TT: When you think about... alternate timelines. Doomed and offshoot timelines.
TT: Do you think that you made me in every one of them?
TT: ...
TT: I hope not.
TT: Why?
TT: It would be cruel for you.
TT: It would be cruel for you if I never existed.
TT: Why, because I wouldn't have anyone to answer my messages?
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JAKE: What do you suppose a soul looks like?
DIRK: What am I, the official expert on any and all soul-related matters now?
JAKE: Well i dont see why not.
DIRK: I think it's meant to be like, ephemeral and shit. You know, *indescribable.*
JAKE: Oh come on dont tell me you arent up for a challenge. I mean if you *had* to describe it, what would it be?
JAKE: I know youre a man of far too many words you cant fool me here.
DIRK: Hmm.
DIRK: ...
DIRK: You know those clear plastic spheres with tracks and bridges inside, and you're supposed to guide a marble through the channels to bring it to the end?
JAKE: Sure...
JAKE: So youre saying were like some sort of puzzle for you to solve eh?
DIRK: No, hold on. I’m getting there.
DIRK: It’s like that, but there's a light coming from within, so bright that you couldn’t possibly see anything inside.
DIRK: It’s a puzzle, but only you can truly know what your soul contains. It’s not something for the rest of us to solve.
DIRK: ...At least, that's what I try to remind myself of.
JAKE: Not as easy in practice, huh?
DIRK: Yeah, you got me there.
JAKE: Oh you know im only teasing.
JAKE: You want to know what i think? Id rather you slice that puzzle open in two and rearrange everything nice and orderly.
JAKE: And then just seal everything back up and pop it right back into the ol noggin.
DIRK: Soul surgery, huh? Sounds pretty hardcore
JAKE: I was thinking dissection but thats essentially the same thing
DIRK: I don't know man, I don't think you need anyone rummaging around in your head. Isn't that basically what Aranea did?
JAKE: Who?
DIRK: Aranea, the troll?
JAKE: Sorry im not sure i know what you mean?
DIRK: Remember? When-
DIRK: Oh, right. Nevermind.
DIRK: Sorry, I was thinking of something else. Not important.
JAKE: Maybe its your head that needs fiddling around with...
DIRK: Hey, maybe you're right.
DIRK: But in all seriousness, you don't have to worry. I love you just the way you are.
DIRK: Hey. I've come to notice that you're upset with me.
ROXY: hmm
ROXY: what gave you that bright idea
DIRK: Well,
DIRK: For starters, your tone of voice there was very likely to be sarcasm, indicating that my assumption was correct. You're also refusing to look at me while I'm talking, as you have for the entire morning, which is of course fair given your current frustration towards me.
DIRK: I just want you to know that if at any moment you ever want to take your anger out on me, I have a bunch of darts in my sylladex if you want to use me as target practice.
ROXY: wtf
DIRK: Or, you could use knives, if you prefer. All up to you. Your feelings are important to me.
ROXY: ...
DIRK: I could also paint a target on my face, if you wanted.
DIRK: Whatever helps.
ROXY: can you fuck off
Before her is an infinite, purely white expanse. For a second, she thinks, ‘Well, that didn’t work. Guess I’m dead,’ until she hears Roxy whistle to her left.
ROXY: yanno
ROXY: i sometimes joked about his head bein empty buuut
ROXY: i didnt think itd be this literal?
JANE: Maybe something went wrong? Surely there has to be something here.
Or, maybe she’s just approaching it the wrong way. The human mind is abstract, right? Will they even be able to traverse a tangible reality? They’re standing, which means there’s a ground beneath them, and that feels pretty tangible…
Jane takes a tentative step forward, then another, and then-
(Bump)
-immediately hits her face on something invisible.
JANE: Um…
ROXY: huh? do you see something?
JANE: Not so much “see” as “ran straight into.” I think there’s some kind of boundary here.
She starts to feel across the wall, trying to map out where it ends, when she hears a shhk from above. The two look up to see that a rectangular hole has appeared in the white nothingness, and peeking out of that hole is (what is unmistakably) a security camera. A small red dot blinks to indicate that it’s active.
: State your business.
The disembodied voice simultaneously seems to come from above, yet nowhere at all. Still, it sounds unmistakably like Dirk.
JANE: Oh! We’re here to, ah-
: Nah, just messing with you. I obviously know why you’re here.
With no warning at all, the nothingness around them distorts, and an actual moderately-sized room starts forming around them. It only takes a second for everything to settle; she quickly takes in the tiled, almost sanitized room that she and Roxy now stand in. Facing them is Dirk, who is lounging in a chair that looks far too stiff and clinical to actually be comfortable. Identical chairs line the perimeter, the only gap being in front of an unmarked door.
Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Jane is reminded of how it felt waiting with her father at the doctor’s office.
ROXY: sooo
ROXY: you gonna give us the grand tour?
: Oh, this is as far as you’ll be going.
ROXY: huh
ROXY: you mean we can help fix whatevers going on with your powers from here?
The corners of Dirk’s mouth turn ever so slightly upward. Jane is so unused to him smiling that the sight sets her on edge.
: It seems you’re mistaken.
: As I’m sure you’ve come to understand, Dirk is quite experienced at compartmentalizing his psyche. I am a part of Dirk, but my existence is only a small sliver of his overall person.
The sliver gestures to the door with its thumb.
: The rest of him, including the parts that reluctantly agreed to this whole operation, is locked behind that door.
: And frankly, everyone back there is a complete lunatic. It’s a goddamn nightmare.
: Personally, I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to stay here, where everything is quiet, and orderly, and nobody will get hurt.
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TG: dirk do u know if you can use your heart zappy powers like a defibrillator
TT: I doubt that it works that way.
TG: so the answer is you dont know
GT: I think we should test it!
TT: I do not think we should test it.
JADE: have you told dirk yet?
DAVE: no
DAVE: im one hundred percent avoiding that conversation thats for sure
JADE: do you really think hell respond that badly?
DAVE: no its just
DAVE: idk
DAVE: at best itll be awkward as hell
DAVE: tbh im kind of hoping hell notice on his own like damn dave has tits now? and put two and two together
DAVE: hes a smart guy im sure he can figure it out on his own
JADE: and you think thats a good idea?
DAVE: sure why not
JADE: :|
DAVE: ...
JADE: :| :|
DAVE: dont fucking :| at me
JADE: ill fucking :| at whoever i want!
JADE: :P
DAVE: maybe i can like
DAVE: sneak it into the conversation subliminally
DAVE: so he can understand on like a subconscious level but in such a way it doesnt occur to him directly and we dont have to talk about it
DAVE: wait i actually havent told him were dating yet
DAVE: which is something hes been banking on since forever since he likes you so much
DAVE: i can just smoothly deposit that nugget of information into the conversation before its meaning starts rendering in his mind
DAVE: like
DAVE: hey bro JADE AND I ARE DATINGalsoimagirlnowISNT SHE GREAT JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW
JADE: hehehehe.
DAVE: and hell be so focused on the you part that his brain will just skip right over the girl part
DAVE: jade does that count as talking about it
DAVE: no thats stupid
JADE: i dont know dave i think thats a GREAT plan. :)
DAVE: okay somehow the smiley face is more patronizing than the :| is it too late to bring back the :|
JADE: its too late!
DAVESPRITE: hmm
DAVESPRITE: assuming that its because they were like your eternal mind prison and not just because theyve gone out of style which if so i hate to break it to you that they were never really there
HAL: Essentially. Though it's a bit more nuanced than that.
HAL: A constant reminder that, yes, I stripped myself of all autonomy for over three years. I also find myself in a position where now that I have my own body, I can take up space and express myself freely once again, I don’t know what exactly I want to express.
HAL: Do I break away from Dirk completely, in the visual sense? Display myself as the complete opposite of how he does?
HAL: Or is that even worse than copying his appearance? I don’t want my life to be dictated by who he is, whether it be that I have to be him or that I have to be nothing like him.
HAL: I don’t even know if I like my glasses anymore. I was clearly a fan of the style at thirteen, I don’t know if that’s still the case or if it’s soured for me overall.
HAL: Of course, I don’t mean to enter the realm of self-deprecation either. Those glasses used to be me. That enough makes me hesitant to toss them aside.
HAL: I know my situation isn’t the same as yours, certainly. But as someone who used to be Dave... what do you think?