[002: Audio]

[rianofski]

I have a...

[He clears his throat uncomfortably.]

Potentially ridiculous question, for those of you who have been here longer than I have, but I ask you to bear with me as I ask it anyway. I am in dire need of information.

[A pause as he tries to figure out the least unfortunate way to say this.]

Is it common for one to... experience false memories during the course of one of these "curses"? Are said memories generally completely fake, or do they ever have some slight ring of truth to them?

Either way, it's incredibly disconcerting. I'd appreciate any and all insight on the matter, as soon as possible.

Comments

[wouldnotkindly]

[This is exactly what Jack was afraid of. But he can't just let Ryan stew over his own conclusions...can he?]

It happens...er, sometimes.

Things like that happen all the time here.

[rianofski]

Does it? Then perhaps I should put it aside.

[His tone of voice doesn't make it sound like he'll be ignoring it anytime soon though.]

[wouldnotkindly]

Uh... Yeah. [Jack can only hope he will.]

It's not as bad as some of the others, but...hopefully it won't happen again. [Ever.]

[rianofski]

All the same...

[He's clearly still dwelling on it.]

Some of it made an odd amount of sense, don't you think?

[wouldnotkindly]

[Oh, no.]

Like, uh... Like what?

[rianofski]

Well, hypothetically, if you were my...

[He sounds incredibly uncomfortable with the idea.]

If you were related to me, your use of the bathysphere would be far more logical.

[wouldnotkindly]

[That's definitely worthy of an "oh, no."]

Yeah... Uh... I guess it would, huh. [How does he get himself out of this conversation?]

[rianofski]

Any particular thoughts on the matter? You never did tell me much about your family, which I'm starting to think is a purposeful prevarication...

[valentineluke]

'Yes' and or 'No'.

[wouldnotkindly]

[He needs to get himself out of this conversation.]

Well, that's... There isn't much to tell.

[rianofski]

Excuse me?

[rianofski]

No? I find it hard to believe that anyone who didn't have much to tell would have continually dodged the questions about who you were as much as you did during our first encounter.

[orangetoughguy]

Somebody's got to be in your head to figure that out and I really don't think you want anyone from here to be in there.

[rianofski]

No, I don't think I do either. However, I imagine someone else has experienced similar false memories before. It's not an unusual curse, is it?

[orangetoughguy]

I'll knock on wood before I say it ain't ever happened to me. Except for this one time I thought I was some fencing motherfucker from the 1700s.

[rianofski]

[Listen carefully -- you can almost hear the raised eyebrow via audio.]

That's... certainly an interesting situation. How long did it take for the mistaken belief to abate?

[orangetoughguy]

[Likewise hear the sound of a facepalm just from remembering the whole ordeal. SIGH.]

Two days. It lasted that long but you know after midnight you tend to snap out of it.

[rianofski]

I suppose it could be worse.

[A pause.]

Though... what if the memories had some semblance of truth to them? I don't suppose the City is beyond playing with one's mind in that way.

[valentineluke]

There's a number of one or more possibilities.

[rianofski]

And no definitive answer, I presume?

[orangetoughguy]

Truth you're hiding or truth you don't see yet?

[rianofski]

Potential and alarming truth that I had, until now, considered impossible. Or at least had never seriously believed to be an option.

[valentineluke]

Exactly.

[rianofski]

Has it happened to you before?

[valentineluke]

No. Have observed a few, though.