I went up to someone standing at the side of the dancefloor.\n "Hey ," I said. "Wanna dance with me? You wouldn't believe how good of a dancer I am. I'm like Grease Lightning. In fact, I'm just like Grease. I'm serious. Feel my forhead. Pure grease. I'm so greasy, if I was in a sausage roll, I'm slip right out of the batter. That's right, I'm greasier than a sausage roll. I'm so greasy I struggle to keep my clothes on because they just keep slipping off. You know that part in Bruce Almighty where he whips his clothes off by just swinging his arms? I can do that, but it's not because I'm God or anything, it's because I'm just so damn greasy. So, what do you say?"\n The woman touched my forhead, then smiled. "Liar." She walked off.\n\n [[I believe in a thing called destiny. I tried again.|clubHisChatupFour]]\n [[I drowned my sorrows.|clubWasted]]\n [[I went to dance.|clubHisDance]]
"Who the hell are you?!" We both shouted at each other in unison. "How do you exist? What are you doing here? Stop copying me! I said stop! Damn it!"\n I sat back and drove the damn car.\n\n [[We arrived at the bank.|bankHimStart]]
"Excuse me," I said to the woman. "Can you move, please?"\n "No," the woman said, stroking my arm. "I need to protect a pretty little thing like you."\n "Get off me."\n The woman didn't move for another minute, but then she took a deep breath and moved back to her own bed. Relieved, [[I went back to sleep.|trampDayTwo]]
I went into the appropriate lavatory. <<set $queasy = "false">>\n Sometimes I wonder why men and women have different bathrooms. I tried to think about what difference it would make to me if the opposite gender was wandering around while I was doing my business. <<if $his eq "true">> It would probably be fine, unless I was using a urinal. <<else>> There was potentual for it to work, but now without guys like downstairs in the world. I'd be scared to go to the toilet at any place that sold alcahol. <<endif>>\n<<if $eatenPill eq "true">>\n [[I went to leave the pub.|pubPill]]\n<<else>>\n [[I went to leave the pub.|leavingPub]]\n<<endif>>
When I got off the train, there was police waiting for me.\n\n [[They took me to jail.|fishJail]]
When I stood at the barrier of that bridge, I thought through my whole life. All that shit. I thought to myself, really, why do I exist? I mean, what IS the point? For my parent's entertaiment? Well, my parents had had their fun. For some higher purpose? Well, maybe I'm furfilling it by doing this.\n I was a grown up now, and I could make grown up decisions, no matter how bad they were. Jumping off this bridge was one of them.\n The one thing that filled my mind as fell through the air was regret. I died of shock before I hit the ground.\n An end.
Some things are more importiant in life than listening to a stranger drone on about their problems, and at this moment day dreaming was one of them. I didn't know this guy, and upon seeing him again I realised I didn't care about him.\n\n [[I decided to kill myself.|killMyself]]\n [[I decided to call it quits and go home.|walkHome]]\n [[I decided that since I was here I might as well try and pay attention.|iceCreamManAttention]]
I scratched the words "D IS FOR LYFE" into the wall. having left my mark, [[I left the bathroom.|leavingFactory]]
Having survived my first night as a homeless person, I had got the impression it maybe wasn't such a great idea. <<if $queasy eq "true">> I realised I'd soiled myself during the night. I took a note to to self to go to the toilet when feeling queasy. <<endif>>\n\n [[I decided to kill myself.|killMyself]]\n [[I decided to dedicate myself to this way of life.|trampLife]]\n <<if $robbed eq "true">> <<else>>[[ I decided to go home.|walkHome]] <<endif>>
I closed the box and chucked it back into the bottom of the hole. It scared me... I quickly shoved all the dirt back into the hole, patted it over and [[went back inside.|walkHome]]
"Oh, well, I'm glad you asked me that," the man said, as I stuck a slither of squid in my mouth.\n "Sometimes, life just overwhelms me... I don't know where I'm going..."\n\n [[I zoned out of his rambling.|iceCreamManZoneOut]]\n [[I tried my best to pay attention.|iceCreamManAttention]]
The ice cream man started crying. He rambled some nonsense at me until there was a fairly large queue behind me.\n "I'm sorry," he said, "I've got a lot of stuff going on in my life, you know? <<if $his eq "true">> Do you know anyone who can help me?" <<else>> Do you want to talk about it with me?" <<endif>>\n\n [[I decided to give him the number of a therapist I had previously seen.|iceCreamManTherapist]]\n <<if $his eq "false">> [[I decided to give this man my number.|iceCreamManCall]]\n<<endif>> [[I told him to get lost then took my ice cream and left.|takeVanilla]]
"The thing is... I had this maths teacher in high school and once he said to me 'there are two reasons for doing things; because you have to or because you want to.' And recently I've realised, I don't want to do anything. Everything I do is because I have to do it. I don't have any plan for life, hell I don't really have a plan past tonight. All I have is the job I know I need to go to, and the cheap flat I live in... I don't know how to break the cycle... You know?"\n\n [["Yeah... I think I know..."|iceCreamManSympathy]]\n [["Yeah... I think you should get a therapist."|iceCreamManHate]]\n [["Yeah... I'm going to go home now, okay?"|walkHome]]
Hers 'n' His
The three of us were teleported back to the black space. The box landed between me and the opposite me and Mr Rabbit was standing along from us, staff in hand.\n "Okay, fine... I'll tell you two everything. I guess I owe you that."\n "In that box is an exact replica of the universe we where just in. But it's not just a replica... It is the universe. The universe you two were just in, I mean. If you opened up that box and stuck your hand in, a massive hand would be created in space. Do you see?"\n We stared down at the box in disbelief. "That's impossible!" we said.\n "Look around you!" the Rabbit man said. "The two of you have to open up your minds! This is all real! You're not dreaming! You're not on drugs, okay? All that stuff I said about Ultraverse entropy is true! I need that box to stop it."\n "What are you going to do to it?" We asked.\n "... I've got to destroy it."\n "What?" we said. "You're going to destroy an entire universe? Won't that begin the same problem again?"\n "Well, no... I'm going to crush it into one partical and re-set the whole thing. Right back to the big bang, you see? So really, it's not that bad."\n "You're going to kill everyone in that universe!" we said.\n "To protect all other universes, including yours! So come on. Give it up. Give me the box."\n\n [["Never!"|finaleDeny]]\n [["Okay!"|finaleGive]]\n [["So... What exactly are you?"|finaleQuestion]]\n [[I opened up the box and put my hand in it.|fanaleHandInBox]]
<<silently>>\n<<set $his = "false">>\n<<set $nightsClubbing = 0>>\n<<endsilently>> "Vanilla or Chocolate?" the ice cream man said.\n\n[[vanilla|vanilla]]\n[[chocolate|chocolate]]
"Huh... Too bad," she said, then gave me a cheeky grin and wandered off. I have no idea if she was messing with me or what.\n\n [[Welp. Next.|clubHisChatupSeven]]\n [[Time to get drunk already!|clubWasted]]\n [[Time to dance!|clubHisDance]]
"... I mean, I just find it hard to find meaning in my life anymore, you know? Sometimes you just got to find yourself when you didn't even realise you were lost. I spend a lot of time listening to The Smiths, you know what I mean?" I said.\n I was sitting outside in the smoking area with some woman I'd been with most of the night. "Yeah, I know what you mean..." she said, leaning against me.\n "I'm not complaining, you know, because my parents love me, and I have good friends, and my job's fine I guess, but sometimes I still feel down, and I don't even know why... I try and just live with it like it's part of my life, because it is part of my life, but if this is life I - "\n "Hey," she interupted, looking at her phone. "My boyfriend just arrived to pick me up. But you have my number if you want, okay? I know a good therapist I can get you in touch with."\n I was stunned. "I already saw a theripist," I mumbled.\n "Oh well... See them again? I have to go, goodbye," she toddled off.\n I sat there in a trance until shortly after when the music stopped and the night was gone.\n <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> [[I closed my eyes to try and focus my mind.|clubPill]] <<else>>\n I looked down at the ground and saw a red pill on the ground.\n\n [[I ate the pill.|clubPill]]\n [[I went to kill myself.|killMyself]]\n [[I gave up on my life and became homeless.|trampStart]]\n [[I made my way home.|clubHome]] <<endif>>
<<set $knowBox = "false">> "Okay, we'll leave it then," she agreed.\n I leaned back in my chair.\n <<if $argument eq "true">> "It's nice, isn't it? That we agree with each other so often," I said.\n "Yeah... Most the time." she muttered, looking away.\n I said nothing. A phone rang. Both of us hesitated but eventually we went to the back of the van and I answered the phone. <<else>>\n "It's nice, isn't it? That we agree with each other on everything we've talked about? I mean, so often people disagree with me... It's nice to not have to deal with that for a bit."\n "Yeah..." She smiled. "It is nice."\n A phone rang in the back of the van and I went to get it, with her following me. After a quick conversation with Mr Rabbit I hung up. <<endif>>\n "What's he want?" she asked.\n "We've to meet him at a near by pub," I told her "He'll be in disguise, he says."\n "Hah! I don't think any disguise could cover up how short that freak is. Let's get this over with," she said.\n\n [[I got back into the driver's seat and drove us to the pub.|pubHim]]
I sat on a street corner while hundreds of humans and octopusses walked past me. Occasionally one would put a little change in my cup.\n I fell asleep there and when I woke up my money had been stolen.\n\n [[next.|trampDayTwo]]
"Get away from me," I said, pushing the woman.\n "Don't touch me," she replied, squaring up to me. "I could crush you like a can."\n "I'd like to see you try."\n The woman then punched me full force in the gut. I crumpled over and she grabbed my head and slammed my face against her knee. I heard a crack as blood started to flow out my nose and I fell to the ground. She then kicked me in the ribs; another crack. She kicked me again and again and again until she stamped on my head <<if $queasy eq "true">> and the last thing I felt was my bowels relaxing as I soiled myself. <<else>> with a final crunch that I didn't totally hear. <<endif>>\n <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> [[I felt my mind flit away to a different place.|connectedStart]] <<else>>\n An end. <<endif>>
I went up to a older woman sitting by herself at the bar.\n "Hey baby," I said. "You're pretty. Go out with me?"\n "You're just saying that," they said to me, walking away.\n\n [[Third time lucky.|clubHisChatupThree]]\n [[I drowned my sorrows.|clubWasted]]\n [[I went to dance.|clubHisDance]]
The rabbit man scowled at us. "What does it matter? Widgets, like I told you."\n "No," we said, back in sync. "You'll tell us what's in it."\n The man sighed. "Inside... There's keys. To The Ultraverse's control pannel. From there, I can scale back the entropy of this universe."\n "Why were the keys hidden?" we asked.\n "They are just for emergencies," he told us. "Like this one. Now give it to me already!!" He was scrambling so hard, it looked like he was about to climb onto the table.\n\n <<if $knowBox is "true">> [["You're lying."|boxTrueExpelation]] <<endif>>\n [["Okay!"|boxGive]]\n [["What's in it for us?"|boxBargening]]\n [["No."|boxDeny]]
I found some other woman.\n "Yo," I said, leaning against a wall confidently. "We've never met before, have we? Yeah, I like to hang around here sometimes... It's a good place. You have good taste to be here." I winked at her. "I'm curious to learn more about your life, you know? You seem like a cool person. Your eyes. Your... Mouth. Yeah, all super cool things. So how about it then? Why don't we make this thing official?"\n "...Are you a prostitute?" she asked.\n \n [["...Yes!"|clubHisChatupSixReply]]\n [["...No!"|clubHisChatupSixReply]]
"What?!" Mr Rabbit shouted. "You can't say no! This is really importiant! Everything will die! Including you! Both of you! And me!!"\n "Yeah but, I - stop talking at the same time as me!" we both said.\n "Look, you two," Mr Rabbit said. "I know this all seems a bit odd but I would really encourage you to re-consider. Everything depends on you two! I looked really hard for someone, anyone, else but there just wasn't anyone!"\n\n [["Alright, fine."|connectedCarRideOne]]\n [["Give us more details."|connectedExplenation]]\n [["I said no!"|connectedRejection]]
"Here we are," I said.\n "Yeah... Here." she said. "You know... We probably don't have to do this."\n\n [["We're here now. We're doing this."|bankHimEntry]]\n [["What do you suggest instead?"|cafeEnding]]
"What?! Why not? Give it to me!!" The little man was having a tantrum in his seat.\n "No, we don't trust you." we said in unison.\n "Will you two stop doing that?!" The little man shouted in exasperation.\n We stared at him as if there was a mirror between us. Mr Rabbit looked around the pub and noticed people were starting to stare.\n "Okay... How about we go and discuss this somewhere a little more private?" He grabbed his staff.\n\n [[Our minds flitted away again.|finaleStart]]
<<set $universeDestroyed = "true">> "Alright, fine," we said together and kicked the box to him.\n Mr Rabbit scooped it up. "Finally," he said. "The two of you see sense." He picked up the box and, harnessing the power from his staff, crushed it into one single partical, destroying an entire universe. He then swung his staff in a little circle, creating a little shield around the three of us, then threw the particle outside of the shield and shot at it with the staff. It burst into planets and starts, flying out in all directions around us. The two of us gasped in awe at the sight of a new world.\n "Right," Mr Rabbit said, not even watching the view. "Now about the two of you. I should really kill you both because you clearly know too much, but since you helped me I'm not going to do that. What do you want to do now?"\n\n [[Fight Mr Rabbit for his staff.|finaleGetStaff]]\n [["Send us back to our respective universes!"|finaleHome]]\n [["We want to stay here forever."|finaleStaySpace]]
They put me in a cell with a <<if $his eq "true">> butch <<else>> muscular <<endif>> looking woman for the night. She said nothing to me when I arrived.\n I went to sleep fairly quickly, despite the fact the matress was full of worms, until the middle of the night where the woman woke me up.\n <<if $his eq "true">> "Hey," she shouted, as she kicked my bed. "What are you in for?" she asked.\n I groggily tumbled out of sleep. "Busking without permission," I mummbled.\n "Is that right?"\n "Yeah, that's right."\n "They put you in the cells for that now, do they?"\n "Clearly."\n "I don't believe you."\n "I don't care."\n "I think you did something worse."\n "I didn't do anything..."\n The woman looked ready to start a fight.\n\n [[I went back to bed.|trampDayTwo]]\n [[I antagonised her.|arrestedFight]]\n<<else>> "Hey," she said to me. As I slowly came to, I could feel a warm hand against my face. I coxed my eyes open and saw her face was very close to mine. "How are you doing?" she asked me.\n "Uhh..." I groggily replied. "I'm okay... What are you doing?"\n "Just making sure you're okay..." the woman said to me.\n "I'm - "\n "Shhh..." the woman pressed one of her thick fingers against my lips. "It's okay... Everything's going to be okay..." The woman slowly eased herself into my bed; she was mostly lying on top of me.\n\n [[I went back to sleep.|trampDayTwo]]\n [[I told her to move.|arrestedArgument]]\n<<endif>>
<<set $eatenPill = "true">> I left the pub, having eaten something odd.\n\n [[I decided it'd probably be fine and started walking home.|walkHome]]\n [[I decided to start a new life as a homeless person.|trampStart]]
<<set $trail = trail + 1>> Paying by card kept some money in my pocket.\n \n[[I got off in a small town on the way.|runningCardCaught]]\n[[I stayed on the train till the next city.|runningCardCaught]]
"It's really importiant to The Ultraverse!" Mr Rabbit squealled. "If you don't trust me and do as I say, the world and everything will be destroyed two weeks from now!"\n "By what?" the other me asked.\n Mr Rabbit sighed. "Okay, I'll explain everything, but you two will have to keep up because I'm not going to repeat myself, okay?"\n "Okay," I said.\n "Right... So as you've probably figured out, parallel universes exist, although they are not infinate as some philosophists would suggest. However they are all subject to entropy. Every couple of hundred years, this entropy gets to a level in one universe or another and it starts to deteriorate entierly. This is beginning to happen in one of the universes neither of you two are from. That world is falling apart. However, if one universe was to crumble, it would have a domino effect on the rest and they would all get sucked in and destroyed. It is up to you two with your special double-skills to go in and patch over some of the worst of the entropical damage, or to make sure it collapses in a controlled environment."\n "How?" we asked.\n "Trust me... and do as I say... Okay?"\n\n [["Okay!"|connectedCarRideOne]]\n [["No!"|connectedPleading]]
I lived rough for a couple of days, then an old woman told me that she lived in the house next to the park I'd been staying at, and offered me to a bet. I managed to start to pull together a new life.\n <<if $eatenPill eq true>>One day the police caught up with me, but as I opened the door to the hundreds of octopusses waiting outside [[my mind flitted away...|connectedStart]] <<else>> It might have worked out okay, but two weeks after I'd left town the universe disolved into nothingness, and I was one part of everything that died. \n An end. <<endif>>
<<set $nightsClubbing += 1>><<if $nightsClubbing is 3>> Too much clubbing too much clubbing [[too much clubbing... | madnessEnding]]<<else>> I started to get ready immediately. Firstly, I took a shower, and decided I'd put my hair up tonight. I tried out several dresses in the mirror, before settling on a light blue one then chose make up accordingly. After spending a while on that, I turned to my perfumes. Firstly I thought maybe some kind of blue flower would go with my blue dress, but the closest thing I had was lavander, and I didn't want to use the same stuff my Gran used to use because that'd just be too weird and people probably wouldn't get it anyway. I settled on some Rose scent - nice and simple.\n Oh, I'd forgotten to pain my nails! Obviously they needed to be some kind of blue, but I couldn't decided which. I went for a different shade of blue for each nail.\n Was it half 11 already?? I headed to the club Underground.\n It was busy when I got there. <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> While I walked through to the bar, I felt the octopus people on the dance floor wipe my arms with their tenticles. <<else>> While I made my way to the bar accross the dance floor, I could feel male's eyes crawling over my body. <<endif>>\n I made it to the bar, when I heard a voice.\n "You wanna drink?" I looked over to see a short guy about my age smilling at me. He had two drinks in his hand and was offering one forward to me.\n\n [["Yeah, sure."|clubHerGuy]]\n [["Get lost, shortarse."|clubHerReject]] <<endif>>
<<set $money = 40>><<set $trail = 1>> I began my life as a fugitive. I hopped on the train. When the ticket woman came round...\n\n[[I tried to hide under the table.|runningTrainHide]]\n[[I paid by cash.|runningTrainCash]]\n[[I paid by card.|runningTrainCard]]
I went up to a couple of attractice women.\n "Hey ladies," I said. "I lost my number. Can I have yours?"\n "Get lost, creep," they said to me, walking away.\n\n [[I tried again.|clubHisChatupTwo]]\n [[I drowned my sorrows.|clubWasted]]\n [[I went to dance.|clubHisDance]]
I saw a larger woman just on her way in.\n "Hey, you sexy beast," I said to her. "What's made of a thousand teeth and contains the monster?"\n "Oh, for christ' sake." the woman said. "You think just because I'm fat I'm going to get off with you?"\n "No, I - "\n "Get to fuck," she said, wandering off.\n "... My zipper..." I mumbled to myself.\n\n [[Pick up artists do this all night. Come on.|clubHisChatupFive]]\n [[I drowned my sorrows.|clubWasted]]\n [[I went to dance.|clubHisDance]]
<<set $money = $money -= 20>>\n I spent half my money on a ticket to the next city.\n\n[[I got off in a small town on the way.|runningTown]]\n[[I stayed on the train till the next city.|runningCity]]
I tried to stand up, but the man grabbed me and pulled me down. He shoved something into my mouth, then shut my jaw.\n "Hey!" the bar woman shouted. "Let go of her!"\n The man let go, but it was too late - I'd already eaten whatever he'd put in my mouth. Shaken, I got to my feet. The bar woman was trying to talk to me, but when I looked at her she had rabbit ears. I stumbled away from the bar. <<set $eatenPill = "true">>\n\n[[I went to leave.|pubPill]]\n[[I went to the toilet.|pubBathroom]]
Past the large metalic doors was a large room full of machinery with people working throught the production line. They seemed to be manufacturing some kind of drug.\n Some guy off the production line saw me. "Hey," He said, <<if $his eq "true">> "do you work here?" <<else>> "what the fuck are you doing here?" <<endif>>\n I told him I was hoping I could use the toilet in here. <<if $his eq "true">> Even though the man was clearly still suspicious about me, he gave me directions to the toilet. <<else>> The large man told me to get out of the factory and quickly, if I knew what was good for me. <<endif>>\n <<if $his eq "true">>\n [[I went to use the bathroom.|factoryBathroom]]\n<<endif>> [[I went to leave the factory.|leavingFactory]]
<<set $staffKnowledge = "true">> "I'm... The staff holder," Mr Rabbit explained. "This staff is the staff of entropy. With it I can flit between universes and do pretty much anything I want."\n "How did you get it?" We asked.\n "My dad gave it to me," he explained. "He told me I had to be careful with it..." The man trailed off.\n "...And have you been careful with it?" We asked.\n "Well... I guess... Not particularly. But I've been keeping it under control! That's why I need to destroy that Universe!"\n We were shocked. "You need to destroy this universe so you can continue to abuse your power?"\n "Well, when you put it that way it sounds bad, but - "\n "What happens if you just stop using the staff?" We asked.\n "Well, that's not really important, is it?!" he shouted at us. "Now give me the box!"\n\n [["Okay!"|finaleGive]]\n [["No!"|finaleDeny]]\n [[Fight Mr Rabbit for his staff.|finaleGetStaff]]
<<set $knowBox = "true">> Eagerly, she pulled at the winch on the box' lid. It flicked open and I couldn't resist leaning over to look inside as she lifted the lid.\n Inside there seemed to be some kind of model. It looked like a massive collection of tiny rocks, however they appeared to be flying.\n "Looks like one of those space model things, like you'd hang above a baby's bed or something," I said.\n "Yeah... I know what you mean."\n "A mobile!" we said together.\n "But it looks like it's of the entire universe," she said.\n "That's rediculous."\n "I know, but you thought it too."\n I sighed and punched the steeringwheel. We heard a phone ringing behind us. We both climbed into the back of the van, and I picked up the phone since I'd seen previously.\n "Hello?" I said.\n "Hey, it's me here. How did the mission go?"\n "Oh, hi. Successful, captian." other me sniggered. "What happens next?"\n "There's a pub not far from the bank. I'll meet you there. But I'll be incognito, if you know what I mean."\n "Right ho. See you there." I hung up the phone.\n "What's happening?" she asked me.\n "We're meeting with him at a pub down the road," I said.\n "No I mean... About what's in the box?"\n We looked into each other's eyes.\n "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" We said in unison, as we both began to smile.\n\n [[I got back into the driver's seat and drove us to the pub.|pubHim]]
It was a hard job, being the staff bearers. We each kept one hand on the staff at all times. We constantly had to fight against the corruption that was open to us but together we had the will power.\n Once we had done the job for two-hundred years the staff relayed to us that our time was up and we found a successor; another version of ourselves from another universe.\n We moved into a fresh universe together, and lived the rest of our lives happily on a tropical island that didn't exist to us.\n An end.
"Are you sure?" he continued to pester me. "I could show you a good time, if you let me."\n "I have a boy friend," I was forced to say.\n The little man grimiced and wandered off without another word. Dodged a bullet there.\n\n [[I went to dance.|clubHerDance]]\n [[I decided to get wasted.|clubWasted]]
It fitted quite well. Then the octopus picture started to grow out of the shirt, and tenticals started to surround me. They crept up my body, then around my head and [[my mind started to flit away to a different place...|connectedStart]]
"Yeah, I think I know..." I said. "Sometimes I don't know why I'm going through either... It feels like I'm just here because that's just what chance decided, you know? I mean, I never wanted to be here..."\n "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about!" he said. "I don't see the point in any of it. Sometimes I wish I'd never been born..."\n\n [[I decided to give this thing a shot.|iceCreamManEnding]]\n [[I told him I thought he needed help.|iceCreamManHate]]\n [[I walked out.|walkHome]]
"Fantastic!" The Rabbit said. "This makes me so happy!" The little hairy man walked around in a little circle.\n He then gave us more details for our mission. He would teleport us to a parallel New York inside a van. He gave us directions to the bank, <<if $his eq "true">> where I was to go into the back of the van where there was surveillance equiptment set up to all the security cameras and hacked into the doors. The female me would have an ear piece in, which we'd be able to talk through. My job was to open and close all the appropriate doors at the right time to lead her through the bank and into the safe, where she had to pick up a box like Mr Rabbit had said so, and then come back out. <<else>> where I was to go in. The male version of me would control the doors and cameras from the back of the van and guide me through on an earpiece and I would have to trust him and follow the directions I was given. <<endif>> I didn't know if I trusted the other version of me, but I guessed they were only as trustworthy as I was.\n <<if $his eq "true">>We were telleported into the van, with me in the driver's seat. I've never been to New York, but looking around everything seemed just like I'd expect. I started up the engine and followed the directions.\n\n [[I was casual with the other me in the car.|connectedCarHimCasual]]\n [[I was inquisitive with the other me in the car.|connectedCarHimInquisitive]]\n [[I was flippant with the other me in the car.|connectedCarHimFlippant]] <<else>>We were telleported into the van, with me in the passanger's seat. I've never been to New York, but looking around everything seemed just like I'd expect it to seem. The male me started up the engine and followed the directions.\n\n [[I was casual with the other me in the car.|connectedCarHerCasual]]\n [[I was inquisitive with the other me in the car.|connectedCarHerInquisitive]]\n [[I was flippant with the other me in the car.|connectedCarHerFlippant]] <<endif>>
We walked into the pub and sure enough Mr Rabbit was there in what he classified as a 'disguise...' He'd dyed all of his hair brown and was wearing sunglasses to cover up his beady little eyes. His staff was leaning against his seat. We sat down with him.\n He conspicuously coughed then looked up at us through the sunglasses. He then gave us a little nod, as if to say 'don't worry, it's me.' She sniggered at the little baffoon.\n "Did you get the box?" Mr Rabbit asked.\n "Yeah," I said, as she placed it on our side of the table.\n "Give it to me," the rabbit man said.\n\n [["What's inside it?"|boxExplenation]]\n [["Okay!"|boxGive]]\n [["What's in it for us?"|boxBargening]]\n [["No."|boxDeny]]
As I was driven through the foreign streets I watched the man sitting next to me. He was identical in almost every way, but just with that one crutial difference. I wondered how different our lives had been on the whole.\n "... So," he said. "What do you think of all this then?"\n It didn't really feel like there was much to say about the crazy situation we'd ended up in. "I don't know what to think of it," I said. "It still doesn't feel real."\n "Yeah," he said, "I know what you mean. Like... You're so similar to me. But you're not me in any way."\n "Yeah," I replied. "We've never met, but we know everything about each other."\n I noticed him shudder, then he didn't reply. I looked around in wonderment at the new city.\n\n [[We arrived at the bank.|bankHerStart]]
On my way out of the factory, I saw a large amount of red pills that were sitting in a bucket at the end of the production line. They were unlabled and unremarkable.\n\n [[I ate one of the pills.|factoryPill]]\n [[I walked past the bucket on my way home.|walkHome]]\n <<if $queasy eq "true">> [[I walked past the bucket out of the factory on my way to the pub to see if I could use their toilet.|enterPub]] <<endif>>
I woke up outside the ice cream shop, my memories intact. I lived out the rest of the day but all trace of the red pills were gone. Life tried to continue as normal but it could never be the same again.\n Two weeks passed and the universe didn't fold in on its self. I wondered if we really did save everything, or if it had just been some kind of mad dream.\n I longed for someone to talk about all of it with and in some ways I wanted to spend more time with the other me. I'd sort of enjoyed our odd time together...\n Then one morning in the bath room, I looked into the mirror and had a thought. If we were still in sync, that meant that the other me would be in their bathroom, staring into their mirror, just like I was now.\n "Hey," I said to the mirror. Somewhere, far, far away, I got a response.\n Things really looked up after that. I knew that in everything I did, somewhere out there, the other me was doing the same thing. I knew, whenever I thought of them, they would be thinking of me. I knew that whatever I wanted to talk about with them regarding our time together, they already knew it, and they wanted to share the same thoughts with me...\n We lived long, happy lives, together in our own way.\n An end.
I took the large fish out the freezer. It was a proper beast - skin, head and all.\n <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> I walked out with it, and saw that everyone in the street was an octopus. I was done with them. I couldn't deal with it any more. I walked up to one and slapped them in the face with the fish. They collapsed to the ground and I hit them again. More octopusses started to surround me, and I swung at them as well. I hit another to the ground then hit a third so hard that the head of the fish broke off.\n <<else>>\n I walked out with it, and saw a couple of people in the street. I walked up to the first person I saw and before they knew what was happening I whacked them with the fish. The fish snapped over their head, and they collapsed to the floor, unconsious. People started to surround me. <<endif>>\n <<if $his eq "true">> Something tried to grab me, but I fought them off, and ran away.\n\n [[I began a life on the run as a fugitive.|runningStart]]\n [[I confessed my crimes and payed some bail.|fishBail]]\n [[I confessed my crimes and started my time in jail.|fishJail]]\n<<else>>\n I was grabbed from behind and taken away in a police car. \n [[I confessed my crimes and paid my bail.|fishBail]]\n [[I confessed my crimes and started my time in jail.|fishJail]]\n<<endif>>
I sat in the rec-room surrounded by hardened <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> octopusses. <<else>> chriminals. <<endif>>\n "Looks like we got a new kid..." One of them said. They put their hand on my shoulder<<if $eatenPill eq "true">>, [[then my mind started to flit away to a different place...|connectedStart]] <<else>>.\n Prison wasn't so bad. I liked the routine, and after a couple of days I could hold my own against the bullies. But then two weeks after I arrived the entire world was sucked into a endless void and everything ever died except maybe God.\n An end.<<endif>>
I spend all night trying to get some magazines to sell, but with no avail. I fell asleep on a park bench.\n\n[[next.|trampDayTwo]]
I leaned forward to do what the man had asked, and he leaned forward to. When our lips touched, he grabbed the back of my head and opened his mouth. He pushed something into my mouth with his toung and didn't let me break free. He kept his mouth against mine until I felt the object trickle down my throat. He broke off then. I whipped his saliva off my mouth feeling like I was going to throw up. <<set $eatenPill = "true">>\n\n [[I went to leave.|pubPill]]\n [[I went to the bathroom.|pubBathroom]]
"Hurry it up," I said.\n The man broke out of his trance and stared me in the eye. "Yeah, I'm fine... Sorry, I got carried away there. Enjoy your ice cream," he said.\n\n[[I took my ice cream and left.|takeVanilla]]\n[[I spat in the man's face and took a tantrum.|vanillaTantrum]]
I didn't know many guitar songs but I managed to get some change from playing the same three tunes over and over. I played for about half an hour before an occtopus in a police uniform asked me if I had a permit to preform. A short argument later, [[he arrested me.|arrested]]
I stayed in watching re-runs of Friends all night. <<if $eatenPill eq "true">>All the characters seemed to have rabbit ears, but it was still enjoyable. Just as I was about to fall asleep, [[my mind started to flit away to a different place...|connectedStart]] <<else>> It had been an odd day, but life continued as normal after that, until the end of the world two weeks later.\n An end. <<endif>>
The ice cream man stuttered and made a face like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.\n "Yeah, that's what I thought," I said to him. "I don't know if you have depression or something, but if you do you need a therapist, not me. So save your sobs for someone else. I came here for a date, not to be used as a tissue. No thanks."\n\n [["I'm going home."|walkHome]]\n [["I'm going to kill myself."|killMyself]]
David Ferguson
I opened my eyes, and found myself surrounded by floating rabbit heads. I reached out to touch them, and they moved away from me, but when I turned my back they surrounded me, touched me, started to lift me up... [[My mind started to drift away to a different place...|connectedStart]]
"Here we are," he said.\n "Yeah... Here." I said. But I was getting cold feet.\n\n [["We could just go to a cafe or something?"|cafeEnding]]\n [["Let's get on with it then."|bankHerEntry]]
<<set $knowBox = "true">> I opened the box, after fiddling with the hook. Inside there seemed to be some kind of tiny model. It looked like a massive collection of tiny flying rocks.\n "Looks like one of those space model things, like you'd hang above a baby's bed or something," he said.\n "Yeah... I know what you mean."\n "A mobile!" we said together.\n "But it looks like it's of the entire universe..." I said.\n "That's rediculous."\n "I know, but you thought it too."\n He sighed and punched the steering wheel. We heard a phone ringing behind us. We both climbed into the back of the van, and he swipped it up before I saw where it was.\n "Hello?" he said. A muffled voice came out the phone. "Oh, hi. Successful, captian... What happens next? Right ho. See you there," he hung up.\n "What's happening?" I asked.\n "We're meeting with him at a pub down the road," he told me.\n "No I mean... About what's in the box."\n We looked into each other's eyes.\n "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" We said in unison, as smiles spread across our faces.\n\n [[He got back into the driver's seat and drove us to the pub.|pubHer]]
Connected world - Hers 'n' His\n\nChoose your world.\n\n[[his|firsthis]]\n[[hers|firsthers]]
I gave the ice cream man my old therapist's number. I don't know if he ever called it, but really it's none of my business.\n\n [[I took my ice cream and left.|takeVanilla]]
I went home as normal that night, and forgot the whole incident until my phone rang the next day.\n "Hey," I recognised the ice cream man's voice. "I thought about what you said yesterday. Do you want to meet up? I know a good sushi place."\n\n [[I said no.|iceCreamManLeaves]]\n [[I said yes.|iceCreamManDate]]
The first thing you have to do when being homeless, I thought to myself, is to look the part. I went into a shop and bought some sissors from the octopus there, then cut my hair in a beraggled way, using the metal plac outside a bank for a mirror. The second thing you have to do when being a tramp, I thought, is beg.\n\n [[I decided to buy a guitar from the pawn shop and start busking.|trampGuitarBusk]]\n [[I decided to sit and beg with a coffee cup.|trampBeg]]\n [[I decided to get some of those homeless people magazines and sell them outside a convinience store.|trampBigIssue]]
I sat down at the bar, wanting to calm down and make sure I was okay before I moved again.\n <<if $his eq "true">> No one in the small pub bothered me. There was an old man with a pint next to me who gave me a quick glance then turned away. <<else>> While I sat there, an old man with a pint next to me turned towards me and stared.\n "Why, hello there," he grumbled, opening his mouth to reveal more than one gap. "What brings you down here?" <<endif>>\n\n [[I got up and went to the toilet.|pubBathroom]]\n <<if $his eq "false">> [[I told the man to pull his last few teeth out and shove them up his arse.|pubArgument]]\n [[I told him I'd discuss it if he bought me a drink.|pubDrink]]\n<<endif>> [[I got up and left the pub on my way home.|walkHome]]
Having had my fun, I went home and went to bed.\n\n [[Late next afternoon, I left work.|walkHome]]
"No," we said together. "You're not getting to kill everyone in an entire universe!"\n\n[[Fight the Rabbit man for his staff.|finaleGetStaff]]
<<if $eatenPill eq "true">> I took drink after drink and the night turned into a blur as I joined the occtopusses on the dance floor. [[I closed my eyes to steady myself.|clubPill]] <<else>> <<set $robbed = "true">>I took drink after drink then the night turned into a blur and as I threw up on someone I felt hands pulling me away.\n Next thing I remember, I woke up in a tunnel surrounded by homeless people. Everything I'd had in my pockets was gone, and when I left the tunnel I realised I wasn't even in the same city any more. [[I began my new life.|trampStart]] <<endif>>
"How do you know?" He demanded.\n "We looked in the box," we said. "Whatever's in it clearly isn't keys to some bullshit control center."\n Mr Rabbit looked back and forth between the two of us. "You opened the box?"\n "Yes. There's a tiny mobile of a universe inside. Why did you lie to us? What's the box for?"\n The little man sighed. "Okay, fine... Let's talk somewhere a bit more private, should we?" He grabbed his staff.\n\n [[Our minds flitted away again.|finaleStart]]
<<set $knowBox = "false">> "Okay, we'll leave it then," he agreed.\n We leaned back and waited.\n <<if $argument eq "true">> "It's nice, isn't it? That we agree with each other so often," he said.\n "Yeah... Most the time." I said, looking away.\n He said nothing. A phone rang. I followed him to the back of the van and watched as he answered mobile. <<else>>\n "It's nice, isn't it?" He filled the silence. "That we agree with each other on everything we've talked about? I mean, so often people disagree with me... It's nice to not have to deal with that for a bit."\n "Yeah..." I agreed. "It is nice."\n A phone rang in the back of the van and I followed him as he went to answer it. After a quick conversation with Mr Rabbit he hung up. <<endif>>\n "What's he want?" I asked.\n "We've to meet him at a nearby pub," he said "He said he'd be in disguise."\n I laughed. "Like any disguise could cover up those freaky eyes. Let's get this overwith."\n\n [[He got back into the driver's seat and drove us to the pub.|pubHer]]
I opened my eyes. It was pitch black. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. Far in the distance I could see the figure of a person walking towards me. They had long white hair and a beard that covered their entire face, apart from two little beady eyes that poked out of the furball. I couldn't see an inch of skin anywhere. They were also impressively short. One of his stubby arms was holding a staff twice as tall as himself. When he got close he stopped and stared at me. We stood in silence untill he thumped his stick against the ground.\n Ripples were sent out throught the ground and I was knocked backwards. When my bum hit the ground it felt odd. I put my hand on the ground and came into contact with another hand.\n I quickly stood up and looked down. It looked like a mirror below; another figure of me was standing on my own shoes. Only they were of the opposite sex.\n <<if $his eq "true">> I admired the female version of myself. So much was different but so much was the same. She had small breasts, a slightly thinner frame and a slightly fuller face, however she must have been the same height as me, and we had roughly the same hair cut.\n <<else>> I glared at the male version of myself. So much was different, but so much was the same. He clearly had something more than I did in his pants, he had a more boxy frame than me and he had a more masculine jawline. However, his hair was very similar to mine (if slightly less well kept) and he was just as tall as me. <<endif>>\n We both crouched down at exactly the same time and reached out our hands the same. Our hands touched again and theirs felt real.\n The furball hit the ground again with his staff, and the ground rippled again. I felt myself move away from the other me and twist. The other me twisted as well, until we were both standing next to eachother. The little man then walked up to me and shoved me.\n "Hey!" I said, as I stepped back.\n "Sorry," he said, in a gruff little voice. "I had to break the synchronization."\n "What's going on?" the other version of me asked.\n "Ah, right," the furball waddled back over to where he had first stood. "There's a problem in The Ultraverse."\n "The what?" I asked.\n "The Ultraverse. As in, everything."\n "Am I on drugs?" the other me asked.\n "No," the being said. He kind of reminded me of a rabbit. "The red pills you took were not drugs. They were compact wormholes that could be used to teleport you here."\n "Oh right," the other me said. "Whatever you say, rabbit man."\n "Hey!" I said. "I was just thinking he looks like a rabbit!"\n "Well of course you were," the little man said. "You two have been brought here because you are the most sycronised two copies of any person in all of The Ultraverse, while also being of opposite sex to each other. You are just what we need to save everything."\n "How do we do that?" we both asked at the same time.\n "Break into a bank and steal a box for me," he told us.\n\n [["Okay!" We both said.|connectedCarRideOne]]\n [["Why?" We both said.|connectedExplenation]]\n [["No! Send me home!" We both said.|connectedPleading]]
After a couple more dates, we becaue a couple. \n I couldn't decide if I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with this clearly ill man. Is this really how my parents wanted my life to pan out? He makes me sad sometimes purely because he is often sad himself... I knew I wouldn't be able to fix him.\n Sometimes he can make me smile... I was contemplating breaking up with him two weeks into our relationship, but then the floor gave way to a gaping nothing that started to pull at my legs, then the rest of me until I didn't exist any more.\n An end.
"Are you sure?" The ice cream man asked. "So many people just walk in here and pick something willy-nilly, but it's going to have an impact on the rest of your life! I mean, on average, chocolate ice cream takes longer to consume than vanilla, did you know that? What if you're still holding an ice cream while you bump into that child hood sweetheart of yours? Your whole life could go on a different track!"\n\n [[I nodded and left with my ice cream.|takeChocolate]]\n [[I changed my mind to vanilla.|takeVanilla]]\n [[I got mad!|vanillaTantrum]]
"What do you mean, what's in it for you?" the little man hissed. "You'll get to live longer than two more weeks! Is that not what you want?!"\n "Wait," we said together. We glanced at each other, but realised we'd just have to put up with it. "You have all this power, and there's nothing you want to grant us?"\n "Just give me the damn box!!" Mr Rabbit said.\n \n [["Okay!"|boxGive]]\n [["What's in the box?"|boxExplenation]]\n [["No."|boxDeny]]
I got out my shovel, went into the garden and started digging <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> through all the worms. <<else>>. <<endif>>\n I found something very therapeutic about digging. It's good hard work and it's easy to turn my mind off while doing it.\n My shovel hit something hard. I pushed dirt around some more untill I managed to dig out a little metal box. I flicked it open.\n <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> <<if $his eq "true">>In the box there was a blue baceball cap, which was designed to look like a octopus was attached to the wearer's head with little tenticles hanging off it.\n\n [[I put it on.|holeCap]]\n [[I put it all back and filled in the hole.|holeLeave]]\n [[I burried myself alive.|holeBury]]\n\n <<else>>In the box there was a pink tank top with a picture of an octopus on it, that reminded me of the kind of thing Barbie might wear.\n\n [[I put it on.|holeTop]]\n [[I put it all back and filled in the hole..|holeLeave]]\n [[I burried myself alive.|holeBury]]\n\n <<endif>>\n <<else>> In the box there was a little red pill, that reminded me of one of those old fish oil tablets I used to take.\n [[I ate the pill.|holePill]]\n [[I put the pill back and went back inside.|holeLeave]]\n [[I burried myself alive.|holeBury]] <<endif>>
I thought I saw a huge beast emerge from the sea, but really it didn't happen. I was at home playing scrabble with my parents. No, that wasn't now, that was another time... I was at my partner's house, playing cards. I was losing, but that didn't matter as long as I was with them.\n The blade of the knife started to dig into my feet, as insanity began to rule my mind.\n What, really, is life worth? Any amount, quantifiable by humans? A measurement of money, or gold? Or should the payment allocated to our time be taken as a measurement of our worth? I get payed $10 an hour, therefore I am worth that much per hour.\n I was at the swings with my brother, and I felt the need to kiss him... On the cheek of course.\n Water rippled off the beast, as it began to stand up streight.\n I felt a dampness around my waist.\n My mind circomed to the yellow, as he was awoken.\n An end.
A smile crept across his face. If he would clean up, I could love that face. "Oh no," he said, "Just you... I knew there was something special about you..."\n\n [[I told him to stuff his pretentious crap up his arse.|iceCreamManHate]]\n [[I leaned forward to listen to what he had to say.|iceCreamManAttention]]\n [[I decided I was better than this and stopped paying attention to this man's garbage.|iceCreamManZoneOut]]
"I could break your arm like a twig," he said.\n "Are you threatening me?" I asked.\n "I'm stating facts," he replied.\n "You might want to watch yourself there," I said. "You break one of my bones, takes a few months to heal, but by the looks of you you'd be going to jail till the day you die, you old skin sack."\n He snorted. "You think I'm worried about going to prison for beating up you? No, I'll be just fine. Give us a kiss..."\n\n [[I kissed the man.|pubKiss]]\n [[I said no.|pubResist]]
<<set $ownVanilla = "true">> "Coming right up, <<if $his eq "true">> sir." <<else>> miss."\n<<endif>> "You made the right choice," he said as he took my money. "You'll walk home with this ice cream, enjoy it, then never think about it again. How wonderful is that? You are paying for a little moment of bliss. It will soon leave you, but that's okay..."\n [[I interupted his rambling.|interupt]]\n "... I mean, what could have happened differently if you chose chocolate? You'll never know because that's how life works. You'll take this vanilla ice cream, like you wanted, and leave. Have your moment... Shit, sorry... Just..."\n The man handed the ice cream to me, covering his eyes.\n\n[[I asked him what was wrong.|crying]]\n[[I took my ice cream, nodded politely, and left the shop.|takeVanilla]]
<<if $eatenPill eq "true">>\n I spend another long day trying to scrounge together some money to buy something to live off and today I was more successful. I scrounged together enough cash to feed myself, and I sat down to sleep that night with a full stomach. [[As I tried to get to sleep, my mind flitted away to another place...|connectedStart]]\n <<else>> Being homeless wasn't easy but when I got used to it I could survive. My previous life disappeared and new completely different opertunities opened up before me. But it only lasted for two weeks until the entire world disolved and everyone in it died.\n An ending.\n <<endif>>
I was surrounded by police before I knew what was happening.\n\n [[They took me to jail.|fishJail]]
I then felt the tenticles from the cap begin to move then they attached to my head. I groaned as I felt something enter my brain and [[club fuck death more but|madnessEnding]]
<<if $eatenPill is "true">> I joined the bunny eared people on the dance floor, and was busting off the craziest moves in the world, then one slapped me in the face with their floppy ears.\n [[Next.|clubPill]]\n<<else>> I tentively joined the dance floor alone, and started to fidget around in a space. I awkwardly moved in and out of groups of dancers, until one guy came up to me as if he was taking pitty on me.\n "HEY!" he yelled in my ear. "WANNA LITTLE SOMETHING TO SPICE YOUR NIGHT UP?" he showed me a little red pill in his hand.\n\n [[I ate the pill.|clubPill]]\n [[I declined and kept dancing alone.|clubDanceDepression]]\n [[I declined and went to get wasted instead.|clubWasted]] <<endif>>
I don't know if dark thoughts plague every mind, but I know they are in mine. I hope it's not everyone and I can't believe it is when I see people having good times at clubs at the like but I've consistently found that the better I get to know someone, anyone, the more misery I find. It seems that the more cheerful you are, the more that opens up the possibility that you are secretly suicidal.\n Sometimes I have my bad days. It looked like this one was worse than usual.\n I crawled up inside of the hole.\n <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> As I started to suffocate, [[my mind started to flit away to a different place...|connectedStart]] <<else>>\n An end. <<endif>>
<<set $argument = "true">> We drove through the streets of the foreign town as I absentmindedly scratched at the door handle.\n "This is too weird," I mumbled. "What on earth does any of this have to do with us?"\n "Yeah," he agreed. "It can't be real. You can't be real."\n "Excuse me?" I snapped at him. "Of course I'm real! If anyone here isn't real, it's you!"\n "Oh, yeah, good one," he replied. "We all know Adam came first."\n "What on earth is that supposed to mean?! We must have been born at the same time!"\n "18th September 1991, at 11:59 P.M." we both said in unison.\n "See, that's the kind of thing you could only know if you were part of my imagination," he said.\n I huffed. "I'm not, but whatever. I never knew I was such a prick. Let's just get this over with, then maybe you'll wake up. Spoiler - you won't... Adam came first! Excuse me? I never knew I was such a sexist! If anything we all know that women are better."\n "Do you not hear how hypocritical that is?"\n "I don't care."\n The other me took a stiff breath in. "Okay... If I know you how I think I know you, then I know we're both going to be really stubborn about this. So let's just drop it, before I crash this car."\n "... Oh yeah, I remember that. Darren's an idiot."\n "Darren? She was called Danyella... How I knew her, anyway."\n "Huh." I shrugged. "Weird."\n We sat in silence till we arrived at the bank.\n [[We arrived at the bank.|bankHerStart]]
The little Rabbit man was no match for the two of us. We grabbed him before he knew what was happening. We reached for the staff.\n "No!" he shouted. "Don't touch that! You don't know what - "\n The two of us grabbed the staff together and the moment we did it shot a ray of energy into the Rabbit man. With a disgusting scream he disintergrated into nothingness.\n <<if $staffKnowledge eq "true">> We held the artifact of unimaginable power together. "What now?" we said to eachother.<<else>> When we held the staff, it related information to us. It turned out that Mr Rabbit had been abusing it's power and because of that he had needed to re-set a universe every two-hundred years. If the staff was to be used properly, no more universes would need to be destroyed. <<endif>>\n\n [[Destroy the other universe and become corrupt staff bearers.|finaleCorruptStaffholders]]\n [[Become responsible staff bearers.|finaleStaffHolders]]\n [[Send each other home and sacrifice the staff to the void, where no one will be able to abuse it's power again.|finaleHome]]
I successfully paid my bail.\n\n [[I walked home.|walkHome]]
I took his drink, and after I'd drunk it the night seemed to speed up. We were dancing, then we where in his car, <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> then he grew rabbit ears and [[my mind slipped away...|connectedStart]] <<else>> I found a gun under the seat and before I understood what was happening I had shot him. Something continued to control my mind and I turned the gun on myself.\n An ending. <<endif>>
I started talking to the bar girl.\n "Hey!" I shouted. "Squirrels! Am I right?"\n She stared at me. "We don't have that," she replied.\n I sighed. "Never mind."\n\n [[I just had to believe in myself more!|clubHisChatupSix]]\n [[Since I was at the bar, I ordered drink. Lots of drink.|clubWasted]]\n [[I went to dance.|clubHisDance]]
It was very pretty, but not as pretty as food or water. We both starved to death days later.\n An end.
I managed to keep going, despite my heavy sadness. Eventually I managed to start enjoying myself a little.\n When the night ended I decided I'd had a great time. I got up for work the next day, and enjoyed the day much more because of the good night I'd had.\n\n [[I headed home after work.|walkHome]]
As I drove through the foreign streets, I nervously glanced at my female counterpart sitting in the car next to me.\n "... So," I said. "What do you think of all this then?"\n Other me shrugged. "I don't know what to think of it," she said. "It still doesn't feel real."\n "Yeah," I said, "I know what you mean... You're so similar to me. But you're not me in any way."\n "Yeah," she replied. "We've never met, but we know everything about each other."\n I shuddered, self concious about some the more shameful things I've done. Then again, I didn't have to because she'd done the same things.\n We sat in silence the rest of the way to the bank.\n\n [[We arrived at the bank.|bankHimStart]]
"Piss off!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "If you're going to be like that, I don't WANT your garbage! Do your job properly next time!"\n<<set $ownVanilla = "false">>\n [[I stormed off and headed home, without any ice cream.|walkHome]]
<<if $queasy eq "true">> as I walked home I got increasingly uncomfortable. I had to walk awkwardly <<if $his eq "true">> but people didn't look. <<else>> and people kept staring at me like I had a problem.\n<<endif>> <<endif>> <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> People walking past me in the street appeared to have rabbit ears but it didn't really bother me.\n<<endif>> I managed to get home.\n <<if $queasy eq "true">> I slightly soiled myself on the way home, however I did manage to get to the toilet just in time. I did have to change my underwear and take a shower. <<endif>>\n [[I decided to have a quiet night in.|homeQuiet]]\n [[I decided to dig a big hole in the garden.|hole]]\n [[I decided I really wanted to slap someone with that fish I had in the freezer.|fishSlap]]\n <<if $his eq "true">> [[I decided to go clubbing.|clubHisStart]]\n <<else>> [[I decided to go clubbing.|clubHersStart]] <<endif>>
I rented a flat in the city, and got a backhand job dealing marajiwana. <<if $eatenPill eq true>> One day the octopus police caught up with me, but as I opened the door to the hundreds of octopusses waiting outside [[my mind flitted away...|connectedStart]] <<else>> It might have worked out okay, but two weeks after I'd left town the universe disolved into nothingness and I was one part of everything that died. \n An end. <<endif>>
The Rabbit man sighed. "Come on, you two. You're making a big mistake."\n "We don't believe you, or anything you've said," I said. "This must all just be some kind of weird dream, that I'm going to wake up from, and go right back to where I was..."\n "And where were you, hmm?" Mr Rabbit asked. "What's the last thing you remember? flitting from reality? That doesn't just happen. I did that. I brought you here. For this very important task. Now come on!!"\n\n [["Okay!"|connectedCarRideOne]]\n [["Why?"|connectedExplenation]]\n [["NO! Let us leave!"|connectedLeaving]]
<<set $ownVanilla = "true">> I sat on a bench outside, eating my ice cream. <<if $his eq "true">> It was too long since I had proper ice cream. I was sick of all the McDonalds garbage. <<else>> I like good plain ice cream that wasn't from a tub. That Ben and Jerry stuff was good, but just not worth the money. <<endif>>\n There's something basic about ice cream that always makes it enjoyable no matter what...\n\n[[I headed home|walkHome]]
<<set $eatenPill = "true">> I made sure no one was looking, then stuck one of the pills in my mouth. It tasted like one of those fish oil tablets, with the plasticy layer on the outside.\n Nothing seemed to happen immediately.\n\n [[I started to head home.|walkHome]]\n [[I decided to start a new life as a homeless person.|trampStart]]
<<set $nightsClubbing += 1>><<if $nightsClubbing is 3>> Too much clubing too much clubbing [[too much clubbing...|madnessEnding]]<<else>> I hung around my house untill about half ten, then took a quick shower, pulled on a shirt, used a couple puffs of aftershave and headed out.\n I went to the Underground, got a drink, and watched as the place started to fill out <<if $eatenPill eq "true">> with octopus people and normal people alike. <<else>> with guys and girls. I admired some of the more attractive girls. <<endif>>\n\n [[I joined the dancefloor.|clubHisDance]]\n [[I decided to get wasted.|clubWasted]]\n [[I decided to hit on some girls.|clubHisChatup]]<<endif>>
In unison we opened up the box.\n "No, don't do that!" the rabbit man ran at us. "You'll both be killed horrifically!"\n We both stuck our hands into the box and in doing so put our hands into the vaccume of space. We were both sucked in; two massive human beings flooded that universe. Then our blood began to boil from being in the vaccume of space and we died a horrible death, blood flooding from our corpses and flying across space.\n We'd shoved aside hundreds of stars and asteroids and as a result verything there died. Every alien, microbe, animal on earth, even the potentual third version of ourselves.\n The Rabbit man then closed the box and smiled. He had nothing to feel guilty about now. He crushed the box into one particle and restarted the universe just like he said it would, saving the rest.\n An ending.
"Oh... Right." The man sounded defeated when I told him I had no room in my life for him, but he galivantly took it on the chin. I was glad he didn't start crying. He hung up without another word.\n See, some things in the world aren't simply stumbled across. They are earned. Like me. Guys, they just want to own me, to make me a part of them. That's not what I am, and that's not something I'll ever be.\n I'm not a crutch. I'm not a scratching post. I'm a human being. Sure, I'm up for some give or take, but I'm not up for some stranger wanting to leak all his feelings, which are nothing to do with me, out and expect me to have something to say to that.\n No thank you.\n\n [[I headed home.|walkHome]]
Together we explored the universe, always with one hand on the staff each. We went to beautiful universes where Africa was stable, the skys where made of different wonderful colours and the Transformers films were good.\n After the first two hundred years, the staff convayed to us that it was time for it to move on to a new owner, but we ignored it and continued to do as we pleased.\n We agreed on everything and in an odd way we began to love each other. We even became used to re-setting the universes.\n Slowly, as more and more time passed, we grew our hair out and got shorter and shorter as the decades went on...\n An end.
I thought I saw a huge beast emerge from the sea, but really it didn't happen. I was at home playing scrabble with my parents. No, that wasn't now, that was another time... I was at my partner's house, playing cards. I was losing, but that didn't matter as long as I was with them.\n The blade of the knife started to dig into my feet, as insanity began to rule my mind.\n What, really, is life worth? Any amount, quantifiable by humans? A measurement of money, or gold? Or should the payment allocated to our time be taken as a measurement of our worth? I get payed $10 an hour, therefore I am worth that much per hour.\n I was at the swings with my brother, and I felt the need to kiss him... On the cheek of course.\n Water rippled off the beast, as it began to stand up streight.\n I felt a dampness around my waist.\n My mind circomed to the yellow, as he was awoken.\n An end.
<<set $eatenPill = "true">>\n I swallowed the little pill. It stuck in my throat, but I forced it down. I noticed no immediate difference.\n [[I put everything back and filled in the hole.|holeLeave]]\n [[I burried myself.|holeBury]]\n [[I left my house and went to live like a homeless person.|trampStart]]
"Fine!!" Mr Rabbit shouted. "Get out of here! I'm done! You're both done! We're all going to die in two weeks and it's all your fault!" With a super human strength he whacked the stick off the ground, and I found myself back in the ice cream shop, with my memories whipped.\n An ending.
<<set $argument = "true">> I drove through the streets of the foreign town, gripping the van's wheel tightly.\n Female me also looked irritated. "This is too weird," she said. "What on earth does any of this have to do with us?"\n "Yeah," I agreed. "It can't be real. You can't be real."\n "Excuse me?" she replied. "Of course I'm real! If anyone here isn't real, it's you!"\n "Oh, yeah, good one," he replied. "We all know Adam came first."\n "What on earth is that supposed to mean?! We must have been born at the same time!"\n "18th September 1991, at 11:59 P.M." we both said in unison.\n "See, that's the kind of thing you could only know if you were part of my imagination," I said.\n She huffed. "I'm not, but whatever. I never knew I was such a prick. Let's just get this over with, then maybe you'll wake up. Spoiler - you won't... Adam came first! Excuse me? I never knew I was such a sexist! If anything we all know that women are better."\n "Do you not hear how hypocritical that is?"\n "I don't care."\n I took a deep breath and decided not to waste my energy on my own imagination. "Okay... If I know you how I think I know you then I know we're both going to be really stubborn about this. So let's just drop it, before I crash this car."\n "... Oh yeah, I remember that. Darren's an idiot."\n "Darren? She was called Danyella... How I knew her, anyway."\n "Huh." she shrugged. "Weird."\n We sat in silence till we arrived at the bank. I was pretty convinced I'd gone crazy.\n\n [[We parked outside the bank.|bankHimStart]]
<<silently>>\n<<set $his = "true">>\n<<set $nightsClubbing = 0>>\n<<endsilently>> "Vanilla or Chocolate?" the ice cream man said.\n\n[[vanilla|vanilla]]\n[[chocolate|chocolate]]
We walked into the pub and sure enough Mr Rabbit was there in what he classified as a 'disguise...' He'd dyed all of his hair brown and was wearing sunglasses to cover up his creepy little eyes. It didn't work. His staff was leaning against his seat. We sat down with him.\n He conspicuously coughed, then looked up at us. He then gave us a little nod, as if to say 'don't worry, it's me.' I sniggered at the little muppet.\n "Did you get the box?" he asked.\n "Yeah," male me said, as I placed it on our side of the table.\n "Give it to me," the rabbit man said, greedily reaching out with his short stubby arms.\n\n [["What's inside it?"|boxExplenation]]\n [["Okay!"|boxGive]]\n [["What's in it for us?"|boxBargening]]\n [["No."|boxDeny]]
<<if $his eq true>> I tried to get under the table but I wasn't flexable enough to squeeze in convincingly. The ticket woman saw me. <<set $trail = $trail + 1>>\n\n [[I paid by cash.|runningTrainCash]]\n [[I paid by card.|runningTrainCard]]\n [[I threatened the woman that I'd hit her if she tried to kick me off the train.|runningCaught]]\n<<else>> I managed to just squeeze under the table, and the ticket woman walked past me. <<set $trail = $trail - 1>>\n\n [[I got off in the city at the end of the line.|runningCity]]\n [[I got off at a small town I had never heard of before.|runningTown]]\n<<endif>>
As I was on my way out, the man I had been sitting next to grabbed my arm. He shoved something into my hand then let me go. I looked into my hand to see there was a small red pill there.\n\n [[I ate the pill.|pubPill]]\n [[I chucked it back at the odd man and started to walk home.|walkHome]]
<<set $queasy = "true">> Chocolate ice cream was obviously the best choice, no matter what that ice cream man said. I sat on a bench outside enjoying my cone. After I finished it I started to make my way home.\n I began to feel a little queasy on the way.\n\n [[I walked into a near by factory, hoping I could use their toilet.|factory]]\n [[I walked into a pub, hoping I could sit down for a moment and use their toilet.|enterPub]]\n [[I decided I'd be fine, and tried to walk it off.|walkHome]]
I followed the directions the man had given me to a little door out of the main room. Inside there was little more than a long urinal and a single cubical. Thankfully it was empty. I went in and sat on the filthy toilet lid. I won't give you all the details, but I did feel much better afterwards.\n <<set $queasy = "false">>\n [[Write some graphitti in the bathroom.|factoryGraphitti]]\n [[Leave the bathroom.|leavingFactory]]
We said sod it all, and went to hang out at a cafe. It was great fun; turns out I'm quite funny. We lived in New York happilly, until two weeks after we'd arrived when space-time-entropy-fabric broke and everything in The Ultiverse (or whatever that rabbit called it) died.\n An end.
I went into the back of the van and watched on the grainy black and white screens as other me walk into the bank. Everything seemed pretty self explanatory, I just had to watch the screens and press the right buttons at the right times. Her job was harder, but I knew I could do it if I tried... Unless she didn't manage to.\n I watched as she walked past the help desk and stopped outside a private door. I waited until it seemed like she was safe, then told her in her earpiece that she could go. I watched as she went through the door, then went down a couple more corridors like the Rabbit had told her to.\n I guided her right into the middle of the bank without fault. I unlocked the safe door with the press of a button and she swung it open. It was massive inside.\n "Sheesh, look at this," she said into her earpiece. "This is rediculously big."\n "It's New York, baby!" I said, in a mock accent. "Maybe the equivelant is smaller back on our universe."\n "Our respective universes," we said together.\n "Weird," she said.\n "Do you see the box?"\n "Yeah. Sticks out like a sore thumb."\n "It just looks grey on the screen."\n "It's duller than than everything else, and it looks like it's just been left here." I watched as she picked up the box. "Now help me out of here."\n After I successfully guided her out of the bank I drove us round a corner.\n "What do we do now?" she asked me.\n "Uhm... I don't know. What did Mr Rabbit say was going to happen?"\n "I don't remember him mentioning anything past this point..." She shook the small box in her hands. "Think we should open it?"\n\n [["No, lets wait for Mr Rabbit to get in touch with us."|waitHim]]\n [["Yeah, maybe the next step is inside."|openBoxHim]]
<<if $eatenPill eq "true">> I joined the octopusses on the dance floor and started to bust off some moves as they swam around me. I started to feel whoosy, and closed my eyes.\n [[next.|clubPill]] <<else>>\n I found a space on the dance floor and started busting some moves. Some guys started to dance around me, one of them getting a bit too close.\n "HEY," he shouted in my ear. "WANNA GOOD NIGHT?" he shoved something into my hand. I opened my hand to see a little red pill.\n\n [[I closed my eyes, then ate the pill.|clubPill]]\n [[I threw his pill across the room, and moved away from them.|clubDanceDepression]]\n [[I threw his pill away, and went to get drunk instead.|clubWasted]] <<endif>>
I started to feel miserable, dancing by myself. I felt like I didn't belong here. \n [[I went to get wasted.|clubWasted]]\n [[I went to kill myself.|killMyself]]\n [[I kept dancing anyway.|danceDeath]]
I stepped out of the van and onto the pavement of what was supposed to be a new universe. None of this could be real. But the other 'me' seemed to be playing along, so I would to. I wasn't scared of being caught since I couldn't believe any of this was real which made the infiltration fairly easy.\n I breased through each set of doors as male me opened and locked them like clockwork. I never knew I was this good at keeping track of a maze.\n I arrived at the safe door without fault and male me unlocked it with the touch of a button. I pulled it open with minimal effort.\n "Sheesh, look at this," I broadcasted my thoughts. "This is ridiculously big."\n "It's New York, baby!" his voice crackled through the tiny gadget, with a bad american accent. "Maybe the equivelant is smaller back on our universe."\n "Our respective universes," we said together.\n "Weird," I said.\n "Do you see the box?"\n I looked to where it was supposed to be according to Mr Rabbit. There was indeed a metal box sitting there. It looked like a tool box or something that someone had accidently left there while on their way out. "Yeah. Sticks out like a sore thumb."\n "It just looks grey on the screen," he replied.\n "It looks like a different kind of metal than everything else." I carefuly picked up the box wondering if it's contents where fragile. "Now help me out of here."\n After I successfully got out of the building, we drove round the block and contemplaited our next move.\n "What do we do now?" I asked him.\n "Uhm... I don't know. What did Mr Rabbit say was going to happen?"\n "I don't remember him mentioning anything past this point..." I shook the small box in my hands.\n\n [["I'm going to open it."|openBoxHer]]\n [["Let's wait to see if he gets back in touch with us."|waitHer]]
"Who the hell are you?!" We both shouted at each other in unison. "How do you exist? What are you doing here? Stop copying me! I said stop! Damn it!"\n I sat back in my seat and quietly seethed.\n\n [[We arrived at the bank.|bankHerStart]]
"Oh, I can get you something better..." The man said to me. He then produced a small red pill from his pocket and pressed it into my hand. "Take that," he said to me, "and your life will truly begin..."<<set $ownPill = "true">>\n\n [[I left to the toilet.|pubBathroom]]\n [[I left the pub to go home.|walkHome]]\n [[I ate the pill and left the pub.|pubPill]]
Before I knew it I was sitting in a sushi bar with the sweaty man from the ice cream shop. He looked like he could have been attractive if he put some effort into it but he clearly hadn't, which was fairly insulting. He was too nervous to start any kind of conversation, so it was up to me.\n\n [["Do you often try to pick up customers, or is it just me?"|iceCreamManPickUp]]\n [["So, how's things?"|iceCreamManHow'sThings]]\n [["You know what? This was a mistake. Goodbye."|iceCreamManLeaves]]
We gave the box a gental nudge, and the freak snapped it up. Once he had it in his hands, he took a deep breath and calmed down.\n "Thank you, both of you," he said. "You have helped me in a way that I could never have helped myself. You see, my power comes at a price. And this is just another payment."\n Before we could react, he crushed the box into a crumb and as he did so the world we were in was also crushed into nothingness, as the two versions of me and everything else around us was crumpeled into one tiny partical.\n In that nothingness, I could still feel a presence, of white hair and beedy eyes, outside of us... Then the partical exploded.\n An end.