I was in a large department store with Robin and my mom. It was a classy an expensive place, with high ceilings and dark wood walls with lots of details carved into them. There was a sale on though and we were there to get some shirts for my brother, A., for his birthday. We walked past some women's jackets, and I fell behind my mom and Robin to try on a brown rain coat. The material was a bit strange, like a vinyl fake snake-skin, but it seemed like it would be waterproof at least. When I put it on though, it was longer than it had looked on the hanger, and it billowed out in a weird way over my purse - which was hanging near my butt. I put it back on the rack and caught up with R+M.
We went to the back of the store, where there was a room that was about 20 feet long and 12 feet wide. It had dark green carpets and lighter wood walls than the rest of the store. Halfway down the length of the room on the left were two large step-platforms with three mannequins arranged on them. Across from these was a giant set of three mirrors arranged in the usual dressing room fashion so as to let customers see their outfit from all sides. We walked past these to a few wall-racks of shirts. Most of the shirts were gone as this was the tail end of the sale, but there was still a decent selection in my brother's size. My mom kept being attracted to rugby shirts with a lot of goldenrod and maroon in the stripes though, and R and I kept having to dissuade her, saying that my brother would not like them.
I moved back towards the entrance, glanced in the mirrors and at the mannequins, and then turned around to watch them picking shirts again. Something in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I looked to the right, into the mirror, and saw a tall, slender blond woman in light blue jeans standing in the mirror, a little behind me and to my right - just out of my peripheral vision. I turned around to see who this was - she was clearly not a mannequin - and no one was there. I got R to come check it out, and he was disinterested. I looked at the mannequins, none of which were like that woman, and then didn't think about it any more.
I left the room, and found myself in another part of the store where there were mechanized steam-punk-esque mannequin people.
[Somewhere in this, though not clearly before or after this, I was at a house party.] Robin was there, as were two other men I was friends with and who were acting flirty with me. Robin was amused at their flirting, and I wasn't really responding to it, so not much happened. A fourth man may or may not have been involved with this part of the party. (And of course, there were plenty of other guests.)
After the party, I was at home [though nothing like anywhere I've ever really lived] and I felt a need to take a shower. I pulled back the curtain and saw that in the white shower, there were stains, as if someone had spilled wine all over the wall and parts of the floor. I considered asking Robin about it, but it wasn't that big of a mess, so I detached the showerhead from the wall (and was somewhat surprised that a regular showerhead could do that) and sprayed the wall and basin of the tub down to clean away the dark red spots.
[Somehow this was over and I was elsewhere.] I was in a park with Sonja going for a stroll. A man walked up to us wearing a very nice outfit that was somewhat reminiscent of the 10th Dr. Who's long brown coat and suit - except this man, Martin, was wearing a tweed trenchcoat, and his suit underneath was more leather than wool. I recognized him vaguely - maybe he was the fourth man from the party. He greeted me and started walking with us. He mentioned that as we walked he was going to start shifting the world around us and take me to his - our - family. I asked him to wait a few minutes to let me go back to my apartment first. He said their was no time to wait. I pointed out however, as we walked with Sonja down crowded streets, that if he started shifting worlds now, he would drag others - at least Sonja - along with us. He conceded the point and so we continued walking down the hill of the street we were on.
At the end of the street, I realized that I was probably dreaming, so I tested it by trying to hover across the street. It worked, and Martin made some sort of quiet exclamation. I turned back to him and told him that I knew I was dreaming, but he dismissed this by saying that it didn't really matter in this instance. I found him rather attractive, and we walked arm in arm, so I leaned on his shoulder in a familiar way as we walked. He seemed receptive, but then I realized that he was probably my cousin and said "oh shit, you're probably my cousin." And he said, "no, your brother actually." [Note: not the same brother as I was getting a shirt for earlier! A different brother.] "Oh," I said.
Whether we shifted worlds or went into some building is unclear to me, but soon we were in a room full of other people, the unknown relatives that Martin was taking me to meet. They turned to me, and were about to start talking.
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