Quick nap. Dream I’m having a psychotic break and gibbering in the corner and drawing all sorts of fucked up shit on the wall. Then suddenly realize what I’m doing and snap to sanity and lucidity. “What the fuck am I doing?”
“Aww, you stopped it.” A person approaches me. That is continually changing shape. Ke morphs between various humanoid appearances, never taking the same one twice. Kir voice morphs as well, from deep guttural growls to high fluted shrieks. Yet I’m able to understand it.
“I’m having a psychotic moment. Right?” I ask it plainly, not at all disturbed at the sight.
“Well, you were. Then you stopped it.” Anthropomorphic dolphin, then lion-person, then short-statured human, then tall light elf…
“You sound like I should not have stopped it.”
“I would not have minded it continuing a little further. You needed to work some stress out anyway. And consider where you are! You’re safe here! You would have hurt no one, not even yourself.”
On the one hand, ke made sense. On the other hand, I know how Crazy is. Crazy is an Insatiable Hunger. Once it starts it won’t rest until it has everything. And there is something else that’s bugging me.
“And you will be supervising me this whole time, right?”
“Of course.”
“So, tell me something. Why can’t I see you clearly right now? Am I still in the psychotic break, or are you hiding from me?”
Ke took a step backwards and the shape-shifting paused for a immeasurable moment. Not long enough for me to register what it paused on, but long enough for me to note it happened. “No. I’m not hiding. Just here to keep an eye on you.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I know what my head is like when I’m over-stressed. And I’m not. Just sleep deprived. Completely different set of symptoms. And none of them involve me going on a psychotic break in either world. I’m being fucked around with again. And I don’t appreciate that.” Kir shifting paused again, but I couldn’t catch on what form. “Here’s what I think. I think you’re trying to push me. To goad me into lashing out in either world. I think that since your Plan A didn’t work, the plan now is to force me into losing control. Force me into having a keeper.” Another pause, along with the scent of fear. I decided to press the advantage. Pulling forward the appearance that comes with being gibberingly insane I grinned an unnatural predatory smile at kir. “I think you, and those backing you, are trying to isolate me in a prison built from my own madness. And here I am. Or rather… here we are. And I’m hungry.”
I chomp on air with teeth now impossibly large. At the crack, my “helper” abandons all interest in dealing with me and flees, shattering the surroundings into shards of ever shifting color. As my feather cloak settles over me (it was never gone, just hidden), I note the lingering scent of my “companion”.
It’s the same scent as the “reporter” from a few weeks ago.
I hate political intrigue.
I don’t have the soft hand and delicate finesse required to play the game.
I should go into deeper sleep and forget all about this. But I’m pissed. I force myself to wake up despite my body screaming for another ten minutes.
Did I mention I loathe politics.
Fucking games.