I'd been dreaming of this weird forest for a while. Every night I'd find myself walking along a path through the woods, right where I left off the last time. Sometimes there were road signs, but like most dreams the text on them was garbled or impossible to remember. The only thing I could figure out was that the place I was headed toward had a little heart symbol next to it.
Now that I think of it, maybe there were other symbols too. Other playing card suits. It's hard to say. Everything I'm about to tell you happened in dreams, and some of the details are hard to keep in memory. There are a few things I will never forget, though... Like the first bunny girl.
In one dream, I saw a girl in a white rabbit costume watching me through the trees. She was actually hopping like a real bunny, but it was definitely a costume on a human girl. Come to think of it, the costume wasn't so much a costume as it was a white outfit with bunny ears on her head. When she noticed I saw her, she frantically hopped away from the path, out of sight. The dream went on as usual after that until I woke up.
When I saw her again in another dream, her gaze lingered for a moment when I caught it. This particular dream was very vivid, and I think I was fully lucid at the time. Meaning, I was very aware of my surroundings and my thoughts and actions. I was in control of myself, at least. I never got the hang of manipulating my dreams like some people can.
Anyway, the bunny girl stared at me, and then hopped away. Lucid as I was, I thought to actually follow her. When I got closer, I noticed she was speaking as she hopped.
"Boing! Boing! Boing! Whee!" She suddenly disappeared. I caught up to where she was and found a hole in the ground, just big enough for a human to fit through. I got on my knees and peered into the hole, but it was dark. I got the strangest feeling then... Like whatever was in the hole was beckoning me to jump in. I guess you could call it alluring.
So I hopped in feet first. I knew it was a dream, after all. At first, there was just darkness. I couldn't feel anything, not even wind rushing past as I fell. Then, I found myself settling into an armchair. Other random pieces of furniture slowly floated past. It reminded me of an old Disney movie, but to this day I can't remember which one had a scene like that.
A mirror floated past, and I saw my reflection. Even in my dream I looked bored and indifferent. My brown hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail. I'd long since lost interest in styling my hair. Green eyes framed by a minimal amount of eye shadow - just enough to prove I'd actually looked at myself before leaving the apartment.
Somewhat bony face (I've always been pretty skinny), oversized pajama t-shirt hiding what little curves I have to show off, and whatever pair of shorts I could find before I crawled into bed.
There I was, plain old Jessie, floating by. I was suddenly stricken with how real it all felt just then. I looked at my hands. Five fingers on two of them, like they should be. Feet and toes the same.
When I was done checking myself I noticed that there were now walls around me with oddly shaped and sized windows here and there. I peered over the edge of the armchair and saw a checkered tile floor slowly approaching. The dull thud of the chair's feet landing made me jump in spite of the gentleness of it.
Stepping off the chair, I saw nothing else in the room but a glass table and a door just beyond that. A scraping sound behind me made me whip around, expecting some horrible nightmare creature. Instead, I saw my armchair floating back up into the darkness. There went my ride.
------
When I turned back to the table, I was suddenly face to face with the bunny girl. I gasped, and she giggled.
"Hi!" She said in a cutesy voice.
"Uh, hi," I replied, a little confused.
"I'm sooo glad you could make it! But -" She pulled out an old-fashioned pocket watch from somewhere behind her and squinted at it.
"AH! WE'RE LATE!" She screamed and tossed the pocket watch away, suddenly grabbing my hand. Before I could protest, she was pulling me towards the door which was now open. She didn't try to hop while holding my hand, thankfully, but she did rush me through the door and down another wooded pathway.
"Where are we going?" I managed to call out as we hurried along the path, hand in hand.
"To see the Queen, of course! We're late for the Tuesday Tickling! No one wants to miss that, and the Queen hates it when she has to send tardy ones to the Naughty Room."
Most of what the girl said sounded like gibberish as we ran, but I could figure out that she'd mentioned some queen.
"The Queen?" That was all I could manage as I was suddenly distracted by the sight of a huge castle looming in the distance. We'd reached the edge of the woods, it seemed, and we were headed for what looked to be a castle straight out of the story books.
Looming towers adorned with red flags of some sort, a drawbridge over a moat, and guards armed with red-tipped spears. Two of them saw us coming and waved to the drawbridge operators to lower the bridge.
They wore white armor trimmed in red, and as we got closer it became apparent that they were both female. They nodded to the bunny girl as she whisked us past them and into the castle proper.
The courtyard was full of rose bushes, both white and red. Gardeners were dotted throughout, tending to the bushes. They were all women too, wearing white dresses and red hair bows. I only got a few seconds' glance as we were quickly through another door and into a grand hallway.
It was here that I finally realized what all the red spots in the mostly white designs on everything were - hearts. The windows were literally designed as playing cards. I saw the ace of hearts, two of hearts, and so on down the massive hall. There was a long line of people that reached all the way back to the area we came in. I couldn't see all the way to the front area where the line was slowly moving to yet.
The bunny girl stood on her toes and looked over the crowd. "Oh, goodie. The Bunnies haven't reached the Queen yet. Come on!" She tugged me along, pushing past the line toward the other end of the long hallway.
------
Eventually we reached about the midway point of the line, where there were several other bunny girls, in varying white outfits but all with bunny ears on. A couple of them turned to address us as we fell in line.
"Oh, Lily, you made it! We thought you had gotten lost! Ooh, you brought your first Guest, did you?"
Lily, the first bunny girl I'd met, beamed with pride. "Mhm! Bunnies, meet... Um... I'm so sorry, I didn't get to ask for your name!"
"I'm Jessie." I don't know whether it was my calm nature or the fact that I knew I was dreaming, but at that point I was just taking it all in without worry. No sense turning what was a rather interesting dream into a nightmare by freaking out.
"Jessie! Welcome!" Lily suddenly threw her arms around me in a hug. The others were smiling and waving at me. I was too surprised to do anything but stand there and wait. It didn't take long for Lily to break the hug and grab my hand again, pulling me along as the line was moving rather quickly.
"What exactly is this line for?" I asked, expecting not to have it answered as dream characters often have little more than superficial answers.
Lily's face brightened as she responded. "Oh, this is the line for the Tuesday Tickling, like I said before. Officially, it is supposed to be an event of selfless tribute to the Queen, but to be honest we all love it so much that it's like a treat every week!"
Another Bunny chimed in. "Uh-huh! It's the best!"
"Everyone gets their brief moment with the Queen, but it doesn't last long because there are sooo many subjects, as you can see! I'm sorry, Jessie, but because you're new you won't get a taste until next week. I mean, if you're good and all..." Lily tapped her chin. "But I think you'll be good! You're very nice."
I took a moment to think then. Not only were they responding and using my name, but they were actually making sense in their dialogue. I'd never had a dream like this before.
Well, it made sense in that it wasn't gibberish, but I still had no idea what she was talking about.
"If I'm... Good?"
A rather loud feminine cry sounded from somewhere ahead of us in the line, distracting me from the current topic. I turned to see, but with the throne facing the other way and still quite a distance away, I couldn't quite see the source.
"Ooh, someone's been practicing..." Lily giggled and exchanged glances with the other Bunnies. The closest to her spoke next.
"I know I have! Janie and I took turns yesterday. It was so much fun!"
Thoroughly confused, I figured the best way to find out what they meant would be to just wait.
I was startled when Lily suddenly planted her hand on my breast, in the process sticking a green heart to my shirt. "Sorry, I forgot earlier! You need to wear this so the Queen's Guard will know you're a Guest and not a Citizen like those behind you." I thought she gave it a little squeeze, but maybe I was imagining it.
I turned and looked at the people behind me for the first time. I saw a sea of smiling faces. As far as I could tell, they were all women. I turned back to the Bunnies without a word, curious to see just what all these people were so happy about.
------
Some time later, I heard that same voice from before, coming from the other side of the throne.
"Oh, Victoria! You..." The rest was unintelligible. It sounded a little... Sensual, I guess? I got a little fidgety then, wishing I would wake up before I saw what was going on.
As I got closer, I could tell that people were walking up to the throne one by one, presumably speaking with the Queen, and then walking away out a side door. Occasionally the Queen would say something loud enough to hear, but usually I heard nothing.
Finally I was close enough to hear the proceedings in full, though I still couldn't see it.
A guard called out, "Next!"
