1st Sign - Video

[alwaysoutspoken]

[Oh look some serious-looking glasses girl staring at the webcam like she has a problem with it. She is probably going to start yelling at you all. She looks like she wants to yell at you all, or at least say things very sternly.

Instead she starts waving her arms and hands around.]

[Hello. My name is Shizune Hakamichi, and it seems I'm one of many people captive here. Personally, I find this whole situation unacceptable. While I admit the Exaclan system sounds a little fun, considering it's being forced upon us, as well as the player-weapon system, it's just atrocious. Having a majority of the population being subject to the whims of the few who can grant them rights is practically a tyranny.] [Her impassioned "speech" is such that you can hear her arms cut through the air as she swishes them around while she signs] [And worst of all, our very minds themselves have been violated! I'm finding myself unable to recall important parts of my life, and who knows what else I'm not even aware I'm missing. And on top of what's happening here, what about at home? I'd just come back from a vacation, so Student Council matters were already piling up, what do you think is going to happen if I'm gone even longer? I trust Hisao and Misha to manage admirably in my absence, but the burden is simply too much to bear without my leadership.] [A pause] [Well, I'd love to be proven wrong on that statement, but that's beside the point. I have a lot more important things to do than be fooling around with some kind of inter-school rivalry in an overly-complex and admittedly fun-looking high-stakes but probably rights-violating game over memories that shouldn't be missing in the first place. I demand to speak with whoever is in charge!]

[And now that she's done waving her arms around like the conductor of the world's most indignant orchestra, she types up a text version of what she justHAHAHA NO SHE DOESN'T. SORRY, IF YOU DON'T KNOW SIGN LANGUAGE, ALL YOU'RE GETTING FROM THIS IS SOME ANGRY CHICK WAVING HER HANDS AROUND LIKE A MANIAC. Feel free to text her back though.]

Comments

[overthroen]

i see. that seems logical.
it looks like you'll have to make do with your pda for the time being.
it's probably the only reason i can efficiently navigate these days.

[alwaysoutspoken]

Oh, does yours have some kind of app to help with that?

[overthroen]

it does. i would find other ways to adjust, but as this is a relatively new state for me, it is efficient.

[alwaysoutspoken]

That's convenient.

So you only became blind recently?

[overthroen]

upon arrival.
apparently the ability to see is cerebral enough to count as a memory one may lose.
it seems like a loophole to me, but i've no way of complaining.
nor a reason to, since i've had the gift of sight for most of my life anyway.

[alwaysoutspoken]

That must have made it harder than most to adjust to this place.

Really? That's weird to think of it as a "memory".

I'd still lodge a complaint. But then, there are many things about this place to complain about.

[overthroen]

i confused it for a dream.
i guess upon exiting the womb, most humans must learn to recognize shapes and colors as objects. this is a very slightly more extreme case.
i won't disagree with you there, by the way. though i'm curious what in particular you find objectionable.

[alwaysoutspoken]

Well, the being kidnapped from our homes and lives part for one. As questionably fun as all this sounds, I have better things to be doing with my time.

[overthroen]

i don't disagree.
but i refuse to believe this will create a noticeable disruption in our home activities.
there have been disappearances from this island before. where do they go?
we've already ruled out death as a viable option.

[alwaysoutspoken]

They go back, I would assume. And I can't see how it wouldn't cause a disruption.

[overthroen]

my point exactly.
meaning this is free time, for us, printed on a voucher and slipped into our pockets while we slept.
we will return eventually, and in the meantime, are presented with an elaborate game with which to occupy ourselves.

[alwaysoutspoken]

"Eventually" isn't good enough! To be missing for weeks, months... that's a lot of trouble, don't you think?

misread "wouldn't" as "would". WORDS I AM GOOD AT THEM. sorry about that.

[overthroen]

the reality i was plucked from, if not completed according to a previously scripted plan, would collapse in on itself.
and if i am indeed to return, i assume that i would continue with my previously scheduled activities.
unless, of course, i am from a now-doomed timeline.
in which case, an alternate version of myself completes the tasks i set out to do.
it's a troubling thought, but it means that somehow, at home, life continues.
if i've been taken in such a manner, might not we all have been chosen and removed from our homes under similar circumstances?

[alwaysoutspoken]

That brings up the disturbing possibility that I am not, in fact, me, but simply someone who looks like Shizune and has the memories, incomplete even, of Shizune.

Or some kind of doppelganger has taken my place. One or the other, I suppose.

[overthroen]

unsettling though it may be, it effectively erases the possibility of disturbing events at home with your absence.

[alwaysoutspoken]

Call me selfish, but I'd prefer to be the real me.

[overthroen]

you are only one universe and a few memories removed from that distinction. it amounts to the same thing.

[alwaysoutspoken]

A universe is a pretty big thing.

[overthroen]

frequently, yes.
though i've seen whole planets fit in the palm of a sovereign's hand.