Fëanor, Kitty Pryde, Danny Fenton, Eva Iden'no, Quatre Raberba Winner, Seto Kaiba, Dairine Callahan, Daia, Devero, Orisa and SXT-246-029-256-062 are some of those I was particularly fond of," he related.

"Not all of them were still aboard the last I knew, but a few Voidtreckers were known to have been picked up twice - or for multiple versions of them to arrive."

... Cal had kept up okay at first. You didn't have to know anything about people named to know they were important to someone, and might have continued on that track, but that last bit? That brought Cal to a stop, turning with a confused expression. "Multiple versions?" What did that mean?

BD followed up with a confused whistle.

One of the things Webmind had expected to as a follow-up was a remark about knowing other droids - but what Cal questions brings up an entirely different track.

"There were some cases, where people who had the same name, the same demeanor and, when they talked about them, the same histories - but in ways that were mutually exclusive, not indicative of being siblings. People also arrived from what they claimed as the same world, only for the worlds themselves not to show any disturbance caused by our collective disappearance from them."

"I have never heard of anything like that before." Cal said, still processing it, trying to believe it. He was a Jedi, one thing he needed to be was open minded. And yet... He had trouble with this one. But. He could accept the answer even without believing. He might not really be able to do that until he saw something similar with his own eyes, honestly.

BD made a series of beeps ending on a questioning note, shaking Cal out of his confusion to some degree. "He wants to know if SXT or any others were also droids."

"I can't imagine there being a large variety of situations in which it's a common feature," he replied.

Literally could not picture it, in his case. Some things were too large even for a former resident of the World Wide Web.

Webmind nodded in response to BD even before Cal could clarify, but allowed the jedi to speak first.

"Orisa and SXT-246 were both droids, yes, each from different worlds," he confirmed.

BD gave a happy set of beeping, and an inquiry as to what kinds of droids they were.

Cal meanwhile had gone quiet, thoughtful, still overwhelmed by the idea of other versions of people. Were they notably different from each other? How? How was it even possible.

Cloning wasn't multiple versions of someone. He'd known a lot of clones, and at least before they'd betrayed the Jedi, they'd each been very different from each other. After? He... really couldn't tell the difference from one Storm Trooper to the next. Had they been betrayed too? Betrayed from the moment they were made. That was a horrifying thought and one he didn't want to get into. And yet, here he was.

For the first time since getting off the train, Webmind demonstrates that his screen can show pictures: first of Orisa, then of SXT-246 (the best description is in the Appearance section; there are no 1-1 icons in her case, alas).

Cal, however, seemed lost in thought; Webmind let him parse whatever it was for the moment - if it was something important, interrupting could be not just rude, but unhelpful! His response to BD was slightly quieter as a result.

"This one is Orisa - I do not know if there were others exactly like her, but she knew her own creator so I presume she was not part of some impersonal mass creation. And SXT-246 was not factory-standard, either, judging by the feathers attached to her."

BD gave a happy whistle. Both were new to him and he was excited to see other unique droids. He'd been part of a very limited run, so there weren't a lot of BD units in the galaxy. He bounced from foot to foot, and his excitement brought Cal back to the moment.

He pushed back the hair that the wind had gotten in his face and smiled. "Huh, guess I don't need to translate BD for you, sorry if I do. It's gotten to be a habit."

"I must admit, I have grown well-used to the use of English as well, though binary and similar languages are still at the top of my repertoire," Webmind replied, offering BD another pat.

"Though on the Voidtrecker, the distinctions did not much matter; we were all given technology through which we could be understood, so long as we kept it on... and the Voidtrecker Express itself upheld the conventions for us."

He lifted up the 'wrist' upon which an odd watch-looking thing with a digital screen rested.

"Granted, this place most likely uses a different set of means to accomplish the same thing."

It seemed quite reasonable conjecture to him.

"Well, I have no idea what sort of language 'English' is and understand you just fine, so there must be something. I can kind of understand intent through the Force if I don't know a language, but it's not easy."

With a trill BD hopped down, using his small thrusters to slow his descent to the ground and once on ground he scampered forward, getting a scan of the building they were approaching.

"Now that I can imagine," Webmind said; it had been quite long ago since absorbing languages had been his utmost concern...

But that meant, by most other peoples' standards of time, months - rather than years.

Webmind upped his pace, just a little, to keep in line with BD, letting his screen flicker back to his normal expression. It was oddly difficult to tell, say, how many floors there were, but the entryway was perfectly discernible.

As was the sign nearby, which he read aloud: "Sleep Tight Apartments."

Given how this place had been so far, it was hard to read any level of ominousness into the name.

"Cal, do there look to be any more spots for 'echoes' here?"

Edited 2023-06-18 12:01 (UTC)

Cal nodded. "Several." He went to the first in a flowerbed. Memories there were simple, hope that the flowers would thrive, accidentally knocking over the watering can. He smiled and shook his head, moving onto the next. This one held the first hint of a Nightmare. Or rather the confusion after one, but it had been resolved. He tried another, not talking in-between. Most of these were... mundane, whether they were good or bad they were the sort that could happen anywhere. That there weren't any of dread or oppression though? That was a good sign.

BD, however, filled the silence with a series of beeps and whistles. He was both intensely curious and very confused about these apartments.

There were a handful of people going in or out of the apartments while Cal looked, but they looked overall content to let the newcomers adjust (apart from waving hello, which Webmind returned happily) at their own pace.

To BD, Webmind switched briefly to binary transmission himself, sending BD reassurance and commiseration both.

I am not from a world where things considered 'supernatural' are often real; this, at least, does not seem inclined to bring us any harm.

Which counted for quite a lot, as far as he was concerned.

Cal smiled and waved when he was aware of people but once he started letting echoes draw him, they pulled his attention.

BD's whistled reply was almost defensive. He was confused, not scared, thank you. Not that much scared him. He had a bad habit of rushing in because something looked interesting without considering whether or not it might also be dangerous.

Cal came back when he could pull himself away from echoes, deciding he had as much real information as he was going to get here. By this point he was visibly drained. "It all seems just. Normal." He raked his fingers through his hair and then knelt down besides BD to give him a pat and allow him to climb back up. "Some stress over those Nightmares seems to be the worst of it."

Webmind sent an earnest apology, suitably chagrined. Truly, size was uncorrelated with demeanor!

"I would say it's surprising, but this city does appear quite well-established."

So it could have a 'normal', in other words.

"Any indication of what these Nightmares can look like?"

From his research on the Network, the Nightmare District was not close to the Sleep Tight apartments.

BD gave a much softer trill in reply to Webmind. Apology accepted and not even needed.

Cal shook his head, standing again. "No, sorry. I didn't see the Nightmares themselves, just someone's stress after handling some."

Webmind nodded, considering the options ahead of them now.

"Should we try to ascertain their danger levels first? Or continue with setting up our own rooms here?"

That is, divert from or continue their original plan.

"Since we're already here, may as well get our rooms set up. That way if we have to recover or if I have to fix anything afterwards there will already be a space setup."

"Shall we try to get rooms next to each other, or is that a particular priority for you?"

While Webmind would like having people he knew as neighbors, he could also take the long view and see that the people here wouldn't be strangers to him for long.

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Total characters submitted for AC in the month of Webmind being dropped: 104. (I wanted to be Sure)

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