SnootGame/game/script/14B.bad-ending.rpy

label chapter_14B:
    #Anon and the Infinite Sadness
    "After Fang broke up with me everything just fell apart."

    "I couldn’t be bothered with school anymore, instead shutting myself in my room and replaying old games."

    "Naturally, I flunked out."
    pause .5

    "With time on the lease running out, I had to make a decision soon{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"

    "College isn’t an option, so my choices were{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"

    "Minimum wage job, military, or going homeless."

    "I’d rather not have stuck around town, and being homeless wasn’t very appealing either."

    "So that November I signed up for the Navy as a PACT Seaman."
    pause 1

    "The worst mistake of my life, and that’s really saying something considering how I got here."
    pause .5

    "I was sold on the idea of picking a real job and getting training."

    "Instead I was at the mercy of brutal Boatswain's Mates."

    "I have the pig and chicken shit tattooed on my feet to prove it."

    "Or at least I did, until I sold my battlestation to get them removed."
    pause .5

    "I never want to touch a paintbrush in my life again."

    "Though every day since I’ve been eyeing rope{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"
    pause 1

    "For four years my life was suffering."

    "And now I’m back here."

    "Plane ticket to anywhere."

    "And I picked Volcadera Bluff."
    pause .5

    "What the fuck was I thinking?"
    pause .5

    "There was a simple answer to that."

    "I wasn’t."

    "Just like I wasn’t thinking on that beach."

    "People don’t change, after all."
    pause .5

    "I managed to get my old apartment in Skin Row back and it’s somehow even more of a shithole than it was four years ago."

    "Only good thing out of the Navy was the monthly check."

    "Fucking ladderwells. The steps finally got me in the end."
    pause .5

    "Once I got my general discharge papers I vowed to never step foot on a ship again."
    pause .5

    play music 'audio/OST/Skinrow Soul.ogg' fadein 1.0
    scene room anon dark with Dissolve(1)
    pause 1

    "Instead, I’ve locked myself away in this room."

    "Just listlessly drifting through life."

    "Just like I always wanted."
    pause .5

    "The trash from all the deliveries has turned it into a small landfill."

    "I’m out of smokes, I’m out of liquor, my apartment smells like a shallow grave."
    pause .5

    "I really need to go out for once."
    pause .5

    "I vaguely recall there being a pizza place nearby, some chain on the edge of Skin Row."

    "Pizza always helps. And it’s cheap."

    "And there’s a smoke shop nearby."

    "With that plan settled I grab the jacket that I haven’t worn in weeks."

    "I give it a quick smell check before putting it on and heading for the door."

    scene black with dissolve

    "As I walk through the front of the building I feel the burning bright light of the setting sun searing my eyes."

    # play ambient 'audio/effects/outdoor ambience.ogg' fadein 3
    scene white with dissolve
    A "Argh, fuck! It’s like getting skullfucked by one of Stony’s light bars!"
    pause .5

    "After stumbling around like Helen Keller for a few moments, my eyes finally adjust to the sunlight and I start to make my way down the street."
    pause .5

    "Pizza time here I come."

    "{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"
    pause .5

    scene doomeranon01 with Dissolve(3)
    pause 1

    "It’s morose and gray out, clouds hang heavy and blots the sun out."

    "The homeless litter the street more than usual in this part of town."

    "Even outside the dingy pizza place I found."
    pause 1

    stop music fadeout 4
    scene doomeranon02 with Fade(1, 0, 1)
    pause .5

    "There’s only a few people inside the joint when I enter."

    "The entire place could be described as ‘slow’."
    pause .5

    "A cashier leans on one arm over the counter, the customers’ pizza already looks cold on their plates, an ambient track plays at a molasses pace."

    "Time itself seems to be dilating in here."
    pause .5

    "I order two slices to go and wait by the counter for the cashier to meander to the back for a new stack of boxes."
    pause .5

    "Out of the corner of my eye I notice that the place has a small stage tucked into the back."

    "Oh, so they have live music?"
    pause .5

    "The current song ends and they shift amongst themselves to get the next one ready."
    pause .5

    play music 'audio/OST/The.ogg' fadein 1.0
    pause 3

    "The drummer taps his drumsticks together and starts a basic percussion line."
    pause 1

    "After a few beats the dreary singing begins and I feel my heart drop."

    "No matter how much of my memory I repress, I could never forget that voice."

    stop music fadeout 4
    pause .5

    "I throw an inconspicuous glance across the room and confirm my suspicions."
    pause .5

    play music 'audio/OST/summertime synth.ogg'fadein 1
    scene doomeranon03 with Dissolve(2)

    pause 2

    "I can barely recognize Fang."
    pause .5

    "A part of me denies that the person up on stage could have been her."

    "My more rational side however clarifies that it’s Fang up there, singing a song I know by heart."
    pause 1

    "The years have not been kind to her."

    "Her long gray hair is now totally shaved off and she has tattoos down both of her arms."

    "The thick black eyeliner makes her once bright amber eyes seem dull."

    "And the expression on her face is one of absolute misery."
    pause .5

    "The other two don’t look any better off either."
    pause 1

    "I don’t think Fang’s seen me yet."

    "Or doesn’t recognize me."

    "We’re a few years older now, a few years wiser."

    "Maybe just a bit worse off."
    pause .5

    "The cashier returns with some cardboard boxes and packs my order into a neatly-folded package."

    "I stay and wait. Watching her."

    "Hoping for her to look at me."

    "Recognize me."

    "Notice that I’m the only one here who cares enough to watch her play."
    pause 1

    "Finally, her eyes cast over the audience, looking over them."

    "Looking over me."
    pause .5

    "Her gaze just passes me by, even though I’m the only one looking."

    "She doesn’t recognize me."
    pause .5

    stop music fadeout 5
    "It’s sobering."
    pause 1

    scene doomeranon02 with Dissolve(2)
    pause 1

    "I guess that was it, it was fun pretending this might go somewhere."
    pause .5

    "That she would recognize me, drop her instrument and come to my arms, and we start dating again."

    "We forgive ourselves, and we start over."

    "I let out a small sigh."
    pause .5

    "I hesitate with the box in my hand."
    pause 1

    "Fang is right there."
    pause 1

    "I could take everything back. Everything that went wrong all because of that fight."

    "If I try talking to her, she might forgive me."

    "Give us both a fresh start."
    pause .5

    "Things could go back to the way they were, back before{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"

    "Before{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"
    pause .5

    F "{alpha=0.75}{i}{cps=*.4}\"Trish was right about you.\"{/cps}{/i}{/alpha}"
    pause 1

    play music 'audio/OST/Beach Chill Out.ogg' fadein 1.0
    "I{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"
    pause .5

    "I really should go get those smokes."
    pause 1

    "I take one last look of Fang, to further cement in my mind I’m making the right choice."
    pause .5

    scene doomeranon03 with Dissolve(1)
    pause 1

    "I couldn’t save her. Why would I save her? In her infinite talent can’t she see she’s a dump?"
    pause 1

    "I saw it, she’s smart, I’m a dope. Yet why does she do that to herself?"
    pause 1

    scene doomeranon04 with Fade(2, 0, 1)
    pause .5

    "The bell on the door jingles it’s farewell, and I open the box to eat the first slice."

    "As the taste of cardboard fills my mouth I try to erase the last few minutes from my memory."
    pause .5

    "But I know it won’t ever leave."

    "None of my memories will."
    pause 1

    "I can just picture Fang, looking like a junkie like she does now in that pizzeria, playing to an audience of nobody: judging me and how I’m living from now on."

    "And I’ll say \"Yes Fang. I live on a pension alone in my apartment, playing games and watching movies and sleeping.\""

    "\"It’s all I could ever want because I never wanted much in the first place.\""
    pause .5

    "And she’ll probably scream at me, vent her frustrations on me, call me selfish."

    "And I’ll just say \"Goodbye, Fang.\""
    pause .5

    "It could’ve been a painful way of separating again{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"

    "{cps=*.1}...{/cps}after some possibly pleasant time playing catch-up{cps=*.1}...{/cps}"

    "{cps=*.1}...{/cps}but the thought of coming back to my apartment alone with my pizza, watching a movie on my tv, undisturbed, with no judgement for my appearance or the place I live, it fills me with relief."
    pause .5

    "It’s all I ever wanted."
    pause .5

    "It’s all I’ll ever need."
    pause 1

    "Goodbye, Fang. It was nice seeing you again, I suppose."

    "Because I haven’t changed."
    pause 1

    stop music fadeout 4
    scene black
    pause 1
    "People never change."

    $ quick_menu = False
    window hide
    pause 2

    scene 2of4 with Dissolve(2)
    pause

    scene black with Dissolve(3)
    pause 2

    return