Criss: you good, Amy?
Criss he/him is a teen.
Amy(1): um, yeah…
Amy(1): i’m fine.
Amy, she/her, is also a teen. there are three Amies in the room, due to her superpower of randomized, nonconsensual time travel.
Criss: is someone gonna die?
Amy(1): …
Criss: oh, right, can’t answer those questions.
Amy(1): oh, no. that’s not it.
Amy(1): i don’t know what happened!
Amy(1): or at least i didn’t see it.
Amy(2): we’re all going to disappear!
Amy(2): the Amies, i mean.
Amy(2): we won’t be back until just before we leave the House!
Amy(3): wait really?
Amy(3): not a SINGLE Amy?
Amy(2): not that i know of!
Amy(2): trust me, i’ve been around for a LONG time.
Amy(2): the book’s almost full!
Jen: you look old, kind of.
Jen: um, older than the others.
Amy(2): i am!!
Amy(2): our whole journey lasts like 4 years!
Amy(2): i’ve been around for 5.
Amy(1): wow, you’re like a raisin!
Amy(3): excuse me, miss. do you need a walker?
Amy(2): yyyes please!
Jen: um, how about some prune juice?
Amy(2): pass it over!
the Amies all start laughing. Jen, teen, he/him, smiles. Criss looks melancholy.
Criss: so, uh…
Criss: we’ll be questin’ for like 4 more years?
Amy(2): nnnot really.
Amy(2): we do a lot of things, but not really any quests.
Criss: i don’t suppose we get to just vibe once we ditch the House?
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Amy(3): no, sorry,
Amy(1): the Quest and the Old Man and the King seem to follow wherever we go.
Jen: um, who’s the King?
Jen: i don’t think the Old Guy told us about them.
Amy(1): oh. yyyeah.
Amy(1): just… just pretend i never brought him up. there’d be a paradox and the universe would blow up if you mentioned him.
Jen: …oh, ok.
Amy(3): wow. you’re SUCH a loose cannon, Amy!
Amy(2): just blowing up universes left and right! i’m so disappointed.
Amy(1): i’m sorry! please forgive me, masters!
Amy(1): eeeven though i’m older than you.
Amy(3): by like 6 pages.
Amy(2) removes a book from her backpack. it’s extremely thick and exhibits years of wear.
Amy(2): wwwell, I’M older than YOU by…
Amy(2): 467 pages.
the book they keep mentioning is this thing that exists. i’m sure you can figure out what it is over time.
Amy(2): aaand as the elder here i order YOU to dissapear!
Amy(1): vanishes, sent to another time.
Criss: uhh i thought you just vanish randomly.
Criss: how’d you make m’girl go leprechaun like that?
Jen: um, i think she just maybe knows when they disappear from watching it happen a bunch?
Amy(3): yyyes! exactly!
Amy(3): like this!
Amy(3) points at Amy(2): who poofs away.
Amy(3): bye guys!
Amy(3) poofs away.
Jen: …bye.
Jen: i kind of like her. i think i’ll miss her.
Criss: yeah, same.
Criss: i wonder what shit’ll look like when she comes back, and we’re all about to ditch.
Jen: i feel like we’ll all be fine.
Jen: doesn’t the Old Man want us to do a big Quest or something?
Jen: if we all died i don’t think it would work, probably.
Criss: uhh… yeah.
Criss: although who even fuckin’ knows with our Wise Benevolent Guide.
Criss: maybe we’re in some video game and this is his, like seventeenth try.
Criss: us, i mean. we’re his try.
Jen: i don’t really like that idea that much.
Jen: i don’t really want to be fake.
Criss: yeah me neither, but what makes a guy/person fake?
Criss: we got feelings, thoughts, relationships… we’re vibin’.
Criss: i don’t give a shit if it’s not real, cause i feel real.
Criss: oh, and—shit.
Criss: Amy never told me what she was worryin’ about.
Jen: oh i forgot you asked that, i guess.
Jen: i think she said that she didn’t know what would happen.
Jen: because she never was there.
Jen: that would probably be pretty worrying.
Criss: yeah… yeah i guess.
Criss: she gotta know SOMETHING, though.
Criss: she’s from the damn future.
Criss: still, she…
Criss: what’s that…?
the two boys slow to stop in the green-bricked hallway they’re in. Criss has been using playing cards to aid in his search in the same way that Luke was implied to be doing in the last moment. having their powers lead them one door at a time seems to be a loophole with their powers.
anyway, the playing cards have led the duo to a broken glass door, through which wafts the scent of freshly baked cookies.
the cookies are here, Jen.