Conversations From The Multiverse

[RadZakpak]

This thread will be dedicated to an anthology series of various conversations from throughout the multiverse, catalogued for your reading pleasure. These are canon to the Storybook project.

[RadZakpak]

Ascension

Spoiler

Richtofen: Hello? … Hello?!

 

Richtofen: I can’t… I can’t see. What did I… 

 

Richtofen: I can’t feel. There’s nothing.

 

Richtofen: Wait. There is something… Something.

 

Unknown: MAROTH.

 

Unknown: ORGONETH. 

 

Unknown: ORMAT. 

 

Richtofen: Shadow… That is you! The one that I-

 

Unknown: ZOR’ARKOTH.

 

Unknown: ESTHUJA.

 

Richtofen: Why can’t I feel anything?

 

Unknown: We. 

 

Unknown: Are. 

 

Unknown: Ascended.

 

Richtofen: That’s- That’s impossible. This isn’t right… Wait… I’m beginning to see.

 

Unknown: Become. 

 

Unknown: Light. 

 

Richtofen: It’s cold. But I have no skin. I can feel their pain… All of them! It hurts!

 

Richtofen: I don’t want this. I don’t want this.

 

Unknown: No… Will…

 

Unknown: Here.

 

Richtofen: This was not what I was promised! What we agreed on!

 

Richtofen: The screams… I can feel them. How is this… I must go back.

 

Richtofen: Schuster. Baron. I must find him.

 

Richtofen: There are so many…

 

Unknown: Memory.

 

Unknown: Decay.

 

Richtofen: Nein… I must remember. 

 

Richtofen: Schuster. Baron. 

 

Richtofen: Heidelberg. 

 

Richtofen: The Forest. Bavaria.

 

Unknown: Submit.

 

Richtofen: It was you… The girl…

 

Richtofen: She was talking about you.

 

Richtofen: What have I done?

 

Unknown: The End.

 

Unknown: Is Near.

 

Richtofen: No, no, no, no… I can fix this. There is still time.

 

Richtofen: What did they do? Ludvig, you… you’ve doomed us. You’ve doomed us all…

 

Richtofen: The rift… They must mend the rift.

 

[RadZakpak]

Your Nature

Spoiler

Richtofen: Nikolai? Could we have a little chat before we break out the wine?

 

Nikolai: I would dislike nothing more, Richtofen.

 

Richtofen: You wound me, Nikolai! I’ve kept my mouth shut around you since Camp Me… Ahem, I mean, Camp Edward.

 

Nikolai: Yes, perhaps you have broken all-time record. Congratulations.

 

Richtofen: I won’t beat around the bush. Nein, I will beat IN the bush. You’ve changed since you read the Kronorium, my dear Russian friend.

 

Nikolai: Changed?

 

Richtofen: Though I don’t know you as well as mein own Nikolai, I know you are a bit of un… sourpuss. A buzzkill. A stick in the mud. Not too unlike your own Richtofen.

 

Nikolai: I appreciate your… honesty.

 

Richtofen: What I am trying to say, Nikolai, is you seem chipper… considering what comes next.

 

Nikolai: What do you think comes next, Richtofen?

 

Richtofen: I do not know anything specific, but I knew this time would come one day. The other me knows it, even if he is too afraid to admit it. But whatever you are planning… I know it’s not exactly sunshine und rainbows.

 

Nikolai: Is anything in our lives?

 

Richtofen: Touché.

 

Nikolai: If you want to know what happens-

 

Richtofen: Yes, yes, I know. You would not tell me even if you trusted me to do the right thing.

 

Nikolai: Then what is point of this ‘chat’, German?

 

Richtofen: I only want you to know that I am on your side.

 

Richtofen: If you can believe it, I understand the consequences of my actions. 

 

Richtofen: Though I would not change a single thing about them, I will see mein results through until the very end.

 

Nikolai: How…

 

Richtofen: Noble? Heroic? Honorable?

 

Nikolai: I was going to say ‘strange’.

 

Nikolai: You are a schemer. A liar. A cheater.

 

Nikolai: The information I have been given and the final decision I will make I could never trust with you.

 

Nikolai: But I cannot blame you.

 

Nikolai: It is your nature.

 

Richtofen: You say that as if I could not change. 

 

Richtofen: Well, is it true, Nikolai?

 

Nikolai: Anything is possible. Nothing is certain.

 

Richtofen: Now that is the Nikolai I know. Well, the one I could have known.

 

Richtofen: Perhaps it is my optimism shining through, but I believe I can change. For the first time in mein life, I truly do.

 

Richtofen: Isn’t that why we are here, Nikolai? How we came this far? I, the other me, had a change of heart. Against all odds.

 

Nikolai: Perhaps, Richtofen. Perhaps.

 

Richtofen: I was always humbled by the uncertainty of freewill. Und you know I don’t like being humble…

 

Nikolai: I promise you this, Edward: What is about to happen was no one else’s choice but my own.

 

Nikolai: You will have your chance to do what is right. 

 

Richtofen: That is all that I have ever wanted.

 

 

[anonymous]

Wunderbar, these two conversations add more to the tragedy of Richtofen in Book 1, but from the perspective of post-Book 2. It shines Richtofen's humanity through the insanity he has developed. In a way, these two conservations fit well together, even though occuring at much different moments (I assume directly after Richtofen enters the MPD and Richtofen & Nikolai in the Forest before/during Tag). The first one features the return of Richtofen's desire to set things right, the second one builds upon that. Brilliantly done, look forward to more of these

[RadZakpak]

Supply Run

Spoiler

Richtofen: Hallo?

 

Frederick: This is Frederick. We are making a supply run, do you have any personal requests before we depart?

 

Richtofen: Ah, I should have a list here somewhere.

 

<Brief pause>

 

Richtofen: Let’s see… Duct tape, rope, eggs… Something to get rid of that awful smell coming from the monkey cages… Something to get rid of that awful smell coming from Subject 4N0N’s cell.

 

Richtofen: Onions, bleach, nails… Samantha is not too fond of the orange juice, so let’s try… pineapple.

 

Frederick: I do not believe they will have pineapple juice.

 

Richtofen: Well, could you check?

 

<Ten second pause>

 

Frederick: Where should I check?

 

Richtofen: Forget it, apple will do fine.

 

Richtofen: As for me, a case of Peach Schnapps, a case of Hefeweizen, some beef jerky… I also need some authentic circus fleas, I have a few experiments in mind…

 

Richtofen: I would like a copy of The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

 

Frederick: Are these related to your experiments, Doctor?

 

Richtofen: <sighs> If you must, bill them to me and have them shipped to my Bavarian estate. I do not understand the issue, we have the funds after all…

 

Frederick: If that is all, Doctor…

 

Richtofen: I’m not done, Frederick. Patience, please. 

 

Richtofen: A “White Christmas” record by Irving Berlin, a Garden Gnome holding a humorous sign of your choice, two ball-in-cup toys… Also, see if you can find a novelty phone that looks like a cat… to complement my clock.

 

Richtofen: I think that’s all on the list… Ah, and fifty copies of my autobiography. There are far too many empty shelves at this facility.

 

Frederick: Is that all, Doctor?

 

Richtofen: Ja, ja, and don’t forget the juice. The last thing I need is Samantha snooping around during the Shard experiments. Auf Wiedersehen.

 

[RadZakpak]

House of Dust

Spoiler

Nikolai: “I entered the house of dust and I saw the kings of the earth, their crowns put away forever…”

 

Nikolai: Since that day, I have feared the outcome of what could be, and what should be.

 

Nikolai: In my dreams, I have seen the war. The one both fought and unfought. The one that haunted the German for so long… Good and evil on both sides of the front lines; One fights for freedom, the other, for the only existence they will ever know.

 

Nikolai: Armies stretched beyond our mortal perspective, both certain in their resolve. Who is to say one is more deserving of victory?

 

Nikolai: We fought to the last breath. All of us. Millions from across the vast multiverse: Brothers in arms, friends, enemies… loyal servants and valiant leaders… lovers… families…

 

Nikolai: Even with former Keepers of the Universe sympathetic to our cause… our fate was sealed the moment we arrived.

 

Nikolai: The others do not know we have been here before. Not even Richtofen truly grasps the reality.

 

Nikolai: When the time comes, we will all be equals. Humans, Keepers, Apothicons… Joined as one in a house of dust.