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[fairfeste]

 

"Uuuuh-- this is Feste! Leave me a message! Or just... text me..."

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[fairfeste]

[Feste is probably the worst person to ask about their state of mind right now, since... they think everything is fine, but they're who're Walter is asking so.]

im ok. (=^ ◡ ^=) u?

[iamnotgod]

Stable. Not happy, but not a depressive spiral.

[Yes, Feste gets accuracy. It seems like a reasonable demand for Walter to make of himself, what with how his mentality has been changing.]

Flat's been coming back together nicely after the flood, though, so there's that.

[fairfeste]

oh no is something wrong???? (｡•́︿•̀｡)

that's good. we were mostly ok with that

[iamnotgod]

Not strictly more than we're already dealing with as Numbered, no.

That's good; Nel told me the day of.

Anyone nearby need help with cleanup?

[fairfeste]

there were a couple but mostly everything was wet (°)#))<<

our area's ok now i think

We'll just pretend Walter knows better than I would about what that emote is. XD

[iamnotgod]

Good to hear.

[And now, a more awkward topic.]

Nothing happened to cause an Echo, did it?

[fairfeste]

i mean the flood did

and nel when she grew some weird flowers

but i'm ok (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

u?

Wait, would that second one have counted as having happened by the 4th?

[iamnotgod]

[Well, the flood was practically heralded by Echoes; that's a given.]

Any context in those Echoes, though?

I lost normal sight because of that Echo before the flood; whenever I'm in range of wifi-

[Which is. Basically everywhere in Mossgate.]

I can see the structure of the World Wide Web. From the inside.

yeah, sorry, i didn't register the date

[fairfeste]

nope still haven't noticed anything

[apparently that's just them though???]

ok that's weird

o7 Can pretend the second Echo thing wasn't mentioned; tag should still work.

[iamnotgod]

Our weirdness baseline has changed tremendously in the past nine months, hasn't it?

[Also, holy crap it's been almost nine months! Ye gods.]

[fairfeste]

[aaaagh feste doesn't want to think about that.]

yeah but still

[iamnotgod]

Self-perception is likely our biggest clue for how consistent our Echoes make us with our day-to-day selves.

[Which... he's aware not everyone has, but. 8'D]

[fairfeste]

what's that (・_・;)

[yeeeeah feste is lost already]

[iamnotgod]

You know how I mentioned at the meeting in Tarwich, about how I received an Echo that changed how I thought about things?

I'd also previously gotten an Echo that allowed me perfect memory, months earlier. Without that, the values changed I had experienced would have utterly slipped by me.

And I'd have changed how I behaved to match.

[fairfeste]

oh

but like

how can you tell if your thinking changed if your thinking has changed??

[iamnotgod]

It was that abrupt.

Something I value very highly - respecting other peoples' privacy - changed on me, in the span of a few seconds.

Normally I'd have been horrified at the thought of going through someone else's personal emails. The lack of that horror set me off.

[fairfeste]

oh

huh

so like noticing you used to care about something and now you don't basically?

[asking for a friend.]

[iamnotgod]

Yes.

Have you experienced something like that, then?

[Walter is not missing a trick here, Feste.]

[fairfeste]

i guess kind of??

not sure how to explain it tho

[it's hard to define morals when you don't. have them anymore.]

[iamnotgod]

We can start by eliminating what it doesn't feel like?

[fairfeste]

there's so many things it doesn't feel like

[please narrow it down more....]

[iamnotgod]

It's not anything physical, is it? Or like depression, where there's times you don't feel anything, including sadness or anger?

[fairfeste]

no nothing like that

i guess i'm more chill about stuff now?

[iamnotgod]

[That's... good? Walter guesses??]

As in apathetic, or just calm? 'No use crying over spilled milk' and the like?

[fairfeste]

well

put like that maybe that's not it

some things i've been more ok with and some things have annoyed me more??? ┐('～`;)┌

[iamnotgod]

More like a reorientation rather than a wholesale reversal, or even a straight-up removal?

[Which on one level he could suppose was reassuring - but on another, it was less predictable.

[fairfeste]

i guess so

[don't be fooled walter it should not be reassuring in the slightest]

[iamnotgod]

So, what would your opinion be on, say, respecting people's privacy, as a general rule? Versus what you might have said two months ago?

And to compare it with something less severe, what about traffic jams?

[fairfeste]

i mean i guess same as you i used to mind and now i don't?

traffic jams are the worst tho (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

[iamnotgod]

[WELL. That's... being noted for later, certainly.]

We can agree on that much, then. ;)

[And Walter doesn't even have a car. Being a cyclist can be the worst if you have no exits available.]

Anything that feels less petty than it used to, though?

[fairfeste]

uuuh

idk

nothing i can think of

[iamnotgod]

[Hmm...]

What about things you wouldn't tolerate happening to people you know? Versus people you don't know?

[One of the more worrying aspects of the change in basic thought, on Walter's part, was that there was no such differentiation - curiosity overcame alignment, and without a sense of finite space or privacy... at least there was no thinking of it as a weapon to target on people he didn't like?]

[fairfeste]

[it takes a while for feste to respond, since they're just... frowning and trying to figure out what this means. is there a difference? They think so, but how to...]

i guess mostly i don't want people i like to get hurt and want to look after them? is that what you mean?

[iamnotgod]

I think so.

[Because Walter can definitely relate to that - speaking for himself, not necessarily what he's gotten from Webmind.]

But what would you be willing to do, if they got hurt?

[Keeping it to just an if...]

[fairfeste]

p much anything i think

[iamnotgod]

[Relatable, but at the same time...]

Nothing has happened to them, outside of Number-related activities, right?

[Walter may not be in a position to be the first to know, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't want to help.]

[fairfeste]

nope they're fine

p sure

unless they haven't told me something

[iamnotgod]

Probably best not to feed into paranoia when we don't have to, on top of life becoming hectic here within the Boundary.

[For further explanation, reread the above sentence, Feste.]

Apart from that, though, is there anything else you'd like me to know? Or help with?

[fairfeste]

don't think so

u need anything?

[iamnotgod]

[Walter makes himself actually think about this question - two milliseconds, minimum.]

Not at the moment, no.

But you can message for anything you like, too. Anytime.

[fairfeste]

you too! ⊂(￣▽￣)⊃