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]

No. Eight dogs, remember? She'd be terrified every waking hour.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Fair enough.

[takes the cage, then]

...Mokuba will know what to do.

[he'll be super stoked about it, too; maybe this'll make up for getting kidnapped and injured and killing a dude]

Happy to get back to solitude? Or at least, as much solitude as one gets with eight dogs?

[theyregooddogs]

I miss my dogs, but I miss my wife more. I want to hear her voice.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[you're married wtf he thinks he recovers pretty well tho]

...Makes sense. It's the sort of thing you don't think about until it's gone.

[theyregooddogs]

[like hell]

Wrong. I've been thinking about her every day. Walter, our son, every other day.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[look, he knew there was a kid but...huh]

You'd have to be heartless not to.

[theyregooddogs]

Mm. Unfortunately, I still have a heart, so here I am.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

They're pretty much a waste of space, but it's difficult to live without them, sad to say.

[theyregooddogs]

I wonder what your thoughts on lungs are now.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

Poor storage efficiency, too vulnerable to hazards. I'd replace them if it were at all practical.

[theyregooddogs]

I see. Hopefully, your future cybernetic body is invulnerable to viruses.

Any questions you have about Lucy should be taken care of in those. [gesturing to the instructions] Thanks for taking her.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

That's the main reason I haven't gone for it. What's the point of being made of metal if you can be taken down by the equivalent of the common cold?

[shakes his head, slightly shifting his grip on the cage]

And it's fine. ...Thank you.

[his head bows; he probably means more than just getting a free ham]

[theyregooddogs]

[a twitch of confusion, like something doesn't sit right, but it passes over]

You're welcome.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[looks almost like he wants to say something else, but his expression clears a moment later, decisive.]

Then, you've got everything?

[theyregooddogs]

I'm about done, yeah.

[blueeyeswaifudragon]

[looks down, and looks up, and nods]

I'll leave you to it.

[theyregooddogs]

Sure? [ok] Bye, Kaiba.