timaeusTestified [TT] began bothering gutsyGumshoe [GG] at 1:43

TT: I should probably warn you.
GG: About what?
GG: Yet another exploding game trap?
TT: Well shit.
TT: She already sent it?
GG: Yes.
GG: But to be fair, she warned me not to run it.
TT: That's weird.
GG: Why?
GG: She was probably just trying to protect me from the Batterwitch's latest assassination attempt.
GG: Sheesh, I can't believe you all finally got me saying "Batterwitch" too. Who would have thought?
TT: No, it's weird because Lalonde was the one who rigged it to explode.
TT: It's a bogus copy she coded herself. The real game file she downloaded is totally legit.
GG: What? Really?
TT: Got it right here myself. Checked it out.
TT: File's fuckin' clean as a whistle.
TT: A whistle that overcame a major substance abuse problem. Trying to get its life back on track.
TT: The whistle is holding down a steady job now. It's taking things one day at a time.
TT: Eat a fuckin' dinner off that whistle.
GG: ...
TT: Ok I'll shut up.
GG: Why would she do that?
TT: To accomplish exactly what it sounds like got accomplished.
TT: You narrowly averting the "fake" threat to your life, then getting your shit all hot and bothered at the Baroness over it.
TT: Then you abdicate your heiress throne or something, and give up on this game as a big fuck you to the genocidal cake alien.
GG: But...
GG: If she felt so strongly that I shouldn't play, she could have told me.
GG: Or, told me more forcefully, I guess. I would have listened!
GG: Maybe.
GG: :(
TT: She's working through some problems right now.
TT: Really doesn't want us to play that game.
TT: So I guess this was the insane stunt she whipped up to derail the inevitable.
TT: Kinda reckless for my tastes.
TT: One of the above statements is a fucking lie, are you gutsy enough a gumshoe to spot it.
GG: Maybe she was justified in taking such an extreme measure. I sure hadn't been taking her seriously.
GG: She even warned me not to play it until she got back, but I went ahead anyway because I was too impatient!
GG: Actually...
GG: Now that I think about it, she was probably going to disarm it or such when she got back, seeing as her objective had essentially been accomplished already by an ACTUAL assassination attempt.
GG: After that, I told her I would believe her about everything.
GG: That probably made her feel guilty about setting me up, so she told me not to touch the file until she returned.
TT: Sounds about right.
GG: But then I went ahead and ran it anyway like a doofus.
GG: I think she just wanted to be believed.
GG: Shucks.
GG: Am I an awful friend?
TT: Nope.
GG: I'm not so sure about that.
TT: Well, before you go taking a massive sad crap all over your friendship credentials, consider this.
TT: Only she could manage to blow up your computer with a nasty deathloop virus and somehow make YOU be the one to feel shitty about it.
GG: Heh!
GG: You're right.
TT: Or maybe you're the one who uniquely fills the predicate in that construction.
TT: I don't god damn know.
TT: Your friendship with her is a half drunken three-legged relay race, and the baton is a stick of dynamite.
TT: And you two are the only ones on the track. Me and English are watching from under the bleachers, high-fiving constantly.
GG: I guess that's a pretty apt metaphor, even though it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense.
TT: Yes.
GG: I just wanted to start playing the game so badly!
GG: Now more than ever. I have reason to believe the stakes have increased dramatically.
TT: They have.
TT: And they will continue to.
GG: I think our dream counterparts are all marked for death, and if we are to stand a chance, we must move quickly.
TT: I agree.
TT: Just heard about your assassination on Prospit.
GG: Oh, she told you already?
TT: Who, RL? No.
TT: I read it in a newspaper.
GG: Um.
GG: Are you being ironic again?
TT: No.
TT: I just picked up one of the sleazy Dersite tabloid rags.
TT: Sometimes they'll feature some pretty entertaining gossip about the royalty or whatever.
TT: But they're primarily dedicated to smearing Prospit. The press had a field day with the deaths of the Page and the Maid.
GG: Dersite? You mean the other planet? The evil one?
TT: Derse, yeah.
TT: Not evil, necessarily. That's a bit simplistic. The kingdom represents the forces of opposition to Prospit and the four heroes. Us.
GG: What did the story say about me?
TT: "DEAD"
TT: Was the big ass headline.
TT: Then a photo of your dead body lying there, followed by a lot of bullshit slander.
TT: It was also reported your tower exploded. They couldn't find the body to give it a proper funeral. Probably incinerated.
GG: I didn't realize you had woken up in the game already.
GG: When did that happen?
TT: Dunno. Years ago. Don't really recall.
GG: I guess I shouldn't act surprised you didn't tell me. What with all your highfalutin secrecy.
TT: It's hard to explain.
TT: I was never technically asleep there. I was awake without realizing it.
TT: Then I realized it.
TT: And I sorta learned how to be awake there while awake here too.
TT: I am awake there now, albeit pretending to sleep.
GG: Pretending? Why?
TT: For one thing, it gets a bit distracting managing two alert bodies in different places at the same time.
TT: And for another thing, it's better to maintain appearances.
TT: Everyone on Derse believes their heroes haven't woken yet.
TT: Though they are both rumored to be very active sleep walkers.
TT: Which is half true. She can't ever seem to sleep still. Goes off wandering for days.
TT: Sometimes I've gotta go round her up from some godforsaken cranny of the abyss. Drag her tipsy ass home, tuck her back in.
TT: Maybe I'll chain her leg to the bed if she doesn't wake up soon.
TT: Though in light of the recent assassinations, her slumbering attraction to the void probably works to her advantage. No one ever knows where she is.
GG: I'm still not sure I'm following.
GG: Why are you maintaining the appearance of being asleep? On Prospit, it seemed as if the people there regarded me and Jake very highly. Like celebrated figures.
GG: Is it not the same way on Derse?
TT: No, it's essentially the same situation here.
TT: They glorify us the same way. Almost like we're their purple pajama'd team mascots. Even though they will completely oppose our objective when all is said and done.
TT: Kinda ridiculous, really.
TT: But even so, I think it's better to lay low, not alert anyone to my...
TT: Alertness.
TT: That way I can sneak around and gather information. Do some reconnaissance before shit starts getting real.
GG: In other words, read newspapers, get a feel for "the word on the street," and such?
GG: As might a detective? :B
TT: Yeah, among other things. Like keep an eye on agent activity.
GG: You mean... secret agents??
TT: No, more like high ranking officials.
TT: Judging from your knife wound, I'm betting you were the victim of the Archagent himself.
TT: You should feel honored, I guess.
GG: Who's that?
TT: A guy named Noir.
TT: Real nasty dude. Crazy ambitious. Loves knives.
TT: If we're going to stand any chance of winning this thing,
TT: I've got this nagging suspicion we're gonna have to take him down first.
TT: And a feeling that nags equally,
TT: Is it ain't gonna be easy.