#had a general plan but these three just kind of possessed me for a bit

[stop-the-play]

> Those are just words. I'm not even the one who decided I should say them. In fact, I'm not just going to ignore them—I'm going to drop the monologue entirely. And leave the path. That's also important.

VOICE OF THE HERO: Wh—can you even do that?

...

VOICE OF THE MEEK: It looks like he can.

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: I hope, when this is all over, dying turns out to be worth it.

...

VOICE OF THE HERO: I think you've made your point, mate. You can pick the monologue back up again.

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Yeah. It's starting to feel... kind of empty. And, I mean, I don't really get how your whole monologuing thing works, but... can't you just ignore what you're 'supposed' to say and narrate however you want?

VOICE OF THE HERO: At least bother to describe the woods as you trudge off into them.

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: Do you think he's paying any attention to us?

...

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Hey. Can you say something? Anything? Monologue, nonmonologue...

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: Gloat about our impending death...

VOICE OF THE HERO: Are you... can you even hear us?

...

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: You haven't off and died on us, have you?

...

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Oh, god, I think he's actually dead.

VOICE OF THE HERO: No, that can't be right. He can't have died. I mean, we're still. Breathing. Are we?

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: Are we?

...

VOICE OF THE HERO: He actually is dead.

VOICE OF THE MEEK: W-what do we do now? Can we. Do something about him?

VOICE OF THE HERO: And how are we still here, if he's dead?

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: I'm more surprised he managed to die before the end of the world.

...

VOICE OF THE HERO: What are we supposed to do? He's the one who understood all of this.

VOICE OF THE HERO: More than any of us, at least.

...

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Do we just wait here forever?

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: No, that can't be right. There has to be a way out of this.

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Like what? I'm open to any options you have, but I don't think we're able to do anything like this!

VOICE OF THE HERO: We could die.

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED AND VOICE OF THE MEEK: WHAT?

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: Have you forgotten that dying is bad?

VOICE OF THE MEEK: I think that's the opposite of what we want to do right now!

VOICE OF THE HERO: Look. Hear me out, okay? It seems to me that right now, our options are hanging around a frozen corpse waiting for the world to end, or quitting early.

VOICE OF THE HERO: We die either way. It's just a matter of how long we have to stay here, doing nothing, before we do.

VOICE OF THE MEEK: You have a point...

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: No, there must be a way out of this. We have to be able to avoid dying somehow.

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: Can one of us take over?

VOICE OF THE HERO: Maybe if we had a living body. But I don't think it'll work any more.

VOICE OF THE MEEK: ...

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: ...

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: ...Fine. If you think you can get us to die, go right ahead.

VOICE OF THE HERO: All right. I'll do my best.

VOICE OF THE HERO: ...

VOICE OF THE HERO: You... die. You stop existing. The world ends.

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: What are you trying to do?

VOICE OF THE HERO: I'm trying to narrate. Like he would. Maybe that's what makes things happen in this place. I don't know, do any of you have a better idea?

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Try being more... descriptive? When he was narrating, he wasn't this... blunt.

VOICE OF THE HERO: Okay. Here goes.

VOICE OF THE HERO: As you trudge off into the woods, you find experience... fades. And the further you go, the more your awareness wanes, until you are no longer able to move your legs, to pull air into your lungs.

VOICE OF THE HERO: Eventually, you are left standing still in the middle of the forest, with no one around to watch you die.

VOICE OF THE MEEK: Do we not count as 'someone?'

VOICE OF THE OBSESSED: Ssh.

VOICE OF THE HERO: The world ends. Everything goes dark, and you die.

(This is the end.)