-017- :: redux

[subject_e0057]

[A few taps of the pen proceed the entry, idly dotting before the words begin to appear-- though they look more like a list jotted down out of memory than anything else initially, with certain words scribbled out and some emphasized.]

age-shifting, laser tag, bottles, ants, goggles, steaks and flowers?, costumes, dreams, gravity, cars

Comments

[wartimenovelty]

A lot of those seem to involve alteration. You put on a costume and pretend to be someone else; dreams are other places entirely. Age shifting would fit there. [pen taps] Doubles seem relevant.

[subject_e0057]

...The doubles were rather distressing, to say the least. Nearly all seemed to have malevolent intentions and... my own had to be put down forcefully.

...A lot of pretending, then? Facades and the like. And.. the doubles would possibly fit. As per their nature they seemed to show.. alternate possibilities. many of us were able to see how we could have become them with different choices.

[wartimenovelty]

Facades--shadows? I suppose we could count ourselves; without our memories, most people would consider us lacking. It almost seems as if it should be connecting back to those memories, but I don't know why.

[subject_e0057]

I'm not sure if we're lacking, so much as-- [A jolt across the paper]
...as simply veiled. Even we don't really know about ourselves... and the Sphere seems to alternate between lending aid to the confusion, and leading us astray- oftentimes with the switching of dreams, or with the addition of other facades.

...In an event with costumes, Bastet received an outfit that I used to wear back home. Sn- Someone recognized the outfit from a memory they had of me in it. While beneficial, it's still misleading at times.

[in-person action]

[felinemystique]

[Bastet comes up behind Raise as he sits on the couch, munching on a cookie, and leans over his shoulder to read his entry in the journal. She goes still when she sees Range's response and hums, nodding thoughtfully. Hanging on him like she's got no concept of personal space, she reaches out a hand to tap Range's response.]

Fantasies. And they're all temporary--you get to try something out for a while, then it's over and on to the next thing, many times with no lasting effect.

[in-person action]

[subject_e0057]

[He starts as she leans over his shoulder, pen jotting for a moment.]

Ah- Bastet.

[He continues writing his response, occasionally glancing over his shoulder at her. She has a point, and he pauses after a moment.]

...Fantasies, or the reoccurring theme of dreams- or even our of memories and existences here. They all sort of fit in a general theme. I just wish I could figure out exactly why that theme is in place. Nothing is purposeless.

[in-person action]

[felinemystique]

[She continues to lean on him, her arms hanging over his shoulders.]

The theme is entertainment. We're here to assuage someone's boredom. Loneliness. Whatever. All of our actions may not be directly controlled, but there are triggers that generate more action than others. Like varying the sizes of pebbles dropped into a pool.

[Her voice sharpens, just a bit as she reads Range's writing.]

Double-minded...he's determined quite a bit for having been here so short a time.

[in-person action]

[subject_e0057]

[He relaxes slightly and shakes his head, moving where the journal is to assist Bastet's view.]

...If it's someone's entertainment, that means that it's someone with a sense of human that we can understand. Either the Tree is a very humane plant, or it's the instrument of someone else.

And... I'm sure there's hint to be picked up on everywhere. [He smiles faintly.] ...Though it might not be as obvious without California dying for us to see how the Sphere deals with these things.

[extantlaw]

Distractions.

[subject_e0057]

So something to preoccupy us from... what exactly? Rising up? Helping one another? Or seeing the true problem?

In a way, they could almost be seen as pleasant distractions. Many of them are lighthearted and tend to make us look away from the oftentimes depressing nature of the Sphere.

[extantlaw]

Of all three, I suspect. It is difficult to pursue consistency of either thought or action in an unstable environment.

[subject_e0057]

When it's impossible for us to settle or get our bearings, it's impossible for us to focus on anything less basic, I suppose? It's reminiscent of the hierarchy of needs.

If people lack food, or shelter, or anything of the like, they can't be expected to bypass these important needs and look to discovering the reasoning behind the physicality of things.

...A man missing an arm won't stop to consider how the muscle has been torn, if the bone was cut cleanly or snapped, or the exact volume of blood he's lost-- instead, he'll focus on saving his life at the moment, stopping the bleeding or reattaching the limb.
Oftentimes I wish Praise's analogies weren't so...unsightly, but he makes a point.

[flenceburgsbest]

Ah, this theorizing gives me such hope for my fellow man!

[subject_e0057]

I'm simply putting into words what I have been curious about as of late.

[ice_echani]

I have not been here long, but I have observed that the events seem to be most distracting, as has already been noted.

How long have you been recording events?

[subject_e0057]

They could be distracting, or this could just be the way the Sphere is. Perhaps there's no intent or sentience behind it. Is it possible for things ti simply happen with no logical reasoning?

I have not been recording them, really- these are just the ones that I remember experiencing myself. Admittedly, I had to open up my old journal and look through it to remind myself as to many of them.