agirllost | (no subject)

Elaine nods. "All right..." Elaine chews on her lower lip, wondering what to do now. "All right, sit on the bed, against the headboard...I'm going to sit next to you, facing you. I'm going to press this pendant between our two hands...and then I'll be able to help you with your memories. Please, be comfortable."

When Kim had settled herself, Elaine sat down next to her and facing her. "I think...I think I need your strong hand...the hand you write with and use most."

Kim looks at her a little confused but she trusts Elaine and whatever she's doing cannot make things any worse. "Okay," she puts out her dominant hand.

Elaine places the pendant into Kim's hand and holds her hand, the pendant between their palms. "I need for you to relax. And close your eyes." Elaine watches her. "And then I need for you to take three deep breaths and let them out."

Relaxing might be a little difficult but she can do the other part. Her eyes close and she takes a breath and lets it out. And again and finally one more time. Against her will almost she can feel herself relaxing.

Elaine closes her eyes after that and takes three deep breaths as well.

One. Two. Three.

And the world lurches sideways, and Elaine opens her eyes. She is in the room in her dream, the one with white walls and grey--what were they--

filing cabinets

lining the walls.

And Kim is there with her. "Kim, do you hear me?"

She should be able to. And Ryan should be able to hear everything that is going on, as well.

"Elaine?" Kim sounds a little frightened.

"Don't be afraid." Elaine's voice is ever so gentle, even though this is a lot harder than she thought it would be.

"I'm here, do you feel me holding your hand? I'm right here, and I'm not leaving."

Elaine looks down the row of neat little cabinets, and sees that two of them are toppled over, and their contents spilled out and mixed up.

"These cabinets contain your memories. One of the things my little pendant does is allow you to see your memories like this. So now...we can figure out which do not belong here, and need to be locked away. Do you see, over there, where two are knocked over?" Elaine keeps her voice very even. It's important that she listen and understand.

Kim hears her and feels her holding her hand. She has no idea what's going on but Elaine seems to know what's happening.

"These...they contain my memories?"

"Yes...right now, we're outside of them. Now, you will be able to look at them, and know which ones do not belong to you, to this you."

"How...how do I know that?"

"Let us look over where the papers are spilled out. We can see if there are differences between these and the memories that do not cause you pain."

They go over to where the two filing cabinets are turned over. Both have four drawers, and the top two in each one are opened and spilled out.

Elaine picks up some manila folders. Some are edged in black, others in green. "Let us look into the closed drawers...we can see if the ones that are not mixed up are all of a certain color."

She nods, but is a little wary. No, more than wary, kind of freaked out that she's holding her *memories* in her hands.

"But if I touch the closed drawers, could't I mess them up too?"

"Not if we do not remove any of them." Somehow, Elaine just knows this.

She helps Kim straighten up the filing cabinets and place the two next to each other.

The two women pick up the files carefully, putting them into two piles, one of green-edged folders, and the other of black-edged folders. "Kim...relax. Relax, everything will be all right." Her gentle voice holds utter confidence and no doubt at all.

Kim realizes her hands are shaking, she can't help it. "Okay, I'll...I'll open it."

She walks a few feet down to another cabinet and pulls the drawer open. "They're black."

"That means those are the ones we must take care in filing in one of these two cabinets."

Elaine opens up the bottom drawers of the end cabinet. "These are green."

She opens up the other one. "And these are black. This is the one with the memories that are true, and we must file these mixed up ones very carefully."

She nods, staring at the folders, "Green. Like the virus."

"Aye, Kim. You take care with the black files. I'll deal with these green. They're numbered, I believe, and we can put them in order before putting them away."

Very carefully, Elaine sets about putting Kim's false memories in order and placing them in the filing cabinet.

She's reluctant to actually touch them. But, she can do this - she has to. And looking at Elaine's calm face she's not as afraid.

She picks up a file and...

In a parking lot and talking to dad and asking him about someone's death and I knew it was necessary but I don't know how I feel about the choice but they had to go because they'd gotten a lead on the virus...

She blinks and places the file in a drawer.

They work together, in silence, while they put Kim's disjointed and confused memories in order.

"Are you well, Kim?" she asks, about midway through the task.

Saunders has been shot and everyone's scrambling to find that last courier and Chase oh God Chase and his hand -- his...

"As...well as I can be."

Elaine nods. "It's going to be all right, Kim," she says quietly, and goes on carefully putting things away.

On the phone to Chase and I'm so scared for him and dad's been taken by Salazar and Chase is going to rescue him and he makes me promise not to say anything...

Kim nods and keeps going.

Elaine is careful. She thinks about her own memory library of trees and river, and of the black mangled tree beneath the waters where Dream placed the nightmares Nyaralothep had given her--still accessible upon occasion (and upon occasion, still coming to her in dreams), but seperated from herself.

She has known madness, and would not wish that upon another living creature.

Kim keeps going, putting things in order.

Listening to a phone call and they're trying to tell Chase how her dad hadn't really let Salazar out, that this was a sting and that he was endangering it.

She almost drops the file.

Elaine sees her fumble and looks over at her. "Kim? Is something wrong?"