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

[theyregooddogs]

Can't blame you.

[glancing around . . . then, yeah, going to head off in hunt of bourbon]

[purrtagonist]

[. . . he doesn't really have any last words, so as Will turns away to hunt for bourbon, Akira debates for a moment about just letting him go. there's a pause, a second of silence, before Akira mutters--]

Damn it. . .

[he scrubs at his face, before trotting forward to catch up, to follow wherever Will is leading]

[theyregooddogs]

[oh, you're coming, cool . . . not actually rushing, just going to a nice, private place in a somewhat casual manner, and also enjoying the act of breathing. leaving the door to his room open for akira (thoughtful) and pausing when he puts the bottle on his desk, thinking]

How irredeemable am I to you?

[glancing at Akira then going to pouring, one glass with two fingers of whiskey]

[purrtagonist]

[Akira kind of hovers near the door entrance, instead of entering the room proper, shoulder leaning against the frame. there's hesitation before his response, a moment where he tries to gather his words, to remember what his own justice feels and looks like]

[when he speaks, it's slowly, and with purpose]

I don't believe anyone is completely irredeemable. I don't believe any one person is just "good" or "bad," either. Good people can do bad things. Bad people can do good things.

[a breath]

It isn't a question of redemption for me. It's forgiveness.

And since I wasn't the one directly affected by your actions. . . that isn't something for me to decide.

[theyregooddogs]

So, completely. Good to know.

[and drinking]







[pouring again when the glass is empty]

[purrtagonist]

[DOESN'T. . . REFUTE THAT, although that is not exactly what he meant]

Why did you ask?

[theyregooddogs]

Wanted to hear you say it. In less words than more, but beggars and choosers.

My, hm, "Akechi", for lack of a better term because they truly do not belong in even the same thought together— I walked away from him.

[purrtagonist]

You told me about that, during one of our very first actual conversations.

[the reason why he quit the FBI]

[theyregooddogs]

Actually, no, I didn't. That was one of the, ah, other psychopaths in my grisly past? Managed to piss off a few of them in my time at the bureau.

[swirling the liquid in his glass around]

"He" is tangentially related to how I survived that night. More someone else than him, but he was there.

[purrtagonist]

[. . . oh]

[there's a moment where Akira looks taken aback, but he brushes it aside quickly]

Ah.

Then. . . why did you eventually walk away?

[theyregooddogs]

[thinking then lets out a hallow half-laugh, mostly to himself]

I was tired. I was tired of being angry, of trying to catch up— Tired of cutting away parts of who I was to see justice done.

[taking a sip of bourbon then looking at Akira while he puts the glass down]

See, Akira, I realized that he and I are like the snake eating its tail. If I sacrificed everything that I had, I could catch him. He was certainly willing to give up everything to pull me down with him.

[purrtagonist]

[looking right back at him, not turning away. he can't get a read on why Will is telling him this just yet, but nevertheless, he listens]

What happened after you left?

[theyregooddogs]

Oh, not a few hours after I told him that I was done with all of it, he turned himself in. Right now, he's cozy in a prison for the criminally insane while he waits for whenever I crack. A devil in white perched on my shoulder, whispering sweet nothings about rights and wrongs.

[purrtagonist]

[. . . . . .]

Is he why. . .

[he trails off, unable to finish the question, but it lingers in the air nevertheless. is he the reason you did what you did to Tsumugi?]

[theyregooddogs]

[sighs, pressing both of his palms into his eyes]

No. Just who I copied the method from.

[purrtagonist]

. . . you say that, but from what you've said before, it almost sounds like you've given him more control over you than you intended.

[or just as much control as Will intended? Akira doesn't know. he's assuming again]

[theyregooddogs]

I am in control, Akira. I said you don't want to go down that rabbit hole and I meant it.

[purrtagonist]

. . .

[he kind of wants to, actually. but he'll take Will's rebuke for what it is, and stay silent]