It's that one where you have to give a speech to a crowd of bears and wasps again

[stockingfeats]

You're having a nightmare, and you aren't alone. Someone is here with you in tonight's strange, dark dreamscape--for better or for worse.

1. Chased: Bears, tentacly monsters, giant vengeful wasps. You need to escape from it but you can't find a way.
   
2. Trapped: Elevator, sinking ship, cave. You're in and you can't get out.
   
3. Performance: It's often quoted that people fear public speaking more than they fear death. You don't know the script, you've never seen this Powerpoint, the teleprompter is blurry as hell... forget falling, you're about to die on stage.
   
4. Hated: You know those dreams where everyone you know accuses you of something terrible and they all hate you now? Yeah. It's that one tonight.
   
5. Disaster! You're on an island and a volcano erupts! You're next to a river and it floods! Never mind how geologically, climatologically, or physically likely it would be in this location in real life, it's happening now.
   
6. Haunting past: Your bad memories are just waiting for you to let your guard down, and what's more unguarded than sleep?
   
7. Wildcard: There are infinite nightmares in infinite combinations... why not put together your own?
   

Comments

Max Mayfield | Strangers Things

[beyourzoomer]

[justtalktome]

Lucas has never seen the ocean, at least not in person. Max has shown him a few snapshots of California, the ocean waves lapping up a golden beach, and he thinks he wants to see it with her some day. He’d never say it to her because it’s bordering a little too far on the sappy end of things. Or, at least, he wouldn’t have said it to her before, but now he’d really like to tell her and see her nose scrunch up and hear her call him gross or something like that. He’d say anything to her if it meant she’d open her eyes and complain about being stuck in a hospital bed for a month.

He’s also never been on a ship and yet here he is, in the middle of an ocean on a ship. It should be odd and it is, a little, but he’s more concerned with the feeling of dread that’s filling his gut. The ship deck shifts under his feet and he reaches out for the wall against the choppy back and forth of the stormy water. He can see the storm outside through the small round windows and it looks dark and dangerous. He holds onto the wall for balance as he makes his way towards the captain’s controls, but there’s no one there. The water is dark and inky blue, angry white foam rolling on the top of every wave that hits the ship, getting bigger and bigger by the moment. Lucas looks around for help. For someone to do something, but there’s no one.

He feels his heart move into his throat as he pushes through door after door in the giant ship, rocking back and forth with more and more force until he shoves the door open to an enormous ballroom. It’s decorated in blue and white tablecloths, balloons and streamers. There’s a massive chandelier rocking precariously from above, the crystals clinking bitterly against each other. And there, in the center of the room, is Max.

Lucas stops, even as the wind outside seems to pick up and waves crash against the side of the ship. His voice trembles as he forces himself to speak. “Max?”

[beyourzoomer]

It's the first time in awhile that she hasn't been surrounded by darkness.

She's not sure how she managed to get on a ship, of all things, but it's nice to be out of the dark, at least. She feels dazed as she looks around the ballroom. It's decked out like the Snowball, but a more sophisticated version of it. She braces herself for the balloons to begin popping, for blood to start splattering everywhere, because surely this change means Vecna is near again.

The boat rocks violently and it's hard to keep her footing, her heart beating hard and fast in her chest as she struggles to stay on her feet. She looks around for something to hold onto, but everything else is sliding around, too, tables staying perfectly set but sliding across the floor by increments, and then --

She turns, when she hears her name and she exhales when she sees him. "Lucas," she whispers, moving toward him as quickly as she can, staggering to the side involuntarily as a particularly large wave hits the ship.

[justtalktome]

He's already running towards her and he reaches out to grab her arm as she stumbles, barely able to keep his own footing. He doesn't know why, but he's surprised when there's an unmistakable solidness and realness to her. He's not sure if he expected her to disappear or for his hand to move through her like some kind of apparition, but he thinks he can feel her warm and solid under his fingers and they tighten on her arm reflexively. "Max! What are you doing here?"

Not that he knows what here is. Not that he knows much of anything except for the dull glow of the silver streamers and thee sway of the chandelier above them. He has a bad feeling. Something that starts in his gut and moves up his spine into his lungs. "We've got to move," he says right before the round porthole windows shatter all around them with the force of a massive wave that makes the ship creak loudly and tilt to the right. He instinctively ducks, covering Max and her solidness underneath him but it doesn't do much good as suddenly the ship is turning on it's side, tables becoming large projectiles sliding towards them.

[beyourzoomer]

The grip on her arm is grounding even as her mind is spinning with confusion. "I don't know," she admits, because she has no clue how she'd ended up on this ship. "What are you doing here?" It's not accusatory, but it is a bit baffled and she stares at him for a moment before things begin to shift.

She looks up instinctively, to the swaying chandelier that looks like it could come crashing down at any moment.

She's not expecting the windows to shatter and she flinches even as Lucas covers her with his own body in an attempt to shield her. She screams, clutching onto Lucas as they're thrown sideways, as tables start barreling toward them. She manages to roll them out of the way of one of them, water beginning to leak into the ship through the windows at a rapid pace, soaking her shoes and jeans as she scrambles to try and stand.

[justtalktome]

Lucas follows her lead as she rolls, clinging onto her until they’re moving to get to their feet. He wants to reach out and hug her close, but there’s no time. The ship is on it’s side and sinking and all he can do is feel the panic rising inside of him, familiar and vicious.

He tries not to think about the last time he felt it grip his chest like this, making it hard to breathe. Tries not to think about the Creel house or Max’s still chest or her bleeding eyes. When he looks up at her, he half expects her to be gone or to look the way she did then, but she doesn’t. She looks okay.

He swallows and grabs her hand. “We need to keep moving.” The water is to their knees already. They need to stay on high ground. He pulls her towards the nearest wall, what used to be the floor. There’s a door at the top of it, just out of reach. He releases her hand to intertwine his fingers as a step to give her a boost. "Here! I’ll give you a boost and you can climb inside.”