Andie stepped out of the bunker she had been “trapped” in, having managed to open the door through the complex process of examining the door, observing the bright, curved, yellow arrow, and pulling the door handle in the direction indicated - as opposed to blindly pulling it in the opposite direction, like she had been for the past minute or so. Truly, it was amazing the revolutionary ideas Andie came up with when she actually slowed down and thought things through.
Sometimes Andie wondered why everyone thought she was so smart.
“Because I solve problems no one else can.” Thoughts only half belonging to Andie ran through her head. “Who cares about the mundane things anyone can do? Mundane problems are for mundane people.” It had been a while since Andie had heard from her shadow. If she was lucky it would also be a while before she heard from it again. “Ohhh… I see. Ignoring me, are we? Great plan.” A quiet, dissatisfied feeling settled in the back of Andie’s mind. She ignored it. “Hey, while we’re having a look around - see if you can find your sense of pattern recognition and your gratitude. I think you dropped them.”
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Andie shook her head and made a conscious effort to stop thinking about her shadow’s words. She could let the thing pick fights later, she needed to check up on Dyllan right now. Or at least, as soon as possible - which wasn’t as soon as she’d hoped. A solid minute of searching and she only found Cedric, who was sitting on the edge of one of the outermost platforms.
“Hey, have you seen Dyllan? Is he okay?” It was nice to know that Cedric was doing fine, but he wasn’t her main worry right now. “I mean, it’s pretty clear that he’s doing better… but…”
“But he’s our friend, and after everything that’s happened -” Cedric turned toward Andie, and gave his best reassuring smile. “- you can’t help but worry.”
“Yeah.”
“He’s fine, just a little deeper down.” Cedric paused when he saw Andie’s eyes widen, and he cut her off when she half finished a gesture off the edge of the mindscape. “No, not… physically, for lack of a better word. I meant he’s dreaming, not dreamwalking.” Cedric let out a subtle, barely noticeable sigh. “He said he felt emotionally ‘how he did physically after a mile long run.’ In other words, good - but exhausted. Way I see it, he just needs to let his brain defrag a little.”