The Daydreamer Project: Teatime

>Provide valuable assisstance such as"Oh noooooo jump" right as she is about to jump over a platform

>Provide valuable assisstance such as"Oh noooooo jump" right as she is about to jump over a platform

> Be a backseat gamer among backseat gamers.

>Provide valuable assisstance such as"Oh noooooo jump" right as she is about to jump over a platform

Before you can even fully process the scene you've been thrust into, you find yourself unconsciously blurting out vital color commentary for the video game you're now watching.

"Look out! Look out!" you yell. "He's gonna grab you!"

"Mghrrr," comes a grumble in response.
The girl next to you is Kay; an old, good friend of yours currently struggling through her fourth consecutive hour of "Suplex Streets 3." It is very late right now - so late, in fact, that Kay's parents are already long asleep themselves. Fortunately it is not a school night. Sleep schedules mean nothing on a Saturday.

"You know," she says amidst furious button-mashing, "you can plug in the player two controller whenever you want."

"But I'm really bad at the game! I'm just gonna get in your way." Your words keep coming before you think them. You even feel the same years-old twinge of shame at the thought of embarrassing yourself in front of Kay while trying to play her video games.



It's a strange feeling, but you know that you're somewhere between observer and participant here. There's a part of you that knows this is just a memory, while another part of you feels like you're living this scene out for the first time. You're going through the motions, but they all feel like something you'd just come up with in the moment. This has always been the most disorienting of Professor Goodnight's tricks.

You ask Kay, "Maybe it's time we get to sleep? You'll do better when you're not so tired."

"I'm not gonna quit right at the last level," she quickly replies. "And besides, I told you - I'm not going to sleep until you promise to come hang out with me in my dream tonight."

"I'm not allowed to do that."

She scoffs. "I'm definitely not afraid of any stupid cat! We'll take him on together, Lynne!"

"It's not just that. Professor Midnight says it's not allowed."



Kay lets out a rather exaggerated yawn with a mischievous look in her eye.
"Well, I still mean it. No point wasting our sleepover time with sleeping if you're not gonna show me what it's like for you to visit. Soooo... I guess that means I'm gonna have to stay awake forever, then!"

"Kaaaay, come ooooon.." you sigh.

"All I'm saying is that I didn't invite you over because I wanted you to sit and watch me play games all night. If your dream-landlord-owl-face guy says we're not allowed to do that cool 'daydreamers' stuff together, there's gotta be something you want to do to pass the time tonight!"

---

(kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss)
> We can play twister? I've got other board games too.

Let's not play Monopoly though.

>I have a game of Guess Who Deduct Whom!

>maybe there's a Ouija board laying around, those are always fun right

>maybe there's a Ouija board laying around, those are always fun right

Do the spooky, ghostly seconding

>Tell nightmare inducing ghost-stories?

>Board Games?

"Uhmm... maybe there's a board game we could play?"

There is a sudden flash of inspiration on Kay's face as she pauses the game and hops to her feet.
"You know what!" she says. "I do have a board game. Remember last year when I joined that local coven of neopagan techno-druids to try an' make my mom mad?"

"Sort of? That was the week you got sent to the principal's for wearing the deer skull in Mrs. Smirsich's class, right?"

"Yep! And I still have the spirit board! We're both just the right amount of sleep deprived for it to give us some laughs."

"Wait, your mom actually bought you the spirit board?"



Kay chuckles. "She went to her church group when I said I wanted one, and they told her to buy the family-friendly home game version. You know, with the spinners and stuff? It should still work basically the same way."



You sit by quietly while Kay reads over the rules.

"The goal of "Super Spirit Time" is to be the first player to successfully contact a spirit from beyond the realms of mortal ken and compel it to answer a question. To begin... place the 'tarot tokens' on the play mat?"

She glances over to the dozens of tiny plastic pieces inside the box. "Uh, starting on the designated tiles... shuffle the 'tarot token reveal' deck and distribute three cards... each player reveals a card and rolls the dice, moving their designated tarot token in either direction... uhh... the planchette can only be moved to spaces occupied by a tarot token whose corresponding card is in a player's hand...?

She looks over at you. "This sounds needlessly complicated. Is this really how the druids do it?"

You shrug.



As Kay continues to skim the game's instructions, a thought dawns on you - you don't actually need a community-center approved occult tool to talk to someone "otherworldly."

You know people from another world.

You are a dreamer, after all.

You do have imaginary friends.

Kay's the only other kid your age you've ever talked about the Professor with before, and she doesn't think you're too weird... you think.

Professor Goodnight says that you shouldn't leave your dream when you're sleeping, but that's not the only way for someone else to meet him. With the right mood, a spark of inspiration, and little bit of imagination, you suppose you could introduce him to Kay. In fact, you have plenty of friends in dreamland - The Professor, Little Missi, Strangeglove, Bopper - you could bring any of them out for a little bit.

But should you?

---

>Definitely a bad idea. This is one of those situations that can snowball into a massive world-ending ordeal later. You've seen the movies.

> You don't want her to hate you.

> What if it all goes horribly wrong somehow? You should probably stick with something you know for a fact won't blow up in your face later. Like trying to contact beings from beyond the mortal plane in a family-friendly manner.

>GIRL NO

>Nope its best to not tamper yet

>No. If you had asked your dreamland friends for permission first it might be alright, but I doubt that they are keen on getting yoinked into this world by surprise.

Besides, there's a funny thing about dreams.
They have a tendency to turn into nightmares when you least suspect.
Who knows what would happen if that cat was given a chance?
Really, it's not worth taking that chance.

>GIRL NO

No, no, good point. There's way too many things that could go terribly wrong. You could freak her out. You could bring the cat out by mistake. You might upset one of your friends by yanking them out of some business that's important. You should definitely calm down and focus on having some safe, innocent fun performing a seance at 3am.

"Wait a second," says Kay. "I found the 'quick-start' rules in the back. It says we can skip right to the 'questions phase' by putting a finger on the planchette and just sorta... asking questions until we get an answer."

"Questions like what?" you ask, scooting a little bit closer to the board.

Kay pauses.
"Huh. Yeah, actually. What sort of questions do you ask a ghost?"

---

"How'd you die" is one that comes to mind.

On the other hand, that might be considered rude to start with.

> Are you single?

>How are you?

>Make a movie reference at the ghost, they love that. "Who you gonna call?"

"Is there anything we can do to make you comfortable while you're here with us?"

> "Is your name Zozo?"

"Is there anything we can do to make you comfortable while you're here with us?"

"I guess you ask if there's something it needs first, or something you can do to make it want to stay."

Kay nods. "Makes sense, but I'm putting it back in the box the second it starts looking for tribute."



You glance down.
"Hey, the're a six missing on this board."

"Nah, that's on purpose. The rules say that keeps the ghosts from writing evil numbers."

"Couldn't it just spell them with letters?"

"The rules also say you're not supposed to suggest that out loud once we start."



You and Kay sit with your fingers on the little plastic marker for at least three minutes, waiting for something to happen. She looks on with a certain bemused anticipation, unsure of what to expect.

Anticipation grasps you as well, and you hang onto that expectation that something might happen soon as a tool to bat away the encroaching exhaustion. As you and your exhaustion struggle back and forth, you catch the sounds of a nearly inaudible whisper echoing from somewhere behind Kay. She doesn't seem to notice.

You snap out of your dreariness just in time to find your finger beginning to slide the piece across the board as an almost unconscious action. Each letter you help guide Kay to feels like a natural progression of the one that came before.



I - T - S - M - Y - T - I - M - E

"Oh wow," Kay whispers. "That's freaky as heck."

You clear your throat. "Uh, is there something we can do for you?"



R - E - A - D - Y - F - O - R - B - E - D

Kay audibly groans. "Ready for bed? I didn't try to call a ghost for it to make me go to bed. I already have my mom for that."

The request brings you an all-too familiar chill. "Wait," you interject, remembering words whispered at your bedside during the strangest waking hours of the night. "What's your name?"



B - O - G - E - Y



Oh.

That's not a great name. It's a nasty creature from Dreamland - a thing like the cat, but from a place outside your tower - trying to freak you out before you fall asleep.

You know Bogeys can't do anything to you if you're not scared of them.

And you're definitely, absolutely not scared of Bogeys, right?

You're scared of being scared of Bogeys...

which is just one synapse away from being actually scared of them.

Just don't think about the teeth.

>"frick u to heck" make the bogey cry