Brin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brin_bellway) wrote2020-03-30 12:13 pm
brin_bellway) wrote2020-03-30 12:13 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
[cw: amnesia, cordyceps spoilers]
(kind of part of a series with this and this)
(also, I linked a CORDYCEPS-related post recently, which is probably why I was thinking about this again)
---
It's interesting how, if you *don't* know about the existence of targeted antimemetic drugs but *do* know about memory play†, *Arc* being at the hospital is a very encouraging sign.
If you're that kind of mind, operating under those kinds of assumptions (given the only thing *you* know to be capable of causing amnesia *that* incredibly convenient, with resets and everything), and you meet Arc, something dawns on you very quickly:
Arc *consented*.
They *must* have. Because *everything* about Arc just *screams* "I have no natural talent as a hypnotic subject whatsoever: everything I do, I do by pure, hard-won skill".
(They overthink everything! So much!! And the paranoia is certainly not helping either, but mostly by *god* do they overthink the hell out of *everything*!!!
(Fun fact: the standard term for describing low-talent subjects is "analytical". There's a reason for this.))
They would have had to practice for at least months, probably *years*, to pull a stunt like *this* off††. They must have wanted this very much, to work so hard at achieving it.
They might deny it right now, but *some* past self of theirs--no, *many* past selves of theirs--were *completely* on board with this plan. And if *they* were completely on board, well, that greatly increases the odds you place on *you* having been on board with it too. Nothing is seriously wrong here, you're not in any real danger or suffering any permanent damage, you can just relax and try to figure out what prank your past self is playing on you.
(This conclusion is, of course, largely false. But it's a very *reasonable* false conclusion to come to, under the circumstances.)
---
†I won't say "if I were there", because let's be real I would not remember this. But a *slightly different* kind of mind, someone who'd learned this stuff outside of themselves...
††And they would probably *never* be good enough at it to get *fast-talked* into it; in any case, they *certainly* wouldn't have *started off* at that level. Nowhere close. (Also, you think somebody *that* paranoid doesn't have safety suggestions installed? Bullshit. This is clearly a person who would take the possibility of fast-talking very seriously, and take measures to avoid it. (...okay, yes, to be fair the paranoia *could* be a temporary implant))
(kind of part of a series with this and this)
(also, I linked a CORDYCEPS-related post recently, which is probably why I was thinking about this again)
---
It's interesting how, if you *don't* know about the existence of targeted antimemetic drugs but *do* know about memory play†, *Arc* being at the hospital is a very encouraging sign.
If you're that kind of mind, operating under those kinds of assumptions (given the only thing *you* know to be capable of causing amnesia *that* incredibly convenient, with resets and everything), and you meet Arc, something dawns on you very quickly:
Arc *consented*.
They *must* have. Because *everything* about Arc just *screams* "I have no natural talent as a hypnotic subject whatsoever: everything I do, I do by pure, hard-won skill".
(They overthink everything! So much!! And the paranoia is certainly not helping either, but mostly by *god* do they overthink the hell out of *everything*!!!
(Fun fact: the standard term for describing low-talent subjects is "analytical". There's a reason for this.))
They would have had to practice for at least months, probably *years*, to pull a stunt like *this* off††. They must have wanted this very much, to work so hard at achieving it.
They might deny it right now, but *some* past self of theirs--no, *many* past selves of theirs--were *completely* on board with this plan. And if *they* were completely on board, well, that greatly increases the odds you place on *you* having been on board with it too. Nothing is seriously wrong here, you're not in any real danger or suffering any permanent damage, you can just relax and try to figure out what prank your past self is playing on you.
(This conclusion is, of course, largely false. But it's a very *reasonable* false conclusion to come to, under the circumstances.)
---
†I won't say "if I were there", because let's be real I would not remember this. But a *slightly different* kind of mind, someone who'd learned this stuff outside of themselves...
††And they would probably *never* be good enough at it to get *fast-talked* into it; in any case, they *certainly* wouldn't have *started off* at that level. Nowhere close. (Also, you think somebody *that* paranoid doesn't have safety suggestions installed? Bullshit. This is clearly a person who would take the possibility of fast-talking very seriously, and take measures to avoid it. (...okay, yes, to be fair the paranoia *could* be a temporary implant))