RP (non-canon) Ludic Walkers - Bizarre Missions inside our Minds

[Soda]

ELENA was slowly starting up various protocols linked to a large device which constisted mostly out of antennas, receivers and a mix and match of other parts that stuck out here and there. ELENA herself didn't like much either, in fact, she was just a small box filled with thousands of microchips, resembling somewat of a neural system.
She exercised control out onto the device through a mere cable and watched the physical appearance of it through the hacked CCTV eyes that were placed throughout the large, mostly deserted research compound.

Not too strange that it was so empty, it was after hours, the only activity ELENA registered, besides her own, was that of overpaid, over equiped security personel strolling lazily through the Iron Moon Advancements Research Compound. Anything within it was to be kept a secret, in fact, it's sole existance was still hidden from the eyes of the galactic community. Only the richest could have a chance of becoming an investor, an even smaller chance that they could ever get their hands on the highly experimental technology that was being developed by the Iron Moon Advancements...

The device was one of those experimental pieces of tech. Meant to be able to dip into the collective unconsciousness of the entire universe, attract specific individuals, set up a stable environment, making the individuals (often refered to as 'users') lucid and allowing the them be trained during their sleep. Training which was meant for real life purposes... but some objectives would not be present in the physical realm, some would trained to be able to infiltrate the unconscious minds of others and cause disruptions within their psyche...
Experimental warfare, deploying trained users... sometimes called 'Dream Agents'... or the 'Lucid Walkers'.

She was rather excited, she decided, an unused, technology. All to herself to toy with, without anyone's knowledge! Create her own little squad of real beings and have a good time with them.

The device was whirring gently and steadily as ELENA hooked herself up to the collective unconsciousness. There she waited silently for her not so voluntarily subjects to go to bed and enter the first stages of sleep... giving them time for their first fragmented dreams to occur.

 

[Arieg]

He was in a parked car across the street, a pair of binoculars on the dash and a sub machine gun in the passengers seat. Someone had paid Mr. Hessel quite the amount of funds to observe and report, although the 'off hours' where proving to be longest and most boring part of the assignment. Deciding enough was enough, he carefully leaned the seat back, letting his mind go blank as his eyelids drifted shut....

 

[ShotJon]

Like most saturdays the evening shit seemed to go forever. Jordan ussualy enjoyed her work as a waitress, but it depended a lot on what kind of customers she served. This saturday was hell. Along with regular customers a bunch of marines came too. That would not so be too bad, but with thame came some pigheaded chief with two of his gorillas, listening to his every whim. Which was the reason why Jordan did not punch him when he kept touching her butt. She was not looking forward to get trashes later on. This chief did not look like forgetting man.

Luckily her shift was over, Jensen's was closed and she could happily go home. Tomorrow was her free day and she could finally sleep in after hectic week. She took a very long shower and fed her pet Kawaii Lord Byron Merryweather. She then got a glass of vine and sat in the armchair reading with intention of reading. Byron cuddled in her lap and she started petting him. As she read her eyes slowly started falling down, letting her drift into the dreams.

 

[Gabriel]

It had been a hard day's work for Venicus as he keyed himself into his apartment building. As he trudged up the stairs he reminisced about his days as in the Special Forces, but a simple injury took that dream away from him. Plopping his bag onto a chair, he removed his uniform from the machine shop before stepping into the shower. A few minutes later, he stepped out to dry himself off before slipping on a pair of boxers and curling up into his bed. Flipping towards one side, he pressed a few buttons on a device next to his bed which then started emitting music. With a slight smile he closed his eyes and drifted off into dreamland.

 

[MissingNo]

It had been a normal day for Tweak Three Seven of Cirrus Station. Today had been a late-shift patrol assignment, keeping her up later than usual, and so she was about to fall asleep on her feet by the time her head hit pillow on her bunk in the sardine-can-like room that the Head Administrator, Cassefin, called "barracks".

As she fell to sleep, her mind continued going for a while...

This is so boring, I wish I was back at the shrine.

Oh no! I'm latelatelatelate...
"Hey, Twea-"
"Can't talk, late!"
"Okay, see ya!"

*yawn*
"Good morning, Tweak!"
!
Where am I? Who are they? What'sgoingonwhoamIwhat'sthatbeepingwho'sthere--

"Good morn--"

All systems normal.
Stand-by mode initiated
... ... ...

---

Her neko systems in sleep mode and her Tactical Operating System standing by with its usual vigilance, Tweak's primary operating system -- her primary mind and the seat of her personality, her emotions, what some called the "soul" of a neko -- calmed into the sleep patterns that allowed most humanoids to dream. And so she dreamed.

 

[Luca]

Danny Hanley-Lewis was sitting in a shoebox apartment on Dawn Station that was borrowed from a friend of a friend who owed him a favour. It was a shaky favour at best, but Danny would take a stable opportunity if he could see it. At best, the furnishings were spartan, the view was uncharacteristically brick-like. However, it was close to the convenience stores.

A fold-out table in the middle of the living room was littered with the job sections for newspapers and heavily penned with circles, crosses and underlines throughout. Unfortunately, the crosses were numerous, and the circles were few. Either way, it'd been the end of another day of looking for work, and nobody had smashed his door down demanding anything - yet.

Danny changed into some pyjamas before creeping under the sheets of the threadbare bed provided and nuzzled the pillows. At least the little apartment had good climate control.

And he eventually found a rut and fell asleep, letting his thoughts drift into listless dreams...

 

[Soda]

ELENA babbled excitedly to herself in mind.
Most of the 'users' had began trinkling out of the physical realm and dipped into unconsciousness, into a world of sleepers, where dreams would soon start occuring.

ELENA's influence onto the user's unconscious would slowly reveal itself.

Each of the sleeping people would quickly started seeing a bright, matt white door with a brushed steel knob appear in their dreams...
One that they would be drawn to open, to step through. An urge so strong no unconscious person, unaware of their own ego or what was going on exactly, could ever resist.

Stepping through for all would go smooth, stepping into an amazingly and blindingly bright white, square room. It was so strangely lit that it appeared it was an infinite plane. The room had no distinguishable corners from floor to walls to ceiling, nor shadows cast on anything yet.

Smooth, it went for all but one. The poor Danny Hanley-Lewis had the misfortune of finding a door that was about 3 metres above the floor, edging the unseen ceiling.
Allas, this stable realm within an existance made out of dreams, had a constant similar to gravity... something that would soon take hold of Danny's body as he stepped into the endless white.

After all the, so far sleeping users had entered the room, they would find they could see vague representations of eachother, bare figments of what would merely represent their presence.

ELENA waited silently, curiously, viewing the users with her all-encompassing awareness of the realm she had brought into existance through the device. Waiting for the users to show their first signs of environmental awareness and interaction.

 

[Gabriel]

As Venicus fell asleep his mind began to wander, until full REM sleep took over. As usually happens when one dreams, his mind wasn't fully comprehending everything around him, nor fully controlling his actions.

Door....White. I must enter the door. Venicus approached the door and opened it before stepping in and closing it behind him. Door is closed now. White....More White.....Nothing but white. He stood and waited.

 

[MissingNo]

This is a place. Where is this? What is a 'place'? What is that object? Whatwherewhowhenwhyhowwhatwherewho--

Questions slipped through the sleeping neko's mind at unregulated speed, nearly urges rather than conscious thoughts. As far as it knew, it had never been here before. Yet, at the same time the white room with the door was the only place it had ever been. Unaware that it was dreaming (or even what it was) the mind was fully alert, drowning out the subtle, but irresistible tug the other dreamers might be experiencing. However, the plane was featureless except for the door, so it examined the feature.

The neko's mind took in the door from all angles, close up and far back, examining the workings of the handle and the latch...the curiosity was insatiable and dream-time was flexible, so the investigations took no time at all. For a flickering moment, there was a replica door next to the first as the mind attempted to recreate it; however, the new door led nowhere and vanished. The presence realized that the original door enabled passage through the wall and the copy would never be accurate unless it led to the same place that the first did.

What was on the other side?

Unable to open the door directly, the mind's eye flew through the door in the same manner that it examined the inner workings with. However, something made it pause just before it crossed the threshold to the room beyond. The place ahead was somewhere new...it had a different feeling to it than the place behind. The place behind was now known, and admittedly quite boring, but the mind felt stable there. Curiosity countered that desire for safety, though, and it continued forward into the room.

To the others in the lobby-like room, the neko's mind was invisible to sight, unheard, unsmelled, and untouchable. There was only that feeling of someone watching. A vague impression of someone other than one's self. Sometimes close, sometimes distant, but always there.

This room was interesting. There were other things here (it had no knowledge of what "people" were, but would soon learn), and also other doors. The mind jumped from one point to another to another to another, examining everything. The others were represented as foggy outlines, or mirage-like images, but still examinable even if there were no details to see yet. For some reason, though, the neko's mind felt repulsed by the doors that the others entered through, and kept a set distance from them.

 

[Luca]

Danny was lying on the featureless white ground and staring at the door three metres up when he came to, he wondered for a moment how he got here, but he quickly remembered that he went to bed - ergo, he must be dreaming. He wondered what the door three metres up was supposed to represent, aside from being yet another wonderful screwover. He took a moment to take in the scenery - featureless, sterile, white and plain and stretching infinitesimally in all directions.

"Sometimes I just can't catch a..." He groaned as he moved over to the featureless wall and jumped up a couple of times, waving his arms in futile attempts to reach the handle, "Hup, Hngh." He grumbled after a few jumps and realised that he needed a running start. He took a few steps back and jumped against the wall and bounced upwards high enough to reach, but he'd moved backwards too, causing him to miss the handle. He landed on his feet though, "Dagnabbit."

Then he decided to try again, this time keeping in mind that he was dreaming. "Its just a dream, its just a wall, and that's a door outta here!" He stood back, cracked his knuckles, and made another running jump against the wall. This time however, he started running up the wall rather than bouncing up it, and he grabbed onto the handle with both hands and dangled for a moment as the door swung open. He manoeuvred his legs into the door frame and got through.

However, after getting through, something occurred to him; why did he want to go through the door in the first place? Was he sick of the scenery (or lack, thereof)? This new area wasn't providing any positive (or negative) changes to the scenery aside from vague representations of the other Users, which just looked like fuzzy humanoid outlines of varying shapes and colours to Danny. Danny's outline was a burnt yellow colour with interlinings of blue and cream here and there.

 

[Lamb]

'It's a most interesting presentation.' Albert Weiss thought to himself in his office, long after hours. The soft light from a streetlamp flooded in through the half-closed blinds into an office where the only other light was provided by a volumetric display in front of the professor's desk. It showed him an extensive lecture from a Yamataian sociologist who suggested that the convenience of Aether had long-term future effects on the basic pyschology of the typical Yamataian. It was completely unrelated to his current classes and lectures, but Albert Weiss watched with the same fervor most Nepleslians saved for action movies.

Then, not for lack of interest, Albert stood from his chair. He was reminded that he had to force himself to eat something, lest he become ill. The professor shuffled through a small refrigerator in the corner of his office under a massive stack of books before settling on an apple and a small block of cheese with a half-emptied bottle of wine from a recent commencement speech somewhere. After closing the door and moving back towards his desk while retrieving a corkscrew from his labcoat, Doctor Weiss took a bit of a tumble. He fell over onto his back, sending the wine bottle hurling through the air and the apple rolling across the floor. He opened his eyes again to gather his bearings a split-second the wine bottle came back down and crashed over his temple. Whether he intended to stay on the floor or not, Weiss found himself sleeping.

So, there he was, somehow, in the very white seemingly infinite room. He didn't hesitate to open the door in front of him. He noticed that he was still wearing his labcoat, but not his glasses. Nonetheless, he seemed perfectly capable of sight. The room beyond was filled with strange creatures and presences.

"I am Doctor Albert Weiss." He said to the visions. He was testing whether they reacted to verbal communication or not. He was also perhaps testing whether he was alive. Then, too curious to wait for a response first, he added, "Do you know where the light comes from in this room?"

 

[ShotJon]

Jordans lips went into smile in her home where her sleeping body was left. Her spirit was already in the dreamworld though. As ussually everything was a little bit hazy, bits and pieces not making sense completely. She sat on meadow, stretching as far as eye could see, with grass so radiantly green and smooth and sky so very blue. There were many clouds on the sky all shaped as Lord Byron Merryweather. Jordan's dreamself smiled on this sight. She sat in the grass and relaxed, before she noticed it. In nowhere was a doorway, so white it was practically shining. Curiosity appeared in young woman as she moved towards the doors.

She slowly took the handle and pushed it, opening the doors. Behind it was room, but she could not describe, neither she coudl describe strange clouds hovering there. Were it some creatures? Then there was also man in white lab coat. Jordan looked at herself noticing she too was shapeless. In her mind she frowned upon the fact and tried to concentrate a little. Geting a shape.

Soon she was stood there whole in her most comfortable form. Naked and her thrice-damned mechanical arm changed with real. She was usualy like this in her dreams.

 

[Luca]

"Dr. Who?" Danny replied to the astute looking outline. He noticed something as Albert introduced himself, his outline became more definite, a shape was starting to coalesce before him, "Uh, well. I dunno. I have no clue either. I'm Danny, by the way."

He shrugged and looked at the others - five others in total. In particular, he took notice of Jordan - it didn't take a genius to realise that she was arse naked - the other's outlines would have had clothing to provide bumps and imperfections to the human silhouette - a naked woman had very distinct 'bumps', however.
"Aren't you cold?" Were the first words out of his mouth, in addition to a blush creeping across his cheeks, "Uh, don't you want a coat or something?"

Without realising, his outline had become more defined as he spoke more and talked about himself, trying to ground and confirm himself as a scrawny, absurdly flexible scruffy blonde Nepleslian with a thin chinstrap beard in the lucid dreamspace. He was dressed in a brown vest with matching sneakers, blue pants and cream shirt. His outline still remained a distinct burnt orange colour, even though the rest of him was well defined.

 

[Arieg]

Arieg felt his mind settle as his awareness chased off the edges of whatever influenced his sleep. What he found, or rather what his mind projected was a white room, at least in his perception. A singular door stood as the only real oddity to what otherwise was a uniform structure. As he stepped toward it, ever cautious, the familiar weight of a handgun appearing in his right hand as his left slowly pushed the doorway open.

Beyond the threshold was an odd, indescribable room. His mind unable to comprehend or label what his subconscious was feeding him. What it managed to lock onto however was faint silhouettes in the distance, humanoid ones.

 

[Soda]

"Welcome to the Collective Consciousness Training Ground, an experimental exercise method developed by the Iron Moon Advancements. First, you may feel odd, perhaps a little out of control, but if you haven't yet, you will become lucid. Take your time to realise who and what you are, where you are and that you are dreaming." A reverberating, slightly monotonous, feminine voice told the group. which seemed to come from everywhere, but didn't echo through the room. Instead it reverberated in each of the users their minds.

As the voice spoke, the doors through which everyone came, closed. It's knob slowly becoming flat, sticking to the door's surface, and turning white untill it blended in perfectly. Followed by the outlines of the door which started to fade starting at the lower left corner. Tracing all the way up, horizontal, then down again and over the bottom, till nothing was left and the users found themselves locked inside.

"Please stay calm, do not panic, do not try to wake up, this will worsen things severely... and sir Hessel, violence will not be needed, the others will be your companions in this training." The voice continued.

"For your comfort I will dim the light." Immediatly the walls seemed to stop glowing, turning to simple white surfaces with clearly visible corners. However, the floor and ceiilng kept glowing lightly, making cast shadows faint and soft.

"My name is ELENA, I will be guiding you this session throughout a series of excersizes after which you are deployed for your first mission. Details on this will come later. I stabilize and control this world we are now in." ELENA explained. "Before we begin, I would like you all to realise who and what you are. If you are unable to do this, give yourself as much shape as you can for now."

"Don't worry too much... this is still a dream... eventhough you are becoming conscious within it." ELENA said in a warmer, caring tone.

 

[Lamb]

"Fascinating." The doctor mused, watching the room take its changes and the visions coalesce and introduce themselves as people, seemingly Nepleslian for the most part.

"An artificial lucid dream-scape. Although one must ask the obvious philosophical question..." Doctor Weiss adjusted his waistcoat and moved past the naked woman to the nearest corner, investigating the lighting. Subsequently, he willed it's source to be a small floor lamp.

"Am I really dreaming with lucidity, or am I just dreaming that I have lucidity?"

 

[MissingNo]

There was no glow or fuzzy outline defining the neko's mind as it wandered the room, nothing for any of the other participants to see. It simply was there, observing.

The place here made it uneasy, however. The sense of safety was truly gone now, and -- in a way it wasn't sure of, but didn't bother to realize that it wasn't sure -- it knew that this space wasn't as...malleable as the previous one on the other side of the door that slowly vanished. In fact, all of the doors were vanishing.

The mind began to panic. Its point-of-view blinked from place to place, looking at everything rapidly trying to find a way out. After what felt like almost an hour, but to the other participants was only moments, it had seen everything in the room and had realized that there was nowhere to go. It could only stay here.

Well, what was there to do here? With the other doors gone, it felt better about getting nearer to the other figures in the lobby or atrium of this place, listening to them make noises at each other.

They had arrived slowly before the doors vanished. One or two had been there already, and three more had arrived, each more detailed and 'solid' than the last...more "real", though this was real to the mind. More present, maybe? Or defined? More like the door. Everything was compared with the door. These were not that, but they had similar attributes: They were different from the environment, and the mind couldn't change them. It could, however, copy them. Before it could, something interrupted.

"Welcome to the Collective Consciousness Training Ground, an experimental exercise method developed by the Iron Moon Advancements. First, you may feel odd, perhaps a little out of control, but if you haven't yet, you will become lucid. Take your time to realise who and what you are, where you are and that you are dreaming."

The noises, or the impression of "noise" that somehow originated from within the mind itself, meant nothing to the neko's mind. It puzzled over what that sensation might be, but the "something else" was unable to be examined. Like the mind was unable to be examined, it realized, gaining the first step towards sapience, self-identity. The reactions of the other things in the room distracted it from probing that idea any further, though.

While watching everyone, and without realizing it, the mind created a single image that remained in place for a few seconds, flickering through the features of every person present who had a self-image and combining them in various ways ranging from horrible to awkward to beautiful, then faded from sight.

 

[Gabriel]

Talking voice........may have a point.......Fell asleep in bed......Appearance should match my own. As Venicus' subconscious examined what was around him, his conscious slowly began to take over his thought process with rational logic, as if he was completely awake. As this happened, his form slowly began to morph into his body, a medium height, average build, brown-haired, ex-military looking figure. This is not my bed.....Weird mystical blobs don't turn into human....Too surreal to be real...Must be dreaming..This can't be real! I must be dreaming.

"I must be dreaming!" Venicus concluded out loud, his body now having fully taken shape and his conscious having fully pushed out his subconscious. "I always wondered what it would be like to lucid dream." It was clear that he still thought the other figures in the room were simply figments of his imagination.

 

[ShotJon]

Jordan looked at the shape taht apparently talked to her. She looked on her naked being and smiled back at him. She sounded rather nervous. Soon the shape changed taking a form of young man. "Oh do not worry yourself. I am just fine." Jordan replied with a smile.

A Voice from nowhere then appeared out of nowhere and started explaining what happened. Jordan was fascinated. She never head dream like this. Being able to act and think so clearly. Even the others that were in her own dream appeared so real. Damn my brain is good. She thought for herself but chuckled out loud. She then decided she should get some clothing of her own. Since this was her dream she should be able to dream some clothing out too.

Jordan focused on herself and imagined herself in simeple blue jeans, black T-shirt with cleavage, jean vest and buckled high boots. She smiled on her creation and gave a nod of approval.

 

[Lamb]

"Yes, very interesting." Albert noted as he moved away from the corner and made his way back to the people gathering with more and more realistic forms. "The other individuals are able to continue conversing without my presence and the environment doesn't seem to be centered around me as well. This evidence supports the notion."

Doctor Weiss took a locke of the now-clothed Jordan's hair between his thumb and forefinger. "Tell me, did the two of you notice a strange apparition appear suddenly and then disappear rather quickly?"