un: stanford | voice

[cryptograms]

Greetings, Trench! This is Stanford Pines speaking. Many of you I met in Deerington, and others I only met after arriving in Trench.

For those of you I haven't met: I worked as a researcher of all things paranormal and anomalous in my home dimension, and after I arrived in Deerington I used my experience in that field to research and catalogue the events, creatures, history, and metaphysical inner workings of Deerington, the Dream, and its residents.

Now, I wasn't the only person gathering this information. Several other individuals compiled their own documents on the same subjects and made them available to all of Deerington. Several of the authors vanished, however, and the distribution of their works depended on other Sleepers already having their own copies to share.

Which brings me to a proposal I have for the entire town.

[ There's the brief sound of shuffling paper before Ford continues. ]

Assuming no such other project is underway I'd like to begin keeping a publicly accessible archive of information gathered by Sleepers, particularly as it pertains to the Sleepers as a whole, as well as the nature and history of this dimension.

So, I'm looking both for individuals willing to contribute their own research, as well as any ideas as to where this archive could be housed. We may be able to requisition our own wing within the School of Mutter's Archaic Archives, but it may be preferable to select a more neutral location, outside of the immediate influence of any of the Patron Pthumerians.

[ Ford pauses for a moment, clears his throat, and continues. ]

Thank you all for hearing me out. And if you ever encounter anything especially weird, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Comments

[cryptograms]

[ He sure has activated Nerd Question Hour, and it might take an actual, literal hour. ]

And was the 'vanishing into thin air' incident the first thing you encountered?

[stealhearted]

No. [ But he doesn't immediately elaborate. ]

Hey, do you know anything about cognitive pscience?

[cryptograms]

[ He thinks for a moment, then: ]

The term isn't familiar to me, but I may have encountered something similar. What does it entail?

[stealhearted]

It's how... Uh. [ Man, he should have paid more attention to Morgana in Phantom Thief class. ]

It's kind of how the belief in things can make it real on certain planes of reality.

[cryptograms]

Would these 'certain planes of reality' be referred to as something like the mindscape or dreamscape?

[stealhearted]

Kind of a mindscape, maybe. [ That sounds accurate enough. ]

Cognition affects reality, right? To some degree for everywhere. But cognitive pscience studies how the belief in something can change reality or, when widespread, alter reality even in ways that shouldn't be possible.

So that's the kind of weird I'm used to.

[cryptograms]

[ Despite his experiences with weirdness, Ford takes the phrase 'cognition affects reality' from a more pedestrian angle at first - that the way someone thinks influences the way they view the world. And of course, that might still be what Akira is referencing but it's pretty clear he's also referring to something much more literal than that. ]

And the person vanishing into thin air and then transforming into a superhero are part of that?

[stealhearted]

Sure. Because if cognition changes reality, then even things you don't realize you believe can change things, or things a lot of people think can warp things in really weird ways...

I have some friends who study it a lot, so I'm probably not explaining it very clearly. [ Akira might be smart, but he's nowhere near the insane levels of cognitive pscience intelligence of some of his associates. ]

[cryptograms]

No, I believe I'm following.

So cognition can change reality - and the reverse is true as well, correct? Reality and how people perceive it can in turn influence the mindscape you mentioned?

[stealhearted]

Yeah. It goes both ways. Normally you'd just use cognition to do things like believe you're capable of things, but it can get really weird if a bunch of people believe something that isn't true -- like, that cats can turn into buses.

[cryptograms]

[ At cat that can turn into a bus?

That sounds cool as hell, the fuck. ]

Do you know what made the belief that such a thing is possible so widespread?

[stealhearted]

I think there was a movie about a cat that turned into a bus. Even if most people didn't believe it, enough people had it in the back of their minds... and then a cat could turn into a bus.

[ Magic. Catbus. ]