A video starts playing. A plucky Finn Der is stood in the middle of the screen.

“Greetings, brave muses. This is a training video I’ve produced for the Dream Vanguard to help instruct them on my awesome new contraption, the Concept De-Juicinator 3000!” Finn Der rolls in a large scorpio, a ballista-like weapon, but rather than an arrowhead on the tip of the bolt, there is what looks like a giant plug. From the end, a giant hosepipe flows around a coil before attaching to the machine the bow the contraption rests upon.

“With this very clever device, Concepts no longer need pose such a threat to Dream. Simply by cranking up the tension like this…” Finn Der begins to crank up the Scorpio. It takes a full minute to be ready, during which he is cranking in silence. “… and then you’re ready to go! Simply aim,” He points the weapon somewhere off camera, “and fire!”.

The bolt flies off into the distance. A yelp is heard from afar. “And that’s all. When the Concept De-Juicinator 3000 has hit a concept, all you have to do is push this button right here. Then it will begin to pump the juice out of the Concept, greatly weakening it. I advise that multiple of these devices should be used against a powerful Concept threatening Dream.”

“Thank you all for listening, I hope you now feel fully prepared in case the Big Bad shows up here again.” Finn Der gives a big thumbs-up and a cheesy grin.

At this month’s meeting of the Committe for Ethics and Guidelines in Dream and Spindle , the Officer for Ethical Juice Devices Finn Der unveiled his latest invention: a device for the transference of juice between two muses! No longer will muses need to fade if they decided not to take part in vignettes, for this device will simply allow another muse to transfer some excess Juice.

Currently the CEGDS will oversee the use of this device between consenting muses. There are plans to create a Juice-donation list of willing muses to donate Juice to those in desperate need in emergency situations. Finn Der released a statement on behalf of CEGDS:

“[The committee] hope this device will allow all muses to persue their true passions without the worry of Fading before their time is up. We implore all muses to sign up for own new register of Emergency Juice Donators so that we can ensure all muses have access to Juice when they most need it”.

— Article from the Interesting Times

There have been a lot of worrying things in the news recently about Jo's hospitalisation. You thought you'd gotten used to the idea of dying eventually, and you have had a good life, but it still feels like there's so mu—

The sensation is overwhelming, pure and uncaring, Transcendental. It's long familiar by now, but no easier to deal with. You can eventually open your eyes, but there's still only darkness. You try to move, and you can, but not far. You're on your back in a small box, in complete darkness, with the touch of Immortality seeping in again as your Juice begins to seep out. What happened? Did you die? Well, not quite. How? Did Jo die? Is that it? You try to shuffle around to get better leverage to open the coffin, but you can't even move that much.

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You're still here.

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You heave and shout. It doesn't help. You're drying out.

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You're still here.

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