002. text // i say it is, then it's true

[manufactured]

This is another of those questions in which I'm not explicitly asking for details, if you don't care to share them; I've simply found that shouting into a void is useful, if not a productive use of my time. But now that the matter of our souls has been brought into question, I suppose this feels more relevant than it would normally.

As time goes on and you have more and more memories forcibly shoved into your head, do you find yourself having difficulty keeping your thoughts and reactions separate from those of the person whose memories you're recalling? Or to put it a different way, do you ever feel the lines blurring – do you understand things that you previously thought you never would, or do you find yourself relating to things that you suspect you shouldn't?

And if so, has that sort of shift in perception changed what you believe you deserve?

Comments

[mercurio]

unpopular opinion here
but i think i like the person from my memories better than my current self
but... again i don't think there's anything too different coming back to me

[manufactured]

Might I ask why?

[mercurio]

i? was a monster hunter! a real cool guy

[manufactured]

Now, that sounds interesting.

Perhaps you'll be able to put those memories to good use around here at some point.

[mercurio]

i already have! when we had monsters a few months ago
i've gotten better though at shooting things

[manufactured]

That would be the incident that prompted the comment, yes - I wouldn't be surprised if there's a repeat of something along those lines.

That was the occurrence that taught me how to shoot at all, actually.

[mercurio]

you also remember shooting guns? you got one from retrospec??

[manufactured]

Yes, on both accounts.

[mercurio]

you any good?

[manufactured]

Reasonably so.

[mercurio]

what kinda gun you got?? i don't find models for mine anywhere online

[manufactured]

From what I can discern, it's some sort of custom-made Beretta 92F; it's been heavily modified, and seems to have been police-issue wherever I was from.

[mercurio]

are you a cop here?? guessing you were back in your world

[manufactured]

Not at all - I never have been, either.

I know that I was a member of a special tactics unit, however, under the local police department in that other life; I've gotten some memories of that, though I'm not sure what happened to cause me to leave that line of work. What I'm doing now is more in line with what I started doing after I left the force - I work in pharmaceutical research and development here, and I worked in virology back then.

[...i mean that is a very delicate way of putting it

but he did in fact work in virology

sorta.]

[mercurio]

and...the you from your memories, the one you're supposed to be
you're apprehensive about it? even if it's similar?

[manufactured]

Yes. Though it's more due to his personality than his profession.

[mercurio]

personalities can be changed

[manufactured]

I have reason to think that mine was, though again, I don't have any information on precisely what happened.

[mercurio]

it sucks that the memories we get aren't in chronological order or logical most of the time huh

[manufactured]

Just slightly, yes.

[mercurio]

hmm.. you ever wanna practice shooting??

[manufactured]

I wouldn't mind that, no.

[mercurio]

i go to the shooting gallery with tatsuo every other week
you could join us if you wanted to?? it's good practice

[manufactured]

I'd appreciate it.

...Thank you for the offer.

[mercurio]

no problem! name's prompto
i'll give you a heads up when we go next