soulping | ERROR FF9B4F: SOMETHING WENT WRONG.

You're inside of a tree. You can hear the buzzing of your HIVEMATES outside, waiting for a human to pass. You were never really much for all the hard work that came with TRICKS. You just want to LAUGH.

For you, the relaxing DARKNESS is enough until then. Still, you can't help but feel like something horrible is about to happen...

...Maybe it has something to do with that SMOULDERING PILE in the corner? ...Yeah. Your HOME catching on FIRE definitely seems like a horrible thing. How did that even happen?

You can look around (not that there's much to see), but really, you only have one choice.

Do you snuff the SMOULDERING PILE out?

>YES
NO

[Yes. Using my darkness powers to do it from a distance, if I can. Because some of us do in fact normally have ranged darkness powers.]

The room returns to darkness.

Once upon a time, there was a world full of creatures. All of them magical -- born of the earth, the sea, the skies. Given life by the light of the sun, finding comfort in the dark of the night.

BOOP.

(You've forgotten what 'home' feels like. Will anything ever be this comfortable again?)

HUMANS are so much fun! TRICKS are great and all, but they have such great games of their own. Besides, they're pretty good at TRICKING themselves.

It's pretty funny, really. Maybe leaving your HIVE was a good idea.

Last night, the HUMANS you're with started up a CAMPFIRE. Of course, they're never comfortable in the DARKNESS. That's just the sort of creature they are.

Huh...it seems like they left it burning, though. They're leaving now. They actually just left their tents and food and really basically everything else here. Weird.

You can look around, but really, you only have one choice.

This seems kind of dangerous, in the middle of a forest, doesn't it? Maybe you should put the CAMPFIRE out.

[Before we do something like that, let's check to make sure the campfire's stable and not liable to spread. Is it properly protected? If it is, leave it. There are various reasons why they might keep it burning, after all.]

It will not spread.

Maybe you should put the CAMPFIRE out.

[If it won't spread, I won't. There's no point to putting it out like this.]

Edited 2015-10-06 04:55 (UTC)

This one doesn't know what broken ones think they're doing. Even if you think you've figured it out, it's too late, it's too late! Hehehe...

This one always told broken ones that everything that happened happened because of them. And a CUTE LITTLE FLUFFBALL has taught us all that what's been done can't be undone, remember?

Broken ones need to learn to live with CONSEQUENCES, just like the rest of us! Hehehe!

You put out the CAMPFIRE.

The forest returns to darkness.

But only one group of these creatures had fire burning in their hearts. This fire led them to prosperity. They crawled from the earth, they sailed the seas, they took to the skies. They created light, and they cast aside the darkness.

Eventually, they forgot where they came from.

BOOP.

(You've forgotten the faces of the people around you. You remember you had friends -- maybe a family, but it's not them.)

The HUMANS led you to a HUMAN TOWN. It's so different from the HIVE! Everything is so much more exciting, and busy, and there's so many things to see...

It seems like some HUMANS aren't as happy as you, or your HIVEMATES. But maybe that's the price of being HUMAN. It's interesting, anyway. You think you'll stay here for awhile. There's a lot of nice shops with things to play with, and cute children, and even a neat tree you could maybe hollow out.

You can look around, but really, you only have one choice.

...There's a blacksmith, and their FORGE is...well, the light is attractive. You stay near it sometimes, at night. And you like to watch them work. But isn't all that FIRE really dangerous? Maybe you should put the FORGE out?

So, you're obviously going to ignore what my choice actually is, so there's no point in me actually choosing anything. But just the same...

I won't put the forge out. That's completely pointless and doesn't help at all.

[And instead, I'm just going to sing. Try and control me while I'm singing, just try it. This is a song of fuck you forcing me to do what you say against my own choices and I refuse to go along with it.]

Edited 2015-10-06 05:06 (UTC)

This one is getting tired of this. Do the broken ones think that if they're stubborn enough, they'll fix this? It didn't work so well for the burning ones, you know. It didn't work so well for her, either.

It never, never, never works well! Broken ones can't stop what they've started. And this one doesn't intend on letting them do anything about it once it's happened, either.

You put out the FORGE.

Humanity returns to darkness.

So once they finished fighting amongst each other -- destroying themselves with powers they were never meant to wield -- they united.

They would become the sole bearers of light. They would brighten the world so that no darkness remained to fetter them.

And everything else? Everything they'd done proved that everything else was a threat. The skies, the sea, and the earth would be the ones to fear them, from now on. And finally, they harnessed their own, long forgotten power.

If the children of fire were ever threatened again, they wouldn't tremble in fear. Never again. The flames would rise, and rise, and rise, until they consumed the world.

BOOP.

(You don't forget anything, because there's nothing left of you to forget.)

You've been here for awhile, living amongst them. It's been fun, but...the HUMANS have started to get a bit scary. It's starting to not be so fun, anymore. They mass produce their goods in buildings full of fire and screaming metal, and the ones who sell them don't seem to care about the ones who make them.

They don't like playing with you as much, anymore. You think some of them have even stopped trusting you. You don't understand why. You've learned to build like they do, to live like they do, to have fun like they do...

You want to go home.

But first, you have one choice. There's something you need to do. Downstairs, there's a man, maimed and wounded, and in so much pain. Pain. They taught you what that was. Humans don't like it. Maybe you snuff out the man's pain?

[Well, let's check up on him first. "Maimed and wounded" is helpful, but mained how?]

It doesn't matter. You're too small and helpless to help him in any way but helping him let go. All you're good at is hurting others, anyway. That's what they've taught you, right?

Maybe you should snuff out the man's pain.

[I remember one thing, and that is sheer spite for the one running this.]

Well, that's certainly something impressive you're saying there, but... I disagree. It's true that I can snuff out the man's pain, though.

[Darkness has anesthetic properties after all. But yes, turning to the man.]

You, I'm going to give you a bit more strength. I might not be able to help you like this, but I can still give you just a bit of strength... Once you get the strength, you need to get as far away from here as you can, since I'll probably get controlled and forced to do something to you. Basically, I want to you to run as fast as you can.

[Now then, first, let's do the Ethereal thing and sing! Sing a song that gives a person strength when they need it and covers up a person's sense of pain for a bit. You want to force me down a single path? Guess what, I'll control the way that path goes.]

This one is losing her patience. This isn't your choice to make, TEAMNAME.

Humanity returns to darkness.

So once they finished fighting amongst each other -- destroying themselves with powers they were never meant to wield -- they united.

They would become the sole bearers of light. They would brighten the world so that no darkness remained to fetter them.

And everything else? Everything they'd done proved that everything else was a threat. The skies, the sea, and the earth would be the ones to fear them, from now on. And finally, they harnessed their own, long forgotten power.

If the children of fire were ever threatened again, they wouldn't tremble in fear. Never again. The flames would rise, and rise, and rise, until they consumed the world.

BOOP.

(You don't forget anything, because there's nothing left of you to forget.)

Something went wrong.

Maybe you should snuff out the flame.

[I'm still powered by sheer spite here, sorry.]

"This isn't my choice to make", is it? You say this is all because of me, but in the end, aren't you controlling everything I do here? That is inherently a paradox. Forcing us into actions makes it your responsibility, not ours. If you want to put this out flame so much, do it yourself! You just want an excuse to push it onto someone else's shoulders while proclaiming your own innocence! If you want to destroy it so much, claim some responsibility for it! Do it with your own hands, coward.

Edited 2015-10-06 05:48 (UTC)

This one gave the broken ones choices to make before. And look what they did with them.

The broken ones could have chosen anything. Eventually, you don't have any more to make. The world looks at what you've done, and it moves on.

You snuff out the flame.

The world returns to darkness.

And so they did.

And when they finished rising, they burned themselves out.

And that is when the children of fire remembered that they, too, were creatures of this world Magic flowed through their veins, and once it was burned out, they began to die along with everything else.

So with the last of their smouldering hopes and dreams, they tried to fix what they had done. To save everything they'd destroyed. Their light had changed the world for the worse, but now it was a beacon of hope --

-- but the darkness became stronger in the face of that light. Not only that, it took a bit of that flame for itself.

And so, in the end, the darkness consumed the world.

The end.

(You've forgotten how to see. You've forgotten if you can.)

An ALARM sounds.

ERROR FF9B4F: SOMETHING WENT WRONG.

ROOM ONE.

DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

ROOM TWO.

DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

ROOM THREE.

DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

ROOM FOUR.

DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

ROOM FIVE.

DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.

Re: DECISION.