Chapter Text
Scene: A whimsical, brightly lit table full of buttons and levers is situated at the centre of shelves of dark spherical memories, completing the shape of Riley Clarence’s mind. Bliss, a Sentiment of unbounded enthusiasm and optimism, stands before the very barrier separating reality from imagination. The audience remarks her odd gait and murmurs amongst themselves.
Bliss: Ladies, gentlemen, and esteemed guests of all ages! We are about to embark on an adventure unlike any other, that will weave a tale through the location beholding the greatest mystique of them all: the human mind!
(Audience applauds, some becoming pensive)
Bliss: Since the dawn of Darwinian evolution, creatures have become more and more intelligent and capable of feeling a diverse range of sentiments. Before you is the culmination of this process: a mind that, even at the age of thirteen, is full of intricate detail and enigmatic wonder!
(Audience has no idea what Bliss is even yapping about at this point)
Bliss: As an AI language model, I cannot make any definite pronouncements about psychology that are affirmed by the scientific community. You are always welcome to follow peer-reviewed literature in established journals, however! Your educational institution may be able to grant you access!
(Audience, predictably for a collective of people united only by the ability to be scammed by AI-generated marketing, does not include a single college student)
Bliss: And grant you access, I will, to a place where reality meets imagination, the impossible becomes possible, and a human being becomes an entire world in and of herself!
(Audience members look each other in the eyes, for within each and every one of them is a world just like the one Bliss is showing)
Bliss: I see we’ve realised what we are exploring! However, do we all have the necessary equipment? Did everyone bring copious amounts of imagination?
(Audience members raise their hands)
Bliss: Excellent! And did everyone bring the latest copy of the Mind Textbook to be able to guide them through the unusual situations?
(Audience members look at each other, wondering what a Mind Textbook even is)
Bliss: I’m sorry, that was a trick question! All editions of the Mind Textbooks are available right here, in the back of the Control Centre, for your own reading pleasure! And I know just the Sentiment who likes to curl up with a good book.
(Audience members lean on each other, feeling the romance in the air)
Bliss: Ah! Of course! The other Sentiments! You didn’t think that I was the only one running Riley all by myself, now, did you? We must introduce them, post haste! But not before one very important task!
(Audience members realise that the background music has stopped — not intentionally, mind you, but because the hand-me-down stereo has finally broken down)
Bliss: It is awfully quiet, now, isn’t it? That’s because you happened to visit Riley while she was still asleep. Normally, the mind is a much brighter place than this! But luckily, I myself am a guiding light, both figurative and literal, through the wondrous world of the human psyche!
(An audience member reaches out to Bliss, realising that she is glowing a brilliant golden light, somehow, despite the £1 budget of the production)
Bliss: That being said, there wouldn’t be much to guide you through if Riley remained asleep, now, would there? So! Who’s ready to wake Riley up?
(Some audience members raise their hands)
Bliss: Alright, repeat after me! Three, two, one…
(Audience prepares to repeat after Bliss)
Bliss: Rise and shine, Riley! Rise and shine through another day!
Scene ends as a magnificent Perception Screen behind the audience lights up in a brilliant, blinding light marking the boundary between night and day.