un: junpei | video

[coolerjunpei]

[The video opens on Junpei in an office chair - in his Secret Club Meeting Room (read: generic office building conference room) although this is not a secret meeting. This is Junpei spinning slowly in an office chair while he holds the camera up, tilting as far back as he can without tipping the chair over. So it's going great.]

So, city-zens, [.....ahem,] I've got some miscellaneous questions for you.

First, time travel: real? Let me know. [......,] I mean, you know— Before you got here, that is. Like how experienced are you in the realm of quantum... quantum-y goodness? I just thought that maybe it would be real for somebody else by now, but I dunno... Let me know that one instead.

[Cough. Anyway.]

Second, are we all just, uh... hanging out now, I guess? Um, like— who's trying to clip through the weird fog and get out still? Anybody? I'm looking for group, or whatever you call it. We can do code names.

[Junpei is not a gamer.... don't believe this... he's just cringe and thinking about half-press-A-ing through the universe, to wit as he spins faster in his chair:]

Third, whoooo's all in for simulation theory? [as dryly as possible, womp...] Eh? Woooo yeah... simulation theory...!

[The video tilts as he lets go with one hand to hold up... a pinched-fingers hand puppet 🤌... it's still fine, he's doing great. He pitches his voice up higher for the puppet, because of course he does:]

But Junpei, how is this a simulation? Well duh, why else would this place be like a city that doesn't know what a city is supposed to be like? And all the weird loading fog? C'mon! Buuuut Juuuunpei, are we all full of tubes and stuck in goo pods like in that movie?— [Ah, ahem, cough. He puts his hand down.] Maybe.

Or uh, whatever else is in the theory pile. Half the people I was messing around with about theories went and disappeared, soooo... Well, I'm gonna get serious cabin fever if I can't figure something oUT—

[Local Man Tips The Chair Over and Totally Wipes Out, stay tuned for updates. The video ends when the phone drops face down onto the floor, bye.......]

Comments

[inlovewithmycar]

Oh I'm sure there's plenty of histories; this place is some pretty compelling evidence for multiverse theory. But that sort of thing was above my paygrade even when I was still sporting the harp and halo. These days it's very definitely Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys. Someone else's problem.

That's a pretty interesting talent though - you can just hop skip and jump your way into another timeline? Or is there a sort of process to it?

[coolerjunpei]

so you just keep repairing the old one? that's.... normal, i guess. i'd think it was normal if not for my whole *thing* anyway, yknow?

so uh: more or less. mortal danger helps but i've been around the many histories block enough. i can pick the history, too. assuming the me in that history is still alive.

[inlovewithmycar]

I repair buggerall. No idea what Upstairs is doing these days if that kind of thing crops up.

Do you swap places with the other yous when you jump into a new timeline? Is that why they need to be alive? Or is it more a matter of needing that kind of connection to get into a place where you feasibly can exist?

[coolerjunpei]

general you then. maybe they got cleanup crews.

and i need a body, so... yes to all of that. it's my consciousness that moves, so i need somewhere to wind up.

[inlovewithmycar]

Undoubtedly. Doesn't bear thinking how they'd cock that up.

So what happens to the other you? Do they wind up in your old body and whatever situation you're escaping from, or do they just sort of cease to exist? Or do kind of share?

[coolerjunpei]

it's the first option.

i try not to think about it too much. talk about a new way to feel bad for myself, right?

[inlovewithmycar]

Humans delving into hitherto unexplored horizons of misery? Sounds pretty on brand for you lot. You get creative about this stuff.

So do you pick up the other you's memories, or do you go through this repetition of having to relearn being a you that isn't you?

[coolerjunpei]

haha, you're really not wrong.

but no it's just me me all the way down. uh, unless there are a lot of us, and then we kind of... resonate? i don't really know how it works, but i managed to pick up some other memories once.

[inlovewithmycar]

Yeah. I know.

How do you mean 'a lot of you'? Can multiples of yourself occupy the same timeline or is it more multiples of you on very similar/nigh identical timelines? Or something else?

[coolerjunpei]

you're complicating it. it's me and my friends who also do the thing i do. don't bother asking how that works, because i don't know. it just happened.