Re: 13 March 2007 - [cubi#03]

[Stygian]

Dreamsurfing ability GET! That's coolness in a head!

(ed: *whistles innocently* :-] )

[Alondro]

*Charline grins*  Heh, dream surfing on the clothing-optional beach dreams.  How cute!  I like watching the nightmares, personally.   A wonderful window into the deepest fears of my victims.   

And killing things is very relaxing!  You watch as the blood slows from its initial gushing, the gasping and flailing wanes, then the body goes limp and stares up with dull, cloudy, lifeless eyes.  Very relaxing!   

[Zorro]

*Charline grins*  Heh, dream surfing on the clothing-optional beach dreams.  How cute!  I like watching the nightmares, personally.   A wonderful window into the deepest fears of my victims.   

I think Amber has been reading Prof B Hunnydew's cartoon.   

[Stygian]

*Charline grins*  Heh, dream surfing on the clothing-optional beach dreams.  How cute!  I like watching the nightmares, personally.   A wonderful window into the deepest fears of my victims.   

And killing things is very relaxing!  You watch as the blood slows from its initial gushing, the gasping and flailing wanes, then the body goes limp and stares up with dull, cloudy, lifeless eyes.  Very relaxing!   

...wait, what? You don't do it for the chase? For the scaring the victim to death and feeling the rush of panic, the smell of mind-numbing fear, the certainty of death? For the taste and the exhilaration?

You're evil, Charline. Evil in the worst sense...

[Manawolf]

That would be what Arry was doing to Merlitz.  And yeah, using it for info gathering depends on the dream.

You probably won't get much out of me if I'm in one of my video game dreams, especially the FPS ones.

[Boog]

Anybody else see Kria's thought bubble as the inventory list in an RPG? It highlights down the list until it reaches a usable item. Then it gets to shopping and bing! Select and use.

And that has to be one of the better misuses of cubi abilities. If only they were all known for being such good samaritans when it comes to dreams.

[Zedd]

Neverless..Dreamsurfing was a wonderful ablity my aunt was great at specialy if she was a dream psychologist and into the dream psychology as her served carrer...Sorry my aunt couldnt help you much Charline!

[superluser]

So I was reading the `cubi mini-arc, and I started wondering why `cubi would surf others' dreams of clothing-optional beach parties, rather than just dreaming about said parties themselves.

I like to think that the answer came to me just a bit faster than it came to Dan.

[Kenji]

So I was reading the `cubi mini-arc, and I started wondering why `cubi would surf others' dreams of clothing-optional beach parties, rather than just dreaming about said parties themselves.

I like to think that the answer came to me just a bit faster than it came to Dan.

Please.....



Dan doesn't have thoughts.

[Aridas]

So I was reading the `cubi mini-arc, and I started wondering why `cubi would surf others' dreams of clothing-optional beach parties, rather than just dreaming about said parties themselves.

I like to think that the answer came to me just a bit faster than it came to Dan.

Nobody yet said cubi lost the ability to sleep, did they? They lost the need for it, sure, but...

[superluser]

Nobody yet said cubi lost the ability to sleep, did they? They lost the need for it, sure, but...

I seem to recall that REM sleep (the sleep that you have when you're dreaming) seems to be strongly correlated with the amount of sleep that you need.  If you need no sleep, you might be unable to dream.

[Aridas]

Let's all bug amber about it.

[Jim Halisstrad]

Fear of sand in genitalia > The urge for freedom from the tyranny of pants

[Distracting]

So I was reading the `cubi mini-arc, and I started wondering why `cubi would surf others' dreams of clothing-optional beach parties, rather than just dreaming about said parties themselves.

I like to think that the answer came to me just a bit faster than it came to Dan.

I'd think curiosity. I mean, how many times have you wondered what a person dreams about? This page never implied that 'cubi can or can't dream, just that they can go into others' dreams. It's like going to...well a restaurant or something. You don't have to go there every night, but you go there sometimes because the food you make is getting old.

[e_voyager]

eh it's probably like watching TV but with actual interactive capability. like those which way books they used to have.

[Reese Tora]

So I was reading the `cubi mini-arc, and I started wondering why `cubi would surf others' dreams of clothing-optional beach parties, rather than just dreaming about said parties themselves.

I like to think that the answer came to me just a bit faster than it came to Dan.

How much would you pay to have good dreams every night?

Also, consider the fun you could have playing dream pranks on people... the false prophetic dreams alone could be priceless. 

[Tapewolf]

Nuts.  One of the risks of writing stories that explore areas Amber hasn't touched is that she will come along later and rule them out   

The whole 'Dreamwar' concept was one of my favourites too.  I'll have to see if I can devise a way to rescue it.  (Hmm... in fact, I may have a solution...)

**EDIT**

Indeed.  Aary came along and mucked up Merlitz' dream, Jouster had a nervous breakdown because of what Abel did to him when he was sleeping, and Dan told Abel not to do anything to his, because although he doesn't know much about 'cubi, he knows about that.
So dreamspace manipulation is taught at SAIA, but it's presumably a more advanced subject than simply surfing.

(One of my ideas was that 'cubi can force the dreamer into a lucid state so that they can interact with each other)

[Tapewolf]

[hit the wrong damn button]

[bill]

*bows*

[Janus Whitefurr]

(One of my ideas was that 'cubi can force the dreamer into a lucid state so that they can interact with each other)

On that line of thought, if a cubi can manipulate dreamspace as opposed to minor nudging changes or just watching/participating in the goings on, what would happen if they encountered a lucid dreamer who could tell something was up?

[Tapewolf]

(One of my ideas was that 'cubi can force the dreamer into a lucid state so that they can interact with each other)

On that line of thought, if a cubi can manipulate dreamspace as opposed to minor nudging changes or just watching along, what would happen if they encountered a lucid dreamer? Mental kombat?

At SAIA, the Succubus and Incubus Academy, we had been taught ways of manipulating a Being's dreamspace, for recreational purposes, to aid in generating emotions and as part of the stereotypical 'cubi attack of stealing someone's soul in their sleep.

There were a number of friendly Beings on campus for us to practice dreamspace manipulation in, and I had become quite good at it.  Although there were rarely disputes over prey, it was a possibility, particularly with a rogue 'cubi and so we were taught how to fight in dreamspace as well.
This had given rise to 'Dreamwars', where competing 'cubi would battle for dominance inside a sleeper's mind.

Although the act of self-defence in dreamspace was grudgingly accepted as a necessary part of the course, the Dreamwar championships were frowned upon since the loser was usually left in a mild coma unless they surrendered first.  This meant that they were more-or-less an underground activity, so finding a volunteer dreamer to play in was not easy.

Usually a play area was obtained by bribing one of the Beings or finding a young 'cubi who still had the ability to dream on demand.  At a pinch, some of the more uncouth 'cubi had been known to cast Stun on an unsuspecting fellow student, but this was highly undesirable since people do not dream while unconscious which left a black, empty and boring dreamspace to play in.  More to the point, casting Stun within SAIA was a severe breach of the rules and Fa'lina would get extremely angry when she found out.

**EDIT**
Bad Janus, changing the question after I'd answered it

As to the idea of entering the dreams of an already lucid Being, they probably would know.  Depending on what the 'cubi is after, it wouldn't necessarily help.
I've had numerous dreams where I've realised I'm dreaming but I've still been unable to wake from them, and if the 'cubi means ill, they could probably prevent their victim from waking up.

[Tezkat]

Why are all the girls at the clothing optional beach party... um... clothed? 

Nobody yet said cubi lost the ability to sleep, did they? They lost the need for it, sure, but...

According to Amber, Cubi lose the ability to dream after a few hundred years, and that's among the reasons they no longer bother to sleep. However, they are still capable of sleep, as Abel pointed out before Dan dumped a spider in his bed.

I seem to recall that REM sleep (the sleep that you have when you're dreaming) seems to be strongly correlated with the amount of sleep that you need.  If you need no sleep, you might be unable to dream.

Actually... REM requirements in mammals appear to be somewhat independent of their regular sleep needs. If sleep deprived, they'll always experience a REM rebound in which a much higher than normal proportion of sleep time is spent in REM. If REM-deprived over an extended period of time, brainwave patterns normally associated with sleep and dreams can creep into waking states (even if the animal gets normal quantities of sleep that is only interrupted when REM occurs) and health begins to suffer. In humans, that can translate into the hallucinations and altered cognition reported by people who have gone without sleep for days.

Indeed.  Aary came along and mucked up Merlitz' dream, Jouster had a nervous breakdown because of what Abel did to him when he was sleeping, and Dan told Abel not to do anything to his, because although he doesn't know much about 'cubi, he knows about that.
So dreamspace manipulation is taught at SAIA, but it's presumably a more advanced subject than simply surfing.

Hmm... it's also possible that dream manipulation per se is still limited to the "toast" level, but that the Cubi can use other abilities (shapeshifting their own dream avatars, telepathy, etc.) to indirectly alter the course of the dream.

More food for thought... The layfolk of Furrae seem to associate dream surfing with soul eating (e.g. Edward's "devour my soul in my sleep" line). It'd be interesting to know if those powers actually employ similar mechanisms.

[ShiningShadow]

So in Dream surfing the Cubi nudges the victim to his or her advantage and thus sucking the soul of it's intended victim. Imagine that I think it's a cool thing to have, for example if a really bad guy has dreams of blowing up the world then a Cubi will nudges the say foe towards good and *viola* good guy.

I don't know if a Cubi is Dreamsurfing in my head he or she will see nothing there like adventures and gratouious nudity .

[Prof B Hunnydew]

*Charline grins*  Heh, dream surfing on the clothing-optional beach dreams.  How cute!  I like watching the nightmares, personally.   A wonderful window into the deepest fears of my victims.   

I think Amber has been reading Prof B Hunnydew's cartoon.   

I am taking a page from Amber on this one...."EEeek  old art ... burns it burns it... " Sent  Delete virus.......

Bad Zorro Bad Zorro no cookie.....
but if you like I have a vacation package to Sara's paradise's Beach and Resort, No luggage require, for two weeks.  and You can be in my next comic....

Why are all the girls at the clothing optional beach party... um... clothed?  

That would be my question too?  Pai Gon must have force them all to Wardrobe.

Well she can't stop me from relax ing the way I want...
**setup beachchair, towel and cooler..  takes off everything and sit in chair with a her laptop in her lap, and then falls asleep with a large manual across her chest..zzzzzzzz.***


PBH

[Magic]

"This is all a dream, my dear, and I'm writing your story."

[Tapewolf]

"This is all a dream, my dear, and I'm writing your story."

When I awake, you will remember nothing.


Back to the strip, I think the dog dude is pretty cool.  I still say Amber doesn't draw enough canids

**EDIT**
One thing this hasn't covered so far is the process of drawing energy from dreams, the mysterious third 'cubi feeding method.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"This is all a dream, my dear, and I'm writing your story."

"Oh INK! INK! Are you there?"   her arm  reaching for .... goes back to full sleep...mmm 

PBH

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

so.. that'd be just drawing on the chest, then?

[superluser]

Fear of sand in genitalia > The urge for freedom from the tyranny of pants

The dog is wearing pants in panel 3, you know.

Why are all the girls at the clothing optional beach party... um... clothed?

I'm wondering that, myself.  The person facing away from us could be topless and not annoy Pai Gon, though she'd have to face a little further away.

Actually... REM requirements in mammals appear to be somewhat independent of their regular sleep needs. If sleep deprived, they'll always experience a REM rebound in which a much higher than normal proportion of sleep time is spent in REM.

I know that in the teen years, people need more sleep, and also have more REM sleep.  One point does not make a line, but I figured that it might be true.

On that line of thought, if a cubi can manipulate dreamspace as opposed to minor nudging changes or just watching/participating in the goings on, what would happen if they encountered a lucid dreamer who could tell something was up?

Mr. Book, there is a problem.  There is no Avenue M.  We were unable to complete it.

**setup beachchair, towel and cooler..  takes off everything and sit in chair with a her laptop in her lap, and then falls asleep with a large manual across her chest..zzzzzzzz.***

Hmmm.

**removes shirt, places over PBH's chest.  Steals manual.**

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Ah, a manual thief.

I wonder if he's from Barcelona....