falchion
"...They're not picking up," Richard said.
The three Retconologists had just spent several minutes trying to track down Emmi, Craggy, Flux, and Scriff, and it seemed like our search was doomed to come up short. Where could they be? I mean, another me is now just wandering around out there? Is she going to get hurt? What if the others are all unconscious and Emmi is the only one remaining? She doesn't know how to get back or call for help or anything!
"Are you doing alright?" Memmi asked.
"I... I think I'll be fine."
"You're definitely lying to me. The entire chapter thus far is you having a panic attack."
I mean, she was right, but she didn't have to put it that way. "What else is there to do?" I asked her.
"Well... we could... there is... hmm... can I get you a drink?"
"Um, what kind of drink?"
"Take your pick."
"I'll just have a glass of iced tea, if you have it."
"Let me see what I've got."
"Lots of sugar, too!"
I don't think I've had iced tea, let alone tea tea. I mean, I did order one, but I took one sip then. Does that count? I just kinda wanted something sweet. That'd take my mind off of all this. Maybe. Hopefully. It's wishful thinking but it's something. "Rough day, how about it?" Simon said.
"Rough week," I replied.
"Yeah... yeah, I'll give you that one. I don't think a single thing's gone right the entire time."
"You know what takes my mind off of stressful things?" James asked.
"Hopefully something that won't bump up the age rating on this thing," Simon replied.
"I vaguely remember playing this game well before showing up here, it was called 'Cheers at a Funeral', and what it was was someone would come up with a name for a person, and everyone would tell that person's life story one piece at a time. So like I'd describe meeting this person in their teen years and the antics that came with them, you'd describe meeting them in their twenties, and so on, and everyone else comes up with the events that happened during that time and you'd incorporate them into your part of the story."
"But if we tell his story, does he then exist?" Richard asked with a knowing smirk.
"Look, there's already something distressingly existentialist about the afterward, your question just makes things so much worse."
Suddenly there was a knock at the door. We looked around at each other for just a second, wondering if we should get Memmi, but then the door opened. It was Emmi and our friends at last. "Memmi! Where is she?"
"She's in the back right now. What'd you need?" Richard asked.
"Oh, there was this person out in the woods asking lots of strange questions. Maybe he has amnesia like me! I wanted them to meet Memmi!"
"Let me see them," Simon replied.
Emmi stepped out of the door frame, and a man approached. He had on the tattered remains of a gray and blue dress shirt, and beneath it a black shirt and frayed pants. The guy's hair was black as coal and so frizzy it gave mine a run for its money. He stared around the room with big, open eyes, and I tried to watch to see if he was actually blinking. I had no idea. Emmi stepped in and gave some sort of hand gesture. "This is... what did you say your name was, sir?"
"𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤. 𝐌𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤."
The three Retconologists shot up from their seats.
"𝐀𝐡, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐯! 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞! 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐚𝐬! 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐨𝐨! 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐰, 𝐑𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐫𝐚."
Memmi stepped into the room, before stopping in her tracks at the sight of Amark. She glanced over to the Retconologists.
"𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥. 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧."
Suddenly, the three Retconologists sunk to their knees and eventually collapsed on the floor. I took a step back, and Memmi shot the man a look. "whαt dσ чσu thínk чσu'rє dσíng?"
"𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐨-𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 '𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬' 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐭!"
𝟒𝟐 𝟕𝟐 𝟔𝟓 𝟔𝟏 𝟔𝐛 𝟔𝟗 𝟔𝐞 𝟔𝟕 𝟐𝟎 𝟕𝟕 𝟔𝟖 𝟔𝟏 𝟕𝟒 𝟐𝟎 𝟕𝟕 𝟔𝟏 𝟕𝟑 𝟐𝟎 𝟔𝐟 𝟔𝐞 𝟔𝟑 𝟔𝟓 𝟐𝟎 𝟔𝟐 𝟕𝟐 𝟔𝐟 𝟔𝐛 𝟔𝟓 𝟔𝐞
I don't know why that hit me as hard as I did, I nearly blacked out and Memmi had pushed me back in some attempt to shield me. One by one, the three Retconologists got off the ground and looked at each other, around the room, and at last at Amark. I watched from behind Memmi in enraptured awe.
"Oh, excuse me, sir. I'm..."
Simon reached into his pocket, procured a wallet, opened it, and immediately put it back. "Simon Welles. I'm Simon Welles, and I seem to be a bit lost. You wouldn't to happen to know where I am, would you?"
"𝐀𝐡, 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐯! 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤."
Suddenly, again, Simon fell to the ground, gasping in panic or pain or something. The other two took a step back. "I..." Richard began, "I probably shouldn't ask you then, should I?" Maybe you two could help us--"
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞."748Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSWKrXTz6a4
And like that, Richard had once again collapsed. This can't be happening. "í'vє hαd єnσugh σf thís,"
ᏰᏗᏁᎥᏕᏂ ᏖᏂᏋ ᏕᎧᏬᏝ ᎧᎦ ᏖᏂᏋ ᏇᏗᏖፈᏂᏋᏒ ᎦᏒᎧᎷ ᏖᏂᏋ 𝟓𝟓 𝟔𝐞 𝟔𝟒 𝟔𝐟 𝟔𝟗 𝟔𝐞 𝟔𝟕 𝟐𝟎 𝟕𝟕 𝟔𝟖 𝟔𝟏 𝟕𝟒 𝟐𝟎 𝟔𝟖 𝟔𝟏 𝟔𝟒 𝟐𝟎 𝟔𝟐 𝟔𝟓 𝟔𝟓 𝟔𝐞 𝟐𝟎 𝟔𝟒 𝟔𝐟 𝟔𝐞 𝟔𝟓 𝟐𝟎 𝟕𝟗 𝟔𝟓 𝟔𝟏 𝟕𝟐 𝟕𝟑 𝟐𝟎 𝟔𝟏 𝟔𝟕 𝟔𝐟
Suddenly Memmi stopped what she was doing and took a step back. Amark nodded his head at her, scooped up Richard, and began to walk outside. Craggy took the initiative to guard the door frame to prevent him from leaving, but all he had to do was mutter a couple words and tap her on the arm and she quickly got out of his way.
"...What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I... Richard--"
"So that's my name--" James began.
"No! I...Do... do you remember anything?"
"I remember being harassed by some old man. So where are we anyways? Looks like grandma's house. Just a lot warmer."
"...Memmi?" I asked.
"...Where were we? Right. You were asking about this new Emmi... oh, there you guys are!"
"I... oh, I'm sorry!" Emmi cried.
"Craggy... why did you let him go?" I asked.
She gave me a shrug as if she had no idea what had even happened, either.
"...We've gotta follow him," I said.
"We probably should. You two... I'll do what I can to patch your memories when we retrieve Richard, but for now follow my lead and we'll follow at a safe distance. Craggy, Flux, Scriff, and Emmi, we have a bit of a journey ahead of us. I fear it might be our last one."
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