First for shitshow

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>>3993152
The fun times are over. We're in it for the long haul now. Forget the rest of the world, we need to save the ones we love.

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Let's GO!

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>>3993152
Fuck yeah, I'm so fucking scared!

>>3993156
Times are always fun, as long as we're together!

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April 21, 2015

Vivian returns home to find that mother was telling the truth after all. Father didn't go to work today. Rather, he's in the seldom used rumpus room, down in the house's basement, watching television.

More strangely: he's drinking a beer at 3:00 in the afternoon, and eating nachos.

As Vivian descends the staircase, father looks back over his shoulder, and nods at her. "Vivian. How was your tour of Berkeley?"

"It was fine. Why are you not at work?"

"I decided to play hooky. Every once in a great while, a man needs to play hooky from work."

Vivian folds her arms. "Do your investors support this novel concept of CEO hooky?"

Father frowns. "You're an even harsher taskmistress than Mara. I need to teach you how to have some fun in life, too." He holds up a bowl full of revolting yellow liquid. "Queso?"

"No, thank you. What on Earth are you watching?"

He nods at the screen. "ESPN-4. You should be interested in this one. They are airing the national championship of the high school quiz bowl. A team from Gilroy is in the quarterfinal right now."

"Mm."

Father pats the seat beside him on the sofa. But Vivian is reluctant. She's unsure how to explain to father what's really upsetting her. Today is her birthday. Father hasn't spoken to her at all today, not even to announce his gift to her of choosing her college on her behalf. (Some gift.) She assumed that he was at work, the same way he's spent all her other birthdays. Now she has returned from a tour of her fated Alma Mater to find out that, inexplicably, he cut loose from work in the middle of the week to sequester himself, watch TV and eat junk food. Rather than spend time with her. It hurts on a level she can't vocalize.

She goes to his side and watches the competition with him anyway. He was right about that -- it is something that interests her.

>>3993177
And we'll bring those fun times back! I believe in us!

>>3993178
Darkbloom really striving for that Dad of the Year award

>>3993178
Oh my god

>>3993178
sigh

>>3993178
Please, please, please...
>>3993184
Saul is an absolute mountain to summit.
but neither can take the champ.

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The close-to-home team, North High's own Mindbreakers, run roughshod over their competition in the quarterfinals, a school from Minnesota. The score isn't particularly close, and the drubbing leaves the opposing team running perilously low on Minnesota niceness -- they leave the stage without so much as a sporting handshake to congratulate the winners. Vivian, despite her sour mood, finds herself absorbed in the game, and frequently answers questions aloud. Often before anyone on stage gets to the buzzer.

"Maybe you should have gone to North High," father says. "You could be up on that stage too."

"Don't be absurd."

"They will win this tournament," father says.

"They certainly appear poised to do so," Vivian agrees. She might be entertained, but she remains standoffish with father.

She does sample the queso, eventually. It's as disgusting as she expected.

"They have such talent," father says. "It's really something to watch."

"Not much talent," Vivian says. "This is a five member team, and only two of them are actually answering any questions."

"It could be a case of stage fright. A team could never advance this far with only two skilled players... they all strike me as talented young people in their own way. Her, in particular -- she's going to shine for sure." He points at one of the girls. "I see brilliance in her eyes. What do you think?"

A post-game interview is just starting with that girl, Whitney Price. The announcer asks into his mic, "great showing. How do you and your teammates prepare for games?"

Whitney shrugs. "I dunno. I'm just a sub. Ally knows all this quiz dork bullsh--t." (The delayed broadcast mutes her profanity). "I'm just here to stand behind the buzzer and look pretty. His words."

The announcer, befuddled, laughs awkwardly. He's not sure how to follow that up. "That's a little... uh..."

"Oh, it's fine. He called me pretty, at least!" She laughs, but it's mostly air.

Vivian looks at father. "There you have it. The star player's bimbo girlfriend -- on stage for no other reason. Some brilliance in her eyes."

Father shakes his head.

>>3993196
Fucking lol

I love that Whitney can consistently strike blows at Darkbloom without even intending to

>>3993196
Something here hurts but I'm not sure what.

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The announcer moves on from that trainwreck of an interview. He walks down the line of buzzer-befitted podiums that the Mindbreakers were standing at during the game, and the cameraman closely follows him. Overhead rigging and the glare of stage lights is visible at the top of the screen. A few feet on from Whitney, the team's two actual players are sharing an aside, talking animatedly, and the conversation doesn't seem to be going well for either of them. Are they arguing about something?

"Alabaster Soliloquy?" The announcer asks, catching both contestants' attention. They turn away from each other, towards the camera.

"Good afternoon," says not Alabaster, but the girl he was arguing with, Rose Mallory. Her voice sounds distant because she's not close enough to the mic.

Alabaster holds up a palm. "He was talking to me, Rose. God." His voice also sounds distant.

"Well I guess I'm really talking to both of you!" The announcer tries, and forces laughter.

Alabaster leans way in, to hog the mic, and blot Rose out from the lens's view. "Yeah. Hi."

"Great showing," The announcer says -- seems to be a stock phrase. "Just two more games to go. How does it feel?"

"Feels great."

"Do you foresee your team winning the grand final?"

"For sure we're going to win the--" comes Rose's voice, still distant, her head peeking just barely past Alabaster's shoulder as she stands on tiptoes to get in-frame.

"For sure we're going to win the grand final," Alabaster repeats, speaking over her. "It's basically a done deal."

"You seem quite assured of victory!" The announcer says. "I can feel the passion for success emanating off of you!"

Alabaster smirks. "Well, see, success is fine. But my philosophy in life is that it isn't enough for me to simply succeed."

"Oh?" The announcer says.

Vivian sits forward in her seat and perks up her ears.

SEASON 4 OP: https://vimeo.com/354421891
SEASON 4 OP (Creditless): https://vimeo.com/354421989

>>3993196
>North High's own Mindbreakers, run
This name will never not make me laugh

Wait, did David play hooky just to watch his daughter compete in Quiz Bowl?

>>3993202
And there it is. The missing flashback. The last retcon. The solidification of the reality we now know.

>>3993196
It's everything I wanted. This flashback can only improve going forward.
How many different ways has OP come up with to express Whitney's wheeze?
>>3993202
HERE WE GO

>>3993202
>Alabaster smirks. "Well, see, success is fine. But my philosophy in life is that it isn't enough for me to simply succeed."
Kek, I love this cheeky cunt sometimes

>>3993204
While ignoring his other one for the 14th year in a row.

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Noelle has her head in Kay's lap, tightly hugging Kay's legs, as Kay explains to you all what just went down at Darkbloom Analytics. Kay soothingly pets her in just the same way you've seen her pet Lady and Guy to calm down their separation anxiety.

Vivian is fighting back tears, as she hears the grisly story. Steven Armstrong was a longtime friend of the family. Whitney is less composed, and cries openly.

"Did the pilot see anything?" Dr. Carte asks.

"No," Kay says. "I hightailed it out of there when Steven died. Got to the roof before Alyosha saw me. Told the pilot that Steven had decided to stay, and I had decided to go. He was antsy to get going, so he didn't question anything."

"Alyosha could be coming for us next," Darkbloom says.

"He'll have to fight his way through what amounts to an army to get through our front gates," Charlotte says.

"He is the army now," Amber says. "The actual army. You know, the ones with tanks and jet fighters and nukes and shit."

>>3993215
Oh thank fuck she's okay

>Noelle has her head in Kay's lap, tightly hugging Kay's legs, as Kay explains to you all what just went down at Darkbloom Analytics. Kay soothingly pets her in just the same way you've seen her pet Lady and Guy to calm down their separation anxiety.

Extremely cute

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"I am loath to say this," Vivian intones, voice still quavering a bit with grief, "but we may have to turn for help to the very government who stole our company. If a high-ranking general such as Max Pershing has become compromised, then there is no telling--"

"Precisely," Qiangxiang says. "There is no telling. We must come to grips with the fact that Alyosha Kerimov and his followers could be lying in wait anywhere -- and inside anyone. One of us could right now be his puppet. Or, more likely, anyone in your government who could render aid." She smirks. "Perhaps even your President is already a Russian asset."

You sigh.

Qiangxiang continues. "We have, ourselves, the needed tools to go up against them on our own. But only if we act swiftly. Consider this. There is someone here who has been on the wrong side of Alyosha Kerimov not just once, but twice, and lived to tell the tale: Kay Vera." She points at her. "You have done remarkably well for yourself, for a woman who has spent so long on the periphery."

Kay shrugs. "It's what I do."

"You will be useful," Qiangxiang says. You don't like the way that sounds. Qiangxiang turns to you. "Amber will be useful, as well. If she can corral all the abilities her implant bequeaths, for long enough, and in a focused enough manner..."

"I'm not making her do that," you say.

"It appears you have very little say over it," Qiangxiang counters.

"It's fine, Daddy," Amber tells you. "We gotta use what we've got. Right?" She peels back her eyepatch before you can stop her. Hissing in agony, she falls to her butt on the couch beside Kay. Noelle lifts her head from Kay's lap in fright. Mom rushes to Amber's side, ditto Cerise. But turning away from their grasp, Amber waves them back. Finally composing herself, shivering like she's got frostbite, she puts the eyepatch back down and says: "I think Alyosha is still there with Nelson. He's making Nelson and the rest of the programmers finish a working build of the Diogenes project..."

"Excellent work," Qiangxiang says.

Rose2, hands on her knees, leans forward to look her younger sister in the eye. "Please don't hurt yourself, Amber."

You're livid. "Who made you the fucking queen of this house?" You demand of Qiangxiang.

"No one. I appointed myself."

"Ordering us around -- and making Amber --" you pause, and look Qiangxiang over from head to toe. With everything going on, this is the first time today you're really noticing her. She's got on a bikini. And a spot just below her bare navel has a tattoo on it.

"Like what you see?" She asks. She runs a forefinger across the glossy ink.

Your mouth goes dry.

>>3993224
Qiangxiang gang.

>>3993224
Now is not the time Ally.
Or maybe now's the only time left.
Fuck it, who knows anymore.

>>3993224
>She smirks. "Perhaps even your President is already a Russian asset."

>You sigh.
Nice one.

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Cerise sits down next to her wife. Gal is taciturn in her typical way, but it's heavier than usual -- she's aggrieved too, over Armstrong's murder. She hugs Cerise tight, nuzzling her side for comfort. But Cerise, nudging her, says: "You have a way to see inside the systems there, still -- don't you?"

Gal, arms still looped around her, pulls her ruddy face away from Cerise and peers up at her.

Cerise nods tenderly. "Nelson's still around. Let's make sure we get him out, at least."

Gal goes to the PC in the corner and sits at it, toting along Johann the penguin. She sets him carefully down by the keyboard, and even takes a moment to straighten the fur on his head. Darkbloom repeats some keys, memorized by rote, that give Gal a backdoor eye into the Darkbloom Analytics intranet.

"nelson's terminal is active," Gal affirms after a few moments. "he's working -- right now. and so are about 50 other terminals belonging to diogenes project devs... all hands on deck"

"Final code sprint," Alex says. "They'll be complete soon, with those instructions I passed on... and then... all Alyosha would need is one of our implants to load Diogenes into."

"So we've got, what, about 24 hours before a Russian wetwork squad comes knocking?" Noelle asks. "At best?

"I'll knock 'em right back!" Mom hollers.

"Please," you say. "Let's talk realistic options."

But Mom, apparently, thinks that's realistic.

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>>3993245
I'm so fucking anxious

>>3993245
>she's aggrieved too, over Armstrong's murder.

Dadstrong ;_;

>>3993245
Only 24 hours before it all irretrievably goes off the deep end. Or less. What a thrill.

>>3993250
I never thought you could edge on depression but apparently you can.

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"No one knows about those tunnels beneath the server room," Kay tells you. "Just us. They were dug illegally by Palo Alto Waste and Water Management, never included in any city plans -- and there hasn't been any new surveying since Tyrus and his gang have died, as far as I've been able to snoop out." She holds up an index finger. "That one singular flaw in security there could be our ticket back inside, if we want to use it."

"There's no access, though," you say. "It was only ever there as a convenient spot to put bombs."

"Right, and bombs make holes, and holes can be climbed through," Kay says. "Instead of blowing Darkbloom Analytics to kingdom come, how about a little controlled demolition?"

"For what purpose?" Qiangxiang demands.

"To save Nelson Berenstoin, for one," Vivian says. "And every other innocent working there."

"No one who works at Darkbloom Analytics is innocent," Qiangxiang says.

"Go to hell," Whitney says. "Those are my people in there. My people. I could give a fuck about innocent. We have to get them out if we're talking about blowing the place up."

"Time is ticking," Qiangxiang says frustratedly. "Tick tock, tick tock, Whitney. Would you rather Alyosha get his hands on technology that can undo the existence of people you love? He will come gunning for us next, when Nelson is done, and then what will you do?"

Whitney has no response.

>>3993261
I can't believe Qiangxiang just called Whitney a dumb asshole right in front of us.

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"What about your implants?" Rose asks. "You, and Amber, and Gal, and Vivian -- you'll die if we blow up the campus."

"If Nelson finishes Diogenes and pushes it to the servers, the servers will push it to them," Alex says. "That's how I have it set up, at least. After that, they won't need the functionality of the servers any longer..."

"So the moment he's done with his work, our implants become an all-in-one Sand-Reckoner-slash-Diogenes smorgasbord for this Alyosha prick to come steal," Amber says.

"Basically," Alex says.

"And that leaves us with a vanishingly small window to actually extract Nelson and the rest of them if we want to go that route," Noelle says. "Surely Alyosha will kill them all when they're through. And then he'll mobilize for us right away."

"We should get going quick, then," Whitney says.

"i'll know as soon as they're done working on the project" Gal offers. "i could give the word go"

Alex, of all people, is the pragmatist: "Getting inside the building is one thing. Getting out, with dozens of people in tow, is another... that place is under siege. And under the eyes of the police, the military, foreign powers... we can't just escort all the employees out and not expect someone to fight us. Even if we take them out the way we came, through the tunnels -- even if no one else above-ground realized what was going on -- Alyosha's men would know for sure. That place has got to be swarming with his footsoldiers. And they'd chase us. Right?"

"Under siege," Amber repeats.

"Hmm?" Alex says.

"You're right, twinky. They're under siege. And who's sieging them? Thousands of pissed off citizens who wanna overthrow the system." She turns from face to face. "Why do we have to blow up Darkbloom Analytics? Why can't we just give these folks the keys to the kingdom and let them go hog wild for us? If we get them inside, they'll do the work -- and it'll give everyone there a chance to get out, during the fray."

"That's just going to make the body count even higher," you say.

"No one inside that building is going to get out of it, unless we give them an escape ladder," Amber says. "And the only thing that will work for it is chaos -- the chaos of a riot breaching the front gates."

"The way I see it, we have three options," Kay says.

"Oh my god," Amber mutters.

Kay ignores her exasperation. "We can try to use a riot to our advantage, the way Amber suggests -- leading them into the building through the tunnels. Or we can go inside all stealthy-like, and try to manage the breakout on our own terms. Or..."

"Or," you prompt.

"Or we accept that there's going to be some collateral, and blow the place up, even with people like Nelson still in it."

[ ] Option A: Breach the system. Help the protestors inside; use the chaos to defeat Alyosha and destroy the company.
[ ] Option B: Subvert the system. Sneak in, save anyone you can, and defeat Alyosha under your own powers.
[ ] Option C: Blow the system up.

>>3993302
[x] Option B: Subvert the system. Sneak in, save anyone you can, and defeat Alyosha under your own powers

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Trap Alabaster mode LET'S GO

>>3993302
I would say blow it up but what is the likelihood of alyosha actually getting killed.

>[x] riot

>>3993302
Somehow, Alyosha knew about the message being passed between Alex and Armstrong. Even with Tiresias, he was able to spot that subterfuge without a single problem. Stealth simply isn't an option.

I'd like to imagine we're not far gone enough to say "fuck the innocents", even if it is for... sigh... the greater good.

>[x] Option A: Breach the system. Help the protestors inside; use the chaos to defeat Alyosha and destroy the company.


If anybody can think of another Option D, I swear to god, now is the time.

>>3993302
>[x] Option A: Breach the system. Help the protestors inside; use the chaos to defeat Alyosha and destroy the company.
I hate all of these options though.

Hold the fuck up. We get the full powered Sand Reckoner AND Diogenes if he finishes? All four of us plus the penguin? Does that come with reality-warping extravaganza?

Op:B

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>>3993302
>[x] Option C: Blow the system up.
Born to die.
Quest is a Fuck
69,617,310,421 dead innocents
自己の死 2001

>>3993302
>[X] Option A: Breach the system. Help the protestors inside; use the chaos to defeat Alyosha and destroy the company.

>>3993302
>[ ] Option B: Subvert the system. Sneak in, save anyone you can, and defeat Alyosha under your own powers.
More people, more opportunities for things to go horribly wrong.

>>3993302
A.

There will be countless civilian casualties, but I see no better way.

Armstrong died, we riot. Closing and writing.

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>>3993347

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>>3993347
I chose this option, but still.

>>3993347
So it's the boogaloo, then.

>>3993302
>[ ] Option A: Breach the system. Help the protestors inside; use the chaos to defeat Alyosha and destroy the company.
Even if they kill every rioter that'll only put the government under more shit

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>>3993347

>>3993302
>Option A: Breach the system. Help the protestors inside
B A T T L E R O Y A L E

So what are you up to on this night of panic, /fq/-tachi?

I got Stardew Valley over Christmas, and am working on some shadowruns in between farming. Good thing I don't have any evidence for my current far-fetched theory!

>>3993390
New Witcher 3 playthrough and jammin to some Coheed. Just got through white orchard.

>>3993390
Tonight's game is harem-fantasy
Which is sort of FF5, with tittymonsters.

>>3993390
Brain turned off, suffering mode only.

>option C
I think its the safest option.

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"And how exactly are we supposed to herd a bunch of unruly protestors into the building?" Daddy says. "Are you the pied piper of anarchists now? Gonna march your way into an active battlezone and say, 'hey guys, come with me down into the sewers, there's something cool there I wanna show you!' Get real."

He's always such a shit when he's scared. It's kind of sweet, in its own way. He doesn't want to put you at risk.

"I know someone who can help," you say.

"Of fucking course you do," Noelle mutters.

"You know him too. And he's up to no good, right now." You tap your cheekbone just below your ruined eyehole. "So says the god of the grain."

>>3993408
Place your bets: Auburn or Will?

>>3993408
oh god who

>>3993411
Stackleford

>>3993411
Boyd

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Will parks on the curb right outside the chain-link fence. You're a good 10 miles from Darkbloom Analytics and the thick of the protest -- this is a quiet backstreet, without any public businesses or residences nearby, just some warehouses, storage sheds, shipping centers, and -- this. An electrical substation, humming along at about 220,000 volts, give or take. That electric hum is the only sound in the air right now. The fence is abutted along the top of its perimeter by barbed wire, and beyond, a stretch of patchy grass leads to the gray transformers and power switchers and capacitors, in all their weird geometry so reminiscent of retro sci-fi, all of it seeming to vibrate with raw energy.

"Thanks for picking me up," you say.

"No prob."

Mom leans in from the back of the car. "You're such a nice young man, Will. I wish Amber would be more like you."

He laughs. You wish Mom hadn't insisted on coming, but she wouldn't let you and Daddy leave the house without tagging along. Ditto Daddy's cunt of a wife (who's growing on you, admittedly.)

"For real, though," you tell Will. "I know I said I didn't want you involved, but..."

"Hah," he says. "You think I'm gonna just sit back and let fucking Rais--" he startles as, from the substation, a deafening crackle like thunder roars out, and then sparks go flying. The streetlights die. Power just got knocked out for a huge swath of Palo Alto. By no accident, either.

Fleeing on foot, then, comes a little gaggle of people in black suits and balaclavas. Five in total. They clamber through the hole they made in the fence when they first came in -- but you and Will are already out of the car to intercept them. So are your dear sweet mother and your less sweet, but just as dear, Daddy.

Two of the wannabe insurrectionists level guns on you, shouting emphatically, asking who the fuck you are. Mom scurries from the car and bodily shields you, arms held wide. But from the rear of the opposing group, one young man comes pushing through, and tells the guys threatening you to lower their weapons. He pulls his mask off his sweaty face.

"Hey Auburn," you say.

>>3993422
Of fucking course he's an actual antifa member.

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"Should I ask what you're up to?" You say, nodding at the bolt cutter still in Auburn's hand.

"No," he says. He's got scruff -- and he stinks -- a week or so of being caught up in a fast-developing street war with the cops didn't wear well on him. Or did it? The beard, brown unlike the blond of his head, kinda suits him. Too bad about his ear, though. It's covered with a thick gauze bandage taped haphazardly around his head.

"Whoa," Will says. "You okay, Raisin Brant? What happened to you?" He reaches for the wounded side of Auburn's head, and the blood-stained bandage there, but Auburn swats his hand away.

"Don't touch me. I don't consent to that."

Will giggles.

"I got shot," Auburn says. "I was lucky. A lot of the people with me weren't."

"Going for graze points?" You say.

"What?"

"Auburn..." Mom breathes. "I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it with my own two eyes. You were always such a sweet boy."

"Hello to you too, Ms. Catachresis."

"Yo, who the fuck are these people?" One of Auburn's still-masked accomplices wants to know.

Will pulls on his eyelid and sticks his tongue out at the armed men.

"Friends," Auburn tells them. "In a way."

"We gotta get out of here," another accomplice says.

"I'll make this quick," you say. "Now that you've got the cover of darkness and all, it's perfect timing."

"For what?" Auburn says.

"Tell everyone you know that I've got a way into the building."

>>3993426
The enemy of my enemy. All fiction though, the street commies all love big tech.

>>3993428
Ha ha! Time for domestic terrorism!

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Daddy and Rose2 and Will follow behind, while you lead Auburn through the sewers. You wear lighted helmets, and also wield flashlights in your hands, to show the way in the pitch darkness.

"Right... here," you tell him, stopping. "Put a little C4 up here --" you tap on the low, curved, vaulted ceiling. "-and kablammo. We'll get in, no sweat."

"Why are you telling me this?" Auburn asks.

"There's all sorts of bad guys up in there. Once we're in, we can shoot 'em up." You make finger guns. "Action movie style."

"We," Auburn says flatly.

"But let me put it back on you," you tell him. "What made you decide to come take part in this craziness?"

"It didn't start like this," Auburn says. "It was just a protest. Banging drums, holding signs. But it kept getting worse, and worse... I got sucked into it."

The way he speaks now, even the way he carries himself, is so different. Just a few days of violence has changed some deep part of him.

"But why did you start?" You ask. "You were never one to tear down the system."

Auburn gazes at you coldly. "And you? You think you're some revolutionary, but where were you, Amber? I thought you'd be here a lot sooner. I guess in the end neither of us were what we thought."

"Auburn--"

"Thanks for the help," he says. "Get out of here. Have fun in your sex mansion. I don't need anything else from you."

"Oh, that shit is not going to fly--" you begin, but Daddy is already putting a hand on your shoulder. Auburn nods at him.

"Will can take us back," Daddy says. "He'll bring back a few presents for you, too."

"Explosives?" Auburn says.

You nod. "I have a stash tucked away somewhere safe. I call them roomburners."

"Such a lame fucking name," Daddy's wife mutters.

"Shut up," Daddy says, rolling his eyes, not glancing back at her. "Well. They should be just enough to blow a decent sized hole in the ceiling. The servers are right above us."

"When do you want us to go?" Auburn says.

"When I say go."

He huffs. "Fine."

"I'll be there too, naturally," you say -- but Daddy is already leading you by the hand, down the tunnel. Auburn's lone form, lit by his lighted helmet, becomes smaller and smaller in the encroaching darkness.

>>3993428
Amber is clearly a bad influence as all these children are now skipping school just like her.
Such is the power of the stuco president.

>>3993432
Well, rip in pizza Auburn.

>>3993390
Total War Warhammer. Got a Nakai campaign going.

>>3993436
That's how I wanna go

>>3993454
It's certainly better to die on the frontlines than in ignominy.

>>3993455
No, I mean, I wanna die with pizza. It's better to die on the frontlines (of pizza) than in the ignominy (of not having pizza)

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>>3993459
I'm... not quite sure how to respond to this, Anonymous-dono, so have Whitney making a Whitney face.

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"Hey, you got any of that Capris Sun?" Will asks.

Gal hands him a bag from the fridge.

"Sweet." He peels the straw off and unwraps it, but struggles to get it stuck into the bag. Try and try as he might, he can't get it done.

Amber sighs. "Give me that," she says, and she does it for him.

"Thanks," he says. "Thought you'd never offer."

"Have you ever gotten one of these things open on your own?" She says.

"...No."

Amber rolls her eyes at him.

You find a pen and a pad of paper, and write down the address of the Mallory home. "The roomburners are in the crawlspace down there. Go grab them, and bring them to Auburn."

Will salutes with one hand, and slurps his drink with the other.

"And get the fuck out of there as soon as you're done with your delivery," Amber tells him.

"Oh, I gotta," he says. "I have to be at soccer practice suuuuper early, and it's kind of a long drive back and forth from Palo to Gilroy. So I won't be getting any shuteye until late."

You shake your head. Does this boy understand the gravity of what he's involved with right now? Guess not.

"Hey, could I steal a few more Capris Suns -- for the drive? They'd super help a lot, since I still have half a gallon of nuts left to get through tonight."

Amber sighs even more theatrically. "Need me to open those ones for you, too?"

"Yeah... I mean if you're offering."

She prepares an entire 12 pack of Capris suns for him, putting straws through each. She sets them in in a deep tupperware container for safekeeping and easy toting.

"You're a lifesaver, Amb," he says.

"What are you talking about, again?" Whitney asks. "Half a gallon of nuts? Nuts come in gallons?"

"Ever hear of GOMAD?" Will asks.

"Gallon of milk a day, yeah," Whitney says.

He snaps, and points at her. "Yeah! Well, I'm lacto intolerant. So..."

He proceeds to explain to a goggle-eyed Whitney, at length, the idea of his GONAD diet.

"Huh," she says when at last he's through.

"Pretty cool, don't you think?" He says.

"...I'll stick with milk," Whitney says.

Will shrugs. "Does a body good, right?"

"I mean," Whitney adds, not wanting to offend, "I do like nuts. Just not that much."

"I don't really like nuts either," Will says.

"...You eat a gallon a day."

"Yeah, but. I don't like it."

"Shouldn't you stop, then?" Whitney asks.

"Meh," he says.

Whitney nods. "Fair enough," she says -- as if truly convinced by the rhetorical tactic of "meh."

"Well, I should skedaddle," Will says, and takes his tupperware full of pre-strawed Capris Suns, bracing them against his hip as he exits. "See you on the flipside."

As Whitney closes the door behind him, she turns and tells you: "Cool kid. Dumb as a bog of rocks. But cool. I like him."

"Bog?" You say.

"Sorry. I meant to say bax, but switched it up at the last second, so it came out as bog."

"Box?"

"What?"

You let it drop.

>>3993465
dying without a pizza is pretty ignominious.
>>3993467
>Will and Whitney having a scene
I've waited all season for this.

>>3993467
God, I love these two.

He's so fucking dead ;_;

>>3993467
>"What are you talking about, again?" Whitney asks. "Half a gallon of nuts? Nuts come in gallons?"

>"Ever hear of GOMAD?" Will asks.

The great meeting of the minds.

>>3993467
Yes fuck finally we can die in peace

>>3993467
What a great scene.
Too bad Will is gonna die now too ;_;

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"So what's the next step of your master plan?" Noelle says.

"Oh, I'm sure the FBI would love to know," Amber says, munching on gummi bears on the living room couch. Noelle flips her off.

"There is no next step," you tell her. "We're all here, and we're all safe. So we're going to stay hunkered down until it's over."

Amber is on her feet. "What? Like fuck we're gonna stay hunkered down. We gotta go in there--"

"No we fucking don't," you say. "We've set up everything we can from the outside. Now we play defense. That's it. That's the plan. No more discussion."

"If you're too much of a coward to go there, then--"

It's time to lean on some of that Daddy cachet you've built up: "I will tie you down if I have to, little girl. Do not test me. You aren't leaving this house until I say so."

"Ahhhn~"

You turn, and glance into the den. Qiangxiang is sitting in a chair, writhing, and biting her lip, as Samantha pierces her belly button.

"What the fuck--" you begin.

"Don't worry!" Samantha insists. "I'm a licensed practitioner! It will look so cute on her!"

"God," you breathe.

Alex is leaning over Gal's shoulder at the PC, snooping on Darkbloom Analytics. He grabs your attention: "they've got a long ways to go yet," he says. "They won't be finished until tomorrow at the very, very earliest."

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Amber demands.

You shrug. "Same thing we do every night."

Noelle approaches her from behind. "I can help you tie her down. You know I'm good for it."

Now there's something you finally like to hear the sound of.

>Everyone is here. But how many people do you need to help you fuck 14 girls and a cute boy at the same time?
>(And who, if you do want help, should take the honors?)
[ ] 0. I'll do it myself.
[ ] 1. Always could use a helper.
[ ] 2. Makes for a nice 4-to-1 ratio.
[ ] 3+. The more the merrier.

>>3993508
>[x] 1. Always could use a helper.
Scarlett

>>3993508
>"Don't worry!" Samantha insists. "I'm a licensed practitioner! It will look so cute on her!"
Of fucking course she is

>[x] 1
>Samantha

I got no major preference for the number of helpers, but dom Samantha sounds fun

>>3993508
oh god
oh fuck
oh shit
oh geez

>[x] 2. Makes for a nice 4-to-1 ratio.
Nominating Rose and Whitney.

>>3993508
>[ ] 2. Makes for a nice 4-to-1 ratio.
Whitney and Noelle.

>>3993515
Seconding this

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>3993508
Oh God, I need Chartanon for this.

>[ ] 2. Makes for a nice 4-to-1 ratio.
Torn between Rose/Samantha and Whitney/Samantha. Gonna let dice decide.

1 - Rose/Samantha
2 - Whitney/Samantha

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>>3993522
Might be a bit outdated

>>3993508
If we make OP write out every possible combo, we’ll stay here fucking for all eternity, and no one will die!

>>3993508
>[x] 2. Makes for a nice 4-to-1 ratio.
Whitney and uhhh Scarlett?

>>3993508
Use some help Noelle and Whitney

>>3993515
Eh, I'll bump it up to 2.

>Samantha
>Noelle

>>3993508
>[ ] 0. I'll do it myself.
I'm curious

>>3993524
It's okay, I just used OP's interaction chart >>3988631 as a basis.

Worked out well enough for dice, I must say.

>>3993508
>Rose and Samantha

>>3993508
>[X] 2. Makes for a nice 4-to-1 ratio.
Who else but our wife Rose, and our girlfriend/mistress/defacto second wife/former boss Whitney?

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Okay, I'm gonna cut off voting here and begin writing.

This will be an extra warm wait, and also the last thing I post for tonight's half.

You can stick around for me to put it up, or just return at 9 PM EST Sunday for the episode's conclusion!

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>>3993562
My patience is infinite. I shall await your guidance to the promised land.

Whitney gang

>>3993508
>"So what's the next step of your master plan?" Noelle says.
Crashing DBA, with no survivors!

>[x] 0. I'll do it myself.

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Three and a half hours, boys.

Is this the warmest wait of the series?

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>>3993714
Dr. Carte, I'm FBI.

>>3993733
It's gonna take a little while yet, which is why I let people know to dip out for the night! I'm at about 4.5k words right now, took a half hour break, now I'm gonna get back to it.

>>3993736
Of course. I appreciate that you took the time to make the banepost though

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>wake up
Holy shit this is gonna be JUICY.

>>3993178
>>3993196
>>3993202
>darkbloom missed whitney so much that he missed Vivian's birthday just to see her do nothing for 3 hours
Jeez

>no lewd
>no sleepy Yuki
I can’t believe OP will die before finishing FQ

>>3993736
Why does it seem like some of the implants are disproportionately more powerful than the others? Gal and Amber have incredibly powerful implants while Darkbloom and Alabaster seem to have party tricks.

>>3993919
Hey now. He also saw her win. She dunked all over every single dork in dork bowl.

>>3993932
Galatea is the oldest prototype and seemed to work mostly with the application of already collected data. Camelia came next and seemed more focus on the preservation of data. Catachresis was the next step and is immensely powerful, but ultimately very flawed as we saw. Diegesis, Darkbloom's former implant and Vivian's current, is supposably on part with it but with the kinks worked out, and limited by its link to Catachresis.

Penelope, currently installed in Pengu Darku, is the most powerful of all of them to the point that Cerise was literally able to warp reality with it, however it's been kept in low-power mode which not only covers up its full capabilities, but allows Darkbloom to surface.

>>3993938
>Hey now. He also saw her win. She dunked all over every single dork in dork bowl.
That round of the competition would've probably happened on a different day

>>3994053
Nope, April 21st. It's all there. Quarterfinals were earlier on, the grand finals were in the afternoon. That night, North High was burning to cover up Cerise's killing of the original Dalton.

Rolled 17 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

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https://pastebin.com/8UAtW9rr

>>3994071
AAAAAAAAAA

OP, please get some rest.

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>>3994073
Yes. Goodnight for now!

>>3994071
oh I am SO glad I’m going on lunch

>>3994071
Holy shit, this is the longest one yet. Did you actually stay up all night doing this?

>>3994071
Well, that's it lads.
Every death is counting double from here on in.

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The time is now 4:21 PM. OP is resting now. Please wait warmly until it is done.

>>3993152
I can't find the lewd where Amber sneaks into Alabaster's bed for the first time, fuck

>>3994613
https://pastebin.com/su18N2nT

It's buried in a three-parter!

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Time for some good old fashioned domestic terrorism.

>>3994735
Why does she wear the mask?

>>3994740
Dragons, unfortunately.

It's time. Maybe.

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Alex's estimate of when the team remaining at Darkbloom Analytics could finish Diogenes turns out to have been really generous. Even with Alex's detailed instructions, and 90-something percent of the codebase already assembled -- that dev group of 50+, working round the clock, takes until a little past 4 PM the following day to approach the finish line. You wonder whether those poor bastards know that they're working for a potemkin general; a cutout in the shape of Max Pershing, harboring the mind of Alyosha Kerimov. Nelson knows the truth, but do his reports? Are the worker bees at Darkbloom Analytics blindly slouching their way towards their own death, thinking all the while that they'll finally get out of the office when they're done, unaware of the true plans for them?

They surely don't know that the floor of the basement is about to get blasted to smithereens so that hundreds of violent rebels can pour in.

You feel ill.

"nelson is at his workstation" Gal reports.

You all crowd around the PC to watch, but you can't make sense of the bare-bones powershell that Gal types commands in and spies on the company through. Alex can, though. He asks Gal to type something, and when she does it, and the command prompt reports back to her, Alex tells you:

"Nelson's pushing it to the servers -- Diogenes is going live."

You clack a message to Auburn Brantly, simple, and to the point:

>Go.

The rest is up to god.

>>3994784
>Actually awake and ready

Jesus Christ OP, you are fucking madman

>>3994784
You made it! You're great, you know that?

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>>3994784
HERE WE GOOOOOO

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The world around you thrums, then. Just for a moment. The edges of your vision take on strange contours, like reality through a funhouse mirror; warp and become blindingly bright, white. You glimpse, too, the others adjusting to their new firmware. Gal throws her head back in her chair, letting out a low whine. Vivian stumbles, nose beginning to bleed, then steadies herself against her sister, who hugs her. Amber blows air through her nostrils like she got punched in the chest, and falls to her butt; Mom helps her back up.

Your entire endocrine system seems to slowly lurch. It's similar to the fearfully-anticipated yet somehow unexpected split-second transition of the roller coaster from the plateau into the drop. But it's all somehow more tangible than a jolt of adrenaline coursing electrically through you. It feels like a physical thing within you, something alien, separate from Alabaster Soliloquy -- extruding like a strand of bread dough, into an absurd length, and then folding over itself like a pretzel. Your whole system is in a tizzy.

Then it's done. Your vision settles, and your little bit of indigestion dissipates. Back to normal? Whatever normal means anymore. You glance from face to face, to confirm the others are okay. They are. Vivian wipes her nose with a tissue proffered by Whitney; Mom clutches Amber tightly despite the latter's embarrassment; Gal resumes typing, to ensure the job is really done. But you know the job is done. You all possess Diogenes, now.

Rose2, crying hot tears, flees from the room.

"Rosie--" Cerise calls. She's the one physically closest to her tanoshii imouto-chan, standing with her near the edge of the living room; and so she gives Rose2 chase, upstairs -- to find out what's eating at her so badly. You follow suit.

>>3994791
Oh god oh fuck here we fucking go.

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>>3994791
I don't think I'm ready

>>3994791
>Rose2, crying hot tears, flees from the room.
Oh boy, I saved up my bitch tears this weekend just for this.

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When you get to Rose2's pink-and-pink-and-pink bedroom, you find her on her knees on the carpet, crying into Cerise's bosom. Cerise gently strokes her head and back, hugging her, cheek resting on the top of her crown.

"Shh," Cerise says. "What's wrong. It's okay. Go ahead."

"I... I..." Rose2 sputters.

You kneel with the pair too. "Do you feel okay?" You ask. "Physically." You're less concerned with emotions right now; Rose2 is at the nexus of some pretty serious shit -- you need to make sure those tears aren't because something is going from bad to worse.

"I... I..." Rose2 sputters again, like trying to force back a fit of hiccups. At last she manages it: "I'm so scared! I'm so scared, Ally--!!"

You wouldn't vocalize it, but that's a relief. She's only scared. That's understandable. A scared girl, you can deal with. You know plenty.

"I didn't want to say anything..." Rose2 continues. "I didn't want to get on your nerves.. But -- if this Diogenes thing is the opposite of Sand Reckoner -- and Sand Reckoner is the only reason I exist--! Do you see!"

Cerise lets you take Rose2 into your arms, and you embrace your candy girl. You soothe her much the same way Cerise did, stroking her neon hair, kissing her sweetly smelling face. It doesn't seem to help. Cerise sits on the edge of the bed, watching.

"We'll keep you safe," Cerise says.

"You have to promise--"

"We promise," you tell her. You rock her back and forth.

"I..." Rose2 begins. She goes still, all of a sudden, in your grasp. You cock your head and gaze questioningly down at her.

"Rose?" You say.

She hiccups -- for real. Her face twitches.

"Are you--" you begin.

"I'm-- I'm o-okay-- I'm sorry, Ally... don't... worr... yy..." She dissolves into hiccups. A few seconds later she tries again. "S-silly! A-a-a-durr. I'm fine. I'm fine! I'm fine!"

Cerise's face curls into a frightened gape. You take Rose2 by the shoulders and lightly shake her: "Get ahold of yourself -- it's okay -- it's gonna be okay."

"Of c-course, o-of course it will!" Rose2 stammers. She pulls away from your hug, wearing a smile so forced it looks like a rictus -- which rather than convince you it's all okay, only accentuates the fact that she's in the midst of a panic attack. "I'm okay-- I'm okay!"

She vomits.

It's like a baby's emesis, no projectile force to it; she doesn't even seem to notice that her mouth and lips have burped up some of her own stomach's contents. Her eyes are shimmering and her chin is dripping with half-digested food. She gazes at you.

"Oh my God--" Cerise says.

"D-don't worry, nee-chan!" Rose2 says.

"Rose..." you breathe.

"I-- I want to--" Rose2 says, with obvious difficulty. Her words become slurred, like a stroke victim, and she sways slightly. "I want to exist..."

She locks eyes with you.

"B-because -- because you called me Rose..." She draws a labored breath. "Al-- Ally..."

She begins to shake, and

>>3994801
AND WHAT
AND WHAT???

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>>3994801
YEP, WASN'T READY

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You stand, glancing back at Cerise.

"Does it smell like candy in here, all of a sudden?" You say.

Cerise shrugs. "I don't know. Not really. I mean -- Amber drinks a lot of lemon ramune, so maybe it's that?"

You glance all around. "No. Amber hasn't actually slept in this room for weeks."

Cerise huffs. "Yeah. Sleeping with Daddy -- ugh."

"Anyway, it's not that." You frown, trying to think. "It's something... sweeter. Like -- if the color pink had a smell. You know?"

"I have no fucking idea," Cerise says. "...Shouldn't we be downstairs?"

"Was there someone in here with us just now?" You ask.

Cerise peers at the bedspread. She thinks hard. "No... no, just us."

You swivel your head, to take stock again of the room. Only Amber's politically ambiguous but uniformly radical paraphernalia is arrayed all about. Still... the phantom of something else lingers -- clawing at the edges of your consciousness. You couldn't say what. "It feels like someone else was with us. Doesn't it?"

Cerise is mute.

"Why are we here?" You ask her.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are we even up here? You're right -- we should be downstairs -- why aren't we?"

Cerise blinks. "I don't know. Fuck. I have no idea. There's just this... blank spot, in my memory..."

"Great." You massage the bridge of your nose and sigh. "Guess reality is coming undone again."

You close your eyes, trying to fight it back, but tears are starting to trickle.

"Alabaster?"

You inhale once, shudderingly, and wipe your face. "Forget it. I don't know what my deal is. I just kinda feel like--" you shake your head. "I feel like I lost someone just now."

Cerise's face is grim. "I hope not. We should go back down."

You half expect to go downstairs and find that everyone you love is dead. But they're all there. Cerise, Whitney, Rose, Vivian, Amber, Gal, Dr. Carte, Alex, Kay, Noelle, Charlotte, Samantha. Even Qiangxiang. And, of course, Mom. Everyone is here and accounted-for. Aren't they?

>>3994809
NOOOOOOOOOOO
FUCK

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>>3994809

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Rose2 isn't people.
don't get attached to your fuckpets.

>>3994809
This is the most humane way you’ve killed someone yet, I’m impressed.

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They were right, whoever said the waiting is the hardest part. It's been a couple hours since then, and you've been just waiting, agonized, for the noise of your security trying to battle back waves of Russian hitmen.

Nothing comes.

And if Auburn succeeded in breaching Darkbloom Analytics, the news isn't reporting on it. The channels all still carry the same aerial images of the streets outside the campus, swarming with people, and besieged by police.

"The news never shows the good shit," Kay says, harrumphing. "Trust me."

Time to check up on it the other way.

Amber pulls her eyepatch back for a moment. You hug her tight to help her through what you assume will be her usual bout of pain -- but it fails to materialize. She can gaze through her evil eye just fine. Physically, at least. She drops the eyepatch back over her empty orbit, lower lip quivering.

"What did you see?" Mom asks.

"They killed him."

"They--" You begin.

"He's dead. Down there in the sewers. They shot him."

"Who?" You ask.

But you know who; and Amber is weeping into your shoulder, unable to continue.

What else did she see? You suspect there's more. Maybe you don't want to know.

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>>3994828

>>3994801
>>3994809
FUCK FUCK FUCK

THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING, IT JUST CAN'T

>>3994828
Time to cue the Komm Susser Tods

We'll bring everyone back with SR by the end of the story, right? ...right?

>>3994844
>by the end of the story...
Anon, I...

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"What about Nelson?" Whitney asks. "And everyone else?"

"I don't know," Amber mutters.

"Where's Alyosha?" Noelle adds.

"I don't know!" She shrieks. She pulls back from your chest and your wet tee. "I can't see into the building! I don't know! I'm sorry!"

Noelle worries her thumbnail. "Should we go in ourselves?"

"No," Kay says. "If Amber's thingamabob can't see inside Darkbloom Analytics -- that means Alyosha's hiding. He's expecting us."

"But what else can we do?" Whitney says.

"Give it a day," Darkbloom tells her. His robotic voice chimes out from Johann, over by the desktop.

"What!"

You have to swallow your pride, and agree with David Darkbloom. "Give it a day," you say. "If they haven't come gunning for us by this time tomorrow... we can figure out a new course of action then."

"But Nelson!" Whitney shouts.

You fix her in your gaze. "Nelson is most likely dead. I'm sorry." She turns away from you. You say, more firmly: "We have to focus on us now... Whitney -- Whitney!"

She's inconsolable.

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>>3994828
Since apparently we won't be there for the moment.

Honestly what did you think was going to happen by avoiding risk? I'm not crying, you're crying. Shut up.

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>>3994848
Waiting is the worst
Waiting is the absolute worst.

Reminder to ask op at the end of season QA what the other choices could of possibly led to.

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That night, Amber is weirdly insistent on sleeping in her own bedroom. She refuses to lay her head anywhere else. She still wants you and Rose to keep her company, though.

Amber is waiting for you there. Rose, with you in your own bedroom, the one you now unwillingly share, gathers up a couple pillows from your marital bed, plus Amber's favorite stuffed bear Plissken.

She falters when you don't follow her back out into the hall.

"Aren't you coming?" Rose asks.

"I'll be there -- just need a second. Keep her warm for me."

Rose smiles. "Of course. I'll help her practice kissing."

Rose's idea of helping Amber practice kissing is making Amber rim her. It's the kind of gently abusive and cruel thing she's really into, now that Amber is committed to calling her Mommy and all. It actually does improve Amber's kissing technique, shockingly enough. Rose always makes Amber treat the situation like she's kissing any other mouth, and instructs her carefully.

You'll join them soon for the kind of really raunchy, fucked-up sex that usually puts your mind off your troubles. But for now, you need just a moment to yourself, to think. You rarely get that these days.

Did you lose someone?

Rose -- did you lose Rose?

But no. Of course Rose is still around, she was just here, and now she's with Amber.

Something is so wrong, so broken, and you have no idea what.

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Qiangxiang, of all people, interrupts your reverie. She knocks on your door, entering at the same time.

The tips of her hair are bleach-blonde now -- another Samantha Smatters special, you assume. She wears a crop top and short-shorts. Kinda reminiscent of Amber's fashion sense, now that you think of it. The outfit anyway shows off her darkened skin, plus the tattoo and piercing.

"Hello Ally," she says simply.

"Did I invite you in?"

"Yes."

You sigh. "I mean into my bedroom."

She saunters up.

"You took my cherry," she whispers.

"I did."

"You were rough -- are you always so?"

"Usually."

She kisses you tenderly, standing between your legs at the foot of the bed. You kiss her back, holding her small face in your hands.

"You have corrupted me," she says at last, as she pulls away. "Are you happy?"

"I don't know."

"Would you like to uncorrupt me?" Qiangxiang asks you.

"How would I even begin to do something like that?"

She smiles. "With tenderness."

[ ] Give her the tenderness.
[ ] Deny her.

>>3994886
>[x] Give her the tenderness.

>>3994886
>[ ] Deny her.
I'm really not feeling it.

>>3994886
>[x] Give her the tenderness.

>>3994886
>[ ] Give her the tenderness.

>>3994886
>[x] Deny her.
This feels wrong. Something about this feels wrong and I don't even know what.

>>3994877
>the one you now unwillingly share
I realize this is very likely just Alabaster being Alabaster, but this snippet leaves me with a nauseous feeling.

>>3994886
>[ ] Deny her.
Ain't no stopping the Daddy Issues train.

>>3994886
Tenderness

>>3994886
Always tenderness.

>>3994886
>[ ] Deny her.

>>3994886
>[x]Deny her
there will be better times for that. And she probably needs to learn that she can't always have what she wants.

>>3994886
Tenderness.

Tie vote.

>>3994905
>>3994906
Uh oh.

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>>3994906
But of course.

>>3994906
Nevermind; a vote sneaked in at the last moment. >>3994905

So once more: please wait warmly.

>>3994906
how do we fuck her but not fuck her

>>3994911
contemplative, light fingering?

>>3994911
Proxy fuck?

>>3994905
The savior of tenderness.

Not gonna lie, I'm shocked any of you have any lewd juice left after that last scene.

>>3994919
It’s fuck quest not cry quest so let’s fuck like it’s our last night on earth (since it probably is.)

>>3994925
But we already did that, and for one of them it was. ;_;

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Sometimes I feel like we've been on a string of bad decisions since the climax of Vail. Other times I think that it's just the story.
I don't like this feeling of not knowing.

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https://pastebin.com/K4wcr0wh

>>3995001
>that last line
PANIC

>>3995001
I don't even know what to feel anymore.

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>>3995001
>https://pastebin.com/K4wcr0wh
>last line

>>3995001
God damn
Chloe is quickly climbing becoming my favorite

It's uh. Getting warm again. In the bad way.

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Having spent yourself so much, you feel yourself drifting into the abyss of unconsciousness.

You should go and be with your wife, and with Amber -- or with someone else -- but for just a moment, you need a catnap. 20 or 21 minutes, max, to rest your tired eyes.

Chloe runs her fingers through your damp hair. "Ally..." she whispers.

"Just a second..." you whisper back.

"Mm. Okay."

Your eyelids droop closed.

You wake again, sometime later -- how late you aren't certain.

You aren't in control.

Chloe is getting dressed again. You're looking at her; you can't look away.

"We have to go," she tells you.

You try to speak, and can't.

She crawls back into bed with you, on hands and knees. She strokes your cheek. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: what have you done to me?"

Bingo.

"You did it to yourself," she says. "But -- then again -- you didn't. You were the victim. David Darkbloom experimented on you. He burnt the life you knew to ashes... he tarnished you. The world broke because of what he did to you and those children, back then -- have you realized that?"

She frowns.

"It's what we share in common," Chloe says at last. "The broken past. We can work together to fix it. You... you alone are the memory of this world, Alabaster Soliloquy. Follow me. We will kill Kerimov -- and find the lighthouse -- and fix it all."

>>3995074
MOTHERFUCKER WHAT

>>3995074
Uh. What.

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You follow Chloe down the hall, against your will.

You have some time, in the silence, to think. Piecing it together...

What her men uncovered in Vail -- the scraps of that prototype Diogenes platform Alex built while imprisoned.

All the time she spent inside Darkbloom Analytics. Did you keep your secrets guarded closely enough? Apparently not.

The concept Alex told you about, the master-slave architecture of the Chinese Sand Reckoner spinoff known as Xi Shi --

That must be it. Chloe is driving your body right now. Your heart sinks.

And it sinks again, even deeper, as Chloe leads you into Vivian's bedroom.

Vivian dozes under the covers, unaware. Chloe shadows her.

You want to tell her how sorry you are. But you can't; you're mute.

Chloe gently pulls Vivian's covers back. Vivian stirs, but doesn't wake.

Johann the penguin, one eye glowing blue in the dark, stares back. Vivian may sleep, but her father doesn't. He's always awake -- one of his condition's minor curses. You somehow can tell that Chloe doesn't control him, at least not yet; he could speak, if he chose. But he knows better. To speak, to wake Vivian, would be to kill her.

Chloe takes the stuffed toy in hand, and together with you, you exit. Vivian's slumbering face disappears behind the softly closing door.

Outside the bedroom, Chloe takes Johann's glass eye out and tosses it carelessly to the ground. She fishes her finger into the cotton batting, and turns the implant's grain off. The blue glow dies. David Darkbloom does sleep, sometimes, after all.

>>3995074
What does she mean by "fix"?

>>3995083
oh my fucking god

I'm a brainlet and have a question
How come Rose2 faded from existence, but not Mom or Amber? Weren't they both created by Sand Reckoner too?

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>>3995083
I hate everything that's happening right now

>>3995092
Maybe Rose2 never existed in the first place

>>3995092
Amber was never pinged as fake. Mom not disappearing is a good question that currently has no answer.

>>3994905
This is all your fault.

>>3995092
Pretty sure they were brought back from the dead, not fully created. Dunno the extent of that difference, but I'd wager that Rose2 never existed in the first place while both Amber and Mom did.

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You almost make it out of the Nail House without being detected. But not quite.

You and Chloe bump into Whitney coming the other way down the second floor hallway. She's scratching her ass, groggy. She startles when she sees you.

"Ally," she says. "Whoa. I was just coming to find you. Were you coming to find me too~?"

You so desperately want to scream, "run!" -- but you can't.

"Go back to bed," Chloe says.

"...Huh?"

"Go to sleep," she says.

"Ally," Whitney says, voice growing severe. "What's happening? Why are you sneaking around like this with Chloe? And -- what the fuck are you doing with bio-dad -- ? Is this another dumbass suicide mission?" She stomps. "You can't just run around on suicide missions without telling me! You asshole!"

"I don't want to do this, Whitney, but I will," Chloe says.

"Shut up, bitch," Whitney says.

You speak, but they aren't your words:

"Go to bed already. Leave me alone."

Whitney swallows hard. "Ally... why?" She narrows her eyes. "That's not-- this isn't-- no. I'm getting Rose and Amber and--"

Chloe slips her dagger into your hands.

You slip the dagger into Whitney's throat.

Your elbow locked, your fist so tightly clenched around the handle that your knuckles blanche: you stab Whitney in the neck.

She gurgles, meeting your eyes. She tries to say something but nothing will form, her larynx is already destroyed. But the expression in her eyes as the life drains from them says it all. She doesn't understand. She doesn't understand why -- you don't, either.

She falls to her back, exsanguinating in the hallway. And then she goes. Whitney is dead.

You can't even vomit. Chloe won't let you.

>>3995099
Didn't Alabaster have memories of Rose2 in school? Or did Sand Reckoner implant those?

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>>3995100
YOU

FUCKING

WHAT

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>>3995100

>>3995100
YOUY
FUCKA
BITCH

NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
MNO
NO

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>>3995100
OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING OP

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A scream from down the hall catches Chloe's attention. Samantha is running away: "No! Oh no! Chloe's gone crazy! She killed Whitney! Help! Help!"

Chloe tsks. "That damn bunny girl..." She looks your way. "We have to hurry. She just woke everyone in the house."

You and her slip stealthily out. You get into your Volt, in the driver's seat, and fire it up; Chloe sits beside.

"Where am I taking you?" Chloe says, asking your question for you. "I'm taking you where it all began. Darkbloom Analytics. We have unfinished business."

Power is still out in much of the valley, and your headlamps are the only illumination on the darkened roads. The sound of raucous rioting draws closer.

Even Samantha knew... even Samantha knew that you weren't really the one who murdered Whitney.

You try to convince yourself that in her final moments, Whitney knew it too. That her last moments on the planet were not spent in despair at the idea you'd betray her.

But didn't you?

This is why we fuck.

>>3995074
>>3995083
>>3995100

Welp, this is some bullshit forced plot. Convince me that this isn't railroaded as all hell right the fuck now.

>>3995100
we could have avoided this

WE COULD HAVE AVOIDED THIS

>>3995111
We could have not fucked her
We knew not to trust her
She was seducing us the entire time

And now yes, Chloe is railroading us. And it's not even OP's fault.

>>3995114
>We could have not fucked her
Do you mean in the first place?

Because we were literally not given an option for that this time.

I swear to god if this is some dream shenanigans

>>3995116
>we were literally not given an option for that this time

I want you to scroll up and read the last vote, Anonymous-dono. The one that squeaked through as the winner seconds before a tie was called.

OP WHAT THE FUCK
YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ANYONE ELSE GODDAMNIT
YOU ALREADY BROKE MY HEART WITH SAUL LEAVE ME ALONE FUCK

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May 1, 2015

You drive Mrs. Mallory's Volt, with Whitney in the passenger seat.

"Shit!" She grunts. "Pull a Yui here."

"Yui?" You say. "Which Yui? What do you mean, pull a Yui?"

"Just turn at the next light. You missed the entrance."

Oh. That's what she means. You pull a U-ie.

Rose and Cerise, in the back, look a bit seasick at the sudden shift of momentum. You're not the greatest driver. You have a license, but you don't have a ton of practice.

You pull into the entrance of the diner. This is the place Whitney demanded. Though you and Rose wanted to go somewhere nice like a Benihana grill, Whitney wanted to slum it, and practically screeched for you to take her to this greasy spoon. She claimed that since she scored the winning point, she deserved her pick of the litter for the celebratory meal.

You don't see the appeal. So maybe it's for the best after all, that Whitney places your order for you. She gets a milkshake, extra-extra-extra large, served in a mug that looks like it's got about a half gallon capacity. It comes slathered in whipped cream, fudge, cherries, and nuts. She shares the gargantuan abomination with you. A straw for her, a straw for you.

Rose, who hasn't had an appetite since lunch, orders just a salad, and this she only pokes at. Cerise takes beer. Beer seems to be about all she can ingest right now, still shaken over... that night... which is why you forced her to come along. Keeping an eye on her.

Cerise and Rose look about equally ill, now that you think about it, though for different reasons. And they're about as happy as you are (not at all) to sit in this chintzy diner with its faux 50s chic: the checkerboard tiles, the paintings of Cadillacs on the walls, the jukebox playing rocakbilly tunes from bygone days.

Your sister and your cousin (once removed) both end up excusing themselves to the restroom at the same time. Mostly, you think, to get away from the gaudy lights and noise of the place.

"Am I the greatest or what?" Whitney says. Sitting across the booth from you, she props her cheeks on her fists, and slurps the sugary slop in the mug. "I saved the fucking quiz bowl. Admit it."

"One question," you tell her. "One. Question. You only answered one question."

"The most important one of all!"

You drink with her in silence.

>>3995116
Could of not let her in the house. But where is the fun in that. There is no escaping Alaska. We just gotta bring everyone back. Still team Chloe. She will be redeemed... I hope.

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>>3995121

>>3995074
Thread theme from this point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykq5i5Jlllc

>>3995119

Holy shit, what is reading comprehension?

I read that as deny her the tenderness, IE, be rough.

>>3995124
Shut the fuck up, curse.

She literally used our body to murder Whitney and didn't have the balls to do it herself. She's not only taking us for a literal ride, she's using our body to give herself an out because she didn't do it, we did. No one has any proof to the contrary. She can not be redeemed. Whitney's dead now because of people supporting her being anywhere near us.

>>3995124
All Whitney wanted to was to play soccer, bang Ally, and drink milkshakes. Rapeyness aside, she was the most innocent person of any of us. The simplest.

There is no redemption for this chink bitch. None at all.

>>3995124
Fuck redemption. She didn't just burn that bridge, she blew it the fuck up.

She dies.

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"Hey..." she says softly. "I heard you were taking Rose2 to prom."

"Yeah, so?"

"Uhh. Well. Why?"

"Because I'm unbearably, completely in love. I adore her so much -- her sweet summer scent, her--"

Whitney kicks you in the shins, hard, beneath the table.

"Ow!" you yell. "What the hell. I should have you committed."

"You lying jerk! Tell me the real reason or I'll kick you harder next time!"

You wipe your mouth. "I did it to annoy Rose. Rose1, that is."

"I knew it."

You smirk. "Isn't it for a good cause, then?"

"Well, yeah, but..."

She trails off.

"But what?" You say.

"You could have taken me."

She says it all at once, and then she blushes, realizing herself. You arch an eyebrow. "I mean -- to annoy her. That would have annoyed her just as much. And then you wouldn't have had to deal with such an annoying dork at prom, too."

"Yeah. I'd have to deal with an annoying idiot instead," you reply. She kicks you again.

"God!" You grunt in pain. "Are you wearing your soccer cleats?"

"No. I just don't kick like a girly man."

You glance under the table just to make sure she's telling the truth. Nope, no cleats.

"You said you hated school dances anyway," you tell her, glancing back up.

"Yeah. But."

"But?"

"You said that too. And you're going with the Flamingo Weeaboo anyway!"

"To annoy Rose!" You insist. You glance furtively over your shoulder, to make sure that bitch isn't listening in -- it would be just so like her, to listen in. You lower your voice. "To annoy Rose," you repeat, whispering. "That's the only reason. I swear. I'm not gonna have any fun."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Promise promise?"

"Yes. Jesus."

She takes another sip.

"Hey..." you say. "I never asked. How did you know?"

She laughs. "That you were taking that dumb bitch to prom?"

"Not that," you say. "The question you answered. The oology thing. Where did you learn that?"

She pokes your shoulder.

"Really?" You ask.

"Yeah."

"When did I teach you that?"

"One day after class while you were dorking out with your trivia books. I was there with you."

"I should thank you," you tell her. "I somehow forgot the most important thing."

"That's why you've got me," Whitney says. She points at herself with her thumb. "Smartest girl in the universe!"

"Smartest girl in the universe," you say.

She blinks rapidly. Her face flushes. Hearing it from your lips is different.

"I decided something," she says.

"What's that?"

"I'm gonna stay with you. Even after school -- even after college. You kinda need me -- right?"

You shrug. The truth is that you couldn't imagine your life any other way -- Whitney's been part of it for so long. You assumed it would be that way forever.

"When you're some bigwig CEO someday," she says, "you're gonna need me to kick your butt sometimes and remind you of the stuff that you forget!"

"Sounds good," you say, sincerely.

You finish your milkshake together in warm silence.

END OF EPISODE 13.
Special ED: https://vimeo.com/381972208

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>>3995139

Okay OP, real answer time, did the vote to bang Chloe kill Whitney?

I felt physically ill making this

>>3995139
There is no light left in this universe. We have to erase it all. We have to go back. We have to make it right.

>>3995145
This is important because I need to know how angry to be at those who broke the old pact.

>>3995139
I can't describe this pain.

>>3995139
This is the worst feeling

At least we still have Fazil and Ken...

...Right?

>>3995150

Oh I can.

Whitney just got killed off in what feels like a super forced fashion.

I'm out. Later /fq/tachi. I'll see you guys around if it ever gets rebooted.

>>3995158
See you next week, Anonymous-dono.

>>3995147
>no Saul

>>3995165
Motherfucker I knew I was forgetting someone

One minute

>>3995145

I don't want to discuss counterfactuals in too much detail until after the end. But this was such a hard thing for me to do, the hardest decision I've ever made in writing anything in my life. I debated myself internally up to the moment I clicked post. And I saw that final vote as the thing that would flip the coin for me.

I need to rest and think a little about in what format the series will conclude. There are at least 2 episodes remaining -- possibly 3, but no more. If I do it in 2, they will be quite long, but maybe it is best to rip the bandaid, and usher us all there.

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>>3995165
>>3995166
Surprisingly, adding Saul to the image didn't do anything to make me feel better. Who'd have thought.

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>>3995171
You absolutely got me. You made one of the most blatantly evil characters in the series, but still got me to believe it was fine to let her into the house.

I really hate myself right about now.

>>3995008
So how's that climb going?

>>3995177
plummetinglike my heart

>>3995161
Not even, bud. Hard dropped like it was Aldnoah Zero S2.

>>3995171
Maybe it's my fault for being busy hosting and missing the vote, but here we are.

>>3995177
I'm not the kinda person to say atodaso but you know what? Atodaso, I fuckin atodaso.

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Guys

I've got a feeling this chart's not going to be getting many more updates after today

I’m so sorry.

We need to avenge her.

I’ve got nothing else

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>>3995185
I hope you will reconsider. We're very close to the end -- it would be a shame if this became your last memory of the story.

>>3995187
Thank you for the work. I'll update my stats and such tomorrow.

>>3995188
Let's do our best.

In the past few episodes we've lost:
>Saul
>Armstrong
>Will
>Rose2
>Whitney
>Probably Nelson
>Quite possibly Ken and Fazil

The suffering truly never ends.

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>Renee had only just finally gotten her daughter back too

>>3995203
>I hope you will reconsider. We're very close to the end -- it would be a shame if this became your last memory of the story.
You say this as though things could change for the better based on any of our decisions. There are two episodes left. This is the real world now. This isn't a fucking deepfake Whitney death. It's a real fucking thing that happened that, foolishly, none of us expected that you ripped yourself apart over and took a fucking hour to think about before finally posting. It's as real as it gets here.

Things are not going to get any better, but they can sure as fuck get worse. This being someone's last memory of FQ is probably the best it'll be from here on.

>>3995207
Next week on AmberQuest: Our girls are going to blow up the fucking planet.

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>>3995209
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prufrock_and_Other_Observations/The_Love_Song_of_J._Alfred_Prufrock

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I know, I know I've let you down.
I've been a fool to myself.

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>>3995203
I really wish I could.

You turned a playful and lewd SOL into a high suspense drama, and still I followed you, because I trusted you

You made the tomboy childhood friend lose to the tsundere love rival, and still I followed you, because it was nothing I haven't dealt with a thousand times before

You showed us a glimpse of an apocalyptic future, and still I followed you, because you said it was only a possibility

You increasingly heavily piled on the incest in the lewds, and still I followed you, because I know not everyone has the same hang ups as I do

You made police fire live on a crowd of protestors, and still I followed you, because it advanced the plot

You killed Whitney, and I'm sorry, but I can't follow you any further. Like Conrad said, the only thing a man can betray is his conscience.

Here, one last Makoto image from me. I don't suppose it's terribly useful to you anymore, but please take it as a parting gift, and a hope for well in the future.