"Is there anything else you want to communicate before I begin doing subtle arts as I've described?"

I can’t think of anything at this time.

"Very well. This will if all goes well be very boring for you. If you wish to listen to music please use the provided headphones. The nightmares we must work on while you are awake, but in any future sessions it will not interfere if you are unconscious."

Why?

"Which of these remarks are you inquiring about?"

All of them.

"It will be boring because having subtle arts done to you does not feel like anything, and Mahep and I will communicate by telepathy while working on you. Music might distract us so you should listen to it in a way that we cannot easily hear. If you are asleep while we attempt to work on the nightmares, your proximity to having a nightmare might change meaningfully while we were manipulating it and complicate our work. Other work of the kind you appear to need does not have this problem."

Why will you communicate by telepathy and is it a kind you could loop me in on?

"It is easier to communicate by telepathy about telepathic concepts which are what I am instructing Mahep in. We could loop you in but would run a higher risk of errors if you reacted in such a way as to distract us, so the standard practice is for the patient to do something solitary that occupies them."

Is your concern about physical reactions or emotional ones?

"Physical reactions such as moving or making sounds. It is normal and part of what subtle artists must be accustomed to navigating for you to experience emotional swings."

He considers this. He’s gotten a little out of practice controlling his body in general but he did get pretty good at it once. The worst thing they could do if they were trying to heckle him would be to remind him of -

- his breath catches but he will not move -

- of the time he fought them. And for once there’s a little pride in there with the terror. His hands don’t seem to be interested in staying steady enough for him to type but too bad, he’ll do it anyway.

I can just not move if it’s not going to be too long.

"I expect this to take less than an hour and more than thirty minutes. Shifting position slightly will not disturb us."

He’s not sure which gestures mean what to them but he does a thumbs-up in case they’re familiar with that one.

Either they are or Allspeak covers it. "Let us know when you are comfortable and we will begin."

He can get comfortable. He has a slightly feral understanding of whether and how to involve the furniture in this.

They don't comment, at least aloud.

"Ready? A thumbs up to confirm will be fine."

...Fine. Thumbs-up.

Vyn nods.

It really doesn't feel like anything.

Of fucking course. Why would it be possible to tell if someone is editing your very self. God would never be that merciful. He stays very still.

Sometimes the two of them look at each other or go "huh" or "mm" very softly to themselves.

After about forty minutes, Vyn says, "That's enough for today. Please schedule a second appointment with our receptionist or through your social worker. That should be enough for us to complete the obvious work you require."

By the time it’s been forty minutes he’s intensely miserable. He gets up, looking kind of shellshocked, and kind of stares at Vyn like there’s something he wants to say but isn’t even up for writing down.

"I recommend bringing something to read or do quietly next time."

That is not really responsive to his actual problems but why would it be. Continuing to stand here isn’t going to get a better response and he clearly isn’t going to do anything more productive. He walks out and then resumes just standing there once he’s out of there.

Now he is on a bustling pedestrian-only street in Revelation's Savonlinna.