[COMM]ON ROUTE - COMPLETE
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ABILITIES UNLOCKED/DISCOVERED
[Propagation of the Extension of the Boundaries of the Recollector]
> Passive ability. Those physically touching Melody at the moment the Void takes them will be able to carry their memories through to the next loop.
>
> Melody does not permanently bestow upon those touching her any sort of power or any kind of ability that is separate from Melody’s own. Touchers (henceforth referred to as Passengers) are only “hitching a ride”, so to speak, on Melody’s ability; they are only along for the ride and have no independent ability to carry over memories by themselves, without the presence of Melody Quick.
>
> If a Passenger carries over their memories by touching Melody Quick as they fade away into the Void at the end of loop N, then they will wake up in loop N+1 with their mental state at the moment of their disappearance preserved. If left undisturbed, they will wake up at the same time they originally woke up on the original September 1 (September Prime).
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MELODY’S CORNER - EPISODE 0 (TRANSCRIBED)
LAURA: That was a really long prologue.
NOEL: It clearly wasn’t a prologue. Can’t you read?
LAURA: Don’t talk to me. We’re not friends.
NOEL: Does my voice sound weird? I feel like I’m speaking a bit more, uh, monospaced than usual.
MELODY: Glad you two could make it! This is a special corner, between routes. Kind of a breather. A place to relax. Catch your breath before we go full-on speed for the next section.
NOEL: Where the hell are we? What is this place? Is this, uh—is this what the kids call ‘canonical’?
LAURA: ‘Routes’?
MELODY: You know, I wanted to title it, ‘Melody Done Quick’, but then I thought that had undesirable implications, so I changed it.
LAURA: That would’ve been, ‘Melody Done Quickly’.
NOEL: Quick can be an adverb.
MELODY: I’m thinking this could be more of a late-night talk show format, ya know? I could put a desk here, right? And then either of you could sit on the couch on the other end.
NOEL: I’m not doing any of that. Can I leave?
LAURA: What could you possibly have that’s so important? You don’t even have friends. Or hobbies.
NOEL: Don’t talk to me. We’re not friends.
LAURA: Uh, yeah. I just said, you don’t have any.
MELODY: Look, look, I even brought cue cards. I prepared for this. I’ve got a bunch of topics, so we don’t run out of things to talk about. Like, for instance …
Melody shuffles through the cards.
MELODY: … okay, this is a good one. ‘What were your favourite moments of the previous section’?
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
NOEL: Well, I kinda like the—
MELODY: I’ll go first! I really liked it when the coffee maker flew into Noel’s face. Why don’t we watch it again, together! Hey, [unintelligible], can we pull up a clip?
NOEL: Who were you just shouting at?
LAURA: I, uh—where’d this TV come from?
MELODY: Look at that! We can actually slow down the moment of impact, and you can freeze frame right on it! Oooh, that’s gotta hurt! We can slow it down too, let’s watch it at half speed.
NOEL: Okay, come on. Give me the remote. Give me—give it!
MELODY: H-hey, that’s mine—
NOEL: Alright, my turn. You know what, let’s see what you were up to before you came down to Somnhaven.
LAURA: Melody, why did it take you so long to even leave Uptown?
MELODY: I-I-I didn’t know what Noel was going to do! I mean, it worked out in the end, anyway.
LAURA: I guess. Accidentally, though.
MELODY: It still counts. I mean—WAIT NOEL STOP STOP DON’T GO BACK THAT FAR I TAKE A REALLY LONG SHOWER AT ONE POINT!
LAURA: Wow, Noel. Your own sister. Really. Pervert.
NOEL: Okay, okay. Calm down, jeez. Relax. I won’t go—oh, Mel, by the way, that’s not what entropy is.
MELODY: What? You’re talking about the pinball thing, right? No, it makes sense, because like, uh … The pinball starts in a position that’s the same as all the other launches, right? But then like, it starts deviating due to, um, I dunno. Chaos theory or whatever. Isn’t that entropy?
NOEL: Entropy is the amount of energy that can’t do work.
MELODY: I don’t understand what that means.
NOEL: Oh, hey, this part is interesting. Wow, Mel, you have kind of a crazy streak in you. You’re kind of unhinged.
MELODY: Eh-heh-heh!
NOEL: That wasn’t a compliment. Didn’t that hurt your head? Banging it on the radiator? And I still don’t really get the point of making all those red lines of yarn on the cork board. What the hell could they possibly be connecting?
MELODY: I don’t remember, actually. But it looks cool, right?
NOEL: It looks like you completely lost your mind.
MELODY: Eh-heh-heh!
NOEL: That wasn’t a compliment! And Mel, if we’re gonna randomly materialize things, why can’t it be something cool?
LAURA: Oh, boy. I can’t wait to hear your warped definition of ‘cool’.
NOEL: These modern-style TVs are lame. No soul. This should really be a good, ol’ fashioned, heavy-ass, 4:3 looking-ass Braun tube!
LAURA: What are you on about?
NOEL: It’s simple, silly! SEE-ARE-TEES! Click the degauss button and watch the funny picture go all wobbly and make a neat sound. Ohh, speaking of, you know what they don’t make anymore? Transparent electronics. Remember when everything used to be clear plastic and you could see inside of them?
LAURA: Those still exist.
NOEL: Uh, yeah, in prison, maybe. Oh, you know what! We should buy those up and sell them with an extreme markup! You know, as nostalgia-bait! I’d buy one. We’ll corner the market.
LAURA: Sure, I’ll just ring up my correction facilities contacts.
NOEL: Aw come on, we’re from the same generation. There’s gotta be Recon stuff you miss.
LAURA: Well, I guess I’m somewhat partial to the, uh … you know those paper cups, with the, how best to put it … It’s kinda like purple crayon squiggles against a teal brushstroke. Oh, and there was a lot more neon signs everywhere. Yeah, I miss those.
NOEL: Games used to come with manuals. The plastic game boxes used to have a slot where you could put your memory card.
LAURA: … songs back then didn’t end per se, they just sort of faded out …
MELODY: Uh, okay, audience. I think we’ve lost them. They’re both wrapped up in their own nostalgia. I’m gonna—I’m gonna try and bring them back. Hey! Hey! Snap out of it! You know, I have no idea what either of you are talking about. It’s not like you guys are like, decades older than me or anything. I don’t think there’s that much of a gap between—
LAURA, NOEL: There is.
MELODY: Okay, well, whatever. In any case, this was a complete disaster. I really hope you guys don’t do this again for Episode 1.
NOEL: I never wanted to be here in the first place. You can materialize TVs, how about you materialize me the fuc—
LAURA: … music videos on the channel that was meant to play music videos. TV channels in general, I guess. Oh, mix tapes! And VHS tapes! You had to rewind them before you returned them to the store. And the cameras, you had to take them to get developed. Like, you didn’t even know what the shot you took looked like, unless you had a fancy camera, and …
END OF TRANSMISSION