The frigid air needles every nerve in your body. You remember this cold from a long time ago, and in that discomfort you recall that this was the last feeling you'd felt before your life became measured. In your analytical mind, the life worth living was quantified, and existence inevitably became a mark to miss.Fitting in a sweater you had when you were ten despite being thirty, gave the game away. This is a dream.You are inside of a log cabin, a fire calmly sputters at a fireplace against the far wall. There appears to be a kitchenette in the corner of this main room, and a hall that goes further into the structure bathed in shadow.>(5) Make yourself some cocoa and get comfy.>(10) Leave the cabin.>(25) Explore the shadows
>>6478266>>(5) Make yourself some cocoa and get comfy.We can look in to things after we've enjoyed a brief respite
>>6478266>>(5) Make yourself some cocoa and get comfy.I love hot chocolate
>>6478286>>6478276You make yourself at home, and dash for the cupboards in search of the cocoa mix you seem strangely confident in finding.Lost in your desperate search for coziness, you hadn't noticed that your clothing had changed. Upon inspection, you seem to be wearing pajamas that you'd kept for far too long in the throes of higher education. At the time, every day was dripping in anxiety, and yet the small moments in which you'd found even a modicum of peace lived in this uniform.You suppose there was a comfort to being on a track, even if you were placed firmly in the path of the train.You let out a deep comforting exhale pulling at your novelty shirt. If only you could live in this forever, but you fear the mental haze this relaxed state puts you in could lead to a loss of control and awareness. You guess even in dreams, there's always side-effects.
>>6478301Still cocoa-less and craving nostalgia, you throw open the last cupboard to find what you'd been looking for: A contorted little coward with a cup of your craving. Wait - what?"Mmm-hmm!"He gestures the cup out towards you, while frantically trying to make himself even smaller.>(5) "Thanks little army man!" Take the mug and shut the cabinet>(10) "Wanna play Mario party?">(25) Get in the cabinet with him> ̶(̶7̶2̶5̶)̶ ̶"̶W̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶i̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶?̶"̶
>>6478302>(5) "Thanks little army man!" Take the mug and shut the cabinetSalute him. Green army men toys have it rough.
>>6478302>>(25) Get in the cabinet with himThis bears investigating. I'm not sure I want to find out what happens when the counter runs all the way down.
>>6478302da game was rigged from the start
>>6478302>(5) "Thanks little army man!" Take the mug and shut the cabinetI want my hot choccy!
>>6478302>(10) "Wanna play Mario party?"
>>6478302>>(10) "Wanna play Mario party?"
>>6478302>>(25) Get in the cabinet with him
In the aimless fog routinely precluded by severe burnout, it's much easier to pursue binary decisions rather than weigh the equally likely options. All or none, you resolve as you take the mug and crawl into the cabinet in one fluid motion."So… Play any games?" Your restrained voice - starved of an echo - dies as quickly as it was born in the dark cupboard."Mario party's fun - like - in a bullshit kinda way, you know?" The army man tries to speak, but his words are incoherent, resembling the beginnings and endings of what might be considered speech but not the middle. In your current state however, you're not too concerned with apprehension, though perhaps you should be."I'd never play it by myself though, so…"You sip the hot chocolate and delight in the rich flavor. You've had the watered down stuff for far too long, *this* is a perfect cup.The shivering army man has no thoughts about video games. You bet he doesn't even play because he's too busy doing things like shooting guns, and pushups."Well! I did a couple of times." you spontaneously clarify, sending a jolt of tremors into the terrified trooper.
>>6478571Suddenly you hear something akin to a hefty critter trapped in a prison of drywall. The silent scratching, slapping, and skidding of a foreign body intrudes into your small dark space. The noise, ever increasing in volume and tempo, alarms even your clouded mind. Outside of your cabinet was a space that should not be restraining for any critter, but this unseen thing bore a form very audibly confined. An encroaching chaos ensued as the form began toppling appliances and displacing furniture. The army man in a fit of sheer terror, pressed himself into the back of the cabinet, revealing a much longer crawlspace than originally perceived. Keen on fleeing the storm outside, you follow suit as the entrance to the cabinet shrinks. In the blurred distance, the cabinet door calmly opens, and you hear nothing but your own breathing once more. You don't see anything, but ever curious you don your glasses once more and feel the warmth of your sweater like a hug from an old friend. What seemed obvious to you, was that the form outside of the safety of your expanding crawlspace was the furthest thing from a friend. The thing outside - too large to be viewed from your limited aperture - effortlessly scatters any traces of light, and violently pours into the crawlspace after you, minimizing the distance you placed. You felt blessed for the blindness of the dark, as every fiber of your being pulled yourself back through the space like the critter you knew you were. Your stomach drops as you begin sliding backwards, and the violent scrambling of the intruder fades into the distance.
>>6478572In a flash, you slide backwards into the diffuse white of an overcast sky. The soldier scrambles to his feet and approaches three other "soldiers". Two… Bunblobs? Rabblobs? Dutiful soldiers, corrupted from the horrors of war, and a snooty snouted swine silently chastising the relieved army man. The group seems to decide something, and set off in a direction, and with not much choice, you follow them. Eventually, the four of you end up in what looks to be a relatively peaceful town. The army man salutes you, and scrambles to stand beside what appears to be his comrades. It seems the plan was to drop you off somewhere safe, but the army man reaches in his pocket and retrieves a helmet. He extends the helmet out to you, which causes the swine soldier to snort disapprovingly.>(5) Salute in return but take your leave. You'd rather not catch a stray bullet, and you may find a path to somewhere else in this town.>(45) Accept the helmet and join the company
>>6478574>>(5) Salute in return but take your leave. You'd rather not catch a stray bullet, and you may find a path to somewhere else in this town.
>>6478574>(45) Accept the helmet and join the companyTime to listen to fortunate son
>>6478574>(45) Accept the helmet and join the companyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_JVaMuZZBQ
>>6478574>(45) Accept the helmet and join the companyHe’s done us two favors now, and I don’t want to make him sad by refusing.
>>6478574>(45) Accept the helmet and join the company
>>6478574>(5) Salute in return but take your leave. You'd rather not catch a stray bullet, and you may find a path to somewhere else in this town.We’re no soldier.
>>6478974>>6478877>>6478643>>6478636And just like that, you enlisted. To be fair, you weren't really going anywhere in particular, so you suppose - worst case scenario - you catch a bullet and get jolted awake… Though there is a non-zero chance you wake up dead. Realistically what is that chance? Because you figure it IS a chance, and it IS non-zero; And how does the dream precluding death come into play? Are you more likely to die in the midst of a battlefield dream, or at a school in your underwear? Maybe the brain, in its biological benevolence, will dope you up with some sweet chemical bliss that turns your dream into something indescribably joyous. Like the dream of love, and not the awkwardly painful reality that being vulnerable with anyone brings. With your head in this helmet, however, you feel invulnerable, and good thing too because your training starts right this second.The pork produces a receiver, and snorts up a storm to what you can only assume are its superiors. With a few grumbling oinks, he ends his call and begins to squeal orders at his brand new recruit. The tranquil town becomes your impromptu bootcamp for the next untrackable - yet seemingly significant - gap of time.https://soundcloud.com/frigiddreamer/march
>>6479124Love the track OP
>>6479124Despite what some might assume, you have a certain self-loathing that can cast the shadow of selfless devotion. Not only do you refuse to shy away from manual labor, you use it to define yourself. Instead of an emotional shell, why not a callus life hardened from wounds you won't have as much trouble getting others to believe.On the other end of never-ending drills, you've come to know your comrades as much as one can know another that speaks only in chirps and squeals.That one's Bun
>>6479669That's Cotton
>>6479671Rasher.
>>6479672And Beans!
>>6479673And you're… Who are you?You should know this. Why don't you have a name? It's your dream. Dreams aren't always logical, but surely you had a name before you fell asleep.It's on the tip of your tongue...>(0) *Don't worry, I'll make a name for you*>(25) *Ask your friends to give you a name*>(50) *Name yourself* (enter name, or reply to a name you like.)
>>6479676>(25) *Ask your friends to give you a name*A name is better when it comes from friends.
>>6479676>(25) *Ask your friends to give you a name*When other people always call our name in disgust, or disdain, or a "who's this bitch again?", of course one would grow to dislike it... mostly
>>6479676>(0) *Don't worry, I'll make a name for you*
>>6479676>>(0) *Don't worry, I'll make a name for you*
>>6479676>(25) *Ask your friends to give you a name*Let's see if we get a funny or cool army nickname. Great quest btw OP. Your artwork is really cute. And i like your prose
>>6479676>(50) *Name yourself* (enter name, or reply to a name you like.)Tiffany
>>6479795>>6479721>>6479718Well, you gave your friends their "names" so it's only fair that they give you a name."If you guys were going to give me a name – what would it be?"Your comrades chitter amongst themselves with confused looks upon their faces. Right, they don't really say words, but maybe you can mash up all of their noises to make something."Ka!""Muweep!""Suwee!""Chiip!"Smash them together and you get… "Kamusuchi."Kind of a mouthful. You suppose this assortment of noises could be a name, and it sounds right.
>>6480387The small village you've found yourself in is just as strange as every other place in this dream. The buildings serve an approximation of half-remembered experiences and locales, and the inhabitants range from uncanny to unformed. Much like yourself, the arrangement of structures didn't have a name, but as you stalk the barren streets that honed your military career you realize that you'd already named it. This was home. A haunting thought gives you a rotation of pangs across your synapses. The realization of what you have always precedes the loss of it. As a thought, it rated about the same level of significance as "You are hungry when you don't eat," but somehow it shreds you to pieces. Do people just not think about it? How do you stop thinking about it? I think you know. I think that's why this too will be gone. I can't wait.
>>6480388>The realization of what you have always precedes the loss of it.I was thinking earlier about how unfair it is that our new friends can only exist so long as the dream continues, and along comes this line.>I can't wait.There are a couple ways to interpret this, and I don’t like either of them.
>>6480388>The realization of what you have always precedes the loss of it.Wrong. There's times when you lose things, lose parts of yourself, that you never knew you had or were there or that were a thing at all. You're left with empty space where you know you must have had something, in your head and in your heart... but a certain THEY took it from you, whether with words, actions, abuse, or similar means. And now... now what? How do you cope and adapt to living with something fundamental being spoiled or deprived from you?
>>6480548>There's times when you lose things, lose parts of yourself that you never knew you had And some hunger even after they eat, girl. You, me, and the mirror call them gluttons. What kind of person routinely loses what they don't know they had? When we get through this, I won't let you continue gorging yourself. We've spent far too long crying over our last meal. Let's get a move on, soldier.You hear loud squeals, and the tinny gibberish of command emanating from Rasher's receiver. It seems like there are new orders, and Rasher is not pleased with them. With a click, the transmission ends, and Rasher slinks over to the rest of the company to relay the news. The perturbed pork produces a map and begins to draw out what seems to be a few plans.Command is orchestrating a push to draw forces while you take one of multiple paths of entry to reach some obscure objective. Given what you've gathered by observing prior communications, you contemplate your choices.Path A: There seems to be some subterranean pathway that will take you most of the way there. This is a safe bet to avoid patrol topside, and lug more firepower without the fear of being spotted; But the only problem is that this would not take much manpower to cover effectively, and the pathway has been raided in the past.Path B: Low and slow. If you dot your way across the countryside using current refugee pathways obtained from our latest intel, you may be able to pass through unabated. You would have decent arms, but nothing that would cause you to be spotted from afar. The effectiveness of this entirely depends on if your intel is truly up to date, and in a constantly shifting conflict, what you know may now already be history.Path C: Subterfuge. Don disguises and try to slip through checkpoints directly. Weaponry would be slim, and anything more would need to be obtained. It's risky but provided the amount of citizens fleeing either side of the lines, you may be able to slip in unnoticed.And last but certainly not least…Path D: Go AWOL. This is clearly a suicide mission. Command does not expect you to return alive. It's your dream, so you're not too worried about yourself; But your friends might never return the same way if they're killed. Not a terrible choice, you have no allegiance to your lucid leaders and any fugue state which fights for a reason to fight. Maybe you can escape this place like you did with the cabin, and liberate your friends from the meat grinder.>(50) Go with A.>(50) Go with B.>(50) Go with C.>(100) Go with D.
>>6480591>(50) Go with A.Doubt command would let us escape that easily and not being armed seems like a bad idea
>>6480591>(50) Go with A.I’m torn about wanting to free our friends, since Beans saved us from whatever was in that cabin, but also putting them at greater risk.
>>6480591>(50) Go with B.The golden rule of Counter-Strike every true gamer knows by heart:RUSH B CYKA BLYAT
