2024-06-10 - Shadow Puppet Fables

The first thing Patchwork understood of Mother's trance-state was a sense of disorientation. There wasn't enough to the substance of what Patchwork was to understand dreaming and how it was different to wakefulness, but that wasn't what bothered Patchwork.

In the egg Patchwork had a fully formed ability to sense movement and some awareness of the placement of muscle and of meat. Vision, hearing, smell, and even the full range of touch; senses that Patchwork couldn't yet understand because those places in Patchwork's brain that would allow for understanding didn't yet exist.

At first all Patchwork understood of Mother's trance-state was that the sensation of movement didn't align with how still Patchwork's body was within the shell was. When Patchwork tried to imitate the movements it felt worse, somehow more disorienting. So instead Patchwork held still and tried to pull away from dream that Mother was sharing – hiding miserably away.

But the little network of nerves and neurons that made up Patchwork expanded in a slow and steady creep, enough so that the next time Mother had her dream Patchwork could experience a little more, too.

The feeling of muscles flexing and moving dry air over hide that had only ever felt the warm weight of thick fluid. Patchwork didn't have fully functional eyes just yet, so all Patchwork could decipher through Mother's eyes was the presence of light and shadow – but Patchwork knew there was something more there. Flickers of sensation and something impossibly beautiful.

Patchwork was unsatisfied and frustrated when Mother left the strange trance-state, and tried to make that annoyance known even while clamoring for her attention.