The other member had chosen to read up on the short story “The Sociopath’s Ball” the social season in palm beach is in full swing. The socialites plan a charity ball for sociopath
He had chosen this because he enjoys character quirks and the title sounded like it could be enjoyable on a character basis.
We had decided not to go further on this idea due to how disappointed he was in the story. Through conversation it was generally described as a group of people sitting around a table arguing about which one of them deserves the the ball more. The ending is just escalating bickering but no definitive ending or compromise. In the planning of how it would have been as a film he changed the ending to have a fight break out in-between them all instead of just a gradually rising bickering ending in nothing particular.
I was really interested in the Love in the Alps one because we had joked about it and had a very thin but still valid plot frame that could have a lot of potential. One thing I found out about it before I read it was that it was part of an online twitter fiction event. Each tweet has a 140 character limit but this wouldn’t matter as the author could just make as many tweets as it required to have the story. This story was written tweet by tweet and ended up as like 50 twitter posts. When I had actually read the story I was disappointed as to how hastily and poorly written it was. We had made comments in passing about how it seems odd that the cow would just start following the couple about like it loved one of them but when I went to read the actual story it was that very idea, the cow loved the man.
One group member chose the mystery of Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery. The Flannan Isles Lighthouse Mystery was based on an actual event on the Flannan island where the 3 lighthouse attendants had disappeared after a terrible storm. For research on this she had went and read the story and looked up more articles about what had happened on the island and about the history of the island. One of the most interesting factors of this event was the audio logs that they had left behind. The storm had gotten so bad and they were in such a craze that one of the lighthouse keepers that was known to not believe in religion at all had been heard praying in the background. The last audio log “December is. 1pm. Storm ended, Sea calm. God is overall” and they had not been found after that message.
Together all 3 of us had watched a documentary on the Flannigan Isles mystery for research into the story, it told us many aspects to the mystery and some theories such as the next person to go to the island had seen 3 strange birds hanging around staring, one of the theories was that they had turned into these birds.
This time on the environment where the Game show takes place.
First off: The Game Show has to be economically stable, meaning that it has to make money. Thus the Equipment of the Game Show can´t cost too much.
Money sources are merchandise and ad revenue.
What the game show does is not illegal per se. It is illegal to enslave creatures for work force (mainly because the broad public fears that “they´ll take our jooobs!”), and it´s usually not well-received when someone brings a creature over as a pet because there´s the risk of putting them into an eco-system that they might dominate (think rabbits in Australia). There are inter-dimensional-creature rights groups, but the broad public doesn´t really take them seriously. I have yet to decide how easy it is to open an interdimensional hole. Who and how is it controlled who can open one? Are there immigrants from other dimensions, too? How often does it happen? Aren´t they too apathetic towards interdimensional travelers?
The Game Show itself is located in two parallel abandoned subway tunnels who are connected at some points, but none of the participants know this. To their knowledge, they are in an endless array of identical rooms, safe for the color. In reality, the rooms slowly move and rotate and there are maybe 12 of them that get redesigned when they leave and locked behind them. The rooms are about 2x2x2 meters (which would work, I looked up measurements for subway tunnels).
Making sure that none of them leave, yanking them out of the rooms if they leave and restricting them, if necessary is a gian slime monster that encompasses most of the rooms but can also crawl around the outside. It usually isn´t seen.
Either it´s sentient, in that case it might be an interdimensional being craving the entertainment that this provides ooorrrr it er... isn´t sentient and lives off the “waste” that the participants produce. It has to go somewhere, after all.
There are two ways of data transfer possible in this environment: Data cables lead out of the building to the city and within this subway-system, there is wifi so the cameras (which are manually controlled and look like tv´s with one eye) can communicate with each other and send data to the control room.
Under one of the rooms is a deep hole in the ground. That´s where participants go that get “disqualified”. Next I gotta write the rules of the game show down...
I’ve got this feeling and I’m not sure if I can put the words together enough to explain myself here
This mess of a brain has gotten me in all types of trouble, so why do I find myself lusting this way?
Maybe it’s an addiction, or maybe I'm just longing to feel this
But I’m stuck on dreaming, yearning for the day I can be free to speak how I really feel
Call me hopeless, or even lost in the romance but damn… What is it about wanting the things we know we can’t have?
I can feel this, deep in my body, how can I deny what’s really going on?
Call me crazy, but I’m living in a fantasy.
I’ve got goose skin, burning flesh just resting my head on these clouds.
I feel so silly, almost stupid with these emotional images. How is it possible; what the hell is going on; how could I possibly allow myself to feel this way?
I can feel her at night, when the darkness sets through my dreams. I can see the shivers running in my comfort But there's always something Something that keeps her linked to this world To this cold castles of grey, I left my happiness They never saw me arriving They can never see through the countless bricks I lined up in your name But today the mist rules my starred skies shinning while the moon stands still, Behind someone else's misery In the clouds I see the shapes of my soul And I still like to wonder where did she go He who protects my virtues spoke to me And there it was, written beyond portals of shimmering light With my own shattered endless streams: 'You shall not have her for she was never yours to keep.'