3rd Course - Necessary Ingredients [Video]

[starofpleiades]

[Kazumi's expression is worried; not surprising after how the last few weeks have been. She wasn't really affected much, but she saw people who were...]

Is everyone alright now? Back to normal...?

[She sighs, looking a bit forlorn.]

Things making people act unlike themselves... what's "like yourself" though, other than how you acted before? I mean... what makes up a person? Our bodies? Our actions? Our memories?

[Memories...]

...hey, what do memories mean to you? How important are your memories? If you had something painful in your past... do you think it'd be better not to remember it?

[She's taking the video just outside the apartment complex, so anyone is free to run into her there or respond over the vine]

Comments

[starofpleiades]

So... if someone starts acting differently, does that make them no longer themself?

Do you think the blanks would be worse than painful memories?

[notvitiligo]

Hmmm... I guess it depends whether it's a one-off thing, or part of a new pattern. And whether they still have old patterns to them. How much they conform to predictions you'd make based on normal behavior.

Usually, yeah. Maybe if you had a really, really bad memory, like something that you can't deal with? But... I dunno, you kind of end up feeling like you missed something important. And... I guess I just prefer knowing things, even if I don't like them.

[starofpleiades]

So... it has a lot to do with what people expect from you, then? And how you acted before...

[Then maybe she really was a new Kazumi... she couldn't always act like people remembered, even with some of her memories back...]

Hmm... yeah, I agree with you. I was talking with one of my friends about it a while ago, and they thought you might be better off not knowing.

[Understandable, given what the truth was, about Puella Magi]

[notvitiligo]

I wouldn't say what they expect from you, so much as... just what can be observed. If, uh, that makes sense. Like, people might expect something erroneously.

I guess it depends what the memories were, really. But I don't think I've ever found something that I felt like I was better off not knowing. You just have to figure out how to deal with stuff.

Well, no, actually, I can think of some things I wish I didn't remember, but that's more because they were other people's.

[starofpleiades]

Oh, okay... so basically just what you do? What if its the same thing, but for different reasons?

Yeah, I think it's important to face your problems, not just forget them...

Other people's? You mean their memories?

[notvitiligo]

Yeah, pretty much.

It's more, uh, the reaction to the reasons, I guess. Basically, same stimulus, same reaction.

Yeah, especially since the problems aren't exactly going to go away.

That's right. Were you around for that?

[starofpleiades]

But I mean... can't two people do the same thing, but for different reasons?

Oh, right, when people switched bodies they also saw each others memories...

[notvitiligo]

Well, yeah, but it's still the same behavior, right?

Ugh, that was messed up.

[starofpleiades]

Hmm... so does that make them the same then?

I'm glad I didn't get involved in it...

[notvitiligo]

Probably not. It's a bunch of different stuff all put together. It's like... if you have two diseases- I mean, not that you have them, but like they exist...

[ahem]

There's two diseases, and they both make your nose run, they're similar in that symptom, but they have a bunch of other stuff that makes them separate.

It's like that with people.

[starofpleiades]

Well... I'd say they're different then!

[notvitiligo]

Well, yeah, but my point is that you can't just judge on one action. You gotta take the whole suite of behavior.

[starofpleiades]

I guess so. But I mean, sometimes people change some parts and still do other things they used to. At what point are they the same person or a different one?

[notvitiligo]

I think it's always the same person, really. Though I admit it's a really fuzzy definition. Like, if someone gets brain damage and their behavior changes dramatically overnight, I don't know if they're the same person or not.

I guess there's a lot of different stuff that goes into "person."

[starofpleiades]

Yeah, what if they like... get amnesia? But later get some of their memories back?

A lot of different stuff, huh...

[notvitiligo]

Well, the thing with amnesia is, it's not really that you don't have the memories anymore, you just can't use them. So a person with it would still behave the same, they just wouldn't know why.

People are pretty complicated. Even leaving aside everything that isn't the brain.

[starofpleiades]

Hmm, would they? I don't really know how those things work... I guess that makes sense though. I still knew how to cook after all!

[notvitiligo]

Oh, this has to do with you?

[starofpleiades]

Um, sort of! I mean, the amnesia does. But I wonder in everyone's case, what memories mean to them...

[notvitiligo]

What they mean to us, huh?

I'm... not really sure. I mean, I guess it's like... being able to understand reality and the past. If you're missing memories... you don't really have all of the picture.

Well, except you don't have it all even if you have memories, since the brain is kind of a crappy recorder, but you don't even have a hint if there's no memory.

[starofpleiades]

So, it's good to have them so you can know things... but what about bad memories? Painful ones... would it be better to forget them?

[notvitiligo]

[Instantly:] No way! There's no bad memory, just ones you don't like. They're all important. You can't make any sort of informed decision if you only listen to things you like.

[starofpleiades]

No such thing as bad memories... I didn't really think of it that way.

So, you think knowing is better, even if its painful or unpleasant?

[notvitiligo]

Of course. That's how you can understand what's going on around you.

[starofpleiades]

Hmm... yeah, I think it's better to know the truth.