"You ask complicated questions," says Five Pebbles, but his interest has diverted again from the series of data pearls, showing his personal investment in answering it.
"In the first place, it depends on the tangible recollections of these other timelines, though I would hesitate to label them as 'other'. If they stem from the choices of one person, I would liken it more to a repetition or a cycle where everything remains the same and only changes in reaction to the person influencing the events---'the variable'. In theory, only the variable would know for certain whether or not they were aware of the events their actions caused and the destruction of one possible path in favor of another."
He does not resume sorting, but he doesn't lower his puppet to the level of the skeleton, either. The questions he asks are unusual thus far, in comparison to the rest of the interlopers he has come after; Five Pebbles might even go so far as to consider this conversation worthwhile, setting aside the unwanted humor.
"However, my own experience provides me with the means to provide you with a more satisfying answer to this line of questioning, which I doubt is as hypothetical as you say. For the sake of explanation, let us first assume that the variable is not aware of the consequences their actions have. In that scenario, the variable would not remember the previous 'cycles', and as such would be bound to two possibilities: unconscious action of their own accord or unconscious action through active interference of a third party or force which pushes them towards certain decisions to achieve a desired outcome. The first of these two options is unlikely; if a person would organically choose to make a certain decision, it stands to reason that if you erased their memory of making that choice and led them back to it, they would make the same decision a second time. This applies doubly so if the subjects of the 'cycles' who are not the variable are largely unaware of their existence."
He turns the puppet back to the data pearls now, plucking one of the scattered, disorganized pearls out of the air and passing it mechanically between the hands of the puppet.
"If the variable is aware of the effects their actions have, they are either a willing or unwilling participant in these diverging paths. In this case, however, their awareness grants credibility to the idea that they are acting of their own free will. This means, then, that there are three logical possibilities---and of those, the variable is cognizant of their own circumstances in two of them. Awareness is far more likely than the alternative."
Another pass of the pearl between the puppet's hands.
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