There are a hundred little paths that nobody else sees, but you do. There are a thousand little voices that nobody else hears, but you do. Sometimes you walk on paths that aren't there. Sometimes you talk to things that aren't there. Sometimes you don't notice. Sometimes others do. Gates is an unstable magic. It's dangerous to even know these things exist.
Playfulness and Pure Luck increase in this state (2 points each) but being out of sync with reality costs you Awareness and Perception (-2 each) and raises your Stress Minimum by a point. If you aren't willing to abandon your studies, four points of Stress, Dispassion, or Espionage can all provide paths back to normality... Or at least to a pretense thereof.