randangonpa | ENDGAME/EPILOG

ENDGAME/EPILOG

[In the control room, the raccoons float quietly in their pods; none of the wild cackling from before, no raucous mocking—Where did those pesky animatronics go, anyway? Maybe not every question has been answered, but...how much does it matter? The lost souls are back, tangible and whole, though marked still by whatever's done them in. Maybe those scars and aches won't fade, either.

A metric fuckton of experimenting has gotten us to the answer of how to get back to where we belong: the first control room console makes it easy to find the thumbnail of your world, and, when selected, it automatically brings you to twenty two days from moment you were kidnapped from. It's easy to see an image where you should be there and aren't, and simply select it. The program confirms that you'd like to initiate the transport process, and directs you to stand on the glowing platform; have someone hit the button to shut the process down, or it will time itself out in five minutes.

Is the moment you were brought from not good enough? What about the rewards you were promised? It seems as though specifying those offers or threads isn't quite possible, but the console has two options, each manipulable independently of each other: you can control the date and time, allowing yourself to return as though you hadn't been kidnapped at all. You can also use a slider at the bottom to control the quality of the universe you're brought back to, sliding from the carrot to the stick side: A world where everything that possibly could have gone right for you and those you'd want it for does, where every choice and chance resolves in your favor...or one where there isn't a single moment that isn't conspiring to work against you.

It should be that simple, but...none of those are your universes. Trying to go to any universe but the one marked for you, and/or at any point but that three-week span you've been gone, prompts a warning message about a duplicate version of anyone belonging to that world. It asks if you'd like to proceed, and warns you once more by giving names of potential "doppelgangers"—but will not stop you from stepping onto the platform as it twinkles blue light, regardless. Is improvement worth interfering, maybe destroying, the life of another you?

That choice is up to you. For the first time in a long time, these choices are yours.

It's over. Happy graduation day.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not a puppy, no. Definitely not a hamster, either.

[a soft snort]

. . . fair enough. I'm sure they'll be well taken care of, wherever you send them.

I'd like to think I'm a good judge of animal caretakers, yeah. Also, the threat of me hearing about any mistreatment and my response to it should be motivation enough for whoever does take them.

Oh, absolutely.

[a sigh, and he tilts his head back, glancing up at the ceiling]

So what's next for you, Graham?

[shrugs]

Go home, see my wife and Walter. Not much to it.

[he makes. a sort of face]

Can I ask you a question before you go?

Sure, go ahead.

Why. . . did you choose Tsumugi?

[rubbing his eyes, sighing]

He was the most easily available that quickly responded to pressure.

[he can tell Will doesn't really want to talk about it, and truthfully, Akira's a bit too tired to let his real frustration over this topic out right now. but he does hunch his shoulders, frown deepening, evidently unhappy with that answer]

Why even do it at all? You were always so-- [mrrrgh] -- helpful. Especially for me and Akechi.

You don't need to know, Akira. So, I'm not going to tell you.

[one hand clenches into a fist at his side, before he releases the tension]

Just another adult flexing the power he has over those weaker then him, then?

[said with distaste. with contempt. with the attitude of someone who has so many problems with authority]

[something passes behind will's eyes, squinting for a beat as he's caught on it before coming back to a calm, placid expression]

You can think that. The truth, the truth leads down a dark and perilous road that won't do you any good. Not now, not ever. So, you can think whatever you want to. Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug, after all.

[breathes in, breathes out, something finally easing from his shoulders, causing him to slump rather than stand with thinly veiled tension]

Tsumugi will have to live with what you did to him for the rest of his life. That's unforgivable.

[he's firm on that]

But you're part of the reason Akechi didn't kill anyone while he was here.

[which is more than Akira can say, con. . . sidering]

. . . I don't think things in this world are black and white, and that includes you. But one day. . . one day, your actions will catch up to you. Both the good, and the atrocious.

[an unkind smile]

Oh, I know he will. I know I do. The feeling of someone else in your mind, moving things around and making themselves cozy under your skin, doesn't really wash off. It just — Lingers.

But if that's not enough, what about being disemboweled? Watching the throat of someone I love be slit? My child being taken out, womb and all, of its mother?

Akira, judgment has been passed on me. Again and again. So, don't worry about it. And you can come down from your pedestal, too. Lord knows, you aren't exactly on the firmest ground, either.

[all of that. . . gives Akira pause. and in the end, all he can muster up in response is a tired]

I know.

But I live knowingly embracing the consequences for my actions.

And so do I. Which includes getting lectured by multiple "kids".

[so . . . fuck off]

[listen sometimes teenagers get bored when they're dead and think things like stupid spam is funny, TEENAGERS ARE DUME]

[he takes a step back, though. rocks on a heel, gaze flickering up]

I'll take care of Akechi, if he comes home with me. Though I won't force him if he doesn't want to.

[infinitely dumb and not fluffy enough to make up for it]

If you're trying to set my mind at ease about him, that's really not the best way, you know.

[he tries 8(]

I know.

You don't think I'm good for him.

You're a greater risk than an asset. But with your hands dirty, you could start to turn that around.

[he flinches, honest to got flinches, at that. because there's a note of truth to it. what was it that helped him and Akechi bridge the trust gap between them?]

Did he ever tell you what happened between us?

No. Didn't really have to ask, so it didn't come up.

[based on how Will has spoken before, Akira thinks he managed to figure it out on his own. so he doesn't press]

You talk like you know our dynamic so well. You always have.

Why do you always focus on me as the one who needs to change?

I know everyone here well. Been inside your heads enough. So, don't feel too special.

I've been pushing Akechi to change, too. But he's lost and he's killed, because of that he's primed to adapt and evolve in order to survive. His framework isn't going to change that quickly, though. Regression is going to happen. If you can't understand him when that occurs, you could unintentionally trigger old trauma. Everything could just — Dissolve.

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