Guiltale

Chapter three: Puzzling ver. 2

The next room had no sign, but was similar to the other rock room in that – well, it had rocks. It had a spiked bridge as well, and several sensors on the ground in front of the rocks. Just like before, the rocks were fairly easy to move, until...

"WHOA there, pardner! Who said you could push me around?"

A rock. Was talking. To me.

"O-oh..." I said, at a loss for words. "Um, um, if you wouldn't mind, I kind of need you to..."

"HMM? So you're ASKIN' me to move over?"

"Y...yes! Yes, that's what I'm asking." I couldn't even look at it (Him? Them?)

"Okay, just for you, pumpkin." And the Rock slid over – about three inches.

I walked over to it's 'landing point'. "Um, Mr. Rock?"

"HMM? You want me to move some more?" I nodded. "Alrighty, how's this?"

And he sure moved. It was just. Uh. The Wrong Direction.

"Excuse me, rock?" I said sheepishly, trying not to seem needy. Definitely don't want to be on their bad side – which, by the way, what would that look like? "That was the, um," I looked away again, "wrong direction??"

"HMM? That was the wrong direction? Okay, think I got it." And he finally slid into place!

"Thank you so much!" I said, giving him an awkward pat, which made me feel like he blushed about, for some reason. Walking forward, I had a start when the spikes suddenly came back up.

"SERIOUSLY?!?!?!" Chara screamed, knowing full well I was the only one who heard – in fact, I'm almost certain she counted on it.

I cleared my throat loudly. "The Rock?" I said, trying not to annoy it. "That was, urm, how do I say this... I need you to-"

"HMM? Stay there? You're giving me a real workout." Begrudgingly, the stone slid back onto the switch.

"Thank you, kind sir." I said, not sure how you're supposed to address a rock.

"Aren't things easier when you just ask?" they said as a response. As we walked away, I'm sure both me and Chara were considering whether or not he said it ironically. As we entered the next room, I was surprised to see yet another of those four-pointed stars.

"Hey, Chara?" I said, pointing.

"Is it another one?" she said greedily.

"Yep. Another four-pointed star. I'm gonna touch it again!" I said, reaching out. It was warm, and this time I could appreciate the feeling of it's energy coursing through me – I'm guessing to take a reading on my physical, mental, and time-oriented state.

"The... 'flavor text', I think you called it? It's here, and it's different." Chara spoke without looking at me.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. It says, '(Knowing the mouse might one day leave its hole and get the cheese... it fills you with an assurance of JUSTICE. File saved.' What does it mean by 'file'?" she said the word wrong, like she'd only ever read it.

I closed my eyes to think. "...I feel like I have a good guess... but I don't really like the implication that much..."

"Why? I don't know what paper files are but what is this doing?" Chara said, floating closer again. "What's concerning about it?"

"Well," I averted my eyes from her face, crossing my arms as I attempted to form my thoughts. "It's similar to a video game, so..."

"A what?"