[Voice]

[aurathread]

[Tsukasa's voice comes across the network. He's not talking about how scared he was during that thing, okay.]

Mm. My Persona woke up during that... stuff. I don't like it. I can't get rid of it, right?

[That's annoying. He's quiet for a few long moments before speaking again, tone a little flat.]

And... how do you know if you're real?

[And even if he is real, what if the him outside of the game is so different than the him in the game that they might as well be two people?]

Comments

[aurathread]

That's... that's not the same, though. I'm... not a split personality... I've just been changed. And I don't know the rest of what's 'me'. So if I'm just a... a part, a piece of a person...

[... Maybe it's similar, kind of.]

I don't know if that... means I'm real or not.

[electricyousei]

"I once wondered who I was. I eventually got the answer, but it came on its own and my own searches were mostly fruitless. Worrying about something you can't control only brings more worry."

voice;

[skyofreverie]

[Sora can't really answer the first one because he doesn't know how he got rid of his. That second one though, that he can answer.]

If you feel in your heart that you're real then that's all that matters.

[aurathread]

... I don't know. That's the problem.

[aurathread]

You can't exactly stop worrying just like that.

[skyofreverie]

You have memories, don't you? And feelings. Even if you're not sure about either of them, they make you real.

[aurathread]

I don't have many memories. Most of mine were taken away.

[skyofreverie]

Even then. Trust me on this. I've had moments where I couldn't even remember my name but I still felt real.

[aurathread]

... That's nice for you, but the situation's kind of different for me, I think.

[skyofreverie]

How so?

[aurathread]

I don't know what you went through. Did you get your memories wiped by an evil AI, except for painful things? Did you get trapped in a game for six months? Did you get jerked around so hard you didn't know who you were or even if you were a girl or a boy? Did your mind get wiped again after that, leaving you catatonic for days?

I'm not saying pity me. I'm saying that you don't know what it's like. When everything around you is virtual, how do you know that you're even real? You don't. People have said that they think they know who I am offline - maybe. But they're not sure. What if I don't actually exist?

[skyofreverie]

[Sora's quiet as he listens, not judging or even pitying this person.]

I may not have experienced things like that but I can understand a bit. See, I'm a clone of the original Sora - or that's what we were told. For three and a half years I was tortured, first by a group of doctors then by a computer. I saw people die, like for real sort of die. I've been changed into a girl several times, turned into a five year old, lost my memory, had other people's memories put into my head and you know what?

It doesn't matter if I'm not really a clone of some guy named Sora, it doesn't matter if all those memories of his are fake in my head. Because everything I've been through, everything I experienced and everything I feel now - that's what makes me who I am.

[aurathread]

[... He's quiet, mouth twitching slightly as his face can't decide what to do with these emotions.]

... But if I'm just Tsukasa, who's computer code, not... whatever my name is in real life... computer code isn't... real. Even if it's an AI that feels real... even if... even if they save your life... if they don't exist outside of the computer, do they... really count?

[skyofreverie]

[Sorry Tsukasa, you've just come up against Mr. Optimism when it comes to real/not-real debates.]

Sure you are. I've got lots of friends who live inside a computer that I'd be friends with outside a computer. Inside or outside, of course it counts. You've got a body, right? That's your body and it's living in this world.

[aurathread]

Yeah. But... what if I don't like the me that's there when I wake up not in this body anymore? That's why I made the character to begin with, I think...

[skyofreverie]

If you don't then you just change who you are. You can do it inside and out if you want. Mama Inazuma was born a boy but was a girl sometimes too.

[aurathread]

[... Wat.]

Huh?

[skyofreverie]

You know, just saying you can always change whatever you don't like about yourself.

[aurathread]

... Changing is hard, though...

[skyofreverie]

The good things always are but they're always worth it.

[Voice]

[bondsofsuffering]

Nope! You're stuck with your Soul Persona for good.

[Sure does suck, doesn't it.]

[Video]

[eyewillprotect]

[She's about to answer the first part, but... Something about his second question catches her attention.]

What do you mean? Why wouldn't you be real?

[electricyousei]

"Then occupy your mind with something immediate so you don't focus on it."

[aurathread]

Mm. In the meantime... I don't know what to do.

[aurathread]

But... why?