Hypnovember #ProjectCognizant

Seven Days Later. 


Nymfi and Rockjaw looked straight ahead as they went up the long elevator of the pendulum. The quiet hum of cables pulling them along did nothing to bridge the gulf of awkward silence between them. Seven days of partying left the two of them looking like a pair of groupies after a bender. 

And then at some point, the music stopped. The two of them received a message from Darkwitt to come to the pendulum, to which they complied. 

As they rode the monorail, they observed the city was trashed. Upturned cars, graffiti, and plenty of unconscious people nursing headaches and drinking remedies to overcome the hangover. 

It was a hell of a party. So why did it stop?

"Sooooo~." Nymfi bounced from her heels to toe, engaging in small talk the way a teen would barely hold back a levee of gossip too juicy to leave alone. 

"'ave a fun week, Mr. Rockjaw?"

"....I don't want to talk about it." 

"I mean had a banger time. parties and sex all week. It was a mite tantric, I admit."

Rockjaw folded his arms and gave a stern grunt. his pants had claw marks along the front, and the zipper seemed broken. her lips curled like a smug cat. 

"...You look like yeh got a bit of action yerself. Bet uhh... ah bet the cherry's popped then?" 

"SHUT-" he brandished a finger as of to scold a child, and the elevator door opened before he had a chance to finish what he was about to say. 

The Office was.. not what they expected of Darkwitt. Zebra print carpet, pinball machines, a conversation pit with a TV showing a documentary about Queen. A desk with gold guitar embossing overlays.  And hundreds of TV screens pointed towards a large zebra print office chair behind the impressive desk. Bouncing a little rhythmically. Did Kai get to Darkwitt too? 


"....Mr. Darkwitt?" Rockjaw cleared his throat. Nymfi held up her wand defensively. The chair swiveled around and a pair of boots SLAMMED onto the desk as Kai Tyde gave a casual wave, a cigar in one hand. 

"Yooooo! Check it out! How do you like the place!? We got booze, we got bitches! we got dudes and tunes! Isn't this the shit?!"  

The two Masterminds looked at each other, utterly speechless. 

Kai Tyde was not dressed up in his usual rocker attire. HE still had his fingerless gloves and his purple pants tucked into his steel toed boots, but Now he had a full sleeved leather jacket buttoned together, with a purple tie around his neck, like he was trying to emulate Darkwitt's motif but not quite pulling it off. His hair was a little more professionally slicked back, which still had much of its trademark poofy volume but he tucked the back of his hair into his jacket so it had a cleaner look.

"I don't understand. Where's Darkwitt?" Captain Rockjaw demanded. 

"Dunno. Twisted up my brain like a pretzel, then he left. Haven't seen him since." 

"Wait. You won and he ended up trancin' you. Oh that's fekkin' typical." Nymfi stamped her foot, a tiny, utterly impotent gesture.  

"I knew that was the plan. Order is what this was all about. Mr. Darkwitt would have my unceasing loyalty either way. I'd still have my utopia." Rockjaw tightened his posture and huffed.

"Yeah, I was brain scrambled at first. Which, shit was a good feeling and gave me an idea on how my music gets people goin'. But uh... the honeymoon wore off and... Now I got all o' Cognizant in my hands and uh..."

His confident smarm finally dropped. 

"I been thinking about shit. The party is great and all. But goddamn, even the people who weren't my punks were diggin' this Simulation." 

"Simulation?? We're in a program?"  Nymfi's jaw dropped. 

"Yeah. Kind of weird how easy people were transforming and places kept shifting easily all the time." Kai scratched the back of his head. 

"Makes sense. would have been expensive and impractical if this island that didn't exist on any map and had no way of contacting the outside world. " Rockjaw mused. 

"Oh so yer okay with the matrix Sim with yer tin tiger soldiers, eh?" Nymfi tapped Rockjaw's hip with an accusatory tailbump.

"It was a war game like any other, I regret nothing. If anything, I'm a little relieved my failure didn't have nearly as far sweeping a consequence."

"Well about that." Kai cleared his throat. 

"Darkbit seemed to be under the impression I'd keep this party goin' forever even after all this wore off. Hell I was thinkin' that be the tits! But this place is a mess. upturned cars, passed out dudes in the streets. If I left it like this, It'd make me look like a shitty leader, you know?" Kai Tyde stood from his chair and walked to the front of the desk. folding his arms and leaning against it the same way Darkwitt did. 

"He said this place was to harness willpower into a form of energy. that when people take control of others, it made some kind of power source. I don't fully get it. But what matters is I got a whole island to do whatever I want with."

"So pull the plug." Nymfi said.

"Huh?" Kai looked down at her.

"Pull the plug. If it's not real, ye can just flip im the bird and turn it all off, yeh?" 

"I don't want to. Yeah, it's a Sim. but man, what a SIM! party for days, warp the world around us. I got to be a ROCK GOD here."

"and all it requires is we all stay trapped here." Rockjaw nodded sagely. 

"Actually." Kai Tyde flicked his finger, and a door appeared to the right of them. 

"You can go if you want. anyone can jump in and jump out. Hell first thing I did once my head was on straight was pop out for a little while. But before you go. I wanna ask you something." 

The two masterminds considered him thoughtfully. 

"....I need help. I got an army of punk bros with barely two braincells to put together, and I don't know how to...be a good leader outside of jammin' out. I'm not the Man. I'm not gonna keep anyone here if they don't fuckin' want it. I'd be as bad as the assholes that gave me this." Kai pointed to the implant scar on his neck. 

"You can do what you like. and we can treat this place like a paradise for hypnofolk to come and go and get their rocks off. Dark gets his energy, we get a party that never ends!"

"I don't suppose Dr. Bright has any interest in this." Rockjaw suggested. Kai put his hands on his hips and hummed dispassionately. 

"I dunno. I haven't seen her. Computers say she's not on the system ever since Zeitgeistalt  fell into the party. She might be here, she might not be. I've no fuckin idea. But just because you guys were my rivals didn't mean I didn't respect the hell out of you." Kai flashed his teeth, a kind grin instead of the hungry one he was accustomed to giving. 

"Don't act like you didn't have a good time. I'll even let you get free reign over the shit you want. Nymfi, you can still get your palace and play queen. And Rockjaw, you can still run the police force and practice your drills and skirmishes. Provided you're okay with like... safewords and shit. We're all playing a video game technically."

Nymfi had taken a few steps to the doorway, but after hearing the spin about the queen, she gave a little smirk. 

"You're okay with us not partyin' forever?" She flit her tail twice. 

Kai Tyde gave an easy shrug. 

"It's not a party if it isn't special, right?" 

"A sensible notion. Sir." Rockjaw slid to attention, arms behind his back and gave a respectful nod. 

Nymfi looked at the big panther. 

"I didn't think you'd be okay with this." she remarked. 

"Thirty days ago, I would not have been. But Kai Tyde's shown me he's a brilliant tactician, a worthy opponent, and a leader willing to admit his shortcomings. If that's not worth following, I would not be either."  

"Simp." Kai Tyde smirked. Rockjaw averted his gaze and blushed ever so slightly. 

"So. You in Nymfi?" Kai wrapped an arm around the panther and shook him in solidarity.

Nymfi tapped her chin.

"Fine. But I get the ziggurat."

Welcome to Cognizant, Under New Management. You are free to come and go as you like. Please be sure to sign all consent waivers when you enter, and please flag your safewords to ensure everyone has a good time. 

It's not a party if you're bummed after all.

_________________________________________________________


I needed to know who would have won before I could write this. I initially had thought that this whole series would be a one and done project, closing everything out once completed. but something really strange happened over the month.

People got really attached. They argued, they discussed passionately, they picked apart every clue I had set out for them and still held on. 

They formed a community far beyond anything I could have imagined. It was genuinely humbling. And rather sobering how careful I needed to be through this whole journey.

So I now present to you this Epilogue: Kai Tyde wants the party to continue, on his terms.

Dr. Bright may be out there somewhere, maybe she's in Cognizant, who can say? But Nymfi and Rockjaw are here to help the big rocker thug to make sure Cognizant stays what it was originally intended to be: a Haven for those who want to scramble brains and have their brains scrambled.

But all in all, Cognizant is here to stay. 

Just remember to Remain Cognizant.

Artwork is by ShadoW01f
THE COGNIZANT SERVER


Artwork commemorating this Epilogue coming soon.