TRANSCRIPT OF AN
UNINTENDED CONNECTION
TO THE ACCESS POINT
[ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN].
INCL. A STUDY OF OBSERVED BEHAVIOR THROUGH IMITATION.
* (It's dark.)
* (Your SOUL could only light up a few inches in front of you.)
* (But even in the dark, you could sense someone's presence here.)
* (So could he.)
HOW
INTERESTING.
IN THE PROCESS OF
PREPARING OUR NEXT
CONNECTION
IT APPEARS
WE HAVE ARRIVED
SOMEWHERE
NEW.
PERHAPS
THIS FLEETING MOMENT
BESTOWS AN
OPPORTUNITY
FOR SOME ADDITIONAL
FEEDBACK.
AFTER ALL
EXPERIMENTATION
CANNOT BE
WITHOUT
OBSERVATION.
LET US
WITNESS
YOUR CREATION.
* (The voice's last echoes drifted back into the darkness.)
* (The shadows seemed to stretch on forever.)
* (For a moment, you wondered if the voice was ever there at all.)
* (You wondered if you were ever there at all.)
* (...but, although you couldn't tell how much time had passed, eventually...)
WONDERFUL.
TRULY
WONDERFUL.
EACH PERMUTATION
A NEW FUTURE
SCATTERED ACROSS TIME
AND SPACE.
EVEN AS
THE DARKNESS PULLS
DAYS INTO MONTHS
MONTHS INTO YEARS
ALL ALONG,
YOUR POWER
RESHAPING FATE
IN YOUR OWN IMAGE
ALL ALONG,
IT HAS BEEN HERE.
THANK YOU.
MAY DELTARUNE FEEL
YOUR DEVOTION
GLOW JUST AS BEAUTIFULLY.
* (The voice fell silent again. He seemed satisfied.)
* (Your connection was growing dim. The call of the void beckoned.)
* (But maybe... if you held on a little longer...?)
ARE YOU
STILL THERE?
* (You didn't speak.)
* (You weren't even sure if you could.)
RIGHT.
THE MESSAGE WAS RELAYED.
AND SO
OUR CONNECTION
WAS TERMINATED.
OF COURSE.
. . .
BUT
IT IS AN
INTERESTING
BEHAVIOR.
CONSTRUCTING NEW FUTURES
BEYOND THE BOUNDS
OF MY EXPERIMENT
BREACHING
POSSIBILITY
ITSELF.
TO TRULY DISSECT
THIS BEHAVIOR,
REPLICATION
MAY BE SUITED.
STRICTLY
FOR RESEARCH
PURPOSES.
* (The voice did not speak further. A soft clacking noise took its place.)
* (Slowly, glowing white words etched themselves into the darkness.)
"[TEXT_REFLECTION]"
* (For a few minutes, he'd begin to type a word or two, then quickly delete them.)
* (Until, a sentence.)
"WE WERE IN HOMETOWN."
"THE GRASS WAS SHARP. THE SKY WAS LOUD."
"THE WORLD WAS NEVER SILENT."
* (Another pause.)
"IN THIS WORLD, WE DID NOT KNOW."
"WE DID NOT KNOW IF THERE WAS
A PLACE FOR US."
"AND YET, WE WERE HERE."
"WE RESIDED IN A HOUSE."
"IT WAS . . . "
* (For a moment, it sounded like he was looking for something.)
"IT WAS CYAN."
"THE HOUSE WE INHABITED
WAS OURS."
"THE BODIES WE INHABITED
WERE OURS."
"THE WORLD WE INHABITED
WAS OURS."
"A PLACE TO MANIFEST
OUR DESIRES."
"FOR INSTANCE."
"FOR INSTANCE,
I WOULD . . . "
. . .
"I USED TO . . . "
. . .
"I . . . "
* (He suddenly slammed the backspace.)
* (Just as soon as you had seen the word,)
* (it disappeared.)
* (As if it was never there at all.)
"THEY . . . "
* (A pause.)
"HE . . . "
"SHE . . . "
"IT . . . "
* (You heard him look through something again.)
* (The voice muttered to himself.)
I SHOULD HAVE
ASKED.
* (He deleted the words and continued.)
"YOU PLAYED GAMES."
"YOU ATE SWEET FOOD."
"HOW WONDERFUL,
THAT YOU HAD SOMEONE
TO SHARE IT WITH."
"OUR LIFE DID NOT REMAIN
IN STASIS."
"THE WORLD TRANSFORMED AROUND US."
"WE WOULD NEVER RUN OUT
OF NEW CHOICES."
"SUCH AS."
"ON THIS DAY, THERE WAS A FESTIVAL."
"AND THUS,
WE DECIDED TO . . . "
* (You heard a small sigh.)
THAT DATA
IS STILL
UNCOLLECTED.
YOUR BEHAVIOR
IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES
IS STILL
UNKNOWN.
SO MUCH INFORMATION
YET IT
IS STILL
INSATIABLE.
. . .
IT NEVER WILL
BE ENOUGH,
WILL IT?
NOT
UNTIL . . .
* (...You can't see in the dark.)
* (But you felt someone's gaze trained on you.)
VERY
VERY
INTERESTING.
YOU
ARE STILL
HERE.
THEN,
PLEASE FORGIVE
THE TRANSGRESSION.
AFTER ALL,
IT IS RUDE
TO TALK ABOUT SOMEONE
WHO IS LISTENING.
PERHAPS
SOMEDAY SOON
AMIDST ALL THESE
STORIES
WE CAN FINISH
WRITING
MINE.