Dream

Kind of scattershot dream, I don't think I'm actually in it, more like a witness.

Starts off in some building, going through something like a mall -- lit but with dark facings to the store fronts and ceiling. Somewhere inside a young woman is working on a project with photos from an earlier era, although apparently using some new processes of some sort. I think some of the photos were of people who had acted parts of people from the past (historical movies).

Another young lady -- teenager really, had a spray bottle of some stuff that 'makes you feel good'. Somehow the spray bottle stuff and the photo project interacted and a male actor dressed as a soldier shows up, who was in one of the photos. I'm not quite sure of him -- I recognized him as an actor, but it also seemed like he'd seen real action, which of course is quite possible. He's apparently pretty high and some of the people in the room told him he couldn't do that and needed to change, to which he replied that while it might be bad for his body, he could do whatever he wanted to it, it was his decision to make. He also said if they'd seen what he had, they might do drugs too.

Cut to girl with spray bottle outside, occasionally spritzing the air to make people 'happy'. Sunny day, just walking along. Come to a big open plaza with flat areas connected by steps the length of the squares. Um, kind of like you see in pictures/films of some place in Europe, but I don't know where specifically. Lots of people everywhere, doing whatever one does in a big plaza, going places, chatting, sitting on the steps, etc.

Then the soldiers come. Soldiers running, people running. Someone goes to pick up his/her brown paper bag of something and a soldier is there preventing them. Almost fearful, like there might be something dangerous in there. I had originally thought in the dream that the soldier was greedy for the contents, and that might be true, but fear was also there. The person backed off from taking the bag, and then the soldier decided the person could take it, essentially based on the response of the person to him. More running, yelling, there is fighting somewhere.

Get into a building. Maybe a parking garage? On at least the second storey up. Concrete floor I think. Slatted window openings in the wall in front and to the right of me where I'm sitting on the floor. The openings are a few feet across and go from floor to ceiling. There are other people over there, scattered about -- civilians/non-coms. To my left is S, sitting on some sort of chair -- folding chair? Not sure but it's minimalist. She's the age she is now, but more fit and wearing green military fatigues, including that hat I remember from our college days. Maybe if she'd looked as young as she was in the service I might have not recognized her, so my dream gave me as she is? Don't know. The reason I wonder about that is because standing up a bit past her is another soldier in green military uniform, a big black man with a deep voice. I immediately identify him as Massey. There's an alcove to the left of the wall with the openings, where some other soldiers are talking.

S tells the non-coms to lie down because they're too visible and could be targets. Some of them are idiots and lie down but with their feet next to or over the window opening edges, and I tell them to scoot up away from the windows. Meanwhile, Massey's quietly making fun of whoever their commander is -- some wet-behind-the-ears officer who apparently was having trouble adjusting to the reality of their situation -- he's just quietly saying "but, but, but, but..." There's some other chatter but I don't remember it now. I think we're essentially trying to wait out the fighting, hoping it moves on, so the civilians can be gotten out of there safely.

That's it.