#erik a | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eristic-kaleidoscope · 2 years

Text

A Narrative of a Second Hand - Ch1 Start 4/4

An giggled before nodding to Callie to begin the final section of discussion after a chuckle of her own.

“Do keep in mind, by the way, that your brain implants will function as a means for us to easily enforce any rules or stop any attempts on our own lives through this process.

And finally… we would like to personally reassure you all that your actions within this game will be kept purely confidential, and any monitoring tools will be used purely by the personnel in charge of this experiment. Whatever each of you in particular do here, whoever you hurt here, or whatever you say, will not be held against you legally in any way, nor will the public at large know of it.”

Calluna’s voice was low and smooth as she said that, letting each and every word sink in with its full impact. She let that thought linger in the air for a moment, before she flashes a lighter smile to you all.

“As an aside, your grocery requests will be fulfilled within 48 hours. We will also now be opening the floor for a single question or comment of your choosing before we depart. Any taker?”

Before any of the rest of you could begin to formulate what that question would be beyond an instinctive ‘why?’, one person in particular immediately spoke up for your group for better or for worse. Despite the fear that many of you were experiencing, Erik A looked more annoyed than anything, taking a step towards the pair of sisters(?) and pointing dramatically at them.

“Yeah, I’ve got a question: Why the hell did you list me as 23 if it’s after my birthday’s past, huh?? We’ve already figured out that it needs to be at LEAST the 18th according to the dates that people remember, so I should be 24 by now! Not to mention I can’t remember whatever happened on my own birthday now, but the least you can do is list my correct age!”

…Alright then. Looking more amused by this of all being the question given to them than anything, Calluna smiles.

“Hmm…~ I suppose that you’ve acquired sufficient proof of time passing to know the date to be after August 16th, at the very least. Very well, your age will be updated.” Effortlessly, Calluna tapped something on what is surely a screen(?) on her clipboard before looking up again. “And with that, we are now finished taking questions.”

“Thank you for your cooperation in this experiment, and thank you all for volunteering for this project once again. We look forward to working with you going forward. Please don’t forget that you can claim your free VR sessions on the PS8 starting tomorrow morning, as well as attempt to contact us at any time.”

The less reasonable party, as could be assumed, gave a wave and hopped off of her table seating. Notably, An left her food plate out in the open instead of bothering to at least stick it into the sink.

“That’s all for now! Tata! Toodle-oo! Dootsie doodles! Spend the rest of your night however. Get into more fights if you want, they’re funny. Also you’re free to go now.”

With that, she trotted off out the door, last to arrive and first to leave, with an extra skip in her step. It was as if she simply liked the way her cape moved while doing so. Calluna offered you all a short bow, her polite smile now significantly more ominous now that you knew the true reason for your stay here, before she too departed

#chapter1 #calluna #analalava #erik a

1 note · View note

eristic-kaleidoscope · 11 months

Text

One Day at a Time | Erik A Epilogue

Ever since the killing game experiment had ended, Erik A had been both incredibly busy and finally taking a break at once, especially in the first few months. First, despite his aching ribs and the delay in getting out, staying on site to assist with the transferring of AI was undoubtedly the right call, he thought. For one, Erick Weiss was in no state to do physical tasks just yet and Kenshin was down an arm which would understandably slow his speed. And for another, he really wasn’t kidding about both his personal expertise in software engineering and his FBI connections and general high knowledge of government legalities that he was able to successfully keep any of the forces present from seizing the data.

But finally… it was done, and despite all of the times during the experiment that he was sure he’d never make it out of that facility, Erik A would get to go home.

‘Home’ was a strange thing to think about, all things considered. Though he first entered his own apartment, empty of anyone else other than his own creations now mostly shut off for whatever trip he’d originally planned for, among his own things again as he was forced to sort through some things in the immediate… there was a sense of isolation to it, and of not being quite where he wanted to be. He can tell right away that locking himself away in this place for too long will just make his newly recognized as questionable mental health spiral.

And so instead, for the first time in years of being terrified to associate his family home too heavily with him from his own paranoia… Erik A allowed himself once more to be with his family, cared for and with support for the next month and a half of time while he recovered, and for once was finally given some proper time off from his government job in the wake of the experience he’d gone through, left only to sort through the other legalities and fallout of everything else going on, not to mention all of the things he wants to do for himself and for the dead. But at least, with a sense of warmth and care in the air from his moms and even his sisters and Uncle Ben as they come home to visit… It’s nice, and despite the mental struggles he still had both new and old piling up, he can feel himself relax a bit and accept that care, even if just a little.

And finally, a full month after being home and settling matters further, Erik A even finally makes his first therapy appointment since he’d quit going as a teen. It was weird and familiar at once being back to it, but… He was as ready as he’d ever be for it now, and even told quite a few friends to be sure to hold him to continuing to go just like he’d keep holding them to it too.

He also comically crashed his old bully’s wedding later that year just as he’d planned to, only to be pulled aside and by Eric M once spotted and formally apologized to a full decade later, and even thanked for both coming and helping him figure out more about himself so that he eventually met his now husband. Though surprised… Erik A was relieved, rather than resentful, and it was almost as if another part of him could rest now knowing. They’d stay in touch, even if not regularly, and years later, Erik A would still receive yearly family Christmas cards from Eric M and his husband (and, eventually, little girl), which he’d read each time, Jewish or not.

Romantically for himself, and especially following the frankly traumatizing situation that was most of the game surrounding them before now, Erik A had requested to take a break from any sort of relationship with Adrik and Akito so that they could focus more primarily on letting the adrenaline of the life or death ordeal fade as they slowly recovered and developed healthier coping mechanisms. They would all still stay in contact of course, but time would be given this way to make certain that things would be done properly if they happened at all, slower like he’d wanted to start with, and this time with more certainty that it wasn’t just the danger of the situation talking either.

The first of the two he rekindled things with was Adrik a half a year after gaining their freedom, at first over longer distance, a new experience for them both. And once their own family and other situations abroad had been settled, Adrik made their move to Miami after the one year post-experiment mark, not to live with Erik A initially, but to be nearby to him and accessible, as the two began to spend significantly more time together in person again. Though slower things were now that they didn’t have the risk of dying any day now… it was wonderful to have that close connection again, to share comfort and growth alike.

And only just barely after Adrik’s move was Akito’s first visit, of course with the intention to romance them both properly this time, one and a half allergens of Erik A’s in hand- And the feeling of being serious both about dating the two of them and for making things more healthy this time, which both Erik A and Adrik would ultimately accept, spending that trip and future ones beyond it together and finally a little more free of stress, before committing to a co-living space for themselves much further down the line.

There were plenty of others from the experiment that remained important to Erik A as well, of course. Every range of occasional to frequent contact and keeping up with many of those both dead and alive that he’d met during the ERIKA experiment, and in some loved ones of the living and dead alike that he had the chance to meet as well.

Text chats and visits to the VR once he had the chance to, the live stream marathon that he’d promised to do for fundraising in collaboration with Kenshin, Kori, Byrne, and a number of other invited guests to raise money… Even his first ever permission to leave the country for vacations and other endeavors given to him by his superiors, one of the first of which being to Austria for the VR and work related reasons, and then to Canada for a road trip of self fulfillment and a fun cake delivery. He even kept close contact with Erick Weiss himself as well, working closely with him on the VR primarily in some specific projects from a distance, though with the occasional drop in to pester him in person as well.

Events passed by, one after another over the next months and years: His parents met both of his partners, welcoming them with open arms (but teasing Erik A mercilessly for the deviation to his usual taste). He finally released DISFRAY, the game he’d made but never finished the ending to for over a decade, now finally out in the world for a purely optional price tag, the funds of which going to donation in Adrian’s name, since Erik A himself hardly needed the money.

He began to develop his next game as well, born from his proof of concept project of a rhythm game he’d made for Kori, now fleshed out with boss fight concepts with some pointers from Kori herself on many factors, and an original soundtrack in part by himself (as he’d been happily getting into more music writing with the help of Byrne as of late) and in part by Cosette, who he’d offered the chance to have leave her mark on the world with a boss she’d get to assist in designing herself, and a song more core to her being than the others she’d been writing for years. The end result was beautiful, and successful too after the promoting from his friends alongside his own channel, with the fun AI map making tool he��d installed for future endless games of play allowing for replayability beyond just the main gameplay mode.

Some of the dead opted to have their existence erased, Cosette, Marlene, and Ae-ra included, and he did what he could to be there for them or to help them in accomplishing all that they wanted to before the day came, wherever he could.

His oldest sister Amelia married her then girlfriend, and soon enough, he found himself being an uncle, his first real experience with helping care for a child and definite practice. Aria was her name, and he did his very best to learn how this child rearing thing worked and be a cool uncle, while still maintaining some level of responsibility.

His youngest sister, Sarah, graduated college with her decision to ambitiously pursue astrophysics and seek a master’s degree in the coming years after some long talks with Erik A like the two of them had, a decision he couldn’t have been prouder of her for, and who’s journey he was fully willing to help fund in part, just as he’d wanted to reach out and assist Eureka’s youngest clone sister as well if she ended up needing it after her injury.

Erik A had even managed to convince his government superiors to finally allow him to work more part time fromthe two years point on, and eventually after nearly a full decade (15 years since the start of his job, in fact), he’d been set finally free entirely, able to pursue what he liked with greater ease than he had before, though he certainly didn’t wait until then to start. He took more care to not overwork himself as badly as he had previously though, of course, sticking to a lenient streaming and video schedule to make way for his passion for game design to finally flourish as well. And just in time, too, because now with a ring on his finger, well… it was looking more and more likely that he too might be a first time dad in the near future, and by now, he had plenty of other experienced friends to talk about that possibility with too. Before anything else though, he was absolutely dragging both Adrik and Akito to some proper parenting classes, because he knew full well that they would need it if it was going to be a possibility.

It was funny, though, how time marched on without stopping, and how slowly but surely his doom-like thoughts had become less and less intense over the years, now that he knew how to pick them out and give them a good kick or pie in the face, metaphorically, of course. It wasn’t perfect, and neither was he, but… he could finally look back on that time in the experiment all those years ago and the scrambled time in his life both before it and after, and see how far he’d truly made it since then.

…

Erik A finishes up the letter he’d been writing, detailing the latest year of his life down with a sense of humor and levity as well as mixed in genuine sentiments and ideas for what he might do next, just as he had with many before on previous ones. The would be recipient was long gone, both physically and digitally, but he’d kept up with his promise to write to her all the same, and to keep her memory in his mind just as he had with others in their own ways, a worn color, through games and music, through learning to bake, and more. The small ways could matter without taking over your life dwelling on the past constantly in a bad way, or at least that’d what he’d always thought. No matter how things changed, some would stay the same, huh?

He signs off his letter to Marlene with a sigh of satisfaction, his session of rumination over the last year drawing to a close with a small doodled drawing of the tattoo idea he’d been thinking about getting for himself finally. The handwritten letter is folded neatly and put into an envelope, before he gets up and stretches.

Though it may not be an ending, only still a relatively early point in his life… He’s ready to move forward once more today, and for as many days as he can after that.

#Erik A #submission

1 note · View note