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Nicholas stared at the oddly colored tree. It seemed to be blue at moment and then green the next. He rubbed his eyes and remind himself that this was a dreamworld. Strange things were bounded to be commonplace. At he could see here he thought with a content smile. It had been a week since he had taken the drug. At first he was surprised at how lucid his dreams were, but grew to like them. The only thing was that he could wake up. He tried all the methods like pinching himself, falling off a not so high cliff. He did not want to risk jumping off something very high after the rather painful landing he had with his first attempt. He wandered around Nod sleeping dreamless sleep and eating the most normal looking food he could find.

While he contemplated the true color of the tree he thought of his life before coming to Nod. While he did get use to being blind after two years from the accident, he hated it at times too. It had almost lost him his job as a biology professor at a local college in Chicago. He loved teaching though and after some haggling with the school board he got to keep his job. On one condition he need someone else in the class. The cynic in him never trusted the student aid to help grade papers. His thoughts were justified after Nicholas found out one of them was helping a friend pass by grading them incorrectly. He disliked cheating. He never understood students who bugged to be in his class and never did any work. After many trials and errors the college hired another bio professor to help out.

Nicholas could tell that the new guy wanted his job. He complained to his husband almost every day probably to his annoyance. He grew use to, but still wary of the new guy as months passed. News of a sleepless sickness was everywhere. One day he too caught it. He became depressed he could still see in his dreams. After weeks be unable to sleep his husband started working on something. After several months his husband came up with a new sleeping pill, Collideascope. After much cajoling Nicholas decided to take the drug. Everything seemed like any other dream at first, then things started to get strange. It started to seem real in a way dreams should not. When he could not wake up he started to panic which caused him lose his sight for two hours.

He returned to present and walked into the dense treeline. It looked to be an orchard of some kind with various fruit bearing trees. He could see a house a little bit away from the orchard. He made his way through the trees heading towards the house. After sleeping outside for a week shelter would be nice. It was then that he noticed the young woman. He rubbed his eyes and blinked hard, surely she was just a part of his dream right? Why did she seem so real? He decided to get closed to her his curiosity getting the better of him.

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Aaron followed Avery outside to quiet orchard. Even though there were odd looking trees with even odder looking fruit, they all decided to stick with what was normal. He watched the soon to be mother walk with a hop and skip. Aaron smiled at her joy and saw her pause. He turned his gaze in her direction and saw two figures in the distance. It must be more people who had taken the drug.

Or they could be parts of the dream. You never really knew here. As long as they were not one of those shadow creatures things would be fine. Avery then turned around and gave him a sweet looking smile.
Avery's smiles were addicting and Aaron could not help, but to give her one of his own. He waved his hand to shoo a pesky horsefly that looked like a horse with wings away. When he turned his attention back to Avery she was staring out into the distance.

Aaron could tell that she was looking at the shadowland. He did not what the place was called nor was he sure that he wanted to. He went out there once and saw those horrible creatures with their glowing eyes and maniac looking grins. He nearly lost his life saving Avery from one of them. It was after that he felt that she almost fully trusted him. He went over towards her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. He gave her a gentle smile and broke the silence.

“It's ok, we're not going anywhere near there.”
He removed his hand and turned attention back to the strangers in the distance.
He pushed a stray piece of hair of his brow, deep in thought. He figured that the only way he would find out if they were real or not, was to talk to get a closer look.
He turned back to Avery with a serious look.
“I'm going to see if they're part of drug test.”
Aaron paused and sighed before speaking again.
“I wonder just how many tested it?”
Aaron thought aloud as he started making his way towards the strangers.
He looked back to see if Avery had followed him.

『Out Of the mind a Cop: Phoebe, I hope the little back story is ok with you.』

Not long after, her wanderings led her to some trees that didn't exist in the real world, she heard someone approaching from behind. Turning, she saw a man walking up to her. Soon after, a pregnant woman and man approached from the opposite direction. A ways behind them was another man. This dream was taking a turn she didn't like. Normally when there were many people aproaching from different directions in her dreams, things took a violent turn quickly. And sometimes in dreams, you couldn't do anything to control the situation. Finding herself wishing she had her gun with her, she ran her hand through her hair, agitated. She was wearing jeans, a light blue shirt, and black camisole, all of which were easy to move in. Though she was normally a fan of boots, today she was wearing sneakers. In other words, her clothes allowed her to fight or run if necessary. Stepping back four feet, she found herself casually leaning against a tree with her hands at her sides.

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxIt doesn't hurt toxdream, it hurts morex to wake up.

"Glad to know that."She whispered when he said they would not go anywhere near there, "What if they aren't? "She asked and grabbed his wrist, giving a gentle tug as if to say she was skeptic about meeting these people. Well there were men around and well her and men did not get along well so she avoided them at all costs really. "I am not sure, but how can we be sure the ones who have been tested are always going to be nice, some of them could be killers or just CRAZY?!?!?!?"She said as he grip on his wrist stayed pretty tight. She stepped closer to him as she scanned the amount of people at the orchard, she usually loved this place because it was empty and now today it was full. "Come on Aaron can we go home?"She said as she gave him sad puppy eyes just wanting away from the group.

More and more people showed up and Nicholas was starting to get nervous. First he saw the young woman by the tree now an attractive young looking man approached her before he could. He rubbed his eyes just in case that might help tell him if they were real or not. In the closet distance he could hear a woman voice. She seemed panicky, he did not blame her.

The man he saw approach the woman earlier look friendly enough. He cautiously watched them holding his hands in tight guarded fist close to his body. He looked back towards the woman and man in distance and saw that they were moving away. In the opposite direction towards the house. Something told him that he need to go to that house. It seemed so normal compared to everything else.
Well at least on the outside it did.

All of a sudden he felt more relieved; liked he had found his way home after being lost. He rolled his shoulders hearing a cracked and sighed. With his former trepidation gone Nicholas made his way towards the others beside the Maple tree. He coughed to both clear his throat and to gain attention.
“This may sound like an odd question...but are either of you...real?”
He inquired in a strained sounding voice rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

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The man who had been the furthest away looked friendly enough, but looks could be deceiving, especially in a dream. He swatted away something, perhaps a bug, as he came closer. "Hey." She responded before lapsing back into silence. The man and woman who had come from the house walked away, leaving her to worry only about the two men near her. The second one approached and inquired, “This may sound like an odd question...but are either of you...real?”

He seemed nervous, about to run or fight. The similarities of their basic body language made her smile. Tilting her head, Ashley looked at him questioningly. "Real?" As she thought about the question, she realized something about these people wasn't right. This was not a normal dream. "I like to think I'm as real as someone gets in a dream. Who are you?" The question was directed at both men. "Were you..." Thinking about how ridiculous it sounded even in her head that they were in a shared dream, she stopped midsentence.

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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxIt doesn't hurt toxdream, it hurts morex to wake up.

The woman tilted her head to one side as she answered Nicholas' Question.
"Real?”
She seemed to ponder the question for a bit, before speaking again.
"I like to think I'm as real as someone gets in a dream. Who are you?"
The question was directed towards both him and the other man. Nicholas looked at the other man and before he could say anything the others spoke up.
"Were you..."
The woman began to ask stopping mid sentence. Nicholas had a feeling what she wanted ask.

"My name is Nathan, I'm as real as any of us can be in this place."
Nicholas heard the other man say to the woman.
"Like the two of you no doubt did I took the drug and wound up in this..."
The man named Nathan paused.
"Dreamworld.”
He gestured to the expansive orchard around them. Nicholas followed his gesture taking in the mass of trees before answering their questions himself.

“I'm Nicholas, and I also took the drug.”
He said softly looking at his hands as though they were the most interesting things in the world. Really when you lose your eye sight it's the mundane things you miss. I like that freckle on his right one.
“Actually I'm main reason why there even is a drug.”
He thought still looking at his hand. He snapped out of his reverie and started talking again.
“I think the place is called Nod, well I've heard that name used in the real world.”

His former reluctance seemed to have just vanished as he continued.
“I believe we are some how experiencing a type of mass lucid dream state.”
He began pacing and thinking out loud a habit he had while analyzing things around him. He saw another woman show up and make her way towards the house. The house that he knew he had to go to. There was some kind of little voice in his head telling him so. The question was whatever or not he listened to it.

“If only he knew it was like this...it's so vivid, I wonder...but why can't we...”
He finally realized what he was doing and stopped. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
“Sorry...I don't know about anyone of you, but I have the feeling we should go to that house.”
He said pointing towards the object in question.

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