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Fragile

Reality is given to us in our perception.

The world outside of our bodies may as well not be real and we'll never know because everything we feel is filtered through our senses.

The illusory nature of our existence is most evident with humans. We build models of them in our minds, puppets we assign traits and behavioral patterns based on our observations of them. But those models are always imperfect, something is always missing because we can never know other people the way we know ourselves. They always find ways to surprise us, to reveal traits we couldn't expect.

"You have no idea how to deal with people! All you can do is tear them apart!"

In the end, they all betray our expectations, revealing the mental models we build as fakes. Unless they die before they could do that, their images becoming more and more fake with time as memories shift each time we recall them, subtle changes occurring to simplify the models.

"I know more about her just by looking than you would after spending years in her company!"

There is, therefore, should be no difference between reality and imagination. Both merely add something to our mental worlds.

And yet the difference is evident. Reality that originates outside of our minds is more compelling. Or perhaps I should say it is more intrusive. It is hard to deny, and if the images conjured by our minds contradict it, they get crushed.

"Oh yeah? I take it getting people bitten by dogs is your idea of a warm welcome then?"

Or at least it was until the images in my mind became stronger than reality outside.

I looked around. Once, the room around me was a bar. I thought I remembered that. Now, it was a chapel with a bronze statue of me standing behind the altar which served as a battlefield between two women. One was a girl around my age, blonde and wearing a domino mask. Another was older and wore her hair in a tail with barely visible barbed wire in it. Both held five cards each, careful not to show them to the opponent. A pile of chips with my image on them was placed between them.

"It was a misunderstanding!" said the girl. "One that won't be repeated. Besides, it's not like you have a flawless record with team management judging by those marks on your neck."

"That's different! That was done with good intentions, and it's not something she would need to worry about."

The two glared at each other.

Did I conjure them from my mind? Did they originate outside of it? It didn't matter anymore.

"I noticed her first, I know about her and her powers more than you, and I can arrange a place for her to practice safely!" said the girl.

"And I have connections to actual psychiatrists rather than smug Thinkers not half as smart as they think they are!"

"Do I have a say in the matter?" I asked, curious.

"No!" they said in unison.

I nodded.

All things considered, my life was a pleasant dream.