31.1 – The Dark, Sacred Night, by Skaz Wolfman.
Rip Van Winkle stared up expectantly at the night sky, musket in hand. To hunt the most dangerous monster on the face of the Earth was the greatest glory, and she couldn't wait for her prey to arrive. She waited in silence, save for the waves crashing against the sides of the ship she was on. Then a shrieking 'caw' pierced the night, followed by a chorus of responses in the same avian tongue. Van Winkle looked in the direction of the outcry, and heard the sound of many flapping wings approaching from the north…and the south, east, and west as well. She watched as a crow glided into view, before it perched on one of the guardrails. It was joined by another, and another, and another…
Van Winkle soon found herself surrounded on all sides by a murder of crows numbering in the low hundreds, at least. She clutched her musket tightly, and smiled. "I must admit, this vas not the entrance I vas expecting, Herr Alucard."
The murder erupted in a cacophony of cawing, and in the midst of the cawing something approximating a woman's voice rasped, "My apologies if I have disappointed you, Fraulein Van Winkle."
Then the crows melted into shadows, swirling like a cyclone around her and blurring into one great mass, which bunched up and slowed down until the whole great shadow was crouched in front of her. Then it shrunk and resolved into the form of a giant crow…no, just a person wearing a cloak of crow feathers and a plague doctor mask. The figure doffed their hat and gave her a sweeping bow. "Well met by moonlight, Fraulein," said a husky, feminine voice from behind the mask.
Rip Van Winkle only narrowed her eyes, and growled, "You are not Alucard. Are you the pet policewoman he's taken?"
"You cut me to the quick, Fraulein," the masked woman replied as she replaced her hat. "Allow me to return the favor." Her body flickered, and suddenly she had a blade out. At the same time, blood gushed out from a gash on Van Winkle's left upper arm.
She didn't grab the injured limb and hiss or cry out in pain. Instead, her eyes widened and she gasped, "Such incredible speed!" She smiled, and adjusted her glasses. "Perhaps you're worthy prey after all! Vunderbar!"
The masked crow woman chuckled. "My dear Fraulein…there are the hunted, and there are hunters…and then there are the Hunters of Hunters. I see I must disabuse you of your skewed perception of your role in this moonlit fantasy. The Third Eye has seen you, Rip Van Winkle, and a Hunter of Hunters has come."
The second Blade of Mercy appeared in Yuri's hand, and she launched herself at Rip Van Winkle. Without so much as shifting her posture, the would-be huntress blocked Yuri's strikes by twirling her musket around her body, before sending her flying back by slamming the butt in her chest. Then she flipped the musket around, and fired. An enchanted bullet, glowing with purple light, punched through Yuri's chest. Yuri threw her head back and gasped. The bullet arced back around and went through her again, and again and again and again, tearing her body to pieces where she stood, until she collapsed in a twitching heap.
Rip Van Winkle stamped the butt of her musket on the ship deck. "Tut, tut. Vhat a letdown. You are clearly vun bitch who's bark is vorse than her bite, ja?" she asked with a shit-eating grin.
Then her smile faltered when the corpse she had just made moaned. It wasn't a moan of the dying, or even a moan of pain. The moaning pitched higher as the dead woman arched what was left of her back, slowly raising up to her feet in an unnatural manner, as if being lifted by strings. She slumped forward, her mask falling away in pieces, revealing a woman with amethyst eyes and lavender locks. Also, missing half of her face, though it was quickly regenerating. "Such exquisite sensation," she said breathlessly, with a huge, manic smile. "My true love will always be the blade…but I'll admit to finding myself enamored with that cannon, at least. When I pry it from your dying hands, beast, take solace that it shall occupy a special place of honor in my collection of trophies."
A bead of sweat rolled down Van Winkle's face, but she rallied herself. "You are most presumptuous! Your victory is far from assured," she said before firing another shot.
Yuri exploded into a murder of crows, flying away in every direction. The magic bullet pierced one, and wheezed around piercing more, drawing bright violet lines against the inky canvas of the night.
One crow looped around and glided silently before landing behind Van Winkle, who didn't notice it until it swelled up and loomed over her. The crow opened its beck, and Yuri's head grew out of the end of its tongue. "There is so much more to a good hunt than just victory…but I wouldn't expect a beast to understand that," she said with a leering grin.
Van Winkle swung her musket around, thrusting the end of her musket against the massive crow's neck. "Checkmate!" she cried as she pulled the trigger, decapitating the monstrous bird.
"Indeed it is," Yuri's head agreed as her arms emerged from the crow's chest, the Blades of Mercy in hand. With two vertical swings in tandem, Rip Van Winkle was neatly…disarmed.
The crows all melted into shadows and streamed back together, reforming into Yuri's human, Crowfeather-attired form. As promised she wrenched the musket from Van Winkle's hands, which still clung to the weapon, and deposited it in her Pocket. Then she used one of her Blades to stake Van Winkle to the deck, through her midsection. Throughout this, the bespectacled woman seemed numb with shock. "This…no…this vas not…it vas not supposed to be this vay…how…" she muttered.
Yuri sighed. "Well, you fought about as well as I expected, unfortunately. But as I said, there's more to a good hunt than just victory. A good hunt is about ceremony. And for one of my covenant, the best ceremony for ending a hunt is something called a 'sky burial'. Allow me to educate you, my dear Fraulein," said Yuri. She once again exploded into a murder of crows that took to the air…and then the crows descended, and Rip Van Winkle screamed.
…
In the body of a crow, Yuri glided over the burning streets of London. Iscariot's paladins, Millennium's pseudo-vampires, and Alucard's innumerable host of Familiars tore each other to pieces en masse. Yuri couldn't help but marvel at the unfathomable depths of Seras Victoria's power; in the course of just a day, she had cast her Shadow over the entire metropolis, compelling every single human being to pick up and evacuate the city. "Master gets restless pretty easily, so it's good for his morale to let him have his Baseline bloodbath once in a while. Don't mean innocent folk gotta get buggered in the process, though," Seras had explained to her when she had been surprised by their decision not to preempt Millennium. 'Anchors are simple amazing,' Yuri concluded.
Yuri spotted her next target, and went into a dive. Transforming back into her humanoid form, Yuri landed in the street, right in his path. Her clothes melted into shadows and reformed into a much classier-looking attire. Of all the Hunters she had met in Yharnam, two had made a special impact on her. The first was Eileen the Crow, who had inspired Yuri to walk the path of hunting all monsters, even those hiding in human forms. The second was a rare breed; a warrior who had matched Yuri's skill with a blade, despite not being a Looper. Yuri had, of course, taken her weapon afterwards, but despite it being perhaps her favorite of all the blades she had collected in the Loops, Yuri had sworn only to unsheathe it against truly worthy opponents. Such was the respect she had for Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower.
Wearing also Lady Maria's Attire, Yuri drew one of the sabers that made up Rakuyo, and pointed it at her new target. "The Paleblood Moon is shining down on you, Father Alexander Anderson," she announced, "And a Hunter of Hunters stands in your path." In the distance, because the universe never misses a cue for moments like this, a bell tolled.
The paladin scoffed. "Outta my way, little girl. I've got a much bigger fish to fry."
"In the Hunt, there is no place for those who would meekly stand aside," Yuri replied, drawing the second saber and attaching it to the first. Then she sprang into action, bolting toward Anderson. Then instant she moved, he was already volleying bayonets at her. Moonlight, firelight, and sparks all flashed off of Rakuyo's blades as Yuri carved through the air and parried the flying blades.
Anderson was very agile, for a man of his bulk, which he handily demonstrated when Yuri got into melee range. She went for a low thrust, but he pinned her blade between two bayonets and yanked her to the side while stepping around behind her. She spun around with a wide slash, which Anderson blocked with one bayonet while swinging another down upon her in a manner befitting one that some called St. Guillotine.
With one, clean cut, he cleaved off one of Yuri's arms. As Yuri jumped to the side, the arm melted into a handful of crows that started flying around the Iscariot Paladin, pecking and scratching at his head and cawing in his ears. While they distracted her foe, Yuri regenerated her arm and took a running leap at a nearby building, kicking off of it to propel herself high into the air. Directly over Anderson. She fell upon him with a downward slash, but he caught the saber blade with his hand and drove a bayonet straight toward her heart. Yuri grabbed his wrist and lurched forward, redirecting the blade into her gut. At the same time, she pulled Rakuyo's dagger free from the saber and took a stab at Anderson's neck. She knicked him, but he pushed her saber back and jumped back from her. Yuri landed on her feet, rejoining Rakuyo before yanking Anderson's bayonet out of her gut.
With a gleeful smile, Yuri plunged her hand into her stomach wound, and smeared her blood up and down Rakuyo's long blade as the wound closed over. Anderson growled and flung a wave of bayonets at her, but Yuri lashed out with her free hand, long tentacles bursting out and swiping the bayonets out of the air. She drew the hand back and thrust it at Anderson, the tentacles reemerging to fly at him, but he hacked and diced them to pieces with two bayonets in each hand. 'He really does have bayonets for days, doesn't he?' Yuri thought.
Yuri disconnected Rakuyo's saber and dagger and charged at Anderson, using the dagger to parry his bayonets while slashing with the saber. She darted in, crossed blades with him, and then darted back away just as quickly. Using the Art of Quickening, she became a ghostly blur before darting in from his flank. He blocked her without missing a beat, and she immediately disengaged before Quickening again and attacking from another angle. She picked up speed and chose attack vectors seemingly at random, and never aimed for the same body part twice in a row…except for when she did, hoping to throw him off. His defense wasn't perfect, she got a fair few hits in, but his defense was stronger than a normal human opponent should have been able to muster.
'Father Alexander Anderson is the Iscariots' spearhead,' Yuri reminded herself. 'The pinnacle of their human augmentation sciences. His strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, and his sheer hunter's intuition and cunning, all brought to highest extremes that this world's humans are capable of. He'd have gone far in Yharnam; Father Gascoigne and Henryk have nothing on this man. Even Eileen and Yurie would have a hard time of it with him…'
'But he's no Gehrman,' she thought with a grim smile. She rushed him again, spinning around as she recombined Rakuyo, and sweeping Anderson's bayonets aside with a one-handed swing. Then she drew the Evelyn from inside her coat, cocking it sideways as she shoved it against his chest and pulled the trigger. Anderson's blood splattered all over her as he staggered backward.
He only chuckled as he filled his hands with bayonets. "Not bad, little girl, but not nearly good enough," he growled. He spread his arms and coiled his legs, taking a flying leap at her.
Yuri waited until the last second to Quicken behind him, slamming into him from behind and grabbing him by the back of his head. "You and I have a few things in common, and many, many differences, Father Anderson. But the biggest difference between us is that you fight for God. And I have slain gods. Here, let me show you," she whispered in his ear as a soft white glow shined from her eyes. Anderson's eyes widened and his whole body went stiff with paralysis as incomprehensible things steamrolled through his mind. "You're a great hunter, Father Anderson, but you can scarcely imagine the nightmares I have laid to rest."
"What…how…NO!" he screamed. Blood exploded from his ears, eyes, mouth and nose as Yuri's psychic Frenzy attack overwhelmed him. She let him go, and he staggered forward. Immediately, he whirled back around and swung at her with his blades. She Quickened straight back, opening a few meters between them.
"Your hunting instinct is admirable," she complimented. "But you've hit your limit. If I don't stop you, you're going to throw away your humanity tonight; what's worse is that it still won't bring you victory. Please, accept the kinder death that I offer you, and let yourself be freed from the night."
"I don't know how you know what I was planning, monster, but you're a fine one to talk about me 'throwing away my humanity'. NO SACRIFICE IS TOO GREAT, FOR AN ISCARIOT PALADIN TO RID THE WORLD OF SINFUL BEASTS LIKE YOU!" Anderson roared.
"Unlike some monsters I can name, I didn't throw away my humanity in becoming a vampire. Rather, I embraced myself," Yuri retorted as she split Rakuyo again. She grabbed the long blade, and dragged it across her hand. The wound sealed immediately, while the blood seemed to expand to coat the blade. "You know, I'll confess, I've actually never tried using a Bloodtinge weapon as a vampire. I'm very curious how my altered blood will affect it."
She swung at Anderson, despite the distance between them, and the blood on her blade glowed brightly and flew off at him. He leapt into the air to dodge, but the wave of blood broke up and followed him, in the form of white-hot glowing spikes. Anderson couldn't evade them in midair, and even he could deflect them all, as fast and numerous as they were. A few got past his guard and embedded themselves in his flesh. His clothes caught fire from the heat, and then the blood spikes exploded, engulfing him in flames.
Howling in pain and fury, Anderson hit the ground in a crouch, and threw himself at Yuri once more. As he charged her, still wreathed in flames, his hand darted into his coat and pulled out a long wooden box…
Yuri Quickened over to his side and loped his arm off.
So Anderson grabbed the arm and spun around, backhanding her with the dismembered limb. Then he grabbed the box, again, and crushed it in his hand. Yuri grit her teeth and charged him again, but then she Quickened backward to avoid a diagonal slash from one of Anderson's little disciples, Yumie. Shadowy wings flared out of her back and curled forward to shield her from a volley of gunfire from Yumie's partner, Heinkel.
"Damn it…VALENTINES!" Yuri called out. Her wings swept back and swelled, rounding out and splitting off from her body. They fell to the ground, bubbled and swelled up some more, and reformed into the brothers Luke and Jan Valentine. "Keep the children off my back," she ordered. The Familiars smiled hideously and nodded before drawing their weapons and breaking away to engage Yumie and Heinkal. While the sounds of gunfire and steel striking steel filled the air, Yuri pulled out a Fire Paper and used it to ignite her blades.
For, as soon as Yumie had forced Yuri back, Anderson had driven Helena's Nail into his chest, and the ensuing transformation was now almost over. Plant-like growths replaced his lost arm and covered his burned skin, and thorny vines sprouted from all over his body, lashing around like hungry snakes.
Yuri cast Witch Time, causing the flow of time outside of her to move at only a fraction of normal, and then she rushed forward. Such was the power of Helena's Nail that even with time slowed to a crawl, Anderson's vines still moved fast enough that Yuri still had to move to dodge them. The vines that got close enough, she slashed out at, setting the monster's extremities ablaze. The closer she got to the monster's main body, the harder it was to dodge. The burning blades of Rakuyo were fiery blurs arcing around her body. Even so, as the distance closed and the spell began to wear off, thorns started to graze her. Tongues of holy white fire licked across her clothes. So, naturally, Yuri sprouted a few shadow-arms and started tearing off her Hunter's Attire.
When she was finally close enough, Yuri swung Rakuyo's longblade through the monster's neck, and with the same motion she thrust Rakuyo's dagger into the monster's heart, between the ribs. Witch Time ended, and Yuri soon found her arms and legs bound in vines, and her body awash in holy flames. It was in this moment that Yuri of the "Doki Doki" Literature Club encountered something new. Something she had never experienced before, in her millions of loops.
A pain that did not feel good.
It was such an unpleasant shock that she screamed. She tried to swing at the monster, knowing she had to cut its heart out to end it, but the vines pulled her arms back. So she opened her mouth wide, a shadow-limb shooting out and snaking through the air before plunging down through the monster's throat hole. Thus did Yuri wrench Anderson's pierced heart free from the monster that had taken his place, and cast it into the sky. The vines fell away, and Yuri Unpocketed the Evelynn. "One should die proudly, when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Friedrich Nietzsche," she quoted as she aimed the pistol skyward, before pulling the trigger. Anderson's heart exploded in midair, and Helena's Nail shattered as well.
"Father Anderson!" yelled Heinkel as she leveled her guns at Yuri. She and Yumie had dispatched the Valentines, and now they glared deathrays at her.
"It is right and proper for you to mourn your mentor," Yuri told them as she held a Yharnam blood vial over her head and shattered it. The blood spilled down over her, soaked into her vampiric skin, and sped up her regeneration. The burns left behind by the holy fire were slow to heal. "But he made a monster of himself. It is the providence of human beings to slay monsters, not for monsters to slay monsters."
"Then what is your excuse, monster of Hellsing?" demanded Yumie as she stepped closer, blade in hand.
"I'm not a monster, any more than I ever was a human, and I don't slay monsters because it is my providence to do so. I slay monsters because it is my pleasure to do so. Neither of you are monsters, so I am content to live and let live if you'll turn away from this dead end. I offered Anderson the same kindness, but he would not turn away from the doom he chose for himself."
"Shut up, you pretentious bitch!" Heinkel seethed before opening fire on her.
Yuri blurred forward, between them. She spun around, swinging the Rakuyo saber through Heinkel's midsection from behind. With the same motion, she plunged the Rakuyo dagger into Yumie's throat, even as the Iscariot nun made to run her through. She aimed true for Yuri's heart, but Yuri skewed her thrust by raising her knee to bump the blade upward, and at the same time she leaned her upper body down and forward. So instead of piercing her heart, Yumie's blade barely nicked Yuri's hair as it cut through the air. Yuri whirled herself in front of Yumie, raising her saber, and yanked her dagger free before bringing the saber down to bisect Yumie from shoulder to hip.
As the Iscariot warriors gasped and bled out on the ground, Yuri cleaned her blades and said, "Die at peace, my enemies. I won't imbibe your souls. Enjoy your eternal rest."
Then she regenerated her damaged clothing, sheathed her weapons, and walked away.
…
She found him after the battle. The sun had risen, Iscariot had withdrawn, and Millennium had been thoroughly crushed under the Hellsing Organization's heels. She found him in a park, sitting on a bench, watching the sunrise.
"Well, it's about time we met," Yuri greeted him with a small smile, sitting next to him.
The armored man, who so closely resembled Alucard, returned her smile, and replied in his accented voice, "Indeed. It is not so often I shed my layers to experience the world so directly."
"Will you…um, stay this way?" Yuri asked him tentatively, "for a little while, at least? I've wanted to talk to you for a long time, but…"
"You were unsure how to ask," Dracula surmised. "I will linger, briefly, before I draw myself back together. What would you like to discuss, my child?"
Yuri blushed, much to her own surprise. "Oh…well, I'm not sure where to start…how briefly?"
Her eyes widened as she saw something dark flicker in his eyes. "Dragons are mighty, but terrible," he told her gravely. "It is good that they slumber long, and emerge rarely and fleetingly. There is a good reason, I think, that the Powers That Be chose my little fledgling Seras to be the keystone of our reality, and not I. Do not let the recurring ages jade you to the priceless value of every moment, my child. I shall linger just a little while longer. Use this time wisely."
"Y-yes, Sire," Yuri conceded. "I guess the biggest thing is that I was wondering…sometimes, it's hard to discuss certain things seriously with Alucard. Even when he's being serious, he gives off this sense of…you know…" Yuri trailed away, and took a deep breath. "I've never had anyone like Alucard in my life, before. Literally, he's the closest thing I've ever had to a…to a…um…"
"Father figure?" Dracula guessed. Yuri nodded quickly, and scowled at the realization that her face was getting warmer. Then she heard the Wallachian prince next to her chuckle, and felt his hand on her shoulder. "Expressing your feelings to others does not come easily to you, I have noticed. Do you want to know how it is we feel about you, Yuri?" he asked.
"Yes, Sire," she answered in a small voice, forcing herself to look at him. Without trying, his presence loomed over her and made her feel like a little girl. Even with his presently relaxed expression, his eyes burned with something Yuri couldn't quit put a name to. It wasn't power, or madness, but it had something in common with both. It filled her with awe, and just a touch of fear. They were the eyes of a man who was, in his spirit, truly a king, even while he was someone else's slave. 'Majesty,' she realized, 'That's what it is. He holds no tangible power over me, but even so, if he gave me a command I would be all too eager to carry it out. I would fight and kill for him, not to please myself but to earn his praise.' The feeling was similar in its texture to the madness that had gripped her in Baseline, when she had confessed to the player character, though without any shades of romance, and her mind felt quite whole and sound.
"How I feel…" Dracula said slowly, thoughtfully. His smile grew by a small fraction. "I am glad that I decided to grant your wish. You are a good fledgling, Yuri. I am proud of the growth I have seen in you in the loops we have shared. Each new loop we share, I am excited to see how much more you have grown. That is how I feel about you, my child." Then, he took his hand off her shoulder and turned back to the sunrise.
Yuri stared at him, flabbergasted, until she realized a tear was rolling down her cheek. Then she looked away and frantically dabbed at her eyes.
"The time draws close for this dragon to slumber again," said Dracula. "Was there anything else?"
"Nothing I can't discuss with Alucard," Yuri replied, "I just want to say thank you. Thank you, for your gift, and for being someone I can talk to. Thank you for everything, Si–…m-may I call you…F-Father?"
Dracula made an amused sound in his throat. "A vampire does what pleases them, as it pleases me to call you my child. So if it pleases you to call me such, then by all means."
"Then thank you, for everything you have done for me, Father," said Yuri. And as she said it, she felt a strange, new form of happiness well up in her heart. She felt her eyes water again, and ducked her head so he wouldn't see her cry.
Then she heard Alucard's voice say, "We'll also answer to 'Daddy Vladdy'."
Yuri was still so happy, she couldn't even be mad. She just threw her head back and laughed, high and clear and carrying.
31.2 – An Awkward Half-Conversation, by Masterweaver.
Monika looked up from her current project, which involved sporks and a particle accelerator, to see Natsuki's trademark huffyblush. The arms crossed like a slammed gate, the frowning half-pout, the puffed-up pink cheeks, the brows that wanted to look angry but just looked exasperated, and the eyes that glimmered with untold threat if she wasn't taken seriously.
"...'nedafvor..."
"Oh?" Monika asked politely.
"...s'boutm'cde..."
She leaned back, quirking an eyebrow. "Really? That's surprising."
Natsuki let a quiet huffing snort escape her nostrils, her glower solidifying slightly.
"I didn't mean anything by it," Monika assured her quickly. "Just, out of all of us, I wouldn't have expected you to want code alterations."
"Mnngh."
"Especially since you've gotten incredibly good at coding yourself, all things considered-"
"S'boutsx."
Monika blinked. "...oh. Ah..." She cleared her throat. "Okay, what... exactly do you need?"
Natsuki didn't meet her eyes. "...drnce..."
"Oh. Oh!" She managed a small chuckle. "I guess Yuri would be one to come on strong, huh?"
"...s'nt'tht..."
"Okay, so... what is it?"
"...s'jst...ntfr. T'hr."
"What's not fair?"
The pink crawled across Natsuki's face, developing into a beeper red in certain places. "...s'jst...she... she can do that to me, and I-I can't, I can't show her how much I like it cause I wind up, uh, wound out. And... maybe if I could, she wouldn't, you know, uh..." She gestured vaguely at her forearm. "...wouldn't need to, as much..."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah." Monika nodded. "Alright. We can... go over the details together."
"Thnk'u..."
"And of course we don't need to tell anybody about this."
"...prcate't..."
31.3 – Oh God, Not This Ag-, by Awesomedude17
(DDLC)/(Fate/Extra)
"So, weird variant where it's Christmastime. Not that bad." Natsuki said with a Santa cap snugly fitted on her head.
"Yeah. Definitely gave me an excuse to try out a new mocha recipe I picked up." Monika replied.
"How is it?"
"Eh. Too much dark chocolate. Might add a little less next time."
"I like it. The bitterness just... appeals to me." Yuri said.
"That's fine. So where's Sa-"
"Girls! Situation!" Sayori burst through the door.
"Wha... What is it?" Monika stood at attention.
"Something's coming!"
"What is it?"
"HASHIRE SORI YO~"
"What was that?" Yuri asked.
"KAZE NO YOU NI~"
"Oh no..." Monika said under her breath.
"TSUKIMIHARA WO~"
"Get away fr-"
"PADORU~ PADORU~" Shouted Nero Claudius, wearing a Santa suit while dragging a white sack behind her.
Needless to say, it was Padoru time.
31.4 – Sizing Up, by Awesomedude17.
"Yuri wasn't that tall and Natsuki wasn't that short." Sayori remarked.
"I'm a meter and a quarter tall! I'm a little gremlin now!" Natsuki gesticulated.
"I don't like being two and a half meters... but I do like to have my girlfriend be so snuggly." Yuri scooped up Natsuki and hugged her tightly.
"Stop! I don't like being smol! Help Monika!"
"Nah. You're both too adorable."
Natsuki let out a shout of tsundere annoyance as Yuri broke out a massive grin.
Sayori definitely was taking a picture of this for the scrapbook.
31.5 – You Can Choose Your Friends But You Can't Choose Your Family, by Awesomedude17.
(DDLC)/(Winx Club)
"Okay everyone, we got a bit of news regarding Yuri. Yuri?" Monika started off.
"Thank you. Sayori, Natsuki, I am now a fully-fledged vampire now, thanks to Alucard of the Hellsing Organization."
Polite clapping came from the occupants...
Including an unfamiliar fourth clapper.
All eyes turned to the Latina by the door, looking like she found exactly what she was looking for.
"Alucard told me he was siring a new vampire, but he was incredibly vague about it."
"Who are you?" Monika demanded.
"Sorry. Musa noticed that you were acting abnormally so I asked my wife to temporarily transfer my mind here. I'm Flora, Anchor to Alfea and the magical realms, and Yuri, was it?"
"Yes?"
"Say hello to your big sister." Flora then quickly pulled Yuri into a big hug, leaving the purple haired woman both incredibly confused and incredibly flustered.
"Wait, sister?"
"Well... yeah. Seras more or less said that we were basically sisters after I became Alucard's ward."
"You think that Alucard or Seras would have let us know about you before Yuri went through with this." Sayori pointed out the obvious.
"To be fair, we needed some time off, but now we can go forward and leave the bad thing behind."
Monika looked at Flora with concern but decided against figuring out what.
She was a vampire far longer than Yuri was and having someone like that in a bad mood was not a good idea.
"I-I have a-a... sister?" Yuri squeaked out.
"Let my girlfriend go. You're making her catatonic." Natsuki deadpanned.
Flora quickly let go, moved back and laughed nervously.
"Oh. Heh... sorry."
"Right. Well hopefully we'll have the time to meet with you for real, Flora. Thanks for joining us today." Monika said.
"If you say so, Monika. Bye Sayori. Keep your world stable." Flora made a motion and then disappeared.
"Did she seriously think Sayori was the Anchor?" Natsuki asked.
"That happens more often than you'd expect, Nats." Sayori admitted.
31.6 – The Band, Remastered, by Tetradrachm.
"Flies are buzzing 'round my head, vultures circling the dead, picking up every last crumb," Monika's amplified singing echoed through the digital school building, backed up by a powerful bass drum beat, keys, and guitar.
Within moments, Natsuki burst through the music room doors, near frantic. "You're putting the band back together," she yelped, "and you didn't invite me!?"
Immediately the group—the rest of the girls—stopped, and Yuri shot Monika a smug look. "I knew that would get her up here," she announced, and then turned to Natsuki with a more critical expression. "Did you really think I'd join the group without you? We just figured this would be the fastest way to get you up here." Monika created a new fake book* and music stand for Natsuki out of thin air while Sayori leaned over and adjusted her seat's height.
"But—you—ugh! Fine," Natsuki growled, snatching the bass up from its perch and adjusting the book on its stand. "You wouldn't come down two flights of stairs just to fetch your cute girlfriend in person? And why're we reading from a book now?"
"Monika was impatient," Yuri explained, glancing over at the other girl flipping through her just-now conjured fake book. "She had a new idea for the group, see."
"It was because we never actually got around to writing any music the first time," Monika said primly. "The band fell apart because we didn't have anything to play, so I figured we should try our hand at covers."
"When we do write our own album, we're totally still calling it 'Sugar Coated Vengeance,' " Sayori chimed in cheerfully.
"Uh huh," Natsuki said doubtfully, flipping through her book quickly before staring at the cover again. "Wait a minute..."
"And, well, Radiohead is a classic group," Monika continued, "so I figured we could start with—"
"A joke reference!" Natsuki snarled. "A stupid joke!"
"OK Computer is a great album!" Monika defended herself, as Yuri burst into giggles. "The music is compelling and not overly complex, while we can connect with its themes of isolation on a personal level!"
"That doesn't change the fact that it's stupid, and barely one step up from a pun! No way!" Natsuki spun away from the stand, arms crossed.
Sayori sighed. "This is why I wanted to cover Babymetal..."
"Babymetal?" Natsuki gasped. "Yes! They're awesome!"
"But the themes!" Monika protested.
"If Nats wants it, I want it," Yuri decided.
With a great sigh, Monika snapped her fingers and the books swapped out for Babymetal covers. "Fine..."
31.7 – I Cannot Believe We're Talking About This, by Awesomedude17.
"What's poutine?" Monika asked.
"Fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds. Grif insisted that I learn what that is back when we were with those guys in the box canyon." Natsuki replied.
"Of course Grif would insist. That sounds exactly like his favorite side dish."
"Actually, I'm sure it's something deep fried but that's besides the point. Why're you so interested in Canadian cuisine?"
Monika brought up a picture of poutine with technicolor gravy.
"Unicorn poutine's been causing an uproar online. Quebec in particular."
"Well I wasn't down for poutine to begin with so this doesn't really do much for me."
"Fair. Was just wondering what poutine was."
"I do agree that it's pretty garish though."
"Well it's not like gravy and cheese curds were gonna be pretty anyway."
"True,"
31.8 – Claptrap Screws Up Once Again, by Boohooo!
(DDLC)/(Borderlands)
"...How? Just how!?" Monika asked bluntly as Sayori put a medal on Hiroaka's neck.
"I don't know..." Claptrap muttered.
"How did you lose a rap battle against someone who can't speak?" Monika continued.
"Because he sucks." Natsuki snickered.
"SAYORIIIIII! NATSUKI'S BEING MEAN TO ME AGAIN!" Claptrap whined.
"Nats, be nice." Sayori scolded. Claptrap smugly flipped Natsuki off. Natsuki glared.
"Well, Claptrap, nice seeing y-" Yuri began.
"The Psychoes aren't in this Loop." Claptrap deadpanned. Yuri pouted.
31.9 – Wherein Sayori Does Not Press "A", by Wookywok.
"Hey, Monika. Did you happen to see a thing of blue frosting? I can't seem to – what in the actual fricking-fricky-frick is going on here?"
Every desk, chair, and table in the clubroom was moved – 'moved' meaning 'haphazardly piled into a single corner of the room.' Monika was sitting on the floor, tapping away at a laptop.
Sayori's voice emerged from the heap of furniture. "Oh, hey Nats! I'm helping Moni do some bugtesting!"
Natsuki raised an eyebrow. "And this translates to… that? Somehow? I guess?"
"She's trying to get a bunch of objects in one place so that they can push her and make her clip through the wall," Monika stated, not looking up from her computer.
"Aaaaand… how long has she been at this?"
"About five hours now," came the reply from the corner. "But I think I should be getting somewheEEEEEEEEEERRRRrrrrrr…"
Monika and Natsuki both jumped a bit at the sudden yelling. "I think she succeeded. Uuuuuhhhh…" She glanced to her computer. "Uh, Nats. Do you think you could bring Sayori back? I'd do it myself, but I need to compile this."
Natsuki sighed, then made a swift tugging motion, causing Sayori to crash through the ceiling. She winced. "You okay, Veepee?"
"Look at all the pretty birdies…"
"Yeah, I'm gettin' an ice pack."
31.10 – A Cheesy Joke, by MaracaRin.
(DDLC)/(Long Live the Queen)
"Loops like this are quite common, you say?"
"Oh yeah. If you've got an easily punned name, Yggdrasil will make the most of it as much as it can. Take it from me; I've spent at least one Loop as almost every variation of my name out there, even if the pronunciation is wrong."
"How do you mean? Surely it would at least honor your name in some way?"
The shorter girl laughed, then started shifting form rapidly. "I've been a gnat, a bat, a rat, and more. And that's not even mentioning the several varieties of cat or cat girl I've Looped into. The kicker is that my name is NOT-suki. See what I mean?"
Elodie raised an eyebrow. "I... see how that could be frustrating. Still, I wonder why the Tree decided for you to appear in this loop, of all times."
"Maybe it's just because it wanted me to explain that the pun Loops aren't gonna stop any time soon." Natsuki shrugged. "Or maybe it's trying to tell me that I'm lucky that I haven't looped in as a block of stinky cheese."
"Hey, who are you calling stinky?" Brie-ony tried to look threatening.
It's hard to do that without a face, however.
31.11 – The Boy Is Back, by Skaz Wolfman.
'New day, new loop,' thought Sayori as she left her house with an apple in one hand and a book in the other; Doomed Planet Doldrums by Travelling Looper Rin Asunaro, her first published contribution to Looping Literature. Sayori followed her muscle memory down one block, across the street, then hard right and across the other street, to the corner where Hiroaka would be waiting for her. Without taking her eyes off of the book, she perfunctorily greeted him with a "Morning, dear" and continued walking toward the school. She took a bite out of her apple.
Hurried footsteps behind her, and then a voice. A male voice that tickled at Sayori's most ancient memories; memories that she knew were fictitious. "Dear? What the heck is that about?"
Sayori stopped in her tracks. She slowly lowered her book and looked up at the boy next to her, who had stopped a couple steps ahead of her. He was looking back at her with brown eyes and a raised eyebrow. Sayori blinked at him. She looked though him, through the world around them, into the game's code, making sure it was still there. 'Not a bio loop. Just a Variant.'
She smiled at him and said, "Well, you're very dear to me, you know." She took another bite out of her apple and continued walking.
He made a face at her and said, "Don't say weird things like that, alright? People might get the wrong idea about us."
"How do you figure that?" Sayori asked innocently around a mouthful of apple, reading her book again.
"They might get the idea you love me, or something," he muttered.
"And what would be so wrong with thinking that? I do love you, silly."
The boy spluttered. Sayori chuckled.
…
Sayori entered the clubroom, where the others were already waiting for her. "So, we've got one of those 'Hiroaka has a face and talks with it' Variants. Been a while, hasn't it?" she asked.
"Say what?" asked Natsuki, looking up from a mandala she was drawing. She was crouched in a sandbox full of multi-colored sand in the middle of the room. "He had a talking face last loop."
"And your last loop was six loops ago," Monika remarked suspiciously. She screwed up her face in thought, and then her eyes widened. "And he's had a face and a voice in all those loops, too! We've had the same Variant seven loops in a row."
"How did you not notice that before now?" asked Sayori, hands on her hips.
"I spend most of my time actively not thinking about him, okay? Sue me," Monika grumped.
"In other Branches, consecutive loops of the same 'Variant' usually means it's not a Variant at all, but an Expansion," said Yuri, setting down the skull she had been silvering.
"Impossible," said Monika, pulling up a virtual screen. "There's nothing in our game now that hasn't always been in our game…my own additions notwithstanding, of course."
"Could it have something to do with the Refactoring?" asked Yuri. "Our Pockets work again, so based on what Skuld said that means the Admins have all that sorted."
"Ganesha mentioned that the sudden spike in Yggdrasil's recovery progress could have unexpected ramifications for the less stable Branches…like ours," Monika recalled. She nodded, as if having made a decision. "Sayori, please bring Hiroaka here, right away."
…
"What are you playing at, dragging me out of class like that, Sayori?" he asked as she pulled him along down the hall by his arm.
"Hush, you," Sayori said shortly. "I'll explain when we get there."
"If this is about clubs–"
"Yes and no and I said I'd explain when we get there," Sayori repeated patiently.
They reached the clubroom, and Sayori pushed him towards the others.
"What do you remember," Monika asked him immediately, practically getting in his face.
"…uh…I…wha?" he stammered, blushing furiously.
"Don't be distracted by my pretty eyes, you silly boy," Monika told him, "Do you know my name?"
"Y-you're M-Monika," he managed to reply.
"And do you know their names?" she pointed at Natsuki and Yuri.
"…why–"
"Ignore the sandbox and skulls and answer the question," Monika ordered.
"I don't know them!" the poor frazzled boy yelped. He whirled around to face Sayori. "What the hell kind of prank is this, Sayori?!" he demanded.
"I'll get back to you when I figure that out," Sayori replied.
Monika leaned back against a desk, arms folded. "A lot of the mods I've added work together to create the sensory-perception emulation that makes our game seem more like the real world to us," she said, slowly and thoughtfully. "Maybe this is some kind of emergent intelligence caused by the mods being affected by a change in our Branch's code? Just because nothing's been added to our game's data doesn't mean there hasn't been an addition to our universe's data."
"Which we need an Admin to check," said Yuri. Monika nodded, and picked up a pen a notebook on the desk she was leaning against.
"Alright, I'm done," grumbled the boy, "Good joke, Sayori. You got me," he deadpanned.
Sayori held up a hand, and he found he couldn't move. "Hold onto your pants, Hiroaka; we're getting to the bottom of this," she said.
"…who?" asked the boy.
Sayori blinked. "Sorry, I meant to say 'Hold onto your pants, Kevin; we're getting to the bottom of this.' My bad."
"Nice save," said Natsuki dryly.
"Why can't I move?!"
Before Sayori could answer, an elephant appeared in the room. More accurately, an elephant-headed man.
Kevin's subsequent scream of terror was drowned out by Ganesha's voice. "GREETINGS, YOUNG LADIES."
"Hey, Big G," the Literature Club chorused in reply.
"TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION, MONIKA, YES, THE REFACTORING HAS ALLOWED ME TO FINALLY BESTOW A BOONFUL PATCH UPON YOUR BRANCH, RESOLVING A VERY PECULIAR AND LONGSTANDING BUG CONCERNING YOUR GAME'S PROTAGONIST. GIVEN YOUR INQUIRY, I PRESUME THE PATCH HAS WORKED?"
"If by that you mean he's acting like a normal person, yes," said Monika. She frowned. "What bug?"
"THE ONE YOU ERRONEOUSLY FELT RESPONSIBLE FOR, MONIKA," replied Ganesha, facing her. "YOUR BRANCH, BEING ALMOST UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO HAVE WARRANTED QUARANTINE–WHICH IT MAY HAVE RECEIVED REGARDLESS HAD IT NOT BEEN ACTIVATED BY YGGDRASIL'S INSCRUTABLE WHIMSY–SUFFERED A MINOR LEVEL OF DATA CORRUPTION IN THE COURSE OF ITS ACTIVATION. THINK OF IT AS A FEW 'LEAVES' BEING LOST DUE TO THE BRANCH 'SHAKING' FROM ITS OWN ACTIVATION INTO THE LOOPS PROTOCOL. THANKS TO MY EFFORTS, THOSE 'LEAVES' HAVE BEEN RECOVERED."
"Wh-what are you saying?" asked Monika, her voice shaking.
"He's saying you didn't 'kill' Hiroaka, like you thought you did," said Yuri.
"BUT OF COURSE YOU DID NOT," said Ganesha, "IF YOU HAD BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS ODD CONDITION, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN UNDONE BY THE LOOPS. ONLY ADMIN-LEVEL BEINGS CAN AFFECT YGGDRASIL'S CODE, AS I'M SURE YOU KNOW."
"Yes, but…but Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, they all carry elements of what I did to them in our Baseline!" said Monika, "My actions before the Loops must have effected their code!"
"MY DEAR, YOU ARE CONFUSING THE SOUL WITH THE MIND. COMMON MISTAKE FOR MORTALS. WHAT YOU BELIEVE TO HAVE BEEN DAMAGE TO THEIR CODE WAS MERELY PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA, WHICH THEY HAVE SINCE INTERNALIZED IN THEIR OWN WAYS. WHAT YOU DID TO THE DIGITAL ENTITY YOU CALL 'HIROAKA' WAS NO MORE PERMANENT THAN ANYTHING ELSE YOU COULD HAVE DONE TO HIM DURING ANY GIVEN LOOP. YOU WERE NO MORE AN ADMIN-LEVEL BEING BEFORE YOU BEGAN LOOPING THAN YOU ARE NOW."
"But–!"
"TO BE QUITE BLUNT, MONIKA, YOU GIVE YOURSELF FAR TOO MUCH CREDIT. YOU GROSSLY OVERESTIMATE YOUR ABILITY TO INFLICT HARM. YOU SIMILARLY UNDERESTIMATE OUR CAUTION WITH REGARDS TO ANYTHING THAT CAN EVEN HYPOTHETICAL WORSEN YGGDRASIL'S CURRENT STATE. IF THERE WAS ANY CHANCE THAT YOU WERE CAPABLE OF EVEN THE SMALL AMOUNT OF DAMAGE YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE, I CAN ASSURE YOU WE NEVER WOULD HAVE ALLOWED YOUR BRANCH TO LOOP."
"Then why didn't you ever tell me?!" Monika screamed, though the effect was rather underwhelming in any setting where Ganesha had been speaking for more than a few seconds.
"THREE REASONS. FIRSTLY, I AM A VERY BUSY ADMINISTRATOR, AND THUS IT WAS RATHER SOME TIME BEFORE I EVER NOTICED THE DEGREE TO WHICH YOU HELD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR BRANCH'S STATE. SECONDLY, BY THAT TIME YOU AND YOUR LOOPERS HAD SETTLED INTO A VERY STABLE DYNAMIC, AND WHILE YOU WERE NOT ESPECIALLY HAPPY WITH YOURSELF YOU WERE VERY STABLE. I COULD HAVE SPARED A MOMENT, PERHAPS, TO ASSUAGE YOUR FEARS, BUT I CANNOT OVERSTATE HOW VERY BUSY I AM; AS ONE OF THE UPPERMOST ECHELON OF YGGDRASIL'S CODE ENGINEERS, I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE UNSTABLE BRANCHES THAN JUST YOURS, AND MY LESS PROFICIENT COLLEAGUES OFTEN CALL ON ME FOR AID AS WELL. THUS, I LEFT YOU TO YOUR RUMINATIONS BECAUSE, THIRDLY, YOU NEVER THOUGHT TO ASK ME. WHILE YOUR FRIENDS HAVE OCCASSIONALLY WRITTEN ME THIS OR THAT BURNING QUESTION, YOU, MONIKA, HAVE ADDRESSED ME PRECISELY THRICE IN THE ENTIRE TIME SINCE I INTRODUCED MYSELF TO YOU. FIRSTLY, AND QUITE RESPONSIBLY I FEEL I MUST ADD, TO ARRANGE A SERIES OF LOOPS FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TO WORK ON SELF-DEFENSE SKILLS. SECONDLY, AND QUITE COMPASSIONATELY I AM PROUD TO SAY, TO HELP AMELIORATE THE UNFORTUNATE PREDICAMENT OF THAT RIN CHILD. AND THIRDLY, NOW."
Monika stared at him in stricken silence. Ganesha continued, "LIKE ANY GOOD ADMIN, I AM INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH EVERY BIT AND BYTE OF DATA CONCERNING THE BRANCHES AND LOOPERS IN MY CHARGE. I AM AWARE OF YOUR MISOTHEISTIC PREDISPOSITION. I AM SADDENED THAT YOU FEEL THE WAY YOU DO, BUT GIVEN YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES WITH POWER I DO NOT FAULT YOU FOR BEING SO SUSPICIOUS OF BEINGS MORE POWERFUL THAN YOURSELF. AS HARD AT WORK AS I AM HELPING WITH YGGDRASIL'S RECOVERY PROCESS, I AM NOT ABOUT TO RISK WASTING MY VALUABLE TIME VOLUNTEERING INFORMATION THAT IS NOT STRICTLY ESSENTIAL TO INDIVIDUALS THAT MIGHT NOT EVEN BELIEVE ME. THUS DID I RESOLVE TO PUT YOU AND YOUR SELF-ABSORBED GUILT COMPLEX OUT OF MY MIND, AT LEAST FOR SO LONG AS YOU REMAINED A STABLE ANCHOR, AND FOCUS MY TIME AND ENERGY WHERE I KNEW IT WOULD BE HELPFUL."
"…I'm sorry, Ganesha," Monika murmured, her voice a little choked.
"YOU OWE ME NO APOLOGY," said Ganesha in a tone that would have seemed very gentle, if he weren't so damned loud. "YOU ARE AS YOU ARE, AND NOT WITHOUT YOUR OWN FAIR REASONS. I ONLY HOPE THAT YOU CAN LEARN TO TRUST YOUR NEXT ADMIN MORE THAN YOU TRUSTED ME."
"Waaaait, our next Admin?" asked Sayori. "Are…are you going on vacation, or something?"
"NOT IN THIS EPOCH, SADLY," said Ganesha with a trumpeting chuckle. "I HAD SCHEDULED TIME OUT OF MY DAY TO GIVE YOU THIS NEWS IN A FEW LOOPS, BUT SEEING AS I AM ALREADY 'IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD' AS IT WERE…AS I JUST FINISHED EXPLAINING, MY SUPERLATIVE LEVEL OF SKILL IS IN VERY HIGH DEMAND IN THESE TRYING TIMES, AND WITH THE WORST OF YOUR BRANCH'S DESTABILIZING ELEMENTS RESOLVED BY MY TIRELESS TOIL, I HAVE DECIDED TO ENTRUST IT, AND YOU FOUR, TO ANOTHER ADMIN. ALSO QUITE COMPETENT, I ASSURE YOU, BUT ALSO MUCH LESS PREOCCUPIED. YOUR BRANCH IS STILL FAIRLY UNSTABLE, FOR ITS SIZE, AND YOU NEED AN ADMIN WHO CAN AFFORD YOU MORE ATTENTION THAN I, AS THIS EXCHANGE SOMEWHAT DEMONSTRATES."
"Whoa. New Admin," said Natsuki. "That's…that's a big deal, isn't it? Branches changing Admins, that doesn't happen very often, does it?"
"QUITE RARELY, YES. USUALLY BECAUSE SOMETHING HAS GONE VERY WRONG, SUCH AS WHEN ARES UNTHINKINGLY ACTIVATED SOVEREIGN. BUT NOT ALWAYS. HECATE GAVE MADOKA THE SMASH BRANCH TO REDUCE HER OWN IMMENSE WORKLOAD. I AM ENTRUSTING YOUR BRANCH TO PSYCHE FOR SIMILAR REASONS."
"Psyche?" asked Sayori, shooting a glance at Yuri.
"Mortal wife of Eros, daughter-in-law of Aphrodite," said Yuri. "I don't recall that she has a domain, per se, but her name is Greek for 'soul'."
"Mortal?" asked Monika, snapping out of her daze.
"INDEED. BORN MORTAL, ASCENDED AFTER MARRYING INTO THE OLYMPIAN CLAN. I SOUGHT OUT A FORMERLY-HUMAN ADMIN SPECIFICALLY, HOPING YOU MIGHT FIND HER EASIER TO TRUST THAN ONE SUCH AS MYSELF WHO WAS BORN A GOD." Monika grimaced, but Ganesha stepped forward and laid a meaty hand on her shoulder, "IMPERFECTION IS MERELY A TRANSITORY STATE, NOT BY ANY MEANS AN INESCAPABLE ONE. YOU ARE NOT A FINISHED NOVEL, YOU ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS. KEEP LIVING YOUR STORY AND GROWING INTO YOUR ROLE IN THE GREATER NARRATIVE OF THE WORLD. YOU WILL FIND CONTENTMENT IN YOURSELF, ONE DAY. ALL SOULS DO, HOWEVER MANY LIFETIMES IT TAKES."
Sayori abruptly glomped onto Ganesha's side. "I know we never got to know you, very well, but I'm going to miss you anyways, Big G," she told him, before stepping back.
"AND I SHALL MISS LOOKING UPON YOUR WHIMSICAL ANTICS. YOU WILL BE IN GOOD HANDS. I WILL SEE YOU AT LEAST ONCE MORE, WHEN I INTRODUCE YOU TO PSYCHE. UNTIL THEN, CHILDREN." With a pachyderm fanfare, the elephant-headed god's avatar dematerialized from their presence.
"Oh, hey. 'Kevin' passed out," Natsuki remarked, pointing at the boy who had fainted shortly after the Admin's arrival. "So, he's people now, huh? Well, in as much as we were before we became Loopers. Which, I guess, means he goes back to being a puppet on a script if Monika disables her mods, right?"
"Seems like–OH CRAP!" Monika yelled before disappearing. She reappeared a moment later. "WOW that was close, we almost ate a loop crash."
"Why?!" Sayori asked.
"Game was frozen this whole time. Player almost uninstalled us," Monika explained.
"So…this means, maybe, someday, he might start Looping?" asked Sayori.
Monika sighed. "Maaaaaybe? I don't know…remember, the personality he 'demonstrates' is just my modifications to the game filling in behavioral procedures based on his scripted actions. He's not an AI, just a very sophisticated imitation of one."
"But as he is now, he's as much a person as Natsuki and I were before we became Loopers," Yuri pointed out. "If it's truly impossible for him to Loop, than you and Sayori should likewise be the only Loopers from our Branch. You two were the only ones who achieved sentience in Baseline."
"Yes and no," said Monika, "We were alone in seeing through the fourth wall outright. But you and Natsuki demonstrated enough self-awareness to realize something was wrong with the world when I got hack-happy. He never did."
"MONIKA'S THIGHS!" Natsuki cried out in anguish. "I am SO fucking sick and tired of us arguing back and forth over this. By the authority vested in me by my Bakabane," she conjured the named kanabo, "I'm declaring this subject CLOSED! From now on, we all treat him like people, like Sayori always has, now that he's livelier than a piece of furniture and can carry a conversation. If he can Loop, then he will eventually, and if he can't then he won't. Either way, we stop discussing hypotheticals and just see what the hell happens. Are we agreed?"
"I second the motion," said Yuri in a tone so weary that the other three had to stifle yawns.
"All in favor?" asked Monika, hand already in the air, along with Yuri's and Natsuki's. After a moment, Sayori sighed and put her hand up as well. "Motion passes unanimously. Hereafter we're all agreed to never again speculate on the odds of our game's player character Looping, and just see what happens. If anything." Then Monika snapped her fingers, and 'Kevin' disappeared. "I put his sprite back where he should be. Sayori–"
"Go wait for him to wake up so I can bring him to the club properly, got it," the vice-president replied before skipping out of the room.
Compiler's Commentary:
31.1: IT'S FINALLY DONE! YURI IS A FULL-FLEDGED VAMPIRE NOW! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! [choking noises]
31.2: Fortunate indeed that Monika speaks fluent Flusterese.
31.3: Yaaaay, Christmas music!
31.4: Yaaaay, cuteness!
31.5: Yaaaay, sisterhood!
31.6: Y'know, I meant to do more with this back when I started it, but…then I didn't. I need to stop not doing things.
31.7: I got a special kick out of this. I'm from Michigan, and poutine is kind of a delicacy around here. MAJOR deal during summer festivals.
31.8: On that day, a voiceless boy spit fire…somehow…
31.9: A wise man, known to some as Lord Moonstone, once said that video games are just programmers putting on elaborate magic shows and hoping like hell you don't notice the trick that makes everything fall apart.
31.10: As our own Wookywok often says, you shouldn't make cheese puns at someone without their parmesan.
31.11: Oh, hey, something I wrote. Don't see that every daaaaaaa-oh. Oh yeah, this changes everything…actually it only changes a couple things but still. For those who don't Japanese, "Bakabane" roughly translates to "Dummy Killer" (literally "Baka kabane" == "idiot corpse" but idiogramatic languages are flexible in how various characters can be interpreted). It was originally just "Bakabane" (bane of baka, or bane of idiots) but BIOS-Pherecydes used his superior weeb powers to make it better, so mad props to him. This kind of thing is why he runs the Infinite Loops Anime thread.
One Mooooore Thing: A "FactorySmoke" said in a review, "Firstly, can't believe you not only turned a Porter Robinson song into a Looping universe, but pulled it off spectacularly. Congrats. Secondly, damn you for making me feel feels. I'd just gotten only the video dammit-"
Well, FactorySmoke, Masterweaver's DDLC/Shelter snip was indeed pretty dang great. But proper credit for Shelter's Activation goes to my dear friend Solomongrndy (Solly for short). Now, I could give you directions to where to find it on the Spacebattles threads, because the Shelter Loops don't have their own compilation...
But honestly, it'd just be easier to post it here. So...BONUS SNIP!
Solomongrndy: Hey all, I just saw Shelter By Porter Robinson and the ending made me need to add it to the Infinite Loops, so that the main character (Rin) doesn't just drift into space alone for admins only know how long. The nature of it seems like something that should be in this thread, which is why I'm reviving it, and if it isn't I apologize, I'd have put it into a Misc. thread, but all of those are closed or locked for even longer.
Shelter Activation:
Rin woke up the day after discovering her lost memories expecting to be in the same bed she had been in for the last 7 years. That she awoke to a ceiling that she had only just remembered was a shock but not a great one.
Thinking that the simulation had just embedded her memories into itself like it had done the day previous, she reached for her tablet, only to realize it wasn't where she left it.
Sitting up just made the changes even more obvious, she was tiny. And when her hair fell into her face it was dark brown, not the red with sparkles it had been since her father had placed her in the simulation.
Freaking out a little Rin got up and tried to call the tablet to herself, but nothing happened. She tried again, still nothing.
A knock at the door startled her.
"Rin, it's time to get up. Don't you want to go to the park today?"
Rin looked up in shock. "Dad!?"
She rushed to the door and tore it open as fast as her 5-year-old body could manage.
"DAD!" she launched herself at him while bawling her eyes out.
"Hey there." he knelt down and hugged her close as she soaked his shirt in tears. "What's wrong sweetheart?"
Through the blubbering, he was able to make out "Earth ended...everyone else dead...simulation...so lonely…"
"Shhh. it's gonna be alright sweetie, it was just a nightmare, Dad's here now, don't worry."
"Dad, it was so real, my memories from it aren't fading either. I missed you so much, please don't leave me alone again."
"I'll be with you always."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
0o0o0o0o0o0
Shigeru watched as the rocket he had built for Rin, Shelter, lifted off into space, it was just ahead of the planetary impact and would be just fast enough to avoid the debris ejected.
"I'm sorry, Rin, I couldn't make a rocket that could hold both of us. But I'll always be with you, if not physically."
0o0o0o0o0o0
Rin cried as she came to in her virtual world once again. She knew her father had done exactly as she had dreamed he would. She was going to be all alone for who knew how long.
A voice behind her broke her sobbing, "Rin, I'm still here, I might not have been able to send my body along, but I managed to send a copy of my mind."
"Dad!" just as she had done when she awoke with all those scary memories, she launched herself at her father and hugged him for all he was worth.
0o0o0o0o0o0
With her father there with her for it, Rin learned much more than just the simple manipulation she remembered doing when she had been all alone. He had taught her all about the programming and systems that went into creating Shelter. And her time in the simulation didn't feel nearly as lonely nor as long. So it came as a surprise when she once again woke up as a five-year old in her room back on Earth.
"What is going on!"
...damn it, where'd I put those tissues?
Well, anyways, uh...shit, what now? I've never run past the Commentary before. How do I end this? How do I get out of here?! AM I TRAPPED IN HERE FOREVER NOW?!
Oh, wait, there's the exit. Um. See you all later then, I guess?
Wolfman, out!