[console; video]

[spoilsfun]

[Just like every other time Conan used the consoles, the video begins with a blank screen and the sound of a scraping chair, quickly followed by the sight of the boy climbing up on the chair to reach the view of the camera.]

Hello!  I've been thinking a lot recently. Lots of people have told me about how magic works around here. But I'm curious. How many people around here have been trying to see why things happen around here with science?  

For example, has anyone looked at the dust with chemistry or forensics?  Has anyone been tracking which items from home are found and what time they were first spotted?

Comments

[ruinsprofessor]

Hmm.

[Where to start.]

Unfortunately, it's still difficult to predict the Dreaming's effect on everyday life. Those items which appear from home are usually familiar ones, which fits in with what I've observed of the Dreaming before: that it responds best to familiarity and emotion. For instance, the rheaird I found from home, though there are any number of the machines, was recognizably the one I had always used.

As for the Dust, I believe some of the scientists at the College are studying it. I see more of its aftereffects.

[spoilsfun]

Do you know who is studying it?

How can something respond to emotion?

[ruinsprofessor]

I don't know specific names, no. Your best option would be to ask at the College. Although perhaps... the kedan named Kyde?

[Raine remembers him talking about it, in the console-wide broadcast regarding what steps were being taken.]

[At the latter, she looks faintly bemused; but then again, she has to recognize that not everyone has had the experiences with the Dreaming which she has.]

For instance, altering the landscape in response to a memory with strong emotion attached to it. You're familiar with how strong emotions can have a physical affect on the person experiencing them, correct?

[spoilsfun]

I know strong emotions tend to make people behave irrationally.

[It was why Conan had trained himself to divorce himself from any emotions while investigating a case. A detective could not afford to come to a wrong conclusion because of personal feelings interfering with the resolution of a case.]

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine tilts her head a little.]

That's true, but it isn't what I asked.

Emotion does compromise rational judgment, but it's also worth taking into account that very few people can fully remove themselves from it.

[spoilsfun]

Are you talking about stress, then? [He'd read his share of medical journals, growing up. ]

[ruinsprofessor]

Stress, certainly. Or grief, or joy, or revulsion-- many things generated in the mind can have a tangible effect on the body.

Think of it like that. Emotions strong enough to effect a physical change are certainly strong enough for the Dreaming to respond to. It's simply something else responding to the same stimuli.