#(I hope you all stay hooked with this! this is gonna be fun 😁)

[thebigshotman]

The receiver jingles back onto the receptacle on top of the phone, resting soundly for only a few seconds before starting its steady pattern of rings again.

His smile back to its usual, happy form-although there’s something tainted about it-Spaul starts moving away from the receiver. While talking to the Voice that’s still clicking away somewhere in his head.

*S0…YOU [[did you hear?]]. [Hazelnut]s F1NE W1TH THIS. YOU [[-know what time it is!]].

*Spaul…n-no. No, you can’t do this! You didn’t give Eileen the full story, and besides it’s 3:30 AM! Do you expect ANYONE to give you a straight answer at that time? At least think about it and-

*N0!!!!! I 4M [sick and tired] OF [go on, go on!] T0 YOU!!!!

With the sound of someone screaming incoherently, he picks up the blunt edge of the Broken Sword from earlier. It’s fairly obvious what he intends to do with it.

*GOING ON 4ND 0N ABOUT [[your safety is important to us.]] WH3N YOU D0N’T KNOW A DAMNED [interesting fact] 4BOUT ME!!!! YA KN0W WH0 DO3S???? E1LEEN!!!! I [[trusted you…]] A H3LL OF A LOT MORE TH4N YOU YA [loser]!!!!

*Spamton…

He shuffles over to the phone, raising the sword. Moving in half-frames. Eager, tired marbles appearing in his glasses.

*G1VE ME YOUR [Hyperlink Blocked]. [[Administrator Access]] T0 TH3 [[exercise tape]]. N0W!!!!

There’s a moment in his head where there’s completely and total silence, for the first time in 25 years. And during that time, he wonders if this is the right choice after all. His form glitching sporadically as he does. But then, in a burst of noise, everything returns. And he gets his answer.

*…Ok. Access has been granted. Whatever happens next is out of my hands.

*Just…be careful, Spaul. Whatever happens next, just—

She doesn’t get to finish her thought. With a mighty crash, the sword punctured straight through the rotary dial again and again, smashing the phone beyond repair. There is no more clicking or tapping now in his head. Just the garbage noise, static, and his own thoughts.

The sword falls out of his hands, and he raises them to look at them as he jitters and glitches. Finally noticing the thorns in them from before. He plucks them out without a second thought.

Finally…silence. He looks down at the remains of the phone.

*WH3N U [[gamers don’t die]]…1’VE G0T A [leave a message at the tone] TO LE4VE. D0N’T T4KE [[-lasts forever!]], OK?!?!

His grin returns to form as he walks away, busying himself by cleaning up the tattered remains all over the floor of his shop until the phone repairs itself.

Gifting Eileen a stone and tinfoil…what was he even thinking? This was going to be the greatest gift of them all.