Orion Dahlberg's Story

When Orion logged in, he found himself on a beach. To his disappointment, he found no ladies in bikini, cafes or anything else equally entertaining. Still, it was a step up from last time. Pouring rain, a harsh wind and locusts were definitely at the bottom of his list of things in the universe. Then he spotted the other people, seemingly trying to solve the puzzle. With a slight smile on his face he approached the group, grateful for the company. In his mind he was already preparing an introduction. Charm and strength 5 were really fun, but having an audience made it a lot better. He couldn't help it, he was a show-off. Besides, social activity was always refreshing. He made a quick bow for the rest of the group and gave them a roguish grin.

"Orion Dahlberg, at your service. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Now if I may get down to business and state the obvious, I see we are dealing with a puzzle? Well, I'm sure our wondrous group will have no trouble whatsoever finding the solution, given sufficient thought of course. So what have we got?" he asked. As the rest answered and explained their theories a frown appeared on his face.

"I see, those are some good finds," he placed his finger against his chin, "is that thing part of the puzzle too?" he asked, pointing at the pirate flag, "or is that just the latest trend? Regardless, I can't imagine how it would help solve this puzzle," he shook his head, this stuff was hard, "the flowers also make me wonder. A deer would eat flowers, right? Maybe we could lure it back with them? I don't know,I'm just guessing,” Orion suggested, glad he could at least make a suggestion. The last puzzle had ended in him smashing half the items in a fit of rage before tripping and falling down a cliff.

Corki giggled at the cat girl's reaction, but couldn't respond when a newcomer presented his own idea. For a short moment, her shoulders slumped in disappointment, her thoughts not delving that far into the puzzle just yet. But the quicker they figured it out the better, and she pasted her smile back on with renewed vigor (throwing a wink to the cat girl). "I suppose flowers are a bit less harmful than a hunter."

She hoped she wasn't offending her, but loved the joke, so couldn't help but keep it going. Still, she had to focus. Turning back to river, she wondered what was on the other side, fingers rolling against her hip and lips pouting out in thought. In truth, she should have figured out the puzzle already, but an itch in the back of her mind prevented such luck.

Ignoring it as best she could, she picked up the deer mask saying, "So two across, one back, two across, one back? Something like that? The deer and panther on the same boat though...doesn't seem safe."

Was that a wink? Now Andromeda was almost sure the woman was playing a game with her. She didn't want to show that she was intimidated, and by her own strange logic the way to do that was to think of the thing that would have made her blush most if said to her, and then say that. "Sometimes flowers are the best tool to catch a large cat."

The game of words had distracted her, the moment of inspiration she experienced a short while ago had gone. Trying to bring it back, she thought aloud. "Yeah, two in one boat... doesn't seem safe at all..."

Suddenly blushing like a tomato, she pointed in a random direction. "Um, I didn't mean that like... like... I'm just going to pace back and forth over there for a while, okay?"

This was not good. This was bad. She wasn't sure if Corki had meant to be suggestive, or if those interpretations were only in her head. The bigger problem now was that those things had come out of her mouth in a much less ambiguous way, and the last thing had been spontaneous instead of a joking response... it had not been what she meant, but those people didn't know that... did they? Why did she have so much difficulty figuring people out?

Andromeda changed the direction in which she was pacing. What was going on here? It was all in her head, wasn't it? But why then was it in her head? She didn't even like girls. She didn't like anyone that way. Right? She stopped to look over her shoulder at Corki. There was something awfully familiar about all this. How very strange.

She continued walking like an animal in the front of its cage. Had she and that woman been together in a previous game? Had they done anything? No, not possible, anything inappropriate for children would end a game. She exhaled. She told herself "Andromeda. Stop being silly and go back to the group." She took another deep breath.

When she returned, she tried to act neutral. "So, have you guys figured it out yet?"

While Tom was sitting and thinking over their progress so far, two others joined the group, both of which he only noticed when the second, a young man about his own age, made himself known.

He stood and greeted the newcomers. "I'm Tom. Nice to meet you." he said, offering a handshake to each of them in turn. "That was an interesting idea you had, Orion, but I have a feeling that not even the promise of food would tempt a deer if it was under such a threat as that of a waiting predator."
He gave Corki a smile, trying to make sure she didn't feel as though he had completely ignored her. Then, at a loss, he sat back down, crossed his legs, and propped his head on his forearms. This was his thinking position. Although it did occasionally become a daydreaming position...

Now she was standing with the others again, Andromeda noticed Orion. “Oh. Orion. I didn’t say hi to you did I? I’m sorry, I got... distracted there. I think the little flag is just a random prize.” She looked at her left foot, then the right one, then the left again, right, left, right, left, right... Left. They must all think I’m a weirdo. Right. I don’t care what people think. Left. That’s not true, I care what I think about my mind. Right. Why??? Left. I want friends. Right. Animals don’t have friends. Left. I’m not an animal. Right. It’s why I prefer them over humans. They don’t try to control each other. They don’t play mind games. Left. That’s not friendship. And even animals can know that.

She looked back up, trying to catch what the others were saying. If she wanted to make friends, she could start by not assuming everyone who interacted with her must want something. If there was any reason Corki chose to surprise her instead of the others, it could be that they were both female. People often preferred to make friends with the same gender.

An image appeared in her mind. Rows of white, round chestlike things, some of them with people in them, but most of them empty. What kind of place was that? One of those chests was for her, there was a girl of about her age and height in the one opposite to it, a girl with ink stains on her arms and an unique smile... the same smile that was now on the face of a Skipper named Corki. The lid closed, and she entered a world called Sunnyside.

The realization hit her like a landslide. This was not real life, this was just fantasy. An escape from reality.

((OOC It looks like you guys figured out what this puzzle is. The next ones will be easy, but more and more original and crazy.))

A shade passed across Orion's face briefly. The man had a point, there was no denying it. Still, his remark had made him slightly uncomfortable. They were all cooperating here, yes, but still, it sounded like critique. Orion didn’t like critique. He shook his head and forced himself to smile warmly once more. At the very least he wasn’t going to show his annoyance.
"I suppose you're right Tom,” he spoke, as amicably as possible, “ nly a human would risk going for food near a predator. Animals are usually smarter. Still, I'd love to get to the other side, “Orion paused briefly when he saw Andromeda's expression change.
She was definitely a strange one, he had noticed that on first sight, but this was even odder than her actions before. It was even odder than the whole staring at her feet act. For a second she had seemed completely confused and disoriented. Orion tilted his head slightly, but decided to not press the issue just yet. They had only met a couple of minutes ago. Already trying to get inside her head would do more harm than good. Besides, it was very well possible he was jumping at shadows. In fact, that seemed more likely. It was probably just her being weird again. Or maybe she just felt cold after her swim.
Someone had called him paranoid once, but he couldn’t recall who or even when. It seemed decades ago, but he was still young. It didn’t make any sense. He forced himself to focus again, realizing he had been silent for a minute or so. Some were now giving him strange glances.

“Sorry everyone, something just crossed my mind. But it turned out to be of no importance whatsoever,” he laughed briefly to hide his discomfort and quickly changed the subject, “okay, I'd say we give it a go anyway. There's no harm in trying right? Besides, if the flowers don’t work, we can resort to Corki's idea. If we would somehow be able fashion the threat of a hunter or something similar that should do the trick, right? Waving a knife around, or I could try to produce some rather feral growls… So who would like to volunteer for the first trip? Once we get two people to the opposite side, I'll start presenting these flowers as appetizingly as possible. If my seduction skills don't work, I'll just start flexing some muscles in the hope that it will scare the panther away. Hell, with my strength and charm those things shouldn't be too difficult, right?" he concluded after his exposition. He hoped the distraction had succeeded. Act with confidence, authority and speed. That way, people can’t think too much about the actual matter and will just fall in line. He wondered how he knew that, it had all come so natural to him as he had spoken. As if he had been doing things like that for a long time...

Listening to Orion's long proposal, Tom realised this man was used to leadership.
He stood when Orion suggested they try the current theory, and with a sigh and a mumbled "Oh, what the hell...", he cleared his throat. "I'll go first. I don't mind getting wet if this theory happens to be wrong."
He walked over to the boat and was standing there for a few moments when a thought crossed his mind.
"Hang on guys... how do we get the last player across?"

Andromeda tilted her head. “What do you mean, how do we get the last player across? If I understood Orion correctly, we should put the deer on the boat, and show it the panther on this shore to get it to move away, and show it the flowers to make it come back. I’d guess that ‘showing’ means to put the object on the beach, and ‘hiding’ means to put it in the place where we found it. So the last of us could drop the panther on the beach and that should do it.”

She paused and rubbed her forehead between her eyes, her involuntary gesture when thinking. “Oh, I see what you mean, masks are supposed to be worn. Wait... Someone who wears a mask is an actor, someone who becomes the thing the mask represents. So, if we are the masks, then the masks are us, and since we all want to go to the other side, that would mean both masks want to cross the river. If Corki is right, then things that eat each other should not be alone together. I’ve never seen a panther or flowers row a boat, so the first should be the deer and someone who can row... which puts us right back where we were, except two people will get wet if putting the deer in the canoe is wrong? ... Sorry, I wasted your time, didn’t I?”

Trying to be more practical, she suggested “Maybe there’s something on the other side that can help us figure out what to do after sending the deer.”

Everyone's ideas were helpful, thoughtful, coated with some sort of stickiness that Corki found fascinating. Just clinging to each word brought a smile to her face, a curious bend that had her eyes skipping around the group like a bug, zipping to each face and smiling wider. Her fingers itched and she wondered how she could capture this moment...

But the reality was, they needed to get across. Well, needed wasn't the term. Wanted to, desired. They were simply curious travelers and curiosity killed cats, apparently, and speaking of cats...

Corki caught Andromeda's eye briefly, well, almost. She was switching her gaze left and right over her feet with a nervousness spilling from her. Corki giggled to herself, wondering what had the feline girl in such a fuss, before facing the river again.

"There must be something on the other side," she agreed with Andromeda. Corki's mind spun with too many ideas, images of pens spilling from bags like snowflakes, each distinct and colored, each bitten at the ends in different patterns or caps broken off in strange pieces. "Two at a time...I suppose the panther and flowers wouldn't kill each other." Facing Tom, she smiled wide. "Which do you wanna be partner?"

Surprise was visible on Andomeda’s face. Corki started out agreeing with her, but then suggested to do something that was obviously wrong according to her theories. If the Skipper wanted to go for a swim, why not just jump into the water? She wasn’t doing it to tease Tom, who had said he didn’t mind getting wet.

Maybe she was using the scientific method. Something happening as predicted by a theory did not prove that theory, instead one had to make up experiments that could prove the theory wrong. Andromeda wasn’t sure the principle worked the way Corki might be applying it - if sending the deer was wrong, that would disprove the theory, and if the random guess of sending the panther and the flowers would be wrong as expected, that wouldn’t prove anything.

This stuff was confusing.

Andromeda wasn’t in the mood to debate, pick sides and vote. As long as she wasn’t on that boat, the others could try out whatever they liked, though she did want them to make up their minds already and get everyone to the other shore.

Noticing Andromeda's face, Corki's own smile fell. Impatience wasn't really a nice thing to see, and Corki hated causing it. Biting her lip briefly, she glanced out to the water with a sigh. "I suppose...we should just find out what's over there first..."

Turning back to the others, she wanted to apologize for her suggestion. She knew it was silly, but no one seemed to in a silly-accepting mood. Well, at least not Andromeda and if Corki was going to befriend the only other female of this group, she wanted to keep on good terms.

Scratching her arm where her deep blue veins showed through her skin the boldest, she then said, "Doesn't there need to be two people in the boat at a time? Can one have a mask and one not?" Her eyes switched to the water again. "I think we're overthinking this. We should just do something."

She took the deer mask and glanced to Tom. "You wanna wear it, or should I?"

Corki silently helped him into the mask, tying the leather strips before checking her bag at her side with nothing but a few collected flags and flowers. If it got wet, it probably wouldn't make a difference, so she kept it on.

She gave a salute to everyone, before sighing. "I wish I could just Skip over there. I don't think the I'd be allowed though, would I?" she asked Tom, smiling. "Probably kill me off."

Climbing into the boat, Corki remained standing, waiting for Tom and eyeing the opposite shore. If there was anything, she didn't see it.

"Hope this works," she teased, though she was a little nervous. Still, swimming wasn't terrible. She distantly wondered when the last time she showered was, taking a dip in the river not exactly comparable but water nonetheless. But wait...showered? Such a word felt off on her tongue yet she remembered it...

"We're off!" she exclaimed instead, bringing her back to her senses. "Charge!"

Andromeda stepped forward to help by giving the canoe a little push. This allowed her to inconspicuously put her face near Corki’s for just a second. “Talk to me, later” she told her, quietly. If she was going crazy, sharing that information with one person would be bad enough.

Speaking aloud, she waved at the two avatars in the boat. “See you soon! Or very soon, and very wet!” She laughed. Wading back onto the beach, she muttered “ew, wet” and “ew, sticky sand”.

The boat crossed the river without any problems. The only purpose the paddle appeared to serve was to make it go a bit faster than the boat was already moving by itself. A torch lit on the other shore, making visible two empty poles like the ones the masks had been on, and an empty vase next to the beginning of a path into more forest. Even the avatars remaining on the first beach could see all of those objects, with some difficulty, and draw their conclusions.

Talk later? Corki cast Andromeda a strange glance as the boat sailed forward. Whatever it was about must be important, but they had just met, and Corki knew nothing about her. Unless it was something game related, in which case, why wouldn't she tell everyone? Turning to the front, she decided to file her curiosity away as the two poles and vase came into view finally.

Once on shore, shoes a bit damp now from sloshing in the shallow water, Corki hurried forward and tapped her cheekbone. "Vase for flowers makes sense. Posts for masks. And we're alive and well on the other side so...who goes back?" She had figured that two of the "character" had to be in the boat at the same time, either the deer, panther or flowers, but that wasn't right. Unless...Corki opened her bag and saw the flowers inside. Did she just botch the whole thing somehow? Or did these flowers not count? She couldn't believe it and tapped her cheek again, a little confused.

"Thoughts?" she asked Tom, unsure if her flowers meant anything. She showed him her bag, tilted up so he could see in the mask. "I had these...do you think they count? You hungry Bambi?"

It was a reference she had heard before about deer and used, well, never. She never encountered deer because back home...

Corki shook her head. Blinked, then focused back on the young man in the deer mask.

((OOC SweetPonine abandoned their character. I don’t know why.))

Raith sighed. This was going to take a long time, with new avatars arriving and that canoe being only large enough for two. The state always liked to keep you busy, with all its bureaucracy and waiting. It made you go back and forth from one place to another, it hoped you would get tired and give up. The state did not want you to succeed, it wanted to keep you down. It also liked to punish you for no reason, for example by dumping you in a river.
And other people, they were almost as bad as the state. They had taken the paddle without asking, they had taken the canoe without asking... He was not suprised. The state was made of other people.

He got up, turned around, and walked up the beach towards the path to the town square. “I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to play minigolf.”

Andromeda watched him leave. She wasn’t sure what to think of it, not sure if she should follow him and offer to talk, not sure of anything except that she wanted to talk with Corki, who had left in an opposite direction. “Do you think it will be a problem to do this without him, Orion?” she asked. Orion radiated confidence, she wanted to have some of that too.

Orion watched with delight as the boat made it across, the other side now becoming visible. At least they had gotten the first part right. The posts and the vase made the final destination of the items all too clear; slowly the whole puzzle was becoming clear. His sense of triumph was briefly shattered when Raith suddenly left. Mini golf? Who played that? He turned towards the worried Andromeda and placed his hand reassuringly on her shoulder.

"No need to worry, I'm sure we'll manage. So far we've been doing great and it's not going to change anytime soon if I have any say in the matter. We just need to get the boat back here," he started to wave at the other side and gestured briefly. To his surprise Tom had sat down, the mask still on his head.
"That's odd. Why is he still wearing that mask? I can't imagine why anyone would like to keep it on for so long? Unless he’s having some sort of spiritual experience, getting in touch with nature and such,” he laughed briefly, “And why is he just resting there? He didn't even have to row... I wonder if they can hear us," he walked up to the shoreline, slightly annoyed by their laziness and placed his hands alongside his mouth, "Hey! Deerface! We'd like to get across now as well," he dropped his hands and sighed, "I wonder if they can hear me. I don't think my voice reaches that far, but you never know. This is a strange place after all..." he paused and turned towards Andromeda, "you wouldn't happen to have a special boat summoning skill I suppose? Maybe they are waiting for us to do something. Let’s see," he turned around and saw only the panther mask.
"Wait, where are the flowers?" he asked, fighting to urge to ask whether she had eaten them. Cats didn't eat flowers, right?

Orion's words drifted across the river and into Tom's ears. He stood, and pointed to the mask, and then exaggerated the action of tugging at it. He stared across the river for a bit, until frustration got the better of him, at which point he silently made frustrated hand-gestures, shaking his fists, clutching at his hair. Then he sat back down, in a bad mood.
If anyone could've seen the glare on the face they would have died on the spot.

Andromeda nodded. “It’s just that he managed to find the paddle, which was really well hidden. I notice most things, and I was sure there was no paddle...”

She had no idea why Tom hadn’t taken off the mask, and she didn’t bother shouting the question at him. She wasn’t the shouting type. Orion soon gave up on communicating using shouting and gesturing. "Wait, where are the flowers?" he asked, evidently planning to wave them to lure back the deer.

Andromeda looked around and saw a leaf behind a bump in the sand. The flowers were still on their side of the river, they had only been lost when someone had put them back in a different place than next to the panther mask. (The flowers Corki had picked elsewhere were not part of the puzzle.) “Here they are.” She grinned. “As I said, I notice...” her face fell. “Uh oh. The mh MMHHH mh...” The stems had tied themselves in a tight knot around her wrist, and although nothing covered her face, her voice was taken away too. Some florists use the slogan “Say it with flowers!”, but flowers don’t talk either. She stared at the flowers in surprise. It became clear to her what had happened to Tom. She was glad none of the flowers had been a rose.

She angrily kicked the sand, the only way left to express her frustration. With feet and sand at the front of her mind, a thought occurred to her. What if they would slowly change into the things the objects represented? She might grow roots and be stuck here forever! Andromeda began hopping from one foot to the other. Hopefully they could solve the puzzle before she would become exhausted.

Corki tried to help Tom gently. He was in a bad mood, stuck as deer and all. "I'm sorry," she said softly, frowning. "I don't think it'll come off until we solved it."

Standing, she started for the boat, glancing to the other shore and seeing Andromeda kick the sand. "I'll be back," she promised, hopping inside and hoping this was the right thing to do. Maybe someone just had to bring each piece back one at a time. Or she had been right and the panther and flowers were next, though that would leave the panther and deer on the same shore. Would whoever wore the mask of the panther, try to attack Tom? He couldn't talk and she had to wonder if he was slowly becoming a deer.

Sadly, she waved to him, hoping that wasn't true.

"Here goes," she cried, trying to keep up her smile.

Slowly it was starting to dawn on Orion. He was glad he hadn't seen the flowers on first glance. He walked up to Andromeda and studied the stems wrapped around her wrists.
"Okay, let me get this straight, you can't talk. And that would explain why Tom is still wearing that silly mask. Now that's just an outright mean trick," he sighed, "don't worry Andromeda, everything's going to be alright. You have my word for it," he approached the panther mask, "yeah, I don't think I'm going to wear that. If people start changing into the items, well, it might be a bad idea to let a man with my kind of strength become a vicious predator..." he saw Andromeda was hopping up and down, "oh stop that, you're a flower, not a Pogo stick," he paused, realizing that might have been a rather harsh rebuke, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I understand this is a rather unpleasant situation for you but don't worry, we're going to solve the puzzle and we'll all get points for it. Hmm, I suppose it would be a terrible idea to try to tear the flowers of, at least not yet."

He turned towards the beach again, hoping to find something that would give him inspiration, and saw Corki jump in the boat again. He hoped she'd be able to get over here safely. He liked talking, but continuous monologues were a bridge too far. He turned towards Andromeda again, realizing it would be best to keep them both occupied. If he would just stand there without coming up with a solution, she might get scared.
"You know, they say you should talk to flowers. Oh dear, I feel silly but, here it goes… Hi flowers, would you mind releasing whatever grip you have over my partner?" he mumbled in an innocent tone, somehow doubting whether it was going to work.