[Video] Are these thoughts my own?

[fromsprouts]

[Umemiya's in one of the training rooms in the Spire, sitting on the floor after a workout. He's in that post-exercise hazy clarity of mind, and has worked out that he does actually want to start this conversation. Someone ought to.]

Hey, talking with Akechi reminded me of something--don't worry, this isn't about ethics at all. It's about some of the recent quests, and things I've seen and heard and felt on them.

The first time I went to Icefall Lake, before we named it that, it was with Anasui and Guilmon. The Lakebed Ruins we found, they had mosaic floors, tiled to look like a map created by some Pokemon flying overhead. Except, they changed, when you looked away. You'd look back and instead of forest surrounding where the Bay ought to be, there'd be desert. Or the volcano would be gone.

[His mental voice grows quieter, a little less certain as he goes to explain the next bit.]

I remember at one point, the thought ran through my head, "Which world is the world we exist in? Which world does the world exist in?" And now that I look back, I'm not really sure that thought came from inside my own head.

I'm interested in hearing what else people have encountered, either on their original expeditions or while wayfinding in the three regions.

(ooc: Please feel free to crosstalk and threadjack one another on this post. I just wanna get this stuff 'on the table' to discuss.)

Comments

[fromsprouts]

[Huh, he wasn't expecting the edgelord to pipe up on this one, but the information is useful.]

I was out there last month for a Wayfaring quest. We didn't run into too much odd, but we also were real cautious with the storms we were fighting. I'm expecting it and Icefall Lake to be near impassable during the winter.

But...'how many times have we fallen to ruin?', that's worrying.

[friendlyflower]

... You know. There's one other thing.

The stars change, too. That means there's two possibilities. Either objective reality in this entire universe is unstable, not just the Bay... or just our collective perception of it is.

Maybe this is all a mass hallucination. A dream we can't wake up from.

[fromsprouts]

How would that even be possible, people from different worlds in the same dream?

[One of his blindspots is anything supernatural, magical or otherwise weird like that.]

[friendlyflower]

Some type of Pokemon brought us here. You remember the voice. [You know, the voice that cut through the void and brought you here, we've all heard it.] This collective dream may be its doing.

There are plenty of moves related to sleep and dreams, you know. Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Nightmare...

[fromsprouts]

[Ah, yes, the dream of the godhead. A very video-gamey concept that Umemiya hasn't considered very much.]

Yeah? Making other Pokemon sleep in battle feels different than, like. Regular sleep and actual dreams.

[friendlyflower]

I'm just saying! If even normal Pokemon have moves that can put Pokemon to sleep and control their dreams, then what can legendary Pokemon do? [He doesn't know about Darkrai yet. He would think it's incredibly cool, by the way.]

... A lot gets explained if this is a dream. How we're all here. Why everything is always changing. Why Pokemon sometimes disappear.

[fromsprouts]

Does that mean we have no power to affect what's going on, if it is some legendary Pokemon?

[He hates the idea of being helpless in the face of everything going on.]

[friendlyflower]

... I wouldn't say that. Humans have a real knack for changing fate. Why would the legendary Pokemon bring us here just to make us suffer, right? [He can easily imagine that it would, but...] Maybe we're meant to end the nightmare. Or, you know, something cheesy like that.

[fromsprouts]

That is really cheesy. It sounds like something out of a manga.

[Oh shit, is he in one of those cheesy isekai stories? "I Got Dimensionally Kidnapped and Now I'm a Jackal" or something.]

We don't really have much guidance on how to do it.

[friendlyflower]

That's the last time I try and make YOU feel better, nuance boy. [He still hasn't forgotten their first conversation.] Figure it out. The worst thing that can happen is we all die horribly.

[fromsprouts]

...Naw, the worst thing is for everyone else to die horribly and you're the only one surviving them.

Not that I ever think about that sort of thing, of course!

[...Ume, no.]

[friendlyflower]

[Bro??

Whether out of surprise or schadenfreude-like delight, he laughs. ]

Gee, I guess you're right! Or, everyone else could die horribly at your hands and their looks of betrayal and hatred could linger with you for the rest of your days!

[fromsprouts]

[A visceral shudder at the very idea echoes down the Grumpearl connection.]

Yeah. I think I'd rather die horribly than have that happen.

[friendlyflower]

Too bad you don't always get to pick! Ha ha...