üks // 01

[webfreedomftw]

A: 946 Beulah Street

[Hey, parents. One of your kids isn't what he used to be. This is probably best seen by the way he's creeping around the house with the lamp he unplugged from the nightstand in the room he woke up in, assuming this a dream or a prank, but ready with a blunt object and a fairly good swing should the place turn hostile.]

B:

Comments

B

[letunityblossom]

[He recognizes that dorky scientific blog post talk.]

Estonia!

[webfreedomftw]

Yes, Lithuania?

[He's starting to accept that pretty well everyone is here, potentially, regardless of where or what "here" is.]

[letunityblossom]

You just got here, right--where are you, what house?

[His tone implies he will be there pretty much as soon as Estonia tells him. PAYING ATTENTION TO HIS NOT!BROTHER FOR ONCE, YES.]

[webfreedomftw]

I'm on Beulah Street. 946. Why?

B

[hwamei]

I think if this was a dream, there'd be a lot more happy things than sad things, you know?

[webfreedomftw]

... You must constantly have very pleasant dreams.

[hwamei]

When dreams get unpleasant, that's when you call them nightmares. Like this one time, I had a nightmare about Teacher having a huge robot. Ah, but America had another robot... and Japan had one, too! And they all fought in space.

[webfreedomftw]

I... see.

Taiwan, right?

B

[motheringnation]

.....

Estonia!

[webfreedomftw]

Ukraine? I'm sorry you're here but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't good to hear from you.

[motheringnation]

[You can almost hear the smile in her voice.]

Same with you. I've been here for a while actually.

Have people told you about this place yet?

[webfreedomftw]

More or less, yes. Still trying to wrap my head around it, which is a fairly good indication it's not just a very elaborate dream on my part.

B, also apologies

[cramschoolgod]

Hmm. In practice, I think you'd find that lucid dreams, while vivid, have an element of clear unreality to them. Dreams have the helpful condition that when they are being experienced, the focus of their activity is also the focus of the brain. That is, rather like a video game, only the portion that is 'on screen' needs to be rendered accurately--and it only needs to be rendered accurately enough for the mind to be convinced and not detect inconsistencies, which in general it is not focused on doing. Unlike real life, the 'borders' of a dream aren't invariant under changes in our selective attention. This is a physiological limitation on our brains, I believe.

Therefore, it is highly unlikely to be a dream, assuming our experiences of Mayfield are similar.

that was awesome, no apologies necessary

[webfreedomftw]

While your points are all entirely valid, Miss, none of that would be news to me or my subconscious. Therefore, it's not helpful in identifying my current state as one of dreaming or not. Those here that I've known previously to this event nearly have me convinced that this isn't a dream, but if it weren't for that, the whole thing seems just surreal and inexplicable enough to fall under the category of particularly vivid, but still unrealistically odd dream.

Except now I'd be making someone on the phone up, which seems like more work than it's worth. What is your name, by the way?

[cramschoolgod]

Well, it has to do with stability and capacity. The stability of this world, you will probably find, is impressive over time. For example, in a dream if you leave a note somewhere, it is likely that you will not find it there or remember to look for it there-- the surroundings will change. But here, it works. Granted, there is always an element of uncertainty.

I am Sasaki, it's a pleasure to meet you.

[webfreedomftw]

That's actually not a test I've thought to use to reassure myself. Thanks, I'll have to use it. And it's a pleasure, of sorts, to meet you, Sasaki. You can call me Eduard, if you so choose.