Parties & Choices

"Sometimes you've got to believe." I tell myself as I look out my window and wait for a taxi. My decision here was one that was surprisingly easy to make. 

I hate abusers, but I believe in the potency of my perks. I am choosing to trust the power of something that costs choice points, and something that has already been shown to subtly be working. For now, I am going to let Andrew's dad live. This means that I am going to ensure that when the trio of teenagers destined to do great things go spelunking, I go with them. 

I am dressed in a casual and solid button-up shirt and a pair of nicely pressed jeans. This is easily the most dressed up I've been during my chain so far. I always had an odd relationship with fashion growing up in my native reality, and for the last decade of my pre-chain life I was physically disabled in such a way that walking, while possible, caused me mild pain at all times. Such pain could be exacerbated by many different types of clothing, and adaptive clothing was sometimes difficult to find, so I prioritized comfort over style. 

Whenever I catch glimpses of myself I feel a bit of mental discomfort. The clothes are not uncomfortable, nor do they cause me pain, but to see my new body dressed in, for me, nice clothes is… weird. I guess it's because it's still hard for me to look at any reflective surface and instinctively recognize myself, so seeing this new body dressed in clothes I'd normally not wear in my old form further emphasizes how odd my new reality is. 

The sun is beginning its daily descent, and as I look at the sky a part of me wistfully wishes I could have more fun exploring this city. I never got a chance to visit Seattle before I arrived here a week ago, in fact there were only two occasions in my life that I was somewhere in the continental United States that was not directly on the East Coast. 

Shortly before I went to college I visited Minnesota with my parents as part of an athletic competition they were participating in. It was a fun trip. I also got to spend Christmas during my senior year of college with the family of a, at the time, partner in Los Angeles. I don't think I ever left the actual city during the entire time I was in California. And now I have a few months to kill in Seattle, a city I first really heard of because of iCarly, and then learned more about because of Chronicle. It'd be good for me to broaden my earthly horizons before I go galavanting off to Hyrule or something. 

I study the beautiful sky as the thought of Hyrule makes me wonder about where I should go next, jump-wise. That's a thought that's been on my mind a decent bit lately. I am quickly approaching the day when I have less than one hundred days left in this universe, so my time here is limited and feels limited. 

The taxi appears in the distance and I quickly exit my home, locking my door behind me, while I continue to muse about where I should go next. When the taxi reaches my house I step into it and give the driver the address of the party. We depart quickly and in minutes we are on the freeway heading towards the distant party.

Assuming I have some level of meaningful autonomy with regards to what sort of jump I should go next there are a number of intriguing options I could choose. If I want to ensure my longevity and safety in the long term I need to visit Generic Cartoon World sometime relatively early in my chain. 

That particular jump is enormously powerful, even if not in the same sense as a jump that lets you chuck asteroids at people or grants you omniscience. The jump is monstrously powerful from a quality of life angle, in that it grants access to assorted items and perks that hit way above the weight class of the setting, such as a hilariously powerful cloning perk, a just about absolute defense against supernatural abilities, and items that give their owners access to stable income, housing, and the ability to quickly zip across a setting. 

Another strong early setting would have to be Generic Werewolf, which is great for future alt-form shenanigans and also just a strong jump in general. With telekinesis plus my social perks I should be fine in Generic Werewolf so long as I don't act like a dumbass or a megalomaniac. 

And then there's the gimmicky settings like Luigi's Mansion which is a jump that lasts a single night and if I go I can get access to science perks that would be incredibly valuable early on. Science perks are always good, especially if I don't want to become hyper invested in magic and keeping track of a thousand different internal magical systems. 

The taxi races through Seattle as I wonder about where to go next. We zip past the space needle, as I momentarily wonder whether or not I should be brave and go visit Generic Creepypasta as my next setting. 

Back in my native reality Generic Creepypasta was one of my absolute favorite settings. The jump is devoted to the world of internet horror and to digital legends like Jeff the Killer, and Slenderman, even letting jumpers who visit the setting become such spooky specters themselves. 

The problem with that setting is that it's decently dangerous. It's certainly much more dangerous than this setting is, and if I go from here to there that's a pretty substantial leap in power. An ideal strategy would probably be to go to Generic Cartoon World, snag the defensive stuff there, hone my telekinesis and any new abilities I get while hanging out with cartoons, go to Generic Werewolf, grab what I can get from there, and then to Generic Creepypasta… 

For not the first time a part of me wonders about the underlying metaphysics of what happened to me and the broader implications of my fate. I was not anyone particularly special on my native Earth, I was at best a prolific but not well-known writer, and that's perfectly fine with me. I was happy, as much as I think I could have been at least. I was fond of different websites like Reddit, Questionable Questing, YouTube, and I was working to spread knowledge of jumpchains to new parts of the internet. I was even doing an okay-ish job of it, all things considered. 

There are jumpmakers and community members who are way more prolific in the community than I ever was. Are they fated to embark on chains of their own? Would that be what they wanted when they died? Because in my case embarking on a chain is as ideal an afterlife as I could imagine. Not only was I not religious, I was also a passionate writer and theorycrafter and so the thought of having a chance to experience a chain for real, as scary as it could be, always delighted me.

I was an atheist and a humanist, and I was a good deal more well-known in those spaces than I was relative to the global jumpchain community, but if someone was a Christian and also a jumpmaker I don't know if it'd be right to steal them away from the afterlife they wanted to go to…

The ethical considerations of jumpchains are staggering to consider. And weird. 

My taxi enters a neighborhood surrounded by a dense forest right at the edge of Seattle. I study my surroundings with a smile on my face as I realize how close I am to the start of… something. I'm not sure what, exactly, given my presence here is a factor that is definitely going to subtly and at times not so subtly change things, but I know that I am about to witness a beginning. And beginnings are always exciting. 

When the taxi stops in front of the house where the party will take place the sun has fully set and the meter ahead of me indicates a frightening amount as far as what I owe the driver. I pay the fare, having known it was going to be brutal, and resolve to walk home if need be. The driver gratefully accepts the cash I give him, and drives off with a crooked smile on his face. 

I turn my attention to the party, and even from a distance, outside of the house I can hear dozens of voices discussing a myriad of topics. I can also hear incredibly loud music, music so loud that even a normal human can hear it from outside of the house. It's a good thing the home is mostly by itself, its closest neighbor is not immediately visible, so I suppose its inhabitants can afford to be a bit loud. 

I walk over to the house and when I step in I am immediately spotted. The first people to spot me, numerous guys on a few different sports teams at school, cheer and raise bottles and glasses. I nod at them and grin brightly, finding it easy to feign interest. This is definitely an instance of two of my mastery perks mixing together, intersecting and empowering each other.

I march over to the teens and let them hand me a soda. The lot of them are excitedly gossiping about who they've seen at the party. I stand with them and listen as they excitedly chat.

Now that I'm inside of the house I can even more easily hear countless conversations. All sorts of subjects are being discussed within the various rooms of the home we have invaded. I can hear familiar voices, including ones belonging to both of my friends from math class, who, to my surprise, seem to be together somewhere in the distance. I can also hear Matt off in the distance, but I don't hear Steve. It's possible he's outside and already uncovering the cave.

I consider moving this along for a brief second. It's mildly tempting for me to go ahead and set things in motion but as I think about doing that I remember what I was thinking about on my way here: I should try to have fun when possible. I don't know if my next setting will be someplace with an Earth, hell I don't even know if I'll get to pick my second destination, so I should try to relax sometimes. 

I focus on the present and opt to engage the boys in conversation. I'm surrounded by three of my peers, all of whom wear clothes a touch more casual than my own. 

"So there's this girl I'm looking for. I saw her earlier, but she's got this big ass camera. It psyched me out." One of the guys tells the rest of his peers and myself. I pretend to wonder who he could be talking about before I feign a face like I've just discovered a big secret.

"Do you mean Casey? I overheard someone say she was starting a… video diary or something." I explain, and the guy smiles at me, nodding at my remarks. I actually only vaguely remember that she had a camera all her own that she sometimes used during the movie. I'm pretty sure one of it's canon appearances is during a quick time she is visible during the party… 

"Yeah! It's… pretty intimidating trying to approach a girl recording you. I don't want her rejection of me to be something she can rewatch." He remarks, displaying a touch more thoughtfulness than many teenagers might display in a moment like this. And it's quite helpful since he would be rejected.

"You know that Casey… has a boyfriend right?" I ask him, and this makes his eyes widen in shock. I can tell that no, he did not in fact know that. The other guys in our group let out small laughs as they watch color flood the man's face. He quickly, and quietly, thanks me for saving him from embarrassment. I grin and pat his back, happy to have helped keep him from making an unfortunate mistake. 

The four of us converse for several minutes before I excuse myself. The boys kindly bid me farewell as I move to go and mingle among the partygoers for a bit longer. I make my way past various groups spread throughout the party and I do so in a way that allows me to gradually move towards a specific part of the house: the backdoor. 

I know that Andrew is destined to appear outside after a tense confrontation with someone who dislikes that he is filming the party. I can't remember the hyper-specific thing that the person doesn't like but the confrontation leads Andrew, who will have been told by Matt to go and mingle with other people, to go outside. Steve finds him after Matt, Steve, and a few other students first find the cave, and the three of them go into it together, encounter the source of their powers, and then, for a while, no filming occurs. I just need to be in the cave with them. 

I find myself in the stately kitchen of the house, able to clearly look out the window and peer at the backyard, before I settle into a comfortable spot. During the time I've taken to reach my destination Matt's voice has vanished, presumably he's gone off to discover the cave. 

A number of guys and girls are here getting snacks and looking over a healthy stockpile of assorted drinks. I elect not to focus on that, and instead make casual conversation with some of the people who appear here that I happen to already know. 

In the distance I am able to easily hear an excited, if a touch awkward, reunion when Casey runs into Andrew. I get to listen as they both try to talk about their cameras but the conversation proves to be impossible over the loud volume of the background music. After a while they give up and part, which happens mere moments before a drunken asshole spots Andrew and accosts him. It turns out that the drunken dickhead thought Andrew was filming his girlfriend and threatens him, causing Andrew to flee the scene in a mixture of embarrassment and fear. 

Meanwhile I'm casually speaking in Spanish to a handsome teen trying to get help and hyped up before he approaches a girl at the party. I give him some tips on what to say in Spanish as I listen to a distressed Andrew sullenly stalk towards the backdoor. I physically spot him as he pulls the door open and speedwalks out into the backyard. 

I stay with the fairly popular student I'm conversing with for perhaps a minute more before I guide him, verbally, to a place where he feels reasonably ready to go and try to talk up the girl. He thanks me for my time and when we part ways I go after Andrew, walking out of the party and moving to the forest-facing backyard of whoever owns this house.

The backyard is impressively dark. Right now it's only eight thirty at night but over here by the forest all the light seems to be gone so it looks much later in the evening than it actually is. 

Andrew is sitting in the grass, away from the part of the backyard that is faintly illuminated by the house lights. I approach him and when I reach him I immediately sit down next to him and glance at the teen.

"Hey man, what's going on?" I ask, as though I don't already know what happened. Andrew spots me and a conflicted smile crosses his face.

"Luciano I… I didn't know you had made it." He tells me, a sad look on his face. I smile at him and look him in the eyes as I tell him to tell me what's going on. He hesitates before sighing, and looking down so I don't notice the tears in his eyes as he speaks.

"Some asshole… threatened me earlier. He was making a big stink because of the camera." Andrew tells me, and I watch as he relaxes a touch. I can tell that this is the result of a perk, my good boy perk specifically. He seems a bit lighter now.

"It was stupid. He was just being a dick, but between that and other stuff it just got to me." He explains. I nod softly and glance at the night's sky. 

"Do you want to talk about the other stuff?" I ask, as I hear the distant sounds of footsteps approaching Andrew and I. There is a quiet moment where he thinks about how to answer my question. 

"We… I do. I just don't want to do that today. Not at this party." He tells me, and I nod. I can respect that choice. A party is hardly the scene for him to divulge his genuinely tragic backstory. I hear Matt and Steve excitedly approaching us, coming from the depths of the forest, and I decide to just sit with Andrew for a spell. 

The silence is, to my surprise, not at all awkward. It is a pleasant silence, the sort born of trust and acceptance. Andrew fiddles with the camera, and I can sense him wondering what to do, as Steve steps past the tree line, followed shortly by Matt. I tap Andrew's shoulder and point in the direction of the pair, who are excitedly chatting about the hole. They actually walk past us, before Andrew calls out to Matt, which represents a curious change in the film's plot. Matt hears his cousin and turns to face the two of us, an excited look on his face.

"Andrew, you've got to come see this. Luciano, you too." He tells us, grinning almost manically at the two of us. He approaches us and reaches out hands for us to grab onto and help us up. Andrew is the first to get up, taking Matt's arm, even as Steve approaches the two of us and sizes us up.

Steve is a tall black teen with a cocky, infectious smile and a friendly demeanor. He has a positive energy and seems delighted to be with us. He introduces himself to the two of us, but unlike with the film Matt subtly stands up for his cousin by pointing out that Andrew and Steve have actually met before, which elicits a smile from Andrew and a more shocked, but still happy look from me. I quietly wonder if this is due to my time here and my friendship with both cousins, as my good boy perk would actually help Matt be more willing to stand up for his cousin. I take Steve's hand and introduce myself, before Steve tells us that Matt, a few other teens, and Steve all found "Something crazy".

"Hey, can you take your camera and record what we found?" Steve asks, a curiously energetic look in his eyes as he looks at Andrew. Andrew looks at me curious to see what I see. I don't hesitate and nod at him.

"Seeing 'something crazy' sounds fun. It definitely beats the idea of being in there all night." I say, before pointing back at the party. This remark gets a small laugh from Matt who nods in agreement. Steve grins at me and Andrew nods after thinking about my response. This excites Steve who is happy to quickly begin to guide us towards what I know is actually the source of strange, and exciting, superpowers. 

Our journey to the cave begins with us leaving the party and venturing into pitch black woods.