A glimmering, glass building seems to rise out of the parking lot as you approach it. Letters, almost comically large, have been emblazoned onto the side of the building so that everyone who passes knows which industry giant owns it.
You see a shiny, round face through the rotating glass doors.
|links>[\
(link: "Self-consciously fix your shirt")[(replace: ?links)[The boss frowns and waves you over.]]
(link: "Grin and wave")[(replace: ?links)[The fat on the boss' cheek bounces as he grins back.]]
\
]
[[Next->The Orientation]]The boss turns around and chirps that he's glad to have you join the company.
|links>[\
(link: "Slyly self-promote yourself with a quip about how lucky they are to have you.")[(replace: ?links)[The boss nods, a little off-put by your confidence.]]
(link: "Be painfully honest about how you think you'll do here, which you anticipate isn't too great.")[(replace: ?links)[The boss doesn't miss a beat and is glad you're honest with him. He assures you that there are people of all talents at this company.]]
\
]
[[Next->The Hallway]]Both of you turn a corner into a hallway that's strangely dark.
|links>[\
(link: "Ask what's going on.")[(replace: ?links)[The boss grins maniacally, and he hits a switch on the wall. A clang echoes through the hall.] ]
(link: "Play it off, and pretend like everything's fine.")[(replace: ?links)[The boss waves for you to follow him down the dark hallway. He flips a switch, and a loud crash follows.]]
\
]
{(live: 5s)[Bars drop down onto the windows and doors. Your boss' squishy face has elongated and darkened. He now resembles a dolphin and is holding you at gunpoint with a laser that doesn’t look like anything on Earth.]}
[[Next->The Shadow]] (set: $s to (text-style: "outline")) (align: "=><==")[$s[Two of Us]]
(align: "=><==")[an interactive short story by Ana and Thendral
[[Begin]]]You spot a figure at the end of the long hallway. They walk towards you, and you notice they look familiar. In fact, the closer they get the more familiar they seem.
They stand in front of you, and suddenly, you are face to face with yourself. Something is a little bit off, though, your eyes aren’t quite right. Or maybe your nose?
You can't quite tell what it is, and you have a bad feeling that no one else would be able to tell either.
(link-reveal: "What's going on? ")[
You scream, but your double doesn’t answer you. In fact, they hardly even notice you.
Your boss squeals with a weird gurgle. “Say hello to Molzorg Queebnal, or should I say, the new owner of your tragically average Earth life!” His dolphin voice echoes through the hallway.]
[[Try to stop your double]]
[[Try to stop your dolphin boss]]You leap at your double, but they grab your flailing fists and crush them in their palms. You crumple to the ground.
How did that happen?
While you’re disoriented, your dolphin boss snaps his flipper fingers, and a pair of bulky dolphin guards pick you up by your ankles and drag you away. The last thing you see is the laser rifles on the guards' hips bouncing up and down.
[[Next->A Dark Room]]You throw yourself at your dolphin boss, your elbows and fists making contact with his rounded nose. You go to knee him in the groin when your double grabs your legs and slams you into the ground. They punch you right in the nose, and your eyes water.
They're, like, /way/ stronger than you. How did that happen?
The last thing you see before you black out are four sets of dolphin eyes and swinging laser rifles.
[[Next->A Dark Room]]Next thing you know, you wake up in the dark room with no windows. You squint, and try to make out the other figures in the room.
[[Focus on the tall one]]
[[Focus on the one with glasses.]]
[[Focus on the older one]]You focus on the tall one and--oh my gosh! It’s Jake Rockstar! Who’s Jake Rockstar? Uh--only the most famous actor or singer or Youtuber or something from 5 years ago! You kinda lost track of him after the initial hype though. You heard his recent stuff wasn’t as good, and fame got to him or something and made him different. You remember some kind of weird conspiracy theory that he got replaced by aliens a few years ago, but--OHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Oh that sucks.
[[Focus on the one with glasses.]]
[[Focus on the older one]]
[[Stop focusing]][[Stop focusing]]You focus on the older one, and...you recognize the funky white mustache and the odd bottlecap glasses!
You recognize him a /lot/ actually! It’s your uncle Albert!
Uncle Albert moved away suddenly years ago. You were super close when you were younger, but one day he just stopped checking up on you.
No one ever explain what happened to him, and you assumed he was just going through a hard time. If he's down here though, that might explain why Uncle Albert became a stranger overnight, quite literally.
(link-reveal: “Uncle Albert? What are you doing here?”)[
You ask uncle Albert what he’s doing down here.
“Isn’t it obvious, kid?” He snaps at you, “We all got tricked into taking this job. Think about it--$25 for an entry level service industry job? Too good to be true! That’s how they lure you in. And then once you show up for work--they swap you out! They’ve been sneaking DNA samples to grow a disguise and take over your life!”
“That’s a bummer!” you say, “I was really looking forward to this job…”
“Kid, don’t you get it? The only thing you’re be looking forward too now is when they accidentally leave the windows open and we get some sun!”
“You mean we’re stuck here...forever?”
“Yup!”
]
[[Focus on the tall one]]
[[Focus on the one with glasses.]]
[[Stop focusing]]You slouch into your grimy bench. Whatever will these three inmates had to escape has been sucked out of them years ago, and it feels like it's creeping into you.
[[Beg for your life and hope they let you out]]
[[Formulate escape plan]]
You trying begging for you life, with little luck. The guards don’t look like they speak a ton of english. But...you get the suspicion that they DO actually speak english, and are just kind of messing with you to see how far you’ll get. That being said, you continue for several more minutes.
[[Formulate escape plan]]One of the guards looks back at you. He hefts the double-barreled rifle at your face and grunts.
The other guard lets out a dolphin high-pitched giggle and tosses something through the bars. Your fellow inmates scramble to the far ends of the room, away from the guards.
You feel along the floor until your hand touches something slimy. It's dog food.You take stock of the thugs guarding the room. One of them has set his gun aside to scratch himself, while the other taps his fingers on his chin with a thoughtful look on his face.
The dolphin guard picks up his gun and scowls at someone behind you. You follow his gaze to where your uncle Albert is fidgeting with the bench.
Something whizzes past your face and sticks itself in that guard, who falls over. The other guard snaps to attention and clicks his gun when all hell breaks loose in the room.