TIGER'S EYE

[dramatispersonae]

What do you believe in?

Comments

ROUND ONE

[dramatispersonae]

[ Reality twangs uncomfortably in the Ring around you, and next thing you know, you're standing with your teammates beneath an apple tree. No one else is anywhere to be seen.

Faith's voice sounds. ]

You believe in so many--

[ The crackling of paper, the turning of pages. ]

--so many things. Tell me, which of these would you pick to believe in? To save you and fulfill you.

[ Fourteen scrolls materialize around you, with words on them. Approach, and the words will echo in your head: ]

"Our team." "Ourselves and our ability to persist in being as such, as long as we live and breathe; our own reality." "Kindness." "Family, our own blood." "Bravery, determination, and adventure." "The little things in life." "Change and growth." "Being at the top." "Happy endings." "Justice." "Inner strength." "Friends and friendship." "Delicious pie." "Our own personal truths."

[ At the foot of the apple tree, a silver box appears. It can fit exactly three scrolls. ]

DISCUSS

[dramatispersonae]

Re: DISCUSS

[bunny_ears]

[looks things over]

Re: DISCUSS

[hunting]

Inner strength sounds like a good place to start.

Re: DISCUSS

[bunny_ears]

Right. Given my team is safe outside of the game, I don't think I need 'our team'. Bravery might be useful

Re: DISCUSS

[karlsefni]

[ whoops ]

. . . . tch.

SUBMIT

[dramatispersonae]

Pick three of the ideals presented to you.

Re: SUBMIT

[karlsefni]

Bravery.

Inner strength.

Personal truths.

Re: SUBMIT

[dramatispersonae]

[ The box snaps shut. In the distance, there's a sound like faint thunder or the turning of pages--funny, aren't those very different sounds? For now, nothing else happens. ]

ROUND TWO

[dramatispersonae]

Explain to me why

explain to me why

[ Reality stutters around you. ]

you believe so much

you believe in each other

[ Crack. A break runs down the center of the world before you. ]

What have I believed in?

Who am I?

I am...not what the Story made me.

I am not virtuous. All I have is pain.

I can be bad.

[ Reality dissolves, and then you're back in the Ring... ]

Round Three

[dramatispersonae]

[ Reality warps once more, and you're falling through warm rain to the distant sound of weeping.

You land on the bottom of a huge, open-topped glass case that towers over you. Water sloshes around the glass, slowly but surely rising. Beyond the waters, you can see the blurry outlines of several other teams trapped in glass like you.

There is nothing here except the silver box from the first round. The scrolls are still inside it, but each of them is now wrapped around a handful of small glittering tokens--some silver, some gold.

Sorrowful's voice sounds once more. ]

Each of you shall take a token from the box and suffer the punishment bound to it. Refuse to do so, and your shelter will shatter and you will drown immediately. Take them, and you may survive long enough to be rescued. If anyone takes pity on you!

[ In the distance, somewhere, there is still the sound of weeping. ]

Discuss

[dramatispersonae]

Re: Discuss

[bunny_ears]

So, drown right away or deal with whatever shit is bound to the tokens.

Re: Discuss

[karlsefni]

Well, we're not dying. That's something.

Re: Discuss

[bunny_ears]

Not dying sounds like a good plan. So, silver or gold? They mean anything to you?

Re: Discuss

[hunting]

It always ends up this way...

Re: Discuss

[bunny_ears]

Yeah.

Team custom is that we can't get ourselves killed without a unanimous vote, and we don't got one.

Submit

[dramatispersonae]

[ All characters present should comment with what token they're taking--silver or gold, and what scroll it was wrapped in. Silver tokens inflict physical punishments and gold tokens inflict psychological ones. This is not IC knowledge. ]

Re: Submit

[karlsefni]

[ GRABBING A GOLD ONE FOR INNER STRENGTHS ]

Re: Submit

[dramatispersonae]

Sorrowful's voice echoes in your head. "But you alone will never have enough inner strength, will you?"

As he renders that verdict, something deep inside your mind and soul shifts. You feel an alien force, or perhaps a demon, seizing control of your very psyche. You may try to resist it, but it's impossible: you have been possessed, you have been taken over, something else is controlling your brain. Inner strength and profound conviction does indeed flood through you, but with it comes no control whatsoever of your own body.

If your teammates are lucky, the monster within you can be convinced not to attack...

Re: Submit

[hunting]

[ Taking silver for personal truths ]

Re: Submit

[dramatispersonae]

Sorrowful's voice echoes in your head. "Then let your truths come alive in their own right."

You may not realize what he means at first, but soon enough it becomes clear as something swells beneath your skin. Pain shoots through you as tiny beasts swarm under your flesh, scurrying about your bones, devouring your muscle for their sustenance. You know, somehow, that each of them represents something you believe in, and you cannot remove them from you without sacrificing your dearest principles.

Re: Submit

[bunny_ears]

[gold for bravery]

Re: Submit

[dramatispersonae]

Sorrowful's voice echoes in your head. "Then lose all that bravery and determination; know terror instead of adventure."

All around you, your surroundings come alive with visions of your deepest and most personal fears. No matter where you look, you cannot escape them. If you close your eyes, they play out on the inside of your eyelids and crowd your ears with terrible whispers.

IN THE END . . .

[dramatispersonae]

[ The weeping in the distance grows louder and louder as you attend to your terrible tasks, until finally, the voice of Handless Faith reaches you again. ]

Stop! I remember--

I remember--

I have learned of hope.

[ The voice of Kanata, formerly of Sterling, reaches you from somewhere far away, singing a song of hope.

You find yourself buoyed by the power of song, and your pain and your wounds heal. ]

[ Your surroundings shimmer and fade, returning you to the Ring... ]