jikan_network | Video | un: traveler

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Video | un: traveler

[Although the video quality on magi-comms isn't great, there's enough detail to show a young man with blonde hair and cat ears, looking a bit tired as he speaks into the device.]

Has anyone ever had a reoccurring dream? Or a dream that feels so real, you can't tell if it was just a dream or a memory?

Or maybe I should be asking... how do you make them stop?

[Note: Aether is experiencing a gradual canon update! Comments will include spoilers for the Genshin Impact 3.0 Archon quest!]

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[A young man appears on the screen. He has floppy black rabbit ears on either side of his head. He's also had kizuna changes it seems.]

I don't know how to make them stop but I remember having dreams like this for a long time. For me it was because I had lost my memory but was remembering those moments again.

[Ah, a fellow Kizuna-haver turned into a cute and cuddly animal. The rabbit ears are pretty endearing.]

You lost your memory? Was that something that happened here, or back in your home world?

My world. An incident happened when I was small which left me with a terrible fever. When the fever broke I'd lost all my memories.

[He smiles a little.]

There was a struggle in my world at the time so the people caring for me at the time let me forget to protect me.

Forgetting everything when you're only a child... that must have been difficult.

[Hopefully he was young enough that it didn't impact him greatly. But while the situation is quite different, it may still be helpful to hear another experience.]

How did you figure out they were memories, and not just vivid dreams?

I met some of the people in my dreams including a family member who it turned out to have not died. In talking with him I was able to remember. To realize the dreams were memories.

[Sizhui pauses then, considering a moment.]

I don't know if it's at all the same as your situation. But maybe they are memories as well? For you?

[He considers that for a moment. If he could meet someone from that time and talk to them, perhaps they could confirm if it was a memory or not.]

Mine would be pretty different, since it's related to being here. Because if they're memories, then they're memories of my future, not the past.

Ever since I've been here, I've experience time surges that cause me to remember things that I experienced past the point where I was trapped in the time loop. Almost as if I returned to my previous world for a few months, without any time passing here in Nippon. They're supposed to be pretty common among Refugees, but I've never had ones like this before.

[i.e. the IC mechanism for canon updates.]

Every dream I've had this past week has been about the same day-- but just different enough that it wouldn't make sense for them to be a memory.

[He frowns some as he considers that. This isn't something he's heard of before. Or even experienced himself. It does seem like it could be distressing. Especially without the consistency.]

When you experienced these previous surges you didn't experience this before? This is a new experience for you?

[He just wants to confirm so he can try to understand this. He doesn't know if he can even help but he wants to try.]

Yes. Every other time before, it just felt like time froze for a few seconds, before I'd suddenly remember everything. And usually, it would be more than just a single day. I'd remember everything that happened up to a certain point in time, more or less.

[And he has a pretty good way of keeping track of where in time he's moved--]

I was on a journey before I came here, traveling to the different nations of the world. But in my dream, the nation I was in-- as far as I know, I've never been there before. And I don't remember traveling there yet, either.

If last night hadn't been the seventh time I've had this dream, I would have probably just written it off as that.

That's strange that the pattern would change like that. Do you think it's perhaps something to do with your memories of that time rather than the magics here?

[After all, he doesn't understand this well. So the best way to start figuring this out is to speculate with the one experiencing what is going on.]

I know that sometimes the magics of this place can be a little strange.

[Well they are for him. He hasn't been here long and he's still learning.]

Strange is one word for it... I take it you weren't born with those animal ears, either?

[He gestures at his own kitty ears. #justKizunathings]

But I wonder about that. After all, we know our home worlds are all trapped in a time loop while we're here. But every time I remembered something new, I didn't remember a new time loop. Just the same one I experienced right before I was brought to Nippon.

It makes things a little complicated to think about... when I leave here, I wonder what point in time I'll actually return to.

[That gets a little laugh and he shakes his head.]

My tail either. They both showed up when I was spending time with my boyfriend.

[Which makes for a very happy bunny.]

I've wondered the same honestly. As much as our worlds are in a time loop I know that there a multiple people from my world who come from different points in time. So if the world is in a time loop then which one is it looping in that case? Can it loop more than one at the same time?

It's something I've never had to think about before so considering it now feels so complex.

[Cute... Kizuna effects really were like little declarations of loving relationships sometimes.]

From what I heard, it's just too difficult to explain to someone who doesn't study the flow of time for a living. Since time isn't actually linear, all those "different" points of time are actually the... same points of time? Or something like that.

[He's gonna give himself a headache trying to wrap his mind around that right now.]

But honestly, memories or not... the biggest issues is how the dreams are effecting me. I didn't notice it the first few nights, but now-- it feels like I haven't been sleeping. If not for that, I probably wouldn't be worried about all this. But I'm exhausted.

[Forget about time. Sizhui has worry on his face now.]

You feel like you haven't been sleeping? When did you notice this first?

About three days ago, I noticed I felt tired when I woke up. I'm usually pretty active, so I can tell the difference on days I haven't slept as well. And it's been more of the same ever since.

But-- I've been told I was asleep the whole time. It's just... not very restful, maybe? Which is strange. I'd understand if it was a reoccurring nightmare, but it's not like it's a bad dream.

[He frowns as he thinks about that, lifting a hand to his chin as he thinks about it carefully. It's not a dream and it's tiring.]

Could it be you are...somehow living it this time?

[Is that even possible?]

Living it? You mean like... actually going back and forth?

[Or maybe something less extreme, seeing as going back and forth would have to mean passing through the NRL, right?]

I think maybe less your body and more your...soul somehow? Your spirit?

[He's not even sure if that makes sense at all.]

My soul... so maybe just a part of me is moving back and forth?

Honestly, that's something I've wondered about. I've heard that when some people get additional memories, sometimes their body changes to match whatever they looked like at that time. So someone who remembers a few years would become older.

Maybe it's related to that? If I was tired at the end of the day in my dreams, if could explain why I don't feel like I'm sleeping?

[Though it doesn't explain why the individual dreams are just different enough to not make sense as a single memory.]

If our bodies can change to match the conditions of our futures as we remember them it would make some sense that our souls could be moving between the worlds somehow. But I'm still not sure what that could mean for this dream that you're having.

[He hesitates a moment before speaking again.]

If you feel comfortable enough with it, would you mind telling me about your dreams? Including the changes between them?

[He nods in agreement. It seems like a solid hypothesis -- perhaps the truth is somewhere in-between?]

Of course! Well... in my dream, I'm meeting with a girl I've never met before to celebrate something called the Sabzeruz Festival. It's a festival celebrating the birthday of the god of that nation. But I don't even know if it's a real festival or not.

We visit a few stalls, eat some unfamiliar food, play festival games, and even get our fortunes told. But in the end, the festival is canceled just before some kind of special performance can take place. And then after that, I'd just go to bed, and then I'd wake up.

But in one of the dreams, I think I became aware of it? I started feeling deja vu, and I knew everything that was going to happen before it did. But nothing really changed, it just... felt unsettling.

In another, I started acting really irrationally. I left my friend by herself and spent part of the day alone, but everything else played out exactly the same after that. The festival was canceled, and I just went to bed as usual.

But last night was probably the strangest. Instead of meeting my friend, I tried to escape the city. There were guards keeping us in, and when I jumped over a fence to avoid them-- I just woke up.

[Honestly, describing everything does make it sound a bit more nightmarish, even if the dream's contents seem peaceful enough.]

And you say this has been happening for a week?

[It's strange that everything else would play out as it's meant to. Yet this person is the one factor that seems to be the only change that happens. Like there's something special about him that would change it.

But why has the dream happened so often? That's the thing he doesn't understand yet.]

[He's got the Protagonist Syndrome.]

Mm, every night for the past week.

I haven't actually tested whether it would happen if I tried napping during the day. I'm not usually one for naps. But with how tired I've felt, it might be worth a shot just in case I actually manage to sleep normally.

If you would like someone to watch over you to see what happens I can come to you. I know some resting songs for my qin so I could play them for you to see if it helps.

Are you sure? I'd hate to trouble you so much-- especially when I haven't even properly introduced myself yet.

[A thought that only occurs to him now. Perhaps he's a bit more sleep deprived than he thought??]

[Oh! Where are his manners? He cups his hands before him and bows to the camera.]

I am Lan Sizhui of the Gusu Lan Clan. It would be my honor to aid in you whatever what I am able. Even if it is only to provide you a moment of rest.

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