View difference between Paste ID: 6GBwAMRM and kkWEdxwY

-BEGIN: -------   B   -------
+BEGIN: ------- VII -------
 
-A rough awakening. A rough day, really. I had not slept well in a while and I was beginning to think I'd be able to enjoy my sleep. I was wrong. Even as I fell asleep, back-first into the bed, I could not help but notice how strange it all was. Too soft. The beds in the medical engineering bay were always rough. Harsh.
+I had never had ice cream before. I had no idea what it was, until Sarla explained it to me. Apparently it is frozen milk, mixed with various flavors? I suppose I can imagine how flavored frozen milk would taste, but the truth seemed to be entirely different. Ice cream was a very different thing from mere 'flavored frozen milk'.
 
-I had barely slept at all. I kept waking up from this strange dream.. It was me, in the middle of a large, black space with a faint green tint in the distance. The ground is reflective, and I think its glass for a bit. It is right after that the ground ripples like *water* instead and I recoil in fear. Obviously you'd be afraid of drowning. But there is solid ground underneath my feet. There is no  risk of falling in...
+I took up another spoonful. I suppose I was tempted to go for the cherry flavor, given my main color. It's red. When I visited the mental collective, I could briefly perceive the source of the other ACWs voices as colors. Harana is pink, Sanara is blue and Alexandra is golden.
 
-I look at my reflection in the water, and it's...me, but I can tell there is something different. Only after I woke up I realized it was probably me as a human. I don't know why that did not occur to me in the dream... but it has to have been it.
+My color is apparently defined as red. When I recorded the Phasing ability, I could also feel a surge of power, and even with my eyes closed, everything appeared red. It was oddly comforting, even if red isn't regarded as a particularly 'calm' color.
 
-  Perhaps...
+I looked out the window next. The Ice Palace was apparently a prominent ice cream maker and vendor. This place was full of rich people. To my left, there is a man in a massive coat, lined with shiny silver scales and a diamond monocle. To my right, the lady with her three kids is wearing a dress covered entirely in blue gems.
 
-Wait... You... You are there?
+"This place doesn't see a lot of service. If it did, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand. Having ice cream is seen as some form of social posturing, I suppose."
 
-  Indeed. And I can gaze upon your dreams too. For one, you made a note of the green tint. That is indeed my presence.
+Sarla probably figured out what I was thinking, which means I was looking at those people a bit too much. Uff. Be subtle, Lily! However, she also brought up something rather interesting. "Social posturing? What do you mean?"
 
-Your presence? Hmm... Actually I just now remembered...we may have a few things to discuss. Don't get me wrong, I am most grateful for your assistance. I would quite plainly not be alive right now without it. And even if I had survived that first situation,  I am sure I'd not be in such a comfortable position.
+"Well, it's more to show that you are capable of affording ice cream. It's a way to show off among the rich elites. Since they can't really show off their wealth in a larger or wider scale, like with owning massive mansions or transports, due to how compact space is and how constrained transportation regulations get, they have to make do with what they can.
 
-  It is not so comfortable though, is it? After all you find the bed odd. It is not made to house you... It houses weakness instead.
+Ordinary people will come here only on the rarest of occasion and that is if they can justify the exorbitant cost."
 
-Weakness...
+I blinked. "Wait.. this place is costly? Then how did you pay for it?! I thought we were saving the money for a trip out of here."-I knew that Sarla wouldn't have spent all that money without a reason. Indeed, she smirked confidently and pulled out two small strips of blue and white paper, with the Ice Palace logo up front.
 
-  Hmm...? Does something bother you? The Emernian nobles were weak. Stagnating. That is not to say they were undeserving or mercy, but
+"These are coupons for three medium sized cups, each person. I managed to get them from a trader in the Atoll, who was running low on water. He was willing to part with anything... well, giving him the water downright would have been the right choice, but Vorlan insisted we got something in return.
-  they were simply too fragile for the amount of power they held, were they not? That is evident..
+
 I just went with one of the things he could do without. A free ice cream seemed pretty inconsequential..."
-Well... Yes, I agree on all of those points, the thing is...Is that sort of strength really such a lofty ideal that it must always be pursued? One can be a perfectly fine person, while lacking that sort of strength...
+
 I heard Sarla recount that story, and I could see a
-  You seem to allude to different forms of strength. Interesting. I do not necessarily disagree, but I find the notion that this
+