[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

voice;

[outbounds]

It is not just the explorations. It has come up previously, but there have been rescues— odd ones!— where these intrusive thoughts have also occurred.

[ He'll elaborate with his own experiences too, but just to get out there that it isn't just the new regions— ]

Everyone who was together at the time would have heard it too. Who was with you?

[fromsprouts]

It was me, Anasui and Guilmon. One of the first quests I ever went on.

audio;

[shotinhead]

[ You know, as usual. The usual calmness covering up his true feelings. ]

Yeah, yeah, the intrusive thoughts. We've all had them.

[fromsprouts]

[There's a bristle of indignation.]

Great. Do we know any themes in what they say? Times or places they happen more often?

audio;

[edgewater]

Haven't had enough time to explore much, but when me and Six were lookin' for Furfrou, some really weird stuff happened.

[ "they're going to leave me behind!" what in the architect's name could that mean? where'd it come from? ] Happened to us, anyhow. Ended up on our notes. When we found Furfrou, they'd run off and collapsed in a cave. Well, uh, I guess not collapsed. They were like the folks in the clinic, I think.

[fromsprouts]

A coma. A few of the others have experienced that sort of coma before--Ren, Fireheart.

It's another thing that kind of bugs me.

[shotinhead]

Well, they tend to happen when we go to try and rescue others, right? That's what I've noticed.

[fromsprouts]

Huh. And what sort of things have these thoughts said to you?

[Clearly he needs to do more rescues.]

[edgewater]

That ain't what comas usually look like. You don't just up, leave, curl up all cosy and then slip into a coma. [ she's an engineer though so what does she know. ]

[truthdecided]

There's the spire at Furnace Mountain as well. Simply touching it bombarded us with a painful cacophony of dissonant voices.

[He tries to imagine this, to project that experience...

But it's faint. A faded memory, bringing mere discomfort...

Save for one voice: CAN YOU HEAR ME?]

Someone tried to communicate with us before we left.

[shotinhead]

Oh. The usual sort of cheerful shit. Gonna leave me behind, gonna be forgotten... makin' us doubt our own senses.

I mean, sometimes, I thought it was just me, but nah!

[fromsprouts]

Hm, the one I got sounded like someone doubting their own senses. It was weird like that.

[fromsprouts]

...not usually, no. Fuck, that's weird.

[fromsprouts]

Were you able to communicate back with them?

[edgewater]

Mighty suspicious if you ask me, and I've witnessed actual murders. Just hope poor Furfrou is okay, Delcatty's been worried.

[ her anxiety over the subject is probably glaringly obvious over the network. ] What weird stuff have you found?

[fromsprouts]

Well, that weird thought during my first exploration quest was the weirdest thing I noticed. My most recent wayfinding quest was...about as normal as it could have been, beside the weather.

voice

[no_ufo_ending]

Which world does the world exist in?

[So cryptic! But he does know a little something about worlds within worlds. All things considered. ]

Could it be we're in someone's dream?

[fromsprouts]

...I dunno, could it be? And if we are, are we our actual real selves, or are they still out there, awake and doing things?

[Please explain it to the most mundane-lifed guy around.]

[no_ufo_ending]

I've been in something like a dream before...some kind of extra layer on top of the world I knew when I was awake. If something happened there, something similar would have happened in the real world when I woke up.

[fromsprouts]

That sounds really fucked up.

[Concern and empathy echo down the psychic link. Umemiya cares so deeply about people, it comes through unfiltered.]

[no_ufo_ending]

[ Umemiya's worries come clattering into Henry's mind, startling him somewhat. He instantly has some regrets about sharing. But it's been on his mind, at the edge of every single thought he has. In a blink, in a breath, he could end up back where he was, facing down his worst enemy and possibly God. ]

[ What rattles back up the connection is an anxious clanging of apologetic bells.]

It was.

[ As conflicted as he feels about it, it does feel good to speak (or think) so plainly about it. Henry's good at guarding his thoughts with his mouth, but not so much in a psychic connection.]

[fromsprouts]

Do...you need to talk more about it?

[He's listening. Of course, since neither are psychic types, so could anyone else, but he's not going to point that out right now.]

[no_ufo_ending]

[ Uncertainly warbles through the mindline.]

I don't want to weird you out. But I think that is what could be happening here.

[fromsprouts]

I'm a fox with vibe check powers. Everything is weird at this point.

[Or maybe a jackal? Or a Set animal? He's not sure. He's a Lucario.]

[no_ufo_ending]

I guess you're right...this all feels like a dream though. Really, turning into different magic animals. Like something in a kid's movie.

[ He thinks of the dead Watrel in Firepaw's jaws. ]

A ghost is haunting my apartment and he's leaking some kind of nightmare world everywhere.