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

[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.

[notvitiligo]

Otherwise, you're up for grabs.

[starofpleiades]

So have you had any problems with memories?

[notvitiligo]

Yeah. Not like amnesia or anything, just...

[She fidgets uncomfortably, avoiding looking at the mirror as she tries to put together an explanation.]

When I was little, they thought I had some kind of, um... y'know, mental thing. Like schizophrenia. I don't, of course, but...

[She takes in Kazumi's expression carefully before continuing.]

They put me on some meds. Antipsychotics, usual stuff. But since my problem wasn't really mental, it didn't do anything but turn me into a zombie. So... there's a while in my childhood where I don't really have much other than a blur.

[starofpleiades]

Oh no... I'm sorry to hear that. But they got it sorted out eventually?

[notvitiligo]

Well, they took me off the meds.

[Not so much anything else.]

[starofpleiades]

At least that's something. Did they ever figure out what was wrong? Or if anything was wrong?

[notvitiligo]

[She shakes her head.] Ruled out just about everything, but nobody has any real idea what's up. I'm the only recorded case.

[starofpleiades]

Huh... so what is it? I mean, the symptoms that made them think something was wrong?

[notvitiligo]

It's... kind of complicated.

The shorthand version is that I... sort of, um, interact with stuff that nobody else can. Involuntarily.

[starofpleiades]

Like... ghosts or something?

[notvitiligo]

That's my hypothesis.

Evidence is kind of hard to come by, as you can guess.

[starofpleiades]

Wow, I guess so... does that happen here too?

[notvitiligo]

Well, your first hint is the fact that I'm not constantly stumbling or getting knocked over.

No ghosts here, as far as I've seen. It's really weird.

[starofpleiades]

Wow, it was that bad? I guess it's a good thing they don't bother you here then!

[notvitiligo]

It's pretty nice to be almost normal, yeah. It felt a little lonely at first, but... that's one thing I don't mind about being here.

There are a lot of dead people back home.

[starofpleiades]

A lot? Wow... did something happen? Or is it just because, well... people from a long, long time?

[notvitiligo]

Well, admittedly, a lot of them aren't really people, just... animals or whatever. The people do stick around for a while, though. Some of them a really long while, at least assuming the bits of verification I could do were accurate.