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  Sleeping, but awake.

  Collected Unpublished Lyrics

  -Sibsil Creed, Stories of Shurwinn, (2783)

  Dream Journal

  There was a huge building-sized chessboard in front of me. It was all very black. There were blobs on it—black chess pieces that looked melted in piles. Like each piece was made of black melty tar and was stuck to the others.

  But someone was still playing the game. I asked how they were playing with the pieces all melted like that. A male voice spoke audibly, “This is speed chess.”

  But the meaning I felt him say was, This game was broken when you refused to play by the rules. But the game isn’t over. Your choices led you here, and you’re still playing the game, even if the old rules no longer apply.

  “Ready when you are, Ryst.”

  I turned to the camera behind me. “One take. Let’s do it,” I grinned.

  My hair was in a sling clip, bushed out in thick waves down the back of my head like a puffy horses’ mane.

  I stepped forward through the crowded bar. There was a wide area free of people directly in front of me, leaving me plenty of stage as I approached Jasen and Alen’s backs.

  The bar tender’s mouth fell open; he dropped a glass and pointed right at me. My cue.

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  The chocolate-colored silk robe spilled off my bare shoulders and pooled onto the floor at my feet which were covered in 5-inch spike-heeled thigh-high black boots.

  Bare skin above the boots, then a small skirt, dropped low on my hips, about 2 inches beneath my belly button. It was black, around 5 inches long, and was covered in three tiers of fringe—deep magenta and black.

  Above the skirt was a purple top so dark it looked black. It laced up the front and boosted my chest. The sides of the top were cut away, high on my rib cage, about where a bra should be, and the front went down in a V to my belly button. The back was an exact mimic of the front. My tailor Mauren had outdone herself for this prank.

  The outfit screamed, “Here for a good time, who wants a ride?” I wasn’t sure if the bartender was acting.

  Two heads turned to face me. Young guys, around 21 or so. Plain, but dressed smartly for a business meeting. I skipped across the bar floor towards them crooning, “Jasen! Alen! There you are! I’m SO HAPPY to see you!”

  I turned back to face the camera, and standing between them, I grabbed the back of their necks and pulled their shocked faces into a hug. Alen, on my left, squirmed and spluttered. Jasen didn't move.

  Surprise rolled off both of them.

  “It’s Ryst Nova! Your biggest fan! Best animators in the galaxy! Smile for the cameras boys, we’re live with Living Foods From Shurwinn! Sooooo, what’re we doing tonight? Dancing? Know any good clubs?”

  “Dr. Nova” Alen spluttered, “You can’t, you can’t!” Jasen just looked dazed.

  I grabbed their arms and headed towards Peydran, “Come on fellas, I’m in the mood to paaartay, and you’re on my to-do list!” I winked at the camera.

  “That’s a wrap,” Peydran barked out, and the bar erupted in fountains of confetti.

  “And that’s how we say ‘Thank you’ at Produced by Peydran, folks. Very, very normal. Nothing to see here! Practically invisible. Enjoy your evening, you’re off the clock. Sunshine, and all that,” Peydran called out as he ran over to Jasen and Alen, pulling them into a hug. Grinning and laughing.

  One of the actresses who was pretending to patronize the bar slipped the robe back over my shoulders.

  Jasen and Alen were in stitches, “You punked us! You punked us! You ass,” Alen gasped out between laughs.

  “What the sands, guys?” Jasen asked. “I thought we were here for a business meeting with the biggest potential client of our lives. ‘Career launching’ he said. Wait,—there’s no client, right?”

  Peydran shook his head, “Not at the moment, but after this? After all the parodies you can do of yourself looking like Ryst just ran you over with her wild side? You shall never hurt for clients again!” We all bent double laughing like hyenas who couldn’t stop.

  I waved my hands, “We aren’t live, it’s not live” I rasped out.

  “No,” Peydran confirmed, “But we’re still rolling. I’ll put together all the footage. It’ll be a hilarious triple-business-launching video! Your face! Your face!”

  “I wanna go out,” I said. “I’m gonna go change into something less, ‘Fuck me ’til tomorrow.’ Y’all decide where we’re going for dinner.”

  Dinner was fun. Nonstop laughter. Peydran didn’t get drunk and try to get me to zap his brain with my super powers. I just had fun with new friends in a new town being just a girl.

  So very, very normal.