CITRINE

[dramatispersonae]

You can see the other teams, but there is an invisible barrier preventing you from hearing them. You can assume that they can't hear you, either. There is a hefty serving of sweet wine and liquor, should you choose it. With a loaf of bread that you can slice. Nimue is in the center of the formation of teams, and when she speaks, you can hear her loud and clear.

"Storytelling has been a tradition of the knights of Camelot for some time. They would tell of the awesome feats of their king, and of their fellow knights... and... they were also prone to exaggeration in some cases."

There appears a small set of cards next to the liquor. You can read them, or you can implicitly understand them if you can't read.

"What feats have the heroes of Aather accomplished, I wonder? And what... exaggerations they may take? Before you, you will find prompts for your tales. You will write one for yourselves, for a set of knights, and for another team. I will select the most inspiring, as will your peers."

She tilts her head. "Ah, perhaps it is bad to encourage grandstanding..."

But before you can ask her, she vanishes.

Comments

YOUR TALES...

[dramatispersonae]

PROMPTS: FOR YOUR TEAM

[dramatispersonae]

Constant clumsiness, an important prophecy.

PROMPTS: FOR YOUR KNIGHTS

[dramatispersonae]

Shion and Karkat and their ultimate choice.

PROMPTS: FOR ANOTHER TEAM

[dramatispersonae]

Heliodor, and the day they couldn't stop shouting.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

[dramatispersonae]

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[chibisama]

Aha, this looks like fun!

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[inherited]

Have you met anyone on Heliodor yet?

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[chibisama]

Nope. Might have to lean on you for characterization hints.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[inherited]

Mostly I know them to be really brave.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[ferrocious]

I think I have.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[inherited]

More storytelling, huh?

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[heroic_homemaker]

I don't know who these people are.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[chibisama]

Me neither. So I guess we'll have to be extra creative. Or bother Riku.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[inherited]

Karkat's a troll. I don't know much about him because he and one of our former teammates is from the same place, but I wish Percy was here.

I don't know who the other guy is.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[mythlology]

[ flops into the room.......... ]

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[heroic_homemaker]

Percy, hey.

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[mythlology]

Hey, you made it to a game! -- what are we doing?

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[ferrocious]

Oh. What's up?

Re: GENERAL DISCUSSION

[mythlology]

Not much. Sorry I'm late.

YOUR TEAM'S STORY...

[dramatispersonae]

Re: YOUR TEAM'S STORY...

[mythlology]

No one wants to be the star of a prophecy.

They can mean a million things, make no sense, and most of the time they just freak you the heck out. If you’ve never heard one before, consider yourself lucky. Put in some earplugs, walk away, have a nice snack at the glass tree. But if you think you’re part of a prophecy, or know you’re in one for sure, grab a paper sandwich and pull up your chair. We’re about to show that even the scariest prophecy doesn’t have to be as scary as you think.

See, I was down at the beach yesterday. That part’s normal. The water helps clear my head, and it’s a good place to keep track of stuff going down at the Ring. What’s not normal is that just before I hit the ocean, Beauty popped up.

She looked even more upset than usual, which is saying something. “I’ve been looking for you!” she said, seriously, and her eyes were all red and sad.

“Whoa,” I said. “Why?”

“For some reason, I can tell the future now, and it’s horrible,” she told me, and then her eyes lit up green and green smoke came out because now she could tell the future and that’s how it looks, Melon, stop hitting me. Anyway, she said:

“Roses are red, violets are blue,
prophecies rhyme and this one does too.
Don’t let yourself get hit by a ball
’Cause into darkness you will fall.”

Just then, Melon hit me in the head with a ball. No, not really, she doesn’t have a ball right now, and I got out of the way so she can’t hit me. But in the story, Melon hit me in the head with a ball. The prophecy was coming true, and there was nothing I could do about it. I turned back to Beauty, but she was already gone.

Melon yelled, “Watch where you’re—”

Wait, no, she doesn’t say that.

“Get out of the way!” Melon yelled, coming for her ball.

Glumly, I told her what Beauty had said as I gave her ball back.

“That’s stupid,” she said when I finished. “I bet she can’t really tell the future.”

“No, prophecies are important,” I said, because most of the time they totally are. I went to leave and ask Riku for advice about falling into darkness, because he’s Citrine’s resident darkness expert. But I was so wrapped up in what Beauty had said that I didn’t watch where I was going, and as I got ready to walk back, I tripped and faceplanted on the beach.

“Wow you’re clumsy,” said Melon.

So I went and found Riku at the tree and told him what happened. He took it really seriously, which was good. But he didn’t see why Beauty could tell the future either, which was bad. I tried explaining how important prophecies are, but I was so caught up in explaining it that I made some kind of crazy gestures and hit myself on the tree.

“You need to be careful,” Riku said, worried about me. “Not just about the darkness.”

Okay, that wasn’t bad advice. I headed back to the Hall of Doors. Sixes was hanging out there, doing cool person stuff. “You have a bruise on your arm,” he said, because I did. “And on your face.” Which I also did.

“That’s not important,” I said, shaking my head. “What’s important is that I’m going to fall into darkness.”

He was upset because he’s a good dude and we talked about the things that had happened.

“You’re really stressed,” he said. “You should go inside and take a nap!”

“I can’t,” I said miserably. “I need to stock up on darkness-fighting gear and think about how to get out of this prophecy.”

“If you say so,” he frowned. “This is really bad but you’re really caught up in it and you need to stop focusing on it way super much.”

But I couldn’t, because I knew I needed to get some good gear together and figure out a plan. While I was thinking hard about that plan, I walked right into the mahogany door.

“Ow,” Sixes said sympathetically.

Finally, I made it into Citrine. Fire was in the kitchen. I told him my story blah blah blah you know how it goes by now. “I don’t know how to stop the darkness,” he said seriously, “but I think I know how you can stop running into stuff. You seem very distrac—”

“That’s not important now,” I said, bounding out of the kitchen to the bedroom where I stored most of my fighting gear. “I’ve got to—”

That’s when the stairs shifted, and because I wasn’t paying attention, I fell down the steps into the dark basement.

“Told you,” said Beauty, who could also appear in cabins in this story.

So it turns out horrible-sounding prophecies make you worried which makes you do dumb stuff like get distracted and not pay attention. Don’t get obsessed with them, and they don’t have to be as bad as they sound.

That’s what I have to tell myself sometimes, anyway.

Oh, wait, also? I think I’d tell stories a lot better if I had more time.

YOUR KNIGHT'S STORY...

[dramatispersonae]

Re: YOUR KNIGHT'S STORY...

[chibisama]

[this tale is performed with GREAT DRAMATIC INTENSITY :U]

So one day long ago, two of our brave knights, Dandelion and Karkat, were taking a long trip between planets, in deep space. They had a little spaceship, just the two of them, and it seemed like it'd be an uneventful trip--until a stray comet smashed through their engines, knocked out the life support, and plunged the ship into darkness. They were able to get a UMN signal on line just long enough to send out an SOS. A rescue ship would be there in five hours.

Assuming either of them was still alive in five hours.

They were adrift, deep in the void. Getting colder and colder, without power to heat the ship. Slowly suffocating, without power to restore the air they were breathing. Most of their cargo had been lost. They found one pressure suit, with enough air in it to keep one of them alive until the rescue ship came--but just one. Only one of them could survive, but who?

Neither of them has ever told me just how scared they were, back then. Or just how bad the arguments got. Nobody wants to die, but nobody wants to live thinking they've got their friend's blood on their hands. Not a choice anybody should ever have to make. Dandelion was kind, and wanted to save Karkat. Karkat didn't want any such nonsense, and said that arguing was a waste of air. But he must've been wasting a bit of air himself, because he kicked over a cargo crate in frustration--and scattered tools and bits of pressure hosing across the floor.

And right then, right in that moment, he realized that he wasn't going to let either of them die in that hellhole.

It took both of them together, to rig it so that they could both breathe air from the suit. It was hair-raising--one mistake, and they'd blow any chance that either of them had to survive. Dandelion's steady hands saved the day more than once. They huddled together for warmth, breathed shallow, and waited for what felt like years. Each of them says the other passed out before the rescue ship got there--but me, I'd say they both clung to consciousness. Two guys stubborn enough to live against all odds weren't just going to lie down and pass out, now were they?

And that, my friends, is the tale of how Dandelion and Karkat faced the ultimate choice--and took the winning option.

ANOTHER TEAM'S STORY...

[dramatispersonae]

Heliodor and the Trickster

[inherited]

Pride was always a virtue seen among the different members of Heliodor. Whether they were strange, loud, quiet, or brave, they never thought twice about wearing their pride on their sleeves.

Now, they were not proud in the way many others are proud. Yeah, they could be arrogant. But that didn’t mean that they were always arrogant. But if things got tough, they weren’t exactly gonna let things get them down. Why would they? If it was battle or if they were racing, they wouldn’t let anyone think differently of them. Things weren’t always good, but they knew they had to shoulder the difficulties. That was a smart thing to do.

So, that’s where their story begins. After all, it must take a lot to make them stop that, right?

*

The trickster wasn’t a very good person. With light green skin and hair hid under a hood, she knew that people wouldn’t trust her from very far away. So she had to become someone else. For days upon days, the Heliodor group had been trouble for her. See, she wasn’t only a trickster. She was a persona, too. And unlike the others, she was resistant to change. No matter who tried to get to know her, she didn’t care. Yeah, it was pretty dumb. But she liked chaos. Things being out of order.

But her greatest foe was Heliodor. Not only did they withstand her difficult games with ease and grace, they never gave in to their taunts. They could see clearly what she was. Even sweet words and offerings couldn’t change that.

Until one day, it did.

The trickster could change her form, and over a series of three days, she impersonated each member of Heliodor. She chided them and told them how the others hated them. She planted seeds of doubt so that they would fester. She acted consoling and understanding, but ensured that they all believed that the others wanted them dead. She wanted anything that could come from this. But most importantly, she wanted to wear them down and make them hate each other.

How can someone look proud in the face of that?

Ah, but Heliodor was tricky, too.

On the fourth day, Heliodor didn’t sleep very much. They went to cook for each other, but they were snapping ... and snapping ... until one of the things slipped out.

A fight erupted immediately. They were shouting all “how dare you” and “I’ll kill you first” and “I wish you were on another team.” The things that I’m not mentioning were a lot worse than that.

Until one of them finally said, tired, “Why don’t we just ask the personae to disband the team?”

The words shocked their systems and they looked at one another, voices raw from the anger. A few of them looked weak because they had never fought so fiercely with someone before, because it turned out hating someone you love is harder than someone you hate. “Do we want that?” another one, the tall one, asked.

“It seems that it might be for the best,” the first one suggested with a sigh. She looked tired.

The girl with blue hair shook her head. “We’ve faced everything together, but I was really surprised to find out you all hated me.” And then that’s when their eyes widened in sudden realization.

“The trickster.”

They all tumbled out of Heliodor quickly and went after the persona who looked confused. “Why oh why are you here, Heliodor?” she asked. “Did you decide that you ... possibly couldn’t stand one another? After all, all of Aather heard that fight.”

“No,” the tall Heliodor responded. “We’re friends and when you’re friends with someone, you will eventually see where their true heart lies—you made us doubt each other’s hearts, which we will have to work to repair, but your jealousy is something that we can’t overlook. Do you even care if you save Aather? Or are you just afraid of change?”

The trickster raised her eyebrows. “Why would I be afraid?”

“Because,” the blue-haired Heliodor responded, “you can’t leave others alone who are stronger than you.”

“Stop your bragging.”

“No, we’re stronger because we have each other,” they said in unison.

The words made the persona panic and she fled.

Over time, though, from that day, even she started to change. Her tricks started turning more jovial, more game-like, but she never could find it in her to admit that she admired Heliodor. But some fears are hard to overcome.