DwE: Multiplicity

DwE: Multiplicity is a short story set in the Elsaverse. It was released on August 2, 2017, in HTML format as a Patreon perk for Tora Productions' donors. The public release didn't come until March 28, 2020, and then it was officially ported to Ren'Py in 2021 to be included in the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 bundle released on August 5, 2021. This title is a special case within the Elsaverse's short stories, as it is a mix between text and visual story: it has a lengthy introduction with no images, then a pictured sex scene, and finally an ending segment that is again purely text-based. The story takes place an undetermined time after the game Dreaming with Elsa (2015), and also after the stories DwE: Learning to Fly (2016) and DwE: Dreaming with the Dead (2016), depicting a crucial moment in Jason's still young relationship with Elsa in which she tries to reassure him about her love.

Plot
DwE: Multiplicity starts with a text-only intro in which the reader follows Jason as he comes into Elsa's apartment for a dinner date. He's late, as things at work are difficult those days, and tells Elsa about the argument he has just had with his boss, and how he wasn't able to reply and stand up for himself as any "real man" should. Elsa tries to comfort him and make him realize that being able to avoid unnecessary conflicts is actually a good trait, and says that she loves him. This triggers Jason's insecurities, as he's not sure what she finds in him, especially now that she is way less insecure than she was back when they first met, and could easily find a better guy than him. To reassure him, Elsa lists all the things he has done for her, remarking how amazing he is for being always there for her and not being jealous of Elsa's newly found dream control powers.

After having dinner, Jason sees the "Morpheus" and asks Elsa about it. She explains that she's still reading it and discovering new areas, as learning some spells seems to open access to understanding and learning others. Jason mentions that, although the book is written in their language, he couldn't understand a thing when he tried to read it, and Elsa tells him that this copy is a translation from an unknown language. She also says that the book describes events that never took place in the real world as if they actually did, and uses as an example the story of a great general that could lead three simultaneous battles thanks to a Dream Master creating two facsimiles of him and sending one to each battle. That lights a spark in her imagination as, according to the "Morpheus", the general was able to sense all that their extra duplicates were perceiving in their battlegrounds, and Elsa suggests to Jason try something similar, but in a more pleasurable context. He agrees, and that's when the story format changes and becomes visual.

Jason's vision blurs, and the story goes back to text-only format. He has just collapsed and his heart has stopped for a moment, but Elsa has been able to recover him by performing CPR. Crying, she apologizes for almost killing him, but he feels OK and thanks her for the sex but especially for the love message that the dream implied. Then both cuddle and start to make plans for future sessions, and now Jason seems to accept Elsa saying "I love you".

Miscellaneous

 * Despite DwE: Multiplicity being the seventh short story to be released in chronological order, it was actually one of the first two stories imagined by Tlaero to expand on Elsa and Jason's relationship after Dreaming with Elsa.


 * The story was released before the game Saving Chloe (2018) to give some context to the game's bonus scene, showing Elsa's ability to create facsimiles of real people and to make the originals feel all that their copies are feeling.


 * During the intro, Jason says that his boss is named Andrew (back in DwE, he had a boss named Brenda) and that Conner has been fired.