pedalbike | 2nd Event: Choices We Make

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2nd Event: Choices We Make

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Arrival

Not all characters (known as Wickie, singular or Wickies, plural) arrive at the same time, surprisingly enough! That’s life for you. Some Wickies find their way to the island at a pivotal (or very mundane) point in their life, or even after or during their death.

Wickies who were standing or walking often find themselves entering the town South Sister, located on Lighthouse Isle, through an open doorway. Those that were laying down, or sleeping, tend to be found lying prone in beds, bathtubs, showers, couches, and similar places within the cottages on Cottage Row. There’s no rhyme or reason to it all! To Wickies familiar with the era, they will realize that everything looks as if it’s come from the ‘90s.

The house which a Wickie finds themselves within could already be occupied. This includes walking into a fellow Wicke, waking up in the same location, or accidentally scaring a room full of people with their sudden appearance.

Oops.

C-C-Changes

Thankfully the fog has gone down to what it was before, a slow creeping crawl over the ground. And too, the monsters of before are gone, leaving the town much like it was before. Well...close to what it was before.

For now the season's have changed, from a lingering summer to a cooler fall.

There’s new foods to try, even if some things like lattes cause people to slip into warm boots and tie up their hair, and soups make people curl up under blankets on the couch. And it also means decorations of all sorts, made of the leaves from the forest, orange, yellow and red things and...we can not forget...

Pumpkin overflow

Pumpkins! They're everywhere. Wickies will find pumpkins infused into all sorts of things, like coffee, ice cream, even spaghetti options! It's wild.

There’s also many jack o'lanterns. They have been placed everywhere in town, outside homes, and even small ones have been made into table decorations. The Jack o lanterns have very cheerful faces, and seem to watch Wickies every single move.

That is, until a Wickie bashes or otherwise abuses a pumpkin. That's when it changes- there seem to be more of them. Their expressions change to that of anger, sadness and disgust. None of them attack- yet. But their faces become more and more horrifying, as they follow the Wickie more and more- outside of the bathroom perhaps, or found on top of them as the Wickie wakes up in the middle of the night.

It shouldn't matter right? They're only pumpkins.

What a ride

Funny enough, with the pumpkin invasion, there also comes a dull colored horse wandering about the island. Its head is drooped, and it looks depressed and lonely. The horse is tame on approach and will accept pats and treats, even from those who are obviously not human.

But it also wants something, for all that it seems to be begging for attention. It wants someone to ride them, seems to even be begging for it with its big eyes. The horse will help Wickies to figure out how to mount; it will even stand beside the Town Center benches, rocks, or even go down in order to make it possible for the Wickie to get onto the horse’s back.

That’s when it changes. The Wickie is immediately wrapped in chains from their barrel to the Wickie’s waist. The horse turns a coal black and the Wickie’s clothing changes into that of a soldier's uniform, with a hand either holding a whip modeled after a human spine, or a jack o'lantern.

The Wickie cannot get off the horse on their own, no matter how much they struggle. As the horse moves throughout the town, they will go anywhere from a walk to a full canter, seemingly impervious to any magic or physical attacks. The same cannot be said for their unfortunate rider.

If the rider is hit, or simply in pain, the Wickie will feel an impulse that grows and grows until they scream a name of someone in town, someone they know.

And the named will drop, paralyzed. Paralyzed wickie are likely to die within minutes, more so if they are too close to horse and rider. The horse will happily trample anyone on the ground to death.

Even without the impulse, should the Wickie rider use anyone’s name, that person will drop, paralyzed, and unable to breathe.

There is only one way to possibly save the rider: scatter golden objects in their path. The horse will shriek, and promptly buck the rider off, before running away. Just make sure to catch the rider, or at least cushion their fall: they have no way of saving themselves until they hit the ground.

Heart game: confession

Current residents of the island may remember this particular beeping alert, and how it doesn’t go away, no matter what they do! That is, unless they open up the Heart Game, and answer the question.

Welcome back everyone! It’s so good to see you again! Now let’s play that game, Confession! And the question isssssss…

How do you celebrate the changing seasons! Don't be shy!

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Connor can't help but feel pleased at the praise. Coming from Hank, it always feels good.

"I think I had been feeling things for a little while." He'd shown empathy towards Chloe, after all. He hadn't shot the Tracis. He'd saved Hank on the rooftop. His emotions- if you could call them that- had been dampened, though. It wasn't until he deviated that he felt things the way a human would. It had been a shock, but he hadn't had time to contemplate it. He glances over at Hank. "And it was probably down to you."

Congratulations Hank, you're probably why Connor deviated.

"Unfortunately, it means I led the humans to Jericho. It was ultimately destroyed." His pleased expression fades into guilt, and he looks away again.

"Hey, hey, hey." He said sternly. Hank dumped the rest of his coffee in favor of putting his other hand on Connor's opposite arm. "Don't beat yourself up over it." Judging by Connor's expression, he was doing exactly that. Couldn't blame him but that wasn't a good road to head down no matter how tempting it was.

"If you didn't do that job, you wouldn't be standing here." He tilted his head to try and meet Connor's gaze. "You did what you had to do to survive, all right?"

Connor meets Hank's eyes, trying to resist the urge to instead look very intently at his collar.

"I'm not sure my life was worth the lives of the countless androids that died in the attack." It's a lot to admit, but he's been feeling that way ever since it happened. He's just never had anyone to talk about it with before. Still, if he was going to talk about it with anyone, it'd be Hank. He reaches up to touch Hank's arm in return, though- resting his hand on Hank's elbow.

He appreciates the reassurance. And he does suppose that if he didn't survive, he never would have infiltrated CyberLife HQ. All those androids would still be slaves.

"I know these FBI types, Connor. They would have found Jericho eventually if they were in charge from the beginning." Hank frowned in a deeply thoughtful way and added a nod. "They definitely wouldn't have found it as fast as you because they're a bunch of incompetent dipshits, but they would've found it." Him? Hold a grudge? ...Maybe.

"And they would climb over a mountain of bodies to get there." At least Connor had saved lives of androids he'd come across. And Hank was certain that was more than what would have happened otherwise. Not to mention that panic that would have ensued in the meantime as more people disposed of their own androids.

Connor thinks on it. Decides they could argue about it for hours here. Instead he slowly moves closer, and pulls Hank into a hug. One he's needed for a while, now.

Hank just got here and he's already trying to make Connor feel better. And it's working. He feels more relaxed around his partner- no, his friend- than he has since he got here.

"Thanks, Hank." It's muffled against Hank's shoulder, but he means it. "There's more I need to tell you, but- I've needed to hear something like that for a while now."

He pulls back after a moment. He doesn't know if Hank wanted that hug, so he just looks at him uncertainly. "Sorry."

Hank was not the 'huggy' type, but Connor seemed like he needed the encouragement. He gave a couple of reassuring pats on the back to show it wasn't unwelcome.

"You don't need to be sorry." He said, "Sometimes, people just need this kind of thing." And he very specifically mentioned 'people', because Connor was his own person now.

"Right." It's hard to have to change the subject. He looks a little sheepish still, but he nudges Hank along again.

"Anyway, after Jericho was destroyed, Markus and the survivors of the attack fled to an abandoned church. Markus chose not to destroy me for what I had done, and I had an idea. I could infiltrate CyberLife HQ and wake the androids stored there in order to shift the balance of power."

Yeah, Hank will probably chew him out at this point because that's insanely dangerous... but Connor is here to tell the tale, so it went well. Right?

As Hank listened, he got a look on his face. The one with a set jaw, frowning face, and furrowed eyebrows that were indicative of him getting angrier and angrier as he listened to each word. "You had an idea." Hank repeated sarcastically as he nodded his head.

Given the explanation of infiltrating the building cut off, it sounded like it was something Connor was still thinking about doing and Hank was not about to let him do it.

"Connor, NO. That's a suicide mission and you know it." He pointed a finger accusingly, "You should know better than anyone how well that place is guarded! You can't expect to go walkin' in through CyberLife's front door and come out with an army full of androids!"

"That's what Markus said. And I agreed... but I had my mind made up."

He knows by now that Hank's anger is a product of caring about him. He doesn't fight against it. It's just how he expresses concern.

"I've already been, Hank. And I was in the process of converting one of the androids when another Connor showed up with you at gunpoint."

His calm expression gives way to a slightly angry one of his own.

"He'd pretended to be me in order to gain your trust, and led you to CyberLife HQ. He knew I cared about you, and he used that to his advantage."

Oh boy, did Hank throw a glare in Connor's direction. He did it, he fucking went in by himself to CyberLife. For someone so smart that was the stupidest idea...

Hank shook his head and tried to focus on the larger picture. "You're talking about stuff that hasn't even happened yet." He managed, still sounding a touch frustrated by the whole ordeal.

"All right." Hank sighed heavily, "So... how did this whole thing turn out for us?" It still made his insides fill with dread to even ask, but both Connor and himself being there must've meant it turned out okay, right? But he didn't exactly know what was going on.

"We fought. But you couldn't tell us apart, so when you finally got your hands on your gun again you didn't know who to shoot. You had to ask us questions in order to tell who was who."

He remembers how Hank had hesitated before asking about his son. And Connor has a feeling it was the fact that he showed he cared about what he was talking about that swayed Hank.

"In the end, you shot the other Connor and I converted the androids. Over a million, in fact. I walked out of CyberLife HQ with an army."

He can't help but look slightly pleased with himself.

It was hard not to miss the prideful look on Connor’s face. Suppose it was easy to look on all that in hindsight but in the moment he couldn’t imagine making those decisions easily.

“...Jesus.” Hank muttered. “You walked into CyberLife and made it out with an army of androids.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand hand briefly. After a pause, he held the same hand up, “Don’t ever do anything like that again.”

"I can't make any promises."

Since when did Connor do what Hank told him, anyway?

"On that note, though- that Connor you killed? He's here."

Connor leads Hank to a small cottage, and wonders if anyone is in when he opens the door. It doesn't seem like it.

"The thing about this place is that it will bring in people from all kinds of times and places. Even if they died back home. And that Connor still only has one mission: to kill me."

Cocky sonofa-

Luckily, Connor had the good sense to quickly redirect Hanks's attention to something more pressing. Namely, the situation they were in. Hank took a deep breath and muttered inaudibly to himself.

He followed Connor to wherever he was leading - some sort of house. "We can track this guy down and take care of him again if that's what it takes," They'd done it once they could do it again. "but what happens if I can't tell you apart? He's gonna know all the answers to the questions I used to do it last time, ain't he?" At least that's what it sounded like.

Heck if he knew for sure.

"Perhaps," he thinks on it as he paces around the room. "But I have a feeling he won't change out of that uniform. It's a symbol of pride, for him. A sign of his loyalty to CyberLife."

He sneers a little. "I, however, intend to change as soon as I can find a shirt that isn't covered in cartoon flames." Look, he wants out of this uniform, but he isn't going to wear something that tacky.

"So far, people have been telling us apart by the numbers on our uniforms. My serial number ends in -51, his ends in -60."

"51?" Hank leaned forward and squinted at the numbers on the jacket until he found the -51 at the end of the number string. "You mean those tiny numbers that you can barely see?" Like he was going to be able to spot that from a distance.

Hank practically rolled his eyes, slipped off his jacket, and threw it over Connor. For good measure, he took a hand and quickly messed Connor's hair up to where it's nice and shaggy looking. "There. Now I can tell you apart from a distance." Yeah, there was the shirt but that didn't help that much. The numbers helped even less. "And your Connor. Not 51 or.. whatever that number is."

"Yes, those. Unfortunately, by the time you get close enough to see the numbers it's-"

He pauses mid-sentence as Hank suddenly throws his coat over Connor's shoulders, before ruffling his hair. His urge to neaten it immediately is strong, but he just lowers his hands instead and gives Hank a reproachful look. One that softens at the reassurance that he's Connor, not a number.

"Don't worry, I'm going to get new clothes. I know the numbers aren't ideal."

He hugs the jacket around himself- it's far too big, but it's comforting somehow.

"Good. You can give that jacket back when you find some new clothes." Hank folded his arms. Now that he didn't have a jacket, it was gonna get awful chilly outside in that fall weather. He'd have to get used to it for the time being.

"But clothes are only part of the problem. We need somethin' else we can use to tell you apart from the other guy. Like a codeword maybe."

"Wouldn't it be easier for me to just take off my jacket?" He doesn't want Hank to get cold, after all. He hums at the suggestion of a keyword.

"What about... Sumo?" It seems simple but relevant, he thinks.

Connor was smart. If it was so easy just to take off a jacket, he would have already done it.

Hank looked up as he thought about it. "The other guy already knows who Sumo is. We want something he couldn't guess on accident." He gave Connor a look. "I don't wanna go shooting you by mistake." So he wanted to be sure.

It's true, he didn't bother because if -60 wanted to trick his allies he could just... do the same thing.

"If I can come up with it, he can guess it. Can you think of anything?"

Hank thought about it. What would be a simple and effective way that Connor could tell him that he was the genuine article. Words weren't good. Everything else he could guess.

But then he thought of something perfect.

"Sure." It was the easiest password he could think of. Something nonverbal. Easy to remember. "Flip me the bird."

Connor tilts his head, blinking. Of course, it's Hank. He should have predicted that kind of answer.

"Alright, I will." And to test it out, he does it now. With a completely straight face.

Hank gives an approving nod. "That'll work." Could use some work on the enthusiasm, but he's not going to minimize the effort.

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2nd Event: Choices We Make

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Why am I like this.

sdfjk

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