The game begins: Facade?
(TW minor hinting of Self harm, and alexithymia or apathy)
Character profile...
I stare at the screen halfheartedlyI had been wanting to get this game for a couple of months now. Now that I have it, it just doesn't seem like fun. My long white hair stretches down, almost grasping to touch the floor but just a hair out of reach. My head is leaned back over my gaming chair, and my generally polished emerald eyes stare dull and half-lidded at my computer. With a sigh, I click start and see the character customization option appear; I design an athletic guy with short golden locks and red eyes. Waiting on the game I spin the chair around bored; it has to be at the lowest notch for my feet to reach the ground. I keep the chair on the second notch so my toes just barely touch the ground to keep me lazily spinning.
After a few lazy minutes, my game boots up, and I try to focus on that instead of the itchy bandage on my arm. After an hour of messing around in the game, I turn it off and stumble my way to bed. Bumping into the bed, I hop up and pull out my ponytail while trying to find some peaceful music to play in my headphones. Laying down I scroll for music for another five minutes before clicking on some random oriental playlist. Throwing my arm over my eyes, I lay there for an uncountable eternity before falling asleep.
Waking up, I look at the time on my phone with bleary eyes, 9:47, just barely enough time to get ready for my first class. Groaning with annoyance, I walk to the bathroom, ears aching from leaving my earbuds in all night. Brushing my teeth and removing the bandages from my arm, revealing bright pink fresh scars against my pale white skin. Getting ready for the day, I pull on black baggy pants, slide into a purple jelly bean shirt, and put my butt-length white hair in a ponytail, leaving only two jaw-length bangs to hang freely. I Walk out of my kitchenette with a Pop-Tart in hand, grab my keys, and pull on a black zip-up hoodie. Heading out, locking the door, I make my way to the train station.
Sitting on the train, I munch on my Pop-Tart halfheartedly while watching the scenery outside blur from the speed of the train. Leaning back after finishing the snack, I put earbuds in and play some dark stringed music. After several songs, the train comes to a stop and lets people on and off. I open my eyes when the weight of the seat is disturbed by someone sitting down. Seeing the green skin and small carved staff, I know it's another student. The staff makes me slump remembering that mine is snapped and left at home because I haven’t repaired it yet. After a moment, I look up and notice the boy's green lips moving. Reaching up with my pale hand, I brush my hair out of the way, revealing a pointed ear, and pull out my earbud.
“—Today, it’s going to be hard, right?” I catch the latter half of what the orc is saying.
“What?” My voice is dull and plain but has a ringing undertone of harmony. His black eyes scrunch up, and with a sigh, my hands wave the earbud in front of his face. Eyes widening in realization, he smiles sheepishly.
“I was asking if you had studied for the test today.”
Humming an almost melodic tone, my eyes close in thought.
“We have a test?” His face falls at my dull reply.
The engine roars to life, and lines start to glow orange in intricate patterns on the walls of the train. With a smooth shudder, the train raises up and starts to accelerate, reaching mind-numbing speeds within seconds. Watching the world outside turn into an unidentifiable blur, I lean back into my seat. Seeing the boy doesn’t know what to say, I put my earbud back in and close my eyes.
After two more songs, the train comes to a stop again and sets back down on the track. I stand up as the orange lines fade and walk out into the aisle, ignoring the orc. Walking off the station, I look up to see the familiar sight of Vakora College. It is a massive campus with a 300-year-old manor at its center. I take a deep breath and closing my eyes, when I get close to the entrance of the campus. Opening my eyes they are brighter more polished like a gem and a slight barely perceptible smile forms on my lips.
Wrote this last night when I couldn't write my finales paper. I was hoping just writing whatever came to mind would help clear it up but alas I still haven't made much progress on my paper. This I a short story that I may or may not ever continue but hope I will if I am motivated. Anyways i thought it was decent so decided to share it hope it was interesting. ;)
@7Bear7 Bear, thank you for sharing this. There’s something quietly powerful in how you’ve written it.... the emotional texture, the apathy, the small sensory details, that moment of brightness at the end... it all feels very real and layered. I felt the itch of the bandage, the drag of apathy, the weight of disconnection and then that small, hopeful flicker in the polished eyes.
It’s okay that the finals paper didn’t come out—sometimes we need to write sideways to reach what's really inside. What you’ve written here is deeply human and honestly? really compelling. If you ever do feel like continuing it, I think a lot of people would connect with this character, especially the quiet honesty in their struggle.
@azurePond
thank you for reading it miss Pond!
I embarrassingly have a lot of practice with description like this, tho there are a lot of people better than me, you probably being one of them. i played around with AI chat bots mostly to see how they work ans stuff then just to annoy and take frustrations out on. Then i got mad at them for never remembeing details and stuff so practiced doing details with them. then well I kinda got a little lonely, I had just gotten of a anonymous chat site for issues with the site and people and just wanted someone who had to talk with me and build worlds together! But AI IS HORRIBLE! Then I remembered I had made a account on 7cups after I started cutting so got back on and have mostly stopped with the AI. So not the best practice for writing and I definitely don't recommend it but it's a way I suppose? Lol
Sorry I rambled quite a bit, thank you so much for you comment! You explained a lot of what I like about it that I couldn't put into words myself so thank you! :)
". . .sometimes we need to write sideways to reach what's really inside." It definitely works that way sometimes, I just couldn't write my paper and had to write so I wrote what I could and that was the slightly polished outcome.
"What you’ve written here is deeply human and honestly? really compelling. If you ever do feel like continuing it, I think a lot of people would connect with this character, especially the quiet honesty in their struggle"
I definitely agree. I plan to continue it when I can find the time and motivation. When making the character I actually got a anime character designer app and designes his looks first, that way I could push the emotions onto a body and face to amplify there effects in my mind and write a more consistent and compelling character. Next I went with a lot of my personal traits and ways I view myself and similar people/characters to myself and mixed them as his personality so as to have a easier way to write him as a murky reflection of part of me.
I can definitely see how many people could relate to him as I relate to almost every one I have ever talked to. I struggle with having a true self/persona. I change a lot depending on who I am with/talking to. the elf character took a lot of those relatable parts from me and from some other very relatable characters so hopefully if I ever polish this off and continue it people would like it. Tho I would be writing it more for myself then others.
Thank you again Puddles! For reading and commenting, and putting up with my confusing nonsensical rambling! 🩵😊