Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You look like an idiot.”

They paused from where they were securing the straps on their torso, craning their neck to look at the grumbling computer on their back.

“You have the ability to change your appearance to whatever you wish, and you chose… that?” The p.AI.nter grimaced. If only he had the ability to squirm, he would definitely inch away from the fabric pressing against its monitor - not like he could feel it anyway, but that doesn’t stop him from cringing.

“How utterly devoid of color. You look like an emo scientist.”

They rolled their eyes as they finished fastening the belt straps, taking one last glance at their reflection in the mirror, observing the appearance they had chosen for today: a white trench coat over a black button-up, black pants, and a pair of black, lace-up boots. They suppose that they somewhat do resemble an emo scientist, but they thought it looked cool, so who are they to take it off?

They asked the p.AI.nter if he was ready, to which he answered with a scoff of assent.

“Don't get any weird ideas that we're close, or anything. You promised me inspiration for my artworks,” it grumbled. Truth be told, his well of inspiration had been drying recently, and he, in a moment of weakness, requested for the EXR-P to bring him along in one of their random shenanigans (a.k.a. travels). It never usually paid any attention to the EXR-P whenever they left, but now, he had started to grow curious.

What had they been doing whenever they're away from it and Sebastian?

Its thoughts were interrupted, however, when he felt his static posture be interrupted.

The… Expendable reached for the phone in their pocket and opened a particular app. Some buttons were pressed, and the p.AI.nter felt his shell vibrate and his wires spark as the world grew glitchy in his webcam.

It sputtered, digital eyes blinking to ‘orient’ himself, and finding himself staring at the thick logs that make up the walls of what seemed to be… a cabin?

“This is Camp Lapis,” they said, pulling out what seemed to be a turquoise hammer, glimmering like a diamond under the lights, and a small gem, neatly cut with sharp points and emitting a faint teal glow. Looking at it closely, the p.AI.nter could swear that he saw lines of code inside, flickering and flowing.

They seemed to move instinctively, about to place the objects on the slot on their back, before hearing the soft ‘clink!’ that the hammer made upon making contact with the p.AI.nter's screen.

“Oh, right,” they clear their throat, opting to just keep the gem and hammer pair in the Aether inventory. How unfortunate, they wanted to show off the pair that had won them several rounds as the Beast.

The p.Ai.nter watched as they stepped outside, the cool, autumn air hitting his monitor. If he could feel the cold, he had no doubt he would shiver. It watched as the dried leaves swayed with the breeze, crunching under the soles of the Expendable’s boots.

Stepping outside the cabin, it finally noticed that they were not alone. three folks of various colors and appearances strolled and jumped about, and it faintly wondered if the others had the same ability that they had.

“Woah- hey-!!”

The world blurred, and he felt something akin to nausea as they jumped to climb a rock wall.

‘This angle is very unflattering,’ he thought as he tried to keep himself from glitching. The constant shuffling and swaying was clearly getting on his wires, “Would you stop that?”

They paused in their climbing, turning to glance at the monitor, “What? You said you wanted a landscape, so I'm climbing to get you the best view.”

“That doesn't warrant you just climbing without warning-”

Its digital eyes blinked as a grey mist overtook everything. He didn't even gain a chance to respond as the mist receded just as fast as it arrived.

You are a Survivor.

He's… honestly confused. 'Were they not just on a rock wall? Why are they in prison now? And why is it so dark?’ He took in his surroundings. They seemed to be on a second floor of some sort, surrounded by empty, run-down cells.

“Hey, Expendable, what's-”

He was, of course, interrupted again (because apparently the universe decided to not give him any answers-). Its digital eyes widened as it realized that they just randomly decided to jump off the railing.

“You-! Stop doing that! You’re going to make me throw up at this rate!” He ranted.

“You don't even have an esophagus,” they remarked. It was particularly quiet, the sound being only their footsteps and their occasional chatter with the p.AI.nter. They headed towards the cell with a hole in the wall and stepped through, looking both ways before opening a set of doors nearby.

The coast is clear. The doors opened with a soft creak on its hinges. They seemed to have entered some sort of cafeteria, with the tables askew and the trays overturned and scattered on the floor.

Across them was a familiar, blue glow. ‘A computer, sweet!’ Looks like they lucked out.

They turned around and closed the doors to conceal their tracks and hopefully hold the Beast back. The Expendable was about to make their way to the computer when–

–the other set of doors across the cafeteria opened.

Their hairs stood on end and they felt their heart accelerate, drumming against their chest. They spotted that classic, familiar red glow, and before they knew it, their feet were already compelled to turn around.

“Hey, what's happening now?” The p.AI.nter asked, trying to look around to the best of its abilities, “Why do I hear boss music-?”

“Less talking, more running!” They said as they tried to run towards a window. It was no use trying to open the door, it was already closed. The old hinges would make it stuck for a brief while, and they cannot afford to lose time to escape.

“Is that guy carrying a speaker, or something-?”

‘Out!’ They jumped through the frame. That should hold the Beast back for a bit.

They then jumped through yet another frame, hoping to throw their pursuer off their tracks. The p.AI.nter watched in bewilderment as a man with… a hair made of bacon(?) chased after them with a hammer, glowing a bright, neon red.

The Expendable ran forward, only to discover that the path was blocked by the door. Shit. No time to turn back now

‘Hurry up, hurry up…!’ They cursed as they insistently tugged more on the door to get it open, the ominous music growing louder, red flooding their vision. Once free from the cramped room, they reached for the knob to try and shut the door behind them, but a blunt object made contact with the back of their head, making their limbs grow numb and flop on the floor like a stringless puppet.

“What the hell?! Get up, get up! Don't go sleeping on me now!” The p.AI.nter screamed as the Beast attached a rope to their back and dragged them across the floor. It let out a string of curses, suddenly feeling nervous and panicked as it watched the Beast open some sort of tube and place them inside.

“Hey, hey! Are you okay?! Answer me!” He yelled out in a panic as a slight chill started to creep in, the red starting to recede.

The brief moment of silence made it feel like its wires were going to spark, until it heard a small cough from them. “Yeah, I'm here. Barely even a few minutes in, and I'm caught.”

“‘Caught’? Okay, what the hell is going on?!”

If they could move their limbs, they would be scratching their nape right now. As they wait to be rescued, they try their best to explain everything to the p.AI.nter and catch him up to everything that is currently happening.

If it tried to verbalize everything it was feeling, it wouldn't be able to.

The chills seemed to seep into their skin and turn biting cold, slowly rendering their limbs numb and heavy like bricks. But the cold was momentarily stilled when the Beast returned to check on them, warmed by the ruby gem on the other's chest.

The p.AI.nter watched as the… baconhead(?) gave two sweeps of the room, searching for other survivors. As the Beast reached the other end of the room for a second time, it suddenly felt all-too-warm, his wires once again feeling alive.

They crouched, following one of the other survivors and crawling through a crack on the wall. They were about to follow along, but something compelled them to take a turn and enter another room to hide in a locker. The p.AI.nter was confused on the sudden darkness, but it knew better than to comment as the faint, red glow passed by the room they're in.

The Expendable heaved a sigh of relief. That was the direction to where the other survivor headed. Looks like they made the right decision to wait it out.

Once confident that the coast was clear, they stepped out.

“Look, a computer!” The p.AI.nter whispered, making them turn around. There it was, the familiar blue glow of the computer screen.

They walked towards it, cracking their knuckles and getting to work.

“Press the ‘E’ key now,” the AI remarked once he heard that familiar ping, assisting them and helping them focus on their task, “This is taking soooo long…”

They internally agreed, opting not to talk in favor of focusing. They have to take great care to bypass this firewall, lest the computer alerts the Beast of their location. ‘It would definitely help if someone else was here to speed it up’, they internally agreed.

An exclamation point appeared on the p.AI.nter's monitor as he spotted something on the distance, “They got your buddy.”

They nodded in acknowledgement. ‘Perfect timing,’ they thought as the screen turned green.

They got out of the room, following the subtle music. They once again ended up in the room where they spawned from.

They climbed up the stairs, peering down at the Beast from the railing, before jumping down to rescue the one trapped as the Beast turned to drag the other survivor away, a poor soul who had tried to free their teammate.

The Expendable opened the tube and let them out, then immediately headed back upstairs and crouched behind the railings as the Beast's glow passed their hiding spot. They planned to save the other who was captured, but decided to just go the other way when they realized that one of the survivors got to work and saved the other captured one.

The p.AI.nter watched as they passed through the winding halls, cursing them for dragging him into this, “Hurry up, the guy's behind you!”

‘Oh, damn it!’ They grumbled as they maneuvered around the abandoned prison, trying to shake the Beast off their trail. They met their best friend, the very same locker they hid in earlier, and hurriedly got inside.

Pressing an ear against the metal door, they listened as the loud, ominous music faded away. They opened the door just a little, gaze roaming through the area to make sure it was safe, and stepped out.

They were about to weave through the labyrinthine halls once more, when the grey mist took their vision, and they found themselves falling face-first on the wooden floor of the cabin in Camp Lapis.

“What... just happened?” The p.AI.nter asked, trying to recover from the sudden bout of nausea that resurfaced when his gaze was shaken by their tumble.

The Expendable got up and dusted themselves, grumbling, “The guy quit.”

“Quit?” He scoffed, “Pathetic.”

They just shrugged and made a noncommittal hum, not really one to dwell on it (occasionally) and went out.

“Will you finally give me a break to admire the scenery and proceed with my art?” It sassed from their back, “If you're not forgetting, we're here for inspiration.”

They rolled their eyes, “Come on, let me have fun. And don't act like you're not enjoying it.”

He scoffed and didn't respond. Now that he took his time to observe, he noticed the glowing red bar above their head, along with a number beside it.

15.

‘15? What's that for?’ His eye scribbles narrowed, perplexed.

“Hey, what's that number on top of you?”

They hummed questioningly, glancing at him, before their gaze flickered to the top. “Oh, that's my level. I'm level 15.”

“Oh,” his gaze moved to someone else, “That one's level 85.”

“Yep.”

The world faded to grey.

You are a Survivor.

“Where are we this time?” It asked once its view cleared up.

They climbed on top of some plants to the roof, “Homestead.”

“Homestead…” He mumbled.

He felt them jump down a window frame into a hall of what seemed to be a house. They opened some rooms, looking for some computers to hack. They jumped through a hole on the floor and spotted a fellow survivor. 

The p.Ai.nter watched the other as the Expendable began hacking, narrowing its eyes. ‘Why is that one not doing anything?’

They seemed to just be walking around the room in an aimless circle, simply remaining near the doors. The other opened a door and left, raising some red flags in the p.AI.nter's thoughts.

“Go close the door,” it whispered.

They shook their head, “Can't. I'm almost halfway through,” they watched the bar on the bottom of the screen intently. They were so focused, they almost missed the way their heart picked up.

“They're coming, they're coming, get up!” The p.Ai.nter warned, making them jolt and run to the closet beside the computer. But it was too late, the Beast had already seen them.

A lilac glow filled the room as the Beast confidently marched towards the closet, whacking them on the head. The p.Ai.nter let out a string of curses mixed with panicked words as he felt his monitor get dragged on the rough floor. Why did the Expendable have to fall on their back-?!

It groaned as they were dragged outside and placed inside a tube in the middle of some trees. There was a brief moment of waiting, before another one of their teammates came (not the same as the one who walked away earlier) and freed them.

With a quick thanks, they ran off, spotting the familiar glow approaching. They ran back inside, hiding inside a closet again, much to the p.AI.nter's chagrin.

“Why do you keep hiding in closets?! Are you stupid or something? You're supposed. To. Run!”

They jumped out once the Beast had infiltrated their hiding spot, trying to slow the Beast down by taking advantage of the Beast's range.

‘I may have miscalculated.’

Their body hit the floor once again, and they are promptly dragged to yet another tube.

The p.AI.nter rolled his eyes, “You reaaaaally suck.”

The person who saved them before came to save them again.

They ran off, not wanting to get caught again, and spent a good few minutes being chased by the Beast across the map. They jumped down from the roof, the Beast hot on their heels, and the p.Ai.nter yelling out nervous profanities at them.

They ran to the garage, wanting to jump inside when their foot got caught in some bushes. They cursed under their breath and made a sharp turn, jumping over a rusty barrel and miraculously performing a fake-out, which caused the Beast to be misled and jump inside. But the Beast was still on their trail.

They tried jumping on the roof, only for their body to fail to grip on the edges successfully.

“Get inside!” The AI on their back instructed, and they followed along. The p.AI.nter instructed them where to go to lose their pursuer, and they did not stop running until they ended back up on top of the house, now safe for the moment.

Now that they were back, they took a deep breath, going back inside the house to finish what they started.

They had not completed a single computer this round, too preoccupied with running for their lives.

“You're the worst,” the p.Ai.nter huffed, but they did not take it seriously at all. They won't deny that they're a little rusty.

They momentarily glanced at the monitor of the AI, speaking up jokingly. “Surely you have something to speed this up, do you not?”

He snorted and rolled his eyes, “And get infected with ten different viruses? No thanks.”

He perked up when he heard a loud sound, indicating an error. For a moment, the AI had thought that their position was given away, but one glance at his peripheral confirmed that the Expendable was still hard at work, and that the screen was blue and filled with codes.

But if that wasn't theirs, then…

Its thoughts were confirmed when a chill breeze swept over them, making the Expendable shiver. Someone got caught.

“Aren't you going to rescue them?”

Their hand twitched. They were torn. On one hand, they wanted to be a good teammate and assist them, but on the other, they were so close to finishing this computer. Surely the others got this.

The p.AI.ner sighed, knowing they've made their decision by remaining here.

Finally, after what felt like a day, the screen finally turned green, and they ran like hell to where the occupied tube could be.

The breeze led them to the hedge maze, and they tried their best to run as fast as they could, passing one of the survivors, but they ignored the other. Hurriedly, they threaded through the maze and finally reached the tube, but it was too late. The glass felt scorching cold against their fingertips.

A grim determination set within them, spotting a computer nearby. Just one last computer.

The other remaining survivor joined them, relatively speeding up the process. Finally, they heard the low hum of the gates regaining power.

“Don't go anywhere, just head straight to the exit,” the p.AI.nter urged them. They ran to the nearest gate, exerting their arms to their limits as the other hid behind a pile of logs. They twisted even harder once their heartbeat picked up, and the faint music started to grow louder and louder. The glow had almost engulfed them when they unhesitatingly ran through, never looking back and successfully escaping, landing back in the cabin.

“We… we did it!” The p.AI.nter exclaimed.

“Yeah,” they took a deep breath, “We did.”

They sat inside the Crystal Cove, watching as the p.AI.nter finished up his landscape, resting their head on top of his monitor.

It looked absolutely magnificent, as always.

Chapter Text

Welcome, ████████

It's me, your self-conscious.

I am interrupting your sleep to say that you are starving.

You appear to be waking up due to your starvation.

You honestly can't sleep in this condition, so I advise getting a late-night snack.

Just try to be sneaky about it, okay?

Anyway, you’re waking up. I'll see you soon.

The stupid thing wasn't working.

████████ frowned at their computer screen, watching as the white line spiraled on and on endlessly, never making any progress.

Disconnected.

They clicked their tongue in annoyance. They can't warp if the connection is unstable. Scratch that, they aren't even connected at all! With a huff, they got up from their desk, making something red clatter against the monitor, and ran a hand through their hair. They've been trying to fix that for an hour, and the lack of progress is surely making them quite frustrated.

Oh well, time to make it someone else's problem.

They walked to a door in the unlit corner of their house, opening it without any warning and being greeted by a pitch-dark room. The individual inside jolted, before a light flickered, emitted by a hanging lure, granting them a view of one very disgruntled face.

“What the hell do you want?” Sebastian grumbled, crossing two of his arms. His tail flicked in slight annoyance.

████████ rolled their eyes at him, leaning against the doorframe, “My connection suddenly turned crap.”

The fish-man gave a flat expression. “And? The hell do you want me to do?”

They raised an eyebrow at him and raised their hands, giving a gesture that gave ‘fix it, duh!’

“I don't do stuff for free, y'know.”

They groaned under their breath and pinched the bridge of their nose, cursing, “Yeah, yeah, I'll get you a new Metallica CD.”

“Now you're talking.”

And now, they were left to their own devices while Sebastian tampered with their computer. They glanced at the open door leading to the backyard, where p.Ai.nter's monitor was laid out on a table under an umbrella as he finished his latest artwork. They wanted to go check up on him, but they didn't want it to think that they were so clingy, considering how often they've been hanging out lately.

They groaned, flopping back on the sofa and draping themself over the expanse of the cushions. They scrolled idly on their phone, feeling bored. Instinctively, their thumb pressed over the software that allowed them to warp through different experiences, watching the line circle on and on endlessly.

Suddenly, the software finally loaded, making them perk up. Has Sebastian already finished it? they had to go right away! Doing nothing was killing them!

“Hey, what the-!”

Sebastian's headfins flared as they seize the computer and boot the connection up, beginning to browse through the manifold of experiences available.

“I wasn't done with that!”

They clicked on one and prepared to get ready, only for their screen to flash red.

Error Code: 277

We apologize for the inconvenience

Redirecting User in ████

They tugged at Sebastian's sleeve, to which he replied with his tail flicking their head. “I wasn’t done, you impatient idiot! Now the server's all mucked up.” Sebastian cracked his knuckles, leaning forward to try and restart the software.

They looked down when they felt a sudden heat in their palm and saw their phone sparking, which was weird. Phones don't do that. They jumped back when the device suddenly started to catch on in flames, but they jumped back a second too late.

Connection Restored

How would you like to rate your experience? [ / 5]

There was a brief, blue flash as the desk, previously occupied, suddenly was devoid of two masses: one of a big, blue-ish creature and another of an average citizen. A red toy remote previously near the monitor has also oddly disappeared, but nobody would miss that. Not with the abundance of toy remotes stashed in a paint-stained bedroom.

If ████████’s skin suddenly turned yellow on the bed that they landed on, or that Sebastian and the inconspicuous toy remote crashed onto the desk and sent the computer flying, no one was actually awake to comment.

The p.AI.nter looked up from where it was drawing, noticing how the lights flickered in the pool. it frowned and established the link to its robotic body in its bedroom, making the hunk of metal get up and disconnect itself from its charging port.

He winced at the audible clanging that can be heard as it stumbled across the area, making its way down to him. Finally, after what felt like ages, it arrived and attached his monitor to the port area on what served to be his ‘neck’.

Stretching his metallic limbs, he got back inside. Just what in the world has everyone else been up to?

Chapter Text

OBJECTIVE: get a snack at 4 am

████████ felt as if their limbs were frozen.

Every inch of their body seemingly weighed a thousand pounds, and they felt the endless darkness trying to pull them to its depths once more. Is this how they die? Pathetic and bored? Caused by a system failure? How laughable. As if they're life wasn't already a big cosmic joke.

Then they felt the abyss… wriggle.

Now that they think about it, the abyss felt strangely soft. And cold, and slimy, and scaly– hold up.

They opened their eyes and immediately thrashed around, trying to push off the hulking, finned mass on top of them, crushing their body with its weight. What the hell? How long has their limbs been dead? Trying to move a muscle felt like a whole workout routine.

“Seb- Sebastian get off!”

The room shook as the tail dropped to the floor with a loud thud. ████████ groaned as they stood up, dusting off their… hoodie? They don't remember having an outfit change. The Expendable- er, no- Player looked down at themselves, noticing the very familiar blue hoodie. A hand came up to their head, and they took off the Buddy's Baseball Cap and turned it over in their hands.

They recognized the standard ‘Noob’ avatar, but they didn't recognize the addition of the baseball cap. They took their time to look around, carefully stepping over Sebastian's mass (despite how difficult it was for something as big as him to fit in such a cramped bedroom.

They inspected the bed (and the Freddy Fazbear underneath that bed), the clock on the bedside drawer that was eternally stuck at 4 AM, the broken computer on the floor that displayed a big [0%] on a black screen, the posters on the wall, and the random empty shelf on the wall labeled ‘statue collection’. What?

They walked over to the corkboard, reading through the sheets pinned on the surface. Why are they getting a snack at 4 AM? And why do they have ‘smol’ hands?

A certain strip of paper caught their attention on the bottom right corner.

A game by ██████.

It was a little hard to read the text with the abundance of pins, so they spent a good chunk of time simply taking off the pins to see the message. But the trash can was already almost full, and yet there was no significant change. Almost like the experience did not want the name of the creator to be known. That, or the pins just keep respawning whenever they are taken off.

████████ walked over to where Sebastian was passed out on the broken desk, and they nudged his shoulder, but he didn’t seem to wake. Frustrated, they stepped outside to explore the rest of the house. They grabbed some Tix from the drawer beside them, then slowly opened the door of the room closest to them, which happened to be the bathroom.

Another one with a standard Noob avatar but with a spiky, black hair laid inside the bathtub, snoring. They glanced at the glowing letters on top that said ‘Father Figure’, then to the big, bold letters of the other's tee that stated ‘Dad’.

They perked up, thinking the man in the tub could help, but not even an earthquake could wake him up it seemed, as he remained asleep even when they started tugging on his hair, which should be a pretty painful sensation from their experience.

Then they saw the light switch, and a bulb went off in their head. If regular means won't wake him, maybe the light can. It surely worked on Sebastian.

They reached out a hand and flicked it on, white flooding their vision, only to hear a groggy, irritated voice mumble curses. Their vision, once cleared, focused on the man in front of them, a scowl on his face. They can apologize later, who cares. At least he's awake now-

“TURN THOSE LIGHTS OFF!” The man yelled, making ████████ look around in confusion. They hastily tried to turn the lights back off, but to no avail. It was like the world suddenly stopped functioning.

Then, they are met with black.

UNOFFICIAL ENDING:

Wake up Dad

it's 4 in the morning, come on.

[Retry]

████████ jolted awake in bed, chest racing.

What just happened?

They fisted their hands on the sheets as they slowly oriented themselves once more, now processing the fact that they were back in the beginning. Only this time, the desk was fixed, and there was a looming shadow in front of them, courtesy of Sebastian, looking absolutely livid, with his arms crossed and his esca providing a warm glow that the bright light in the bathroom 

could only hope to imitate.

“What. The. Hell.” Sebastian gritted out, his tail twitching in irritation. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't gun you down right now.”

“First of all, I can't die, so you're just wasting bullets,” they tried to reason. True it may be, but that doesn't guarantee a lack of attempt on Sebastian's part, “Second, you need me to get back. Without access to my software, you're stuck to wherever the bugged connection takes you.”

“Right, the bugged connection,” the other smiled, teeth bared and gleaming, emphasizing the sharp edges, “The bugged connection that you caused by being a nuisance. That bugged connection. If it wasn't for the fact that p.AI.nter seemed to be fond of you, I will put bullets through you like Swiss cheese right here and now, debt of freedom be damned.”

They rolled their eyes at Sebastian's histrionics. There are better things to worry about right now.

After a debriefing of what happened to them… yesterday(?), they now found themselves having to squeeze Sebastian through the doorway to get out. They spent a few good minutes squeezing the fishman through the door, until they finally got tired of this and told Sebastian to slither back inside.

“Pretend you're a little worm. And stop curling up! No wonder you can't squeeze your snaky ass through!”

“Why you little-” Sebastian growled.

Finally, he managed to squeeze himself through, now leaning against the wall while a portion of his tail curled up to fit in the cramped hallway (for him, anyway).

Once again, ████████ opened the door to the bathroom and peeked inside, the Father Figure eternally sleeping in the bathtub. They walked inside, with Sebastian poking his head in behind them, as his eyes zeroed on some delicious money on the kitchen counter.

“Hey, get that cash.”

They turned back to him, a deadpanned look on their face. “Really?” They rolled their eyes, earning a little ‘Just do it!’ from the fishman. Grumbling softly, they pocketed the cash, before turning to inspect the bathroom more closely (without turning the light on this time).

There was a comically large toothbrush and a tube of (unbranded) toothpaste, a gun, and a sword (and why is there cash inside the toilet?!). Though, ████████ would be lying if they said they weren't just the least bit curious about the sword (also, why the hell is the counter going through the wall?).

“Oh god, you're not gonna eat that, are you?” Sebastian cringed as they picked up the sword and stared blankly at it. His three eyes blinked (out of sync, like a frog's) as they continued to zone out, prompting a small response from the fishman. “Hey, you gone offline or something?”

He then tensed and hurriedly slunk back through the door once he saw the man in the tub start to show signs of waking up, too late to alert the other of the Father Figure waking up.

Once ████████ snapped out of their daze (wow, they must be really hungry), they met the Father Figure's eyes, staring directly at the man. A sheepish smile crawled up their face as they looked at the incriminating sword in their hands.

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!” The Father Figure yelled, causing them to wince.

ENDING:

Sword

don't eat swords

[Retry]

“Oh come on!” Sebastian yelled as he felt the walls constrict against him again, watching as ████████ got up from the bed once again. “Why do I have to land on the desk?!”

“That is simply a skill issue,” they snorted and carefully stepped over the fishman's tail, “Surely, you can squeeze yourself out this time, right?”

“Hey! Come back here, you-”

They picked up some cash on the floor, before they headed off to the bathroom once again and picked up the Tix and Bux from the counter (and the toilet). They picked up the tube of toothpaste, until they gained the faintest sense of hunger, the saliva pooling in their mouth the longer they stared at the tube.

They looked around, before slowly unscrewing the cap and bringing it close to their mouth.

“████████, look what I found-” Sebastian paused as he watched them fall to the floor with a thud, the red remote clutched in one of his hands.

ENDING:

Toothpaste

don't actually consume toothpaste.

[Retry]

“As I was saying,” Sebastian let out a curse under his breath, “Look what I found.”

He extended a clawed hand, showing ████████ the red remote. Their eyes widened as they took it in their palm, not even hesitating to press the glowing, red button. They watched in anticipation as the distant, blurry red blob gradually got clearer, and a familiar voice whispered in their ear;

“Hello?”

They were ecstatic as they waved at their (Not-So-)Imaginary Friend, eagerly recalling how things got to this condition. Though, they vaguely worried how her time limit would work in a looping experience. Maybe she'll be able to stay as long as she likes, considering how the time was eternally frozen at 4 AM.

Sebastian grumbled, his headfins flaring as his hearing got filled with her whispers again. Not that he can complain anyway, they're all equally stuck here.

████████ and their Friend returned to the bathroom, picking up money after them, as Sebastian worked to squeeze himself out once again.

+✔︎—✔︎—✔︎+

“This book says ‘HELP’,” Sebastian picked up a book with a blue cover, “It's expressing my exact mood in this situation.”

“But that's not a ‘mood’?” Imaginary Friend tilted her head as she read the title on the spine.

“And yet that's how I feel,” said the fishman as ████████ went to the kitchen and picked up a sandwich. They were about to put it in their mouth, when an angry-looking scribble of some guy yelled at them and aimed a machine gun at their face.

Sebastian squinted. “Is that the guy from TF2-”

ENDING:

Sandvich

don't touch his sandvich.

[Retry]

+✔︎—✔︎—✔︎+

“Oh please, trust me. Everyone has had this snack before.” The fishman snorted, his lure flickering as he shoved a bag of chips and Witch's Brew inside the Breakfast Machine. They waited for a few moments until they heard beeping, followed by a small jingle.

“See?” He huffed smugly.

“Literally, I could've done that myself,” they raised an eyebrow at him.

“Shut up and eat, ungrateful brat.”

ENDING:

Epic Breakfast

a breakfast for gamers.

[Retry]

+✔︎—✔︎—✔︎+

“Oh look, an orange!” Imaginary Friend commented gleefully, prompting Sebastian to turn and look, drawing ████████ to her side.

“What a freaky little thing…” Sebastian reached out a hand. They tensed up and suddenly dove forward, knocking the orange off of his grasp. “Don't touch that!”

“Why not-?”

But they were too late. The orange has been awoken, and it soon started on its annoying commentary with its stupidly loud and obnoxious voice that has obviously been modified. Groaning, the three collectively placed their hands on their ears (or what counts as ears) as they simultaneously combusted into atoms out of spite.

ENDING:

Orange

haha that orange is rather annoying.

[Retry]

+✔︎—✔︎—✔︎+

“████████, you better take that soda off right now.” Sebastian gritted his teeth as he watched them place a can of soda on the stovetop.

“Nah, I want to see what made ‘Mom’ write that note,” they snickered as they turned the knob and watched the fire burn. Sebastian just shook his head and groaned. “This is a bad idea…”

The three of them gaped as the stove combusted and started to burn, being followed not long after by the rest of the furniture. “Look what you did!” The fishguy yelled out as they looked around for something to put out the fire with, but it was too late, as the whole house was engulfed by the flames

ENDING:

Fire

we didn't start the fire.

[Retry]

+✔︎—✔︎—✔︎+

After a hunt for a few more ridiculous ‘endings’ and Breakfast Machine combinations, ████████ had the great idea to go outside and expand their limitations.

“Grab all the money that you can, Seb. We're going outside.”

Sebastian and Imaginary Friend perked up when they heard what ████████ proclaimed. After some quick discussion, the fishman managed to collect $50 in total. Now, they were at the front door, taking in a collective breath as they placed a hand on the doorknob.

“Everyone ready?” They turned to the other two.

“Yeah, duh. You're so dramatic,” replied the fishman.

“I'll be right with you.” Imaginary Friend reassured them, her ever-gaping mouth curling up into a reassuring smile.

“Okay… let's go.” They turned the knob, letting the cool, late night air hit their face. They took a deep breath as they stepped through, now feeling infinitely more relaxed. They brightened up and marvelled at the night sky and the array of stars, letting out a small hum as they took a Tix on the mailbox.

“...not bad,” Sebastian mumbled. Nights like these are always perfect for his sensitive eyes. But as much as he loved the evening breeze before, and how much he wished he could still love them now, he was sadly now cold-blooded. So he couldn't even enjoy it as much as he wanted to.

“A convenience store…” Imaginary Friend remarked as she followed behind ████████, watching as they tried to see into the distance beyond the limitation to their bounds. Though it seemed as if there was nothing but endless forest.

“Just walk around, dumbass.” The fishguy snorted as he attempted to slither on the side of the roadblocks, only to hiss when he felt an invisible wall block his way. “Nevermind.”

“Invisible walls exist, you know.” They couldn't help the faint smirk that twitched on their lips.

Sebastian muttered something under his breath as he slithered away, curling up beside a pixelated car. He raised an eyebrow, seeing what had been written on the back of the .png of the car.

‘This is my car. – Cashier’

What a weird name. He thought.

████████ turned to him as they stood in front of the convenience store's entrance, a perplexed look on their face when they saw how run-down the store was, and the only cashier inside looking like he wanted to just pass out on the spot.

“I think it would be best if you stayed behind for now. Wouldn't want to spook the only other awake person in here.”

He huffed, crossing two of his arms. “I know, whatever. I'll go check out what's with this dummy.”

They followed his gaze to the random dummy in the parking lot, with cash and soda near the dummy. “Sure, and can you get the cash for us too?”

“Way ahead of you,” he snorted as he already started to slither across the ground, while ████████ and Imaginary Friend went inside. Not that the other guy can see her anyway. The door jingled as they went inside the run-down convenience store, prompting the cashier inside to look up from where he was slumped on the counter, banging his fist on its surface.

The cashier gave a weary sigh, resting his face on the palm of his hand. The poor guy looked absolutely dead inside, which was a shame considering the guy looked like he hadn't even gone out of puberty yet. But based on ████████’s experience, they considered the guy looking pretty accurate for this stage in life.

Mumbling under his breath, the cashier started to speak. “Welcome to ‘a generic convenience store’. Talk to me if you want to buy something.”

Okay, first of all, weird. Second, they squinted at his ID tag; what kind of name is that? They walked up to the counter to ask, but the cashier just stayed silent and averted his eyes, ignoring them. They huffed. Fine, whatever, don't talk. ████████ and Imaginary Friend began to walk around and look at the… admittedly minuscule amount of products. It wasn't the best selection at all. The lo-fi music is nice though, they had to give props to whoever chose the playlist.

“Oh, there is money over here.” Imaginary Friend looked down at the green bill on the floor beside a toppled-over shelf, watching as Player picked up and pocketed the bill. She spared a glance at the cashier. He didn’t even pay attention to them. She thought for sure he would have said something, but maybe he just didn't care.

Player curiously approached the floating sphere at the end of the aisle, then picked it up as Imaginary Friend remained where she was, watching. They then walked over to the counter, giving it to the cashier to scan.

“That item_test costs $9999999. Talk to me again to buy it.” He said with disinterest.

Their eyes blew wide like saucers. $9999999?! For a ball?! That sounded like something Sebastian would pull off for a prank! They turned back to place it down, only to find themselves unable to. It was like the sphere was stuck to their hand. They wandered around, trying various ways, until they opted to throw it inside the trash bin, which had a black hole for some reason.

The action, however, prompted an unexpected reaction from the ever-impassive cashier, his face now having a faint hint of irritation. “Dude, seriously?” He grumbled. “You have to pay for that. Don't just throw store products in the trash.”

They sent him an apologetic look and was about to pick up something else, when they jumped back upon seeing how close Imaginary Friend had been for a split second, which granted them an honestly terrifying view of her sharp array of teeth and pointy hands. The cashier sent them a weird look, but they ignored it as they clutched their chest. Thankfully, she seemed to have moved away, though she did not look remorseful one bit. Looks like old habits die hard.

“Sebastian is calling for you.”

████████ raised an eyebrow, but nodded anyway. They sent a brief glance to the cashier, then walked out of the door to see Sebastian hanging by the dummy in the parking lot.

“Hey, you gotta get me sodas. Eight of them.” He started, cutting straight to the point as he slithered to the flickering vending machine at the side of the store with a sign that said ‘feed me sodas’. They turned to him with a questioning look, which made his headfins flap in a brief moment of annoyance. “I want to see what it does. I tried fixing it, but the busted thing didn't even change at all.”

Player's face turned deadpan, shaking their head as they held out a hand. Sebastian looked at their palm, before grumbling and handing over the cash that he had scavenged. They counted the money, then added it to their own, which totaled to $100.

Honestly, the fish can be so absurd sometimes…