Wait and Hope ( Chapter One )
The stone floor is cold and damp, musty. The scent of salt is heady and strong. There’s a cascading sound to the left. Loud and growing, tap-tap-tap-stop. Waking is a lonely affair. The cell is empty except for the mice playing in the corner. Four walls and no bed. Food comes in the form of mush every morning, and the guard refuses to speak or answer questions. A day comes and goes. Each monotonous moment the same. A month passes. Then another. During the third, the sound that is a friend now begins. Tap-tap-tap-tap-stop-taptapp. The floor near the wall splinters and cracks, a hand pushes through. The stone gives way to dirt, and the hand becomes an arm, a head and body. A stranger emerges.
They’ve come from the adjacent room and have been digging out a half-finished tunnel. A tunnel that was one of two started in their cell, but they chose the wrong one, didn’t they? If both agree to work together, they can carve out the other tunnel in a few hours. The tunnel breaks open and exposes a cliff overhanging the ocean. There are two choices: jump or go back.
The second chapter only comes after escaping the prison.
Fool That I Am ( Chapter Two )
It’s slowly becoming apparent that the story unfolds in unyielding succession. No matter how many times you check out the book, moving forward only occurs after carving out the tunnel and diving into the salty sea. When you hit the water, consciousness blackens, and you wake on a sandy beach. The sun is bright, and you’re not alone. There’s a rolled map on the ground between you and a short dagger. Fight to the death to protect yourself or band together to get to the final destination.
Choosing the latter will take you through caves, dense foliage, and past a pair of natives that don’t want you there. After diving into a small pool and surfacing in an underground cavern, you’ll find more treasure than you know what to do with. To advance in the story, you must claim some of the treasure for yourself—a crown, a jeweled necklace, a ring.
The third chapter only comes once you’ve taken what is rightfully yours.
I am hungry, feed me. I am bored, amuse me. ( Chapter Three )
The masquerade in Paris has spilled out onto the streets. The Count’s wealth is endless. Jugs of rich wine and trays of delectable sweets cover every surface, staff carrying them through the crowds of masked men and women. Every vice is indulged in, and nothing is off limits. The music is loud, but the people are louder.
You’ve opened your eyes, only to have traveled from the cavern and into the finest French clothing. Dressed in the style of the period, your mask secured, the night is yours. A game of chance and fate begins. You’re pushed towards another masked individual. The first to convince the other to reveal their identity wins. What, may you ask? That’s up to you and your partner and must be decided upon before the game of questions begins. A kiss, possibly? A bag of gold?
The epilogue only comes when you lay down to rest.
A Large Fortune Covers All Defects ( Epilogue )
The night ended on a good note, but like most stories, the road is full of twists and turns. Vengeance for the wrong done you is the only thing you can think of when you wake. All those months sleeping on cold stone. Hungry and alone. Treacherous exploration and harsh waters. Their face is crystal clear, and the need to wash it from your mind is overwhelming.
You'll find them outside the city waiting for you. Their back is turned, and your blade is sharp. They gasp and fall to their knees, taking those thoughts from your mind and restoring the truth: a stranger bleeding in front of you. Neither of you are any longer consumed by implanted hatred, and yet, their fate is in your hands.
The story only stops when the reader decides to end it.
OOC
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. 1815 - 2018. The sting of a blade.
Character arrivals may differ slightly from month to month. We suggest playing out the test drive meme as if your character has already been there a few days/weeks and this is their first time traveling into a book that isn’t for housing or shopping. Players who want to thread out their arrival can find more information on the faq, and those who want to play out the housing situation can find more information there.
To use a book, the character presents their library card and takes the check-out card from the slip inside the cover. On this card the character will see the Title, Date, and means of exit. Players may choose whether their character took stock of this information or not. The card is stamped, and with a rush of wind, the person will find themselves inside.
Please remember that characters may only die once, and any subsequent death would need mod approval as it comes with IC consequences. The librarian will urge all characters to be cautious as everything they experience inside a book is very much real.
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circulationsection2018-06-30 08:07 pm
questions
Re: questions
And how much are the characters' minds affected by the book? Say you're playing someone like Sailor Moon in the epilogue chapter. She is unlikely to stab someone in the back unless there is some heavy manipulation going on. Which is cool, and I love stuff like that, I just want to know how heavy.
In a related vein, all of these prompts seem to cast the player in the Count's role. Does the book put all of the characters in the same role? That is, assuming the book is the Wizard of Oz, would all player characters who open it be in a Dorothy role? Or would maybe someone be the Scarecrow or Tinman?
I'm sorry for all the questions but the premise seems really interesting so I'm curious.
no subject
The characters aren’t always affected by sections of the book but in the epilogue they would experience it as in the prompt. It’s definitely a difference in how they normally would be. it’s to show how intense the books could possibly change a character.
Each book will be different! Some will put characters in the roles of the protagonist or villain. Sometimes characters will just see different parts or settings from books. When the mods post the events it will always be different but players can use open books however they’d like. For example if a book is listed as open players can do private logs where their character and others visit a setting or event.
We love the questions, it helps us smooth out any kinks!
no subject
Albert de Morcerf | Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo
[This is... too much. It's not exactly the same, and maybe that's why it took him a while to figure it out, but Albert's noticed enough uncomfortable similarities by now. Seen too many things that come just a little bit too close. The party is the last straw. Perhaps ironically, this is the first chapter he hasn't had to figure out. He knows how to end this one.
But... no. This story has gone on long enough and he's pretty sure he knows how the whole thing ends anyway. So instead of engaging the other masked party goer like he' supposed to, he mutters some vague excuse and all but flees to the balcony, not stopping until he's leaning on the railing and trying to catch his breath.]
What am I supposed to do now...?
[Can he really let this go on? Is there a way to stop it? And is it even his right to do so? It would be a different him. A different version of Franz, of Eugenie. But that hardly makes it any better. He might be stuck on this chapter for a while.]
Alice Liddell | Alice in the Country of Hearts (Clover/diamond/joker/etc.)
[Jumping into that water had taken quite a leap of faith, no pun intended. But that prison was maddening, and there really seemed to be no other choice. So when she wakes up on that sandy beach she's glad to see that she was right. She's also glad to see she's not alone. She's less glad to see the map and dagger and pulls herself to a sitting position with a frustrated sigh. This chapter is going to be annoying. She can just feel it.]
Are you alright?
[First thing is checking on her companion. The map can wait, and she doesn't want any part of that dagger.]
Lissa | Fire Emblem Awakening
[Lissa had gone into this book with relative confidence. After all, they just have to move the story along, right? Easy.
Or... at least it should be. But she's been sitting in this cell now for a long time. The objective is obvious: escape. But it's turning out that escaping from here is easier said than done. Several attempts to talk to the guard have gone unrewarded. And the door to the cell is unfairly sturdy. And that's not even mentioning the completely unfair lack of any secret passages! And that constant taptaptap sound isn't helping. But it's with that thought, and just as she's dramatically flopping onto a pile of straw in defeat that the taptaptap turns into taptapcrack!]
Whoa....
[She gapes as someone emerges from the newly formed hole in the floor.]
Did you.... dig through the floor?
[She's impressed. That must've taken forever!]
no subject
When it became obvious screaming and throwing tantrums were useless, he dedicated most of his waking time to the half-finished tunnel. With only his bare hands and a wooden spoon, this took forever, but a great hero never says die! And now, his hard work finally pays off.
A pointed black hat is the first to emerge. Then the whole of Hamel bursts out, spitting dirt.]
Yeah, and it took me AGES -
[Wait. He looks around, and realization dawns on him.]
What - it's just another cell!
no subject
[Akira grunted out that answer as he pushed himself upright, checking his body for serious injuries. His entire body ached, but nothing seemed to be broken... after jumping out the wall of a prison? How about that. Looking up, he could see that the girl from earlier was still with him — the two of them barely knew each other, but having an ally was always very much welcome when scouting out a new location.]
[He looks over at her, then follows her gaze to the map and weapon. His eyebrows rise; he'd feel much better with a familiar-ish weapon in hand.]
...What about you? Are you hurt anywhere?
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Akira Kurusu | Persona 5
[...Admittedly, Akira had never actually read The Count of Monte Cristo. It was always one of those things he wanted to do, or should have done, but failed to get around to. He thought going in that perhaps that would come back to kick him in the ass during this adventure, but wonder of wonders, the first area he dropped into was one he was intimately familiar with: a prison cell.]
[That's not going to stand.]
[This was an old book, wasn't it? So there probably weren't an awful lot of security measures in place here. Despite that though, it took a while before he made any progress. There were loose stones in the walls, with half-finished tunnels beyond; guards took their time to come around, only showing up once in what he assumed to be a twenty-four hour period. From there, pulling out stones and digging became a simple if time-consuming matter.]
[Immediately after the guard left his shitty food one morning, Akira made a break for it. That should give him time before anyone came around again and noticed he was gone. Eventually, he made it to the other side, pushed out the stones, and stuck his head and arm out... into another fucking prison cell.]
...dammit.
no subject
'Fraid so.
[She walks over and offers a hand to help him up.]
I've been wondering what all the tapping was. Wish I'd thought of digging my way out.
no subject
[Logically speaking that fall should have killed them. Which likely means they guessed right about the way to advance that chapter. Alice carefully gets to her feet, wincing a little at the ache in her muscles. She quickly tries to hide it behind a wry smile.]
For the record, I am never entering one of these books again without reading the whole thing at least a dozen times.
[Hindsight is 20/20. She turns her attention back to the map.]
I'd ask what the next step was but it seems obvious.
no subject
[Akira reaches for the map and dagger, pulling them both closer. He frowned a bit when he saw the... well, the cartoonish map.]
So we follow the shoreline for a while, then break off by... I don't know if these are actual landmarks or just decorations. But we break off.
[He gets to his feet now as well, holding the map and blade. The latter, he holds up to the girl.]
Mind if I keep this? I know how to fight with one.
no subject
She finds herself on the balcony. She may not know this story, but she does have some experience being in one, and playing the role she's assigned. ]
...What's wrong? Do you not want to progress the Story?
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She very much welcomes the new face, the break in the monotony.
Quite literally. ]
...Hello. [ She speaks flatly, hardly recognizing her own voice. ] I wasn't expecting any guests.
no subject
I suppose it's too much to ask for a proper map. But even if they are decorations, they might tie in with actual landmarks.
[She hopes. Otherwise it'll be nigh impossible to follow this mess. She waves away his question about the dagger almost before he's done asking it.]
You may as well carry it. I don't really... like weapons.
no subject
Sorry. I just....
[How to put this? Is there a way to say, 'this book is entirely too much like my actual life' that doesn't make you sound crazy? It's not even just vague similarities. Names, events, circumstances... honestly the only difference is the setting. And even that is pretty darn close.]
I don't think anything good is going to happen in this story.
no subject
Yeah, he definitely knows more than he's letting on.
Which is all the more reason Eve needs to win the game. ]
All the more reason to end it, I should think. Resisting will only make things more difficult.
no subject
I wish the dumbass who's been there before me would leave directions.
no subject
[The interruption comes from him pushing his way out of the tunnel, climbing on all fours onto the floor of Eve's cell. He stands up and brushes some debris off his clothes, though by this point they're so soiled with dirt that salvaging them is kind of a lost cause. He gives up on that and stretches, muscles cramped from what felt like hours spent in that little tunnel.]
I was hoping to be outside the slammer...
[He takes a better look at the woman, frowning.]
Guess I took a wrong exit.
no subject
[...Guess he's carrying that, then.]
Here, you take this then.
[Akira just hands her the map, noticing that she was trying to get a look at it. He was devising a plan already, another force of habit; maybe she could take navigation, while he focused on making sure nothing was trying to ambush them. He was already opening his mouth to speak when he remembered — this isn't the Metaverse, he's not The Leader, and he has no place ordering her around. Whoops.]
At the very least, the shoreline is probably accurate.
no subject
She simply watches him stretch... then follows suit, with a casual crack of her knuckles. ]
And here I thought I was the only one digging.
[ There is a touch of sarcasm behind it, suggesting maybe she doesn't really think that way—
But regardless. ]
Perhaps we're meant to join forces.
no subject
Not everyone is out to get you dude, chill.]...I doubt anything in this book happens by coincidence.
[He nods. That's agreement to her proposition, apparently! He'd rather have someone by his side in an unfamiliar place, even if she is a total stranger. They have a mutual goal: get out of here.]
You were digging, too?
no subject
She holds up both her hands, calloused and bruised. Her shoulders shrug lightly. ]
I didn't get as far as you did. [ CLEARLY......so far... again, slight sarcasm, but it dissolves into a thoughtfulness as she continues: ] But if you came from your cell in that direction, then... we might have more luck with mine.
[ She tips her head, indicating the opposite side of the room from Akira, where another hole hid in the corner—the tunnel she'd started, going the other way. ]
no subject
Might go faster with two.
[He shrugs, reaching one dirty hand upward to start fiddling with his also-dirty hair. They could... switch off digging so each other could rest, or something.]
no subject
She seems to have the same idea that he does, at any rate. ]
There won't be enough room.
[ Not for both of them at the same time, at least. Not comfortably. ]
You look like you've done enough for now. Allow me to go first.
no subject
I'll keep watch.
[To be honest he wasn't sure how long had passed in that tunnel, and when the guards were next going to remember they had prisoners and do a sweep. But getting caught would really suck for both of them.]
Let me know when you wanna switch.
1/2
With that in mind, Eve crouched down to her knees and started to work. ]
no subject
When one appeared out of the tunnel, the other simply knew what to do, and they would switch roles almost seamlessly (aside from a few cat naps here and there, which she had to wake him from). There was no way to tell how much time had passed, but finally... finally, something was different.
When Eve emerged from the tunnel yet again, she spat out the dirt that had found its way into her mouth and spoke breathlessly. ]
...I hear something. Come tell me if I've gone mad.
Kuro | Servamp
[There's a long suffering sigh from Kuro as he rolls to his side, stills, then pushes himself onto his feet. Or paws, so to speak. With the sun hanging high overhead, even if it was within the confines of a book, sunlight was still sunlight which meant he would be stuck as a cat for a bit.]
What a pain... Hey... You awake over there?
[He addresses the person on the other side of the map and dagger, seemingly unconcerned by their presence.]
Pidge | Voltron: LD
The first thing that registered as she opened her eyes was that this probably wasn't where she was trying to go. Pidge groaned and sat up, nose wrinkling at the damp, salty air. Where was she? Most importantly, how did she get out?
A quick look around told her all she needed to know. The cell was empty, lacking even a bed, and her only company came in the form of three fat mice running around in the corner.
Time was something she had to wonder about. The days seemed to blend together, the daily bowls of mush the only basis she had for keeping track. The next month went by without incident and Pidge learned quickly how to make a single bowl of mush last all day - not that she'd ever needed to eat much at a time in the first place.
Two more months went by in the same way, wherein Pidge had named the mice sharing her cell - Matt, Hunk and Lance - and made up lives for them. It was around the third month that she heard the tapping. About a week into month three, the hole appeared, and later, the stranger who turned out to be from the adjacent cell popped up through the hole.
Pidge was alarmingly easy to convince to help with the other tunnel, the one that would hopefully allow them to escape. Hours later, the easy part was over, and they were faced with a much larger dilemma; jump off a cliff into the water below, or go back and spend the forseeable future in that cell.
She didn't even wait to see what her fellow prisoner's decision was before hurling herself over the edge, because if she could disguise herself as a boy to find her family, pilot a robotic space lion and fight in an intergalactic war, she could certainly handle one little belly flop.
no subject
[She frowns and looks around the room again.]
I mean, we're supposed to escape, right? So there has to be a way out of here somewhere. Was there anything else in your room?
Re: Kuro | Servamp
G'way, Chrom. Mm tryin to sleeeep....
[But the second her cheek touches the hot sand she sits up quickly.]
Ow! What the-?
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I know. But.... do you think...
[He looks away, fixing his gaze on whatever view the balcony offers.]
Do you think we can change anything? Does it have to end the way it's supposed to?
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[She's okay with that and accepts the map with a nod. Alice has a good eye for detail and if there's any similarity between the map and the actual landscape she's confident she can find it.]
Good point. Our best bet is to follow the coast until we hit these hills here.
[She points them out on the map.]
We'll follow those inland. But what worries me is why this line seems to bypass the X in favor of taking a tour of half the island. Is there an obstacle we're not seeing?
no subject
Kuro watches her shoot straight into alertness, his expression not really changing from his usual "I'd rather be back in bed" mood, even as a cat. He does briefly look away to take in the items between the two of them before looking back to her.]
Oh... Looks like you are now.
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Well... this is the third chapter, so by now, surely you have your answer.
What happens when we try to change the story, or go against it?
no subject
[He was just sitting, staring out the bars and listening for guards, when the woman re-emerged. He turned his head to face her, frowning in confusion; she hadn't been in there long enough to have gotten tired...]
Oh. Alright.
[He walked over to the hole, climbing inside. It wasn't big enough to fit both of them shoulder-to-shoulder.]
You could probably come in after me, we'll fit that way.
no subject
Once they get far enough, the faint sound returns, gentle and distant.
...Water. Waves, crashing along... a shore? Cliffs? Something. ]
There. Do you think it's the sea?