Alexandeer's Touhou Headcanons: Wattpad Edition

Beyond Gensokyo

Psykers and Dream Fantasy Disease

For several years now, the youth of the Outside World have been manifesting strange abilities that can only be described as psychic powers, with approximately one in every 300 people between the ages of ten and twenty-five possessing some degree of psychic ability. These gifted individuals are known by many names, but I'm most partial to the term "psyker".

Approximately one in every ten known psykers suffers from a condition known as Dream Fantasy Disease, or DFD. This condition (canonically) causes the psyker to experience dreams that are somehow more "real" than normal dreams. Sounds harmless enough, right? Well, those of you who know enough about Touhou lore to understand the concept of "dream souls" will know exactly why this is a Very Bad Thing. But why is it recognised as a disease in the Outside World, where basically no-one has any reason to know what a dream soul is? Well, to start with, psychic abilities are very poorly understood, having only been acknowledged as a scientific phenomenon for a few years. For all the average scientist knows, unusually realistic dreams could be a sign that a psyker's powers are about to go haywire. In addition, DFD is most common in psykers who have little to no social interaction, leading psychologists to speculate if it may be linked to stress caused by failure to properly engage with others. For some, however, it is a blessing in disguise; almost all psykers suffer from night terrors, apart from those with DFD. For this reason, many psykers are very happy to be diagnosed with DFD, as it means they can finally get a decent night's sleep.

In addition to the aforementioned night terrors, many psykers suffer from "psychic nosebleeds" and the somewhat less common "psychic headaches". While these phenomena are poorly understood, they are believed to be caused by psykers overexerting their powers.

Characters

While psykers are often remarkable individuals in and of themselves, Sumireko in particular stands out for a number of reasons. While most psykers do not show any sign of psychic potential until puberty, Sumireko demonstrated a wide variety of psychic abilities almost from birth. In addition, her powers are far beyond the talents of any other known psyker; even half of the tricks she does in the fighting games would give anyone else a truly ferocious psychic nosebleed. Because of this, Sumi thinks very highly of herself (canon), but she has learned a great deal of humility since discovering Gensokyo and starting to actually interact with others.

Doremy was originally just a normal baku, a fairly common youkai, until one day she ate a particularly large and nutritious dream and became the most powerful of her kind to have ever lived. Because of the tremendous power this dream had given her, the gods appointed Doremy to the position of supreme ruler of the Dream World.

Since the Perfect Possession Incident, Sumireko and Doremy have remained friends, and perhaps something more...

Sumireko has a taste for energy drinks and once downed three 500ml cans every day for a week with no ill effects. She's started cutting down since developing DFD, but still frequently drinks enough to turn her pee bright green. She'd better enjoy it while she can; when I was her age, I could down half my weight in the stuff and not be bothered. Now I'm lucky if I can stomach two cans in a week.

Because Sumi sleeps so much during the day, she sometimes has a hard time getting to sleep at night. Normally she can deal with this on her own, but when it gets particularly bad, Doremy sometimes visits her to help her get sleepy. She's a good friend like that.

Doremy's clothes inexplicably smell faintly of chocolate sauce. They don't call her Doremy Sweet for nothing, after all.

Sumi has quite a few secret admirers at school, partially due to her fashion sense, partially due to the fact that psykers are seen as attractive among the youth of the Outside World.

A/N: DoreSumi ftw!