Day is done...

[altivo]

Recurring dream. This is another of those elaborate choreographed, technicolor, widescreen presentations that I seem to get now and then, and it has been replaying at intervals for a while now.

A very large convention center hotel, sprawling, lots of fake marble, fountains, and escalators as well as banks of elevators in various locations. The first two or three floors are mezzanine affairs with balconies that overlook the lobby-courtyard arrangement that contains a restaurant and bar. Not too hard to imagine, there must be many such places and even I, who rarely travel or visit hotels, have seen quite a few.

There's a difference, though. This place is famous for enactments or dramas that take place over an entire weekend, around and over the guests and involving them peripherally in the plotline. The sort of thing some dinner theatres do, only it takes several days to unfold. I've had more than one dream that contained a furry convention being held in the midst of such a thing, and in fact this particular sequence often seems to feature people I know from furrydom though it's not a furry con and there are no fursuits.

There is always much confusion and getting lost in the complex, which, as I said, is huge and sprawling. The theme in this one appears to be based on the legend of Robin Hood, as hotel employees are dressed appropriate to that, and menus are designed around it. The element that holds the repeats together takes place at the end of the day on Sunday, somewhere around 8 pm. (In fact, in last night's multiple repeats, I actually looked at my watch and found that it was 8:10 pm as it started.)

A group of men, presumably representing Robin Hood and his cohort, enter the lobby quietly from a corner. The lights would undoubtedly dim, except the place is largely lit by candles and lanterns at this point anyway. "Robin" starts singing in a rich tenor, a nice poetic ditty about "Day is done, and gone the sun, from every field and stable..." A hush falls over the assemblage, and then the men start shooting what one assumes are blunt arrows, with great accuracy, putting out lights one by one.

At this point, a mad panic ensues with people scrambling for exits, stairways, and escalators. I'm usually caught up in a crowd, thinking "I knew this was coming and should have gotten out of here a half hour ago as I dash for an elevator and manage to squeeze into it just when the doors are closing. The reason? The arrows are not all blunt, and someone is always hit by the one that has a real point. Usually it doesn't kill them, but the possibility exists. And people choose this as a thrill-seeking adventure. The hotel requires them to sign binding waivers and all that sort of thing.

When the panic clears, I find myself again in the lobby, surrounded by people I know, and I'm the one extracting a barbed dart from an unknown young woman's calf, where she was struck a glancing blow. It should be a bloody wound, but is surprisingly clean. The barb must be broken off in order to extract the shaft without more damage, but this is fairly easy since it went all the way through and out the other side...

I don't know where this thing is coming from, but I want it to go away. Even the song Robin Hood sings, which is actually quite lovely, is now so tainted with disgust, fear, and anger at the behaviors of commercial entities and crowd-following morons that I could never enjoy it in real life.

Comments

[murakozi.livejournal.com]

Is the song they sing a real one? I find it interesting that the bit you quoted from it is composed of the first two lines of Taps.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The tune is not that of Taps. I hadn't thought about the similarity of words, but you know how anything can be mashed around in the subconscious. ;p

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Poor little calf. :( What an odd dream. I hope it goes away now it's said its piece.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It may go away now that I've written it out. There were more details, but you know how they evaporate the longer you wait to tell it. I choose not to name the people I recognized in the dream because I think they were just a random selection of friends with no particular connection to the scene.

My Interpretation

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Your dream has great backgrounds, this indicates you've
/seen/ such places and its being used, by your subconcious.

The key point here is the "action" sequence, and it indicates
to me that you are both anxious about violence, but somehow
WANT violence as a reality check on adventure. After all,
and adventure is nothing but a Disney Ride if it doesn't
have the possiblity of real harm.

I think you should take this dream as advice and go do
something you've been wishing to do thats outside your
comfort zone, you'll probably survive it, and come out
larger on the other side.

Re: My Interpretation

[altivo.livejournal.com]

LOL! Nope, not me. I wasn't there for the action scene at all, and got caught up in it only because I was held up by another incident to the point where I was running late. I knew it was past 8 pm and was hurrying to get upstairs to avoid the whole thing even before it started. (Much the way I avoid the "dances" at a furry con. The so-called music is just awful to my senses.)

The setting is undoubtedly a conglomeration of various convention sites I have seen, not just furry cons but American Library Association and others. It also includes impressions from airports, rail stations, and probably motion pictures (remember Logan's Run?)

The over-arcing thing in my mind upon waking up from this is always that I can't imagine why people would seek this out, let alone sign releases to allow it to happen to them. (Note that I knew I had not signed a release, and that somehow I was not going to be targeted, but it was the mass stampede and pandemonium I was seeking to avoid.)

Dr. Stupid's interpretation

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Hmm... it sounds to me like you've got issues with being caught up in a crowd of panicked people, or perhaps you're scared there's going to be a killing spree at some place you frequent, and you'll get caught up in it, knowing and blaming yourself for not having left sooner. You've picked a scenario more appropriate to suite your literary background, rather than a scene from a movie, but I think overall my diagnosis is correct.

I also feel your real "problem" is that you want this dream to "go away". Trying to flee it is basically the same thing you're doing IN the dream-fleeing. Dr. Stupid's advice is this: face your fear of crowds, and come to terms with it: people ARE stupid, pathetic and reactionary. They cannot help it, and they really aren't going to try to anyhow. You are free to feel hate, disgust and fear in regards to them, but it won't change a thing they do OR don't do.

That's our session for the day. My fee is that you read the next thing I send you and see what you think of it. Dr. Stupid bids you a good day.

Re: Dr. Stupid's interpretation

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually it went away once I wrote it down, which is often the case. I don't "fear" crowds but that doesn't mean I like them.

Interesting icon photo, BTW, but it's sad to see someone looking so... grumpy.

Re: Dr. Stupid's out to lunch. Leave a message with the receptionist.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Thanks- a brilliant, but tragically flawed character (William Birkin of Resident Evil fame); I like to think there's a little light & dark in all of us, this is one of the character's nicer pics. Treated well, positive changes flourish- treated horribly, monsters are born... it goes for every living thing in existence. I had a creative streak come to life in me and I'm looking for ways to express it- this is one (if I could afford to have a paying account with LJ, there'd be a lot more new pics) of them.

Also, everyone deals with sadness differently; some people get angry... but you knew that about me already ;)

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting and disturbing dream.
I suppose the poetic message is that anything can be beautiful or awful depending on who uses it.