Sugarcane

"And besides, when you think about it, we were barely born into existence at all. Just try to think of where we were not five minutes before. We were born to be the actors and recite the lines." \n\nAnd what will become of us when it is all over?\n\n"We shall see, I suppose. Let us hope it is for the best."\n\n[[END|Start]].\n

"And besides, I don't need you anyway." \n\nIf it's like that, if you don't need me...\n\n"I never have and I never will," you say.\n\nWell then, I will just leave. Disappear forever, to never set sights upon you again.\n\n"Fine!"\n\nFine--\n\n//But what is to become of us--you and I?//\n\n"We shall see, I suppose. Let us hope it is for the best."\n\n[[END|Start]].\n

<<night>>\n\nHow do even know that it is your love who is coming? Only because [[I told you]]! You know nothing for yourself.

<<night>>\n\nDon't you worry, of course. [[I'll]] stay up with you.

"If I had known--\n\n"There is no way of going back, but perhaps I still have a chance to move forward.\n\n"I suppose I only ever heard the 'you' and never the 'I,' but knowing as I do now one thing is clear:\n\n"There was only ever a first and second person. You and I. Neither 'he' nor any of them can touch us now.\n\n"[[And besides...]]"

<html><center>Second Personfor rosencrantz's Pairs challenge</center></html>\n\n//"Someone needs to explain all of this to the audience. Traditionally that someone is called a Deuderagonist or a Tritagonist...[with a] role as a third person who sits between the hero and the villain."// --Coursera, "Understanding Video Games," on creating context in games\n\n[[Begin>>|truestart]]\n\n\n//If you've played before you can [[skip ahead|He's not--]]...

<<night>>\n\nYou've never //been// on your own! \n\nYou've always had me at your side, showing you what to do, showing you [[right from wrong]].

<<if $a1 is true>>"I suppose you want me to apologize...<<endif>><<if $a2 is true>>"I will never apologize...<<endif>>\n<<if $b1 is true>>because I behaved wrongly...<<endif>><<if $b2 is true>>for doing what I thought was right...<<endif>>\n\n*I cannot take back what I've [[done][$c1 = true]].\n*I will not take back what I've [[done][$c2 = true]].

<<night>>\n\nI mean, seriously. You can't think that you could have gotten this far [[on your own]].

<<if $a1 is true>>"I suppose you want me to apologize...<<endif>><<if $a2 is true>>"I will never apologize...<<endif>>\n\n*because I behaved [[wrongly|moral][$b1 = true]]...\n*for doing what I thought was [[right|moral][$b2 = true]]...\n\n\n\n

I mean, you can't even speak for yourself. [[Can you.\n\n"Can't I?"|can]]

What a good choice. You look lovely. Now you might want to add some [[jewelry]].

You open your mouth. Not that I want to hear your response.\n\n*"I suppose you want me to [[apologize][$a1 = true]]...\n*"I will never [[apologize][$a2 = true]]...

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<<night>>\n\nBecause you are, you are loyal. Because you make [[good choices]].

<<night>> \n\nOr worse yet--and you've probably never even contemplated anything like this before--your world would [[cease to exist]] altogether.

Really, you went with that necklace? [[It's not really the best choice]], but I suppose you could stick with it [[if you want]].

//No one is outside.//\n\nI lied. No one was ever at the door. But it just goes to show [[you believe me]] and everything I say.

<<night>>\n\nWithout this lovely little framework for your life, how would you have known what to do whatsoever? There are so many choices in life; how would you ever [[discriminate]]?

I see you've changed the necklace to the other one--that's much better. \n\nYou head downstairs.\n\n<<downstairs>>

<<night>>\n\nNot that you can have faults when you're [[always allowed]] to succeed, right?

<<night>>\n\nYou must really care about this guy to have been waiting so long. And yet you continue to [[wait]]. But that's fine.

You. //You// forget.\n\nBut I suppose that is what it is to live a life as yours. A life [[without choice]].

<<night>>\n\nI mean do you honestly think that everyone has their life narrated to them like this? That everyone has some, some [[guardian angel]] looking over them, making sure that they can never do wrong?

Second Person

<<night>>\n\nAbout you for all of your goodness, about you for all of your [[faults]].

<<night>>\n\nAnd what thanks do I get for it? What appreciation? What [[love]]?

If anything is wrong it's the living itself--\n\n''[[Our lives are founded on the simple premise that you are here, he is here, and that is the end of the story.]]'' [[They]] forget about the "I." The in-between. The unseen orator.\n\n

''People like you and him, like the protaginist and antagonist of a novel, are paired off with equal and opposing interests, causes, etc. And by the end of the story you as a pair are either wed or one of you destroys the other. ''\n\nAnd as such the author ends, quite content with her handiwork, content that all has been wrapped up and summarily settled. \n\nAnd everything has been--except for the third person, the foundation so solid that it is taken for granted.\n\n[[<<Back|done you wrong]]

//There's a knock on the door.//\n\nDon't answer that.\n\n//The knocking persists.//\n\nYou stand. You're [[going to]] get the door, aren't you.

That's-- that's right. You believe me. You trust me. And when have I ever once betrayed that trust? When have I ever [[done you wrong]]?

<<night>>\n\nNot that you've ever been presented with bad choices, right? Not like anyone might be, you know, helping [[guide]] you or anything.

You are waiting for your one true love.\n\nYou had better [[get ready]] for the night, no?\n\n

You have several different items to choose from, of couse--[[this dress|dress]] or [[the other one|dress]], various items of [[jewelry]], if that's your style.

--\n\nYou look out the window, [[waiting]]. No one is here.

<<night>>\n\nYou yawn. Maybe you're growing [[tired]]?

I-- What I meant to say is, well, you'll stay up. [[You.]] There's nothing to do with me.

"I never asked for this--for you! This is my story and I refuse to be controlled.\n\n"What good have you ever brought me. Your job is to stay in the shadows, to devote your life to my story. There is no 'I'--only 'You do this,' and 'You do that.' THAT is the natural order of things.\n\n"As for him, at least I am assured that he is far better than you are--you try to be whole but don't realize that you're only a shade, a shadow of my existence.\n\n"[[And besides...|besides2]]"

So you keep that necklace. That's fine.\n\nYou head downstairs.\n\n<<downstairs>>

<<night>>\n\nYou believe everything that you're told, so believe this: he's not coming. You are waiting up for nothing. He's not coming. [[He's not--]]

"Can't I," you say. Perhaps you don't know what's going on. Perhaps to you, any action is defiance so long as you intend it as such.\n\n"[[Listen]]..."\n\n<<set $a1 to false>>\n<<set $a2 to false>>

//<<print either("The leaves rustle under the dim halo of the lamppost.","The moon hangs heavily, tendrils of gray clouds occasionally blocking out slivers of light.","A cat emerges from the bushes but just as soon vanishes into the shadows.","The sound of footsteps echoes in the distance but never seems to come any nearer.","The lights shut off in the house across the street.","The sound of barking resounds in the distance.","Smoke puffs out of the neighbor's chimney. They must have started a fire.","A car hurries by, headlights glistening on every inch of wet asphalt.","The faint hoot of an owl can be heard in the distance.","The stars twinkle, full of mirth.","The howl of a siren starts then stops just as suddenly.","The glass of the window is cold to the touch.","A single yellow rain boot lay on the street, abandoned.","The grass in the front lawn looks spiky, brown and dead.","A gust of wind rattles the neighborhood. Trees seem to readjust themselves after it passes.","You hear the ringing of a bicycle bell for a while but never do see a bicycle.")>>//

<<if $a1 is true>>"I suppose you want me to apologize...<<endif>><<if $a2 is true>>"I will never apologize...<<endif>>\n<<if $b1 is true>>because I behaved wrongly...<<endif>><<if $b2 is true>>for doing what I thought was right...<<endif>>\n<<if $c1 is true>>I cannot take back what I've done.<<endif>><<if $c2 is true>>I will not take back what I've done.<<endif>>\n\n*"[[I blame myself.]]"\n*"[[I blame you.]]"

<<night>>\n\nNot like I've-- but that is beside the point. This is not about me. This is about [[you]].