[Open to Fellow Investigators]

[remembrances]

[Gilbert has really gotten to the point where he's had enough. He's confused, and he knows he should have paid better attention when people were talking about things before, but he's still just, well, a mess.

Those who know him might not be that surprised by this.]

If someone is... if someone is an infiltrator [That's the word, right? He thinks so. Terminology.] Is there any way to snap them out of it? How long does it last?

[He doesn't like it. Any of it. So he adds, in a mental mutter.] What if you shake them really hard?

[Right okay back to being an adult. A sulking adult.] My brother doesn't remember me. Once this is over, he will again, right? Are there lasting effects? Is it dangerous to him now if I talk to him? I mean, if I'm a reminder of his actual life or anything, it won't break anything in him, right?

[Someday he will not have this many newbie questions. Maybe.] Is there anyone this has happened to before, where you forgot who you were and became someone else because of these Trumps? Were you all right? When it ended... were you really all right?

Comments

[tireur]

He's not in any danger if you talk to him, but it may cause trouble for you, if you don't take care to treat him as though he's a stranger. Trying to convince him he's someone other than who he believes him to be will just make him think you're a madman.

He'll return to himself once the mission's complete.

[remembrances]

Yeah that. [A long. Pause.] ...I already did that.

[First arrival and unexpecting Elliot not to be Elliot. He's in a prolonged backpedal from that by now.]

Completely, right? All his memories? What about... this. Will he remember being someone else here?

Sorry for all the questions.

[tireur]

Don't be. If you ask, you'll know better what to expect the next time this happens.

[There is the briefest of hesitations. Memory can occasionally be a tricky topic, for those who've been around for a while.] He'll remember everything of his normal life, and most of what has transpired while we've been here. His memories of his false history prior to our arrival will be...fuzzy at best.

What did you tell him, exactly?

[maddeninghatter]

[ He does not trust this telepathic network at all, as the Trumps are almost certainly listening in. They might be listening in on everything, if he's being truly pessimistic, but it seems unwise to trumpet to everybody the fact that he isn't playing the game. ]

Where are you right now, Gilbert?

[notinthecards]

There used to be people who had that skill - people who had mastered everything the network offered could sometimes, only sometimes, draw out one person in a Jaunt. But that's all. And nobody's been with us who could do that in... six Jaunts, maybe more.

The Infiltrators will be fine after this. They'll remember everything you think they should.

[icy_heavens]

Lasts the duration of the Jaunt. [Speaking from experience, here.] However long that is.

... We seem to come out fine afterward. [For a certain value of "fine." It's still all unsettling as hell.]

[remembrances]

I suppose that's true. No sense staying ignorant.

[There's no bliss in it really.] I see. So then, like waking up from a dream you still remember.

[Ah but that yeah.] Not much before I realized, fortunately. Mostly I think I confused him acting like I knew him.

[remembrances]

[Gilbert probably wouldn't be surprised or blame Break for the distrust of the whole thing. As it is, he's too confused to think quite so critically.]

The courtyard. [Not exactly outside, but out of the buildings anyway.] Why?

[Where are you, Break? Should he come find you?]

[remembrances]

Where did they go?

[Did they escape this cycle of new worlds to liminal space to new worlds? Or did they die? He's got one option he would prefer be the answer here.]

That's good at least. If he'll be all right. If they all will. But until then they're stuck...

[And straight back to sulking and mulling this over.]

[remembrances]

No way of knowing how long we'll be here? [That would be at least good.]

I guess the only thing I can do is keep an eye on him. Make sure nothing bad happens while he doesn't remember who he is.

[There's a long pause, during which Gilbert wonders if he's reading too much into that statement.] Seem to. That's good, but... it can't be easy.

--> action

[maddeninghatter]

[ Insert joke here about Gilbert's ability to think and walk at the same time.

In any case, there's no mental reply, only a short while later a: ]

HI THERE!

[ from Emily, from directly behind wherever it is Gilbert's standing. ]

[icy_heavens]

Last time was two months. I don't know if that's usual or not; it was my first.

[There's sort of a mental shrug, here. He's not getting into it.] It is what it is.

[tireur]

Somewhat like that. The memories will be more vivid, and he may retain some of the knowledge he had here. It's disorienting, but as long as he's kept from harm, or from doing anything he might find distasteful when he's his true self again, there won't be lasting harm.

[He doesn't entirely believe it's that easy, but this isn't really the time for a debate on the nature of the self.]

Not reacting with familiarity is one of the more difficult tricks to learn. In the future, if you're unsure of someone's current identity, try making psychic contact before you engage. If they reply, they're who they ought to be.

[notinthecards]

We don't know where they all go. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they remember where they went, sometimes they don't.

[remembrances]

[Gilbert's ability to walk and anything is questionable right now, though he's learning the better parts of his changed balance now. Mostly. Unless he's startled by some bastard and his creepy shoulder doll.

So he stumbles back, flails an arm out and up as if to fend off some oncoming attack. Somehow he manages to keep his feet though, sputtering and staring at Break.]

You could just walk up normally sometime you know.

[remembrances]

Two months... [Gilbert echoes. It sounds so long.] I only arrived halfway through I think.

[Because it was not quite so long for him. There's a sinking feeling in him still though.] It's infuriating is what it is. Elliot shouldn't have to deal with this.

He's been through enough. [Having his memories messed with again, after what that Chain had done to him. It makes Gilbert furious on his adopted brother's behalf.]

[remembrances]

Can it change him so much? Even if he has different memories. He's still... [Would this version of Elliot do something that Elliot's truer self would regret? Mm. Lasting harm. That sounds like exactly what that might cause. So Gil will make sure he doesn't.]

Ah... like this you mean. I hadn't considered that. I'll keep it in mind.

[remembrances]

So with as much explanation as there is when we arrive to begin with.

[Gil is building a mounting grudge against the Trumps or whatever they call themselves.]

[tireur]

Exactly like this, just with a single target.

[It's the easier thing to answer, and so he answers it first.]

It can change a great deal. Our memories shape who we are, what we do, which parts of our natures we allow to reign over us. Remove or alter them, and you shift the balance.

[remembrances]

Right. Single target. That... I could do that.

[So he hasn't explored this whole psychic network thing much at all he should work on that.]

Memories shape... only to a degree. [A small protest. It's something he spent his entire lifetime being afraid of.] But you're right. It shifts the balance, enough that it could be difficult. I'll have to keep a close eye on him. [Already a given, but.]

[tireur]

That degree can be the difference between a pacifist and a soldier, or a man of faith and a man who's lost all hope.

[Or the Trumps deliberately alter personality as well as memory; he's still not sure which, even after having gone through it himself.]

We're fortunate this time - the stakes in this place seem lower than they have on other Jaunts. Unless something changes, or some new obstacle reveals itself.

[remembrances]

If they can change as much as that...

[It has to be more than memories. Doesn't it? Is there something that he himself could have remembered from those years he'd been afraid of for so long that would have torn him away from the path he chose despite them?

He's not sure. It's not a pleasant thought.]

...at least there are no dragons. [Even mentally that manages to sound as flat and unimpressed with the whole Dolorosa thing as he can manage. Fighting dragons was never on his list of life's goals.]

[icy_heavens]

[Too long to be a different person than you really are. Any amount of time is too long for that.] I'd hardly wish it on anyone.

[remembrances]

Yeah. Me neither. But if it's the cycle we're all stuck in, how do we get out of it?

[Where are the folks in charge and when can he threaten them with his giant skeletal bird friend?]

[icy_heavens]

I think if we knew that, we wouldn't be stuck in the cycle to begin with.

[Yes, they would all like to know where these assholes are. Threatening them with his giant ice dragon friend would be great.]