Do any of you have experience with false memories? Remembering what didn't happen, or throwbacks from a life you've never led. Something like that. In as much detail as you can, please.
Well… [She almost sounds disbelieving, but she can relate and has some sort of story.] I feel like I’ve met someone I have no memory of meeting. A boy named… Kohta.
I don’t know… I -- we were in love. I don’t understand i-it…
[Shiemi rubs her forehead, sighing.]
We’ve never met but I feel like I know him more than I know myself. I feel like these memories don’t belong to me. Does… that make any sense?
[It's an interesting account, though Ted would've been happier to
hear nothing at all. Even a small point in support that memories can false
was disquieting. Still, he sounds modestly cheery.]
A very definite feeling, if you got a name out of it. But yes, it's
sensible enough, or as much as one can expect for these sorts of
abstractions. Don't suppose you've any idea whose name these memories might
properly belong to?
Pffheh, doesn't sound like a problem! Better than going unrequited, eh?
Strangely I don't think that's just a rumor; I've heard several variations on the same thing. [Someone likes to browse the comms] Must be flattering for the universe to be so fond of you, it does double. Or perhaps it regrets making you and wants to try again?
To me it sounds like...something between prophecy and deja vu. I've got a good feeling you'll meet this Kohta someday. [Big believer in destiny, here.]
I hope it’s the first one, I would like to think I’m not a mistake…
[ or maybe she was made a mistake in this “relationship” she had with him? it was so confusing. ]
I wasn’t sure at all. I’m still not sure. The whole theory is so… weird. I feel like something happened and I… f-forgot him, you know? I hope I do meet him again one day.
Heh, well if you are, I doubt it's your fault. One of these days I'd like to meet the architects of our strange fates and wring the truth out of them.
Oh? It doesn't sound like forgetting; indeed, seems like that memory is getting clearer. Well, if you're like me, you don't much believe in vanity. There simply must be a purpose for it. In good time, of course. Sounds terribly interesting, all the same; you've almost got me jealous for similar intimations, however vague.
[It really did make him wonder. There was a lot that didn't add up in his life, and he was somewhat conscious of it, but he had no idea what it meant.]
What comes nearest to mind is reality refusing to corroborate the one within.
[Wait this is Bracken he's talking to]
Er...when the outside world doesn't quite fit up with your memories, rather. When the two become impossible to reconcile. Er, match. Then one or the other must be wrong, and it's common to take the world's side in that disagreement.
Or, if you could find whatever it was that gave the false memories to begin with, and get a...demonstration. That would prove it. Neither have happened to me personally, of course, just interested in theories.
[He paused thoughtfully. Should he really ask Ted about this? He'd kept it to himself for a long time, ready to just accept it and move on with his life. No one else seemed to question it.
Biting his lip for a moment, he glanced down.]
I... I wonder about th-things sometimes... B-Because...
[How to explain? He didn't have the fancy words Ted did, or a specific 'memory' that he was thinking of.]
Because... There's...Th-There aren't any TVs o-on my world. L-Like... I've never seen o-one. But I... I've always known wh-what one was?
Ah, so you knew about them prior to the world? The one you came from before Genessia, I mean. How queer; in that case, I'd say that that world must not have been your original one either. Which makes enough sense; it seemed a very strange ones, if you never had to perform even basic bodily functions.
[Yep, he'd snooped Bracken's posts on the place he hailed from. It was what disturbed him initially, after all, though he'll try and only mention the more innocent oddities, like never having to 'go'."]
M... Maybe... I don't remember much from b-before I woke up.
I-I could have been from the world th-that my friends were from. But... They could all go b-back, and I couldn't. A-At least... they used to be able to g-go back.
Hmm. For ease, let's say that Genessia is #3, your strange world of
convenience #2, and wherever your friends could go, possibly but not
necessarily the one that handed you your memories of a television, #1. Your
friends, did they have a name for #1? Did they tell you about it?
[That part he actually knew, and he nodded more confidently.]
Th-They said it was 'Earth'. They... They talked about it a lot. A-And, there was another world. O-One with aliens and s-spaceships... But, they came to the w-world I was on instead of th-that one.
Earth! That's where I come from too. And most other men you'll meet, I
presume. Goodness, seems to be the most important world in the universe, if
Genessia is a fair cross-sampling. Though I've never been to this
number 2; what's its name, anyway?
So, from this Earth they could freely visit #2, where you, I take it,
were...born? Or at least very familiar. Did you have parents on #2?
[it'd be pretty weird if he didn't have parents. Then again, it
wouldn't be the first time he'd met someone who was not so much born as
'made'; a test tube experiment, maybe.]
Hah, well most don't. Birth happens rather too early for memory, eh? But I
mean, nothing about how you were raised or siblings or anything like that?
What's your earliest memory?
[He thought back, as far as he could go and remember something distinctly, and tried to remember how long it had been. Unsurprisingly, he had really kept good records of time or anything.]
Wh-When I woke up... th... f-four years ago?
[With furrowed brows he was looking up as he thought and touching his fingers as if counting. He wasn't positive how long it had been.]
I-It was really scary. I... I didn't know where I was. Like, like when I showed up here.
Still, that's queer. Your earliest memories are in your late teens, then?
Strange. I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but I imagine your memories
of television must have come from some point before. In other words, I
believe "The World" is not your first. And yet, you have no earlier
memories, or memories of Earth?
[As if he wasn't already easily confused, this was certainly a subject that could get anyone twisted when they didn't have clear memories.]
I d-don't remember, exactly... L-Like, remember the ferris wheel in, in that other city? I-In that scary theme park. Th-There weren't any ferris wheels on m-my world, but, I feel like I've s-seen one before. But I don't... I don't remember where I've seen one. Just... It's, just a thing I knew.
I think... I can k-kind of picture Earth. But I don't remember ever b-being there. I tried to t-teleport, like everyone else, b-but...
[He winced at the memory, as if he could recall it too vividly.]
Huh. Meaning no insult to "The World", but it did seem a little too neat.
Too convenient to be properly real. [Ted didn't play videogames so
he lacked a good MMO metaphor here]. Yes, I'm sure of it: those
memories must point to an origin somewhere else. And yet you were bound to
The World in a way the others weren't...don't suppose you've any idea why?
[Though he paused, he didn't think that long. He'd wondered why he was different for a long time and never had an answer. He just shook his head.]
N-No... I, didn't feel any d-different. B-Besides...
[And that's where he faltered, glancing down, too embarrassed to really finish that thought. Instead he twisted it around a bit, trying to explain in a roundabout way.]
Ah, you felt simple. Suppose that's natural; one that could travel worlds
must become worldly. What an interesting mystery! Hell if I know how to
solve it.
[He sounded cheery enough anyway. It looked like it could have a
good answer, if a complete lack of leads wasn't in the way. He did notice
that Bracken wasn't so chipper.]
Bracken, is something the matter? We can talk of something else, if you
like.
[Of course, trying to explain that he was 'simple' was never fun for him. He preferred to try and ignore it as best as possible, but it was the only major difference that he could think of.
Forcing a smile, he tried to forget about it.]
I-I'm okay. Have... Have you been to l-lots of worlds?
Heh, just Earth and Genessia. I'm not sure if that's fortune or misfortune;
I've one friend who's been to four or five, poor thing. Goodness knows what
the universe wants with him. Or us, for that matter. I wonder what destiny
holds?
[Ted's sensitivity arrived a minute too late, as he rubbed his neck
and empathized.]
Truth be told I feel pretty simple myself. The world's got so many
mysteries and problems, and I can't quite think my way through any of them,
just yet.
[Perhaps it was disturbing to think about it deeply, but he'd lived with it for several years by now and learned to get by. He hesitantly smiled, then nodded.]
Wh-Wherever I'm from, I'm... I'm still me, a-anyway.
[That would have to be enough to satisfy him for now. Here, so far away from home, he definitely had no way to seek out the answers. But, some of the questions did make him curious.]
Yes, exactly right. Thankfully the mystery holds nothing hostage except the truth, no dire immediacies here!
[He's taken aback. Ted's not one for thinking about the past very much, though he's tempted by nostalgia]
"Aheh, very peculiar. I think; suppose wherever one grows up is normal to them. It's funny; I can't ever recall us agreeing on very much. My parents and I, that is. But we did live very happily together. Goodness, I can't think of my parents agreeing very much on things either. But they never got upset; it's a marvel they stay married, I suppose."
[That surprised him. Somehow, he never imagined that Ted's parents would be in disagreement with him. Ted's beliefs were so strong he just figured that where he was from that they must have been known as the truth.]
Wh-What kind of place was it? Was... Was it like Fayren?
[Ted would agree, though the truth is always hotly contested, so he had to become even hotter.]
"Oh, no, nothing so fantastic. Well...I mean, Earth is fantastic; wondrous things happen all the time there. But familiarity sometimes breeds contempt, or at least dullness, and I suppose we sometimes forget where we're living. It was more like Attleton than anything, though I suppose in a past age in another place, there were patches of fairyland, here and there."
[He's kind of glad Bracken doesn't, since despite its mundane nature, it seemed to have the highest murder rate per capita. It also had the Arena, making it a hub of violence too. Disturbing.]
"It's a peaceful enough spot, most of the time. There's also a lovely flower shop; best in the world, I think.
Haha, really? Oh, perhaps I dress the part. Or maybe I have fairy blood? That'd be something, eh?
Hmm, tough to...ah, do you mean Fayren, or Earth?"
And how! The white ones especially. Terra--oh, that's the proprietor--sold these lovely white roses, once. I wish they held forever, but I suppose some beauty is fleeting.
Oh, ah, hmmm...hard to compare such unlike places. I suppose I like fairyland--er, Fayren, better. Less deaths, for one, and dear friends of mine live there.
Ah, trying to tempt me with nostalgia, eh? [Ted's always a little conflicted when it comes to the past. He likes talking about it; his own and others. But he doesn't want people to get hung up and lose their forward motion.]
Heh, hard not to miss it. Earth wasn't nearly as exciting as this place, but then it was--or so I think--my birthplace. I owe it a great deal.
Mm...[Bracken just had to say the K-word, huh? It still disturbs him, that relationship. He hated that one so young and innocent as Bracken should be taken down a dark path. Thankfully, a welcome change of subject allows him to get off that track.]
Certainly! There's much to tell. Monarchs and monasteries and saints and Rome and...well, you get the idea. Whenever you'd like.
"Yes, in diverse times and places. King Arthur's my favorite, of course;
the stories surrounding that reign are very fine. Other governments too, of
course, with plenty of complicated names to name them. Earth's really too
old not to have had a little of everything. The hardest part may be
deciding which part to tell. I prefer the romantic ones."
He didn't know much about it, but he'd heard the name before. Somewhere. He murmured quietly to himself, wondering aloud, "Th-That isn't a storybook...?"
Still, after his time with Abel versus his time with another certain someone, he was a little curious about the romance part. "I-Is... Is it like a boring romance, or... or an exciting one?"
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no subject
I don’t know… I -- we were in love. I don’t understand i-it…
[Shiemi rubs her forehead, sighing.]
We’ve never met but I feel like I know him more than I know myself. I feel like these memories don’t belong to me. Does… that make any sense?
no subject
[It's an interesting account, though Ted would've been happier to hear nothing at all. Even a small point in support that memories can false was disquieting. Still, he sounds modestly cheery.]
A very definite feeling, if you got a name out of it. But yes, it's sensible enough, or as much as one can expect for these sorts of abstractions. Don't suppose you've any idea whose name these memories might properly belong to?
no subject
I heard a rumor that sometimes there are different versions of… you in like, um, multiple universes.
Maybe a different version of me…
I don’t know. What do you think?
no subject
Strangely I don't think that's just a rumor; I've heard several variations on the same thing. [Someone likes to browse the comms] Must be flattering for the universe to be so fond of you, it does double. Or perhaps it regrets making you and wants to try again?
To me it sounds like...something between prophecy and deja vu. I've got a good feeling you'll meet this Kohta someday. [Big believer in destiny, here.]
no subject
[ or maybe she was made a mistake in this “relationship” she had with him? it was so confusing. ]
I wasn’t sure at all. I’m still not sure. The whole theory is so… weird. I feel like something happened and I… f-forgot him, you know? I hope I do meet him again one day.
no subject
Oh? It doesn't sound like forgetting; indeed, seems like that memory is getting clearer. Well, if you're like me, you don't much believe in vanity. There simply must be a purpose for it. In good time, of course. Sounds terribly interesting, all the same; you've almost got me jealous for similar intimations, however vague.
[Video]
[It really did make him wonder. There was a lot that didn't add up in his life, and he was somewhat conscious of it, but he had no idea what it meant.]
Re: [Video]
[Wait this is Bracken he's talking to]
Er...when the outside world doesn't quite fit up with your memories, rather. When the two become impossible to reconcile. Er, match. Then one or the other must be wrong, and it's common to take the world's side in that disagreement.
Or, if you could find whatever it was that gave the false memories to begin with, and get a...demonstration. That would prove it. Neither have happened to me personally, of course, just interested in theories.
[Video]
Biting his lip for a moment, he glanced down.]
I... I wonder about th-things sometimes... B-Because...
[How to explain? He didn't have the fancy words Ted did, or a specific 'memory' that he was thinking of.]
Because... There's...Th-There aren't any TVs o-on my world. L-Like... I've never seen o-one. But I... I've always known wh-what one was?
Re: [Video]
[Yep, he'd snooped Bracken's posts on the place he hailed from. It was what disturbed him initially, after all, though he'll try and only mention the more innocent oddities, like never having to 'go'."]
[Video]
I-I could have been from the world th-that my friends were from. But... They could all go b-back, and I couldn't. A-At least... they used to be able to g-go back.
Re: [Video]
Hmm. For ease, let's say that Genessia is #3, your strange world of convenience #2, and wherever your friends could go, possibly but not necessarily the one that handed you your memories of a television, #1. Your friends, did they have a name for #1? Did they tell you about it?
[Video]
[That part he actually knew, and he nodded more confidently.]
Th-They said it was 'Earth'. They... They talked about it a lot. A-And, there was another world. O-One with aliens and s-spaceships... But, they came to the w-world I was on instead of th-that one.
Re: [Video]
Earth! That's where I come from too. And most other men you'll meet, I presume. Goodness, seems to be the most important world in the universe, if Genessia is a fair cross-sampling. Though I've never been to this number 2; what's its name, anyway?
So, from this Earth they could freely visit #2, where you, I take it, were...born? Or at least very familiar. Did you have parents on #2?
[Video]
I... I don't know. I don't remember being b, born. I guess...
[He mulled it over, not for the first time. Honestly, how could someone NOT wonder where they were from? He just had no answers.]
I guess I must have had p-parents, at some point... I, don't remember them.
Re: [Video]
[it'd be pretty weird if he didn't have parents. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time he'd met someone who was not so much born as 'made'; a test tube experiment, maybe.]
Hah, well most don't. Birth happens rather too early for memory, eh? But I mean, nothing about how you were raised or siblings or anything like that? What's your earliest memory?
[Video]
Wh-When I woke up... th... f-four years ago?
[With furrowed brows he was looking up as he thought and touching his fingers as if counting. He wasn't positive how long it had been.]
I-It was really scary. I... I didn't know where I was. Like, like when I showed up here.
Re: [Video]
Huh! But that would mean your earliest memory was when you were...actually, how old are you now?
[Video]
T... Twenty... Twenty-one...?
Re: [Video]
One year my junior. So, then it would follow that...
Hold on, how do you know your age anyway?
[Video]
I... I'm not sure... I-I think... maybe... I don't feel r-really old, but... but I'm not a kid.
Re: [Video]
Aheh, well that's a very definite number for an indefinite feeling. Just a guess, then, or do you recall some sort of record on you?
[Video]
N-No... I think, t-twenties...?
[He said it again more like he was asking a question than he was giving an answer.]
But... I-It's just a feeling.
Re: [Video]
Ah...[WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE, BRACKEN]
Still, that's queer. Your earliest memories are in your late teens, then? Strange. I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but I imagine your memories of television must have come from some point before. In other words, I believe "The World" is not your first. And yet, you have no earlier memories, or memories of Earth?
[Video]
[As if he wasn't already easily confused, this was certainly a subject that could get anyone twisted when they didn't have clear memories.]
I d-don't remember, exactly... L-Like, remember the ferris wheel in, in that other city? I-In that scary theme park. Th-There weren't any ferris wheels on m-my world, but, I feel like I've s-seen one before. But I don't... I don't remember where I've seen one. Just... It's, just a thing I knew.
I think... I can k-kind of picture Earth. But I don't remember ever b-being there. I tried to t-teleport, like everyone else, b-but...
[He winced at the memory, as if he could recall it too vividly.]
I-It just made my head hurt.
Re: [Video]
Huh. Meaning no insult to "The World", but it did seem a little too neat. Too convenient to be properly real. [Ted didn't play videogames so he lacked a good MMO metaphor here]. Yes, I'm sure of it: those memories must point to an origin somewhere else. And yet you were bound to The World in a way the others weren't...don't suppose you've any idea why?
[Video]
N-No... I, didn't feel any d-different. B-Besides...
[And that's where he faltered, glancing down, too embarrassed to really finish that thought. Instead he twisted it around a bit, trying to explain in a roundabout way.]
Besides how s-smart everyone else was.
Re: [Video]
Ah, you felt simple. Suppose that's natural; one that could travel worlds must become worldly. What an interesting mystery! Hell if I know how to solve it.
[He sounded cheery enough anyway. It looked like it could have a good answer, if a complete lack of leads wasn't in the way. He did notice that Bracken wasn't so chipper.]
Bracken, is something the matter? We can talk of something else, if you like.
[Video]
[Of course, trying to explain that he was 'simple' was never fun for him. He preferred to try and ignore it as best as possible, but it was the only major difference that he could think of.
Forcing a smile, he tried to forget about it.]
I-I'm okay. Have... Have you been to l-lots of worlds?
Re: [Video]
Heh, just Earth and Genessia. I'm not sure if that's fortune or misfortune; I've one friend who's been to four or five, poor thing. Goodness knows what the universe wants with him. Or us, for that matter. I wonder what destiny holds?
[Ted's sensitivity arrived a minute too late, as he rubbed his neck and empathized.] Truth be told I feel pretty simple myself. The world's got so many mysteries and problems, and I can't quite think my way through any of them, just yet.
[Video]
[He had all those big words at his disposal and endless knowledge of random books, after all.]
B-But... Not even smart people know e-everything.
Re: [Video]
No, omniscience is hard to attain. Er, knowing everything, that is.
Well, one day, hopefully soon, we'll know the truth of you. Thankfully it's no pressing mystery, eh?
[Video]
Wh-Wherever I'm from, I'm... I'm still me, a-anyway.
[That would have to be enough to satisfy him for now. Here, so far away from home, he definitely had no way to seek out the answers. But, some of the questions did make him curious.]
What... What was your family like?
Re: [Video]
[He's taken aback. Ted's not one for thinking about the past very much, though he's tempted by nostalgia]
"Aheh, very peculiar. I think; suppose wherever one grows up is normal to them. It's funny; I can't ever recall us agreeing on very much. My parents and I, that is. But we did live very happily together. Goodness, I can't think of my parents agreeing very much on things either. But they never got upset; it's a marvel they stay married, I suppose."
[Video]
Wh-What kind of place was it? Was... Was it like Fayren?
Re: [Video]
"Oh, no, nothing so fantastic. Well...I mean, Earth is fantastic; wondrous things happen all the time there. But familiarity sometimes breeds contempt, or at least dullness, and I suppose we sometimes forget where we're living. It was more like Attleton than anything, though I suppose in a past age in another place, there were patches of fairyland, here and there."
[Video]
I... I haven't spent much time th-there...
[He had no particular reason to go to Attleton, so he'd only seen it for a bit.]
I-I don't know why, but, I always th-thought that you were from a place like, like Fayren.
[And now he felt a bit sheepish about assuming, but he thought it would be okay.]
D-Do you like it more than Attleton?
Re: [Video]
"It's a peaceful enough spot, most of the time. There's also a lovely flower shop; best in the world, I think.
Haha, really? Oh, perhaps I dress the part. Or maybe I have fairy blood? That'd be something, eh?
Hmm, tough to...ah, do you mean Fayren, or Earth?"
[Video]
[Simple pleasures sometimes. No doubt it was obvious by now that he enjoyed nature.]
O-Oh, I meant Fayren, but... do you miss Earth?
Re: [Video]
Oh, ah, hmmm...hard to compare such unlike places. I suppose I like fairyland--er, Fayren, better. Less deaths, for one, and dear friends of mine live there.
Ah, trying to tempt me with nostalgia, eh? [Ted's always a little conflicted when it comes to the past. He likes talking about it; his own and others. But he doesn't want people to get hung up and lose their forward motion.]
Heh, hard not to miss it. Earth wasn't nearly as exciting as this place, but then it was--or so I think--my birthplace. I owe it a great deal.
[Video]
[He remembered somewhat fondly the time, though there really wasn't anything much more complex than that to it. It had made Katze happy. Good enough.]
M-Maybe... Maybe you could tell me a-about Earth more sometime? I-I'd like to know lots about it.
Re: [Video]
Certainly! There's much to tell. Monarchs and monasteries and saints and Rome and...well, you get the idea. Whenever you'd like.
[Video]
[Didn't sound like the Earth his friends were from. They never mentioned much of anything about kings or queens.]
Re: [Video]
"Yes, in diverse times and places. King Arthur's my favorite, of course; the stories surrounding that reign are very fine. Other governments too, of course, with plenty of complicated names to name them. Earth's really too old not to have had a little of everything. The hardest part may be deciding which part to tell. I prefer the romantic ones."
[Video]
He didn't know much about it, but he'd heard the name before. Somewhere. He murmured quietly to himself, wondering aloud, "Th-That isn't a storybook...?"
Still, after his time with Abel versus his time with another certain someone, he was a little curious about the romance part. "I-Is... Is it like a boring romance, or... or an exciting one?"