Chapter Text
I’m dreaming.
I’m not sure how I know this. I’ve never had a lucid dream before in my entire life. But it just suddenly clicks to me. A gap of time and suddenly I’m somewhere that isn’t… real.
Or maybe that’s the wrong way to put it. Everything feels so present even though I know this can’t possibly be the real world.
I’m… surrounded by space. Stars all around me. Little white twinkles in the air breaking apart the dark blues of nothing. Everywhere I look it’s more of the same.
But at the same time, everywhere I look is… really pretty. I feel… calm. Relaxed. Like if I just closed my eyes and let go I’d become one with this spot, flowing and spreading like drops of dye in a tub of warm water.
A part of me… wants to reach out to those stars. It’s weird. It’s like… instinctive somehow. Like I know that if I really wanted to grab and see what was inside them, I could. And I really, really want to. I want to see each and every one. I want to check on them to make sure they’re healthy, that they’re happy in this space we’re in with each other. I want to see what makes each one different, identify them like my personal star map. I could have all the time in the world to do so.
These stars… they’re my friends.
That’s what that part of me is telling me.
And I want to listen, I want to reach out, but… I can’t. I… I’m so tired. I barely have the energy to concentrate on what I’m looking at. And my limbs feel… weird. Like they aren’t there. Like they’re wrong. Everything is alien. I’m more stardust than human. Nothing moves how I want it to. And every attempt just makes my eyes heavier, my light dimmer.
Is this really a dream? I feel…
...Cold. I’m really really cold. I wake up a shivering mess, groaning and hugging my blanket tighter around myself.
Funny enough, for some reason the first thing that really registers in my mind was that my blanket is a whole lot comfier than I ever remember it being. Not nearly as heavy or thick as I usually prefer though.
I didn’t even have the air conditioner on so why is it like it’s winter in here? I fight every instinct to just curl up and will myself back to sleep and instead start reaching out blindly next to me to get my phone and check the time.
No phone. No plushies either. Actually, I don’t even feel my bed? Instead I feel fluff and the slight padding of a rug or carpet. I don’t have a carpet in my apartment.
“Buh?” I shoot up, awake and very concerned now‒
Only to fall to the floor in a heap both from a weird sense of my balance being completely off and from whatever’s taken the place of my bed not quite being shaped to allow for a catapult wake up.
First thing I see when I open my eyes again is my hand. It’s… blue? It’s blue. Why is it blue? And where’s my fingers? I grunt, feeling way too tired and out of it for this, aiming to push myself off the and into a seating position only to realize there’s an entire extra pair of limbs moving to get under me and lift.
Oh god am I some kind of weird blue bug? Is this a lucid dream inside another lucid dream? No, this deep heaviness in my eyes feels way too real like after one of my all nighters.
Okay, okay. You’re shaking now, girl, just relax. Just… relax.
I close my eyes, ignoring the shiver going through all 4 of my arms and sit up. That blanket falls off of me and I open my eyes.
“...Where am I- what?” I put a hand to my throat‒ or I would if I weren’t wearing a scarf for some reason? Okay, there’s just way too much for me to process right now. Don’t like that.
“...Test. She sells seashells down by the sea shore. 1 2…” I count to 20. “Okay. Not my voice. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t a guy’s voice. At least it’s nice to listen to. Kind of soothing. I bet I can sing pretty nice now.” I giggle a little.
Oh, I might be… really losing touch. All this stress and my exhaustion isn’t mixing well.
Okay. Take stock of myself at least.
So, I have 4 arms now. That’s neat. 4 light blue arms that are very small and lack fingers, looking more like mitts than actual human hands. I look down and… well, my current outfit is certainly a choice. I’ve got an admittedly really cozy scarf, white and blue stripes ending in white puffs. I also seem to be wearing a long blue sleeveless top, dark blue shorts, and thigh high socks for some reason. More importantly though, my proportions are all out of whack. I can immediately tell I am tiny. I must’ve lost at least half my height. 0 muscle mass. Pretty spry and healthy though. Not a blemish to be seen. All of my features are weirdly… round and un-detailed.
Aside from the scarf I feel like I’m wearing pajamas. Especially since I’m now registering the weight on my head. Reaching up I feel the hat I’m wearing, taking it off to look at it. It’s nearly as long as me and ends at a decorative star.
Okay, if I’m being honest with myself? I love this hat, it’s super cute.
Also, my head feels kind of naked without it. Am I bald now? Oh god.
I put the hat back on.
“Okay, you’re some kind of… 4 armed shortstack now. Don’t like that, don’t like that at all. Where am I?”
Most notable features I can spot right now: beanbags, carpet, bookshelves completely empty of books. I see a table nearby. A tiny kiddy one with chairs sized for toddlers or currently me-sized people. The walls are a baby blue with rainbow strips traveling horizontally across it.
Some kind of… children’s play area or daycare?
I murmur to myself, rubbing my eyes. I note that my… face feels weird. It’s like it’s split into segments. The right part is… really strangely solid, like I’m wearing a mask. The left around my eye is the exact opposite, almost too squishy. Rubbing my left eye made it feel all fuzzy. And I don’t think I actually have an eyelid there? It’s more like my vision just turned off there when I wanted it to. Also, no nose.
“It’d be really dumb to call out for help in a spooky abandoned building I don’t know how I appeared in.” I mumble, pushing myself to stand. My balance is all over the place. I’m so… small now, and everything is the wrong length. I feel… floaty, in a way. And not just because I’m swaying on my feet, my eyes drooping.
I note the blanket I’d woken up with. Dark blue with fluffy white edge, a starry pattern and lighter blue colors near the trim as well.
I’ve never been one for security blankets, but I could definitely use some comfort right now. I pick the blanket back up, shaking it to get rid of dust before slinging it over my shoulders and moving towards that table I saw. My steps are quiet. Everything around me is quiet. I might as well be a ghost in this haunted place.
On the table are some letter blocks, further confirming this place seemed to have been originally been for kids. I turn one over idly, then look around again.
I see two posters that make me freeze.
DANDY IN
SHOWTIME
PANIC
WINNING BIG
STARRING SCRAPS & VEE
…
“I… know those characters…” I whisper, in my serene new voice.
A cute little flower character with rainbow petals featuring prominently in both posters. Dandy. From that dumb Roblox game I’d gotten hooked on for the past year. I’ve seen these posters before, in the game. I’ve seen these walls before, in the game.
I look at my hands, terrified. 4 blue arms. Tired. Blanket and night cap. Segmented face. All features I’ve seen before, in the game.
“Am I supposed to be… Astro…?”
I shudder. I wobble on my feet. Two of my hands clutch my blanket and hold it snugly around me as I take deep breaths, shivering. It’s still so cold. I can see my breath. I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this is happening. I didn’t think this was a dream before but obviously it must be. A dream. A dream! I’ve had dreams about being inside games before, so obviously I’m dreaming about Dandy’s World. It’s normal. This is normal. It doesn’t matter if I’m more lucid than I ever remember and my eyes feel heavy and I’m shaking from the cold and it feels like my brain is mush I… I have to find a mirror. I have to wake up. I have to...
I…
I’m so… tired…
Thump
I don’t quite like this dream so much… I fall to the floor, the last thing I see is Dandy’s smiling face looking down at me.
Astro shoots awake, breathing heavily, hugging his blanket around himself tighter.
“What…?” the dreaming toon mumbles to himself, trying to process what he’d felt the night before. It wasn’t often he’d had dreams or the chance to explore the state of the dreamland, so busy managing the sleep of the others as he was. Especially recently, with everything going on. Tensions were riding high, stress and hopelessness growing even with how hard everyone tried to keep going.
But tonight was different. Tonight there was… something else in the dreamscape.
Another presence. It’s something he’d… never ever once experienced before. Even before Gardenview shut down and there were so many more stars to look over when he slept.
Astro shakes his head, in somewhat of a daze (moreso than usual) as he prepares himself to leave his room, stepping out with his usual blanket.
What was that presence? If he had to put it in terms he could understand, it was as if another center of gravity had appeared in the sleeping world. Another force much like his own, a second moon.
Yet, trying to find it was impossible. There was no star to reach, no dream to look at or shape. It was essentially a slightly off-color pit somewhere in the sea of blue. Maybe… maybe if he slept more, took more time to look, he could pinpoint it‒
“Astro!”
“-Oh!” Astro found a pair of hands suddenly gripping the back of his blanket and pulling him backwards. His shock is clear on his face as his head shoots up to look at the wall he’d nearly run into.
“...Geez, Astro.” A familiar voice with just the hint of a filter lets him know who must be behind him right now.
“...Oh, um. Good morning, Vee.” Astro shuffles in his blanket awkwardly, avoiding the TV Toon’s gaze.
“Uh huh. Good Morning, Astro. Want to talk about you nearly walking right into a wall? That doesn’t happen even when you’re dozing off on your feet.”
“...Sorry. I… was just distracted in my thoughts, a little. I guess I was so caught up I wasn’t paying much attention.”
“…” Vee, for all that her face was just a screen, could be very good at giving looks. This is precisely why Astro was doing his best not to look right at her face. “Are you doing okay, Astro?”
“Yes! Yes.” Astro replies a bit too quickly, making him wince at the disbelief in his fellow Main’s expression. She’s crossing her arms. That means she’s in the next level of concern.
Not many knew Vee like he did. She could be just as fussy and overprotective as Sprout if she tried. She just expressed it differently.
Astro takes a deep breath. “I promise, Vee, I’m fine. I was just thinking about some things I saw in last night’s dreams.”
“Oh.” The TV Toon frowns. Of course, her own relation to the world of dreams was… iffy. The mechanical parts of her made it a bit more complicated for him to connect to her dream world. And yes, she did in fact have dreams like anyone else.
He just had to learn some coding to be able to actually properly do his thing with her.
Still, the point is this is probably one of the only things she was completely out of her depth in being able to assist him with.
Didn’t mean she wouldn’t try, though. She’s nothing if not persistent.
“Can you talk about it, or is it more of a private personal thing you have to talk with specific Toons over?”
“… No, I don’t think it’s related to anyone else… except me, maybe?” Astro explains, unsure. “… I’m still not really sure what I saw, I guess. It’s just… something new, showed up. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Not even… before.”
Vee’s digital eyes widen some. “Is that… good? Or bad?”
“… I don’t know. I don’t think it was bad? I didn’t get a bad feeling at all, not like any sort of nightmares. Just… different.”
The two are quiet. Vee taps her foot on the floor, thinking. “Maybe different is good, then. I think everyone here could use Different.”
“...Hehe. That sounds like something Shelly would say, don’t you think?” Astro offers weakly. He can’t decide whether his smile should falter or widen at the flat look Vee gives him.
“Let’s just go see the others. Breakfast should be ready soon and you need all the energy you can get.”
“Right…” Astro agrees without protest, walking in step with his friend. Inwardly, he resolves to not worry too much about the Other Presence in his dreams… until the next time he goes to sleep.
Maybe she’s right about this, anyway. Maybe something Different happening would be good for everyone.
After all, he doesn’t think managing the dreamscape alone is enough anymore.