SnootGame/game/script/2.fourth-day-of-school.rpy

label chapter_2:
    scene black with fade

    "We finish eating and make small talk until the bell signals us to go to our sixth period."

    "Day two out of however many left is now out of my way."

    "I’m fairly certain that if Naser found out I laughed too I’d need to avoid him."

    "Those cheeto covered claws look like they’d freakin’ hurt, man."

    "With that drama now past me I can just disappear and cheese through the rest of the year like I’m invisible."

    "Oh when June hits it’s gonna be so sweet."

    "Amen to that."

    "..."
    pause 1
    scene room anon dark with fade
    "-Two Days Later-"

    "Alarm is off"

    "You know the drill."

    "Combat roll, head butt, victory screech."

    "Breakfast, shitposting, clothes."

    show anon neutral at acenter with dissolve

    "I’m pretty good at this."

    "I think I’ve finally found a pretty good routine for the rest of the year."

    "I might have to go easy on the shitposting though, yesterday I might have over indulged…"

    "But…"

    "I’ve succeeded in turning invisible, not completely but so far I’m happy."

    "Even the stupid stuff with Naser seems settled, I can just cruise through schooling and shitpost in the evening."

    "Perfection."

    "Day four out of however many days are left in the year. So far so good."
    scene skinrow with fade
    show anonphone at center with moveinbottom
    "It’s a bit of a walk, so I get my phone out and start posting on a shitty imageboard."

    "Baiting people into replying to my posts isn’t the most rewarding of hobbies, but it passes the time."

    A ">Meteor dodgers"
    A ">having jobs"
    A "pick one and only one."

    "That oughtta get a few."

    "Just before I hit the reply button, I sense the air behind me turn warmer. A few wildflowers growing in the cracks of the sidewalk bloom in seconds."

    hide anonphone with moveoutbottom

    scene black with fade
    pause 3
    scene outside school
    show anon neutral at acenter
    with fade
    "She’s here."


    play music 'audio/OST/Dragging on and on....ogg'

    N "Good morning Anon!"

    A "It could have been."

    show naomi neutral at rleft with moveinleft

    "Naomi catches up to me."

    N "You say something?"

    A "Good morning."

    A "Don’t you walk with Naser to school? Where is he?"

    show naomi sad with dissolve

    N "... He went early today to help set up another student event."

    A "Oh. He’s certainly someone you can count on for that."

    show naomi happy with dissolve

    N "He really is! I’m so proud of him!"

    A "Yeah…"

    show naomi neutral with dissolve

    N "Umm… Anon, have you seen our lovely award-winning school gardens yet?"

    A "Gardens win awards?"

    N "They do! Come on, I’ll show you."

    A "Actually, wait, I don’t really wan-"

    "Naomi grabs my hand again and when I come to, we’re already there."

    scene flower garden
    show anon neutral at aright
    show naomi neutral at sleft
    with dissolve

    N "And here they are, our school’s flowerbeds!"

    N "Aren’t they just magnificent?"

    A "Please stop dragging me by the hand."

    "She is right though, the gardens here are absolutely stunning."

    "I can’t tell what’s more colorful, the bushes of flowers, or the students that tend to them."

    A "Yeah, the gardeners here do a great job."

    N "Hm? Oh, yeah, you can thank the gardening club for that."

    "Naomi guides me through the gardens, occasionally giving tour trivia."

    "I can’t shake the feeling something’s on her mind, though."

    N "And here’s where the freshmen planted flower seeds at the start of the school year, by the end they’ll bloom wonderfully…"

    N "..."

    N "And then the… Uh…"

    show naomi sad with dissolve

    "What’s going on here?"

    "Is she coming onto me?"

    "I want to ask if she’s upset about something, but is that even right of me to do?"

    menu:
        "Ask what’s up":
          jump naomiWhatsUp

        "Not my place to pry":
          jump naomiNotMyPlace


    label naomiWhatsUp:
    A "You alright?"

    N "Hm?"

    A "Something’s bothering you, right?"

    N "Not really… A bit, I guess…"

    jump naomiStressMerge

    label naomiNotMyPlace:

    "Nah, I don’t know her that well."

    "If it’s something personal Naser can help her with it."

    N "I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit stressed lately, Anon...:"
    jump naomiStressMerge

    label naomiStressMerge:

    N "I’ve just been worried about Naser recently…"

    A "Something wrong with him?"

    N "No, nothing’s wrong…"

    N "It’s more that he worries a bit too much for that… sister of his."

    N "Oftentimes when I’m with him, he’s anxious about something she’s done."

    N "I’d just like him to relax about it a bit more, I suppose."

    N "Is that selfish of me to say?"

    A "I mean…"

    A "I’ve never had a girlfriend, but I imagine that it’d be a bit inconsiderate to constantly be worried in front of her."

    A "I dunno."

    "Naomi nods her head a bit, staring at her shoes."

    N "Sorry, I just wanted to share with someone."

    N "Guess I ended up doing the same thing I’m complaining about here, huh?"

    A "Don’t sweat it."

    show naomi shocked with dissolve

    "She checksher phone and jumps a bit."

    N "Oh! I’m going to be late!"

    N "I still need to check in at the front desk…"

    N "Really sorry, Anon, but the tour will have to end here."

    A "It was fine, hopefully it just doesn’t make my allergies flare."

    hide naomi with moveoutright
    stop music fadeout 1.0
    "She waves and runs off to a side door."
    "I should be getting to homeroom soon, too."
    scene hallway
    show anon neutral flip at aright
    with dissolve
    play music 'audio/OST/Appreciating the Atmosphere.ogg'

    "I push open the usual side entrance I take and enter the hallway that’s starting to become familiar now."
    play music "audio/OST/That Monochromatic Weirdo.ogg" fadein 1.0
    show fang considering with dissolve:
        xalign -0.4 yalign 0.0
    "Still occasionally glancing at the room numbers just to make absolute sure, I noticed someone in the countercurrent walking past."

    "It was one of the bass players from the concert two days ago."
    "Naser said she was his sister, right?"

    "Glancing at her for a moment, the expression on her face sort of reminds me of something."

    "It was probably just leftover embarrassment from the concert, but she seemed to have a lost look on her face."

    "Or maybe it was confusion."

    "Or a mix of the two...?"

    "Either way there's something on her mind."

    "I can't help but think that that must be how I looked on my first day."

    "But it was my first day of school, she had been going here all year."

    "What's her excuse then?"

    "Either way, doesn’t look like she recognizes me."

    "Objective one out of whatever of the current year is accomplished then, next one is memorizing the class schedule."

    "And that says it’s home room in fifteen minutes."

    "Home room which I share with Naomi."

    "{i}*shudder*{/i}"

    "She’s just too… too {i}sweet{/i}... and like… Obnoxious... "

    "Ugh, I can’t find the right way to put it, but she feels so… movie-like…"

    "Like an act."

    "Day four, Anon. day four."

    "What the hell?"

    "Why is she scratching herself?"

    "Is she a junkie?"

    show fang neutral at scenter with move

    "OH GOD DON’T COME ANY CLOSER."

    "I DON’T WANNA GET SHANKED BY A JUNKIE PTERODACTYL."

    F "You...uh...SKINNIE."

    A "Y-yeah?"

    F "Did you see where they went?"

    A "..."

    F "The group with the uh..."

    F "uhhh…"

    A "Dinosaurs?"

    F "No! Yellow hoodie, red hair, pink tail, hair buns…"

    A "Are you describing one person?"

    F "What? No!"

    F "it’s multiple!"

    A "They’re dinosaurs though, right?"

    F "WHAT?"

    A "I don’t know where they went!"

    F "uuuuuuughhhhhh"
    hide fang hiding with moveoutright
    stop music fadeout 1.0
    "And just like that, she’s gone."
    play music "audio/OST/Dragging on and on....ogg" fadein 1.0
    "I seem to have this effect on women."

    "I call them poison pheromones."

    "But it is relieving that she didn’t recognize me. Guess Naser didn’t tell her."

    "The staccato of the bell signals my tardiness for class."

    "My class with Naomi."

    "If there is a Jurassic God, please make Naomi miss home room today."
    stop music fadeout 1.0
    scene black with fade
    "I’ll even offer a goat sacrifice!"

    scene black with fade

    "..."

    scene science class
    show anon neutral at aleft
    with fade
    "The day passes uneventfully until fourth period, Science Class."


    play music 'audio/OST/Appreciating the Atmosphere.ogg'

    "I find a seat near the back of the room and watch the clock hands tick down the remaining few seconds to the bell."

    "Right before the tone, one last student rushes in, out of breath."

    "Oh, it's that girl again. I guess we shared a period or two on the first day and I just didn't notice."

    "She strides across the room, taking her seat without a word."

    "Strangely, nobody seems to acknowledge her. Not even a sneer or chuckle."

    "That’s odd. Given how many people were there that night, you’d expect at least a couple of snickers."

    "But there she was, being completely left alone… Or ignored."

    "Seems almost worse than getting laughed at."
    stop music fadeout 1.0
    "The lingering chatter in the room dies out as the teacher stands from his desk, moving to the front of the room."
    show farnsworth at sright with dissolve
    Drf "Good news everyone!"

    Drf "Today we'll be having a lab on magnetic fields."

    Drf "Find a partner and get prepared."

    hide farnsworth with dissolve


    play music 'audio/OST/Many Such Cases of Being So True.ogg'

    "My heart sunk as those dreaded words passed my ears."

    "'Find a partner.'"

    "I know it’s pointless, but I at least have to try. Maybe someone was out sick."

    "With my luck though, I’ll probably just end up with that fossil of a teacher."

    "With everyone else already starting on the assignment I resign myself to working twice as hard."

    show farnsworth at sright with dissolve

    Drf "Hurry up Mr. Anon, your partner is waiting for you"
    stop music fadeout 1.0
    "...What"

    Drf "Very well. Fang"

    Drf "If you would be so kind to sit next to your new partner."

    "I sat in momentary confusion as someone took the seat next to mine."

    show fang neutral with dissolve:
       xalign -1.0 yalign 0.0

    #--not brazil, Forced text speedup through the following 4 lines

    play sound "audio/effects/Alarm.ogg"

    "SPAGHETTI ALERT!! SPAGHETTI ALERT!!"

    "DEFCON LEVEL TWO"

    "THERE IS A FEMOID WITHIN ARMS DISTANCE LOOKING AT ME"

    "DEPLOY ALL SPAGHETTI LOCKDOWN MEASURES"

    F "‘Sup."

    A "Thanks, you too."

    "SHIT! RECOVERY MANEUVERS NOW!"

    A "I mean, hey. Not much. You?"

    "CHAD RECOVERY SUCCESSFUL"

    stop sound fadeout 1.0

    F "None of your business. Just do the damn assignment and don’t bother me."

    A "O-oh. You upset right now or something?"

    F "What was your first fuckin’ clue. Last time I’ll say it, just do the assignment and don’t. Bother. Me."

    "Okay! Got to keep coolheaded."

    A "So this assignment, then."

    scene black with fade

    "With that we open our books and start on trying to decipher who Lorentz is and why his force is magnetic."

    "Things are going well for the first few questions, I remember a bit of it from that one time I tried to make a railgun."
    scene science class
    show anon neutral at aleft
    show fang neutral:
       xalign -1.0 yalign 0.0
    with fade

    pause 1

    show farnsworth at sright with moveinright

    Drf "How are you two doing so far?"

    F "We are… Fine, Dr. Fernsworth."

    Drf "I see, and you Anon?"

    A "Yeah what she said."

    show fang angry

    "Why is Dr. Fernsworth making that face?"

    "I turn to Fang to ask her what the deal is and-"
    show anon neutral flip at acenter with dissolve
    "Oh."

    Drf "Oh dear"

    "Mistakes have been made."

    F "She?"

    A "...Yes?"

    "Oh Raptor Jesus almighty this is the absolute worst case scenario."

    F "I. Am. Non. Binary."

    "How was I supposed to know something so trivial would set something like this off?!"

    F "Well?!"

    A "..."

    "I can’t bring myself to say anything!!"

    F "Oh, OH, so that’s how it’s going to be, huh?!"

    Drf "Fang…"

    show fang very angry with dissolve

    F "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST SPIT IN MY FACE AND THEN- AND THEN GIVE ME THE COLD SHOULDER?!"

    F "I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW-"

    Drf "{b}FANG{/b}."
    show fang shocked with dissolve
    stop music
    "It feels like the world just stopped."

    "All eyes are on Fang."

    "And in Fangs’ eyes I see something flash briefly."

    "Judging by those exaggerated movements and the eloquent speech, this is something Fang had been practicing."

    "This was supposed to be a big moment where she stopped an evil bigot and the whole class would clap."

    "In all her planning and practice Fang had made one crucial error."

    "Nobody cared."

    Drf "Please consider stepping into the hall for a moment."
    show fang angry
    "Sh- Fang is quick to exit the room. Dr. Fernsworth turns a sympathetic look towards me."
    hide fang neutral with moveoutright
    show anon neutral at acenter with dissolve
    Drf "Forgive them, Anon, you must understand that Fang is… Experiencing issues."
    hide farnsworth with moveoutleft
    "What the fuck just happened…?"

    "Well, she blew up at me when I called her a she…"

    "She was already upset about something before…"

    "She was upset before because of the concert the other day?"

    "Looks like I just pushed her over the edge."
    scene black with fade
    pause 1

    scene science class
    show anon neutral at aleft
    with fade


    play music 'audio/OST/Appreciating the Atmosphere.ogg'

    "After a few moments Fang comes back in and sits down without a word."

    show fang sad flip at sright with moveinright

    F "...Sorry."

    A "Uh, don’t worry about it."
    show fang sad flip with move:
       xalign -1.0 yalign 0.0
    show fang sad with dissolve
    "."
    ".."
    "..."

    show anon neutral flip with dissolve

    "Now that I think about it, something’s off."

    "Fang claims to not be male or female, but the clothes she’s wearing are clearly provocative."

    "It’s almost like she’s showing off her femininity."

    "Then why?"

    "Why would someone be wearing revealing clothes in contradiction to their identity…?"

    "It’s almost like they’re just looking for attent-"

    "Then suddenly, it hits me. I recall memories of a slightly younger Anon, running around school with a cape, pilot goggles…"

    "… And three plastic katanas."
    show fang angry
    "That was a quick way to get sent to the principal's office."

    F "Are you even listening to me?!"

    A "Dowhatnow? Wasn’t paying attention."

    F "Yeah, I could tell."

    "She mutters as she turns back to the assignment."

    F "Uh.... You’ve been staring at me for the past 5 minutes. Freak."

    "Judging by the looks of the class, and both of our current social standing, we’ll probably be working together a lot more."

    menu:
         "Sorry for calling you a girl...":
            F "Non-binary people don't owe you androgyny"
         "Sorry Fang I should have known from your feminine appearance and dress that you are, in fact, non-binary...":
            F "Non-binary people don't owe you androgyny"

    "Doesn’t seem like it’s something she wants to hear right now."

    A "So um, your Naser’s sister, right?"

    F "SIB-ling."

    A "R-right. Sorry."

    F "…"

    show fang neutral

    "There’s a brief pause until Fang speaks up again."

    F "Yes. Naser’s my baby brother, why do you ask?"

    A "I was just curious, Naser has been helping me settle into the school."

    F "Of course he did. Just wish he’d keep out of my fuckin’ business for two seconds."

    A "Uhh… Sure."

    "Actually, thinking about Naser…"

    N "{i}It’s more that he worries a bit too much for that… sister of his.{/i}"

    N "{i}Oftentimes when I’m with him, he’s anxious about something she’s done.{/i}"

    A "...He told me about what happened the other day."

    A "Sorry to hear something like that happened to you and your band."

    show fang considering with dissolve

    F "..."

    show fang neutral with dissolve

    F "What do you care?"

    A "I… Dunno."

    "Suddenly my shoes seem more interesting than the conversation at hand."

    A "Just think it’s messed up people would go to a show just to laugh at you."

    F "Feh."

    show fang happy with dissolve

    F "Guess you aren’t that awful…"

    F "Unlike every other guy in this school."

    A "..."

    "The rest of the period passed between continued small talk with Fang."

    "She seemed to be controlling the conversation though."

    "When the bell rang, Fang whips out her phone and immediately starts tapping away."

    A "You going to your next class?"

    F "Who cares about being late?"

    A "Fair. See you then."

    hide fang neutral with moveoutright

    "She lazily waves a hand at me and I make my way to my next class."
    stop music fadeout 1.0
    scene black with fade
    "Unfortunately, fifth period is mathematics."

    scene black with fade
    pause 1
    scene classroom with fade
    show carldelewski at sleft
    "I’m barely keeping myself awake while Mr. Carlesiidewski is giving a lecture on the inverse of tangents."

    carl "ANON!"

    "I sit ramrod straight at the direct address."

    carl "Are you frickin’ listening? Come finish this frickin’ problem on the frickin’ board."

    "Just one social disaster after another today."

    show anon neutral flip at acenter with dissolve

    "Hesitantly, I slide out of my chair and trundle my way to the whiteboard, trying to decipher the runes I'm expected to make sense of."

    "Only I never made it to the whiteboard."

    "Three rows down and my foot catches on a loose backpack strap in the isle."

    "Luckily I fell sideways and there was a cold hard desk in the way to catch my fall."


    play music 'audio/OST/Those Other Two Weirdos.ogg'

    "To the chuckles of the rest of the class, I look up from my final resting place to see a massive pink and white muzzle."

    Re "Dude."

    "Like a deer caught in headlights, I can only stare and wait for him to continue."

    Re "You’re on my desk man..."

    "My senses return to me, and I quickly get up, picking up and returning the pencil that flew to the floor in a flurry of apologies."

    "Then I recognise just whose desk I fell on."

    "It’s that drummer in Fang’s band."

    "Don’t I just have the luck of the devil?"

    "Giving one last apology, I head to the front of the room to solve the whiteboard problem."

    "I tried solving the problem to the best of my ability."

    "Still took a solid two minutes."

    "After circling my answer, I look expectantly at Mr. Carlesiidewski who gives a nod."

    "Finally turning around to return to my seat, I freeze."

    "Right there in the front row is the last member of the band, Trish."

    hide carldelewski with fade

    "I stumble back to my desk."

    "Mr. Carlesiidewski gives each row a stack of papers to pass back."

    carl "Alright, here’s the frickin’ homework covering today’s lesson. Use page two-seventy-nine. I’ll give you the last…"

    carl "Fifteen frickin’ minutes of class to work with your frickin’ peers."

    "Mr. Carlesiidewski returns to his desk and pulls out a math book with a monthly romance novel crudely stuffed inside it. With very detailed centerfold with the way he turned it sideways."

    "Looking ahead to Reed’s desk, he’s been joined by Trish who is trying to get him to get started."

    "I think I can feel their eyes following me…"

    "Back at my desk, I glance over the math sheet."

    "Page two-seventy-nine, right?"

    "Looks like I finally get to use that phonebook of a math textbook."

    "...Where is it?"

    "I open my backpack, and instead of my math textbook…"

    "Is the Saturnia Collectors Edition Art-book I splurged on yesterday."

    "I’m frozen. Can’t move an inch."

    "Did I grab the wrong book this morning? Is someone playing a sick joke?"

    "How could I bring this to school?!?"

    "Something bounces off my head and lands on my desk."

    "It’s enough to snap me back to reality and I shove my backpack under my desk, furiously zipping it."

    "On my desk is a balled-up wad of paper."

    "Oh great. I was hoping to avoid these chain notes."

    "I unfurl the ball to read the note."

    "{i}Look up.{/i}"

    "I look up and see the purple one waving me over."

    "Fuck."

    "Grabbing my stuff I shuffle over slowly to the duo."

    show trish neutral flip at tright with dissolve
    show reed neutral at rleft with dissolve

    Re "Sup compadre."

    A "Uh… Sup?"

    T "See? He’s my class partner so I look out for him."

    T "How are YOU looking out for your class partner, Anon?"

    T "Enforcing the social contract, having good conduct and mutual respect so you can leave class and go on with your life?"

    A "Uh....What’s this about?"

    T "A certain friend of mine is partnered with you in Science, right?"

    "Wait. Oh!"

    A "You mean Fang?"

    T "They just messaged me before class, said they had to be partnered with a skinnie bigot - then proceeded to show them."

    T "I had a feeling you’d be him."

    "Am I gonna have to tolerate humiliation from these meteor dodgers too?"

    "My head is starting to hurt. Hopefully we can just get started on these math exercises."

    A "Yeah, that was me. I apologized, though."

    T "I know and I appreciate it."

    T "I’m Trish and this is Reed. We’re Fang’s best friends."

    A "Uh-huh."

    T "What about you? Now you tell us about yourself."
    stop music fadeout 1.0

    "RED ALERT."

    "There is no way I’m telling anyone, especially {i}these{/i} people."

    "And if they find out where I was a few days ago…"

    A "Uhh... I’m Anon and I’m a human. I got here Monday."

    A "That’s all."

    play music 'audio/OST/Those Other Two Weirdos.ogg' fadein 1.0

    T "We know that. We want to know where you’re from, what have you been doing since you got here, if you have any friends…"

    A "I-I’ve been doing nothing. I don’t really care about friends."

    "She doesn’t look very convinced by that answer."

    T "Right."

    Re "You know that Naser dude, right...?"

    T "Hey… Yeah, I saw you with that slut Naomi earlier, too…"

    "Trish squints her eyes at me."

    A "T-they were my welcoming committee, they helped me with getting settled, nothing besides that."

    T "Riiiiight. Didn’t Naser or Naomi invite you to anything...or…?"

    A "No. I don’t remember. I’ve been trying to get them off my back. But w-why you ask?"

    T "We had a concert last week, Naser and Naomi invited a whole bunch of assholes to ruin it. Suppose if we had seen a human in that crowd we would remember, right?"

    A "Y-yeah. Haha."

    A "I-I mean, concert?"

    "I don’t think they invited me here to solve math problems."

    T "We have a band. I’m the lead bassist, Fang’s the vocalist and secondary bass, and Reed is the drummer."

    Re "...And the songwriter."

    T "He just comes up with the funny song titles."

    A "Uhhh...that’s very neat! Would love to listen to your band someday."

    "I drag my chair backwards and clumsily rise from my seat"

    A "It was great meeting you guys, I’ll be going back to my desk, though…"

    T "Wait, I’m not done with you yet."

    A "What? I really should get started on the homework...?"

    T "It’s important. Look at me."

    "She has a very serious look on her face."

    "She’s not saying anything, her glaring through the back of my skull makes me think she means business."

    T "Fang is happy. They found something about themself they finally like, and I helped them through a dark time. They made up their mind."

    "They? Themself? No wonder Naser seemed so confused by this."

    T "They don’t need people in their life that might hurt or confuse them. They have us, and the band. We’re trying to make it for ourselves."

    A "O...kay?"

    T "I look out for them because I care for them. They’ve been hurting because of those dicks, I’m doing my part in assuring them."

    "Was that what I saw her doing earlier?"

    "Looked more like a one trigga trig-out."

    A "I don’t understand."

    T "My point is, don’t upset Fang."

    "I just wanted to solve math problems."

    A "I, er... yes, ma’am."

    "Once again she’s just glaring at me."

    "Fucking hell my stupid legs, stop shaking."

    "I’ll take this opportunity."

    A "Uh… thank you for the lesson, Trish. I’ll keep that in mind. See ya."

    Re "Wait man- you want this?"

    "Reed holds out a sheet of paper."

    "Wait, it’s a copy of the homework assignment-"

    "And it’s complete?!"

    A "Wait, I thought you were the one needing help?"

    Re "Shhhh, the friend of my friend who’s the friend that helps me is also my friend too."

    A "I don’t think that’s how the saying goes...?"

    Re "You’re sharp, Anon. Razor sharp. Friends?"

    "The bell announces lunchtime, and the rest of the students collectively rise and start shuffling out the door."

    A "Lunch hour, been a blast talking to you guys."

    hide anon neutral with moveoutleft

    "I swiftly snatch up the backpack by my leg, flashing an earnest sympathetic smile at them - or at least I thought it was one."
    scene hallway with fade
    show anon neutral at acenter
    "As I power walk out of the classroom I swear I caught a glimpse of Reed waving goodbye."

    "A shame I have other places to be. Namely away from the pissed off midget."

    "Sorry man, you seem like a good guy. But with that tiny tyrant?"

    "Not in this lifetime."

    "That was the worst fucking experience in a long while. Almost as bad as actually dealing with Fang in class."

    "Here I was thinking I could be invisible for the rest of the year,"

    "...And now I have classmates talking about me behind my back on their phones, probably for the rest of the school year."

    "At least it’s the best period of the day now."

    "Wonder what to get for lunch today…"

    "Wait."

    A "What’s that smell?"

    "Oh no."

    "I duck into a corner and rip the backpack open."

    "What should have been my lunch card, binders, and horrendously embarrassing art book…"


    play music 'audio/OST/Fuck You I Like To Ignore Problems.ogg'

    "Was instead a half dozen glass flasks, bags full of… something, and all sorts of machinery I didn’t recognize."

    "Someone… someone else has my backpack… and that book."

    "If they see..."

    A "..."

    "This backpack…"

    "It's from the Reed guy, I’ll bet."

    "When I rushed out of class…"

    "Fuck me."

    "On the other hand…"

    "I could get a medal of honor for turning all this stuff in..."

    "Think you can even get a bit of cash for reporting stuff like this."

    "...What am I thinking?"

    "Any amount of money is NOT worth my power level being revealed."

    "I can't ruin my life. Not again"

    "Especially not with these losers."

    "A half-hour until lunch period ends. Good."

    "I need to find Reed."

    "I double back to the classroom I just left and find it empty."
    "Fuck."

    "Maybe he’s getting his lunch now. Cafeteria then."

    scene cafeteria with fade
    show anon neutral at acenter

    "I sprint through the school hallways, already familiar with the layout, looking for the drug dealer."

    "The colorful crowd in the lunch line makes it difficult to pick Reed out, so I have to carefully scan the room."

    "I finally spot the pink raptor at the end of the queue, tray in hand and incriminating evidence on his back."

    "The world must be fucking with me since {b}I’m{/b} the one currently carrying a mini-cartel in a backpack."

    show reed neutral at sleft with dissolve

    A "REED!"

    "The stoner drummer turns my way as I try as calmly as possible to approach him."

    Re "What up, my guy?"

    A "I uh…"

    "I give the backpack a bump, causing all the dubious glassware within to clink."

    A "Think you got my backpack, Reed."

    Re "Huh… Was wonderin’ why this felt lighter."

    "He holds out my backpack to me."

    Re "‘Ere ya go, man."

    "We trade backpacks, I’m careful to hand his over while simultaneously examining mine still within his grip."

    "It doesn’t look like he opened it at all but…"


    play music 'audio/OST/Fuck You I Like To Shitpost.ogg'

    A "Thank fuck…"

    Re "Why’re you so worried bout the bag, man?"

    "Shitfuckfuckfuckfuck."

    A "Becaaaauuuuuse…"

    "Don’tbringuptheartbook."

    "Think you dumbfuck, there’s gotta be something you can say-"

    "Naomi I owe you a fruit basket!"

    A "My lunch card!"

    A "I wouldn’t have been able to get my lunch without it."

    show reed shocked

    Re "Oh. Oh! Oh fuck, dude I’m sorry to hear that."

    "What."

    show reed explanatory

    Re "New kid in school AND you need the lunch card?"

    Re "Do you like, wanna hang with us? You look like the lonely type."

    "FUCK no."

    A "Naaaaah, I’ll be good. I just needed my-"

    Re "Come on bro, I’ll introduce you to the whole band."

    A "You don’t have to-"

    Re "Y’know... reward your good deed with a good deed."

    A "What."

    Re "I’ll like, be your first friend, Anon."

    A "What."

    Re "Yeeaah, man."

    A "I appreciate it, but… Y’know…"

    Re "You worried about Trish, bro?"

    A "..."

    Re "Yeaah, she can be a bit rough, but she’s great."

    A "Isn’t she on a crusade to assault everyone that laughed at your concert?"

    Re "Oh yeah, she does that sometimes, don’t worry about it."

    A "Hrmmm…"

    Re "‘s fine for you to be worried."

    Re "You’ll see, she’s plenty nice."

    "Maybe I was a bit quick to judge..."

    "See, there’s Trish now."

    show trish neutral flip at tright with dissolve

    T "Hey, Reed."

    T "Sorry, gonna have to return that crowbar a bit later than I promised."

    T "Also, I got vengeance on another one of those jerks."

    A "Those aren’t… related, right?"

    T "Who’s asking?"

    "I need to get out of here."

    A "Well Reed, thank you for talking, I’ll just be on my wa-"

    Re "Hoolld on man, Trish just got here."

    T "Reed, what’s all this about?"

    Re "Anon here and I had a little… mix-up?"

    Re "Anyways, he was a total bro about it…"

    Re "And he’s like, super poor and stuff."

    T "How poor?"

    Re "Y’know that lunch card thing they advertise on the school brochures?"

    T "Bull."

    Re "Show her, Anon."

    A "I’d rather not…"

    T "Oh my goodness you poor soul."

    Re "Literally, even."

    Re "So I figured, why not be a bro back to him?"

    Re "Like uhhh…"

    Re "Be his legit welcome committee."

    A "I appreciate the thought, but uhh...I should really be going right about… now, bye."

    T "Oh, Fang, what took you so long today?"

    show fang sad flip:
       xalign 0.9 yalign 0.0

    "Why meeee…"

    show fang shocked flip at sright

    F "Yo. Wait, is that Anon? what’s {i}he{/i} doing here?"

    "No, it’s the other new human transfer student with the dress sense of Rex Luthor."

    show fang neutral

    A "Heeeey Fang. Good to see ya again. Well lunch is almost over so I’ll-"

    Re "He’s poor."

    T "Like, super poor!"

    F "How poor?"

    T "Y’know those lunch cards they have on posters near the principals’ office?"

    F "Wow. That is hilariously depressing."

    "I hate everyone here."

    F "Anyways, that doesn’t answer my question of why the skinny loser here."

    Re "Man, Anon’s like a total bro an’ I’m his {i}first{/i} friend an’ we’re gonna be Rock Ring buddies for the rest of the school year!"

    Re "Then like… he’ll be my business partner an’ we’ll sell enough goods to get half the country high an’ like, fuck narcs and fuck the IRS too."

    A "..."

    F "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhh. Trish?"

    T "The morons swapped backpacks and now they’re best friends or something."

    A "Yeah. That. And now I’m gonna go grab my lunch so-"

    Re "We can all grab some together."

    T "...Well, Reed {i}is{/i} a good judge of character…"

    F "Is he?"

    A "...Didn’t you already grab your lunch, Reed?"

    Re "Yeah. I want seconds, man."

    "What."

    "I look at Reed’s tray and see that it’s completely empty."

    A "When did you- How?!"

    Re "Come on, man, I’ve got a mean case of munchies."

    "I end up walking to get food with Trish, Reed and Fang."

    "Every time I consider ditching them, Reed says or does something to keep me with the band."

    "Fuck my life."

    "I’m able to hold the makings of a conversation with Reed, but it feels like I’m talking to space."

    "Trish was listening in while we made our way to the lunch room, but was more focused on her talk with Fang."

    F "What do you mean my halter top is ‘out’ right now? I haven’t noticed a difference."

    T "I’m telling you, the next thing is going to be leotards."

    F "No, fuck that. I would never wear something that retarded."

    "As for Reed…"

    Re "...So… You play videogames, right?"

    A "Yeah, I got a couple consoles and a toaster of a PC."

    Re "Only Xrox… Battle Saurs is sick…"

    A "Pachystation has a better lineup overall."

    Re "But like… Stony-games are all lame… like, just movies lame..."

    A "You can’t prove that."

    Re "I can."

    A "Huh?"

    Re "Get your phone out man… Look up {color=#66cc33}'LW_S9znpklI'{/color}.."

    A "How did you say that out loud?"

    Re "Just look it up man…"

    "What’s the harm?"

    A "..."

    menu:
        "Look the link up":
            $ webbrowser.open('https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW_S9znpklI')
            pause 5
            "What on earth…?"

            Re "Pretty hilarious right?"

            "What is this, a shitty Netstix cartoon knock off?"

            A "It’s funny in a way, yeah."

            jump PostCheckLinkOut
        "Save it for later":
            "I'll save this one for when I get home."
            jump PostCheckLinkOut


    label PostCheckLinkOut:


    Re "Xrox is better anyways, you see the whole lineup they had prepared for..."

    "Reed delves into his rant about console differences."

    "I thought he was just an airhead, but…"

    "I totally can’t get a read on this guy."

    F "Well, anyways."

    F "The lunch lines aren’t going to get any shorter."

    F "We should hurry and pick one."

    scene cafeteria
    show anon neutral at aleft:
       xalign 0.3 yalign 0.1
    show reed neutral at rleft:
       xalign -0.1 yalign 0.1
    show fang neutral flip at sright:
       xalign 0.8 yalign 0.0
    show trish neutral flip at tright:
       xalign 1.0 yalign 0.1

    "Once we all got our food, we all stand around chatting a bit more outside the line."

    "Trish and Fang babble to each other about their daily activities all through the lunch line."

    "Reed on the other hand has pulled out a tablet from his backpack to show me something."

    Re "So like, y’know we got a band, yeah?"

    A "Er, yeah. Trish brought it up earlier and all."

    Re "Check it. I’ve been recording our practices."

    "Fang and Trish both look at me expectantly."

    "Fuckshitfuckokay you can do this."

    A "Cool, lemme see."

    "Even through the poor recording quality I can see and hear just how atrocious the band is."

    play music 'audio/OST/The (audiophile edition).ogg'

    "I bite back the grimace threatening to come out as I give the video my full attention."
    stop music
    F "W-well?"

    T "We’re great, right Anon?"

    A "It’s uh… certainly original."

    T "I know, right?"

    A "But like, why two basses?"

    "Fang glances at me from the side. Weird."

    T "It’s our style!"

    A "I-I see."

    "What do I say here? I can only give feedback on games I haven’t played, not music!"

    menu:
        "I like the double tension on the G strings.":
          "The three stop moving in line and look back at me."

        "The synchronization between the melody and the submelody compliments the reverb well!":
          "The three stop moving in line and look back at me."

        "Very nice ironic reference to Beethoven’s Für Elise.":
          "The three stop moving in line and look back at me."

    "Think I messed up."

    F "How could you tell?"

    play music 'audio/OST/Bayside Bumming it.ogg' fadein 1.0

    Re "Jeez man, you got the ears of a bat?"

    A "Uhh, just something I picked up."

    F "I didn’t know you knew about that sort of thing, Anon…"

    Re "Yo, next time we have a concert… You gotta come along."

    F "...Maybe…"

    "Trish glowers at me warily."

    T "I dunno, maybe if he actually talked about himself for once."

    "Nope, nah uh, no way, abort!"

    Re "Yeah, man, go ahead. None of us are judgin’. I’m not at least."

    A "Well…"

    FRT "Ohfuck. Sorry Anon, we gotta bail."
    show fang neutral flip
    show trish neutral flip
    hide trish with moveoutright
    hide fang neutral with moveoutright
    hide reed with moveoutright
    A "Huh? Where-"

    "They’re already gone."

    "Pretty impressive how fast they can move even with their hands full."

    "But what could’ve made them run like that?"

    N "ANON!"

    show anon neutral flip at acenter with move
    show naomi neutral at sleft with moveinleft
    show naser neutral with moveinleft:
       xalign -0.6 yalign 0.0
    "Oh."


    "I turn around to see Naser and Naomi approaching, food in hand."

    N "I knew I’d find you here with the others, Anon!"

    N "Shame they ran off, why do they do that?"

    "Her shrill goody goody sugary voice is piercing through the chatter of the lunchroom, I don’t wanna reply if it means hearing more of her voice…"

    N "Tell me, Anon! What were you and Fang talking about? I didn’t know you were friends!"

    N "I wanna know about everything!"

    "Oh help me, God. I just can’t catch a break."

    "I just want to go home…"

    "But there's still half a day to go…"

    Nas "Hey Anon… you uh...seem kinda low energy, are you alright?"

    "The Anon you are trying to reach is currently having an existential meltdown."

    "Please leave your message after the scream."

    N "Aaaww, he's just thrilled to make new friends!"

    Nas "Yeah man, good on you. You’re quite the extrovert!"

    "I’m mentally screaming, I swear I just want to get out and never come back."

    Nas "Was that really my sibling you were hanging with?"

    A "Fang and her friends, yeah. Strange group, I know."

    N "I’ll say."

    Nas "Sh-they’re not that bad once you get to know them."

    A "Colorful folk, I know."

    Nas "Uh...no...I mean -THEY-..."

    A "Hm?"

    Nas "Fang!"

    A "Uh-huh… sure hope so. Seems I’m going to be her lab partner for the rest of the year."

    Nas "Whoa."

    "Naomi pauses for a second."

    Nas "Honestly. They’re just going through a phase man."

    A "That phase include rants about non-binarism?"

    Nas "*sigh* Fang hit you with that too?"

    N "What a great opportunity for real friendship Anon! I’m so happy for you!"

    Nas "...?"

    A "...?"

    N "If there’s anything Fang needs in these trying times, it’s a new friend to talk to!"

    A "Uuuuuh, I don’t know about that, you know how they is, right?"

    N "I would love it if you tried! Naser would appreciate it!"

    "Would he?"

    Nas "Whoa, calm down, boo. That’s not how it works...and I don’t think…"

    "The bell’s loud sound rings on our ears"

    "A rush of relief and dopamine overcome me."

    "I’m free."

    Nas "Uhhh...we’ll talk later, Anon. I’ll have to keep my eye on you, though."

    N "don’t worry, Naser. I know Anon is of good character!"

    "What is she talking about?"

    "You know what, it don’t matter. Nonathiss matters."

    "Only useful thing I learned all day."

    A "Uhhhh...I guess I’ll have to go now, see you around."

    "Be a little nicer, Anon"

    A "Ask if you need anything, I’ll help you out."

    N "Oh I’ll hold you on that one! Just you wait, hahahahahah!"

    "Nice. Now you’ll never get them off your back, now. Congratulations."

    Nas "Hey, take it easy, man!"

    N "Come Naser! We have a busy day today!"

    N "Oh, sure."
    scene black with fade
    stop music
    A "See ya."

    "..."

    scene black with fade

    return