INSIDE THE STORY (RUN TWO)

[dramatispersonae]

[You find yourself standing on a circular stone stage, in an open-air theater in the round. You’re at the edge of the stage looking toward its centre; a massive tree is growing up through the stone there, taking up most of your view. Surrounding the stage are tiered seats of gemstones and silver, in Aather team colors. The seats, like the stage, are being overtaken by riotous plantlife; thorny rose vines climb between them here and there, along with patches of moss, glowing flowers, and multicolored morning glories. A few of the seats look like they are in need of serious repair.

Around the stage you will notice that there are seven exits, all equidistant from one another. They are all different shapes, sizes and styles, but it’s oddly hard to pin down specifics from here; you’ll have to step off of the stage in order to differentiate them from each other.

In the seats, though you can't see your audience, you can hear the faint whisper of voices, waiting to see what move you make. You’ll also find two objects in your hand: a fine quill pen, and a crystalline hope seed.]

Comments

CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[motifated]

[You get a sense that the quill pen can be used to rewrite things in this place, and the hope seed can be used to create drastic new growth. There is a hot current of power in both objects, resonant with the key around your neck.]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[mirroredvalue]

[...Oh, I have a pen again. I guess the Story actually really liked that Pen thing? But hmm, that hope seed seems pretty important...

Well, let's check out the exits, first.]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[heteronormative]

Huh. Lil like Three, back when.

[checking out that hooj tree]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[oedipuswreck]

[gasps, turning around quickly, breath catching]

This—this is . . .

[hesitantly looking at the pen, moving it around in his fingertips . . . then approaching the tree, reaching out to touch it]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[justaking]

[hmmm]

[checks out the broken seats, if he can]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[theriverlethe]

[ Acheron takes a moment to look dubiously at the pen before examining the exits. ]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[ahorseforgood]

[I'M GOING TO BE ABLE TO CARRY THESE OBJECTS AND USE THEM APPROPRIATELY IF I WANT TO, BECAUSE SYMBOLISM.

...hesitantly turns to sniff at one of the multicolored flowers...]

Re: CENTER STAGE (Dramatis Personae)

[justarider]

[going down to check out the stage first.]

The Marble Door

[motifated]

[As soon as you step through the door you find yourself underwater. Completely submerged, with the sting of salt water rushing through your ears and your nose and your eyes. It isn’t cold water--it’s actually quite warm, and the water is crystal clear. You can’t immediately make out much more than that through the overwhelming sense of understanding that you shouldn’t be underwater.

The ocean floor before you slants upward, heading towards the shore, while the sand behind you only goes down further, deeper and darker, filling you with a sense of fear and dread. Go up or go down? Decide fast: you’ve got air in your lungs to chance heading deeper if you want, but you can’t just hang around here.]

Re: The Marble Door

[justaking]

[um no??? I DID NOT EXPECT TO BE SWIMMING SUDDENLY, heading up to the surface for air and to orient himself first]

[why is this suddenly Voyage of the Dawn Treader]

Re: The Marble Door

[oedipuswreck]

[. . . IMMEDIATELY BREATHES IN]

The Castle Doors

[motifated]

[As you step through the massive doors they swing closed behind you; there’s a clear sense that they’re not locking you in, but barricading danger out.

Spread out before you is a castle town in microcosm. A single cobbled road leads straight through the town, cutting through a central square and ending at the door of a large stone castle on the other side. The path is lined with several small wood-and-stone houses, windows shuttered and doors shut tight. You don’t see anyone around, but there’s a busy, bustling hum in the air; the place feels populated.]

Re: The Castle Doors

[mirroredvalue]

[...Well, time to explore, I suppose. What is there to see in the square?]

The Rose Trellis

[motifated]

[You step through the trellis archway, pushing through the thick curtain of ivy, and find yourself in a sprawling forest. Squirrels and birds chatter in the trees, little glowing creatures (are they butterflies? pixies?) dart to and fro, and brilliantly-colored flowers of every shape and size imaginable bedeck the landscape before you.

Moss is thick on the ground like a green and velvety carpet; there are no true roads here. However, you can make out two trails heading further into the woods. The one to the left is relatively low and flat, sun-dappled, winding through the open ground between the trees. The one to the right is narrower and leads up to hilly ground, curving up steeply until your view of it is blocked by a rocky outcropping.]

Re: The Rose Trellis

[theriverlethe]

[ He squeezes the pen and the seeds briefly before turning to the low, flat path with the sun and walking down it. ]

The Ice Archway

[motifated]

[The ice archway you enter through frosts over behind you as you step all the way inside. Before you there is a small, snow-covered village in microcosm, perfect as a picture postcard. The houses are mostly made of wood, and the chimneys are all cheerfully puffing out smoke. There’s a warm glow visible through the cracks of the windows, though they’re tightly shuttered. Even though you can’t see anyone there is a feeling of the village being full, a buzz of excitement, as if it were almost dinnertime and everyone is gathering together to eat.

There is one tiny road that leads straight through the village and continues on past its borders, lost in a whirl of snow. Though the whole village is rather quiet and peaceful, just outside of its borders a snowstorm rages. It’s quite cold, standing out in the snow, and you won’t be able to withstand it for very long without getting frostbite. Still, you’ll have to brave it if you want to reach what you can just glimpse in the distance outside the village: a bright blue ferris wheel.]

Re: The Ice Archway

[justarider]

[Well, at least this feels familiar. She'll start down the road but pause and knock on one of the doors before she exits the village.]

The Villa Door

[motifated]

[You step through the villa door and all at once feel the humid heat wrap around you. Soft, misty rain soaks your clothes. Large trees tower above you, with vines wrapped around mossy trunks that reach up into the magnificent green canopy. Colorful flowers bloom all around your feet, each one larger than your hand. You can hear the faint pitter-patter of collected rain drops as they hit the great leaves high above you and hear the sounds of forest life everywhere. The caws of birds, the ribbits of frogs, and the buzzing of insects all fill your ears.

Ahead of you there is a faint path through the trees, but it’s hard to say where it leads.]

Re: The Villa Door

[ahorseforgood]

[shakes herself vigorously, getting all the vapor out of her coat, and sniffs some of the flowers; PAYING ATTENTION TO FLOWERS SEEMS LEGIT IN THIS HEART SO FAR!]

CENTER STAGE (A Return)

[motifated]

[The chorus has been replaced by a single shadowy, almost featureless figure underneath the tree. The Storysona’s voice whispers from it, tired and wavering:

”I do not believe that Heroes can defeat the Darkness without the Story. But...if they could, by some miracle...then what do I exist for? Why was I written at all?”

[When you give your answer, the figure vanishes. Where it stood is a trapdoor with a ring set into the top, its outline is delineated by brilliant light and flickering shadows coming through from the other side. Do you go through...?]

Re: CENTER STAGE (A Return)

[heteronormative]

I dunno, what do any of us exist for? To be and... be with each other I guess. Maybe that's why all this bond stuff keeps mattering.

[of course I'll go through, if Shinji does]

Re: CENTER STAGE (A Return)

[justarider]

I don't think you're wrong that we couldn't have done it without the story, but I don't think you're entirely right about how that has to come about either. If the heroes have a chance to defeat the darkness, it's because you've done so much to slow it down and give everyone here the opportunity to build their strength and learn how to work together. You're an invaluable part of this process.

Just like we learn and grow and change, so will you. You're more than just a stagnant tale. You're something that is changing and growing with the world around you. There's no reason to cling to what you were. You have a chance to redefine yourself, to be the author of your own destiny.

We're here to defeat the darkness, but we're also trying to help everyone here, too, including you.

[yeah, she'll be going through the trapdoor]

Re: CENTER STAGE (A Return)

[oedipuswreck]

It doesn't erase what you've done so far . . . you know. As far as what you want to do in the future—I think we'd like to help you find that.

Re: CENTER STAGE (A Return)

[theriverlethe]

You are a beginning; a promise. Heroes, Persona, Aather— None would have managed this far without you. But you are more than that, too. You are hope. All those who exist, whatever the means, are a beautiful and necessary part of life. You were written, you are. There is more meaning to you than I or anyone else could hope to understand. What you choose to do with it is up to you, but please don't give up.

CENTER STAGE (The Heart)

[motifated]

[You're below the stage, with the baby Story next to you. It’s . . . strange here. There’s an incredible pressure in the air, a sense of clashing forces too large and powerful than you can wrap your head around. You’re at the very core of a world, and you’re not going to be able to stay down here and stand it very long. But with the time you have, you can look around, and see...

You’re at the roots of the giant tree that’s growing through the stage. All around you is a crackling black-and-white net made of light and layers of words, words, words; more writing than you could ever hope to comprehend. Behind the net is a vast, amorphous Darkness; it’s clearly trying to get through. It makes you ill to look at it; cold to your bones. Grotesque feelers from it probe the net for weaknesses constantly, hungry and ever-shifting; it finds plenty. Some holes it finds in the net close as soon as they’re probed, but in other places it’s definitely poking through and causing damage. Washes of rainbow light all over the net complicate things even more: they seem to destroy and repel the Darkness, but also to warp the net terribly; both the Darkness and the net are misshapen after they touch it. It’s all a mess.

There’s . . . someone . . . bound to the net, at the very base of the tree trunk. It has the Storysona's humanoid shape, with its one wing and one horn and clawed hand, but the resemblance ends there: its hair is made out of cascading paper and words, the curling horn is made from crumbling and chipped graphite, and its face is an illustrated, ever-shifting suggestion.

It’s horribly tattered and torn, wounded. Multicolored ink streams from its injuries, soaking into the tree roots. The wing on its back is broken and pieces of its skin are simply missing; its exposed bones are made of quill-shafts. It seems to be directing the continual efforts of the net to hold the Darkness back, grimly stubborn . . . but its movements are frantic, an exhausted flailing to keep everything going rather than a calculated effort.]

Re: CENTER STAGE (The Heart)

[ahorseforgood]

[...looks between the baby Story and the ragged Storysona shape, taking an immediate concerned step towards the latter...]

This is...