(IC) Pre-intro threads

[storyofdeception]

You are falling through nothingness. You are dissolving. You are forgetting. You are losing yourself to the void.

It is peaceful, this dissolution, this surrender.

By now the memory of your death is all you have. It fades and begins to grow dim. The void shows itself beneath it and through it.

A young man's voice says: "Once upon a time....".

The void comes no further. It halts there, on the brink of annihilation.

The voice continues speaking. The words flow through you; you feel them as much as hear them. The void begins to recede. You remember your senses. You remember your body. You understand the words even as they slip away. They are your words, your story.

The voice is speaking the story of you into the world, and that story is coming true.

The void is gone. Perhaps, as it fades, you caught a glimpse of something beautiful and true, something glorious, something beloved and impossible to describe. Perhaps not. And in any case, it is only a glimpse.

Your eyes open. You are in a library, towers of shelves rising as far as the eye can see. The young man before you has falling stars in his night-black eyes.

He smiles and closes the book he holds with a snap. On the cover is your name.

Comments

[storyofdeception]

Oh, I wasn't involved. Not until this moment.

This, then, is the choice you are given. You may, if you wish, resume your interrupted journey to whatever awaits you, of which I can tell you nothing. You may choose to be content with your fate and the life you have experienced up until this point.

Or you may walk a new road with me, and forge for yourself a new ending, one of your own choosing. To return to life, to travel among the many worlds, even perhaps gain such power as gods wield. All these things are possible, if you choose your path carefully. The price of this choice you know already -- you and I will work together, return your memories, and I will guide you on your chosen path to the best of my ability.

[fakebook]

Huh. So I do have a choice, it's just so obvious that it's laughable. [and possibly a trap, but the chance to live his own life is an offer that gets him by the balls every time even if he hates to show that]

So you'd be guiding me. Does that mean you get to boss me around?

[storyofdeception]

That would be beside the point of letting you develop, would it not?

I will ask things of you from time to time, but I will promise you this: if you ask, I will tell you why, and I will ask nothing of you that does not aid you in some way -- though I will not promise that the way will be clear or easy.

[fakebook]

And I'm supposed to trust that your idea of helping me doesn't just fuck me up more.

[there's a little less bite in this though...he is sort of grudgingly starting to come around]

[storyofdeception]

If I expected that, would I have offered to explain?

[fakebook]

You could just be coming off nice so that you can fuck me over once I accept.

[storyofdeception]

I will grant you the possibility, and spare you the protests of my impeccable character. And I will allow my actions to prove themselves to you.

[fakebook]

[flsdkf huff huff fine]

All right. But if this is a trap, I'll kill you.

[I don't care if you're possibly sixty times bigger than me and can revive the dead or whatever I will find a way]

[storyofdeception]

*c-cute. but not showing amusement*

Then I hope to guide you to a successful conclusion.

[fakebook]

[good call '-']

So what happens now?

[storyofdeception]

Now you are due another explanation or two, I believe.

*setting the book down on a reading table, between them*

[fakebook]

Good.

[leaning over it with his arms braced on the table, examining it :U]

[storyofdeception]

*resting his hand on it*

This is yours -- intimately yours. It is the story you tell with your deeds and life; the one you lived before. It is empty, now, save for the memory you retain, and we will fill it over time.

[fakebook]

How?

[storyofdeception]

According to the needs of the story you are writing now, and the limits placed upon me. I will find the memories that will aid your progress and return them to you; I expect to be able to do so at intervals of several days.

[fakebook]

And what do I do in the meantime, just sit around here with you?

[storyofdeception]

I imagine we would grow rather weary of each others' company. No; there are others who have chosen as you have, though none which have caught my attention as you did. You and they will refine yourselves through trials; some easy, some more difficult, depending on the goal you choose.

[fakebook]

Trials, huh? I can think of more boring ways to pass the time.

[storyofdeception]

I believe you've already thought of one.

[fakebook]

[yeah, that actually gets a short laugh out of him]

And the goals you mentioned--we can make it so that I can go anywhere I want once I'm done?

[contemplatinggg god tier, not saying that out loud yet though]

[storyofdeception]

Of course. That part of the path is yours to walk. It depends on the number and type of trials in which you participate.

[fakebook]

Well, I don't like backing down from challenges.

[storyofdeception]

That will serve you well on the road you've chosen.

[fakebook]

Will I be able to take on a different road if I decide I want to later?

[storyofdeception]

You needn't even decide until you've chosen to end your journey.

[fakebook]

Convenient.

[storyofdeception]

Quite so.

[fakebook]

So when do we start?

[storyofdeception]

*touches a book, and the shelf swings away, revealing a door-sized hole in the world*

Why delay?

[fakebook]

Why indeed?

[door-sized holes in the world are fairly familiar to me, all told. charging through!!1!]

[storyofdeception]

*watching as he disappears, smiling faintly*

Well. I certainly won't lack for interesting times.

*and then following his protege, out into the world.*