"Life's more than reading your code of honours or some galactic guidebook. My major private military company learns from experience and even get involved with the worlds' cultures." The CEO grinned, confident that his private army gets involved in the locals.
Basically this is an IC game where the characters get to ramble about something they associate with what the OC above them has talked about!
This can be anything from really straightforward associations (A talks about Christmas and B proceeds to talk about how they never believed in Santa) or something more vague (Character C talks about their relationship with their parents, character D talks about what their childhood home used to smell like).
The point of this game is to just have fun and get to know your own and other people's characters through their small ramblings!
- Your post can be any length you want! Just keep it short enough other people will have the stamina to read it to pick an association from there for their own OC
- Make sure to claim your spot so nobody will snatch it while you type!
- Your character doesn't have to respond to the character above in any way! However, they can do that if you want.
How this game works:
Character A: [talks something about flowers and how they like roses]
Character B: My father used to own a flower shop and I used to spend a lot time there [description about the shop and things they liked there]
Character C: I love shopping clothes but I don't usually have much money to do that!
Since there is no first post, how about the first poster's character talks about music! (what they like, if they play/sing themselves etc, anything they find relevant)
"Culture! You see it all the time when shopping. People from all around the world find their way to my store, and it's absolutely fascinating talking to them all!" Reggie scratches his chin while observing the blonde. "Are you really a CEO? You're a little... young, aren't you? Well, whatever the case, I'm sure your army must need some refreshments, right? You should buy some here while our supplies last!"
"In the demon realm, shapeshifters often have a free pass when it comes to cultures: as we are considered nothing and everything at the same time, demons of all races and cultures tend to welcome us as one of them. And I suppose it makes sense, since generations before me have been everything but individuals: they have preferred to also be nobody and everyone at once, making it easier to blend and adapt to new cultures and societies. I, however, want to be an individual, so I feel a bit weird about all this - especially because things are different in the human world where I have lived for quite a while now! Humans and demons view culture very differently, which I think is interesting, but also creates a lot of awkward and uncomfortable situations between us sometimes, when our concepts clash..."
"According to old tales shared between our scientists and historians, us Aseku-- that's my species-- were once considered demons, or abominations, toward our conquests. These little, human-looking things, so many of them, spanning so far across tons of galaxies... Can you believe that? The audacity to talk down to our kind. It's rumored that our appearances alone are exactly why we were insulted before we pillaged. They never stood a chance, of course. I wouldn't be here today if these pillagings weren't successful.
When I think of these old stories, though, it makes me wish there were time machines. I'd love to go back to the actual happening of razing useless planets.
And... I have to admit, I find it hilarious that, these stories are thousands of years old, and over in other corners of the universe, untouched by our ways? Little, noisy humanoids perpetuate this ancient, outdated thinking, insulting and treating us so callously like they're safe, or even stronger than us. But... I guess I'm not too worried about being called a demon or some-such around these parts. It would be a perfect reason to stretch my claws, I think."
"Werewolves have this unfortunate part of their lives where in their puberty they have very low control of their body and transformation. When I was still in junior high and going through my adolescent changes, my ears would constantly pop up in the most unpredictable of situations! I had to wear a hat most of the time to prevent humans from seeing them, but during the class that was forbidden, and as such I often sat there holding my head and pretending I have a headache, when in actuality I tried to hide my ears.
Tail and fur were the worst though, because hiding those is much, much harder: I'd often rip my socks especially because of the spontaneous fur growth, and the tail was another very unfortunate thing to have - while it usually didn't rip any of my clothes, it was hard to hide a weird lump on your lower back, honestly. I couldn't be happier about the fact it's now all over!"
"When I was young, I saw childhood as this chrysalis-like state that the - admittedly messy but thoroughly necessary - ailment of puberty would utterly do away with. Children changed irrevocably when exposed to hormones and became more like their parents, or so I was told, and I anticipated the process with great enthusiasm. I thought I would become more like my father. I thought I would become a likable, openhearted, well-respected person, and all of the troubles of my childhood would go away. I would no longer be this aloof presence to my peers. I would understand why they cried when they fell and scraped their knees, I would understand why they shouted and laughed and played. I thought I'd understand what it felt like to want to smile, like my father did when calling me his little princess."
Molly stares off into the distance, her expression remaining neutral until she closes her eyes and sighs. "I always thought he was a good man, and so enamored was I with his character that I wanted to look like him too. Puberty was an upsetting time, because no only did I not become 'normal', I felt my appearance grew more... feminine, yet not feminine enough to be widely accepted. I was tall enough and flat-chested enough to be labeled as an abnormality, but my features were soft and delicate enough that I couldn't see anything of my father in them. I was told I have his eyes, at least. That's a comfort. But... I suppose I wanted more. Why couldn't I be more like him, I wonder? And is it too late for me to change?"
"...William says I am fine the way I am, but is that really true?"
"Puberty didn't go as it was expected. Rather, it was a lot of shouting and yelling, a lot of accusations thrown at me and my body by my parents, who had placed a lot of expectations on it. I, too, had done the same, but the difference was it was my body in the first place, not theirs, and they hardly had the right to start policing me over it.
Honestly, I think the way my parents treated me was far more scary than the changes in my body I had never anticipated or even considered to be a possibility for me. There is just something particularly vile about your own parents turning their back on you the moment you don't do or become something they wanted you to, regardless if it's your choice or not - and I can assure you I never had any intentions of purposefully wanting to go against them. I was more than fine with my parents preparing my life path for me as the heir of the family."
// oh my god im sorry for posting to this thread again so soon but I love character monologues and the idea of this is so fascinating to me!!
"I killed my mother," Folke says plainly, then laughs a little as he rubs his forehead. "That sounds so inflammatory. It's just - it's the truth though. Because I was born, she died. Because I didn't come out quite right, the doctors couldn't save her, and she... perished in agony. It's such a common story; childbirth is a brutal test of the body's capabilities. But I killed my mother, and my father never forgave me for it."
"He didn't... intend for it to be that way, I don't think. He didn't hold me after the midwife passed me to him thinking, I hate this child, I wish he was dead. But it made him unable to quite look at me, unable to quite... relate to me, so he worked, and he disappeared to the tavern, and he figured, someone will take care of this boy, someone will make sure he grows up alright before washing his hands of me. Sometimes, I wish he really had left - left earlier, left for good. Then I wouldn't have had to be around him, vaguely orbiting him but never really crossing his path. I wouldn't have had to feel I was something to be avoided then. I could have just grown up and moved on."
"I wonder sometimes why I chose to pick up his trade. I mean - yes, there's the obvious answer. It was expected of me. Sons are supposed to be like their fathers - we take their names, we take their jobs, we take their places when they die. I'm Folke Liefsson, not Folke... Son-of-a-man-who-raises-chickens, so of course a blacksmith's son would become a blacksmith himself. But I... couldn't I have left myself? Separated myself from him, from the memories, from the knowledge of what my existence meant for those around me? But I didn't. I stayed, and sometimes I'm not sure if that was inertia, and sometimes I'm not sure if I was hoping that one day, he wouldn't just see my mother in me - that he'd see himself in me, too. It's funny how a silly dream like that can shape someone's entire life."
“My parents didn't always hate me, but it was always obvious they loved my brother more. He was everything they wanted in a son-- tall, athletic, charming a real go-getter. Me? I was the awkward, sickly child. I didn't interact with other children quite right and my body didn't work quite right either. They spent a fortune on my medical bills, and while we were never strapped for cash, I know they resented me for it."
“Nothing I ever did could impress them, and I struggled to garner much approval from my peers either. That's probably why I threw myself into my studies as much as I did. I didn't need anyone else's approval to learn more and to hone my skills, plus it provided some respite from the social games I found so hard to navigate.
“But my parents saw it as their duty to continue trying to find some good in me. Or, rather, to overlook the ways in which I failed to meet all thier expectations. Even after I moved out I kept getting the occasional stilted phone call, or invitation to new year festivities… At least, until they caught wind of the whole trans thing. Finally, a concrete excuse to hate me! It was with palpable relief that they severed ties. “Come back when you're ready to make us proud to have you as a son”" Felony sneered.
“Now? My skills and study of rare magic has earned me global renown. I'm more successful than my brother ever could ever be. Every magic academic has heard my name. Everyone wants the rare metals I provide. My net worth is ten times that of my stupid brother.”
“But they'll never approve of me, or what I am. It hurt me before, but now I've gotten used to the idea… I don't need them anyway. I’ve forged my own path. I don't need anyone.”
"No lies, I did miss my parents a whole lot when I moved to the castle as a young child. Everyone was nice to me and my parents would occasionally visit me and I could visit home sometimes as well, but being apart from your parents at such a young age probably isn't very easy for most, really. I'm grateful the people at the castle were always nice to me and the maids and other servants were all like parents to me and the other page boys taken in, and the king and the queen were kind and generous as well - it felt like a big family in a way, but something was still lacking.
I eventually got used to all that though, but I'd lie if I didn't cry against my pillow during the first few weeks upon arriving. But it got better, and I'm much more independent now and don't even remember what it was like to be homesick."
"There was nothing quite like living at Castle Spaghorde. It felt kind of like being transported into a different world - and honestly, as a kid? That's how I thought about it. I'd been taken to a different world. A different life. We were on this mountain overlooking the entirety of the town, and there's something just... surreal about peeking over giant stone parapets and seeing a brightly-lit carpet of buildings with huge skyscrapers rising out of them, particularly when you live in a place that still has naturally cooled root cellars and heats the halls with firewood. Modern things don't really... work around us - wizards, I mean - and the entire Castle was this huge compound of magi, so everything we did? We did it traditionally. The city sent of shipments of food and other necessities, but they'd deliver it a fair bit down the road from us to keep the cars from breaking, and we had to heft it all up with our horse drawn carriages. Like the Amish! We often churned our own butter too, and made our own wine. Our kitchens were these huge stone rooms with enormous fire-heated stoves... and we burned these giant chandeliers in the dining hall during dinner. And when I first was taken there, I'd just... lost my parents, and all I'd known was a world that had refrigerators and televisions and comic book stores, so... it was..."
Aegis runs a hand through their hair, smiling wistfully. "I felt like I was the protagonist in a kid movie, y'know - one where some boy falls into another world. Except it was me, and I was a wizard now, being taught magic and fighting and my parents were gone, so I'd just - pretend they'd sent me away to boarding school! I'd tell myself, "they're just in the city, this is like summer vacation, everything is fine. And slowly I started to... forget. Them, what it was like. I was so - wrapped up in it all, in the mysticism, in the seclusion, in being a wizard... that I really did feel like a totally different person than the kid who almost died in a car accident. It helped that everyone called me Aegis, not - well. My original name. It was like being wrapped in this comfortable, familiar bubble, and..."
"...Why did I have to mess it all up? Things were so good. I was so happy - at least, I should have been. Castle Spaghorde doesn't exist anymore and - god. Why didn't I stop them? Why didn't I say anything when I knew what we were doing was wrong?"
"I wish I had nothing to do with magic - it doesn't mesh together with the modern era, if you ask me. It's all about hiding and lying and coming up with excuses, and the worst thing is there is nothing I can do about it: I was made a hero without ever asking for it, given magical powers far beyond what my body can comprehend, and look where we are now! It's not like I went outside much in the first place, but now I couldn't even if I wanted because the demon steal is stuck within me and tail and fangs and horns and claws and teeth just pop out on their own! There is no way I can live like a normal person with all this going on, just attending school is plenty of trouble let alone trying to keep this all a secret from my parents, as little as they visit home nowadays.
And the worst thing? I can't even use magic outside of my fully transformed form. My dragon features pop up, I breathe fire and smoke if I get agitated and all this magical nonsense keep leaking into my already bothersome life! It has no benefits for me whatsoever - only trouble."