learning from experience
We were off for experiences. I mean, in a way we were, but that was the name of a place in town, experiences, they did actual food, which I found myself a bit surprised I hadn't actually had much of here. I mean, it's been like, what, four days or so, but I've really only had the ration packets Craggy gave away. She even kept a bunch of extra ones in her pockets.They came in all sorts of colors. I had red and green and I was pretty sure a pink one existed, but for the most part she kept green ones with her, saying they "ｌａｓｔ ａｌｌ ｄａｙ".
"Well, here we are!" Scriff said, gesturing towards the building.
"experiences" was written across the front and the windows were darkened, so you couldn't see inside. We headed inside and she asked for a table for four. The guy at the counter, a silvery-white character who I could best describe as being what people long ago thought were "cutting edge computer graphics", paused for just a second and instead opted to find us a table for five, ultimately resigning himself to simply shoving a table for four up against a booth bench so Craggy would have a place to comfortably sit.
Our server, a sort of smooth plastic robot-like character in a suit, brought us some water and menus. "Whenever you're ready, just let us know!" they said as they ventured off.
I glanced down at the menu. It was broken up into various experiences, alright. I wasn't sure if any of this was food, actually. The item at the top of my menu was "elation" followed by some sentence so dense I thought I was blacking our just reading it. I glanced over at Craggy, sitting at the other end of the table, holding her head up with one arm resting against the table while holding the other half of the menu in her other hand. She was looking at me, this tiny delicate little huwait just a second hold on what was that tangent about, no--
I looked around the table to see if anyone had caught my little bit of a freak out over what just happened, but it seemed to go unnoticed. I sighed, maybe I just needed some water? We had water back at the apartment and the Retconologists offered me a drink during my time with them, but I was pretty sure I wasn't drinking as much water as I should be. The ice cubes in the glass weren't actually ice, they were these dull gray stones. Part of me felt like I remembered seeing these before, maybe this is some elusive backstory! Maybe if I prod it for more information we'll get a flashback!
...
...Nope, we didn't. I took a drink of water and was feeling a lot more refreshed, and I set the glass down, and then dropped the cube that came out of the cup when I lifted my hand—okay, no, wait, how'd that end up there. "Psst, Flux..." I whispered.
She nodded my way. "ᑕᑌᖇIOᑌᔕ ᗩᗷOᑌT ᔕOᗰETᕼIᑎG? I'ᐯE TᖇIEᗪ TᕼEIᖇ ᗯᕼOᒪE ᗰEᑎᑌ!"
"No, um, actually... why do I have this?"
"TᕼEIᖇ IᑕE ᑕᑌᗷE?"
"No... yeah, but, like, I didn't grab this. It slid up out of the cup!"
"ᔕtᖇᗩᑎGE...:
"You're teᒪᒪIᑎ' ᗰE, EᗰᗰI!"
What the actual heck.
"Th... the heck was that?!"
"...Oᕼ! I GET IT!"
"What?"
"I ᗰᑌᔕT ᕼᗩᐯE GIᐯEᑎ YOᑌ ᗩ ᗰᗩGᑎETIᑕ ᑭEᖇᔕOᑎᗩᒪITY!"
"I'm so lost."
"So what are you ordering, Craggy?" Scriff said.
"Ｉ'ｍ ｔｈｉｎｋｉｎｇ ｓａｔｉｓｆａｃｔｉｏｎ."
"That does sound pretty satisfying," she replied, "Flux?"
"ᗯᕼᗩT ᗩᖇE YOᑌ OᖇᗪEᖇIᑎG ᖴIᖇᔕT? I'ᗰ ᔕTIᒪᒪ ᑎOT ᔕᑌᖇE."
"Well, I was going to get an order of bliss. I've been here once before, and it was just so great!"
Wait, that was me. Shoot.
"Oh, you've been here before, Emmi? I was going to get the exact same thing!"
"No, I... Flux... just tell her already."
"EᗰᗰI Iᔕ ᗰᗩKIᑎG TᕼIᑎGᔕ ᑌᑭ TO ᗯIᑎ ᖇEᔕTᗩᑌᖇᗩᑎT ᗷᖇOᗯᑎIE ᑭOIᑎTᔕ."
"That's not what I--"
"Ｎｏ ｆｉｇｈｔｉｎｇ ａｔ ｔｈｅ ｌｕｎｃｈ ｔａｂｌｅ. Ｙｏｕｒ ｍｏｔｈｅｒ ｗｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｐｕｔ ｕｐ ｗｉｔｈ ｉｔ. "
"When Flux tried to set me back to normal, she ended up giving me a magnetic personality, whatever the heck that is!"
"ᔕᕼE'ᔕ ᔕᑌᗷTᒪY ᑭIᑕKIᑎG ᑌᑭ ᗷITᔕ ᗩᑎᗪ ᑭIEᑕEᔕ ᖴᖇOᗰ ᑌᔕ."
"What does that mean?"
"It means the longer I spend around you guys, the more I'm becoming you. I think. It sure feels that way."
"Are you ready to order?"
I hadn't even really begun thinking about what I was going to get. I could just go with Scriff's order, I said it out loud myself, but, like... I don't know what any of these are! These aren't food! Comfort isn't food! Compassion isn't food! I can't eat satisfaction! Just tell me what it actually is!
"Alright, and for you ma'am?"
That's me! "Um... surprise me. And could I get a peach iced tea with? If you have that, that is."
"So surprise you on the food but you want a very specific drink... okay, sure, why not. Alright, your food will be here in just a moment!"
"Why'd you order just whatever, Emmi?"
"Because I'm kind of freaking out!"
"Then let's go change your order to, like, relaxation or dream, come on--"
"These aren't foods, though!"
"Not with that attitude!"
She was making no sense, just freaking out over this magnetic personality whatsit that she no, no, that's the wrong point of view, I'm putting a stop to it right there, Emmi, don't you derail my okay, what's even happening anymore--
I looked down and there was a plate of what looked like Linguini before me. "What... what's this?" I asked.
"It's a surprise!" Scriff replied, cutting into what looked like tempura shrimp.
"Ｙｏｕ ｄｉｄ ｏｒｄｅｒ ｏｎｅ."
"I... I guess I did..."
"Then you should get eating that bliss, I--"
Scriff suddenly looked around the room. "You're doing it to me," she said.
"What?"
"The magnetic thing? It's rubbing off on me. I just suddenly felt so bookish and lost!"
"Flux?"
"I ᕼᗩᐯE ᑎO ᑕᒪᑌE ᗯᕼY TᕼᗩT ᗰIGᕼT ᕼᗩᐯE ᕼᗩᑭᑭEᑎEᗪ."
"Could you just zap me and get this fixed?"
"Iᑎ ᗩ ᔕᑭᗩᑕE TᕼIᔕ ᑭᑌᗷᒪIᑕ? Are you sure?"
"You're doing it, too! Just, like..."
I took her hand and tried to push it onto my head, but she recoiled. Emmi was acting really strangely and I was starting to worry. Yeah, I'm worried, because look at this mess! The Watchers aren't even here yet and we're dealing with this!
"Just... eat your food... that might... um, that might fix things."
I don't even know who said that. Me? Scriff? Flux? You? Who knows! I looked over at Scriff, who was halfway through her meal, Craggy was just shy of done on what looked like the remains of a hamburger, and I hadn't even started. I sighed, hoping that this would fix her, she's being really... I'm not even going to let that sentence finish.
I took a forkful of the pasta, closed my eyes and counted to three. I don't know what I expected to happen. Something. Anything. Five. Six. Seven. I was well past three, I was aware, but... like... something different, please something different.
"She's dead," Scriff said.
"No... no, I just... I can't do this anymore..."
"I'm tired of being pushed around like this."
My voice. Where was I? Was I still me? Where have I been? Who is this? They're speaking my words, my thoughts now.
"I'm... I tired of being messed with."
"I'm me, I'm here, don't walk over me like this."
"I want to be accepted for who I am."
"I don't want to be twisted into who you want me to be."
"Let me be me."
"I'm here."
"My name's Suzy Emmerson. I'm not your plaything."
"I want to be a friend. An ally. But I want it to be on my terms."
"Please"
"just"
"understand..."
I opened my eyes. I was well above the floor, all matters of metal utensils stuck to my hands, the room electric. I looked around, panicked, and suddenly fell to the ground, only to be caught by Scriff jumping across the corner of the table. There was a sharp electric zap, both of us flinched.
"I..." I began.
"Say no more. I heard it."
"Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ Ｉ ｓｐｏｋｅ ｉｔ, ｔｏｏ. "
"Yeah, that was weird. Talk about a magnetic persona--"
"Please don't."
"Um..."
"And could you put me down?"
"Sure, sure! So... um, how was your experience?"
"...Surprising, actually."
"Ｗｅｌｌ, ｙｏｕ ｇｏｔ ｗｈａｔ ｙｏｕ ｐａｉｄ ｆｏｒ."
"Your bill," the server said, coming around and handing Craggy a leather envelope.
"Um, you guys probably want this back," I said, handing them handfuls of spoons and forks I had accidentally lifted.
I think we're probably going to get banned.
Later that afternoon, we headed back to the train and rode off to the Retconologist's lab. "Hello? Richard?" I asked.
"This place seems pretty empty!"
"I'm getting worried..."
Where were they? I kinda remember how we got to their lab, sorta, I kinda wasn't exactly looking during that but the steps were kinda fresh in my head, but we couldn't find it. "Wait... who has a phone?"
Craggy handed me hers, and I flipped through my wallet for that card with Richard's number on it. The other end rang once. I took in a sharp breath. The other end rang twice. I gave a worried exhale. The other end rang a third time. My breathing was getting shaky. The other end rang a fourth time. My pulse was quickening. A fifth. Where were they? A sixth. Were they okay? Seven. I felt so lost. Eight. So. Nine. Scared.
"Hello."
"Oh, thank g--"
"--You've reached the inbox of James, master Retconologist. We're busy at the moment, so leave us a message and we can arrange a meeting at a later time."
Beep.
"Richard, this is Suzy, I'm getting worried, we can't find you anywhere, and its really stressing me out becau--"
I thought I heard something strange. I tapped on the phone's receiver and heard a distant thud somewhere. Two taps, two thuds. I followed the sound and came across a door. I pushed it open. Inside was a barren bunker, a tabletop phone off of its hook, the contents of the room disheveled, and the statue of the author destroyed, their head completely obliterated by some sort of blunt object. Scrawled across the wall, a single message repeated hundreds of times.
AMARK STILL WATCHES
AMARK IS ACTIVE
I climbed up the stairs and out into the area where Shim had spotted me. Every enclosure was empty, and across every wall, every floor, AMARK STILL WATCHES, AMARK IS ACTIVE. I turned around in a panic. "Craggy, how did you get to Shim when she had me go to her?"
She walked down the hall, passing through a few "employees only" doors, and then stopped at a wall. "Ｗａｉｔ ｈｅｒｅ ｆｏｒ ｊｕｓｔ ａ ｓｅｃｏｎｄ. "
She stepped back, inhaled, and then charged straight towards the wall, knocking down the stone brick wall with a shoulder tackle and a roar that shook the building. "Ｔｈｉｓ ｗａｙ!"
I gingerly stepped over the blocks and caught up with Craggy, who stopped shy of an ornate wooden door. Just inside was definitely Shim's office, being back here gave me the creeps, but not just because of Shim. In fact, she was gone. The place looked like it hadn't been lived in in twenty years. A pale, ruined couch sat along the wall, a decaying desk was in the middle of the room, and behind it a knocked-over skeleton of an office chair. "What happened?" Scriff said, catching up to Craggy and I.
"TᕼIᔕ ᑭᒪᗩᑕE Iᔕ ᖇEᗩᒪᒪY ᗷOTᕼEᖇIᑎG ᗰE,"
I opened the various drawers of the desk, looking for any answer. Nothing could be found, until I came across a single intact piece of paper.
𝒲𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉. 𝒮𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒶𝓎.
~𝑅𝒾𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹
𝑀𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓌𝒶𝓇𝒹, 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒯𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇 𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓂 808 𝒶𝓉 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓋𝑒𝓃𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒.
ns 15.158.61.42da2
