label noelle4: $ save_name = _("Noelle") hide screen quick_menu3 play sound "sound/jackpot.ogg" $ renpy.pause(0.8, hard=True) hide bg show card roll show circle circle1 show film strip1 at Pan((0, 0), (0, 868), 10, repeat=True) $ renpy.pause(2.65, hard=True) show card cardNoelle show circle circleFlash $ renpy.pause(3.2, hard=True) hide circle hide card hide film show bg black stop sound play music "music/romaras.ogg" show screen quick_menu3 $ chTitle =_("Noelle") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) $ chTitle =_("5th grade") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) $ chTitle =_("Saturday Chinese School") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens show bg kidClassroom $npcName=_("Teacher") $npcName2=_("Classmate") $subtitle=_("The first phrase is \"mirror.\"") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}第一個詞是：「鏡子」。{/font}" # $subtitle=_("{font=traditional_chinese.otf}\"錯\"{/font} means \"wrong.\"") #NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}「錯」是「wrong」。{/font}" $subtitle="" "Noelle copies down the unfamiliar characters on the board stroke by stroke." show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh NoelleT "What did it look like again?" hide sideSprite1 menu: "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}鍺子{/font}": jump wrongAnswer "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}錢子{/font}": jump wrongAnswer "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}鏡子{/font}": jump rightAnswer label wrongAnswer: "Noelle writes it down, then checks it against the writing on the board." show sideSprite1 yNoelleWorriedAway NoelleT "I got it wrong..." jump vocab2 label rightAnswer: "Noelle writes it down, then checks it against the words on the board." show sideSprite1 yNoelleAway NoelleT "I got it right! Now for the next one..." jump vocab2 label vocab2: hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("The next phrase is \"admit.\"") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}第二個詞是：「承認」。{/font}" $subtitle=_("You should already know \"recognize.\"") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}「認」你們應該已經會了。{/font}" $subtitle=_("{font=traditional_chinese.otf}承{/font}'s meaning is \"to bear\" or \"to carry\"...") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}「承」的意思是「to bear」or 「to carry」……{/font}" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 yNoelleTsun NoelleT "This would be easier if Chinese words used an alphabet like most languages." NoelleT "It infuriates me how you can't tell how a Chinese character is pronounced by the way it looks." NoelleT "You're forced to learn every single word twice — how it sounds, AND what it looks like. It's wildly inefficient." hide sideSprite1 "A couple hours into the lesson, a kid toward the back of the room raises his hand." $subtitle=_("Teacher, how many Chinese characters are there?") NPC2 "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}老師，中文字總共有幾個？{/font}" $subtitle=_("At least 80,000.") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}至少八萬個。{/font}" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 yNoelleWorried Noelle "80,000?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("Don't worry, most educated people only know about 8,000.") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}別擔心，有上過學的人平均也只認得八千個字左右。{/font}" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 yNoelleWorriedAway NoelleT "8,000 is still a mindboggling number..." hide sideSprite1 label quittingChineseSchool: show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg noelleLivingRoom with diamond "After school, Noelle does her weekly packet of Chinese homework at the kitchen table." show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh NoelleT "I've spent every Saturday since kindergarten tediously memorizing a few characters at a time, but it's barely even made a dent." NoelleT "After all these years, I still can't even read a book or the newspaper." NoelleT "At this pace, it's hard to imagine I'll ever be able to." hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sprite momShocked Mom "Noelle! What is this?!" with sshake "Noelle looks up to see her Mom holding the sample packet of pads and tampons she got from school." show sideSprite1 yNoelleNeutral Noelle "Oh, that's from the Sex Ed talk we had in class. The girls received a presentation about menstruation." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "The school gave you this?!" with sshake play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" Mom "Using a tampon is the same as having sex!" with sshake show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh Noelle "That's not what the teacher giving the talk said..." Noelle "It's just a tool for absorbing blood." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSurprised Mom "No! You'll be able to feel it the whole time, and it goes into..." "Her mom can't even bear to say it." show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "It's the same as having sex with a man." show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh Noelle "The woman giving the talk said plenty of girls use it." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momShocked Mom "American girls get their periods so early because they're thinking sexual thoughts at a young age." with sshake Mom "It's not natural. You shouldn't be thinking about these things until you're married." hide sprite with dissolve "After throwing away the immoral tampons, her mom goes off to the living room to watch a Chinese variety show." # NoelleT "There's this message she's always trying to impart on me: I'm lonely because of you." # NoelleT "Only, it's not true." # NoelleT "There's no shortage of other Chinese immigrant mothers in our neighborhood." # NoelleT "She's lived here for over a decade. Is she just so unpleasant that no one else wants to be friends with her?" show sideSprite1 yNoelleTsun NoelleT "It's hard growing up trusting very little of your parents' judgment." NoelleT "My mom doesn't believe in mental illness, yet genuinely believes in superstitions like auspicious dates. And no amount of proof or argument can sway her." NoelleT "Is Chinese society just decades behind the West? I've yet to meet a white person whose mind works this way." hide sideSprite1 # NoelleT "Unless they physically hit or assaulted you, in society's eyes, it's blasphemous not to." # NoelleT "How could you have condemned me to this?" stop music fadeout 2.0 "Noelle glances over at the show her mom is watching." show bg WTO with dissolve play music "music/WTO.ogg" "Colorful words and cartoons fly across the screen as cheesy sound effects play." show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh NoelleT "So tacky..." NoelleT "It's one of those shows where they interview a panel of foreigners who can barely speak Mandarin." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle cringes as silly \"boing\" noises are overlaid over the host's jokes." show sideSprite1 yNoelleTsun NoelleT "They're just laughing at the foreigners for not understanding the questions they've been asked..." NoelleT "Why is this popular? It's so juvenile and embarrassing." NoelleT "I feel like I'm losing brain cells as I listen to this." hide sideSprite1 "Disgusted, Noelle returns to scrutinizing the impenetrable paragraph of Chinese she's supposed to be analyzing for homework." show sideSprite1 yNoelleAnnoyed NoelleT "What am I even going to use Chinese for? Watching drivel like that?" NoelleT "I have no interest in the backwards culture that produced my pathetic, narrow-minded parents." hide sideSprite1 stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg noelleLivingRoom with dissolve play music "music/miltata - pas a pas.mp3" "When a commercial break comes on, she throws down her pencil." show sideSprite1 yNoelleTsun Noelle "I want to quit Chinese school." hide sideSprite1 "Her mom whirls around from the couch, alarmed." play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sprite momSurprised Mom "What?! Why?" with sshake show sideSprite1 yNoelleAnnoyed Noelle "I hate it! It always takes up my entire Saturday!" with sshake Noelle "They assign so much homework every week on top of the regular homework I get from school." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle's dad looks up disapprovingly from the newspaper he's reading." show sprite dadNeutral Dad "Well, you can't quit. What kind of Chinese person can't even speak Chinese?" show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "We'll lose face if you don't learn!" Mom "Other people will think we're bad parents." play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh Noelle "Why does it matter what other people think?!" with sshake Noelle "{i}I'm{/i} the one whose limited time is being sucked away by it! My opinion should be the one that matters the most!" hide sideSprite1 show sprite dadNeutral Dad "No, you have to listen to your parents." Dad "It's for your own good. You're too young to understand." "Almost nothing drives Noelle up a wall more than being told she's not old enough to understand something." show sideSprite1 yNoelleAnnoyed Noelle "Stop treating me like a some feeble-minded little kid. I read at college-level already!" hide sideSprite1 show sprite dadNeutral Dad "It doesn't matter, you don't have the life experience yet." Dad "Some things you can only know from being as old as your parents are." show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh Noelle "What, so just because you're older than me you're automatically smarter than I am?" hide sideSprite1 Dad "Yes." show sideSprite1 yNoelleTsun Noelle "I don't accept that." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "It's your culture. You can't just throw it away." show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh Noelle "Yes, I can. It's a poorly constructed, archaic language." hide sideSprite1 # Mom "That's not true. If it's so bad, then how come Korea and Japan copied the Chinese for their languages?" # show sideSprite1 yNoelleUh # Noelle "Those countries both improved on Chinese by adding their own alphabet systems!" # Noelle "We're the only ones stuck memorizing thousands upon thousands of symbols just to {i}learn how to read!{/i}" # Noelle "Everyone else was able to recognize it was pointlessly complicated!" # hide sideSprite1 show sprite dadNeutral Dad "That's not true. If it's so bad, how come it's worked for thousands of years?" Dad "You should take more pride in your culture." show sideSprite1 yNoelleTsun Noelle "What is there to be proud of?" Noelle "I'm stuck learning the worst, most pointlessly complicated language in the world." hide sideSprite1 # Noelle "I wish I was Korean or Japanese instead. Then I wouldn't have gotten stuck with having to learn the worst language in the world." "Exasperated, Noelle's parents exchange a look." show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "You're still going to Chinese school. We already paid for your classes this year." show sideSprite1 yNoelleNeutral Noelle "Can I quit at the end of the year then?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite dadNeutral Dad "If you still feel this way by the end of the year, fine. You can quit." show sideSprite1 yNoelleSurprised Noelle "I can?" hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sprite momShocked Mom "Huh?! No, she can't!" with sshake show sprite dadNeutral Dad "Think about it. If she goes to Chinese school with that kind of attitude, she won't learn anything anyway." Dad "It's impossible to teach someone who doesn't want to be educated. We might as well at least save money." show sideSprite1 yNoelleHappy NoelleT "Yes! The end of the year is pretty far away, but at least the end is in sight now!" NoelleT "Quitting Chinese school will significantly free up my schedule. I can probably read a few more books every week!" show sideSprite1 yNoelleBigSmile NoelleT "It'll be so worth it. When I'm older, I'll be so thankful that I quit." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite label ranch99: show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg 99ranch with diamond "Noelle is so elated that she doesn't even mind being dragged along to 99 Ranch with her mom, a trip she normally gripes is a waste of time." "As they browse the fishball aisle, her mom's Nokia rings. She quickly brings it to her ear." $subtitle=_("Hello?") show sprite momNeutral Mom "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}喂？{/font}" $subtitle="" show sprite momSad "There's a pause. Her mom's face falls." show sideSprite1 yNoelleNeutral Noelle "What is it?" hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("Ah-ma = Taiwanese term for grandma") Mom "Ah-ma passed away." $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 yNoelleAway Noelle "Oh." #NoelleT "I've read enough books to know this is where I'm supposed to feel sad." NoelleT "I know I should be sad...but I haven't seen my grandmother for years." NoelleT "I've never had a real conversation with her before. It's like being told a stranger died." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite label wikipedia: stop music fadeout 3.0 show bg black pause 2.0 $ chTitle =_("9th grade") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) $ chTitle =_("Spring Break") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens pause 2.0 hide chTitle onlayer screens play music "music/romaras.ogg" show bg noelleBedroom "Noelle isn't allowed to close her bedroom door, so she's on high alert as she uses the computer." show sideSprite1 noelleBlushTsun NoelleT "It sounds like my mother's busy washing vegetables in the kitchen. Here's my chance!" hide sideSprite1 "Noelle quickly searches \"Homosexuality\" on Wikipedia." #"Noelle has locked her bedroom door so she can study the \"Homosexuality\" Wikipedia page without being walked in on." show sideSprite1 noelleBlushTsun NoelleT "I skimmed this page once as research, after Akarsha started insisting Diya and Min-seo were romantically involved." NoelleT "But I'm POSITIVE there was no mention of it being possible for two women to have sexual relations!" NoelleT "I would have remembered it!" hide sideSprite1 $foundPorn=False $rereadArticle=False $ npcName=_("Wikipedia page") label wikiLoop: hide sideSprite1 with None hide sprite with Dissolve (0.2) $newSpeaker=True menu: "Re-read the Wikipedia article" if not rereadArticle: jump rereadArticle "Click the \"sexual intercourse\" hyperlink": jump sexualBehavior "Click the \"lesbian\" hyperlink": jump lesbian label rereadArticle: $rereadArticle=True "Much of the page is devoted to the historic and modern-day oppression of gay men." "There's mentions of sodomy being criminalized, along with an image of Ancient Greek pottery depicting of two nude men embracing that Noelle scrolls past very quickly." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "Wait, this might be something." hide sideSprite1 NPC "Anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe reported that women in Lesotho engaged in socially sanctioned \"long term, erotic relationships\"." show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "What exactly do they mean by \"erotic\"? They need to be more descriptive!" hide sideSprite1 "She clicks on the citation, but the source is a book called \"Boy Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities\"." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "There's no way the library carries this book..." hide sideSprite1 menu: "Click the \"Lesotho\" hyperlink": # "The Lesotho Wikipedia page is extremely short." "Noelle scrolls through the page, but there's no mention of the \"erotic relationships\"." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "This is a dead end." NoelleT "I could try googling it, but it might bring up obscene results." hide sideSprite1 jump wikiLoop label sexualBehavior: "The link leads to a more general page called \"Human sexual intercourse\"." "To Noelle's disgust, it features a painting of a man and woman copulating." show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed NoelleT "This is repulsive. I'd really rather not stay on this page for long." hide sideSprite1 NPC "Sexual intercourse commonly refers to the act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract.[[1][[2]" NPC "In recent years penetration of non-sexual organs or by non-sexual organs (fingering, fisting) are also sometimes included in this definition." show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "What on earth is \"fingering\"? Is this the finger thing Min-seo was referring to?" hide sideSprite1 menu: "Click the \"fingering\" hyperlink": "The page opens. At the top, there's a simple illustration of a naked woman stroking the genitals of another woman." jump gayPanic label lesbian: "Noelle scrolls through the page." show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmile NoelleT "Most this page just details historical lesbian relationships." NoelleT "They lived such tragic, tortured lives. I hope Diya knows what she's signed up for..." hide sideSprite1 NPC "Before the late 19th century, the word \"Lesbian\" referred to any derivative or aspect of Lesbos, including a type of wine." NPC "In 1890, however, the term was used in a medical dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism (as \"Lesbian love\"): sexual gratification of two women by simulating intercourse." show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "What on earth is \"tribadism\"? Is this the finger thing Min-seo was referring to?" hide sideSprite1 menu: "Click the \"tribadism\" hyperlink": "The page opens. At the top, there's a simple illustration of two naked women scissoring." jump gayPanic label gayPanic: play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleBlushNervous NoelleT "WHAT IS THIS???!?!!" with sshake NoelleT "This is...this is so risqué!" hide sideSprite1 "Noelle breaks into a feverish sweat as she reads the page as quickly as possible." "Then, in a panic, Noelle closes the tab, erases her web history, and shuts the computer down." show sideSprite1 noelleBlush NoelleT "Min-seo was right...I can't believe it..." # NoelleT "Even if I've now confirmed that it's possible for two women to have sexual intercourse via...online research...it's completely irrelevant!" # NoelleT "It has no bearing on my situation at all!" play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleBlushTsun NoelleT "Should such erotic content be allowed on Wikipedia?! Anyone can read it!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleBlushNervous NoelleT "I must destroy all evidence that I've visited that page!" with sshake #NoelleT "It's completely irrelevant to my interests! It has no bearing on my life at all!" NoelleT "Should I uninstall the browser? Delete my user profile? Perhaps set the computer on fire for good measure?" NoelleT "This better not awaken anything in me..." hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/dingLow.ogg" "Noelle jumps in her chair when she receives a text." menu: "Check your phone": jump kingDedede label kingDedede: $nvlShow() cFirstLine "{nw}" cAkarsha "is it just me or does king dedede look kinda sexy in this drawing" cSame "{image=DeviantArt.png}" cDiya "??????" cAkarsha "anyone else?? hello???" cSame "anyone care to raise a hand" cMin "YOURE INSANE" cAkarsha "WOULD ANYONE ELSE HIT IT??? HELOLO?" cSame "noelle???" cSame "(banging on your door)" cSame "if u would fuck king dedede (a penguin?)" cSame "ur braver than the U.S. marines" cNarrator "Diya has left the chatroom." cNarrator "Min has left the chatroom." cAkarsha "welp" cNoelle "Why are you like this??" # cNoelle "How do these thoughts even occur to you??" cAkarsha "im so bored TT_TT" cSame "ive been stuck at home all day" cNoelle "Unfortunately for you, I can't entertain you for long either." cSame "I have to leave for the airport soon." cAkarsha "oh yeah ur visiting taiwan right?" cSame "how long ru gonna be there again?" cNoelle "I'll be there for the entire week. My mom and I will return Sunday afternoon." cSame "My dad is staying for an additional week there for business purposes." cAkarsha "can i still message u when ur there?" cSame "do u have to use a vpn or something?" cNoelle "No, as long as I have internet access, we should be able to chat like usual." cAkarsha "rly? but isnt there like hella censorship o_0" cNoelle "No, there's nothing like that in Taiwan. It's not as if I'm going to China." # cSame "I just can't guarantee I'll actually have free time to sit down at a computer during the trip." cAkarsha "right right" cSame "uhhh also" cSame "whats the difference between china and taiwan again ^_^;;" cSame "/shot" cSame "i mean i know taiwans an island" cSame "but is it like" cNoelle "You said you were shot, yet you're still talking like nothing happened?" cAkarsha "its own country?" cSame "i have high pain tolerance" cNoelle "No, you don't." cAkarsha "anyway i tried to ask in geography class once and everyone started arguing" cNoelle "Everyone started arguing because it's a political question." cSame "Whether Taiwan is a part of China or a separate country is an extremely controversial issue." cAkarsha "y tho?" cNoelle "To be honest, I'm not clear on the details." cSame "As I understand it, the dispute is the result of a civil war that was never properly resolved." cAkarsha "huh...." cSame "so ru taiwanese? or chinese?" cSame "or both?" cNoelle "Well," cSame "I went to Chinese school as a child." cSame "And my parents told me Chinese folktales." cAkarsha "is that how it works?" cSame "just bc i speak english doesnt mean im english" cNoelle "To be frank, I'm floundering because I've never given it any thought." cAkarsha "lol oops" cSame "i didnt mean to give u an identity criss" cSame "*crisis" cNoelle "Even if I say I'm Taiwanese, hardly anyone knows what that means, even other East Asians." cAkarsha "hm" cSame "that kinda sounds like how most americans dont rly get desi identities" cNoelle "How so?" cAkarsha "like, they think about it based on country" cSame "like ur pakistani, or indian, etc" cSame "but the countries werent split on racial lines" # cSame "since the countries were split on political n religious lines not racial ones" cSame "like an indian punjabi isnt rly the same ethnicity as an indian guju" cSame "but its all the same to nondesis bc they dont know the difference lol xD" cNoelle "Oh...You're right, I don't know the difference." cAkarsha "wait" cSame "WAIT I KNOW" cSame "the answer to what u are" cNoelle "What is it?" cAkarsha "ur french" cSame "bc ur frenchman <3" cNoelle "THAT DOESN'T HELP ME AT ALL." cAkarsha "no?" cNoelle "NO." nvl clear label airport: show bg black $nvlHide() pause 2.0 # $ chTitle =_("") # pause 2.0 # $ chTitle =_("San Francisco International Airport") # show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens # $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) # hide chTitle onlayer screens show bg sfo with diamond "Later that day, Noelle sits in the backseat as her dad drives them to the airport." "She feels a flash of rage when she sees a passing car sporting a \"Proud Parent of an Honor Roll Student\" bumper sticker." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun NoelleT "Why would you brag about such an unremarkable accomplishment on your car?" NoelleT "You're {i}supposed{/i} to be on the Honor Roll. It's like buying a bumper sticker that says, \"My child breathes air.\"" NoelleT "My parents would never even bother mentioning such a banal thing." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle's mom squints at the airport signage as it passes them by." show sideSprite2 momNeutral Mom "Noelle, watch the signs for us." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Why me? I don't even know how to drive." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 momNeutral Mom "You were born here, you read faster than us." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Alright..." NoelleT "How is it that after living here for twenty years, they still haven't mastered English?" NoelleT "My mom can't even speak English well enough to carry a conversation with a stranger." NoelleT "What have they been doing this whole time?" hide sideSprite1 # "Noelle grumpily puts her phone away and pays attention to the signs outside." show sideSprite2 dadNeutral Dad "Which way is parking? Which lane?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Just follow the arrows. Turn right." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 dadHappy Dad "See? Even though I have a Ph.D, ever since you were in second grade, you could read highway signs faster than me." show sideSprite2 momNeutral Mom "Good thing we have Noelle with us. The signs go by so fast." hide sideSprite2 "Noelle's dad scratches his head as she directs him through the airport's labyrinthian roads." show sideSprite2 dadNeutral Dad "Where is it? It feels like we're just going in circles." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "We're not, see that sign there? The parking's past the cargo area." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 dadNeutral Dad "Do I turn here?" hide sideSprite2 "Noelle's heart stops as her dad starts to turn into a street labeled with \"Do Not Enter.\"" play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "IT SAYS \"DO NOT ENTER\"! KEEP STRAIGHT!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 dadSurprised Dad "Oh!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 "Her dad swerves sharply to stay in his lane. Noelle massages her temples, her heart pounding." show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalm NoelleT "I'm surrounded by illiterate idiots!" with sshake NoelleT "Why does it rest on me, a literal child, to ensure we don't drive into oncoming traffic??" NoelleT "They have endless energy when it comes to obsessing over my studies. Why can't they work on their own English instead?!" hide sideSprite1 #show bg sfoParking with dissolve "As the car rolls into a parking lot, Noelle jolts up in her seat." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "Wait, this isn't the correct garage! Turn around!" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 dadNeutral Dad "Huh? How do you know?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "That sign says \"Premium Parking!\"" Noelle "\"Premium\" means something of exceptional quality; superior." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 momSurprised Mom "So? Isn't that good?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Not right now when we are looking for the regular, run-of-the-mill parking lot." Noelle "In this context, premium parking means special parking that's more expensive." hide sideSprite1 #$subtitle=_("Zhu Bajie = The name of the hog-like character\nin the Chinese folktale {i}Journey to the West{/i}") play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite2 dadSurprised Dad "Oh!" with sshake # $subtitle="" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "Make a U-turn! We're going to miss our flight!" hide sideSprite1 "Noelle's mom sighs as the car makes a series of turns." show sideSprite2 momAnnoyed Mom "This would've been easier if you could talk to us in Chinese." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleTsun Noelle "This would've been easier if your English was better, too." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle crosses her arms in the backseat, fuming." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun NoelleT "Why am I the one responsible for making sure we're not separated by a language barrier?" NoelleT "You were the ones who chose to move here in the first place." hide sideSprite1 label arriveTaiwan: show bg black stop music fadeout 2.0 $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) $ chTitle =_("Sixteen hours later") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) $ chTitle =_("Taipei") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens play music "music/Daydream.ogg" $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens show bg outsideApartment "Noelle and her parents take a taxi from the airport to an alley lined with parked scooters." # NoelleT "It smells so distinctly like Taiwan here." # NoelleT "It's not good or bad. I don't know how to describe it." # NoelleT "Maybe it's a mixture of food and exhaust?" # "Her dad opens a pair of steel doors into a decrepit concrete staircase. The whole place looks like it's from another era." $subtitle=_("Ah-gong = grandpa") show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "This must be Ah-gong's apartment. We're staying there for the week." hide sideSprite1 # Mom "Ah-gong's house. We're staying there for the week." $subtitle="" "Her mom presses the buzzer." $subtitle=_("We're here!") show sprite momNeutral Mom "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}我們到了！{/font}" $subtitle=_("Come in, come in!") Aunt "快進來、快進來！" $subtitle="" # play sound "sound/doorOpen.ogg" # "The steel doors unlock with a click, revealing a decrepit concrete staircase." # "Noelle's dad grunts as he drags his luggage up the steps." # Dad "Good thing it's not summer yet, otherwise it'd be like a sauna." # Dad "We'd be swimming in sweat." # show sideSprite1 noelleHm # Noelle "Didn't you grow up here? Aren't you used to it?" # hide sideSprite1 # Dad "Not anymore. I've been away for too long." hide sprite #walking up concrete stairs sound show bg black with dissolve "After huffing and puffing up four stories of stairs, Noelle is drenched in sweat." # "She staggers into Ah-gong's apartment behind her parents." show bg apartment with dissolve $auntName=_("Da Ah-yi") $chunHuaName=_("Chun-hua") # $subtitle=_("Da Ah-yi = Big Aunt") # Aunt "Good morning! Did you get any sleep on the flight?" # Dad "Only a little." # Dad "Chun-hua, you've grown so big!" # ChunHuaChinese "Yeah, I think I was in elementary school the last time you saw me!" show sprite auntNeutral $subtitle=_("Hey!") Aunt "哈嘍！" show sprite chunHuaHappy $subtitle=_("Yay!! You're finally here!") ChunHua "耶！！ 你們總算來了！" $subtitle=_("Chun-hua, you've grown so big!") show sprite dadSurprised Dad "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}春花，你長大了！{/font}" $subtitle=_("Yeah, I must've been in elementary school the last time you saw me!") show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "對啊！你上次見到我的時候，我還在念小學呢！" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "This must be one of my cousins." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "Noelle, don't be rude. Introduce yourself in Chinese." #"Noelle dredges up some kindergarten-level vocabulary from the recesses of her memory." $subtitle=_("Hi marryone...I four Le-ying.") # $subtitle=_("Hi everyone...I four Nuo-ao.") show sideSprite1 noelleWorried # Noelle "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}大家好……我四諾奧。{/font}" Noelle "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}大嫁好……我四樂映。{/font}" $subtitle="" NoelleT "My pronunciation is so atrocious, I don't know if they can even understand me." hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("What'd you say?") show sprite ahGong AhGong "妳說什麼？" # $subtitle=_("Lair am Nuo-ao.") $subtitle=_("Lair am Le-ying.") show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway Noelle "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}窩是樂映。{/font}" #Noelle "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}窩是諾奧。{/font}" $subtitle="" Noelle "Can I just talk in English?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "Ah-gong doesn't speak English. He only knows Japanese, Taiwanese, and Mandarin." $subtitle=_("Even the Mandarin, he's nearly forgotten.") show sprite auntSad Aunt "他連國語都快要不會講了。" $subtitle="" "Da Ah-yi gestures at her daughter. She's wearing thick glasses and carrying a huge brick of a book." show sprite auntNeutral Aunt "Noelle, you speak English with Chun-hua." #Aunt "Noelle, you can speak English with Chun-hua." Aunt "She want go college in America, so she very happy practice speaking." # Aunt "She wants to go to college in America, so she's very happy to practice speaking it." show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "Yes! You can call me Literature!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "Is that a name she chose herself...? Chinese people have such odd taste in English names." Noelle "That's alright, Chun-hua is fine." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "We are the same ages, right? Who do you think is more tall?" "Chun-hua eagerly stands back-to-back with Noelle so the others can judge." #NoelleT "She's so hyper." show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "Wait, you're standing on your tip-toes! That's cheating!" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "Huh? No, I am not." show sprite dadHappy Dad "Wow, you two are the exact same height!" #Aunt "It's like seeing the Taiwanese and American flavor of the same thing." $subtitle=_("They're both skin and bones. They really are cousins.") show sprite momNeutral Mom "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}兩個怎麼都瘦得跟竹竿一樣。果然是表姐妹。{/font}" $subtitle=_("One U.S. version, one Taiwan version.") show sprite auntNeutral Aunt "一個美版，一個台版。" $subtitle="" show sprite chunHuaHappy "Noelle glances at Chun-hua and realizes with a start that she's right." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "It's like meeting a version of myself from a universe where my parents never went to America." NoelleT "A stranger with my face." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "You're SURE I'm not taller?" show sprite auntNeutral Aunt "Yes, we sure." show sprite ahGong AhGong "{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent}" show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent}" show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "That must be Taiwanese..." hide sideSprite1 "Chun-hua gives him an affectionate hug as Noelle awkwardly watches from the sidelines." "Meanwhile, the adults launch into an animated conversation in Taiwanese." show sprite momNeutral Mom "{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent}" show sprite ahGong AhGong "{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent}" hide sprite with dissolve show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "I wonder what they're talking about." NoelleT "My Taiwanese is even worse than my Mandarin. I don't know a single word." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "...Actually, wait, isn't \"Ah-gong\" Taiwanese?" NoelleT "They didn't cover it in Chinese school. Could it be a term exclusively used in Taiwan?" NoelleT "It's really a special sort of confusion, not knowing what language you're speaking." hide sideSprite1 "Da Ah-yi leads Noelle's parents to the spare bedroom so they can put their luggage away." show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "This reminds me how I used to assume Japanese curry was a Chinese dish because my mom made it regularly." NoelleT "If you have a distant relationship with your parents, your culture becomes a nebulous cloud." NoelleT "Is it Chinese to believe pseudoscience? Is it Chinese to have an outdated and sexist worldview?" NoelleT "Or is that just my parents, in my particular?" NoelleT "How do I distinguish between things peculiar to my life and Chinese culture?" hide sideSprite1 "Chun-hua brightly takes a seat next to Noelle." show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "Anything you have questions about, you can ask me!" $askArea=False $askChunHua=False #add more questions label chunHuaChoice: hide sideSprite1 #add flying squirrel cage? menu: "Ask about the area" if askArea==False: $askArea=True show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Tell me about the surrounding area." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Let's look outside!" hide sprite show bg window with dissolve "Chun-hua goes over to the window and points as Noelle peers outside at the street below." show sideSprite2 chunHuaHappy ChunHua "That way is my house. Me and my mom, we walk over all the time." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "You must live pretty close by if you're able to come on foot." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 chunHuaHappy ChunHua "Yes, we are only a few streets away from Ah-gong." ChunHua "Every weekend, me and my cousins spend here." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "That's so different from my experience..." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 chunHuaHappy ChunHua "When you are all settled, the 7-Eleven, we go and grab breakfast." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "Breakfast...from 7-Eleven?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "What, you've never had it? It's good!" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "It is...? It won't be all greasy?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 chunHuaWorried ChunHua "No? They have fresh tea eggs, hot yams, oden...If you want a prepackaged breakfast, they'll heat it for you, too." #ChunHua "I need to send a few package, anyway. And use their...their..." # ChunHua "How do you call it?" # ChunHua "The thing the paper comes out of, that writes words for you." # ChunHua "A machine." # Noelle "...A printer...?" # NoelleT "But that can't be it. Why would she use a 7-Eleven's printer?" # ChunHua "Yes! Their printer, I need." # Noelle "Do you know the people who work there or something?" # ChunHua "No, everyone can use it. 7-Eleven has everything." # ChunHua "You can buy the train tickets, pay bills, send mails...Sometimes, I do my schoolwork there." ChunHua "In America is it not like that?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "No, American 7-Elevens are just junk food stores." hide sideSprite1 # ChunHua "Then how is it a \"convenience\" store?" # show sideSprite1 noelleHm # Noelle "I suppose it's not one..." # hide sideSprite1 "Chun-hua points at the train as it rushes by." show sideSprite2 chunHuaHappy ChunHua "There's a train station near to us. We take it a lot." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "You don't use the car to get around?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "Not much. When we can't use the train, we ride our scooter." hide sideSprite2 show bg apartment with dissolve "Ask about her book" if askChunHua==False: $askChunHua=True show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "What are you reading?" hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "It's a Chinese translation of a Russian novel." show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "What it's called in English, I don't know." ChunHua "「卡拉馬助夫兄弟們」。" show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "Something something brothers." NoelleT "There's brothers, and it's Russian..." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "The Brothers Karamazov?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "Yes! That sounds correct." show sideSprite1 noelleHappy Noelle "I've read it before, too." NoelleT "This is exciting! I've never met anyone else my age who's read it." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Did you like it?" show sideSprite1 noelleHappy Noelle "The religious themes were of little interest to me, but I found some of its other ideas thought-provoking." Noelle "For example, it argues that humans are so deeply shaped by others that everyone bears some responsibility for the sins of everyone else." Noelle "Everything we do is the result of a huge, interwoven chain reaction of human interactions, and as a result, a crime is never truly one person's fault." Noelle "It's a societal failure." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaNeutral "To Noelle's disappointment, Chun-hua nods, looking lost." show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua ".....I see....." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "I guess what I said was beyond her English level. I need to scale back to a simpler topic." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "Do you like reading?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "I like reading." ChunHua "Are you nerdy?" "The sudden question baffles Noelle." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "...Er...? Yes, I suppose so." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Good, me too!" ChunHua "On the wall, there's even a photo of me that..." ChunHua "..........." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "That...? That what?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "Actually, I change my mind!" with sshake show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "Don't look too much at the photos on the wall, they're embarrassing." "Ask about the photos on the wall" if askChunHua: if askArea==False: show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "Are you SURE? There's really nothing else you would rather know?" menu: ChunHua "{cps=0}Are you SURE? There's really nothing else you would rather know?{/cps}" "Ask about something else": show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "On second thought, there is something else I'm curious about." hide sideSprite1 jump chunHuaChoice "Tell me about the photos": jump lookPhotos else: jump lookPhotos show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "What else do you want to know?" jump chunHuaChoice label lookPhotos: show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Tell me about these photos." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "Okay...If you're sure..." hide sprite with dissolve "They go over to look at the pictures on the wall. The first one's of Ah-gong and Chun-hua at the park." "There's a small chestnut-colored warbler sitting on Chun-hua's arm." show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "That bird, at the park we found him abandoned." ChunHua "It was because he fell out of his nest and broke his wing." ChunHua "After it got better, we taught him to fly so he could go back to the wild." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "I see. That's very noble of you." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "It was Ah-gong's idea." ChunHua "He's quiet, but he is so nice actually." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "You seem very close to your grandpa." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "\"Your\" grandpa? He's your grandpa, too." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway Noelle "Oh......that's right." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "To hide her embarrassment, Noelle quickly moves on to the next photo." "It looks old. A swarm of children are building a sand castle as smiling adults look on in the background." show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "This is me, Wan-ping, and Wan-zhong." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "Wan-ping and Wan-zhong are my older cousins. They're my uncle's children." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Wan-zhong's working right now." show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "Too bad Wan-ping is travelling right now. Or else we could have hung out." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "Where is he visiting?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "Japan. It's his honeymoon." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised Noelle "Honeymoon? Did he get married?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "Yes? A month ago." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "Oh. I had no idea." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "In the picture, the people behind us is Jiu Jiu, Ah-gong, and Ah-ma." show sprite chunHuaSad ChunHua "We didn't knew it, but that weekend was our last one with Ah-ma." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "I can't help but feel jealous they had {i}any{/i} weekends together." #NoelleT "I could've been in this picture, too. I could've had cousins, aunts, and grandparents..." NoelleT "While she was spending every Saturday with her cousins and grandparents, I was at school struggling to learn an entire language so I could even begin to communicate with them." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Chun-hua reluctantly gestures at the last photo, which she was clearly saving for last." show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "And this one is of me with all my anime figures." ChunHua "H-haha!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "Oh, so this is what she meant by nerdy." Noelle "It's alright, I have a good friend who's interested in this sort of thing, too." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "Really? And she's American?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Yes." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "She sounds cool. I want to meet her." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "Y-you do?" hide sideSprite1 "Once Noelle turns away from the photos, Chun-hua points to a framed certificate hanging on the wall behind her." ChunHua "You should look at this award, too. It's your mom's." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "What? Really?" hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Yeah, in college she win a bunch of poetry contest. She was even in the newspaper." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "I had no idea." NoelleT "This is going to sound extremely mean, but I never suspected my mom had any sort of creative talent." NoelleT "All I've ever known her as a strict, close-minded housewife." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Here, you should read her things! She's very skilled." "Chun-hua pulls a magazine out from a cabinet and flips it open to a page of poetry." show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle ".............." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "See what I mean? Some people just have a way with words." show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "It's a big waste she quit. I guess there wasn't enough reason to keep doing it over in America." hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle stares blankly at her mom's poem." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "I can't read any of it..." hide sideSprite1 jump subway label subway: stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 play music "music/side by side.ogg" show bg mrtStation with diamond "That evening, Noelle and her parents walk to the subway." show sprite dadHappy Dad "Here's our train. We should reach the night market in a few stops." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Ugh, I hate taking public transit. The trains are always filthy and poorly maintained." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve play sound "sound/MRTchirp.ogg" show bg mrtInterior with dissolve "As they board the MRT carriage, Noelle steels herself for the stench of vomit, urine, and cigarettes she's grown to expect from American subways." "But to her amazement, the car's shiny floors and seats look so squeaky-clean you could eat off of them." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised NoelleT "It's absolutely spotless..." hide sideSprite1 "Pleasantly surprised, she sits beside her parents in a gleaming plastic seat." $npcName=_("Intercom") NPC "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}石牌...{/font}Shipai Station." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "You can actually clearly hear what they're saying! It's not indistinct mumbling like on BART!" hide sideSprite1 "An LCD screen right across from her neatly displays the names of the previous, current, and next stations." show sideSprite1 noelleHappy NoelleT "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..." hide sideSprite1 # NoelleT "It's so much easier to navigate than BART back home." "Her phone buzzes. Her heart leaps when she sees that it's Akarsha." $nvlShow() cFirstLine "{nw}" cAkarsha "{image=frysSmall.png}" cNoelle "...Why did you send this?" cAkarsha ":(" cSame "I thought you liked me" cNoelle "Even if I hypothetically did like you why would I want to see this awful picture of you?" cAkarsha "personally i think it's very hot and sexy of me to play video games against little kids at Frys Electronics and lose" cNoelle "Is that what you're doing?" cAkarsha "nah im back home now playing the game i bought" cSame "its called Portal" cSame "dude youd love it" cNoelle "I don't play computer games." cAkarsha "NO YOUD LOVE IT TRUST ME" cSame "its not like other games where ur some guy shooting stuff" cSame "ur a girl and its a puzzle game" cSame "ITS IN A SCIENCE RESEARCH FACILITY" cNoelle "Oh?" cAkarsha "ill give u the CD" cSame "just play it" cNoelle "I'll consider it after I return from my trip." cAkarsha "o yeah youre in taiwan" cSame "whatre u up to rn?" cNoelle "I'm riding the subway with my parents." cAkarsha "how is that?" cSame "i hope they arent giving you a hard time" cNoelle "Actually, ever since we've arrived in Taipei they've been in good spirits." cSame "I've never seen my mother so relaxed before." cSame "She must be happy to be back home to see her family." cAkarsha "oh dang!" cSame "thats good" cNoelle "We're on the way to the night market right now." cSame "I feel paranoid that everyone can tell I'm a foreigner." cAkarsha "LOL i get what u mean" cSame "when im in india they can tell im american before i even open my mouth" cSame "just from the way I carry myself" $nvlHide() nvl clear "Her mom sighs as Noelle taps out her response on her phone." show sprite momNeutral Mom "There you are, addicted to your phone." show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "...How am I addicted? Compared to other teenagers, I barely use it." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "You spend so much time talking to your friends." Mom "But friendships are only temporary. As soon as it's inconvenient, they'll all disappear." Mom "After I moved to America for your future, not a single one kept in touch with me." show sprite momSad Mom "The only people you can trust is your family. And I was so far away from all of mine..." Mom "The life of an immigrant is a lonely one." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "........." NoelleT "Is she hoping I'm going to console her? Or thank her for making such a brutal sacrifice for my sake?" NoelleT "It was her own decision as a full grown adult to move here. It wasn't up to ME." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Her mom sighs heavily and stares out the window." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun NoelleT "There's a message she's always trying to impart on me: I'm lonely because of you." # NoelleT "Only, it's not true." # NoelleT "There's no shortage of other Chinese immigrant mothers in our neighborhood." # NoelleT "She's lived in the US for nearly two decades. Is she just so negative and unpleasant that no one else wants to be friends with her?" # NoelleT "It's ungrateful of me to believe this, but I can't help but think it: My mother is a pitiful woman." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle watches the scenery fly by." "After half an hour, the train arrives at their destination precisely on time." play sound "sound/walk.wav" show bg nightMarket with dissolve # "The street is lined with stalls selling everything from pig blood cakes to unlicensed Sanrio bathmats." show sprite momNeutral Mom "Let's look for clothes. You need new ones." show sprite dadNeutral Dad "But I have plenty of clothes already." show sprite momShocked Mom "They all have holes in them! You should just throw them away already!" hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle browses through a sea of clothing racks with her parents." "A hideous pair of beige pants catches her eye." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "This would compliment many items in my wardrobe." hide sideSprite1 "She turns it over in her hands, searching for its price tag, but it's missing." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "I'm going to ask how much these trousers are." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "Do you know how?" show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Are you serious? Of course I know how." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Miffed, she marches up to the stall's cashier and shows her the pants." $npcName=_("Stall Worker") $subtitle=_("Light I ask how much are these pants?") show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}輕問這條褲子多少錢？{/font}" hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("Two hundred NTD.") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}兩百塊。{/font}" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "That's only about seven dollars! What a bargain." $subtitle=_("I waist buy this.") Noelle "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}我腰買這個。{/font}" hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("What'd you say?") NPC "{font=traditional_chinese.otf}你說什麼?{/font}" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "Urk! I stumbled over the pronunciation!" Noelle "This...I want to buy this." hide sideSprite1 NPC "OK." "Ashamed, Noelle doesn't dare speak another word as the cashier bags her purchase." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "Excellent. Simply superb. After six years of Chinese school I still can't speak, read, or write Mandarin." hide sideSprite1 "She finds her way back to her parents, who are just finishing up their purchase at the neighboring stall." show sprite dadHappy Dad "I'm hungry. Let's get dinner at the food court." show sprite momNeutral Mom "What for? There's food stalls all over the place." Mom "We can just eat as we shop." show sprite dadHappy Dad "No, I wanna properly sit down somewhere and have a meal." hide sprite with dissolve play sound "sound/walk.wav" show bg foodCourt with dissolve "Noelle follows her parents down the flight of stairs to the underground food court. It's a bizarre space that reminds Noelle of a mirror maze." "They sit down at a stall and Noelle scans the menu, which is conveniently printed directly on the surface of the table." show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "Something chicken...Something something soup..." hide sideSprite1 #NoelleT "I can't shake the feeling that I used to know more of these words." #NoelleT "But over the years that knowledge deteriorated to the point that when I reach for it now, there's nothing usable remaining." #NoelleT "It's like trying to shake hands with a ghost." "Noelle has to pick her dish based on the pictures, like a toddler would." # NoelleT "Most of the dishes are only about $3." # NoelleT "That's not even as much as a meal from a fast food restaurant in America. How is everything here so cheap?" show sprite momNeutral Mom "Do you know what you're getting?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "I will order the oyster omelette." Noelle "It's seldom seen in America, so I should take the chance to eat it here." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "As the stall worker comes over and takes her parents' orders, Noelle mentally recites hers, determined not to be rendered an inarticulate child again." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun NoelleT "I know this. This is kindergarten level vocabulary." $subtitle=_("I want oyster omelette.") NoelleT "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}我要蚵仔煎。{/font}" $subtitle="" NoelleT "That sounds a tad crude, though. In English, I'd normally say something more like, \"I'd like to have the oyster omelette.\"" hide sideSprite1 # "Before she can deliberate for any longer on the wording, the woman turns to her." $subtitle=_("What do you want to order?") NPC "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}你要點什麼?{/font}" $subtitle=_("I want oyster omelette.") show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}我要蚵仔煎。{/font}" hide sideSprite1 $subtitle="" "The woman jots her order down on a pad of paper, nodding." # show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmile # NoelleT "Excellent! I didn't trip over my words that time." # hide sideSprite1 $subtitle=_("Are you American-born Chinese?") NPC "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}妳是ABC嗎？{/font}" $subtitle="" show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "...Huh?? My Chinese was THAT bad?" $subtitle=_("I am.") Noelle "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}我是。{/font}" $subtitle="" hide sideSprite1 NPC "I could tell! I guessed from your accent, so heavy!" "Noelle's mom sighs as the woman walks off to prepare their meals." show sprite momSad Mom "All those years of Chinese school, wasted." show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyedSmile Noelle "............." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve show bg oysterOmelette with dissolve "Their food arrives within minutes." "Noelle tries a gooey spoonful of her oyster omelette." show sideSprite1 noelleHappy Noelle "It's delicious. You would never guess this only cost three dollars." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 dadHappy Dad "Really? Let me try." hide sideSprite2 show bg foodCourt with dissolve "Her parents each taste a spoonful of the oyster omelette and shrug, unimpressed." show sprite dadNeutral Dad "This is below average. I've had way better ones around here before." show sprite momNeutral Mom "Yeah, this isn't really what it's supposed to taste like." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Well, I'm never here, so I couldn't have known that." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Annoyed now, Noelle takes another bite of the oyster omelette." show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmile NoelleT "This is the best thing I've ever eaten." NoelleT "I should find out what this place is called so I can find it again." hide sideSprite1 "She looks up at the name of the stall, but it's in Chinese." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "I can't read it." # NoelleT "I don't know what this night market is called, either." NoelleT "I'd better savor it while it lasts. This omelette I can only taste once." hide sideSprite1 "All too soon, it's over. Noelle sighs as they get up to continue shopping." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun Noelle "You should've tried harder to convince me to learn Chinese." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momShocked Mom "Are you serious? We told you not to quit so many times." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "But you never properly explained {i}why{/i} it was so important not to." Noelle "All you did was give me condescending lectures about how I was too young to understand why it mattered, and how I'd be an embarrassment if I didn't learn." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momAnnoyed Mom "English is our second language. It's hard to explain things to to you." Mom "And it's true, you ARE an embarrassment." $subtitle=_("{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}阿姨好{/font} = Hello Auntie.") Mom "Last week I saw our neighbor's son Michael moving the lawn, and he greeted me in Chinese! {font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}阿姨好。{/font}" $subtitle="" Mom "See, that's what happens when you listen to your parents." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Michael goes to Taiwan with his family every summer! THAT'S the reason he's more fluent, not because he was a superior child to me!" Noelle "Why didn't we just visit Taiwan more often when I was younger? That alone would've made me more interested in learning." # Noelle "Some of my classmates go to Taiwan every other year, or even annually." Noelle "I feel like I've been trying to understand Chinese culture by looking at it through a soda straw until now." hide sideSprite1 show sprite dadNeutral Dad "You think {i}we{/i} didn't want to visit Taiwan more too?" Dad "The airplane tickets are expensive. We have to save up for years just for one trip." # Dad "No matter how much we miss our family here, we can't afford to go all the time." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway Noelle "Oh." show sideSprite1 noelleUh # NoelleT "I wasn't expecting such a reasonable answer." Noelle "But...Even so, you should have done more to show me that speaking Mandarin could be a positive experience." Noelle "Why do you always speak to me in English even though you can't fully express yourselves in that language?" Noelle "If you'd conversed with me in Chinese from a young age, I would have naturally picked it up from daily use." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "We thought you'd have an accent if we did that." Mom "We were worried you wouldn't fit in at school." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "But that's ridiculous!" Noelle "There's no way I would have developed an accent when everyone else I interacted with spoke English." #Noelle "Young children's brains are plastic. I would have easily been able to pick up both languages." Noelle "I would have grown up bilingual without any ill effects." hide sideSprite1 "Resigned, her dad shrugs." show sprite dadNeutral Dad "Well, too late now. What can you do?" hide sprite label trueDragon: stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black pause 2.0 $ chTitle =_("The last day of the trip") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens play music "music/06 - Fell.mp3" fadein 2.0 show bg trueDragonTower1 "Noelle and her relatives visit the columbarium housing Ah-ma's ashes." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "My mom visits this place every time she's in Taiwan." hide sideSprite1 show bg trueDragonTower2 with dissolve "Noelle follows her grandpa into the worship hall." show sprite ahGong with dissolve AhGong "..........." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "We crossed an ocean to see my grandpa and I've barely spoken a word to him." NoelleT "It's not out of lack of interest. He must have lived a fascinating life." NoelleT "He's the only grandparent I have left." NoelleT "But how do you gain access to the heart of a stranger? Where do you even begin?" NoelleT "\"Tell me about yourself?\"" show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmile NoelleT "Who says that to their own grandfather? It would sound like a job interview." NoelleT "Even if I knew what I wanted to say, what am I capable of saying in Chinese?" NoelleT "Today is Sunday? I'm a student?" hide sideSprite1 "She watches Chun-hua take a lotus petal from a glass bowl and offer it to the giant Buddhas." show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "............." show sprite momNeutral Mom "Noelle, we're going to pray for Ah-ma. Take a flower petal from that bowl over there." # NoelleT "I have to pray, too? How?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "Can I pray in English?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite dadNeutral Dad "If you have to." hide sprite with dissolve "Unsure what she's supposed to do, Noelle does her best to imitate her parents." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "Hello, Buddha...I seriously doubt that you exist." NoelleT "But I'm sure Ah-ma was a wonderful woman." hide sideSprite1 "Chun-hua deposits her lotus petal in the bowl before the Buddhas, her eyes shining with tears." $subtitle=_("I miss Ah-ma...") show sprite chunHuaSad ChunHua "我想阿媽了..." $subtitle="" show sprite auntSad Aunt "........." hide sprite with dissolve "To Noelle's surprise, her aunt embraces Chun-hua like it's the most natural thing in the world." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised NoelleT "They're so comfortable with each other." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "Is that how mothers and daughters are supposed to be?" NoelleT "When I look at my mother, the first emotion I feel is stress." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle deposits her lotus petal in the bowl and joins Ah-gong, who's waiting to the side." "He smiles awkwardly at her as they stand together in silence." show sprite ahGong with dissolve AhGong "............" show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "............" show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "What should I do?" NoelleT "Try to build a relationship in broken Mandarin? Tell him \"I like reading\" and \"My favorite color is green\"?" NoelleT "Or do I let the moment pass me by? Say nothing and remain strangers?" NoelleT "Am I a terrible person if that's what I do?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "Come on, we're going upstairs." hide sprite play sound "sound/walk.wav" show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg trueDragonTower3 with diamond "After an elevator ride, they arrive at the floor housing her grandma’s ashes." show sprite auntSad Aunt "Ah-ma's over here." "Noelle follows everyone down the hall to a one of the niches." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "The only thing distinguishing it from the others is the tiny nametag on the door." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "Not that I can read it...Even if I could, I don't know the names of any of my relatives." NoelleT "And at this point, I'm too embarrased to ask." NoelleT "Even Chun-hua's name I only know by sound. I have no idea what it looks like." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle's dad points to the units beside Ah-ma's." show sprite dadNeutral Dad "Your mom and I bought our spots, too." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "Already? You're only in your fifties." hide sideSprite1 Dad "There's a limited number, so we made sure to reserve them before they were all gone." #"Noelle catches sight of his tired face, noticing with a start just how gray his hair's grown." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral NoelleT "I suppose my parents {i}are{/i} fairly old. They didn't manage to have me until their forties." NoelleT "Going off of the average American life expectancy, they probably have around twenty-five years left." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSad Mom "*sniff*..." "Noelle's mom wipes her eyes as they open the little door of Ah-ma's unit." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "Will {i}I{/i} cry when my mother dies someday?" NoelleT "I'm starting to seriously worry that I won't. What kind of monster does that make me?" NoelleT "What kind of cold, heartless person cares so little about her own parents?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "Is there something wrong with me? Do I just not form emotional bonds as deeply as ordinary people do?" # NoelleT "So I have that many years remaining of having any family in America." # NoelleT "I don't like my parents, but I don't want to have no family at all, either..." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite label learningChinese: stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg apartment with diamond play music "music/comatoseDreams.ogg" "When they get back to Ah-gong's apartment, Noelle and her mom begin packing to leave." show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "Are you all flying back tonight?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Actually, my dad will be in Taiwan for another week attending to business matters." Noelle "So my mother and I are flying back alone." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "Aw, one week was too short." # ChunHua "Wish I could go with you." # ChunHua "One week was too short." # show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral # Noelle "You'll have to visit California sometime, then." # hide sideSprite1 # show sprite chunHuaHappy # ChunHua "Yes! Hopefully I'll go there for university." # ChunHua "I always wanted a sister." # show sideSprite1 noelleHm # Noelle "Oh....." # show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmile # Noelle "Me, too." # hide sideSprite1 # hide sprite with dissolve "As Noelle fits the last of her clothes into the roller bag, Chun-hua takes a seat, pulling a thick tome out of her backpack." play sound "sound/pageTurn.ogg" hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle feels a twinge of sadness as she watches her cousin read her huge, academic looking book." show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "If I'd grown up in Taiwan, we probably would've become close." hide sideSprite1 "Suddenly, a strange thought occurs to Noelle." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "If I'd grown up here, would my personality been shaped into something more similar to Chun-hua's?" NoelleT "How much of my personality is just a product of being raised by an immigrant helicopter mother with no friends or family around to balance her out?" NoelleT "Would my mother and I have gotten along?" hide sideSprite1 "The magazine Chun-hua showed Noelle earlier is still out on the coffee table, taunting her." show sideSprite1 noelleHm NoelleT "I'm finished packing, so I have some time to kill before we leave for the airport." NoelleT "Maybe I can translate the poem my mother wrote." hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/pageTurn.ogg" show bg dictionary with dissolve "Noelle digs her emergency Chinese-to-English dictionary out of her backpack." # "Noelle flips to its spot in the magazine, then confidently cracks her dictionary open beside it." show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmile NoelleT "I was being a petulant baby in elementary school." NoelleT "All I have to do is persevere and power through learning the language properly this time." NoelleT "I'll simply look up each word I don't know, and burn its pronunciation and meaning into my memory." hide sideSprite1 "Unfortunately, she doesn't know a single word in the poem's first line." "After spending 15 minutes pounding seven words into her memory, her enthusiasm evaporates." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "This actually is incredibly difficult..." NoelleT "I'm not surprised that I have nothing to show for my six years of Chinese school. It feels like the knowledge is just washing over my brain like water over plastic." NoelleT "Is my brain just not wired for this?" NoelleT "Could it be genetic? Even after living the majority of their lives in America, my parents haven't mastered English, either." hide sideSprite1 "It takes another 15 minutes for her to finally overcome the first line of the poem." show sideSprite1 noelleHappy NoelleT "At last! Onto the second line!" show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmile NoelleT "And I already know all these words." NoelleT "Mirror flower water moon." Noelle "..........." show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "It's total gibberish. Is it supposed to sound poetic mushed together like that?" NoelleT "Mirror flower water moon." hide sideSprite1 show bg apartment with dissolve "Noelle feels the urge to tear the magazine to shreds." "Perhaps noticing her hands quaking with barely surpressed rage, Chun-hua peers over Noelle's shoulder to see what she's reading." show sprite chunHuaSurprised ChunHua "What's wrong?" show sideSprite1 noelleTsun Noelle "Nothing. I'm just translating one of my mom's poems." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "Why don't you ask your mom for help?" show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "I'd rather die." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaWorried ChunHua "Oh. Okay." # "Perplexed, Chun-hua takes a seat on the couch next to her." ChunHua "Maybe I can help instead?" ChunHua "Where are you stuck?" show sideSprite1 noelleTsun Noelle "What's this supposed to mean? {font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}鏡花水月?{/font}" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chunHuaNeutral ChunHua "Oh, that's a...How do you call it?" ChunHua "A saying. Like the lesson of a story." $subtitle=_("Flower in the mirror, moon in the water") show sprite chunHuaHappy ChunHua "It's short for 鏡子裡的花，水面上的月亮." $subtitle= "" ChunHua "Pretty much, it means something that you can see but never grasp." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Like a flower reflected in a mirror, or the moon shining on the water's surface?" hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Yes. You can't reach your hand through the mirror and take the flower out, it's impossible." ChunHua "You can only look, never have it." show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "I see." Noelle "So \"Mirror Flower, Water Moon\" is shorthand for something beautiful but unattainable." hide sideSprite1 ChunHua "Pretty much." hide sprite with dissolve "Da Ah-yi cheers as Noelle's mom manages to zip her bulging suitcase closed." $subtitle=_("Ready to go to the airport?") show sprite auntNeutral Aunt "準備好去機場了嗎？" $subtitle=_("Let's go.") show sprite momNeutral Mom "{font=chunhua_chinese.ttf}我們走吧。{/font}" $subtitle= "" hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle gives the half-translated poem one last despairing look before flipping the magazine shut." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "Is that what I've been chasing after this whole time? A flower in the mirror?" # NoelleT "Something I can see but never grasp?" NoelleT "If only I get straight As, I'll have a normal relationship with my parents." NoelleT "If only I land a summer internship, I'll have a normal relationship with my parents." NoelleT "If only I become fluent in Chinese, I'll have a normal relationship with my parents." NoelleT "What if it was never possible from the start, no matter what I did?" # NoelleT "Why do I still believe that I can win their love when none of my prior accomplishments have had any longterm effect?" # # NoelleT "Why do I blindly believe these things? Our relationship will never be normal." # # NoelleT "No amount of studying Chinese will bring back the childhood I missed out on." # NoelleT "If my parents could trade me for some random Taiwanese child with stellar grades, they would. No amount of me studying Chinese can change that." # NoelleT "Perhaps I can salvage SOMETHING out of my relationship with my parents. I can wring blood from a stone." # NoelleT "But I will never experience having a family that simply likes me the way I am." # NoelleT "It's almost as if we'll NEVER have a normal relationship, no matter what I do." # NoelleT "They'll never be happy, no matter what I do. They'll never treat me better, simply because they don't know how to." # NoelleT "So why am I trying?" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite label bart: $npcName=_("Stranger") stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond "That evening, Noelle and her mom make landfall in California." show bg bart1 with diamond play music "music/bart.ogg" "Instead of driving home from the airport, they take the BART back." "Noelle wrinkles her nose as she inhales the stench of vomit, urine, and cigarettes." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Dad's car is parked at the airport garage. Why not just drive it home?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "We wouldn't be able to get gas." Mom "It's not safe for women to pump gas. It's so easy for a criminal to grab you and drive away." #NoelleT "That sounds incredibly unlikely, especially in a town as safe and affluent as ours." show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "We live in one of the safest suburbs in the entire U.S...." NoelleT "Is that why she always has my dad pump the gas...?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSad Mom "Besides, I can't read fast enough." Mom "When you're driving on the freeway the signs pass by so quickly." hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle reluctantly sits down on a filthy, worn seat with a suspicious brown stain on it." "The conductor mumbles something unintelligible over the intercom as the train stops at a station." $npcName=_("Intercom") NPC "Six{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent} Miss{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent}..." "A breathless man enters the train car just in time before the doors shut. His eyes frantically scour its interior." $npcName2=_("Man") NPC2 "Does this train go to Berkeley?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "It does not. This is the Fremont train." hide sideSprite1 NPC2 "Shit! I need to get off at the next station!" with sshake "As the train continues onward, Noelle notices a puddle of liquid travelling down the floor." show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "What is that? Did someone spill their drink?" hide sideSprite1 # NoelleT "A Taiwanese person would faint seeing the state of public transit here." $npcName2=_("Passenger") NPC2 "AAAAAAHH!!!" with sshake play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" NPC2 "FUCKING NASTY! THAT BITCH PEED IN HER SEAT!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "What?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 "Disgusted, Noelle recoils and keeps her feet as far as possible from the pee spreading down the floor." NPC2 "SO FUCKING GROSS!!! FUCKING BITCH!!" with sshake NPC "{incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent} biohazard {incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent}...Please evacuate {incoherent}( ? ? ? ){/incoherent} at the next station." show sprite momSurprised Mom "What's he saying?" show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "The urine is a biohazard. We need to get off the train at the next station." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 play sound2 "sound/walk.wav" show bg bart2 with diamond play music "sound/crickets.ogg" "Once the doors open, Noelle and her mom hastily drag their luggage off the train and onto the concrete platform." show sprite momSad Mom "Maybe we should've driven after all. I didn't know BART was like this." # Noelle "I can see how you'd think that after only riding Taiwanese trains." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun NoelleT "We're still several stops from our destination." hide sideSprite1 # NoelleT "The scrolling screens showing the train schedule are broken..." hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle and her mom wait on a bench for the next train home." # "A few feet away, a disheveled man talks to himself." # $npcName=_("Disheveled man") # NPC "...You're wasting money. That's my business, I don't have to tell you..." # NPC "...He was already gone. They shot him..." # show sprite momSurprised # Mom "He's crazy..." # Mom "Don't look, it'll provoke him." # hide sprite with dissolve # show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway # NoelleT "I used to see the poverty here as sad but inevitable." # NoelleT "But now that I've seen how different Taiwan is, the conditions here feel downright dystopian." # # NoelleT "Why doesn't America provide everyone with healthcare the way Taiwan does? Where's the safety net for mentally ill and drug-addicted citizens?" # NoelleT "Where's the safety net for mentally ill and drug-addicted citizens? Homelessness doesn't have to cripple this much of the population." # NoelleT "A significant percentage of human lives are just thrown away as worthless here, and the government deliberately chooses to keep things this way." # NoelleT "My parents left behind everyone they loved and worked themselves to the bone just to move from a functioning country to a dystopian one." # hide sideSprite1 $npcName=_("Intercom") NPC "Nine car train to Fremont in six minutes." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Our next train will arrive in six minutes." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSad Mom "Okay." Mom "Good thing I was here with you, or else I wouldn't know what train to take." hide sprite with dissolve "Exhausted, Noelle stares at the dark line of trees ahead of them. It's cold." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "Why are we here?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "Because the hobo lady peed on the floor?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "That's not what I mean — Why did you move from Taiwan to America?" hide sideSprite1 Mom "To give you more opportunities." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "That doesn't make any sense." Noelle "Taiwan is superior to the U.S. by every conceivable metric. And it's not even close." Noelle "Taiwan has socialized healthcare, more robust public infrastructure, and one of the lowest poverty rates in the world." Noelle "Americans live shorter lives. Even worse, they're not as good at math and science." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSad Mom "Taiwan was different in the past. All you see is Taiwan now, but it didn't used to be this way." # Mom "The government was bad and the elections weren't fair. They murdered thousands of people." Mom "And America was strong. We were scared China was going to invade Taiwan." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "But they didn't." Noelle "In all this time that we've lived in America, nothing's happened." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momNeutral Mom "That's true, but it COULD'VE happened." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun Noelle "But the plain truth is that it didn't..." #Noelle "Well, regardless of that...The plain truth is that China {i}hasn't{/i} invaded Taiwan for all these years." Noelle "You could have just stayed put. I could have grown up in Taiwan like Chun-hua and the rest of my cousins, and everything would have been fine." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSad Mom "But we didn't know that." Mom "You think we had a crystal ball telling us the future?" # Noelle "No, of course not." show sprite momSurprised "Noelle's mom perks up as a train screeches to a stop at the platform." NPC "Fruitvale...Dublin-Pleasanton train." Mom "Is this our train?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "No, it's not." hide sideSprite1 show sprite momSad "Noelle's mom settles glumly back on the bench." Mom "You know how Chun-hua wants to study in America?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Yes." hide sideSprite1 Mom "I told her not to do it. It's not worth it." Mom "I didn't realize how hard it would be." Mom "You'll be far from everyone you know." Mom "And your kids won't understand what you're talking about. You can't communicate with them." Mom "I didn't know that if you have kids in America, your kids will be American." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "That wasn't obvious to you...?" hide sideSprite1 Mom "No." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway Noelle "..........." #NoelleT "Was that your hang-up over me this whole time?????" # NoelleT "And is that such a huge deal? That your child didn't turn out to be a clone of you?" # NoelleT "Why can't you just like me the way I am?" # NoelleT "Why couldn't you have thought things through a little more before dragging me into it, too?" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite #FOR CHINESE PROOFREADING #return label noelleAndDiyaTalk: stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond $chTitle=_("The next day") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens play music "music/Night Tourist.ogg" show bg lockers with diamond "Noelle waits with her friends for the baseball club meeting to begin." show sprite diyaNeutralB with dissolve Diya "How was Taiwan?" show sideSprite1 noelleHappyB Noelle "It was amazing." show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmileB Noelle "The subway system — it was so punctual and efficient! And the signage was so clear." Noelle "If you ever visit, Diya, you don't have to be afraid of getting lost or not hearing the announcements like you do on BART." Noelle "Everyone there meticulously organizes their recyclables, too." Noelle "If people fail to sort their materials properly, the government will fine them up to $200!" hide sideSprite1 show sprite minSurprisedB Min "Wait, they do that in Korea, too!" show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "Interesting. Perhaps Korea is more similar to Taiwan than I thought." hide sideSprite1 show sprite minSmugB Min "I bet Korea did it first, and then Taiwan just stole it." show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaAwayHappyB "Diya listens with a small smile as Noelle continues extolling the virtues of Taipei's trash-collecting system instead of describing any of the landmarks she visited." # "Diya reties her ponytail, but most of her short hair falls out of the elastic and ends up framing her face." Diya "You must've liked it there." show sideSprite1 noelleHappyB Noelle "You're right, I did..." show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmileB Noelle "..........." Noelle "What do you call it when you're grateful for the things your parents have done for you, but at the same time, you feel like they made critical mistakes that'll probably affect you forever?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaNeutralB Diya "Isn't that just life?" show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "Oh...I suppose it is." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAnnoyedAwayB Akarsha "Dammit, my shoelaces keep coming undone..." hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle glances to her left, where Akarsha is crouched over tying her sneaker laces." show bg shoelaces with dissolve show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "WHY HAVE YOU TIED YOUR SHOELACES LIKE THAT?" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaShrugB Akarsha "This is the Silicon Valley, Frenchman. The land of innovation." hide sideSprite2 # show bg black with eyeClose # "The sight of Akarsha's \"innovation\" is making Noelle so mad, she has to close her eyes and count to ten to calm down." show bg lockers with dissolve show sprite akarshaBigSmileB Akarsha "Didja get me any souvenirs on your trip?" show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmileB Noelle "No." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "Huh?! Meanie!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "I didn't get anyone anything. We had limited luggage space." Noelle "All we brought back were snacks that can't be found here, and dubious beauty products my mom wanted." hide sideSprite1 show sprite minNeutralB Min "Dubious beauty products? Like what? Nail clippers with bombs in them?" show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "Wh...Why would there be nail clippers with bombs with them?" Noelle "All I meant was products with questionable value like skin whitening cream." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaUhB Akarsha "Wait, skin whitening cream? Like, to make your skin lighter?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Yes. Chinese beauty standards are all kinds of messed up." Noelle "It's been ingrained very deeply into people's minds that the lighter your skin is, the better." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaNeutralB Diya "That's just like in India." show sprite akarshaSurprisedB Akarsha "Yeah, oh my god! I thought it was just a brown thing!" with sshake Akarsha "You guys have colorism, too?!" show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "Oh, is it similar in your culture?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaUhB Akarsha "It's a whole thing! You have NO idea." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "I would argue I do have an idea." Noelle "My mother even tells me not to spend time outside to avoid getting a tan." hide sideSprite1 show sprite minUnamusedB Min "Oh, my mom does that too. They have those dumb as fuck skin creams in Korea, too." show sprite diyaNeutralB Diya "It's the same." show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "It's the same..." Akarsha "Yellow and brown parents...They match just like pee and poo." show sprite minDisgustedB Min "What the fuck man..." show sprite diyaAnnoyedB Diya "......." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "Akarsha, have you ever considered not speaking?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "How mean! The second I open my mouth, you all jump to slap my balls..." # Akarsha "How mean! You've gotta be slappin' my balls right now..." show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "DO YOU HAVE TO WORD IT LIKE THAT?" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "I'm tryin' to use more phrases with the word \"balls\" in it in my normal conversations." show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "WHY?" with sshake hide sideSprite1 Akarsha "I dunno, I just think it'll add more flavor." # NoelleT "It feels good to be back here, doing what we always do." # NoelleT "She attacks me with a flurry of asinine nonsense, and I parry each jab because it's fun." # Noelle "I want to argue with you over things that don't matter at all for the rest of my life." show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "[teamName!t], assemble!" # hide sprite with dissolve if teamName==_("Global Warming"): "Team Global Warming gathers around Chryssa and Liz as they begin the meeting." else: "The [teamName!t] gather around Chryssa and Liz as they begin the meeting." show sprite lizHappyB Liz "So we've got good news and bad news." show sprite lizBigSmileB Liz "Good news, we have a game today!" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Bad news...It's just the Niles baseball team again." show sprite chryssaAnnoyedSmileB Chryssa "They're the only ones who would play us again." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB NoelleT "Ah...That's not surprising." NoelleT "We either win by pulling some weird shenanigans, or lose so badly we get mercied. There's no in between." NoelleT "So most teams we play aren't exactly eager for a rematch." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "We had to swear up and down you guys would be normal this time." # Liz "Great news, everyone! We're playing that Niles baseball team again today!" # show sprite graceNeutralB # Grace "The Killer Whales?! Even after someone threw a pad into their car last time?" with sshake # Ester "How did you convince them to come back?" # show sprite chryssaNeutralB # Chryssa "We swore up and down you guys would be normal this time." Chryssa "So y'all better not be weird." show sprite sayeedaNeutralB Sayeeda "Alright, we yakusoku..." show sprite chryssaAnnoyedB Chryssa "What?????" with sshake show sprite sayeedaNeutralB Sayeeda "That's how you say \"promise\" in Nihongo...a.k.a Japanese." show sprite chryssaAnnoyedSmileB Chryssa ".............." show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "Is everyone ready to go? The other team got here early." hide sprite label baseballGame: play sound "sound/walkGrass.ogg" show bg field with diamond if teamName==_("Global Warming"): "Team Global Warming walks over to the field, where the Killer Whales are already warming up." else: "The [teamName!t] walk over to the field, where the Killer Whales are already warming up." show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "Thanks for being willing to play us again, guys." show sprite junHappy Jun "No problem. Time for our revenge!" show sprite minUnamusedB Min "Yeah, right. We destroyed you guys last time." show sprite haydenSigh Hayden "Well, that was before our secret weapon joined the team." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "Secret weapon?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite haydenHappy Hayden "We got a new guy who's pretty good." show sprite minHuhB Min "Oh yeah? Where is he?" hide sprite with dissolve "Jun-seo and Hayden look around amongst their teammates, but as the seconds pass, their faces grow more and more alarmed." show sprite junShocked Jun "...I'm actually not sure..." show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "Maybe he got lost on his way driving here?" show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "Yeah, that seems typical of him." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "It's fine, we can wait a few minutes for him to show up." hide sprite #stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with dissolve $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) $ chTitle =_("20 minutes later") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens # play music "music/Ketsa_-_11_-_thoughts_of_you.ogg" show bg field show sideSprite1 noelleUhB NoelleT "No one came..." NoelleT "He's decidedly late at this point." hide sideSprite1 show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "I can't believe this. Where the heck could he be??" show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "Did you try calling him?" show sprite haydenSigh Hayden "He didn't pick up." show sprite akarshaTrueNeutralB Akarsha "Well, it's not like he can answer the phone if he's driving." show sprite minUnamusedB Min "You guys are pathetic. Making up some guy to blame your loss on..." play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "We're not making him up! He's real!" with sshake show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "And we didn't lose yet?? Stop jumping to conclusions..." show sprite lizWorriedB Liz "Is it okay if we start playing without him? If he turns up later, he can join the game then." show sprite haydenSigh Hayden "Yeah, sure..." $npcName=_("Umpire") hide sprite with dissolve "As the Killer Whales file into the dugout, Noelle starts trekking to her spot in right field." "She scowls disdainfully at a barren patch of grass as she passes it." show sideSprite1 noelleTsunB NoelleT "Chryssa likes pointing to that tiny patch and going, \"I'll defend that area, so you cover the rest of the field, okay?\"" NoelleT "I hope that grass grows back soon so I don't have to keep hearing that joke." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "Hey, wait!" Chryssa "Noelle, you're playing second base today." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "I am? Why?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite minUhB Min "Yeah, why?! She ducks and covers whenever the ball comes her way." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "That's exactly why she needs to do it." show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "I'm taking AP Psych and I found out there's something called exposure therapy." Chryssa "It's where you make someone do something they're afraid of until they stop whining and get used to it." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "That doesn't sound like the textbook definition to me..." hide sideSprite1 show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "Chryssa, then how come when we went on that Demon ride at Great America, you had your eyes closed the whole time?" # Liz "Chryssa, then how come when we went on The Mummy ride at Universal Studios, you had your eyes closed the whole time?" show sprite chryssaAnnoyedSmileB Chryssa "That was before I knew what exposure therapy was." show sprite lizHappyB Liz "Uh huh." # Chryssa "Don't uh huh me, it's true." # show sprite lizNeutralB # Liz "I think it's the right idea, though." # Liz "You're never going to improve if we just hide you in right field forever." # Chryssa "Yeah, that's what always happens to kids who play right field — They get put there because they suck, and then they're stuck sucking forever because they never get to do anything." show sprite esterSurprisedBraidsB Ester "Wait, but I was second base. What happens to me then?" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "You're playing left field now because you run fast." show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "We're moving a whole bunch of people around, not just you two." show sprite lizHappyB Liz "Chryssa thinks she's a mega mind master now because of AP Psychology." show sprite chryssaAnnoyedB Chryssa "Hey, I never said that!" with sshake # Chryssa "But yeah, Akarsha, you're playing first base now." # Akarsha "Aw, but I liked being shortstop." # Chryssa "Chin up." # Chryssa "First base...more like first place." # play sound2 "sound/rimshot.ogg" # NoelleT "That was the worst joke I've heard in my entire life!" # "Noelle quickly walks to second base before she's subjected to hearing any more low-quality jokes." # NoelleT "I suppose I got what I wished for..." hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle begins trekking to second base." show sideSprite1 noelleAwayB NoelleT "I do feel a bit better equipped to man second base now than I did when I was first roped into this club." NoelleT "I don't like to appear under-informed, so a bit after our first game, I read the baseball rulebook from cover to cover." #NoelleT "I have now memorized all the proper terminology!" NoelleT "Still, I really hope no one hits the ball my way..." hide sideSprite1 "To her surprise, Akarsha is already standing by second base." show sprite akarshaShrugB with dissolve Akarsha "Bonjour!" show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "Why are you here?" show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "I'm the shortstop? I'm supposed to be here." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "What...? Aren't you supposed to be closer to third base?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Says who?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "The diagram in the baseball rulebook." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Nah, the shortstop's position mirrors the second baseman's." Chryssa "You're supposed to work together and vary your positioning to anticipate what the batters and runner do, you know." # Liz "The shortstop's position mirrors the second baseman." show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "See?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB Noelle "R-right, I knew that..." Noelle "So we're both covering the same base? Won't that make things unnecessarily confusing?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "You're like a duo! It's a good thing." show sprite akarshaHappyB Akarsha "Yah, we should negotiate who does what in different situations." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Alright, fine." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaHmB Akarsha "How about you cover second when there's a runner on first?" Akarsha "And field the ground balls close to us?" Akarsha "And also take care of the fly balls?" play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "You're just trying to get out of doing as much work as possible!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "The game kicks off and to her relief, Min quickly strikes out the first batter." show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "Good! Just do that two more times and we get to bat!" play sound "sound/walk.wav" hide sprite "Hayden digs into the batter's box next." play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" show bg windup2 "Min throws a floater that curves up toward his head for a moment before dropping back toward the strike zone." show bg backstop play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sprite haydenShocked Hayden "Agh!" with sshake "Instead of swinging, Hayden flinches backward out of the way." play sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" NPC "Strike!" show sprite minHuhB Min "What's with you?" show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "Nothing! I'm just making sure I don't get hit in the mouth." Hayden "I had a dream last night that my teeth were falling out." show sprite minUnamusedB Min "THAT'S what you wasted your dream on?" play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "It's not like I can control what I dream about!" with sshake play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" hide sprite with dissolve show bg windup2 "Min hurls another pitch his way, but instead of dancing like usual, it pretty much just sails straight down the middle." show bg backstop show sprite haydenNeutral Hayden "Rragh!" with sshake hide sprite with dissolve play sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" "Hayden manages to make contact and drives the ball into grass!" show bg field "It bounces into the air and for one singularly terrifying moment, Noelle sees it coming straight at her!" play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleSurprisedB NoelleT "Egad!!! I hate ground balls!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 "Noelle covers her face with one arm and half-heartedly attempts to catch the ball with the other." "She braces for impact, but nothing hits her." play sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" show bg backstop "On the mound, Min managed to intercept the ball by catching it behind her back without looking at it." show sprite diyaSurprisedB Diya "!" show sprite minSurprisedB Min "Whoa!!" with sshake "Even Min herself looks shocked that she caught it." show sprite lizSurprisedB Liz "Just because it's cool doesn't mean he's out!! Throw it to first!" with sshake hide sprite play sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" queue sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" show bg field # "Akarsha hastily lobs the ball the Liz. It just barely beats Hayden to first base." "Min hastily lobs the ball to Liz. It just barely beats Hayden to first base." NPC "Out!" show sprite haydenSigh Hayden "Aw man..." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB NoelleT "That was close!" hide sideSprite1 # Akarsha "Talk about grabbing life by the balls!" # Min "THE FUCK'S WRONG WITH YOU???" with sshake "As Hayden heads back to the dugout in defeat, there's a distant shout." play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "Sorry I'm late!" with sshake play sound "sound/runDirt.ogg" "Some guy is sprinting down the hill to the Killer Whales at top speed." Subzero "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" show sprite junShocked Jun "Subhaan!" play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sprite haydenShocked Hayden "WHERE WERE YOU???" with sshake $subzeroName=_("Subhaan") "The Killer Whale player sighs despondently as he joins his teammates." show sprite subzeroNeutral Subzero "I was driving over when all of a sudden a spider crawled up my leg..." Subzero "So obviously I crashed the car." play sound "sound/shock.ogg" show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "\"Obviously\"?!" with sshake show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "Are you okay...?" show sprite subzeroHappy Subzero "Don't worry, I'm fine. I just knocked a street sign over." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "Isn't that a crime...?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "How big was the spider?" show sprite subzeroNeutral Subzero "Like this big." "He pinches his thumb and index finger together to demonstrate." show sprite diyaAnnoyedB Diya "So small." show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "But it was all hairy! So practically speaking, it was equivalent to a spider twice as big." show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "Even if it WAS twice as big, isn't crashing kinda an overreaction?" show sprite subzeroNeutral Subzero "No?" show sprite haydenSigh Hayden "Whatever...Just get up to bat already, it's your turn." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB NoelleT "This guy seems like a coward." NoelleT "I wonder what makes him their secret weapon." hide sideSprite1 show bg backstop show sprite subzeroHappy "Subhaan digs in behind home plate." # "Subhaan mutters to himself as he readies his bat behind home plate." # Subzero "You got this, man...you're da man...." # show sprite akarshaAnnoyedB # Akarsha "Is he tryin' to hype himself up?" show sideSprite1 noelleHmB NoelleT "He's standing on the other side of the plate. He must be left-handed." hide sideSprite1 # hide sprite play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" "Min hurls her next pitch, and the batter shifts into a bunting stance at the last second." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB NoelleT "He's not even going to try to hit it?" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite play sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" queue sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" show bg field "He starts to run toward first base as the ball glances off his bat, sending the baseball bouncing toward Liz!" "She's forced to rush forward to field it, leaving first base unmanned." show sprite lizSurprisedB Liz "I got it!" hide sprite play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" "By the time she's scooped the ball up, Subhaan is well on his way to first base." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprisedB NoelleT "He's fast!" hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "FRANCE!! Frenchman!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB Noelle "Oh, I need to cover first base since Liz isn't there!" hide sideSprite1 play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" show sprite subzeroHappy "Noelle belatedly runs toward the base so Liz can throw the ball to her, but Subhaan beats her there." "The Killer Whales cheer as Subhaan overruns the base." show sprite haydenHappy Hayden "Yeah!! Sub-Zero!!" show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "...Sub-Zero??" hide sideSprite1 $subzeroName=_("\"Sub-Zero\"") show sprite subzeroHappy Subzero "That's me. They call me Sub-Zero 'cause I'm so cool." show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "Huh?? No fair, I want a badass nickname, too." show sideSprite1 noelleTsunB Noelle "Oh, please. Like what?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Like...Sub-Zero." play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "You're just going to copy him?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Sayeeda shakes her head as Sub-Zero basks under his teammates' praise." show sprite sayeedaNeutralB with dissolve Sayeeda "Tch. Who the heck bunts to get on base?" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "I mean, if you're fast, it's doable." Chryssa "Lefties have a huge advantage when bunting, too, because they’re already two steps ahead of where righty batters are when they lay down the bunt." show sprite graceSurprisedB Grace "That's so cheap!" show sprite lizHappyB Liz "Well, that's the essence of baseball, no? Cheating and being cheap." show sprite graceSurprisedB Grace "I thought the essence of baseball was friendship and teamwork." show sprite lizHappyB Liz "Oh, yes, that too." hide sprite show bg backstop with dissolve "Jun-seo is up to bat next." play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" "He swings at the pitch! The knuckleball suddenly swerves outward as if sensing the bat, dodging it entirely." show sprite junShocked Jun "Uogh??" with sshake show sprite diyaShockedB Diya "?!" with sshake hide sprite "Diya misses the ball by a mile, too. She rips her mask off and chases after it." show bg field play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "Yaaaa!!!" with sshake play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" "Subzero takes off running toward second base!" show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB NoelleT "He's taking the chance to steal! I need to tag him out!" hide sideSprite1 play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" "Diya secures the ball and throws it to Akarsha." show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "Got it!" show sideSprite1 noelleUhB NoelleT "...Never mind, looks like Akarsha's supposed to cover second base here." hide sideSprite1 show sprite subzeroShocked "Sub-Zero skids to a halt halfway between the bases." Subzero "Oh no!" show sideSprite1 noelleUhB NoelleT "Because it was his choice to run, we need to actually tag him with the ball!" hide sideSprite1 play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" hide sprite with dissolve "Akarsha charges toward him, and Sub-Zero turns around and flees back toward first base." show sprite lizSurprisedB Liz "Throw it to me!" with sshake show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "Hrah!" with sshake hide sprite "Akarsha lobs the ball over, and Liz tags him out." show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "Noooo..." show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "Nice one, Akarsha!" show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "...Akarsha? Who's that?" show sprite minUnamusedB Min "You???" show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "I dunno what you're talking about." show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "My name.........is Sub-Zero." show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "NO, IT'S NOT." hide sideSprite1 # stop music fadeout 2.0 hide sprite with dissolve play sound2 "sound/walkGrass.ogg" "The teams switch sides." # play music "music/Ketsa_-_11_-_thoughts_of_you.ogg" "As Noelle crosses the field, she's struck with a peculiar awareness of where she is." #"With each step, the grass rustles beneath her sneakers, and when she gazes up at the clear blue sky she's struck with an awareness of where she is." show sideSprite1 noelleAwayB NoelleT "Barely a day ago, I was on the opposite side of the planet." NoelleT "I was in Taiwan, where the garbage trucks sing Beethoven's Fur Elise while collecting the trash." NoelleT "And now I'm here, playing baseball. I'm wearing a little cap, sweating, and running on grass." NoelleT "Why am I here? It's a mistake that I'm here." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Hello? Earth to Frenchman?" show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "What?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "You didn't hear a thing I said, huh?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "My apologies. What was it?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "I said, it's hot as balls out here!" play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB NoelleT "Not this again!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 # Akarsha "I said, we really got that guy by the balls." play sound2 "sound/walk.wav" hide sprite show bg bench with dissolve show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "So what were you so lost in thought about?" show sideSprite1 noelleAwayB Noelle "Nothing really..." show sideSprite noelleWorriedAwayB Noelle "It's just strange knowing I would've led a completely different life if my parents had stayed in Taiwan." Noelle "I would've been someone who was close to her family. Someone who wasn't ignorant of her own culture." Noelle "Maybe I would have been a better person." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaBlushAwayB Akarsha "Aw, I like you the way you are, though." Akarsha "And if your parents didn't move, we would never have met." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "Of course, because obviously that makes up for everything." hide sideSprite1 # show sprite akarshaHappyB "Akarsha grins, and the inside of Noelle's palm prickles."# It feels like someone's replaced the blood in her veins with sparkling water." show sideSprite1 noelleTsunB NoelleT "This is so peculiar..." # NoelleT "Is this what extreme anger feels like?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAwayB NoelleT "Is this what extreme anger feels like? But right now I'm only pretending to be annoyed for comedic effect." hide sideSprite1 #"As she says it, Noelle feels a bizarre prickly sensation in her palms, like there's sparkling water in her veins and bone marrow." "The sensation is so unbearable, she wants to scratch at it until it goes away." show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "I mean, you went there on vacation. You're probably looking at it through rose-colored glasses." Akarsha "They probably have tons of struggles over there that you're clueless about." # Akarsha "Like, I bet it's stressful living with the political situation with China looming over your head." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Even so, the standard of living there is on an entirely different level." Noelle "This is backed up by actual statistics, not just my personal opinions." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaTrueNeutralB Akarsha "I dunno, man. It's not good to wallow too long in self-pity." Akarsha "Or else you'll get lost in the sauce." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "...The sauce? What sauce?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "It's a metaphor for being out of touch with reality." Akarsha "But I like to imagine barbeque sauce." hide sprite with dissolve play sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" show sideSprite2 diyaDelightedB Diya "!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 if teamName==_("Global Warming"): "The rest of Team Global Warming erupts in cheers as Diya bats Chryssa in." else: "The rest of the [teamName!t] cheer as Diya bats Chryssa in." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Oh, they're not just walking Diya like last game?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite minSmugB Min "I told Jun I'd shave his hair off in his sleep if he did that again, cuz it's not fun for Diya." show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "Who's up next?" show sprite akarshaBigSmileB Akarsha "Me! Time to unveil my special technique!" # "Akarsha cheerily walks up to the plate completely empty-handed." # Min "You forgot the bat, genius!" # Akarsha "I didn't forget. I don't need one." # Sayeeda "What...?" show sprite chryssaAnnoyedB Chryssa "Wait, she better not be trying that \"getting hit on purpose\" thing again!" # Liz "That way it'll take 'em by surprise." # Chryssa "Don't encourage her!" hide sprite with dissolve play music "music/flameOfLoveBeginning.ogg" noloop queue music "music/flameOfLoveLoop.ogg" loop # show bg atPitcher show bg backstop show sprite junNeutral with dissolve "Oblivious, Junseo throws a fastball to Akarsha." show bg white onlayer screens play sound "sound/smack.ogg" pause 0.1 hide bg white onlayer screens with sshake show sprite akarshaBigSmileB "Akarsha leans in to the pitch, causing the ball bounce off her elbow guard." with sshake show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Hahah! Free walk to first base!" show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "Huh?! You can't do that on purpose!" with sshake hide sprite with dissolve play sound2 "sound/pageTurn.ogg" "The guy on the Niles team who's serving as their umpire pages through his rulebook, lost." NPC "Uh...Does it say that in the rules?" show sideSprite1 noelleHappyB Noelle "Actually, it's not relevant whether Akarsha caused the ball to hit her or not." Noelle "Per rule 2, section 40 of the NFHS rulebook:\nThere is no distinction between the act of touching or by being touched." # Noelle "In other words, it's not relevant whether Akarsha caused the ball to hit her or not." hide sideSprite1 show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "Seriously?!" show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Thank you, baseball lawyer! Muah!!" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB NoelleT "Actually, just last summer Rule 7-3-4 was added, stating that the batter shall not permit a pitched ball to touch him." show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmileB NoelleT "But it's not really my job to remind them to update their rulebook." hide sideSprite1 show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "But...but still, that's not fair!" show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "You may not like it, but this is what peak baseball looks like." Akarsha "Even the Major League Baseball logo is a guy getting hit by the pitch." show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "Wha...what're you talking about?" Jun "It's a guy swinging at the ball." hide sprite show bg mlb with dissolve show sideSprite2 akarshaHmB Akarsha "No, really picture it." Akarsha "The ball is too high up, and look how close to him it is." Akarsha "It's too late, there's no way he's gonna be able to hit it in time." Akarsha "It's a guy who's about to get beaned." show sideSprite2 haydenAnnoyed Hayden "No way..." show sideSprite2 minSurprisedB Min "She's right...It really is a guy about to get hit..." show sideSprite2 akarshaShrugB Akarsha "I rest my case." hide sideSprite2 show bg backstop #show bg atPitcher play sound2 "sound/walk.wav" "Akarsha jogs to first base, victorious." # show bg bench with dissolve show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB NoelleT "Alright. I'm up next." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB NoelleT "There's already two outs. I'd better not strike out." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB NoelleT "But on the bright side, Diya and Akarsha are both on-base. If I can somehow hit this, we could end this inning with a massive lead." hide sideSprite1 play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" queue sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" "Noelle swiftly strikes out, missing by a mile with each swing." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "Drat! I blew it." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 lizHappyB Liz "There, there..." #show sideSprite chryssaNeutralB #Chryssa "There, there..." show sideSprite2 chryssaHappyB Chryssa "Did you try? Yes. But did you fail? Also yes." show sideSprite2 chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Wait, I think I said those in the wrong order." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "Forget the order! Why mention me failing at all?!" with sshake # Noelle "The order's not the problem! Why include the part about me failing at all??" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite # show sprite lizHappyB # Liz "There, there...Maybe you'll hit it next time..." # hide sprite label defendingAgain: play sound2 "sound/walkGrass.ogg" show bg atPitcher with dissolve "The teams switch sides." show sprite diyaAwayB "As Noelle trods to second base, she crosses paths with Diya on her way to the catcher's box." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Diya, do you have any tips for hitting the ball?" hide sideSprite1 "Diya considers it for a moment." show sprite diyaNeutralB Diya "It's easier to hit the top of the ball than the bottom." Diya "Bad for hitting home runs but you'll strike out less." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB Noelle "Diya, at this point I'd be thrilled to hit ANY of the ball. You think I can differentiate between the top and bottom halves??" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Diya appears not to have heard Noelle's response and has walked away." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Thanks, I guess..." hide sideSprite1 show bg backstop with dissolve play sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" "The Killer Whales cheer as a batter hits a grand slam off one of Min's pitches." show sprite subzeroHappy Subzero "Woohoo! We're tied now!" play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sprite minShockedB Min "EAT SHIT AND DIE!!!" with sshake # Min "GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!" with sshake # Liz "That's unsportsmanlike behavior!" # Liz "Don't let it get to you!" play sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" hide sprite "Min strikes the next two batters out in quick succession, but the third gets a solid hit!" # "Min strikes the first two batters out in quick succession, but the third gets a solid hit!" show bg field show sideSprite1 noelleSurprisedB NoelleT "Maybe I can catch this!" hide sideSprite1 play sound2 "sound/short grass noise.ogg" "Noelle leaps for the ball, but it flies over her head and bounces into center field." show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "Got it!" play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" "Chryssa fields the ball, then tosses it back to Noelle." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB NoelleT "I need to throw this to first base!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite play sound2 "sound/short grass noise.ogg" "Noelle throws the ball with all her might! It plops almost straight into the ground and begins rolling away..." show sprite lizHappyB Liz ".........." "Liz leaves first base to grab the ball. By this point, the runner is approaching second base." show sideSprite1 noelleHmB NoelleT "It's another pickle! Liz and Akarsha need to box him in again." hide sideSprite1 show sprite lizNeutralB Liz "Akarsha!" with sshake show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Who?" show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB NoelleT "She's not cooperating because she wants to be called Sub-Zero!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 $calledSubzero=False menu: "Call her Sub-Zero": $calledSubzero=True show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyedSmileB Noelle "...Sub-Zero..." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaBigSmileB Akarsha "Oh hey, that's me!" play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" queue sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" "Akarsha catches the ball Liz throws her, and quickly tags the Jun-seo out." show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "Nooooo..." show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Heh! Another win for Sub-Zero." show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "YOU'RE DISGUSTING." with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve #dugout bg if teamName==_("Global Warming"): "Thanks to Noelle's noble sacrifice, Global Warming maintains their deadlock with the Killer Whales for the next few innings." else: "Thanks to Noelle's noble sacrifice, the [teamName!t] maintain their deadlock with the Killer Whales for the next few innings." stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg bench with diamond play music "music/blooming.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB NoelleT "It's the bottom of the last inning. We just need one run to cinch our victory." "Don't call her Sub-Zero": show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "AKARSHA!!!! YOU VILE CREATURE!!!!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "Hmmm? I wonder who this \"Akarsha\" you keep referring to is." play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" queue sound2 "sound/short grass noise.ogg" "Liz throws the ball to Akarsha, but she pretends not to see it and lets it land on the ground." play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "REALLY???" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite lizSurprisedB Liz "Shit!" with sshake Liz "I mean — shoot!" hide sprite "Noelle rushes to grab the ball instead, but the runner is already long gone." "She shrieks at Akarsha as he crosses home plate." play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "THEY SCORED BECAUSE OF YOU!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "Because of me? Or because you were a big meanie and didn't compromise like a good teammate?" show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Really makes you think..." play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB Noelle "NO, IT DOESN'T." with sshake hide sideSprite1 stop music fadeout 2.0 hide sprite show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg bench with diamond play music "music/blooming.ogg" if teamName==_("Global Warming"): "Thanks to Akarsha's antics, Global Warming enters the bottom of the final inning one run behind the Killer Whales." else: "Thanks to Akarsha's antics, the [teamName!t] enter the bottom of the final inning one run behind the Killer Whales." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB NoelleT "We need to get at least one more run, or we'll lose." label bigBrainMove: hide sideSprite1 "Unfortunately, Sayeeda and Chryssa rack up two outs right off the bat." show sprite sayeedaSurprisedB Sayeeda "Gomenasorry Diya-sama, you're our only hope!" #"Diya digs in to the batter's box and watches for her chance." hide sprite with dissolve play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" "After letting two balls go, Diya swings at a fastball." play sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" show sideSprite2 diyaSurprisedB Diya "....!" hide sideSprite2 "She drives the ball into right field, and everyone holds their breath as it rockets toward the fence." # NoelleT "Is that a home run?" #Chryssa "Please get higher...please get higher..." "It smashes into the middle of the fence, just a couple feet too low to clear it." # "The liner smashes into the middle of the fence, just a couple feet too low to clear it." show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Too bad it wasn't a home run." show sprite minUhB Min "Too bad I'm about to beat the shit out of you!!" with sshake show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "Kidding! Kidding!! Diya did great!" #Min "Shut your fucking mouth! Like you could do better!" hide sprite play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" "Diya sprints round the diamond and slides into second base, just barely beating the throw." NPC "Safe!" "Akarsha cracks her knuckles as she gets up from the bench." show sprite akarshaHmB Akarsha "Time to use my special technique." show sprite lizHmB Liz "Wait. Are you going to get yourself hit by the pitch again?" show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Ya." show sprite lizHappyB Liz "Back when I was in Little League, I saw a batter get beaned in the face." Liz "Chryssa, do you remember? He was on your team." show sprite chryssaSurprisedB Chryssa "Huh?" show sprite chryssaHappyB Chryssa "...Oh, yeah! That was so scary." Chryssa "He collapsed and was just lying motionless on the ground for a while." Chryssa "He looked like he was dead. Poor kid had to be carried off in a stretcher." show sprite lizBigSmileB Liz "I think it knocked out one of his teeth, right?" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Yup." Chryssa "Actually, maybe he even have died for real later." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "\"Maybe\"??" hide sideSprite1 show sprite lizHappyB Liz "Anyway, you trying to get hit on purpose just reminded me of that." show sprite akarshaNervousB Akarsha "O-oh...Okay..." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB NoelleT "This must be a new scare tactic they're trying." hide sideSprite1 show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Plus, this is our only real chance to bring Diya home. We have two outs, and Noelle will probably strike out at her at-bat." #show sprite lizHappyB Chryssa "No offense, Noelle." show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmileB Noelle "None taken..." hide sideSprite1 # show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "So getting walked here would just delay the inevitable. You should try to create an opportunity for Diya to run." # Liz "You should try to create an opportunity for Diya to run, and just getting a free ticket to first base won't accomplish that." show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "So I gotta actually hit the ball? Aw, man..." show sprite lizHappyB Liz "No pressure if you can't manage it! But do your best!" show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Say no more. I'm goin' serious mode." hide sprite #show bg atPitcher show bg backstop with dissolve show sprite akarshaBigSmileB "As Akarsha walks up to the plate, she tosses her bat in the air, spins around, and tries to catch it behind her back." play sound2 "sound/batDrop.ogg" "She doesn't spin around fast enough, so the bat just clatters to the ground." show sprite junAnnoyed Jun "..........." "Akarsha picks the bat back up and points it at Jun-seo." show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Your pants can't wait for my pee." show sprite junShocked Jun "Wha...what is that even supposed to mean?" show sprite haydenAnnoyed Hayden "She's trying to confuse you! Don't let it get to you!" play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" show sprite junAnnoyed "Disturbed, Jun-seo quickly pitches to Akarsha." play sound2 "sound/catch.ogg" "Akarsha whiffs it for a strike." show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "Whoopsie!" play sound "sound/shock.ogg" show sideSprite2 esterAnnoyedBraidsB Ester "We're all going to be haunted by that pee comment now and it didn't even work???" with sshake hide sideSprite2 play sound2 "sound/pitch.ogg" #Add branching for team name show sprite junNeutral "The team holds their collective breath as Jun-seo lets his next pitch fly." queue sound2 "sound/batHit.ogg" show sprite akarshaNervousB "Akarsha smacks it into foul territory." show sideSprite1 noelleUhB NoelleT "Strike two..." hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite2 minShockedB Min "If you waste Diya's double, I'll hit you!!!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 # show bg bench with dissolve "Chryssa taps the sign she and Liz taped to the dugout's fence." show sideSprite2 chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "No hitting allowed." hide sideSprite2 show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Ha!" show sideSprite2 minUhB Min "Then...then I'll scream really loud in your ear!" show sideSprite2 minStupidHappyB Min "So it destroys your eardrum!!" hide sideSprite2 "Liz taps the second sign they taped to the fence." show sideSprite2 lizHmB Liz "No screaming allowed either." show sideSprite2 minWorriedB Min "Goddammit..." hide sideSprite2 hide sprite #show bg atPitcher with dissolve "Jun-seo winds up again. In the meantime, Akarsha has gone suspiciously quiet." show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "........." # show sideSprite1 noelleHmB # NoelleT "What is she plotting?" # hide sideSprite1 show bg white onlayer screens play sound "sound/smack.ogg" pause 0.1 hide bg white onlayer screens with sshake show sprite akarshaShrugB "Akarsha leans in so she gets hit by the pitch again!" play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite2 chryssaShockedB Chryssa "Not again!" with sshake show sideSprite2 minUhB Min "Great going, you just lost us the game!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "YAAAaaaaaAAAAA!!" with sshake play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" hide sprite show bg atPitcher "Akarsha races toward first base like her life depends on it!" with sshake show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "G-guys? Why's she's running?" show sprite haydenShocked Hayden "Tag her if she tries to steal second!" show sprite subzeroHappy "Hayden quickly throws the ball to Subhaan, the first baseman. Akarsha hastily stops in her tracks." show sprite akarshaNervousB Akarsha "Uh-oh!" show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "Come back here!" with sshake "Akarsha turns and scrambles back the way she came with Subhaan at her heels." show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB NoelleT "What is she doing?! There's no benefit to her retreating all the way back home!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShockerB "As Akarsha nears home, Subhaan hurls the ball back to Hayden, who lunges forward to tag her." hide sprite play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite2 lizSurprisedB Liz "They've panicked and forgotten the basic rules of baseball!" with sshake Liz "All they have to do is tag first base for a force out!" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB Noelle "{i}Can{/i} they do that? She was hit by the pitch — she's entitled to first base." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 lizWorriedB Liz "...Good point..." hide sideSprite2 show sprite junShocked #Chryssa "Wow, she made {i}you{/i} forget the basic rules of baseball, too." play sound "sound/shock.ogg" Jun "GUYS, DON'T FORGET DIYA'S RUNNING TOO!" with sshake show sprite haydenShocked Hayden "HUH?" #hide sprite # show bg steal show bg backstop show sprite diyaHappyB "Diya slides home in the confusion!" with sshake play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite minSmugB #show sideSprite2 minSmugB Min "YEAHHHHHH!!!!!" with sshake #show sideSprite2 diyaSurprisedB show sprite diyaSurprisedB Diya "...!!" hide sprite with dissolve # hide sideSprite2 "Min runs over to home base and starts furiously kissing Diya as Hayden chases Akarsha back toward first." play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sideSprite2 chryssaShockedB if calledSubzero: Chryssa "GET OFF THE PLAYING FIELD!! THE GAME'S NOT OVER YET!" with sshake show sideSprite2 esterSurprisedBraidsB Ester "It's not? I thought we won?" show sideSprite2 chryssaAnnoyedB Chryssa "The run won't count if Akarsha is the third out before making it to first base!" Chryssa "Er, if they even can tag her out? I don't know anymore." else: #They're now tied, need one run to win. Chryssa "GET OFF THE PLAYING FIELD!! YOU CAN CELEBRATE LATER!!" with sshake show sideSprite2 lizSurprisedB Liz "The run won't even count if Akarsha is the third out before making it to first base!" Liz "Er, if they even can tag her out? I'm not sure anymore." hide sideSprite2 #show bg atPitcher show bg atPitcher "As she's trying to weasel past Subhaan, Akarsha trips on her own shoelaces and collides with him!" stop music play sound "sound/Alert!.ogg" show sprite akarshaSurprisedB Akarsha "Agh!" with sshake hide sprite show bg white onlayer screens play sound "sound/smack.ogg" pause 0.1 hide bg white onlayer screens with sshake "Akarsha bangs her head on Subhaan's knee on her way down!" show sprite subzeroShocked Subzero "Oh my god!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "Akarsha!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite play sound2 "sound/runDirt.ogg" #show bg akarshaInjured "Without thinking, she runs over to where Akarsha is lying motionless on the ground." stop sound2 show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB Noelle "Akarsha! Are you alright?" with sshake hide sideSprite1 "Akarsha doesn't respond." "Coming from Akarsha, the silence is a thousand times scarier than if she'd been screaming." show sideSprite1 noelleCryingB Noelle "Please be alright..." hide sideSprite1 # Noelle "I don't want harm to befall you unless it's by my hand." "Her voice comes out all choked and funny, and Noelle realizes with horror that she's crying." # "Her voice comes out all strained and funny, and her vision blurs with tears." # "Her voice comes out in a strangled, undignified croak, and her vision blurs with tears." # "Noelle's vision blurs with tears, she realizes with horror that her chest is so tight, she can't speak without risking her voice cracking." #Noelle "Because I...I care about you..." show sideSprite1 noelleCryingB Noelle "The world would be an awful place without you..." hide sideSprite1 #Noelle "I don't want to be in a world without you..." # Noelle "Please wake up..." # Noelle "I don't want to be without you..." show sideSprite2 akarshaAnnoyedAwayB Akarsha "Owww..." hide sideSprite2 play music "music/Ketsa - Illicit Activities.ogg" #show bg atPitcher with dissolve #show bg backstop "Dazed, Akarsha slowly begins to sit up." "Noelle is so relieved that she tearfully pulls Akarsha into a hug for a moment before a mixture of other emotions catch up with her." play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleBlushB NoelleT "Wait, what am I doing?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/thud.ogg" "Her heart pounding, Noelle hastily shoves Akarsha away, sending her crashing back to the ground." with sshake show sideSprite2 akarshaNervousB Akarsha "Whuh?!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "YOU ABSOLUTE ARSE!" with sshake Noelle "YOU SCARED ME! DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 "Noelle frantically wipes her tears away as Akarsha wobbles back to her feet." "Soon, the others have gathered around her in concern." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "You okay?" show sprite akarshaNervousB Akarsha "Yeah, just woozy..." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "What year is it?" show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "1834...?" show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "Just kidding, 2009." play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "HOW CAN YOU BE CRACKING JOKES RIGHT NOW?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Can you tell me what happened?" show sprite akarshaAnnoyedB Akarsha "I got myself into a pickle, tripped, and ate shit." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Okay, good..." #NoelleT "Wait a minute...Did she hear what I said earlier?" show sprite lizWorriedB Liz "Ask her if she feels nauseous." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Do you feel nauseous?" show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Naw." "As they run through a series of tests for concussion, Chryssa and Liz relax a bit." show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "You seem fine...It's good that you can remember what happened and walk." show sprite lizWorriedB Liz "It looked like you lost consciousness for a second there, though." show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "I wasn't knocked out, I was thinking the whole time." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprisedB NoelleT "Huh?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "I was just stunned 'cause it really hurt." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB Noelle "So...you remember what I said to you?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAnnoyedB Akarsha "Yeah, that I'm an arse?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAwayB Noelle "What about before that?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "Um...Before that, everyone was screaming that I fell." Akarsha "It was so chaotic, it all kinda blurred together." if not calledSubzero: show sprite akarshaHappyB Akarsha "Why, did you finally call me Sub-Zero?" show sideSprite1 noelleUhB Noelle "I most certainly did not." with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmileB NoelleT "What a relief! It would have been mortifying if she'd heard me falling to pieces over her." hide sideSprite1 # NoelleT "But why do I feel a little disappointed?" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "We should still get you checked out by an adult." show sprite minHmB Min "Aren't you and Liz technically adults now?" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "You know what I mean. {i}Real{/i} adults, like the school nurse." #Liz "Until then, no more baseball for you!" show sprite haydenSigh Hayden "Does that mean the game's over?" show sprite chryssaNeutralB Chryssa "Yeah, sorry...We'll have to rematch you guys some other time." show sprite minHuhB if calledSubzero: Min "Wait, so did we win? Did Diya's run count?" else: Min "Wait, so did we tie? Did Diya's run count?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Unfortunately, no." Noelle "My understanding is that Akarsha ultimately violated Section 4 of Rule 8 — She made a travesty of the game." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaBigSmileB Akarsha "A {i}travesty?{/i} That's such a dramatic way to put it, I love it." # show sprite haydenSigh # if calledSubzero: # Hayden "It doesn't feel great to tie like this..." # else: # Hayden "It doesn't feel great to win like this..." show sprite subzeroWorried Subzero "I'm so sorry! You can hit my head super hard too as payback!" Subzero "Like with the bat or something!" show sprite junShocked Jun "Why?! It wouldn't help at all!" show sprite minStupidHappyB Min "I'll do it." show sprite chryssaAnnoyedSmileB Chryssa "NO ONE'S HITTING ANYBODY IN THE HEAD WITH THE BAT!" with sshake # # Subzero "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to cause an accident!" # show sprite minUnamusedB # Min "Why're you apologizing? It was all Akarsha's fault." # show sprite akarshaAnnoyedB # Akarsha "So mean!" with sshake # show sideSprite1 noelleUhB # Noelle "Well, it's true. Your shoelaces only came undone because you refused to tie them like a sane person." # hide sideSprite1 show sprite lizHmB Liz "Noelle, could you escort Akarsha to the nurse's office?" # Liz "It should still be open." show sideSprite1 noelleTsunB Noelle "Alright, fine." hide sideSprite1 hide sprite play sound2 "sound/walkGrass.ogg" show bg field with dissolve "Noelle and Akarsha trudge back up the hill toward the school." "Suddenly Akarsha touches her own cheek, confused." show sprite akarshaNervousB Akarsha "Why is my face wet?" show sideSprite1 noelleHmB Noelle "What?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "There's something wet on my cheek. Like water." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprisedB NoelleT "It's from when I was crying over her!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAwayB Noelle "That...that must've been someone's spit that fell on you." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaSurprisedB Akarsha "Huh?! Ew!" with sshake hide sprite show bg lockerRoomDoor with dissolve show sprite akarshaAwayB Akarsha "Man...If only I hadn't tripped, I totally would've saved the day." show sprite akarshaShrugB Akarsha "You should thank me for tryin' to save you from making us lose." #show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyedB # Noelle "Your hare-brained plan only worked as well as it did because no one imagined you'd try something so asinine." # Akarsha "C'mon, man, I was trying to save you from making us lose." show sideSprite1 noelleTsunB NoelleT "Now that she mentions it, I do feel a bit bad that she got hurt trying to help me..." show sideSprite1 noelleAwayB Noelle "I actually am a bit impressed you wrangled such an improbable outcome out of a walk." Noelle "I truly marvel at your creativity sometimes." hide sideSprite1 # hide sprite with dissolve #"Akarsha gapes at her, open-mouthed." show sprite akarshaBlushB Akarsha "Whuh??" show sprite akarshaNervousB Akarsha "Who are you, and what did you do with Noelle?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutralB Noelle "Contrary to common belief, I am, in fact, capable of being nice." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNeutralB Akarsha "I know, but you usually look like you're passing a really hard poo while you're doing it." "Akarsha grabs Noelle's hand and vigorously shakes it up and down." show sprite akarshaHappyB Akarsha "Congratulations! You've learned basic human decency!" Akarsha "You should try it more often." "To Noelle's dismay, she feels a strange, almost electric undercurrent of something running between their palms." show sideSprite1 noelleTsunB NoelleT "Why am I so sensitive to her touch all of a sudden? It didn't used to be like this." hide sideSprite1 "Noelle thrashes her hand free and seizes Akarsha's wrist!" with sshake show sprite akarshaBlushB Akarsha "Wah!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedB NoelleT "Could it be that I'm still excited from the game?" NoelleT "There's probably still adrenaline in my system." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaBlushB Akarsha "Lemme go!" with sshake play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sprite akarshaShockerB Akarsha "War crime! War crime!!" with sshake play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShockedB Noelle "IT'S NOT A WAR CRIME TO GRAB SOMEONE'S ARM!" with sshake #NoelleT "It's not anger. Could it be that I'm still shaken from earlier?" # show sprite akarshaSadB # Akarsha "You've gotta be slappin' my balls right now!" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalmB NoelleT "Oh, the humanity!" NoelleT "To be captivated by a court jester — a circus clown juggling five bowling pins!" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite label math: stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black pause 2.0 $chTitle = _("One week later") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(2, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens play music "music/Sound413_Images(short) - miltata.ogg" #play music "music/miltata - Campagne_sound363.mp3" show bg classroom "Diya blearily looks up from her textbook as Akarsha takes her usual seat in front of Noelle." show sprite diyaNeutral Diya "How's your head." show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "Oh, I'm all good now!" Akarsha "The nurse just told me to rest up for a few days." Akarsha "My parents made me see a doctor over the weekend, too, and he said the same thing." show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "That's good to hear." hide sideSprite1 # Akarsha "By the way, while I was at the hospital, I snuck into the ICU and poured Dr. Pepper into the IV bag of a sickly old man." # Akarsha "He blew up and left behind a perfectly clean skeleton." # play sound "sound/What!.ogg" # Noelle "That never happened." with sshake show sprite akarshaAnnoyed Akarsha "I wish I could've used this as an excuse to get outta the Bio test today, though." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "At least we have the Multicultural Week Assembly in third period." Noelle "You can use it as extra time to cram." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAway Akarsha "I wanna watch at least some of it, though. I heard there was gonna be a K-pop part." #hide sprite dissolve "Noelle's heart does a nervous little stutter as Akarsha turns all the way round in her seat to face her." show sprite akarshaHappy Akarsha "Do you remember the poster that was in the nurse's office?" show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "No. What poster?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaAway Akarsha "It said if your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer." show sprite diyaNeutral Diya "That doesn't sound right." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Why would that be the case? Swelling?" hide sideSprite1 "Just to check, Noelle puts her hand over her face to compare their sizes." show bg white onlayer screens show sprite akarshaBigSmile play sound "sound/smack.ogg" pause 0.1 hide bg white onlayer screens with sshake "Akarsha slaps Noelle's hand so Noelle smacks herself in the face." play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "AKARSHAAAAA!!!!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite "Akarsha bolts, and Noelle chases after her!" play sound "sound/school bell.ogg" # stop music fadeout 1.0 "The bell rings!{w=0.26} This concludes Noelle and Akarsha's daily morning scream fest." "Once they're back in their desks, Noelle glowers at the back of Akarsha's head." # "Once they're back in their desks, Noelle gazes longingly at the back of Akarsha's head." show sideSprite1 noelleBlushTsun NoelleT "I can't keep my eyes off of her. It must be my body's natural defense mechanism in response to threats." NoelleT "If I hold her hand, it'll prevent her from doing the \"Why are you hitting yourself?\" move." NoelleT "And if I embrace her, she will be completely immobilized." NoelleT "Yes. There are perfectly reasonable explanations for all of these strange urges I'm feeling." hide sideSprite1 label preassembly: show bg p5Outside with diamond "In third period, Noelle's teacher leads the class to the gym to watch the Multicultural assembly." "Most of her classmates have their heads buried in their Biology textbooks as they walk, desperately cramming for the impending test." show sprite diyaNeutral with dissolve Diya "Pistil." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "The ovule producing part of the flower. Next." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaAway Diya "Xylem." show sprite akarshaAway Akarsha "Plant tissue that moves water 'n stuff around. Next." show sprite diyaAnnoyed Diya "What's \"stuff\"." show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "Like, stuff. Y'know...Stuff." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "You know, Akarsha, I've never actually seen you study for something in earnest before." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaHappy Akarsha "Ya, well, I decided to actually try normally for once." Akarsha "I think I have too many lies and weird plots goin' on at the same time, and it's tiring me out." # Diya "Pistil." # Noelle "The ovule producing part of the flower. Next." # show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmile # Noelle "Serves you right." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun # Noelle "You should've just agreed when I asked you not to pull any pranks involving bees, garbage, and hitting me during midterms." # # Noelle "There's something truly wrong with you if you can't even agree not to pull any pranks involving bees, garbage, and hitting me during midterms." # show sprite akarshaAway # Akarsha "That felt like extortion." # Noelle "HOW CAN YOU INTERPRET SUCH A SIMPLE ASK AS EXTORTION!?" with sshake # NoelleT "It's always like this. You rush me with a flurry of asinine nonsense, and I parry each jab because it's fun." # NoelleT "Why does this bring me such joy?" NoelleT "You fool...You nuisance...You liar..." NoelleT "I want to know everything about you..." NoelleT "I want you to tell me every thought that's ever crossed your mind..." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaNeutral Diya "Sepal." show sprite akarshaHappy Akarsha "The outer part of the flower, the green leafy part." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun NoelleT "Why am I so infatuated with her?" NoelleT "It can't possibly be that I fancy her." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "No...Surely not!" with sshake NoelleT "I may have grown used to the concept of Diya dating Min, but I have no intention of being in a relationship like that myself." NoelleT "Even now that I'm aware it's possible for two women to...copulate...that changes nothing!" NoelleT "Homosexuals can't even legally get married anymore. It seems unwise to pursue a lifestyle reliant on the mercy of a government as unreliable as our own." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNervous "Akarsha gives her an odd look." Akarsha "...Why're you glaring at me?" show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "Oh...Is that how my face looked?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaHm Akarsha "I haven't even done anything yet." show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "YET?" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised play sound "sound/smack.ogg" Noelle "Oof!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 hide sprite "Noelle walks straight into someone in the class walking ahead of them." show sprite graceSurprised Grace "Kyaaaa!" with sshake show sprite sayeedaNeutral Sayeeda "Oh hai, it's you guys!" show sprite akarshaBigSmile Akarsha "Oh hey! What's up?" show sprite esterHappy Ester "I posted the first chapter of my webcomic." show sprite sayeedaHappy Sayeeda "I saw! Every page has like, four comments!!" with sshake #Grace "Yeah! Two of them are me and Sayeeda, but the other two are random other people!" show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "Is that good...? I have no idea how to gauge webcomic success." hide sideSprite1 show sprite graceNeutral Grace "Ester, you're like, you're a celebrity now!" show sprite akarshaHappy Akarsha "Ooh, I wanna see!" show sprite esterHappy Ester "Here, I scanned all these comic pages from my sketchbook." "She holds her sketchbook out so Noelle, Diya, and Akarsha can read it as they walk." # NoelleT "The plot so convoluted." # NoelleT "It doesn't help that I can barely tell the characters apart during the action scenes, either." show sideSprite1 noelleTsun Noelle "This is not scientifically accurate..." Noelle "But at least it's easier to follow than that accursed English video we made." hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "Hey, were you really in high school if you didn't act in a completely incomprehensible movie with your friends?" show sprite diyaSurprised Diya "?" Diya "Is that Noelle." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "Huh? Where?" hide sideSprite1 hide sprite with dissolve "Diya points at a panel showing a character crumpled on the ground." show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "Wait a minute...is this traced from a photo of me?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite esterSurprised Ester "Er, yeah...But don't worry, I made sure to tweak some things!" Ester "Her personality is completely different from yours. And I changed her hair color to white." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Why white...? Is she old?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite esterNeutral Ester "No, it's because she's albino. She has red eyes, too." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Okay...But what if people still realize this is based on my likeness?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaNeutral Diya "Looks like someone already did." hide sprite with dissolve "Sure enough, Min has left a comment on the page where albino Noelle is getting her ass kicked." $npcName=_("God_Of_Halo") NPC "LMAO GET REKT NERD" show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "That's the price of knowing an Artiste." show sprite esterSurprised Ester "Sorry, next time I'll ask for permission first..." show sprite graceNeutral Grace "Ester, you're coming to Fanime with us, right?" show sprite esterHappy Ester "Yeah, I begged my parents to let me go." show sprite graceNeutral Grace "We should cosplay as your characters to help promote the comic!" play sound "sound/smack.ogg" show sprite esterSurprised Ester "What?! No!" with sshake Ester "The anatomy's so bad. And I made a bunch of mistakes on everyone's outfits..." play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sprite graceSurprised Grace "You're famous and you're still saying that BS?!" with sshake Grace "You created this with your bare hands! So what if it's not perfect? You're god!" show sprite esterSurprised Ester "Okay whatever, do what you want, but I'm wearing normal clothes." show sprite akarshaAnnoyed Akarsha "You're seriously gonna be too cool for anime while ATTENDING an anime convention? It's not like you can wander in by accident." show sprite sayeedaNeutral Sayeeda "I call dibs on Stellaluna!" show sprite graceKya Grace "Then I get Kagami Izuna!!" with sshake show sprite akarshaShocker Akarsha "Wait, I wanted to be Kagami Izuna!" hide sprite with dissolve "Noelle hangs back with Diya as the others argue, trying to process a confusing tangle of feelings about not being the center of Akarsha's attention." #"She watches Akarsha's silly little gait as she walks, the one that apparently marks her as an American in India." "She watches Akarsha's ridiculous gait as she walks, the one that apparently marks her as an American in India." show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "Question: Do you ever feel like love is a choice?" hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaNeutral with dissolve Diya "?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Like you could {i}potentially{/i} fall in love with someone?" Noelle "You're {i}not{/i} in love with them, but if you wanted to feel that way, you {i}could.{/i}" Noelle "But if you ignore it, it'll pass, eventually." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaSurprised Diya "Isn't that just regular love?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "No, I'm not talking about regular love, like what you and Min experience." Noelle "There was no preventing that. The two of you were drawn together with the force of a freight train." Noelle "But this isn't like that. This is more comparable to someone reaching a fork in a road." #Noelle "Like approaching a fork in the road." Noelle "Because I can obviously control my emotions, especially ones that aren't useful to me. I'm not a wild animal." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaNeutral Diya "...Even if you could control your emotions. Why don't you think they're useful?" show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Because they would derail my entire life." # Noelle "Because they would plunge me into madness. I can't think of a more reckless thing to do than voluntarily live at the mercy of another person." Noelle "There's insufficient evidence to suggest the subject in question would reciprocate my feelings, so perhaps this is putting the cart before the horse..." Noelle "But in the unlikely event that things actually did work out between us, it would be extremely inconvenient for my plans." hide sideSprite1 # Noelle "Especially if it's someone extremely inconvenient for your plans." Diya "What plans?" show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "You know, just the default ones." Noelle "Essentially, to secure a respectable job, marry a similarly successful man, and spawn two well-behaved children in the suburbs before I'm thirty." Noelle "I'd be throwing away my prospects of leading a normal life just for the pleasure of being tormented by a silly little clown every day." hide sideSprite1 #Noelle "I'd be throwing away my entire life just for the pleasure of being tormented by a silly little clown every day." show sprite diyaSurprised Diya "............" "Diya gives her an odd look. She looks like she's struggling to piece together a very complicated puzzle." show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "What?" show sprite diyaScared Diya "Nothing..." show sprite diyaWorried Diya "If the...person...doesn't fit your goal, shouldn't you update the goal?" show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "I can't. It's the only outcome my parents see as acceptable." Noelle "If I don't adhere to it, they'll badger me day and night. They'll never let me hear the end of it." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaAnnoyed Diya "Don't they already do that anyway?" show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "...Oh...Yes, they do." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried # Diya "They'll always have some new problem to latch onto. Like maybe the guy isn't the right race or have the right job." Noelle "You're right, no matter what I do, they'll always find some new issue to latch onto." # Noelle "No, I know you're right. I just forget sometimes." Noelle "Why am I so desperate for the approval of two people whose opinions I don't even respect?" # Diya "Because they're your parents. Pretty sure " Noelle "I wish I could rewire my brain to only crave approval from people I hold in high esteem." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaHappy Diya "Like me?" show sideSprite1 noelleHappy Noelle "You would be included, yes." hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaAwayHappy Diya "Then I'd want you to adopt a thousand dogs and start exercising." show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "A thousand?!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite diyaHappy Diya "But you can read some books too, as a treat." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Your manner of discussing this makes me sound like your pet hamster." with sshake hide sideSprite1 # show sprite diyaScared # "Diya looks like she's struggling to piece together a very complicated puzzle." # Diya ".............................." # show sideSprite1 noelleUh # NoelleT "Did she not hear me?" # hide sideSprite1 #Noelle "In short, what if they derail your entire life?" #Diya "What if they don't?" # "Diya looks from Noelle to their screaming, arguing friends walking ahead of them, cocking her head." # # Noelle "" # Diya "............" # Noelle "What?" # Diya "Don't worry about it." hide sprite label assembly: stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black with diamond pause 0.5 show bg gym with diamond play music "music/Ketsa - Jello.mp3" # play music "music/miltata - petroma.ogg" # Grace "Aw, our class is sitting on the other side." # Sayeeda "This is where we part ways, my friend." # Akarsha "Peace!" "Noelle follows her class into the rafters." show sideSprite2 minSmirk Min "Diya! Over here!" with sshake show sideSprite2 diyaDelighted Diya "!!!!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 "Min worms her way over to them through the crowd." show sideSprite2 minStupidHappy Min "I escaped from my class." show sideSprite2 akarshaAway Akarsha "Escaped? Are they gonna come looking for you?" show sideSprite2 minSmug Min "Nah, I lost them." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed Noelle "You'd better have. I'd rather not get caught harboring a fugitive." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 minUnamused Min "Did it hurt? When you were born with that huge stick up your ass?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 minHuh Min "What the hell is this, anyway?" show sideSprite2 diyaNeutral Diya "Multicultural Week?" show sideSprite2 minHm Min "Yeah, that. None of the other schools I went to did this." show sideSprite2 diyaAwayHappy Diya "At lunch, there's samosas. And Coldstone cupcakes." show sideSprite2 minHm Min "What? For free?" show sideSprite2 diyaNeutral Diya "No. You buy them." Diya "All the clubs sell something to fundraise." show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "I heard there's also musubis." show sideSprite2 minHm Min "What's the baseball club selling?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Curry pizza, I think." hide sideSprite1 # Min "Wait, do we have to go help?" # Noelle "No, I think the upperclassmen are handling it." "Akarsha takes a seat at the end of the row against the wall. Min begins to sit down next to her..." play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite2 diyaSurprised Diya "!!!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 "Suddenly, Diya grabs Min by the shoulders, turns her round to face her, and kisses her full on the mouth." show sideSprite2 minCute Min "Mmmph?!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh NoelleT "...What brought this on???" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNervous Akarsha "Hot damn! Get a room!" hide sideSprite2 "Baffled, Noelle squeezes past them and sits in the spot Min was about to take next to Akarsha." show sideSprite2 minBlushSurprised Min "Wha...What was that for?" Min "Not that I'm complaining..." show sideSprite2 diyaBlush Diya "......." hide sideSprite2 "Diya whispers something into Min's ear that Noelle can't catch." show sideSprite2 minSurprised Min "WHAT?" with sshake Min "That doesn't make sense. Are you sure?!" show sideSprite2 diyaWorried Diya "Maybe half." hide sideSprite2 # "Diya shakes her hand as if to say \"Ehhh...\" as they take a seat beside Noelle." # Min "—Mmph!" with sshake #"Diya kisses her again to muffle her as they take a seat beside Noelle." # "Diya makes a \"Shh!\" gesture to her as the two of them take a seat beside Noelle." # Akarsha "Yay, the assembly's starting!" $npcName=_("Class president") NPC "Tinikling is one of the most popular folk dances in the Philippines. This dance originated on an island in central Philippines..." "Noelle and Akarsha continue to cram as their fellow students showcase a variety of cultural performances." "Diya lets out a huge yawn and rests her head on Min's shoulder." show sideSprite2 minHm Min "You tired?" show sideSprite2 diyaAway Diya "Stayed up late studying." show sideSprite2 minSmirk Min "I'll wake you up if anything cool happens." show sideSprite2 akarshaAnnoyedAway Akarsha "Man, I wish I stayed up late cramming too. I'm so dead..." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "We have the entire assembly to study. If you want to live, stop whining and start reviewing." hide sideSprite1 #Diya "Wake me up if something cool happens?" # NPC "Raas is a traditional Gujurati folk dance..." show sideSprite2 akarshaAway Akarsha "Yes, ma'am..." show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "What part of the flower will turn into a fruit?" hide sideSprite2 menu: "Petal": show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "The petal." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "Huh?? You really think that?" with sshake Akarsha "When you see flowers with like, a billion petals, are you like \"Wowie! Can't wait to eat a billion fruits!\"" hide sideSprite2 play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalm Noelle "SHUT UP!!!! I DON'T THINK THAT!!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaAnnoyed Akarsha "Then why'd you say it?" Akarsha "It's obviously the ovary." show sideSprite2 akarshaBigSmile Akarsha "Wait, is it cuz you're too much of a prude to say ovary?" show sideSprite2 akarshaTrueNeutral Akarsha "All along, instead of debating whether you're straight or gay, we should've been asking whether you get turned on by flower private parts." hide sideSprite2 play sound "What!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!!!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaShrug Akarsha "If you wanna shut me up so bad, why don't you just kiss me?" hide sideSprite2 play sound "sound/smack.ogg" "Noelle smacks her in the arm!" with sshake show sideSprite2 akarshaShocker Akarsha "Ow!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 "Ovary": show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "The ovary." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaBigSmile Akarsha "Ding ding ding!" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "You didn't by any chance ask that question just to make me say \"ovary\", did you?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "No way! How immature do you think I am?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Last period, you asked me to guess what number you were thinking of, and it was 69." with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaShrug Akarsha "Well, you're the immature one for guessing it right." hide sideSprite2 play sound "sound/What!.ogg" show sideSprite1 noelleShocked Noelle "HOW AM {i}I{/i} THE IMMATURE ONE?? I GUESSED IT BECAUSE I KNEW YOU'RE ALWAYS LIKE THIS!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" show sideSprite2 minUh #Min "Shut the fuck up! Diya's sleeping!" with sshake # show sideSprite2 minShocked Min "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! DIYA'S SLEEPING!!!" with sshake show sideSprite2 akarshaAnnoyed Akarsha "Not anymore, she isn't..." hide sideSprite2 # show sideSprite1 noelleAnnoyed # NoelleT "You're being just as loud as us!" # hide sideSprite1 "The Tinikling dancers bow and run off the stage." "Now that they've reached a lull in the conversation, Noelle is hyperaware of the way the side of Akarsha's thigh is pressed up against hers." show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway NoelleT "Why did I have to meet you?" NoelleT "Why do you have to be so funny and make me so happy?" NoelleT "You've ruined everything." hide sideSprite1 # NPC "Next up is Kung-Fu. The rich and long history of China's martial arts..." NPC "Next up is Chinese dance. Chinese dance has thousands of years of history..." "A troupe of student dancers wave colorful fans to an idyllic sounding Chinese song." # "A troupe of student martial artists to an exciting sounding Chinese song." show sideSprite2 akarshaAway Akarsha "Do you know what the song's about?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "I wish I could tell you. I haven't the faintest idea." Noelle "When I was younger, I was so eager to cast the Chinese part of me aside because it was difficult. And now I regret it." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "Hey, no judgment. I'm whitewashed, too." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Does it ever bother you that you can't speak any Indian languages?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaAway Akarsha "Maybe a little? It would be cool to know." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "That's all? You don't feel guilty for being uncultured?" # Noelle "Or empty, because you'll never be as well-versed in the culture of your ancestors?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaShocker Akarsha "Excuse you?? I'm plenty cultured!" show sideSprite2 akarshaShrug Akarsha "Today I'm gonna eat curry pizza, destroy the sport of baseball, and even enjoy the company of a Frenchman." # Akarsha "Is that such a bad thing?" # Akarsha "The world changes. ." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "You know what I mean. It's not the traditional culture your ancestors experienced." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "Is that such a bad thing? It's different, but it's pretty cool in its own way, too." # Akarsha "Ya gotta update." # Akarsha "That just makes me feel bad for my ancestors, cuz this rules." # Akarsha "I get to eat Mexican food, destroy the sport of baseball, and watch anime." Akarsha "And if I really want, I can always pick up Hindi or something someday." #Akarsha "I might try to pick up Hindi or something someday." # Noelle "Hm...Continuously guilted over it for the past fifteen years." # Akarsha "I mean, I don't think it bothered my ancestors that they couldn't speak English." # Noelle "Well, it's not as though they could have seen into the future. You didn't exist while they were alive." # Akarsha "Doesn't it go both ways? " hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "But you've already missed the window of time when children pick up languages the most readily." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaTrueNeutral Akarsha "Don't plenty of people learn languages later in life though?" Akarsha "I feel like Diya and Min've learned a ton just from teaching each other." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "That may be possible, but it's not optimal." # Noelle "I'll never be fluent, or be as in-touch with Chinese culture as my cousins." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaAnnoyed Akarsha "Dude, whose life is optimal? You're not a robot." Akarsha "Just take what you can get, and be happy." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "Easier said than done, but duly noted." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "Speaking of robots! Did you try playing Portal?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "I did." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "What did you think?" with sshake hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "It made me motion sick. I kept having to pause because I was on the verge of throwing up." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaAnnoyed Akarsha "Oops. Sorry..." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "But I did enjoy the witty dialogue. And the song at the end." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "...So you still played all of it?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Yes." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "Even though it almost made you hurl?!" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "What choice did I have? You told me to play it." hide sideSprite1 #"Akarsha blinks at her, and Noelle suddenly feels as if she's accidentally shown her hand in a game of poker." show sideSprite2 akarshaAway Akarsha "Oh...yeah, I guess that's friends do." show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "Isn't GLaDOS so hot?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "The sadistic artificial intelligence who's trying to kill you?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaHm Akarsha "That's the whole appeal! She's scary in a seductive way!" with sshake Akarsha "Like, her voice gets all low and sexy when she's insulting you!" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh # Noelle "Did you hit your head again? " Noelle "Did you hit your head again? Something's definitely not right in there." hide sideSprite1 # show sideSprite2 akarshaShrug # Akarsha "Yeah, just like that." # hide sideSprite2 # show sideSprite1 noelleBlush # Noelle "Wh–Huh?!" with sshake # hide sideSprite1 # "Noelle sputters in surprise, but Akarsha's already nonchalantly buried her nose back in her textbook." # show sideSprite2 akarshaAway # Akarsha "........." # hide sideSprite2 # show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmile # NoelleT "Oh. She was joking, like always." # hide sideSprite1 #Akarsha "I have amazing, flawless taste, thank you! I will not be shamed for speaking the truth!" #Noelle "I most certainly do not see. You should get your eyes checked." # Noelle "They should run a battery of tests on YOU. There are so many things wrong with you, I want to study you under a microscope." #Akarsha "You should flood MY room with a deadly neurotoxin." #Noelle "Maybe I will." # $npcName2=_("Girls in the crowd") NPC "K-Pop as we know it would not exist without the—" play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" NPC2 "WOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" with sshake "The K-Pop dance troupe's introduction is completely drowned out by a chorus of high-pitched screams." show sideSprite2 akarshaAway Akarsha "Aw, that's cute." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "I'm not sure I would characterize those banshee-like screams as \"cute\"." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaHm Akarsha "No, not them! Next to you." hide sideSprite2 "Noelle turns to see Diya sound asleep in Min's arms. Min's gazing at her like she's an angel that just fell down from heaven." "It makes Noelle's skin crawl, so she quickly looks away." show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "They're so disgustingly in love, I can barely bear to look at them." # Noelle "It's like staring directly at the sun." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaUh Akarsha "Right? It's like staring directly at the sun." # Akarsha "Right? They're like two dogs who wag their tails like crazy whenever they see each other." # Noelle "How so?" Akarsha "All obvious." # Akarsha "All obvious." Akarsha "Sometimes I kinda wish that were more my style." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAway Noelle "Do you really?" Noelle "It's not exactly my style, either." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaUh Akarsha "Yeah, I guess not..." Akarsha ".........." hide sideSprite2 # hide sideSprite2 "Noelle carefully maintains a mildly disgusted expression as she watches Akarsha read, just in case she's caught staring." # show sideSprite1 noelleWorried # NoelleT "Do you know how charming you are, all the time, without even trying to be?" # NoelleT "" # # NoelleT "Has anyone ever told you? I almost can't stand that you could be this wonderful, and not even be aware of it." # hide sideSprite1 # "Akarsha ." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "If I cast this part of myself aside because it's difficult too, will I come to regret it later?" hide sideSprite1 # show sideSprite1 noelleWorriedAway # NoelleT "If I cast this part of myself aside because it's difficult too, will I come to regret it later?" # hide sideSprite1 #NoelleT "If I cast you aside because you, too, are difficult, will I come to regret it later?" show sideSprite2 akarshaBlush Akarsha "Hey...." Akarsha "Do you remember that time my brother hijacked my computer and typed all this crazy stuff to you?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "What?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaBlushNervous Akarsha "It was a few months ago, after school. Remember?" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleAway NoelleT "Oh, I forgot about that." NoelleT "That was odd." show sideSprite1 noelleNeutral Noelle "Yes, I remember now. Why?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaBlush Akarsha "I lied." Akarsha "That wasn't my brother, that was me." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "O...kay?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaBlushNervous Akarsha "........." hide sideSprite2 "Akarsha goes back to reading her Biology textbook, though her leg's now jittering up and down." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried NoelleT "I feel like I was just told a joke whose punchline flew straight over my head." NoelleT "Why would it matter that it was her and not her brother...? What exactly did she say?" hide sideSprite1 # #NoelleT "...Didn't she say she liked me...?" "As she wracks her brain, a dozen costumed seniors take the floor." #NoelleT "I need to stay calm. Does the conversation history go that far back?" #NoelleT "I need to search our conversation history when I get home..." # NPC "Thank you, Raas! Up next, we have Senior Bhangra!" NPC "Thank you, K-Pop! Up next, we have Senior Bhangra!" NPC "Bhangra was originally a folk dance from farmers in Punjab..." # Akarsha "Look, there's Chryssa and Liz!" show sideSprite2 minHuh Min "There's Chryssa and Liz!" show sideSprite2 minSmirk Min "{font=korean.ttf}공주님!{/font} Wake up!" with sshake show sideSprite2 diyaSurprised Diya "...!" show sideSprite2 chryssaHappyB Chryssa "Seniors, c'mon down!" show sideSprite2 lizHappyB Liz "It's okay if you don't know the moves! Follow our lead!" hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleHm Noelle "...How is it okay if people don't know the moves?" hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "I guess they all try to copy the group that's learned the dance." hide sideSprite2 show sideSprite1 noelleUh Noelle "Won't that look hopelessly unsynchronized, though?" Noelle "They can't possibly dance in proper unison on the fly." hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaHappy Akarsha "Why don't we see for ourselves?" show sideSprite2 akarshaShrug Akarsha "Let's dance!" with sshake hide sideSprite2 "Akarsha stands, yanking Noelle up with her by the arm." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised Noelle "What?! We're not seniors!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sideSprite2 akarshaBlushAway # Akarsha "Trust me, no one's gonna notice!" Akarsha "C'mon, no one's gonna notice. I can't focus, anyway!" hide sideSprite2 # All four of them go down to dance. #stop music fadeout 2.0 # pause 0.5 show bg bhangra with dissolve "Noelle balks as her friends weave their way into the crowd of amateur dancers." show sideSprite1 noelleWorried Noelle "I don't dance!" hide sideSprite1 #Noelle "I don't know any of the moves!" show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "C'mon, you don't need to be good at something to do it." "They all try to copy the others, clapping and raising their arms a beat late each time." show sprite minWorried Min "This looks like shit!" with sshake #Diya "Some of the guys are just standing still..." # Min "Fuck! I stomped on someone's foot." with sshake show sprite akarshaNeutral Akarsha "Oh balls! This is harder than I thought!" #Akarsha "See? Isn't this fun?" show sideSprite1 noelleFacepalm Noelle "I told you! We look like fools!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNervous Akarsha "T-that's okay! So does everyone else!" with sshake # Diya "You don't have to be able to outrun the bear. Just the slowest person." # Noelle "WHAT?" # Min "As long as we're less shit than the shittiest people, we're fine!" with sshake "Already out of breath, Noelle looks around at the chaotic blur of Asian nerds flailing their limbs around them." show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised NoelleT "It's true...This must be a group of some of the worst dancers in the world!" hide sideSprite1 # Min "This looks like shit. Even the people in costume aren't on beat." # Diya "Some of the guys are just standing still..." # "With renewed confidence, Noelle spins in what turns out to be the completely wrong direction." show sprite diyaSurprised "With renewed confidence, Noelle spins in what turns out to be the completely wrong direction. Diya rears back to avoid crashing into her." show sprite diyaWorriedAway Diya ".........." "To Noelle's surprise, Diya belatedly bumps into her, sending her flying into Akarsha!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleSurprised NoelleT "That almost seemed deliberate?!" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaNervous Akarsha "Wah!" with sshake show sideSprite1 noelleBlushNervous Noelle "Pardon!" with sshake hide sideSprite1 "Akarsha tries to pull back, only for Min to smack the back of her head in retaliation." show bg white onlayer screens play sound "sound/smack.ogg" pause 0.1 hide bg white onlayer screens with sshake show sprite akarshaSurprised Akarsha "OW!! What was that for?" with sshake show sprite minUh Min "This...This air is mine!" with sshake show sprite akarshaNervous Akarsha "Huh???" with sshake #I think I need another CG for this... "Noelle grabs Akarsha's hand for balance as they collide again." show sprite akarshaBlushAway Akarsha "Isn't this fun?" show sideSprite1 noelleBlushTsun Noelle "This is a hellhole!" hide sideSprite1 show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "This is paradise!" hide sprite with dissolve show bg white with dissolve pause 0.5 show bg ending onlayer master hide bg with Dissolve (2.0) "Akarsha laces their fingers together, and Noelle can feel it — a hairline crack racing through something foundational within her." "It's an utterly terrifying yet exhilarating sensation, but she doesn't let go." # show sideSprite1 noelleSadSmile Noelle "I have feelings for you." # hide sideSprite1 "She whispers it, as an experiment, so that it's impossible to hear over the roar of the crowd and the music." "But it feels like a small, daring victory, like the first step on the moon." # "Like a butterfly tearing out of its chrysalis all soft, naive, and crinkled." "Like a butterfly breaking out of its chrysalis all soft, naive, and crinkled." # "Like a butterfly escaping from its chrysalis all soft, naive, and crinkled." "Maybe with two left feet and a few days late to the party, but alive, so alive, trying to process the blinding, beautiful, wild world she's broken her way into." # "Maybe missing a leg and a few days late to the party, but alive, so alive, trying to process the blinding, beautiful, wild world waiting for her." #show sideSprite2 akarshaNeutral Akarsha "...What'd you say?" # hide sideSprite2 "Akarsha twirls her, and Noelle gives up on suppressing the giddy smile on her face." #show sideSprite1 noelleBigSmile Noelle "Nothing. Maybe I'll tell you later." # show sideSprite2 # show sprite akarshaShrug Akarsha "Be that way. Burger King." # show sideSprite2 diyaAnnoyed Diya "That's not even the slogan." "They dance and dance, all stupid and struggling and happy." # "They dance and dance, all happy gay disasters." Min "There's so much pain and misery in this school." Min "It's twisted us all into strange and flawed shapes, like butterflies born in a fool's spring." Diya "But it's the circumstances that gave us you and me, right here, right now." Noelle "Kant wrote, \"Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.\"" Noelle "And how we long to be straight — Forgetting there's beauty in the crooked things, too." # NoelleT "I can't have what the teenagers in the movies have." # NoelleT "I can't have what my cousins overseas have." Akarsha "We'll never live the lives our parents wanted us to lead." #NoelleT "I can't have what my parents had, or what their parents had before them had, or what their parents had before them had." # NoelleT "No—" Akarsha "And that's okay." Akarsha "Because we'll forge something brave and new instead." # NoelleT "We can build something new." Noelle "It won't be the same." Noelle "But it'll be ours." Noelle "And I won't ever let that go." stop music fadeout 3.0 hide sideSprite hide sidesprite1 hide sideSpite hide sideSpite1 hide spite show bg black hide bg onlayer master with Dissolve (3.0) $ renpy.pause(3, hard=True) label credits: #$ persistent.credits = True # $ _game_menu_screen = None $ _dismiss_pause = False #$ _skipping = False $ _rollback = False #Below screen stops player from clicking to skip show screen movie hide bg black show creditscroll1 onlayer screens show creditscroll2 onlayer screens pause 107 hide creditscroll2 onlayer screens with dissolve pause 3 hide screen movie label epilogue: hide creditscroll1 onlayer screens # $ renpy.pause(1, hard=True) # hide movie onlayer screens hide creditscroll onlayer screens $ _dismiss_pause = True $ _skipping = True $ _rollback = True stop music # show screen quick_menu3 show bg black play music "sound/crickets.ogg" $chTitle=_("The future") show chTitle [chTitle] onlayer screens $ renpy.pause(3, hard=True) hide chTitle onlayer screens Akarsha "Well? Were they open?" Noelle "What do you think? It's 1 in the morning." Noelle "Of course Home Depot wasn't open." Akarsha "There's gotta be somewhere else you can buy bolt cutters." Noelle "At this hour? I'm not optimistic." Akarsha "Guess I'll die then?? How else are we gonna get them off?" Noelle "I'm afraid we need to go to the fire station for help." #Akarsha *bursts out laughing* play sound "sound/YES!.ogg" Noelle "Stop laughing, this isn't funny!" with sshake Akarsha "This isn't funny???" with sshake Akarsha "We're goin' to the fire station with me half naked and handcuffed, and it's not funny?" with sshake # Noelle "Alright, maybe it's a {i}little{/i} funny." Noelle "You really can't get more dressed than that?" Akarsha "I mean, my arms can't go through the sleeves." play sound "sound/cloth.ogg" Noelle "Hold still." show bg epilogue1 with dissolve Noelle "I give up. Good enough." play sound "sound/shock.ogg" Akarsha "Go—good enough?!?" with sshake # "Akarsha takes one look at her reflection and completely loses it." Akarsha "If only I had a humiliation kink, this would've been perfect." # Akarsha "Doesn't Min have a katana? Or at least some kinda sword." Akarsha "Doesn't Min have a katana?" Noelle "They do?" Akarsha "Or at least some kinda sword. Maybe we could use it to slice the handcuffs off." Noelle "What, you want a surprise amputation tonight? No." Akarsha "And you're SURE the key didn't fall behind the dresser?" # Noelle "Didn't you just watch me struggle to move the dresser for 15 minutes?!" # Akarsha "Ya, but after all that you only moved it like, one inch." Noelle "I looked everywhere; it's gone." # Noelle "I shone a flashlight down the crack. I looked everywhere; it's gone." Noelle "I'm convinced that in these scenarios, small objects stop obeying the laws of physics." Akarsha "This never happened any of the times I handcuffed YOU." Noelle "That, my dear, is called luck." #"Noelle opens the front door." #Noelle "After you." # Akarsha "I'm suing for emotional damages." # Akarsha "Kiss me first." Akarsha "Whatever you say, Skunky..." # Akarsha "Aw, thanks, Skunky!" Noelle "STOP CALLING ME THAT." Akarsha "Fine, Skunko Pop...D.Gray-Man..." Noelle "AND DON'T BRAINSTORM HORRID NEW NICKNAMES FOR ME!" with sshake Akarsha "But you're basically begging for it with your hair like that." Noelle "It's not as if I grew gray hairs on purpose!" with sshake Akarsha "Then how come I don't have any?" Noelle "You're intolerable." with sshake show bg epilogue2 with dissolve "Noelle seizes the front of Akarsha's shirt and yanks her forward, crushing their lips together." # "Noelle seizes the front of Akarsha's shirt and yanks her forward, crushing their lips together." "Akarsha makes a small noise of surprise, then grins as she deepens the kiss, coaxing her lips open so her tongue can slide inside." #"Akarsha presses a chaste kiss to Noelle's lips, but when Akarsha tries to pull away, Noelle seizes the front of her shirt and yanks them back together." #"Noelle takes Akarsha's face in her hands and pulls her in for a kiss." # #"Akarsha presses her body up against hers, coaxing her lips open so her tongue can slide inside." "At the start of the night, she tasted like watermelon lip gloss, but that's long been kissed and smeared away into oblivion." "Noelle can't help but think, why bother? When will you learn?" "I'll always kiss through every layer of crap you put between us until it's just you and me." # "Because I'll always kiss through every layer of crap you put between us until finally it's just you and me." show bg epilogue3 "When they part, their breaths ragged, neither of them can come up with anything witty to say." #"Noelle gives up first." #"So that neither of them can come up with anything witty to say." # "Afterward, neither of them are able to come up with anything witty to say." Noelle "I love you." Akarsha "I love you more." Noelle "That's impossible." Akarsha "No, it's not." Akarsha "I love you times infinity. There, I win." Noelle "You can't multiply infinity." Noelle "Infinity is a concept, not a number. So is \"love\", for that matter." Akarsha "Well too bad, I did it." Akarsha "Love you times infinity." #"Noelle lets out a long-suffering sigh." "Noelle sighs, but she doesn't bother hiding the half-smile tugging at her mouth." # "Noelle sighs, but she's so tired that she doesn't bother hiding the half-smile on her face." Noelle "If you're going to speak nonsense, then I love you times infinity, plus one." #Akarsha "Awww." show bg epilogue4 with dissolve Noelle "Now get in the car. I have work tomorrow morning." "Akarsha tries to respond as Noelle opens the door for her, but she's laughing so hard, it takes her several attempts to get it out." Akarsha "The firefighters! They're gonna look outside and see..." with sshake Akarsha "Prius driver dressed like Frog & Toad...and me..." Noelle "What's wrong with driving a Prius? Just get in already!" with sshake Noelle "I love you times infinity, minus one." Noelle "I love you times infinity, minus two." Akarsha "Okay, okay! How mean!" with sshake # $ persistent.ending1=True stop music fadeout 2.0 show bg black #with Dissolve (3.0) pause 1.0 show bg white with Dissolve (2.0) return