krmvgivv | IC Inbox

Touché.

[That's it. Just a word. Like the conversation's over, cut off right then and there. But, abruptly, another message follows.]

I'm not invited to play Dragons Dine ins & Dives anymore, am I?

You literally just told me that if we keep hanging out you'll probably try to kill me again.

Look, it would probably be really good for you to do something normal and fun like that. I still don't think you're inherently evil. But it would be really good for me to not die and to not have any of my friends die and honestly that's more important to me than trying to fix your deal. So if you can convince me you won't try and kill anyone you can play. But I think you're trying to convince me of the opposite, so probably not.

Also you gotta convince me you're not gonna use your saving thing to cheat on dice rolls.

That's... a much longer and more sincere answer than I expected. I cannot help but think "ahahaha go to hell" would have been the healthier response.

[And a calculated choice. Dipper is, rationally and reasonably, worried. But still willing to fix Chara. All they have to do is plead their case. All they have to do is try, and they can watch the X-Files and trade pictures with people. They can play nerd games. Maybe they can try cooking lessons and hot dog stacking like Frisk did. Maybe they can have more than just the pursuit of strength.

Well. It's a calculated choice in and of itself, but a dialogue tree branches, and two different routes surely lie behind each. Dipper may know, yet again, if they choose to LOAD. But all the same, they pull that familiar glint of light out of themselves, anchor the timeline down to this point.

* Determination.]

[Seek forgiveness?

♥ Yes No

A choice is made.]

I told you that for a reason. I won't promise that I'll never kill you, either. I have no faith in my ability to uphold that promise.

I thought it was enough that I did not seek EXP out. That I do not attack first. But. Inevitably, things turn out like this, and the fault lies with me. I have too much anger to be a good person. Pretending to be human does not fool anyone for very long. I did not want to kill Max. I did not want to kill you or Mabel. Those were not things that I planned. Nonetheless, the venom inside me spills out, and I have burned you all.

But. It was almost fun. Talking about bogeymon and making goat characters.

[...Even when they pick "yes," it still comes out as a "no," does it not? No consequence, no agency, just fumbling along the same roads.]

Okay, you realize this isn't a game, right? Like I don't know how things work in your world, but you're not gonna get experience points or level up or whatever. Also in good games you can still get experience points from diplomatic solutions to encourage roleplaying.

If you don't want to kill people, don't kill people. It's pretty simple. I find not carrying a lethal weapon around helps.

EXP does not stand for experience points.

[They didn't kill. They didn't kill Max. They didn't kill Dipper, didn't kill Mabel. Did not use that lethal weapon. Look what happened! Their world is emptier all the same. This advice is entirely useless. And if they didn't carry a knife around? They'd have died for it. Had their throat slit from behind like a pig at a slaughter. Had the life strangled out of them, pinned beneath Alex's hideous, wrathful weight.

Worthless. It's worthless, huh? The end result is the same whether they killed or spared. The only thing that changes is they don't gain the EXP. The distance that makes it hurt less. No matter what, it's still there: don't do a violence! Don't kill or be killed! It's easy! Everything will be fine and you'll have all the friends! Just stop being so... this. Just be fixed. Just be normal for once, Chara, why are you always like this? Just smile and talk about something that's nicer to hear.

You really are so melodramatic, Chara.]

I don't know how to be anything but this. You can't understand how this feels.

[A shame that Flowey gave up on Chara. They get it. His loneliness, his frustration. The ache of nobody being able to understand what it's like to be missing something so fundamental, something everyone else has effortlessly and naturally. How do you explain it?

You don't. There's just no point, is there?

So it's easier to give up on it.]

[Seek forgiveness?

Yes ♥No

A choice is made.

Can he feel the world reel back? Can he feel the sudden jump? They don't know for sure. But they can camouflage it all the same. Just another move to mess with him, to be the jerkish anomaly they are:]

Cheat on dice rolls? I would never. Do you really think I would use my SAVEs just to bother you?

[Ha ha.]

Once again, you took this unexpectedly sincerely. Once again, I have to spell out the obvious: I'm messing with you. I don't care about the games kids like you waste their time on. I'd probably slit your throat for rolling the dice weird. Not because it bothers me, not because you did anything to warrant it, just because it would be funny to watch.

[Yep, he feels it. And now that he knows what to expect it's easier to hold on, to grit his teeth and refuse to let the memories go. It's just a few seconds. He can hold on to that much. Dipper rolls his eyes. That's a definitely on cheating on dice rolls, then.]

Did you just decide to try and have the conversation two different ways instead of just deciding what you wanted to say?

[This is so annoying for someone who has an almost pathological need to have everything written down. Can he remember what Chara texted well enough to write it down? He has to try.

He... pretty much ignores Chara's new text. Partly cause it's already there and written down and he's more concerned with remembering the old text, partly because it's just the usual melodramatic threats of violence and they lack weight when they come on the heel of an angsty confession. Messing with Dipper? Sure. But Dipper's beginning to suspect that Chara is mostly just really lost and lashing out rather than admitting it.

Not that dipper would know anything about that.]

What does EXP stand for?

I'm earnestly impressed, Dipper Pines! Just two LOADs, and you can do this much.

[A level-up of his own. Whatever LV stands for in his game, anyway. And level-ups warrant rewards, right? That's how the rules go. So, why not. An honest answer.]

Execution points.

Huh, that's unusual. And what's the point of gaining them?

[Hey, know what would be fun? Reusing their earlier save point. Putting a new SAVE down. Seeing. What. Happens.]

If you gain EXP, you gain LV.

[ARE YOU TRYING TO SEE WHAT IT WILL TAKE FOR DIPPER TO BE THE ONE WHO PICKS UP THE KNIFE?]

Somehow I'm guessing that doesn't stand for level.

[1V1 THEM DIPPER]

What? Of course it stands for level, Dipper. Haven't you ever played a game before?

Anyway, if you LV is high enough, you can acquire QPU. It's a very complicated system, but bear with me.

Huh that's the first one that isn't a thing in my world's video games.

How bout skill points? Are those a thing too? Or is murder the only thing you can improve at?

No skill points. Only DP. Dating Power.

But, hey. Are you serious? You don't have QPU? What on earth do you use instead, then?

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krmvgivv - 2016-03-19 23:33 (UTC) - Expand

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fulllifeconsequences - 2016-03-20 00:22 (UTC) - Expand

To answer that, we need to talk about parallel universes.

[OH MY GOD NOT AGAIN. At least Dipper has the stuff he'd already written down. There's not much, but the blank space where his notes had been is still disconcerting.]

STOP DOING THAT

[They don't even send a text back. They just jump immediately back, purely because he told them not to.]

Stop doing what?

[A question that makes no sense, chronologically speaking, as a response to Dipper's last text. That one was all about what the point of EXP was, right?

But they wanna see just how tightly he holds on. Can he maintain a conversation seamlessly across the timespace continuum?]

[It's horrible and confusing and he knows Chara's doing it just to mess with him.]

Do we have to go over life not actually being a game again? I mean I guess that got erased so maybe.

Also this is probably why you don't have many friends.

Nah, it's definitely the violence that keeps me from having friends.

I don't know about you, either, but I'd definitely call this a game. What's LV, Dipper?

The violence is under the general asshole umbrella.

[Dipper is still new enough to swearing that it gives him a sort of rebellious thrill. It's not like he'll ever get to be old enough to use adult language while he's here, though. Why not? Chara will probably erase it anyway.]

Are you testing me?

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fulllifeconsequences - 2016-03-20 04:16 (UTC) - Expand

Sorry, what was the question? I seem to have forgotten what you were asking about.

[NO RESPONSE. DIPPER IS GIVING CHARA THE SILENT TREATMENT.]

[Chara waits five minutes.

Then LOADs.

And repeats. And repeats.

And will keep repeating. They're getting a headache from it, but hey. They're determined.

And just for kicks, a reminder from another timeline:]

...Hey. You know that I can trap you in the same five minutes indefinitely until I get whatever I decide I want, right?

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1/2 [SAVE Point 1]

2/2

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[LOAD Point 1]

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[SAVE Point 1.2]

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[LOAD Point 1.2]

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[LOAD Point 1.2]

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[LOAD Point 1.2]

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