29: Lessons in Dreaming

Annebelle’s view

Trying to help this world by providing therapy felt like an impossible task. The problem wasn’t the method, but the scale. The number of people in need of help, far exceeded the number of people I could expect to take care of at a time. Plus, I still needed time to rest and recover myself. Really, two-dozen people was about all I could handle at one time, and that was just one session a week each. That wasn’t even a whole town’s worth of troubles, much less a country’s worth. 

Now, despite my lack of any real effort on acquiring DP, I’d still managed to acquire a little, which I think can be used to improve myself, or maybe even summon help, but I don’t actually know how to do that. The UI I have is not very helpful. I can bring up a window that tells me my name, and job (Dream Therapist) and how much DP I’ve gathered (119) but there’s no information on how to use DP. With how incredibly informative the brochure was when I signed up for this job, I was expecting better help than this. Really makes me wonder who made that brochure, since it clearly wasn’t Lae. 

Thankfully, living in dreams makes my own home, a lucid dream where I can enjoy all the luxuries I can imagine. Thus, it was while I was relaxing in a nice jacuzzi and getting a massage from a handsome masseuse when a strange door appeared. It wasn’t something I’d made. Did Lae finally make another dream demon?

It didn’t take long for my curiosity to override my caution, and for me to then open the door and pass through. On the other side I found myself in what looked like an old European church, except it wasn’t made of stone. It instead looked more like tentacles? … That slight pulse… the warmth under my hands… these were living tentacles. Even the pews were made of them. I could not tell what the windows were made of, but the varied colors of the light shining through reminded me of stained glass.

There was no cross, or other visible holy symbol, but there was a woman who looked like I sometimes did, like a succubus from myth. 

“Greetings, sister. Welcome to the Church of Laetitia.”

Huh? “Why do you call me sister?”

“We are both dream demons, are we not? Though you were summoned before me. It looks like you were human before?”

“Yes, I was. Were you not?”

“Nope. I’ve never been human. I can’t imagine how limiting that must be. Would you be interested in learning how to better use your powers as a dream demon?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for one thing, we aren’t limited by linear time. The world of dreams is a world of possibility. Humans never seem to understand how powerful this place is.”

“Are you saying that I could take on more clients without increasing my burden?”

“As long as you are willing, yes. Though it does mean you’ll experience time very differently from everyone else. Much like I do.”

“I would like that I think. Currently, I do not know how to properly help this world and feel a little helpless.”

“Good. This world needs more joy in it. That other god has filled it with far too much judgement.”

“Are you calling Lae a god of joy?”

“Of course!”

“I thought she was a god of sex.”

“What greater joy can a human experience? Their brains generate so many joyful chemicals during orgasm that it’s addictive!”

“... I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

…

After some lessons with Ophelia on the art of visiting multiple dreams at once, I’ve figured out how to solve the issue of helping everyone. Sure, being able to visit as many people as I want, doesn’t actually mean everyone is now getting the help they need (I’m no miracle worker), but it does mean that I’m no longer held back by time limitations. 

Plus, Ophelia eventually introduced me to Lae’s realm, nice place, though rather weird. The tentacled grass and slime lakes are amazingly good for relaxation. Providing warmth and massage, tension just drains out amazingly fast. I make a point to visit after every therapy session. 

It’s a little hard to wrap my head around what exactly I’m doing though. It feels like I’m simply visiting a person in their dreams and letting them discuss their thoughts and troubles, then taking a break, and doing it with a new person. Except, I can visit every single dream that is had in this world.

If I had to describe how it works, I think I’d have to compare it to the video games I’d played in my previous life. Something called game time, where time doesn’t really seem to pass until one has completed the appropriate events. Once I’ve decided to visit a bunch of dreams, new dreams don’t appear until I’ve finished with the ones in my to-do list. It’s convenient, but also confusing when I try to make sense of it. I think I’ll put understanding this aside, and focus on my work instead. The how can be worked on later, when I’ve got more help, and there aren’t so many severely messed up people in this world.

***Author note***

I’d not introduced the slime lakes before, but basically they are living lakes, and will respond to the desires of people inside them. Not much different from the cleaning slimes Lae made for people to bathe in.