♫ citrine ♫

[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 back-to-back with your teammates over a nest, in a ruined garden, surrounded by mist and the black clawlike branches of twisted trees. There’s a horde of monsters approaching through those trees, and you can hear them from here: scraping and gibbering and even low, unpleasant sniggering. In the nest is a single precious egg. You've been told it was precious, haven't you? A little flame of potential to be nurtured. Aather’s potential. Citrine’s potential. Your potential.

But there are so many, and you are so few. Can you really do this? Can you save what you were asked to save . . . and can you protect each other? Doubt gnaws upon you.

Re: first

[persnickitty]

[draws in a sharp breath, turning around to see who's with him]

Re: first

[bitesonce]

[Rocky glances around quickly to see who else is there, and staunchly puts himself between them (as well as the egg,) and any of those monsters that might be approaching. His jaw sets at the doubt]

second

[dramatispersonae]

There is no more time to think: dozens of monsters sweep out of the gloom, teeth and claws bared. They’re scaly, horned, multicolored -- green, brown, blue, orange, grotesque; some multi-headed and with too many limbs; some misshapen and utterly deformed; some all the more terrifying for looking partly human. They are single-minded as they fall upon you, and upon your teammates. Your breath is coming hard. Their blows hurt. Your strength wanes. You’re struggling.

You don't hear when your first teammate goes down (who is it? It seems very important somehow that they know you cared who was first.) You are all fighting valiantly but hopelessly overwhelmed. You feel each of their falls as though they're your own, till you are the only one left.

Re: second

[persnickitty]

[lets out a soft cry, fearful, but presses back against Killua, feeling him there]

Re: second

[bitesonce]

[in the back of his mind, he's trying to tell himself that none of this is real. But instinct takes over - his breathing becomes harsh, he struggles to remain on his feet, panicking internally but outwardly angry]

Damn it....

third

[dramatispersonae]

. . . and in the end, you fall too. Of course you do. And as a tall shadow steps through the sea of monsters, you struggle to say something, to call out to them, to find some last chance, some last little spark of strength and hope . . .

But it’s not there. You’re weak, and fading fast, and the shadow reaches out a taloned hand to push you aside and reach for the egg -- which pulses in its hand, just as responsive to this evil as it was to you. Who knows if the egg was really worth protecting or whether it was all a trick? You failed either way, and the last thing you hear before you die is the shadow’s laughter.

Re: third

[persnickitty]

. . .

[buckles under that and, finally, doesn't say a word]

Re: third

[bitesonce]

[finally, he falls to his hands and knees....]

Damn it!

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]

Re: discussion

[persnickitty]

[SORRY, BREAKING DOWN INTO HYSTERICAL TEARS FOR A MOMENT]

decision

[dramatispersonae]

Re: decision

[persnickitty]

[wiping tears away from his face with both hands, determined]

Sometimes, no matter what you do, or how hard you fight, terrible things happen anyway. But if you give up, then—there's nothing more for you. So you have to pick up the pieces of what you have and keep fighting. Keep looking for honest answers and staying true to yourself—even if it's scary, even if you're exhausted and hurt and scared. Keep being you—keep loving people, and opening up to them, even though that makes it easier to get hurt. Even if your goal seems out of reach, especially if everything's been turned down and reduced to nothing, even if it tries to break you again and again . . .!

I'm not sure—how. How to get stronger, or how to reach my goals. But I think in becoming a strong person with convictions, with confidence in yourself and the decisions you make, and the ability to hold your chin up when you're afraid—maybe that's the only way to win. This sort of doubt and fear is really the worst—it undermines you and encourages you to fall to pieces. Why try? Nothing you do is good enough, you're not strong enough, this was your fault. It's the sort of doubt and fear that gnaws at you and makes you unable to keep moving forward.

But it's okay to be scared . . .! And to lose hope, and be broken . . . But we'll keep fighting and not turn our gaze away from the truth, even if it's unpleasant. That sort of determination to just keep that light inside you when everything else is gone out. Firebird hasn't lost that light . . . you just have to have faith that you can make it brighter again, and that it'll definitely be bright enough.

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]

Re: discussion

[persnickitty]

Being foolhardy is taking action without consideration! Being brave is taking action when consideration tells you, this could hurt again—but it's worth it.

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 plays around you again, on the walls and floor of the room, but it's clearly at a remove from you -- you're watching, not reliving. The fight is still fierce, but Citrine fights much more creatively, not just with weapons and fists but with keys and words and other bright things you can't quite make out . . . and the fight seems to be on a more even footing.

While they don't exactly repel the monsters, they do seem to slowly drive them back . . . until there's a sharp, shattering sound, and the replay shivers, and freezes, and vanishes.

What is left in the room with you is a stone egg, with a large crack running through it. It doesn't look like it's hatching any further now, but it's certainly started. Perhaps, if you hang onto it, you'll see what comes out someday?

(To endgame!)