10th August 23 - Shops (some NSFW)

I'm staring at the map of a region, though most of it but certain urban areas are whited out, in a very video gamey 'you haven't explored this area' or 'you aren't allowed here' kind of way. I focus in on one part of the map, it's close to the centre of a city, and I'm suddenly looking into a small indoor market. A central walking space is surrounded by around 12 different small businesses. I scan over them from above, as the details of each become clearer. Most of them seem to be alcohol related, with a few craft beer stalls and one devoted to mead. I'm inside the market space now, and I go to check the meads where I sadly find that none are vegan.

I leave the market and find myself in a European style city, lots of old grey stone, and cobbled roads. I am standing next to a shop with a wooden door and iron fixings that my two housemates (J & L) enter. I realise that this is the leather shop they were telling me about recently (dream stuff), that has a somewhat-secret sex shop in the basement. I follow them in, and watch as they head straight through an unassuming door on the far side of the shop, descending downstairs. I continue to follow, and see that the stairs lead down to a room that seems like a giant barn. There's a central walkspace where the floor is covered in hay that leads to a laddery set of stairs at the other end, and a few staff members dressed like stereotypical american farmer types. Along the sides of the walkspace are several double beds, most of which are occupied by people fucking. 

I'm a little shocked, and see my housemates continue down the path, seemingly heading upstairs. As they progress, one of the male staff members starts checking out J and says 'I'd like to get him involved ASAP!'. J starts milling around looking pretty pleased with the attention, and for some reason his appearance is somewhat Kenny-Omega-heel-arc-coded, as he is wearing aviators and has mutton chops that lead into a moustache. I follow L after checking the alt-looking fem staff member out briefly, up the stairs at the far end of the barn. We ascend into a small set of rooms that look like a somewhat empty living space with some fitting rooms hastily put together in the middle. She's looking for documents, though I don't know what for.

I mill around a bit as she's doing her thing, and start looking around. There's a small and seemingly unused kitchen off to one side, and there's another door slightly ajar that's leading to other rooms. I stare through the crack, making out details on the other side when someone (actor Nathan Lane) walks past, notices me staring, and then stares back confusedly. He then hurries away and I start chuckling. L appears and I show her the door which she looks through from the same position I did, as somebody else is brought to look through by the person that saw me, and they both see L in the same position as me instead. I find this hilarious and start cracking up, the idea that they see me standing absolutely still, staring through with a weird expression on my face, and then when looking again it's someone else doing exactly the same thing must be so weird and creepy. 

I laugh myself awake.

6th August 23 - Tapestry

I'm travelling via bus through a city I've dreamed of before, with narrow roads and a seafront that this bus travels down. I know the driver, he's someone I know online that DJ's an independent radio station - D. I ask D, who at this point is an unrecognisable blonde woman, why when we travel though the narrowest part of the city does the bus always play Plush by the Stone Temple Pilots? She laughs, and responds 'because it's good!'

Night arrives and I flit around several rooms in several buildings on the seafront. Time blurs and it becomes night, most likely due to a fair amount of alcohol consumed; I'm at one or several interconnected parties. I have my instax camera, and I've been taking disposable pictures but there's something wrong. The details have become hazy, but something bad has happened, and I may have taken pictures that contain more information, maybe even evidence of crime. I run back into the city, where it seems to be soaked in perpetual daylight. I struggle to remember what happened, and after feeling into the city and seemingly losing any potential tail, I decide to make my way back to the party aftermath.

The main building is at the end of a road running next to the beach, parallel to the shoreline, a two storey apartment building with a very old but studenty vibe. It's dark inside, blues mix with red lighting to provide an aesthetic that feels comforting to me. As I make my way upstairs, a police officer spots me and requests my assistance (IRL she is someone who runs a plant nursery nearby). She has spotted my instax camera and has intuited that I may have pictures of whatever crimes may have been committed. At this point I realise that I have a collection of photos from the party, quite a few of them are nudes of partygoers, and I would rather the cops not get a hold of anything. 

I do my best to rebuff her attempts at gathering evidence, and I flit from room to room picking up pictures I've taken whilst the police officer attempts to follow whilst surveying the various scenes. Eventually she corners me in a room and asks to see the film roll of my camera rather than the photos. I realise this is bad, and that any pictures I've taken will be visible, but I have no choice but to hand it over. Inside the film canister is a piece of cloth, which we slowly unfurl into a huge tapestry roughly 2m x 15m in size. Printed along the tapestry are the pictures that this roll of film allowed for, taking up roughly 2m x 1m each. They are gorgeous, artistic, colourful images of varying styles. Some are straight photographs, and some seem like photoshopped pieces of artwork.

We do our best to fold the tapestry back up, but it is understandably huge and won't fit back into the tiny canister. There were no incriminating images, so she requests to see my other 'spent' canisters. I find one, and instead of a tapestry to be unfurled I find a traditional roll of tiny film, which has created a grid of all the pictures I have ever taken with my camera. We both look through and find just pleasant normal pictures everywhere, nothing bad or incriminating, and the police officer even compliments me on my photography skills. 

I leave and head back into the city proper and find that it is snowing, I believe it is late December in what I now understand to be Liverpool. There seems to be a parade marching through the dark snowy streets, people having a good fun time. I decide to see the march for myself, and hop into a small flat platform thing with wheels and a steering column, not unlike a scooter with a square base. It zips me around quite fast and surprisingly safely considering the slushy and icy nature of the streets. I ride past countless shouting jovial people, and even spot some old friends (P & H) towards the front of it. I eventually reach the front where people seem to be getting a little angrier, and continue onwards to the square they seem to be approaching. I see some people advertising various shops and bars nearby, one sign advertising vegan brandy at a nearby Bratislavan bar catches my eye.

I decide to double back along a different street to catch the middle of the march, only when I get back to the main road nobody is to be seen. I continue back to the main square and find the whole city seemingly deserted. Have they all gone inside the various shops and bars nearby? I enter a small cosy arcade around the corner and find a single person that I know - she's not quite human? I get the impression that she's from an ancient time, some kind of Neanderthalic person that has found herself in modern society, and that I have been tasked with taking care of her. She's standing outside of the Bratislavan bar, which is also empty aside from a cowering barkeep.

The barkeep has a chunk of hair missing from the side of her head, and I realise that the ancient woman must have gotten confused and attacked her. I apologise and explain why this was wrong to the neandertal, and order her a diet coke. As I do more people seem to finally start filling into the arcade and to the bar. One group of posh people walk up and start talking to us, and indicate outside where there is a giant game being played in the square. Various country borders are visible in the snow, and the objective is to take nations one by one. The ancient woman immediately claims a huge amount of territory, surprising the posh knobheads.

I woke up.