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<div>
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<h1>Chapter 2</h1>
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<div class="o-story_text o_epilogue type-rg type-sm line-caption line-copy pad-x-0 pad-x-lg pad-b-lg">
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<p class="no-indent"><span class="opener type-hs-opener-rg type-hs-opener-sm">W</span>hen you
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arrive at Rose’s apartment, you find her asleep on the couch. You
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slide the balcony door open, quietly.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="john">JOHN: rose?</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">Her eyes flutter open. She looks like a ghost,
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and not the kind of ghost that looks and acts exactly like an alive
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person.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: How... how long have I been sleeping?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: i dunno. i just got here.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: are you ok?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I’ll be fine.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: that looks like a lot of pills you’re taking
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there.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Yeah. It’s not what you’re thinking
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though.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what am i thinking?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: These are controlled substances that have
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been prescribed by a legitimate doctor to ease the symptoms of my
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condition. I am using them only as instructed.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: ok??</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: So there’s nothing to worry about.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: but you said you have a condition. isn’t
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that...bad?</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">You watch her rise in stages. Her arm is
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trembling where she’s bracing it on the couch.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Oh. Yes. The condition itself is not ideal,
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obviously. And perhaps it does constitute something to worry about,
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in the context of a different conversation. All I’m trying to say
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is, I’m not backsliding, if that’s what you’re wondering.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">You spend several pregnant moments saying
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nothing at all in response to this. You examine Rose’s supine,
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languid form on the couch, optimistic that she will continue
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speaking any moment now.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I struggled with substance abuse for a while,
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years ago. Remember?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: rose, jesus. i wasn’t going to accuse you of
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being a drug addict, and i didn’t fly over here to give you an
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intervention.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: it sounded like you had some important stuff
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to tell me, and the fact that you also seem to be sick is more than
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a little alarming!</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I wouldn’t say I’m sick.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Just having spectacularly debilitating
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headaches as a result of my visions becoming more frequent.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: oh yeah.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what are these visions you’re having?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I’m a Seer of Light, John.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: i know.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: so you mean like, your standard psychic
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visions about the future and stuff?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what’s going to happen? should we be
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worried?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It doesn’t technically pertain to the future.
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Well, not our future.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: My abilities have broadened considerably
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beyond their previous horizon. They shed light on many unseen
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events. Past, present, future, in realities and frames of reference
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that have no intersection with ours at all.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It seems to be an unfortunate side effect of
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god tier abilities. They can advance at a rate beyond one’s
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physical ability to keep up with.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Fortunately it doesn’t seem to be happening
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to anyone other than me.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: yeah, can’t say i’ve noticed anything like
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that.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: or improvement in my powers for that
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matter.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It’s not about gaining additional power, so
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much as the gradual dissolving of the boundaries between your own
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awareness and that of your many doomed selves who perished in other
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timelines.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It’s a slow and apparently rather
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uncomfortable accretion of knowledge. Perhaps I’m the only one to
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notice any change, since my aspect explicitly relates to
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knowledge.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: i guess that all makes sense.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: so what are these visions showing you?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Many things. They’re quite disjointed, and
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sometimes hard to rearrange into coherence.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: But in totality, I have pieced together a
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greater understanding of our present situation and all the events
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that led us here.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">You watch Rose stagger to her feet and cross
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the apartment. At the kitchenette, she knocks back another pill
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with a practiced motion, no water. Her vacant stare drills into the
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countertop as she quietly waits for the medication to take
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effect.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="john">JOHN: ...and?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: And what?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what is it about our situation that you
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wanted to tell me?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: is it bad?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Good and bad are words that don’t mean
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anything, beyond a certain threshold of mortal consideration.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: There’s a different scale I’ve come to
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understand. Another dichotomy that’s less... emotional, I
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guess?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Consider, instead of the word “good,” using
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the word “essential.”</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: And what exists at the opposite polarity from
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essential is...</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Something that is best not to
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contemplate.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what are you talking about?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: this sounds fucked up.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Yes, that sounds like a reaction you would
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definitely have to the things I’m telling you.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I really should cut it out, and just start
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from the beginning.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">You follow Rose to the balcony. She raises a
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hand and points directly into the clear blue sky. She points with
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purpose, as if to say, <span class="Standard-Text CharOverride-14">there</span></p>
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<p>. Right there, precisely, is where the green sun would be, if it
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still existed.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: The green sun is gone.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what??</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It has been destroyed. At least, from the
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current frame of reference it has.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It still existed, and therefore in a way
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that’s hard to explain, currently exists, over a nearly infinite
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span of time, presiding over the birth and death of countless
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universes.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: But this universe, our universe, is not one
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of them.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: you saw this in a vision?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: No. Jade told me.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: she did?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: how does she know?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: She can’t draw from its power anymore. She no
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longer has the ability of a First Guardian.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It has been this way for several years. I
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suspect she has kept this fact on the downlow, however.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: that’s...</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: surprising, i guess?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: or maybe not. i dunno, it’s not like she
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tells me a whole lot these days.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It’s also not like she’s had any particular
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need to unleash the full fury of the green sun, not while she’s
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been gallivanting around with Dave and Karkat under whatever
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perplexing social arrangement they have settled on.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Anyway, her account of the sun’s destruction
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syncs up with the data supplied by my visions. I have no doubt it’s
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gone.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: how did that happen?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: It doesn’t matter much, for our purposes.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: There was a cataclysmic event. A suicide
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strike by a very powerful being. Much like the one Dave and I
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attempted, once upon a time.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: But it turned out the explosive force we
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released was only a catalyst. A causal gesture. What was needed to
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destroy the sun was a consumptive assault.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: consumptive?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: The entire sun was swallowed by a
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supermassive black hole.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I digress though.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">You press your eyes shut, just for a moment.
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Behind them you see <em>a black hole so supermassive that it spans
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the width of eternity.</em></p>
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<p>You quickly open your eyes again, and pretend to forget what you
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just saw.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: There’s really no route through this
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expository garden path that will adequately cushion you from the
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bottom line, John.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: You will need to travel back into canon and
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defeat Lord English.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">You...</p>
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<p class="Command">> Shrug and try to look casual.</p>
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<p class="no-indent">You pull off the most casual shrug that a guy
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has ever shrugged when being presented with the inevitability of
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his own fate. If Rose were looking at you right now, she would be
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totally convinced that you are approaching this topic with a level
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of nonchalance that is entirely plausible and genuine. You’re sure
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of it.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="john">JOHN: yeah, i had a feeling that was going to come
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up again someday.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I’m sure we all did. That is, even those of
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us without visions.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: i was doing my best not to think about it. i
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guess we can’t put it off any longer then?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Now is the time. We are rapidly approaching a
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point of no return. If the decision isn’t made soon, it will be too
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late. The issue will no longer matter.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: when exactly is the point of no return?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Today.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: wow.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: ok then.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: first, one question. um...</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: why?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Why what?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: why do i need to go back and beat him?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: i mean, sorry if this is a stupid question. i
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guess he’s a huge awful monster, and that’s just what you’re
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supposed to do with huge awful monsters. take them down for their
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crimes, and such.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: but why does he actually need to be defeated
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at all? to be honest, it’s been years since we’ve even bothered
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thinking about any of this, and everything seems...</p>
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</div>
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<p class="Command">> Take a look around and survey the current
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status of all life on Earth, which is totally possible to do from
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the vantage point of a single apartment balcony.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="john">JOHN: fine?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Of course everything is fine here.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: We’re outside of canon now.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: yeah, i know. what does that actually MEAN
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though?</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: are you saying this isn’t really
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happening?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Of course it’s happening.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Just because certain events take place
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outside of canon, it doesn’t mean those events are non-canon.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: oh.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: In other words, there is an important
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distinction between events which can be considered to occur inside
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canon, outside canon, and those which are not canon at all.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: The day we went through that door and claimed
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our reward, we passed a threshold between continua marked by
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differing degrees of relevance, truth, and essentiality.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Those are the three pillars of canon.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: what?</p>
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</div>
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<p class="no-indent">Rose shoots you an irritated look. You know
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what that look means. It’s reserved for the sort of bozo who just
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said “what” once too often.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Any event said to take place inside canon
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will have nonzero values of relevance and essentiality, while
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maintaining an absolute foundation in truth, by definition.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Whereas events outside canon have diminished
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||
values of relevance and essentiality. Or, for the most part, can be
|
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considered neither relevant nor essential at all.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: But such events can’t be said to be untrue
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either. Instead, it’s better to regard their truth value as highly
|
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conditional.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Are you still following?</p>
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</div>
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<p class="Command">> Say “oh, yeah. totally.”</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="john">JOHN: oh, yeah. totally.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: So to be clear, everything that’s taken place
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here on Earth C since we exited canon can be considered completely
|
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irrelevant, and for the most part, absolutely inessential. Yet none
|
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of it can be called untrue.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: At least, up until precisely today.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: ok.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: then what does non-canon mean?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Events that are formally non-canon have no
|
||
truth whatsoever, by definition.</p>
|
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<p class="rose">ROSE: They may have relevance and essentiality
|
||
values that are nonzero, or even quite high, but only as
|
||
projections along an imaginary axis, resulting from highly
|
||
subjective frames of reference.</p>
|
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<p class="rose">ROSE: But due to those events having no truth, and
|
||
thus carrying no real weight, the other properties are basically
|
||
rendered meaningless.</p>
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</div>
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<p>You can feel your eyes go wide as the gears in your head slow to
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a stop. The implications of what Rose is saying are as vast as they
|
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are completely incomprehensible. Your mind has just been BLOWN.</p>
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<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
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<p class="rose">ROSE: John?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Are you okay? Your pupils have gone quite
|
||
wide, thereby facilitating the appearance that your mind has just
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been blown.</p>
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||
<p class="john">JOHN: sorry, i’m just trying to wrap my head around
|
||
this.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: You of all people really should have a good
|
||
intuitive grasp over these concepts already.</p>
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||
<p class="rose">ROSE: You’re the one with the retcon powers, after
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||
all.</p>
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||
<p class="john">JOHN: i know!</p>
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||
<p class="john">JOHN: like, i mostly get it. i think.</p>
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<p class="john">JOHN: i just wouldn’t have thought to put all of
|
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this in such a jargony way.</p>
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||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Sorry. That’s kind of what I do.</p>
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||
<p class="john">JOHN: it’s fine. i’m just a bit rusty is all.</p>
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||
<p class="john">JOHN: it feels like it’s been so long since i did,
|
||
or even thought about... anything that mattered at all.</p>
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||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Yes, the longer we live outside of canon, the
|
||
more tenuous our relationship with canon becomes.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Hence the urgency.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: then what’s going to happen if we keep
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dragging our feet?</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: I mentioned that events outside canon have a
|
||
truth value that tends to be conditional, remember?</p>
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||
<p class="john">JOHN: um.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: Well, I did. But let me put it another
|
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way.</p>
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<p class="rose">ROSE: As long as we live outside canon, everything
|
||
that happens will technically be “real,” but only
|
||
conditionally.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: There are certain crucial events inside canon
|
||
which must happen in order to continue to prop up the legitimacy of
|
||
events here on Earth C.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: And you specifically, John, have a
|
||
responsibility to make sure those events take place.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: and i take it that means going back and
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||
killing lord english?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Yes.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: His defeat is the keystone to this entire
|
||
continuity.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Much like his life, in some sick way,
|
||
governed the overall design of the bridge which that keystone was
|
||
holding up.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: But without it, all of this falls apart.
|
||
Every thing we’ve been through, in a way that’s impossible for a
|
||
single mind to fully comprehend, becomes retroactively
|
||
discredited.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: so... reality will be destroyed, or
|
||
something?</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: hasn’t that already sort of happened?</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i mean, when all the black space started
|
||
cracking?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: No, this consequence isn’t physical, or even
|
||
a disruption of the timeline. It’s more of a conceptual
|
||
unraveling.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: If you miss the chance to authenticate canon
|
||
events, something will take place that’s a bit difficult to
|
||
describe, but I’ve encountered a term for it.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: It’s called “dissipation.”</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Like, a notional fading. As if something,
|
||
somewhere, is undergoing a process of “forgetting,” and we are what
|
||
is being forgotten.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: All ideas, people and their full
|
||
potentialities, possible outcomes and their specific unfolding, all
|
||
these things live inside conscious frameworks.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: The further removed we get from
|
||
authentication of canon events, the less relevant they become, and
|
||
they slowly fade from the conscious frameworks which kept them
|
||
stable.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="Command">> Make a theatrically startled
|
||
expression.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: ok, i guess we don’t want THAT to happen.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: or... unhappen. whatever.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: so i just retcon-poof back to english and
|
||
start like...</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: brawling with the dude?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Don’t be ridiculous. You wouldn’t last a
|
||
second.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: You’ll need a team.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Also, you don’t want to just dive headlong
|
||
into a battle with his hulking adult form. That would be tactically
|
||
foolish, and furthermore, would skip over some very important steps
|
||
needed to authenticate canon.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: like what?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: I mentioned that English’s defeat was the
|
||
keystone to the continuity. But this is an oversimplification.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: yikes. well, we sure as fuck wouldn’t want to
|
||
simplify anything.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: John, please don’t be a bitch. I’m unwell,
|
||
remember?</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: sorry.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: The true keystone, which is a necessary
|
||
component of his defeat, is the juju.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: The house-shaped object you stuck your hand
|
||
in to gain your retcon powers.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: oh yeah.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: While empty, it resembles a gap. Like a hole
|
||
in canon, whose only purpose is to be filled.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: In serving that purpose, it grants one with
|
||
the radical canon-altering powers that would be needed to fill
|
||
it.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Once filled, it becomes solid. No longer a
|
||
gap, but a serviceable, load-bearing wedge in our continuity.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Like a keystone.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: And once delivered to English and directed
|
||
his way, it empties itself again, releasing its narrative-bridging
|
||
payload. It functions as a weapon, and in some manner will bring
|
||
about his demise.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: in some manner?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: It’s a complicated artifact. As old and
|
||
unfathomable as anything else in Paradox Space, like the green sun,
|
||
or English himself. Don’t worry about it for now.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: The important thing is that, in the due
|
||
course of your travels, you end up loading and unloading this
|
||
weapon.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: how am i going to do that?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Once you set things in motion, it should just
|
||
happen naturally through the narrative momentum of your journey.
|
||
I’m really just warning you about it, rather than instructing
|
||
you.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: ok. thanks??</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: You’re welcome.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Rose looks at her phone. You recognize
|
||
Kanaya’s distinct typing style in the window. Rose’s thumbs begin
|
||
to fly across the keypad. She continues to text as she talks.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: so if we’re going to go back and kill him in
|
||
time to “authenticate canon,” i guess we have to get going
|
||
soon.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: like today?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Yes.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: are you sure you’re actually up for a fight
|
||
though? no offense, but you’re looking a little worse for the
|
||
wear.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: I’m not going.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: oh.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: None of us are. Only you.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: what?? but you said...</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: John, this is the victory state.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: what the hell does that even mean.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: When we went through the door, and passed
|
||
beyond the threshold of canon, we effectively retired from bearing
|
||
any responsibility for influencing canon events. We’ve all been
|
||
sort of decommissioned as active players on the cosmic stage, with
|
||
severely diminished relevance attributes.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: All of us except for you, of course, since
|
||
you’ve retained your retcon abilities.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: ok, i get that. kind of.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: but... couldn’t you all just come along
|
||
anyway?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: We could. But it wouldn’t serve any
|
||
purpose.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: It wouldn’t plug up the remaining dark spots
|
||
in canon.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: You’ll need a group of active players. Those
|
||
still stuck inside the stream of canonic karma.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: who?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Nothing too extravagant. Just different
|
||
versions of us.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Younger versions, from a particularly
|
||
dysfunctional impasse in our journey.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: I can point out the exact moment in canon you
|
||
should be disrupting, and how you should disrupt it.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: In fact, I’ve already written it down to
|
||
spare you the trouble of remembering.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Rose leads you back inside and retrieves a
|
||
letter from her desk. She hands it over, still typing one-handed on
|
||
her phone. She sits down and you read the letter.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: huh.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Is anything confusing about my
|
||
instructions?</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: no, i remember all this. it shouldn’t be a
|
||
problem.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: it’s just weird to think about revisiting
|
||
this. it seems like an eternity. like... we were all completely
|
||
different people back then.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: I assure you we are all still fundamentally
|
||
the same bunch of losers.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Rose is ultimately right about that, the way
|
||
she is about most things. You continue to scan the letter, and
|
||
grimace slightly.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: should i really punch her in the face?</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i felt kinda bad about it, last time i did
|
||
that to someone.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Yes. You absolutely should, and must, punch
|
||
her in the face.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">You exhale and turn the paper over in your
|
||
hands. The other side is blank. You flip it back over, having fully
|
||
processed the instructions drafted in the polished purple
|
||
handwriting. You like how Rose still writes in purple, after all
|
||
these years. Some things never change.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: alright. this seems straightforward
|
||
enough.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i mean, aside from the part where we all have
|
||
to fight an invincible monster.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: He isn’t entirely invincible. He will be
|
||
vulnerable to Dave’s weapon. I believe other gambits should present
|
||
themselves as well.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: I don’t think it would serve the mission well
|
||
for me to tell you exactly how it will go.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: But at least I can offer this bit of
|
||
encouragement.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: If you follow my instructions, English will
|
||
be defeated.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: It is an absolutely essential outcome.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: And essential, if you’ll remember, is the
|
||
word we should be using instead of good.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i see you’re advising we go after him when
|
||
he’s young...</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i guess that makes sense.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: go get him before he gets all big and
|
||
strong.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: like, kind of a surprise attack?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Sure.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: that dude sucks.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: he was taunting me a while back.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: like, i think he WANTS me to come fight
|
||
him?</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: anyway, i just ignored him obviously, because
|
||
i’m not a stupid idiot.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: but i guess today will be his lucky day.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">You take a seat next to Rose on the couch.</p>
|
||
<p class="Command">> Examine your friend.</p>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Her eyes are closed and her hands are folded
|
||
in her lap. She’s not asleep, but she looks wasted—like all the
|
||
life in her has been sucked out through a straw. Like she’s
|
||
insubstantial. When you were kids you always thought that Rose
|
||
Lalonde had all the answers, that she could fix any problem with a
|
||
wall of text and a witty rejoinder. You guess that much about her
|
||
hasn’t changed. She’s still trying to solve the problems you all
|
||
left behind. You can’t believe how sick she looks. How did this
|
||
happen to her?</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i should probably get going and let you
|
||
rest.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: we can talk all about it when i get back.
|
||
i’ll fill you in on how it went, hopefully you’ll be feeling better
|
||
by then.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Oh. Um.</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Yeah.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: is something wrong?</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Rose opens her eyes and looks at you, but she
|
||
says nothing. Just looks.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: i’m not scared, if that’s what you’re worried
|
||
about.</p>
|
||
<p class="john">JOHN: you already said we’re going to defeat him.
|
||
so, nothing to fret over, right?</p>
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Yes. You...</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Something flickers through her eyes, almost
|
||
too quick to catch. When she smiles at you, it’s warm and
|
||
sincere.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: You’re going to do great.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Rose slides her arms around you. After a
|
||
while, she releases you from the embrace and gets up to fetch her
|
||
bottle of pills. She pauses at the bedroom door to look at you one
|
||
more time.</p>
|
||
<div class="chat type-rg type-hs-small">
|
||
<p class="rose">ROSE: Goodbye, John.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">She closes the door behind her.</p>
|
||
<p class="Command">> Look at the letter.</p>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">Your run your thumbs along the edge of the
|
||
paper. Is this really it? One hug from Rose and you’re off to face
|
||
your destiny? The instructions in the letter are clear, but you
|
||
aren’t sure precisely what to do next. Inertia and indecision keep
|
||
your feet planted firmly on the carpet.</p>
|
||
<p>Then, as if directly answering your quandary, your phone buzzes
|
||
in your pocket. It’s a text from Roxy.</p>
|
||
<p class="Command">> Read text.</p>
|
||
<p class="no-indent">It sounds important. You get up to go without
|
||
even thinking about it. You exit through the sliding glass door and
|
||
leave it open behind you.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</body>
|
||
</html> |