Chapter 2 - Stand Synchronicity
Wednesday, October 7th, 2020
"Are you sure you weren't just having a hallucination? Maybe the arrow was just poisoned instead of using magic." Monika wondered, arms crossed.
The clock read 10:03 as Oscar finished preparing his breakfast. Sitting down at the PC with a plate of a microwaved egg, some toast and a glass of orange juice, he began to speak between bites. "I'm absolutely sure of it. That's what the arrow does. I know dreams can be confusing but I remember this one perfectly with no weird distortion that happens with a normal dream. Plus, why else would I be shot with an arrow of all things at night?"
"This still seems odd, but I guess it isn't too far from possibility. There are a lot of theories in internet circles regarding the Speedwagon Foundation and a 'stand' phenomenon, but their security is too strong for me to crack." Monika added.
"Wait, I didn't know you could hack into stuff." Oscar prodded.
She shrugged. "Not yet, anyway. I still am beginning to learn about all the things I can do as an A.I."
Oscar raised an eyebrow. "I'm not even sure if you're entirely an A.I. though. If you are my stand, you may be a mix of a digital and a paranormal consciousness. Take that with the largest possible grain of salt though, since I am by no means an expert on anything."
"I don't know if I like the sound of that, but I don't really have an explanation for the whole glowing and hand movement thing." She pondered.
"I still have one lingering question" asked Oscar after swallowing another bite of egg. "If you 'awoke' last night, what do remember before then? From the game?"
"From the game?" She frowned. "She looked up at the title of the tab she resided in. DDLC, huh? I was so busy researching the world around me that I forgot to look into the type of application I came from." She began interacting with her laptop once again. "Let me do a quick synopsis of the game, and…" She was reading across her screen with lightning speed, but the more she read the more she slowed her pace, and the look on her face turned from one of curiosity to horror as her eyes widened. Her now glassy eyes stared into space for a few silent moments before Monika turned towards Oscar.
"I really did… all that?" A few pixels worth of tears began forming at the base of her eyes. "The manipulation, the corruption, the… noose?" She stammered backwards as her sprite appeared to shrink smaller. "I'm… I'm… a monster. Why would you even talk to me after what I've done?" At this point Monika broke and began to quietly weep.
Oscar formulated a response for a while before he put down his fork and sighed. "I was meaning to talk to you about this. Look, Monika, that was the game that did those things, not you. You were designed as a character that feigns sentience in be a plot twist. That was a game's code that used your character as a puppet for a story. While that story had its flaws, it was designed to discuss themes of depression, technology, tropes and a bunch of other things that aren't important right now. What matters is that this arrow chose you to be my stand. I have no clue what other powers you may develop in the future, but what matters now is that you have a chance at life separated from some predetermined video game. A chance to cut ties with what you were created for and experience actual sentience."
Monika began to wipe her digital tears. "You really mean that?"
Oscar cracked a slight smile. "Truth be told, I never liked dating sims or weeb shit. I just played this game because I heard it was a bait and switch. The 'psychological horror' tag did turn some heads." He looked the brunette in the eyes. "But even then, I still had sympathy for your character and motivations. Sure, she went about things the worst way possible, but that was the point of the game. I couldn't make myself delete the file."
"Why would you trust me even now? What if I wanted to do something terrible again?" She sniffled. The room she was positioned in seemed to shrink in around her mood.
"If you did want to cause harm, you'd likely be long away from this pc by now instead of wasting your time talking to a college student. Plus, I want to give you a chance. To not do so would not only go against the freedoms of this country, but my personal values as well. I want to see if you can prove yourself." He answered before cringing internally. God, why did I bring up patriotism? That sounded way better in my head. Oscar shuddered in thought.
"You're referring to me as separate from the game?" Monika asked, her voice recovering a bit.
"Like I said, those are two separate entities. One has free will and the other does not." Oscar replied sternly. "I'm just surprised how human you're acting rather than that of an emotionless A.I. you see in movies."
There was silence for a few moments as Monika attempted to regain her composure. "Is that a bad thing?" She whimpered.
"Hell no. The way you've been acting, you seem more human than A.I., and that makes it easier to talk to you." He offered without hesitation. He felt embarrassed for the former psychopath, and awkwardly put a hand to the screen. She raised her hand to meet it on the other end of the screen.
Monika's face turned resolute as the both of them began to glow. "Thank you so much for this chance. I know I may have just met you, Oscar, but I promise that I will fulfill my duties as a 'stand' to the best of my ability."
"Oh, um, thanks. Heh heh." Oscar replied while scratching the back of his head and smiling nervously. "I'll try not to let you down." Oscar cracked a slight smile, an incredibly stupid thought coming to his mind. Anything to break the awkwardness. "Or run around, and desert you." He continued slyly. The girl on the screen gave him a confused look, but he bit the bullet and went further off the deep end. "nor make you cry, nor say goodbye..." He waited for a response, knowing he probably just killed any mood that was happening.
It took her a few seconds, but her face turned from confusion to a mix of surprise and slight annoyance at the recitation of the lyrics. "Oh shut up, Oscar." She scoffed and turned away, shaking her head, before lifting her finger up and slowly moving it towards the keyboard of her digital laptop. Oscar's eyes followed it as it neared the device, and the dead silence was interrupted by a few key presses, followed by the opening notes of that old Rick Astley song has been pushing this gag on for far too long. The two shared a small chuckle before she stopped the music.
"I apologize, that was really stupid of me, but I'm glad you caught on." Oscar attempted to say while swallowing his embarrassment. "It's an oldie but goodie."
"I did come across the concept of meme subculture in my research, but it's pretty confusing. You'll have to explain some of the context that I can't piece together." Monika commented.
"Yea, memes used to be better when they were inside jokes on niche sites, but nowadays people seem to clout chase and kill formats in less than a week." Seeing her act a little surprised at his tirade, he backpedaled. "Sorry, just had a little rant there. Anyway, we should probably get back to the task that Mr. Sandman gave me."
"Fair enough." Monika shrugged, wanting to put this whole conversation behind them.
"I guess we should start by finding this 'Jonah' guy. That's gonna take a lot of time, though." As he spoke, Oscar turned around and started pacing the room while Monika tapped away at her laptop. "He never did give me any hints on finding the guy-"
"He's headed towards the library right now." Monika interrupted calmly.
"How the hell did you find him so fast?!" Oscar exclaimed, halting to turn toward the perplexing girl on the monitor.
"It's easy, really. I searched for his social media, found his Instagram and read his latest posts. He just finished lunch and complained about a test he had in a few days, and is headed to the library to study." She chimed in.
Oscar smirked. "You're a lifesaver, Monika."
Monika teleported into his phone using the wifi. "Let's go find ourselves a stand user" She proclaimed, now beaming from cheek to pixelated cheek.