Africa and (Captain) America

This dream was very intricate, and I know I won't get it all, but here goes:

I had a crew and we had an airplane, like a giant helicopter. The dream started with us getting in a helicopter and me trying to brief everyone on the mission. It was dark at a chaotic airfield. My pilot didn't really know how to fly, and I tried to help/watch and learn as he operated two sets of hand controls and a comically large brake/foot pad. The front of the helicopter was glass and sort of domed, so that the pilot and gunner sat in the bottom of the dome, and the rest of the team was on the bridge behind them.

I could see outside of myself, that we were not doing a good job. Everyone was tense, but not angry. More like bitchy - we were all getting fed up with each other in a long-term relationship sort of way. We either failed to take off, or sort of crashed back down.

I gave everyone a pep talk about doing better next time, but there was fatigue in the air.  It was raining now, and one of my crew (Jonathan A) was secretly very ill. He told me in an aside - there were a lot of quiet asides in this dream where dramatic conversations took place - and I was very worried for him. Steve Rogers was also there, and he was incredibly supportive.

Our commander - Richard Ryan the fight choreographer - gave us another chance. However as I climbed up into the belly of the plane/helicopter, I noticed that I was down a few crew members.
"Where is everyone?" I asked. My remaining crew told me they were sick or something like that. I felt my stomach drop out of me, but I tried to be brave. "Alright, I can fly it," I said.

"Really?" Asked one of my crew.
"Well, no, I'm not a pilot. But I'll figure it out." I sat down at the controls, and immediately the helicopter started bucking about in the bad weather. I did figure it out - sort of. The hand levers controlled pitch and speed, while the foot pad did something about turning. It was really complicated and I didn't know what I was doing. Still, we only banged into a couple of buildings before I finally got us above the base and in open air where I could afford to make mistakes.

But then all of a sudden we were over Germany. I don't know how we got there, and I was still not good at flying the ship. We hurled towards the ground, and I realized too late that we were just above the target we needed to destroy. It was this big barn thing with what appeared to be a giant, steep, ramp coming out of one side of the roof. Instead of blowing up this barn, I accidentally flew inside it and banged around like a toy.  We blinked out and found ourselves back at our home base. I was very confused because outside everyone was angry with us, but I thought we had done pretty well given the circumstances.

The next night, I came back to try for a third time. I felt very confident because I had found the target at last. But when I climbed into the belly of the plane, I found that the cockpit had been transformed into a series of cubicles. I couldn't get to the controls anymore. My crew was gone, except for Steve Rogers. He told me we were grounded. I told him - strongly - that I wasn't going to let it happen. Then I went to find the Commander. I told him we deserved another chance, that we had improved and I knew what to do now. The higher ups weren't willing to listen to me. I gave a big speech or something about doing a good job.

"Come with me. I might have a position for you," the Commander said, leading me away from the airfield. His secretary was with him, a beautiful lady. I was very worried he was going to try and make a pass at me, that I would get mistreated because I was a woman and I didn't know if I would say no or yes if he forced me to trade sex for the opportunity to fly again.

"You will go to Africa. Fly around the mountains at night and look for fires."
"Mountains?" I tried to explain that I wasn't much of a pilot to do something that complicated. He implied that I didn't really have a choice, but that I would get to keep my plane and that it was a good job. I felt giddy because he was on my side after all, and hadn't let me get fired.

I ran back to the ship, but my crew had left me. Except for Steve Rogers. He sat on the ladder with his pack and smiled. "I'll always have your back," he said. I was so grateful.

Now, amid all this drama, there was character drama sometimes. Someone - one of my crew members who might have been Jeremy Piven? - had asked me to marry him. I had my reservations, but it seemed like no one else was interested and so I said yes. Then I realized that I loved Steve, and he was the only one who was there for me when it mattered. So I was conflicted about what to do.

The scene cut to night in Africa. I had landed and was in a tiny room. I don't know how I got there. I had a bed and a table and the place seemed comfortable, if spare. There were noises outside and I was nervous. I was more nervous of the mosquitos - I really didn't want to get malaria. I climbed into my bed and shut the netting.

External shot of daytime rising on the plains. I woke up and made my way to a jeep. My house was surprisingly pretty, sitting alone on a blank sort of prairie. A dusty road wound in front of my driveway, and in the jeep Steve and I made our way to a big building that looked like a barracks. It turned out to be a church of sorts. The pastor was a Marine in a tan workout shirt, and the families were mostly caucasian, which I thought was odd. They must have been expats.

It was at this point someone pointed out that I was married, or engaged. Steve's shoulders visibly slumped, as though he'd been punched. I panicked because I was in the process of not being engaged specifically for him. I tried to explain it, but the service was starting. He did let me hold his hand, which somehow made it ok. The service was nice - militaristic and about duty and family. There were  children moving about, playing and passing around collection plates.

Then it got very weird. For some reason, what we had done back on that chaotic German run had messed up a timeline. Neither Steve nor I were supposed to wind up in Africa on fire patrol. The timelines had gotten all flipped around. The air sort of crackled around us as things started to warp at the incorrectness. Steve suddenly got very weak, like before he became Captain America. Then he was back, but it was like he was fluctuating. I grabbed him and carried him to the jeep, and our driver started driving to the hospital. I held him to me, even though he was bigger than I was.
"Don't you worry - I'll always have your back," I said.


****


Whew! Ok, so that was the bare bones of the dream. There was a lot of melodrama and dark comedy in the beginning. And I knew everyone, sort of, in my dream - like I knew Jonathan, and Richard, and  Chumly (from Veep), and we weren't really interacting but then we were interacting strongly. I was myself, but like many of my dreams I was mostly watching myself in the dream, able to hear my own  internal thoughts because they were my own (mind bending!). I don't remember who the guy was that I had hastily agreed to marry even though I didn't love him, but I have a vague feeling it was Jeremy Piven.

Captain America is easily my favorite Avenger, and Chris Evans might be my only celebrity crush at present. So it very satisfying to have a dream where we were each other's support. 

Armor, War, and Whales

I was lounging on a riverbank (?) - I feel like there was a body of water around anyway. And scattered trees. It was sunny, around noon, and there was a picnic. I was eating and walking with a group of friends - I think there were two women and two men. There was another man, and I liked him very much.

There was a television or a computer - we were watching movies? There was something technological around us.

Then there was a pastel painting which was alive - or one of those painted decorative plates. It described the kingdom in which I lived, about how we had magic goats or the goats were symbols of our country. On the plate there was a king, and goats, and a rather pretty little forest and pasture scene.  The plate started to change, as did the scene. The goats started to die - it was an attack by a neighboring kingdom. The king would go to war.

There was a box I had to find, sent to me. It was my uniform - I had duties I needed to do. It was like waking up reluctantly. I opened the box, and pulled out a pair of harem pants, purple, and a burgundy overskirt. There was armor - dusty scale mail inlaid with red (or blue - I think it sort of changed to blue bubble shapes). I donned my armor, and my fancy hat, and the scene changed and I was in a sort of cathedral. The other people in my group were there, and we were presenting ourselves to the king. First the oldest two children - the high prince and high princess. I remember she had beautiful brown hair and a regal top hat offset on her hair. Then me - I was not a princess, but I had a title - I was a war commander, or a horse commander, but my title did not include commander. After me came the younger children - the other prince and princess. We bowed and vowed to fight.

There were horses and knights, moving through the cathedral which was also a castle now. It was maze-like, and I moved with authority.

Meanwhile (? - I'm not sure if this was still me, or another part of the dream sequence) someone destroyed the great aquarium. The great aquarium was a colossal structure of blue glass and blue water, stretching along the horizon line and hundreds of feet high. A woman stood on a cliff face and watched as the glass shattered. The great whale which lived in the giant tubular structure got stuck, and would surely die.The water cascaded out into the desert landscape. The woman turned to a man at her side, and they would go to war as well. There was chaos below.

I think I might have been below while things were breaking. I can't recall, but I feel like there was great shock and despair, and people were running around trying to figure out what to do. The man I liked was there? and we were trying to do...something...maybe were were looking at the fish and the whale...yes, I think we were enjoying the aquarium when it started to break.

Now, I had to fight. Armies were running around, but I got lost. The plates, which told the story I needed to follow, were difficult to understand. I had to find someone - RIGHT I remember now! I had to choose to fight the armies, or go after the wicked sprite queen who killed the goats. She was the mastermind, sort of. I chose to find her, but the plates didn't tell me how. They suggested I needed to run along the wall of plates, back to the start, to figure out where I was supposed to go to find her. Meanwhile, armies were moving through the halls of the castle.

I rounded a corner, and found the enemy in blue - or red. I remember feeling confused as to why the colors kept switching. There was a cheer as I found the first of the enemy - a toddler. This little baby boy sat in the middle of the hallway, dressed in little armor, holding a very sharp knife in his hand. He was waving it around like a toy. The other side arrived, and everyone watched and gossiped about what I would do. I approached the baby, and my side cheered that I would kill it, but they were also worried I would kill it. I crouched down by the baby and took a hold of the knife.

"Now then, why don't you give me that?" I cooed. The baby smiled and released the blade. Everyone laughed. I didn't know what I was supposed to do next, so I set the blade down and explained I had to go. I went back to searching for the correct story on the plates.


****

I really enjoyed this dream. There was a lot of movement, and the costumes were great.

There was a transition of sorts, from a technological era to a more primitive one - the exception being the giant aquarium.

I think, now, perhaps, that I was someone on both sides of the fight. My armor was red in the first, but then I didn't attack the blue-armored people when I saw them. I got confused as to who was who.

The plate thing was interesting - it was like knowing ahead of time what the plot was, but having the plot be difficult to locate. I remember reading these decorative plates, which would say "she needed to go to this hallway!" only to go the hallway and not find what I needed. Then I'd find a plate which said "She had to go to the dark woods!" But I didn't know how to get there.

Also, I know I am forgetting something about the people. There was a lot of talking, but I know I'm forgetting an interaction with one of the characters early on which was important. Such is the nature of dreams, of course.