ENDGAME/EPILOG

[pandatreasure]

[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.]

Comments

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

"Pinkie swear"? ...You guys do them too?

[maege]

Uh, duh, of course we do? Do you think I come from a land of complete savages?

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

You're the ones with more running corpses than running water. But if that's what it takes you to be satisfied, fine.

[maege]

First of all they mostly just shamble when they don't have wings and second, rude and unnecessary, but I will, in fact, be satisfied if you pinkie swear to get patched up and then you keep it.

[indignantly sticks out her pinkie finger!!]

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Not my fault the truth hurts.

[smirkingly hooks his pinkie around it, shaking]

I'll see a doctor. Cross my heart, hope to die.

[maege]

Thank you.

[buuut before she actually releases him from the confines of pinkie swear hell]

Hey, but seriously. Take care of yourself, got it? Especially if you're just gonna be, y'know, dealing with it on your own, you'd better be easy on yourself.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

...

[but overwork is the best way to deal with this sort of thing... grudging:]

...I guess I can make an effort. If I have to.

[maege]

Heeeeyyy! I! Am! Being! Serious!

[aggressively shakes him by the pinkie with each word!!]

Yes you have to, or you are going to hear me being cranky from, like, a bazillion years in the past, I swear.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[sigh... he shakes again, more gentle]

I don't believe in ghosts,

[he says, currently best rivals with a ghost,]

so I guess I won't give you a reason to come crankily haunt me. I'll take care of my health.

[maege]

A bazillion years is a long time to wait to prove a point but I am annoying.

[pinkie shake with less RIGHTEOUS FURY]

That means as little catching on fire as you can manage but take a break sometimes, too, geez. Maybe sleep for once in your life. All I ask!

[and there, he can have his pinkie back now]

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

...Maybe after getting out here I might be able to.

[he is so tired. but it isn't as though there is some simple solution to that problem, so oh well]

Alright. So we've established that the current plan is to avoid flames and not avoid healthcare providers...what's left?

[maege]

Hmmmmmm... Not that I'm rushing out the door or anything, buuut since the whole point is that I'm not allowed near anything flammable, and you're the guy who pushes buttons, mind getting me set up to go when it's time?

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

I guess. At least that way I'll know you don't end up popping in five years later instead of five seconds.

[maege]

Psh, you guess.

[DRAMATIC EYEROLL]

I mean I was gonna give it like at least a day instead of just completely ruining my bodyguard cred and, like, wandering off to get a snack and coming back [gestures vaguely with crutch] with no food and my butt totally handed to me—buuut look at that, we both get to sleep easier knowing I'm going right when I belong.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

You can give it the full three weeks if you think your buddies won't have too many grey hairs by then. Sometimes it's worth making them miss you.

[maege]

Gods, no, I think I'd get back and Boey would just be dead? I'm not about to leave three weeks' worth of Terrors unzapped anyway, I've done enough slackin' around, but I think Boey'd get so stressed he'd fall down and die, like a rabbit.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

I guess that wouldn't help with the undead famine, either. So you'll have to be more timely after all.

[maege]

Like I said, I've spent waaay too long slacking already. Better get right back to business!

...Hey. [oh no it's that soft voice she uses when friendship is incoming] I'm going to miss you.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[hrgh here's that offhand tone he uses for non-violent deflection]

...You'll have much more entertaining people around to bother than me. Soon I'll just be a remarkably handsome island in a sea of honestly pretty terrible memories. You'll get over it.

[maege]

I dunno about that. I've done a lot of bothering in my time, lemme tell you, and no one's ever been half as good at keeping up.

[okay no be serious HE'S NOT GETTING OUT OF THIS ONE]

I don't really get over anything so I'm gonna try focusing on the positive parts of this hellhole, and for one, I'm glad I met you.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Ah...

[f u c k]

...Yeah. Even though it probably just seems that way because of juxtaposition...the meeting you part wasn't so bad, I guess.

[his ears are very red]

[maege]

Aww, that's the closest you've ever come to admitting you actually might enjoy my company at all. I'm touched.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

I thought it was obvious I don't like being around people enough to deal with their presence if I don't have to.

[maege]

I dunno if you've noticed, but, like it or not, I am awfully persistent. It gives you a real nice out in case admitting you like someone at all out loud is going to actually, literally kill you, 'cause I worry it might.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

...

I don't dislike you.