A Fool and the World; Video

[elevatoravatar]

Elizabeth had been watching the identity crises that had been happening for the week and firstly, she was not suffering through one being spared the fake identity, secondly her own identity was something she was still figuring out so it all seemed odd to her. Still many people were upset, so she had given it some time before posing her question.

"People of this place, I admit that being spared some of the more odd parts of living the lie that was pushed on us a few weeks ago I am uncertain how to ask this but I shall try."

She takes a breath and nods.

"What about you is defined by you internally, and what about you is defined by the world around you? Is it all one? Is that why the previous lie was so difficult for many to see, or is there something different, like the fire that was stoked in many by the spirits that ran rampant when I came here? I myself am a bit confused by all of this and would appreciate any help. That and while I no longer have access to the many rewards for assistance from home and can offer little more than appreciation for help, still hope that kindness is a form of currency that has not been erased from this place."

Comments

[mysicksadlife]

Child psychologists debate Nature vs. Nurture relentlessly. That's pretty much the same as what you're asking: Is someone born a certain way, or do they learn how to behave from their family, their friends, and so on.

I'm pretty sure it's a bit of both. You can't find two people more different than me and my sister, and we have the same upbringing... pretty much.

[elevatoravatar]

"That makes sense. I admit my sister and I are fairly different as well even though we were created for the same purpose."

She lets out a breath and shakes her head a bit.

"Honestly I have just been trying to understand the reactions people have had, having very little experience with these things makes it hard to understand why such a short lie seems to have caused so many people so much pain."

[mysicksadlife]

Daria glances away from the screen for a moment while she picks her words. For whatever reason, this person on the other end of the video is acting like they're even less sociable than her.

"Families are supposed to be important," she says. "So something messing with that is pretty wrong. Just give them some time to deal with it."

[elevatoravatar]

"I see. While I would be most upset if someone were to hurt my poor little brother, or cause my older sister pain, I left them to find the first human I met. Really, living in a world with so many is.... Confusing."

She sighs.

Voice

[mothergoose]

I believe it is a mix of both that creates a person.

As to why this lie was hard for people to see, I believe we were stopped from seeing the truth somehow by whoever controls this place. How, I do not know.

Voice

[elevatoravatar]

"Still, many people seem to lament the lie going, or are suffering from being blinded by it. My master once said that to error was human, and most of the people here are human."

She sighs, "I have so little to go on and it seems like the emotion of regret is the most powerful. I just know nothing of it."

Voice

[mothergoose]

...You are lucky then.

I know a great deal about regret.

And people tend to regret even things that they can not prevent. It is human nature.

Voice

[elevatoravatar]

"Why not simply channel that emotion into finding a way of fixing that? I once helped something terrible, and I.... Left the employ of my master and my family to fix it, but I never really looked back. I just frequently get lost in the walls of human emotion."

voice;

[tsunderebunny]

[Barnaby almost shut the book right the moment Elizabeth starting asking questions about the state of reality. She'd be better off finding her answers in a psychology book, he told himself. It wasn't his problem. It wasn't anyone's problem.

But the even tone she asked her questions in, and the equally even admission of confusion, was enough to rethink his plans.]

...Does it even matter?

[Just because he was curious didn't mean he was going to be nice.]

voice;

[elevatoravatar]

"Yes, very much to me. I honestly do not understand as I have left my own self behind and while it has shaped some things I am for the most part only really understanding the basics as I have only truly interacted with two people."

voice;

[tsunderebunny]

Barnaby paused.

Abstract words aside, her sentiment was terrifyingly familiar.

There was no good answer to her explanation and her initial question, not without revealing his hand and the extent of his knowledge. It wasn't something that he wanted to share over the journals-- or with anyone.

The only people who knew were the ones that needed to know.

"That depends." His tone was flat, a bare cover for his irriation. "How do you define your reality?"

...

He might have revealed too much of his hand.

voice;

[elevatoravatar]

"My reality is the world I can interact with, just as yours is the one you interact with. Ultimately it is where those realities collide that the sea of the soul and my home is created."

[Voice]

[fierybluebird]

[Ugh. The question irrationally irks him, but as she did clarify she wasn't sure how to ask it, Marco can appreciate that she's giving her best.]

Perhaps I take for granted being in control of how others see me. [Whether "just" a bird, or just a pirate, it's usually under Marco's control. To have that fully wrested from him and everyone believing he was merely a bird was distressing in the highest degree.]

I didn't lose my memories, but that only made it more difficult to watch those I love affected while I couldn't do much to protect them. Sorry if that doesn't help much, eh.

[Despite have the same voice as Barnaby above him, Marco is clearly a different blond from the journal pictures.]

[Voice]

[elevatoravatar]

"I did not have my memories taken either, my powers yes, but I remained knowing what little I knew. Still, protection was your motivation. I knew someone like that once."

She sighs and shakes her head.

"I could understand rage at this, I could understand attacking the walls in righteous fury but the ennui. I have seen far more of that than anything else. I have even seen some almost want to go back to living the lie, and that right there is what confuses me the most. I suspect that until I can at least understand that, my end goal will be for naught."

[Voice] Sorry for late!

[fierybluebird]

Perhaps they didn't have family before that lie? Even the prettiest goldfish can hide among the dullest of sea rubbish, eh. If they made something good come out of that mayhem, more power to them I suppose.

voice; No worries, I've been late too

[elevatoravatar]

"I see. So longing for those things they never had. I never considered longing to be the home of such feelings."

[voice]

[shinesbrightest]

"I don't think I really know myself well enough to be able to answer that."

He had listened to her recording multiple times, but even when he started to understand what she was talking about, he found he still wasn't sure how to answer.

[voice]

[elevatoravatar]

"I see, so you understand my confusion then. Perhaps it is the not knowing then."

[voice]

[shinesbrightest]

"Maybe. I'm sure it didn't help." He sounded a little amused by that. Could that have been the reason they were all so stuck on that Shift? "But sometimes, people can tell that there's an experiment going on even if they can't help acting weird. I wonder why this time was different..."

[linefacingforever]

[Hey, she looked kind of like...]

[Wait, didn't Margaret mention she had a sister? So even people from the Velvet Room could get grabbed and brought here? That was disconcerting... what next? Would Igor show up?]

I think it's a balance of both. We know -- or think we know -- who we are on the inside, and the outside helps that knowledge grow and define itself. That...

[He paused a moment, frowning, though more at himself.]

...that might have been why it was more difficult for some of us to see through the lie than others. It was so similar to our reality, that it was easy to accept it as truth.

[elevatoravatar]

Elizabeth knows him! Sort of. She even got into a brawl with him, maybe not this him, but one of him. Infinity was big and it was hard to pin down specifics.

"I see, so which did you see? The lie, or the world painted by the lie? I'm curious how one who is no longer a fool would react."

[linefacingforever]

[Well that was an interesting way of putting it, but he guessed he should have expected it from someone from that room.]

The lie I saw was close to what I knew. I saw through it, but it took a major event before I could.

[Video]

[voiceinthedark]

[It's something that he's thought about before, why some people survived and adapted to the apocalypse while others... well, none of them came out sane, but some managed better than others.]

I guess... sometimes you don't know what you're capable of, or who you really are, until something big changes and you have to... adapt or die, I guess.

[Video]

[elevatoravatar]

"But is allowing the lie to take control adapting? I am just so confused by this all."

[Video]

[voiceinthedark]

I don't think what happened is a good thing to go on. It was someone else messing with our heads. And maybe for some people, the idea of... of normal like that is pretty appealing.