*I had a 'fake wake' in which I recorded all my dreams, then actually woke up at 4am to find an empty page beside me.
Bruisewalker
'Bruisewalker' is a tall, slender man with skin that appears to be fully bruised all over.
He has a wooden walking stick with white feathers hanging from it's head.
The staff is taller than him, and he always has it with him.
He's barely clad in a skin around his waist.
His hair is dark, and in a long braid down his back.
He has very bright eyes, with deep pupils set intensely in the center of an indescribable colour, somewhere between a steely cobalt blue and a bright lilac.
He watches.
He is young in body but very old and very wise.
He walks. He observes. He knows.
He doesn't speak but is both guide and protector.
Scary baby
There is a baby silently either crying or attempting to scream.
It can sit wobbly up by itself; but not well,
and is genderlessly clad in only a cloth diaper.
It's jaw drops further and further open until it's disturbingly WRONG;
the mouth becoming something similar to a black hole.
Woman
I am walking through a forest and come across a woman.
She is Asian, very attractive,
with long black hair cut straight across below her shoulders and at her forehead.
She appears to be in her mid 20's,
and is dressed in a black crepe vest and wide legged silk pants.
She is very friendly and I trust her.
Doctor
A male doctor, with old fashioned clothes and a black bag
and a metal disk with a light in the center strapped to his head,
is doing something that may be wrong.
Skulls
I am back in the forest, continuing on, and eventually come upon a sort of island.
I have the sense that this is the place I'm supposed to find.
[at some points the dream is lucid/pre lucid]
There are skulls scattered around the area,
most of them close to the water, which is shallow and calm.
The ground is a mixture of rocks, gravel, and sand.
There are trees near one side if the island.
I am there to collect some of the skulls, and decide on 3 of them.
I don't recognize what any of the skulls are from.
The first is about the size of a softball, and very round,
with the features that would have been the face all in one tiny area near the bottom.
It's almost like a fetus skull, and there is something wrong with the jaw.
[this may relate to the distorted baby image
...and both could stem from my fucked up tmj jaw thing]
The second skull is larger, like that of a small horse.
I try to move the jaw [again with the jaw]
and it snaps off in my hand.
I know that I can fix it by putting a small hinge on it, so I'm not worried.
The third skull is about the same size as the second, but it's a very peculiar shape.
Parts of it are similar to lace (or a hardened snowflake or sponge).
I suddenly realize there may be maggots on it, and quickly turn it over.
There are tiny greybrown worms and gnatlike insects crawling inside.
I think about wanting them gone, and they begin to drop from the skull like dry sand.
Everything that isn't bone falls from all three skulls to the ground,
leaving them clean and white.
I carry them carefully, knowing that I'll give the second one to my roommate Paul
and keep the other two.