#squiggletters

A single guiding light shone a path for the two guests making their way towards a destination unknown.

 "Now that I think about it, it's hard to see any buildings around here." Edelweiss looks up at the white trail 14 leaves behind.

 "Nope," Annabelle chirped up from behind. "Only to leave before the trident is used up, no coordinates or anything." thinking back to the contents of the book she read.

"If I had guess? They want me to guide you guys to them!" 14 added, creating the way with a mended trident in hand.

 "And you're letting this happen because..?" Edelweiss can feel himself sweat.

"Why not? It's fun watching you squirm."

 He only shuddered in response, Annabelle leans aside having been here the whole time.

Squig was running. Well, she was running and jumping, hopping every few seconds to keep herself at maximum speed to avoid the creeping pests behind her.

 (Why the FUCK did the letter writer tell me to go this way?? Into the dead of NIGHT of all times??? WITHOUT TORCHES????)

Sprinting past the acacia trees of the savanna, Squig could feel herself getting hungrier by the second. Shoving a loaf of bread into her mouth, she attempted to chew as fast as possible as she slowed, turning back just long enough to know that not only was the damn beasts gaining on her, there were THREE OF THEM now

 "Oh I am SO fucked..." She murmured, or... at least she tried to murmur with her mouth full of bread. 

 (C'mon Squigs, you gotta find a way outta this... I know there's some builds around here, there's gotta be a trail or - or a sign of life! Or - )

Then, she spotted it. In the distance, below a slight incline she saw it! A light!

 (But is it a torch or - )

Hissssssssssssss...

 (Y'KNOW WHAT? FUCK THE SEMANTICS!)

And with that, she began running again. Now with a goal in sight.~

14 giggles before she falls into her own hair and disappearing. Much to the dismay of her guests.

 "What the-"

 "Miss Winsley someone's coming!"

 "Wait I think that’s another player-"

Squig bolted towards the light, a rainbow cape trailing behind her as if she truly was the poptart cat her skin was based upon.

(OH C'MON there has GOT be a building, or - or somewhere to hide! Like a cave or a hole or a...) 

Now officially twenty or so blocks of the other players, Squig stopped and realized what she was looking at.

 (Is that the middle-aged man Xivvy made us babysit...?)

But as soon as Squig thought this, it was already too late. She didn't notice the fourth creeper in front of her until after she heard its signature hiss. 

And thus, she exploded; killing her instantly.

There before the remaining members of whitespace, they saw the dead body of the exact person the letter told them of. (Who else would be running around as a gray cat with a rainbow cape??) Eyes lifeless, chest still, the body of Squig lie lifeless in a crater surrounded by floating dirt blocks.

 Annabelle rushed over first, checking on the pulse of the now dead Squig.

 "Shit- Shit- do people die in this game?" Edelweiss readied his stone sword.

 "Probably not?? If this is a dream they'd probably wake up." Annabelle relaxed her breath and examined the items she left behind. "What did I look like when 14 woke me up?"

 Edelweiss built a tiny dirt hut for the both of them while he fended off the nearby mobs. "Probably the same way? Except you beam away in a sense??"

 Annabelle stayed close to avoid item despawn. "What does that even mean??"

Annabelle's question is cut off by the sound of a voice in the distance.

 "MOTHERFUCKER!!!!"

Squig was elsewhere in the savanna, having respawned on the bed she placed in panic as night fell. Although she was alive again, that didn't stop the mobs from spawning in. As she soon realized after an arrow hits her skull. 

Two skeletons beneath an acacia fired. Repeatably.

And thus, a nearby armadillo sat in awe as it witnessed Squig collapsing onto the bed, a dozen arrows littering her corpse... Just to have herself spawn back atop of it.

 "Oh are you REALLY spawncamping me right now, you FUCK???"

Squig growled, charging at the bony archers, before a zombie intercepted her and killed her again.

In the back of the minds of all players out of sight, they could silently hear the death messages in their head.

 Squig was shot to death by a skeleton.  Squig was slain by a zombie.   Squig was shot to death by a skeleton.   Squig was -

 Edelweiss and Annabelle looked up to see the death logs roll in from above them.

 "Well... That answered our question." Annabelle looked up watching it tick faster.

 Edelweiss began digging down forming a small bunker for the both of them. With Annabelle dragging the corpse with her.

Three more deaths later, Squig had FINALLY rushed past the mobs surrounding her. The empty corpses of herself on top of and around the bed had begun to despawn, (save for one holding an armadillo scute), but the sight of her own dead body gave Squig an idea.

 (I had three iron in my inventory. If I can at LEAST get to my corpse, I can grab that, punch a tree, and make a sword before morning. FUCK the pickaxe I was gonna craft, dying fucking SUCKS in VR!!!)

She rushed to the crater again, picking up a few dirt blocks as she scrambled around.

 (WHERESTHEBODYWHERESTHEBODYWHERESTHEBODYWHERESTHEBODYWHERESTHEBODYWHERESTHEBODYWHERESTHE - )

An arrow whizzes past her head.

From within the dirt hut, the duo could hear a scream, far, far closer to them this time.

 Edelweiss and Annabelle move aside from the dirt stair and door.

Squig backs away from the crater, not noticing the dirt hut until an arrow shoots her right in the face, pointing her towards it.

 (Oh. OH.)

Gritting her teeth as another arrow hits her in the back, Squig clambers into the tiny hut, slamming the door shut and leaning against it to make sure it's closed. Her eyes shut and her heavy breathing began to finally slow as the adrenaline wore off.

 (How... The.... Oh I BARELY survived that didn't I..? Feels like... Two hearts? At most? Fuck...)

The cat woman's breathing settled, slowly but surely in the confined space. Only after she reopened her eyes, she realized there were other people there.

 "OH WAIT." Squig perked back up, "YOU TWO! You're new people, err... You're not people I invited so... You must be someone's plus ones!!!~"

 She turned specifically towards Edelweiss, big kitty eyes widening with revelation, "In fact!~ You look quite familiar too!~ You're Xivvy's pet, right?~ The one we had to babysit on her blog a while back, riiight?~ I can assume who at least brought you here, hmm?~"

 Edelweiss felt his shoulders tense up and his grip on his sleeve tighten. He responds to you with a glare, recognizing the way they talk from the texts. "Don't call me that."

 "Xiv? You mean 14?" Annabelle held out an apple. "I saved your stuff."

Squig brushed her back against the dirt wall in reaction to Edelweiss' glare. "Ah. Duly noted, uh... E-boy, I think I called you before? I forget what your regular name is, ha..."

She scratched the side of her face with her now pawlike hands, her tail flickering behind her, "And... yeah! Xivvy! That's, uh... Ex eye vee. Those are the letters she uses when interacting with the Kintsugi Timeline blogs and stuff... Some of us even call her that 'eye are ell'. Well, I think they do? Eye dee kay. All I know is that Xivvy has helped my bud Kal before so... Maybe I should ask them when I see 'em next? I dunno~"

Grabbing at her own corpse, she collected her few things: three loaves of bread, half a stack of wood, the iron she forgot she had in her inventory when she left to follow the letter writer's instructions, an egg for some reason, the letter writer's book... Oh! Wait, that's important!

Squig's corpse despawned into nothingness as she pocketed the final items, keeping the book out in her off-hand as she munched one of her remaining breads. "Keef de abble," She says, mouthful of bread, "I still haff food!"

 "Roman numeral 14, not subtle at all." Annabelle eats the apple. The way they talk evokes the lingo the new generation of high schoolers talk. Like she's any different online. "She helped someone?”

 Edelweiss' cold gaze, scan the individual before him. A predator learning to size up a threat. "Edelweiss."

 “Annabelle," The punk lady chirped up in addition staring at Edelweiss’ expression.

(Edelweiss and Annabelle... WAIT.) 

 "OH!!! You two!!!!"

 Squig walks around the two of them, inspecting them each closely while attempting to avert their gazes, "The letter writer told me to research you two before coming here, I think!~ Unlike most of the characters in the aye are gee, I haven't learned a single thing about you two aside from your names!~"

 She pointed to the punk woman, "You're Annebelle Winsley and...."

 She pointed to the scarred man, "You're Edelweiss P. Joltus, correct?"

 Squig stopped pointing and brought her claws to scratch the back of her neck, "And.... That's pretty much all I know about you two. Usually, there's some web scouring tools on The Website that can give me information on the other characters. Things like birth certificates, social security numbers, addresses... Couldn't find a single thing for the both of ya!~ I take it that's because you're both from a previous season where they didn't have the whole, 'Phony Personal Information for Literally Every Single Character" thingy?"

 Her eyes widened with realization "OH! I forgot to tell y'all MY name as well!~" 

 With a face and back still full of arrows, Squig gave a nervous, but externally carefree grin, "And I'm Squig by the way~ That's, uh, not my real name, but... Everyone calls me that nowadays. I'd give you my aye are ell name, but I'm pretty sure this entire VR game is being recorded for the ARG, and I would prefer not to have my ex find out where I am at the moment, nosiree~"

 Edelweiss and Annabelle looked at each other confused. Annabelle leaned first to a whisper. 

 “Does she always talk like that?” She whispered.

 “I kind of gave up trying to dissect her lingo.” Edelweiss shrugged in response.

 With a calm and collected smile, Annabelle turned to Squig. “Nice to meet you, Squig. What do you mean our names is in a website?”

 Squig finished another loaf of bread, feeling the arrows begin to despawn off of her body as she regained health.

 "That's the thing actually!" She said, a kitty ear twitched as she scratched the spot the arrow in her face disappeared from, "You two AREN'T on The Website. I found information for... Pretty much everyone else but you two? And... I would say that might be an error on the end of The Website, or the ARG, or the web tools they gave us, but... I don't think that's a coincidence."

 The feline humanoid gave a flourish, properly stood up now that she was at least mostly full on health, "An Alternate Reality Game as expansive as this one doesn't HAVE coincidences!~ Not in my experience! And to solve a mystery as complex and expansive as this one? You gotta note down as many lil oddities you find. And having ZERO record on two charact - err... People when you have dozens of documents of pretty much every other person in the game? Yeah, that ain't a coincidence. That's a clue~"

 Either Annabelle and him are too good at hiding or the versions of them in their world is drastically different than their own. Annabelle looked at Edelweiss fidgeting and biting the tip of his finger. He might be thinking about the implications of it too.

 But alas, as Annabelle was told around the mentally ill, one must play along to their reality. She chuckled, rubbing her finger under her nose. "Well good luck figuring that one out, I ain't telling you lickety split."

 She turns to Edelweiss with a smile. "Right Edelweiss?"

 He stare off into the distance before quickly snapping back out of the conversation. "Y-Yeah... Yeah.."

 "Pfft~" Squig made a close-mouthed laugh, "I'm gonna be 28 in a week, A-Lass~ You can say the words 'jack shit" around me." 

 She adjusts her glasses, "I may look like a rainbow idiot furry McGee right now, but I'm like... A fully grown human woman somehow!~"

 A beat.

 "Yeah, I don't know how I got this far either."

 Squig peeped into the tiny window of the door that blocked the outside world from their tiny, confined dirt shed. The sun started rising, just barely. Her tail swished slightly beneath her rainbow cape.

 "Finally..." Squig sighed, "I say we wait a moment until some of the mobs burn, but... We can probably at least go somewhere less... Uncharted. My base, at least. Then..."

 The felid gave a big toothy Cheshire grin, the book in her hand raised, "Then THERE!~ I can read you the rest of the letter writer's letter!~ Or... Ya know. We could build something here, or... Go to any bases you've built or... Yeah. Whatever!~ I just REALLY need to learn more about this letter giving freak, I have gotten SO MANY letters from this person, not in-game, in real life. In my HOME while it's LOCKED. They said they'd tell me more if I spoke to y'all so PLEASE throw a dog a bone here!"

 Another beat.

 "A cat a bone. Whatever... Origins mod... Heheh~"

 "Well... It's not like we have anything to do." Edelweiss shrugged before slowly filling in the dirt house.

 "I figured as much. Let's go to your base instead." Annabelle crossed her arms watch Edelweiss work.

 "We already built a base somewhere far off.."

 "I see!" Squig said as she grabbed a loose bone dropped by a burnt skeleton's remains, "Glad you two are enjoying my server so far! Uh... I'm assuming you guys are. At least..."

 For a moment, the trio walked in silence, Squig scouting out ahead so she could see where exactly she was going. She spotted her bed and an old corpse of her own body. She sighed. (I am REALLY hoping my brain has mercy on me for the next time I have an episode...) Grabbed the singular armadillo scute from it's body and watched it disappear into nothingness. She inspected the scute.

 "I'm glad my mods work with this dream VR version of the game," Squig said to no one in particular before pocketing the item, "Never been a fan of how items just fade into nothingness when you die. Even garbage has a place on my fifty million chests!"

 Both Annabelle and Edelweiss followed right behind Squig. Admiring the environment and slaying whatever mobs that approach.

 "Please tell me that's exaggeration..." Annabelle looked around, spotting Edelweiss looking at the Armadillo.

 Squig raised an eyebrow, "The fifty million chests part or the part about you two having fun?"

 The armadillo dropped a second scute. Squig grabbed it before Edelweiss could, "Cuz if it's the first one, uh... Well, it's not fifty thousand... But to make this modpack work for such a light server, I couldn't install all the usual storage mods I add so..."

 She coughed. "Anyway!~ We're almost back to civilization! Uh... The letter writer did tell me to read some stuff to y'all when I had the chance!~ So... I was gonna do that when we got to my base, but, uh... You two look like you're itchin' to go and, um..." Squig looked at the duo and made a wavy little hand gesture with her paw, "Be... Pretty much anywhere else. The more populated parts of the server are up ahead. Would you two prefer for me to read the letters in private or just have me read 'em as we walk? Make our journey go a lil quicker? I, uh... Wouldn't usually suggest me reading something so personal out loud like this usually, but considering you guys aren't even from the current season of this game, I have no clue if anyone there will even know who y'all are! So... It ain't gonna be useful information for anyone else, I don't think..."

 "They have armadillos in minecraft now?" Edelweiss watched the armadillo walk away from him.

 "Sounds like a plan," Annabelle nodded. "Need help with anything before we go?"

 "Armadillos have been here for a little while, yeah~" Squig said, walking past Edelweiss, "Their little mammal scales or whatever are used for armor for dogs. Which is great when you have dogs! I, uh.. Don't. But It's good to have for whenever I DO have dogs! Or if someone else has dogs and want armor for said dogs!~ Speaking of..."

 Squig pushed her glasses up with a singular kitty beaned finger, "I do remember something from when I skimmed the letter before coming here... The letter's author said somethin' very useful that you might be able to assist with!~" She pointed the paw padded finger at Annabelle, "They said you're similar to a cop, right?~ That means, you'd make for a good moderator on a huge server full of people, most of which you've never interacted with... Right Anns?~ Or... Am I reading the room wrong? Err... Savanna wrong?~"

 "This letter anon told you that I'm a cop??" Annabelle widened at the revelation before turning to Edelweiss, trying to gauge his reaction from behind.

 And he only sat there in silence, slowly getting up.

 "Well uh...Sounds... Good to me." Annabelle can feel sweat drip down her back as her eyes never leave Edelweiss' position.

 Squig stopped. She tilted her head at the cop's comment/question, "Wait, you're actually a cop? Well that ain't very punk rock of you..." She broke her old bed before picking it up and returning to the other two, "I thought the letter writer meant like... You had the personality of a cop? Like, you're a stickler for the rules or something? Hold on, lemme double check what they said..."

 The feline humanoid opened the book and began to read out loud, 

 " 'Hello once more! I know you're itching to get into the game, so I'll keep this brief. There are several tasks I want you to accomplish... ' Lemme skip to the part where it mentions you guys." 

 Squig flipped through some more pages, "AH HA! Here! 'By the time you read this, you will have made the mistake of calling Annabelle a cop.' Oh. Uh, sorry Anns!~ Ahem... 'She might be, or I could be lying to make Edelweiss squirm. Either way, the fact that she sees herself as a cop at the first mention of the word says more about herself than anything else. And that isn't very punk rock of her at all.' "  Squig slowed her reading, looked back up at the other two using the book itself as a face shield, "Uh... I... Really should have read this more before I got out here... Usually these letters are a lot kinder, I swear! Uh... What else does it say..."

 She turned the page, " 'Unlike most pigs out there, you can trust this one.' Jesus fucking Christ letter writer. Uh... 'She has no associations to the officer that tortured Kalei and she cannot arrest anyone regardless of their crimes. However, her words do ring true. She can help you, Squig. And she is still far more trustworthy than the old man.' " 

 Squig's face was red hot beneath the layer of gray fur on her face. She peered over the book again to gauge the reactions of her audience.

 Shit.

 Both Annabelle and Edelweiss thought at the very same time, and both have their different reasons.

 "I assure you, I'm not planning to hold that against you." Annabelle held up her hands, dropping the sword on the ground. "This mysterious writer is right, I am not responsible for any transgression regarding other districts. Let alone another dimension."

 "I am a Police Detective, nothing more, nothing less."

 Edelweiss' back turned away hid his eyes going wide hearing what Annabelle has to say. If he is stuck with a police detective, then the reason she's being trying to get close, she's trying to..

 If a cat could sweat, Squig would be doing so. (Should... Should I be reading this..? Is this truly the letter writer? Usually they're so much kinder, so much more supportive... How could I - WAIT WHAT.)

 " 'Speaking of Edelweiss, tell him my pronouns are she/her.' What the fu...?" Squig jolted her eyes back up, looking dead into the eyes of the scarred man, "WAIT, ARE YOU A MISOGYNIST???"

 Edelweiss flinched as he stared at her. "What?"

 "How did you even arrive at that conclusion?" Annabelle muttered.

 "Buh - be - beCAUSE it - they - she - it - I MEAN SHE! Said it, uh..." Squig flipped through the papers once more, less so to find anything and more to keep her face hidden behind a book as she thought of what to say. She slammed the book shut in her paws then exclaimed, "LISTEN! This letter writer person has told me JACKSHIT about her up until this point! I've just been... Goin' about my life and finding these letters, and so have the people around me! And - and, they're ALWAYS right! About things! And they've HELPED people, SAVED people! I... The letters told me to time something on my phone and start walking and... And when I got there... That kid." She trailed off, looked back up from the book again, which she subconsciously brought to her face again, even as it was closed. She lowered the book once more, "There... Was a crash. And I was there right on time because of these letters. The letter writer saved that kid. If I wasn't there when it told me to be... Fuck..." 

 Squig reopened the book, "I know this all sounds insane. Because, uh. I am. Legally, I think, but... This is the first piece of actual information I know about her. The letter writer, I mean... And also that she has also read Homestuck, but, uh... I think that's less useful than pronouns..."

 She returned back to where she once was in the pages, scratching her nose before glancing at Edelweiss, "Sorry, by the way. It just... I couldn't think of any other reason for the letter writer to FINALLY reveal some information about herself if not for it being like... Something I had to help someone with? Like... Maybe the reason we got this letter was to make you kinder towards women or something? I mean, you're an older gentleman in the year 2026, I don't know why she had me mention her pronouns for if not for that."

"It's probably because of Edelweiss' thing." 14 spoke up from behind them.

 Annabelle turned to face her and so did Edelweiss. While Annabelle grew tense, Edelweiss relaxed slightly.

 "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" 

 Squig nearly jumped out of her own skin, the fur that now adorned her body stood on end. She blinked. Took a second to analyze the familiar face and sighed. 

 "Oh.. Good! Howdy Xivvy!~ Long time no see!~ Happy you took me up on that offer to join my Minecraft server!~ It's truly been a while since I dreamed of you slash Dark Media Savant Productions animated you meeting with me after described said dream after I, uh..." 

 She coughed once more, "ANYWAY!~ I was just reading your friends a little letter I got! I have a letter for you as well by the way!~ From the letter writer. Somewhere, uh, not on my person right now. I take it you know her, or... Something? I dunno, might be rude of me to assume all godly entities know each other but... You two seem like you'd vibe." 

 Squig looked back at the book she was reading, scratched her whiskers, as she avoided eye contact with those pupil-free eyes, "She, uh... Said I would get it later and.... Wanted me to give it to you at a specific time, I think? Something about, waiting until after, quote, 'The Fight'..? I dunno what that's about. May I ask who you're fighting?"

"Oh don't worry yourself about that." 14 gently patted Squig's head. "Anyway- I believe this belongs to you?"

She held out a trident.

 Squig's brain froze for a second after her head was pat, her fluffy cat hair flattening with her touch. The sight of the trident snapped her out of it.

 "OH! My trident!~" Squig grabbed it, "I threw this bad boy the other day and couldn't find it afterwards... Looked for like, the ENTIRE night!~ This stupid thing took me like, twenty deaths to wrestle it off the drowned I got it from when I was testing the server before opening it, so I was genuinely disappointed when I thought I - Uh..." She scratched the side of her face, "Thank you. I mean."

 She pocketed the weapon, then continued to yap, "I would like to know about the fight, however. I dunno who you're up against, but if it's like... The Ender Dragon or the Wither, I find fighting bosses is a lot easier with allies by your side!~ I'd be happy to help if need be!~ I don't want any of you getting hurt after all~"

"Mmm... Don't worry about it!" 14 tilted her whole body back, and begin pedaling backwards all the way towards the old man behind her.

 Edelweiss could only stand by as 14 approaches with her back turned, swiftly moving out of the way.

14 anticipated this and curved her path to reach him. A small leap, and she clings onto his back with a squee.

 The weight caused Edelweiss to lift his hands to balance himself, biting his lip and choking back a tear as he does.

14 nuzzles up to Edelweiss as she clings on to him from behind. "Well I go prepare some things, you guys go and socialize with your kind."

 "Your kind?" Annabelle raised a brow.

 Edelweiss took a few laboured breaths before settling with an uneasy smile. She gently massage his shoulders and he looks on in an unhappy truce.

"I said what I said." 14 shoves Edelweiss away, causing him to lightly stumble forward.

"Have fun!" She hops into a small white hole in the ground, and then she was gone.

 Squig blinked. "Well... Goodbye I guess..?"

Squig walked a bit closer to where the hole once was. Peered down at the ground idly, "Is... Is that fine? Not worrying about the fight..? The letter writer really emphasized the upcoming battle thingy... You two sure Xivvy won't get hurt?"

 Edelweiss and Annabelle stood there, staring at Squig. While he silently nursed his own back with his hand, Annabelle breaks this silence.

 "Oh yeah."

 "Yep."

 "We can confirm that."

  "She is surprisingly durable."

 Squig deadpanned. "She's a puppet. Well, controlling a puppet. But... I really have a hard time believing she could throw hands with... Whatever she's about to fight. Assuming it's a big ass dragon or a three-headed skeleton monster thing at least. I don't think I added any mods with new mobs in it..." she shook her head, "Anyway, I feel like her saying not to worry about something is a thousand percent a reason to worry more. Oh god... I hope she doesn't summon the wither somewhere public or something..."

 A lightbulb flashed in her brain, "OH! That's the thing I was gonna ask y'all for help with! The, uh. Cop at least."

 Squig's kitty paws paced across the ground, "This server is... REALLY new. And I didn't get the chance to appoint some moderators. If... If Xivvy's gonna of something stupid that might get folks hurt, it might be better to have a moderator in close proximity to her. So..." She clasped her paw-hands and stared at Annabelle, "You, uh... Up to be a mod? For a little while, at least?~"

 Annabelle shrugged. "Sure. I don't mind."

 "It is strange," Edelweiss stood up straight with an inhale. "The fact she gave us no warning whatsoever might mean that whatever she's fighting doesn't pose a threat to us."

 Squig paused at Edelweiss' statement, "Huh. I mean... Maybe it's because we can just kinda... Die here and come back? Respawning or whatever?" 

 A part of Squig's stomach twisted in an odd way. Something felt wrong about that statement... "Hey, Ed? Does she ever... Hurt people? Xivvy. Like... Not just whatever she did with your elderly man spine right now, I mean like... Actually going out of her way to hurt someone..?"

 Edelweiss looked at Annabelle, then back at Squig. "Not one that I can think of."

 "She can't hurt us, nor can we hurt her." Edelweiss looked at his hand dangling by his side.

 Squig's brows furrowed. "Yes, but... That's just you guys. Y'all are like.. Her charges? Or something? I, uh... Don't wanna use the word pet again..." She trailed off, avoiding Edelweiss' gaze, "Point is: She's gonna fight someone. The letter writer downright said it. So... Who or what is it that she's gonna fight?"

 She shut her eyes, her mind racing before realizing, "Wait. You know what? I'm the server owner. I have more important things to worry about right now..."

 Squig dug into her inventory and grabbed the two armadillo scutes. She gave one to Annabelle, "Here's proof you're my moderator! I, uh... Don't know how I can access server commands from here..." she spun around and gave the other scute to Edelweiss, "And here's proof you're my detective!~ That's your role here, Eddy!~ You'll investigate who or what Xivvy's fighting and we'll act accordingly whenever that happens!~ Seems easy enough, right?~ The two of you can even work together on these lil missions I'm givin' ya!~ So... Yeah!~"

 "Guests." Annabelle corrected.

 "Shouldn't the detective work go to Annabelle?" Edelweiss looked away from the cops line of sight. "You know? Since she an actual detective."

 Squig shook her head, "You remember what the letter writer said, Eds! Here, lemme reread it..." she reopened the book, " 'She cannot arrest anyone regardless of their crimes.' In other words, a pretty shit detective~" Squig said, before realizing that Annabelle was still within listening range, "THAT ISN'T TO SAY YOU'RE BAD AT YOUR JOB! It's just, uh..." She scratched her cheek, hand going through the fluff of her fur, "The letter writer says things for a reason. And I doubt she would bring up this idea that she isn't going to arrest anyone without it having some merit. So... I think I'm gonna trust this task with you, Eds. Well, as much as I can given the fact the letter writer also said you're not very trustworthy yourself, ha ha..."

 Squig pawed through the book once more, not sparing a glance upwards as she reread, "I already forgot.. What else does it say about you? I still know virtually nothing about you guys aside from your names and the fact one of you is a cop and the other is like... Weird enough about women to make revealing the author of these letters do a pronoun reveal." she scratched her face again, "Hmmm... It does say for me to make sure you two stay side by side to help learn from each other. I can only assume that means you teach her how to give up on being a cop and become punk rock or... Something... Lemme see if I can find any more individual info on you though.... At this rate, even the letter knows nothing about you......."

 Annabelle tilted her head down and rubbed the bridge of her nose with a heavy sigh. "I'm pretty sure I have legal authority to arrest and apprehend. Especially when they have an arrest warrant on them."

 "The problem is that I'm not with the Massachusetts Police Department, and therefore do not have legal authority over their arrests."

 "There is something ironic about me being the lesser evil here," Edelweiss muttered to himself. He glanced over to Annabelle and quickly looked away.

 Squig gave a handwave at Annabelle's words, "Yeah, well I ain't telling you to arrest anyone, I'm telling you to be a moderator of a Minecraft server at least for tonight. There's no laws in this place anyway. True Carcosa's a place of pure anarchy!~ In, uh, the fun and cool punk way, not in like... The Purge kind of a way," Squig's tail swished again, "So basically, the only authority you have here is what I give you. And that's a good thing! The only law I'm making you enforce is, 'Don't be an asshole'~ Just go around and make sure people aren't fucking each other over royally! Easy peasy, right?~"

Squig then read a part of the book to herself then turned to Edelweiss again, "And I DID find a little bit more about you here! Basically says, 'Edelweiss holds less power here than anyone else. The old man is unremarkable in every way. His criminal record is nonexistent in this place, as it will in the annals of history. But history doesn't matter, not when someone grieves for you at home. Tell him to keep fighting, but not for his sake. Tell him to fight for the closure a young man deserves.' "

 The feline gave a cheery smile as she closed the book, "So yeah!~ Don't worry about being seen as evil here, dude!~ Whatever crime you committed ain't valid here anyway~ Just focus on solving the mystery, and then getting back to whoever you got at home, yeah?~"

 Edelweiss pray to the gods that no children come to this place. He tugged on his sleeves and his pleading eyes are directed towards Annabelle's.

 Annabelle knows that statement is false, trust has been broken. "You can do this alone. I'll observe the others." 

 Edelweiss carried a soft smile as he slowly disappeared into the woods.

 Squig stood there, watching Edelweiss wonder off into the next biome. Squig looked to Annabelle, "So.... Did I mention the letter writer said that y'all should stick together? Because, uh... That's not happening right now and..." 

 Squig looked up at Annabelle. The face of the other woman said it all, and yet, Squig still decided to verbalize it. "I fucked up somehow, didn't I?"

 Squig deflated, her once smiling face now barely grinning as a way to save face, (I fucked up, I fucked up, I FUCKED UP GODDAMNIT SHELLEY, YOU FUCKED UP AGAIN. Why did I think I'd be good at this? This new server idea was ABSOLUTE GARBAGE. The server's like, what? An hour or two in? And I already COMPLETELY FUCKED IT UP. How the fuck did they do it? How did he do it in that last server?? And why did I think I could even hold a candle? That I could, for even a fraction of a second, actually be responsible enough to get a large group of strangers to get along when I can BARELY get anyone to like myse - )

BONK.

 Squig hit herself on the head. 

 "Uh, sorry.... What were we talking about? Moderator stuff? Well, um, I gave you the scute because I have literally no clue how to do that. Access the commands, I mean..."

 "Maybe it just.. Manifests?" Annabelle shrugged. 

 She placed a hand on Squig's shoulder. "And don't beat yourself up about this... Things like this happen all the time. All you can do is move forward and embark on the next plan."

 Squig's fur stood on end with the touch, but it flattened as quickly as it arose. "Sorry, just... This is my first time running anything like this. My plan was to create a place where everyone could put aside their differences and have fun for a little while. Where folks from all walks of life can just... Talk to one another. And enjoy themselves. I still wanna make that a reality I live in, but..." she forced herself to smile again, "I'm... I'm sure I'll be better at moderating in due time~ The server just started, I still have plenty of time to make it up to you and Eds for... Whatever I did!~"

 She cracked her knuckles while stretching out her arms again, "Now, lemme see if I can mod you...." She did a flourish with her paws, "OPEN SESAME!~"

Silence.

 "Lemme try again. Uh, MENU OPEN!~"

More silence.

 "THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM!~ MODERATOR POWERS, BE UPON THYSELF ANNABELLE!!!~"

A nearby armadillo drops a scute. But other than that, it's just more silence.

 "... open chat." 

 The chat log opens, revealing an entire log of their conversation in front of Annabelle.

 "Oh........ So I may be stupid. Open chat!"

 The text log appeared again, and Squig pressed it, manifesting a keyboard in which she typed out the commands to make Annabelle's permission level to three.

 "There!~ Now you're an admin!~ Do you, uh..." Squig tapped her foot in thought, "Need anything? It might be for the best that we split up to cover more ground. I can grab anything you might need from my base if need be!~"

 "I'm good, I have my base." Annabelle gave Squig a thumbs up.

 Squig nodded, then quietly said, "Well... Alright then! Sorry I wasn't able to help you much, Anns. I'll... Try to do better next time, alright? Good luck out there!"

 "You too, to... Whatever it is you were planning." Annabelle waved goodbye before heading off to elsewhere.

 Squig stood alone once more. Just herself and her thoughts. She looked to the sky. The sun had since risen completely. In the game, it's midday.

 (What even am I planning?) 

 She looked back at the book, wiped over it's cover with her paw.

 (Aren't you supposed to help, Ms Letter Writer? Or... Is this helping me some how..? Fuck. You've done so much to help myself and others, and I TRUST that you do so, but... Why did that go so wrong..? Is this all some long con to make things better? Or...)

 She lowered the book again.

 (No. It's me. It's always me.) 

 She took a final glance at the letter writer's letter book, (You said True Carcosa's up to me, right? I trust you on that. I do. But...) then places it back into her inventory. (Yeah... You really should've picked someone better for this, letter writer lady...)

 Then the cat stalked back to her base in silence.