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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 7, 2021 22:57:39 GMT
"Not physically, no, never.". Serenity waved off the notion firmly. "Emotionally, yes. You toss and turn so much at night, I worry sometimes.". She offered him a hand up. "What would you rather be wearing, we can start there. You need to focus on the sensations the item gives you, and the way it makes you feel to bring it forward in your mind and make it present.". (A focus check please.)
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 7, 2021 23:14:59 GMT
"Oh, I'm sorry," Thel says. "I never mean to make you worry. But... thank you for helping. All of you have helped shape me into a better person."He tries concentrating. Remembering the moment that stood out the most, right after the victory over Whitney. All thanks to Serenity, too. Having the option. Being able to have something purely his. Seeing the colours, the pop. Feeling the smooth fabric, unlike anything else. The flow, the freedom, the feeling that he could move beyond where he was. Focus 9 (not bad for untrained)
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6,670 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 7, 2021 23:24:40 GMT
Without so much as a shift or a ripple, Thel is wearing his hard won outfit, clean and pleasant as the moment he first received it. Serenity gave him a small applause. "Wonderful... It's a good first step. Of course... Recognizing you are dreaming in the first place is the hard part. Then overcoming your own stressors... As those will break your focus and make a dreamscape unbearable."
Serenity paces around him, admiring the outfit as he remembers it. "Listening to your story, it could have been any of us that ended up like you. Changed and struggling. Trying to reconcile the loss of our old lives against our new selves. Destiny is a strange thing."
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 7, 2021 23:46:14 GMT
"Huh..." he stares at the outfit, before laughing. "That's... a little unsettling, actually. I can't explain why. I guess I wasn't expecting it to work."
He gets a bit more somber when considering her second point, though. "I'm glad it was me who it happened to..." he says. "Instead of anyone else. I... don't lament like the others. I don't miss what I had. I was nothing, and now I am something. I didn't have a flock that I was happy to be a part of, like Muku. No life of isolation now filled with people like Terra. I didn't lose a core aspect of my being like Em." He sighs, tears in his eyes, feeling awful once again for the others. "They didn't deserve the pain. And none of you would have, either. I... don't know why it suddenly happened with Patience. I'm not sure what to make of it, really. All I can do, is to help her adapt."
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6,670 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 8, 2021 0:17:04 GMT
The clear blue sky rapidly begins to darken, warm summer breezes giving way to autumn winds, and the shadows cast in the field begin to deepen and shift. "Find your calm Thel.". Serenity cautions. "Dream scapes are very fickle, if you let your thoughts spiral out of control it can quickly become troubling or nightmarish. What was, is, and could have been have no meaning here. You have total control."
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 8, 2021 0:33:04 GMT
His eyes widen at things changing, and he takes deep breaths. And remembers the happy moments since becoming human. Play with his 'mon. Relaxing with Em. Staring out over the falls with Violet.
"That's... that's kinda scary," he says at last, laughing, and giving Serenity a smile. "Nobody should give me power. I just mess things up."
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6,670 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 8, 2021 1:08:33 GMT
"There is nothing for you to ruin here, and you shouldn't be so hard on yourself.". The positive thoughts banish the milling and shifting, returning the warm sun and fair skies. Faint images of those passing thoughts populate the space surrounding them.
"You could revisit your old dreams here in more detail. Or make new ones, as long as you are focused, relaxed, and aware." She cocked her head to one side, moving barefoot through the grass.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 8, 2021 1:14:09 GMT
"Could I?" he asks, curiously, looking around and smiling at the imeages. "Even though I don't really remember them? I only started paying attention when Em mentioned there could be something more. So just after the rain one. That one I recognized the bird. There were some before that that I don't really remember..."
When was the first one, even? It was... sometime after getting to the school, wasn't it?
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6,670 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 8, 2021 1:46:40 GMT
Focusing on any singular thing brings it into more focus and clarity then Thel believes he could manage in a waking moment. Sensations ripple over him like so much positive energy. The taste of his first buffet, the feeling of Em against him, scents and sights and sounds. Each as vivid and real as though he were awake.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 8, 2021 1:54:45 GMT
"Whoa..." he breathes, eyes wide. He soaks in the sensations, but pushes them away before the yearning for them becomes too great. "I... okay. I understand what you mean now. It was like I was really there."
Closing his eyes, he casts his mind back. Trying to remember one of the times that he dreamt. The strange feelings. Just a thread to recall off of.
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6,670 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 8, 2021 2:15:54 GMT
A grand bird with incredibly broad wings and a finned fish-like tail bursts free of the grasses which churn and crest. A tailwind like no other rips along after it, the Pokemon landing on broad feet in the grasses, then becoming still.
A tugging sensation at the base of the young Oracle's neck threatens to unseat him from control of this dream, to take him elsewhere. (Focus to resist or guide a coming vision.)
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 8, 2021 2:23:41 GMT
It's the bird. The harbinger of rain. That drowning, drowning rain. And winds. He doesn't want to revisit it. Not at all. He had enough of that that one night, and in person. Besides, he already knew what it was saying... and he'd foolishly not realized. Instead, not wanting to relive the rain, he doesn't resist the pull. It was something else, beyond the drowning wet. He wonders what it is. Focus: 10
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6,670 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 9, 2021 2:20:33 GMT
The Pokemon's long, grand neck bows low. Suddenly Thel is moving ahead of the wind, broad wing strokes propelling him forward over raging seas and through pounding rain. Despite it all, he remains warm and dry, attentions panning the waters.
A massive shadow below breaches the surface. A fish bigger than any Thel has ever seen. Behind it rests the boat that took Muku and Terra, distinct in how it sits safely amidst waves that could swallow buildings. The fish opens its maw, red markings lighting as it draws on the beginnings of all life.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 9, 2021 4:41:16 GMT
The rain isn't so bad, actually, now that it's neither cold, nor biting, nor drowning. It lets Thel look around, take in things. And, given some time to look it over... he understands. Or he thinks he does.
"It's them. It's because of them..." he says, partially towards the bird, but mostly to himself. "The thing that took Terra was big, but that is bigger yet. And it woke you. I remember. You were beneath the sea, beneath the whirlpools. Sleeping soundly. But here they are, disturbing how things were."
Even from this height, from this place of safety, the fish is worrying. Teeth likely bigger than he is. But he's far from it. He's just watching. He has to remember that.
"That's why this rain. And why it won't stop. It won't stop until the balance is restored. And that might not be for a long time..." He nods. "I see... It's not going to stop. We can't wait for that to happen. If only I'd seen this before... but I at least understand now."
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6,670 posts
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 9, 2021 23:27:11 GMT
A powerful torrent of water bursts skyward to where Thel yet flies, and is answered by primal air, the resulting shockwave bowing the ocean low beneath the fighters and blowing a hole in the cloud cover above. Just as abruptly as it came, the dream leaves. Thel finds himself hanging in a dark space, the patter of rain and the distant crash of waves fading until there is simply nothing.
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 9, 2021 23:32:22 GMT
Hmm. It seems like the worst is yet to come... but it would probably be best to not be near the water. Perhaps the mountain is the better option. He'll have to think on it. The choice doesn't need to be made now.
The darkness is... unsettling. Is this foretelling, or simply the space between dreams? A representation of sleep. "Serenity?" he calls out, into the darkness. Trying not to panic, he brings forwards the sensations of the field from before. The sun, the wind. Everything.
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6,670 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Apr 27, 2024 17:48:03 GMT
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Post by Robot on Jan 9, 2021 23:53:25 GMT
"I'm here." Comes her voice, and with it the bidden environ that Thel had found so comfortable the first time, the barefoot girl considering him with a concerned expression. "You went somewhere that I couldn't follow. It was strange, I tried, but I couldn't hold. That was not a normal dream... not one of the mind, but something else." She took his hand in both of hers. "You kept calm through it, and didn't wake... this is good."
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 10, 2021 0:00:10 GMT
He's relieved to see the girl again, and the swathe of green. "I imagine then," he says, "that it's like what Em was saying. Some vision, of another place. Like with the bird, forecasting the rain. At least before I knew of it. It was the bird, and a fish, fighting around the boat that took Muku. Enormous waves. All around, though those who took her were unharmed. I... don't know how safe it is to go back down, near the ocean."
He considers for a moment. "Do you have knowledge of visions like that? Since you seem to know a fair bit of how dreams work, and can... well, clearly enter mine. Even if you can't follow."
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6,670 posts
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92 likes
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I'm not going to say it was damage, but it was damage.
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Post by Robot on Jan 10, 2021 0:08:28 GMT
"I don't, unfortunately." She shook her head. "There are... levels of ability in that way. Entering dreams is among the lowest. Your mind is very suggestible and open in this state. I couldn't do the same if you were awake. Such is the limits of my power. I am sure if you asked around, you might find guidance with another human that possesses similar abilities. Perhaps a psychic Pokemon, were you to find one inclined to help you and powerful enough to follow you into that other place."
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Post by DataNinja on Jan 10, 2021 0:20:56 GMT
"Well, thank you regardless," he says. "What you've taught me so far, it's already been a great help. And I'll look out for those who might have similar abilities, though I wouldn't imagine they're common. But... thank you so much."
He takes a seat on the grass, gently pulling Serenity down with him. "You said you wanted a turn, right? Let's just have a seat here, then, in the sun. And rest. It's not quite the same... but it's probably best for me to sleep a while longer. I can probably see about imagining up some hair brushes if you want that," he adds, laughing. "I've gotten fairly familiar with those."
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