// Sentimental Adventure - Open The Box // Theme: A box of memories, love, and bittersweet nostalgia character chenda name: Chenda role: Love Interest character farah name: Farah role: Best Friend state memories: 0 heartLevel: 50 chendaClose: false acceptedPast: false beat Intro Rain taps against the attic window. You're surrounded by dust and the quiet ghosts of years gone by. #intro-rain In the corner, half-hidden under a moth-eaten blanket, you find it: a box. #intro-find It's not special-looking. Brown cardboard. A little crushed on one side. Held together with tape that's given up on being sticky. #intro-box But you recognize the handwriting on the side. It says \"Us.\" #intro-us farah: Hey, I thought I'd find you up here. What's that? #farah-find farah: Oh. That box. I remember that box. #farah-remember choice Open the box #opt-open -> OpenMemoryBox Ask Farah what she remembers #opt-ask-farah -> FarahRemembers Put it back -- some boxes should stay closed #opt-putback -> PutItBack beat FarahRemembers farah: That's the box from the summer Chenda moved in next door. #farah-summer farah: You two used to pass notes in it. Back and forth over the fence. #farah-notes farah: You called it \"Box Mail.\" You were twelve. It was adorable and deeply uncool. #farah-boxmail farah: Chenda still has the other box. The one you sent your notes IN. #farah-otherbox heartLevel += 10 -> OpenMemoryBox beat PutItBack You push the box back under the blanket. #putback-push farah: You sure? #farah-sure A moment passes. The rain gets louder. #putback-rain farah: You know, I read somewhere that unopened boxes are just feelings with a lid on them. #farah-feelings farah: I didn't read that anywhere. I just made it up. But it sounded wise, right? #farah-wise You look at the box again. Maybe some feelings deserve to be unlidded. #putback-unlid -> OpenMemoryBox beat OpenMemoryBox You open the box carefully. The flaps resist, then give way with a soft sigh. #open-careful Inside: a mess of trinkets, notes, and small objects that meant everything once. #open-inside memories += 1 farah: Oh wow. It's all still here. #farah-wow choice Pick up the photograph on top #opt-photo -> MemoryPhoto Read the folded note #opt-note -> MemoryNote Look at the small wooden figurine #opt-figurine -> MemoryFigurine Look deeper -- past the objects, into what they meant|||You feel like you could see the invisible threads connecting everything in this box... #opt-truesight if hasEquipped("eyes", "MagicianGlasses") or hasStat("Wisdom", 10) -> TrueSight beat TrueSight markSecretBranch("sentimental_true_sight") You look at the box, but not at the things inside. You look at the spaces between them. #true-look And you see it -- faint, golden threads. Connecting the photo to the note, the note to the figurine, the figurine back to the photo. #true-threads farah: You're doing that thing again. That staring-at-nothing-but-seeing-everything thing. #farah-staring Every thread is a moment. The photo connects to the day you laughed so hard you couldn't breathe. The note connects to the night you stayed up talking until sunrise. #true-moments The figurine connects to the afternoon you realized this wasn't just friendship anymore. #true-figurine farah: What do you see? #farah-see farah: You know what, don't tell me. Some things are better felt than explained. #farah-felt heartLevel += 30 memories += 3 chendaClose = true -> CallChenda beat MemoryPhoto It's a polaroid. Slightly faded. Two teenagers standing in front of a moving truck. #photo-polaroid One is you. The other is Chenda, holding up a cardboard box and grinning like it's a trophy. #photo-chenda The day Chenda moved in. The day everything started. #photo-day farah: You two became friends because Chenda's parents needed help carrying boxes. #farah-carrying farah: Literally. Your entire relationship started because of cardboard boxes. #farah-cardboard farah: If that's not fate, I don't know what is. #farah-fate heartLevel += 15 memories += 1 -> MemoryNote beat MemoryNote You unfold the note. The paper is soft from years of being folded and unfolded. #note-unfold It reads, in Chenda's handwriting: \"Thanks for helping with the boxes yesterday. You're weird, but the good kind of weird. Box Mail is the best invention ever. - C\" #note-reads heartLevel += 20 farah: The \"good kind of weird.\" That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about you. #farah-weird farah: And she wasn't wrong. About either part. #farah-notWrong memories += 1 choice Keep reading through the box #opt-keep-reading -> MemoryFigurine Call Chenda #opt-call chendaClose = true -> CallChenda beat MemoryFigurine At the bottom of the box: a small wooden figurine. A box. Carved from a popsicle stick. #figurine-bottom You remember making it in shop class. You gave it to Chenda as a joke. #figurine-joke \"A box for someone who changed my life with a box.\" You'd written it on a gift tag. #figurine-tag farah: You were so smooth. Like sandpaper, but smoother. #farah-smooth farah: I think Chenda kept the gift tag too. I saw it on the fridge last week. #farah-fridge heartLevel += 20 memories += 1 choice Call Chenda now #opt-call-now chendaClose = true -> CallChenda Sit with the memories a while longer #opt-sit -> SitWithMemories beat SitWithMemories You sit on the attic floor, the box in your lap, rain on the window. #sit-floor farah: You know what the best thing about boxes is? #farah-best farah: They keep things safe. Even when you forget about them. Even when years pass. #farah-safe farah: The stuff inside doesn't change. It just waits for you to come back. #farah-waits heartLevel += 10 You realize she's not just talking about boxes. #sit-realize -> CallChenda beat CallChenda You pick up your phone. Chenda's number is still there. Of course it is. #call-phone It rings three times. Then: #call-rings chenda: Hello? Oh! Hey! I was just... you're not going to believe this. #chenda-hello chenda: I'm in MY attic. Looking at MY box. The one with your notes in it. #chenda-attic heartLevel += 20 farah: I'm going to go make tea and pretend this isn't making me emotional. #farah-tea choice Tell Chenda you found the box too #opt-tell -> SharedMoment Ask if Chenda still has the wooden figurine #opt-figurine-ask -> AskFigurine Invite Chenda over #opt-invite chendaClose = true -> InviteOver beat AskFigurine chenda: The little wooden box you made? Of course I still have it. #chenda-figurine chenda: It's on my desk. Right next to my computer. I see it every day. #chenda-desk chenda: I never told you that. That seems like the kind of thing I should have told you. #chenda-shouldve heartLevel += 15 -> SharedMoment beat InviteOver chenda: I'll be there in twenty minutes. Keep the box open. I want to see everything. #chenda-coming chenda: And don't eat the candy at the bottom. I know there's candy. Old candy, but still. #chenda-candy farah: There IS candy at the bottom. It's been there for ten years. I would not eat it. #farah-candy heartLevel += 10 -> SharedMoment beat SharedMoment chenda: You know, I was thinking about the day we met. #chenda-thinking chenda: My parents were yelling about which box went where. I was miserable. New town, no friends. #chenda-miserable chenda: And then you showed up. This random kid, offering to carry boxes. #chenda-random chenda: You dropped the first one. It had all my books in it. They went everywhere. #chenda-dropped chenda: And you looked so mortified that I started laughing. And then you laughed. #chenda-laughed chenda: And I thought: okay. Maybe this place won't be so bad. #chenda-okay heartLevel += 25 memories += 1 choice Say \"I still can't carry boxes properly\" #opt-still-cant -> StillCant Say \"That was the best box I ever dropped\" #opt-best-drop -> BestDrop beat StillCant chenda: I know. I've seen you try. It's a miracle you function as an adult. #chenda-function chenda: But you always show up. Even when you'll definitely drop the box. #chenda-showup chenda: That's the thing about you. You show up. #chenda-always acceptedPast = true -> Ending beat BestDrop chenda: Only you would romanticize dropping someone's belongings on the ground. #chenda-romanticize chenda: But yeah. It was a pretty good drop. A+ dropping. #chenda-aplus chenda: Every time I see a cardboard box now, I think of you. Which is inconvenient. #chenda-inconvenient chenda: Boxes are EVERYWHERE. I can't go to the post office without getting nostalgic. #chenda-postoffice acceptedPast = true -> Ending beat Ending The rain slows to a drizzle. The attic feels warmer than it did an hour ago. #ending-rain You look at the box. Just a box. Cardboard, tape, scribbled handwriting. #ending-look But it held everything that mattered. It kept it safe while you were busy forgetting. #ending-held if chendaClose chenda: Hey. Let's not wait another ten years before we open a box together. #chenda-together chenda: Deal? #chenda-deal heartLevel += 20 farah: You two are disgustingly sweet. I mean that as a compliment. Mostly. #farah-sweet farah: Memories found today: $memories. Heart level: $heartLevel. Tissues used by Farah: she's not saying. #farah-final if acceptedPast You close the box gently. Not to seal it away again, but because the memories are safe now. #ending-close They're not just in the box anymore. They're back where they belong. #ending-belong farah: For what it's worth, I'm glad you opened it. Some boxes really are worth opening. #farah-worth farah: Even the scary ones. Especially the scary ones. #farah-especially -> .