Dreaming in Digital

20250116 i worked in a retail store, and then took part time at another retail store. I preferred the second one and told my coworkers. We went to lunch together, which included Mango and Papaya and their eldest son who was three. Papaya and I filled on desserts.

20241217 i was on my old computer from the 90's - a beige desktop that became dirtier and yellow with age. On Windows 95, I opened a chatroom with Shortbread, but my messages were all in a different language. I tried to fix it and the words became Russian.

20241128 i drove to a high school meet up at a computer cafe by myself. Cookie was at work and couldn't attend. The music was loud. There was so many people i didn't know, but i soon found Spritz and Shortbread at computers at a quieter corner. I took a spot beside Spritz and played a game for a couple of hours. When it was late and everyone was heading home, the three of us hitched a ride with a couple in their white station wagon. When we stopped at a gas station, i realized i left my car at the computer cafe. I turned to Shortbread and Spritz and exclaimed i could've driven them home myself.

20240730 Cookie and I went to an outdoor bar with our high school friends. I think there was a festival because most of our friends went exploring. Even though I am in my third trimester of pregnancy, I was mixing a drink for Amaretti. It was a light yellow, sweet cocktail. I brought it to him, who was comfortable on an outdoor sofa, and Cookie was sitting near him, chatting. Cookie showed me his phone. There was a text message chat open. He told me this lady was texting him, and seemed interested in getting to know him. I felt a pang of fear and grief. I didn't tell him, but I worried she was going to steal him away from me. In her profile picture, she was young and beautiful, and Cookie is a more than wonderful person.

20230606 I don't remember my first dream anymore, but I remember my second one better. I was with four other boys, and we were probably superheroes - guardians of the world. Our headquarters were in the sky just above the clouds, in a building that was massive and elliptical in shape (it resembled Tipoca City on Kamino in Star Wars). On the news we heard the world below was suffering a pandemic - a virus - and we were scared. Not long after, we received a mission to go down and watch a little boy. A partner (or two) and I went down, to a little warehouse. When we met the boy, he told us his mother was looking after an elderly man in the room adjacent to us. In our current room, there were many cathode ray tube (CRT) television screens stacked from floor to ceiling. Each one displayed SMPTE colour bars. When I asked the boy if his mother needed help, he said she said she didn't. She worked taking care of the elderly.

 20230528 Rummaging through a filled garage, stacked with rows upon rows of metal shelves, I came across a partially opened cardboard box. I pulled out a picture book with a familiar-looking girl on the cover. It was a book about Jyn Erso's adventures before the events of Star Wars: Rogue One.

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Cookie's four-year-old nephew was having another birthday party for his friends only. Despite not having children, cookie and I were invited, so we awkwardly watched children run around the party hall.

Stacks of colouring sheet packages and a cup of crayons sat on a foldable table. I took one stack and began colouring the dinosaur-themed package. Not soon after, the nephew's mother's friend, and her two sons, were leaving. She searched the colouring packages for her sons' names but only found one. Dread set into my system as I flipped through the sheets I found a name written on the top right of the package.

I rushed to Cookie's nephew's mother telling her what I'd accidentally done - I didn't know they were only for the children. Overhearing my panic, my mother-in-law handed me a black USB stick and pointed me to a door.

"You can print out more colouring pages in there," she said, patting my shoulder.

Cookie and I entered the room. Everything was white. The only things in the room were a single computer and a black printer in the centre of the room. I booted up the stick in Windows Explorer to see thousands of files, and to my horror, none of them were in folders. I used the search function without luck, and after a few minutes, I decided to try searching on the internet for the exact same colouring book pages to print.

20230323 I can't remember how it began, but Biscotti stopped by out house (which had Cookie's grandparent's house's layout). I was watching a streaming tv show up in Cookie's and my bedroom. I set up our printer because he wanted to watch Doctor Who next, as if printing something would change the playlist of my television. Soon, Spritz arrived, then Shortbread, who took the transit. As we were watching my show, the paper jams in the printer and we fix it with much struggle. Also while we watched my show, Spritz put a CD into my CD player to watch after, as if that eould affect my playlist as well. When it was finally done, Shortbread said she had to leave to catch the busses, but Biscotti volunteered to drive her home. She stayed longer and we went down to grab a snack.

20201005

I was was with Cookie trying to solve something. We met many people and went to many places. The last I remember was camping in a parking lot outside a rundown inn. Through speakers, I heard Cookie being called and we went inside to meet the owner, a short, vicious man and his servants. We all went to the roof, where the sky was grey and cloudy and sat down on fancy, iron chairs with a table in front of us. We discussed a job he had for us and would pay us in lodging, but I don't think Cookie was interested.

I was part of a kingdom who was at war with another, and I viewed the world in a slanted bird's eye view. The kingdom I was a part of used baby blue to represent their kingdom, while the neighbouring kingdom used red. The land we shared had rolling hills of green grass and the sky always retained its bright blue hue. It never became night.

I was a prince in the blue kingdom with the ability to switch bodies with any subject I chose. My best friend was Tim Drake as Robin, in his red and black uniform, and black cape with yellow lining. I borrowed his body often to visit the red kingdom and see the princess. Sometimes he would visit the princess when I couldn't and send her messages of my affection. Of all our subjects, he had the fastest speed when covering ground, and used his acrobatic skill to dodge attacks from enemy subjects. In his body, I through the grassy fields, reaching the outermost point of the enemy's kingdom. There were ruins of protective walls scattered about in rings around the kingdom. As soon as I entered the first ring, I learned they had learned to build robots, using them as killer machines. The majority travelled in swarms, and I was able to destroy a few, but I soon felt the floor shake with heavy footprints. Scanning the horizon, I saw a gigantic, humanoid/bug-like machine racing towards me. It was black and red and both hands were machine guns. I dodged most of its attacked, but I took heavy damage until I died. Although Tim's body was lying in the grass, lifeless, I was still alive as a  ghost soul. I watched as the red king came out and ordered his army to stop. Stop everything. He walked a distance away from his kingdom, into a display of chairs and tables, and plates neatly spaced out. I soon realized it was where the reception of a wedding was to take place. The princess was by her father, weeping because her friend was killed. The king gave a speech to all his subjects who had gathered closely around him, including his robot subjects. They listened to the king talk aabout ending the war, because they had killed the princess' friend. I could not figure out if the wedding that was set up was for the princess and I, or for the princess and another prince. I also couldn't figure out if the princess cried because Tim had died or she might be marrying another prince.

We moved into a new house and the walls were all white. I was sitting on my bed with a vacuum cleaner, seeing what it would suck up from the objects on my bed. Next, I put it on my hand to see if it would hurt if it sucked my skin, but it felt nice. Our aunt came to visit and so did another relative. One of their grandparents just died and they were transferred into our bathtub. While everyone was outside, I stayed in my room with Cookie and we watched television. There was a talk show on, with a man and woman in their underwear and I can't remember what they were doing. My mom knocked on the door and I open it 'cause it was time to pay my respects. The wife was in the bathroom and she was young. She let us both inside and then left. Just as she was closing the door behind behind  my mom and I, we freaked out a little and decided first we have to dress nicely. So back in my room, I noticed I had my own small bathroom and a closet. I was happy. I got changed then went back to pay respects.

I was in a different country, on an island with a beach. I was staying with my sister and my dad in a small hotel room. I don't remember much around here and there, but my dad told my sister she could stay or leave this country. There was a thunderstorm and hailing wind, but my sister still wanted to stay. We went to the dinning room and sat down, to where food was already on the table. As we ate, a Chinese lady and her mother joined us, eating out of the bowl that I was eating from. After dinner, I wandered the halls alone as the pattering of rain got heavier. I felt like I was missing something, then my cell phone rang. I answered it and it was a broken transmission from Junpei Iori (from the Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 games). He called me twice and through those difficult but decipherable transmissions, he said to go to the old Macintosh computer in one of the hallways, so I did. I stayed on the phone and kept calling to him- I felt he was in danger and I didn't want to lose (another?) friend. We got to the computers and my dad kept talking nonsense as he fidgeted with the cords and computer, and as he did, in the reflection of the screen, I saw my dad, myself on the phone, and Junpei on the phone beside me. When I looked to his direction, he wasn't there. I understood what to do and I pushed a few buttons on the keyboard and the side of the computer, then I woke up.

But I had a short dream after. I was with Junpei at a city's streets at night. The shops were closed and the streets were empty of people except a small group of guys who minded their own business. The only lights present were the street lamps, the stars above, and the moon. He said thank you for bringing him back, and I nodded, tellinging him I didn't want to lose another and one of my oldest friends. Then I told him that even though he was with Chidori and I with my own love, I wanted to thank him in this way, especially because he counted on me for help (since nothing happens in my mundane life) and I kissed him.