Dream Dragon

[X] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
----

Dreams had meaning to some people. To some people they were visions of the future. To others it was a message. To John, dreams were tools in what he could consider his real trade. A dream of something grand or terrible was a way of adding to his power. It was natural then to use himself as a source.

Admittedly this was harder than one would think. John couldn't use some random dream. He had to use a vivid and emotionally powerful one. He also couldn't really control it either. Ever since he had started being taught by Dream-catcher, he had been able to control his dreams at will. That was sort of counter to what he needed.

So to make a dream usable by himself, John had to got at it sideways. What he had to do was setup the framework beforehand in a series of controlled reams, and then jump directly into dreaming and surrender all his control when he was ready.

To do this John basically did a few dozen power naps over the week. Not long really. Only about ten minutes every few hours. Harold barely even noticed, and didn't care when he did notice. He likely thought John was getting less sleep than normal or was bored.

Near the end of the week, John's preparation was complete, and he finally blocked off a good hour to fall deeply asleep.

He dreamed of dragons in flight and in battle. The beat of wings and the feeling of wind. The way they clawed into their enemies. Notions of power. Dragons had a very real position in myth and legend. They caught the imagination and gave people a little thrill. All of it accumulated into a specific focus that told a tale to John.

[] A dream of dragon scales. (1/3 completed for Dragon Scales: -1 Damage every round until at half health or below)
[] A dream of dragon fire. (Breath upgrade: Disables abilities until the start of your next turn.)
[] A dream of gold. (Dragon's Horde: For every 10 gossamer you have, gain +1 Cohesion, to a max of your wonder. )


[X] Go home (Use night action twice)
[X] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest) 5

The dragon was very busy this week. He had specifically set aside a lot of time to hunt and regain his spent resources. He also was quite concerned with not giving his mentor any tribute too. Dream-catcher was actually surprisingly reasonable on it's demands, but offering nothing would likely lead to a very unpleasent result. There was a very big difference between offering a paltry amount and not offering anything at all.

So the dragon flew over the dream cities and through skies made of cotton candy. He soared over zebras of nothing but stripes, and birds the size of people. He chuckled a bit when he saw dinosaurs in suits having a tea party. Then he located some prey.

In this case a little heart carrying an arrow. A cupid.

The dragon dove and let lose immediately. His breath washed over the cupid and the thing 'beat' faster. Then immediately ran.

This was why the dragon had actually empowered his wings just a bit. Some denizens would flee when they could. And when they did having nimble wings was incredibly important. If he hadn't had them he would have had to track the blasted thing again.

Instead the dragon pounced on the fleeing denizen and feasted. Fake red blood spurted from the heart shaped thing, and then it disappated in a flurry of dream-stuff.

Quite proud of his quick and successful hunt, the dragon continued to hunt.

His flight had him traveling through darker areas in the dream realm. Places where rain clouds and nighttime had fallen. Nightmares were natural parts of the dream realm and they swept across the place much like a storm would. Sometimes they grew and become more, but most of the time they were just storms.

Less savory things liked to hide in them though. In this case it was a Boogeyman.

Unlike the other denizens, boogymen didn't have a set shape aside from being shadowy. In this case it was a figure with long claw like fingers and jagged lines.

It erupted out of the cloud with a horrid screech and practically gutted the dragon on it's first attack. Shrieking in surprise and a small amount of fear, the dragon blasted it's face with stars and dreams. Then it tore into the dragon's belly still further.

In reply the dragon bit it's head off. Quick and bloody was what these fights were like. Almost fitting for a creature that liked nightmares.

Huffing and puffing the dragon retired for the night there, but was out the next night. He still had things to hunt and gather.

Towards the end of the week the dragon had his third encounter. This time overflying one of his rivals. The thing was slow, but it looked strong.

An atom floated through the dream without a care in the world. The question on the dragon's mind was 'Do I want to fight?' He had the terms of engagement here. He could decline fighting and continue to gather. Well, he could also strike up a conversation. This guy was so exceptionally slow that the dragon only needed to worry when he got close.

"Greetings!" The dragon called out.

The Atom paused and seemed to tilt. The electrons around it's main body rotated faster as it replied. "Oh, the dragon one. How do you do? I didn't see you up there." It's voice was slightly higher and almost maniac as it spoke.

The dragon snorted. "Liar. You wouldn't be this deep if you weren't aware of your surroundings. You'd be popped in an hour."

"I applaud your methods of deduction." The atom replied sarcastically with a bobbing motion. "So, shall we fight? I daresay I would love a little scrap! Haven't had the best luck with hunting and all. You know how it goes."

"You're too slow to pin down things aren't you?" The dragon huffed with amusement.

"I make do, but in my own way." The atom huffed and bounced. "Usually by smashing arrogant flying wretches who think they're the be all end all."

"Ohh, I'm so scared." The dragon taunted back and did a barrel roll in midair. "Look at how scared I am." He ended with a lazy back-flip.

"Come down here and say that why don't you." The atom muttered loudly and started to move away. "I'll get myself a nice dragon-skin rug."

"Typically you make armor out of dragon scale." The dragon pointed out innocently.

"We have a funny lizard now. Lovely." The atom grumbled.

The dragon chuckled loudly.

[] Action towards rival?
[] Did you repair beforehand? (You had taken 17 damage from the boogyman.)

[X] A dream of gold. (Dragon's Horde: For every 10 gossamer you have, gain +1 Cohesion, to a max of your wonder. )
[X] Ask him how things are going and if he's interested in cooperation.
[X] Repair
-----

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to cooperate on further hunting?" The dragon asked as he followed the atom.

"With only one possible winner each month, I'm not inclined to no." The responded quickly and without hesitation.

The dragon shrugged and found a place to perch along the atom's path. The other being stopped moving away and looked almost peeved. "An exchange of information then?"

The electrons starrted to speed up and the atom was silent for a moment. Then it bobbed in midair. "I suppose that would agreeable. So long as the topics are limited."

"Haha." The dragon laughed slightly and his tail started to twitch as he continued. "I suppose the first question is how do you hunt? As slow as you are, most prey would flee."

"You are familiar with the behavior of denizens right? I simply find particularly turbulent areas and wait. More than that I will not say." The atom sounded annoyed now. "I assume you swoop around on those anatomically impossible wings of yours?"

"Of course!" The dragon flapped the wings in question. "There's nothing better than flying through the air on these. What is a dragon without flight?"

"And ugly lizard." The atom responded and got a huff from the dragon. "You have flown in reality with those?"

"Once, at night actually." The dragon nodded in reply and winced. "I nearly clipped a power-line and ate a bird by reflex."

"Fascinating. I wonder how you got lift. Do you know?" The atom's electrons spun up as it seemed to think.

"I want to say I was lighter than you'd think, but a strong wind would have blown me away then. So I have no idea." The dragon admitted.

"Philistine." The atom sniffed audibly.

"We're in a realm inconceivable by modern science. I think conventional knowledge wouldn't apply to us." The dragon stated dryly and shifted so his neck elongated and his head was hanging down. "You encounter anyone else from our little group?"

"The one with the gun. And the one with fire. The one with fire only briefly before it fled, as it seemed to be a bad matchup. The one with the gun made vague threats and kept away." The atom snorted and reversed the orbit of his electrons. "Of the two, the one with the gun struck me as more dangerous. He probed more than you."

"That sounds pleasant." The dragon muttered and pulled his head up. "I encounter the taffy one. It talked strangely and shapeshifted."

"Strangely how?" The atom asked curiously.

"Changed pitch routinely and made it's voice like half a dozen other ones mashed together. It gave me a bit of headache to be honest." The dragon huffed out a small bit of dreamstuff.

"Interesting. No others?" The atom asked.

"None. I've been ranging a bit below the surface of the dream realm though, so I might be missing them." The dragon admitted.

"It's a large world, and I'm not under the impression that we're in the same area anyway." The atom speculated out loud. "Based off how hunting patterns are, you should likely have encountered more. I wonder if that means they're closer to me in the physically world."

"You know how funny the dream realm is with reality." The dream realm was outright bizarre to be honest. The deeper you went the worse it got too.

"There's a bit of a pattern there I believe. I have yet to find it, but there is one. I have noticed something like tides that seem to correspond with nighttime, but it's not exact." The atom's electrons sped up. "I believe more sleepers cause more 'pressure' so to speak. If you could map it, you could get some fascinating data on how people sleep."

"If you say so." The dragon stated uncertainly.

"Imagine, being able to tell when events were happening in reality just based on how the tides of the dream realm are? You could follow good and bad. Figure out the very mood of a city! Even better, you could determine patterns. It'd be an entirely new field of study!" The atom started to vibrate in place. "More, the mental health aspects? In time we could find entirely new ways of treatment!"

The dragon backed up a bit on his perch. "Uh-huh..."

"Oh yes, I could become famous! More, our patron wouldn't care if I bring in more people! I'd have to vet them completely of course, but the possibilities! Oh I the things I could do! Even the simplest ability of allowing people to sleep would be a multimillion dollar thing!" The atom vibrated faster, and the stilled. "Oh, ahehe. That would be in the future of course. After we have determined a victor in this little contest."

Calming down a bit, the dragon cocked his head. "You think there's going to be a victor?"

"You know as well as I that our patron is sinking deeper and deeper into the dream. Over time it will be unable to even touch reality. My guess is one of us will become it's successor and the rest will be stripped of their power." The atom stated grimly. "The successor will then feed it and gather more subordinates."

"That's a lot of guessing." It made a certain amount of sense though.

"Speculation mostly. At the very least our patron will start ramping up the punishments and forcing us to compete still further." The atom bobbed in midair. "This competition won't be endless though. I can almost guarentee that."

"Something to think about I suppose." The dragon spread his wings. "You've given me a lot to think on."

"I try. Now get going you flying lizard. I'm still hunting, and your talking is scaring things away." The atom huffed.

With that the dragon laughed and started to fly off.

----

You have 63 Gossamer
You have 21 days until tribute
You have a dream of the conqueror. You need to use graft dream to add it, and it will add the following power:
Internal Flames - When reduced to 1/4 HP or less, regain 1/2 HP as a free action. May only happen once per day.
You also have: A dream of gold.
Dragon's Horde: For every 10 gossamer you have, gain +1 Cohesion, to a max of your wonder.
Note, grafting dream can be used to adjust stats as well as adding abilities in the same action.

Daytime Action
[] Patrol the campus. (You're a security guard for the local college. Your contract doesn't really need you to patrol, but it gets you out of the place.0
[] Nap and use Dream of Wonder
[] Watch the Monitors (Talk with Harold)
[] Play Ball with Scott

Evening Action
[] Hit the local library
[] Hit the local cafe
[] Hit the local bar
[] Go home (Use night action twice)
[] Socialize with someone

Night Action
[] Hunt for Gossamer (Specify a number from 1-7. 1 easy, 7 hardest)
[] Hunt for your rivals
[] Look for something new

-You may use graft dream form on any slot you'd sleep.
-You may repair as an additional, free action.
-Write ins are acceptable.

[X] Play Ball with Scott

The football wobbled as it flew across the field and John winced just a bit at the movement. Scott laughed as he intercepted it though, and sent it back in a smooth throwing motion that sent it practically soaring through the air. John had to run to catch it, but that was really part of the fun.

"Gotta keep up the hand-eye coordination dude!" Scott called out. "My security is in your hands!"

John laughed. "If you need me to be intercepting people, we've got more problems than how I throw a ball!" He pitched it back, and this time made sure to throw it hard. Not that it did much to be honest.

"Dude! My mother can throw better than that!" Scott taunted as he chased the ball. His next throw was easier this time though.

"Well, I'm not the one on the football team, so I'm allowed to be bad." John caught the ball and flexed his hands around it. "How's that going by the way?"

"Doing good so far! Won the last game and got another one lined up." Scott clapped his hands together as he spoke and John threw the football at them. "Pretty good for me. Trying to decide if I want to get into the pros or not, and more wins make it a better decision."

"You're going pro?" John asked curiously. The college didn't have the best reputation for sports really.

"Likely not. I'm on a scholarship, but going pro takes a lot more than just that." Scott shrugged and threw the ball high into the air after he finished speaking. "What about you? How are things?"

John took a few steps back and took his time to catch the ball before replying. "I'm a security guard." He stated with a snort. "This is probably the most exciting thing I've done this week." In reality that is.

"Not going to school? They should be giving you some sorta discount right?" Scot took a few steps closer and John threw an easy catch to him.

"I do get something like that if I'm there for enough. I'm not interested to be honest." John had other things to deal with really. He was lucky in one respect. His job was pretty stable for the foreseeable future.

"You're choice man. I think you should. If only because a high school degree's not really good for work." Scott shrugged and then looked at a few other people. "Hey dudes, want to join in?"

With a few more people on the field the conversation changed to the local sports. John didn't have much to input on that.

[X] Hit the local library

The library was always interesting to go to. There was just something about all the books that made it a place that John liked really. He couldn't explain it even if prompted. Something about the sense of wonder he got from it. The dream realm around it was always so serene. Like this was a place of contemplation.

Reality had a way of making things different sometimes though. This week, John noticed that someone had claimed one of the tables almost every day. A Hispanic woman with brown hair had apparently taken out a good half dozen books on anatomy and was studying every day John visited the library. The sight was interesting enough that John chanced a meeting.

"Cramming for a test?" John led.

"Like you wouldn't believe." The woman replied back and flipped the page of one of the books. Then looked up with a cheery smile. "Hi! Saw you around a few times. You a student too?"

"More someone who works on campus. Doctor? I'm John by the way." John looked over the anatomy pictures and winced at one of them.

"Nurse actually. Lola. Pleasure to meet you!" The girl bounced in her seat a bit as she spoke and John had to suppress a laugh.

"Awesome." John nodded at the girl. "We always need more nurses."

"Haha. Thinking about all the tests I got I can see why. Already got a headache, but I'm going to get it done right!" Lola flexed an arm. "Now if You don't mind I'm gonna need to get back to this before I get my perky little but thrown out."

"Haha, I'll leave you to that." John nodded at the other girl.

Pleasant woman and her dreams felt like they were sugar and puppies. Or something of that nature.

[X] Look for something new

There were things in the dream realm. Grand wonders. Horrible nightmares. Glorious stars in the sky, and deep black holes so horrible and clawing that nothing existed in 'miles.' This was the nature of the dream realm. Things didn't have have to make sense. You could see a mountain balanced on a pin, or a pin the size of a mountain.

The dragon had seen all that and more. Those were the fun sights. Static dreams that were almost landmarks deeper in the dream. He used the mountain sized pin as a guide routinely actually. It was one of the nicer landmarks even if it was bizarre to see.

Now he was looking for something more unusual though. Those were best to find deep in the dream. The deeper the better.

In this case the dragon went down as far as possible. Here things were dangerous and anything resembling reality didn't exist. Shadows and lights of all sorts glimmered across the sky. This was a risky place even if he was knowledgeable enough to avoid most dangerous things.

And the new thing he found was worth the risk.

A city. A literal city inside the dream. The dragon could see it sprawling across the horizon. Massive beyond belief. With tall soaring skyscrapers more massive than anything in reality. He could see things swinging off some of them, and could even spot a massive ape like creature hanging off one of the larger ones.

As the dragon flew closer he could even spot people down on the streets. Well, almost people. Swooping down had him realize that all of them didn't quite look like people. There was always something off.

Oh, and they were running away and screaming. Whoops?

Honestly the dragon was a bit baffled. Normal behavior was things either attacking or talking with him. Not... That.

Then the police cars drove up, and the dragon was more confused. They officers that came out of the car were as large as streetlamps and shouldn't have been able to fit inside the car.

One of them moved up to the lamp the dragon was using as a perch and cleared his throat. He had a large square chin and his eyes were covered by his hat.

"Excuse me, sir? I'm going to need to see some identification and your permit for street scaring. We weren't sceduled for a monster attack on this street."

What?

[]?