Setting is a local diner, modern day | Canon: The Booth at the End

[themaninthebooth]

There is a 24-hour diner. A diner that serves a variety of normal treats from coffee to cream puffs to pastrami sandwiches. The waitresses, the cooks, the owner have all lived normal lives and serve normal people.

Today there is a Man in the diner. A Man that you only heard about in rumors. A Man heard of in joking tones, but with eyes that said they were deadly serious. Some call him a manipulator. Some call him a mentor. Some call him an angel. Some call him a devil.

He is The Man sitting in the booth at the end of the diner.

He appears to spend his time writing down things in a large, black, leather-bound notebook. He orders whatever seems to suit his fancy at any given moment, but his attention remains on the book.

He's waiting for you. Waiting to make a deal to help get you what you want. All you have to do is sit down... and ask for it.

Comments

If it'll help get back all those words I thought I typed in the last tag, done and done

[themaninthebooth]

Now that's a point that needs to be corrected, judging by a look of minor distaste on the Man's face.

"I help people find the path to give them their desires. I don't grant anything."

[beingmegucaissuffering]

"Of course. That's the difference between us - still, you're facilitating things in a way that I can't reproduce. It's very interesting."

[all_onis_are_true]

Hiroshi wavers for a bit. Could he do that? Could he bring them back? Would everything just go back to the way they were?

He bites his lip. But... even if he brings them back, it doesn't change anything, does it? His failures of character. What happened in the mansion. Anything. And what if they just come back even more wrong than they've already come back? That would hardly be an improvement, right?

He pushes his glasses up. "...Tempting. But I do not feel I could wind back the clock at this point. Even if they all come back, if they all are just as happy and healthy as ever -- and no offense, sir, but I am uncertain such a thing would be possible -- it would not change the fundamental fact that what happened to them was due to my own deficiencies. Maybe I cannot bring them back. But..."

The boy pauses, closes his eyes. "But I just... want to resolve this feeling in my heart, this guilt at my own lack of diligence, my own lapses of courage." He looks down. "Perhaps that is more self-centered of a wish than allowing them to claim their lives back, but I do feel it would better address the fundamental root of the problem."

The root, of course, being that he's a terrible human being.

[themaninthebooth]

The Man doesn't often express a lot of emotion, but he does seem slightly relieved that no one will be coming back from the dead. It seems like a needless amount of suffering.

"So what you really want is to accept what has already occurred?"

[themaninthebooth]

The Man takes the opportunity to tap his black notebook pointedly.

"Perhaps, if understanding is what you desire, you want to make a deal."

[electronic_thumb]

"Not much point leaving the Earth dead."

[nakamura_sensei]

This question annoys her. It was obvious what! "I wanted the coffee." Unhappy, she frowns at the wall beyond his shoulder.

She takes a moment to rub at her own shoulder, as it still hurts from her mishap. A lot of her still hurts. It isn't yet time to rest, however. Steel enters her expression.

[beingmegucaissuffering]

"I wonder, should I be so hasty? After all, if I have the opportunity to get my wish granted, why should I waste it on anything less than the biggest wish I can imagine?"

[mirrorofme]

They both stop and look at him.

"I suppose you could-"

"If we needed any sort of help." They stated, Robert ending Rosalind's sentence seamlessly. "Though, I do believe we are in need of some assistance."

[all_onis_are_true]

He pauses, for a bit. "I... suppose that is it, yes." He looks down. "All my life, I was told to get good grades, be polite, be diligent, and I would get far in life. Yet I feel as though I have failed at something far more important, and I am unsure of how to make up for it. I have been told you can help people get what they want. I would not ask too much of you, but I will at least request this much."

He looks up. It's a look that seems oddly vulnerable, at odds with the image the boy seems so careful to try to cultivate. "Can you help me?"

[themaninthebooth]

Okay, that surprises him a little bit. Mostly because he's not used to people sitting down in front of him without knowing who he was.

"There isn't anything else in the world you want?"

[themaninthebooth]

Seemingly satisfied, the Man flips through a few pages.

"You must allow your best friend's home to be destroyed."

[themaninthebooth]

The Man shakes his head slightly before tapping his little book.

"I can help you help yourself."

So. Yes.

[themaninthebooth]

"That's entirely up to you."

[themaninthebooth]

He leans back into the diner seat comfortably.

"What do you desire?"

[beingmegucaissuffering]

"I'd like to know more about the rules before I make any decisions. Does a more ambitious wish require a greater task? Is it enough for the task to be completed, or must I be the one to complete it?"

[themaninthebooth]

The Man considers the request before nodding slightly.

"The task given by the book correlates to each person and their wish. The task and its difficulty can vary from person to person. You must complete the task as the book has instructed you to do so and provide me with details on your progress."

[beingmegucaissuffering]

Head tilt. It seems to be pondering something.

"If I make a wish, and the task is disagreeable, then can I change my wish?"

[themaninthebooth]

"Yes. And you can stop your task at any time should you wish to."

[beingmegucaissuffering]

"Very well. I would like to reverse Entropy, and create an immortal universe."

[themaninthebooth]

The Man opens up his book and flips through a few pages.

"...You must ensure that you and your entire race gain the ability to express and feel emotions."

[nakamura_sensei]

One thing. I don't see how you can help me with that.

Is he trying to make small talk? Treat it that way. It looks like she'll have to put up with it while her coffee's warm.

"I'd like to be able to fix something. But you know how it is."

[themaninthebooth]

He raises an eyebrow, an unspoken suggestion that no, he doesn't know how it is.

"What would you like to fix?"

[nakamura_sensei]

She sighs and gingerly shuffles a folded piece of paper from her coat's side pocket. "I would like to fix it, I said, but it's more like I want to redo it from scratch.

"These are useless now." She opens the paper on the table and stares at the plans she drew up for a radio-controlled 'UFO'-inspired device. She gives him an appraising look.

She motions at it and says, her hands leaving it, "Since you asked." Go ahead and look.

[electronic_thumb]

"That's a rather rude way to behave, isn't it?"