Oh, let's give that a what (WHAT?)!

The hallway was back to 'normal' as you looked around. No fluorescent bulbs or changes. Just the walls and floors and doors of the Labyrinth. And, hand in hand with all of that? 'John Doe,' your id and guide and all the rest -- spruced up and in a slightly cheap suit and a pair of gradient sunglasses. "J! J the man! Wow! You are... I'm stunned. I am stunned. Tiffany is... she is lining up, and Shelly is amazing, and you got Bella dancing -- see what I did there? Little joke there? Bella-dancing? Too much? Not enough? Whatever. And now... are you... was that groundwork for your stepmom you were laying out in the waking world? Because I'm telling you. That is some mad respect I have for you, bra. Mad, mad--"

You grab 'yourself' by the lapels and drive him back into the back wall. "Shut up!" you snap. "What the Hell have you done to my life?"

"Whoa! Wha- whoa! Dude! What the Hell?"

"Tiffany is 'lining up?' Tiffany put herself in the hospital jilling off over me! Bella gave me a downright creepy speech about being 'on my side no matter what.' Shelly literally just fucked me raw! She could be pregnant right now!"

"...well, like... not right now probably. Those little guys are small. They need time to swim if they're gonna--"

"I want answers!" you snarl. "I've had it! I'm wrecking peoples' lives here!"

"Okay! Okay, guy! I'll do whatever I can! Man, I want what's best for you -- how can I not? I'm you!"

"So you keep saying. Where's your bucket?"

"My... what?" John looked confused.

"Your bucket. From maintenance? Calling me thick? This afternoon?"

John blinked a couple of times, slipping the glasses off his face. "Main... maintenance? Bucket? J-dogg... hey man, I don't know... I don't know what you're talking about."

You stare at your other self for a long moment.

God damn it, you think he might be telling the truth. He looked confused and a little scared.

"I fell asleep in the middle of the day," you said. "You met me here. You were dressed up like a janitor, and the lights were... I mean..." you tried to figure out how to describe it. It was weird. It was somehow easier to think before. Like you could see through the dream logic a little better during the day. "You told me that if I slept too much in the afternoon and didn't go out and get stuff done, I'd have sleep deprivation even though I was sleeping too much."

John looked confused again. "How does that even work?"

"You don't... remember any of this?"

"Dude. I... I don't work days. Or at all usually. I'm just sort of... I'm here when you get here, and otherwise I'm... I dunno. Potential? Or a closed book or... man, metaphors aren't my department! Honestly, creativity's more an Ego thing? I wanna say? That makes sense, right? I'm here to help you, that's all."

"And... you remember the things I don't?"

"I remember how things work here. I remember the things you figured out, and set up. Y'know? I told you about that. You spent a couple of weeks learning how to connect your brain here, and then you divided us all up into tasks and--"

"You said that. You said I figured it all up, and that I'm the ego and you're the id, and..." there'd been something you'd asked 'John' during the day. Something about his being the id? It was hazy now. It was... it was like Traci had said. There was this balance between awareness and lucidity -- lucidity being a dream thing, awareness being a conscious thing. Right now you were aware that you were in a dream, and you were able to act on that knowledge, but there was a fuzziness...

"Right. Yeah."

"So... what about other psychotopologists?"

"Psycho-whats?"

You took a deep breath. It hit you then. It hit you with a certainty like puberty hit you the day the hormones changed.

Other John was just as much of an idiot as you were. And clearly? There was some other 'you' involved. The guy on maintenance, who was willing to claim to be your id.

So. There was you. There was Other John -- the 'Bro.' Your id, who wanted to get you laid. And there was Maintenance John.

The dick.

Got it.

"Okay," Bro-John said. "You're upset. Things are getting confused. I get that. I'm upset too. I want these things to go well because I want... well you know what I want. But that's okay. That's... this is actually a crucial stage in the harem building process. You anticipated this when you set all this up."

"Wait -- I did?"

"The girls you were collecting beginning to go off the rails a bit? Yeah. I mean, you're hypnotizing them in their dreams. That has impact. And it's getting confusing because you're trying to keep them all happy and not jealous. That all makes sense. The next step is to bring them together. Get them working together. Get them working for you and not at cross purposes. And that's pretty easy, actually."

"Maybe it's easy, but there's other stuff I have to do, first," you said.

"Wha-- what do you have to do first?"

"...I told you. Tiffany ended up in the hospital."

"...oh. Shit. Yeah." He looked down. "Man, no one wants that. She's..."

"She's what? I've asked you before, but... do you remember anything about the two of us being friends during middle school? Because I'm clearly missing something major."

John looked around, then shook his head. "I remember you -- me -- whoever having the hots for her that first day when she walked in and was the hottest thing in school, and I remember Zeke kinda swooping in and they were together and we weren't and... you know. That sucks. Because he's a dick to her. I mean, okay. I wanna fuck her. I want you to fuck her. But more than that? I want Zeke to get fuck-all and fuck-off."

"Kind of with you there," you muttered. "Okay. Then... I need to get information." You remembered Traci -- and how she manipulated her environment. She said you had technique without knowing it. And you'd already begun doing that, too. All right. It was time to use that. It was time to get some answers.

"Right. I need to see Tiffany," you said. "Where's her door?"

Bro-John pointed. "Right there, guy."

"Cool."

"And... good luck. You... you seem to be helping her."

"I helped her into a hospital. I have to do better." So saying, you walked up to Tiffany's door, opened it smoothly, and walked in.