First, mes amours, meet my ‘Dream Machine,’ the SUCCU-BUS MKII—my pride, my bébé, my ticket to Realms beyond the mundane! Picture this: a padded table, plush and inviting, with restraints to keep you cozy—or naughty, depending on your mood—hooked up with electrodes that tickle your temples and beyond. Nearby hums the main brain—a whirring tangle of screens, gauges, and dials where I program our wild expeditions. And at the heart? A raised platform with a large oval frame, where a swirling purple portal winks into life—it's all very chrome-y and shiny, I assure you.

How does it work? Simple, on the surface at least, yet still deliciously fitting that ‘Mad Scientist’ theme I strive for: a daring soul strips bare—oui, naked is best!—and settles onto the table, electrodes and wires are applied to their body in order to translate their dreams as they drift off. The machine sips basic electricity to hum along, but when it’s portal time, it guzzles the condensed energy provided by a particularly esoteric volunteer—think of it like sipping on their essence, like a fine wine! As our dreamer snoozes, the SUCCU-BUS logs their deepest desires, interests and hobbies. Then it starts dowsing via the Nexus, an endless sea of possibility, to find a fitting Realm. Found one? Bam! Coordinates locked, like a cosmic bookmark—so we can open the door whenever we please, or remember to seal the more questionable destinations, hehe ‘whoops.’ Normalement, the machine can only map a single Realm per dreamer, though in some rarer cases an individual might be able to generate additional sets of coordinates.

Once it’s got a fix, the screens flicker with a rundown on conditions, weather, relative wildlife, warnings and danger levels—all a bit hazy, an educated guess at best. I’m tweaking it, darlings, but sometimes it just throws me question marks—C’est la vie, I suppose! When all is set, a sharp tear rips the air, and that oval frame fills with a thrumming purple gateway—step through, and voilà, you’re in another Realm, though the tingling lasts for a while...

The Nexus—a cosmic enigma we stumbled on when the SUCCU-BUS was first used on Yume—is a vast expanse, like space itself, cradling doorways instead of planets. Picture it: eyes squeezed shut as you step through the portal—you open them, only to find yourself floating among nebulas and astral wonders. Soft purples and pinks swirl around, flecked with twinkling motes, stretching endlessly in every direction. Needless to say, my first visit left quite an impression on me! Yet, after the initial panic subsides, you’ll realize your feet somehow find an invisible floor to walk upon. Doors pepper the void—locked or ajar—each a gateway to a Realm my machine’s tapped, or one still waiting.

This is where my wonderful little troublemaker, Nev, came from, along with her odd abilities and powers. For example she can teleport between points at will, summon mundane objects or create doorways to empty Realms.  Nev, cannot however, alter or destroy things in the Nexus or change its inherent laws. It’s not eerie, just overwhelming—beautiful yet lonely, with solid ground you can’t see and faint chimes humming like a cosmic wind. This is the very tether, linking our world to every Realm; my Machine sails its endless sea to discover new lands—and without the Nexus, poof! They’d vanish, that’s it, parti!

Nev shrugs at its origins—‘Time? What’s that? Can I eat it?’ what a kidder, though she has no clue how she or it came to be. Is it a tear in spacetime? A divine bubble? My machine’s doing? Someone’s closet? I’ve no idea—it’s a mystery to me, maybe as old as existence itself. Its keeper, tangled in its essence for reasons she doesn’t bother to ponder, won’t be answering our questions any faster either. All I know? It’s a stunning find, the gateway to the dreams I’ve chased forever and the beginning of a new adventure.

We refer to the world's my SUCCU-BUS uncovers as Realms. Each one is tethered to the Nexus and unlocked by the dream it maps to its door. Most Realms match the dreamer’s deepest wishes, passions, lusts, and hobbies. For example, if the Dreamer loves the sea, the Realm will reflect that somehow—while others seem to spring from nowhere, stumbled upon seemingly by chance. Each a new world to explore, brimming with their own landscapes, creatures, people, and rules—each distinct, each a discovery, and all unique in some way.

Beyond the worlds discovered, there are countless unique Realms yet to be mapped by my machine. They’re not mere places—they’re destinations, linked through the Nexus like islands in its endless sea. My SUCCU-BUS charts them, letting us step across, gathering tales, wonders, and new friends with every visit—some, however, are trickier and more dangerous to navigate, occasionally barren and desolate.