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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]The world is a soft, white damp awash with creamy, pale, shimmering dew. Sunlight streams through an overexposed sky. You stand in a grassy, flower-dotted plain. A picnic blanket has been laid out for you. It is perfect. Pleasant. It is a bubble of potential. Anything is possible within its narrow confines—except escape.KEAutoNone
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[color=#669e03]BULLSHIT METER[/color]Hope.BMAutoNone
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[color=#353cc2]PUPPETEER[/color]You’re trapped. No feeling in this world is worse than to be under another force’s absolute control.PTCheckNone
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[color=#fade04]ELECTROHORMONAL STIMULUS[/color]He’s here?ESCheckUnlockB
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[color=#941e15]UNTOUCHABLE FACADE[/color]He’s already here.UFAutoNone
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CHOICE 2
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “Alright, English. You’ve got me right where you want me.”[/color]9
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UNLOCKB[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#fade04]Electrohormonal Stimulus[/color]] “…Jake?”[/color]41
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“Alright, English. You’ve got me right where you want me.”[/color]YUAutoNone
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]Jake appears in a flicker of bright fluorescence.KEAutoNone
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[color=#669e03]BULLSHIT METER[/color]What is he doing here? You “invited” Dave. You took Rose. But him? He shouldn’t be here.BMCheckUnlockC
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Come now strider. Lets try and make me sound like less of a villain hm?”[/color]JKAutoNone
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[color=#e04f9c]PURE EGO[/color]He’s not stealing your thunder.PEAutoNone
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CHOICE 3
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “I’m at your mercy. Look at how fuckin’ scared I am. Shaking in my goddamn geta.”[/color]19
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#e04f9c]Pure Ego[/color]] “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll be the villain here.”[/color]30
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UNLOCKC[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#669e03]Bullshit Meter[/color]] “What are you doing here?”[/color]37
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“I’m at your mercy. Look at how fuckin’ scared I am. Shaking in my goddamn geta.”[/color]YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color]
[color=#1f9400]“Geta?”[/color]JKAutoNone
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[color=#f75f00]KNOWLEDGE RETENTION[/color]Traditional Japanese footwear.KRAutoNone
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CHOICE 1
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#f75f00]Knowledge Retention[/color]] “Traditional Japanese footwear.”[/color]25
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“Traditional Japanese footwear.”YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Ah.”JKAutoNone
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[color=#ebe0df]HUMANITY, DESPITE EVERYTHING[/color]He smiles, as if you’ve told a joke.HECheckNone
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JOINJOIN46
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll be the villain here.”YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“You dont mean that! The dirk i know reveled in being a goshdamn hero!!”JKAutoNone
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[color=#ebe0df]HUMANITY, DESPITE EVERYTHING[/color]His voice pitches up in desperation.HECheckNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“You are the dirk i know. Arent you?”JKAutoNone
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[color=#941e15]UNTOUCHABLE FACADE[/color]You stare at him, blankly.UFAutoNone
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JOINJOIN46
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“What are you doing here?”YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Now scratch that hefty noggin of yours and think. Why would i be here?”JKAutoNone
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JOINJOIN46
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“…Jake?”YUAutoNone
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]Jake appears in a flicker of bright fluorescence.KEAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Hello there dearheart. Its good to hear your voice.”JKAutoNone
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JOINJOIN46
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]He’s rugged. Tired behind the eyes. Approximately thirty—in that infinite expanse of Ultimateness that might approximate someone to roughly about thirty. And he is Ultimate. He is every Jake English in one, an ad infinitum's dozen of Englishes baked into a single, solitary creature of a man.KEAutoNone
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[color=#fade04]ELECTROHORMONAL STIMULUS[/color]He looks good.ESCheckNone
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[color=#353cc2]PUPPETEER[/color]He looks good. He looks so good you immediately want him for yourself. A prince-consort for a new galaxy, a new civilization. He’d hate it. He’d hate you. You wouldn’t care. You’ve played the long con of manipulating Jake English into caring about you before. It was a tricky business; a game you are simply too old to play now. He will have to simply linger there all quiet like and sit pretty. You have it on good authority that he’s quite good at both.PTCheckNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Strider.”JKAutoNone
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[color=#941e15]UNTOUCHABLE FACADE[/color]His clear voice cuts through the chatter of your thoughts but bounces harmlessly off the steel mask of your Ultimate persona.UFAutoNone
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[color=#f75f00]KNOWLEDGE RETENTION[/color]The last time he saw you is impossible to know. There are an infinite amount of timelines comprising both of you. Matching what part of him saw which part of you at what recency is as complicated as stitching together the frayed ends of two live nerves. Nonviable. Tedious. Painful.KRAutoNone
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[color=#353cc2]PUPPETEER[/color]The last time you saw him, it was through the scope of a sniper rifle. He doesn’t remember too much after that.PTCheckUnlockB
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[color=#ff004b]SELF-DESTRUCTIVE URGE[/color]The last time he saw you, you told him you were just fine. Then you hung yourself.SUCheckUnlockC
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CHOICE 3
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “Been a while, English. To what do I owe the visit?”59
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UNLOCKB[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#353cc2]Puppeteer[/color]] “Been a while, English. Last I saw you, you were confessing to an awful bad crush on me.”69
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UNLOCKC[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#ff004b]Self-Destructive Urge[/color]] “Been a while, English. You look like you’ve seen a ghost in need of busting. Come to finish the job?86
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“Been a while, English. To what do I owe the visit?”YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Come now. Lets not be daft. Look at you. Look at this cave. You need help strider. You need a hand and a lecture and a friend very very badly methinks.”JKAutoNone
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]He can still see the home you’ve made by the sea, but you can’t. Interesting.KEAutoNone
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[color=#cb6f29]THE PHILOSOPHER[/color]What level of the allegory of the cave is this, now?TPCheckUnlockB
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[color=#cc83cf]GUARDIAN INSTINCT[/color]Where’s Rose? Does he have her, too?GICheckUnlockC
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CHOICE 3
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?”102
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UNLOCKB[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#cb6f29]The Philosopher[/color]] “Nothing wrong with generating a few new lifeforms. I am, after all, a god.”109
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UNLOCKC[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#cc83cf]Guardian Instinct[/color]] “I take it you’ve got Rose nestled safely away in a hope-pocket, too, then?”121
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“Been a while, English. Last I saw you, you were confessing to an awful bad crush on me.”YUAutoNone
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]His face sours. It’s brief, but you catch it—a flicker of rare anger.KEAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Yes well. Youd know all about that! However as you can plainly tell your control over the narrative does not extend to the pocket universe i have hoped up just for you.”JKAutoNone
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[color=#e04f9c]PURE EGO[/color]He came for [i]you.[/i]PEAutoNone
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CHOICE 2
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “That’s a lot of trouble. To what end?”92
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#e04f9c]Pure Ego[/color]] “Just for me?”76
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]"Just for me?"YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Come now. Lets not be daft. Look at you. Look at this cave. You need help strider. You need a hand and a lecture and a friend very very badly methinks.”JKAutoNone
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]He can still see the home you’ve made by the sea, but you can’t. Interesting.KEAutoNone
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[color=#cb6f29]THE PHILOSOPHER[/color]What level of the allegory of the cave is this, now?TPCheckUnlockB
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[color=#cc83cf]GUARDIAN INSTINCT[/color]Where’s Rose? Does he have her, too?GICheckUnlockC
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CHOICE 3
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?”102
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UNLOCKB[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#cb6f29]The Philosopher[/color]] “Nothing wrong with generating a few new lifeforms. I am, after all, a god.”109
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UNLOCKC[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#cc83cf]Guardian Instinct[/color]] “I take it you’ve got Rose nestled safely away in a hope-pocket, too, then?”121
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“Been a while, English. You look like you’ve seen a ghost in need of busting. Come to finish the job?”YUAutoNone
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“I havent come to hurt you! Ive come to stop you!”JKAutoNone
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[color=#e04f9c]PURE EGO[/color]He came for [i]you.[/i]PEAutoNone
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CHOICE 2
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “That’s a lot of trouble. To what end?”92
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#e04f9c]Pure Ego[/color]] “Just for me?”76
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[color=#f2a400]YOU[/color][color=#f2a400]“That’s a lot of trouble. To what end?”
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[color=#1f9400]JAKE[/color][color=#1f9400]“Come now. Lets not be daft. Look at you. Look at this cave. You need help strider. You need a hand and a lecture and a friend very very badly methinks.”JKAutoNone
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[color=#57a99b]KEEN EYE[/color]He can still see the home you’ve made by the sea, but you can’t. Interesting.KEAutoNone
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[color=#cb6f29]THE PHILOSOPHER[/color]What level of the allegory of the cave is this, now?TPCheckUnlockB
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[color=#cc83cf]GUARDIAN INSTINCT[/color]Where’s Rose? Does he have her, too?GICheckUnlockC
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CHOICE 3
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AUTO[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#941e15]Untouchable Facade[/color]] “Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?”102
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UNLOCKB[color=#f2a400]> [[color=#cb6f29]The Philosopher[/color]] “Nothing wrong with generating a few new lifeforms. I am, after all, a god.”109