shakedown

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<span class="title">Shakedown</span> <span class="author">by <a href="https://polyboros.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Atticus</a></span>

<<nobr>> <li>[[heartbreak]]</li> <li><<link "credits">><<script>> Dialog.setup("Credits"); Dialog.wiki(Story.get("credits").processText()); Dialog.open(); <</script>><</link>></li> <</nobr>>

/* define your story variables here */

/* custom widgets go in here */ <<widget "are">><<switch $plural>><<case true>>are<<case false>>is<</switch>><</widget>> <<widget "were">><<switch $plural>><<case true>>were<<case false>>was<</switch>><</widget>> <<widget "s">><<switch $plural>><<case true>><<case false>>s<</switch>><</widget>> <<widget "es">><<switch $plural>><<case true>><<case false>>es<</switch>><</widget>> <<widget "re">><<switch $plural>><<case true>>re<<case false>>s<</switch>><</widget>> <<widget "ve">><<switch $plural>><<case true>>ve<<case false>>s<</switch>><</widget>>

!Stats <div class="stat-bar-group"> <div class="stat-bar-container"> <div class="stat-bar-overlay-left">star $statone%</div> <div class="stat-bar-overlay-right">void $stattwo%</div> <div class="stat-bar" id="statone-stat"></div> </div></div>\ <<button "Return" $return>><</button>>

Another page to do whatever you want with! I really just wanted another page to fill out the footer menu<3 ---- !Heading 1 !!Heading 2 !!!Heading 3 <<cycle "$cycling" autoselect>> <<option "Cycling link 1">> <<option "Cycling link 2">> <<option "Cycling link 3">> <</cycle>> <<textbox "$textbox" "Type here...">><<button "Submit">><</button>> * List item 1 * List item 2 * List item 3 <<button "Return" $return>><</button>> <span class="next"><<button "Next" "p4">><</button>></span>

[[Template Used by awmorgan|https://awmorgan.itch.io/twine-sugarcube-template]]

<<set $statone to 50>><<set $stattwo to 50>> !!WHO ARE YOU? <<cycle "$cycling" autoselect>> <<option "artemis starblessed">> <<option "arturo starblessed">> <<option "[[supernovae.|p2]]">> <</cycle>>

<<set $chapter to "too close to the sun">><<if visited() is 1>><<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>the void is calling.<</notify>><</if>><</if>> the truth is that the day doesn't start out like much of anything. you're used to your job by now, and so you're used to the odd customers that electrasweet city drags in. by the time the stranger shows up during the lunch rush, you really don't even have the <i>time</i> to think much of it. * <<link "the stranger? $info_label" "i1">><</link>> * [[you don't think much of it at all.|p3]]

the stranger is, well, strange, for lack of a better word. even the most subtle of criminals around here rarely wear this disguising of clothing in broad daylight, particularly because it <i>isn't</i> subtle. and even the fabric their cloak is made of looks wrong, like it's absorbing all the light around it. you couldn't see their expression when they walked in, and you can't see it now, even as they get to the register. <span class="next"><<button "back" "p2">><</button>></span>

"what'll your order be?" "ah. right." the stranger doesn't look up to the menu. "suspicious stew roulette, if i may." you don't sigh, but it's a close thing. "you'll need to sign the form taking responsbility for whatever side effects occur," you rattle off, "just to confirm. and it'll be four iron nuggets." "i'll sign. just give me the pen." <span class="next"><<button "Next" "p4">><</button>></span>

you glance over at the form as the stranger signs it. the name is fuzzy, obscured by the fabric pooling around their wrist, but you can see perfectly clear as they flip over the paper and keep writing. "that's-" "just leaving a tip," the stranger cuts off, voice smooth as butter. it still sets some nerves in you on edge, flaring up in alarm. you try to read what they're writing, but- <<cycle "$cycling" autoselect>> <<option "have some patience my dear">> <<option "you'll see soon enough">> <<option "curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction-">> <</cycle>> -it doesn't give you much. makes your eyes hurt. * [["payment, please." you just want them to hurry.|p5-1]] * [["is that for me, or my boss?" satisfaction brought the cat back.|p5-2]]

<<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>watch yourself.<</notify>><</if>> <<set $statone to 75>><<set $stattwo to 25>> "just finishing up." they sign off with a flourish, handing you the sheet face-up. you don't flip it over yet. the iron nuggets clatter onto the marble counter in quick succession. "is that all?" "that'll be all. do you want a receipt with that?" "no, thank you." you <i>still</i> can't see their expression, but you get the distinct feeling they're smiling at you, even as they walk out of the store. without their food. [[strange.|p6]]

<<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>you're already doing beautifully.<</notify>><</if>> <<set $stattwo to 75>><<set $statone to 25>> "that's for me to know," the stranger says, a twinge of laughter in their voice, "and you to find out, arturo." you blink, but nod, taking the paper from their outstretched hand. it feels like a deal, heightened by the sound of iron nuggets hitting the counter between you. their expression is still shrouded in shadow, but you think you can make out the faint lines of a smile, sharp and pleased. they walk out of the store without their food, too, and the sight is... odd. you still don't think much of it. [[they seemed nice enough.|p6]]

you wait until the store is closed to look at the note. the rest of the day was as busy as the morning, and you almost managed to forget about it until you got home- almost. it wasn't enough to keep you from immediately flipping it over and spreading it cleanly against your coffee table when you get home, scanning the "tip." you were hoping it wasn't a ransom note from somebody who knew you as <i>starblessed.</i> it... isn't. sort of. <blockquote><i>arturo starblessed, come to the mouth of the world in a month or so, at your leisure. don't worry about timing. i'll always be there. aren't you tired of the stars? aren't you tired of your own name, butchered by tongues that don't understand what it means to you? aren't you tired of the threats? that can all go away, if you'll let yourself take care of it. i'll be waiting.</i></blockquote> you stare at the letter. you turn it over in your hands a couple times. <i>goddammit.</i> you already have a nemesis (several, technically, but they're a unit) and you're pretty sure at least one of them is using the band as a fast-track to get you to become evil. you don't need a complete unknown pulling this, too. you still have <i>work</i> in the morning. but... you look over to the door, where a stack of glittery-gold letters is piling up. as you wait, a gold letter falls through the mail slot. <i>fuck.</i> [[you let your head fall onto the coffee table with a dull thunk.|p7]]

<<set $chapter to "the fall">><<if visited() is 1>><<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>the void is <i>calling</i>, arturo.<</notify>><</if>><</if>> !!!a month later; the mouth of the world. so you go to the mouth of the world anyway. the stranger is waiting outside the jagged stone, next to a conspiciously human-sized crack in the thing where odd-colored moss is beginning to creep out. "you came! i'm so glad." you don't say that the stars threatened to take you back into their ranks in the sky last week, but only because you think they already know. "what do you want me to do?" "that's simple. go into the mouth of the world, and come back." * [["what?"|p8]] * [[no, seriously, what the hell?|p8]]

they have to read the confusion on your face, but they just laugh, brushing it off. "it's an easy task, isn't it?" "that place... it changes people." you don't know much about this world's geography <i>or</i> its religious beliefs, to be fair, but you know enough about this. it's all anybody warned you about when you first showed up, flitting around villages on the outskirts before you made your way towards name pending. "and you want me to go <i>in it?</i>" "you're already here, aren't you?" <<if $statone is 75>>the stranger's tone is unreadable.<</if>><<if $stattwo is 75>>the stranger's voice is airy, but subtly sharp, like a knife barely out of its sheath.<</if>> "[[might as well commit, arturo. they won't want you back changed.|p9.1]]"

<<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>it'll be alright.<</notify>><</if>> [[you don't know what to do.|p9.2]]

<<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>wouldn't this be the most thrilling thing of all?<</notify>><</if>> <<cycle "$cycling" autoselect>> <<option "you don't know what to do">> <<option "you don't know what to do">> <<option "[[you don't know what to do-|p9.3]]">> <</cycle>>

<<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>nobody will take you <i>anywhere</i>, ever again.<</notify>><</if>> * [[accept.|a1]] * [[decline.|d1]]

<<set $stattwo to 100>><<set $statone to 0>> <<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>you are filled with euphoria like a siren song.<</notify>><</if>> "delightful," the stranger says. their face is nothing-nothing-nothing at all, but you still take their handshake. "it's a deal, then. go on. it doesn't bite." [[you walk into the mouth of the world without a second thought.|end1]]

!NOT THE SAME AFTER THAT the person that crawls out of the mouth of the world is a stranger. vaer smile is sharp, and doubled, too many teeth packed into one body, a maw where a stomach used to be. the fire in vaer hair has turned to ash, floating off in dusty clouds, and once-bright eyes are as enticing and dark as a black hole. ae bites vaer lip, and purple-black dribbles out slowly. the stranger is nowhere to be seen, but supernovae will make vaerself <i>known.</i>

<<set $stattwo to 0>><<set $statone to 100>> <<if settings.notifications>><<notify 3s>>you are filled with a nameless emptiness.<</notify>><</if>> the stranger's hood covers any disappointment or anger they might've shown you otherwise. instead, they vanish into the crack of the warning fence, leaving behind a dull little spark that shivers and jolts out of sight. something in you goes cold, [[but you go home anyway.|end2]]

!HANGING ON, YOU'RE HANGING ON you arrive home with some measure of relief boiling in your chest. you have band practice tonight, and climbing in and out of the mouth of the world would've made you late. not to mention what else could've happened, but that's- well, it didn't happen. so it's not a problem. you kick over the stack of envelopes as you head out with your synth, letting them clatter into gold piles and glitter in the carpet. the stars'll have to drag you out kicking and screaming, or at the very least kicking, if your voice is dead from lunch rush. when you knock your knee against one of name pending's weird spiked bats on your way into the practice venue, the blood that spills out is purple, not gold. you squint at it for a few minutes, but shrug and move on quickly. it's probably nothing scourge can't identify.