So I Had This Weird Dream · 1:53am Jun 23rd, 2016

So I had this weird dream last night. It actually woke me up, but not necessarily because it was weird or frightening, but because I was compelled to write it down. Yes, even my dreams present themselves as stories: my muse has always been pushy.

There's a city where everyone who wants to immigrate must take a test. To prove that they can contribute something to the city. The city is very metallic, but also utilitarian, in a sort of low-sci-fi way (think perhaps Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet).

A family of three people is trying to immigrate to the city. A mother, her son, and her daughter. The son is good with tools and mechanics, and the daughter is good with animals, both to prodigy levels.

The son is in a room with a workbench and tools. He is talking to the city's head mechanic. I'm going to call the head mechanic Winkler, because he was played by Henry Winkler.

Winkler asks the boy (named Kahlil) how many items he wishes to start with for his test, "1, 2, 3, 4, or 5?" Kahlil asks for ten. Winkler smiles a neutral smile, and brings out a bunch of pieces of old discarded junk. He says he'll return in 24 hours, and expects all the stuff will be fixed. As he shows Kahlil the tools he has available, Winkler casually breaks one. "Since you're a prodigy, I'll give you some extra credit," he says. Then he leaves the room. (Why did he break the tool? Is he threatened? Does the city kick out people who have been outclassed? Or is the handicap a sincere boon?)

Cut to the daughter (named Hope), inside a huge greenhouse/animal nursery. She is with some veternaian or other (presumably the head one), who is explaining her test. She has to develop a relationship with some animals (and treat them? Her test isn't as clear as the other one).

Cut to the mother. She is sitting in a wide, mostly empty room. Across from her is some offical seated at a desk. The offical is interviewing her, asking about her skills, what she might offer the city. She smiles and replies calmly. Obviously if her children pass their tests, then she will enter the city too, since her skill is raising prodigies. (The interviewr accepts this, because the mother's actual skill is her oratory/debate skills).

The end.

Now, obviously this is story material, but dreams need a lot of hacking and refining to become good stories. Prose can't and shouldn't deliver information the way dreams do. I think in this case, the number of characters might need to be reduced. Perhaps cut out the good-with-animals sibling, since they're sort of a repetitive B-plot. The head mechanic also needs clearer motivation.

Thanks for reading. As always, comments are welcomed. And if you're interested in seeing more dreams-turned-story, you can find Battery in my story library on this very site; it was based very closely on a dream. (I can't link it, however, because it is rated M)