devourthemfirst | Second Misfortune

[After a short trip to the grocery store, Czes comes back to the fifth floor of building seven and sets out the box of spaghetti and can of tomato sauce out on the counter. Despite how Firo made him paranoid about eating the food here, the kid has to eat something.

So as he puts a pot of water on the stove for himself then sits down at a near by table. He stares out the kitchen window for a few minutes, watching the storm outside when boredom strikes him and he pulls out his journal]

You know, it's strange. To think that a lot of us are from 'Earth' and yet they're not the same 'Earth' that each of us are familiar with. For example, someone could be from... I don't know, let's say Tokyo since a bunch of you appear to be from Japan, but it won't be the same Tokyo you know. In some way, it'll be different.

Things never happened the way one person knows it did in their version of Tokyo.

What would that be called again... parallel universes, right?

[He places some of the spaghetti into the pot of boiling water and turns down the stove a little]

So do you think that there might be like... another version of us on our different versions of 'Earth'? It's kind of exciting to think about actually. They'd have different memories, friends and maybe family...

I wonder what would happen if we ran into our other selves on this trip the Malnosso were talking about.

Would the universe just go BOOM? [He throws his hands into the air then chuckles a bit to himself]

Well, it was just a thought. [ ... ] What would you do if you could meet another version of yourself? Would you envy them for having a different life--for being set on a different path?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is actually an idea that has been utilized in experiments in the past. Some of us have had our memories temporarily altered to believe that certain events we experienced turned out differently, sometimes causing radical changes to our pasts.

Of course, those were merely memories. But absolutely nothing says that worlds like that cannot exist out there in some form.

Really?? Well... actually I can't say that's all too surprising, especially considering how the Valentine's day experiment went. [It just still amazes him how powerful these Malnosso people are]

What were some of the other experiments like?

Ah yes... I should warn you that that particular experiment happens, with minor variations, every year without fail. The Malnosso seem to have a fixation on the holiday. [One which Golbez just does not get. At all.]

As for others, many were specifically tailored to each of those affected, sometimes affecting groups taken from the same world and affecting each of their memories in fashions that would form a cohesive whole. For example, as a young man I lost my parents. One of the experiments gave a possible result of a world where that did not happen, both for myself and for those from my world. The changes were... remarkably wide-reaching.

I guess I can kind of understand why. Even back home, Valentine's Day is a pretty big thing among the adults. I don't really care for it myself though.

Whoa... that's pretty impressive. I had no idea that the Malnosso were able to give us insight on those kinds of things... [It makes him wonder what would have happened if he never drank the elixir, or let Fermet treat him the way ge did]

It is not a holiday I particularly have any taste for, either. Romance is... quite outside of my scope of interest. [Also he knows, he just knows that he'd be awful at it.]

Their technology is certainly astounding at times. One might consider this a perfectly logical use of it, actually. After all, what is a "Shift", but an alteration, a change? Experiments like those may be some of the easiest to pull off, save of course for the need to individually design them.

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't like it! [He laughs a bit to himself]

Hmmm, well I guess you're right about that. I wonder how long it does take for them to design altered memories for each and every one of us. Especially since there are so many of us.

That would depend on how many of them are working on each experiment. I have a hypothesis that each of us is monitored by a different Malnosso or group of them, which would make things like that easier, assuming decent communication between them.

Of course, I have no proof that this is the case. It is simply the way I would do things if I were in charge of their organization and had the necessary manpower.

That does make sense. Do we know how many people there are in the organization itself? Has anyone ever been able to see them in person?

No to the first. There could be anywhere from less than a hundred to more than a million, though the true answer likely lies somewhere in between. As to the second, it would be best to add those who have been taken for missions about that. I can only say for certain that I have not.

Golly that's a lot of people... [Too many people for Czes to worry about. Damn] Well, I guess that means I have to track down some people who have been on those missions then.

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