But not really. That didn't quite exist.

Of course, that was considering the general populace. Jade knew by now that she, her friends and the ones she was making on Pesterchum, were not the general populace in at least one way. At one point, it could have been said that the gardener considered her life laid out for her. Years later, as the December snow fell and the computer screen glowed, that was no longer true. A dream of a normal life, and seeing sights off that Pacific island by choice and not emergency…These things couldn't happen anymore. She could not see the future. But carbonatedRecluse (Jade swore someone chose that name for him) probably could.

-gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering carbonatedRecluse [CR]-

GG: hi!
GG: um...
GG: what was your name again?
GG: i cant remember :(

CR: Shintaro. My name is Shintaro.

GG: right shintaro!
GG: sorry about that :/

CR: It's no trouble.
CR: So, what is this for?

GG: well
GG: i wanted to know something about your power
GG: you can see the future or something like that right?

CR: Not really.
CR: It's more similar to an idea of different...
CR: Excuse me. I'm not sure what the word in English is.

GG: no no youre doing fine! :D
GG: you have the best english of all your friends really
GG: what are you trying to say?

CR: It's a strange idea.
CR: Imagine if in some place, an event turned out like this. But in the same place, it turned out like that.
CR: The two futures are different.

GG: oh!
GG: so its like...
GG: an alternate universe!
GG: or different timelines?

CR: Something like that.
CR: My English isn't good enough for me to know what the difference is.

GG: ok!
GG: i will just assume its the latter
GG: it sounds closer to what you were saying

CR: Yeah.
CR: So, you asked if I could see the future and I told you it wasn't quite that way.
CR: You see, there are different timelines in this world. Sometimes, life turns out one way. Sometimes, it turns out the other.
CR: Usually people forget when a new timeline starts.
CR: But I remember.

GG: oh ok!
GG: it sounds like a very cool power :D

CR: Yeah.
CR: So you wanted to know something, correct?

GG: yes!
GG: how did you know?
GG: is it because i told you in another timeline?

CR: It isn't.
CR: It's because...
CR: Excuse me. Let me look up a word in a Japanese-English dictionary.
CR: Aah, found it. Inference.

GG: youre really good at inferring then!
GG: especially since english is not your first language :)

CR: Yeah. Thank you.

GG: yeah!
GG: so i was curious
GG: what happens in our futures?

CR: Which ones?
CR: There are many timelines.
CR: Sometimes, only John gets an eye power, or none of you at all.
CR: Maybe we meet in person, or we don't even meet on the internet. It's hard to say.
CR: Are you worried about what will happen to you?

GG: no not at all!
GG: i was just curious
GG: someone mentioned your power and i wanted to know more
GG: its really just curiosity! :)

CR: Are you sure?
CR: Because, just knowing that you asked means that it must mean something to you. Your futures, I mean.

GG: yes i am very very sure!

CR: Well, if you say so.
CR: But I won't tell you not to worry.
CR: It's perfectly fine to.

GG: im not worried at all though
GG: i can handle it! but thank you for saying that :)

CR: No trouble at all.

-carbonatedRecluse [CR] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG]—

It was a refreshing conversation for the both of them. Jade was glad that CR was a nice guy. Shintaro was glad he went through advanced English textbooks when he was young. Who knew it would have helped in a conversation with a green-text girl who lived in the US?

Afterwards, said green-text girl logged off her account and slipped on her coat. There was only so much time to do things before the school bus showed up. But as for the one who showed up afterwards, the one in the blue hoodie, he had as much time as the world would allow him.

-ghostyTrickster [GT] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG]—

GT: hi jade!

GT: i ended up in the past again.

GT: well, my past and your present.

GT: i'm not supposed to mess with the past anymore, but i want you to read this when you get home.

GT: i saw you during another project-y moment while you were doing a feeling jam with dave...

GT: and you had your power activated.

GT: but you stopped affecting me after a while! i think that was what you were trying to do. i could talk again, but you must not have heard me say anything.

GT: you are probably feeling down about your eye control abilities, but.

GT: i think you have made a good start, being able to cut off one person from a group of affected.

GT: shit, i think i'm going back to my present.

GT: bye!

-ghostyTrickster [GT] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG]-

Hope and a growing smile.

As Jade finished reading the message on her computer and switched it off, there was something swelling up in her. It felt great, like flying. So what if the whole power shtick was a reckless wish in the Haze? This was progress. This looked to be a start.

This was the beginning of something really excellent.

End

AN: Welp, here's more Mekakustuck!
I figured it'd be great to show that I'm not exactly dead, right? So here we are with Jade's character arc!
There is still more where this came from, but since I actually wrote this portion of the series (character arcs and Snakes, Kids and Trolling) way before I signed up for this website, I'm actually just uploading stuff that's been done a long time ago. After Rose's character arc and coughcough the Outer Science fic cough there won't be any more prewritten things I can just upload whenever. This'll mean a lower upd8 speed, but it won't be a hiatus without me saying anything!

Finally, thank you for reading Dog Ears and the Mekakustuck series as a whole! Comments and criticism will be much appreciated. ~YellowTangerines