>>1090011

Bedroom, probably, since it's likely to be the most concrete place. That or the kitchen.

Unless it was a hangout spot, I suspect the basement will have some bad vibes.

the bedroom, the most familiar to you, should be the most complete in this memory construct. See if anything stands out, something connected to an important or, perhaps, repressed memory.

>>1090011
The kitchen! Let's see if you can eat in here.

>>1090011
bedroom, maybe check for some old notebooks filled with poems or stories you've written growing up.

The basement!

Marlene Collins 2024/05/16(Thu)13:51 No. 1091062 ID: 2eb1da
File 171589271535.png - (192.42KB , 550x500 , 009.png )

>Why is it your old house, not Carter’s?
>Remember [...] Whatever is here is a metaphor for your house, but not your house [...] What this place is might be broken, or damaged.
Riiight. Nothing is as it seems here. Maybe it’s more than a memory of simpler times. There’s a reason why it was plucked from my mind and showcased. As I ponder my way up the stairs, I give Carter a quizzical look.

Marlene: So, tell me. How come the dream is centered on me? Where’s your house? Where’s your cryptic metaphor?

Carter: If I knew, I’d answer ya.

Marlene: Thought as much...

Carter: Well--it could pop up. It could manifest as... an adult section at a blockbuster or a McDonalds ball pit.

Marlene: I suppose I’ve had my fair share of traumatic moments in a ballpit.

>Bedroom, probably, since it's likely to be the most concrete place.
>Check bedroom [...] briefly talk to Carter about the story you’ve been reading on your way.
The stairs spiral up. I’m doing my best to remember anything shocking in my life. My household was as pleasant as any can be--so no traumatic spankings or belts. I keep the conversation going.

Marlene: I’ve been reading a story lately.

Marlene: It’s about a boy who experiences many parallels of his life. The things he could’ve accomplished and the lives he ruined for himself.

Marlene: And he’s sometimes in the middle with nothing ever happening in his mundane life. Like a limbo. And everyone moves on without him.

Marlene: He tries to deal with it; knowledge from one life can help another life.

Marlene: But sometimes he feels hopeless with too much on his mind.

Carter: Sounds daunting. What do you think of it? Any good?

Marlene: It’s good. There’s something about the main character I can relate to--somehow. Maybe I’ve thought about the choices I’ve made and whether there’s a Marlene better or worse off.

Marlene: Little bits of stuff like that. Perhaps you’ve thought of a better path--and the possible chance that it could be real, all happening simultaneously.

Food for thought.

Marlene Collins 2024/05/16(Thu)13:52 No. 1091063 ID: 2eb1da
File 171589274559.png - (287.65KB , 550x500 , 010.png )

We reach my bedroom--it looks just as it was over a decade ago. We must be in a memory before high school; mom had rearranged it by the time I entered 9th grade.

Marlene: And here it is. My own corner of the house. It feels a lot smaller than I remember.

>Check for some old notebooks filled with poems or stories.
Hey, yeah! There should be some journals I’ve hidden from mom. It’s the first thing I check for.

Marlene Collins 2024/05/16(Thu)13:52 No. 1091064 ID: 2eb1da
File 171589277030.png - (250.79KB , 550x500 , 011.png )

Ah dammit; as if I could really remember every single word I’ve written. I was excited for a moment there. Some details in my bedroom are crystal clear in my mind--like the posters and polaroids on the wall, and other details are blurred or incomprehensible: such things I overlooked.

As for my journal, I do remember some lines that stuck with me to adulthood. Then there are memoirs of embarrassing moments. There are even doodles, particularly of a local monster myth in the woods--aptly named the Hartwoods Monster. And then the middle school crushes.
There are cringy teen stories; one set around medieval fantasy lovers Tryce and Lye as they----actually I forget what their story was all about. That part is blank and muddled for it’s been an abandoned story long, long ago. All that remains are the faces of those characters.

Carter: Read some to me! I never kept a diary in case there was any chance my parents would find it.

Marlene: Alright, I’ll try. But you’re gonna regret it.

“Cindy says I make two faces a year. I told her out of all the faces she could make; it had to be ‘bitch’.”

Carter: Hahaa. Gottem.

Marlene: I never cared about her--but nowadays I wonder where everyone’s gone in their adult lives.

I rummage past some pages.

‘When I fall | When I go down deep | Wanting you here with me | My sweet waterfall.’

Lyrics of made-up songs. Yet they still pop in my head now and then. I flip ahead a few more pages.

‘The mouth is a powerful ingress.’

Marlene: That sounds very wrong in hindsight. I don’t remember the context behind that one.

Carter: Lol.

‘I gave Liam a note during class but he passed it on to Ashton ahead of him. It was meant for Liam, that stupid idiot. I’ll wonder if I should ask him to the Spring dance.’

Carter: Did you ask him out?

Marlene: I never got around to it. I wimped out. But that’s all in the past now.

Marlene Collins 2024/05/16(Thu)13:53 No. 1091065 ID: 2eb1da
File 171589279062.png - (275.85KB , 550x500 , 012.png )

Carter leans on the edge of the bed, scanning the room in its orange glory. The house holds together despite its unfinished patches seeping through the walls.

Carter: So. Have you accepted your traumatic past and moved on yet?

Marlene: Tch, not yet. But do you hear that?

Carter: Hear what, exactly?

Marlene: I think it’s coming from outside.

There’s a ringing of chimes. Distant laughter of children. Spokes and chains. I look out. I can’t quite make the details, but something is out on the street. I peek my head out.

Marlene: Hey! Hey who’s out there?!

The figures don’t respond but talk to each other; I can’t make out their words.

Carter: What’s going on?

Marlene: We need to get back outside, quick!

Marlene Collins 2024/05/16(Thu)14:02 No. 1091066 ID: 2eb1da
File 171589332123.png - (253.60KB , 550x500 , 013.png )

Carter: Wait, Marlene! What did you see? Who were you yelling at?

Marlene: That’s what I aim to find out. We can cut through the living room. Come on!

I usher Carter along with a tug of his wrist. Running around the house gives a vibe of muscle-memory as I imagine myself as a little girl. Even rushing down the stairs with my heels thumping against the creaky wood.

It was then we move upon an unexpected sight: A row of bunk beds stretch down the room. Now I definitely know that wasn’t here before. Everything looks old and dusty. I hear footsteps down the aisle--a combination of small and large hoofs.

But as the house constantly shifts and churns--I don’t know how long these blips will remain here.

>go outside to see the figures on the driveway
>explore further into the hall of bunk beds

The figures may already be gone - out of sight means out of mind in dreams. Explore this bunk bed broadway.

probably not a good time to think about it, but those lyrics you wrote could actually be used in the song you're making with the band somewhere.

If someone else is out there, they could be important. Go out to see what they're on about

>>1091066

Check the figures. Something about them was enough to grab you; that's more important than funky dream-logic.

Also do you remember this room of bunk beds? If not, ask mister Carter cause it might be his memory now.

But yeah, examine the bunk bed room. I think the people and driveway is no longer out there if this isnt your living room anymore.

>>1091066
check the figures, ignore the weirdness of the backrooms and head outside, odds are it could be either a memory from you or Carter's

Those figures weren't memories. They could be people, or some sort of mechanical process activating. Approach with caution. Their eyes may be open.

Maybe the house is starting to shift into Carter's past and memories now?

Check out those mysterious figures!

>>1091066

I think we found Carter's cryptic metaphor.

Marlene Collins 2024/05/30(Thu)17:37 No. 1092144 ID: 2eb1da
File 171711587525.png - (258.71KB , 550x500 , 014.png )

>Do you remember this room of bunk beds?
>[Is] the house starting to shift into Carter’s past and memories now?
I pause for the briefest moment to see if I can recollect anything instant on the mind. It could be Carter’s own memories, but I don’t think I’ll pursue this path anyway. I won't press it yet.

I’ve been in summer camp and a week-long school trip in the Appalachia--

>Check the figures, ignore the weirdness of the backrooms
>If someone else is out there, they could be important.
>They could be people, or some sort of mechanical process activating.
I tug Carter’s wrist to get moving.

Marlene: Come on! There could be people outside! Actual people!

Carter: B-But I don’t...

Carter: ...I can’t sense anyone like I sense you.

Whatever inner feeling I have about the outside, I hold my attention towards it--I don’t want to lose it.

Marlene Collins 2024/05/30(Thu)17:48 No. 1092145 ID: 2eb1da
File 171711648637.png - (319.21KB , 550x500 , 015.png )

We step outside onto the front steps; I can still see the figures huddled up, and running across the sidewalk. In fact, I can hear them more coherently. The sound of three girls push a bike.

???: Come on! You have to push your feet down! Push it down!

???: I am! I am! It’s not working!

???: You have to lift it up too!

???: And faster!

???: I’m gonna fall! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stoooop!

The one riding the bike wobbles and tumbles over. There's a yelp and the other girls catch up.

Watch and see how this plays out.

Poke the memory before it fades.

Do you know these girls? This seems like it could be a formative memory, though maybe not yours.

Hmm, say, has anything changed about the landscape?

>>1092145

Marlene, is that you? As a kid?

Did you have sisters / friends who taught you how to ride a bike?

Either it's a fond memory of skinned knees in your childhood, or it's three out of place entities trying to get some sort of device working. If the former... why?

Stay back and observe. Do any of their voices sound familiar to you?

Marlene Collins 2024/07/23(Tue)19:13 No. 1094656 ID: fa7b90
File 172178719951.png - (239.65KB , 550x500 , 016.png )

>Watch and see how this plays out
>Do any of their voices sound familiar to you?
>Is that you as a kid?
I think I know who they are.

It’s the three of us. Me with the Meadow sisters: Lori and Emmylou. It’s a memory that pops up every now and then; a snippet of childhood: a rainy day like any other, a flash of a television show, walking down a school hallway. A moment in time you can remember a bit more vividly than others. It sticks with us the most, while worthwhile memories still fade.

Still, a nothing-memory.

I fell from my sister’s bike--I think my legs were too short for it. The fresh scrape on my leg burnt.

Marlene (kid): I don’ wanna do this anymore!
Marlene: I don’t want to do this anymore.

>Has anything changed about the landscape?
The details of the environment fade the further out it goes, centered on the three girls. It does not restrict Carter and I from leaving.

Lori: You’re bleeding!

Marlene (kid): Maaaaah!

Emmylou: It’s not bad! Blow on it.

Marlene (kid): Ffffftt!

Marlene Collins 2024/07/23(Tue)19:14 No. 1094657 ID: fa7b90
File 172178726484.png - (250.29KB , 550x500 , 017.png )

Carter: What’s this about?

Marlene: I fell from a bike; my friends Lori and Emmylou had tried to teach me. It had no training wheels.

Carter: Do you treasure this memory?

Marlene: ...

Marlene: No. Not really. It was hot. My knee was scraped. Bugs buzzed in my ears. I was mad and annoyed. And I remember hating them. I didn’t know how to articulate discomfort as a child, as we all don’t at that age. So I told my friends I hated them.

Marlene: Hate this. Hate that. I hate the sun. I hate the ground.

Marlene: I didn’t talk to them until the next day.

Marlene: ...

Marlene: I eventually learned to bike though.

One of the Meadow sisters confronts my younger self.

Emmylou: Maybe you shouldn’t be dumb like dirt all the time! Get up!

She pushes me down as I try.

Emmylou: Come on! Get up, stupid!

Marlene (kid): Stop pushing meee!

Marlene (kid): Stop!!
Marlene: Stop...

Lori walks over to her sister--but she only laughs at my attempts to stand. I could barely defend myself. Why would they have done this?

>interfere
>keep the memory playing
>leave, it’s too much

Getting too painful. Time to leave

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
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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
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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
File 172391842453.png - (268.36KB , 550x500 , 026.png )

>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
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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
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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
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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
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>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
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>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
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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.