One World or None

<center><img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/monky.png"> Alright...what do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[My father->father]]                             **B**. [[A dead meme from 2016->meme]]                             **C**. [[A widely discredited test and a mockery to psychiatry->mockery]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[...Exactly how symbolically are you taking this?] <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/ekPWqU.png"> What do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[Degeneracy->degeneracy]]                             **B**. [[My childhood->videogamechildhood]]                             **C**. [[A tool->tool]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You know, that's not the first time you've referenced "memes" during one of our sessions.] <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/ekPWqU.png"> What do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[Degeneracy->degeneracy]]                             **B**. [[My childhood->videogamechildhood]]                             **C**. [[A tool->tool]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You know, if you took this seriously, we could be through with these sessions in a matter of months.] <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/ekPWqU.png"> What do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[Degeneracy->degeneracy]]                             **B**. [[My childhood->videogamechildhood]]                             **C**. [[A tool->tool]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[OK, but, sometimes the plots are...nevermind, not the place.] <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/w5ZqMO.png"> What do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[Capitalism->capitalism]]                             **B**. [[Literally Banksy->banksy]]                             **C**. [[Is this even a proper Rorschach test?->proper]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[That’s indicative of either a troubling coping method or a completely normal hobby, and I cannot tell you which.] <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/w5ZqMO.png"> What do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[Capitalism->capitalism]]                             **B**. [[Literally Banksy->banksy]]                             **C**. [[Is this even a proper Rorschach test?->proper]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You...you are not looking at the inkblot.] <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/w5ZqMO.png"> What do you see?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **A**. [[Capitalism->capitalism]]                             **B**. [[Literally Banksy->banksy]]                             **C**. [[Is this even a proper Rorschach test?->proper]]]

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Again with the capitalism thing? If you would just cooperate, Miss Del Fontaine——] [[>> You can just call me Leila.->callmeleila]]</center>

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Alright, you got me there. But that is aside from the point. If you would just cooperate, Miss Del Fontaine—] [[>> You can just call me Leila.->callmeleila]]</center>

<center>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Alright, my methods may differ from traditional procedure, but I know my process. If you would just cooperate, Miss Del Fontaine—] [[>> You can just call me Leila.->callmeleila]]</center>

<center>//You can just call me Leila.//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[After all, you’ve been doing these sessions for nearly seven months. If therapy offers no other progress, at least get on a first name basis with the dude trying. Besides, hearing that surname gets tiring.] <center><img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/norftransparent.png"></center> <center>[[>> But I’m not gonna call you Norf.->norf]]</center>

<center>//But I’m not gonna call you Norf.//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[**DR. BURNS**: Very well. Leila, I can’t say we’ve made much, nay, any, headway, to be frank. In light of this, your father was mulling over canceling further appointments— ] <center>[[>> For the first time in your life, be cooperative.->discuss]]</center>

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[Your childhood->childhood]]                             **•** [[School->yourschool]]                             **•** [[The future->thefuture]]]

<center>//Your childhood//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[It wasn’t normal. There are fragments you reach for, the ever-returning idea that if things had been different, you would be different. At times you wonder: what if your dad had never taken the promotion? If you grew up in the neighborhood you were born in, the one your father now calls a “shithole,” would you feel a sense of belonging? If he didn’t work such inhumane hours, would he be able to guide you in lieu of immediately hiring this therapist? If instead of throwing money at private educators you had grown up alongside peers at a standard school, would making connections feel easier, even natural? If you were less alone then, would you be less alone now? Mostly, of course, you understand you are wasting finite time in pondering such hypotheticals. An alternative to reality does not exist.] <center> [[>>->childhood2]]</center>

<center>//School//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[Like everyone else, you were a smart kid. You know we all look back and feel that way because we were either put on a pedestal or climbed our way up one ourselves. That inflated childhood self-worth, that potential we’re sure we had, that potential we wonder whether the angst of adolescence completely squandered out of existence. You know you’re not any different. The trophies on the shelf are all from years ago. What you mean to think is: when you were a kid, you were enough.] <center> [[>>->yourschool2]]</center>

<center>//The future//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: You and I both know this topic is meaningless. **DR. BURNS**: Fair enough.] <center> [[>>->the future2]]</center>

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[School->childhoodyourschool]]                             **•** [[The future->childhoodthefuture]]]

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[The future->childhoodyourschoolthefuture]]]

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Discussing your emotions wasn’t so bad. You hope it never happens again.] <center>[[>>->act1]]</center>

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[School->childhoodthefutureyourschool]]]

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[Your childhood->yourschoolchildhood]]                             **•** [[The future->yourschoolthefuture]]]

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[Your childhood->thefuturechildhood]]                             **•** [[School->thefutureyourschool]]]

<center> [[ACT I->act1a]] //EARTH// </center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE //OCTOBER 30// [[>>->weird1]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[School is weird. That pretty much sums it up. No one ever needs to ask “how was school” again because the answer is that it was and will always be weird as hell.] <center>[[>>->weird2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’re not really sure what anyone is doing here or what is going through their heads. To walk through the halls, to trust in its meaning. To be content, to suddenly smile. To believe that because the future is uncertain, its potential is infinite. You don’t understand others in the least.] <center>[[>>->weird3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[And the notion that any of them might think they know a single thing about you infuriates you. How could they? What could they possibly say? That you’re quiet? When has anyone given you a reason not to be? Just as they all must also feel, you like to think you know your classmates a lot better than they know you. After all, people-watching is sort of your thing.] <center>[[>>->weird4]]</center>

<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/vnrOx0.png"> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[In front of you is Chance Floyd. You’ve never spoken. You know he is popular with classmates and teachers alike, is really into geology, and is overall discontent with his life. He knows you’re Dr. Ace del Fontaine’s daughter.] <center>[[>> Casually stalk his social media->squares]]</center>

<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/jPu7ow.png"> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[Checking out his Squares™, a completely original and non-derivative social media app.] <center><img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/HlmhGe.png"> [[>>->ohshit]]</center>

<img src="http://i68.tinypic.com/9jmx6t.png"> <center><img src="http://i64.tinypic.com/59xxzk.png"> [[>>->ohshit]]</center>

<center>//You have liked a post from yesliketheband!// (font:"Share Tech Mono")[OH SHIT. YOU DID NOT MEAN TO DO THAT.] [[>>->ohgod]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//Oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god oh man oh god//] <center>[[>> JUST DIE->ohman]]</center>

<center>//JUST DIE//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[Such is the only option. You’ve never posted anything, and you don’t have a profile picture. But your username is your name //WHY DID YOU MAKE YOUR USERNAME YOUR NAME// Mother of god, he’s turning around. ] <center>[[>>->motherofgod]]</center>

<center>CHANCE: did you just join squares?</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[People really just lie for you.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Ah, yes. **LEILA**: I registered today. I was figuring out its basic mechanics just now and arbitrarily searched for you. **LEILA**: Since, **LEILA**: you know. **LEILA**: You're right in front of me. **CHANCE**: ahaha **CHANCE**: the app’s easy once ya get the hang of it **CHANCE**: it's fun for two weeks and then you hate it forever **CHANCE**: here, i'll be your first follower **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: Thanks. **LEILA**: I'll be...one of your followers.] <center>[[>>->followed]]</center> </details>

RODNEY: You and I both know this topic is meaningless. HECTOR: You and I both know this topic is meaningless. CHANCE: You and I both know this topic is meaningless. LEILA: You and I both know this topic is meaningless. LILITH: You and I both know this topic is meaningless. DAISY: You and I both know this topic is meaningless.

<center>//yesliketheband has started following you.// (font:"Share Tech Mono")[Is this...a Friendship?] [[>>->schoolwasalright]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Actually, school was kind of alright today.] <center>[[>>->countdown]]</center>

<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/Lm4Df5.png"> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[The countdown to the end of class felt quicker. And you’re always counting down, counting down the hours before class ends, the days until the weekend, the months before you graduate high school. It will be the years until you graduate college next, and then what? At least, you used to spend a lot of time thinking about that.] <center>[[>>->countdown2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You try not to wonder whether Chance is the sort of boy who concerns himself with his future, and then you do. You know The News is going to leak soon. Your father knows, too, and your mother——well, she’s been MIA for a week, and you do not doubt that’s to avoid whatever the backlash for this family withholding everything is going to be. Jesus Christ, you cannot imagine. How many more days? Thank god it’s a goddamn Friday.] <center>[[>>->chancetime]]</center>

<center>CHANCE FLOYD //OCTOBER 31// [[>>->chancetime2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you have seen many mornings, and this sure is one.] <center>[[>>->chancetime3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[for whatever reason, you actually floss after brushing your teeth. this is not a daily thing. you do not like this about yourself, but it is what it is.] <center>[[>>->chancetime4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[yesterday, you got a girl’s number. well, actually, you just followed each other on squares. pretty much the same thing.] <center>[[>>->chancetime5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[the general consensus, as you understand it, is that leila is weird. which, of course, you like. you’ve always had a thing for the unconventional. the proof is in the fact that your favorite person is rodney motherfucking mcintyre, who all your other friends despise. it’s impossible to say what it is. you, so charismatic. you, so well-liked. picking the most socially inept to fawn over.] <center>[[>>->chancetime6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[everyone here is more complex than whatever version of themself they’ve curated to get through each day. maybe the ones struggling with the facade are just more interesting.] <center>[[>> send message to leila->chancetime7]]</center>

<center>send message to leila</center> <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: hey **LEILA**: Hello, **LEILA**: What's up? **CHANCE**: not too much, i just woke up **CHANCE**: last night i was rearranging my rock collection **CHANCE**: yes i have a rock collection **CHANCE**: anyway i evidently fell asleep doing that and woke up with a big ass rock right next to my face **CHANCE**: so you can imagine that whole scenario **LEILA**:: Hahaha. **LEILA**:: What kind of rock was it? **CHANCE**: damn never thought you’d ask **CHANCE**: eclogite **CHANCE**: one of my favorites **CHANCE**: it was found in norway **LEILA**: You've been? **CHANCE**: dude i wish **CHANCE**: my dad gave it to me **CHANCE**: he travels a shitton **CHANCE**: unfortunately i’ve never even left the country **LEILA**:: Oh. **LEILA**:: I see. **LEILA**:: What’s the deal with eclogite? **CHANCE**: oh man it’s so cool **CHANCE**: they’re formed in subduction zones **CHANCE**: anywhere two tectonic plates collide **CHANCE**: if at least one is oceanic then one plate will be forced underneath the other **CHANCE**: the change in friction there results in an insane increase in pressure and heat **CHANCE**: and rocks happen and shit **CHANCE**: all this stuff is like **CHANCE**: maker of continents and a key factor in natural disasters **CHANCE**: fuck i’m rambling **CHANCE**: you into geology? **LEILA**: Not particularly. **CHANCE**: oh **CHANCE**: you have any hobbies? **LEILA**: Yeah. **CHANCE**: nice] <center>[[>> well, this is getting filed under top 10 most awkward exchanges.->cuttochase]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[but it’s not like you started this conversation for no reason. you should probably cut to the chase. but perhaps more importantly, it appears rodney has since signed in. ] <center>[[>> ask leila the damn question->messageleila]] [[>> message rodney instead->messagerodney]]</center>

<center>message rodney</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[you opt to message rodney, because of course you do.]<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: whatcha up to today? **RODNEY**: loaded fuckin question my dude **RODNEY**: i aint doin 1 damn thing **CHANCE**: wanna change that? **RODNEY**: if U even try to invite me to that dumbshit party i keep hearin about i will fight U **RODNEY**: i dont fw junior or any of his sycophants **RODNEY**: jenny is going and im like **RODNEY**: U have brought shame upon the mcintyre name **CHANCE**: fight me, huh? **CHANCE**: we can schedule that six months ahead of time so you can start going to the gym for the first time in your life **RODNEY**: oh fuck off **RODNEY**: chicks dig the skinny thing ok **CHANCE**: lmao **CHANCE**: yeah, i kinda do too **RODNEY**: thank U **CHANCE**: luckily, there’s no need to fight **CHANCE**: i’m not going to his thing either **RODNEY**: huh **RODNEY**: ok what U wanna do then **CHANCE**: well **CHANCE**: i recently started talking to leila **RODNEY**: del fontaine??? **RODNEY**: so she can talk after all **CHANCE**: lol **RODNEY**: o god **RODNEY**: ur gonna try to recruit me into that dumbass beta test stuff again arent U **RODNEY**: i already told U its the work of the bourgeoisie **RODNEY**: ROCO sux n its CEO should be guillotined **RODNEY**: that is all **CHANCE**: jesus christ **RODNEY**: i cant believe U not only signed up for it but also befriended that fuckers daughter **RODNEY**: U should ask her if he rly killed his wife **CHANCE**: rodney. **RODNEY**: ok ok im sorry **RODNEY**: 2 far **RODNEY**: but tbf its 1 of the more believable rumors **CHANCE**: i'm not gonna ask you to do it with me **RODNEY**: hm **RODNEY**: interesting choice of words **CHANCE**: goddammit **CHANCE**: i do want to ask her about it i admit **CHANCE**: but i’m all too aware that you think ROCO is “balls deep in corruption” and that AI and VR both fall under the category of “gay nerd shit” **RODNEY**: damn str8 **CHANCE**: it’ll be a passing topic and the whole thing will just be less awkward with someone else there **CHANCE**: besides **CHANCE**: it could be good for you **CHANCE**: do you actually hang out with anyone besides me **CHANCE**: your little sister doesn’t count **RODNEY**: ok fuck off x2 **RODNEY**: and 4 the record jenny doesnt even hang out with me anymore so ha **RODNEY**: pwned **CHANCE**: ya got me there. **CHANCE**: soooooo? **RODNEY**: ok fine i will come] <center>[[>> propose this newfound trio to leila->propose trio]]</center> </details>

<center>message leila</center><details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: okay, another question **CHANCE**: you busy today? **LEILA**: Let me check my schedule, full of extensive prior engagements with my various friends. **LEILA**: No. **LEILA**: Why? **CHANCE**: i was thinking it’d be cool to hang out **CHANCE**: there’s some stuff i wanna ask you about, actually] <center>[[>> leila would be delighted.->rodneymsgyou]]</center> </details>

<center>//propose newfound trio to leila//</center> <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: You and Rodney? **CHANCE**: yeah **CHANCE**: it’ll be fun **CHANCE**: plus there’s some things i wanna ask you about **LEILA**: I see. **LEILA**: Well. **LEILA**: I do have zero prior engagements today. **LEILA**: Any ideas as to where we should go? **CHANCE**: honestly i hadn’t thought that far ahead **CHANCE**: this is sheer improvisation **LEILA**: I know a place.] <center>[[>>->rodneytime]]</center> </details>

<center>RODNEY MCINTYRE //8:00 PM// [[>>->rodneytime2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[it is at this moment you receive a message from rodney.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: found a sick ass rock today **CHANCE**: really? **RODNEY**: nah **RODNEY**: havent even left the apartment jus figured thatd get the quickest reply **RODNEY**: good mornin **CHANCE**: bastard **CHANCE**: i still can’t believe **CHANCE**: of all the “cool rocks” you’ve given me **CHANCE**: the one that was actually an incredible find **CHANCE**: was the one you spraypainted a cock on **RODNEY**: cant lie i actually still feel slightly bad about that **RODNEY**: i had no idea **RODNEY**: were U ever able to wash it off **CHANCE**: are you joking? **CHANCE**: it’s prominently displayed directly in the center of my collection **CHANCE**: dick side facing front **RODNEY**: hahahaha **RODNEY**: holy shit **CHANCE**: best rock ever. **RODNEY**: wyd 2day **CHANCE**: i’m presently making plans with leila **RODNEY**: ? **CHANCE**: del fontaine **RODNEY**: what the hell dude **RODNEY**: hahahaha **RODNEY**: Y **RODNEY**: wait **RODNEY**: oh my god this is about the beta test isnt it **RODNEY**: i still cant believe U actually signed up for that shit **RODNEY**: ROCO is like **CHANCE**: i know, i know **CHANCE**: the biggest indication we’re living under late-stage capitalism **CHANCE**: we’ve had this convo **CHANCE**: but you know i’m super into AI and VR and all the other shit they do **RODNEY**: yea yea w/e **RODNEY**: fuckin nerd **RODNEY**: what if leila puts the moves on U **CHANCE**: you jealous? **RODNEY**: lmfao **RODNEY**: cmon **RODNEY**: i just cannot believe U befriended the daughter of the fuckin CEO of ROCO **RODNEY**: U should ask her if he rly killed his wife **CHANCE**: rodney. **RODNEY**: ok ok im sorry **RODNEY**: 2 far **RODNEY**: but tbf its 1 of the more believable rumors **RODNEY**: well i guess theres worse things goin down tn **RODNEY**: like that dumbfuck juniors party **RODNEY**: jenny is actually goin to that shit **RODNEY**: i have failed as a brother **RODNEY**: im retiring **CHANCE**: yeah, junior sucks. **RODNEY**: fr **CHANCE**: so **CHANCE**: you down? **RODNEY**: sure **RODNEY**: Y the hell not] <center>[[>> ask leila about a +1.->askabouttrio]]</center> </details>

<center>//ask leila about a +1.//</center> <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: is it cool if i bring a friend along? **LEILA**: I’m not opposed. **LEILA**: Did you have anywhere specific in mind to meet, by the way? **CHANCE**: uhhh **CHANCE**: no not really **CHANCE**: kinda winging this **LEILA**: I know a place.] <center>[[>>->rodneytime]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[how the hell uve been convinced to go outside sober, U have no idea. but if nothin else, its a change of pace. U needed something like this.] <center>[[>>->rodneytime3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[U didnt smoke any cigs today. U never do on days U see chance. cmon, ur a courteous dude, U know he doesnt smoke, ur not gonna burden him w/the smell. but actually, hes never complained about the smell. hes never even given any indication hes bothered by it, n when U 2 walk past some1 else smoking, he displays 0 reaction at all. huh. U dont really know what thats all about, then.] <center>[[>>->rodneytime4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[when chance told U leila was picking the setting, U expected some bougie ass tennis club filled w/dudes in pink ralph lauren polos, all faux friends, all future frat boys.] <center>[[>>->rodneytime5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[actually, she took U to a bar. she said, “del fontaines dont get id’d, nor does their company,” which is about the most pompous sentence U can fathom, but U suppose thats just the shit that happens to yr brain when ur the daughter of a millionaire. in spite of that, the bar she chose isnt a pretentious 1. actually, U sorta dig it.] <center>[[>> and when she says “drinks on me,” U even dig //her// a lil.->rodneytime6]]</center>

<center>//Drinks on me.//</center> <img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/0AxLcI.png"><details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: even tho this is classism at its finest **RODNEY**: and serves only as proof that laws dont apply 2 the rich **RODNEY**: it kinda kix ass **CHANCE**: i’ve had a fake id since 9th grade **CHANCE**: but for rodney, this is baby’s first bar **RODNEY**: shut the hell your mouth **LEILA**: I can make you one, Rodney. **RODNEY**: what **CHANCE**: what] <center>[[>> revised opinion. this woman is impossible 2 classify.->rodneytime7]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Printing an ID is a rather simple process. **LEILA**: I experimented with it out of sheer curiosity. **LEILA**: I have one myself, but it is of course quite useless. **LEILA**: As mentioned, I don’t get ID’d. **LEILA**: I find this rather stupid, but if a side-effect of this broken system extends to me my god-given right to drink underage, then so be it. ] <center>[[>>->rodneytime8]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[chance is kind of laughing, and U get the sense its because he, like U, expected a lot more uncomfortable silence and a lot less...whatever the hell this is. no complaints.] <center>[[>>->leilatake2]]</center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE //9:00 PM// [[>>->socializing]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Against all odds ``(SEE: who you are as a human person)``, this whole socializing thing is sailing somewhat smoothly.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: that is pretty badass **CHANCE**: i can’t lie **RODNEY**: U can get into bars, U make fakes, and ur essentially a source of infinite beer. **RODNEY**: how the hell is /daisy rieder/ the most popular girl at neowise high **LEILA**: I am under no illusion as to how I would be treated if I flaunted this sort of thing. **LEILA**: But what kind of connections would that result in? **LEILA**: It’s all very shallow. I prefer to observe. **LEILA**: One too many attachments and you surrender control of your life. **LEILA**: People compromise everything——their time, their emotions, their reality——just for the sake of not being lonely. **LEILA**: But I don’t mind solitude. ] <center>[[>> You’ve had one drink. What in god’s name are you saying?->bartime]]</center> </details>

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[The future->yourschoolchildhoodthefuture]]]

<center>//Let's discuss...//</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[                            **•** [[Your childhood->yourschoolthefuturechildhood]]]

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Even as your own words are being formed, you doubt their authenticity. What a fragmentary, contradictory girl you are: if any of the things you said were true, why did you agree to this? Why are you here now? And why did you so vehemently insist on switching from a private tutor to public schooling in the first place? Content with solitude? Maybe you’ve simply never known the alternative.] <center>[[>> Flinch at the sound of some dumbass across the bar breaking a glass.->glassdrop]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Before looking in the direction of the noise, you first glance at Chance and Rodney to gauge their reactions. They’re both doing a terrible job of suppressing their laughter, so you start laughing, too. This ordeal will effectively shift the direction of the conversation, for which you are grateful. But upon surveying the scene of the Man With the Broken Glass, of three things you take notice: 1. He is not acting out of drunkenness, but untethered fury. 2. Not at another person, for he is surrounded only by paperwork. He is reacting to something in his files. 3. As he promptly evacuates the premises, you become acutely aware of the man’s identity. Dr. Norf Burns.] <center>[[>> Buy another round of drinks.->realtalk]]</center>

<center>//Buy another round of drinks.//</center><details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: so **CHANCE**: leila **CHANCE**: i mentioned wanting to ask you some stuff, yeah? **LEILA**: Indeed. **LEILA**: I’m willing to talk about anything other than my relationship with my parents or my father’s tax returns. **CHANCE**: lmao **CHANCE**: i know all the details are probably confidential and stuff **CHANCE**: but **CHANCE**: you’re gonna be in your dad’s company’s beta test, yeah? **LEILA**: Project Alucinor. **LEILA**: That's right. **CHANCE**: i’m registered too **CHANCE**: and i’m not saying you should tell me everything about it **CHANCE**: but **CHANCE**: i know v little and you should possibly tell me everything about it **LEILA**: Ahah. **LEILA**: I regret to say I know about as much as you. **CHANCE**: no bullshit? **LEILA**: No bullshit. **CHANCE**: huh **CHANCE**: well i guess my dad doesn’t always tell me everything either **CHANCE**: it’s like 50/50 **CHANCE**: sometimes we talk like best friends but other times he suddenly fucks off to asia or some shit for a month and never says a damn thing about it **CHANCE**: but i digress **CHANCE**: parental relations are after all one of your forbidden topics **LEILA**: I don’t mind. **LEILA**: I suppose it’s nice that you are able to be that close with him, even if it’s in intervals. **CHANCE**: yeah definitely **LEILA**: I don’t think anyone ever really understands their parents. **RODNEY**: fr **RODNEY**: ok cool so we all have tragic fam issues **RODNEY**: enough character development here tho **LEILA**: Right. **LEILA**: I imagine you have your own inquiries about the experiment? **RODNEY**: hell naw **RODNEY**: not even chance could persuade me into signing up for dat bs **RODNEY**: i know fuck all about it **RODNEY**: doesnt it have to do with video games or something] <center>[[>> Is that...seriously what people think this is about?->realtalk2]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: That is...not accurate, no. **LEILA**: In a sense it deals with virtual reality, but it has nothing to do with video games. **LEILA**: It’s most closely related to string theory. **CHANCE**: which class should i have been paying attention to in order to know what the hell you’re talking about? **RODNEY**: U just need to smoke weed and go down wikipedia rabbitholes more often mang **RODNEY**: its some stephen hawking shit **RODNEY**: alternate dimensions and all that fuckery **LEILA**: Yes, alternate dimensions and all that fuckery. **CHANCE**: oh shit **CHANCE**: honestly i thought it had to do with guitars or something **LEILA**: Not quite. **LEILA**: It’s all very theoretical, which is why the experiment exists. **LEILA**: The holographic principle, or idea that the 3D world we perceive is——or could be——encoded on a 2D surface... **LEILA**: That is what it centers on. **CHANCE**: okay **CHANCE:** could you repeat all of that but pretend you’re talking to a 10 year old] <center>[[>> Dear god, men are hopeless.->realtalk3]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: OK. **LEILA**: I’ll try from a different angle... **LEILA**: A rock is a rock. **CHANCE**: nice **CHANCE**: yeah that’s true **CHANCE**: i’m following **LEILA**: They are also just minerals, or, more broadly, chemical compounds. **CHANCE**: sure **LEILA**: Meaning rocks, like a few other things I can think of, are simply composed of atoms. **RODNEY**: cut to the chase tbh **LEILA**: I am not presuming to comprehend it myself, really. **LEILA**: Hell, I’m quite certain I’m going to fail next Wednesday’s Chemistry exam. **CHANCE**: to be fair thermodynamics is impossible **CHANCE**: pretty sure hector is the only one who knows what’s going on in that class anymore **LEILA**: This is likely. **LEILA**: I am more or less regurgitating what my father says of it all. **RODNEY**: i like that U consistently call him yr “father” **RODNEY**: like we get it U hate yr dad **CHANCE**: shut up rodney **RODNEY**: i mean tbf he is evil **LEILA**: Evil? **LEILA**: Perhaps a little. **LEILA**: One objective evil is murder. That’s obvious. **LEILA**: He’s in the clear there. **RODNEY**: ``~*allegedly*~`` **CHANCE**: shut up rodney x2 **LEILA**: ...I’d wager the other is to abandon who you love. **LEILA**: Between work and family... **LEILA**: He’s made his choices, that’s all. **CHANCE**: rodney’s just talking shit **CHANCE**: you can continue **LEILA**: Right. **LEILA**: If all of this——rocks, our bodies, what surrounds them, you and me in a bar, talking——can be broken down into atoms, the particles that comprise them can be broken down further, into numbers, into code. They can be replicated, reproduced, exist elsewhere. **LEILA**: What ROCO is seeking to accomplish... **LEILA**: Is to create a simulation that serves as a direct copy of Earth, mimicking its properties and physical laws exactly. **RODNEY**: jesus fuck **RODNEY**: how much money does it take for a corporation to think playing god is the move **RODNEY**: shoulda been about a video game or something **CHANCE**: so if, hypothetically, all goes as planned **CHANCE**: we could have an earth 2.0 and go there if like **CHANCE**: we continue our present trajectory and fuck shit up too much with climate change or something **LEILA**: Yes. **RODNEY**: we could also jus stop ruining the planet **LEILA**: That is an idea. **RODNEY**: U know **RODNEY**: ur not really how i pictured **LEILA**: And what were you picturing? **RODNEY**: im not complaining **LEILA**: Young, female version of my dad? **RODNEY**: well **RODNEY**: yea **LEILA**: I have the impression most people tend to assume this. **RODNEY**: heh **RODNEY**: hold up **RODNEY**: huh **RODNEY**: jenny called me **RODNEY**: that **RODNEY**: cant be good actually **RODNEY**: i gotta go **RODNEY**: check ya l8r] <center>[[>>->realtalk4]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: His composure shifted entirely. So he does have a sensitive side. **CHANCE**: yeah **CHANCE**: he’s extremely protective of his lil sis **CHANCE**: and also me, actually **LEILA**: Lol. **CHANCE**: i used to do a lotta stupid self-destructive shit **CHANCE**: then i met rodney **CHANCE**: now we just do a lotta stupid but not so self-destructive shit **LEILA**: I see. **LEILA**: He’s a good friend. **CHANCE**: he’s my best friend] <center>[[>> Part ways for now.->realtalkover]]</center> </details>

<center>CHANCE FLOYD //11:58PM// [[>>->chancehome]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you made it home later than you expected, but it could’ve been whenever. according to the note left on the kitchen counter, your dad isn’t even home.] <center>[[>>->chancehome2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[<center><img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/j4pOnq.png"></center> you call him “dad” and he calls you “chance.” you haven’t the faintest fucking clue why this is reversed on paper. can’t really be force of habit——he doesn’t talk terribly much about his job at the home depot, but you get the idea there’s not too much paperwork involved. he did leave you hawaiian pizza, so mad props there.] <center>[[>>->chancehome3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you aren’t *drunk*, not really, but you did go a little overboard on the beers. hey, it’s not every day someone else is paying.] <center>[[>>->chancehome4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[when you go to the bathroom to get ready for bed, you have that classic “oh, maybe i //am// drunk” realization upon looking in the mirror. it’s then you decide to check your notifications. there’s something from leila. and it’s long as fuck.] <center>[[>>->chancehome5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[the length of this shit is like if james joyce wrote the itunes terms and conditions. the sort of CVS receipt you throw away without even bothering to check if there’s any worthwhile coupons. this text may actually be taller than you.] <center>[[>>->chancehome6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[in your experience, an essay-text from a woman is either really fucking good (i.e., gives you an erection) or a personal attack so deep it haunts you forever (i.e., makes you lose one when you randomly remember it two years down the road.) well, leave it to leila to create a third option here.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: I actually owe you an apology. I wasn’t completely honest about how much I know regarding Project Alucinor. There should be a word harsher than “confidential,” because that is precisely what this information is. My dad would likely kill me and have my body shipped to China if he found out I told anyone. Hyperbole, of course, but certainly his perceived indifference would shift significantly closer to, I don't know, hatred. Not that I’ve ever given a damn what he thinks about what I do, but up until now, I haven’t even had reason to talk about this. I had no one to tell. But now I have you to tell, and I see more clearly than ever before how necessary doing so is. And you can tell Rodney. Hell, you can tell anyone. So give me a moment to type this out, and forgive me if it takes more than a moment to read. While the function of the experiment was described accurately, I’m going to explain to you exactly why it exists. And maybe you’ll think I’m crazy, but if you didn’t already think that when I agreed to see you after your geology tangent, then maybe not. By the way, I had a really nice time tonight. . . . ]<center>[[>> click to expand message.->chancehome7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[...........................................................................................................] <center>[[>>->chancehome8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[holy fuck.] <center>[[>>->rocotime]]</center>

<center>ROCO HQ //11:00 PM// [[>>->rocotime2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[An empty seat. So those missing files . . .] <center>[[>>->rocotime3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//That’s right. Clearly, Burns intends to go public.//] <center>[[>>->rocotime4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Traitorous bastard. What is he going to gain from it?] <center>[[>>->rocotime5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//Who can say? Man’s a wildcard. By the way, just hours ago there was a fatal shooting at a party affiliated with Neowise High——//] <center>[[>>->rocotime6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[That is none of my concern. My daughter does not bother herself with such functions, nor would she be associated with anyone violent. She’s like me.] <center>[[>>->rocotime7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//That may be so, but that doesn’t sound like you when you were her age...//] <center>[[>>->rocotime8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Shut the hell up, J.] <center>[[>>->rocotime9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//Right. So. Norf.//] <center>[[>>->rocotime10]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Yes. Norf.] <center>[[>>->rocotime11]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//I reckon there’s not much we can do here.//] <center>[[>>->rocotime12]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[It is not in our best interest to reject his claims. As he has our documents, his proof is solid. I misplaced my trust. That is on me. Regardless, there is no going back from here. If I know Norf——and I do, quite well——he will go public as soon as tomorrow. We issue a statement before sunrise.] <center>[[>>->rocotime13]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//How might we go about wording this in the manner that is least likely to get us murdered immediately in riots? Isn’t that what your wife was concerned about, why she went off into hiding?//] <center>[[>>->rocotime14]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[...Yes. That is why. It’s not an unreasonable fear.] <center>[[>>->rocotime15]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//Of course not.//] <center>[[>>->rocotime16]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[We downplay how long we have known about the asteroid. We suggest its impact has only been made certain within the past few days. We reinforce that our experiments have been largely successful, and that they address exactly this. We say that the 6 weeks we have before its collision with Earth is more than enough time. We tell them the world is not going to end. We tell them they are not going to die.] <center>[[>> Meeting adjourned.->hectortime]]</center>

<center>HECTOR BURNS //NOVEMBER 1// [[>>->hectortime2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Right where Newport Ave. met Friendship St., there existed a playground. It was demolished some years back and replaced with a cemetery. You are still not particularly sure why, as such a change can’t be terribly great for real estate. You figure someone involved lived within 2,000 ft of the park or something.] <center>[[>>->hectortime3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’ve lived here your whole life, so you know what’s changed. Two blocks down there was The Garden Church, but after the pastor took his own life, they never did manage to replace him. The building remains labeled //For Rent//. Right over in the adjacent parking lot, Cosmo Market used to sell Dave’s Killer Bread, the most kick-ass brand around, but had it pulled from the shelves when it came out that the store owner was reselling Manager’s Specials with reprinted expiration dates. Within the Milky Way Galaxy, one astronomical unit from the Sun, there existed...there still exists...] <center>[[>>->hectortime4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[From the beginning, you knew your dad was hiding something from you. Not because of intuition or anything. Mainly because of the fact that he said ‘son, I’m hiding something from you.’] <center>[[>>->hectortime5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You two tell each other everything but some things are hard to say. You know that better than most everyone.] <center>[[>>->hectortime6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Sometimes it takes time or comes in increments. Like all those years ago how you asked him if you could get a pixie cut and he said ‘sure thing, baby girl.’ Then later when you asked if you could shop in the boys’ section instead, he said ‘sure thing, kiddo.’ Took months before you finally asked if he could call you Hector, to which he replied ‘sure thing, son.’] <center>[[>>->hectortime7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Naturally, when he asked if you could understand that there was something he couldn’t quite tell you yet, you said ‘sure thing, dad.’ And now that he HAS told you, you understand that reluctance even more.] <center>[[>>->hectortime8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[First of all, yikes.] <center>[[>>->hectortime9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You have no idea how to sum up the events that took place over the last 24 hours, but doing so is *kinda* your job. After the previous writer graduated, you took over Neowise High’s monthly newsletter, a position which you immediately began abusing and has thus far been met with little to no controversy. Perks of being valedictorian, maybe?] <center>[[>>->hectortime10]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Your first course of action with the editorial was to change its name to Heck Tour. Since then, you’ve essentially been experimenting to see just how God fucking awful you can make it before you lose editing privileges. [[Last months article was really pushing it.->hecktour1]]] <center>[[>>->hectortime11]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Your sense of time is acute enough that you don’t need anyone to tell you that it’s November now, that it’s been November for 5 hours, rendering this month’s article late. You honestly just wanted to publish some .jpgs of cartoon turkeys and remind everyone they’re all celebrating genocide. Now you have to talk about how witnessing the end of humanity in this lifetime is no longer inconceivable. Also, some shooting at a party last night. But mostly the apocalypse thing. And with that, it’s been called by its name for the first time. Apocalypse.] <center>[[>>->hectortime12]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[After concluding the likeliness of anyone actually bothering to read what very well could be the final newsletter is in the negatives, you publish [[the most low effort article to date.->hecktour2]] To hell with all that.] <center>[[>>->hectortime13]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You weren’t initially gonna register for ROCO’s experiment, but after your dad filled you in about its true purpose, you must. The asteroid’s existence is pretty damning, and there is nothing practical that can be done with it that wouldn't still cause the earth to sustain devastating damage. So ROCO is being //impractical//, trying to reprogram a literal new Earth to avoid the impact altogether.] <center>[[>>->hectortime14]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[It’s crazy. You don’t have any better ideas. So, you register. You thought it was about video games or something.] <center>[[>>->daisytime]]</center>

<center><img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/RdUNrY.png"> [[<<->hectortime10]]</center>

<center><img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/atW52c.png"> [[<<->hectortime12]]</center>

<center>DAISY RIEDER //7:00 AM// [[>>->daisytime2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/e4EbHd.png"> well, this is something you’ll repress as soon as possible.] <center>[[>>->daisytime3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[ya. u aren’t entirely sure why u slept with your ex again, and u sure as hell aren’t sure why u left the party early to do so. but as evidenced by all this dumbfuckery, u were definitely sufficiently drunk and u couldn’t have missed too much.] <center>[[>> INCORRECT.->daisytime4]]</center>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**DAISY**: your uber's here.] <center>[[>> GOOD RIDDANCE.->daisytime5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[when Steve makes like Jack and hits the road, u check your groupchat to see what’s up.] <center>[[>> HOLY SHIT.->daisytime6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[apparently, about two hours after u left, the host was shot. like, with a gun. three times in the crotch, once through the chest, and once through the head. if there were any doubts, yes, he died.] <center>[[>> maybe u took too many, but at least yours were only shots of vodka.->daisytime7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[that was a bad joke, and u should feel bad for thinking of it.] <center>[[>>->daisytime8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[it’s not like you’re gonna say it, but you’re actually not THAT broken up over Junior dying. u never knew much about the dude because u were minding your own business, but u knew enough to have warned your girl friends to stay the hell away from him. still, who the hell fucking killed a guy last night?] <center>[[>> KEEP SCROLLING.->daisytime9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[no. fucking. WAY. THE MORNING NEWS OVERSHADOWED LITERAL MURDER?!] <center>[[>> and here u were thinking the biggest tragedy was the fact that your latest eye-candy Chance didn’t show up to the party.->daisytime10]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[actually, Chance is why u even signed up for some stupid beta test u didn’t bother reading the terms and conditions of. he really is something else, what with the angelic face and the bright blue eyes and the perfect blond hair and how it falls perfectly framing his face and that fantastically handsome, out of this world sexy body——oh, he could definitely pick u up, unlike your skinny ass ex who u are now mentally referring to as Anemic Steve. IN CONTRAST, Chance is pretty much Iron Man. except HOTTER. no, you’ve never actually talked to him. but hey, there’s worse reasons to love someone than because they’re beautiful, right? BUT U DIGRESS. now the company in charge of that test, ROCO, is saying some shit about THE GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING WORLD ENDING.] <center>[[>> WHAT. THE. FUCK.->daisytime11]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[it all registers immediately as a hoax. it just cannot be fucking true, right? an asteroid? this shit is only supposed to happen to dinosaurs! but apparently NASA was like, “Tru,” and the goddamn president is also Team The Asteroid Is An Actual Thing.] <center>[[>> FFFUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK.->daisytime12]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[but actually, all of them seem pretty optimistic that It Will Be Ok, a sentiment birthed from ROCO’s statement about it. apparently, that beta you’re participating in is gonna save the world or something.] <center>[[>> WHY IS THIS YOUR LIFE.->daisytime13]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[for a moment u think MAYBE god and/or jesus will have some fucking mercy and u will just wake up from some weird ass dream, but that’s the shit that only happens at the end of a middle schooler’s creative writing assignment. which, actually, is exactly what this feels like. EXCEPT WORSE.] <center>[[>>->daisytime14]]</center>

<center>ROCO HQ //NOVEMBER 2// [[>>->alucinor2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[well, the beta test takes place tomorrow, but now your success rate with Chance is pretty much subzero because u aren’t just gonna be like, “hey, since the world might fucking end or whatever, wanna put it in?” but whatever. u guess that’s not what this is about anymore. so, once again, the world proves itself to be very stupid and VERY inconvenient, and therefore u do the only thing u really want to do right now.] <center>[[>> GO THE HELL BACK TO SLEEP.->alucinor]]</center>

<center>{(live:750ms)[Welcome to Project Alucinor.(stop:)]}</center> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[//None of us chose that the planet we know as Home might have come to exist 4.5 billion years ago, or that life would originate one billion later. And it may have been sheer happenstance that our earliest ancestor departed from the sea to make way for the evolutionary cycle that eventually resulted in Homo sapiens. No, none of this was decided. But we do have some say in when it all ends. We believe in the Future, and we reject the asteroid that threatens this hope. We at ROCO thank you for your humanity and your dedication to saving our Home.//] <center>[[>> END ACT I->endacti]]</center>

<center> [[ACT II->act2]] //NEO-EARTH// </center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE [[>>->graduation]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Graduation was weird. In the morning Hector asked what the date was, as he is prone to do, before affirming that he “used to have such a good concept of time,” which he is also prone to do, and which you have frankly come to doubt. He asks for the time of day constantly. But now it registers how long you’ve been on Neo-Earth——that’s what it’s called now——and in what could have felt like seconds or centuries, it’s been half a year.] <center>[[>>->graduation2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Well, it was largely a success. You know this because virtually nothing has changed in the world. When the sun rises, birds sing; in the afternoon people go about their business, are behind desks, are waiting at streetlights; as dusk prevails, the stars become visible again, the same constellations as ever before so that no one must invent new meanings for them. All is as it should be.] <center>[[>>->graduation3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You stopped seeing Dr. Burns on your own terms. You supposed he might ask you whether you miss your parents. Really, you hardly know.] <center>[[>>->graduation4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[As the story goes, they stayed on Earth until the end, transferring as many people as possible through Project Alucinor. And you know it’s heroic, but it’s unforgivable, too.] <center>[[>>->graduation5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[What’s certain is that after December 14th——the estimated date of the impact event——the transfers stopped. It’s logical, then, to assume the planet once known as Earth no longer exists.] <center>[[>>->graduation6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Shortly after, Hector Burns and Daisy Rieder became incorporated in the circle as well, and for the first time in your life, you achieved a Friend Group. Yes, people you can talk to and feel only three levels emotionally removed from instead of the standard seven. And indeed talking with a friend is precisely how you wish to start the day.]                    [[>> Message Chance->msgchance]]                    [[>> Message Daisy->msgdaisy]]                    [[>> Message Rodney->msgrodney]]                    [[>> Message Hector->msghector]]

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Hi. **CHANCE**: hey!! **CHANCE**: what’re ya doin’ **LEILA**: Asking myself the same thing. **CHANCE**: ahaha **CHANCE**: still haven’t decided on your next move? **LEILA**: It would appear not. **LEILA**: Although, in spite of not applying anywhere, several prestigious universities have reached out to me... **LEILA**: I just can’t imagine it's actually me they want. **CHANCE**: of course they want you **CHANCE**: you’re leila motherfucking del fontaine **CHANCE**: and i don’t mean that like “they want you because you’re inheriting what is arguably the most powerful company in the world” **CHANCE**: i mean it like “they want you because you are ``*you*`` and that’s a wonderful thing” **CHANCE**: okay maybe a hybrid of those two sentiments if i’m honest **CHANCE**: but that in no way invalidates the truth of the latter **LEILA**: Hahahahaha. **LEILA**: As always, you are the best. **LEILA**: Even still, I think they only want the concept of me. **CHANCE**: damn **CHANCE**: profound shit **CHANCE**: now it sounds like you’re talking about romance **CHANCE**: ALSO **CHANCE**: speaking of which **CHANCE**: i may have some updates i gotta inform you of next time i see you **LEILA**: About romance?! **CHANCE**: mhm **CHANCE**: somethin' like that **LEILA**: Unbelievable. I can’t wait to hear all about it. **LEILA**: I wish I had anything at all going on in my life to catch you up on, too... **CHANCE**: dude, no **CHANCE**: listen, you could be like **CHANCE**: “hey chance, i saw a worm in an apple today” **CHANCE**: and i’d be like **CHANCE**: holy shit **CHANCE**: no way **CHANCE**: like in all the clipart? **CHANCE**: and you’d be like **CHANCE**: “exactly like in all the clipart” **CHANCE**: and i’d be like **CHANCE**: holy shit. **CHANCE**: i love talking to you about literally anything **CHANCE**: and don’t even trip, you’re gonna figure everything out for sure **LEILA**: Hahahaha. **LEILA**: Hey Chance, I saw a rock today. **CHANCE**: hahahaha SEE **CHANCE**: talking to you is always good **LEILA**: <3 **LEILA**: You excited to start your geology major? **CHANCE**: oh god **CHANCE**: you have no idea **CHANCE**: it’s gonna be really hard to leave this town though **CHANCE**: i don’t know how i’m gonna handle not being able to see you guys for long intervals of time **CHANCE**: pretty sure you all keep me sane **LEILA**: I feel the same. **LEILA**: You’re practically my favorite person. I’m jealous Daisy’s going to a university in the same city as you. **LEILA**: I’ll probably visit all the damn time. **CHANCE**: hahaha **CHANCE**: i’d like that **LEILA**: Me too. **CHANCE**: rodney and i will be 1,741.1 miles apart **CHANCE**: can’t get that number out of my head **CHANCE**: it kind of makes even seeing him now extremely painful **CHANCE**: because all i can think about is that our days are numbered **LEILA**: Oh, Chance... **LEILA**: It is tremendously difficult to unabashedly indulge in something you know is temporary. **LEILA**: But you will, of course, regret it in the end if you don’t. **LEILA**: So try to cherish his presence while you have it. **CHANCE**: i don’t know why it feels like such a loss **CHANCE**: it’s not like the place we have in each other’s lives could ever change **CHANCE**: and i know we’ll get to meet again over breaks **CHANCE**: but it still somehow feels like i’m leaving something deeper behind **CHANCE**: i don’t even know what that something is **CHANCE**: ahahaha **CHANCE**: ignore me **CHANCE**: sorry **CHANCE**: i don’t even know what i’m saying **LEILA**: Don’t be sorry. **LEILA**: The way you’re feeling is reasonable. **LEILA**: Having to leave everything familiar behind is pretty daunting and it would be weird if you didn’t feel this way. **CHANCE**: yeah **CHANCE**: you’re right **CHANCE**: what i really need is for all of us to hang out again stat **CHANCE**: and get fucking drunk **LEILA**: Oh, hell yes. **LEILA**: Now we’re talking. **CHANCE**: let’s make it happen **CHANCE**: next weekend should be the move **LEILA**: I look forward to it.] <center>[[>>->msgchance2]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Hi. **DAISY**: o hey **DAISY**: quick am i cuter in pink or blue **DAISY**: choosing outfit **LEILA**: I mean, I’m pretty sure you look flawless in any color on the spectrum. **LEILA**: At least the spectrum visible to the human eye. **LEILA**: Can’t vouch for the rest. **DAISY**: haha aww!! **DAISY**: u flatter me **LEILA**: I couldn’t if I tried. **LEILA**: No, seriously, I couldn’t. **LEILA**: Any compliment about how you look is still an understatement. **LEILA**: But for the sake of convenience, I’ll say blue. **DAISY**: you’re an angel **DAISY**: but i’m picking pink **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: Fair enough. **LEILA**: Now that that’s settled, how are you? **DAISY**: same old same old **DAISY**: so excited it’s summer **LEILA**: Oh, hell yes. **LEILA**: I wake up every morning like, “wow, what a beautiful day to never have to go to high school again.” **DAISY**: lololol **DAISY**: hs wasn’t THAAAAAAT bad **LEILA**: Uh huh. **DAISY**: and now u have all the time in the world to decide what to do next! **LEILA**: Do I, now? **DAISY**: i mean... **DAISY**: unless neo-earth malfunctions and we’re all wiped from existence before u make up your mind! **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: Trolling the Government into deleting Neo-Earth’s System 32. **DAISY**: looooool **DAISY**: hey mr. president **DAISY**: to fix the economy press ctrl+w **LEILA**: Hahahaha. **LEILA**: Do you think about that sort of thing often? **DAISY**: neo-earth malfunctioning?? **DAISY**: mmm... **DAISY**: not ALL the time **DAISY**: but... **DAISY**: sometimes! **LEILA**: I see. **LEILA**: I suppose as long as it’s not a debilitating concern. **LEILA**: It’s not like it’s completely gratuitous, either. **LEILA**: We essentially replaced our home planet with a code. **LEILA**: There is no precedent. It’s impossible to gauge the likeliness of anything glitching. **LEILA**: So I simply choose to ignore it. **LEILA**: I think most of us do. **DAISY**: yep **DAISY**: it’s just troubling, u know? **DAISY**: i mean, my entire existence depends on it **DAISY**: oh well **DAISY**: we’re all WAY more likely to die in a car crash anyway! **LEILA**: Hah. **LEILA**: You’re not wrong. **DAISY**: so just wear your seatbelts and you’ll definitely have enough time to decide your next move! **LEILA**: Words to live by. **LEILA**: What’re you getting dressed for, anyway? **DAISY**: oh...well **DAISY**: hehe **DAISY**: u could call it a date! **LEILA**: Oh? **DAISY**: i promise i’ll tell u all the deats later **DAISY**: but i gotta head out right about meow **LEILA**: Hope it’s a good one. **LEILA**: Great, even. **DAISY**: i have a pretty good feeling about it **DAISY**: hey, take care, okay? **DAISY**: whatever u end up deciding is gonna be dope **DAISY**: and i can’t wait! **LEILA**: Thank you, Daisy. **LEILA**: Ditto, of course. **LEILA**: Go have fun.] <center>[[>>->msgdaisy2]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Hi. **RODNEY**: hey **LEILA**: What’s up? **RODNEY**: nm **RODNEY**: i keep forgetting 2 jerk off **RODNEY**: its pretty fucked up dude **LEILA**: I see. **LEILA**: Set up some alarms. **LEILA**: Leave post-it notes around. **LEILA**: Ask some loved ones to remind you. **RODNEY**: hahahahaha **RODNEY**: howve U been darling **LEILA**: Mmm... **LEILA**: The usual, I suppose? **RODNEY**: thats good i think **RODNEY**: im a little unfocused lately myself **RODNEY**: uh **RODNEY**: actually **RODNEY**: ive been kind of like **RODNEY**: wigging out hahaha **LEILA**: Ah, fuck. **LEILA**: Are you okay? What’s the matter? **RODNEY**: i dunno **RODNEY**: chance has been distant lately **RODNEY**: im probably imagining it **RODNEY**: im just **RODNEY**: gonna miss him so goddamn much **RODNEY**: do not shatter my cool aloof exterior by telling this 2 anyone else but i openly wept in front of him at the prospect of us being on separate sides of the country **LEILA**: Rodney... **RODNEY**: sorry **RODNEY**: i never once imagined id be able 2 go 2 university **RODNEY**: wouldnt let myself think about it even **RODNEY**: piece of shit dad couldnt even reliably keep jenny and me under a roof **RODNEY**: fantasizing about managing that and tuition wouldve been a joke **RODNEY**: dont think my gratitude isnt infinite **RODNEY**: this is the future i want **RODNEY**: life is just stupid and cigs dont even cut it anymore **LEILA**: I hate to say it’s nothing, but it’s nothing. **LEILA**: It’s sincerely the least I could do. **RODNEY**: i know it was like hardly even a fraction of yr disgusting wealth but its not nothing **RODNEY**: especially not 2 me **RODNEY**: i was so fatalistic b4 i met U **LEILA**: Well, the future is one humanity had to fight for. **LEILA**: I think I want everyone to believe it was worth saving. **RODNEY**: hah **RODNEY**: yea **RODNEY**: so weird to think about **RODNEY**: not being on the same planet U were born on **LEILA**: I still find it ironic how the experiment you were so averse to ended up being the only alternative to the apocalypse. **RODNEY**: lol **LEILA**: Even so, I was surprised to see you here the very first day. **RODNEY**: alternative wasnt gr8 as U said **RODNEY**: no use in prolonging the inevitable **LEILA**: Can’t argue that. **LEILA**: Well, I’m glad you’re here now. **LEILA**: I’m sorry you soon have to be far away from the boyfriend. **RODNEY**: what no shut up **RODNEY**: hes not my boyfriend **RODNEY**: at most id like **RODNEY**: claim him as a dependent on my taxes **LEILA**: I never want to imagine you filing your own taxes. **LEILA**: Please, god, I’ll pay to have that done too. **RODNEY**: cmon **RODNEY**: i know how they work **LEILA**: I don’t trust you with simple addition. **RODNEY**: hahahaha **RODNEY**: fuck U **RODNEY**: thats fair **LEILA**: Good thing you’ll be studying literature and not mathematics. **LEILA**: I’m astonished you can even comprehend how page numbers work. **RODNEY**: CMON **RODNEY**: enough negging **RODNEY**: ha **RODNEY**: U know **RODNEY**: im also gonna miss U a lot **LEILA**: I know. **LEILA**: I’m gonna miss you, too. **LEILA**: But you’ll visit over breaks, and it’s not like I’m unable to visit often, either. **RODNEY**: yea **RODNEY**: thats true **RODNEY**: are U planning to travel a lot or **LEILA**: I have no idea what I’m doing. **LEILA**: At all. **LEILA**: In any aspect of my life. **LEILA**: Ever. **RODNEY**: i mean **RODNEY**: id say the skys the limit but for U its probably more like mars orbit **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: You’re not wrong. **LEILA**: I truly could do anything. Even I find it difficult to fathom that I am instead doing nothing. **RODNEY**: its never nothing **RODNEY**: whatevers meaningful to U matters and U will find it **RODNEY**: it jus takes time **LEILA**: Haha. **LEILA**: Thank you, that’s nice to hear. **RODNEY**: lets hang soon for sure **RODNEY**: chance too **LEILA**: Yes. **LEILA**: We simply must.] <center>[[>>->rodney2]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Hi. **HECTOR**: Greetings **LEILA**: How are you doing? **HECTOR**: Fantastic **HECTOR**: I mean, don’t get me wrong **HECTOR**: I’m gonna miss the hell out of everyone **HECTOR**: But **HECTOR**: I’m also so excited for University that I don’t sleep most nights **LEILA**: Hahahaha. **LEILA**: That’s understandable, though. **LEILA**: You earned it. And your acceptance there came as a surprise to no one. **LEILA**: You are, quite literally, a genius. **HECTOR**: I try **HECTOR**: I’ve already been incessantly conversing with one of the professors **HECTOR**: I check my e-mail all the time now **HECTOR**: Can’t sleep? Time to check my e-mail **HECTOR**: Just woke up? E-mail time **HECTOR**: Bored at a party? Fuck it, guess I’m checking my e-mail **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: What do you two talk about? **HECTOR**: Neo-Earth, mostly **HECTOR**: I’m pretty much obsessed with it **LEILA**: Oh? **HECTOR**: Yeah **HECTOR**: I have so many questions about the logistics of all this **HECTOR**: How it works, its physical location in the galaxy, what the coding of an atom looks like, whether Project Alucinor is replicable **HECTOR**: But most of the answers I’m seeking require extensive mathematical, chemical, and physical insight that I simply do not have yet **HECTOR**: That’s why I’m so excited **HECTOR**: By the end of my schooling, I’ll once again be able to understand our place in the universe **LEILA**: You’ll have to explain it all to me someday. **LEILA**: Just... **LEILA**: Extremely watered down. **HECTOR**: Oh, you’ll regret asking for that **HECTOR**: When I’m able to talk about it properly everyone’ll eventually end up begging me to shut the hell up **LEILA**: Hahahaha. **LEILA**: I really am excited for you. **HECTOR**: Thanks Leila **HECTOR**: If I may ask **HECTOR**: Have you made any decision on what you intend to do next **LEILA**: You can certainly ask, but the answer is the disappointing one. **LEILA**: God. **LEILA**: I’m in a weird loop where I know I can do anything, but I equally know I can’t do everything. **LEILA**: And I do want to do everything. **LEILA**: I’m in love with too many possibilities for just one lifetime. **LEILA**: Committing to anything creates too many ensuing impossibilities. **LEILA**: So I do nothing. **HECTOR**: That resonates **HECTOR**: People talk a lot about one door opening when another closes **HECTOR**: But we ignore the fact that walking through an open door takes you to a whole new room with new doors, and sometimes you cannot go back to the old ones **HECTOR**: We just cling onto the Jim Morrison quote because viewing it from that angle is more optimistic **LEILA**: Yeah, I don’t think it was Jim Morrison who said that. **HECTOR**: Pretty sure I’ve seen it attributed to Jim Morrison **LEILA**: Right. **LEILA**: Anywho, you’re more or less spot on. **LEILA**: It’s like I’ve locked myself in that metaphorical first room because I can only walk through one door and I’m too anxious for the others to become out of reach. **LEILA**: Is that the tragedy of life? That you turn left one day, and abandon the life you might have had had you turned right? That you’re born somewhere, and can never grow up anywhere else? That you break a leg, and can never play sports again? That you choose one school, and forever discard the infinite lessons you may have learned at any other? That you get married, and can’t grow old with anyone else? **LEILA**: Is life just watching the amount of possibilities you have slowly diminish into one trajectory determined by every little decision you’ve ever made? **HECTOR**: Don’t be so bleak **HECTOR**: You can always pass the burden on by reproducing and then living vicariously through your kids **HECTOR**: It never works, but by the time you start trying the same thing with your grandchildren, the dementia starts kicking in **HECTOR**: Then it’s all a non-issue **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: So it goes. **HECTOR**: You want life to be a scalar, but it’s a vector **LEILA**: Ha. **LEILA**: Yes. **LEILA**: I need direction. **LEILA**: I wish life was an RPG and a mysterious wizard could just give me a quest to do step-by-step. **HECTOR**: I am the wizard **HECTOR**: Choose a university **HECTOR**: Any university **HECTOR**: And go **LEILA**: I’ll think about it.] <center>[[>>->msghector2]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[That may very well be all you have to look forward to.] <center>[[>>->postconvo]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You think you may have never envied anything the way you envy her ability to adapt. It's like she was always meant to belong here. You can’t adjust at all.] <center>[[>>->postconvo]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Even still, something is missing.] <center>[[>>->postconvo]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You don't think about it.] <center>[[>>->postconvo]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[When you first found out about the asteroid, part of you believed there was no hope; Project Alucinor would fail; the world would end. Of this, your heart was mute.] <center>[[>>->postconvo2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You carried this——that the future may not exist——for a very long time, and you carried it alone. What do you do with the weight of it now? You were wrong. The future is here, it’s now, you’re here——but you don’t know how to shake the unrelenting feeling that you shouldn’t be.] <center>[[>>->postconvo3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You think often of the day the asteroid was broadcasted, how for a moment there was a worldwide synchronization within human anxiety, everyone sharing the same primary fear. Disasters are strange that way, dominating all else, your studies, your relationships, your work——and so impersonal, too, stripping the one meaningful thing from suffering: that it’s yours.] <center>[[>>->postconvo4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[But it’s over now, and the clock has ticked enough times to once again take for granted the ordinary and resume fearing the common. And so days in Neo-Earth continue as normal, with the occasional disturbance, generally in the form of Rodney creating a group chat.] <center>[[>> You have been added to HELL CHAT by Rodney->hellchat]]</center>

<center>//HELL CHAT//</center><details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: so wack **LEILA**: What is? **RODNEY**: chance is going on some dumb performative date with daisy **LEILA**: Oh? **RODNEY**: everything about it is so contrived **RODNEY**: clearly he is doing it as a fuckin liability **LEILA**: You think? **RODNEY**: his dad always thought daisy was a catch **RODNEY**: plus she has been throwing herself at him since the day they met **RODNEY**: its the most consistent source of second hand embarrassment in the universe //HECTOR HAS SIGNED IN.// **RODNEY**: hey hecky **RODNEY**: were jus discussing how chance and daisy as a couple is a sad and manufactured display of 2 teens with so little in common that they have absolutely nothing 2 offer each other aside from physical attraction **RODNEY**: leilas words not mine **LEILA**: (For reference, I said exactly zero of those things.) **HECTOR**: I see said the blind man **HECTOR**: I simply fail to see what aspect of this is any of my damn business **RODNEY**: cmon **RODNEY**: d-rider surrendered any right to privacy when she posted 7 pictures of them together on squares this month alone **HECTOR**: LOL **LEILA**: I won’t deny that that’s a bit...excessive, sure. **LEILA**: But so long as they’re happy, all’s well that ends well, right? **RODNEY**: the motherfucking point **RODNEY**: is that chance doesnt seem like he is **HECTOR**: Rodney I think **HECTOR**: Without my doubting your soundness here **HECTOR**: You may wish to ascertain the reasoning of your sentiment **RODNEY**: whats yr implication here **HECTOR**: There is no implication **RODNEY**: ur implying something **HECTOR**: I’m implying nothing **RODNEY**: whatever ur implying its wrong **RODNEY**: this is all wrong **RODNEY**: and chance should know that **RODNEY**: and its weird he never mentioned they were a ``~*thing*~`` sooner **RODNEY**: as if their happening 2 choose 2 go 2 uni in the same city was some coincidence **HECTOR**: He talked about it with me before, actually **HECTOR**: Some time ago **RODNEY**: are U serious **HECTOR**: Always am **RODNEY**: i **RODNEY**: leila did he say anything to U **LEILA**: Uhhhhhh. **LEILA**: He mentioned a romance of some sort last time we spoke, yes. **RODNEY**: what **RODNEY**: the hell //RODNEY HAS SIGNED OUT.//] <center>[[>>->hellchat2]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[So it goes.] <center>[[>>->swimming]]</center>

<center>CHANCE FLOYD [[>>->swimming2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you’re desperate to see Rodney one more time before your flight, so you take him swimming.] <center>[[>>->swimming3]]</center>

<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/NaSzIG.png"> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[it’s after-hours and you hop the same hotel gate as ever before. you were born to get into trouble with Rodney, and while you’re certain rule-breaking is somewhere in your nature, he’s the only one you don’t feel anxious doing so with.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: i might jus chill in the jacuzzi this time] <center>[[>>->swimming4]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you push him in the pool, because you can. it’s not long before the traditional flip competition begins, right over the sign that says “no diving.” and thus ensues your classic debate.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: im telling U backflips are better **CHANCE**: dude **CHANCE**: frontflips require way more skill **CHANCE**: backflips you have all the momentum you need right off the bat with the swing of your arms and the tuck of your knees **CHANCE**: going front takes easily twice as many maneuvers **CHANCE**: not to mention the blind landing **RODNEY**: backflips look dope **RODNEY**: frontflips look less dope **RODNEY**: no further questions you’ve had this conversation twelve times before.] <center>[[>>->swimming5]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: yo **RODNEY**: do U think university will be good 4 me **RODNEY**: do U think good things will happen **RODNEY**: im getting so exhausted **CHANCE**: oh god **CHANCE**: you’re gonna write essays better than the novels they’re about **CHANCE**: the dreams you won’t even remember having will blow any new york times best seller out of the water **RODNEY**: everything is a new york times best seller **CHANCE**: hahahah **CHANCE**: just take it **CHANCE**: you know what i mean and i know it’s true **CHANCE**: i’ve never been more fascinated by anyone than you **RODNEY**: fuck. **CHANCE**: what about me **CHANCE**: you think i’ll meet people and adjust alright? **RODNEY**: lmfao **RODNEY**: how could U even worry **RODNEY**: chance floyd, famously known 4 having trouble making friends **RODNEY**: as if **CHANCE**: ahahaha **CHANCE**: i guess historically it’s been all but a problem **CHANCE**: but i dunno **CHANCE**: college’s different and i just hope i fit in and stuff **RODNEY**: worse come 2 worst **RODNEY**: U can just lie **RODNEY**: U can be whoever U want **RODNEY**: if some1 says something U wish U thought of U can just be like **RODNEY**: oh my god i was about 2 say that **CHANCE**: i- **RODNEY**: lmfao **RODNEY**: just fucking with U **CHANCE**: i know **CHANCE**: well **CHANCE**: doing it on that level would be legitimately psychotic but **CHANCE**: i do wonder sometimes **CHANCE**: i’m good at identifying traits i like in others and i pick up on them easily **RODNEY**: ive noticed that **CHANCE**: yeah **CHANCE**: it makes me wonder like **CHANCE**: how personal is identity supposed to be **CHANCE**: and can it still be rightfully yours if it's just a conglomerate of other peoples **RODNEY**: well **RODNEY**: ive never tried to emulate anyone and that hasnt gotten me terribly far **CHANCE**: for what it’s worth **CHANCE**: that’s one of the first things i saw in you and what made me wanna know you **CHANCE**: you’re rodney **CHANCE**: you are so rodney **RODNEY**: hah **RODNEY**: ur pretty damn chance **RODNEY**: and if U think that means being defined by stolen or borrowed identities **RODNEY**: then tell me who the fuck told U its cool to be weirdly obsessed with rocks **CHANCE**: hahahaha **RODNEY**: and Y uve never given a damn what any1 else thinks of who U choose to surround yrself with **RODNEY**: i know U well **RODNEY**: and i wish i could show U a glimpse of the parts of U that have never existed in any1 else b4 and never will again **RODNEY**: what U are is deeply human **RODNEY**: and for all the agony and the angst ive grappled with regarding the stupid concept of what it means to be a person **RODNEY**: U are the 1 who made me realize its a good thing **RODNEY**: college is gonna be just fine] <center>[[>>->swimming6]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[on the surface the scene is happy, things are the same. but you know better. a silent tension suggests otherwise, like something has been pierced, like there’s already been an immeasurable amount of damage done. your eyes scan his body almost habitually. he’s lost a considerable amount of weight since senior year.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: hey rodney **CHANCE**: after this you wanna stay at my place and make some midnight sandwiches **RODNEY**: what kinda sandwiches we talkin **CHANCE**: not peanut butter and jelly, so don’t worry **RODNEY**: lol **RODNEY**: howd U know i h8 pb&j **CHANCE**: you have a nut allergy **CHANCE**: nutter butters are the only thing you don’t fucking demolish whenever you come over **RODNEY**: no i dont **RODNEY**: i jus dont like those **CHANCE**: you’ve never eaten anything with peanuts **RODNEY**: bc they make my throat itchy as hell for no reason **CHANCE**: there’s definitely a reason **RODNEY**: im not allergic **CHANCE**: alright man **CHANCE**: whatever helps ya sleep at night **RODNEY**: stfu **RODNEY**: w/e **RODNEY**: U got provolone or nah **CHANCE**: oh baby you already KNOW i got provolone **RODNEY**: then im there] <center>[[>>->swimming7]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you sleep alright. that’s been something of a rarity lately.] <center>[[>>->swimming8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[eventually comes the day before you leave town. daisy’s been wanting you to take her to your favorite place, so you take her swimming.] <center>[[>>->swimming9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[the two of you sit alongside the edge, your feet in the water. you watch the skyline where the sun is retreating, the clouds parting from the sort of reflection that makes you forget the sky’s naturally blue, and you fail to look at her face until she says something.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**DAISY**: u know... **DAISY**: this has always been my favorite time of day! **CHANCE**: really? **DAISY**: yep! **DAISY**: right at sunset, when for 15 minutes everything is laced with pink **DAISY**: i called it “pink quarter” when i was a kid **DAISY**: okay...i still call it that sometimes **CHANCE**: that **CHANCE**: is fucking adorable **DAISY**: heh **DAISY**: my parents always thought so too! **CHANCE**: it’s good we’re all gonna be under the same sky still **CHANCE**: we’ll always have that, yeah? **DAISY**: yeah.] <center>[[>>->swimming10]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[it’s with immense difficulty you maintain your focus when everything feels as though it’s drifting away. a rodney-shaped void occupies your soul and you already miss leila too. but you all said it and you said it with severity, that you will visit and you will visit often. but you don’t. actually, you don’t see them again until the summer of leila’s 21st birthday.] <center>[[>>->21leila]]</center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE [[>>->21leila2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[What a familiar sight, this time legal.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: What can I say? **LEILA**: The Rapture will always be my favorite bar. **RODNEY**: U kno it was my first **RODNEY**: but im yet 2 encounter 1 i regard more fondly myself **CHANCE**: that’s right **CHANCE**: i’m getting all nostalgic **CHANCE**: has it really been 3 years since the first time we went? **CHANCE**: we were kids **LEILA**: We still are. **LEILA**: ... **LEILA**: ``*I*`` still am. **RODNEY**: definite same **RODNEY**: dammit **RODNEY**: is this the part where we do life updates or w/e **LEILA**: You can start. **LEILA**: Then Chance can delineate his present day standing. **LEILA**: Then I’ll nod and order another drink. **LEILA**: Actually, I’ll do that now. **RODNEY**: lol **RODNEY**: theres not a ton 2 say **RODNEY**: classes are good **RODNEY**: class itself is still bad **RODNEY**: were studying marx now actually **RODNEY**: i know the material better than the prof **CHANCE**: predictable **RODNEY**: U think if i publicly correct his misunderstandings ill get laid or nah **CHANCE**: lol **LEILA**: Probably not worth a shot. **RODNEY**: damn **RODNEY**: well **RODNEY**: sup chance **CHANCE**: let’s see what’s new **CHANCE**: daisy and i are approaching our 3 year anniversary actually **LEILA**: Christ, that is a long time. **LEILA**: Congratulations! **CHANCE**: thanks **CHANCE**: it’s going well **CHANCE**: uhhhh **CHANCE**: school is fucking hard **CHANCE**: that’s pretty much it **CHANCE**: leila? **LEILA**: I’m nodding and ordering more drinks. **RODNEY**: cmahn **RODNEY**: ur the successful one here **RODNEY**: whats it like 2 be the CEO of ROCO **LEILA**: Drunk enough for honesty? **LEILA**: “Or nah?” **CHANCE**: two more drinks, then honesty.] <center>[[>> That is precisely what you do.->21leila3]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Well, **LEILA**: I’m the most privileged person alive. I know that. **LEILA**: I had years to decide whether I wanted to go to University. I know that too. **CHANCE**: you know you still could **LEILA**: Yes, I even know that. **LEILA**: Any opportunity I could possibly want exists for me, but everything feels just out of reach, like it’s all in motion. **LEILA**: In the past 3 years, nothing has changed. **LEILA**: Actually, it’s harder to leave bed in the mornings. **LEILA**: All else is stagnant. **CHANCE**: awwwwww leila **CHANCE**: i hope this suggestion isn’t too forthcoming **CHANCE**: but have you considered seeing a therapist? **LEILA**: Hahahaha. **LEILA**: I’ve entertained the idea. **LEILA**: I had one way back when. **LEILA**: It was Hector’s dad, actually. **LEILA**: He formerly worked for my dad at ROCO and doubled as my psychiatrist. **LEILA**: But the last time I saw him was three years ago. **LEILA**: It was here, actually. With you two. **RODNEY**: yo what **RODNEY**: in this bar? **LEILA**: Do you remember the first time, when someone threw a glass? **LEILA**: That was Dr. Burns. **CHANCE**: holy shit **CHANCE**: i do remember that **RODNEY**: oh my god **RODNEY**: yes **RODNEY**: it was norf? **RODNEY**: Y didnt U say U knew him **LEILA**: Lol. **LEILA**: “Hey, I’m Leila. I recognize that perceivably unstable man because we meet on Thursdays to talk about why I want to kill myself.” **LEILA**: That kind of first impression? **RODNEY**: wouldve worked 4 me **CHANCE**: fuck **CHANCE**: these really are honesty hours, huh? **CHANCE**: ok **CHANCE**: alright **CHANCE**: ok **CHANCE**: i lied about things with daisy going well **CHANCE**: we’re both kidding ourselves by calling it a 3 year anniversary because we’ve broken up multiple times already **CHANCE**: it’s worse every time we try again but we keep doing it **RODNEY**: Y is it worse **CHANCE**: maybe because we have fucking nothing in common **RODNEY**: lol **CHANCE**: which initially was fine because it felt new and interesting and i thought we saw the world the same way and if we had that we had enough **CHANCE**: but i was wrong **CHANCE**: she’s on me now about the geology major thing and how the degree’s gonna be worthless **CHANCE**: as if she wasn’t undeclared til the second she dropped out to model instead **CHANCE**: and yeah that’s going really well and she’s making more than i’m gonna or whatever **CHANCE**: but there was a time i could talk for hours about why my studies made me happy and she’d listen like it meant something to her too **CHANCE**: fuck, sorry **CHANCE**: i’ll shut up **CHANCE**: drank too much **CHANCE**: should probably drink more] <center>[[>> That is precisely what he does.->21leila4]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[It’s you who goes home first. You’re so drunk that you start wondering the obvious, like what the files Dr. Burns was so enraged about contained, and why you had never thought to wonder this before. You’re curious enough to find out.] <center>[[>> Message Hector->txthector]]</center> </details>

<center>CHANCE FLOYD [[>>->heroin2]]</center>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Hhey. **HECTOR**: Hello **LEILA**: I’m having question. **HECTOR**: Are you drunk **LEILA**: Yes. **LEILA**: Veryy. **HECTOR**: Lol **HECTOR**: Your typing is ass **HECTOR**: Call me instead] <center>[[>>->heroin]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you and rodney alone together, and his presence is warm. wait, that’s actually just the weather. it’s too hot to justify his long sleeves, but you don’t notice that yet.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: i think its cool U brought up therapy 2 leila **RODNEY**: i wanted 2 but felt sorta apprehensive about doing so **CHANCE**: hah **CHANCE**: you’ve always been a lil shy at heart **RODNEY**: shut up thats not shy **CHANCE**: point stands **CHANCE**: but yeah **CHANCE**: therapy seems good **CHANCE**: sometimes i think i need a therapist but mostly because i kinda think everyone needs a therapist **RODNEY**: lol **RODNEY**: i have 1 **CHANCE**: really? **RODNEY**: yea **CHANCE**: huh **CHANCE**: recommend? **RODNEY**: i dunno **RODNEY**: i go for 1 specific thing] (font:"Share Tech Mono")[you drink instead of responding.] <center>[[>>->heroin3]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: i notice ur not asking about the thing **CHANCE**: sorry i **CHANCE**: i didn’t know if you wanted me to or not **CHANCE**: and i know i have zero right to feel this way but **CHANCE**: it’s really weird not knowing things about you rodney **CHANCE**: i hate it, even **CHANCE**: and it’s my fault and i’ve been a fuck up every single day for the past three years for never talking to you **RODNEY**: thats my fault 2 **RODNEY**: obviously **RODNEY**: yea **RODNEY**: back then i really told U everything **RODNEY**: it wasnt university that changed anything **RODNEY**: it was never the distance **RODNEY**: if i stayed on earth i still wouldve found a way 2 call **RODNEY**: the end of everything actually started the first night we went 2 the rapture **RODNEY**: and i never told U **CHANCE**: i don't understand **RODNEY**: i did go to the party that night **RODNEY**: it was me **RODNEY**: jenny had called for help **RODNEY**: U know **RODNEY**: it was junior **RODNEY**: she was crying **RODNEY**: i went to the party and i fired 5 bullets into him **CHANCE**: rodney **RODNEY**: so how could i ever possibly have told U **RODNEY**: how could i know whether ud agree he deserved it **CHANCE**: i do **RODNEY**: i thought thats what i wanted 2 hear **RODNEY**: and somehow what i knew U would say **RODNEY**: but deeper still was knowing yr perception of me would be broken somehow forever **RODNEY**: i couldnt cope and i couldnt face U again **RODNEY**: i could never tell anyone at all **RODNEY**: thats Y im even here **RODNEY**: i never registered **RODNEY**: ROCO cut me a deal btwn alucinor or jail **RODNEY**: everything is impossible now] <center>[[>>->heroin4]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you realize you’re crying and you feel everything that’s been unspoken all this time may now be said, and in a sort of desperation you grab him to pull him closer. and something falls from his pocket, and the sound of it against the ground is so fragile it seems to reverberate forever, and when you look down and see that it’s a syringe, you realize that the words you finally found have already rusted, already turned to dust in your throat, and when he looks at you with eyes that beg you to say nothing, you say nothing.] <center>[[>>->realization]]</center>

<center>HECTOR BURNS [[>>->realization2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[At first when Leila called you thought you had the answer, that if ever your dad threw a glass in a bar while looking at files, then that was the moment he discovered with certainty Earth was in the asteroid’s trajectory. But as she drunkenly rambles on, she mentions this was Halloween, this was the night of the party, this was the night your dad told you about the asteroid. He’d known for months. The files weren’t what caused him to discover the path of the asteroid. They’re what prompted him to tell you. They’re what led to your registration for Project Alucinor. They’re why you’re here.] <center>[[>>->realization3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[The weight of it tortures you now, and the passage of time wavers as you sit in your personal lab. In spite of all your tedious studies, there was only one thing you had always maintained that you truly understood, and that was your dad. Now you face that there is something he hadn’t told you——something he hadn’t told you even when he told you the world might end.] <center>[[>>->realization4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Ignore it. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it. Of course there is nothing else. It was still about the asteroid, only he suddenly snapped about it that night. Why hadn’t you thought of that? You know why, because it’s not true, because his decisions are never so arbitrary. Because there is something else.] <center>[[>>->realization5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[In your anxiety you feel yourself start to sweat, significantly enough in this minute room that it’ll make a meaningful difference in the temperature. You steady your gaze on your thermometer, which you built yourself and which is accurate to as many significant figures as anyone’s ever calculated to the value of pi. It fails to change. You touch it and it changes. You breathe on it and it changes. You open a window and it changes. These things are obvious. But as though it had neglected the laws of thermodynamics, it hadn’t changed before. You drop it and something else shatters. No, this is all wrong. Something is wrong with Neo-Earth. You are going to find those files.] <center>[[>>->rodman]]</center>

<center>RODNEY MCINTYRE [[>>->rodman2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[if U have to put it str8, ur miserable. uve been miserable for years. and U can pin it all down 2 a single, damning scene: the night U held a tool made for killing, the night U used it for such.] <center>[[>>->rodman3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[if U thought U were above playing god, U failed to recognize that instead U were defying him, and U wonder if U could watch yrself now from the outside, see yr motions throughout each day, if U would even recognize this person as U. no, since that night, uve lost yr grip on a sense of self entirely.] <center>[[>>->rodman4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[actually, thats not right. there was 1 exception, 1 moment U understood, 1 moment U forgave yrself, 1 moment U felt yr existence was more than justifiable, was necessary. that was when U went swimming with chance. the trouble U get into with yr acquaintances in school is nothing like the trouble U got into with chance. but for the first time U feel the notion that the possibility of going back exists. there may be something worth believing in. U never meant to cause him any trouble. U never wouldve criticized his major. U always saw the value in him loving earth so much that he wanted to scrape its dirt off. and U never wouldve left. but U did something worse and U did it to yrself.] <center>[[>>->rodman5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[U laugh at the triviality of it all now. is this what money bought U? school, books U already knew the endings of. freedom, and for what? and are U really such a hero if U cant even look at yr sister anymore? what exactly did U sell yr happiness for?] <center>[[>>->realshit]]</center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE [[>>->realshit2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[The memory of the prior night is foggy, and, as with all mornings after drinking, whatever strange conclusions you thought you had reached are to be discarded.] <center>[[>>->realshit3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Just like most days preceding this one, you feel that nothing of importance will happen. There may be more to life than this, but you’d given up on finding it long ago. But someone disagrees, and the proof of this exists in your notifications. Hector did follow up after your call ended, and you identify something unfamiliar——a sort of alarm, the likes of which you’ve never seen in the always composed Hector.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**HECTOR**: Leila, message back when possible **HECTOR**: I got the combination to my dad’s office **HECTOR**: Please come meet me here as soon as you can] <center>[[>>->realshit4]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[In irony meant only for yourself, you first feign a glance at your ever-empty schedule.] <center>[[>> Go.->realshit5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You haven’t stepped through the door of this office since your last session with Dr. Burns, and even now you feel perturbed by the notion. Perhaps because you’ve made no progress throughout these three years and perhaps because the possibility of change existed here and you rejected it. But you enter now, not before collecting your own breath, and when you walk in the room, Hector sits in the same chair his father had, wearing an expression you recognize from three years ago at The Rapture. There’s broken glass on the floor and the files Hector holds bear two signs of water damage, one from a drink that had been spilled years ago, one from just now.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Were you just drinking? **HECTOR**: I intended to **HECTOR**: The atmosphere’s having one now **LEILA**: What’s all this about, then?] <center>[[>>->realshit6]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**HECTOR**: These are undoubtedly the files you spoke of last night **HECTOR**: They contain the outline of Neo-Earth as well as all the equations necessary for the programming **HECTOR**: All equations but one **HECTOR**: The missing equation **HECTOR**: Is known as Discidio Theory **HECTOR**: It deals with the separation of matter **HECTOR**: It is the basis of Neo-Earth’s existence, how we are able to exist apart from our old planet, how we can remain after the supposed destruction of Earth **HECTOR**: And for fear of the consequences of other people creating more replicas of Earth, the equation was meant to always remain confidential **HECTOR**: Its discovery is of course attributed to the former head of ROCO **HECTOR**: That is, your father **HECTOR**: But these are his files **HECTOR**: And the theory is blank **LEILA**: Hector. **LEILA**: What are you saying? **HECTOR**: The equation to satisfy the theory was never discovered **HECTOR**: We are still on Earth] <center>[[>>->realshit7]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[It is impossible to say how long the silence persists.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Ha. **LEILA**: Ha. Ha. **LEILA**: Haha! **LEILA**: Ha. Hahaha!! **LEILA**: No, of course not. **LEILA**: That’s impossible. **LEILA**: My mom and dad disappeared, don’t you see? **LEILA**: Because they stayed on Earth, which was destroyed by an asteroid on December 14th, before which billions of people were appearing on Neo-Earth via transfers every day. **LEILA**: That we’re still on Earth... **LEILA**: That... **LEILA**: That doesn’t make sense, not at all, not even in the least. **HECTOR**: Leila **HECTOR**: Please **LEILA**: No. **HECTOR**: I need access to the files for Project Alucinor from ROCO **LEILA**: No! **LEILA**: What are you even suggesting? **LEILA**: You said it yourself, there’s consequences to anyone else seeing the formulas behind Neo-Earth! **LEILA**: To protect that information... **LEILA**: That may very well why my parents stayed behind! **HECTOR**: I understand how you feel **LEILA**: You don’t. **LEILA**: How could you? **HECTOR**: Alright **HECTOR**: So maybe I don’t **HECTOR**: But I fucking swear **HECTOR**: If I find that equation in there **HECTOR**: You can shoot me execution style afterward for all I care **HECTOR**: I need to see that it’s real **HECTOR**: Or I will never sleep again **LEILA**: ... **LEILA**: So, say you’re right. **LEILA**: Say the equation isn’t there. **LEILA**: Explain the last three years. **HECTOR**: Don’t make me do that **LEILA**: I have to.] <center>[[>>->realshit8]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**HECTOR**: Very well **HECTOR**: There is one other piece to this file that supports my hypothesis **HECTOR**: If I am correct **HECTOR**: What we have understood as years on Neo-Earth **HECTOR**: Have in reality equated to roughly 5 weeks on Earth **HECTOR**: Like how seconds can feel like days in a dream, time has been rapidly skewing here **HECTOR**: If my estimation is correct **HECTOR**: It is December 13th in real time **LEILA**: ... **LEILA**: //That// December 13th? **HECTOR**: Yes **HECTOR**: Less than 24 hours until impact event **HECTOR**: Time has settled here **HECTOR**: The final rotation of Earth will be perceived as decades on Neo-Earth **HECTOR**: I can only conclude **HECTOR**: The true purpose of Project Alucinor **HECTOR**: Was to give us a false lifetime before the destruction of Earth **HECTOR**: A final gift from our parents who failed to understand that life can only be given once **HECTOR**: There is another name I found attributed to these files **HECTOR**: Joel Floyd **LEILA**: That is... **HECTOR**: Yes **HECTOR**: It would appear Chance’s dad also worked with ROCO undercover, collecting data abroad for this simulation **HECTOR**: Knowing his son’s best friend, this explains Rodney’s presence here **HECTOR**: The formula for Project Alucinor is in fact only suited for 4 participants **HECTOR**: You, Leila del Fontaine **HECTOR**: Chance Floyd **HECTOR**: Rodney McIntyre **HECTOR**: And myself, Hector Burns **HECTOR**: Every other person we have interacted with on Neo-Earth has been artificial **HECTOR**: Including, I regret to say, who we have come to know as Daisy Rieder **LEILA**: That's enough. **HECTOR**: Forgive me **HECTOR**: There is one more thing **LEILA**: I said that’s enough. **LEILA**: None of this explains how this planet exists at all. **HECTOR**: You are correct **HECTOR**: The existence of Neo-Earth is a phantasmagoria that relies on what appears to be a botched attempt at preserving someone’s life via uploading their mind onto a computer, the failure of which resulted in their death **HECTOR**: That mind **HECTOR**: Belonged to your mother] <center>[[>>->lux]]</center> </details>

<center>LUX DEL FONTAINE [[>>->lux2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[The second miracle was, of course, the birth of Leila. The first occurred a year prior. It would be twenty years before the discovery of the asteroid would devastate the fate of humanity, but on that particular day yours had been sealed. And according to the doctor, it would be six months.] <center>[[>>->lux3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You remember Ace standing by your hospital bed in silence as you told him: it’s over, it’s over, it’s over, because subjecting someone to watching the one they love slowly die is too evil a thing to do. And you remember him saying nothing, his expression betraying nothing. The same as when his mother passed, the same as when you stood side by side at her funeral. And you wondered this often, whether he was really so adept at concealing his emotions or if he was so in tune with reality that he was capable of accepting it even as it took place. There were many things you didn’t understand about Ace. You simply chose to love him for it.] <center>[[>>->lux4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Silence is heavy, has mass. And it might have lasted forever. As you turned from him, you lifted it.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LUX**: I was going to try to marry you, you know. **LUX**: And I would have failed to do so, because you find matrimony unnatural, because there’s eight billion people, because I can never keep up with you. **LUX**: But I’d have been happy still, I mean happy to fail, because failing would have meant I was able to try at all. **ACE**: You're wrong.] <center>[[>>->lux5]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[When you moved to meet his gaze, you were greeted by the first miracle: Ace, on one knee, tears down each side of his face, ring in hand.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**ACE**: Marry me, Lux.] <center>[[>>->lux6]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[When six months passed, your body refused to die. In fact, it had started the process of what may be considered the opposite.] <center>[[>>->lux7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Of course, alongside the pregnancy arose more troubling questions. The uncertain science behind combined medications and the daunting statistics of this sort of thing——there was a time you sensed a sort of desperation in Ace’s voice when he suggested termination. But you had cheated fate once already, and doubling down was in your nature. When the girl was born with no complications, you saw Ace weep for the second and final time.] <center>[[>>->lux8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[There would be two decades of bright hope and happy secrets——and there were many secrets. Your condition was one. Leila was an anxious child already, and it felt all too easy to justify feigning good health. Ace’s correspondence with his childhood friend Joel was another——that they were colleagues was something ‘J,’ knowing that alongside power came danger and that ROCO was indeed very powerful, wanted to shield from his son Chance. In these ways you came to understand that lying is the most important thing a parent can do, and that the notion of wanting the whole truth, no matter how painful, is the greatest lie each person tells themself. But you get to the end of a lie. And this was when you were, with certainty this time, going to die.] <center>[[>>->lux9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[In the years leading up to this, Ace had become obsessed with the delusion of trying to save you. Indeed, he had shifted the focus of ROCO entirely onto Whole Brain Emulation. Even when the asteroid been detected, this remained his priority. He said he would solve that afterward. That was his lie.] <center>[[>>->lux10]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Perhaps that’s why you agreed to it at all, because then he might be able to move on and stop the asteroid. If anyone could save the world, you thought, it would be him. Of course you'd never know it. But he cried then, too.] <center>[[>>->lux11]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[It was a happy death.] <center>[[>>->heckagain]]</center>

<center>HECTOR BURNS [[>>->heckagain2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[In the end, Leila says nothing at all. In silence she leads you to ROCO HQ through a series of rooms, each protected by a password more complex than the last. As you watch her move you realize she is making observations in a manner identical to yours; this is her first time coming here, too. Still she enters each key and room without hesitation. She must have imagined this often.] <center>[[>>->heckagain3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[In years or a few minutes the two of you are in a room with no further doors. She gestures unnecessarily at the computer, the sole item here. This is the end of something.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**HECTOR**: Login? **LEILA**: Shouldn't be one. You raise a brow.] <center>[[>>->heckagain4]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: I am the only human alive with the knowledge of this thing’s existence. You smile. Clever girl.] <center>[[>>->heckagain5]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[The thought that you may be insane returns to you and is of great comfort. It would be your greatest miscalculation yet. But the matter is far from doubtful; you understand this. Yes, your universe is under your palms now, years of your life reduced to the software in front of you. And you recognize that this is at once the apex and the base of humanity, that there lived a man who mastered existence only to defy it, that beside you stands the woman who could only be his daughter.] <center>[[>>->heckagain6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Proof of the Discidio Theory’s existence simply is not here.] <center>[[>>->heckagain7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You look at Leila like you expect her to blame you for something, and she doesn’t. She returns your gaze and she knows.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**LEILA**: Now what? You realize how small the room is only when her whisper echoes.] <center>[[>>->heckagain8]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[For want of something more to suddenly appear, for you to have made some sort of error, you scroll through the coding behind Neo-Earth once more. Then you look out the window, sharply outlined against the wall. Just as you expected, the clouds are no longer moving.] <center>[[>>->heckagain9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[The passage of time has stopped. Trees will cease to breathe also, and the sea must be still now too. You understand. Leila’s mother’s conscious may have been the catalyst for Project Alucinor, but it is Leila’s that the software is synced with. The mechanics of this program rely on her belief in it. And because she no longer thinks time should be moving, it isn’t. Neo-Earth was made for Leila, and all within it was made in her image. And where did this get her? For all his genius, Ace del Fontaine made one fatal miscalculation. You cannot rig happiness.] <center>[[>>->heckagain10]]</center>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**HECTOR**: I think **HECTOR**: It’s time to go home] <center>[[>>->heckagain11]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[As you examine MAAT, the software whose function acts as an escape route that will allow you to reawaken back to Earth, you realize the meaning of its curious name. Yes, even this program is selective based on Leila’s subconscious.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**HECTOR**: One final question **HECTOR**: The 4 of us... **HECTOR**: Do you think we’re good people? **LEILA**: That may very well be the only thing I am certain of. **HECTOR**: In that case **HECTOR**: We may proceed **HECTOR**: Be ready **HECTOR**: We’re going back to Earth] <center>[[>> Activate MAAT->rodance]]</center> </details>

<center>CHANCE FLOYD [[>>->rodance2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[in a moment, everything was lost. hector explained it simply, but you couldn’t understand. if what he said was right, you should all be together on earth again. instead, you and rodney remain, suspended on this timeless planet you now understand to be little more than an illusion. and the woman you’d been with all this time was a figment of your——no. a figment of someone’s imagination, but not yours. you couldn’t have even that.] <center>[[>>->rodance3]]</center>

<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/WjFH1R.png"> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[it’s the last part of hector’s message that gets you, the part where he says the program in question dealt with morality. and leila serves as the framework for everything. you can’t pass if she regards you as evil, even on a subconscious level. so what the hell had you done? what commandment had you broken, what sin had you committed?] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: well **RODNEY**: it goes without saying Y im still here **CHANCE**: you know **CHANCE**: you’ve done a lot of stupid shit in your life **CHANCE**: you know what junior tried to do **CHANCE**: what you did was, at worst, defensible **CHANCE**: what makes you so sure it’s the reason you’re still here **RODNEY**: because leila said it herself the night i met her **RODNEY**: “one objective evil is murder” **RODNEY**: i remember because i went n did it right after **RODNEY**: ha **RODNEY**: im sure uve wondered a lot of things **RODNEY**: things ur smart enough to already understand **RODNEY**: like Y i started using **RODNEY**: or things U have the decency to never ask **RODNEY**: like what it feels like to watch a man die by yr hand **RODNEY**: or something like **RODNEY**: do i regret it **RODNEY**: but even then thats the wrong question **RODNEY**: the scenes been a carousel in my head for years **RODNEY**: i dont **RODNEY**: its nothing like regret **RODNEY**: its just guilt **RODNEY**: the 2 dont necessarily imply 1 another **RODNEY**: i only wish some1 else couldve done it **RODNEY**: because **RODNEY**: im no hero **RODNEY**: im a coward **CHANCE**: well **CHANCE**: i think justice and mercy alike are largely lies we tell ourselves so we can sleep at night **CHANCE**: and i think we’ve seen very little of either **CHANCE**: i know it’s all subjective **CHANCE**: but to me you’re a good person **CHANCE**: you've always been good person **RODNEY**: that is subjective yea **RODNEY**: but if i could choose just 1 person to have feel that way **RODNEY**: itd be U **CHANCE**: i mean **CHANCE**: right now i’m the only other person on the planet **CHANCE**: i should hope my opinion has some value here **RODNEY**: lol **CHANCE**: ahah **RODNEY**: so **RODNEY**: what do we do now **CHANCE**: is there anything left to do? **CHANCE**: let’s just **CHANCE**: have fun **RODNEY**: how **CHANCE**: keep talking to me **CHANCE**: not like i got to choose who to be left behind with **CHANCE**: but if i could’ve **CHANCE**: it would’ve been you, too] <center>[[>>->rodance4]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**RODNEY**: look at the sky **RODNEY**: the sun is there but its not doing anything **RODNEY**: its gonna get cold here soon **CHANCE**: yeah **CHANCE**: all this time it’s been making way for life and asking for nothing in return **CHANCE**: maybe it is now **CHANCE**: and we have nothing **RODNEY**: it doesnt feel like nothing **RODNEY**: we have each other **RODNEY**: thats something **RODNEY**: right **CHANCE**: that’s everything] <center>[[>>->endactii]]</center> </details>

<details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: hey **CHANCE**: rodney **CHANCE**: you made me remember something **RODNEY**: huh **CHANCE**: leila’s other objective evil **CHANCE**: wasn’t it to abandon who you love? **RODNEY**: ah **RODNEY**: yea thats right **RODNEY**: she did say that **CHANCE**: so i get it now **CHANCE**: i get it **CHANCE**: going back to earth without you would’ve been a sort of abandonment **CHANCE**: and that’s why i’m still here **CHANCE**: because **CHANCE**: i’m in love with you] <center>[[>> END ACT II->act3]]</center> </details>

<center> [[ACT III->wakeup]] //ONE WORLD// </center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE //DECEMBER 13// 7 HOURS REMAINING [[>>->wakeup2]]</center>

<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/G1P70c.png"> (font:"Share Tech Mono")[You stand up in the bask of some sort of unwarranted divinity, and just as quickly it dissipates.] <center>[[>>->wakeup3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[For many years or for just a few moments you had bought the notion that the world had been altered into a man-made thing. The crisis had been avoided and nothing remained but for each to do their best to die of natural causes.] <center>[[>>->wakeup4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[But the true Last Judgment was yet to be had still. And this time, perhaps for the first time, judgment was to be impartial. This time, perhaps as in all times, judgment was to be arbitrary.] <center>[[>>->wakeup5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Yes, ROCO had failed in every sense of the word. First in failing to execute their outspoken goal, then in failing to achieve their true motive. After all, weren’t you here, on Earth, now of all times, at the end of everything?] <center>[[>>->wakeup6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Ultimately, ROCO had no say in the fate of the impact, in humanity’s final counterattack. As it has been decided, nuclear warheads are to be used, effectively splitting the asteroid into smaller pieces, some of which will burn harmlessly in Earth’s atmosphere. This is, of course, not enough. The remaining parts are expected to wipe out half the population.] <center>[[>>->wakeup7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[If it’s damnation, then let it be damnation. No use in prayer or repentance. You understand that you live in a world without forgiveness, that even those who survive will have seen no mercy. Objective evil——had you really been so naive? Could such a thing exist? Of course not——but if one were to, could it be anything other than to live at all?] <center>[[>>->wakeup8]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[But living, in spite of its grotesque consequences, is the closest thing to salvation anyone may ever have. You’ve taken this from your friends who have failed to awaken. But this is not final. It cannot be rightfully called mercy when it is given inadvertently. There must be another word for it. But it exists, and in this instance, it is yours, by virtue of there being something you can do.] <center>[[>>->wakeup9]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[One room over from where you woke up is a room your dad used to enter often. Therein lies the solution.] <center>[[>>->wakeup10]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You look at the machine in front of you and you know. This——and you——are why Neo-Earth exists.] <center>[[>> Approach the end system.->wakeup11]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[01001100 01100101 01101001 01101100 01100001 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101101 01101111 01101101 00101110] <center>[[>> Disable the forwarding plane.->wakeup12]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[01001001 00100000 01100001 01101101 00100000 01110011 01101111 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00101110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100001 01101100 01110111 01100001 01111001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 00101110] <center>[[>> Destroy the control.->wakeup13]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[01010011 01110101 01110010 01110110 01101001 01110110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 01110011 00101110 00100000 01000100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00101110 00100000 01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 01100010 01111001 01100101 00101100 00100000 01001100 01100101 01101001 01101100 01100001 00101110] <center>[[>> Delete all system data.->wakeup14]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Goodbye, mom.] <center>[[>>->wakeup15]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Rodney, Chance... Welcome back.] <center>[[>>->hectorsolve]]</center>

<center>HECTOR BURNS //6 HOURS REMAINING// [[>>->hectorsolve2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You are acutely aware of the time, of each passing second. But you might have enough.] <center>[[>>->hectorsolve3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[No, losing half the word is not something you can accept. You have the files in your hands. You are going to do it, do it right this time. You are going to find the equation for the Discidio Theory.] <center>[[>>->hectorsolve4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Your attempts were in the triple digits when you seemingly solved it for the first time; you then lost ten minutes to weeping when you realized your error. This was to occur many more times, but only once would it bring you to tears. Everything you’ve ever known of numbers, of the world, of what it means to exist at all. To reduce it into one equation. To do so and save the world. You toss another paper and begin again from scratch.] <center>[[>>->hectorsolve5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Yes, there is time enough.] <center>[[>>->rodneyawake]]</center>

<center>RODNEY MCINTYRE //5 HOURS REMAINING// [[>>->rodneyawake2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[when U wake up, ur home. and U have something more than any man could reasonably ask 4. U have a second chance.] <center>[[>>->rodneyawake3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[guilt, at its heart, is nothing more than a tool of transcendence, a form of self-exaltation used by all men 2 convince themselves of their own innocence in the face of all the evidence that suggests otherwise. 2 hate ones self yet simultaneously write off each shortcoming as circumstantial is something so alluring, so damning, so compulsory——because what is the alternative, 2 accept that U were born broken? isnt that the sort of judgment we reserve exclusively 4 others as we hide behind the self-pity that only breeds more of its own kind?] <center>[[>>->rodneyawake4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[but ur different, because U understand that in something as useless as shame there is meaning, that all anyone can do is confess, say out loud who they are and what they have done and beg whoever they love 2 accept them in spite of it all.] <center>[[>>->rodneyawake5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[guilt is easy, dying easier still. both are passive, and in both U can believe whatever U want about what U might have done differently if only given a redemption shot. but that chance is now yrs, and it will not be so easy as 2 pretend. this, too, U accept.] <center>[[>>->rodneyawake6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[uve had enough false heavens, enough self-imposed hells. no more avoidance, no more escape. this is now and this is real. anything apart from survival is a non-option now.] <center>[[>>->rodneyawake7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[U are rodney mcintyre, and whatever the hell that means, its enough.] <center>[[>>->realdaisy]]</center>

<center>DAISY RIEDER //4 HOURS REMAINING// [[>>->realdaisy2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[there’s not much that can be done now, is there? and didn’t u try all u could? weren’t u at the front of ROCO just 5 weeks ago? and weren’t u all turned away, told the programs had reached a fatal system error, told the experiment was terminated? what else is there to do other than stare at the sky and wonder if the coin toss is in your favor?] <center>[[>>->realdaisy3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[at once you feel there is someone standing beside u, and with something like curiosity u recognize that it’s Chance Floyd. u haven’t seen him since that day 5 weeks ago, but u hadn’t bothered to think of this until now. actually, u hadn’t thought of him at all.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: hey **DAISY**: hey] <center>[[>>->realdaisy4]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[u smile at the thought of how many times u had fantasized about something like this, how intensely u felt for someone u never knew. isn’t infatuation silly? except u’d never have known it if not for having seen it relative to something like the end of the world. you look back to the sky. the sun is ready to set, never stopping to wonder whether it'll be the last time.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: it’s over, isn’t it? **DAISY**: i guess most things are **DAISY**: even in the event of survival, everything will be different **DAISY**: there’s no hope for normalcy now **CHANCE**: and is normalcy what you wanted? **DAISY**: well... **DAISY**: kinda! **DAISY**: don't laugh **DAISY**: i wanted to model after high school **CHANCE**: you could do it **CHANCE**: i mean **CHANCE**: not sure what the future market of that’s gonna be like now **CHANCE**: but you could’ve **DAISY**: u think? **CHANCE**: i know **DAISY**: heh **DAISY**: thanks **CHANCE**: yeah **DAISY**: so... **DAISY**: what did u want to do before all this? **CHANCE**: geology **DAISY**: oh? **CHANCE**: i’m into pretty much every rock except the giant one that might kill me **DAISY**: hahaha **CHANCE**: i’ve always known it to be my future **CHANCE**: within rocks are fossils and measurable layers that tell the story of earth and of mankind **CHANCE**: if i don’t end up getting to study it **CHANCE**: i guess i’ll become part of it **DAISY**: oh... **DAISY**: that’s beautiful **CHANCE**: ahah **CHANCE**: maybe **CHANCE**: anyway **CHANCE**: i guess i’m asking this because it might be our last **CHANCE**: what’s your favorite time of day?] <center>[[>>->realdaisy5]]</center> </details>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[u laugh a bit because u know the answer is ridiculous, it’s now, when the blue evacuates the sky, and actually u have a name for it——but as u start to explain this, Chance smiles, familiar somehow, like he got what he wanted from ur answer. like he’s content now. how odd, u think, but u think nothing more of it afterwards. and on that note, u part ways.] <details> <summary>Dialogue</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[**CHANCE**: good luck, daisy **CHANCE**: with everything] <center>[[>>->leilatho]]</center> </details>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE //3 HOURS REMAINING// [[>>->leilatho2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Of course your childhood wasn’t normal. The possibility never existed. And of course nobody had really known anybody, and were all kidding themselves by pretending otherwise.] <center>[[>>->leilatho3]]</center>

<center>CHANCE FLOYD //2 HOURS REMAINING// [[>>->lastchance2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[when you return rodney is waiting for you, as he always has been.] <center>[[>>->lastchance3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[you look at him and look at him and there is clarity, like quartz, like diamond. this is what you wanted the whole time.] <center>[[>>->lastchance4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[earth and all that is in it is temporary, will one day return to dust and flame, and if this is not now, it is eventually. and maybe you once thought the inevitability of oblivion was the true story. but you know better now, because you’re looking at rodney, you’re looking at something infinite.] <center>[[>>->lastchance5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[the world is real and could never be reduced to nothing. but if it were to come close, the last thing remaining would be a footprint from him. a rock floating in space with his mark, and if that were all that remained as evidence of earth and all the other shit that humanity having existed entails, it’d be enough.] <center>[[>>->lastchance6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[whatever else he may have in his head, that boy is your hero.] <center>[[>>->timeout]]</center>

<center>HECTOR BURNS //1 HOUR REMAINING// [[>>->timeout2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[59 minutes, and is that enough? But you’ve made no progress, gotten no where.] <center>[[>>->timeout3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[58 now, and just as quickly down to 30. You’ve revised your findings——if they may be called findings at all——to discover you are at the same dead end you started from. And in your exasperation you understand him, understand why your father gave up, why he succumbed to what he only could have regarded as compensation. You’re sorry. You’re grateful.] <center>[[>>->timeout4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’ve solved nothing. But the absence of a solution is the solution itself.] <center>[[>>->timeout5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[The equation you are looking for...] <center>[[>>->timeout7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Simply does not exist.] <center>[[>>->theend]]</center>

<center>LEILA DEL FONTAINE //DECEMBER 15// [[>>->theend2]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’re alive. You think for the first time you may understand what this means.] <center>[[>>->theend3]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You cannot speak for the rest of the planet, what landmarks and what homes may no longer exist, but this building stands. Meaning, of course, that which is in close proximity has been spared as well. You and your friends are alive.] <center>[[>>->theend4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Outside is whatever remains of your happy world. When you open the door, you’ll see.] <center>[[>>->theend4a]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’re not sure what you’ll do next, but you’ll do something.] <center>[[>> FIN.->fin]]</center>

<center>//For Ian// (font:"Share Tech Mono")[the story wouldn't exist without you] [[>>->credits]]</center>

<details> <summary>Acknowledgements</summary>(font:"Share Tech Mono")[//Classroom (Day)// by <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/icephei/art/Classroom-Day-588151746">iCephei</a> //The Vaults Bar// by <a href="http://www.edouardnguyen.com/">Edouard Nguyen</a> //Living Room// by <a href="http://www.edouardnguyen.com/">Edouard Nguyen</a> //The Enchanted Land// by <a href="https://bjorgelise.myportfolio.com/">Bjørg-Elise Tuppen</a> //Night Swimming// by <a href="https://www.litrix.co.uk/">Litrux Visualization</a> //Dreamed at Dawn// by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Away_Days">The Away Days</a> //illust. by me, insp.// by <a href="https://www.pixiv.net/member.php?id=2590741">soyatu</a> . . . with special thanks to john v for the encouragement and to zach for being the rodney i wanted to write. //One World or None// is dedicated to ian, as is my life.] </details> <center><a href="http://www.oneworldornone.com">thank you for reading</a></center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You accept it now: there could only ever be one world. This is the coming of a new era, where many will be left behind, where all will be left a broken sphere, fragmented pyramids and prisms and people. Whatever’s left of it in the aftermath, humanity must fight to protect. And humans have to protect one other, because who the hell else will?] <center>[[>>->timeout6]]</center>

<center>ONE WORLD OR NONE (font:"Share Tech Mono")[“If you are happy in a dream ... does that count? The happiness —— does it count?”** ——Arundhati Roy**, //The God of Small Things//] [[>> BEGIN->01]]</center></center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’re still certain the gap between two human hearts may never be fully sealed, but you’ve since revised your conclusion that this is a tragedy. It’s the in betweens that count, it’s this very thing; it’s realizing you don’t know someone’s favorite color, realizing you likely perceive it in an infinitesimally different hue anyway; it’s loving them not in spite of this but because of it. The necessary space between you and others is both what defines you and why it is worthwhile to exist at all. We are all just trying to get closer.] <center>[[>>->leilatho4]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Of course no one will ever know everything about you. You hardly know anything yourself. Wanting anything different was missing the point. You only get to the end of a person when you decide to.] <center>[[>>->leilatho4a]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[You’ve been asleep for years, but you’re wide awake now. You’ll have to graduate again, but the rest is up to you. It can be different this time, and as if the answer was there the whole time, you feel as though the exact details of how it will be different do not matter. You live in a world where nothing is meant to be, where everyone already fucked up long before they learned to speak. Everyone has already circled the wrong answer before. Everyone is already living a “wrong life,” because there is no right one, and this is why everyone can be known, can be loved. Can be happy.] <center>[[>>->leilatho6]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[No, there is no right life, but there is a right world. You know this because it’s real. Everything that happens now is true. Not meant to be. Better. Just true.] <center>[[>>->leilatho7]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[Happiness in a dream...wouldn’t have counted.] <center>[[>>->lastchance]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[All this and more you understand now. You might even understand your father. Well, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.] <center>[[>>->leilatho5]]</center>

(font:"Share Tech Mono")[<img src="https://u.cubeupload.com/misandrism/wP0qpq.png">] <center>[[>>->theend5]]</center>