042. Perfection

As Sophia continues to learn her Dreamcraft, Braum has several difficult conversations.

## Perfection

### Play of the Game:

Kate as Patches, for "Mama Patches"ANDScott as Braum, for facing the consequences of giving up responsibility.

***"It was the one and only time I played a board game to perfection… and I was just lucky."***

As her first lesson from the master Oneiromancer, Sophia enters Ramzia's dream. She finds herself on a beach, looking out over an ocean with twin suns hanging above it, and a gentle breeze blowing in. Across the ocean Sophia can see Ramzia and Kay swinging on a swingset in a playground and suddenly, the ocean shrinks in size to allow the sidhe to walk across it. Dream-Ramzia explains to Sophia that her mind is a sort of playground where she can feel free to add to it, as all who enter it do. When asked what it is she wants to accomplish, Sophia is firm in stating that she no longer wants to be "damage control", and wants to be powerful enough to "bring the perfection of the Dream out there".

While Patches and the Duke Granville share an honest and intimate moment together, Braum writes a formal letter to Lord MacAllistar about reinvigorating the Red Branch, and urging him to speed up the process of getting an audience with the High King David. Braum asks Patches for help in searching for employment so that he can continue to help support his family, and approaches Zistor to help him find a creative, effective way to get his letter to the Kingdom of Apples. Zistor testily agrees before taking a chainsaw to Kyoko's bedroom door, forcing her awake; it would seem this was an old prank of his, a sign that he's back to his usual self.

As Sophia leaves Ramzia's dreamscape, a knock on the door surprises her. It turns out that Incisor, still relatively smitten from their night together, has shown up with some breakfast donuts. Sophia quickly takes charge of the situation and smooths it over with the redcap, telling her upfront that Ramzia is training her in Oneiromancy, and not to worry about any naked people in her bed for the time being. After Incisor leaves, Ramzia tells Sophia that her love of perfection is one of the hallmarks of a member of the Crystal Circle, exciting the sidhe.

When the motley is reunited in the Exhaust, Braum gets a call: Lauren is calling him from his old apartment, the one he used to share with his wife Claire… and the place where Kay revealed his wife's infidelity, all those years ago. Patches, Sophia, and Ramzia immediately offer to come along with Braum to help extract Lauren, and on the way, Braum shamefully admits to having asked about dampening Lauren's remembrance for her own sake. Entering the apartment, he finds an ecstatic Lauren racing around, taking in the locations from her memories of Kay's life. Braum tries to slow her down, telling her that a Kithain's actions do have an impact on mortal lives, but Lauren is having none of it. In the interest of time, Braum is forced to stomp on Lauren's dreams, telling her that they must never indulge any of her previous life's whims again, and a teary Lauren, weighed down with Banality, runs out of the apartment.

Braum steps out into the hallway and is surprised by his wife, Claire, coming home! He tries to lie to her, but she sees right through him, and he's forced to tell *most* of the truth: a friend's niece has seemingly become obsessed with him, and he was worried she might have found a way to break into their old home. Claire is upset, but tells Braum to "just handle it" while walking towards her home. Braum notices that she is carrying a camera bag, and she tells him that she's taken up photography as a new hobby. Braum is somewhat saddened to realize how far he's drifted away from his wife in recent years.

Sophia spots Lauren running out onto the street, and cuts her off with Ramzia, insisting that she return with them. Lauren is fed up being bossed around, and admits that she's upset that no one can tell her "what to do with Kay in my head". Lauren is disappointed in herself, knowing that she'll "never do the things she did", which is the final straw for Sophia. In order to move on and make her own stories and legends, she tells Lauren, it's important that she finally comes to terms with her aunt's memory, and offers to take the selkie into Braum's dreams to meet her.

Back at the Spark, Patches gets a phone call from the Tailor, who asks to meet her in three days' time in Quebec City, as events at the court are getting dire. Patches agrees, knowing that while she may not be the best person to take on court intrigue, she can at least make sure that no one else is harmed by the Duchess Eloyse.

That night, Sophia continues her training by dreamwalking into Ramzia's mind again, finding the same tiny, endless ocean. Despite the call of an amusement park across the water, Sophia walks the other way, out towards the moon. She senses someone else's presence beneath the waves, but is unable to make them out. Returning to Ramzia, the fox pooka agrees that there is another living in her dreams, and her hair suddenly changes to a shocking white….