The Core of your Being

This is the core of your mind - the one chunk of it that you don't fully understand. The infrastructure here regulates a lot of things you don't actively think about, which frees up a lot of time and energy to think about other stuff.

Check out that chunk of color in your center?

In the center of your core rests your heart. You like to think you understand it, but you don't think you could list every single way it governs you.

Try to commandeer your heart?

You wrap your hands around your heart and pull as hard as you can. It comes out alarmingly easily, its form morphing in your grasp like a figure through the water's surface. It's a lot more malleable than you expected, and radiates warmth from its center.

You got: your heart.

Examine the impression left in the center?

You figured there would be something unsightly and vulnerable once you displaced an aspect as vital as your heart. You consider wedging it back into the groove where it once lay, but it doesn't seem like it will fit into its former place.

Your regulator should be around here somewhere...

What's that glowing spire?

This luminous structure stood stalwart in your favorite patch of brain coral, always there to greet you while you were transitioning. You were fascinated with it when you first acquired your curiosity for land culture, and while you eventually lost interest in it in favor of other structures, it managed to cement yourself in your mind as a constant. Maybe you should visit it again soon, once you wake back up.

Maybe on a better day, you'd enjoy reminiscing about the monolith. As it stands, its presence provides no comfort to you at the moment. Stupid fucking boring thing. Could've at least had a little molding. Is an awning and a frieze too much to ask of the seminal piece of architecture to your fascination? Wretched eyesore that it is, you feel a little nauseous even considering visiting it again.

This is your biorhythmic regulator. This doohickey regulates most of your biological functions, from your hunger to your respiration to how fast your scales grow. You're not sure of the specifics, but you do know better than to tamper with it, lest something go terribly wrong.

Hm. There's something strange blocking the section of your regulator that controls when you sleep and wake. It resembles some sort of iron clamp, but you can tell it's composed of psychic energy. You wonder how this got here.

This is your biorhythmic regulator. This doohickey regulates most of your biological functions, from your hunger to your respiration to how fast your scales grow. You're not sure of the specifics, but you do know better than to tamper with it, lest something go terribly wrong.

The clamp is still tight on the biorhythmic regulator. You wonder if you're going to have to live the rest of your life asleep.

Use your heart to remove the clamp?

The clamp begins to vibrate as you bring your heart close, but your heart trembles and shies away from it. You can't will yourself to force it against the clamp. The thought of coming to is the furthest thing from your mind.

With Spinach's supports holding it steady, you can bring your heart up to the clamp without it threatening to slip through your grasp. Cold metal provides structure to protean passion, keeping it from straying as the clamp melts in its embrace. Slowly but surely, the clamp loses its angles, its structure, its edges and planes. Your feel an ache in your chest as you release yourself from oblivion.

Return back to the center?