u/artemisinagayway

I work at an upscale Italian restaurant and the other day we had a man come in through our side entrance and start wandering around the place. He was mumbling and hard to understand, but I was pretty sure he wanted a table so I guided him over to the host’s stand. She got him to a table and later on I found him wandering again. Eventually the manager had to come out and reseat him (he should’ve been 86’d but my manager is too nice for his own good).

He ordered a pizza, ate only the toppings with a fork and knife and wandered around some more. Eventually the manager found him, the man said he couldn’t pay and the manager let him go without ID or anything, which is honestly ridiculous in my opinion. He never came back of course. I’m pretty sure he was homeless and I knew he wouldn’t be paying from the moment he came in.

I’ve been able to lucid dream my entire life, and ever since I was maybe 12-13 and read His Dark Materials, my subconscious has appeared to me occasionally in the form of a talking cat (like a His Dark Materials dæmon). My dæmon cat follows me around, and sometimes talks to me. I usually don’t remember our conversations, but one of the first times she spoke to me, she told me she was an aspect of my subconscious and that I’m trans (which I didn’t know at the time). She honestly changed my life with that realization.

I can also use this cat as a way of controlling my dreams. If I’m alone, I just say out loud “if I’m dreaming x will happen” to conjure things in a dream, but if the cat is there, I can tell her anything I want and she’ll make it happen. Usually when I conjure things myself, the result is overly literal, but when I’m speaking with my subconscious, the result is more of what I actually want.