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

[Video]

[starofpleiades]

So... a person with no memories could still have an identity?

[She thinks that one over... she'd felt pretty lost before Umika and Kaoru had found her again... had she been herself then, before she got her memories back?]

Yeah, having your memories changed could be pretty scary, I guess... especially if it made you think you were something you're not.

[cobbledtogether]

Yes. I...had no memories upon my initial arrival to the Gardens. Currently, my memorybanks are still lacking a large amount of data.

[She has a number of memories now, but the bulk of them are ones she has made in this place. There's only a snippet or two of things from her life before, and she still isn't sure if she wants to know more. After all, the Lambda in the memories she recovered is very different than who she is now.]

[starofpleiades]

Oh no... I was like that once! I woke up missing almost all my memories, and had to get help from my friends to remember them...

Do you want your memories back?

[cobbledtogether]

You were...? How did you remember them?

[The second part is said somewhat stiltedly. That question makes her pause, though. It's a loaded one.]

...I don't know. My behavior as seen in the memories I have recovered deviates significantly from my current behavioral patterns.

[starofpleiades]

Well, over time, I found some things out, and put things together... and then one of my friends used her magic to help fix a lot of it!

Oh... so that's what you mean about memories changing you? But... don't you want to know why you acted that way?

[cobbledtogether]

Based on my available memories, I am already aware of the likely cause of the discrepancies in my behavior. [So, that's not really the issue.] I...am unsure if I want to know more.

[starofpleiades]

Hmm... I think, I'd want to know the truth. At least so you know where you came from and what you did.

[cobbledtogether]

I...am aware of my origins. [More or less, anyway. If Lambda was meant to take that phrase as anything other than perfectly literal, well. She didn't. After a second or two, she admits:] The memories were... Painful.

[starofpleiades]

I'm sorry... do you think it would be better not to know them?

[cobbledtogether]

I...don't know. [Despite her tendency to speak robotically, she sounds faintly frustrated. She isn't used to feeling ambivalent about things.] Recovery of those memories is unlikely to enhance my ability to perform my primary functions. This should classify them as irrelevant. However, I...still want to know what is missing.

[Even if they're painful, and even if she's afraid of becoming someone else, those memories are hers. She isn't sure what the correct choice is.]

[starofpleiades]

Mm, I know that feeling. Well, I mean, my memories aren't irrelevant, but I was told they might be painful... but I still wanted to know. I want to know who I am. What I did. All of that.

[cobbledtogether]

[There's a few seconds of silence on her end before she speaks next.]

I am unsure if there is a way to recover the rest of my memories.

[So as conflicted as she is on the topic, she still isn't sure if it's something that will even ultimately be relevant.]

[starofpleiades]

Well, you can always try! Maybe they'll come back on their own...? How did you lose your memories, anyway?

[cobbledtogether]

It is likely they were removed from my databanks before my date of activation.

[starofpleiades]

Wait, like... a computer?!

[cobbledtogether]

Yes. I am a mechanically-enhanced biological construct.

[starofpleiades]

Woah! I never would have guessed... I guess that's why you can have such different memories and personalities?

[cobbledtogether]

It is probable. Without individual memories or experiences, I can only behave according to my base logical algorithms.

[starofpleiades]

I wonder if that's because of what you are or if people aren't that different... I mean, if someone else was given different memories, would they act differently?

[cobbledtogether]

Memories inform opinions and decision-making abilities. Alteration would likely result in differing behavior.

[starofpleiades]

Hmm... yeah, I guess so. I guess memories really are important to who we are...