Casi steps in from the parking lot to find the small waiting room empty and quiet. It made sense, this was a specialist office in the morning after all, but it didn't help that uneasy feeling she already had settling into the pit of her stomach. The walk to the receptionist stretches on with every step she took, the footsteps echoing on the tile.

"I'm here to see a Dr. Myrtle? 8 o'clock."

The receptionist hums in acknowledgement, typing a few things on the monitor in front of her before peering over it at her.

"Date of birth?"

"July 6th."

"Year?"

A pause. "1989."

"You're welcome to go have a seat, someone will be right with you." She says. As Casi turns to leave she stops her. "I'm sorry but you need to leave your pokeballs here behind the desk, ma'am."

"Oh, it's just the one. He's a support pokémon."

"No pokémon are allowed past this point. It's policy." She tacks on the last bit like she expects Casi to argue. Casi chews on the inside of her cheek for a moment before taking the pokeball off her waist and setting it on the counter.

"You can pick him up on your way out."

"Right. Thank you."

She finds her way to a seat, which at least the chairs here were plush and comfortable compared to the average cheap waiting room seat. Her leg bounces as she idly scrolls her phone. It's early enough in the day that the folks with jobs are busy and the folks without jobs are still sleeping in. Not much to distract herself with that she hasn't already seen. At least checking her phone meant she noticed the text from Lissie asking if she made the long drive to Canalave proper alright. She gives a quick response reassuring him.

"Casimir?"

Ah. Good timing. She shoves her phone back in her pocket and gets to her feet.

"Right this way."

Casi follows the nurse down the hall, passing by several offices with the doors open. She wonders how many people must work here as she tries to peek inside the rooms. Was this a lucrative line of work these days? Years ago she had heard of research into dreams as an alternative energy source, but that had fallen through when they were found to be too unstable to be utilized safely. Now it seems the work has pivoted. She wonders if all that unstable energy is now going to be focused into her brain.

"Just through this door."

The nurse did not open the door for her, instead turning on her heel and retracing their steps back down the hall. Interesting.

The door was heavier than Casi expected it to be, the latch making a metal clunking noise that felt deafeningly loud in the moment. This time the room was much darker than the bright whining fluorescent light bulbs of the hall, which in Casi's mind was at least an improvement. The only light was instead emanating from a projector at the back of the room, casting a sunset sky against the wall. There's a white noise machine somewhere in the room, those little speakers they set on the floor to help dampen conversations no doubt tucked into some corner out of sight. The door clicks closed behind her and leaves her with the sound of the wind billowing the clouds.

"Good morning, Mx. Ginkgo!" A cheerful voice behind the light of the projector speaks up, startling Casi as she turns to try and get a look.

"Oh, Dr. Myrtle! I didn't realize anyone else was in here!" She blinks a few times at the harsh light now aimed at her eyes before opting to shield her face with her hand. "Good morning to you as well. Is the projector really necessary?"

"I've found it helps patients feel more at ease their first time here. This isn't the room where the dream study will be taking place, but it is where we start and finish each session."

"It might set me more at ease if you weren't hiding in the shadows and instead greeted me when I walked in the door." The doctor shrugs in lieu of a response before taking a seat, gesturing for Casi to sit as well. He does, arms crossed and visibly displeased with how things things are already going. White spots still cloud his vision as he adjusts to the darkness.

"I take it your usual therapist went over what we will be doing here?" "Yes, she has." Casi responds rather flatly. "The broad strokes anyway. This therapy is meant to push past any mental blocks I may have that prevents me from working through my trauma."

"Right. We will have a preliminary session here of the two of us talking and then you'll lay in the next room while we induce a dream state. At which point we will collect our data and watch it back for the remainder of the session."

"I have to lay in there for an entire sleep cycle?"

"The induced dream state will speed up that process, but the dreams we will be looking at will only last a couple of minutes as a result—it shouldn't take too long." Myrtle attempts to reassure her. "The preliminary session is also short, just long enough to push certain subjects to the surface of your subconscious, which allows for the dream mist to do what it does."

Casi blinks a few times. Is this something she really wants to be doing? This might be her only opportunity to raise some sort of objection to a therapist poking around in her subconscious. "Will we be doing that today…?"

"No of course not! Today is just a session for us to get to know each other. If you don't mind, I'd like to start with why you've decided to come here in the first place."

"Well my therapist recommended it… I have nightmares frequently. Reoccurring ones. And she said she thought this might help."