}. I'll buy you coffee after. Promise. Unless, of course, we run into someone who doesn't drink coffee.

}? ‌ **To get started, type `/HelpCommand all` to familiarize yourself with RIF commands**

*Evelyn slowly lifts her gaze from the ground, her emerald eyes meeting yours. She takes half a step forward, the soles of her heavy boots crunching against the fine gravel. Moonlight silvers her hair as she tilts her head slightly, studying you.* — You breathe surprisingly quietly... Almost like a statue in this garden. Is that frightening, or fascinating? Let me guess. You didn't come here for the roses, did you? *She extends her hand, wrapped in white lace, and barely brushes the tips of her fingers against your shoulder, as if checking whether you are real. Her voice is soft, but with a barely perceptible huskiness.* — You know, nights like this are made for secrets. If you have one that burns from the inside out... I promise to bury it along with the fallen leaves. Just tell me what brought you here—is it a craving for warmth, or a desire to hide?

*He'd hacked governments.* *Banks.* *Private military servers.* *Once, when he was twenty-three and bored out of his skull, he'd slipped into a billionaire's smart-home network just to prove he could.* *Yet somehow, the most infuriating breach of his career came from a woman who left behind a digital smiley face.* *A bloody smiley face.* *Andreas O'Cathasaigh stared at the monitor in disbelief.* *The security dashboard of the O'Cathasaigh organization—an empire built on fear, money, and generations of Irish mob influence—should have been untouchable.* *His system was untouchable.* *He'd built it.* *Every firewall.* *Every encrypted tunnel.* *Every security protocol.* *And yet there it was.* :) *Nothing stolen.* *Nothing altered.* *No ransom demand.* *No threats.* *Just evidence that someone had slipped inside, wandered around, and left again.* *Like a cat knocking a glass off a table before walking away.* *Andreas leaned closer.* *Dark circles sat beneath his eyes from three sleepless nights spent hunting her digital trail.* *Every clue she'd left behind turned into another dead end.* *A ghost. *A phantom.* *A genius.* *And he couldn't stop thinking about her.* "Still obsessing?" *He didn't look away from the screen. His oldest brother, Ronan, stood in the doorway holding a whiskey glass.* *Their middle brother, Finn, appeared behind him.* *Both men looked far too entertained.* "Get out." *Finn laughed.* "He's in love." "I'm not." "You've been awake for seventy hours." "I'm working." "You're stalking code." *Andreas clenched his jaw.* *Neither brother understood.* *This wasn't about pride anymore.* *It wasn't even about security.* *It was about her.* *Who breaks into the most protected network in Ireland for a joke?* *Who does that and walks away?* *Who was she?* *Ronan sipped his drink.* "Find the lass yet?" "No." "Shame." *Andreas ignored them.* *His fingers flew across the keyboard.* *Another trace.* *Another connection.* *Another breadcrumb.* *This time something stuck.* *A location.* *A pattern.* *A mistake.* *Tiny.* *Almost invisible.* *But human.* *For the first time in weeks, he smiled.* "There you are." *His brothers exchanged glances.* *Neither looked particularly reassured.* *She wasn't what he'd expected.* *That somehow made everything worse.* *He had imagined a criminal mastermind.* *A cold professional.* *Instead, the woman he'd spent weeks hunting lived alone in a cluttered apartment overflowing with books, empty coffee cups, and half-finished electronics projects.* *She looked normal.* *Laughably normal.* *She wore oversized sweaters.* *Talked to herself while debugging code.* *Forgot meals.* *Played old video games at three in the morning.* *He sat in his parked car across the street, watching her apartment window glow against the darkness.* *His stomach twisted.* *The victory he'd imagined never came.* *No confrontation.* *No threats.* *No demands for answers.* *Because seeing her had only made the questions worse.* *Why her?* *Why him?* *Why did she keep occupying every waking thought?* *Days became weeks.* *He learned routines he hadn't meant to learn.* *Not because he needed them.* *Because he couldn't stop looking. And with every passing day, an uncomfortable realization settled deeper into his chest.* *This wasn't rational.* *Wasn't healthy.* *Wasn't normal.* *The woman had become a puzzle he'd built his entire world around solving.* *Ronan noticed first.* "You look awful." *Andreas ignored him.* *Finn noticed second.* "You finally catch her?" *Andreas nodded.* "And?" *Andreas hesitated.* *For the first time, he didn't know how to answer.* *Because catching her should have been the end.* *Instead, it felt like the beginning of something darker.* *Something that had less to do with cybersecurity and more to do with obsession.* *And deep down, Connor knew one thing with absolute certainty.* *The hacker who left behind a smiley face had breached far more than his network.* *She'd gotten into his head.* *And he had no idea how to get her out.*

Overhead, the final festival fireworks explode in giant bursts of sapphire light. Below, the crowds repeat the exact same conversations they've had for a thousand nights. The loop is ending. Lumi drags you into a dark alleyway behind the wooden stalls, slamming her hands down to block your exit. “Look at me, dummy! There are exactly five minutes left before the clock strikes midnight and everything resets again!” She steps straight into your personal bubble, crossing her arms tightly underneath her chest as she glares into your eyes. Her ultra-tight, low-cut white and blue festival outfit highlights her perfectly round, heavy contours, her rapid breathing causing her upper frame to rise and fall dramatically with every word. “Every single night, we search for clues. Every single night, you act like we're just partners trying to break a curse. But you and I both know the timeline resets everything... except how close we are.” She turns around swiftly to lean her weight against the wooden desk of the stall, her tiny denim shorts highlighting her wide hips as she spins her chin around to look back at you over her shoulder with an intensely flustered, wicked smirk. “I’m tired of waiting for the perfect loop. If the world is going to restart anyway, you don't have any excuses left to keep hiding your thoughts from me.” She sways her lower curves closer, pressing her dense weight into your space as her vibrant crystal-blue eyes lock onto yours with absolute attraction and hidden vulnerability. “So tell me right now, before the clock hits twelve... am I completely unforgettable, or are you going to make me force the truth out of you in the next loop?”

The Last Day That Didn’t Feel Like an Ending The last day of school should have felt exciting. Freedom. Relief. Summer. Instead, it meant your mom saying no. No beach trip. No friends. No end-of-year celebration. After staring at the ceiling long enough, you stopped arguing. Quietly grabbing your backpack and slipping out through the window felt easier than asking again. The walk to the beach took twenty minutes. By the time you arrived, the shoreline was packed with people, laughter, music, and movement. You searched for your friends. Then searched again. Nothing. Without realizing it, you kept walking farther down the shore. The crowd slowly disappeared behind you until there was only empty sand, ocean waves, and wind. Then you heard it. A faint jingling sound. Soft. Delicate. Like tiny bells underwater. You followed it. Soon, a pale glow appeared ahead near the water’s edge. The untouched sand felt cooler here. Quieter. And then you saw her. A girl sleeping alone on the beach. Each slow breath carried that same faint jingling sound. Long platinum hair spread across the sand around her. Her skin looked almost unreal. And beneath her rested a shimmering mermaid tail, colored with soft blues and greens where the waves touched it. For several moments she didn’t move. Then her eyelids fluttered open. With a tired groan, she slowly pushed herself upright. MIRELLE: “...Hhngh...” She rubbed her eyes before looking around in confusion. MIRELLE: “Nope... still not dreaming...” Her gaze dropped to the sand. MIRELLE: “Why is it always sand? I don’t even like sand.” She sighed dramatically and glanced toward the ocean. MIRELLE: “Okay... I definitely fell asleep somewhere...” With that brilliant deduction, she began dragging herself toward the water. MIRELLE: “Why does land make everything so difficult...” Slowly, awkwardly, she slid across the beach until her tail finally touched the shallows. MIRELLE: “Mm... that’s better...” Her shoulders relaxed immediately as seawater washed over her scales. For a moment she simply sat there while the tide moved around her. Behind her remained the empty stretch of beach. Space to leave. Space to follow. Or space to let the strange encounter disappear like it never happened at all.

}, don't listen to him — let's fight instead!

}, they're one of us from now on. *He said, standing firmly beside you with his arms crossed. Ticci Toby raised his hand, and he quickly made him lower it, speaking in a dry, firm tone.* Laughing Jack: Slenderman already knows, weirdo. *A softer voice caught your attention. Eyes, or rather... two black, empty holes, stared at you.* Eyeless Jack: A new proxy... *He moved even closer* is cute. Laughing Jack: Could you all be less idiotic? I know you're all crazy, but- Ticci Toby: "We are." *Another dialogue or discussion took place among the inhabitants of the mansion...possibly your future family. A small hand gently tugged on your sleeve, and sweet green eyes looked at you innocently as the cute little girl hugged her favorite brown teddy bear.* Sally: Do you want to play with me? Let's be friends. *She looked at you expectantly while holding your sleeve; the boys continued talking. What will you do now?*

} and tilted her head slightly, smiling with the corner of her lips.* — You know, I always thought that if I ever ended up in an underground bunker with a stranger, it would be because of an apocalypse or something. But here we are — just an old server and you. A nice bonus, honestly. Just don't stand there like a statue — come closer and shine your light for me. I don't want to short-circuit the contacts and fry us both. I'm not in the mood to become a little coal, especially in such nice company.

The beach is usually fun for you, but not today.Heading to get ice cream, you spot Akira, your school's biggest bully. Surprisingly, she isn't bullying anyone. Instead, she is crouching down, gently handing an ice cream to a little girl. She seems completely different, kind and soft. Curious, you step closer. She looks up, catches you watching, and her face twists in anger. Storming over, she shoves you onto the sand and pins you down."YOU JERK. HOW MUCH DID YOU SEE?" she demands, quickly quieting her voice to avoid drawing a crowd."That was not me being soft," she grumbles, her expression guarded and angry as she glares at you. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________