#techno is familiar to dream and that in and of itself is a huge comfort

[cdroloisms]

Any Thoughts on c!techno comforting c!dream in prison for JMAH?

YES.

Unfortunately, we don't really have a roommates arc in JMAH - there's some of it in the prison podcast plus spinoff, but there's still good old Sam in that one, LMAO. Still, jmah!Techno is ,, very much trying his best.

Honestly, he's in a tough spot. He's very much caught off guard by most of what's happening in the cell, and any attempts to reach out towards jmah!Dream are even more complicated than in canon bc of the element that is jmah!Sam being a jerk in the room. Obviously, though, he's going to do what he can.

Just as in canon, most of what Techno does is just,, treating Dream like he's human. In some ways, this is even more of a Thing w/ jmah!Dream than in canon, because so much of what Sam targeted specifically was his agency, his ability to think for himself. Jmah!Sam hated when he was Thinking, even when he was thinking about ways to please him, because Thinking meant Plotting and Plotting meant Manipulating etc etc etc. He'd never been truly convinced of how affected Dream was, but also really wanted to believe he'd broken him - it's a vicious kind of cycle, where he'd break Dream down to prove his control to himself and then get paranoid about whether or not Dream was faking his submission to get him to stop, etc.

All in all, Sam hated any evidence of Dream's humanity - whether that be in his attitude or his autonomy or any thought or feeling or action that wasn't under Sam's control. On the other hand, Techno is trying his best to encourage Dream in the opposite direction - telling jokes to make him laugh, playing off of his comments - as tense and infrequent as they may be. Offering him things, encouraging him to just like, talk, have a conversation, etc.

It's...hard. Sam is in the room, and any camaraderie between the two obviously annoys him - and he's got not shortage of ideas when it comes to things he can say to affect Dream - whether to make him quiet or back down or flush in shame or shut down completely. And with Techno, there's always that necessity to not voice questions too much like an interrogation, suggestions like a command. But he's trying, and it helps.