"Who said anyone was living in a dream?" Fred turned to look at him. He was the one who brought this back on himself with that comment. "I've never lived in a dream. A drug induced haze not at all by my doing. Denial on so many levels, but not a dream." Fred took it a little personal; hey, she had her own reality issues, still.
"Then again, when things are just right, it's hard not to say it is real. Or when things are off the wall crazy, but after a while, the off the wall becomes old hat - to mix metaphors - and it becomes very real. There's a difference between running for your life in a dream, and running for it in the real world." She looked at him, but there was that definite mind working look on her face.
"Of course, the City is a construction, so then you have to figure out if it is real, or do you accept that it's real because you can't escape. It's real, don't get me wrong, but sometimes..it's crazy. Very very crazy." Fred focused on him again. "Oh, you probably didn't want to hear that, if you're new, but it is the truth."