And yet another one.\n[[Continue]]

[back in your appartment] Paris sucks. I need to get drunk, I wonder if I can find a fourty here. I wonder if that bar would have one, maybe I should go back.\n[[go to the bar]]

The soldier gives David a bewildered look.\nI’m sorry, the soldier says, I would rather be alone at this moment.\nDavid persists.\nAre you sure? he asks. David puts a hand on the back of the soldier.\nThe soldier edges away.\nPlease, good sir, stop. This instant, please, the soldier says. I believe I will leave. Please do not follow me.\nThe soldier leaves.\nDavid sobers up in an instant. He has snapped out of his temporary alcohol paradise.\nHe sits back down with you. He is totally silent.\n[[Start Talking]]

You hear David mumbling, I can't believe this stranger just went straight out on me said I am gay! Unblieveable! Ridiculus!\n\nWell, you said to yourself, I guess I'll just\n[[enjoy a couple other drinks|One more Drink]]\n[[Leaves the Bar]]

I really need some coffee to lighten up my day. My manager isn’t looking and I’ve done this thousands of times. There’s a coffee shop near the bookstore and I need coffee now and I’ll be ok.\n[You leave for coffee].\nBagel and coffee do make me feel better. Hope my body will start to function soon.\n[[Return to the bookstore]]\n

Two years later in France\n\nFrance sucks. It has been two years now and I barely know anyone here. I need to get out and go for a walk.\n\n[walking down a dark alley in Paris you see an alcove leading to a bar at the end of a dark tunnel.] \n\n[[go to the bar]]\n[[walk away]]

You are Maria, a trans-woman living in New York and working in a bookstore.\nIn the bookstore\nI haven't had my estrogen shot in 2 months, I'm gonna die. "Everything sucks, and I am totally sad." I still like puppies though. For not having my shot in two months I'm really thinking straight. I'm hiding in the Irish history section of the store. \nA boy walks into the bookstore. There is a look of confusion on his face that brings up memories from before I transitioned. That kid is totally gay and he doesn't even know it yet. He starts to leave \n[[ignore him]]\n[[Follow him]]\n

Oh whatever dude, you are saying it to yourself. This guy isn’t as real as I expected. I’m done here.\n[[drinks a little more|One more Drink]]\n[[tell him goodbye|Leaves the Bar]]\n

‘Look there is no point in denying it. I can spot you a mile away eyeing the bartender.’ They both look at the bartender who was serving someone with a smile on his face. He denies it. ‘I'm sort of queer for girls myself. If that was his sister looking so good, I'd invite her to have a drink with us. I don't spend money on men.'\nThis guy was bullshitting himself. She had to prove it to him for his own good. \nMhm sure David. She decided to do an experiment and give David and the barman some alone time to hit it off and prove that he is gay.\n[[Go to the Bathroom]]\n[[Chat with some other guys]]\n

My manager is staring at me it is so weird, but I need to talk to the kid. I hate this place. \n[You walk out of the bookstore]\nIt is pouring outside and I can’t even see him anymore. I can’t believe I waited for so long I should’ve talked to him maybe I should leave New York to south or west or something. I need to get out of here.\n[[Return to the bookstore]]

Maria abruptly left David and walks over to some other guys laughing wildly in French. She pulls up a chair and pretends to be following along, laughing at the right places while trying to sneakily spy on David. After a while the barman approaches him and they start talking, leaning close to each other. She smiles at her genius plan and waits.\nAfter about half an hour, she decides to approach David again.\n[[Approaches David]]\n

The police tackle you as you attempt to run out of the bar.\nYou spend the next 6 months in prison for your crimes.\n\n[[Go Home|Leave Quickly]]

This bar is really creepy like who the hell puts a bar at the end of a dark alley just to scare people away. \n[You enter the bar]\nThis is totally a gay bar and oh my gosh it’s that guy from the book store.\n[[approach the guy]]\n[[get drunk alone]]\n

As you begin drinking your shots, you hear the sirens approaching.\n\n[The police raid the bar arresting everyone inside]\n\n[[Run Away]]\n[[Go quietly]]

Hello, good man, David says. You seem like, like, like a wonderful individual. Would you mind if I enjoyed a drink in your company? I believe I’ll do that.\nThe soldier is somewhat taken aback. David continues his one-way discourse.\nWould you care to take a walk with me? David says. The bar is much too busy and noisy a place for me to hear and appreciate everything you would possibly say to me.\n[[I'll see how it goes|Continue Observing]]

I think it’s safe to say that you’re repressing a crucial part of your identity, you say. Care to explain? \nThere’s nothing to explain, David says.\nLook, you’ve gotta get over what society tries to mold you into and shit. What you are isn’t something evil. But first, you have to take the initial step and just say that you’re gay.\n[[Listen]]\n

Nevada's Room\n

I don’t think you can say what I am and what I’m not. That’s up to me, David replies.\nExactly, you say. Which is why you should stop bullshitting yourself! You are what you say you are, not what society tells you to be.\nDavid looks into his empty shot glass. He begins to mumble to himself.\n“Confusion is a luxury which only the very, very young can possibly afford and you are not that young anymore,” he says. Figure yourself out, man.\nWhat? you ask.\nForget about it, says David.\n[[Keep Listening]]\n[[David gets mad and leaves the bar]]\n

How am I supposed to help some guy who is just going to sit here and not talk. This is definitely not worth it.\n[[Leaves the Bar]]

Maria hops on the seat next to David, startling him.\n'Everyone in the bar,' she said, 'is talking about how you and the barman have hit it off. I trust there is no confusion about your sexuality?’\nDavid looked like he was going to punch Maria, but held himself back.\n'There's been no confusion,' he snapped. 'Don't you go getting confused, either.'\n‘Look calm down, it’s ok. You’re in a gay bar in Paris. You’re free to do whatever with no judgment. Look I’m trans-’\nHe looks incredulously at her, he grabs his drink, and stalks off to a corner trying to get himself drunk.\nOk that didn’t turn out exactly like she wanted it. She gets up and leaves the bar sort of frustrated but sort of not.\n[[Leaves the Bar]]

You return home and think, “Fuck this. Fuck this city. Fuck this country.”\n\nThe End.

[You and David now have a conversation going, one with a certain lack of coherence, but this was precisely your plan.]\nThis is a stup… stupendously intoxicating liquid, this liquid is, David mumbles. I once again extend my thanks to you for this, this, this whisky gratuit.\nSo, you start, why did you leave New York to be here in Paris?\nThat’s a good question you have there in your mind, David replies. I do not… I don’t rightly very correctly know, my good friend. \nHe waits a bit, and then speaks again.\nThe art! he says. I love the art that people, that these people have here in this city. It’s very, very lovely, he says with a grin. He lets out a stupid chuckle.\nYou realize that he’s, like, kinda sorta bullshitting hard and making a joke to avoid a harsher reality.\n[[call him out on it]]\n[[pretend you are interested]].\n

I am pretty lucid for a forty and 600 milliliters of whiskey, I should definitely go talk to that guy from the bookstore.\n[[approach the guy]]

One round of shots. Another sounds good.\n[[Another]]\n

Okay, you say, fine. Look, I just want to sit and talk to you for a bit. Can I, like, buy you a drink maybe?\nDavid’s eyes are fixed on the counter, and he doesn’t look up from it as he says, Free alcohol is never a bad proposition, I suppose. A fine proposition, indeed.\nYou decide that shots of whiskey for the two of them isn’t such a bad idea.\n[[Buy some shots]]\n

David begins mumbling again.\n“The great difficulty is to say Yes to life.” I can’t invent my lovers and friends and my mooring posts.\nWhat? you ask.\nNothing! David snaps.\nLook, you say, it’s okay to be who you are. Determine yourself, dammit!\nI don’t need your help, okay? I’m leaving now. Pleasure speaking to you, David says drily. \nDavid gets up and walks out the door. His eyes betray a world of conflict in his mind, and he knows that it’s apparent.\nYou sigh.\n[[Leave the Bar|Leaves the Bar]]

Maria goes to the bathroom at the end of the bar. She steps into this gross, dingy bathroom that kind of reminds her of the burrittoville bathroom where her and Kieran did it. \nShe looked at her reflection and noticed microscopic stubble growing back. Whatever, most of the guys in this bar are drunk anyway. She wasted time in the bathroom to give David and the barman some time. Anyway its not like anybody is going to use the ‘woman’ bathroom anytime soon. She peaks out the bathroom door and can see that David and the barman were talking, leaning close to each other. She smiles at her genius plan and waits.\nAfter about half an hour, she decides to leave the bathroom and approach David once again.\n[[Approaches David]]\n

You go with the police and spend the next 3 months in prison.\n[[Go Home|Leave Quickly]]

Real funny, you say, You’re keeping something from me.\nYou hesitate for a moment, and then ask what you’ve been wanting to ask all along. You got David drunk just to ask this question.\nLook, you say, I know you probably don’t like talking about this, but I have a feeling your g--\nMy, my! Look at that individual over there, that individual, that man, who seems like quite the interesting man, indeed! David exclaims. I believe I will go initiate a friendly discourse with him.\nDavid is referring to a man who just walked in, a muscular soldier, who just took a seat a few bar stools down from them. David gets up and stumbles towards the soldier, nearly falling over in the process, and initiates the conversation. \n[[Observe]]\n[[That's enough!|pretend you are interested]]

‘I know we don’t know each other or anything, but I’ve been walking for a long time and not really talking to anyone about anything anywhere, for a long time, and now that I’ve stopped in a proper bar, I’m thinking about hanging out for a minute, but I don’t know anybody here, so hi, I’m Maria’\n[[continue]]

I can see my manager waiting for me now. “He is a dick... [and] he’s been working at this store forever.” \n“Where have you been?”\n“I went to get a bagel.”\n“Did you get my permission to go?”\n“No.”\n“You are fired.”\nIt feels different I don’t feel sad but only relief. “Fuck this. Fuck this city. Fuck this coast. What if I just go to fuckin [[Europe|France]] or something.”\n

He introduces himself as David, but he seems super uncomfortable being talked to by some random girl. ‘I know you don’t know this, but I saw you like two years ago in a bookstore I worked in and I knew you were gay as soon as you walked in.’ [He responds by denying that he’s gay and suddenly becoming quiet.]\n[[Buy him a drink]]\n[[Persist]]\n[[Give up]]\n

And another.\n[[Yet one more]]

I am not going to waste my time on someone who refuses to see what's right in front of him. I'm going home.\n[[Leave Quickly]]\n[[One more Drink]]

Niya, James, Zain, David