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[hopefanatic]

There's something I've been thinking about for a while so I hope all of you will be patient enough to indulge me.

A good deal of fantastic and seemingly-impossible things happen in this place, ranging from all of us raising dragons to encountering killer plants like ones out of an old horror movie. I know that I don't just speak for myself when I say that a lot of the things we encounter here simply don't happen where I'm from... In fact one could even call all of it downright impossible and against the laws of nature and physics! I mean, the moons changing us into animals? Some mysterious space society that we've "mysteriously" encountered right when they need our help? It almost sounds like a video game!

Which brings me to the question I'd like to pose to all of you...

How do you know that any of this is reality?

Comments

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[1upzero]

[It was a scary thought that everything might not be real, but then... did she know what ‘real’ was in the first place? She only had one frame of reference, and she was at least sure of one thing....]

I can’t say what any of this is.... but, I am sure of one thing. This is not the same place we were. It is fundamentally different. I don’t understand how... but I am very sure it is something else.

Probably.

[hopefanatic]

[That "probably" isn't encouraging him, but he also didn't bring this up to have his mind changed.]

"Fundamentally different"? Are you so certain that you would recognize that sort of thing?

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[badluckblues]

isn't the whole idea of magic is that it's against the laws of nature and physics tho

[hopefanatic]

A computer program can simulate that sort of thing just as easily. Doesn't it all just strike you as a little too convenient?

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[coolerjunpei]

you think it's not real because some weird shit happens? but it's happening to you either way, isn't it? sounds real enough to me.

[hopefanatic]

Well if it's a simulation, while our minds might perceive it as real the situation isn't the same for our bodies, right? Don't you wonder what might be happening to them?

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[codecmoment]

I'm okay if it's not.

The escapism is welcome.

[hopefanatic]

Oh? You wouldn't be worried about how it happened or where your body might be?

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[discerp]

That'd make a little sense, wouldn't it? I wonder what for this time then... Are we real (You, me, Nanami-san) and everyone else NPCs? Or are only the natives?

I don't think Future Foundation would be behind this, and I don't think Enoshima-san would be either...

[hopefanatic]

If that's the situation then my guess would be that the natives are NPCs.

But I agree that this doesn't seem to be the work of the Future Foundation or Ultimate Despair, I don't think either has the resources to manage something of this extent anymore. After all, if it was either one of them why would they keep our memories intact? Wouldn't that risk compromising their plans if we remembered just going through a similar scenario not long ago?

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[timemachine]

that's the thing. we don't know if it's reality.

how do we even know we're alive?

[hopefanatic]

Are you implying that we might all be dead and this is some sort of afterlife?

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[wearingguess]

Much of it operates on somewhat different principles from nature and physics where I am from, but so far I have not personally encountered anything that I would have considered entirely outside the realm of possibility...

I suppose there is no way to know for certain whether this is reality. But I also cannot see how that makes much of a difference, really.

[hopefanatic]

Oh? You must come from a very interesting place.

Wouldn't you be concerned about the state of your body if it isn't? Or what's going on in the outside world?

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[princessascended]

I'll go ahead and add my voice to the group whose lives were weird enough before we got here that this place really isn't even that much of a stretch.

I mean, we don't even have any horrible creatures of pure darkness trying to tear out our hearts here.

[hopefanatic]

And you're sure that itself was even reality?

I'm joking, [Mostly.] but the fact that you've faced such a thing already should mean that you can come up against anything here with no problem!

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[dereban]

Well.

Have you pinched yourself lately?

[ Is that a serious question or not, a mystery. ]

[hopefanatic]

Well I tripped and ran into something this morning, does that count?

[Even if it isn't it seems like he's taking it seriously.]

[edle_gestalt]

I've considered the possibility that it isn't.

I have very vague, disjointed memories of having been in a a similar situation. I also remember changing into something else, but it's so faded at this point. I remember waking feeling as if months had passed. Only an evening had.

[hopefanatic]

Interesting! So do you remember a setting like this, or just the similarity of transformation and then the perceived time loss?

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[tsooki]

We are probably lucid dreaming.

[ There's no way they are, Tsukishima checked. Multiple times. Secretly. But this guy sounds like he would believe anyone/anything and so... why not tease him a bit? ]

[hopefanatic]

"Probably"? You sound pretty certain of that. So have you lucid-dreamed before? It's not a very easy thing to master, so if that's the sort of situation we're all in we certainly picked it up very quickly.

[Komaeda is much smarter than he might come off, but he is curious about the other things people will argue with so he's not going to call anyone out. Probably.]

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[takingchances]

I guess we don't really. At home my job involves simulation environments quite often and in that case I can imagine it would be hard to know where the simulation ended and reality began if you woke up inside the simulation to begin with.

If it is though it would sure explain some of the inconsistencies and the moon effects too.

[hopefanatic]

So are you the one designing the simulations or are you something more akin to a system monitor as they're running?

Exactly. And it would also explain how convenient such much of the situation seems to be.

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[swungdown]

does it matter either way?

[hopefanatic]

Well that's not something I can decide for everyone!