Report 008 [Action of Various Kinds/Voice] | AU Post, Backdated to Early Morning of the 24th

[semper_cogitans]

[The night of the twenty-third of April was punctuated with the most terrifyingly, impossibly detailed dreams that Robert could ever recall having.

Comments

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

[The word "war" fills Robert with this... sense of dread now, a crawling feeling in his stomach that he's never felt before.]

... Armour like mine...? Non-humans that were wingless...?

That's... completely different from my dream... do you think it's from a Shift like Halloween's? I've heard that possibility, now. With the hallucinations and whatnot.

Because... this doesn't seem to make any sense otherwise...

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

They feel like memories, though. Or mine did, anyway. They have all the detail of memories.

My imagination is nowhere near this robust.

[He shakes his head, exhaling lowly.]

Perhaps I'm simply overreacting... but, but I've always wanted to truly understand my own processes, and... Well, this is strange.

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

I... haven't heard much, yet. [The only thing he would know is Don's, and he probably wouldn't share that. Not to mention it hasn't happened yet by this point.] But... nothing like mine, certainly. So we are all having very different dreams.

[He studies the transmission.]

... Yes, that is entirely different from what I saw...

A two-part Shift. That was what Rupert suggested as a possibility.

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

The number of transmissions about dreams is increasing. So this is a Luceti Valley-wide phenomenon.

It...

It has to be a Shift then, right...? We wouldn't all go crazy at once.

I-I... Daisy, I don't know what we can do. But... if this gets worse... [I don't want to lose one of my only friends here.]

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

[Her confidence is reassuring, but only on a surface level. Viscerally, Robert is still as frightened as ever.]

I certainly hope so, Daisy...

If... if things get worse for you, please, feel free to come to me... if you want to. [He doesn't know if she trusts him, but he wants to try to help her... and ignore that niggling part of his mind that's afraid.]

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[semper_cogitans]

I hope so. I... I couldn't stand to have something happen to you. [Not after the wars she was conscripted to, not after nearly being hurt while the prototypes failed, not after this...]

I know you're strong, Daisy. You've always been strong.

But I can't help but worry.

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert, by contrast, has always been weak. He wasn't strong enough to do anything to stop the Third Party from killing his parents. He wasn't strong enough to convince Benjamin to stop drinking before liver cirrhosis killed him - and Robert wonders if it will kill him too, because he's doing the same things Benjamin did - and he wasn't strong enough to learn even the basics of combat magic, thanks to whatever condition his body has that prevents it.

He hates this helplessness that comes from an inability to do anything constructive. Though he's surrounded by strong, capable people, he finds himself constantly relying on them, and it hurts.]

... When my parents were taken, I saw it happen and I still couldn't do anything...

I'm afraid that one of these days, somebody will attack Donatello, or Rupert, or Vivi, or you, and there won't be anything I can do. This Shift is something like that...

I only hope that this won't get worse, won't start becoming an actual threat to our safety beyond our mental health...

[That helplessness is

[Filtered to Dr. Hastings // 100%]

[semper_cogitans]

I-I'll... I'll try to be safe.

[He trusts her, trusts her judgment and strength and skill. He knows that she knows what she's talking about.

And he can't hear any waver in her tone, because he's not good enough to judge.]

Thank y-you. Again.