Chapter Text
There’s a voicemail message for you. “John? Are you there?” There’s several minutes of silence before Rose seems to notice that she’s recording a message. The audio then clicks off and a message shows up on the screen, showing that Rose was now idle.
You slide into your chair waving at the webcam. “Hey, yeah. I'm here! And not dead. I think.”
Nary a second passes before the video snaps on and you can see Rose’s face in the monitor. Though she’s clearly trying to project an air of careful nonchalance, the worry shows in her eyebrows and nervous hand twitches. “I know.” To quiet the fidgeting in her traitorous hands she flips her hair. “I've been watching you scramble through the house like a lunatic. You should have answered me sooner.”
You sigh, deciding to drop the whole worry thing for now. “Oh man, sorry, I was looking around for my dad and I can't find him anywhere! Have you seen him?”
Rose taps her chin, curious. “No. I’m sure he’ll turn up.” She really wasn’t. But John didn’t need to know that. “We have more important things to address right now.” Changing the subject again.
“Yeah, like where am I?” You say. Even though you did all that scrambling around it would still be nice to get an outside perspective on the whole mess.
Rose steeples her fingers on the desk. “I don't know that either. But I've determined your neighborhood was destroyed by the meteor. Wherever you were transported, it saved you from the impact. I've been reading reports in the news. Over the last few days, there have been many smaller meteor collisions with people's homes around the world. And they seem to be getting bigger. Yours was the biggest they've identified so far.” So everyone thinks your entire neighborhood is dead. Well, they’re at least ninety percent correct so you can’t blame them.
“Wow, ok. So then i guess if this is all the game's doing, then the point is for us to save the world?” Did those words just come out of your mouth. You guess you sort of believe them. Sort of. Though you don’t know quite how you can help from… wherever you are.
Rose looks unconvinced. “Perhaps.”
You smile, trying to convince yourself. “Then we'd better get moving and figure this game out!” You begin to get out of your chair.
“Yes, but wait. We should retrieve your PDA. Yet again.” Oh. Yeah. Smart. “It will help to keep tabs on each other while you investigate. I think I can get you closer to it, if I can replenish our grist supply somewhat. There may be a way to recycle some that we already used.”
You nod and make the ok symbol with your left hand.
“I'll meet you out on the balcony.” She moves to shut off the video chat.
“Wait, Rose! One thing.”
She smiles and tilts her head. “What?”
You smile wide and say, “You never even wished me a happy birthday!”
And she mutes herself though you can see her laughing a little. “Um... hello?” You say, waving at the camera as she starts to talk. You tell her she’s still muted and she snickers and clicks unmute.
“I was working on something to send you, but I was running late with it. I didn't want you to think I believed meager well wishes alone would suffice for the occasion.” She moves her head side to side thinking. “That said, Happy Birthday, John.”
Such a simple wish sounds so weird coming from Rose, the master of prose, virtuoso of words. “Oh jeez, that is silly! Anyway, thanks!” You wave goodbye, grinning, and shut off the video. The screen goes dark.
Several things happen in quick succession for you to retrive your PDA. First, Rose looks like she’s figured out how to ‘recycle’ objects alchemized from the server platform. Then, the precarious pass, almost like a diving board over the unknown. A voice in your head that had been insulting you all throughout your scurrying had to finally relent on trying to get you to run across the potentially deadly piece of concrete before you could go within range for Rose to grab it. She launches it at you and you catch it, almost fumbling it.
Rose appears on the screen. “John, are you ok? You seem a bit tentative.” You realize you’ve been bouncing back and forth on your toes in the same place.
“I'm fine i guess.” You shrug, rubbing the back of your neck. “Since I got here I feel compelled to do these weird things I don't really want to do.” You make a weird face, trying to explain it. “By some kind of voice that I can't really even hear. I don't know, it is hard to explain.”
“Perhaps the early symptoms of an anxiety disorder, like post-traumatic stress?”
You. Honestly can’t tell whether it’s a joke or not. Rose’s level of deadpan is beyond you at this point. You settle for a neutral answer. “Yeah, maybe. who knows!” Absolute silence for a couple minutes.
Rose sighs and messes with a bit of yarn on her desk. “Well, if you can pull yourself together, there are a few more things we should try. Like prototyping the Kernelsprite again, if possible.” She taps her fingers on her desk glaring at something in the top right of her screen. “We should hurry. My laptop battery won't last forever.”
You make a joke about the Great Rose Lalonde being afraid, and exchange banter for a few moments. Super productive use of your time yep that’s what you’re supposed to do.
“Ok. I will go back inside.” Rose wishes you luck and mutes herself.