Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Third Dream Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Forwarded to late night

[byakkoyagirl]

[Written; Near night time (Paprika isn't visible as she isn't imposing her image)]

I hope everyone has a good dream tonight.

[It ends there. She won't be answering anyone who tries responding. If anything it's only a precaution, so no one can say she didn't warn them. Even if she didn't make herself obvious - it wouldn't be much of a surprise if

Comments

*piles on more tags for you :|;;;* Is this okay? xD;

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert is not sleeping well. At all

[semper_cogitans]

Brilliance means nothing here. [It feels like it. Nobody intrinsically respects the sciences like they do on Terra. He isn't afforded celebrity status for it (not that he particularly misses the attention that got, but at the same time, it's still strange). In fact, he's one of the very rare instances of scientist here.]

And I... d-do not deserve them because I have done nothing to earn them. Giles... I have never been able to help Giles, not in any... s-significant way. It has... it has always been the other way around.

[The dream's sky darkens slowly, a parody of nightfall.]

... and Don... how could I ever deserve someone as wonderful as him...?

[Robert still, sometimes, can't understand what he could possibly do to make the brilliant engineer happy.]

[byakkoyagirl]

You don't earn friends, Robert. You make them. You've made friends with Giles and that's why he's always supporting you too. [Otherwise, why would he even give his life up for the scientist. It's common sense, but to Robert it probably sounds so bizarre.] If they didn't want to be with you they wouldn't.

[semper_cogitans]

[Why would he give his life up for the scientist? To Robert, it is completely bizarre. Unfathomable, even.

He pauses a moment, looking at Paprika. His consciousness is no longer entirely subconscious; he's fully aware, now, that he's dreaming, which is why the dream's background is wavering a little.

Somewhere in the back of his head (and it might manifest, in the bending of his dream), he's a little ashamed. He would've never said these things aloud.]

... That... that is what people have t-told me. But... it is hard to believe. Not after... [His fingers tremble, but this is his own mind and it's harder to filter out his thoughts here.] N-Not after what I did to him. M-my... former partner.

[At least Paprika didn't walk in on a drug scene dream.]

[byakkoyagirl]

[Paprika shakes her head, slowly coming to a realization that Robert is beginning to come onto the conscious level.]

I don't know what happened to your partner, or what you did to him. I don't even care to know if you don't want to tell me. However, Robert, I know what type of person you are. You're good. I see no reason for you to change, other than getting some more confidence.

[semper_cogitans]

[Murmuringly, Robert replies as he knits his fingers against his slender chest.] Wh-when... when Don and I spoke, he said something about the... the principle of least harm. Causing smaller amounts of h-harm, to prevent larger amounts.

... I... I had difficulty understanding that concept. Terran ethics would... would argue that all harm is injustifiable.

But. But then... then Giles was... was killed...

[He's struggling. It's only the fact that this is internal - inside his mind, and not spoken aloud - that even lets him phrase this at all.]

... If... if the s-sapient who killed him had been... had been harmed - j-just enough to stop her, perhaps - then... then would that have been... justifiable...?

[He wrings his hands so hard it's like his fingers will break, and his voice is the soft waver of a querying child asking about zir punishment, but he's actually defending what should be the indefensible.]

[byakkoyagirl]

[She puts her hands over his own, even knowing that they wouldn't really be hurt in this place.]

Robert, the only thing that would have done was end in your death too. Giles was protecting you from that. You shouldn't take his sacrifice in vain by contemplating all of this.

[semper_cogitans]

[Paprika taking his hands is... a powerful gesture, and though Robert stiffens, he doesn't look away from her.]

... I know I... c-could not have done anything in this case...

... But if this happens again - to him, or to someone else - then... th-then I want to do something. Some attempt to help.

[He closes his eyes a moment.] I hate being useless...

[byakkoyagirl]

[She sighs, wondering what she could say. To help people who could be as stubborn and self-defeating as Robert......]

Hey, lets have a change of scenery. [She says, slowly urging him to move hopefully out of the room somehow.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Self-loathing too, don't forget that. Especially now.

Still, Robert allows himself to be led away from the destruction, away from Giles' body, which is still - unrealistically - bleeding even ages after he died.]

... Where can we even go? [He's not used to being able to lucid dream - this only happened once before, with Vivi.] I am still asleep, am I not...?

[byakkoyagirl]

Yeah, we are. But, that doesn't mean we can't go somewhere else in the dream.

[semper_cogitans]

... You... remind me of someone. [Someone Robert still dreams about - a little blonde-haired girl in a safari hat.] ... She had... the a-ability to go into others' dreams, as well.

...

Her name was... V-Vivi Aislinn. [He looks down as he says her name - just another example of a time where he's failed to protect someone.]

[byakkoyagirl]

Huh. Oh I knew Vivi. But, she and I are a bit different. She uses magic and I use science!

[...Well sort of science. She is the disembodied subconscious of someone who overused the machines.]

[semper_cogitans]

Sh-she... [Softly:] Sh-she was... sent home awhile ago.

...

I... I still miss her sometimes...

[A lot, actually. Especially now.]

[byakkoyagirl]

I heard from over the feed. ...It's natural to miss someone you felt close to, so don't worry about feeling sad.

[semper_cogitans]

[A few metres ahead of them both, a small object comes into view on the path.

It's a hat. A little safari hat.

Robert stoops slowly to pick it up, cradling it to his chest with a reverence unbefitting a simple hat.]

... I... I c-could never truly protect her... though I tried.

... How do you... p-protect people? And... and how do you stop them from... leaving?