Saga - OT My Holodrama Is Like Life (OC's)--DDC 2016--Author replies and update (9/14)

Yay, an update. And a heavy one, for that matter. Got me thinking about trading one's integrity for acceptance et cetera, a lot. The common theme in the glamorous world, but also any artistic clique, everywhere.

I love the name Lily of the Comet. It's inspiring. Almost like a title of a whole new work. Sucks that it stands for a place where the jet set and creme de la creme hang out, but yeah. That makes for a very interesting contrast, after all.

This is where Nalieza reminds me of somebody I love very, very much! It takes a special person to reject being famous. Sure, GFFA is of immense size compared to our Earth, and being "kind of" famous could be very similar to being very famous in our world, definitely enough for scrutiny. Uneasy. *shivers*

Lacace is...like a dystopian Hollywood, taken up to eleven. Not that Hollywood attracts me in any way, but this is far more disturbing. With the atmospheric control implied below, it sounds like people would feel depressed by nature, with the rain falling on and on and then they're supposed to look their best and smile for the holocamera.

You're hitting me deeper and deeper with every single sentence here. I can't be any more glad for Nalieza's Force-sensitivity, as this may help her realise things long before she would otherwise. Of course that young people thrown into an alternate, bizarre "reality" of the famous-verse will be sheltered, in a completely different way. And in case they ever get the boot or land on their rear-end, that will be far more painful than it is for us mere mortals.

And ugh, Garon is totally guilt-tripping her. Or so it seems. Not keen on him, though I do not necessarily judge him, as he is the product of the environment he lives in on Lacace.

P.S. Organic bantha flavored paste - EEEK. YUCK. YUCK. YUCK.

 

Over a delayed breakfast in the early afternoon, AKA “brunch”

My personal life has been going in one direction, but my professional life has been going along the same narrow road. That’s why I’m finally getting to eat a proper breakfast in the afternoon. I’ve been up since four this morning doing the chat show circuit (technically I started last night when I appeared for the second time on Stars Revealed! Melo Canteuse’s voice still irritates me). I got a little bit of proper REM sleep (those herbs from Covianna work okay enough to get me there for about two or five hours. They haven’t pushed me into the dreamscape, although that is probably because I’m really supposed to be using my Force connection to gain entrance). Then I was up again before sunrise getting into the first of three outfits complete with accompanying makeup and hair to appear on Good Day, Lacace! Normally I just throw on whatever’s comfortable when I’m not on camera. But doing the round of publicity for Niddry’s latest character arc (spoiler alert: she gets drugged, kidnapped, and dumped in the underworld of Coruscant! How will our tragic heroine get home? Does she seek aid from the cute-but-mysterious street kid who tries to steal her purse? Tune in every afternoon at thirteen hours to find out!) requires several different outfits. The media is obsessed with celebrity attire, and if you wear the same thing more than once, that creates negative attention. Of course always wearing something different also gets you negative attention. You can’t win either way.

Since I rarely dress up, I usually keep a record of my special occasion fancy clothes, along with taking a holo (for the memories, and to remind myself how weird I look).

Outfit #1:

White silk jumpsuit printed with blue and green Ithorian roses; white spiky heels with ankle straps (I’m only slightly taller than a Jawa, so I need the extra height); triple Naboo braid; first layer of concealer and powder to hide genetically acquired dark undereye circles that look almost black due to perpetual lack of sleep, and blue eyeliner paired with pink blush to make me look awake.

I did my twenty minutes yammering about two versions of myself (of course Iole Lizo asked me about Garon, while Tinq decided to ask me if I was interested in pursuing my own musical career…yeah, that was definitely a “Huh?” question).

Then I was talking with Reya Ellori on The Everyday Show (at least her voice doesn't sound like she's grinding her teeth on ice) but she is overly energetic all the time. I guess those rumors about her stim addiction must be true. She asked me about me about Garon too…what’s the obsession everybody has with celebrity romances?

Outfit #2:

Purple and blue striped jumpsuit; black spiky heels with ankle straps (bought on sale with the white pair...unlike more famous beings, I don't get clothes donated); hair piled up into a messy bun; second layer of concealer and powder to hide those undereye circles, and glittery gold eyeliner to make a still-tired actress look well-rested.

Then it was time for a ninety minute rest in a darkened backstage for my appearance on Brunch Time. I got to finally eat a couple of muffins and had some mufta juice (no kahve, because then I would be running to the fresher every ten minutes). One of the new habits I'm supposed to adopt as part of my sleep regimen is a healthy diet. Easier thought of than done in my little corner of the universe given my daily life. Erratic working hours paired with my funky sleep schedule means that eating proper meals isn't real important.

Of course another concern that shouldn’t be important yet somehow finds its way into m head is the criticism that comes from everywhere about my weight. Some think I might be too skinny, others think I'm too fat. It's odd how the worst criticism comes from my fellow humans. Other species don't care about my looks.

Anyway, my appearance on Brunch Time meant it wad time for another outfit switch…

Outfit #3:

Black dress with silver bow around the waist; loose hair; same black shoes from second interview; third layer of concealer and powder accompanied by sweat and small rash due to allergic reaction to the thick layers of concealer; blue and gold glittery eyeliner (glitter is very popular on Lacace this year…and last year…and next year…).

And now here I am with a full plate of nerf sausage and a demikiter of kahve. So much for that "healthy diet” concept.

 

Nalieza's life sounds like a true nightmare.

The idea of almost every second being a show and organised, and there being so many public appearances is just...just...ewww. The world that sees the "genetically acquired dark undereye circles that look almost black due to perpetual lack of sleep" as a problem is the kind of a world that cannot offer more than a maze of these narrow roads, there can only be the point where the initial narrow road branches out. These outfits, talkshows and that snippet of her new romdram are bizarre.

If I can make a guess, I will assume that a distraction from all this mumbo-jumbo may help her get into somebody's dream. This way, her head is full of useless things, with no substance.

 

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Ten in the morning Lacace time, half past seven in the evening Aeithera time

Dad sent me a little message complimenting my appearance on The Everyday Show (unlike most shows broadcast on Lacace, this one has distribution rights most of the populated galaxy, so he was able to see it on Aeithera). As usual he complimented my fumbling attempts to look entertaining while sitting on a stranger’s chat show couch, but just like always he also had some questions. He already knows about my temporary blondeness (doesn’t think the color suits me…he’s kind of right, although I’m starting to think it doesn’t look half bad, even though I’ve got pale skin). But he wanted to know more about those obsessive Garon questions that Reya Ellori asked me during the interview. Of course Dad knows I’ve been dating Garon, but he’s concerned that I’m planning something big…like moving into Garon’s loft apartment. That kind of misunderstanding isn’t my fault. Reya Ellori likes to ask questions that make it seem she’s got the full truth of a celebrity’s life. All of us who live and work in the public gaze are somehow immune from the concept of privacy. Questions that nobody would ever ask a random stranger are considered normal for someone who appears on the holo. Maybe I should have asked Reya about her love life and those drug rumors. But I gave the standard response: “Everything is great, and we’re really happy.” That wasn’t enough, especially not for the romance inquisitor. That was the only answer Madame Ellori was getting from me.

Dad isn’t worried I’ll do something stupid. But he is worried about my life here on Lacace. Since I reached the legal age of consent a year ago, I’ve been working those fourteen or sixteen hour days that every adult actor works. It’s not perfect, but it’s the life I’ve known for seven years. But working on a romdram with recycled plot lines is boring, and what I’m getting paid doesn’t compensate for that nowhere feeling when you’re doing the same job every day. Pursuing dreamwork is one solution to my teenage existential crisis.


I told Dad about this stuff, and his answer was the same as always: come back to Aeithera and get a “real” degree. It’s not a bad idea; going to university would give me something tangible to go along with studying dreamwork.

But how would I pass the entrance exams? I never took all those standardized tests most other first year students finished when I received a certificate that indicates I finished my secondary education. It doesn’t mean that I can’t get into a university, especially the one where my father happens to be a history professor. The entrance requirements for the University of Aeithera system are more laid back compared to other universities around the galaxy. Each college focuses upon achievements in a broad range of subjects rather than success in a narrowly defined group (most schools place more emphasis on math and science than the arts). I’d have to go through a bunch of interviews rather than undergo a bunch of exams. I’m good when it comes to acting like a fictional person, but not so great when I have to be myself. Especially when I have to convince a group of authority figures I’m smart enough to attend their university.

But this is just a possibility that I might choose to pursue…eventually…maybe.

 

Paurilis!

All excitement aside, I'm not sure if he's starting to believe the media babble thrown around about his daughter more than what he hears from her mouth. Then again, I've seen this happen. I've experienced it, I was in the middle of it and I was baffled...therefore, my faith in truth above media has long reached the realm of cynicism. And given how Nalieza is used to absurdity of a star's life, at this point, some things just no longer seem real, including a "real" degree.

Seeing a teenager lost among options is one thing, but seeing that each option implies that there's an aspect of "normal" growing up that she missed by being a child actress is ...chilling, to say the least!

Despite all this, despite the real/unreal, I'm sure that Paurilis loves Nalieza more than anybody else does. They have nothing but each other, in the end.

 

After hanging out at Koury’s, no particular time

I was over at Koury’s for most of the day until she had to get ready for the evening shift covering the main bar at Opticsolar. She works as one of the living flesh bartenders at the nightclub, which is a major attraction considering most of the clubs on Lacace only use droids.

Her girlfriend is finally arriving on Lacace tomorrow. So I’ll finally get to meet another Force sensitive individual, which should be…interesting, because I don’t know what other word that can describe the weirdness of meeting someone else who connects with an invisible energy field on a daily basis. I don’t know if Koury really knows about Meaithe’s connection. It’s not something I ever felt comfortable asking her.

So I decided to bring the matter up this afternoon in the most roundabout way I could imagine…by asking about her opinion on the Jedi, because it seemed like the most neutral way to figure out her views on Force sensitives.

(I’ll move into script format for a little bit…)

ME: (brief interruption while I took a long drink of R’alla water) Do you think the Jedi still exist?

Koury stared at me for a couple seconds, like she couldn’t decide if I was crazy. But she didn’t laugh. Instead she replied, “I don’t know if they ever existed.”

That was disappointing. I expected she might not believe those Force users were still kicking around the galaxy. But she apparently didn’t believe they were real during any point of history.

ME: Aren’t they in the history texts?

KOURY: No, because they aren’t legal.

ME: So that would mean they were real. You can’t outlaw something imaginary.

KOURY: I don’t know. Everything seems like it never existed. Maybe the Old Republic was never real, and the Empire has always been in control.

ME: Sometimes I wonder if the past happened. Maybe every living being just imagines there was something that used to exist us before them. Maybe reality is just some creation of a huge ball of consciousness.

KOURY: Those sleeping herbs must really be working.

ME: You saying the Jedi never existed sounds just as ridiculous.

(Now I’ll move away from script format ).

Koury got up from the couch, then headed toward the kitchen.

Maybe I hit a sore spot. Maybe there was something else going on in her mind that I couldn’t know about…unless I went and tried to find out. So I went into the kitchen.

She was at the counter, with four plastene bottles nearby that no doubt held something alcoholic in each of them. A silver chalice-type vessel sat in front of her. “I’ve created another signature drink.” Koury got her job at Opticsolar when she created the “Cosmic Rose Shooter” during her interview. It’s necessary to keep inventing new combinations of liquor that will bring in new customers and keep the regulars happy as part of her bartending gig, so she experiments with various mixtures during her downtime that could be added to the drinks menu.

I joined her at the counter. “What’s this one called?”

“ A Slow Bang of the Hydrospanner’.”

“Explain the name.”

“It’s meant to imitate the feeling of somebody banging a hydrospanner inside your skull.” She looked over at the bottles: one filled with something clear, the second filled with something brown, the other two filled with orange and red liquids. “The ingredients of this particular concoction are Shesarilian vodka, Menkooro whiskey, bergamine liqueur and thanatoberry gin.”

I nodded, because that was the only action that seemed appropriate.

Koury uncapped the bottle of vodka, poured out roughly four shots into the silver chalice, then looked at the bottle. “This stuff is made from icebergs.”

“Really?”

“The water in the vodka is taken from icebergs in the polar regions of Adarlon. Dad took me up there to see the berg harvesting when I was a kid.”

Koury arrived on Lacace six months ago to pursue a career in “The Industry”, which is the reason why most beings show up here. She could have just stayed on Adarlon and used her father’s connections (he’s a studio executive with Millennium Entertainment) to get jobs. But she wants a career on her own terms, without fatherly interference that would mean she would owe him later on.

Koury stared at me. “I know why you asked the question.”

I didn’t know how to react. Her Force presence isn’t very strong, anymore than most other beings that aren’t Sensitives, so there was no way for her to suspect anything. But I guess the question about her belief in the Jedi was obvious. So was I supposed to confirm or deny it?

“You’ve got that same weird quality like Meaithe.” Koury shrugged. “Sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Mea’s in touch with something bigger than anyone or anything I’ve encountered. She’s human but also something else.”

“You think I’m some kind of mythical creature?”

“No, you do exist. You’re more grounded than Mea. She’s usually detached from reality.” Koury gazed into the chalice. “I mean she doesn’t belong in this…” she frowned “…this level of the universe.”

“This ‘level’ is life, right?”

Koury picked up the chalice. “Exactly.” She took a long swallow of her concoction, then made a face like it tasted bad. “A four-and-four mix of vodka and thanatoberry gin definitely do not mix together.” She held out the chalice toward me. “Give me your opinion.”

I’m not legally able to drink on Lacace for another year, but I have done some recreational drinking at parties (sorry, Dad, hopefully you’ll never read this diary). But I’ve only done one mixed drink, when Koury made up a batch of Cosmic Rose Shooters at her last house party. But those ingredients were in equal proportions. I wanted to pass, but I decided to have a drink.

It was pretty awful; too sweet and bitter for my taste. “Doesn’t work.” I handed the chalice back to Koury.

She placed it back on the counter. “Yeah, more experimentation is required before I debut this one at the club.” Koury looked at me. “I don’t understand your connection, but I accept it.”

That was definitely an unexpected detour. “How did you know—?”

Koury shrugged. “You wouldn’t ask about my views on the Jedi without a good reason.”

Well, I couldn’t ask for a better outcome, right?

 

The contrast between Nalieza's inner and outer life is so fascinating -- perhaps more because they're both a bit surreal, in totally different ways! I love the idea of her taking up dreamwork because she's bored of showbiz. Talk about an unexpected turn, but it makes so much sense for the way that she is. I'm intrigued by all the cultural/religious/political stuff that seems to surround dreamwork, and hope Nalieza's careful about who she trusts in this quest. The height of the Empire seems like a dangerous time for her to be looking into that, even if that tradition has been largely overlooked -- probably dismissed as purely a sonhar thing.

Paurilis seems to have been the one person she could be genuine with (even if he does ask questions based on the gossip column -- understandable on his part but mortifying for her no doubt ) , and I'm interested to find out what meeting Koury and Meaithe will mean for her. A traveling spirit from the otherworld (sort of, if I remember right) will probably be a unique perspective! Glad also to see an older Koury making her own way in the galaxy, since she wasn't too happy in Cosmic Rose. (To say the least.) Too bad that Nalieza and Garon are drifting apart, though it seems like they're kind of young to be permanent anyway. Nice that he's not completely shallow; there's a kinship between the two of them. Just not something that makes for a lasting relationship at the time.

 

The amount of historical revisionism in this entry is chilling. At first, I was not sure if Koury was just naive, or if she truly believed everything she said about the Jedi never having existed and the Old Republic not being real. With the revelation at the end of the entry, it was clear that she was just testing Nalieza - one can never be too careful when playing with fire or knowing somebody who does. I would not be surprised if she had a whole manual on how to spot somebody like her girlfriend, since she seems good at memorising manuals, being a bartender and all.

The cocktail descriptions were masterful, too. This story is so, so, so real.

Also, this is a stupid thought, but I'll say it anyway: Millennium Entertainment is almost like the foreshadowing of...the Millennium Falcon!

EDIT: Had to make the first sentence clearer. Koury's survival tactic for her lover still mirrors what some folks probably say 4realz.

 

Three in the afternoon, waiting for the first take

So I got to finally meet the potentially legendary Meaithe Akam this morning. She’s come to Lacace for three weeks while on break from her private secondary school back on Coruscant. Koury and I formed her welcoming committee at the spaceport.

Koury showed up in a dotted dress with a bouquet of blue roses, which is definitely a new look for her, at least in the brief amount of time I’ve known her. Normally she’s either in pants or a tight/sparkly dress working the bar at Opticsolar. But she looked great, while I only looked somewhat presentable.

Meaithe showed up late because her shuttle was delayed two because of another traffic snarl in the hyperlanes over Lacace. But the shuttle docked, Meaithe got through inspection and then finally came into Terminal Four.

Now this is where I describe Meaithe. She was coming down the corridor toward us, and I realized everything Koury said about her is absolutely true. She is different. Meaithe appears like a normal human (short brown and blonde hair, blue-green eyes, and taller than me, although about one inch shorter than Koury). But as she came further down the corridor, I could feel the unique energy that radiated from her. It’s weird, but she’s more alive than any other living being I’ve encountered before. Meaithe is definitely strong in the Force…but her aura is different from anyone else I’ve encountered. It’s like she exists in two planes at the same time while occupying a single body. That cliché notion about “old souls” also feels true for her. By the calendar she is my age (seventeen, but two months older), yet she acts and feels older than the universe.

I haven’t gotten any real chance to speak with Meaithe yet. I had to be on set by one so I can begin yet another week’s shooting, although that has been delayed because one of the cameras decided to give up the holographic ghost and not work. We hung out at Koury’s apartment for a couple hours, but Meaithe doesn’t seem very comfortable talking around someone she doesn’t know. I found out her parents are both writers (father: travel reporter for the Holonet News Service; mother: poet), and they’re currently undergoing some marital crisis and prefer to have thousands of miles between each other. This probably gave her some practice for long distance relationships, because almost half of her eighteen months with Koury has been conducted while they’ve lived on separate planets (Koury arrived on Lacace six months ago to pursue a career in “The Industry”, which is the reason why most beings show up here). But she didn’t reveal much about herself on individual terms.

I wanted to ask about life on Coruscant, especially for someone who is another hidden Force sensitive like me. How can she avoid detection? The Emperor is supposed to have a squad of goons called Inquisitors who go across the galaxy looking for beings blessed/cursed with the Force. What happens to those poor bastards who get discovered?

Well, I’m stuck here on set for the next ten hours. This week Niddry gets trapped in a cave. I haven’t read the entire shooting script, so I have no idea about the particular reason why my character is stuck in a cave. But real life is becoming more distracting, so I can’t worry about Niddry’s fictional travails.

 

The very beginning of this reeks of slight irony and boredom, or so it seems to me. Nalieza uses specific words and thinks about trivial things (great vs. presentable) and I can't quite tell if she's doing so because the machine she's in taught her to, because she can't quite admit just how eager she was to meet Meaithe.

And then, once it gets to describing the actual individual, wow...the tone completely shifts and one can tell that Nalieza is nothing short of fascinated! An old soul, a person who gives an aura of having lived for many more years than she really did (and I appreciate each time that I DON'T see the cliché phrase "wise beyond her years").

Can't wait to see what you're hinting in the second to last paragraph....but then again, how does Nalieza herself do the same, anyway?

 

After midnight, sitting on a rooftop

Meaithe is sitting on an overturned flower basin smoking some kind of cigarette and watching the rest of us acting stupid. The stuff she’s sending up into the atmosphere when she puffs smoke isn’t regular tobacco, but something called “Ambrosian tobacco” which supposedly helps her keep in touch with the spirits (dead people, not hard liquor).

Koury was definitely serious about her girlfriend inhabiting other universes, or at least some other place next door to ours. I was joking about Meaithe smoking good stuff-but Koury never corrected me that day in the lobby. Now I realize she had no reason to say I wasn’t right.

So Meaithe talks to invisible people and has to smoke to maintain contact with her imaginary friends.

This wasn’t the person I hoped to meet.

I thought Meaithe was another Force sensitive like me who was some weird kid who never fit in because she learned to hide. Well, she does have a large presence in the Great Power that is different from mine. She's like a supernova in the heart of a black hole, while I'm like a candle in the center of a darkened room.

We're sitting on the rooftop of Koury's apartment building having a little party. I brought Garon along, maybe just because to make this gathering a quartet so I wouldn't feel alone. I still feel guilty about our awkward lunch two weeks ago; we haven't seen each other or talked since then. Maybe I should have made Garon a bigger priority in the past few months. Maybe I owe him more than what I've given...he's never treated me awful. Have the past two years with him been so terrible?

Why am I thinking about that now? I'm supposed to be focusing on my future, not the past and present. Yet I'm watching Garon laughing with Koury over at the bar, and I feel like I'm missing out.

What am I missing? Feeling connected to another person on some deep level? Our relationship was never that serious. Plus we've never had that much in common except for being in the entertainment industry, although different parts. We share the same agent, but Shen has over two hundred clients. Does that mean I could make friends with all of them?

No, it's something bigger. I want a connection with someone who is really like me in the most fundamental way. Somebody who's lived in shadow but still has to get up and go outside among beings who could turn them into the authorities.

"Dreams."

I looked up. Meaithe had somehow managed to sneak up on me.

"What about dreams?" I didn't know if she wanted to sit next to me, but I decided to scoot over and give her space on the bench.

Meaithe took a long drag off her contact-the-dead-deathstick, then shot up a puff of smoke into the sky. "That's your primary ability."

"Well, I'm working my way toward getting started in becoming a dream counselor."

"Covianna has mentioned the practice of dreamwork and your pursuit within the practice. It's certainly suited to you."

"How would you know?"

Another long puff on her smoke stick, another shot of smoke up into the stars, then she replied, "I've become familiar with your background. Your mother was the most talented of the Isoderi practitioners."

"You've done some research."

"Only what's required for the mission."

"I'm a mission."

She took one last puff and drag on the cret, then dropped the stub onto the permacrete and crushed it with her right foot. "My entire lifetime is a single mission. But there are segments in the mission that must be accomplished."

Meaithe didn't view me as nothing more than one stop in her “mission". That was not encouraging. I hoped she might see me as a kindred spirit. Maybe getting viewed as a fully realized individual is asking too much from someone who usually spends her time talking to dead people. Either way I'm disappointed.

"How would you like to begin?" Meaithe asked.

"Maybe I don't want to do this anymore."

"You have to do this, and you need my assistance."

"I don't need to become an aident."

"You have to follow your intention."

"Changing my mind is one of the perks of being alive."

“No one is really completely has control over their own life. Those In Charge make sure they have the ultimate influence in all matters of the Living World.”

"Those beings don't exist. Nobody in the Netherworld can even agree if a creator deity actually exists."

Meaithe finally sat down. We didn't speak for a little while, but watched Koury and Garon over at the bar gunning down whatever they picked out from her liquor box. They started with a set of Cosmic Rose Shooters, which is appropriate since Koury is now wearing a gold rose on a chain around her neck. The five layered rose lies at the center just above her collarbone, with two strands of the chain dangling from either side of the rose.

"That's called the 'knotted rose'." Meaithe said. Of course she had to read my mind, because I didn't say anything out loud. "It's a physical representation of the five physical levels of the universe."

I didn't understand how a gold rose strung up on a necklace could represent the universe. But that little tidbit about the structure of the universe caught my attention. "There are only five levels?"

"Such a complex encompassing space should have thousands of little corners that form some great infinite expanse..." Meaithe spread her hands outward in front of us "...that's what the universe should be, according to most sentients."

“But clearly we’re all wrong.”

“Not entirely wrong. There are little pockets in the structure of the universe that happen to be called galaxies. But there are five metaphorical levels which make up this universe—"

“There are other universes?”

“Of course, but there is no reason for you to be concerned with that matter. They are inaccessible to the living, and most of the incorporeal as well.”

“Tell me one thing about one of those other universes.”

Meaithe glared at me, but decided to indulge my curiosity. “There is one planet named Tython which exists in our universe. In a neighboring universe this planet does not exist, but a similar world called Ahch-To. Both were the original birthplaces of the Jedi Order.”

“I’ve never heard of either planet.” That response was dumb, and I realized that two seconds after it came out of my mouth. She just mentioned one planet didn’t exist in our universe.

Of course Meaithe could be lying.

Maybe she doesn’t really come from somewhere else.

Maybe there are no other physical universes.

I don’t know anything right now, except that reality doesn’t feel real.

Meaithe’s next action surprised me. She reached down into her satchel and pulled out a datapad. “I can show you what’s listed for Tython in the Encyclopedia Imperica.” So I got introduced to an unofficial record of the alleged planet where the Jedi Order first emerged. Encyclopedia Imperica belongs to the Shadows (the illegal part of the Holonet not controlled by the Empire), so their information might not be accurate. But it seems more likely what I saw is true.

“Why are you showing me this stuff? How does that relate to me learning about dreamwork?”

“It gives you a better understanding of the universe that you currently inhabit, plus those other places where different versions of you currently reside.”

“What about those other universes?”

Meaithe shook her head. “We do not interfere in each other’s respective universes. It’s enough to realize these other places exist so you may understand the complexity of the physical realm.”

I wanted to ask more questions about the other universes. But the idea of multiple Naliezas creeped out this particular Nalieza. So I decided to put aside thoughts of other universes for another day.

“What’s the first step I need to perform to get the dreamwork learning process really started?”

“The first step is getting into the dreamscape and walking into someone else’s mind.”

“I didn’t feel comfortable going into Covianna’s mental world.” Yes, I never got into my therapist’s head. But I could never ask her to do it because that feels weird since I have appointments with her twice a week. That definitely could be awkward and might prove difficult in our future sessions.

“I’m offering myself as your first terrain.”

“First terrain” is the formal concept of an aident apprentice entering into another being’s dreamscape for the first time. Standard practice usually allows the apprentice to practice on someone close, preferably a family member. A stranger with connections to the Afterlife and Force sensitivity as a bonus complication is uncharted territory. But I have to start with someone, and Meaithe is offering the deepest heart of her interior space to my amateur skills.

So I accepted.

 

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Wow, this one is much longer than the others. I was surprised when I scrolled and it went on and on...cool!

I can totally relate to Nalieza's disappointment at the very beginning. Drawing the line between stoner types who just claim they're deep and stoner types who are actually deep and have that metaphysical, astral aspect to them...can be hard and, more often than not, we run into the first kind, who could appear like outright frauds to a cynic.

This is like some interstellar Yin and Yang. Beautiful.

Since your comment to Findswoman covered the rest and the lines between testing Nalieza and just being kind of odd seem to be interspersed in Meaithe's case, I'm going to patiently wait for the next entry and see what the dreamscape was like.

 

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Meaithe is not what Nalieza didn't know she expected, which is just how things go. It really makes a lot of sense that she'd be feeling this sort of disappointment at first, at the thought that whatever makes Meaithe so otherworldly is all/partly caused by whatever she's smoking. That's probably something she's seen more than enough of with her media circus of a life! Though there's enough in there once they get to talking that the reader has confidence Meaithe actually does know something, and perhaps Nalieza too feels that there's something to the alternate universes. She finds the thought disorienting but not flat out unbelievable. (Possibly because it's so far out there!) By the way, I really like how the Cosmic Rose shooters, the rose on Koury's necklace, and the actual structure of reality as described by Meaithe are linked; one of those really fantastic greater-reality-hidden-in-the-everyday moments. Anyway, very glad to see this is continuing!

 

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