You are surrounded by black. 

You are in a room, though you don’t recognize it, and everything feels blurry right now. You don’t think you recognize anything, nor could you, considering this is your first moment of being alive.

You do not have a name, though you feel like you could have one, if you wanted.


 
You are a MOLDED CHOCOLATE TYPE TCP, and you are made entirely of unusually difficult-to-melt milk chocolate. You have the ability to break pieces off of yourself and heal others with it, giving a slight energy boost in the process. You have no idea how you know that information. You also know that you’re in good health, and that you’re not injured in any way.


 
You fall unceremoniously onto the floor before you even realize you’ve been hovering. Some kind of...pad? lays underneath your body, a faint glow dimming as you pull yourself to your feet. 

...well, so much for not being in any pain. Ow.


 
There’s a pile of fabric in front of you, as well as a piece of paper. You’re not sure how you know what either of these things are.

 
You walk over to the piece of paper first. You start reaching down to pick it up before realizing it has a pleasant crinkle to it, patting it with a sudden sense of delight. You can’t help but giggle, cutting yourself off as the sound echoes through the room.

You feel...watched.

You hurriedly pick up the paper. 
 

 
The scribbles on it are foreign, but the longer you hold it, the weirder you start to feel. Some of the characters on the paper start making...sense, somehow.

You realize that you’re reading the piece of paper, and that it is actually a letter.

Dear Newcomer- welcome to the Maze Trials! 

You are our newest spawned resident, and are now under observation. Do not worry, you will be cared for in our state of the art facility, and everything will be provided for your needs. Do your best to consider this your new home. 

Please put on your standard issue jumpsuit. Do not worry if it looks ill fitting, it will conform to fit your typing. The following hallway will scan you and enter you in our database so that we can best serve you, and then you will have access to your personal quarters. 

We hope you enjoyed your first taste of reading, this skill note a complimentary gift from SkillSet Interactive Technologies!

You...do not know what a database is, or a scan, or half of these other things, but the whole thing is weirding you out a bit.


 
You set the paper down and go check out the fabric next, approaching with a bit more caution this time. The paper mentioned some kind of “jumpsuit”, and something in the back of your head says that it could be clothing upon looking at it. You pull at one of the long pieces- a sleeve, your mind corrects- and you could swear the thing moves.


 
You drop it immediately.


 
You move away from the jumpsuit very quickly to check the wall for any signs of a way out of the room- maybe some kind of secret passage. Unfortunately though, there’s nothing there but smooth tile...you can’t find passages or doors of any kind, secret or otherwise. There’s nothing even indicating that hallway the letter mentioned, so you have no idea what that’s on about.

All that you have in here is the letter and the jumpsuit.

  
You go over to check the pad you fell on upon your arrival- spawning, your mind corrects. The glow is gone by now, and from what you can tell, there’s nothing you can do to get it back. You try pushing at it with a foot, only to have it slide along the smooth surface- guess that doesn’t work. Pulling at the edge with a hand doesn’t work any better, the device firmly attached to the floor. Whatever this thing is, it’s not going anywhere and its secrets remain a mystery. 


You guess that if you want to get into that hallway, you’re going to have to put that jumpsuit on...even if the thing…moves.

You shudder.

You shuffle over to the pile of fabric and touch it with a foot, getting a slight rustle from the garment. Ohhhh, you do not want to do this, but it shouldn’t hurt you, right? It’s...you don’t know anything about clothes, but the letter said that it’ll fit, even if it’s really big! It should be fine!

You reach for it, picking it up-


 
The jumpsuit springs into the air, unzipping itself 


 
and engulfing you.

You feel like you’re being tumbled around as the fabric swarms and fixes itself around your limbs, the sleeves and pant legs wrapping and shrinking to fit.


 
You stumble as it puts you down, a perfect, shrink wrapped (what does that word mean?) fit. You feel incredibly dizzy, but you are clothed now. 

It feels kind of sweaty, to be honest, but you get the nagging feeling that taking it off is going to be a struggle, if not nigh impossible.


 
On the far wall, part of the wall slides down, revealing a passage. Looks like your instinct was right.

You try to take off the jumpsuit, but the thing’s stuck tight. The most you can do is roll up your sleeves and pant legs, which you guess will come in handy if you ever need to use that ability you seem to know about. Otherwise, you’d have to break off part of your head...body...area, and that would just feel weird. Not that losing part of your limbs sounds great either, but…

Screw this, you have people...observing you! The letter said so! And now the hallway’s open, so…



You’re suddenly filled with fear, the thought of them- whoever they are- trying to chase and catch you flooding your head. Nope, none of that, you’re going to get out of here right now.

You book it down the hallway and into  the next chamber, the hallway sealing behind you in a cascade of rapidly descending pillars. 



When you come out into the following room, it’s as if there was never a hallway to begin with. 

This room, however, has stuff in it.

 

You decide to do a once over of the room.

The shelves are empty, but there’s so much space here that you get the feeling that something is meant to be on them. There’s nothing under the cushion, and the big block towards the wall is some kind of poor excuse for a table, your mind tells you. No way to tell if there’s anything under it either, it’s too heavy. There’s no space under the bed, and there’s nothing under the pillow and blanket but sheets and mattress. 

What a boring room.

...except, of course, for the stuff on the wall.



Before you get to that of course, you jump on the bed.

This is so much fun! You’ve never had fun before in your short life, and you can’t get enough of it, you’ve got to do more of this-



You slip and smack against the button on the wall, a voice crackling to life over an unseen speaker.

INTERCOM: Welcome to your personal quarters.
INTERCOM: You have not earned any rewards.
INTERCOM: Please make an impression to earn a reward.
INTERCOM: You have two questions remaining in this trial cycle.

...okay.



You need to step on the pillow to reach the other panel, but it appears to be a chute of some kind. It looks like some unknown source can send objects to your room from here, but it’s much too steep to climb up. 

 
You look around for exits, but the walls are completely smooth and featureless. You feel...trapped.

The feeling sinks in and you can’t help but scream at the unseen intercom, frustration building up. It’s a strange cracking sound, but its anger is unmistakable. 


 
Something comes tumbling down the chute, and opening it reveals a piece of paper, along with some scattered...your mind calls it confetti. Weird. 
  

INTERCOM: Reward given. Cycle reset.
INTERCOM: Rebellious nature noted. 
INTERCOM: Please take and use this reward, it will help you going further.

 
You grab the paper and look it over, a weird feeling coming over you as you do.

Dear Newcomer- please enjoy this new skill. You have now been taught SPEECH. You can now speak to us, and voice your requests. Thank you for enjoying another Skillset Interactive product!

INTERCOM: While some rewards are predetermined by us, especially when we deem skills are necessary to proceed, you are allowed to specify a reward when you’re able to redeem them.
INTERCOM: We recommend skill and information books to help you understand what kinds of things exist in the world.
INTERCOM: We will do our best to accommodate your requests. Should you request something that can’t fit in the reward chute, we will deliver it to your room when you are not inside. 
INTERCOM: Please respect that reward delivery may take some time in the case of us not immediately having what you’re looking for. 
INTERCOM: You have not earned any other rewards yet. 
INTERCOM: Please make an impression to earn a reward.

 


Your voice comes out for the first time, a sort of...dripping and cracking sound. It’s a lot weirder than the one coming through the intercom, but it’s yours, and you like it.
   

????: What...is an impression?
INTERCOM: An impression can be anything, so long as it gives us information.
INTERCOM: We are studying you and learning so much with everything you do.
INTERCOM: Please think creatively and act accordingly. 
INTERCOM: If you would like a hint- which we will not give you aside from questions- we recommend starting with a name and pronouns.
INTERCOM: It is very fascinating to see what TCPs pick…
INTERCOM: You have one question left in this trial cycle. 

 
 
You brush the confetti out of the chute and into your hands, sitting on the floor and starting to arrange them into a little pattern- it’s not one you recognize or assign any meaning to, but it’s pretty.

????: Can I explore anywhere, or do I have to stay here?
INTERCOM: You will be let in and out of your room when we see fit.
INTERCOM: Things may change outside of your room, and you are unlikely to encounter the same area twice. 
INTERCOM: Unless, of course, we find something interesting enough to study again. 
INTERCOM: We decide when you are able to leave and come back, however the choice as to take those opportunities is yours.
INTERCOM: You cannot redeem rewards when out of the room, though you will be made aware of when you make an impression. 
INTERCOM: Similarly, you cannot receive larger rewards unless you are out of the room.
INTERCOM: There will be many more chances to make impressions outside as well, so please explore and give us as much information as possible.  
????: Okay…

  

 
You have to make an impression...a name...okay, you’ve got it.

????: I want to be named See. 
SEE: And...I don’t really know how I know what a pronoun is, but I use it/its.
INTERCOM: Very good!

 
A little chime echoes through the room. 

INTERCOM: Cycle reset. 
INTERCOM: You have earned a reward. Please tell us what you would like, though it must be a physical object. 
INTERCOM: We will try to meet your request as best as possible.
INTERCOM: You have two questions remaining in this trial cycle. 

  

 
Without warning, a door slides open on the wall opposite to where you entered, pillars unfurling. 

INTERCOM: You may also now leave your room.
INTERCOM: Please enjoy your time outside.