♫ ruby ♫

[dramatispersonae]

You're in a sumptuous room, with rich brocade in your team colors and fine appointments in copper and marble that should look bright and beautiful -- but everything is dusty and grey, with a furtive, abandoned air. This is a place that's been locked away for a long time. It feels as if it would be sad to linger here for long.

Fortunately (perhaps), after one good look at the room, you catch a brief, pained snatch of melody. Your vision goes dark, and you immediately find your mind somewhere else-- ♫

Comments

♪ instructions ♪

[dramatispersonae]

For the first round, your character will be locked into a vivid waking nightmare (with which they can hopefully identify) for three comments! Your character will know to some extent that it's a dream, as one does sometimes in lucid dreams -- however, this shouldn't prevent the character from being affected by and reacting to the scenario. Our goal is a deeply unpleasant experience rather than outright trauma, so please use your judgment on how much immersion versus a sense of unreality from being in a dream you need to play with to get that outcome!

You can play with characters reacting to the scenario any way you want - have them interact with each other as if they're all going through what's being described together as a group, or have each person interact with it separately, or whatever - as you and your team prefer. (If you’re coming in late, you can just react individually to the scenario comments and then jump in wherever your team is playing! The rest of the game won’t make much sense otherwise.) After your team has finished reacting to each comment, let your gamerunner know that you're done so the next one (and then the next round, when the dream is over) can be unscreened.

Once the nightmare is over, teams will be free to discuss and answer a series of questions.

Teams will be running at their own pace without inter-team interactions, so please pace yourselves accordingly as a group to make sure you don’t run overtime! We’ll be cutting off all teams at the 5-hour mark (9:30 PM PST/12:30 AM EST).

round 1 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

first

[dramatispersonae]

You’re standing by a golden cage with an open door, set into one cup of a pair of huge scales. On the other cup of the scale is a disquieting coil of Darkness, squirming and writhing. You’re speaking to one of your teammates (is it Tavros? Perhaps Damian? Either way, the rest of the team has already fallen, and you’re the only ones left who can do this.) You’re trying to persuade them to enter the cage, to set the balance right and weigh the scale in your team’s favor. You can't set foot in a cage, but they can! And there’s no other way right now! Why are they arguing? Why can’t they see that!? Frustration and anxiety dry your mouth and make you swallow to keep bile down.

Re: first

[badnewsboy]

[there's a glance behind him and a glance at the Darkness.]

As difficult as it may seem, I'm not lying. I would step in if it were an option.

second

[dramatispersonae]

There’s no time left, and you’re the only one who can set this right. The peaking of your frustration hurts, sharply -- why the hell won’t they trust you anyway, when you've told them this is for the best? Voices and fists are raised, and the pain of their mistrust is like a nagging wound -- you'll show them. there's no more time. You can feel the startled oof of their breath thudding out of them as you shove them in, and a sense of weird triumph. You'll show them who can make everything right, won't you? The scale tips, and you hear their scream.

Re: second

[badnewsboy]

[who was it? he can't remember, but he looks like he's been hit in the back with a hammer. he stands with his eyes wide.]

N... no ...

I—

[he turns toward the cage, the hairs on the back of his neck on end.]

I'm sorry—I ... I didn't mean ...

No! I'll do it! I'll find a way to do it! Stop!!

Re: second

[dutyfree]

[there's a split second of satisfaction as he shoves them in, job well done John Constantine--]

Re: second

[babybatshit]

[Oh no.

Oh, no.

He didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. He'd have done it himself if he could, it's not like he likes being useless but he hasn't been able to convince himself of what he should be doing or if they even want him around or what he's supposed to be able to do about all of this, now. And that'd felt wrong but it'd feel even worse to be a disappointment and fail and get kicked away. Just like Batman had done. He doesn't want to be a tool and he doesn't want to be left behind.]

I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

[With real panic in his voice, flailing as though he can try and catch someone and pull them out. Can they even hear him? Does it matter, even if they can? There's no fixing that. He did the wrong thing.]

Re: second

[pchaaair]

[He has no idea who he shoved in, but after it's done and he hears the scream, he just freezes.]

Fucking—I'm sorry!

[And he's instantly reaching for the cage, to see if there's a way to save them. And he probably hates himself more than anything else, right now.]

third

[dramatispersonae]

You made a mistake - everything's wrong. But how could it be, when it was so right a second ago? You reach for the bars, knowing that their sharp gold metal will cut your fingers, and watch as the blood flowers across your teammate’s hands instead. You watch as your teammate is carved into bloody ribbons because of your mistake; the last coherent thing they say is how could you?

How could you have thought you were doing the right thing? How could you ever, ever have thought you were right about anything? You look back down at your hands, feeling a kind of numb, faraway horror as they begin to twist and morph into dark claws. The Darkness was in you all along, after all: you let it in.

Re: third

[pchaaair]

[It's horrible, everything's gone wrong, this isn't how it was supposed to go! They weren't supposed to get hurt like this, how could he do it? It felt like the right thing to do, but there's no way that anything like this could be right...

And yet, he was changing and it was because of the Darkness that this happened. This is exactly what he had always feared when it came to the Darkness, this is what he had feared doing to someone else, and now it was happening. He let the Darkness in, and this was the consequence, and everything was absolutely horrible.

Even if someone bashed him on the head to try to fix it like that one time, he certainly didn't deserve it after what happened to his teammate because of him. There's no amount of Ruby's revival marbles that could fix the mistakes that were made.

And he feels like he's going to be sick.]

Re: third

[dutyfree]

[he already let the darkness in years ago, it's not as if this is a shock to him. he's killed friends before, innocents too . . . just another day in the life of John Constantine]

Re: third

[babybatshit]

[When he'd started, he'd really thought he'd known what I was doing. But everything goes wrong the moment he gets involved. He can see that now. Bruce didn't want him and Talia used him and Batman's always one step from death, and he can't do any better for his teammates. He never should have thought he could.

It's not fair.]

Re: third

[badnewsboy]

[is this a dream? it feels very real.

what did he just do?

why does this look familiar?

his pulse is thrumming in his ears and the panic hits him again. what had he struggled against when this was what he was all along? had everyone been right about him? and he curses the world and he curses the darkness and he curses himself and it falls into a pit in his stomach. he tries to whisper apologies like it'll do any good but they just sound hollow. he feels sick.]

D... damn me!

[and alone.]

round 2 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

You wake up sitting securely in one of the luxurious abandoned chairs. You're feeling sore and ill, pained from the affereffects of whatever happened -- but it's all the ghost of a reaction, fading slowly.

Firebird's voice floats through the air on another brief melody. She sounds exhausted, as tired and sick as you are.

"So what would you do, if such a thing came to pass? After all of your fears came true?"

discussion

[dramatispersonae]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

round 3 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

Firebird's voice filters to your ears again.

"I thank you for your thought on this matter so far... what do you think bravery is? How is it different from foolhardiness? When is it the right decision to be brave?"

discussion

[dramatispersonae]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

round 4 ♩

[dramatispersonae]

Firebird sighs. Her voice is almost inaudible this time.

"And how do you face your fears while they are happening? If you could... how would you change the dream of fear so that a different future came true?"

discussion

[dramatispersonae]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

result ♮

[dramatispersonae]

...

[dramatispersonae]

The scene begins to play out again on the walls and ceiling around you, a vision rather than something relived — but this time it's different. This time the scales move more erratically, up and down and up and down -- this time your team steadies it, pulls the cage off the scale altogether (for all that the effort bloodies their hands) and hold it down with their own weight. You call out to the Darkness together (a threat? a taunt?) and it begins to ooze down the balance towards you, but your teammates' faces are not afraid. From your keys comes a soft pulse of light, and when that fades, the scene is gone.

Something is left on the floor of the room: a fine hourglass of crystal and copper; the sand inside appears to very literally be tiny, tiny rubies.

(To endgame!)