The words on the paper fading away, they were soon replaced by another series of sentences. Picking up the note, Steve read aloud, ‘I’m sure you’ll have fun with this game. How about we treat this like your character sheets? A question will appear and, whether you choose to read it aloud or not, you write down your answer. Afterward, pass me to the person on your right. They’ll answer the same question and pass me. After all three of you have answered, the next question will appear. Sound fair?’
Steve looking at Josh, who was to his right, then Brody, he said, “How about? Do we want to read the question aloud? Or should we each keep it like out character sheets, where nobody knows what is written, except for the DM, who even he doesn’t know everything. Only stuff needed at that particular time.”
A shrug from Brody, the DM, and he explained, “I don’t know what’s on either of your character sheets, which is why I keep asking about them. Sometimes asking for stuff I am sure I already asked for. So, I think we should keep the question to ourselves. Each read it, answer it, then pass it on, like the paper instructed,” to which both Josh and Steve nodded in agreement.
Still holding the note, Steve looked down at it. Wondering if he had to do anything, he watch as ‘Question 1: If you were a girl, what would your name be?’ formed. Having played female characters in the past, Steve considered the names he’d used and the race that had been associated with them. Glancing at his character sheet, idly reading the information printed, an idea came to him. Looking over at the pile of 5th edition DnD Josh had provided, he smiled, picked up his pencil and wrote, ‘If I were a girl, my name would be Morning Aurora,’ before passing the note to his right.
Josh, taking the note from his friend, and not seeing what Steve had written, read the same question, but not his friend’s answer, which had disappeared as the note changed hands. Thinking about his character as well and the race he was playing, he drummed his pencil on the table a moment before writing, ‘If I were a girl, my name would be Elva Luna,’ thought about what he’d wrote, then handed the note to Brody.
The last of the three reading the same question, he thought longer about how he should answer. Currently playing a female character, he decided to answer based on his character’s backstory, believing this would be the most fun and allow him to maybe come up with some more information on his character. Mentally going over everything he had for his character, and what he could possibly add, Brody eventually wrote on the piece of paper, ‘If I were a girl, my name would be Alyssa, daughter of King James and Queen Moira, deposed rulers by my evil Uncle Cyril, separated from my parents and banished to a realm with no known magick except by those who can recognise it.’
His words fading the moment he finished, Brody stared at the note a moment before remembering what Steve had read. Passing it to Steve, he speculated on where this might be going. Taking the piece of paper, Steve read to himself, ‘Question 2. If you were a girl, would you like pink?’
Mind thinking back to his first answer, he thought about where he might go with the name he’d chosen. After a bit, he answered, ‘If I were a girl, I really wouldn’t pay attention to colours, except if I were to use my magick to paint, which I don’t really make a habit of doing. I usually have other things to deal with than painting,’ then slid the note to his right.
Josh, reading the question, almost burst out laughing. Thinking about it, he decided to continue with the game he was playing by answer, ‘Don’t know. If I were a girl, I’d be colour blind, like everyone else of my race,’ and feeling pleased, he passed the note to Brody, who read it then answered, ‘If I were a girl, I’d wouldn’t be enthralled by it, yet I wouldn’t despise it. It’s just another pretty colour,’ then handed the note to Steve.
His friend taking the piece of paper, he was prepared to read another question, but was surprised when he read, ‘No question for you. Please pass me along.’ Confused about this, he handed the note to Josh, who read the same thing. Giving Steve an inquisitive stare about what he was reading, he slid the note to Brody, who was curious to know why his friends hadn’t written anything. Taking the piece of paper, he read to himself, ‘Question three. If you were a girl, what would be your favourite colour(s)?’
Not sure how to answer this, he thought back on his character backstory, then realised he’d never included stuff about what colours Alyssa might like. Thinking what shades and hues the deposed princess might like, Brody eventually answered, ‘If I were a girl, I’d like earth colours. You know, earth brown, sand tan, sky blue, foliage green, sun yellow, sun red, sun orange, grey, blue-grey. Plus, if I were a girl I’d also like white and black.’
The words disappearing, Brody paused a moment before giving the piece of paper to Steve. As his friend read the words appearing, ‘Question 4. If you were a girl, would your handwriting be neat or a total mess?’ Brody found himself wondering why he kept thinking of himself by such a name. Reasoning to himself, “My name is Alyssa,” believing this made sense, he glanced at his friends and silently confirmed this by thinking, “I know my name is Alyssa. Just as know my friends names are Morning Aurora and Elva Luna,” but still felt that there was something troubling about this line of thought.
Unaware that anything was off, Morning Aurora, who was often called by Aurora by his two close friends, considered the best way to answer the question whilst thinking about the character he believed he was creating. An idea coming to him whilst he thought back on how he answered the question about colour pink, Aurora explained, ‘If I were a girl, my handwriting, when you get me to write anything, would be neat, immaculate and is always done using my magick,’ before passing the note to his right.
After reading the same the question, Elva uttered a gruff laugh and immediately wrote, ‘If I were a girl, except for this game, I wouldn’t be able to write. None of my race can,’ thinking the answer funny and solved any issue the note might have.
To his surprise, the words, ‘Nice try,’ briefly appeared, followed by, ‘I think you can write. Alyssa has trained you to put the pencil in your mouth and write a semi-legible scrawl.’ Worried about what this meant, Elva watch the words disappear and dropping his pencil, he fumbled a moment to pick it up before huffing in agitation, leaning down and twisting his head one way, then another, he finally was able to get the end of the pencil in his mouth.
Across the table, Alyssa watched this. There was something off about his friend holding a pencil in his mouth, but he wasn’t able to put his finger on what. His mind insisted this was how his friend always wrote, “Just as Aurora always uses his magick to levitate the pencil,” he reasoned and looking down at the note as Elva slid it across the table to him, Alyssa read the question.
Instantly knowing how best to answer the question, Alyssa wrote, ‘If I were a girl, my handwriting would be near and impeccable. I would have had tutors teach me proper writing etiquette from when I was about four to about eight, when my family and I were deposed. And even then, after I had been banished to this realm, I still make sure to keep my writing neat,’ oblivious to the fact that as he answered the question, his handwriting grew neater and neater until it looked like the writing of someone who’d been taught to write professionally.
From where he sat, Aurora watched this, thinking it odd. He couldn’t see what his friend was writing, nor the improvement that was happening to his friend’s writing, but thinking about Alyssa’s handwriting, as he watched his friend hold the pencil and move it across the paper, he was torn between thinking it was exceptionally neat and that it was really a scrawl and that several teaches had complained. His thoughts shifting to his own, which he thought wasn’t as neat, yet was as neat as Alyssa’s, Aurora levitated the paper closer when Alyssa pushed it toward hm. Not giving it a second thought on what he’d done, Aurora read, ‘Question five. If you were a girl, how old would you be? And please do not lie,’ whilst he tried to figure out why it suddenly was bothering him about his and Alyssa’s handwriting.
Incapable of coming up with any reason, Aurora sighed and focused on the inquiry and a way to explain his age. His current age was seventeen and he would be eighteen come June. But he didn’t want to put down any of that information. Thinking about what he should put down, weighing against facts and what he could do with the character, Aurora eventually levitated his pencil to the paper and wrote, ‘If I were a girl, I’d be three. Normally, I would likely live to about thirty some years, possibly forty, maybe even fifty years. However, because of my magical nature and that my aging process doesn’t mesh up with the human account of how time passes, I’ll likely live a lot longer.’
The answer seeming logic, Aurora watched as the words vanished and unaware that he was regressing back in age, he lifted the note with his magick and sent it toward Elva, who read the inquiry, the pencil in his mouth bobbing as he read. Sore from what he considered the note did the last time he’d answered one of the questions, he thought about a moment before leaning down. Scrawling on the paper, ‘If I were a girl, I’m only two. If it weren’t for the magick I’ve been enchanted with, I’d only have a lifespan of thirteen. However, because, among other things, I have been altered magically, I’ll likely live to about fifty something,’ and sitting back, he waited to see if the note would accept his answer or alter it.
When it became clear that his reply was acceptable, Elva slid the note across the table to Alyssa, who read the note. Again, he had an answer and didn’t need to look at his character sheet. Wanting this version to be a couple years younger, he wrote, ‘If I were a girl, I’d be eleven years old, living with a foster family consisting of a foster sister, Penny, and foster mother and father, Mr and Mrs Nesbitt.’
The moment he finished, he started to regress back in age. But, as it was only his age and nothing physical, Alyssa didn’t notice anything, much like the way his two friends hadn’t noticed anything when they also shifted in age in the same way. Rather, he instead noticed that his sister, Penny, wasn’t actually his sister. She was a girl he lived with, having been placed with the Nesbitt family shortly after he’d arrived in this realm. Finding this train off, trying to sort out why, he glanced at the note one more time and then passed it to Aurora. Using his magick to once more pull the note closer, Aurora started to look at the note, but stopped and instead peered at his friends.
Both appeared exactly as he remembered. Yet, there was something he could explain that didn’t seem right. He knew that Alyssa was a deposed princess and had known her since they had both been banished together, right about the time of his birth. He also knew that Elva had been banished sometime afterward, cruelly yanked away from her parents before she’d even knew them, much like him. However, this seemed off somehow and studying his friends, Aurora eventually cleared his throat and instead of reading the next question forming, asked, “Does anything about this seem,” he shrugged, “I don’t, off? Odd? Maybe weird?” and holding his pencil in the air using his magick, he started nonchalantly twirling it whilst waiting to see what the other two would say.