Kai vs Empty Room

[23:28] <Strategist14> ===== BEGIN =====
[23:28] <Strategist14> There's nothing in the room.  It's just a regular empty room.
[23:28] <Strategist14> But on the plus side, that means no security rabbits.
[23:29] <Strategist14> Wanna go in?
[23:29]  * Kai_River tries to think to the weird voice he... Heard?
[23:29] <Kai_River> *Do you know what this is?*
[23:30] <Strategist14> Nobody answers.
[23:30] <Strategist14> Nobody says "Come say hello."
[23:30] <Strategist14> Again.
[23:31] <Strategist14> You're quite sure nobody said this before.
[23:31]  * Kai_River isn't sure if Nobody is more trustworthy than the rabbits, but he decides to go for it.
[23:31] <Kai_River> It's not like there's any situation worse than the one he's in now.
[23:31]  * Kai_River enters the room.
[23:32] <Strategist14> You step into the empty room.
[23:32]  * Kai_River closes the door behind him.
[23:32] <Strategist14> What door?
[23:32] <Strategist14> There's no door here.
[23:32] <Kai_River> The...
[23:32] <Strategist14> The room is empty.
[23:32] <Kai_River> I...
[23:33]  * Kai_River clues in.
[23:33] <Strategist14> There's no walls, or floor, or ceiling.
[23:33] <Strategist14> And there's certainly nobody here with you.
[23:33] <Kai_River> "Is... I feel stupid for asking this, but, is nobody here?"
[23:34] <Strategist14> You try to speak, but no sound comes out.  You vaguely remember the fact that sound can't travel in a vacuum.
[23:34] <Strategist14> After all, a room that's empty wouldn't need air either.
[23:34] <Strategist14> But nobody hears you, all the same.
[23:35] <Strategist14> Nobody nods in agreement, with a head that doesn't exist and to a question that you didn't just ask.
[23:35] <Kai_River> Ok, words don't work. Kai tries thinking.
[23:35] <Kai_River> *What is this place?*
[23:36] <Strategist14> Nowhere, answer seven billion soundless voices.
[23:36] <Kai_River> *What does that mean?*
[23:36] <Strategist14> Nothing.
[23:37] <Strategist14> Nothing means anything when you aren't.
[23:37] <Kai_River> *Am I dead?*
[23:37] <Strategist14> Of course not.  Only things that are anything can be anything.
[23:37] <Strategist14> You... aren't.
[23:38] <Kai_River> *I'm not what?*
[23:38] <Strategist14> Anything.
[23:38] <Strategist14> The room is empty.
[23:38] <Kai_River> *Then how am I talking to you?*
[23:38] <Kai_River> *Or, thinking to you?*
[23:38] <Strategist14> Thinking to who?  There's nobody to think to, and there's nobody to think.
[23:39] <Strategist14> The fact of the matter is, you aren't.
[23:39] <Kai_River> *Whatever just answered my question.*
[23:39] <Kai_River> *That's what I'm thinking to.*
[23:40] <Strategist14> Nothing answered you, though.  You never asked a question, and you don't exist to have asked even if you did.
[23:40] <Kai_River> *Alright, fine, I'll play your game.*
[23:40] <Kai_River> *How do I become something?*
[23:41] <Strategist14> Good question.  How does something come from nothing?
[23:41] <Kai_River> *Counter question, how does something turn into nothing?*
[23:42] <Strategist14> How does one counter a question that doesn't exist?
[23:42] <Kai_River> *How can I answer one that doesn't either?*
[23:42] <Strategist14> You don't.  You don't do anything.
[23:43] <Kai_River> *I refuse.*
[23:43] <Strategist14> You refuse what?
[23:43] <Kai_River> *I refuse to be nothing.*
[23:43] <Kai_River> *Let me out of this room.*
[23:43] <Kai_River> *Let me go back home.*
[23:43] <Kai_River> *What do you want from me?*
[23:44] <Strategist14> Nothing.
[23:44] <Kai_River> *Then let. Me. Go.*
[23:44] <Strategist14> But Kai...
[23:44] <Strategist14> You're nothing.
[23:44] <Kai_River> *So, I exist enough to have a name now?*
[23:44] <Kai_River> *How do you name nothing?*
[23:45] <Strategist14> With a name that doesn't exist.
[23:45] <Kai_River> *I. Exist.*
[23:45] <Strategist14> Prove it.
[23:46] <Kai_River> *With what?*
[23:46] <Kai_River> *A past?*
[23:46] <Kai_River> *I can tell you everything that this "nothing" has done.*
[23:46] <Strategist14> A presence.
[23:46] <Strategist14> Who will remember your past?
[23:47] <Kai_River> *I will.*
[23:47] <Strategist14> You're nobody.
[23:47] <Kai_River> *I am Kai River.*
[23:47] <Strategist14> And I am not.
[23:48] <Strategist14> But here we are, neither of us anywhere or anything.
[23:48] <Kai_River> *Do you want anyone else who will remember me?*
[23:48] <Kai_River> *How about the elder?*
[23:48] <Kai_River> *How about Zombie?*
[23:48] <Kai_River> *How about mom?*
[23:49] <Strategist14> They are.
[23:49] <Kai_River> *I know they are.*
[23:49] <Strategist14> Perhaps they were shaped by that which was.
[23:50] <Kai_River> *Zombie was created by me.*
[23:50] <Kai_River> *Whether I wanted to or not.*
[23:50] <Strategist14> And now, what do you mean to it?
[23:50] <Kai_River> *For Zombie specifically, I'm a restriction.*
[23:50] <Strategist14> You were.
[23:50] <Kai_River> *I am.*
[23:51]  * Kai_River checks to see if his sylladex is accessible.
[23:52] <Strategist14> Your sylladex isn't here.  But then, neither are you.
[23:52] <Strategist14> It's accessible.
[23:52]  * Kai_River retrieves the elder.
[23:52] <Kai_River> *I will put something in this room.*
[23:53] <Strategist14> The elder starts trying to flail around screaming, which is tricky when he doesn't exist anymore.
[23:53] <Kai_River> "Elder?"
[23:53] <Strategist14> "WHAT'S GOING ON I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!"
[23:54] <Kai_River> "I don't know, but apparently, we don't exist anymore."
[23:54] <Strategist14> "OH COME ON!  I WANTED TO *NOT* DIE!"
[23:54] <Kai_River> "You're not dead."
[23:54] <Kai_River> "And neither am I."
[23:54] <Strategist14> Neither of you are anything.
[23:54] <Kai_River> *That includes not dead.*
[23:55] <Strategist14> So it does.
[23:55] <Kai_River> *And if that's the branch of insanity I need to cling onto to try and make this make sense, I'll cling to that branch.*
[23:55] <Strategist14> "I... uh... what."
[23:55] <Strategist14> "What do you mean?"
[23:55] <Kai_River> "We're both speaking right now, aren't we?"
[23:56] <Strategist14> "Yeah, I... guess?"
[23:56] <Strategist14> But you aren't.
[23:56] <Kai_River> *Shut it, I'm not talking to you.*
[23:56] <Kai_River> "So, we exist, right?"
[23:56] <Kai_River> "We're not dead?"
[23:56] <Strategist14> You aren't talking to anyone.
[23:57] <Kai_River> *I'm talking to the elder.*
[23:57] <Strategist14> "I... okay, but you JUST said we didn't!"
[23:57] <Strategist14> Nobody.
[23:57] <Kai_River> "We're not dead, Elder."
[23:57] <Kai_River> "We don't exist, but we're not dead."
[23:58] <Strategist14> "Uh... so... how do we start to exist again?"
[23:58] <Kai_River> "Apparently, we need a presence."
[23:58] <Strategist14> "What does that MEAN?"
[23:59] <Kai_River> "What makes you you, Elder?"
[23:59] <Kai_River> "What's different from the rest of everything else in the world?"
[23:59] <Strategist14> "Uh... I dunno, being me?"
[23:59] <Kai_River> "And what does that mean?"
[23:59] <Strategist14> "I don't know!  I'm not special, I'm just old."
[00:00] <Kai_River> "How are you different from the rocks outside?"
[00:00] <Kai_River> "How are you different from anything else that exists?"
[00:00] <Strategist14> "I, uh, I can talk?  I'm myself.  There aren't any other mes."
[00:00] <Strategist14> There aren't any of him at all.
[00:01] <Kai_River> *Do you want a presence or not?*
[00:01] <Strategist14> "Of course I do!"
[00:01] <Strategist14> "I like existing!"
[00:01] <Kai_River> *Wait...*
[00:01] <Kai_River> "I'm so confused."
[00:01] <Strategist14> No you're not.
[00:01] <Kai_River> *Yes, I am.*
[00:02] <Strategist14> You're nothing.
[00:02] <Kai_River> *I am Kai River.*
[00:02] <Strategist14> Kai River is nothing.
[00:02] <Kai_River> *Then I guess nothing matters anymore, does it?*
[00:03] <Strategist14> Nothing ever did.
[00:03] <Kai_River> *It's not like I can perceive the world outside anymore.*
[00:03] <Kai_River> *Everything will continue, and I'll never know.*
[00:03] <Kai_River> *Because for some reason, I don't exist.*
[00:03] <Kai_River> *Why don't I exist?*
[00:04] <Strategist14> Because the room is empty.
[00:04] <Kai_River> *And if we leave the room?*
[00:04] <Strategist14> If what leaves the room?
[00:04] <Strategist14> There's nothing inside to leave.
[00:04] <Kai_River> *Is there a room at all?*
[00:05] <Strategist14> Yes.  The room is.  The contents are not.
[00:05] <Kai_River> *Show me the room.*
[00:05] <Kai_River> *Since that's apparently the one frigging thing that exists anymore.*
[00:05] <Strategist14> How?  You have no eyes to see it with.
[00:06] <Kai_River> *I'm not supposed to have a mind to think this to you either, and yet here we aren't, not thinking to each other.
[00:07] <Strategist14> An imaginary mind for an imaginary conversation.
[00:07] <Kai_River> *Imagined by who?*
[00:07] <Strategist14> ...
[00:07] <Kai_River> *Clearly I don't exist, so I can't be making this up myself.*
[00:08] <Strategist14> Nobody doesn't respond.
[00:08] <Strategist14> Which is to say
[00:08] <Strategist14> Somebody responds.
[00:08] <Strategist14> "That's right, isn't it?"  Says the elder.
[00:09] <Kai_River> "I think so."
[00:09] <Strategist14> "Then... there.  I'm me, and that's my presence."
[00:10]  * Kai_River tries to turn around and leave the room.
[00:10] <Strategist14> How?  There's no way out.
[00:11] <Kai_River> The door that he came through.
[00:11] <Strategist14> There is no door.
[00:12] <Kai_River> *What are we supposed to do?!*
[00:12] <Kai_River> *We exist!*
[00:12] <Kai_River> *We're being made up by something, so we have to exist!*
[00:13] <Strategist14> Again, those seven billion voices of people who aren't refuses to answer.
[00:13] <Strategist14> "What do you mean, made up by something?"
[00:13] <Strategist14> The elder, again.
[00:14] <Kai_River> "Nobody just said, I have an imaginary mind to not think a response to not them"
[00:14] <Kai_River> "And if I have something, that means I exist."
[00:14] <Strategist14> "Uh... what?"
[00:14] <Kai_River> "It's... Really confusing."
[00:14] <Strategist14> "I am completely lost."
[00:15] <Kai_River> "Basically, Nobody is saying we don't exist, and yet we _are_ thinking to them."
[00:15] <Kai_River> "Albeit with an imaginary mind."
[00:15] <Strategist14> "I thought we were supposed to be nobody?"
[00:15] <Kai_River> "But we don't know who's imagining it."
[00:16] <Kai_River> "That..."
[00:16] <Kai_River> "Is an excellent point."
[00:16] <Strategist14> "What is?"
[00:16] <Strategist14> "Us being not existing?"
[00:16] <Kai_River> "Yes."
[00:16] <Kai_River> "Nobody has been responding to nobody this whole time."
[00:17] <Kai_River> "So..."
[00:17] <Kai_River> "What does that mean?!"
[00:17] <Strategist14> "I don't know!"
[00:18] <Kai_River> "Are we talking to ourselves?"
[00:19] <Strategist14> "I... no?  We're talking to each other, and to all the other voices at once.  Right?"
[00:19] <Kai_River> "But the voices stopped responding"
[00:19] <Strategist14> "I guess.  So what does that mean?"
[00:20] <Kai_River> "I think it means that somebody stopped imagining them."
[00:20] <Kai_River> "Are we somebody?"
[00:20] <Strategist14> "All of them at once?"
[00:20] <Kai_River> "I don't know if there was more than one."
[00:21] <Kai_River> "I mean, there were thousands, I think."
[00:21] <Strategist14> "It sure SOUNDED like a whole lot."
[00:21] <Strategist14> "Or I mean... didn't sound like a whole lot?"
[00:21] <Strategist14> "I don't know, I'm confused!"
[00:21] <Kai_River> "So am I, but if we can keep thinking, that means we still exist to some degree."
[00:21] <Kai_River> "And this game is just trying to screw with us."
[00:22] <Strategist14> "Okay?  So we just need to... keep thinking."
[00:22] <Kai_River> "We can do that."
[00:22] <Strategist14> "And not stop... not existing."
[00:22] <Kai_River> "But... How do we... Not do that?"
[00:23] <Strategist14> "I don't know!"
[00:24] <Kai_River> "Can we try to imagine the voices again?"
[00:24] <Kai_River> "They went quiet when I tried to ask who thought of us."
[00:24] <Strategist14> "What does that even mean?"
[00:24] <Kai_River> "Like, just try to remember everything that just happened."
[00:24] <Kai_River> "We do know for a fact that that happened."
[00:25] <Strategist14> "Uh... they just kept on repeating how nobody was anything."
[00:25] <Kai_River> "Because we can both remember it."
[00:25] <Strategist14> "Right.  Yes.  Or... or it didn't happen, because nothing happens here because it doesn't exist?"
[00:25] <Kai_River> "No, no, no, it happened."
[00:25] <Kai_River> "We can remember that it happened."
[00:25] <Kai_River> "And there's no way we can remember something if we don't exist."
[00:26] <Strategist14> "Okay, I guess so."
[00:26] <Strategist14> "But like... how can we get out?"
[00:26] <Kai_River> "It's like that one quote."
[00:26] <Kai_River> "I think, therefore I am."
[00:26] <Strategist14> The elder looks at you funny.
[00:27] <Strategist14> Or rather, he doesn't.  It's hard to tell anymore.
[00:27] <Kai_River> "Do we just think we're out?"
[00:27] <Kai_River> "Will that work?"
[00:27]  * Kai_River thinks that he's back at the rabbit village.
[00:27] <Strategist14> "I'm imagining myself safe in bed, and it's not happening."
[00:28] <Kai_River> "But, it is happening."
[00:28] <Kai_River> "Nothing is not happening."
[00:28] <Strategist14> "What?"
[00:28] <Kai_River> "So something is happening."
[00:28] <Strategist14> "Nothing is... but nothing IS happening, because we're still in here."
[00:29] <Kai_River> "But, to be in here, there has to be a here for us to be in."
[00:29] <Strategist14> "Didn't it say the room was real, though?"
[00:30] <Kai_River> "The room is real, because I walked into it."
[00:30] <Strategist14> "Yeah.  But us inside the room aren't real."
[00:30] <Strategist14> "Or we're not REALLY real?"
[00:30] <Strategist14> "Like ghosts."
[00:32] <Kai_River> "But, we have to be real."
[00:32] <Kai_River> "We're having this conversation now, aren't we?"
[00:32] <Strategist14> "Right.  Not-real people can't talk."
[00:32] <Kai_River> "Exactly, so we exist, and whoever Nobody was, they exist too."
[00:33] <Strategist14> "Okay..."
[00:34] <Kai_River> "Nobody said that the room was empty."
[00:34] <Kai_River> "But, I went in it, and now I'm here with Nobody."
[00:34] <Strategist14> "And you brought me with you."
[00:34] <Kai_River> "Yeah, so there is at least three somethings inside the room."
[00:35] <Kai_River> "The room is not empty."
[00:35] <Strategist14> "Then why can't we leave?"
[00:35] <Kai_River> "I... Don't know."
[00:36] <Kai_River> "Ok, I'm going to try something, and I have no idea if it will work."
[00:36] <Strategist14> "Uh... okay."
[00:36]  * Kai_River attempts to use the Black Bag Modus.
[00:36] <Strategist14> You create a portal that doesn't exist.  This is fine, since you don't exist either and can therefore interact with it perfectly fine.
[00:37]  * Kai_River attempts to enter the portal.
[00:37] <Strategist14> You succeed.  You are now in a pitch dark void that doesn't exist inside a room that also doesn't exist.
[00:38] <Strategist14> Which is to say, you inside the void doesn't exist inside the room that does.
[00:38] <Kai_River> "Elder, can you... Hear me?"
[00:38] <Kai_River> "Or, whatever it is we're doing?"
[00:38] <Strategist14> "Yeah.  I think so."
[00:39] <Strategist14> The elder speaks from the outside of the void.
[00:40] <Kai_River> So, Kai is inside nothing that doesn't exist, so is he in something that exists?
[00:41] <Strategist14> No, he's in blackness that doesn't exist.  The Black Bag Modus, despite being an infinite expanse of blackness, still exists.  Which means now it doesn't.
[00:42] <Kai_River> So, Kai is nobody, inside of something, inside of nothing?
[00:43] <Strategist14> Kai is nobody, inside of nothing, inside of something.
[00:43] <Strategist14> The room exists.  The bag does not.
[00:44] <Kai_River> *What is the room?*
[00:44] <Strategist14> Real.
[00:44] <Kai_River> *If I can be imagined to have a mind to think about the room, I can be imagined to have eyes to see it.*
[00:45] <Strategist14> But you aren't being imagined.  You aren't being anything at all.
[00:45] <Strategist14> Nobody seems more willing to talk, now.
[00:45] <Kai_River> *Then how am I understanding you?*
[00:46] <Strategist14> Because I don't exist either.
[00:46] <Strategist14> I could have.
[00:46] <Strategist14> But I don't.
[00:46] <Kai_River> *Could have if what?*
[00:46] <Kai_River> *What made you not exist?*
[00:46] <Strategist14> Something else existed instead.
[00:47] <Strategist14> One way or the other.  A binary choice, and I wasn't chosen.
[00:47] <Strategist14> Reality was.
[00:47] <Kai_River> *Chosen by what?*
[00:48] <Strategist14> The me that was.
[00:48] <Kai_River> *So, there's a you that exists, and a you that doesn't?*
[00:48] <Strategist14> Yes.
[00:49] <Kai_River> *How did I become the me that doesn't exist?*
[00:50] <Strategist14> You that was made a choice.  You that is chose reality, and you that is not chose this.
[00:50] <Kai_River> *Why?*
[00:51] <Strategist14> Because that choice is who Kai River is.
[00:51] <Kai_River> *I am Kai River.*
[00:51] <Kai_River> *And if there's another me that exists, he's Kai River too.*
[00:51] <Kai_River> *We're one and the same.*
[00:51] <Strategist14> But only one of you exists to call youself that.
[00:52] <Strategist14> You don't exist.  Kai River does.
[00:52] <Kai_River> *Then how am I calling myself Kai River now?*
[00:52] <Strategist14> You aren't.  You aren't anything.
[00:52] <Strategist14> You say nothing, you are nothing.
[00:53] <Kai_River> *But I can think.*
[00:53] <Strategist14> Your thoughts do not exist any more than you do.
[00:53] <Strategist14> How else would I hear them?
[00:53] <Kai_River> *Then how can you respond to them?*
[00:54] <Strategist14> I, too, am not.
[00:54] <Kai_River> *But, we both are enough to communicate.*
[00:54] <Kai_River> *Nothing can't communicate.*
[00:55] <Strategist14> Which is to say, anything can communicate.
[00:55] <Kai_River> *And we're communicating.*
[00:55] <Kai_River> *So we exist.*
[00:56] <Strategist14> But nothing that exists can communicate with something that doesn't exist.
[00:57] <Kai_River> *How?*
[00:58] <Strategist14> Neither are real.
[00:58] <Strategist14> Like you and I.
[00:58] <Kai_River> *And how do two not real things communicate?*
[00:58] <Strategist14> They don't.
[00:58] <Strategist14> We are not communicating.  We are not anything.
[00:59] <Kai_River> *You said we can because we don't exist.*
[01:00] <Strategist14> "I thought you said we do exist," says the elder.
[01:00] <Kai_River> "We do exist."
[01:00] <Strategist14> No you don't.
[01:00] <Kai_River> "Because we can communicate."
[01:00] <Strategist14> No you can't.
[01:01] <Kai_River> *Then how are you telling me this?*
[01:01] <Strategist14> I'm not.
[01:01] <Strategist14> Nothing is happening.
[01:01] <Strategist14> The room is empty, and nobody is inside of it.
[01:02] <Kai_River> *Answer me this, what is Nobody?*
[01:03] <Strategist14> Impossible.
[01:04] <Kai_River> "By who's definition?"
[01:04] <Strategist14> Somebody's.
[01:05] <Kai_River> *We does Nobody need to listen to Somebody?*
[01:05] <Strategist14> Somebody exists.  Nobody does not.
[01:05] <Kai_River> *Then how can Somebody make rules that control Nobody?*
[01:07] <Strategist14> Nothing controls nobody.
[01:07] <Strategist14> Nobody is free.
[01:08] <Kai_River> *Then, if I am Nobody, I want to leave.*
[01:08] <Strategist14> How?
[01:09] <Kai_River> "I don't know."
[01:10] <Strategist14> Anybody could easily leave.
[01:10] <Kai_River> *But Nobody is free.*
[01:11] <Strategist14> Then why is nobody still here?
[01:11] <Kai_River> *Because Nobody doesn't know how to leave.*
[01:11] <Strategist14> It's only a room.
[01:12] <Kai_River> *Without a door.*
[01:12] <Strategist14> Without anything.
[01:12] <Kai_River> *Then how does Nothing get in it?*
[01:13] <Strategist14> Nothing is already in it.  Anything can enter, anything can exit.  But nothing stays inside.
[01:14] <Kai_River> *How does anything enter and exit?*
[01:14] <Strategist14> Through the door.
[01:14] <Kai_River> *So, there is a door.*
[01:15] <Strategist14> There is.  But anything can go through.
[01:15] <Strategist14> Nothing cannot.
[01:16] <Kai_River> *So, there is something in the room.*
[01:16] <Strategist14> There is nothing in the room.  Anything can leave, but nothing is inside.
[01:17] <Kai_River> *So, is this some huge Schrodinger's room?*
[01:17] <Strategist14> It could be.
[01:18] <Kai_River> *And why only could?*
[01:18] <Strategist14> Some things are and aren't.  Some choices are never made.
[01:20] <Kai_River> *What decides when a choice isn't made?*
[01:20] <Strategist14> Reality.
[01:20] <Strategist14> The room is, the contents are not.  This is reality.
[01:21] <Kai_River> *I thought this was nothing?*
[01:21] <Strategist14> Reality is that this is nothing.
[01:21] <Strategist14> No choices change this.
[01:22] <Strategist14> You are nothing.  I am nothing.  Within this room, nothing is anything.
[01:23] <Kai_River> *So, are we both nothing and anything?*
[01:23] <Kai_River> *Because I went into the room.*
[01:24] <Strategist14> Anything can enter.
[01:24] <Kai_River> *Which I did.*
[01:24] <Strategist14> Nothing is trapped.
[01:24] <Kai_River> *So, I went in something, and now I'm nothing?*
[01:24] <Strategist14> Yes.
[01:25] <Kai_River> *What about the something that left?*
[01:25] <Kai_River> *Because it was anything, and anything can leave?*
[01:26] <Strategist14> It was nothing.  Now it is something.
[01:27] <Kai_River> *So, when something enters the room, it becomes switched with nothing?*
[01:27] <Kai_River> *Does that mean that nothing becomes something?*
[01:27] <Strategist14> It becomes nothing.
[01:28] <Strategist14> Everything within is nothing.  Nothing cannot enter, nothing cannot leave.
[01:28] <Kai_River> *Then why does the room exist?*
[01:29] <Strategist14> Because I'm not ready to not exist.
[01:30] <Kai_River> *Why not?*
[01:30] <Strategist14> I could have been the king.
[01:30] <Strategist14> I could have been anything.
[01:31] <Strategist14> I'm not.
[01:31] <Kai_River> *Why not?*
[01:31] <Kai_River> *What about the you that is king?*
[01:32] <Strategist14> I'm not that me.
[01:32] <Strategist14> I-that-was chose me-that-is.
[01:32] <Kai_River> *But there is a you that is the king.*
[01:32] <Strategist14> An I that will be.
[01:33] <Kai_River> *I don't understand.*
[01:33] <Strategist14> Here, I am nothing.  There, the I that is will be king.  And I... will not.
[01:34] <Strategist14> I will continue to be nothing.
[01:34] <Kai_River> *So?*
[01:34] <Kai_River> *Nothing is trapped, what's the point?*
[01:34] <Kai_River> *You can't leave.*
[01:35] <Strategist14> I can't stop wanting to, either.
[01:35] <Strategist14> I can't do anything.
[01:35] <Strategist14> Not escape, not surrender, not rule, not anything.
[01:35] <Strategist14> I am nothing, just as you are.
[01:35] <Kai_River> *So then, what's the secret to get out?*
[01:35] <Kai_River> *Stop caring?*
[01:36] <Strategist14> I don't know.
[01:36] <Strategist14> I don't do anything.
[01:37] <Kai_River> *Great.*
[01:37] <Kai_River> *Just. Great.*
[01:38] <Strategist14> Nobody doesn't respond.
[01:38] <Strategist14> Which is to say.
[01:38] <Strategist14> Somebody responds.
[22:22] <Strategist14> "Okay, so I didn't follow like any of that."
[22:22] <Kai_River> "Welcome to the club."
[22:23] <Kai_River> "Ok, let's start from the beginning, what do we know so far?"
[22:23] <Strategist14> But there is no club, either.
[22:23] <Kai_River> *Quiet, you.*
[22:23] <Strategist14> "We... don't exist."
[22:23] <Strategist14> "Except we also do, but in a not-existy way."
[22:23] <Kai_River> "There's two versions of us, one that exists, and one that doesn't."
[22:24] <Kai_River> "By entering the empty room, I made us not exist."
[22:24] <Strategist14> "Okay..."
[22:24] <Kai_River> "And Nobody is in here with us."
[22:24] <Strategist14> "Nobody with the capital N."
[22:24] <Kai_River> "Nobody who could have been anything, but wasn't."
[22:24] <Kai_River> "Yes, Nobody as in a name."
[22:25] <Kai_River> "And apparently, we're all just figments of someone who does exist's imagination."
[22:25] <Strategist14> "Yeah, I don't get that part."
[22:25] <Kai_River> "It happened during my argument with capital Nobody."
[22:26] <Strategist14> "But what does it MEAN?"
[22:26] <Kai_River> "My reasoning for us still existing was that we were thinking back to one another, and people who don't exist can't think."
[22:26] <Kai_River> "Nobody's response was 'an imaginary mind for an imaginary discussion', or something along those lines."
[22:26] <Strategist14> "Huh.  Uh... okay."
[22:26] <Kai_River> "When I asked who imagined it, Nobody didn't respond."
[22:27] <Strategist14> "Because I did."
[22:27] <Kai_River> "Wait..."
[22:27] <Kai_River> "You responded, when Nobody didn't."
[22:27] <Kai_River> "Therefor, you're not nobody..."
[22:28] <Strategist14> "... Yeah?  Nobody's Nobody."
[22:28] <Kai_River> "Which means you're somebody, or anybody."
[22:28] <Kai_River> "And anybody exists."
[22:28] <Kai_River> "I think he said something like that..."
[22:28] <Strategist14> "What."
[22:29] <Strategist14> The elder gives you a very confused not-look.
[22:29] <Strategist14> Or... is it a look?
[22:29] <Kai_River> "He specifically said there was nobody in this room."
[22:29] <Kai_River> "And that anybody was allowed to leave."
[22:29] <Strategist14> "But like... Nobody as in him, or as in none of us exist?"
[22:30] <Kai_River> "I can't tell."
[22:30] <Strategist14> "This name is stupid."
[22:30] <Kai_River> "Agreed."
[22:31] <Kai_River> "Agreement to call Nobody the person 'N' from now on?"
[22:31] <Strategist14> "Deal."
[22:31] <Kai_River> "Ok, so either way, N said anybody was allowed to leave."
[22:31] <Kai_River> "So, unless there's someone else here named Anybody, you should be allowed to leave."
[22:31] <Strategist14> "Um... how?"
[22:31] <Kai_River> "Because you responded when N didn't."
[22:32] <Strategist14> "There's no door, Kai."
[22:32] <Kai_River> "That's the thing, it makes no sense."
[22:32] <Kai_River> "We can't _do_ anything!"
[22:32] <Kai_River> "So how are we supposed to leave?"
[22:32] <Strategist14> Let me know if you find out, okay?
[22:32] <Kai_River> *Yeah, yeah.*
[22:33] <Kai_River> *With all due respect, you're the least of my worries right now.*
[22:33] <Strategist14> I'm not a worry at all.
[22:33] <Strategist14> The voice sounded... really smug at that.  You think.  It's hard to tell.
[22:33] <Kai_River> *Well, I was at least trying to imply I cared about you, but quite frankly, you're right.*
[22:34] <Strategist14> No I'm not.
[22:34] <Kai_River> *You're kind of pointless to me.*
[22:34] <Kai_River> *You led me to non-existence.*
[22:34] <Kai_River> *For all I know, you intended for this to happen, and just wanted me to die.*
[22:35] <Kai_River> *So thanks for that.*
[22:35] <Strategist14> I'm incapable of want.
[22:35] <Strategist14> I'm incapable of anything.
[22:35] <Kai_River> *Don't you want to get out?*
[22:35] <Strategist14> I would if I existed.
[22:35] <Strategist14> Just like you would if you existed.
[22:35] <Kai_River> *Well, right now, I want to get out.*
[22:36] <Kai_River> *Does that mean I exist?*
[22:36] <Strategist14> Not when nothing means anything.
[22:36] <Strategist14> "Uh... so if I'm somebody, or... anybody, or whichever.  I should have a body again, right?  There should be a door there for me to leave."
[22:36] <Kai_River> *How does nothing mean anything?*
[22:36] <Kai_River> "That would make sense."
[22:36] <Kai_River> "But, if you don't, then something's wrong here."
[22:36] <Strategist14> "I'm not seeing a door."
[22:36] <Kai_River> "Or N is just giving us false information."
[22:37] <Kai_River> "Which is entirely possible."
[22:37] <Strategist14> "Ugh, this is stupid enough as it is without getting lied to."
[22:37] <Kai_River> "Agreed."
[22:37] <Strategist14> "I just want to exist, is that so much to ask!?"
[22:37] <Kai_River> "Apparently, yes."
[22:38]  * Kai_River sighs.
[22:38] <Strategist14> Everything here is nothing.
[22:39] <Strategist14> So nothing here means anything.  It's all meaningless.
[22:39] <Strategist14> We're all meaningless.
[22:39] <Kai_River> *I don't think that's how it works.*
[22:39] <Strategist14> Why not?
[22:39] <Kai_River> *If everything is nothing, that doesn't mean nothing is anything.*
[22:39] <Kai_River> *Because, if it was anything, then anything could exist in the room.*
[22:40] <Kai_River> *Which it doesn't.*
[22:40] <Kai_River> *It's all just nothing.*
[22:40] <Strategist14> Anything can exist in the room.
[22:40] <Strategist14> It would just have to be nothing.
[22:40] <Strategist14> ... Right?
[22:40] <Kai_River> *How am I supposed to know?*
[22:41] <Kai_River> *I clearly have no idea what's going on here.*
[22:41] <Strategist14> Of course not, you don't exist.
[22:41] <Kai_River> *If anything can exist, as long as it's nothing, then that doesn't mean anything can exist.*
[22:41] <Strategist14> Not while you're here.
[22:41] <Kai_River> *It just means nothing can exist.*
[22:42] <Kai_River> *You can't just say 'anything, as long as it's one specific thing', or, lack of thing, or whatever.*
[22:42] <Strategist14> What about a trait?
[22:42] <Kai_River> *What about it?*
[22:42] <Strategist14> Like "anything, but it has to be violet".
[22:43] <Kai_River> *That's a broader trait.*
[22:43] <Strategist14> Than unreal?
[22:43] <Kai_River> *There's lots of things that are violet, but there's only one thing that's nothing.*
[22:43] <Strategist14> There are lots of things that are nothing, though.
[22:43] <Kai_River> *Like?*
[22:44] <Strategist14> You, me, your friend.
[22:44] <Kai_River> *So, we exist, just as nothing?*
[22:44] <Strategist14> You exist as much as nothing does.
[22:45] <Kai_River> *This is stupid.*
[22:45] <Strategist14> "Yup."
[22:45] <Kai_River> *Nothing _doesn't_ exist, that's the whole point of nothing!*
[22:45] <Kai_River> *Nothing is the lack of existence!*
[22:45] <Strategist14> Fine, argue about words at me.
[22:46] <Strategist14> Won't save you.
[22:46] <Strategist14> N is acting... different.
[22:46] <Strategist14> ((I have got to figure out a way to differentiate talking and narrating))
[22:46]  * Kai_River doesn't respond.
[22:47] <Strategist14> Which is to say
[22:47] <Strategist14> Somebody does.
[22:48] <Strategist14> "H-hello?"  A girl's voice cuts through the emptiness.
[22:48]  * Kai_River is surprised, and is unsure if he should respond or not.
[22:48]  * Kai_River decides not to.
[22:49] <Strategist14> Which is to say
[22:49] <Strategist14> Somebody decides to.
[22:49] <Strategist14> N: But there is no emptiness.  There's nothing at all.
[22:51] <Strategist14> Girl: "Is too.  There's me."
[22:51] <Strategist14> Except you're nothing.
[22:52] <Strategist14> "I am NOT nothing."
[22:52] <Strategist14> The elder decides to shut this down.  "Okay can we not go through this whole thing again!?"
[22:52]  * Kai_River decides to respond now.
[22:53] <Kai_River> "Is that the presence you were looking for?"
[22:53] <Kai_River> "Nobody didn't respond, so somebody did."
[22:53] <Kai_River> "Somebody's there."
[22:53] <Strategist14> There's still nobody here.
[22:53] <Kai_River> *But there's also somebody.*
[22:54] <Strategist14> The somebody is nobody!
[22:54] <Strategist14> "I'm right here, you guys!"
[22:54] <Strategist14> No you aren't!
[22:54] <Kai_River> (Was that elder or the girl?)
[22:54] <Strategist14> (Girl)
[22:54] <Kai_River> (Darn it, this is stupid)
[22:54] <Strategist14> ((Yeah, I'm going back to prefacing))
[22:54] <Kai_River> "You, who are you?"
[22:55] <Strategist14> Girl: "Raziel.  Who are YOU?"
[22:55] <Strategist14> Nobody.  You're both nobody.
[22:55] <Kai_River> "I'm Kai River."
[22:56] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Alright Kai River.  Where am I?"
[22:56] <Kai_River> "You..."
[22:57] <Kai_River> "Alright, let me try to explain this in a way that isn't stupid."
[22:57] <Kai_River> "You're in a room, alright?"
[22:57] <Kai_River> "And this room has a special quality to it."
[22:57] <Kai_River> "Whatever is in the room, becomes nothing."
[22:57] <Kai_River> "Ceases to exist."
[22:57] <Kai_River> "Did you by any chance enter a door recently?"
[22:58] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Uh... no?  I was just... there was this tower."
[22:58] <Strategist14> "So I went to check it out, and there were these wings, and then... nothing.  I'm here."
[23:00] <Kai_River> "Well, it doesn't matter how you got here."
[23:00] <Kai_River> "The point is, you're here now, and you no longer exist."
[23:00] <Kai_River> "Stupid, I know."
[23:00] <Strategist14> "Nuts."
[23:00] <Kai_River> "Trying to figure a way out."
[23:01] <Kai_River> "Notably, when I stopped talking, you showed up."
[23:02] <Strategist14> "Weird, but okay."
[23:02] <Kai_River> "I have a theory."
[23:03] <Kai_River> "Do me a favour, both of you, or all three of you, if you count N, do not respond to this request."
[23:04] <Strategist14> Nobody responds.  Including N.
[23:04] <Strategist14> Which is to say, N responds.
[23:05] <Strategist14> Which is to say, of course, that you don't get any response.
[23:05] <Strategist14> Because N doesn't respond, and neither does anybody else who is nobody else.
[23:05] <Strategist14> Oh dear, I've gone cross-eyed.
[23:05]  * Kai_River also doesn't respond to this mess.
[23:06] <Strategist14> Lower-case nobody says or does anything.
[23:06] <Strategist14> Which of course means that N, who is Nobody, has to say or do something.
[23:06] <Strategist14> Except they don't, because they can't do anything because they don't exist.
[23:06] <Strategist14> Congratulations, you just paradoxed an empty room.
[23:07] <Kai_River> Yay.
[23:07]  * Kai_River continues to not respond?
[23:08] <Strategist14> N continues to have no choice but to respond, and, by virtue of being Nobody, also no choice but to not respond.
[23:09] <Kai_River> Screw it, try something else.
[23:09] <Kai_River> *Nobody?*
[23:09] <Strategist14> Nobody is busy at the moment, please hold.
[23:10] <Strategist14> Which is to say that everybody's not busy.
[23:10] <Kai_River> "Ok, give it up guys, this isn't working."
[23:10] <Strategist14> Raziel: "I have no idea what's happening."
[23:10] <Kai_River> "Nothing, apparently."
[23:11] <Strategist14> "Funny."
[23:11] <Kai_River> "It's all so stupid, we're trying to find out what we need to get out, but we can't."
[23:12] <Strategist14> Elder: "So, uh... is N gone or something?"
[23:12] <Kai_River> "I hope so."
[23:12] <Kai_River> "Wait..."
[23:12] <Kai_River> "I actually do hope so."
[23:13] <Kai_River> "If N is gone, that means he found a way out."
[23:13] <Strategist14> "By... getting paradoxed."
[23:13] <Kai_River> "So, what did we just do?"
[23:13] <Kai_River> "I told him not to respond, and then didn't respond."
[23:14] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Which meant nobody and somebody were doing the same thing."
[23:14] <Kai_River> "So, because he was Nobody, he needed to respond?"
[23:14] <Kai_River> "So, now what?"
[23:14] <Kai_River> "Do we embrace the fact that we're Nobody?"
[23:14] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Guess we make more paradoxes?"
[23:15] <Kai_River> "Let's try it."
[23:15] <Kai_River> "I am Nobody?"
[23:16] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Hey, Kai River."
[23:16] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Are you going to answer this question with a no?"
[23:16]  * Kai_River doesn't respond.
[23:17] <Strategist14> Raziel: "Okay, let's walk through this.  You're nobody, you don't respond, which means somebody does, but bunny dude's shutting up too.  So nobody doesn't answer."
[23:18] <Strategist14> You who don't exist don't answer a question that doesn't exist (and wouldn't have an answer in the first place if it did), while simultaneously not being you or anybody at all.
[23:18] <Strategist14> This is stupid.  But it's also just stupid enough to work.
[23:19] <Strategist14> You stand in the middle of an empty room.
[23:19] <Strategist14> An otherwise-empty room, that is.
[23:19] <Kai_River> Is the elder there too?
[23:19] <Strategist14> Nope.
[23:20]  * Kai_River hopes he'll find a way out.
[23:20]  * Kai_River turns around, hoping to find a door.
[23:20] <Strategist14> You find it
[23:20]  * Kai_River goes the heck through that frigging door.
[23:21] <Strategist14> And... you're back.
[23:21]  * Kai_River sits down next to the door, not caring about the security rabbits.
[23:21] <Strategist14> Take 500 XP for getting out of a ridiculous puzzle, 200 bonus XP because of that #RPGStuck_Room stunt I forgot to pastebin, and some aspirin to deal with the headache.
[23:23]  * Kai_River ascends to Rung 11: Nobody.
[23:24] <Strategist14> The security rabbits surround you once again.
[23:24] <Kai_River> "What do you want?"
[23:24] <Strategist14> "You need to come with us," says one of them.
[23:25] <Kai_River> "Why's that?"
[23:25] <Strategist14> "Security reasons."
[23:25] <Kai_River> "By all means, keep explaining."
[23:26] <Strategist14> "Then start walking."
[23:26] <Kai_River> "I'm a little tired out right now. Give me a few minutes."
[23:27] <Strategist14> The speaking rabbit nods tersely.
[23:28]  * Kai_River leans against the wall, and tries to go to sleep.
[23:28] <Strategist14> You wake up where you left off.
[23:28] <Strategist14> Which was... ?
[23:29] <Kai_River> Inside someone's Prospit tower after attempting to break Mauiki out of jail with Radbet.
[23:29] <Kai_River> Radbet, however, got caught and was also thrown in.
[23:29] <Kai_River> Kai was instructed to leave immediately, which he did.
[23:29] <Strategist14> That works
[23:29] <Strategist14> You wake up in that Prospit tower
[23:30] <Strategist14> It's... almost an unfamiliar feeling, to not be covered in wounds.
[23:30]  * Kai_River gets up, and practices flying a bit, it's been entirely too long since he's gotten a break.
[23:30] <Strategist14> It really has
[23:31] <Kai_River> The headaches from the temple, the corruption from Zombie, it all just seems to far away.
[23:31] <Kai_River> (So*)
[23:31] <Strategist14> But at least for now, you're unhurt, you're relatively safe, and you're free to do as you will.
[23:32]  * Kai_River just sits down at the side of the bed, and revels in being okay.