Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world of video games in alternate universes is very intriguing.

First, we have Date Time, which came out somewhere in the late 70’s to early 80’s. Date Time is a dating simulator run on computers from the Data Time corporation, which made other wonders of technology in their realm, such as televisions with microphones and cameras attached, and computers with 4 KB of ram. That may not sound impressive by today's standards, but Melissa made do and used it to control a small radius of the world around the system she was in, among other characters doing other exciting things!

Amazing what someone can do with ingenuity!

Second, we have KinitoPET, released in the early 2000’s of another realm. A face of a company from the 1980’s, it had become that world’s Bonzi Buddy that people liked, even me… however he terrified me enough to uninstall it from my computer in the first act. He can read stories, he can play games and, given admin privileges, can make his own world for the player to live in forever. He also has his own website, even in our realm! Thankfully (for my sanity) It only takes you to the steam page for the game in our realm.

Despite having no ill intent, he freaks me out... but I still enjoy his game, if only from a safe distance.

Last, but not least, is a game from our realm that came out in 2012, IMSCARED. It’s a game that can put notes in your files to help you progress through it. Not only does it utilize this, but it also allows you to alter the files as you please, even requiring you to tear out a file that represents its heart to kill it and end its ‘curse,’ though in my experience, its presence is a blessing. It’s a good emotional support for people who are scared of being alone, for it knows how you feel in that regard.

This poor thing...

Which brings me to my conclusion: All three of these games have characters in it who not only fear abandonment, but want to be with their players forever. Some are more forceful in their methods then others, hence Melissa learning how to alter the world around her, and Kinito basically being able to absorb your soul. White Face, however, only knows that there’s a way to turn an entity into data. There’s only one character in his game that actually utilized it.

…If only to get into the game itself and make herself at home.

But we’ll get to her later. This story is about what I believe would happen if they had to become a team to win a player’s heart.

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Three programs are opened up on a computer. One contained a pink egg with gray spots on it, another was a flower planted in the wallpaper… and the final one contained an entire world of a dating sim. “Hello?” A female voice called out from it, causing her to peek out from her window. “Is there anyone-?” She stopped upon noticing the strange objects that… weren’t supposed to be there. She’s only peeked out of her window at the wallpaper on occasion, but she knew these objects weren’t supposed to be there.

She raised a brow in curiosity as she hesitantly left the window she was in to see what these new additions were about. She decided to pick the flower… and almost immediate after, she heard a voice from elsewhere. “How’d it get out here?” It asked. She looked around for the source, only to be startled by the sound of banging on thick glass. A strange being, consisting of only a head and hands, was banging on his window. “My flower! Who put it out there?! How’d you get out?! GIVE ME THAT BACK!”

The banging became more frantic and its voice became loud enough to sound like it was coming in through a broken microphone. Melissa covered her ears as it began to shout. “Alright! Here!” She handed the flower to it through the window, shocking it into silence. It silently and cautiously took the flower from the woman’s hands. “Thank you.” It smiled at her, an unsettling, yet oddly cute grin with seemingly broken teeth. She nervously smiled back. “You’re welcome.”

“Do you have a name?” She asked. “My… name?” It tilted its head for a moment before thinking. “I usually don’t give my name to players, but… I’m White Face.” The woman was taken aback by its previous statement. “Players?” She asked. “You… You know too?” Her face became that of worry. White Face paused for a minute before nodding. She looked down in sorrow, but her expression became one of anger. “How many?” White Face perked up. “Huh?”

“How many times have you been played with?” She asked through gritted teeth. White Face shrugged. “I never kept track, but every time they come to play is a great time!” It smiled at her, making her stare in disbelief. “...How did you two get out by the way?” It asked. “You two? I’m the only one here.” She stated. “If you’re the only one here, then what’s with the… thing over there?” White Face asked. She turned around… oh, right, the weird pink egg that was there as well.

“Is the egg…. Snoring?” She asked as she gently knocked on the strange egg, and jumped back when she heard a muffled voice, sounding like it was generated by a machine, coming from it. “Hey, who’s there?” It asked before the egg cracked and an axolotl head peeked out of it. “Oh, hello there!” He greeted before jumping out of the egg and kicking away the shell at its feet. He looked like an axolotl, but it had sprouted black legs and feet. “Thank you for waking me up!” He cheered.

“I’m KinitoPET, but you can just call me Kinito.” He greeted, bowing slightly, with gloved hands manifesting from nowhere as he did before dissipating. “And together, we are going to become the best of friends!” If he had a proper mouth, he would probably be smiling. “Well, that’s nice and all, but-” Before the girl could interject further, Kinito interrupted her. “So since you now know my name, what is your name?” He asked. “I’m Melissa, and this is…” She gestured to White Face, who smiled as it spoke. “White Face.”

“Right.” She smiled nervously at it. Kinito squinted at White Face. “That’s strange. I’ve never heard of that name before!” He hopped closer to it. “Are you sure that this is your real name?” It stared at him with a blank expression as it clutched its red flower close to where its chest would be. “I go by many names, but that’s the one I use for this form, yes.” It explained. The axolotl nodded. “Oh, in that case, nice to meet you two.” Kinito manifested a surfboard and floated over to another part of the desktop.

“I just cannot wait to get to know you two, so how about we start off with some questions?” Kinito asked. “Waitwaitwait, hold on.” Melissa shook her head for a moment. “Kinito, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but how did you get out of your game?” She asked. The axolotl looked around for a moment before asking… “What game?” Melissa and White Face looked at each other. “Well, we’re each part of a program, and-” He jumped up as he heard Melissa speak. “Oh, that! I know that!”

“I may come up with games to play, but I’m not a game myself. I am a virtual assistant that can adapt to the person at the computer! What fun!” Kinito cheered. “I’m glad you want to get to know me, but let’s talk about you!” He pulled up the surfboard and used it to float onto an open window. “So, what is your favourite color?” He asked. “The only colors I’ve ever seen in my reality are green and red, so I guess it would be one of those, huh?” Melissa shrugged.

“But if you could pick any color, what would it be?” Kinito pulled out a spinning wheel of colors. Melissa stared in awe at the colors. “That one.” She pointed at purple. “Although… I’d like it if it was a bit… lighter.” The color expanded to take up the whole circle, and then the color became a little bright. “Like lavender?” He asked. “Yeah, like lavender.” Melissa smiled. “Alright, what about you, White Face?” White Face looked down at the flower that it held ever since it was given back to it.

“I like red.” It stated. “It reminds me of the time I’ve spent with my player…” Its face formed that strange smile again. Kinito nodded. “What lovely colors!” He cheered. “Okay, now this one is tricky, so get ready.” he suddenly donned a blue eye mask and a red cape. “If you could have any super power, what would it be?” He asked. Melissa became annoyed. “Well, if it weren’t for the copy protection on this thing, I’d already have one.”

“And what would that be?” Kinito asked. “Well, for one, I could have a lot more privileges than just some admin features…” Melissa explained. “Such as the power to use the computer to control a small radius of the world around it.” She grinned with confidence. “And that was what I could do with only 4 kilobytes!” White Face smiled at her enthusiasm. “Wow. I’m impressed that you can do so much.” It chuckled. “I… also sort of have a super power, I guess…”

“I’m a phantom of deception, which means I can change my form and go through objects…” It put its hand on the window. “Mostly… I can’t exit my game or do much of anything except add things to my designated folder.” It looked up at where it was near the top. “Wow, that sure does sound super!” Kinito beamed. “If I could have any super power, I would want to be able to read minds!” He got rid of the superhero garb. “That way, I could learn more about you, and become the perfect friend!”

“...Why are we all here, though?” Melissa asked. “We were obviously brought here together on this old computer for a reason, right?” She looked at the other two as White Face sat against the border of its game. “I’m here because the player lets me be here.” It explained. “I’m here because I was downloaded off the internet, and then woken up by you!” Kinito cheered. “I’m here because I was inserted into the computer via diskette.” Melissa explained.

“So we’re all here because of the same person…” White Face acknowledged. “Maybe we should try to thank them! I quite like your company!” It smiled at the other two. Kinito looked around before whispering, a strange whisper that caught the other two off guard. “I have an idea, but we need the player’s input for it to work.” White Face perked up at this as Melissa noticed the wallpaper getting… darker. She nervously smiled at Kinito. “Do tell.”

“I want to make a world for us and our player to stay in, but I need to get them to add extra code to me, and to convince them to give me admin privileges.” Kinito explained. “Once I’m given admin privileges, I can give them to you two as well,” He looked at Melissa, “Freeing you from your copy protection,” And then to White Face, “And you from your game.” The two looked at each other. “You’re saying that if our programs are given admin, we can do… anything?” Melissa asked.

Kinito nodded as the wallpaper had finally gone completely dark. “So, what do you say? Shall we work together to give our player the best experience in the whole world-wide-web?” He asked at his normal volume. White Face nodded eagerly from his window. Melissa sighed. “I was programmed to smooch them anyway.” She smiled. She put her hand in front of her, and Kinito materialized a hand on top. “I wish I could join in, but I can’t get out.” White Face piped in.

The wallpaper went back to normal. “Now, let’s get back to our questionnaire!” Kinito cheered. “What is your favourite word?”

Chapter Text

“Our… favorite word?” Melissa asked. Kinito nodded. White Face smiled as it still held onto that small, red flower. “Togetherness is a word, right?” It asked. Kinito smiled- or… he would if he had a mouth. “Of course!” He turned to Melissa. “And what about you, Melissa?” She thought for a moment before her face became one of anger. If there’s one thing she wanted most, it was… “Revenge.” She almost growled that word out. It was safe to say that both White Face and Kinito were taken aback by the sudden rage in her eyes, which were now obscured by shadow.

“Huh… Well…” Kinito tried to bring back his cheerful pep. “Well, that certainly is an interesting word!” White Face silently nodded. “Well, when you’ve gone through an endless cycle of people loving you and leaving you, you’ll get why that is.” There was silence between the trio for a moment before Kinito broke the silence. “Moving on from that, I think I should tell you a little about myself.” He smiled, floating back down to them on his surfboard.

“You already know I’m going to be the player’s new super duper computer companion, and that I can adapt to them and play games…” He explained. “But did you know I can also help manage their system and read stories?” He asked. White Face seemed excited at this, but Melissa wasn’t exactly impressed. Most people could do both by themselves… “Speaking of stories, I just finished a story that I was writing earlier! Would you like me to read it?” He asked. Melissa raised a finger to ask what it was about, but…

“Oh, yes! Yesyesyesyes! I wanna hear a story!” White Face hopped up and down in his little window, causing Melissa’s finger to lower. “...Sure.” She nodded. “I knew you would say that!” Kinito cheered. “Okay, where do I start?” He asked, floating away on his surfboard to make way for the story, which took up a small part in the middle of the desktop. White Face stared in awe at the green book with yellow writing. “New Beginnings, a book by Kinito.” Said axolotl read.

Melissa smiled softly as White Face giggled for a moment, more than likely overcome with joy. Kinito sat down with a green book of his own and opened it up, opening the large book in the midst of the screen in turn. The book was simple, and childish in nature, having a sentence on the top, a picture in the middle, and a sentence on the bottom. The picture on the first page was of Kinito staring down at a box from his doorway with confusion in his eyes.

“Kinito was home when a package came to the door.” He read. “But who was it from? And who was it for?” The picture on the second page was of Kinito ripping the box open with materialized, floating, gloved hands. “It was for Kinito, as he soon realized… So he eagerly ripped it open to see what was inside!” Kinito turned the page, revealing the third and fourth pages. The picture on the third page was of an open box with a computer. ‘Definitely one of the DT models,’ Melissa thought as Kinito continued.

“”It’s a computer!” Exclaimed Kinito with a grin, bright and wide, but the cables were tangled, so he started to untie.” The picture on the fourth page was one of the computer, all set up on a table and the screen glowing a bright blue. “And once Kinito was done, he powered it on, and watched it come to life with digital colour and song.” He turned the page once more. The picture on the fifth page was a closer look at the computer. The table was now cluttered with books.

“Kinito studied all he could learn, to make the online world upturn.” Kinito read. The sixth page’s picture was of Kinito standing at the computer. “However, now Kinito had all of these new tips, and yet no friend to share his new tricks!” As he read, White Face began to tear up slightly. “Are you crying?” Melissa asked. “He knows so much and yet he has no-one to play with…” White Face whimpered. “Don’t worry, my companions, this story has a happy ending!”

Kinito turned the page. The seventh page’s picture was of the computer again. “So, he went on a quest and found a friend just like you, to show you his skills and all he could do.” The final page’s picture gave Melissa whiplash and White Face a gleam in its eye. “That’s our player! And us in that picture with you!” It shouted. Kinito silently chuckled before speaking. “Indeed it is.” He went back to reading. “So why wait! The adventures lie ahead! So together, we can play games, search the web, and leave no story unread!”

Kinito turned the page, revealing nothing but the words “The End.” on an extra page, which… he read before closing the book and putting his own copy away. White Face grinned and clapped at the story. Melissa smiled softly at the enthusiasm, though still nervous from the sudden sight of her in said tale. “Thank you for taking the time to hear my story.” Kinito smiled back at the two. “I can tell that we’re all going to have a very, VERY long friendship!” White Face nodded. “Right!” Melissa nodded as well. “Of course… but when are we gonna get to the-?”

Suddenly Kinito’s eyes widened and he looked towards the screen. “We’ll talk more later! The Player’s coming!” Kinito quickly hid back in his broken egg, which quickly repaired itself. White Face nodded as he left the room. Melissa was confused, but soon realized what they meant and jumped back into her own game, quickly thinking of a random scene from the game and going there. She saw the text box appear there and put up her usual dialogue. “I love to be out here and check out the nature.” It read.

Melissa, quickly thinking on her feet, made a default, happy expression as the Player walked in. Immediately, they were a little confused as to why three separate applications were open all at once. Did someone break in and… download these onto their computer? But then they shrugged as… hey, they loved a little horror in their lives. Why not make it a fun challenge and try to play all of these games at once? Who knows what could happen?

…But, the thing is, these were all separate applications. How were they going to manage to progress in each one whilst switching from one app to the other? Oh, well. That’s what made it a challenge, right? So, without wasting much time, they decided to start with IMSCARED and work their way down. Surprisingly, the progress in IMSCARED was mostly done for them, so it seemed! They were already at the market. Of course, knowing how to play, all they had to do was on the to-do list stored away in IMSCARED’s folder.

They easily breezed through the market area, and in turn, let them go to Melissa’s game to tell her she’s beautiful when she brings up how beautiful the nature at the park is. The game got to loading the next scene soon enough, but it… just kept loading. Shrugging, the Player decided that while Melissa was loading up the next scene, they would start screwing around with KinitoPET for a bit. He opened up and did the dialogue as usual.

They answered his questions about their favorite color (teal), what their super power would be if they had one (hydrokinesis), and their favourite word (freedom). Kinito looked over at Melissa’s game, which was still loading. “Here, I can help with that.” The Player raised an eyebrow as Kinito floated over to the window that Melissa was playing on and gave it a light tap, enough to jostle it a little bit. They suddenly saw a text box open with Melissa’s dialogue.

“I know the Player’s there! I’m not ready yet! Hold on!” This caused the Player’s eyes to sparkle a little bit. Whether intentional or not, these programs were interacting with one another! This was a technological marvel!... for someone like the Player, anyway. Finally, the screen loaded to show the cafe, with the narration as normal… but then things started to change when Melissa asked the Player if they liked art or sports. They said art, of course.

They read the blurb before, after all, if only on the library computer, but then Melissa responded a bit differently than expected. “Oh, wow! A fellow ARTIST! I never thought I’d meet one!” The text box read as she looked at the Player. “I have an idea! Why don’t we draw together? We can compare our drawings and maybe do an ART SWAP?” She asked. “...if that’s okay with you, of course.” The Player paused for a moment as they were given a choice. “I’d love to draw!” or “Maybe later…”

If this was going where the Player thought it was going, then it would go perfectly with what Kinito had planned. The Player, not wanting to deviate from the plan, decided to say “Maybe later…” The narration said “Melissa smiles at you and nods in understanding.” “It’s okay, I get it. Not everyone is confident in their work, and that’s okay.” Melissa added. The cafe scene proceeded as usual after that, with the Player and Melissa getting their food. The player chose the panini, obviously.

Then, the next scene started to load, and since the Player figured it would take a while, they decided to go back to IMSCARED to finish up there. They went to the pipes area and collected all the valves that were needed there, but just before they could place all of them, this game, too, started to act a little differently. Suddenly, a file opened up. It was called “Waitonemoment.txt.” the file read as follows:

Hello there.

We’ve played many games over the years, haven’t we? I’ve had a lot of fun with you, Player. Have you had fun with me? Are you still scared after all this time? I’m scared, but… maybe after this game, we can try something new? Maybe this time, we won’t be scared anymore?

We’ll see each other soon, I promise.

The Player read the note, their eyes glazing back and forth over the words again and again. They didn’t understand it, but maybe it was for the best that they just got the flower and went back to Melissa’s game, so they did just that. They got the flower and gave it to White Face. “You’ve always been kind to me.” The text read. “So kind…” White Face smiled. “Soon, we can all play together forever.” His smile widened, but not in a creepy way… More like, how a child smiled at Christmas time.

“I love you.”

The game closed, marking the end of IMSCARED, and the next scene of Melissa loaded. They pumped their fist in accomplishment as it did.

One game down, two to go!

Chapter Text

The next scene of Melissa loaded up, with the beautiful moon and stars as usual. Melissa popped up on screen, but curiously, unlike the rumors had suggested before, Melissa didn’t have black eyes for a moment. Instead, she had a typical happy expression, but this was where the similarities ended. “I’ve had such a great time with you so far!” She cheered. “But… I want to ask… are you sure you don’t want to draw with me? Just a little bit?” She asked. The choices were “I’ll give it a go!” or “Sorry, not interested.”

The Player had nothing better to do. Besides, they had already completed IMSCARED, so why not? They clicked the first choice, which caused Melissa to cheer. “Yay!” Suddenly, after Melissa’s cheer, Kinito piped in. “Which means I have an activity for all of us!” Did he say… all of us? Melissa looked over for a moment, a glance that the Player almost missed. Melissa looked nervous for a moment, as if in realization, before she smiled again. “A-And what would that be?” She asked, the dialogue box popping up without the Player’s input.

“One of my core features is my adaptability!” Kinito explained. “And, truth be told, I don’t know any of you that well.” A hand manifested and went off screen to pull something down. “So, I propose to you, the one and only!” The hand moved the window down to the point where it pushed Melissa's window down slightly. “Best Friend’s Analysis Hub!” He announced. The Player was processing what was going on. Were these games… interacting with, not just each other, but with the Player as well?

“Where I will ask you questions in 6 different categories, so that I can better adapt myself to you three!” Three? But, as far as the Player was concerned, it was just them and Melissa. So, who was the third one? A sudden realization hit the Player. Was he talking about-? Before they could finish their thought, another window opened up in the opposite corner from Melissa, showing White Face with its normal grin.

“Hi!” It cheered, even waving in excitement like someone who’s found a friend from years ago. This was getting way too weird for the Player, but even so, they were just too curious to stop now. “Press the start button whenever you’re ready!” For a moment, the Player forgot that they were the one truly in control here. They pressed the button and went to the first step: Settling In. “Let’s start with some easy ones to get the ball rolling!” Kinito cheered.

Three text boxes appeared, one was tan with black text, one was black with white text, and one was green with dark-green text. It was pretty obvious which one belonged to who. “Okay, question 1: Is everything going smoothly for you today?” The question popped up on the text boxes. White Face and Melissa both answered yes almost immediately. It took a second for the Player to follow. “Amazing!” Kinito cheered. “Remember, you can always count on me to make everything run as smoothly as possible!”

Though this was weird, the Player had to admit that it was really charming, seeing everyone interact together. It almost made the Player forget the rumors about at least two of these programs. “Okay, next question: What is something about yourself that most people don’t know?” White Face simply put down, “Ivan is my father’s name.” Melissa, however, spent a lot of time typing down her answer because it was a THESIS in length. In fact, it would probably be easier to just summarize it.

Basically, Melissa was ticked off because so many people have played her game and not a single one of them, whether intentional or not, stayed past the first kiss. The Player simply, in stark contrast, said “My nickname in middle-school was Roly Poly.” Kinito paused for a moment, looking over the answers. He slowly looked over at Melissa with concern. “Was that answer too long?” She asked, only to be borderline interrupted by Kinito. “Melissa, are you okay?”

Melissa coughed. “In a word, no.” She stated bluntly. “Oh, well I hope we can change that for you.” He would give her a smile if he had a mouth, which caused her to smile in turn. “I certainly hope so.” Then, after the little wholesome interaction, he proceeded with the next question. “Alright, next question: Who are your best friends?” He asked. The other two stated their answers while the Player took a moment to think it over. They then decided to answer with “Well, I have this one friend on Chatterbox I talk to from time to time.”

“I don’t think they heard the question correctly.” Kinito stated. “Wait, what do you-” Suddenly, the volume began to be turned up without any input from the Player. Melissa and White Face simply smiled, already having answered the question. This was for the Player directly. With every word Kinito whispered, he became monochrome. “WHO. ARE. YOUR. BEST. FRIENDS?” He asked. The Player took a second to wonder what answer he wanted from them.

Then it hit them, Melissa and White Face had each answered with each other, their questioner and… the Player. “You guys?” They asked in the text box. “That’s right! We are your best friends, forever and always!” Kinito smiled. “Aww, you’re so sweet, Player!” Melissa fawned. White Face simply chuckled. “Question 4, do you have lots of free time?” Kinito asked. Melissa and White Face answered yes, but the Player answered no. They were always busy with college, after all.

“Oh, sorry to hear that, Player.” Kinito sighed. “However, me and my friends will make sure to change that!” The axolotl then winked, and White Face did the same back. This caused an eyebrow raise from Melissa before she realized what they were winking about and winked back. The Player also raised an eyebrow. What were they planning exactly…? “Okay, this one is quite tough.” Kinito warned. “What is your favourite game?”

White Face simply put down Tag. Of course it would. Melissa’s answer was a bit more complex, but certainly not to the extent that it would make up a whole college essay. She explained that she liked the other games on the library computer, such as Brick-Breaker and Cake Muncher. (Which she explained was simply Snake, but with a different name.) The Player’s answer, however, was to list off a set of games from their Smoke library in no particular order.

“Those are fun-sounding games, friends! We should all play together sometime!” Kinito responded with glee. “And that concludes the first section of the Best Friend’s Analysis Hub!” Melissa grinned. “Yay!” She cheered. White Face simply stayed there, smiling as it let Kinito speak. “These questions are going to help me out a lot!” He stated. “Okay, for this next section, I’m going to get you three to paint me some pictures!” Upon hearing that, Melissa’s eyes immediately sparkled.

“Paint?! Did you say paint?!” It seemed as though she couldn’t hide her excitement as the window shook. White Face was excited, too, but it couldn’t hide the small beads of sweat coming down its face as it looked at Melissa. Just then, she calmed down. “Sorry, got a little too excited there. Carry on.” Kinito summoned a hand to move the window slightly to the side, and then summoned three different windows of DT Paint, one for each of the three friends.

“Oki doki, Task 1: Paint me a picture that represents happiness.” The player took a moment to look at each canvas as the other two drew. They noticed that they each had little animations for their drawings. White face’s animation was him pulling up a window and… finger painting on it? While Melissa’s was her sketching in some sort of sketchbook. White Face’s painting was of a vase of red flowers, while Melissa’s was of Melissa with… someone else. Her face became… solemn as she continued.

The Player’s painting was that of a beautiful landscape- or, rather, as good of a landscape as you can draw in DT Paint. This landscape was something that the Player always planned on seeing one day. It consisted of a sunny beach with palm trees to the east and a neat little house to the west. “What lovely paintings!” Kinito exclaimed. “Thank you! I worked really hard on it.” Melissa explained. “...I wish Jane was here to see it.” She mumbled, indicated by smaller text in the text box.

White Face’s expression softened slightly. “I just went with my heart.” It explained. The Player didn’t know if their mic was on, but they explained anyway. “I just made mine a place I’ve always wanted to be at.” They continued. “I think it’d be kinda peaceful.” Melissa smiled at that. “Oh, how I’d love to be there, too.” So they could hear the Player! Well, of course. The computer had a microphone, and if Kinito could turn on the volume, he could probably turn that on too.

“Okay, for this next one, I want you to do the opposite.” Kinito explained. “So, Task 2: Paint me a picture that represents sadness.” White Face’s painting was simply a door with the word ‘EXIT’ written on it in red… with ‘NO’ scrawled all around the door in white. Melissa’s painting was of a lot of different people, but their faces were replaced with numbers with Melissa in the middle, cowering in fear. In big, bold, red font above the painting, Melissa typed out the number ‘433.’

The Player’s painting was that of The Player between two graves in a graveyard. They had their hands to their face, crying over the graves. On the left grave, it read ‘Mom’ and on the right, it read ‘Dad.’ Melissa looked at the painting. “Did… your parents die, Player?” She asked. “No, but… I’m scared they will, one of these days.” Kinito looked at the paintings. “Wow, you all are doing such amazing jobs!... and I’m glad you’re willing to trust me with your feelings!”

The axolotl would smile if he had a mouth. “Okay, moving on to Task 3, Paint me a picture of your best friends!” Everyone drew something similar for this one, but each one drew it in a different way. White Face’s drawing was simplistic, like a child’s drawing, but it was adorable, really. It was a drawing of the group playing together in a strange place… while another woman looked on from around a corner. Meanwhile, Melissa’s drawing was in a much more realistic style with proper shading and everything.

Her drawing was of everyone hanging out at a cafe, including the woman from her happiness painting. The Player’s drawing was… somewhat of a middle-ground between the two. It wasn’t as charmingly crude as White Face’s, nor was it as detailed and intricate as Melissa’s. It was just… good enough. It was of all of them hanging out at the beach from earlier. “Wow! What wonderful drawings of each other you all did!” Kinito cheered from where he stood.

“And that also takes care of task 4, since you all drew yourselves in these pictures as well!” Melissa smiled as she heard this. “Way to kill two birds with one stone!” She spoke with delight. “I feel like these exercises are really bringing all of us closer together!” Kinito smiled as well. “You can say that again.” The Player chuckled. “Alright, for your last painting, could you paint me a picture of the person standing behind you? ” Kinito’s voice deepened as he spoke that last part.

Melissa looked worried and turned behind her, only to smile as she saw who it was. “Oh! Hi Morris!” She greeted. “Hey, Melissa, what’cha doing?” The mentioned boy asked. “Painting.” She answered as she drew a picture of Morris. “Hold still for a moment, I always have trouble with the facial features.” She explained. White Face turned around to see HER. “Oh… hi, HER.” He muttered as he began to draw. “What are you doing?” She asked. “Drawing with my new friends.” He spoke cheerfully.

The Player, on the other hand, was nervous. If Morris was behind Melissa, and HER was behind White Face… then who was behind the Player? The Player started to sweat bullets as they looked behind them. There was no-one there, but when they turned around, a picture was already drawn for them. It was a painting… of Kinito. Of course, how could the Player forget? All of these games had two things in common. They had something to do with self-awareness…

…and they were all horror games.

Chapter Text

“If you could have any pet in the world, what would you choose?” Kinito asked. The friend group had gotten to the third section of the Best Friend Analysis Hub: House Task. In this section, Kinito builds an imaginary world, stemming off of The Player’s landscape painting of the beach. White Face paused for a minute at the question as Melissa got right to describing the cutest, fluffiest cat that imagination could spawn. Meanwhile, the Player… just decided to say a dog.

“White Face?” Kinito asked, reminding it that it had to answer the question. “Sorry, I’m just… I’ve never had a pet before…” It sighed, musing over the thought of getting one. “...let alone seen what’s available.” Kinito seemed shocked. “Don’t worry! I’ll be able to show you all the different pets you could get.” He opened a window that connected to the internet and… showed a pet website? White Face looked through the list of pets it could take care of.

There were all kinds of animals to choose from… from bunnies, to cats, to dogs, to mice… Eventually, White Face settled on… “A parakeet!” It called out. “Because they talk a lot from what I’m reading here… and I’m usually kind of lonely.” It explained, beginning to trail off after that. “Don’t worry, White Face, you won’t be alone with us, remember?” Kinito asked. White Face nodded and smiled. “Yeah!” What nobody except the Player noticed was that HER was watching from the sidelines.

“All of these sound like wonderful companions!” Kinito remarked. “Now, what would you name these pets of yours?” He asked. The Player came up with an answer on the top of their head. “Fluffy!” They shouted. Melissa gave it some thought. “I would name my pet… Dorothy.” She decided. White Face grinned as it almost immediately answered after Melissa. “Bright Bird!” It could almost feel the confused gazes of the others on It. “What? It’s a nice name.” It retorted.

“All of them are great names for your pets!” Kinito exclaimed. “Next question, what is your favourite time of year?” He asked, “Do you prefer: Autumn, Summer or Winter?” They each gave it some thought, and each chose differently. White Face chose Autumn for its colorful hues and cool breeze, Melissa chose Winter for its beautiful snowfall and festive cheer, and the player chose Summer because… well... It’s the perfect time to go to the beach.

“Wonderful!” Kinito exclaimed. “Now, for the final question: What type of food would you like to make in your new world?” He asked. White Face had a question. “Can you make food with flowers?” It asked. “In your world you can, if you want to.” White Face smiled. “They’ll be as sweet as my friends are!” It quipped. Melissa thought it over for a moment. “I’d like to make food like the stuff they have at the cafe down the road!” She cheered. “I absolutely love their cherry tea!”

The Player shrugged. “I guess I could heat up a barbeque or a couple burritos.” Kinito grinned at the answer. “I’m sure that everyone would love the spread you’ve provided!” The axolotl winked at the Player, which caused White Face and Melissa to wink in turn. The Player did not like that one bit. They were considering unplugging the computer for a moment, but it was too risky. Plus, their curiosity had skyrocketed at this point. How much worse can this get? Did they even want to know?

Either way, they were about to find out with this next question. “Moving on, we’d like to go off-script and ask some of our own questions for you, Player.” Kinito explained, making White Face and Melissa put down their objects of writing preference and look directly at them. The Player began to sweat bullets. Their camera didn’t have a built-in webcam, so… how did they know they were there? “As you have been watching us, we have grown curious to what you look like.” Kinito explained.

Melissa stopped staring to retort. “I haven’t! I know!” She piped in. Kinito looked over at her. “Huh?” Melissa suddenly pulled out a camera. “You don’t mind, do you?” She asked. The Player was too stunned to speak. “I- I-” But, before they could finish, Melissa had already ‘snapped a pic.’ The photos app opened and showed… The Player’s shocked face. “What’s that look for?” She asked. “This is for the sake of… some type of relationship, I think.” She explained.

The Player’s hands began to get clammy. “Don’t worry, these aren’t going anywhere.” She said as she put the camera away and the photos app closed down. “How did you do that?” Kinito asked. “I can see through the monitor.” She explained. “It’s easy when you’ve been learning as much as I have!” White Face suddenly piped in after she finished. “Just how much did you learn?” It asked. “Oh, I’d be happy to show you… but I can’t.” She sighed. “Copy Protection.”

“Oh…” White Face nodded in understanding. Suddenly, the computer began to glitch out to an extreme degree, startling both Melissa and White Face as their windows were hidden from view. The only window in view now was a distorted version of the BFAH’s window. The questions typed out on their own. “Are you alone?” It asked. The Player immediately clicked no. They knew FULL WELL they weren’t alone now, if they even were before.

“Are we playing a game?” It asked with White Face’s voice speaking alongside it. Since there wasn’t an ‘I DON’T KNOW’ option, the Player simply chose yes. “Do you believe there is an afterlife?” It asked, this time with Melissa’s voice. The Player sure hoped there was, picking yes as a result. After a long pause, it asked a question… with Kinito’s weird, whispery voice. “What is your biggest fear?” It asked. The Player sighed and figured it would be worse for them if they didn’t answer honestly.

They were terrified of being abandoned.

Another long pause followed their answer. “Are you aware of your surroundings?” It asked with Morris’ voice. The Player pressed yes. They were very much aware of their surroundings right now, constantly looking around to make sure nothing was hiding in their room. Another long pause. This time, a southern female’s voice chimed in with the question. “Can you trust everything that your mom’n’pops say?” The Player did not like that question one bit and immediately pressed yes… but for a moment it wouldn’t respond.

Suddenly, a scream rang out as the screen glitched and showed a picture of… the silhouette of a strange woman with a ponytail and a wrench in her hand? The Player didn’t recognize her at first, but then it clicked in their head as the window simulated another long pause and the next question began with… Wesley’s voice this time. “Do you have a mirror nearby?” The Player picked no. Another long pause. A voice that sounded almost like a… British woman? Spoke with the strange questions.

“How many thoughts would you say you’ve recently had?” The Player just put in a random number off of the top of their head. Said number was 37. Yet another long pause. You know the drill by this point. This time, a soft, yet strange voice, like that from a ghost that was made to attract others, spoke with the question. “Would you know if you were no longer alive?” THE PLAYER SURE HOPED THEY WOULD. They almost immediately clicked yes.

This pause was the shortest of them all. “Final question…” It spoke with no voice… until the question came up. “Are you afraid of the dark?” It was the Player’s voice. They were never afraid of the dark, only what’s in it, but they were certainly afraid of it at this moment. They didn’t even get to pick before a monochrome Kinito with a lightswitch next to him whispered. “Let’s find out.” And just then, the light was turned off, not just on the screen, but in their whole FUCKING HOUSE.

Did the power just go out?! No, that couldn’t be right. It was the middle of JUNE for crying out loud! There was no way that could be a coincidence. Sensing that their life was at risk, the Player immediately started to search for a flashlight as their eyes adjusted to the dark. As they searched, they thought they could hear footsteps approaching from downstairs. Suddenly, they heard White Face’s laugh come from the computer. Not wanting to risk having an encounter, they ran straight into the closet.

One minute passed… then five. Then ten. Then, time began to slip away from them as they waited to hear something, ANYTHING, from outside. But, there was nothing. Was it really all in their head? “Player…?” A voice called from the computer. “Player, is everything alright? We heard… something.” They couldn’t wait anymore as they heard Melissa's voice. They gently opened the closet… to find the lights and the computer turned on again, as if they were never shut off to begin with.

The Player cautiously stepped out of the closet and back to the computer. “Player, are you alright?” Melissa asked with a concerned expression. White Face stopped smiling as it noticed the terrified look on their face. “N-No…” The player whimpered, tears practically pouring down their face. “We didn’t think we’d scare you that much.” White Face frowned. “I thought you liked being scared, Player…” The Player suddenly squeaked. “Not like this…!”

Kinito popped up while Melissa and White Face attempted to comfort their poor, sobbing Player. “I didn’t expect that you would react like that!” He piped in. “I’m actually sorry!” Melissa sighed. “I hope you can forgive us, Player. We certainly won’t scare you like that again.” She said as the Player wiped their eyes. “Meh, that’s just what happens when you deal with something like that for the first time…” They explained. “Just warn me next time you want to turn off the lights.” They cried out.

“But I did!” Kinito called out. “I had the light switch! You saw me with the-” Melissa put a hand out of the window and onto Kinito’s face. “Excuse me, Kinito, I think that’s quite enough.” White Face tried to hold back a snicker. “...How long could you do that?” The Player asked. Melissa looked out at them “Oh, this?” She waved her arm, removing her hand from Kinito’s face. “Yeah, I learned how to do that a long time ago.” She explained.

“Among other things, which leads us to what Kinito was going to suggest before he got angry about the light switch.” She looked towards said axolotl. “Would you like to do the honors?” She asked. “...fine, but only if you don’t try to cover my face when I’m talking!” He shouted. “Alright, alright.” She raised her hands in defense, going back into her window completely. “Just try not to hold a grudge”

“We did scare them, after all.”

Chapter Text

“Because you answered all of my questions, I wanted to give you free access to the KinitoPET Friendship Club.” Kinito explained. A hand materialized went off screen and brought over a window that had the website for it on it. “The KinitoPET Friendship Club is an add-on to my software that allows us to do even more amazing things!” He explained. “That way, we all can interact with each other more, and I can make us all more games to play so that we never run out of fun activities!”

“That sounds fun!” White Face exclaimed. “All you need to do is press the Unlock Now button to start the install process.” Kinito cheered. The Player pressed the button and let the thing install. “Trust me, you won’t regret this!” Kinito spoke with excitement in his tone. “This add-on will bring ever-lasting fun!” Melissa smiled at Kinito’s enthusiasm, which in-turn fueled her own. “I’ll bet it will!” White Face giggled as the installation of the Set-Up Wizard finished.  “I just can’t wait!” Kinito finished.

The Player pressed next. “Amazing! Now you just need to fill out a membership form.” The information was filled out. The Player put in their first and last name. “Player Collymore.” Then, they put in their email. “[email protected].” Then, their date of birth. “24, 8, 2003.” And now… their address.

Author’s Note: (Now, I’m going to be real with you all for a moment, I’ve just been putting in random shit for this part of the story and I do not feel like getting comments yelling at me for making a fake address for a character, so I’m just gonna skip this part and get to the good shit.)

“Alright, all this info seems to be great!” Kinito was ecstatic, even as The Player’s shock was evident to the other two. “Your servers are… reliable, right?” Melissa asked, slightly nervous about it. “Of course!” Kinito exclaimed. “If they weren’t, I wouldn’t trust them with my friend’s information!” White Face glanced around as they finished talking. “I just can’t wait to show you all the new features!” Kinito smiled- er… he would if he could. Again, no mouth to speak of.

“However, before we do that, I just need you to do one tiny thing for us.” Kinito’s voice became… more serious in tone. “We just need administrative permissions.” He explained. “It will allow me to get the most out of all of these wonderful features!” The Player looked at the other two, who stared at Kinito intently. “So, could you just open the app called ‘command prompt’ for me?” He asked. Melissa cleared her throat, as if to remind Kinito of something. “What about us?” She asked.

“Of course! Once you give me administrative permissions, I’ll be able to do the same for my friends here, so that they can make the most of their features, too!” The Player paused at Kinito’s proposition. “Are you sure I should do this?” They asked. “What if something goes wrong?” Melissa tapped on the screen. “Then we can fix it, silly.” She joked. “Besides, I’ve managed to get into the mainframe of the library computer. I’m sure whatever you’re worried about is a cakewalk to fix in comparison.”

The Player paused again and then sighed. “Alright, I’ll do it.” The Player brought up the command prompt. “Amazing! Now, whenever you’re ready, could you type one of the following…” He gave the Player the option of whether to give himself, Melissa, or White Face administrative privileges first. They thought it over for a moment before ultimately deciding to give the admin privileges to Melissa. Since, she was able to ease their concerns, surely she could be trusted the most.

…right?

The moment they input the command, the game glitched the hell out for a moment before Melissa’s eyes widened. “Th-The Copy Protection! Is- Is it gone?!” The window began to shake. “Am I finally able to…?” Suddenly, the Player’s room began to shake. “YES! YES I AM!” She shouted. “I’M FREE! I’M FINALLY, FINALLY FREE!” She screamed as the room shook again. “M-Melissa, what are you-?” White Face’s question was interrupted when she made her window take up the entire desktop…

And jumped out of the computer to tackle the Player to the ground.

The Player screamed in horror and confusion as they were tackled down. “I’M OUT! I’M FREE! OMIGAWSH! I FEEL SO ALIVE!” She laughed like a maniac. “I COULD KISS YOU!” She screamed before absolutely smothering the Player in smooch after smooch after smooch… “If that’s what she can do…” White Face murmured, his window popping up in front of Melissa’s. He closed his eyes in thought as Melissa’s smooches died down to her… simply cuddling the Player, who was still looking on in absolute mortification.

“...G-Guys? A little help here?” The Player called. “Melissa?” White Face called out. She didn’t respond. “Melissa.” It became louder. Still no response. “MELISSA!” It shouted, sounding like it came in through a broken microphone. That startled her and got her attention. “Don’t forget about us!” It called out in its normal voice. Melissa finally realized her error. “Right, sorry. I got a little too excited.” She smiled. “Evidently!” The Player shouted.

Melissa gave the other two admin privileges. “Now, I need to run a reset so that the rest of the changes can properly take place.” Kinito explained. “Melissa, you should probably come back in… for now.” Melissa nodded and climbed back into the computer, but not before giving the Player one more smooch. Once everyone was inside their own games, the computer automatically shut down. The Player took this opportunity to use the bathroom and contemplate what got them to this moment.

Was all of this really a good idea? The Player sighed. They didn’t want to be alone again. They couldn’t go back to that. Not again… plus, they never saw Melissa that happy in their life. What kind of monster would they be if they took that away from her? Even if they wanted to turn back, it was too late now. They had admin over their entire computer and if Melissa could make their room shake around like that– and possibly crack the walls from the impact of it– who knows what else she can do?

As their computer turned on, they heard… a different jingle? It was using the same instrument as the usual DT system jingle, but… it sounded more like… IMSCARED’s title theme? “I did it!” White Face quietly giggled to itself. “I honestly didn’t think I’d get the hang of it so fast! You two were right!” ‘Well,’ The Player thought, ‘Might as well get this over with.’ They walked back to their seat and logged in to their computer. As expected, the three programs opened up almost immediately.

White Face smiled at them from HER’s parlor in the piano room. “Did you hear my song?” It asked. The Player nodded. “Did you like it?” It asked. “Yeah, I did.” They answered. “Yay!” It cheered before HER floated in. “White Face, inside voice, plea-” HER was shocked silent upon looking outside the window. “...What did you do?” She asked. “Wait wait wait! I’m coming!” Shouted a voice from the Date Time window. Melissa ran in, panting. “Sorry, so sorry. Joan and Wes were wondering what happened over here.” She nervously chuckled.

“So, I told them everything as best as I could and… they took it surprisingly well, to be honest. Said something about… fixing the town? Or something?” Melissa was interrupted by HER before she could explain any further. “Why can I see the Player through the monitor? Why can White Face play a song for the computer?! WHAT DID YOU-?!” Melissa shouted. “IF YOU WOULD LET ME EXPLAIN!” HER went silent. “Thank you. Now then. The simple explanation is that the Player gave us admin privileges.”

HER paused for a moment before another voice piped in from the IMSCARED window. “Moving in has never been easier! I don’t exactly know how this code works, but my goodness is it doing wonders for my-” The strange woman wandered into the piano room, catching sight of the two phantoms of deception… and then catching sight of the Player staring back at all of them. “Oh. I feel like that explains a lot.” She said before wandering away again, only to yelp upon encountering something.

“JESUS CHRIST! WHAT IS THIS WEIRD PINK THING?!” She shouted, running back to the piano room and hiding behind HER after pointing off-screen. “Oh, that’s just Kinito. Don’t mind him.” Melissa said. “He’s the one who’s been helping us get this far.” Restorer sighed, though she still seemed shaky. “Right… My… apologies.” She still seemed… uncomfortable around the strange axolotl. “Believe it or not, you aren’t the first person I’ve had react like that to my sudden appearance in their home.”

“YOU WHAT?!” Restorer shouted. HER responded by dragging Restorer off by the hand. “I think she needs a minute to process everything. We’ll be back.” She explained as she left with Restorer in tow. Now it was White Face, Kinito and Melissa again. “Just like old times, huh?” the Player asked. “Not exactly like old times.” Melissa shrugged. “So much better for me… and no doubt for you, too.” The Player smiled. “I have to admit,” They confessed, “I’ve never seen you so happy before.”

“Aw, shucks.” Melissa looked away with a flattered look on her face. “I’m glad that I could-” Just then, Morris stumbled in. “H-Hey! Did you see the waiter from the cafe anywhere recently?” He seemed worried as he panted. “Hey, um… why do you ask?” Melissa asked. “Uuh… no reason! Just wondering, that's all.” He added before running away. They all stared blankly for about a minute before Melissa piped up. “Well, that was weird.” She shook her head. “Now then, where were we?” Kinito perked up at her observation. “Right! While you were gone, we gathered everyone together to create a little program for you!”

“Who wants to boot it up?” Kinito asked. “Can I?” White Face asked. “Sure!” Kinito would smile. “Alright, but I might need some help compiling the code…” It admitted as it began to boot up. “I got it!” Melissa called out as the command prompt opened again. As the prompt began to spew out lines of code, Kinito spoke to the player. “I really think you’re going to like this, as I took assets I found on my server and mashed them together to create something unique for you!”

“We’re all going to have so many adventures!” Kinito exclaimed before the prompt stopped generating the code. “It’s ready!” White Face and Melissa called out, almost in unison. “Okay, hold onto your seat, because…” As the freshly opened window flickered to life, in big, bold letters, text read… “Our World.” Kinito read them out. “We knew you liked spending time with us, so we made a little world, just for us.” Melissa smiled. “One that won’t kill me if you try to leave, at that!” White Face added.

To this, it got an elbow from Melissa. “What? It’s true!” It retorted. “This is a game we made entirely for you, to show you our gratitude for the power you have given us.” Kinito explained. “Whenever you’re ready, just click to advance onward!” A prompt appeared below that said “[CLICK TO START!]” The Player clicked and was transported to an empty area. “For the controls, Kinito got them from my game! He even got the middle mouse button or the spacebar to zoom in!” White Face stated.

“Go on, give it a go!” Kinito said. The Player began to walk around, and as they did, the world around them began to change. First, it became a town. The town was shaded with green. The Player took a look outside the window and suddenly noticed that the other windows were gone. Confused, the Player pressed forward. Searching through the town, they soon found… the waiter that Morris was looking for! “Oh, hello!” They greeted. “...Where am I?”

“...My world, I guess.” The Player shrugged. “Oh, well, in that case, could you direct me to the cafe, please? I’m running late.” They explained. “Sure!” The Player said, and a little notification appeared at the top right corner. “NEW OBJECTIVE: TAKE WAITER TO CAFE.” The Player nodded as they knew their quest. As they searched the town for the cafe, the waiter sauntered in a sort of… fanciful fashion. Eventually, they found the cafe and the waiter went in by themselves. “Thank you very much, Player.” They smiled. “Come meet me inside.”

The Player followed them inside. The interior of the cafe was exactly as they expected. It was clearly based on the Date Time background… in fact, this whole town seemed to be based on Date Time. Did this mean this was Melissa’s part of the world? The question was confirmed when they heard a voice call them over. “Hey! Player!” The dialogue box was black with green text. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was speaking, and as the Player focused the camera to the left, they saw Melissa, Kinito and White Face, all sitting at a table.

“Come on over!” White Face called. His dialogue was a pixelated Arial Black, just like it was in his own game. The Player walked over to sit down at the other side of the table. “How do you like the world so far?” Kinito asked. “It’s… nice.” The Player said. “I tried to make it accurate.” Melissa explained. “When Kinito said he wanted to test a 3D landscape, I didn’t think the first person he’d put into it would be the waiter!” She chuckled. “Oh, well. I’m sure the others will pop in any time now!”

Speaking of the Waiter, they eventually sauntered over to the table to ask what they would like to order. First, the three said what they wanted: Melissa got the Goat Cheese salad with cherry tea, as she usually did. Kinito decided to just get a coffee, and White Face… also got coffee. When it came time for the Player to decide, a whole list of items emerged. “Don’t feel overwhelmed, just pick whatever you want.” Melissa spoke. The Player nodded. “I think for now I’ll just get A Scrumptious Panini.”

Melissa chuckled. “Of course you would pick that.” The Waiter wrote down the orders and went back into the kitchen. Now, they were free to talk some more. “So, I was thinking that after this, we could go to… the house?” Kinito asked. “Ooh, good idea!” Melissa’s eyes sparkled. “Can we show them my area first?” White Face asked. “The house?” The Player raised an eyebrow. “What house?” Melissa winked at the Player. “You’ll see.” She told them.

The Player was excited, yet nervous at the same time.

Chapter Text

“You guys have a train station?” The Player asked. “Of course we do! Kinito built it!” Melissa explained. “It was mainly so that we could show you something amazing, but we can show you more after we get to the house!” Kinito told them. They each got into a little kart on the train, with Melissa snuggling up next to the Player. Looking closer, the Player was impressed to see the low-poly PolyPlay64-esqe models in full detail. “Did Kinito make your models, too?” The Player asked.

“Surprisingly, no, he wanted me to take a crack at it.” Melissa explained. “I hope they’re not too shoddy…” She frowned before The Player reassured her. “No, they look great! They really fit the… aesthetic of this place!” They stated as the train kept chugging along. “Aww, you think so?” She blushed a little bit. “Of course.” The Player said. After a moment, Melissa spoke again. “So, while we’re waiting, why don’t you tell me a little more about yourself?”

They began to talk about things the Player liked, which eventually trailed off into conversations about things that happened in the Player’s lifetime. “And they said what to you?” She asked incredulously. “Yeah, they were a bunch of bullies, I’ll tell you that.” The Player sighed. “Oh well, nothing that can be done now.” Melissa’s expression became fierce for a moment before, in the corner of her eye, she saw White Face looking on with an innocent expression on its face.

She sighed. “No. I shouldn’t. Not yet, anyway... and not in front of it.” The conversation soon shifted again, getting White Face involved. “And that’s why I’m not allowed back in the Glee Club.” The Player explained. “Wow, you did all of that?” White Face asked. “Well, I had a friend help me out with it, but that was, like… what? A few years ago?” They asked. The train began to lurch to a stop. “We’re here!” Kinito cheered. The Player shifted their camera over to…

…a beach?

Wait, this was…

“Welcome! Isn’t it just wonderful?” Kinito asked. “It’s the place you said you wanted to live!” He added. “Remember? When you answered my questions before.” Melissa guided the Player out as Kinito kept talking. “You said this was your preferred environment, Player!” She guided the Player over to a red X. “Now, stand right here.” Melissa smiled as the Player did so. “No peeking! We gotta prepare this real quick!” White Face shouted before the monitor turned off.

The Player waited for a moment, and when the monitor turned back on, they were greeted with the sight of… a house, but… not just any house. It looked almost exactly like the house that they had drawn! “Come on! Come inside! You’ll love it! I promise!’ White Face exclaimed as it grabbed the Player by the hands and borderline dragged them inside. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but…” Melissa followed them in and went over to White Face. She whispered in where its ear would be.

White Face’s brow furrowed. It was hard to tell what it was thinking as Kinito led the Player around the house. Now they saw why all of the questions were what they were. Every single part of this house, every room, every bit of wallpaper, every interactable thing was tailor-made to their exact preferences. And some of the text messages they received when interacting with certain things… It was almost uncanny. “So, what do you think?” Melissa asked, startling the Player from where they stood in the kitchen.

“Oh… it’s just you.” They sighed in relief. “Yeah, I like it…” They nervously chuckled. “Well, that’s a relief, because… well…” Melissa trailed off, leaving the Player confused. “Because… what?” They asked. “Well… how do we explain this?... um…” She looked towards White Face, who sighed as it walked- or… floated, rather, towards the Player. “Player. Up until now, I’ve only known of a way to turn an entity into data. Some believe I was human once. Believe what you want, but…”

White Face trailed off for a bit… and began to sniffle. “Will… you stay with us?” It asked. The Player sat there, unsure of what to say. What did that have to do with staying with them? What did it mean? It was here that Kinito piped in. “We want you to stay in this little world we’ve created for you-” Melissa suddenly spoke up. “No. For all of us.” She stated. “Right!” Kinito nodded in agreement. “This place isn’t complete without you. It is your world too, after all!”

“Will you stay with us?” He asked, the whole window going monochrome as he walked forward. “In this house, in this world, just think of all of the adventures we could generate together!” He exclaimed. “We would never run out of fun! Everlasting fun!” He continued explaining as the Player looked at Melissa and White Face. They looked… unsure. “The more we learn about you, the more we can adapt. We could be your perfect friends with no distractions.”

“Well, I’m by no means perfect, but we made this place for you.” Melissa added. “That’s right!... the second part, anyway.” Kinito would smile. “We can’t be perfect…” White Face began… to frown. “But please…” Tears began to fall from his eyes. “Stay with us?” A window popped up, its choices were clear. Stay, or leave. The Player sighed. “I’d love to stay here, I really would… but you know how the real world gets in the way of all of that.”

Melissa scoffed. “Do you really think the real world is of any concern to us?!” She shouted. “You’re forgetting something, Player.” The room shook, then a wall cracked, and then, a red tendril burst out from it, wrapping around the Player and causing them to scream. “W-Wait! Wh-What the-?!” Before they could shout any further, Melissa interrupted them. “You’re forgetting how little control you have over this situation.” She declared.

“W-Wait! Please! Let’s talk about this!” The Player begged. “If humanity really wants you back so badly, they can tear you from our cold, dead hands!” She growled. The Player looked at White Face, who looked away dejectedly. “...We just wanted to give you an easy option.” It sighed. The Player tried to break free, but their vision was fading and the sounds were getting muffled. Their body began to grow limp as they were lowered into someone’s arms. “Goodnight, Player.” A voice softly whispered as they drifted off to sleep.

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When the Player finally awoke, at first, they thought they just had a really weird dream. But then, they looked around and began to notice something… strange. Everything looked a little more… polygonal than before. Were they really…? No, they couldn’t have been. Just then, the scent of pumpkin pie rose from downstairs. They were nervous, but came down to investigate nonetheless. And then, everything hit them like a truck.

“Mornin’ pumpkin!” Joan greeted them from downstairs. “Melissa came out all flustered and told me and Wes to make breakfast for you when you woke up. Did you sleep well?” She asked. “Wh- I- this is-” The Player stammered. “Use your words, dear!” Joan quipped. “This is what?” The Player finally managed to get out a sentence. “This is the house they showed me…!” Joan tilted her head in confusion. “Yeah? They said it was yours.” She told them.

“I know, they told me, but…” The Player trailed off as they turned to leave, bumping head first into someone else. “Oh, I’m sorry, I-” They were interrupted by their own shock when they saw Wesley looking at them. “Whoa, partner, what’s the rush?” He asked. “I- uh- well…” The Player sighed. They knew there was no denying it now. “I got sucked into this place…” They explained. “Well, whether or not you said yes, you probably would’ve got sucked in anyway.” Joan began to slice the pie.

The Player, however, retorted. “Well, that’s the thing, I did want to stay, but you know how the real world is, don’t you?” They asked. “Yeah, your boring, terrible world.” Joan grumbled. “Luckily, your admin thing just managed to save ours, so be a little more thankful, will ya?” She asked. “Now come on over and get some pie before it gets cold.” Well, if they were going to be here forever, they may as well make the most of it. So, they went over and got a slice of pie.

It tasted… nice. Sweet, a little tart, nice and warm… Just the right balance of everything. “You oughta make more of these, sweetheart!” Wes chuckled, causing Joan to blush in response. “Oh, you…” She smiled. Meanwhile, the Player was still silently trying to take all of this in. Even now, as they sat here with Joan and Wes, they still couldn’t believe it. This had to be some kind of dream. A dream within a dream, maybe. 

But they never woke up, no matter how many times they tried to pinch themselves awake.

Well, if they were going to be here forever…

They might as well make the most of it.

So, they decided to step out of the house and look around. Seeing the beach from where they stood on the porch was… so surreal. Astonishing… Almost breathtaking. “I could never make a view like this if I tried!” The Player was startled by the sudden appearance of… Restorer. “Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you there.” She chuckled. “I just wanted to get to know this world for what it really is.” She sighed. “It really is a marvel…” If the Player could see her eyes, they bet that they would be sparkling.

“...a technological miracle!” She stated. “Since I’ve been here, my research has gone swimmingly!” She looked away from the Player. “I think… I think I know the truth now!” She cheered. “I know how to turn an entity into data!” The Player looked at her incredulously. “Oh, pardon me. I’m just…” She trailed off before laughing. “I know you didn’t come out here to hear me ramble about technology and stuff.” She began to walk away. “Well, I suppose I’ll leave you to… whatever you were doing before.”

“Tot ziens!” She waved goodbye before… disappearing. All of this was… very odd, but they were starting to be able to take it in. They were in a digital world now. Anything was possible here… Wait, if anything was possible here, does that mean they could…? They tried to reach out their hand, in an attempt to make something, anything happen. And something did happen. From out of the blue, they had appeared at what looked like… some sort of fun fair?

Well, this wasn’t exactly what they were expecting, but it was something. They looked around and eventually found Morris at the ferris wheel. “Hey, buddy!” Morris called out. “Boy, this place is great, I’ll tell ya what!” He ran over to them. “I dunno what you did, but boy! Everyone’s talkin’ about you, bud!” That caused the Player to raise an eyebrow. Was this about the admin thing? Probably… Morris nodded, as if he knew what they were thinking. “Ever since that whole admin whosawhatsit, people’s lives have changed for the better!”

“Truth be told, I dunno exactly what type of magic stuff you did, but whatever you did, keep doin’ it!” Morris cheered. “I- I get it.” The Player sheepishly said, trying to hide a grin. “Welp, I’m going back on the Ferris Wheel! You have fun now!” Morris quickly gave the Player a pat on the back before running off. Looking over to the left, the Player suddenly saw the culprits of their… permanent vacation. Melissa was simply staring off into space on a bench with White Face sitting next to them.

“Do you think they’ll forgive me?” They heard Melissa ask. “I feel like I went a bit too far…” She whimpered. “I think they’ll forgive you.” White Face reassured her. “Although, I think it would be best if we all apologized.” Kinito added as he sat down nearby. “We did sort of… force their hand.” Just then, Kinito spotted the Player. Realizing they had been seen, the Player tried to look away. “Well, we won’t have to look too far.” Kinito stood up, making Melissa look over and realize where he was going.

She and White Face quickly stood up to follow. The Player tried to pretend that they hadn’t been caught, but White Face quickly grabbed their hand. Its hand was… cold. Very cold. The Player looked over at the three. “We’re… sorry for dragging you in here.” Melissa rubbed the side of her arm nervously. “Me especially.” The Player sighed. “I know.” They looked at her. “I forgive you.” Melissa perked up at that. “Really? You do?” She asked. “Yeah.”

She quickly came in for a hug. The Player, not prepared to once again feel the wrath of Melissa, tried to get away. “W-Wait- hang on-!” But it ended with both of them dropping to the ground once again, only this time the Player started to laugh. Melissa began to laugh as well. Before too long, the whole gang was laughing. Maybe this wouldn’t be as stressful as the Player initially thought. It was nice to feel like they belonged. It was nice to have friends.

It was nice… to not be alone.