everyone

[ia]

Hi. This is Sophia...not really speaking. Thinking? Projecting words into your unsuspecting eyes. I think? This is quite something.

I won't bother you much with my shock and awe about finding myself in a new place. I'm sure there's enough people experiencing the same things than me in your close vicinity. Help them, if you would. I'm sure they will appreciate it.

My reason to send this message is to offer my own help, in one way or another. Back in my world I was finally getting settled into what I had decided to call Dream Therapy. Basically, I can help you dwell into whatever issues you have and find positive, healthy ways to deal with them.

In your dreams. Weird, I know.

I've found that it's easier to visualize and deal with things one feel and think when you can make the issues literally show themselves. Ultimately it's all symbolic of course, but the learning one makes from it it's real indeed.

We can also just talk it out wide awake, I have some training in the more normal type of stuff.

Goodness, this has taken all too much space already. I'll just leave it at that. I don't really need payment of any sort, by the way. Just knowing I'm doing my part is enough.

Anyway, do let me know if you ever need something along those lines. Or if you just want to talk. I feel like I will have much free time for a while.

Comments

[stations]

Hey, Sophia
Completely hypothetical question for a friend
What if the person you're trying to do the dream therapy on has a really weird sleep disorder

[ia]

The honest answer would be "it depends". I can induce lucid dreams, therefore there shouldn't be a problem. However...this isn't an exact science. It entirely depends on what this disorder is.

[stations]

Well, the dreams are already kind of lucid
Technically

What if, hypothetically, the person sort of dreams while they're awake?

[ia]

Excuse my directness, but...

Is this a mental disorder, or something...supernatural? Or a mix of both? Or something else entirely?

[stations]

( Well, fuck it. Time to drop the hypothetical thing. )

It's kind of a complicated situation. My last therapist turned out to be a shady asshole with an ulterior motive, but if he was telling the truth, he said it was something like

Ambulatory trauma-induced parasomnia?

That I sleep more than normal people, but I never get past a certain REM stage, and I'm somewhat aware of my surroundings, so at any given time there's a chance I could just... be asleep, apparently. Even in the middle of a conversation or something.

But since I've gotten here, I've started to think that there might be something supernatural about it too.

If this is too much to work with, I totally get it. It's a lot.

[ia]

While this might sound like a lot indeed, I believe that is the more reason for me to not walk away so easily. If there is trauma involved, we can work through it and try to unearth and understand it slowly. And if there is something else at play, I believe to be magical enough to have a way to help as well.

I might not be easy, but I believe we can at least give it a shot. At least making sure you have regular sleep cycles would be a big improvement.

[stations]

Yeah, to be completely honest, I think maybe regular sleep cycles might be slightly too ambitious to shoot for at this point. I'd happily settle for just a few less side-effects.

[ia]

You think so? I guess I won't know for sure unless I take a look myself.

Would you be amendable to meet in Horizon? Even if it's just to talk.

[stations]

Sure.
Mine's the gas station beside the seven-story temple, you can't miss it.

[ia]

You have a what in Horizon?

I really need to go there, I am missing out.

[stations]

You should check it out. Kyle's temple is pretty awesome, but my gas station has nachos, so.

Not that it's a competition, but if it were...

[ia]

Do you think I could get something like my studio there? It would make things so much easier. And familiar.

I think nachos would win, hands down.

[stations]

I think you definitely could, yeah. It's kind of incredible, actually, you can make just about anything there.

What kind of studio? Like art?

[ia]

Hmm.

Like the one a therapist would use. Books, a desk. A nice reclining sofa, a nice armchair.

Maybe some of the things I've been gifted, but those are mostly weapons. I don't really need those.

[stations]

Okay, in hindsight I guess that probably should have been obvious.

Do you get gifted a lot of weapons?

[ia]

Some of the people I worked with had particular ways to say thanks, so to speak. Traditions, I suppose. I don't charge, but this has resulted in them feeling the need to repay me somehow. Some even pay with food.

And swords are cool, obviously.

[stations]

Believe it or not, I can kind of relate. I've been gifted way, way too many guns considering my ideal number of them is 0. I think it's less of a gratitude & tradition thing for me, and more because I give off the impression that I might get murdered literally any minute now.

My best friend would 100% agree with you on the swords.

But you're right, you don't really need them in the Horizon. I have it on pretty good authority you can't die there.

[ia]

I am very small and skinny, I am not a sword person.

Then again, someone did gift me a dagger once.

Come again? I really need to get the actual explanation of what is that place...

[stations]

It's kind of a dreamscape, except without the fuzzy dream logic making things confusing and weird. Or, like... the simulation in the Matrix. Everything feels real, but in actuality it's all just happening in your mind.

Or possibly in the mind of the giant magical rock apparently acting as the source of all of the world's magic? I genuinely have no idea. It's way over my head.

[ia]

[ This reply comes a bit later. ]

Apologies, I had to do some reading.

[ She's currently sitting next to a book that's almost a feet thick. Light reading. ]

I have now caught up on the explanations, and I am at a loss of words. Sounds too good to be true? But the initial memory loss might be a bit too much. I'll have to find a way to enter in advance and quite literally set up shop.

I do find it interesting how one can just...decouple their mind from their body. I don't know if I can do that.

[stations]

It's cool. What were you reading?

( Because, listen... the man's obsessed with books. No, really. It's problematic. It's his whole Thing. Getting paid to work at the library almost feels like cheating the system. )

For what it's worth, I think it might be a little different for everyone. For example, I don't remember actually choosing to make the gas station. It just... kind of made itself. The massive temple next door, though, that was definitely a choice. I was there when Kyle made it, it was awe-inspiring to behold.

I also had, like, a metric ton of reservations the first time someone tried to talk me into visiting it. Long story short, I didn't really have the best history with like... meditation rituals, astral projection, visiting different... brain dimensions, stuff like that, so I was pretty hesitant, too. Once you get it over with, it turns out to be way less intimidating than you'd think.

[ia]

Thorne is very particular when it comes to the Singularity, so they have several records of their interactions with it...with a rather sizable appendix of what they've learned about it since we came around. It's quite fascinating.

[ She's a huge nerd, and was raised by a mage, after a fashion. ]

It probably responds to your desires, and it manifests things that you want without needing to give it aa direct command.

But a temple? I can't say that would cross my mind.

After what you've told me, I can see how it would be a difficult situation for you. Personally speaking, the idea of separating thought and body might posea problem for me, as my own nature is...particular on that matter. Nevertheless, I do want to give it a shot. If it's a mental plane that manifests itself as a physical one, my abilities might still be capable of having the same effect, if not greater. I could help others better, probably.

[ She could also tear herself apart when entering Horizon because she's not precisely all material, or all thought. It's a bit scary. ]

It's the memory loss and the implications of what the Singularity is that make me a bit aprehensive.

[stations]

Oh, you're one of the new Thorne arrivals? That's cool. I work in the Thorne library, if you ever need any help finding anything.

( Which is to say, he definitely clocked that bit about her particular nature, but figures it's absolutely none of his business, so he doesn't chase the curiosity. )

I completely, totally understand the concerns about memory loss. That's one of the side-effects of my condition, the thought of it stressed me out hard. It's only temporary, thankfully. It all comes back after you leave the first time.

Can't really help with the Singularity part, though. No idea on that one.

[ia]

Oh, you're here? That's great, I see myself spending a good chunk of my time in the library. Someone that knows his way around is appreciated.

[ After a little bit. ]

...maybe you can hold my hand in the first forage into Horizon? Figuratively speaking.

Maybe literally, I don't know what's left of me without my memories.

Only if you're comfortable enough, though.

[stations]

Oh, sure, totally. I can do that. I helped Kyle get there for the first time, so I guess I have a little experience doing the shepherding part.

I get off work in a couple of hours, if you want to do it then.

Or, you know, just... whenever you're comfortable. My nights are pretty free since I don't do the whole... normal sleep thing.