How To Screw Yourself Over

Chapter 1.15: King Throttlebottom

Instantly, hundreds of thousands of incomplete, frenzied thoughts and hastily formed hypotheses flew through her mind, too fast for her to feel anything other than a brief sense of impending doom—as was the norm when Ash deigned to think of the crazy bitch.

However, in the end, Ash still can't imagine a scenario in which this "Ms. Wright" is the woman she's thinking of.

It's practically impossible.

Ash was there. She was there when they ran the DNA tests, she was there when those useless shits examined the site, she was there when they identified each tattooed chunk of flesh that littered what remained of the quarantined village.

Ash had seen that too—the vaguely regretful posture and tone the woman adopted as she smiled that bizarre, lopsided smile—

Ash sends that train of thought barreling off her mental cliffside. Thoughts of that sort are inconvenient even at the best of times. She shouldn't jump to a conclusion just yet.

As of this moment, 078 is her only sure-fire method of confirming her thoughts, so extracting information from the distortion should be her first priority. Especially since Ash doesn't know how long she can drag out this farce; a bluff like this only lasts for so long. If she blows a gasket too often, the distortion would either see through her lies or begin to doubt her mental stability.

"You said a 'Ms. Wright' tampered with this world? What did she change?" Ash may be unprepared, but even if she hasn't quite caught up with the situation, she'd be a fool if she didn't milk this for all it's worth.

...there were a few too many blatant innuendos in that sentence, so Ash is just going to pretend she didn't have that thought. What a surprise, dirty jokes don't help much in trying to escape reality.

[I was not informed of the protocol for a situation like this one, so I am unsure about what information is acceptable to offer you.]

Tentatively, as if the distortion knows the answer but still has to ask for its own abuse, 078 speaks again. [Would it be alright if I asked Ms. Wright for her input before proceeding?]

Flippantly, Ash replies with a nonchalance that provides a stark contrast to the distortion's trembling figure. "Sure, if you don't mind asking her for maintenance while you're there." Ash doesn't know if this Ms. Wright is 078's creator, but even if she isn't, her words should get the point across well enough regardless.

[A-Are you threatening me or are you telling me I should be reformatted?]

Baring her teeth in a crude imitation of a smile, Ash cheerily asks "Why not both?"

The distortion trembles madly in response.

"So?" Ash prompts, "What did she change?"

[S-She, well, you could say she tweaked the laws of this world.]

"Which means?"

Reluctantly, the distortion speaks as if it's ashamed for Ms. Wright. [I suppose you could say Ms. Wright, in a way, toggled with the laws that deal with people's emotions. I'm already breaking too many rules just telling you about the existence of laws, so I'll only explain enough to cover what's happened in this world.]

Ash is all too familiar with the tone the distortion has adopted. Ash has an ominous premonition that this explanation will not do good things for her mental health.

[See, Ms. Wright once had a period in which she was infatuated with melodramatic romance stories.]

The ominous feeling is growing stronger. Ash doesn't like where this is going. If Ash's hunch is right, she's screwed. She's so screwed. Because—fuck.