dear abby...

[openhanded]

Surei Doushi 7/17 near Apprassage

hey everyone! it's been a little while, so I have two things for you all. the first is that I've written up everything we saw on the ghost trip I organized late last month. if you'd like to hear the details, let me know and I'll send over the document. the second is that I'm starting an advice column! I need things to write advice about, so feel free to comment with things you'd like help with. I promise I'll try my best to make it good advice. I'm definitely returning as a teacher next year and I need the experience! ...... and the bingo square.

Comments

[accordance]

Thank you for the information.

If you are amenable to sharing, I would like to ask for your opinion on the ghost event.

[openhanded]

of course!

what do you want my opinion on? I have a few thoughts on what this all means.

[accordance]

All of them, if it is possible. I was not there, and I would like to learn more.

[openhanded]

the time period that the school was abandoned in didn't contradict anything I witnessed or heard from the ghosts themselves. if anything it gives a more concrete timeline.

this is purely conjecture at this point.
circumstantial at best. but here's what I think:

the city underwent a period of rapid expansion. they did something that bothered a lot of people-- the city changed too much. possibly people died.
the city wide event made them abandon the school. if it actually did burn down, they're trying to bury the truth...

I don't know what that could be though.
the spirits in the woods were afraid of the talking flowers... maybe this has happened before.

[accordance]

Thank you for the information.

I was considering something of the sort. Were you on the network in March?

[openhanded]

I was!! I've been here since the beginning.

[See, he even has a Special Badge on his profile. Amazing. It does absolutely fucking nothing.]

I'm definitely interested in hearing your thoughts on all this

[accordance]

From what I have seen, it is highly likely that this reality we experience is in fact a dream, or a falsified history. My theory is that Retrospec wrote lives for us and placed us here.

Have you ever thought of leaving the city? Certainly seems inconceivable an idea. As people have mentioned on the network, it would make sense for this to happen if we were in a simulation or experiment of some sort. Connecting with what you've found, it could be possible that the city-wide event that angered the ghosts paved the way for the installing or building of the simulation.

It is a stretch for now, but what I think is the most likely reason.

[openhanded]

I... leave the city all the time? I mean, I've been too busy with school to do that this year, but next Christmas I'll probably visit my cousins like I do every year. unless things are really bad, which

[... Sorey, you're playing right into it.]

ohhhhh
you think we're being forced to think that way? it just seemed... natural to me. I don't want to leave when we don't know what'll happen. I'm one of the few people who can fight, I think. I need to be here.

[That, at least, is his own decision.]

you're not the first person I've seen suggest something like that. but... I just can't accept it, you know? It would mean that the past twenty years have been a lie. it suggests we don't have some degree of free will, depending on the nature of the experiment... and I don't believe that.

the moment we acknowledge we can't do anything is the moment we forfeit everything

ITS OK

[accordance]

Why do you think acknowledging it will mean forfeiting everything?

[openhanded]

because some people will want to give up.
they'll think that there's no point in trying because the end result will be the same.
it's... what people do when they're scared. to protect themselves.

[accordance]

I am sure there is a way to encourage them to not give up.

[openhanded]

I'm not giving up on anyone just yet
at the same time, you can't expect people to accept that their entire existence is a lie.
I think you're onto something with that theory. I think it holds water.
but it's not the whole picture, so I'm going to keep searching for answers.

[accordance]

Indeed. And you are one of the people best poised to help others.

[ That's just how humans are, aren't they? Letting fear get the better of themselves... but it can't be helped. ]

I too wish to see the truth behind it all. I shall send you what I know, if I find anything new.