019 ❖ Occam's Razor

[noluckduck]

[Phone]

[The news have spread. Everybody in town is a copy - a phony. She remembers arguing with that one kid - Pokey, was it? - months ago; he had his theories, and she shot them down.

She was always afraid he'd be right.

Maybe she should have just stopped hanging on to hope once it turned out the town was a simulation. If the town's fake, so are they.

Maybe it's silly to come to the phone at a time like this--

But it feels like it's what she has to do.]


So we're all fakes. People called it, I guess.

[A pause that lasts a little too long.]

What's the point now? What the hell are we - [she groans] - fighting for?

Comments

[photonicfighter]

[Dakki lets out a long sigh before speaking.]

We're not fakes. We're copies of our original selves, but that doesn't make us fake.

And what I'm fighting for, right now? Is to not die.

[noluckduck]

How are we not fake? There's the originals, and they ain't us!

[... She... supposes dying still wouldn't be nice though.]

[photonicfighter]

That doesn't make us fake. That makes us different. You're a second Clover, just as important and just as entitled to exist as the original.

[noluckduck]

I dunno if that's true when a crazy psycho's the one who made us.

[photonicfighter]

It doesn't matter who or what makes you, it's what you do with that existence! Are you saying that the child of bad parents isn't a worthwhile child?

[noluckduck]

Wuh-- Well, no. Course not.

[photonicfighter]

Then that doesn't mean that we're not worthwhile! So there!

[...you can really only pretend to be smart and know what you're talking about for so long.]

[noluckduck]

... Fine. But so what? What do we do? Whadda we do it for?

[destroytheblueone]

Giving up already? We may not be real, but we are alive. We still have a chance to make a difference!

You can sit there and complain and give up! Me? I'm going to make a difference! Then, I'm going to make Mayfield mine.

[noluckduck]

... Whaddya mean, yours? Wanna run the town or somethin'?

[imoutos]

[ Nadeko's voice is - quite possibly - even weaker than it used to be. Honestly, it sounds like she's just generally trying to hold back tears or breaking down even further, but.. if she at least has the chance to talk to someone familiar, she wants to, maybe Clover can make it better somehow - to Nadeko she's always seemed strong, either way. ]

I-.. it's scary..

[noluckduck]

[Nadeko's voice is a good reminder of one thing, at least:

Fake people or not, their feelings are real.

Clover is drained enough that she doesn't even care how dumb that sounds.]

... Hey. It could be worse. [Not that she has any idea how.]

[imoutos]

[ There's something small in her voice that perks up just a little bit at that. A sliver of hope, just since she believes other people so easily. ]

.. Huh? I.. it could be..? T-this isn't t-the worst?

[noluckduck]

Yeah, we could be...

[Dead? That might be better.

... She really isn't sure.]

[imoutos]

[ .. She pauses too as Clover's voice trails off. Almost as if she gets that there is hesitation on her side too, and it only unnerves Nadeko more. She grasps herself a little tighter as she speaks into the phone again. ]

Even so.. t.. this is d-definitely.. scary. I don't know what to do.. [ her sentence ends with a near-sob. ]

[noluckduck]

[Oh, no. It's like talking to a newborn foal.

... Okay, it's a strange simile, but it IS a thing she has done.]

We... We can still try to do somethin', I guess. I just... Honestly, what'd be the point?

[imoutos]

I.. I just wanted to s-see him again.. [ Apparently she feels okay with sharing this much information with Clover - with everyone else, due to shyness and slight secrecy, it wouldn't have happened as easily. ]

I wanted to see Koyomi onii-chan again, b-but now I c-can't..!

[noluckduck]

[... Oh.]

Who's that? [Clover doesn't really know her honorifics.]

[imoutos]

[ It's okay, it's not her actual older brother either way.. ]

Koyomi onii-chan is.. [ .. what should she say? Maybe, if she's a clone either way and it's all fake.. maybe she can say it just because of that, and maybe just because it's Clover.. ]

H-he's.. the person I l-like..

[noluckduck]

Oh. [Welp, here's a subject Clover isn't sure how to talk about.]

Does he like ya back, or...?

[imoutos]

.. I don't know.. [ She never got to ask him while he was here, and then he got droned, and.. well, that made things a lot more difficult. But he has a girlfriend either way, so maybe it's for the best that she never asked. ]

I.. I wanted t-to ask him, b.. but now I'll n-never see him..

[noluckduck]

...

So I guess you've got somethin' to fight for and all, don't ya?

[imoutos]

[ To fight for? She didn't view it that way to begin with, so the response just gets a curious silence from her at first. ]

But.. w-we can't go back, right..? We're not.. real.

[noluckduck]

... Yeah. Right.

But what if your dude comes back?

[imoutos]

... Huh?

Y.. you think he'll s-stop being a drone? B-but.. not a l-lot of people have had that happening l-lately, right? I thought they maybe s-stopped undroning people..

[noluckduck]

... I guess. But maybe not. I mean, who the fuck even knows anymore?

But see, that's why ya should probably keep goin'.

[imoutos]

K.. keep going so I can m-maybe see Koyomi onii-chan again.. even if it's t-this difficult?

[noluckduck]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm sayin'.

[soulless_soldier]

...I don't know anymore. I don't know what we can do about this. If anything.

[noluckduck]

Right. [...] Sure, it feels wrong to just sit down and give up, but... hell, what other options do we even have?