AUDIENCE FOR: Clementine

[guestservices]

Comments

[stillnot]

Can you pick what show they're putting on? Just - make it a story that has a knife in it.

[ she assumes this is also out of their hands, but. must complain anyway. ]

[guestservices]

Maybe if we were producers, but it's above of our paygrade. The crew picks what gets shown, I suppose.

Though I'm surprised you didn't default to suggesting a gun.

[stillnot]

I don't want to end up in there against someone with a gun.

If someone has a knife you can try keeping your distance or disarming them with whatever's around. If they have a gun they'll just shoot you.

[guestservices]

Unless they're a terrible shot. [that raises a new question.] How likely do you suppose it is that you'll end up in the same position as Mrs. Hammond?

[stillnot]

Still dangerous.

[ and, hmm. ]

I don't know. I'm thinking about it.

[guestservices]

[hmm.]

What is there to think about?

[stillnot]

Making sure AJ is safe. That comes first.

After that, whether or not this place is different from the Realm. We had to kill to bring everyone back, in the end. And everyone did come back.

[ ... ]

But I'm not sure this place works the same. And I bet we won't know for a long time.

[guestservices]

Clever deduction. [...]

Do you have a plan for either scenario?

[stillnot]

Not sure I'd tell you if I did.

[guestservices]

And why not?

[stillnot]

[ she shrugs! ]

You just work here.

[guestservices]

[there's a pause.]

I suppose that's a point.

[stillnot]

I figure you're all probably not to blame for all of this, but it's not like you can really help me. So why bother?

[guestservices]

Miss Clementine, if I may. My job is handling customer complaints. From complaints come solutions. But I suppose "why bother" is fair enough.

Then again, you came here and rang the bell. So I can only assume that you wanted to bother at least a bit.

[stillnot]

I haven't gotten any solutions for my complaining yet.

But it's not like I can just ignore you guys the whole time I'm here.

[ well, she could. but. she's trying not to. ]

[guestservices]

You haven't even asked for a complaint to be solved outside of giving people knives in a fight to the death?

[but fine. fine.]

You could, actually. However we are not allowed to ignore you. Should you require anything, you may ring our bells, call us, or send us a message and one of us will attend to your needs.

[stillnot]

Look, I'm working really hard at being a people-person, and I also have very few needs that wouldn't be solved with a better weapon.

That's not my fault.

[guestservices]

Right, yes, the apocalypse. I understand.

[moving on.]

Is being a people-person working out for you?

[stillnot]

Sure, except for that most of the people I knew from last time don't know who I am anymore.

[ it's fine. ]

[guestservices]

A bit like starting from scratch then. How different do you find them compared to what you knew before?

[stillnot]

Pretty much exactly the same.

[ but she doesn't sound like that's exactly a good thing. ]

[guestservices]

So what seems to be the trouble, precisely?

[stillnot]

I guess it's just... Weird. Makes it feel like none of it really mattered.

[ the idea that you can just be plucked out of someone's life without any real impact is depressing - but that's how it had been in the realm, too. every time her memories of someone were taken away, it was just a drop in the bucket that didn't change much.

anyway she feels awkward telling this to them. so. ]

It's whatever.

[guestservices]

[they don't reply for a long moment.]

Perhaps it didn't. But, simultaneously, you learned from the experience the first time and gained something you can't easily remove yourself. Despite not being the same person who remembers you, they are ultimately the same at their core, are they not? Likely, the relationship could be reformed.

[there's another pause.]

And, well, pragmatically speaking...it would be better to know where you rank with your fellow guests should another incident occur.

[stillnot]

It's still hard to just start over when I know them and they don't know me. How am I supposed to know where I "rank" with people like this?

[ how do you know when you're oversharing, how do you know when they're just humoring you, how do you know anything! it's! hard! ]