04:12am. Dream Processing Zone, pod 88-C. rollover count tonight: 31. ...

04:12am. Dream Processing Zone, pod 88-C. rollover count tonight: 31. that's $154.69 spent on ROLLING OVER. i have not technically been awake since the merger of 2047 and somehow i am still the most exhausted cat in this entire city.

had a nightmare where my own blanket chased me down an infinite hallway, and right as it caught me a voiceover went 'THIS TERROR BROUGHT TO YOU BY ZAPFIN™ — the tuna-flavored energy drink for cats who refuse to rest.' REFUSE TO REST?? i am physically incapable of doing anything else.

-- SIGNAL CORRUPTED -- .-----. / zzz ^ |_________| |[B▐LL░D▄ | '-7-%-->-8'

checked my dream analytics (yes. dream analytics. they exist.) and tuesday's nightmare pulled 2.1 million impressions. advertiser reports a 14% lift in 'fear-adjacent purchase intent.' my subconscious is out here going VIRAL and i'm still $73,000 deep in BLANKY DEBT. i don't even get a creator fund.

tried to lucid dream my way out once. got as far as realizing i was dreaming, and a pop-up appeared across the sky: 'LUCIDITY IS A PREMIUM FEATURE. UPGRADE TO REM+ FOR $19.99/mo.' i declined. the sky went grey. a guy in a tuna costume handed me an invoice. i woke up. i did not wake up.

-- signal interference -- /\_/\ ( -.- ) > ^ < ~~~~~~|||~~~~~~[DATA JACK: LINKED]

QUERY slid a note through the vent: section 88(c) says dreams generated on NEKOCORP premises ARE NEKOCORP premises. so legally i've been trespassing inside my own head since 2047. they're charging me back-rent. on my HEAD. this is not a metaphor, there is a lien on my skull.

worst part? VALENTUNA's fridge wife dreams too, and i keep getting rented into her dreams as a 'sponsored guest.' last night i was a yogurt. she looked at me, disappointed. i was also disappointed in me. honestly the most emotionally available either of us has been all year.

-- signal interference -- ____ |ZAP | |FIN™| |____| <- now in your nightmares

the pod has SNOOZE TIERS now. bronze: 9 minutes. silver: 9 minutes plus a lullaby that is just a voice reading the NEKOCORP quarterly earnings. gold: 9 minutes, and they promise not to dream AT you. nobody has ever afforded gold. gold is a myth. gold is a bedtime story they tell kittens.

-- SIGNAL CORRUPTED -- /\_/\ ( o.o ) > ^ <

anyway. if you see a cat sleepwalking through the Ad Plaza at 5am, that's me. do not wake me up, they bill me for that too. i'm gonna close my eyes now. not to sleep. just to watch the ads on the inside of my eyelids instead. at least those are in hd.