Seasons: IC Contact/Overflow

[happydreamed]

"Hello, you've reached Kantera. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and call a hospital. Otherwise, please leave your message after the tone."

Comments

[forgingfires]

[Another delay. Because he's still unused to Thank Yous.]

Of course. If I'm going to do something, then I'm going to give it my all.

[happydreamed]

An admirable quality that more people should emulate.

[forgingfires]

They should, yes.

So don't give up on her. Even when it hurts.

There will be a solution.

[happydreamed]

I know. I'll do everything I possibly can.

[forgingfires]

Good. We have science and magic. And if that all doesn't work, I have two other options, its just a lot more risky for all involved.

[happydreamed]

What are the other options?

[You can't just say that and not expect him to ask.]

[forgingfires]

One involves a nightmare realm, so trust me when I say we're really best to just leave them for last.

[happydreamed]

Ah. I won't inquire further unless they become necessary, then.

[forgingfires]

Yes, but my point is, the options are numerous and many are viable to try even if she hibernates to reawaken past memories.

It's important to not give up on someone you love, even if it seems hopeless.

[happydreamed]

...She mentioned my weakness in the matter, didn't she.

[forgingfires]

Yes.

[happydreamed]

The person I was based on was forgotten before, and reacted badly. Worse than running. Those weren't 'my' actions, but neither am I entirely a different person than that.

[forgingfires]

Person you were based on?

[happydreamed]

I am not what you would call a 'real person'. There certainly was a Kantera who lived and died, but I am originally a figment of someone else's dream, made to resemble that man.

[forgingfires]

[There is a long pause.]

There are some monks who would love to meet you. It would be a fascinating study for any Buddhist.

You're as real as anyone else. Existence itself is weird and the biological isn't such a hard and fast rule. I'm sure people have been born from a dream back home, it sounds rather possible.

[happydreamed]

I have been told such, though I struggle to truly believe it. 'Tis less a concern of biology and more of having a mind and personality independent of outside influences.

[forgingfires]

There is no one in existence who has a mind and personality independent of outside influences.

[happydreamed]

Can your body function without you thinking or feeling or perceiving anything, when 'tis inconvenient for the power that made you for you to be a person at the moment?

tmw your source material is heavily based on a religious allegory.

[forgingfires]

Kind of depends how much you want me to go into the teachings of Buddha and how much you're personally willing to believe them. I do, but I also know several individuals whose met him after he reached enlightenment. I'm also not the best at following those teachings, but I'm kind of getting some of them.

It's a pretty big thing about enlightenment, to move on beyond the need of your physical body and for your sense of self to no longer be an individual, but to be one with everything.

So there may not be a being who can just decide to snuff me and my illusion of individuality out of existence with a thought, a lot more effort has to be done for that, but also losing a sense of individualism doesn't necessarily mean being fully gone either.

[happydreamed]

I would not compare the experience of the body working while the mind goes utterly silent to enlightenment, personally. Or if they're similar, then enlightenment is deeply unsettling and I want nothing to do with it.

[forgingfires]

If I'm honest, it can be disquieting. Complicated? I think it depends how its achieved. I know 'cheating' one's way to it leads to madness and unparalleled destruction if one doesn't have parents who know who to ask for help when their child starts burning away the fabric of reality.

But to put it simply, existence is weird, and sometimes losing your sense of self on a fundamental level and regaining it is a thing that can occur.

[happydreamed]

Fair enough. You've given me much to think about, and I appreciate the reassurance.

[forgingfires]

I'll remind you again if you ever need it. You're as real as anything else, its existence itself that's strange, and I'll fight anyone who wants to call someone not real for such limiting definitions of it.

Its rare anything fits into the neat boxes anyway.

[happydreamed]

You'll defend my honor? I'm touched. Thank you.

[forgingfires]

I have little patience for stupidity and frankly people who don't think highly of themselves are more likely to give up hope and do stupid things, and I need you smart and determined for the project, so anyone who might make you think less of yourself needs to be put down.