slt_archive | (no subject)

Only Quartz and I. . .but what's the point of that?

I'm not sure.

Maybe they were intended for you.

But. . .that wouldn't make any sense. I remember my real life, but that memory was real too--! I may be a bit bias, but I prefer the former!

...preferences aside, the one that the spiders brought directly contradicted some of what I know about my life before now.

[nods] They're huge contradictions. What was yours about?

I was at a formal dance, a bit like one I've remembered before. But at this dance, everyone was wearing masks, and behind them, the people weren't people, but some sort of mix of people and animals.

I was looking for a duke. I was there to kill him, to prove that they could be killed, the same as people could. To try to convince people to fight them instead of lying down and dying the way my family did.

...but it wasn't my family. I know my family didn't-

[Breaks off, trying to work through something.]

-they were family I know I didn't have.

[liiistens, taking that in]

That's far more complex than mine. You know they aren't the ones you usually remember. . .but you still think they were real, right?

Mm. I know it's not mine. Contradictions aside, something about it reminded me of that judge.

And my country had been overrun by the things at the dance. There was so much to it, I can't shake the feeling that it was real, but... I know it can't be.

Nngh. Even if we know those lives couldn't possibly be ours. . .I can still tell any information retained is definite and true. But the question is why would anyone go through the trouble of creating elaborate fake memories? If they were trying to tell us something or even help us, there are far more direct ways.

We haven't even determined that they were trying to help us. We don't even know for sure which one they came from.

A change of clothes, and in my case, information on new plants. . .I'd call that helpful.

I've been assuming Sur-er, that judge, due to the spiders, but Sakura said they were likely from that bizarre game a couple days back.

[Eyes narrow at the suggestion that Surgeon might have had something to do with it.]

I was assuming it was from the game. No one got memories, and the spiders weave the way the judge did.

Weaving. . .

It's far more likely at this point, yes. It still doesn't change the fact that she or another Judge is giving us information.

Just giving us information doesn't necessarily mean that they want to help us. Messenger gave us information, too- and used us to get Flowers back into place.

Point.

Then what do you think is going on? What are they trying to gain by manipulating our memories?

I think to discover that, we'd have to know the whole of what they've shown us.

And the whole is probably very far off. Still, aside from being bizarre and out of character, I can't really complain about the memories.

What did you remember?

Something simple on my end--aside from wearing this same outfit, I remembered being out in a pond, during the summer, digging up a bunch of herbs. That one fever plant has a lot of uses.

And briefly, I said a prayer to the Old Man, thanking him for the plants, I think.

The Old Man?

[nods]

That jumbled code from the game--it mentioned him. But in the context of my memory, he was the .

The earth?

...it seems like the theory had some truth to it, after all.

Theory? The one about the Pillar?

Mm. If the Old Man is the earth, and he "hungers," that would explain the pillar, wouldn't it?

Yeah, it definitely makes the most sense. But I'm also believe my memory may have taken place before the pillar was known about. Why would I pray to something so terrible? Not to mention I was above ground, in the sun.