No.3370
>>3369>Location: Dreamville Control, Dreamville, Florida>Date: August 22, 2017
>A confident-looking woman strides through the control area of the Dreamville park as various staff members flit about their day, performing various operations. As the woman walks around, a snake coils around her shoulders, its purple scales revealing it as a pit viper, albeit a large one. Each time someone comes close to the woman, it slowly follows them with its eyes.
>Eventually, the woman stops at a position overlooking a scale model of the park, looking it over as a man with salt and pepper hair approaches her from behind."A record-breaking season, congratulations, director."
"What's gone wrong, George?"
"I'm not allowed to congratulate my old mentee?"
"You'd never do that during work hours, plus. . ."
>The woman brings a hand up to pet the snake."Can't hide anything from you anymore, Grace. Looks like we've got someone causing trouble in Westridge. . ."
>George waves his hand over the model, and it shifts to show an Wild West style town."I fail to see why that requires me, just send Mr Delaware's security team in."
"You'll probably want to check on it after, this troublemaker is. . . politically inconvenient for us."
>Grace sighs. "Very well. . ."
No.3373
>>3370>Location: ???
>Wild, unearthly colours dance in a chaotic space as Madeleine appears out of thin air, carefully floating upwards from her original position and rotating around until she's reoriented to stand on some solid-appearing ground."Orion? You there? I know I've been pretty busy lately since we had that business with the weird tree and with me trying to work out that mysterious person we found, but I've got some free time coming up and was wondering if you wanted to do something. . ."
>Madeleine lets her voice trail off for a moment."I know you're not much of a fan of Western animation, but. . . I managed to get some VIP tickets for Dreamville, so I thought you might want to go maybe?"
No.3374
>>3373>A few moments of silent pass, as Orion appears within the odd space. He floats down, touching his feet to the ground next to Madeleine. "Sorry for not answering immediately, there was this guy who started a big fight in the middle of town and was causing all kinds of trouble."
"Anyway…"
>He looks confused."…You got tickets to Dreamville? I didn't know you wanted to go."
No.3375
>>3374"Sounds like a pain in the neck. . . hope nobody got hurt."
>Madeleine waves her hand and a small chair appears."I mean, I don't really want to go there
that much, but I did like some Iwerks cartoons as a kid and. . ."
>Madeleine scratches the back of her head awkwardly."Well I asked Blink and they said that one of their partners said it's a romantic getaway so I figured. . ."
No.3376
>>3375"Just the person who started the fight."
>Orion smirks, obviously having had something to do with that.
>Suddenly Orion's face slightly reddens at the mention of a "romantic getaway"."Oh! I understand."
>He looks down at the plastic chair for a moment, apparently surprised by Madeleine's choice of seat. "Well, I think that's a… er… great idea."
>Orion smirks."Just as long as you don't make me watch anything bad while we're there."
No.3377
>>3376"That's going to be difficult, you think
all Western stuff is bad."
>Madeleine laughs at her own joke."I'll put our start date as this Saturday if that works for you, and then have Blink take me to yours - we can book flights from there."
"Unless there's anything else?"
No.3379
>>3378"Orion!"
>Madeleine stands up quickly."You!"
>Grumbling to herself, Madeleine disappears as well.—————————————————-
>Location: Dreamville Control, Dreamville, Florida>Date: August 26th, 2017>Time: 7:05am
>In a side office off from the main control area, Grace sits at a desk, clearly tired, she rubs her eyes as her snake lazily eats a mouse off to the side.
>The snake's concentration breaks from a moment as it looks to the door, which opens as George steps through."Tell me this is a positive update from Mr Delaware."
"Possibly, he mentioned that he thinks he might've tracked our issue down, said he wanted you to meet him in Sheriff Pickett's office in a few hours."
"This had better be good then-"
"That wasn't the main reason I came, just wanted to inform you that we've got a pair of psions coming in and-"
>Grace dismissively waves her hand."Have the Calyx system handle them, that's just standard procedure, it's not like every psion coming in is here to cause issues."
"If you say so. . ."
—————————————————-
>Location: Dreamville Entrance, Dreamville, Florida>Date: August 26th, 2017>Time: 10:07am
>The Dreamville entrance is done up as a grand palace taken from one of the studio's many animated films. Around the entrance gates, various mascots and greeters handle a relatively small crowd and guide visitors towards the entrance bays.
>Taking in the sight for a moment, Madeleine wipes her forehead, clearly not used to the Florida heat yet, and looks to Orion."Well, feeling excited?"
No.3380
>>3379>Orion stands alongside Madeleine, seemingly not bothered by the heat. He returns Madeleine's gaze. "Er… I don't really know. It looks…"
>He pauses. "Interesting…"
>Orion then clears his throat. "But I'm sure I'll like it more inside."
>He takes Madeleine by the hand and heads towards the entrace. No.3381
>>3380>As the two head towards the entrance, one of the mascots, a large anthromorphic bear, approaches them."Welcome to Dreamville, little guys, can Wacky here see your tickets?"
>Madeleine reaches into a bag and pulls out a pair of tickets, which she carefully holds up for the bear to read."Ah, VIP guests, you want that entrance then."
>The bear points to a small set of gates that have no queue at them."Thanks Wacky."
"You're welcome."
>As the two get closer to the gate, Madeleine hands over a ticket for Orion."They'll probably have us go through separately, so here. Don't forget to smile for the pass photo, ok?"
No.3383
>>3382>The gate attendant looks up Orion with a similarly forced smile."Good morning, and welcome to Dreamville, where your dreams come true! may I take your ticket?"
>The attendant takes the ticket and scans it, looking at a screen below their window."This all looks good, although I am going to need you to go through an extra check if that's ok? It's standard procedure for psionic Meta-Humans as your powers can distrupt some of Dreamville's functions."
No.3385
>>3384"Excellent sir, this won't take a moment!"
>A barrier of energy appears either side of the gate and blocks out the light from outside, allowing a hologram projected from above to become visible in front of Orion."Hello, I am Calyx, I will be conducting a safety assessment on behalf of Dreamville Parks Limited, a subsidiary of The Iwerks Corporation. I will now conduct some basic screening questions."
>The hologram pauses for a moment, waiting for some indication of understanding in orion's facial expressions, then continues again."You Orion Rigel Thompson, born May 22nd 1995, currently residing in Sanctuary City, current employer Archeon Incorporated, correct?"
No.3387
>>3386>The hologram pauses for a second as it processes Orion's answer."Answer acknowledged."
"Do you have any current or prior convictions regarding: A. The use of your power, B. Hostile behavior, or C. Terrorism, treason, or any other such offenses?"
No.3389
>>3388>The hologram pauses again as it processes Orion's answer."Answer acknowledged."
"Is your Psionic Meta-Gene Expression known to cause distruptions to the dreams of those around you, whether this be in a way that is perceived as positive or negative, and if so, is this is in an automatic or manual fashion?"
No.3391
>>3390"Answer reported as 'Manual'."
>The hologram pauses for a moment."Answer for next question detected, skipping question."
>The hologram pauses again."Answers recorded and verified, you have been classed as a Psionic Class B visitor, no specific restrictions are required."
>The field drops, causing the hologram to become a lot less visible."Please enjoy your stay at Dreamville presented by Dreamville Parks Limited, a subsidiary of The Iwerks Corporation."
>With Orion visible again, the attendant presses a button to open the gate."Please enjoy your stay sir, if you follow the line ahead of you you will be taken to your dream pod where you can reuinite with your companion."
No.3395
>>3394>Reality begins to slip away around Orion, and the pod begins to fade away, the room being replaced with a wide, open, glamourous boulevard filled with various merchandise shops, food outlets, and several ride entrances. In the distance, a fairytale style castle floats in the air, overlooking the area.
>As with outside the park entrance, various mascots wander about the area, acting as assistants for anyone who approaches them. Unlike the earlier mascots, however, the ones within the park look far more cartoony and less costume-like.
>At several points along the boulevard, signs hang above various paths, indicating routes to different areas of the park, including ones for a wild west section, a speculative science fiction section, and a fantasy kingdom section. Alongside these, several shifting banners indicating various events hang from the walls, with the main one indicating a concert of some kind hosted by the park.
>As Orion arrives at the entry point, Madeleine makes her way over to him, smiling."Did you get the questions too? Nothing too prying, right?"
>Madeleine thinks for a second."You didn't get
too suspicious of the pod, did you?"
No.3396
>>3395"I got the questions."
>Orion looks mildly grumpy."And the pod is suspicious. All pods are suspicious."
>Orion looks around for a few moments, before looking back at Madeleine."…You don't think they're somehow recording everything we do and think do you?"
No.3397
>>3396"It's a theme park, so there's probably a lot of CCTV around to make sure predators aren't trying to kidnap kids or anything."
>Madeleine gives Orion a reassuring smile."I don't think it's
everything we do though, and I don't think they're delving into what we think, we'd probably be able to feel that, actually. . ."
>Madeleine stretches."I don't know about you, but this place feels
very refreshing to me, a bit like when we were dealing with your cousins and that weird tree - except without an evil tree breathing down our necks."
No.3398
>>3397"Yeah…"
>Orion clears his throat."Sorry. I just get suspicious when machines try to get into my head."
>He looks around in silence, trying to relax his body."Well, er… where to first? I didn't do any research before coming here but I assume you did."
No.3399
>>3398"I don't like things trying to get into my head either so I get it."
>Madeleine does a hand motion and a map appears in front of the pair."So. . . Blink's partner said that a good way to start the day is to go on The Sea Lady, it's right. . ."
>Madeleine moves her finger across the map, finding the ride.". . .here, and it's a nice easy one to start off the day apparently - plus the film's a classic."
>As Madeleine touches the ride, a faint trail of sparkles appears along the ground, leading the way to it."Oh, that's handy."
No.3400
>>3399"Huh. They really have this place worked out, don't they? I wonder how they did it."
>Orion's eyes follow the trail of sparkles along the ground, until he loses sight of them. He then takes Madeleine by the hand."To The Sea Lady we go."
>He starts to walk, following the trail. No.3401
>>3400"From what I could read online, we're basically in a lucid dream right now, so a lot of this isn't actually real - that's why they need the pods."
>Madeleine keeps on following the trail, her hand in Orion's."How they manage to make a load of people dream the same dream though, I don't know, they keep a pretty tight leash on that - probably to stop other companies from doing the same concept."
>Madeleine stops as the pair reach the end of the sparkling trail, a nautically themed building along the main boulevard. No.3402
>>3401>Orion looks up at the building, it's appearance being significantly made up of what looks like half an old sailing ship."Well it feels more real than when I actually dream. And definitely more consistent."
>Orion then heads towards the entrance of the building, stepping inside. He stops right at the entryway, immediately noticing a difference."Oh. It's bigger on the inside."
No.3403
>>3402"Dream rules I guess. . ."
>Madeleine makes her way into one of the ride vehicles, a miniature sailing ship, and makes sure she's secure before offering a hand so Orion can join her."This one is meant to be pretty realistic overall, it's based on one of the old rides they had before they moved to this style, so I don't think we'll see anything too wild besides the building being bigger on the inside."
>As she finishes, the ride begins and the boat starts sailing down the artificial river towards various animatronic vignettes. No.3406
>>3405"Yeah that would be a lot better."
>Orion looks over Madeleine's shoulder and at the map. He reaches over and points at a spot."What about that?"
No.3407
>>3406>Madeleine leans in slightly to look at the spot that Orion pointed out more closely."Oh. . . the Astoundicoaster. I didn't think you would like superhero films, Orion."
>Madeleine playfully nudges Orion."It sounds good though, I heard that one has some stuff that's only possible in the dream so it should be a bit more exciting."
>As she finishes speaking, Madeleine presses the spot, and a new trail appears. No.3408
>>3407"Oh, I didn't know it was a superhero thing. I just thought a roller coaster might be better."
>Orion's eyes wander towards the trail, as he begins to think about what kinds of things it might do that it can't in reality.
>Once again he takes Madeleine by the hand, and begins the trek towards their destination."I bet it'll probably go off the rails and fly around. Hovering vehicles like the ones the MRD use is outrageously expensive from what I've heard, so this is probably an easy choice to do this here."
No.3409
>>3408"They are, unless you can make one yourself."
>Madeleine gives Orion a knowing look.
>As the two walk along, they have to stop for a second as a little pink mascot trips in front of them. Looking up at the pair for a moment, the mascot stares at Orion in particular for a moment, unblinking, and then does a little bow before waddling on its way again."That's cute, I'll have to buy a plush later. . ."
>With the mascot gone, Madeleine keeps on heading towards the coaster, arriving at the end of the trail in front a fairly stereotypical rollercoaster entrance, albeit with the main gate done up in the style of a superhero logo. No.3410
>>3409"…."
>Orion simply says nothing about the creature. He only takes a moment to look at the roller coaster's entrance before heading inside.
>Unlike the last ride, a fairly large number of people take up space in the building. However the lines are incredibly short, due to the nature of the place allowing for the coaster itself to expand to accommodate more guests.
>Orion looks around, noticing an opening spot near the front, and a handful near the back."Well, where do you want to sit?"
No.3412
>>3411>Internally, Orion feels a sense of relief. "Works for me."
>Still holding onto Madeleine's hand, he walks towards the open spot. He then sits down, strapping himself in. "Let's see if this thing can impress me."
>Orion begins to smile softly, slowly starting to relax more. No.3417
>>3416>Madeleine steadies herself against a nearby wall for a moment."Y-yeah, I just need. . ."
>Madeleine heaves for a second, but stops herself.". . .there. I'm fine. . ."
>Madeleine stands back up straight and re-summons the map."I am going to need something a bit lower intensity than that so. . ."
>Madeleine leans into the map again."Oh, they've made a new ride for Cosmic Wars, I suppose we're sort of obligated to see that. It's near the wild west zone too so we can loop around to there after if that works for you?"
No.3421
>>3420"Guess this'll be a first for both of us then."
>Madeleine approaches the ship as well, starting up the gate entrance, which is done up like the boarding ramp of the ship, and enters it, having a quick a look around inside."Looks like a flight simulator style deal, should be pretty easy."
No.3424
>>3423>Orion looks surprised."I… did not know that."
>He watches Madeleine take the pilot seat, and then slowly makes his way to the co-pilot/navigator's seat."Kind of surprising when that roller coaster really threw you for a loop. But I guess you're not exactly a stunt plane pilot."
No.3425
>>3424"Well that's different, I wasn't in control of the coaster -
and I'm not a stunt pilot."
>Madeleine grabs hold of the controls, giving them a look over as the crawl finishes playing, and prepares for the ride to begin properly. No.3427
>>3426>The ride begins in earnest, taking the pair through an exciting space adventure through a cinematic universe that neither of the two are familiar with, but still, thanks to various effects and tricks, the ride ends up an enjoyable time.
>As the pair get out of the ride, Madeleine looks to a watch on her wrist."Oh, looks like it's nearly lunch time, want to swing around to the wild west area. . ."
>Madeleine points at a nearby entrance.". . .catch a ride, and then get something to eat?"
No.3429
>>3428"Well. . ."
>Madeleine raises her finger to object, then lowers it."No. . . not really, but it's the experience of it, right?"
No.3431
>>3430"Besides, we can eat like real cowboys."
>Madeleine pulls Orion along, taking him into the Wild West Zone, a very stereotypical looking Spaghetti Western style town, with various fake building fronts advertising different shops and businesses.
>Before lunch, however, Madeleine makes her way over to a fake mine shaft, the sign above it indicating that it's a ride called "Washington Brown: Hunt for the Indian Gold"."Oh. . . that name hasn't aged well. . ."
No.3432
>>3431"Yeah…"
>Orion starts to step into the fake mine shaft, spotting a coaster stylized to look like a line of mine carts. "Anyway, I think I'd be bored out of my mind if I had to live in the wild west, with nothing to do but herd cattle or work in a saloon or something."
>He then begins to get into one of the carts."Maybe riding a horse would be interesting. Kinda slow though."
No.3433
>>3432"It's a shame you didn't know me before I sold off a load of the house's possessions, there used to be a fully equipped stable attached - pretty sure I still own a racehorse though."
>Madeleine sits down in the cart, opposite Orion."Not that you'd be able to ride that though."
>Once both of them are comfortable, the cart sets off at a steady pace."Still, it's not like this is
actual wild west, it's cowboy wild west, where cowboys are loan gunmen who go around getting into duels and stuff instead of herding cattle."
No.3434
>>3433"Well that just makes the actual wild west sound even worse, if this is the exciting version."
>The ride begins to slowly climb an incline deeper in the fake mine shaft. Orion is looking away, thinking."If they had some kind of samurai ride or even something medieval themed, that would be cool."
>As the ride continues moving ever closer to the peak of the incline, Orion continues to appear lost in thought."Yeah. You could have castles with sieges. And knights riding around on horses sword fighting and all that. That would be cool. Especially if they let you participate in a fight. Nobody can actually get hurt here."
>Orion seems strangely interested in the idea now, not having previously shown any interest in anything medieval. He looks at Madeleine."And then they could have dragons or some kinds of monsters to slay. That'd be awesome, right?"
No.3435
>>3434>Madeleine shrugs."I'm not really into medieval fantasy stuff, but there
is one in the park, we can visit it after."
>The ride tilts slightly as it goes around a corner."Also, I feel like I should point out that Samruai films basically
are cowboy films."
No.3436
>>3435>Orion shakes his head. "No. It's different. Just because there's conflict in a story where a stand off happens that doesn't make it the same."
>The ride starts to go downwards, increasing in speed somewhat."Westerns are bland. They don't have the aesthetic appeal or story nuance of a samurai film. At best you can argue the best westerns are better than the worst samurai films. But not by much."
No.3437
>>3436"Orion, Samurai films are
literally based on Westerns, they have the same stories."
>The ride stops at the bottom of the slope, then accelerates as a pyrotechnic show happens behind it. No.3440
>>3439"Yes as a loose inspiration. But he clearly took more from his culture, as well as other sources when it came to the films."
"Sharing a basic story structure, with a few shared elements does not make it the same. Cowboy films lack the story nuance, political intrigue and appealing aesthetic as a samurai movie."
No.3444
>>3443"Just because a single Japanese person compared them, that doesn't make them the same."
>The ride continues."Tell me how they're possibly the same. Give me reasons."
No.3445
>>3444"It's not just one single Japanese person, Orion, there's lots of propaganda art from the time comparing the two - it's like the weirdly gay Soviet-Chinese art."
>The ride once again starts accelerating down the slope from before."Anyway, there's lots of literature about how they're the same thing, but I don't have it on me so I'll point out that both genres are about lone warriors travelling through a lawless country, often seeking revenge for a lost loved one, with the person behind their lost typically being a corrupt official of some kind."
No.3448
>>3447"But you're missing the nuance again! The tropes are modified to the point where they're nearly completely different!"
>Orion is now slightly raising his voice, however he does not sound angry."There's no point in making the story the exact same when you can just watch the one that already exists!"
No.3450
>>3449>Orion's head immediately snaps towards the park employee."Huh?"
>He suddenly takes notice that the ride has ended. A little embarrassed, he clears his throat and unbuckles himself - climbing out of the seat.
>He waits until Madeleine has gotten out as well, before speaking again."…Sorry. I got carried away."
No.3451
>>3450>Madeleine also exits the ride, walking out of the building into the main area again."It's no problem Orion, it reminded me of when we used to chat online all the time."
>Madeleine scans the area quickly and looks back at Orion."You wait at that bench over there. . ."
>Madeleine points out a bench."I'll go get us something to eat, ok?"
No.3457
>>3456>The mascot angrily stamps its foot, then shakees its head."Un. . ."
>The mascot tries the same motion as before, but gives up when it seems to realise that trick won't work, and then looks around for a second.
>Seeing no other option, the mascot does a clap, then spins and disappears, being replaced a few seconds later by the woman from the poster, who calmly looks at Orion."Oh, hello, so you're the one Dreamsie picked out."
No.3459
>>3458"Shhhhhh, I'm not meant to be outside of my prep room currently."
>The woman puts a finger to her lips, taking it down just after."Dreamsie just switched places with me for a moment, I'm Aurora. . ."
>Aurora looks at Orion, confused for a moment, a small wing coming out from behind her head as if the emphasise the point."Do you not recognise me? I'm pretty famous, you know, I've even sung songs for Japanese animation shows. . ."
>Aurora shrugs."Not that it matters, what matters is I need your help."
No.3460
>>3459>Orion stares at her for several moments, before it suddenly clicks. He jumps out of his seat."Hey! I know your voice! You did the opening for Uirusukorekutā koppureboryūshonzu!"
>He quickly looks around, looking to see if Madeleine has returned yet to point out the singer. Not seeing her, he turns his attention back on Aurora."What do you need help with? Is this some kind of promotional thing?"
No.3461
>>3460"Yeah, that one. . ."
>The tone of the woman's voice indicates that she has no idea what the words Orion said mean."No, it's not a promotional thing, I need your help looking for some people - before you go missing as well."
No.3463
>>3461>Orion looks confused, giving a slight shrug."Why would I go missing? What's going on?"
>He starts looking around, checking the area for anything immediately sticking out as strange."Has this been a problem for a while now?"
No.3464
>>3463"Because you're like me, you're a psionic Meta-Human. Or at least that's what I think the link is, all of the ones I could find out about were psionic."
>The woman looks around as well, clearly concerned that Orion has noticed anything, but there are no signs of anything suspicious."It's been an issue for a few months now - maybe longer, that's just when I noticed. A fan of mine wanted an autograph when I started here and never turned up for the session. But every time I've mentioned these to security, they've brushed them off."
No.3465
>>3464"Weird…"
>Orion gets up from the bench."I'm going to guess there was no way to reach them in the real world either. That's definitely suspicious."
>He looks in the direction Madeleine had walked off to earlier."I should tell my girlfriend. She'll want to know about this."
No.3466
>>3465>The woman looks around for a second, seemingly noticing something in the crowd."It's ok, I'll make sure she knows. But I need you to act now, I'll send you to someone who should be able to help. . ."
>The woman, and the outside area, suddenly disappears as the dream shifts around Orion, the shifting stopping as he ends up in a room, acting as a park security jail for low level troublemakers, still keeping in the theming of the wild west area, as the room has been designed like a sheriff's office and jail.
>As the shifting finishes, Orion finds himself in front of the body of a woman, thrown against a wall, a slow breathing indicating she's alive, if unconscious.
>Before Orion has a chance to fully acquaint himself with the surroundings, the door opens, and a man steps through."Well well well, what we got here. . ."
[To be continued]