Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

[Brian]

Tim is currently standing behind the desk in his dream-office.  Currently, three of the doorways are marked -- the one leading to where Pandora was, the one leading to where she is, and then the one leading to ... Relm, according to the sign on the door.  It's currently locked, however, and Tim knows this without needing to try the knob.

[Halbarad]

Tim blinks for a moment, a bit surprised at the abrupt transition - and the lack of companions. "Thought some of the others were coming with me - guess not today."

With a shrug, he heads through the door which leads to where Pandora is now.

[Brian]

Tim emerges from the same misty walkway he originally reached when he came to the Brotherhood's base of operations.

It doesn't look like it's changed much, though from where he is, Tim can make out a conversation:

The first voice says begins, "...point of not doing that, as it would particularly make things later difficult."

A second voice replies, "Well, I don't mean to question your authority--"  A brief pause.  "Well.  Fair enough.  I suppose, then, with all due respect, I do mean to question your authority.  Why are we letting two of them run around the Dream unopposed?"

"Well, I don't think I could fight the Wanderer off.  I suppose all of us might, but he's not -- really -- a threat to us.  Or the Dream.  He seems to honestly want for the best, even if I don't agree with his methods."

"Okay.  I can accept that.  I'd still like to know about Charrel, though.  Why can't we stop him?"  Another brief pause.  "But--  Oh."  Another moment of hesitation.  "That makes perfect sense, then."

[Halbarad]

Tim, unable to help overhearing the conversation, waits for a few moments before calling out. "Um... hello?"

[Brian]

The first voice says, "Hm.  We may need to move you, Pandora."  More loudly then, Tim is able to recognize that it's Alan's voice when he says, "Please, come in."

[Halbarad]

Tim removes his omnipresent hat before stepping inside the office. "Sorry if I'm intruding - I just had some time free, and Relm suggested I come and talk to you about some training in being a Dreamer and what I can do."

[Brian]

This room isn't Alan's office, but instead, is the room where Pandora's sphere is kept.  A rather large amount of text is fading from the sphere, though Pandora herself isn't in sight.  Alan was in discussions with a tall and blond-haired Brother of Morpheus.

"Becoming a dreamer is a relatively simple process in theory, but becomes more abstract the further you go.  Unfortunately, while Dream is the foundation that underlies reality, it's not reality itself.  Though it always has potential."  Alan shrugs at that, then shakes his head.  "My mind is wandering.  We can approach this from multiple angles, but I need to know which you prefer the most.

"We can begin from a practical standpoint, and define a goal you want to work towards.  We can discuss the underlying principles of dreaming in general, and see what you can glean from that.  Or we can train you as a brother -- though, I don't know that this would suit you, as unlike us, you've got a physical body to take care of."

The other brother nods, and says, "I'll be off, then.  If you need me, please send for me."

Alan nods at the other brother without adressing him, and says, "There's no reason we can't start at a theoretical level and then work on practical applications -- or vice-versa.  I just need to know how you want to handle it."

[Halbarad]

"I think theory will help me more," Tim replies. "The more I understand the underlying principles, the better I'll be able to fill in the gaps in the practical on my own."

[Brian]

"Alright," Alan says, nodding.  "This works for me.  The next part will require practice and contemplation.  Because you're just starting out, and may not know exactly what you're doing, it's best to begin in your own personal dream.  I imagine that's where you find yourself when you dream, now."

Alan pauses for a heartbeat, as if considering something, and then nods to himself.  "From there, you can establish how to work your own dream, and fashion it into something that allows you to comprehend and address the external dream.  Right now, you can only percieve the dream that you're within.  You can't really navigate your way through it.

"The long and short of it is that because dreams are separate, yet still commonly dreams, you need to impress your will on you moving anywhere through it.  Usually this is going to express itself in the form of a journey.  What you're going to want to do in your own dream, is formulate an anchor.  Something that you can pull yourself back to at all times.  This is pretty much essential to traversing the dream safely, at least until you're better equipped to handle some nightmares."

Alan pauses then, and furrows his brows.  "That probably raises a lot of questions," he mutters.  More clearly, he says, "I'm sorry.  I can try to clarify it, if this seems vague."

[Halbarad]

"I... THINK I get the idea. It's like a beacon - something that I can always refer to as a reference point no matter where I am or what I'm doing in the dream. That much at least makes sense. What exactly comprises an anchor like that, though? Just a definitive reference point that I can come back to and say 'This is here, this is my place?'"

Tim pauses for a moment to further collect his thoughts.

"Now, when you say that I'm not able to navigate through the dream I'm in, that does need a little more explanation. Obviously I'm able to perceive it, and interact with it if I need to - I can touch you here, I can speak with Pandora, I can do things in the dream I'm in. How is that different from navigating through it? Or does that refer to traveling between different aspects of the dream - like here, or my office, or where I first found Pandora?

"And I didn't miss that about nightmares, but let's get the basics out of the way before we get to those."

[Brian]

"Essentially an anchor is something that will always let you find your way back to where you started out.  What the anchor looks like or how it works are up to you.  You'd set it in your own dream, since you can always go there.

"And I meant traveling between the different facets of the dream -- there's not really space or distance between different dreams, but you can move between them anyway.  It's the fact that dreams move, so there wouldn't be any static routes."

[Halbarad]

"Well, what I've seen so far is that in my dream, there are doorways that lead to places I've been before. And when we first went to see Pandora when we entered the dream in body, I was able to make a path between the place where we entered and the mountaintop where she was - the key was just in wanting to know where I wanted to go. Is there another way to move between dreams? I'd guess there's a way to get into a dream that I've never visited before."

[Brian]

"Well, it depends.  On the one hand, there is the general Dream.  All points in reality are connected to it.  All points in the Dream, too.  Well, with rare exception.  Regardless, from the Dream, you can also find the dreams of your friends."

[Halbarad]

"How exactly would I do that, then?" Tim asks, recognizing a practical application. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd focus on the person, and then try to reach that part of the dream that's most directly connected to them. If all dreams happen within the larger Dream, then that part of the Dream that they're most in tune with would be their own personal dream. Or am I going in the wrong direction?"

[Brian]

"That's about right, though," Alan says, shrugging.  "The true route to power within the dream is through tools.  Which aren't really tools -- they're essentially restricted uses of your own power.  If you try and do everything through force of will, you lose a lot of fine-control.  If you make a tool to do it for you, then it will behave, and in learning to make the tool work the way you want, you also learn much better control over the Dream anyway.

"So you'd probably actually begin by making, I suppose, a telephone, or a computer you could use to e-mail your friends.  And it doesn't really matter if they've got the symbol of a phone or an e-mail -- the intent of the tool, communication, is your goal, and thus, it's where you go.  Simply, with a communicator-shaped anchor.  If that makes sense."