Keep playing. Pain is part of life, when you don’t feel any pain, that’s when you know you’re dead.

>>1094657
Interfere. Help yourself up.
Your friends were being shitty little kids, reacting to vulnerability and hostility with hostility of their own. It's just how kids are.

Hang on I wanna try something.
Kid Marlene: "STOP SHOVING ME AND START KISSING ME!"

Interfere. Help yourself up. Provide words of encouragement. Give yourself the words to express what you feel. This kind of roleplay can be part of healing.

Oh, how wholesome. This illusionary world is trying to help confront your past issues!

Let us keep watching, hold Carter's hand or make light of the situation if you need it, but seeing- err, witnessing this as an adult, with fresh ey- uh, senses will do you good in the long run.

>>1094657
Keep watching, don't interact, don't interfere.
It's something you might need to see.

>>1094657

Would interfering change things, provide new insight? Would it let us better understand why it's THIS, of all memories, that stuck with us?

Maybe not, but perhaps it's worth a try. If that doesn't work, just watch as it unfolds.

>>1094705

It's possible you will remember the interference retroactively. You could be the gentle, understanding, beautiful angel that young you absolutely needed at that point in time.

Marlene Collins 2024/07/27(Sat)13:57 No. 1094817 ID: 92a30c
File 172211386731.png - (253.82KB , 550x500 , 018.png )

>It’s something you might need to see.
>Keep [the memory] playing. Pain is a part of life.
>Let us keep watching, hold Carter’s hand or make light of the situation.
We were both thinking it; I couldn’t tell if my hand reached for his, or his to mine. But we hold hands. I knew he understood the pain--even if children are shitty.

We watch. There’s a strange feeling within me. I knew what would happen next yet it surprises me. Like a déjà vu; you play into a moment unable to change direction as it unfolds.

Marlene Collins 2024/07/27(Sat)14:02 No. 1094818 ID: 92a30c
File 172211413040.png - (270.21KB , 550x500 , 019.png )

I manage to get away at last; I scramble. Home is close; and I can escape crying. As an adult, I finally have the words to describe what I’ve felt. Trepidation. I felt afraid for my life--

Why?

Lori: Look, she’s getting away!

Emmylou: Yeah! You run, loser!

Emmylou: Go home to your mommy!

One of them grabs a rock, throws it at my younger self--hitting square against the temple as I turn to run. The horn blocked the brunt of it--but it hurt all the same.

I feel the side of my head. I can hear ringing in my ears.

Bawling, my past stumbles but makes it to the front door.

What compelled Emmy to have done that?

Marlene Collins 2024/07/27(Sat)14:02 No. 1094819 ID: 92a30c
File 172211416666.png - (235.51KB , 550x500 , 020.png )

Carter gently turns me away.

Carter: We don’t have to be here.

Carter: We can go anywhere we want. Far away.

Carter: Maybe... maybe even skip ahead. Try to relive times that were better.

Carter: I want to know if it gets better for you.

It does. You might be struggling now, but you have people that care for you. And nobody is throwing rocks at you, literally or metaphorically.

You and Emmy are good friends in the present. Here, it seems she believes killing you is an act of justice. What the hell did her parental figures teach her about your parents and origins that could make her hate you so much, and did she ever truly get over it?
Or is she unaware of her own 'loving' tormentor within her own family and projecting that hatred on to you?

What was that, a lesson from the school of hard knocks? I'm glad to see Emmy's at least straitened up since then. Unless this was a false memory implanted to you in the dream.

Instead of fast forwarding to a specific memory though, just go with the flow. See what else might come up naturally.

"Yes, it does get better."

Focus as much as you can on picturing the time you and Emmy became friends.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/13(Tue)11:53 No. 1095787 ID: 92a30c
File 172357518041.png - (255.27KB , 550x500 , 021.png )

>I’m glad to see Emmy’s at least straightened up since then
I agree. I was taken aback by her actions. But... she was always an assertive girl. Out of the three, she was the tough one--protective mostly. She must’ve learned from this mistake; I’m surprised I haven’t discussed this moment with her before.

Somehow, despite the jolt of fear, I must’ve forgiven them both and we continued to stay friends.

Still, it didn’t feel right. I thought this place was supposed to be blissful--yet--if it uproots pain like this, what exactly is the dream trying to tell me?

If it’s even telling me anything at all.

--

>Instead of fast forwarding to a specific memory though, just go with the flow.
The idea of moving on prompts me to ride far away from this cul-de-sac. Without having to think hard I pick up a bike like I’m ready to go to school.

Marlene: Come on, let’s get out of here.

Carter: Where to?

Marlene: Anywhere. Can you bike?

Carter: Sure, I can bike!

Marlene Collins 2024/08/13(Tue)11:53 No. 1095789 ID: 92a30c
File 172357522582.png - (248.33KB , 550x500 , 022.png )

Well there’s one thing once I got the hang of biking as a kid--I started riding everywhere. In the days before modern smartphones, the whole town would be full of unsupervised children.

As we bike, everything fades into view ahead of us--I haven’t been home in a while but muscle memory takes the lead. I take a scenic route; there’s an overlook of the town this way. I have frequented this trail pretty often. But there’s a stop at the top of this hill.

It’s the same as my house: the streets and buildings below are but wisps of memories barely filled with information.

Carter: What is this place?

Marlene: Hartwood. It’s where I grew up before college. It was a lumber town up in northern Appalachia. --A bit of a dead-end town as the mills were moved elsewhere. It all stopped before I was born.

Marlene: Not many leave this place, and those who do eventually come back despite its slow withering. Maybe it’ll call to me and Emmylou and we will return together. Lori lives here still--she gives us the scoop whatever happens to our high school mutuals.

Marlene: I come to this spot to just... see it all. As a kid I liked to pick out buildings and study them--wondering what goes on in there. All of them full of little people. One by one they’ll be left alone and abandoned; windows crack and vegetation grew.

Marlene: But it’s in a different light as an adult now.

Marlene: To see a town dying your whole life--it’s almost unsettling to realize that in hindsight.

Marlene: Those abandoned buildings, however, are the ones I remember more clearly than the rest.

Carter: It’s still beautiful.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/13(Tue)11:54 No. 1095790 ID: 92a30c
File 172357526946.png - (226.15KB , 550x500 , 023.png )

Marlene: Hey, do you see that water tower? It’s the really far one among the trees.

Carter: Yeah. It looks like the only thing that’s not dissolving.

Marlene: I don’t know if it’s a me-thing, but some days I would imagine myself standing on that tower--and pretend to look back at this very spot.

Marlene: Wondering how it would look from the other side.

Marlene: And I would imagine a copy of me looking back.

Marlene: If I had the power to teleport, that’s probably what I would do the most. Just to observe everything so far away.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/13(Tue)11:55 No. 1095791 ID: 92a30c
File 172357535661.png - (241.24KB , 550x500 , 024.png )

Carter: Why not do it now?

A blink and I suddenly find myself high up on the tower with him; a flash of vertigo waves over my body as I find my bearings!

Marlene: Whoa!! Heck-- What the fuck, dude?!

Carter: Sorry. I didn’t mean to. I just... tried to think what you were thinking. Physically. With you.

Carter: I thought you would like that. Sorry.

Marlene: It’s fine... Shit, you don’t spook me like that.

Carter: Was this how it looked?

Marlene: I don’t know; I’ve never been here. It’s uncharted territory in my brain.

Marlene: Like... yeah there’s probably a bunch of trees below us but there’s no clarity. We’ll be making up as we went along.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/13(Tue)11:57 No. 1095792 ID: 92a30c
File 172357546977.png - (296.36KB , 550x500 , 025.png )

I look down at the woods below, soaking in the autumn-colored leaves that reflect the dream-sun back.

And in the midst of slow-waving branches, I catch a glimpse of someone.

It looks like a kid down there. I think they’re lying down.

Another memory? Perhaps. But will it be mine, or is it Carter’s? I can’t pinpoint a significant moment about frolicking in the woods until more plays out.

Ask carter to teleport you down there

>>1095792

Might as well ask who that is and go investigate!

Hop down there and take a look

Maybe hold back on the teleportation. Hopefully this will be Carter's. We know so little about him, even now.

>>1095792
If it is carter, assuming we think that it is him, it might a good time to revisit your home when you wake up from this spiritual realm. Assuming that it is a realm in the first place.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/17(Sat)11:13 No. 1095968 ID: 92a30c
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>It might be a good time to revisit your home when you wake up
This place has stricken me with heavy nostalgic vibes; it has succeeded in making me homesick. Perhaps I could see Lori too. Hartwood isn’t exactly next door to Springford, but once Seb affords a week off we can probably take his car to visit.

>Ask carter to teleport you down there.
>Might as well ask who that is and go investigate
Marlene: Hey could you blink me down there too, while you’re at it?

Carter: Uh, have you forgotten?

Carter: Just think it. If you want it, you get it. You can be anywhere you want to be in this place.

Marlene: Oh. Right. I guess I could just...

We’re already deep in the woods. The trees seem to stretch pretty high up. They seem taller from the ground than the view from the water tower. The shade of a child rests below a canopy, a stick in his hand swishing above him. I don’t believe that’s me. I’ve gone cloud watching in my own backyard, but nowhere like this.

???: ♪ Six. Twelve. Eighteen. Twenty-four. Thirty. Thirty... six. ♫

I notice the air; it’s crisp. Autumn-like. The leaves are going away.

Marlene: So, is it safe to assume that could be you lying in the grass there?

Carter: ...Yeah. There is an air of familiarity here. It’s giving me goosebumps.

Carter: I... spent a lot of my free time alone as a kid. I didn’t have many friends to visit; and I lived in the middle of nowhere. And I guess... I would’ve been easy to pick on anyway.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/17(Sat)11:14 No. 1095969 ID: 92a30c
File 172391848083.png - (239.77KB , 550x500 , 027.png )

The child sings in the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’. The words are instead replaced by multiplications of seven.

Carter (kid): ♫ Seven four-teen, twenty-one. Twenty-ei-eight. Thirty-five...

Marlene: Forty-two-o. Forty-ni-ine.
Carter: Forty-two-o. Forty-ni-ine.
Carter (kid): Forty-two-o. Forty-ni-ine.

Carter: Fifty-si-ix. Sixty-three.
Carter (kid): Fifty-si-ix. Sixty-three.

Marlene: And Seven-deee~

I quite enjoyed singing that final note.

The child sits upright and turns his head to face me. Or I think he does? It’s another memory playing on a script, right?

Carter (kid): Huh? Hello? Is someone there?

Marlene: And for a minute I thought he was speaking to me.

Carter (kid): Oh. Who are you?

Carter (kid): Are you an angel?

Look behind you and see who he is talking to and looking at.

If there is nobody behind you... you might want to cover yourself.

well this is an interesting memory. Can you see who he's talking to?

"Be not afraid."

Carter saying he has goosebumps from this memory... i wonder, ask if he remembers seeing you at that moment in time.

For the other carter, remind him not to talk to strangers

What if you pictured yourself having angel wings? Let's really see what kind of dream powers we can pull off.

Smile at the child and say something ambiguous like, "I was going to ask you the same!"

>>1095969
Try not to look too angelic and accidentally give him some weird lifelong artistic obsession with some naked ethereal woman that appeared in his dreams. Unless you want him to become an artist or something like that.

These seem to be memories, but that might be your own mind making sense of what it cannot comprehend. This boy may be trying to communicate with you, whatever he is.

But more likely the memory of what Carter was looking at happens to be behind you right now.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/24(Sat)10:52 No. 1096421 ID: 92a30c
File 172452195079.png - (237.54KB , 550x500 , 028.png )

>see who he is talking to and looking at.
>More likely the memory of what Carter was looking at happens to be behind you.
I double-check behind myself to see if there’s another shadow-person lurking within the tall trees. I only see adult-Carter; he is hesitant to speak. I face the child again, slightly covering myself.

Marlene: You can... see me?

Carter (kid): Yeah! Are you an angel?

I manage to reflect a gentle smile.

Marlene: Well uh, I was about to ask you the same thing!

Carter (kid): Nooo. I’m not an angel!

Carter (kid): You could be an angel.

Carter (kid): Do angels go invisible for people not to see them?

Marlene: Maybe. Sometimes? I’m not sure.

>What if you pictured yourself with angel wings?
I humor myself with the idea. But I don’t grow anything.

Marlene: What are you doing out here all by yourself?

Carter (kid): Nothin’.

Carter (kid): Ma’ says to go outside. So. So no tv or games until three.

Carter (kid) ...

Carter: Hey! You wanna go see my mansion?

He tugs my wrist excitedly.

Carter (kid): Come on! Let’s go to the mansion!

Marlene: Mansion? What mansion? Is that your house?

Carter (kid): The mansion! Let me show you!

Marlene Collins 2024/08/24(Sat)10:54 No. 1096422 ID: 92a30c
File 172452209253.png - (227.84KB , 550x500 , 029.png )

The child guides us; his speedy legs kick up leaves. When he’s far enough away I mutter to the other Carter.

Marlene: It might be your memory, but do you think this boy is... someone else?

Carter: In what way?

Marlene: Someone or something may be trying to communicate with us through him. Perhaps like those sci-fi flicks where an entity beyond caprine comprehension takes a form more fitting?

Carter: I mean...

Marlene: You can’t possibly remember meeting a naked angelic woman in the midst of the woods when you were nine or ten, right?

Carter: It’s... it’s strange. Because I do.

Marlene: What?

Carter: I mean I do and I don’t. It is my memory. I’m witnessing everything new for the first time here, as an adult, yet I also remember it fondly. It’s a weird contradiction but it’s how I feel at this moment.

Carter: I know where he’s taking you because I vaguely know what happens next. The mansion is just a little abandoned cottage further in the woods. This place used to be an apple orchard some two-hundred years ago.

Carter: I would pretend to live there--but it’s mostly where I hid comic books and junk food.

Marlene Collins 2024/08/24(Sat)11:06 No. 1096423 ID: 92a30c
File 172452277327.png - (246.10KB , 550x500 , 030.png )

Carter (kid): Over there! This is it!

He runs ahead towards the worn-down cottage. Moss and foliage run rampant over its wet stones.

Marlene: Carter, that’s literally my house again.

Marlene: I think... kinda.

>>1096423
Seems your memories are getting a little mixed up.
Follow the kid, don't think too much about it, that could break the dream.

It's like the mooovie you're a ghoooost haunting your old abandoned house in the woooods

Follow along, just don't do anything to retroactively traumatize Carter.

Odd that your memories didn't react to Carter. Does it seem as if kid Carter can see the adult?

Maybe at some point, this forest eventually became a neighborhood and then this abandoned home became your home in your childhood

either that, or maybe whatever is going on here is messing with Carter's memories. in that case, it's probably a good thing you didn't interfere with your childhood when you saw yourself getting bullied.

or maybe these all are false memories that are seeping into Carter's, and your mind, and you getting bullied never actually happened.

Interesting that young Carter doesn't see adult Carter.

A thought, what if we make it a goal in the real world to find and visit this abandoned "mansion" and see for ourselves what this is all about. I feel it might have some answers for Marlene. Does Carter remember where this place is? we can ask kid Carter where this place is if the other Carter doesn't know/remember, like what town this is and what state, and the name of these woods is at least.

It'll be creepy if he says the exact same location you used to live at during your childhood. In which case, Carter might be from an alternate universe or something. But I'm thinking too far ahead.

>>1096423

It almost seems like we're able to ... CHANGE our memories, here.

And that they're equally less concrete; like how "the mansion" is suddenly a rendition of Marlene's place.

I wonder what would have happened had we intervened with Lori and Emmylou.

Feeling a lot stronger about this place playing with your memories now. It's either mixing them together or implanting false memories on you.

Ask Carter if he can still picture that abandoned cottage. If so, how clearly?

Marlene Collins 2024/09/02(Mon)10:48 No. 1096832 ID: 92a30c
File 172529931963.png - (178.81KB , 550x500 , 031.png )

The child skips inside.

>Ask Carter if he can still picture the abandoned cottage
>It almost seems like we’re able to... CHANGE our memories here.
>Maybe these all are false memories that are seeping into Carter's, and your mind.
Marlene: Did they have garages for automobiles 200 years ago? In any case, I think our memories are getting a little mixed up. Some elements don’t belong even if we remember they had.

Carter: The cottage shouldn’t look like that. Yet it does.

Carter: There should only be a couple of empty rooms inside. Some cabinets, maybe. It leaves a lot to the imagination. The floorboards were loose to hide stuff underneath.

Marlene: Where was this place in the real world?

Carter: Norris Creek, still. A little ways out of my backyard.

Marlene: We ought to play it safe, then. I wouldn’t want anything traumatic to happen if we’re talking to your younger self.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/02(Mon)10:51 No. 1096833 ID: 92a30c
File 172529947723.png - (276.04KB , 550x500 , 032.png )

We step through the ingress of the garage. And as expected, it’s a different interior; aside from the dusty and old abandoned furniture it feels very colonial. The child swings a stick around and moseys to entertain himself. He make-believes.

Carter (kid): See? This could be our hangout. We can share stuff here!

Carter (kid): This can be a TV room! And we can hide snacks in the attic!

>Does it seem as if kid Carter can see the adult?
Marlene: Uhh, Carter, honey? You can see I have a friend with me, right?

He stops and looks at adult-Carter.

Carter: Uhm. Hi.

Carter (kid): Uh huh... Hey.

Carter (kid): Are you friends with a lot of angels? Or do you have your own following you?

Carter (kid): Don’t worry. I won’t tell. I can keep a secret. And besides: everyone has a special angel looking over them.

Marlene: I’m sorry, hon. We’re not angels. But we can still be your friend!

He nods, there’s something cute about a child emoting acceptance with the slightest hint of disappointment.

Carter (kid): Oh. That’s okay. I guess one angel is good enough to have.

Carter (kid): Hey! Does your mom let you keep Yagimon cards?

Marlene: What? Oh no, I didn’t really collect them. They were a boy-thing right? I mean--they’re popular with girls nowadays and I watched the cartoon for a bit.

Carter (kid): You wanna see my collection? Come on! I can show you!

He runs straight up the stairs to the attic.

before you go up, anything of interest in this room at a quick glance? like under the staircase?

otherwise, not much to do other than going upstairs. maybe ask about his parents since he brought up his mother,

and maybe ask if he knows any kind of room with a bunch of bunk beds, since we briefly were in there earlier, and I'm curious about that.

Time to get into yagimon

agggh what part of traumatizing the kid didn't you understand you're not supposed to let time travellers meet their past selves didn't you ever watch doctor hoot

>>1096833
Now I am curious on something. If my theory is right, this "realm" you and Carter are positioned in, has properties creates a world based on intensive thought and emotion via memories and it seems to affect the users within this realm of imagination. This could explain why you and Carter can't open your eyes without seeing some sort of horrifying phenomena, forcing you to wake up back into the real world.

Carter is unsure if he had ever seen a woman, let alone a naked one, like you in his childhood memories, the child, whom could very well be a manifestation of Carter's innocence and warm memories, does and so it is being the cause of his unsured reaction as we speak. Let's experiment this, give child carter a warm and loving hug, pet him and make feel secure, then glance over to adult Carter to see if this is having an effect on him, best to ask if he remembers you hugging him when he was a child after this of course.

This is a very interesting realm you're finding in Marlene; I do wonder when it's time to wake up, however. Do remember to plan a trip to your hometown and see if you can find any traces of Carter presence there. Whether or not he is alive that is.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/06(Fri)16:39 No. 1097061 ID: 92a30c
File 172566596668.png - (286.12KB , 550x500 , 033.png )

>Anything of interest in this room at a quick glance?
The whole place sure seems very empty, and the space under the stairs is vacant as well. The walls and floor is withered wood and cold stone. I notice the grooves in the wooden floor against my bare soles, and the coolness of its surface gives me a nostalgic feeling walking through this cottage.

Gradually, I ascend the staircase and immerse myself in his world.

At the top is the attic, while just as barren as the rest of the building, there are scattered playthings and chalk drawings on the walls and floor. The kid has a shoebox where he keeps his cards.

Carter (kid): This is a Ramsilla! And Grimsdotty! That card's my favorite, but I really want a Geyserwog.

He shows the caricatures of those monster cards. I try to act a bit proud and excited for him. I haven't paid attention to this game in a long, long time.

>Maybe ask about his parents since he brought up his mother.
Marlene: Does your mom know you come here? You wouldn’t want to scare her and make her think you’re missing.

Carter (kid): I play in the woods a lot! She always calls me when dinner is ready. I usually hear her back at my house. Sometimes she has to ring a bell.

Marlene: Do you love your mom?

Carter (kid): Yeah. Although I wish she’d let me watch tee-vee before three. And she doesn’t like yagimon. She says it’s what bad kids play. Last time my friend Mike gave me his cards and he saw our mansion. He doesn’t come over much, though. But ma found those cards and threw them out. It’s okay though, they weren't really good.

Marlene: Do you have brothers or sisters? Any siblings at all? Or share bunk beds?

Carter (kid): No ma'am. I’m an only child. Although I wish I had a brother to do stuff with. I don’t have neighbors my age. Do you have a brother to play with?

Marlene: I have two sisters. And I’d’ve rather been an only child.

Carter (kid): Oh.

Marlene: But, you know, it’s actually kinda funny how an only child and one with lots of siblings would want what the other has.

Carter (kid): Yeah.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/06(Fri)16:41 No. 1097062 ID: 92a30c
File 172566606048.png - (344.29KB , 550x500 , 034.png )

>The child, whom could be a manifestation off Carter’s innocence and warm memories [...] give [him] a hug, pet him and make feel secure.
Marlene: Hmm. Perhaps you could be a little brother to me. Do you mind having a big sister?

Carter (kid): Oh, ho-kay! What’s your name?

Marlene: I’m Marlene! Would you like a hug lil’ bro? Come up and give your sis' a hug.

He steps right up to me and I hug him like he’s my own son, or little brother. And within me, I feel an endearing connection with him. My hand rakes over his head. I glance over his circle of chalk drawings.

Carter (kid): Marlene?

Marlene: Yes?

Carter (kid): Do you promise to be around forever?

>>1097062

There's only one answer: "I'll try."

Because nothing is forever, but sometimes you can get close enough.

Hmmm. I'll do my best. I'm not an angel, so I'm not super powerful. But you could think of me like a wizard, I guess? Well, wizard student. I'm still learning what I can do! Is there anything neat you've learned recently?

>>1097063
That's the best you can do. Anything more would be a promise you can't keep.

Tell him not yet, but when he is an adult, you will meet again to fulfill that promise.

Hey as long as I'll be remembered, I'll never really go away, yeah? Such is life!

>>1097061
>>1097062

A child who lives what I can assume is a very wealthy neighborhood, but this tended to be the causation of his loneliness Is this what Carter's childhood consisted of? If so, I may be worried what may have happened to the real Carter. Speaking of him, quickly glance at adult Carter before turning back to his child-self.

As for the promise, for the sake of the child and Carter. Promise that you'll do then speak with him after this. Also, take a look at the drawings that Carter made, I can only assume they're just the monsters that appear in the card game he likes.

Nothing lasts forever, but your memories will last you a lifetime.

Say, who's that chalk drawing of the angel goat?

Marlene Collins 2024/09/11(Wed)16:17 No. 1097269 ID: 92a30c
File 172609664357.png - (369.38KB , 550x500 , 035.png )

I realize I may very-well be speaking to a real child, not just an echo or rendition; I shouldn’t speak bluntly like I would with an adult. There seems to be one right answer; any more would be harder to keep. Perhaps this light promise will fulfill his memory; clearly he meets me ‘again’ so many years later. And when the dream ends, perhaps Carter will feel a sense of closure waking up.

Marlene: I’ll try. But as long as you keep me in memories, Carter, I may never really go away. Do you understand what I’m telling you?

I look at him in his eyes, and hold his head in my hands.

Carter (kid): Uh-huh. I understand.

>Say, who’s that chalk drawing of the angel goat?
>Also, take a look at the drawings Carter made, I can only assume they’re just the monsters that appear in the card game he likes.
My eyes gleam over depictions of caprine friends, stars, houses, and animals, and perhaps the monsters from the card game. But it’s hard to ignore several drawings of the unusual character.

Marlene: Carter, is this someone special?

Carter (kid): That’s him. That’s my guardian angel. He comes from heaven because he wants to be my friend! We play sometimes and talk about stuff.

Marlene: O-Oh? What’s... on his head? Some sort of crown?

Carter (kid): Those are all his horns! He has a lot! He has one from every kind of goat and sheep and says all angels have beautiful and weird bodies like that! I think that would be heavy to wear all the time, but he says he’s used to it.

Carter (kid): He asks me about school and how my day is. And what I did at summer camp. And wants to hear about my cards and drawings. And when I’m sad he makes me happy and says everything will be okay.

Marlene: Does he have a name?

Carter (kid): Well yeah! His name is Kadath!

>Quickly glance at adult Carter
I look for the adult; he hasn’t followed us into the attic. Maybe he’s wandering down below. In fact, I recall our shared proprioception. It’s not like there’s any place for either of us to hide, we could appear beside one another on a whim.

Yet he... feels far away from here, away from the cottage.

>>1097269
So many red flags.
Warn Carter: Kadath could be his best friend or his worst enemy. The trick to finding out which is whether or not Kadath lets Carter do his own thing frequently.

Tell him he must be very special that he gets to talk to Kadath. You want to meet him too; when does he come around?

"I've seen him, Carter. I've seen your friend in my dreams. But every time he appears in those dreams, he grabs me or screams and I get so scared I wake up! What would make him be so mean to me, do you know?"

>>1097287

Are we sure the ugly hateful cyborg layer is what he's talking about though? I'm not so sure!

>Yet he... feels far away from here, away from the cottage.

hmmm... ask kid carter if there is a place far from here that he likes to visit when he feels depressed or needs to think. Whatever kid carter answers is probably where adult carter went, and we can will ourself over to him.

I think before we leave to find Carter, we should also ask if kid Carter actually saw adult Carter, or if he was invisible to him. He didn't seem to have as big of a response to adult carter than he had with us. Something tells me he only see's you, but can't see Carter.

We can also probably ask kid Carter from his perspective what we look like to him. If to us, he looks like a silhouette like kid Marlene did, then perhaps we look different to him too.

>>1097269
Call out for Adult Carter, if he doesn't respond, you might want to start looking for him.
>>1097324
Seconding this, right before you search you might need to take his child-self along too just to be sure.

>>1097324
On second thought, Carter said he did remember seeing us, so we would probably be recognizable to him. Still, I wanna know what kid carter sees in our appearance to see if there is anything different about how he see's us, and how we see ourselves.

Being two people at once would be very unsettling. This might just be too weird for Carter and he needs some space. Imagine if he were talking to a younger version of you, and you started remembering talking to someone when you were young.

So that's why Carter thought you were an angel! You have only one set of horns of course, but it's an easy mistake to make. You might tell him he's very lucky to have Kadath as a friend. You've never even met an angel before!

Call it a hunch, but I got a feeling Kadath here might be the one in charge. Might be worth trying to track them down.

If you can "mind speak" to Carter then maybe if you try hard enough you can reach out to Kadath.

Is the cover for the 3rd chapter Kadath?
https://questden.org/kusaba/questarch/src/169032255856.png

Marlene Collins 2024/09/23(Mon)21:10 No. 1097734 ID: 92a30c
File 172715105674.png - (231.58KB , 550x500 , 036.png )

>Kadath / cyborg layer
It’s unsettling to think if this angel could be involved in our nightmares. Still, the boy doesn’t seem bothered by Kadath.

>You want to meet [Kadath] too; when does he come around?
>I got a feeling Kadath here might be the one in charge. Might be worth trying to track him down.
Marlene: You must be very special to have a friend like Kadath. Will I ever get to see him?

Carter (kid): He’s usually around when I’m alone. I don’t know if adults can see him. He can be invisible all the time!

Carter (kid): He’s probably seeing me from heaven right now!

Marlene: Well you’re my brother now, right? It would be cool if I get to hang out with your friends time to time. Just a thought!

>Some questions
Marlene: I guess that’s why you were asking if my friend was an angel. Was he invisible, too? Were you only pretending to see him?

Carter (kid): Nah, I saw him. I dunno; he’s okay, I guess. You just look really pretty. Maybe I’m the only one who can see angels! You guys look like regular grown-ups, though. You probably have a boyfriend. Is that who he is?

Marlene: Oh no no. Just a friend! His name is Carter, actually!

Carter (kid): Oh wow! Really? Maybe he likes Yagimon.

Marlene: I think he may have gone off somewhere. You can help me find him! Let’s put your stuff away.

Carter (kid): Sure!

Everything is in its right place. I gently hold Carter’s hand.

Marlene: Is there another hangout when you’re feeling sad or lonely? Perhaps we can start there!

He shakes his head no. Maybe the adult-Carter needed space to think. He did see his younger self and our memories are mixing up. It might’ve been difficult to process all that. We step downstairs.

>Call out for Adult Carter, if he doesn't respond, you might want to start looking for him.
Marlene: Carterrr!

He still feels distant--far from the cottage. Between outside and a million miles. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to bring his younger-self along. But I’ll just roll with it. Maybe he knows a thing or two about Kadath as an adult.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/23(Mon)21:11 No. 1097735 ID: 92a30c
File 172715108720.png - (317.84KB , 550x500 , 037.png )

Okay, let’s see if I can do this right. Travel in the dream is on a whim. I think, and I’m there. I can imagine he’s still in the woods. Somewhere. I almost didn’t notice the transition of walking down the attic stairs and into a new area. Carter sits in the grass against a tree. He looks peacefully sleeping.

Marlene: There you are, Carter! Are you alright--?

The child. His hand dissolves in mine: he becomes a wisp of smoke carried by the wind. I almost hadn’t noticed it, and was left a little speechless.

Marlene: A--

Marlene: Okay. What’s going on? I have a bunch of questions right now.

Carter: Oh. Hey. Sorry. I guess I was distracted for a bit. You seemed to be alright in the cottage.

Marlene: Your younger self just disappeared.

Carter: Uhm. Give me a moment to think...

Carter: I remember walking downstairs with you--but I can’t remember what happens after that. Maybe that’s just the extent of my memory with you.

Marlene: Is everything okay?

Carter: Yeah. Yeah I think so. A lot’s been on my mind here. Not like a headache, but, a lot of quick moments that I can’t quite latch on. Plus it feels like an out-of-body experience to see... myself. Watching things unfold.

Carter: This looked like a good place to rest for a while.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/23(Mon)21:11 No. 1097736 ID: 92a30c
File 172715111516.png - (273.06KB , 550x500 , 038.png )

Marlene: Well then, who’s Kadath?

Carter: Huh?

Marlene: Your angel. As a boy you knew a guardian angel named Kadath. You said he visited and played with you. You drew pictures of him on the walls in chalk. Who is he, really?

He takes a slow breath, speaking like he just woke up.

Carter: Oh right, him. Marlene, Kadath... wasn’t real. He was an imaginary friend. That’s all.

Carter: I’m not so religious anymore, but I was impressionable as any kid at that age. I had almost forgotten about him, actually.

Marlene: Are you sure he aint real?

Carter: I’m sure. I haven’t thought of him in thirteen years. I grew up. He doesn’t exist.

Marlene: We’ve been sharing the same memory, and with it the same feelings. So why do I get the feeling of... nostalgia with that name? Like missing a dear friend?

Carter: I don’t know! I guess... deep inside I wished he was real. Come on, you think he has something to do with all this?

>>1097736
Maybe. We don't really know anything about this place right now. But if he's confident Kadath was just an imaginary friend then I guess it's a dead end. Hmm, does he have any particularly notable memories of talking to Kadath? I wonder if he'd show up as a shadow, or as part of the background.

Huh, whose bike is that?

Hmm, Carter's horns are breaking up. Is that symbolic or something? Also that bike seems significant given the earlier memory.

Maybe interacting with younger carter altered the timeline, and now at some point in Carter's life, he got his horns broken?

I don't think we altered the timeline. I think we just altered his memories. This place is like brain sharing, not just dream sharing.

The horns thing could be tied to his emotional state or a sign that sleep time is over.

>>1097736

Sounds like Kadath was Carter's way to connect with others, as an only (and lonely) child. It's perfectly reasonable to miss that.

"Carter, every time I opened my eyes in this dream world, I've seen him, grasping me or screaming at me, with a look of rage that makes me wake up from sheer terror.
I think he might be the one keeping us here, and I think it is not a coincidence that he looks made out of different people.

....By the way, is your first name Randolph?"

>>1097847

Do we for sure have positive identification? Maybe it's just resemblance? Be wary of assumptions.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/28(Sat)13:32 No. 1097963 ID: 92a30c
File 172755553307.png - (261.14KB , 550x500 , 039.png )

Marlene: It’s perfectly reasonable to miss him.

Marlene: I’d like to think that I understand you better this night. Even if Kadath seems like a dead end I would like to hear more about your childhood, and your time with him. If he felt as real as you wished he was--maybe our dreams can make it possible.

Marlene: Maybe it already has in some way.

Marlene: Just a thought. I could be wrong but... what else is there to do in this place? It seems we have each other to rediscover ourselves.

Marlene: Eventually this place will reveal its purpose.

>Whose bike is that?
>Also that bike seems significant given the earlier memory.
I can see it. It’s misshapen, tossed aside.

Marlene: Is there a story behind that?

Carter: Not sure. I must’ve had an accident once. Or you did. I don’t see any... shadow-people. Must’ve been alone for this one.

Carter: Whatever the feeling is; it’s distant. It’s not as strong as the other memories. Maybe it’s like the water tower. Something I’ve seen in passing many times. Something in better detail yet so insignificant.
--
Marlene: Your horns. They look broken again.

He feels the back of his head.

Carter: I don’t know why they’ve been doing that. Don’t you often forget your horns are there, Marlene? It must be very annoying to always have horns like yours in the way. Sleeping. Turning your head too fast. Getting caught on something. Putting on a shirt.

Marlene: Sometimes. Not so many nerves in horns--but it helps to cool off faster. Most touching is negligible unless you really wanna wrangle with them.

Carter: Oh~

Marlene: Oh, shit. Heh. I shouldn’t have imagined that just now~

We chuckle.

Carter: You know, I’d try a pair of horns like yours if I could. Just to see what it’s like for a day.

Carter: I bet my head would feel heavy, but you probably got the neck muscles for it.

Marlene Collins 2024/09/28(Sat)13:33 No. 1097964 ID: 92a30c
File 172755560116.png - (247.31KB , 550x500 , 040.png )

>Randolph
Marlene: Your name wouldn’t happen to be Randolph would it?

Carter: No. My first name is definitely Carter.

Marlene: Thought I’d ask on a whim.

We notice a soothing noise echoing high above us. It’s... familiar; like a pleasant siren, a call to prepare an end or beginning. Not exactly a world-ending feeling, just an end of something miraculous. I don’t believe it’s anything serious--it’s just what my skin feels with aesthetic chills. Carter stands up from his spot; we can see the sky gradually begin to glow.

Carter: You hear it too? I feel it’s time. It’s in the air, the wind. Some kind of instinct to come home once fireflies come out.

There’s a beam of heat blooming against our faces.

Carter: Morning calls for us. One of us slowly awakes.

He shyly turns to me.

Carter: We’ll be together again, right?

One way or another, yeah.

>>1097964
It's time to wake up Marlene. Back to the real world to resume your life. Do record all of this in your dream journal just in case you need to remember what happened previously. One thing for sure; you should plan to visit your hometown and find information of a person named "Carter".

"As long as you keep me in memories, Carter"

>>1097964
Go over that phone number again to be sure you remember.

Curious. Try to wake up more naturally instead of trying to force yourself awake. Will you wake to some unknown robotic horrors still?

I wonder where your sleepwalking will end you up at. Reminder you are pantsless currently in the waking world

Let's leave with this:

"Carter, one last thing. If you can remember my number, please send me a message. I promise I won't answer, or go looking for you. I respect your privacy. I just want to know that...this doesn't have to begin and end in dreams."

Marlene Collins 2024/11/07(Thu)20:17 No. 1099474 ID: 92a30c
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>Record all of this in your dream journal just in case.
I make a mental note of that; I’ve been good so far writing everything down.

>You should visit your hometown.
I lived in Hartwood all my life; I don’t believe Carter has lived there. It’s possible our memories have only been shared, mixed. Despite that, I’m still feeling uncertain of my confidence. Perhaps I ought to visit anyway and see family down the line.

I take one step towards him.

Marlene: One way or another, we’ll be together. I promise. As long as you keep me in your memories, Carter.

I step a little closer.

Marlene: Do you remember my phone number?

Carter: Of course. I have it all in my head.

We hold hands.

Marlene: Please, at least send me a message. I won’t even have to answer or come looking for you. This doesn’t have to begin and end in dreams.

Carter: A-Alright... I’ll try. I will.

The sky brightens. It feels like the earth gravitates towards a red giant--without all the burning, I guess.

Marlene: Repeat my number. Just so I can hear.

Carter: Of course.

Carter: Six. One... Zero...

Marlene Collins 2024/11/07(Thu)20:18 No. 1099475 ID: 92a30c
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A slow ascent, there's a lulling shift to awakeness. It is as gentle as a mother would place you in a crib. I listen to wind rattling the windows. It’s grey and gloomy outside. Rain. I like rain. It makes me want to sleep a little more.

Wouldn’t that be funny to instantly come back to Carter?

I feel a wet tapping against my temple. Below me is a wooden coffee table. I use up all my morning strength to roll over and look at the ceiling. Water’s getting’ through a crack. Shit.

I’m hunched over in my living room and I remember what it feels like to despise reality.

Do you have waterproof tape? Either way, get a bucket.

Bucket and a towel, don't want the table to stain.

>>1099475
Augh. Bucket, towel, put a towel AROUND the bucket too because it's gonna splash. Maybe a wide basin would do, but you're not as likely to have one.

Hopefully it's the rain outside and not the plumbing

Mental note: getting totally smashed leads to even more crazy dreams.

Water getting in the ceiling will accumulate and rot the whole thing. Got to patch up the roof.

>>1099475

Wow, talk about rude awakenings.

Where's Seb? Any chance he can lend a hand with this?

>>1099475
Let's get your bearings here, look like you've fallen asleep on a table somewhere? How much time as passed? Did you sleepwalk again?

Don't suppose Seb's skill set includes leaky roof patching?