Game 011 [Voice] - Another Year Wiser

[neverplaysfair]

Given the nature of time here in relation to our own worlds, would you say that birthdays here even have a point? You lose any time you spend here when you go home, and possibly regain it if you return, so it the end it arguably doesn't exist in any permanent capacity. But it's still time that you've lived and experience that you've gained.

Comments

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

If you wanna get technical, then sure, what we usually count is the time your body's lived. How long it's been since you were born. If there was a guy who looked, say, fifteen, but was actually -- three hundred? Somethin' like that -- he might have a different way to think of it. Maybe there's no universal definition.

[neverplaysfair]

But what if his body has still lived those years, even though its appearance matches that of a body that's only fifteen?

The issue isn't that there's no universal definition. It's that by the very nature of this place, even the usual personal definitions break down.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

He still might have a different opinion than a kid who's been around fifteen years. But I'll give you that -- world-hopping does tend to mess with a guy's personal definitions, for all kinds of things.

[neverplaysfair]

And now we're back to the original question: does time spent here count?

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

I figure it does. It's time you're living, experience you're getting. This is real -- at least, it's real while you're here.

[neverplaysfair]

Is it worth it to keep track of two ages?

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

I guess if you're gonna keep track of an age, just keep track of whatever age you're at. Even if it's gonna be reset, this is how many years you've got under your belt now. If it does get reset, you go back to... fifteen or two-hundred-eighty-something or whatever, mentally and physically, and that's how old you'd be then.

[neverplaysfair]

Then what if you start at fifteen, spend two years here, go back home for two years, then show up again and get back those memories? If you didn't keep track, you'd find yourself at seventeen with an unknown amount of extra memories.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

While you were here, you'd keep track and live your life up 'til seventeen. Then you get back home, forget it ever happened, and do the same thing there. If they gave all the memories back, you'd remember two different versions of the past two years, including the way you kept track. Don't see what else there is to be counting.

[neverplaysfair]

But when you come back, are you seventeen, or nineteen?

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

You'd probably call yourself seventeen, even if it were nineteen years of cumulative experience. You'd've still lived seventeen years, just two different versions.

[neverplaysfair]

So the time is mutually exclusive?

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

If you'd lived two alternate lives in the same space of time, you'd still call yourself seventeen. That's all I'm saying.

[neverplaysfair]

So it's not entirely based on the amount of experience you've had.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

Guess not. If you suddenly got back two years of new memories, Josh, that take place in the past and overlap with the rest of your life, would you count it as part of the continuous experience?

[neverplaysfair]

Personally, I'd suspect they weren't mine. But I might have a somewhat special perspective on things like that.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

Who knows? I'd say there are some folks strong enough even to mess with your head.

[neverplaysfair]

Of course there are. But I doubt any of them concern themselves with someone as lowly as me.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

Hey, I end up concerning myself plenty, Josh.

[neverplaysfair]

I know.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

And?

[neverplaysfair]

I still doubt any of the ones who can mess with my head care about me.

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

Alright, probably not. And those that do aren't entirely fond of ya. But, what, you don't think I could mess with your head?

[neverplaysfair]

Why, Mr. H, is there something you haven't been telling me?

[nattocat.livejournal.com]

Aw, J, what would I do that'd involve a memory wipe?