Failed a Test?

[ChopstickFox]

I'm putting this in the dream section because I was not aware that I was sleeping and that I was not aware of my waking world life.

I was in my usual form within dreams (easier than explaining): http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b492/ChopstickFox/ryubig.gif

I was part of some sort of lab program as a test subject. There were others part of the program and we were expected to have complete obedience. We would be punished for any deviance from our instructions. The setting was very sterile and white. The doctor in charge was a stern old man. The detail in this dream was incredible. I don't remember much of the other subjects, but the prominent characters were so detailed. I didn't recognize them, but they looked so real. Everything looked and felt real.

As I entered the lab, I had passed a man in a long brown coat. It was pretty dirty and kind of tattered. He had on gloves, was tan, wore a bandana on his head and his face was red as if he had spent a lot of time in the sun. He himself was kind of dirty too, as if he had been living on the streets. His hair was almost like an orange color, but apparently had been dyed that way from the sun. He also hadn't shaved in I guess a few days. Maybe less, I don't know how fast facial hair grows, but he had a lot of stubble. He asked me if there was a place he could get a job. People usually didn't talk to me so I was too afraid to speak back, my wings trembled. He rolled his eyes and walked away.

I'm usually not completely and utterly submissive in my dreams, but I fully believed that I needed to follow what I was told or I would be severely punished. The other test subjects and I were placed in a room and the old man in charge told us what was planned for this session. It was kind of like a maze, but split decisions would need to be made. We would need to follow our instructions. There was an emphasis that if we deviated, we might not walk out of there.

We started and entered the maze. There were a lot of hallways and doors. I heard alarms go off and I practically ran right into someone. It was the - for lack of a better term - drifter from before. He was like "Oh great, you again?" I don't remember the exact conversation but it was quick and I never spoke. He told me that the lab was going to give him $60 for being part of a brief research project. As it progressed he felt it was too fishy and decided to escape. Of course I was thinking in my mind "escape?!?!?!! WHAT?!!?! You don't do that!"

Another alarm went off and the old man announced that anyone who caught the drifter would be rewarded and anyone who helped him would be punished. I didn't want him to get hurt, but was so afraid for myself, as well. He assumed I would be useless so he ran down the hallway. After a moment of fighting myself, I chased after him. There were cameras in the hallways, but not in the rooms. I followed him into a room and I guess I couldn't speak because I could only communicate with gestures. I decided that I would be on the lookout for the others looking for him and help guide him out.

We had a lot of very close calls, but when it came down to it, he ended up running ahead and I wished that I was able to be brave enough to lead him because he turned left instead of right which was the exit. He ran right into a trap where the old man shot a needle into his neck. He fell against the wall and turned to look right at me. He looked right at me as he died. My heart was beating so hard and I kept regretting. I kept thinking that there had to be a way to save him, screw what came of it. There had to be a way. I started realizing that I was dreaming and felt myself waking up. I started thinking "no! I can still save him! If I can just get back in the dream, I can make it alright! I can help him!" But I awoke into my bed, feeling distraught. I tried falling back asleep into where I left off, but it didn't work.

So, failed test? I have the feeling it was a test because it had that feel. I felt so sour afterwards...




In a separate dream, I found myself in my dad's garage, though the surrounding neighborhood was, which it matched up with the neighborhood, was a completely different place. Think of how a child sees the world in their imagination. Sure it physically "looks" like a neighborhood, it can be so much more. I only remember patches. There was a green parrot named Peter Pan of all things. Don't ask. She could talk. Yes, it was a she. I remember her sitting on my shoulder. There were people lost in the rain. I went out to search for them and this was really one of the weirdest things I have become in a dream. I turned into an Eastern dragon, but I wasn't physical. It was almost like I was made of stars. It was like no big deal, I just snakes through the air like nothing looking for the lost people. The bird turned into a little girl and I turned into a human when we found the two missing boys. They were cold and wet, their lips blue. A fuzzy dog was on them keeping them warm. They moved to get up and I pushed the dog back on them. I told them that I was too cold to bring them back and would return soon with a better way to bring them back. I guess that was it. But yeah, probably the weirdest thing I have ever felt was flying through the air as an eastern dragon, haha.

[Szaxx]

Aaaghh, The realisation of dreaming never comes unti too late. They are very real too and the recall is amazing to say the least. Think about what you DIDN'T do, always remember the feelings you get from these tests are only the rules. They are NOT laws. Rules are made to be broken. Laws are not and these are known from the.start very clearly. You did a good job though. When you fail miserably you get booted out into another scene where everything is totally different. No time to think, you act on your instinct and be yourself.
I think the fear of being discovered by the old guy put you in a dilemma where you didn't act as you normally would.
This delay from fear has to be an issue to resolve. Fear isn't an option or you will be in a loop of tests and not proceed onto  retrievals. Its something I've experienced. Loops really aggrevated me until I went against the rules. Mine was a school bully setting and being outnumbered I hid. Eventually I realised the discipline I knew needed to be used. Jumping in and taking a chance the bullies were nothing but cowards making a loud noise.
This test was very informative as the low frequency levels are full of entities of this false image.
Your experience is very similar, you will get another chance with a totally unrelated setting. Be ready, do whats right for the situation, put yourself out on a limb. You'll succeed.
Does this make sense?

[ChopstickFox]

The detail was so great and I was so convinced that what was happening was real that I truly woke up feeling that someone had been lost because I hadn't been assertive enough to lead them the right direction.

Because of the detail it has been nagging at me a bit throughout the day. Just how real it felt, I guess. And how utterly convinced I was. Usually I have some sort of deep down lucidity even if it's an off to the side little part of me that is aware, independent from the me in the story. I dunno how else to explain it, I guess.

What didn't I do... I didn't stop him from going the wrong direction. I tried, but if I had been assertive in the first place, maybe the outcome would have been different. The rules orally given to me were to obey the old man, but I defied it by trying to help, but it wasn't enough.

Fear is not a stranger to me. If it was completely absent, I think there would have been something wrong with me. I think there is relevance in that the person I was had no memory of ever being defiant before so even taking small steps was a lot. In some ways I feel very accomplished with what I achieved considering the circumstances. But it doesn't change the result. And that I don't know what happened next. Would seeing the man die give me the strength to overcome he situation and escape? Would my spirit be crushed and I never try to defy again? Was the man actually not dead and I would have another chance? Maybe it was meant to have more, but my emotional response to the scene stirred me awake. Sigh... And then maybe this was all supposed to happen and it was meant to just make myself think.

Sorry I'm going on and on.

[Szaxx]

Nah,
The continued annoyance does get to you for a while. The moment things click you've worked it out. The annoyances then dissipate. I agree with the whole scene being that real if you stayed there for years you'd not realise it. Its a replication of our physical universe and the rules, laws etc are imprinted into you. This makes things so much harder as you need to awaken the you within to succeed. Ill guess you would have done things a little differently knowing everything that you do now.
It's waking yourself up in an alternate reality, being a concious thinking mechanism rather than a following orders muppet.
After it ended you wanted to go back. You could have. INTENT is the key, and lots of it. Although youd be screaming and kicking down a brick wall to do it, this tool is very persuasive.
You'll also see the tramp again too, he'll probably wink. The characters are characters themselves. Like for like, help for help. Then he'd be returning the same amount of help you gave him.
A picture forms here. You go out on a limb and this dedication is returned.
Can you relate to this? It may take some thought.

[Lionheart]

So, failed test? I have the feeling it was a test because it had that feel. I felt so sour afterwards...

Failed a test or a Quest, it's ok because in the NPR they allow do-overs! 

As many as are necessary! 

[ChopstickFox]

I certainly can relate. And I've been trying. There's just so much that seems to just happen on its own and I like to go with the flow. Sometimes the harder I try, the more difficult it becomes. If I allow things to happen it generally happens. Dunno.

Had one just before waking last night. The way I viewed the characters changed part way through, perhaps for more of a symbolic reason. I was not lucid and I did not have my waking memories, but I was my human self. I had been captured by creatures that had been trying to break down the wills of humans for who knows what. Maybe their amusement? Slaves?

They were a bit larger than humans and were kind of hairy, but not primitive looking. Maybe kind of like a mix between a cat and an owl. Their eyes were huge and black. They had very sharp hooked claws. I learned the hard way because I got scratched quite a few times. Hurt!!! Easily broke my skin causing me to bleed.

What was strange was that quite a few of them were chained up themselves to the walls lining the corridor. What was going through my mind was more akin to how I usual think and feel in dreams, not like the extremely timid and flighty version of myself in my prior dream. I really think it was the desperate confidence that I had that got me through this experience.

I guess it was kind of similar to slave trading. They would present us humans to them and they would be picked/sold/whatever. I knew I had to get out of there, so I slipped out of the manacles and tried to fight to get away. I ran through the creatures, acquiring several scratches, I remember yelling out in pain, but being so stubborn, I didn't give in. I found a place where I could better defend myself and actually nailed a couple of them with a few well placed kicks. They backed off then another came at me, it was a little larger and older looking. He was the first one that actually spoke to me.

He incapacitated me in a way and I found that I couldn't move and started telling me that I was being a bother and I really shouldn't try. I wasn't accomplishing anything. He held up some sort of contraption. I'm trying to think of what to call it... It was like a thick wire thing that would keep my head in place. It would then slide over some sharp things over my ears that would drill into my head. The creature roughly explained this because his research showed that humans were more obedient when put under extreme pain.

He brought out several of their obedient humans. They were children, which sickened me more. They were hand signing to each other, probably because of what the creatures did to them. One of them spoke trying to convince me to give in quietly because there was no hope. This was like... freaky from a movie, and once again, things were in so much detail it could have been real. The children wore colorful clothing and some of it was almost like a sheer material which was offset by the dark purplish walls.

This was rather terrifying. The unnerving noise the contraption made didn't help. I was pinned against the wall on my back and the contraption extended a few feet. I was able to kick up my let and catch it on one of the wires and ripped it away from my head. The elder creature was stunned long enough for me to run by the children who were still droning on about how I should just come back.

It was at this point that I think I started waking up, but I wanted to continue. I was able to continue, but how I viewed everything changed slightly. My perception in first person stayed the same so I behaved as if nothing changed, but from an outside viewing perspective I was like a mouse and the creatures were like cats. Their ship, I'm assuming that's what it was, was now literally a ship on the water. Kind of like a cruise ship. Along the way I discovered that not all the creatures were against me. A few actually wanted me to succeed. I needed to get to the bow of the ship to the bridge. At one point I hid in what appeared to be dirty laundry to be carried towards the front. I was dropped into a shoot and I made my way to the bridge. My hands on that wheel, I steered it to the first jagged rock I saw. We crashed and I knew they would be onto me soon. The top of the ship was actually open to the sky, I jumped off the front and slid down the roof of the ship towards the bow. I slipped and almost fell into the water, but there was something to hold onto. I held right and we ended up crashing into a bridge. I think I was passed out for a moment, but when I came to, I was laying in the street on the bridge, human, and surrounded by other humans who were in shock. The ship, still a literal ship, was lodged into the bridge. The creatures... I'm trying to remember how I saw them. I think they were metal and a lot of them had fallen apart into pieces. I don't remember seeing the other people who were trapped on the ship, but I think they were alright.

I gotta say... in hindsight it was pretty epic.

[Szaxx]

This one came fast. You kicked butt then thimgs started to change in your favour somewhat.
Good result though as.you came through despite the odds being stacked agsinst ypu. The muppets telling you to be compliant... Nah,.not happening. Id buzz off that.
Eventually you WILL get caught.
The results from experience briefly.
Burned at stake.
Eaten by three headed god knows what.
Thrown off many things.  ( Flying once aware).
Machine gunned too many times, started at 6 years old...
Ripped apart between two large trees.
Poisioned, painful as hell but boring.
Bombed
Nuked
All the things above resulted in a fail.
Hee hee youre going to have some fun.
I love 'em

Some play with your mind too, the grays in particular, these are a mental challenge and not easy.
The emotional ones really hurt inside but these are much later on....REALLY NASTY.
Enjoy them...

[Bedeekin]

Ripped apart between two large trees... this reminds me of the old Tarzan series... it was a form of execution in africa.

[Szaxx]

I was disagreeing with a tribal medicine man about gods and sacrifices being useless. I should have known better, drugged then tied and when twilight came I'd recovered, couldn't get out of the ties. Didn't help being upside down either. They had fun touching the twine with a blade. That psychotic smile, can't forget the madness in his bloodshot eyes. Then rip...
Not a nice way to go but far better than drowning.
From the early 80's...
I was extremely annoyed with myself. Arrogance and disrespecting their faith, two lessons in one.
I hope chopstickfox, you have these already sorted, I was your age then.
Lol.

[TK]

I'm trying to get to that gateway point, where in the dream you realize your dreaming. For me there starts somekind of an "tunnel" where music plays and I'm flying or  falling. I remember doing this horizontal maneuvering and I got sucked into it. Fun stuff started after that.  Dimensions, hear me knocking huh!? Coming at ya!

[ChopstickFox]

Sometimes it is very sudden, finding that realization. I have found that making reality checks throughout the day has made me subconsciously reality check in dreams.