003 (Video) ; I'm a word that no one ever wants to say...

[andblockbuster]

 [Hello, Tranquility. Here's Topher, recently exorcised and looking... Well, let's be real here. Topher looks like he got hit by a truck. His hair's messier than usual, he's ashen-faced, and there's a bandage around his left hand, which you can only just barely see because his hands are tucked tightly under his arms, like he's trying to pull himself into the smallest possible space.]

Is it over yet?

[He swallows.] ...Are they gone?

[For a moment, he looks like he might say something else, but there's just a long silence where nothing happens and he flips the communicator off with an aggravated and exhausted sigh. This has not been the best few weeks of his life and he's had a lot of terrible few weeks.]

Comments

[andblockbuster]

[Fact: No matter how traumatized he is, Topher can still be a dick.]

Only a little bit in shock.

Willing to forgo the blankets in exchange for enough pillows to make a fort. How many couches are there on the ship?

TB

[Although it is... Kinda not as factitious as it sounds. He would totally build a pillow fort and ring it with salt.]

oh gosh, I'm thinking of the pillow fort city in Community now.

[consulting]

I could send you an approximation.

Sorry, Fort?

SH

[ What are pillow forts. I have deleted it. ]

FFF. Clearly that is what the Tranquility needs.

[andblockbuster]

You've never built a pillow fort? Ever?

Your life sounds so meaningless and sad.

TB

[consulting]

No. Sorry. What purpose do they serve?
How do they remedy shock?
You've lost me.

SH

[andblockbuster]

How does a blanket remedy shock? It's a comfort object. Sure, it has its physical uses, but for a fully cognizant person being wrapped in a blanket is something hardwired into their brain since they were tiny as safe. So, conversely, any childlike flight of fancy means instant comfort, because it takes your brain back to a time when you believed if you just hid under the covers, nothing bad could ever get you.

Basic psychology.

TB

[consulting]

[ PSYCHOLOGY TALK. HI TOPHER. BE HIS FRAND. ]

Ah. See. I may have a skewed perception of comfort objects.
Comfortability is rarely resolution to problems, therefore a variable that can
mostly be deleted. People are best under pressure. Tension results them to be
more aware of things like surroundings and details.

That theory explains why one would need one blanket.
Not a fort of them.

SH

[andblockbuster]

[This is only the BEST TOPIC EVER.]

Because more may be less, but it does trick the brain into thinking it's better than just one of something. Why grab handfuls of sugar packets when you know you'll only need a few? It's the reassurance of knowing you have them if you need them and anyone can see that nothing gives humans more warm fuzzies than knowing they have an excess of something and aren't gonna be wanting. A pillow fort's just a constructive use of the surplus.

TB