Mental Wonderland (Part 2)



Mental Wonderland (Part 2) is the thirty-fourth episode of Tales of Dikuda. It is also the tenth episode of the third season. Additionally it is the second part of a four part series based on the old, original concept of Mental Wonderland.

Summary
Following a complete mental breakdown, Gwady has to face the consequences of her past actions, which lead to her undertaking a long journey through her own mind, trying to complete 180 deeds in order to achieve peace and quiet inside her head.

Episode in Detail


Again Gwady comes to, surrounded by white, having trouble remembering what happened last. She wonders how much time has passed and what is happening outside of her mind in Dikuda, like the guards or the police force. At this point it is revealed that Gwady is actually working on the same side, even if the police are not actually aware of it. Her train of thoughts is interrupted when she receives a sort of ping to catch her attention. Looking around, she finds Falehi to be the source, who is sitting nearby whilst meditating.

The two are joined by Yavei, who is currently dealing with issues outside of Gwady's mind. While the rat listens to her and Falehi talk, she picks up random bits and pieces of information, such as the Ar approaching and Yuw changing too slow. After Falehi leaves, Yavei and Gwady continue on their way of the rat solving the deeds. As they do so, Gwady asks what happened, as she struggles with keeping track and feels overwhelmed by what she spiritually learned. Yavei answers the question, explaining which deed they stopped at, and how the amount of energy Gwady received basically knocked her out, after which, like in the beginning, they once more created a white room for the rat to calm down.

Gwady then goes on to ask about the Ar, since she overheard the conversation. Yavei's reaction is rather neutral, which throws the rat off, prompting her to ask about Qu as well. Surprisingly enough Yavei reacts in a way that isn't actually an answer to the question, but more an instinctive reply. Instead of pursuing the topic, Yavei then ends it with the comment to talk about it later. Though Gwady isn't happy with the response, she accepts it and continues onward with the woman, walking through the blackness that once more covers everything.

The two reach a man, standing at a distance from his happy family and watching them, while crying. During Gwady's conversation with him, it becomes clear, that he is scared of his own thoughts of him hurting or even murdering his family - and at one point acting on them and actually doing it. Put on the spot by Gwady, he cannot commit to his thoughts. The rat leaves him with advice on how to deal with the thoughts and he rejoins his family, moving on.

Gwady and Yavei then make their way to the next deed, a girl that is utterly obsessed with a female star. After a long conversation, the rat makes the girl realise the wrong in senselessly worshipping someone, to a point of it taking over a life. Though the approach is direct and rough, it works and allows the girl to see the light and move on.

As the rat then turns her attention to Yavei, the woman is in the middle of a conversation, seemingly irritated at the interruption. Gwady afterwards asks her how long the whole endeavor through her mind will take, with the answer being "as long as it takes her." Frustrated with the answer from Yavei, she voices her disliking of the vagueness, after which she is told that her fear is speaking. Yavei arranges for the deeds to play out on her own, without having to stick around, and leaves to answer to the emergency call she had received.

After Yavei is gone, the rat notices voices and follows them, ending up with the next deed, two connected beings that are trying to overpower each other with their overwhelming emotions of anger and happiness respectively. Listening in on their conversation and afterwards intervening makes them realise to not act and react, or make promises under the influence of strong emotions. The two beings then move on.

With the deed done, she continues walking until she reaches the next one, a young girl excessively painting on canvas upon canvas. Gwady, having been taught about painting by Ryahno when she was younger, is confused about the approach the girl makes and initiates a conversation with her. As it appears, she is trying to paint as fast as possible to "get out the bad paintings" - something based on a saying that every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them that need to be drawn out to get rid of them.

When the girl mentions someone in her school, it triggers a faint memory in Gwady, who gets the confirmation that the girl went to the same Junior High School as her. The rat then joins the girl, explaining that the girl got the saying wrong and how her approach isn't actually correct either. The two spend some time painting together as Gwady explains the saying properly. When the girl finally moves on, she thanks Gwady, but addresses her with the name the rat still had during her time at the Junior High School: ShiaoChiao.

Meanwhile, in the world outside of Gwady's mind, Yavei is wandering through the forest to meet up with Bueh, who reacts to the name Pheybis during the interaction. It also comes to light, that Yavei is Qu - and now once more aware of the fact, knowing it to be true, instead of avoiding to deal with it.

Characters
The following characters appear in this episode (in order):


 * Gwadeweido
 * Sheenyai Yavei/The All-Seer
 * Liu Cha Ching (mentioned)
 * Tenyu Eesh Yuw (mentioned)
 * Loco Wish (mentioned)
 * Dahvius Falehi/The Ink Butterfly
 * Hwong YiFung (mentioned)
 * The Ar (mentioned)
 * Qu-Dilovos-Miluya
 * The Twisted
 * Kuraz Ryahno (mentioned)
 * Bueh
 * Pheybis

Trivia

 * Gwady wondering about the police force, along with the text that is following it, is a hint at how bad the corruption in Dikuda once was. The remainders of this state are further explained at the end of episode 36.


 * Even though words were used to express the pinging Gwady received from Falehi, it wasn't actually a word with an attached meaning, more a gesture to get the rat's attention and pull her from her thoughts.


 * This episode was the first time, that Gwady was directly connected to ShiaoChiao, the girl that committed suicide at the FungGao Junior High School, via name. Previously there were images that alluded to it, but neither was it stated in the text, nor was she called by that name.


 * Similarly it wasn't ever stated before, that Bueh is in fact aware that she is Pheybis.

Links

 * Official link to the post on tumblr.