I was wondering the same thing, if this town was birthed by death. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if those two were responsible for most of the ones that supposedly occurred here before us.
[ It'd probably shock no one, really. ... Well, maybe Nine, but that's about it? ]
Not a mastermind, sure, but she's strong. Makima seems like the strategist between the two of them, and they probably work well that way. That's just my guess, though. I don't know what they're really like.
[ And she knows better than to trust her impressions, especially after...gestures at Sora.
Anyway. ]
The way the land works is bizarre. The ducks? Also pretty weird. A lot of this feels incredibly calculated, but some parts of it feel like it was left to chance. I don't know how or why we were chosen to be part of this.
[ She gives Erika a sideways glance and shrugs. ]
It's not like I've got a niche like you do...but maybe that's the point.
[Erika hums.] I do need to do further investigation regarding those two. Going forward, I'll need to work twice as hard...
Makima-senpai has some bizarre control over the ducks. I'm not sure what or why but they're terrified of her.
[She crosses her arms. Thinking. It's true, none of them have specifications like she does. Walter is a chemist, Dongrang is a scientist. That leaves literally everyone else.]
...My master recreated me as a piece to play these types of games. They're often capricious and ridiculous, and they rarely make any sense on the surface. Makima-senpai is closer to my level than my master's, but there is something higher than her at work here.
The ducks are scared of her, huh? That's interesting.
[ It certainly implies that Makima is more terrifying than her outer shell would suggest. This is not surprising.
What is, though, is hearing what Erika has to say. Sure, she's got that observation about Makima, but something else stands out to Shinobu more than that. ]
Hang on. Recreated you...? What do you mean by that?
[ Despite her bombastic personality, Erika seems pretty human to her. ]
Mhm. [How does she describe this?] I'm a Witch, after all, specially chosen to hunt and kill other Witches.
[She doesn't fully embrace the title anymore. Battler may have been an incompetent buffoon and an idealistic moron, but he had a point.]
When a human becomes a Witch, it involves another Witch recognizing them and ascending them, so that they become less of a person and more of a concept, on a meta level.
When I killed myself, it was my master that fished the concept of me out of the water and set me on the path of The Detective. [She thinks for a moment, hums.] I'm not sure that Erika Furudo was my real name, for one.
Mhm. [She doesn't want to go through all the details of that. Maybe Shinobu would understand. Maybe Erika could squint and pretend she's talking to Dlanor.] I never said I wasn't human.
[It's.... complicated.] But I remember what came before. And it was a life of boredom and misery.
Tell me. Are you familiar with the thought experiment about a cat inside a box?
Imagine a cat is in a box. From the outside, it is impossible to parse the state of the cat completely, the box has cut off any other factors. This means that there are two outcomes that may take place. The cat is alive. Or the cat is dead.
But the outcome is only made real once you open it and reveal the truth. Until then, both of these are simultaneously true until you shatter the illusion and reveal the truth for all.
...I am a catbox. Both mystery and fantasy - real and conceptual at the same time. I am both Witch and Detective, until you shatter the illusion that forms me.
[It's deeply confusing. That's why there were a million words about it and some people are still so unbelievably wrong about it despite the themes being spelled out a billion times.]
I could explain some of the details behind it but I doubt that will help. Rest assured, I'm more human than most of my colleagues. [Who are all demons or windows or the concept of Knox's Decalogue.]
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no subject
I was wondering the same thing, if this town was birthed by death. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if those two were responsible for most of the ones that supposedly occurred here before us.
[ It'd probably shock no one, really. ... Well, maybe Nine, but that's about it? ]
All of this feels senseless.
no subject
Erika was more drawn to Makima, for reasons that she can now understand. Aside from the obvious (lust.)]
Makima at least. Adela doesn't strike me as much of a mastermind. Delusional and no doubt capable of violence and cruelty, but not a mastermind.
[She glances toward Shinobu fully now, a slightly snide smile on her little rat face.]
Really? Senseless how?
no subject
[ And she knows better than to trust her impressions, especially after...gestures at Sora.
Anyway. ]
The way the land works is bizarre. The ducks? Also pretty weird. A lot of this feels incredibly calculated, but some parts of it feel like it was left to chance. I don't know how or why we were chosen to be part of this.
[ She gives Erika a sideways glance and shrugs. ]
It's not like I've got a niche like you do...but maybe that's the point.
no subject
Makima-senpai has some bizarre control over the ducks. I'm not sure what or why but they're terrified of her.
[She crosses her arms. Thinking. It's true, none of them have specifications like she does. Walter is a chemist, Dongrang is a scientist. That leaves literally everyone else.]
...My master recreated me as a piece to play these types of games. They're often capricious and ridiculous, and they rarely make any sense on the surface. Makima-senpai is closer to my level than my master's, but there is something higher than her at work here.
no subject
[ It certainly implies that Makima is more terrifying than her outer shell would suggest. This is not surprising.
What is, though, is hearing what Erika has to say. Sure, she's got that observation about Makima, but something else stands out to Shinobu more than that. ]
Hang on. Recreated you...? What do you mean by that?
[ Despite her bombastic personality, Erika seems pretty human to her. ]
cw for suicide
[She doesn't fully embrace the title anymore. Battler may have been an incompetent buffoon and an idealistic moron, but he had a point.]
When a human becomes a Witch, it involves another Witch recognizing them and ascending them, so that they become less of a person and more of a concept, on a meta level.
When I killed myself, it was my master that fished the concept of me out of the water and set me on the path of The Detective. [She thinks for a moment, hums.] I'm not sure that Erika Furudo was my real name, for one.
cw continued
[ Is that part of the process? If so, that's...
Mm. ]
Do you remember what it was like to be human? Or are those memories that fade once you become a Witch?
no subject
[It's.... complicated.] But I remember what came before. And it was a life of boredom and misery.
Tell me. Are you familiar with the thought experiment about a cat inside a box?
no subject
At her question, Shinobu just offers Erika a blank look. ]
...No? I've never heard of it.
cw for depersonalization and umineko fourth wall leaning
But the outcome is only made real once you open it and reveal the truth. Until then, both of these are simultaneously true until you shatter the illusion and reveal the truth for all.
...I am a catbox. Both mystery and fantasy - real and conceptual at the same time. I am both Witch and Detective, until you shatter the illusion that forms me.
stares
I think I understand, to some extent. You said you were a concept – that's real, but your being is also unlike anything that humanity can grasp.
I find it confusing...but rather interesting.
no subject
[It's deeply confusing. That's why there were a million words about it and some people are still so unbelievably wrong about it despite the themes being spelled out a billion times.]
I could explain some of the details behind it but I doubt that will help. Rest assured, I'm more human than most of my colleagues. [Who are all demons or windows or the concept of Knox's Decalogue.]