{2/9} - Two of Nine: A Nine Lives Forum adventure

[Lilium Mortem]

Content Warnings: Death, Cancer, Unreality.
This story may have more content warnings apply to it as it goes on, as it stands now, there are a few things I'd like to avoid all together, but as a world-building project, anything could happen. Content warnings appear at the beginning of new posts that introduce them, as well as the general content warning list, should another one come up.



-{2/9}-
Two of Nine: A 9 Lives Forum Adventure

You ever heard of Hikikomori? In Japan some kids are so crushed under the weight of responsibilities thrust on them by their parents and society they just shut themselves inside their rooms and refuse to come out. They stop social interaction and live off games, manga, anime, ect. I like to think of how lucky they are that their parents will bankroll that stuff for them. I feel like we’re kindred spirits.

I grew up on TV and video games. Books and internet message boards. I never liked talking with other people and detested school. I made no friends and stayed out of the way all up through high school. I engaged with fantasy worlds where I had power, and could understand people in a way that the real world made too confusing.
 
When It was time for college, when I had to make real decisions, I picked safe bets. I took gen ed courses to put off choosing my major for as long as possible, and when it came down to it… I realized I didn’t want to do anything. So I dropped out. I lived with my mom and got paid to move pallets in a warehouse. 
Now… I’m dying. They didn’t detect the tumor until it was too late. At first I was OK with it, OK with just ending a life that was never going to go anywhere. Then I saw my mom cry. People from work showed up and we’d talk, I hated it, but they cared. And then an internet friend showed up. Drove 30 hours from Detroit to get here. A guy I’d been raiding with in MMOs since high school. People cared, and I didn’t.

I can’t help but wonder what went wrong. Why could I never connect to people? Why didn’t I want to? I could see my life laid out before me and I only ever took the easy way out. What would it be like to put effort into life, into trying to connect with people?

I’m not ready to die. Not anymore. I can turn things around, Have friends, get to try D&D, Go back to school, and move on from the limbo I’ve placed myself in. I don’t want to die… no. I won’t die! I have a dream now, even if it’s the smallest of things! I’m going to connect with people and pay back their kindness!
  

{1/1}



{2/9}

-{ {} }-

 
I can see myself, floating in an abyss. A cat shaped silhouette ill defined. It’s that dream again. I need to remember… who I am. Where was I born?
 
1) Foundry
This country/continent is one of the two major powers on the planet. The government is built off the ideals of Freedom and serving the direct will of the people. Corporations are beginning to thrive here as the lax intervention from the government enables them and Crime is higher than ever before. Still, It can be good place to live. Everyone is considered equal since their voices all matter. Poly-amorous Weddings were legalized recently, and the push for a government sponsored universal basic income experiment has been gaining traction. Social progress here is fast, and people accept who you are. Everyone is free, everyone has a voice.

2) Alloy
This country/continent is one of the two major powers on the planet. The government is built off the ideals of Safety and serving the best interests of the people. Prisons take dangerous criminals off the street… and not so dangerous ones. If you want anything done you have to navigate labyrinthine bureaucracy, people suffer under the weight of a system slow to move and slow to change. Still, it can be a good place to live. Guns are outlawed to everyone except specialized law enforcement and the military. You can walk through the busy streets of a city without fear. Strict safety regulations mean you never have to worry about an unsound foundation, or a train that hasn’t been serviced. It’s safe here, and quiet. Take things slow, and enjoy the ride.
 
3) Kingdom of Rose
The only surviving monarchy. A small nation overshadowed by the two global superpowers of Alloy and Foundry, The kingdom of roses makes it’s one way by trusting that people who dedicate their lives towards governing others have the experience to handle anything that comes their way. Each King or Queen chooses their replacement from a pool of candidates elected by the public in addition to a parliament. You need to serve in the military once you come of age, and government schooling reaches all the way up to college level. Corruption is a large problem despite the best efforts of the Queen to stamp it out, or some may say because of her. Despite this The kingdom is lush, and there are crown sponsored organizations that can help you along any path you wish to take. Life here is smaller than the other countries, and steeped in tradition, both good and bad. It can be a good life, for those that don’t need bustling metropolises or high speed rail lines, so long as they have their community and faith in the crown.

[1011686]

Kingdom of Rose

[victorianflorist]

I'm also for the Kingdom

[ಠ_ಠ]

kingdom time. lets overthrow the monarchy.

[King-Clod]

Foundry. Seems like a good place to start, I doubt we'd do well in the military.

[Lilium Mortem]

Oh, right. I remember seeing the Queen in the Water Festival Parade. Her smile always seemed forced on TV, but she seemed relieved to just ride a float and smile. That felt like an honest smile. I can’t remember, did I see that in person?

The Kingdom of Rose is a temperate archipelago in the southern hemisphere made up of 6 different major islands. Red, Pink, White, Yellow, Blue, and Black. Red Rose Island is the largest, and where the capital is. Pink through yellow are all moderately populated and close to red, with Blue and Black being the major exceptions. Blue Rose Island houses the temple of the ocean spirit, the largest temple in the Kingdom, The island is very religious, and often a place of pilgrimage. Black Rose Island is a rock. Unlike the other major islands in the Kingdom, hardly anything grows on Black Rose Island. It’s barely populated, with only fishing villages being able to sustain themselves.

Jeez, I know I went to school at least, that’s a textbook definition of the place. But where did I go to school? What kind of a place did I grow up in, and where?

[Suggest a place to live with as little or as much detail as you want, you could just say what island you want to start at, or go all the way down to how the floorboards of our protagonist's home creak. Go nuts, I'll pick and choose which details to use.]

[King-Clod]

Black Rose Island. We had to drop out of school early to help our family with the family business after our older brother left for better business prospects on Red Rose Island. The town we live in has an especially close-knit community, with nearly everyone being seen as family, whether they're related by blood or not. They certainly make the long nights at sea a little more bearable.

[ಠ_ಠ]

Black Rose Island. same as clod's answer but the business is mining and the family doesnt own it.

[1011686]

Blue Rose island let's go.

We played a lot with our friend's pet.
We spent several months slowly building a huge pile of rocks in the backyard (it was a 'house').
We liked playing in the water, but didn't actually swim much.
We thought people working in the military were really cool.
We did okay at school, mostly because we were very studious and attentive to what our friends said when we asked them for help.
We were closer to our parents than our siblings.
We experimented with sleeping in a hammock, but eventually gave up.

[victorianflorist]

We collect driftwood and seaglass in our spare time, crafting sculptures we want to bring to the capital one day.
Our fascination with seaglass started after a massive storm blew out all the windows of our house, the cost to replace them would be too much, so we began using cement and seaglass to cover over the open windows.

[Lilium Mortem]

I live in a small fishing village on the northern tip of Blue Rose Island called Blackwater crossing. It used to be the last port before a ship would head north to Black Rose Island, but shipping routes changed and that left the village pretty empty until the copper mine was discovered. The town was booming for decades, my dad tells me, but now the vein is running low, and it’s hard to find work in town.

A couple of years ago a monsoon blew out our windows and we couldn’t get them replaced. I tried to drop out of school to help Dad with work, but even if that wasn’t illegal, there’s no extra work in the mine, it’s already struggling. It was then when my older brother left for Red Rose, hoping to get a better job. He’s a third life, and when he got his memories back decided to stick around in a quiet fishing village. Things got too bad for him to stay. He sends money home, we replaced the windows.

For the longest time as a kid I’d stay away from other people, making mud and stone structures in our backyard. Pyramids, a ‘clock tower’, an arch over the creek, all kinds of stuff. Eventually I upgraded to using other materials, and once we got an art teacher at school I really got into sculptures. Currently I’m fascinated with working with Sea glass.

But then there’s Wuther. He’s a [Siamese] that saw me sitting by myself one day and said he’d be my friend. At first I didn’t want to bother, but something changed my mind. He showed me his pet bird, Dusty, and we played fetch all the time. It never got old seeing that bird catch a frisbee mid flight. He even gave me his old handheld game console for a birthday present once.
 

-{ {} }-

There was a crack of thunder and I woke up. I had that dream again. Things were starting to come back to me, but it still felt like it didn’t make sense. I always forgot what happened at the beginning of the dream. I made my way into the bathroom, bladder screaming at me. Once I relieved myself I washed my paws and took a look into the mirror.

“Ugh, still feels weird. Summer break is ending in three days and my birthday is in seven. I’m almost thirteen.” I said to the mirror, the same way I would talk in that dream. “My Name is-”

[Select our Protagonist’s name, pronouns, and breed of cat. In this world people revere the natural world, and so too name people after nature. Few names of the old world remain these days, so most names are in the common tongue. The Kaz are a race of anthropomorphic house-cats. Most earth cat breeds exist, save for crossbreeds.]

[King-Clod]

Scud (a mass of windblown spray), they/them, American Curl

[seppawku]

i like scud but how about a russian blue?

[ಠ_ಠ]

Scud Pumpernickel, an Oriental Longhair 

[victorianflorist]

Scud Kelp, Mainecoon

[Lilium Mortem]

[I rolled a d4 for cat breed, so no hard feelings.]

“My name is Scud, My name is Scud, My name is Scud.” I repeated, hoping to make it stick.

I looked in the mirror, flexing the claws out of my white paws. I smoothed out my neck ruffle and stared into my piercing red eyes, which matched the red fur that topped my head and made its way down my back and covered my fluffy tail. Sometimes it bothered me how much fur I had, being a [Maine Coon], but I wasn’t quite sure why. For a second I didn’t recognize the reflection as my own. I shook my head and forced myself to accept who I saw was me.

It was me, I knew that. Still… I felt like there was more. Like I had forgotten something. I splashed my face with water, my whiskers twitching at the sudden wetness. I grabbed a towel and dried off before making my way back to my room.

I checked my alarm clock. It was [6:54AM]. Was it too late to go back to bed? I’d only get maybe an hour more of sleep If I was lucky. I walked over to the window to see the rain pouring down on the town. It was still summer vacation and I didn’t have any plans…

“What should I do?”

[Character creation complete! You may now feel free to interact with Scud! I can't guarantee all your suggestions or insights will reach them, but generally you will still guide them on their journey.]

[ಠ_ಠ]

make a big sandwich. the biggest sandwich you have ever made

[King-Clod]

Let's sit down and write a letter to our brother, see how he's been these past few years. The sound of rain always helped us get our thoughts together.

[Lilium Mortem]

make a big sandwich. the biggest sandwich you have ever made

I suddenly remembered how hungry I was. I guess the first thing to do in the morning is make breakfast. A sandwich sounded really good right then. So I headed downstairs, careful not to make a racket and turned on the lights in the kitchen. I put together a sandwich, a bit bigger than I’d normally make it, and sat down at the kitchen table.

I heard the footsteps of my dad as he made his way downstairs. He was a [Main Coone] like me, but his fur always looked shaggy and he was never not tired. He grunted in my general direction, a zombie without his morning tea. I grunted back, but he just ignored me while he put the kettle on.

When my eyes glanced into the living room I stopped to look at the computer. We only had Network over telephone, or ‘NOTwork’ as my friends liked to call it. Only good to send electronic mail and read message boards. Nothing like real MEINet, where you could download pictures, chat in real time, and even play games with other people! Technology really is amazing.

Let's sit down and write a letter to our brother, see how he's been these past few years. The sound of rain always helped us get our thoughts together.

I realized I should write an electronic letter to Stratus. We only got NOTwork a few months ago, I haven't had the chance to use it. I wondered what he’d been up too these past couple of years.

I finished off my sandwich just as the kettle started to whistle and put my plate in the sink before running over to the computer. I flip the switch on the bulky machine and it begins to hum to life. After a few minutes, the monochrome desktop loads. I rolled the trackball until the cursor was over the mail icon and pressed the select button. The application opened but I was lost. Inbox? Trash? [CC]? Where did I click to enter an address?

[Guest]

Compose.
try to show off our vocabulary while writing, be as eloquent and verbose as possible to impress him (our brother).