✿ PERIDOT

[dramatispersonae]

You find yourself in a musty rectangular room floored with tatami. The room is not large, but luckily fits your team without seeming too claustrophobic. It seems to have been set up as a sort of study. There is a low desk against one wall, covered in stacks of paper cards and writing utensils. Near the desk are, of course, cushions for everyone to sit on. A circular latticed window is set into the wall perpendicular to the desk. Bright moonlight filters through, enough to provide illumination for your task. If you look through the window, you can just barely make out the shapes of a shadowy garden beyond and below… you must be at least on the second floor.

The other end of the room is dominated by a large apothecary's chest. There are many, many drawers, but none of them open save for the fourteen in the middle that have been painted with team colors. A hand-lettered sign has been placed on top of the chest: "Please turn in your stories here."

Comments

Round One

[dramatispersonae]

(Game instructions are here!)

Please discuss these answers with your team and submit using the textarea. You can choose the same team more than once in the team selection. Answers are due at 5PST

Where does your character live?
What is your character's backstory?
What do they do every day?
How does this make them feel?
What are three things that would make their life worse?
What are three things that would make their life better?

Choose 1-3 teams whose lives you would like to improve.
Choose 1 team that you think has a good idea of how to make someone miserable.
Choose 1 team to take some of their sadness on yourselves.

[your team]'s character lives [____] When they were a child, they [____]. Now that they are older, every day, they [____]. This makes them feel [____]. Three things that would make their life worse: <li> <li> <li> Three things that would make their life better: <li> <li> <li> <b>Team Selections:</b> Improve their lives (1-3): Good at making someone miserable (1): Take their sadness (1):

Discussion

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Discussion

[fragmentedimago]

So, let's pick the most miserable place for someone to live.

Re: Discussion

[fourleafwords]

Some kind of postapocalyptic world, maybe?

Re: Discussion

[crueltobekind]

A wet, dark cave.

Re: Discussion

[dommage]

Somewhere that is pretty lonely?

Submission

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Submission

[fragmentedimago]

So:

Peridot's character lives in a lonely, wet and dark cave, the only home they've been able to find in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world. When they were a child, they were present when the world was attacked by darkness. When the darkness started to come, they tried to rally their friends to get revenge, but the friends didn't trust them and exiled them. They fled the oncoming darkness into a cave, where the Shadow Moss shrouded them and made the darkness pass them by. But they can't risk leaving the cave, and don't have anyone to return for anyway except their brother. Now that they are older, every day, they collect cave bugs and water to eat, since they'd starve to death without this, but they can't even make a fire to keep warm. They feel more and more hopeless every day and try to stave it off by singing to themselves, but the song only reminds them of what they once had, and makes them feel more lonely.

Three things that would make their life worse:

The darkness could pretend to be their brother.

They could get sick and lose their voice.

They could get taken by the darkness.

Three things that would make their life better:

Their brother would manage to come find them.

Someone could come and they could trust them.

They could destroy the darkness.

Team Selections:
Improve their lives (1-3): Tiger's Eye, Citrine, Emerald
Good at making someone miserable (1): Kunzite
Take their sadness (1): Coral

Round Two

[dramatispersonae]

Please discuss these answers with your team and submit using the textarea. You can choose the same team more than once in the team selection. [Answers are due at 6PM PST]

What is the worst feeling in the world?
What is the best feeling to have?
What is the worst thing to lose?
What is the best thing to find?

Choose 1-2 teams whose life you would like to improve.
Choose 1 team that you think has a good idea of how to make someone miserable.
Choose 1 team to take some of their sadness on yourselves.
Choose 1 team and come up with a creative way to terrorize them with kindness.

<b>Worst feeling:</b> <b>Best feeling:</b> <b>Worst thing to lose:</b> <b>Best thing to find:</b> <b>Team Selections:</b> Improve their life (2): Good at making someone miserable (1): Take their sadness (1): Creative happiness (1): . . . what do you want to do to them?:

Discussion

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Discussion

[fragmentedimago]

The worst feeling is betrayal and the best feeling is love... in my opinion.

Submission

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Submission

[fragmentedimago]

Worst feeling: Betrayal
Best feeling: Love
Worst thing to lose: A loved one
Best thing to find: A chance from someone you love ♥

Team Selections:
Improve their life: Coral and Citrine
Good at making someone miserable (1): Tiger's eye
Take their sadness (1): Coral
Creative happiness (1): Citrine!
. . . what do you want to do to them?: A tall and handsome stranger falls in love with their character and tries to help them out and share their burdens ♥

Round Three

[dramatispersonae]

Peridot's character lives in a lonely, wet and dark cave, the only home they've been able to find in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world. When they were a child, they were present when the world was attacked by darkness. When the darkness started to come, they tried to rally their friends to get revenge, but the friends didn't trust them and exiled them. They fled the oncoming darkness into a cave, where the Shadow Moss shrouded them and made the darkness pass them by. But they can't risk leaving the cave, and don't have anyone to return for anyway except their brother. Now that they are older, every day, they collect cave bugs and water to eat, since they'd starve to death without this, but they can't even make a fire to keep warm. They feel more and more hopeless every day and try to stave it off by singing to themselves, but the song only reminds them of what they once had, and makes them feel more lonely.

One day, things change quite suddenly . . .! Write a paragraph (or more) of their story to include all of the following elements:

Freedom

Freedom to act

They could lose their hair so instead of having a bad hair day, they'd have a no hair day

Making up bad stories

Love

They could get sick and lose their voice.

They could get taken by the darkness.

You MUST use all of these suggestions, and you cannot ADD any additional events (though you can be creative with how you use them).

The teams that played against you in Round 1 were Coral, Jasper, Heliodor, Kunzite.

Discussion

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Discussion

[chaoticrights]

No hair day...

Re: Discussion

[fragmentedimago]

Okay, so how do we arrange this to make it the saddest, worst story we can imagine?

Submission

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Submission

[chaoticrights]

Peridot's character lives in a lonely, wet and dark cave, the only home they've been able to find in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world. When they were a child, they were present when the world was attacked by darkness. When the darkness started to come, they tried to rally their friends to get revenge, but the friends didn't trust them and exiled them. They fled the oncoming darkness into a cave, where the Shadow Moss shrouded them and made the darkness pass them by. But they can't risk leaving the cave, and don't have anyone to return for anyway except their brother. Now that they are older, every day, they collect cave bugs and water to eat, since they'd starve to death without this, but they can't even make a fire to keep warm. They feel more and more hopeless every day and try to stave it off by singing to themselves, but the song only reminds them of what they once had, and makes them feel more lonely.

One day, things change quite suddenly . . .! With almost little to do, the darkness moves on from the cave, almost as if it is taunting our dear character. With the freedom to go outside, to act, our character is filled with the hope of finding other survivors, of finding their long lost brother.

Still, facing the outside world is scary after years of living in a cave, and as the character traveled, they moved on from singing to telling stories to themselves-- though perhaps not the best stories. In fact, they were rather bad, both in subject and in telling. But they were a coping mechanism, a way to make everything seem better by comparison while traveling alone in a wasteland, a way to take their mind off a painful past and present. But all they're doing is deluding themselves.

It seems it is only by chance that our character is over-heard one day, by a survivor just as equally lost and scared. Unable to help themselves, the survivor approaches our character, enraptured and feeling pitiful for the sad state they are both in. The chemistry is instant, both lonely souls. And despite the initial shyness, there is something familiar about one another, something about the human contact, the chance for love that makes everything seem brighter and better. It's as if life is worth living after all. That the bad stories become just that—bad stories, no longer a way to cope, but a way to communicate and confide and entertain.

But then, tragedy occurs, because that small glimmer of hope, that things might not be so bad after all, gets crushed so thoroughly when one day our hero gets sick and loses their voice. No longer able to communicate, their love grows resentful and tired of having such a burden placed upon them in already such a harsh world. And if that wasn't bad enough, our hero is so sick they start losing their hair too in a final indignity.

Completely in despair, their love losing even more interest now they can't even appeal physically, the long thought gone the darkness seems to enclose more and more onto our hero... and takes the shape of someone so familiar, someone so adored, our hero is shocked he never saw it before.

"I hate you, brother." Murmurs our hero's lover, the supposed lone survivor, as our character finally stops struggling—the darkness getting what it wants, after so long waiting for out hero to leave their cave. The last human.

Final Round

[dramatispersonae]

Peridot's character lives in a lonely, wet and dark cave, the only home they've been able to find in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world. When they were a child, they were present when the world was attacked by darkness. When the darkness started to come, they tried to rally their friends to get revenge, but the friends didn't trust them and exiled them. They fled the oncoming darkness into a cave, where the Shadow Moss shrouded them and made the darkness pass them by. But they can't risk leaving the cave, and don't have anyone to return for anyway except their brother. Now that they are older, every day, they collect cave bugs and water to eat, since they'd starve to death without this, but they can't even make a fire to keep warm. They feel more and more hopeless every day and try to stave it off by singing to themselves, but the song only reminds them of what they once had, and makes them feel more lonely.

One day, things change quite suddenly . . .! With almost little to do, the darkness moves on from the cave, almost as if it is taunting our dear character. With the freedom to go outside, to act, our character is filled with the hope of finding other survivors, of finding their long lost brother.

Still, facing the outside world is scary after years of living in a cave, and as the character traveled, they moved on from singing to telling stories to themselves-- though perhaps not the best stories. In fact, they were rather bad, both in subject and in telling. But they were a coping mechanism, a way to make everything seem better by comparison while traveling alone in a wasteland, a way to take their mind off a painful past and present. But all they're doing is deluding themselves.

It seems it is only by chance that our character is over-heard one day, by a survivor just as equally lost and scared. Unable to help themselves, the survivor approaches our character, enraptured and feeling pitiful for the sad state they are both in. The chemistry is instant, both lonely souls. And despite the initial shyness, there is something familiar about one another, something about the human contact, the chance for love that makes everything seem brighter and better. It's as if life is worth living after all. That the bad stories become just that—bad stories, no longer a way to cope, but a way to communicate and confide and entertain.

But then, tragedy occurs, because that small glimmer of hope, that things might not be so bad after all, gets crushed so thoroughly when one day our hero gets sick and loses their voice. No longer able to communicate, their love grows resentful and tired of having such a burden placed upon them in already such a harsh world. And if that wasn't bad enough, our hero is so sick they start losing their hair too in a final indignity.

Completely in despair, their love losing even more interest now they can't even appeal physically, the long thought gone the darkness seems to enclose more and more onto our hero... and takes the shape of someone so familiar, someone so adored, our hero is shocked he never saw it before.

"I hate you, brother." Murmurs our hero's lover, the supposed lone survivor, as our character finally stops struggling—the darkness getting what it wants, after so long waiting for out hero to leave their cave. The last human.

But the story doesn't end here. A friendly team, Ruby, wishes to help cheer your character up with the following story element:

Give them a fancy hat with an impressive feather.

Sapphire has also sent a gift:

Give them a puppy.

Continue the story by writing a paragraph (or more) including the gift of kindness, as well as the following elements:

Finding something unexpectedly useful

Being with the ones you care about the most!

The feeling of bereavement

Not having the strength to protect someone else.

You MUST use all of these suggestions, and you cannot ADD any additional events (though you can be creative with how you use them).

THEN:
Write a happy ending.
Write a bad end.
Which do you prefer, and why?

After you're done, you may proceed to endgame.

<b>Story:</b> <b>Happy Ending:</b> <b>Bad end:</b> <b>Which do you prefer, and why?</b>

Discussion

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Discussion

[crueltobekind]

Can we hurry up so I can find Hikaru?

Re: Discussion

[fragmentedimago]

Bereavement? Obviously, the dog dies at the end of the story.

Submission

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Submission

[chaoticrights]

But the story doesn't end here. In a stroke of luck, a dog comes bounding out, snapping and growling at the darkness possessed brother-lover. Startled, they flee, leaving our hero to their misery... and a bunch of doggy kisses, the puppy clearly concerned.

Perhaps, because the puppy is so reminded of their previous master when they see our character in such a state. Their only last memory was a memento, a fine hat with a feather. They fetch it for our hero, a gift to cheer them up, for the dog recalled how their own master had cherished the hat so. It seems to work, our character seemingly waking from a daze, idly petting the dog as they attempt to wrench themselves out of their misery. Head still bald, they don the hat gratefully, an unexpectedly useful gift for their chilled head.

Of course, our hero is still pained. Their lover and brother is possessed, and now they are unable to be with the one they care about the most! All the can do is follow the dog, who is loyal and patient, and try not to waste away...

---

Bad end:

They fail. The heartbreak is too much for them, and the dog is just that, a dog, and is weak and lonely too. It does not take long for the darkness to return in its all too familiar form, now prepared for the dog as well. And after days of little food and rest, the dog is too weak to protect our hero—and opur hero too, is to weak, emotionally and physically to protect the dog as it is brutally murdered in front of them. Once again, they are consumed by grief and loss... and all they can do is accept their fate, no matter what happy chances seems to come along for them.

Good end:
They succeed. Against all odds, they survive. They do not thrive, but they survive. They find food to eat, and they have each other. The darkness brotherlover watches from a distance, desire to kill becoming envy, then longing... one day they see him, and offer a hand. "We will not join you, but you can join us."

The darkness tries one last attack, and the dog jumps in front of Peridot's Character, protecting them. The darkness, seeing what true loyalty looks like, stays its hand...

And joins them.

Preferred end:
We prefer the sad ending as the true ending, as the happy ending seems too out of place and the sad ending fits the best in a narrative sense of a tragedy. I think it has to be the sad one to keep with everything else we've written. However, the good ending is definitely the one we like most and is closest to our hearts.