This was one case where he would have loved a simple answer. A simple answer to a complicated problem. Sure, it might've sucked to have been told something like, 'Sorry, you're just crazy, deal with it.' At least closure would have come from accepting that and moving on. But now there was conflict, two opinions, confirming at least that neither of them had ever heard of this happening before. Which also sucked. Yeah, David did kind of want to yell into the pillow.
But he didn't. If he let any of what was brewing inside go, shutting it down would be difficult. Better to just... take this all in strides. Baby steps.
"I wish I knew what to think," he said with a sigh. "My 'rational mind' told me that my power made it happen, at least with him. Some kind of self-preservation, I guess." But if that was what was happening with all the others? David wondered if that was pointing to even bigger problems. Melanie's methods might help stop more from developing, but he had a fear that the personas in his head already were there to stay. "I'd love to be in one piece one day, but I'm not optimistic." That was generally how he was feeling. A blend of both -- Oliver's permanency mixed with Melanie's thoughts to stop it from getting worse. Maybe.
God. Complicated. So complicated.
Better to hear about Syd's own day, which if it was good? David was cool with. He could do the vicarious thing. Certainly sympathetic about the dislike of being poked (David didn't like being studied at all, and yet...), he listened to the rest happily from where he lay, looking up at her as she spoke. More lightsaber testing, fair enough -- he knew now to expect more calls to charge said lightsaber so his girlfriend could keep being a badass. The thought of her being a badass in Rudy form though, that had him grinning. "You'll finally be taller than me." That was his helpful commentary on that score. Rudy was at least two inches taller!
As for Ptonomy, well. "It's only a matter of time before he connects his brain pictures of how everything looked before and after to us." With a memory like that, the kind David really, really wouldn't want, it really was a mere countdown. "What'll kill him is how." And there was the true comedy of it!
"When were you thinking of tracking Rudy down?" David's eyes wandered as he scanned the various buildings of Summerland. "Looks like almost everyone's making their way to Melanie's office right now." Cary was the farthest away, but even he seemed to be en route.