video;

[blackbirdsing]

[ When Sarah comes into view, she's sitting with her elbows on a table, fingers steepled, and she actually looks Very Serious™ while contemplating how best to phrase her question. The conversation has come up privately, and she needs to have a full understanding of one of the parts of Wonderland she's never bothered with - the Vendors. ]

Hey. I know everyone's kind of consumed with what the dormouse had to say or...didn't say. But I really want to see where everyone falls regarding opinions on the Vendors.

Since we can't pick the memory they want, that means somehow they can rifle through our minds to pick the thing they want to take. And it'd probably have to be something meaningful or impactful. If I ever, for whatever reason, had no option but to use the Vendors, I could lose something like the birth of my son. I'd have no choice or say in the matter.

[ Her reason for using the Vendors would have to be extraordinary. Something involving Kurt or Ray and dire circumstances. ]

Anyway, my actual question is...how do we know, if the Vendors can access our minds and memories, that they or someone or something else doesn't do that all the time, on a constant basis? If Wonderland does actually use our memories to fuel the things that happen here, does that mean our brains are constantly being...I don't know. Monitored???

I'd really like some opinions on this.

[ Sarah isn't paranoid at all usually, and she'd say this is more concerned than paranoid, but it feels like such a violation of privacy that she can't help asking the community at large. ]

Comments

video

[thesamurai]

The problem is none of it matters. If it meant getting out of here, then sure. But it doesn't.

video;

[beatupgrass]

[it's okay, Sarah. Rocket thinks everyone is an idiot.]

Three years. And if they have, they ain't said anything about it. I figure that's the kind of business people keep on the down-low. If I had to go that far, I sure as hell wouldn't tell nobody.

video;

[eatsyourscience]

That's kind of how I feel about it. That it's not really in control of this stuff.

[He glances to the side, thinking. After a second, he adds:]

The Core seems to work automatically. Just getting near it, you lose a memory.

[private]

[eyething]

They didn't talk to me, and I didn't try to talk to them either. The stuff was laying out there like they just knew what I'd take from it. I feel like my answer to whether or not it's worth it, won't be accurate since a mirror stole what I picked up anyway.

( And it was a complicated item, driven solely by his own heart, his own complicated emotions about his mother who died, but wasn't actually dead, who abandoned him, who took everything from him before trying again, who died again. )

...for what?

video;

[screwedontight]

That makes about as much sense as anything else I've heard. Though the idea that there's just people that can literally create worlds and just abandon them isn't all that comforting.

[video]

[jivitadana]

It might not know any better. It sends people home without changing time, so maybe that supposedly makes up for it.

[burntvideocassette]

[Yeah, if it's expending that much fuel on something like that, it has to be for a purpose]

Unless the, uh...'fucking us over' has something to do with the storage. The 'events' are like...like one person's memory being forced on the rest of us, right? Maybe that's Wonderland storing that memory...in...us.

video

[naughty_nurse]

Y-Yeah, that's really nice to think about instead!

[beautifullies]

True enough, I suppose. I'm still learning how all of the modern technology works. And videos can't be tampered with?

video

[blackbirdsing]

I guess.

It matters to me because if someone I love decides they need to use the vendors, I want to understand it. Is this your think though now? Not caring? Like, you died and now everything is zen and nothing matters?

video;

[blackbirdsing]

Is that like a...shame based thing?

video;

[blackbirdsing]

Wait, really? Have you seen it? I mean, I'm assuming it's over there, on the other side.

[ If the Core just sucks up memories, then...huh. There's an idea forming in her mind but she hasn't figured out the words yet to say it out loud.

[private]

[blackbirdsing]

[ Sarah takes a deep breath and lets it out, rubbing a hand over her face. ]

Someone came back from going home and it's...not a great situation. But Ray thinks he can get what he needs to help from the vendors.

[ She's not thrilled about it, but she'll be as supportive as she can while learning as much as she can. ]

video;

[beatupgrass]

Nobody likes broadcasting they got that desperate for something. It's like a big neon sign that says "I'm a big sap- take me for all I got."

video;

[blackbirdsing]

Well, I mean, you could insert any deity you wanted into that spot, right? Zeus messed up, or your run of the mill God figure, or whatever else. Something out there took a shot at creating life and really fucked up.

video;

[blackbirdsing]

[ HMMM. ]

Even if it meant, say, saving someone you love?

text.

[crisised]

it's kind of an awful thought, i know
i worry about people having to live through some of the things i've lived through too
but i don't know that there's much we can do about it other than be there for them if it happens and pray that it doesn't

video;

[beatupgrass]

Especially that. What? You want everyone to know what your weakness is?

video;

[eatsyourscience]

I've seen it, and I know I lost something when I did. I don't know what I lost, though.

[But wait there's the second part of what she said.]

You're right, it's on the other side. I'm not sure if it stays in the same place, though. It wouldn't surprise me if it moved around.

Video

[charlastan]

[More that second one really.]

'Cause I don't wanna give 'em any of my memories. I've been tryin' to get them to take just about anything else for two years. They won't even take most of the good prison currencies!

[uncoils]

I don't know. Kinda hoping that even if we can't do anything about it now, knowing and thinking about it means someday, somebody'll figure something out.

[private]

[eyething]

If the situation's that dire, it's not a bad idea.

But there's no way to know what they take from you, and once it's gone, it's gone. It's not some fuzzy darkness in your mind so you get some idea of what was taken either.

[fancylad]

Well... And this is just a theory, ma'am! But maybe the memories used for events are, um, ones that are easier to focus in on? Perhaps they are more highly valued, or shared among multiple people, or harder for the host to forget! But... I don't know how to work in the aftereffects of the words that go missing from the host or hosts' memories to that one. I'm working on it.

[video]

[blackbirdsing]

So, you think maybe the...mansion or whatever, is a living...consciously thinking entity or something that can't control itself?

[ She's trying to wrap her head around this new concept, blinking slowly to process it. ]

[blackbirdsing]

[ Oh what the fuck. ]

....Shit I didn't even think of that. But then what does it mean when we just leave? If it's storing memory in us you'd think we'd all be here forever like Alice.