PROPOSAL: Trees speak much more in images. We learn more of the story through witnessing (interactive?) vignettes of scenes seen through either Progue's or his daughters' eyes.
   *Pros*: Feels less like exposition dumps. 
   *Cons*: May be less clear.

PROPOSAL: Delay the realization that the trees are sentient until later.


PROPOSAL: Each tree has a "video clip" (recorded memory from someone), a "spark" (once the player's solved that puzzle) which lets them communicate with the rebels, and a "concept" section wherein the trees get across some piece of exposition.

Exposition pieces are interactive. Player needs to 'fill in blanks" / help trees get concept across. Guesses.

The "meta-setting" is one of several random locations based on what the player has been doing. Things they've interacted with are there. 


DREAM 1
Setting: the Lodge. Exact contents vary based on how player finished that segment. 
Memory: Progue building treehouse.
Exposition: Strange presence, dreaming near trees allows you to contact, you must find them all, they can help you with puzzles.

DREAM 2
Memory: Progue sketches the two girls, then breaks down into tears.
Exposition: They come from far away. They are symbiants, but their other half died in an accident. 

DREAM 3
Memory (forest9): Progue following bees through rain forest, then trips and stumbles, and gasps.
Exposition: 

DREAM 4
Memory (volcano): Girls sneak down chasm and into cave. Progue works feverishly to build steam vents, strange alien machinery spread around him.

DREAM 5
Memory (rockslide): 

DREAM 6


DREAM 7
Memory: Progue 


>FIRE
Your eyes are drawn to the fire. It looms larger and larger until suddenly...

suddenly quick its dad hide laylay hide behind the tree
(the tree gently soaking in the morning light on the cinder cone the)
he didnt see us no no he didnt we arent supposed to be here
(little girl behind the tree looks scared skinny dirty)
still working on that whatever it is machine i dont think he slept all night

>machine

that weird stuff he drug out from the rain forest what do you think it
(cables and silvery wire and metal tubes and a glowing red egg)

>laylay

do you have any more berries laylay im hungry and dad never remembers
(pocketful of berries crunch yum sweet sweet)
shh dont be so loud dad will hear you or maybe he wont he doesnt seem
(scornful eye rolling)
to notice us any more

>take berries

lets go back to the cave laylay our secret cave and draw
(crunch of black pebbles under soft feet distant figure doesnt hear doesnt look up)
oh we can go back through the door later
(sun arcs through sky and sinks and stars twirl before figure collapses in exhaustion only to rise again before dawn....)

(press any key to continue)

Dream Lodge
You are suddenly in the dream lodge again. You shake your head. The images, thoughts, were like a degraded recording, distorted, curling at the edges, more grain than picture, a signal warped back on itself and degraded, dancing with particles of emulsion. But the experience was so real it was almost as if you forgot your own identity for a moment.





----

We can test whether a dream is going on when the player is asleep and the player is regionally in Dreamlands. Each dream begins in a location, keyed to the order (1 through 7) which contains a) metaphorical imagery related to plot progression, b) references to past player choices, and c) several "keyed" items. 

One keyed item is always a portal into a "remembered" scene which took place at the tree the player is sleeping under. In this scene the player can shift between the positions of any of three potential participants (Progue, Lethe, Phoebe) and learn backstory. These segments also provide an opportunity to give hints, if the player pursues them--- uncovering the hint will require several actions, perhaps even a mini-puzzle. 

Another keyed item is an opportunity for the rebels to deliver a message. This is a non-interactive text dump at first, which then (perhaps?) evolves into a two-way conversation.

While the player is in the main dream location, they receive a mostly non-interactive series of thoughts from the "tree collective" which provide additional backstory in the form of vague sensations. At some points these may become interative, allowing the player to make a choice.

The final keyed item in each dream location is an "Exit" which will wake the player up. If they wake up before getting to the end of the tree thoughts, viewing the rebel message, and entering the flashback scene, the dream does not count as "calibrated" for the purposes of the mindlink.

After we've activated the mindlink, we can get to the dream location of a given tree (which sticks to that tree after the first time we dream there) by merely touching it. 

Re-dreaming: Dreaming again at the same tree returns the player to the dream location, though any timed events no longer happen. Keyed items look differently after they've been activated. Remembered scenes can be re-entered, possibly delivering different clues. The tree conversation is short and reminds the player they need to find a new tree. Ditto for the rebel conversation.

Tree1 (Fork)
The girls debate whether to disobey Progue and sneak through the door.
Hint: if on door puzzle, Lethe is playing with relevant object.

Tree2 (Treehouse)
Progue is constructing the treehouse and grieving. Phoebe is playing with the clockwork head. Lethe is fiddling with a hint object and dreaming about painting.
Interestings: Phoebe can lose the ear. 
Hints: if on door puzzle, Lethe is playing with the relevant object, or writing right-to-left. 

Tree3 (Atop)
Progue crests the rise while the girls paint on the beach; as they see him, they pack up their things and head inside the cabin.
Hint: if on bees, one of the girls is painting a picture of the dancer bee, or Progue is fiddling with the compass. if on Powering Both, Progue starts by smashing the pipe in frustration. 

Tree4 (Volcano)
Progue is working feverishly on egg machinery while the girls, hungry and fearful, watch.
Hint: if on bees, 

Tree5 (Forest9)
Progue wanders through the forest following the bees, until he stumbles into the crater.

Tree6 (Egg)
Progue extracts the egg from the Egg.

Tree7 (Rockslide)
Phoebe and Lethe, older, prepare to enter the rain forest in search of animal hides, which they will use to wayfare away.


Dream1
Set in The Tumble. Brief vignette with ghost-Rume. Rebels deliver a letter; "testing, testing." Scene is a canvas hung on wall. Exit is the front door. Trees introduce concept of presence, finding all the trees.

Dream2
Inside the volcano. Rebels carve a message into the wall. Scene is a pool of boiling lava. Exit is crack up towards light. Trees explain concept of hive mind.

Dream3
The Windowed Veranda. Rebel message inside watercolor set (pick a color?). Scene is out the window. Exit is painting. Trees explain concept of symbiosis.

Dream4
Library on Keros. Rebel message in book (turn to a page?). Scene is on the cover. Exit is staircase out. Trees explain that something went wrong and they were cut off.

Dream5
In a Parlor. Rebels call on antique telephone. Scene is projected from an old movie projector. Exit is french doors. Trees explain that the pyramid lets them communicate, and Progue helped them build it.

Dream6
Under the lagoon. Rebels communicate through a seashell. Scene arrives from touch of sandy bottom. Exit is swimming down into crack. Trees explain that they asked Progue a favor, but he did not complete it.

Dream7
In the Tumble again. Rebels appear as shadow from bedroom. Scene is completed canvas with your picture. Exit is jumping into fire. Trees explain that they need a password and then need you to "visit" them. Rebels ask you to visit.