Felixfalck
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Alice's second turn
🕑 Added 2022-11-28 15:21:45 +0000 UTCPrevious chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/final-roll-of-75074610?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Alice slowly and almost timidly made her way over to the gameboard and picked up the six sided die. There was a brief moment of hesitation before she threw it, looking away as she did so. It nearly rolled of the table but fortunately came to a standstill just by the edge. The poor girl didn't even get to look at the die before Gretchen exclaimed:
"One! Again!! Tough luck Alice!". The remark was completely tone deaf. It'd become somewhat of an unspoken rule for the group not to say anything that could upset Alice, poor girl. Yet Gretchen treated her as she normally would, perhaps there was a type of consideration in that too. The board lit up again and Alice's piece moved one square, putting her neck in neck with both Gretchen and Himari. Gretchen knew what this entailed, she'd be getting two additional "perks".
Himari picked up one of the yellow cards and started reading
A new attitude that is all doom and gloom
Best not expect to receive a boon.
What better would suit your new outlook?
Enjoy your brand new self with a new look!
Do you continue or chicken out?
Yet another cryptic message. Gretchen was already well on her way to try and crack the case. Meanwhile Alice sat silently looking at her friend who'd just read the card, the longest interaction she'd had if one could call making eye-contact an interaction at all.
The internal struggle she was having with herself was completely invisible on the surface. She really really really didn't want to play into the game's hands any more than she had with that first round, yet it was her only chance of returning to normal. Sure her friends could make it to the end and wish her back, but that too was a gamble. If game had the power to make her antisocial and introverted, surely it could make it so that her friends wouldn't want to wish her back to normal. The only person she could truly trust was herself. It went under her radar, but that pattern of thinking was a consequence of her first card.
"..continue"
The group collectively choked on her response. It was the first time she'd said anything since round one, and her voice seemed to have changed. She was usually so vocal, speaking her heart out loud and proud. The single word she just muttered couldn't be described any other way than timid. The contrast between the girl before them and the person they knew her to really be was so stark it was frightening. And to think that more was to come. The wording of the yellow card in Himari's hands was far from upbeat. The words doom and gloom alone were enough to set expectations for the worst case scenario.
The suspicion was quickly confirmed as the yellow card burnt into nothingness whilst Alice for the first time underwent some actual physical changes.
Her hair's roots were quickly turning darker as it shortened, leaving her with a dark bobcut. Her eyes also seemed to change as they lost that expressive and bright blue that she'd been so known for, turning bleak and dark. Her clothes turned darker until both her shorts and top were all black. Finally her yellow flats vanished, leaving her with a pair of saggy white socks to warm her feet.
Once the changes were complete Alice sat silently in her chair with an expression that said "I want to murder someone". The changes to her outfit were not in line with what yellow cards usually would do, had anyone else than Gretchen bothered reading the manual they would've known something was up. But alas, Gretchen was the only one to know what had truly happened to Alice.
"The outfit must've been the first perk, maybe the second perk is internal?" she thought to herself. Ogling Alice, looking for any hints whatsoever.
Had she been able to read minds it would've been painfully obvious. That look of murderous intent wasn't too far from what Alice was actually feeling. Her love for her friends, family and people in general had been completely reversed. She now despised everyone in the room, and wanted nothing to do with them. A good fit with her newly found antisocial mindset..
Neither Rebecca nor Himari wanted to comment on the changes, knowing full and well that Alice was less than happy. Gretchen was too deep in thought figuring out what the last perk was to register the awkward silence that had swept the room.
It was actually Alice herself who moved things along by tossing the die on Gretchen's face.
"Ouch, what the hell wa.." Gretchen returned from her spaced out state to see Alice staring her down. If looks could kill... Like an old engine starting, Gretchen's mind slowly worked out what the third perk might've been. She made a mental note to be careful around Alice from now on, just in case..
She picked the die up from the floor on which it'd landed after bouncing off of her forehead.
"Here goes nothing.."
Comments
Felixfalck
So the idea is that "So young and bright and filled with fight!" refers to her energetic personality. It's more a change targeted at that rather than just her social tendencies. The attitude towards her friends.. Yea, that's an oversight and I may have gotten a little carried away. I'll be more careful next time around, hehe
Grif end
1. This goes a bit into character standing too but I feel like the antisocial "debuff" has done more than it should as it should'nt effect Alice energetic or Cheerful nature (there's even a case to be made about the extroverted part). 2.I mentioned this before but the extra transformation are coming out of nowhere and make the game aspect feel pointless.
