Abrogation

The rooftop door gave no resistance and flung off its hinges at the force of Uqwa's kick. At the roof of the apartment was an enormous tree which had spread its roots all across and through the building's frame. Unlike the trees that were planted around the districts that were plain, gray, and wiry, this tree in particular was something nobody had ever seen, with its thick bark and the erratic path of its growth. Most of all... it wasn't gray. How could such a phenomena exist in this world where a tree wasn't gray like everything else? What made it so special, and why was it growing on the roof of an apartment? The leaves were full and of a lush color... "green" as the man called it. It was so difficult to explain, so difficult to comprehend what this... entity was. It was as if one were exposed to developing a new sense of the body, like witnessing a new dimension from which it disregarded the rules of existence.

The men that had come up to the roof remained subdued and docile, muttering inaudible words and touching the roots of the tree as if they were petting an animal. Sitting against the base of the trunk was a young woman, and she too was an unusual sight to behold. Like the tree and unlike the people, she was not gray, instead possessing a visible range of hues to her visage. Her shoulder-length hair was a saintly gold, boasting a glorious luster in its glossy strands. Her eyes were gleaming a brilliant verdant viridian - to match the leaves, demure, like a wistful whisper of the wind. The spellbinding gaze of the woman emanated a vibrant aura, like the storm-fallen meadow resonating the smell of its petrichor along the dew-laden pasture... if only anyone knew what that even was. Her lips were like the flesh of flower petals, if flowers possessed more... dynamic resplendence than they actually did.

What she wore was nothing of common fashion, dressing herself in a dark jacket over a buckled top and skirt. She held a worn-out book in her hands and set it down when she noticed her new visitor arriving in the abrupt manner that she did. The noise of the steel door clanging upon impact had instantly grabbed her attention, and her view fixed upon Uqwa, who had now entered. The young woman raised her hand halfway of the extent of her reach and shyly waved at Uqwa.

"I'm... Isabella," the woman introduced herself, her bearing still apprehensive towards Uqwa. "I was just reading up here in my mother's garden, when all these strange men came up here. Did they come with you?" Just as she mentioned the word "garden", several flowers and patches of grass bloomed into Uqwa's view, all lush with chromatic pigments that were foreign to all of existence... which meant anything that wasn't gray, black, or white. Isabella tilted her head and inspected Uqwa for a short period, before her eyes lit up with amazement. "You... you have color too!" she remarked astonishingly. She quickly hopped off the tree and ran up to Uqwa, grabbing her hand and examining it thoroughly. "Do you..." her voice began to trail off. With a single finger, Isabella tapped the wrist of Uqwa's hand, and a glowing white light encircled it to reveal a triangular insignia. "You do! You have a diadem! It's just like mother told me!" she stated with excitement.

Isabella released Uqwa's hand and tapped her own wrist, and a burnished, green light formed around it to show a cross symbol. "I have one too... isn't it beautiful?" she asked, her eyes wistfully lost in the glow. After the light faded away, Isabella faced Uqwa once more, and it had now set in that Uqwa had mentioned her profession. "Wait... you're an executioner? Are... are you going to kill me? I didn't do anything, I promise!"

Uqwa didn't expect she would be able to understand anything this woman said, and she was almost disappointed that she was right in that. The hell was a diadem? And color? Is that what all this tree was that made it different? It had color? What was the point of all this, anyway, and why was it all so confusing? Isabella introduced herself well enough, but she was nervous about Uqwa's Executioner job. True, she was sent here to deal with something. At this point Uqwa wasn't sure what that something was anymore. Was she supposed to kill the girl or the tree? Isabella wasn't an abomination, even if she was different. Was that her sin? Being different? Usually being different meant becoming a monster, and Isabella certainly wasn't that.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Uqwa told Isabella. It would be true regardless, Uqwa was more of a fan of painless executions anyway. She wouldn't even see it coming. But there was no need for that. Not yet, anyway, she seemed stable overall. "This tree has to go, though. I can't have it turning people into mindless zombies like these guys," Uqwa gestured towards the people who were drooling at and humping the tree.

"My mother's tree? ...Oh," Isabella's voice turned sullen. The tree had obviously meant a lot to her, despite the fact that there were now other people fawning over it. She didn't fuss or argue at Uqwa, as she knew better than to try to make an Executioner angry. "If... you really have to." Isabella begrudgingly lifted a finger and pointed at an axe that was hung against the wall near the stairwell. The tree itself was of considerable size, but it didn't seem sturdy enough to withstand several swings. "May I ask why, though?" Isabella spoke up again, her eyes shying away. "I mean... mother always told me that people like... us... were special. Why do you have to do this? I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble, Miss Uqwa, but I really don't understand." The irony. Poor Isabella was just as clueless as Uqwa was.

It's not like Uqwa chose to be an Executioner, anyway. Nobody ever chose their professions... it was always the will of the Assigned Aptitude Lottery, where all citizens of the districts were placed under employment best suited to their skills. What was it about a person like Uqwa that would make them end up being an Executioner in the first place? Was it the relentless fortitude that could bear the burden of taking a life? Perhaps it was the physical ability to do so. Maybe, just maybe deep down Uqwa actually enjoyed it. Hearing the sickening crunch of her victim's bones shattering upon impact of her might, the sight of flesh ripping in twine as it splattered on the cold floor, or agonizing cries of death from a screaming foe. Maybe it was all just an outlet for something worse inside... maybe.

Great, it belonged to her mother. Uqwa felt her inside voice groaning very loudly, something she would very much like to do. But she was too nice to do that. She couldn't take down the tree now with Isabella practically crying on her shoulders. Uqwa had to do something about the zombies though, and taking down the tree was the easiest solution. The hell was a tree doing on the roof of an abandoned building anyway? This was all very strange, and Uqwa was growing tired of it all.

"Alright, fine, I won't kill the tree. Just..." Uqwa sighed heavily and gestured towards the zombie-people. "Help me get these guys away from here." Uqwa already started without waiting for any kind of response, grabbing onto a woman and shoving her away from the tree. She then waited, hand on her scythe to see how the woman would react.

The pried-off woman didn't seem to react violently, and instead tried to tug away at Uqwa's reach just as the man at the bottom floor did. It appeared as though they would remain docile as long as the tree was still intact. Isabella complied to Uqwa's request, tapping her wrist once again to reveal her diadem. Using its power, she called forth a scepter, which appeared in her hands. The scepter granted her powers no other human possessed, conjuring elaborate sigils from which prismatic roots emerged to grab the mindless people. Isabella directed the growth of the roots to bundle them altogether, and flicked them down the stairwell, watching them tumble comically down to the first floor.

The hiss of a truck's brakes were heard not a moment too soon, signalling the Janitor's arrival. He stepped out of his vehicle, mop in hand and halted at the sight of the bound people. The Janitor stood motionlessly and stared for a long moment, as if he was trying to hide the fact that he was utterly confused. Placing his mop back inside the truck, he ambled over and grabbed the root that tied the people, dragging them over to the back of the vehicle... and with one hefty swing, he tossed them into the back and closed the shutter. The Janitor proceeded up the stairwell to meet Uqwa, where he handed her an envelope of bills. "Your payment for your job," he explained. "You may return to the station now. Your work is done until further notice." He then proceeded to make his way back to his truck and drove off. Isabella looked at Uqwa and asked, "It's over now? Okay, what about me? Do you want me to stay here?"

[Uqwa received $250 in payment]

>There is no longer any need to be here, leave her be.
>You're going to have to take her to the Chief for investigation.

That result was almost so expected, Uqwa almost thought it comical. The Janitor would be here shortly, and when he arrived, perhaps it would not be quite as he thought it should be. Uqwa knew that she would need a break after all this, but the payment was nice. For once, she did not have to do any fighting for this job. An odd occurrence for an Executioner, but in the end only results mattered to her. Uqwa couldn't say she did not enjoy her job, if only a little. She had little authority when it came to matters outside her jobs, but that was a non-issue most of the time. Most people respected the title enough to give her space.

Uqwa glanced to the woman, Isabella. Why was she asking her what to do next? Was she some kind of god now, for sparing the stupid magic-tree? Or did the woman think Uqwa actually had any authority over her. In either case, she had two options: leave the dumb bitch alone, or take her to the chief and end up getting her executed for being different, probably. She had too much...color. That was the word the woman used, right?

"I should probably take you to the Chief, but he would end up having you executed anyway," Uqwa sighs, seriously thinking about taking her weapon. But there was no real need for that. Sure, this stupid tree business could come back to bite her in the ass later, but how much did she really care about that? Not enough to cause a scene. "Get out of my sight." Uqwa ended up snapping. "You've made my head hurt." Even though Uqwa told the woman to leave, it was she who ended up being the first to walk away.

Where to? Hell be damned if she had any idea.

"I-"

Before the poor girl could utter another word Uqwa had already exited the rooftop, fed up with her presence. The outside of the Calvera Apartments were just as silent as they were when Uqwa arrived, and still just as dull and dreary a sight. The dark ash clouds floated overhead, drifting from the direction of the factories in the far-off distance. It seemed District Gamma was just as busy as it ever was. Everything was always as busy as far as anyone could ever remember, everything for everyone was always so linear. The Executives had passed on several mottoes to their citizens, and among them were such phrases as:

"Work to live. Live to work."

"Standing out is not outstanding."

"Be a model citizen."

And all blindly obeyed without question, as to ask such questions would mean to stand out. Residents of the districts all followed a strict dress code: wearing the same clothes, keeping their hair short and flat, and even speaking in the low, monotonous, raspy tones accompanied by the same rancid coffee breath. Isabella was different though, to say the least. Aside from the fact that she wasn't as gray as any of the residents, her hair was its own style, as were her clothes, and she had a tad more personality than any of the working drones. Life in the districts was so... boring and unswerving. It was almost hard to believe that the districts was the only civilization in this known, small world. The uncharted land outside the city was known as the Wasteland, and beyond that was said to be an all-consuming static void that stretched on for eternity. This was what was considered normal to everyone. This is what everyone was born to live with. Why... why was existence so simple and at the same time so hard to fathom?

Greeting Uqwa as she left the apartment was a man just as gray as any other, but something about his demeanor seemed completely off. He looked at Uqwa, and at the same time it appeared he wasn't looking at Uqwa. The man smiled and proceeded to speak. "Ah! Ⓩⓔⓡⓘ! I finally found you at last! I was sent here to show you my various wares to help you combat the Divergents and whatever other combative obstacles that may stand in your way! My name is Charger Riveletto, and I can sell you weapons and armor, as well as other objects and artifacts you may find interesting. Perhaps you'd like to augment your scythe with a phantom edge, hm? Would you like to upgrade your diadem or craft new ones so that you may use a different style of skills, using the spoils of your victories? I am here to provide you with the means to do so; quite the invaluable service if you ask me. So how about it?"

Uqwa glared at the man who stood in front of her, blocking her path but not truly blocking her exit. Still, it bothered her that this person did not even use her name or even seemed to look at her. Uqwa glanced around her, but saw no one, and the words this man was spouting made no sense to her. The name he used she couldn't hear for some reason, as some white noise blocked her ears from hearing the name. That made her even more wary, but it didn't matter.

"I haven't a clue what the fuck you just said to me," Uqwa sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose to ward off the incoming headache she was sure to gain by speaking with this man. "Mind explaining it in terms normal people can understand, or am I going to have to-" Suddenly her voice cut out and she could no longer speak, though her mouth moved to form words without sound. Uqwa stopped then, frozen where she stood.

Her mouth moved again, though not by her will, and sound came from it of a darker, much more masculine voice than she was supposed to have. "Charger Rivelotto? I'm surprised you can see me. No matter, I'll have a look at your goods."

"What the fuck," Uqwa immediately blurted out in her own voice once the second voice disappeared.

"Ah, yes, good. The Marionnettiste can speak after all. Très bien," Charger mused, ignoring Uqwa's state of confusion. "Let me get my merchandise out for you... from my Baaaaaaaaaaaag of Hoooooooooooooolding! OoOOooOOoh. That's a trope, you know." He reached into his pocket and from it, pulled out a large duffel that somehow fit in his pockets by no logical means. When he unzipped the bag, the contents spilled out before him into a messy pile, and by the looks of everything that came out it was highly doubtful that they would all fit in the bag by logical means as well. Charger picked up a book titled "Good NPC Ethics for Dummies", and started flipping through several of the pages. "Hold on, hold on. I think I missed a few steps here... right there. I forgot the part where I'm supposed to tell you useless tutorial shit that anyone who isn't a comatose brain-dead monkey could figure out. Ahem... YOU CAN OPEN YOUR INVENTORY AT ANY TIME BY PRESSING THE START BUTTON. YOU MAY SAVE YOUR GAME AT DESIGNATED SAVE CRYSTALS FOUND IN THE OVERWORLD. CROUCH BY SHOVING THE RIGHT ANALOG STICK DIRECTLY INTO YOUR RECTUM AND TWIDDLING YOUR NIPPLES. IN ORDER TO DISABLE THE ANNOYING YELLOW CIRCLES THAT JOHN MADDEN DRAWS ON THE SCREEN TO RECAP FOOTBALL PLAYS THAT WEREN'T APPARENTLY OBVIOUS, PLEASE PURCHASE THE PREMIUM DLC PACK AND INSTALL GOOGLE PLUS ON ALL YOUR DEVICES. That oughtta do it. Did I kill your immersion yet? Just one more thing before we get to the good stuff. I need to make you sign the User End Terms of License and Agreement. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's pretty mandatory though. So uh... if you will."

User End Terms of License and Agreement

Code:

1.Rivelotto Enterprises
Rivelotto Enterprises is owned and maintained by Charger Rivelotto, president and CEO of the company, as well as mayor of Handsometown. At times Charger may be referred to as "me", "I", or "Big Papa Smooth". The party involved who will be interacting with the services may be referred to as "you", "hey you", or "Fuckface" wherever appropriate.
These terms are a binding contract explaining what you can and cannot do, as well as what I can and cannot do with you.
Rivelotto Enterprises is a super-cool sole-proprietorship working to give you the best consumer experience possible by providing you with deadly badass weaponry and cool features that will make you the life of any party.

2. Rules and Restrictions
-Don't sell me back the shit I sold to you: Seriously. It's rude and it hurts my feelings, and I won't even give you half of what you paid for it so we both lose in the end.
-Don't try to kill me or give me Space AIDS: Space AIDS is gross and I would rather not contract it. Trying to threaten or murder me in any way will result in me getting my team of bloodthirsty lawyers that are willing to rappel from black helicopters at a moment's notice and staple a subpoena to your face.
-Look with your eyes, not your hands: Unless it's a free resource that I am offering you, I'd much rather you not get your grubby paws all over my merchandise when you're just browsing. I once had a fat kid smear his chocolate covered hands all over my collection of razor throwing cards, and it depreciated the value to hell.
-Tips and donations are appreciated, but not mandatory: What can I say, I love free money.
-Something bad happened? It's your own dumbass fault: Rivelotto Enterprises and its operating party are not responsible for any damages, liabilities, or losses that may occur to anyone or anything.
-Don't do other shit I don't like: It's entirely up to me to determine what that is.

3. Monopolizing The Market Is My Goddamned Right
Here at Rivelotto Enterprises, I take pride in the fact that I am the only standing company in this world that openly sells products of lethal nature to any Main Character or Protagonist I find on the street. If I catch you trying to imitate my business or compete with my brand, then I will find you and club you with a bat wrapped in barbed wire until you are dead or receive the message.

4. Third Party Consideration, This Means You, Zeri
Realize that you are spending your character's own money be it with or without their knowing consent. I'm not telling you how to roll or anything, but it would help to once think about the feelings of your puppet. The feelings of which you give them. But I mean it's all good, because what the hell else are they going to spend it on, anyway? Not weapons and useful combat items? Don't make me laugh.

5. Miscellaneous Information
I am free to, and will probably at some point change the rules on a whim however I see fit. By the time you finish reading and accept these terms, an addendum or revision will already be in the works. Ultimately this document is probably meaningless but I'm making you agree to it anyway because it's funny to me, fuck you.

[ ] I have read, understood, and agree to the terms, and will comply to the best of my ability.
[ ] I have not read the terms of agreement, but I agree anyway.

"All done?" Charger queried. "Alrighty! For being such a good sport I will provide you with this amazing Tactics Tablet, my gift to you. Before you deploy in combat, it will display assets you can order that will appear in battle from supply drops to a list of mercenaries under my payroll that you can hire to fight alongside you."

[Uqwa received the Tactics Tablet (Key Items)]

"Speaking of free stuff, whenever we meet I will allow you to use two services free of charge. One of them is my patented Memory Radio. It's powered by crystallized fragments of memories that you may find about, and will play its contents for you. The other is the all-in-one Craft Reactor. With this station, you can upgrade your weapon and armor using materials you have either found or bought, and purchase augment slots for them in which you can attach or remove... well, augments. You can also create diadems or enhance existing ones with your materials to produce neat effects and stats. Last is the Ability Synthesis function of the station. You can actually select two A-Abilities you want for a chance of combining them to make a single, more effective ability that retains some of the attributes of the abilities used to make it. Be careful, as this process may fail and you'll lose one of the abilities in the process. Using abilities with higher Proficiency Ratings will increase the chance of success in Ability Synthesis, and you may also add materials to cause deviations in the product. I will tell you the odds of success before confirming your choice to combine the abilities. You can also use Ability Synthesis to decompose an unwanted ability and turn it into an augment; higher Proficiency Rating will increase the chance to receive rarer augments. Now for the store itself. I will be selling you consumable items, weapons, armors, weapon parts, armor parts, materials, augments, abilities, and the like, and you may sell me the same. Unfortunately I will never have diadems in stock, so you will just have to craft those on your own or find them through other means. My inventory may or may not change with each encounter, so think carefully about what you really want. You have the option to 'lock' one item in my store at a time so that I will have it on our next encounter. This feature is useful when you can't afford a particular item you want at the time. So... that's really all there is to it. Take your time and have a look."

Music: Store Theme - Casual Homicide and Sunshine

Spoiler:

>Store
Consumables
-Vitality Tablets (x3 in stock) - Restores 20% Max HP, -10 STB "Don't get too reliant on painkillers now." [Price - $15 ea]
-Clarity Vitamin (x2 in stock) - Restores 15 COM "They say it's brain food." [Price - $10 ea]
-Buttered Croissant (x2 in stock) - Halts Stability reduction for 3 turns; Does not consume an Act Action to use. "This stuff is actually hard to come by in these parts." [Price - $25 ea]
-Impish Adrenal - 85% Diluted (x1 in stock) - Drops Stability by 15% of max value and increases Force stat by 10% for remainder of battle. "It doesn't work with the Buttered Croissant, in case you were wondering." [Price - $50]

Materials
-Carbon Teardrop (x2 in stock) - Strange hardened residue dropped by a Divergent "Who knew they could cry?" [Price - $40 ea]
-Cube Ring (x1 in stock) - An odd trinket with a cubical shape engraved into it. "A box that fits on your hand." [Price - $60]
-Manifested Ripple (x1 in stock) - A phenomenon of rippling waves in air. "How do you even hold this?" [Price - $40]
-Gradient Bar (x1 in stock) - A block that goes from white to black. "Gradient bar, not granola bar." [Price - $40]

Weapons
-Serrated Claws - Razor nail attachments that can rend flesh with ease. Range: 1. +2 FOR, increases bleed damage by 5% of base modifier value. Changes S-Ability to "Inspired Viscera" (This unit's attacks have double Base Epiphany rating against bleeding targets) [Price - $250]
-Dynamic Scythe - A scythe that is designed to return to the user's side after thrown. Range: 4. +2 FOR. [Price - $225]
-Aquarius Charm - A symbol of the Water Bearer which allows the user to summon manifested stipples which converge onto a target. Range: 4. +3 VIS, changes all basic attacks to be based off of Vision stat instead of Force, dealing Vision-Particle damage. 3 Basic Attacks. [Price - $320]

Armor
-Hooded Vest (1 Augment Slot) - Much like basic armor, but with an augment slot already built in. +2 DEF. [Price - $170]
-Smoky Coat - Tattered at the ends, and has a depressing feel to its overall appearance. +2 DEF, Cyanide Property. [Price - $170]
-Mirror-Polish Suit - Despite looking tacky, it has some impressive defensive qualities. +2 DEF, reflects 20% Ray and Spectrum Damage back as damage. [Price - $290]

Accessories
-Thick Scarf - A fancy scarf that billows in the wind, making you look cool. +1 Move. [Price - $150]
-Lucky Coin - Both sides are heads. +7% Epiphany. [Price - $150]
-Good NPC Ethics for Dummies - Wait, you actually want this book? -50% COM consumption and randomly displays useless advice during battle. [Price - $2500]

Augments
-Phantom Edge - Causes basic attacks to be mitigated by Willpower instead of Defense. Compounds to Force-based weapons. [Price - $200]
-Warp Blade - As a free action, the user may target an adjacent cell and a cell up to 7 cells away. The user may attack either targeted cells to have the impact effect the other targeted cell and its surrounding cells as well. Cells are targeted for one turn and takes 3 turns to cool down after expiration. Compounds to Scythes. [Price - $3000]

Abilities
-Fury of the Devil - Upon reaching Critical Status, this unit becomes enraged, entering Berserk mode and granting Haste and Lifesteal upon herself. This mode ends in three turns. If this unit kills an enemy unit while in this mode, this unit's HP is fully restored and the mode automatically ends. This ability can only activate once per battle. [Price - 3 Ability Tokens (R-Ability)]
-Tragedy Phantasmagoria - Sets the user's Epiphany to 0% but allows the user to empower a basic attack by sacrificing HP, increasing the basic attack's damage by 1 for every 3 HP spent. This ability may be cast again at no cost to toggle off. Cross Diadem. 8 COM. STB: -20. Current Proficiency: D. [Price - 1 Ability Token]
-Gauss Driver - Creates an illusory copy of the user's weapon that strikes along with the real one, damaging the target's Comprehension. Attacks from the user will reduce the target's COM by half the damage dealt. This ability drains 10 STB per turn, but may be cast again at no cost to toggle off. No Diadem required. 6 COM. STB: -10 per turn. Current Profiency: C. [Price - 1 Ability Token]

Key Items
-Puzzle-Locked Chest - A long, reinforced case that won't open unless all 11 tiles are found and arranged in the correct order. "I don't know how to open this thing, but if anyone can do it, I'm sure it'd be you." [Price - $100]

>Memory Radio
-Play memory No memories in inventory

>Craft Reactor
-Upgrade Weapon/Armor
--Select Weapon/Armor to upgrade
-Manage Augments
--Unlock Augment Slot for Weapon/Armor
--Attach Augment
--Remove Augment
-Diadems
--Craft Diadem
--Enhance Diadem
-Ability Synthesis
--Combine two Abilities with/without materials
--Decompose Ability into augment

"I-" Uqwa was not entirely sure what to do with all the new and exceedingly strange situations as of late. First she saw strange...colors and a weird girl with a weird tree growing on top of a building, then this guy shows up with his weird speech. Her own body was being controlled by some other....thing, person, demon, whatever. Before she knew it her body was being controlled again, like a puppet. It was infuriating how little control she had over her body. Plus the voice that came out of her mouth turned male, which made her extremely more nervous. Her hand moves to scratch the paper with a pen.

[x] I have read, understood, and agree to the terms, and will comply to the best of my ability.

"There we go, that should be fine. This is turning out well, I'd say. That puzzle box there, it intrigues me. I do love puzzles. Do you have any others? Ah, it doesn't matter, I'll take that off your hands."

Uqwa (unwittingly) purchases the Puzzle-Locked Chest for $100

"I believe that will be all for now, Charger. It's been a pleasure."

"The pleasure is all mine," Charger bowed, handing Uqwa the box in exchange for the money. "Though it feels like it has taken you approximately 6,535,200 seconds to come up with a decision... then again it also felt like it took me 888,700 seconds to actually process this transaction. Meh, who's really counting in the end? Anyway, you're probably wondering what to do or where to go right about now, and honestly? I haven't the slightest clue either. What exactly is there to do in a boring town such as this one? You must be thinking, 'Why Charger, this is the only town that exists in the entire world. There's nothing else outside of these districts but a static void of nothingness! Where exactly are you even from anyway?' Well aren't you the observant one! True, in this world there exists but this one municipality from which no one knows how it came to be in such an isolated plot of land, but that doesn't mean you can't somehow find a sensible meaning in all of this... right? In fact... I'm almost certain parts of this town doesn't exist... and won't exist until you actually step foot in it. This is me talking to you, Uqwa-not-Uqwa. Do you even have memories? Of who you are? Your childhood? Did you even have a childhood and if so, how can you be so sure they aren't just made up so that your own existence is conveniently aligned with how everything is? It's like watching a movie. Any movie, really. Some films start off with the main protagonist at a certain age, not documenting the tedious birth and sometimes skipping past the childhood years. We the audience just assume this person has had a past even though we do not ever witness it. Why? How do we know for sure what happened? Did anything actually happen? Maybe the person's true existence began at the start of the film. The film can claim of this person's past accolades but it's simply put that way for convenience. I'm starting to think our lives are somewhat the same way. I appear before you a grown man and yet you never saw me age from an infant to where I am now. For all you know, I could have just started existing at the moment our eyes first met. I don't know. Maybe I'm losing my mind. Maybe I don't really exist. If I don't exist and you're seeing me, maybe you're losing your mind. That would be a frightening prospect, wouldn't it? Then again if we can't discern what's real from what isn't, who's to say what can be considered sane and what is deemed otherwise? Ah, I'm rambling and keeping you from your business. I just wanted to get that off my chest, my apologies. Anyway, good talk. I'll see you when I see you. If you're really stumped on what to do and don't want to return to that dreary Precinct or those caged-in apartments, I'd say... think of something to do. You probably don't know what the town looks like even though you've supposedly lived here all your life, but I'm sure if you were to think about the direction you wanted to go it would just happen, and you'd remember so well it would be as if you didn't think you put any thought into it at all... I think."