IV.

[sistagonist]

[Video]

Hey...sorry if anyone was looking for me for the last couple of weeks. I only meant that to be like a three hour trip, but I'm back now.

So, those robots on the island are pretty friendly, and I see some managed to get over here. Has anyone been able to communicate? I can't make heads or tails, personally.

Comments

[notvitiligo]

You kind of have to play charades with them, but yeah, it's not too hard. They're pretty visually-oriented.

[notvitiligo]

Well, I guess that's not helping us much...

So... how similar was that place to here? Like, do you think it's the same, um, setup?

[sistagonist]

It's close enough this place really could be part of the same dimension, after we got rid of the fog and the Shadows. We can change parts of it to our desires, there's weird creatures running around, and it's run by a crazy lady with godlike powers. The glimpse of it without fog I got before even looked nice and rural, like most of the Gardens.

[notvitiligo]

Hmm... so it's possible that, beyond the borders, there's similar areas run by other people?

Oh yeah! You were... physically there, right?

[sistagonist]

Individual humans could sort of unconsciously stake out bounded territories, as did Izanami, so probably...

And yep. Jumped through a TV, wound up inside a different world. Don't ask why a TV, it's a really long and allegorical story.

[notvitiligo]

Unconsciously?

Ugh, allegory. I don't think I'd get it even if you did explain. But the important thing is, that's more almost-evidence for the "we're here physically" theory. Unless there was also a way for people to be, uh, cloned or astral projected or whatever.

[sistagonist]

It was all sort of subconscious...mostly. People's fears and insecurities and repressed emotions and that kind of thing.

...and it actually never occurred to me we weren't here physically.

[notvitiligo]

Huh. So Her Highness here might not have total influence over the place?

The hypotheses so far seem to be "actually kidnapped physically," "puppets cloned from some supernatural 'essence,'" "puppets made up entirely with false memories," and "virtual reality."

[sistagonist]

Well, she doesn't seem to be able to undo anything she does, her subordinates can overpower her, and we can alter this place without her approval as long as we stay within some rules. That's probably a good explanation.

And you might as well tag on "dreaming" to that, I guess.

[notvitiligo]

Good point.

Wouldn't we have woken up sooner? I mean, my dreams are usually... a lot different.

[sistagonist]

It really depends.

...you don't know anything about Carl Jung, do you?

[notvitiligo]

'fraid not.

[sistagonist]

I looked him up after my last adventure in weirdness. He was a psychologist with several books on the 'Collective Unconscious' - basically shared subconscious thought. I think that's what the people in charge of the TV World were trying to say it was, and it could also explain shared dreams.

...well okay my friend Naoto looked him up and told me, she's a bigger reader than I am.

[notvitiligo]

Like... telepathy? [Jessica: Dubious]

[sistagonist]

More like...things that are common to humanity, or human society, all being represented in one place. I think. I wish this place had a real library...

[notvitiligo]

Yeah, tell me about it. Poetry and sex ed books are not helpful.

That shared dream thing sounds... possible, maybe? Except there's a robot and some people that aren't really human here. Would they count?