[D40]

[espigeon]

Hm, weird question, but: does the 'collective unconscious' sound familiar to anyone? When you were in your original reality did you ever dream about places and events you weren't there for? Especially about being in space and probably speaking in Russian or English, if you've got equivalent languages and people have actually been in space I mean.

How about shared dreams? Probably not super common, any of these, maybe once a month? Thanks.

...and, okay. If you could choose somewhere to go for the next stop, what would it be like? I'm unsurprisingly kinda into the idea of a talking bird world. With treehouses. Didn't I hear the Carnival went to one years ago? Anyone been there who can crush my dreams now and say it was terrible?

Comments

[spaghettimonster]

That's a lot of questions! Let me tackle the big one first. Upfront, and head on...

I don't think it sounds familiar. Not as a real thing that anybody knows about. But, I dream so rarely, with so many bad dreams among them... I hope they're not shared.

[He coughs an emphatic subject-changing sound.]

What was the other question? Where I want us to go next?

[espigeon]

I'm curious! That's fair enough, though.

[The skeleton's world either doesn't have an Earthmind or it has different influences, he reasons.]

Yeah, sure. What would that place be like, what would be especially good about it?

[spaghettimonster]

I have to say... Somewhere that the machines aren't all breaking down. Maintenance in this station is terrible!

[He could have so many words with the managers of that place, if he weren't stubbornly sticking mostly to the carnival.]

And somewhere that we're ourselves, and that's not too odd. Maybe... somewhere with skeletons! And robots! And other familiar sorts of faces.

...Skeletons who aren't dead people. Or are friendly dead people.

[espigeon]

[Julien laughs.]

Somewhere without a lot of machines, or with them but they're all nice and not buggy?

Yeah that sounds pretty good honestly, very uh... there's a holiday where I'm from that's basically about celebrating with people's friendly skeleton ancestors. That'd be kinda nice.

[spaghettimonster]

Oh my god? What a perfect holiday... I want to celebrate that!

And, bug-free machines can celebrate it with us.

[espigeon]

It's a really nice holiday! Lots of food, marigolds everywhere, uh, attractively patterned skulls, this one skeleton lady with a sweet giant hat... I mean, where I'm from the ancestors showing up to party are more a metaphor, but if they have that holiday on other worlds there's probably one where it's more real.

The machines can celebrate older models and the people who helped build them. Set up a nice shrine to Ada Lovelace. Yeah, I'd bring flowers to that.

[textsfromhotland]

I'm p-pretty sure we don't have anything like that where I come from... do people in your world all have some kind of latent psychic ability?

A-as for places I'd like us to go, well, I wouldn't mind going s-someplace like Wismuth again... [Look everybody else had a terrible time but it was awesome for her, ok]

[espigeon]

Well, sort of? It's not really... It's normal, it's not really a big deal. No one's psychic psychic unless they become a Champion.

The colors were really nice there. I bought some jewelry and it shines like it's more real somehow... Did you get anything?

[chronosynthesis]

Nothing about Russian or space, but Sylvari share our memories and experiences with each other through the Dream. The connection is weakened once we Awaken, but we remain tethered to the Dream so our lives can be learned by those who come into the world later.

[Mostly. The technicalities are different, but the generalidea is the same, being mentally connected to each other. He's at least a little excited that someone else experiences something similar.] You experience them interim? What are they like when you dream of them?

[espigeon]

Hey, that's cool!

It... well, like, if you're with a small group doing something hard and stressful you just kind of start having overlapping dreams. It's a sign that you're starting to work together well, holding up and stuff. But sometimes it's just random, or it's something that the collective unconscious really likes. Like space. We went into space for the first time like fifty years ago, and everyone dreams about being there sometimes.

They feel just like other dreams, pretty much. You just wake up with the sense that okay, something about that was true.

[chronosynthesis]

How interesting... does this collective unconsciousness ever provide guidance? Such as showing someone something that they are to fulfill. Like a quest.

[It sounds at least as... metaphysically aware as the Dream is, anyway, so he wonders if it has that same sense of purpose.] How many people in your world share this?

[espigeon]

Well. It's kinda complicated... she's too big and too old and we're just too ephemeral to grasp in a lot of fine detail, it's easier once we've died. But uh... some of us get a little more. It's more filtered through our own thoughts and experiences though. And each others'.

[He sort of feels like he shouldn't talk too much about the Earthmind but, well.]

Everyone? Not just people even. There's this whole continuity of life and we're not super special.

[chronosynthesis]

[Easier when they've died? Interesting, since for Sylvari it's easier before they're born. He's also a little surprised to hear Julien use pronouns for her, and wonders if that's 'her' nature or just how their people interpret it.]

Even the animals? [He can't imagine there's much to gleam from them, but it's an interesting notion. He wonders if it's better studied when it's something everyone can experience, rather than one young, inexperienced race of people.

At the same time, though, he'd rather the Dream remain something that is theirs.] STill, I had not expected to hear someone else having a similar experience as my people. I suppose the universe is made of many kinds, though, isn't it?

[espigeon]

Well, yeah, though it's a lot less distinct and usually it's more with other people. But a lot of the more, uh, mythologized dreams are originally events animals saw, it's just it's been so long and filtered through so much perception that it's not really the same as a usual memory. The dreamers change the dream, you know?

Honestly I'm a little bummed it sounds like this isn't normal. Other people aren't really connected to each other, huh. In Portland, there was something like the Earthmind, so I kinda thought...

[tryingnottodie]

I don't really have a lot of interest in seeing some dumb bird world, but I'd really like to go to wherever Ethereals are from, I bet it's as uh ..ethereal ..as they are. They'd probably charge a fee to visit though.

[espigeon]

Heh. Ethereals, huh? Maybe the Ringmaster could slip us in anyway.

[tryingnottodie]

Yeah! Imagine a lightning cloud, in a human shape, held together by strips of cloth and jewelry. I heard their planet got blown up by a Void God, but Outland blew up too and there's still plenty to get around on so it's probably fine. Maybe we can pay our way by putting on a c... arniv.. you know the thing we always do anyway.

[espigeon]

That sounds pretty cool. Maybe a little hard to imagine what the place would be like. I bet if we went in we'd be pretty ethereal ourselves for the duration, that seems to be how it works.

[tryingnottodie]

Maybe. Maybe not. I don't think they were always that way, so it'd be a little strange to turn into them. If it's anything like the Netherstorm, they'll have places built that we could go to.

[espigeon]

Heh. No shortage of strange things here, though! What are these places like?

[everybodypanic]

I don't care where we go, just as long as it's somewhere fun.

And with explosions.

[Everything a talking bird world isn't.]

Lots of explosions!

[Stop.]

[espigeon]

[Clearly!]

Well, those can be fun. Fireworks are popular for a reason, and so are videos of demolition. General violence, or more bright and noisy in general?

[everybodypanic]

Doesn't really matter.

As long as mama gets to put her guns to good use, then I'll call it a good time!

[espigeon]

Well, as long as you're enjoying yourself!

[Lots of neutral statements here.]

So do you have literal firearms, or is that more a metaphor?

[everybodypanic]

Nah.

Both my magical spirits turn into guns!

It's pretty awesome.