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"Beep boop boop beep!"

"Very good, completely under. Now, tell me... your name?"

"Suzy Emmerson."

"Thank you. What year is it, Miss Emmerson?"

"2190."

"Thank you. Who is the current leader? Is it Linus Linoleum?"

"No... I've never heard that name before."

"Thank you. Who is the current leader?"

"The Nephim, Memmi."

"Thank you. Would you mind telling us aboout the role of the writer?"

"They interpret the cues the storyteller has given them, they have some control over their own stories, their own fates, their own destinies... but not to the degree of a storyteller."

"Do you know any storytellers?"

"The Nephim, Memmi."

"Very good. Now I want you to just relax for me, Miss Emmerson. Have you heard of the Nxs?"

"No, I haven't."

"Don't worry about that, then, forget I ever mentioned it. What did I just say last?"

"You asked me if I knew any storytellers."

"Thank you. What do you know about us?"

"The Watchers? Hmm, not much, you have a song you like me to sing."

"How does it go?"

"Beep boop boop beep... beep boop boop beep... b—beep boop... bee--"

"Miss Emmerson?"

"I'm sorry, it's just such a silly song."

"We're well aware. Do you know anything else?"

"You called yourselves... what was it? A retcon?"

"Do you know what that word means?"

"No, I don't."

"That's quite alright, Miss Emmerson. One last thing, if you'd be so kind."

"Hmm?"

"We're bringing you a ration packet of our own, a silver one. If you would be so kind as to finish the song and then consume the contents of the packet, and then we can send you back home. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Beep boo█ ██e█ b███ b███ ████ ████"

"Here you are."

"Oh, thank you!"

"Explain the flavor to us, if you would."

"It's very sweet... kinda bubbly, I don't know if you've had the pink? It reminds me of that, a little bit."

"Does it?"

"Yeah... it's... it's cloudy, and it always makes my head go a bit funny."

"Just concentrate, if you will. Now then: say you had a bag of grain, a rabbit, and a fox, and you had to move them all across a river, but you could only move one at a time. You couldn't keep the rabbit with the grain or else they'd eat it, and you couldn't keep the fox with the rabbit for much the same reason. How do you get them all across?"

"That's simple... gosh, I feel... this makes me feel so flighty, like I could just... sorry, um... well, the answer is simple."

"Go on?"

"You simply rewrite why the fox, the grain, the rabbit, why they're all there. They weren't there to begin with, they... ooh gosh... they--they were already on the other side."

"...Thank you. This concludes your examination. Finish the rest of the packet, recycle its packaging, and Isaias will escort you back home."

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