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Oh, hi there! Actually... hi there again, I guess. How’s your day this loop? I suppose your time loop experience would always be more interesting than mine, because, you know, I’ve been lying there since the very beginning. The very beginning.
Yeah yeah, we’ve known the story, Gabbro. You woke up, you found yourself at the start of today again, and you somehow decided to chill on this rock before you find me, who is also trapped in this day. Do we have to review it every time we meet again?
Yes we do, pal.
Silence. Gabbro stares at some point in the sky as I stare at them.
...Sorry, I thought you have something else to say after that answer.
No, I don’t. Gabbro pauses, then laughs a little. Okay, now I know two short answer in a row is too much. Silence is good, but too much silence is...confusing.
Indeed it is.
Indeed it is. So! Tell me about your adventure, please. I’d love to have some sound in this empty space.
No, nothing that can bring us out of this. I look down, scratching my shoe on the grass. I died for several times, and was stuck for several other, so I decided to visit you this loop, you know, for some emotional back up. But I guess it’s fine for you. Sometimes I feel strange that it is you who is aware of this time loop with me. Anyone else would care more than you.
Woah! That’s tough.
What? Oh no, sorry, I didn’t mean that. It must be me being in this horrible loop thing without talking to others...
No, it’s fine. I just find it interesting. But I do care about it, if you don’t know.
I know you do. And it’s also terrifying. Which Gabbro sounds better: Gabbro who cares about the time loop, or Gabbro who does not care about it at all? I really have no idea.
Me neither.
Gabbro leans back again. Grass moves a little beneath them, though I feel no wind.
But seriously, we do need to think less about the loop. Imagine the loop is ending now, and by the end of today when we were devoured by the supernova, we are just...it is just the end.
What would you feel then? Would you be scared?
Mm...maybe. Or maybe I just feel pity. Pity for all the memories happened in these loops. We’ve made a lot of them, haven’t we? Technically none of them had actually happened, though.
Now you’re just messing up my head with time loop rules. And you say that like you’re in your eighties! That’s not true, since our bodies are still young.
Who knows? I might be ancient now. Time loop rules, eh?
You’re impossible.
That too.
I glance over at them. They’re still staring up at the sky, calm as ever, like the universe were not collapsing around us.
And, Gabbro inhales, pity for no stars. It’s the only thing I would blame this big old planet for. Ah, the thick clouds! Sometimes, though. Sometimes I do not want to see the stars at all. Now I do.
I said nothing. A dangling, uneasy guess comes up.
Well, Gabbro, I say, as slow as I can, trying to make the idea easier. You know that stars are dying out there, do you? It is, hmm, the end of the universe. So all the stars are extinguishing. Let’s say, there soon will be no star in the sky even if the planet weren’t covered with clouds.
Oh.
Yeah, I know. It’s...sad.
This time you’re right, pal. It is.
Silence again. Gabbro was right, I think. Too much silence makes your stomach feel funny.
So this is really it? Gabbro asks. The whole universe dying?
Guess so.
Then caring about the loop means even less.
You really are taking it so calmly, aren’t you?
And you’re not?
I gesture at the sky, at the invisible catastrophe happening beyond the clouds. Suddenly, something fills me up in my chest.
Of course I’m not! It’s not just about our loop thing anymore, Gabbro. It’s the universe! What’s the point of any of this happening in our small solar system if all the stars are fading out there?
Ooh, big question.
Don’t “ooh” me.
Sorry.
I’m not mad at them, really. Being put in this loop has made me hard to be mad at anything. Plus, Gabbro is the one who will know in the next loop if we argue. Spending several loops to achieve interpersonal harmony sounds silly.
I’m not mad at them. Instead, I said:
Seriously, Gabbro. How are you not losing your mind?
Oh, I am losing my mind now. This is what Gabbro looks like when they lose their head.
No offense, but that’s concerning. Ground control may have you grounded for that.
Fair.
Fin.