null day
"Today's the day!" Scriff said first thing the next morning, jolting me awake.
I was dreaming about some sort of rejects, someone rejecting their own destiny and fate, something like that. I was still kind of partly asleep, though I was a lot more awake than before, I'd say. "What's the day, today?" I asked.
"It's Null Day! I'm doing nothing! We did too much in the last couple days! Time for nothing!"
"What does that me--"
And just like that, I had a heavy blanket tossed over me and was pushed to the floor.
"I mean, um... thank you, I guess, but, um..."
"I even invited a couple friends!" Scriff replied.
"How many friends do you even have?"
"Hmm, you'll see..."
"I mean, I guess it's comfy under this... why is it so heavy?"
"Well, I read that a heavier blanket is more soothing, it'd make your Null Day a more relaxing experience. I want you to feel as relaxed as possible!"
"That's... that's, um..."
There was a knock at the door. "Oh, that's them! They're here! I'll let them in and then our Null Day can begin! Stay right there!"
I mean, this isn't what I expected when I spoke with you and asked for an easygoing chapter, but I guess I'll take what I can get. Scriff was helping Craggy through the door frame (I'm thoroughly impressed that she made it through without tearing the door off the frame), and I was just kinda... stuck here with my thoughts. A lot was on my mind. Isaias, that weird dream of mine, the words where I does not come before E, beeps and boops boop beep, beep boop boop—no, I can... right, there was the Watchers and Richard and Simon and James and Shim and
"You alright down there, Emmi?" Scriff said, suddenly snapping me out of my listmaking.679Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMu7gEiLyqT
"Uh, yeah. So who's the other person?" I asked.
Scriff grabbed Craggy's arm. "Who, her?"
"No, I know who she is."
"Ｉ'ｄ ｈｏｐｅ ｙｏｕ ｄｏ. "
"Oh, um... she's asking about you."
She had her hands wrapped around the other character's arm, a sort of short, greenish person with large, dark eyes. She seemed to be almost liquid-y. "Oh, this is one of Craggy's friends, Flux! See this here, the little heart shape? She's in there, and she controls all this goop so she can fit in."
"ᕼIYᗩ! ᑎIᑕE TO ᗰEET YOᑌ~"
"Even just how she talks is fun, see? Well, I'm glad you two joined us for a Null Day!"
"Ｈｏｌｉｄａｙｓ ａｂｏｕｔ ｉｎａｃｔｉｖｉｔｙ ａｒｅ ｔｈｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｈｏｌｉｄａｙｓ Ｉ ｃａｎ ｔｒｕｌｙ ａｐｐｒｅｃｉａｔｅ."
"So who's ready for a full day of just baskin' around?"
"ᔕOᑌᑎᗪᔕ ᒪIKE ᖴᑌᑎ! I TᕼIᑎK."
"And that's it?" I asked.
"Yep! All there is to it!"
"Um, alright. I mean, I can't really go anywhere at the moment, so, um..."
"Ah, you'll do fine!"
"I guess I do have one question, at any rate."
"What is it?"
"Um, Flux? So how does that work, being made of liquid or whatever?"
"IT'ᔕ ᗩ ᑕOᑎᗪᑌᑕTIᐯE ᒪIᑫᑌIᗪ I ᑕᗩᑎ ᔕᕼᗩᑭE ᗯITᕼ EᒪEᑕTᖇIᑕITY, ᗩᑎᗪ I ᑕᗩᑎ EᐯEᑎ ᑌᔕE IT TO ᗩᗷᔕOᖇᗷ Oᖇ TᖇᗩᑎᔕᗰIT EᒪEᑕTᖇIᑕᗩᒪ ᔕIGᑎᗩᒪᔕ!"
"Like what?"
"ᒪET ᗰE ᔕᕼOᗯ YOᑌ, EᗰᗰI!"
"Wait, I--"
I didn't have time to react to what was going on, suddenly I found myself partly submerged in the fluid, which had the consistency of a thin paint, and an electric tingle ran dow
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"--wh--wh--wh--what was th... ooh..."
"OOᑭᔕ! ᔕOᖇᖇY!"
"Ju—just tell me what you d—did to me! I feel... oh, gosh."
"YOᑌ ᗰIGᕼT ᕼᗩᐯE ᗷEEᑎ ᗩᑕᑕIᗪEᑎTᗩᒪᒪY ᔕᑌᑭEᖇᑕᕼᗩᖇGEᗪ ᗯITᕼ EᑎEᖇGY."
I still felt all tingly and giddy, I wasn't feeling less tingly by the second, it actually kinda felt like it was getting a little worse as time passed which made me feel a bit worried because like I didn't get how things could feel even more intense if it was actually getting worse which worried me because like I kinda just needed to get up and go run and run and find something to fight which reminded me I don't actually know how to fight things but gosh so help me I could fight five whole fighters by myself right now and it was starting to get to me that everyone had been messing with my mind since I showed up to the afterward which made me feel a bit weird almost like I was just a toy to be mishandled when I wanted none of that but it just kept happening and everyone wanted to ex
"Emmi? You okay?" was the next thing I heard and judging by the use of the default font I had to discern that that had to be Scriff asking me a question but I was too preoccupied by
"You said you can absorb energy, right?"
"ᔕᗩY ᑎO ᗰOᖇE!" and judging by that font that had to be Flux who seemed to be trying to get rid of this abundance of energy and while I was aware that I hadn't said anything for the last 25 seconds and had most likely just been sitting there shaking and twitching in giddy energetic glee I kinda didn't want it to end because my mind was running a mile a minute and had for some reason become fixated on the idea of a silv
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um, hi. i'm emmi i think. i, um, gosh, i feel all goopy and still like, um, something goopy and still. um, i'msosleepy...
"I think you took a bit too much."
"TOO ᗰᑌᑕᕼ?! I--I'ᒪᒪ TEᒪᒪ YOᑌ ᗯᕼEᑎ ITᔕ TOO ᗰᑌᑕᕼ!!"
she was, um, talkin like how i was thinkin gosh like... so long ago. too long. someone's gotta hug me, i need a good hug, pls.
"You there, Emmi?"
"yeah"
"Aw, someone looks tired!"
"icoulduseahugyeah"
"Are you enjoying Null Day?"
"howdo iusethe bigletters"
scriff's got a cute laugh
"Aw, you're so funny! Tell you what, you want to nap?"
"nappin sounds great atm yea"
*yeah
"Well, alright, since you asked so politely"
send me off to nappintown ussr population fifty somethin i dunno whos asleep out there slam that frikn like button lol
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I was standing at a large door,
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a phrase long forgotten written across it,
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"Our founder, the storyteller, the story. His door, the watcher. Speak its name and enter."
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When I awoke, I wasn't covered with any blanket, but instead kinda laying in a puddle of green fluid, with Scriff up against me and Craggy sprawled out next to (but not touching any of) the substance. "Ugh, Flux? Really?"
"Oᕼ, ᔕoᖇᖇY!" said a little tiny character wandering around the place, who suddenly scrambled back into the little silver heart on the ground before recollecting all of her flux liquid, whatever the heck it was.
"Mmm, good morning! Or whenever it is! How are you enjoying Null Day so far, Emmi?" Scriff said to me, resting a hand across my back.
"It's been... it's been weird. I keep having these dreams of the hexadecimals flashing by real fast, and I'm worried about what they mean."
"Aw, it sounds really worrying. Um, just stay here for a bit, alright?"
Scriff got up and helped Flux off the floor, and the two rushed off into one of the other rooms. "Craggy?" I asked, nudging the gentle giant awake.
"...Ｗｈａｔｅｖｅｒ ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｓｅｌｌｉｎｇ, Ｉ ａｉｎ'ｔ ｂｕｙｉｎｇ, Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ, ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ."
"It's just me, Suzy. Emmi, whichever one, I don't know at this point."
"Ｏｈ. Ｗｈｅｒｅ ｄｉｄ... ｗｈｅｒｅ ｄｉｄ ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ ｒｕｎ ｏｆｆ ｔｏ?"
"I don't know. Um, I should ask... where did you meet Flux?"
"Ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｐａｒｔｌｙ ｗｈｙ Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｔｈｅ ｊｏｂ Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｆｉｒｓｔ ｐｌａｃｅ. Ｉ ｈｅｌｐｅｄ ｈｅｒ ａｎｄ ｓｈｅ ｈｅｌｐｅｄ ｍｅ."
"What sort of help would someone like you even need?"
"Ｉ... Ｉ'ｌｌ ｔｅｌｌ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｅ ｓｔｏｒｙ ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ ｔｉｍｅ. Ｉ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｒｕｉｎ ｙｏｕｒ Ｎｕｌｌ Ｄａｙ."
"I mean, a lot's already happened for a day about nothing, so..."
"Ｉｔ'ｓ ａ ｓａｄ ｓｔｏｒｙ. Ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ ｄａｙ. "
"Alright, Craggy. Um... what'd be a happier story, then..."
"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ ｙｏｕｒｓｅｌｆ ｔｏｏ ｍｕｃｈ. "
"Oh, I won't, I... I... mmm, heh, stop..."
I was feelin weird n tingly again, kinda stuck n giggly.
"TᕼIᔕ ᔕᕼOᑌᒪᗪ GET YOᑌᖇ ᑎᑌᒪᒪ ᗪᗩY ᗷᗩᑕK Oᑎ TᖇᗩᑕK!"
"We thought you seemed a bit too preoccupied, so I had Fluxxy here completely jam your brain for a moment. You'll be fine, but for a little while you can just relax and enjoy yourself! You deserve a break from all this serious stuff."
"Yeah, I...
Some madman broke in and buttered up all my brain words, they're goin everywhere.
"And now we can enjoy the rest of Null Day just fine!"
I had kind of been forgetting what was happening, somewhere in all this I kinda became lucid again. I still felt a little ditzy and weird, but, like, I knew I existed and memory was happening so that was enough for me at the moment. Better than nothing.
Sometime later at night, when Flux and Craggy were heading home, Flange showed up with a wax-sealed envelope.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
