Experiment Log 02: Film Theory [Open]

[mementomoritz]

[Anyone passing by the theater in Limbo today, whether out of chance or curiosity, will find that it's running another one of its' "special presentations". In between the usual mix of random gibberish and actual films are two short clips, both featuring the same young girl.]

[Neither of them is a particularly long memory, but it's enough to see that the child in question is unmistakably a much younger Medic.]

[The first is a cheerful little memory, in it's own... unique way. At least the cat seems fine.]

[It's the second one where things get a little uncomfortable.]

[The source of the memories in question, once someone has eventually clued her in that she's getting another fifteen minutes of fame, can be found sitting in one of the theater seats and absently eating popcorn while staring at the screen, lost in thought.]

I didn't remember until I saw... Was the video the cause, or did it appear here because I was going to remember soon? [Thankfully, she doesn't seem too bothered by her personal business being shown publicly, but she does seem pretty wrapped up in contemplating it.]

[Alternately, if you show up later, you may hear a lot of thuds and clatters coming from the back.]

[Apparently, she's trying to get answers from the source by locating and breaking into the projector room. Her success is... mixed at best.]

[On the bright side, she left her giant bag of popcorn unattended. Free movie snacks?]

Comments

[seasharp]

[Uncomfortable is right. Ariel can't help but think that she probably shouldn't have seen that. Well, not that she can help it, when its right there in the theater, but all the same, it leaves her feeling a little awkward.

...she'll leave for a bit, maybe some... late attempt at giving Medic some privacy? But she'll be back soon enough. Maybe with some chocolate from the concession stand. Looking at Medic as she's...

...

No, honestly, she's not sure what's happening here.]

Hmm, are you trying to sneak in backstage~?

[mementomoritz]

I want to find out how the projector reel works! Or... whatever it is they're using for these. [At least she seems curious and cheery as ever, as opposed to horribly traumatized by having her childhood shown to all and sundry.]

I'm not a mechanic at all, but if they're taking the memories directly from us there has to be something that interfaces with the nervous system somehow, right? I want to see what it is!

[seasharp]

Ah... probably, I guess, huh? Something like that.

[she says like she isn't already kind of lost.]

You're not worried it might, I don't know, just go through all your memories if you fiddle with it?

[mementomoritz]

Then I'd get to learn more about myself very quickly! [She's not seeing a downside here. What's a shame? Not anything Medic knows about, that's for sure.]

[seasharp]

Well... I guess that's true.

And... what if it fries your brains, instead?

[mementomoritz]

[Solemnly:] Then I re-died doing what I loved:

Science.

...wow, this door is really sturdy. Do you know how to pick locks?

[seasharp]

[Medic no.]

Definitely not. I'm not some kind of burglar.

[gosh!]

...I mean, I'm pretty sure I wasn't when I was alive, and I'm definitely not now.

[mementomoritz]

[Medic yes? Medic yes.]

I don't, either... [Darn.] Maybe if I put the blade of my scissors into the gap around the doorframe and tried to lever it open?

[She's just tilting her head, trying to consider the logistics here. This is almost certainly going to result in property damage.]

[seasharp]

You'll probably end up just breaking your scissors. Anyway, isn't this really illegal...

[mementomoritz]

Mmmmm... [Medic makes a noncommittal 'maybe yes maybe no' gesture with both hands.] I'm not completely sure Limbo actually has a legal system? So I think "illegal" is kind of a complicated concept to apply, in this case!

...But if we're basing it on the living world's laws, then yes. Breaking and entering is illegal. [Emphasis on the "breaking".]

But! Under that system, so is surveillance of people without their knowledge or consent! And publicly revealing the personal information of a minor! ...Which I'm pretty sure I am, for another two years.

Unless I was dead for a lot longer than I thought... [Huh, there's an interesting possibility.]

[seasharp]

Can we really age out of being minors if we're dead? We're probably not going to do anymore growing, so are we really aging...?

...Wait, no, not the point. The point being... um... well...

[...]

I'm not sure what the point is. But I guess, in this case it's probably okay?

[mementomoritz]

That is an interesting philosophical question: do you count your age by the amount of years you've been around for, or the amount of mental and physical development you've been through?

Exactly! [Medic cheers.] Legally, I'm pretty sure they started it.

[And then she summons her scissors and jams them into the crack in the doorframe.]

[seasharp]

Um. I guess, both? Does both count as an answer?

...I guess I've never really thought about it. But I guess I'm going to be the same age forever this way, huh?

[she's fourteen and what is this]

They're going to jam and break.

[mementomoritz]

If you can make an argument for it, everything counts as an answer until you test it! Which is what we're probably going to have to do about the age question, since we don't actually know for sure yet how long we've been dead.

We should ask Rei if she knows anything, though! [Since it seems like she's been around for A While.]

Can an Executor weapon break? [She's genuinely kind of curious about that one now.] I wonder if it would fix itself if you dispelled it and summoned it again.

[HAVE YOU TRIED TURNING YOUR GIANT SCISSORS OFF AND ON AGAIN?]

[seasharp]

Ah, yeah. She's been at this for a while, so maybe she...

[...]

...Oh. I just thought of it, but, with all our memories all messed up, none of us even know when our birthdays are, huh?

[mementomoritz]

[Medic pauses in the middle of attempting to use her scissors to pry the door open, one foot braced on the wall as she shoves at the handle, to consider that one.] ...huh.

I guess we don't! And if you try to go by the day we woke back up instead, most of us would be sharing the same... rebirthday?

[seasharp]

I guess so. The newer people have different days, I guess. And Rei.

For all we know, we've already passed by a bunch of birthdays we don't remember.

[mementomoritz]

That's true! ...come to think of it, even if we knew what our birthdates were, we don't really know what date it is now, anyway. I've been keeping track of how many days it's been since we woke up, but I have no idea what month it is- or even if we use the same calendar!

[seasharp]

...I totally didn't even think of that! Do we even have seasons here? Could we tell?

[She thinks it over, ruffling her hair a bit as she does. And then, abruptly, she stops.]

Oh! We could just decide ourselves!

I mean, mostly we should be focusing on doing our jobs, but we should have celebrations and stuff sometimes too, if we can.

[mementomoritz]

That sounds... really nice, actually. [Her expression this time is a little mellower, less of a grin and more of a smile.]

If no one else has a calendar for us, we can just make our own! We're all relearning things and having to put stuff together for ourselves anyway, so why not?

Besides, we could have cake. Who doesn't like cake?