the antler god

[theantlergod]

@ssaecularis

he hopes with all hope that he hadn’t been seen, and when this rabbit vanishes into the ticket of greens and browns, jungil turns back and retraces his steps, and thinks, as loudly as a thought can be, that this is a conversation they should have at much later time, away from the forest.

you watch the forest swallow them whole as they retreat into the dark throat of it. it should be easy to walk away from that forest, from them, but this time it isn't. you linger for a beat too long, like your feet are cement-stuck in place. all you do is squint after the form of them until you can no longer convince yourself that you can make out their shape through the trees. even as you turn to leave, you find yourself backtracking, until you've trampled down a small iteration of a race track that you've set yourself loose on. it's when you finally notice what you're doing that you stop.

with great effort, you pull yourself away from the forest. from whatever it is the rabbits are getting up to. you don't belong there, you think. maybe you don't even belong in onyang. you refuse to look back over your shoulder as you walk away. even as you feel the pointed stare of eyes on your back.

your muse can't shake the feeling that they're being watched. the feeling of eyes follows them around town, but whenever they turn to look, nobody's there. you're welcome to incorporate this in future threads if you wish!

[theantlergod]

@4ntemortem

The ring disappears into the shallow pit and you can only hope again that this has all been worth it.

the antler god doesn't visit you while you sleep again. not that night or the one after. you begin to worry, wondering if it wanted more from you. if this wasn't sufficient, or if everything was all just made up in your head. if you're going crazy. you keep stealing looks over your shoulder and staring too long outside of your window and into the dark.

one night you come home and the window is cracked open again. you didn't leave it open, all it's doing is letting the bugs and humidity in. you cross the room to leverage it shut, and that's when you see it. a small, crude carving of a deer. it's standing on two legs like it's rearing, the antlers nearly the length of its whole body. it's birch white, and dappled all across its body are little carved eyes, just like that tree you left your ring underneath. it feels like a trade. whatever this is, it's yours now.

your muse now owns: a small, carved statue about the size of your palm. it looks to be made out of the same wood as the birch tree with the eyes near the forest, though scaled down in size.

[theantlergod]

@fatedandbound

jinri decides to listen to the voicemail.

you bring you phone back to your ear and listen as the voicemail starts playing. it's the same voice as the actor on the tv, you swear it is. the voice that's yours but not, that treads too far into uncanny valley, like something sentient learning to speak through an absorption of sound, no intonation or emotion behind it.

"your choice has been processed. please learn to enjoy your eternal stay." you look at your phone and try to process everything that's happened. you wonder if it was a weird telemarketing attempt that missed its mark. halfway through your attempt to click back into your voicemails to re-listen to the message, your show unfreezes. the characters move as normal, and you get pulled back into your show. you forget about the phone call. you forget about life outside of onyang.

your muse can no longer leave onyang, every time they try they will be redirected with a thought (e.g. i need to buy groceries, i need to pick up my laundry, i forgot my keys). you are welcome to incorporate this into future threads if you wish.

[theantlergod]

@apatouria

“very well,” sikyung says after a while, just as unceremoniously as he gifted his mirror. “i suppose this is the part where i also apologize for my behavior.”

the antler god visits you for the third time in your dreams. you're in the woods again, and you can't help but remember the way the animals' teeth felt as they sank into your skin, like they were trying to dig the bones out from your body. this time, you're nearly alone. it's just you and...it. it's circling you in slow steps. it's too dark to make out the details of its face, of its body past the hunched up, lurching steps its making. "it would have been easier if you did what you were told the first time. i would have rewarded you." its voice sounds like it's being spoken directly into your ear, and you shudder. it's a dream, and so you shouldn't feel its hot breath against your neck. how it smells like rotting leaves and soil and all things dead. but you do. "remember that next time. i am kind to those who listen."

you wake with bile in your throat, the smell of the forest stuck to your tongue like a film. you glance around, like you expect it to be in your room with you. it isn't, of course not, but it's hard to convince yourself. the antler god is no longer angry, but it is watching you.

[theantlergod]

@shuteyed

there's no other choice. seongmin reaches into the briars.

you crouch down and peer between the thorny branches to find the best angle to reach in. you slowly push your arm in, feeling around half-blind for the bracelet. you feel the rough strands of it and clutch it in your grip. the vision that hits you after you touch it is so hard that you almost feel like you’re really there. it’s the vision's fault that you jerk back, that a thorn catches your wrist. that when you pull back, it pulls forward and tears away a strip of skin. you drip blood to the earth, but you’re not focused on that.

you’re focused on the sight of your sibling in front of you, reaching into the briars the same way you did, only in the middle of winter and crawling through snowbanks. you watch as their bracelet catches on thorns on the way out. how they stand up triumphant and smile at you, gap toothed and wide.you almost reach out, try to touch them. your visions have never felt like this before. like you’ve been transplanted into them.

before you have a chance, your sibling warps in front of you. bones crack and shift, and their body stretches. out of their skull sprouts two horns. “i have a taste for you now. it will be easier if you stop resisting me. if you stop resisting the forest’s call.” behind the creature’s back, your sibling, perpetually trapped in childhood, laughs like a game and darts off back toward home. a place they will never step foot in again.

the visions your muse now receives no longer seem to have a distorted film over them and are easier for them to discern, stronger, like they're almost present for them (though they still bring migraines and are often prompted by objects that are touched. they are still unable to see anything of the future).

[theantlergod]

@fatedandbound

"whatever," she mumbles under her breath. her thumb tightens and then she presses 1.

you decide to entertain the strange call. you press 1 and listen as the receiver clicks, but whoever is on the other end of the line doesn’t speak. you wait for too long, long enough to hear the rasping breath on the other end of the line. if it were possible, you’d call it damp. finally, they speak. or…something speaks. an ai voice, maybe. distorted and catching, like whoever programmed it couldn’t figure out how to make it sound human. “thank you for accepting. don’t worry. be at ease. you’ll feel like you’re a part of something soon enough.” the message clicks to a stop and your phone beeps. weird. you go to look at your call logs, but you don’t find anything there. you put your phone down and redirect your attention back to netflix, but it doesn't last. the characters are still freezing in place. distorting on the screen. one turns to you and smiles. they look eerily similar to...yourself. you don't remember the actor looking anything like you. did they? with a sudden burst, the video stops buffering, and the character smiles wider and speaks "don't worry, you'll never uproot us from this place again." you turn off the show, frazzled. then your phone buzzes with a notification, a missed voicemail. DO YOU... > listen to the voicemail > delete it

please write a reply detailing your character's choice and reaction. please tag it with s1ep1:invasive.

[theantlergod]

@willowhour

“…is someone in there?”

you listen to the slow scratching inside the coffin. it's hard to tell if something is clawing to get out, or if an animal managed to burrow its way inside. you try and reassure yourself of that second option. as you inch in a little closer you can spot footprints scattered around the circle. some you don't recognize, but the last pair is a clear match with your own shoes. you remember the red dirt stuck to your sheets and you feel the ache in your arms now. you can't help but wonder why you were here. what you did.

"you did well for such a small creature."

you hear it and you don't. it's hard to keep the voice in your head, to keep the words in your memory. you feel yourself start to slip in that way that's nearly familiar now. where you lose track of yourself. in this liminal moment you can briefly remember yourself, here, at night. a shovel in your hands, dirt at your feet. and then its all gone.

when you wake, you're in your bed. you're covered in red dirt. this time you know where it came from.

you are welcome to use/share what your character has seen to other muses on the site or keep it a secret at your own discretion.

[theantlergod]

@lostw0n

so, he clicks the play button.

you turn up the volume on your computer and listen as sound crackles out from the speaker. it’s low quality, grainy, and at first you think the blanket of static is all that will play. but after a moment, a voice comes to life. not any voice. yours. at first you think it must be an old podcast, and the website was thrown together by some overeager fan who got you to click a redirection link. but the more you listen, the more you realize that it’s not. that you haven’t ever said anything sliding its way out from your speakers. 

“i’m back in town. it’s nice here, nicer than i remembered. i’m glad that i accepted it. i just want to say…welcome home. welcome home. welcome home. welcome hom-”

the end catches like a glitch, and with every repetition the voice sounds less like your own. the vowels elongate, the tonality shifting into something that sounds wrong. into sounds that no human could make. you slam the lid of your laptop shut and take a deep breath in. maybe it’s a joke. or someone really did redirect your url. maybe someone who was pissed off you covered them during your true crime days. you push the laptop away and try to shake everything else out of your memory. you don’t realize you’ve forgotten about train ticket shopping altogether. that you've forgotten about leaving onyang altogether. your muse can no longer leave onyang, every time they try they will be redirected with a thought (e.g. i need to buy groceries, i need to pick up my laundry, i forgot my keys). you are welcome to incorporate this into future threads if you wish.

[theantlergod]

@saintsons

He made his decision, he'd sit with the consequences: Uiseong presses accept and waits for the earth to swallow him whole.

you press accept on your screen and wait for the page to load in. at first, it looks like the information that an electronic ticket might have, but it’s all wrong. it doesn’t match up with what you’ve purchased. your name is there, but instead of an artist or a venue, the ticket is just for onyang. not a bus or a location. just onyang. in the middle of the page it reads: welcome, enjoy your stay.departure tickets currently frozen. you frown, it reminds you of all the fake letters from earlier. not everyone in town likes you, maybe it's some fucked up joke.

you almost put your phone back to sleep when you notice that there’s a command running to open a new app, the ticketing site. the real one. you watch as it navigates to your profile, and then the ticket for the artist. you frown and press the sleep button, but nothing happens. instead, the refund button is pressed and your ticket is cancelled out. you’re angry, and then worried. you click out from the program and stand up, maybe to find another phone, or bring yours to the hardware store and hope someone there can help. you make it all the way to the front door when you realize you’re out of milk. instead of worrying about your phone, you head to the nearby grocery mart. by the time you’re home, you’ve forgotten about the concert and your missing ticket altogether. you've forgotten that you were planning to leave onyang altogether.

your muse can no longer leave onyang, every time they try they will be redirected with a thought (e.g. i need to buy groceries, i need to pick up my laundry, i forgot my keys). you are welcome to incorporate this into future threads if you wish.

[theantlergod]

@willowhour

but it’s not. so she stands up, lets out the breath she’s been holding, and continues on.

you climb higher up the mountain, for long enough that you start wishing you brought water. finally, you reach your destination. you can tell it’s your destination because there’s a hole in the ground with piles of dirt all around it, looking like a meteor struck it from the inside out. there’s a tree standing guard above it, the bark tinged black from a burn, a crack running down the middle. you creep closer, and your heart picks up in time with you. at the edge of the hole, you peer down. inside is a box stood up vertically, the dirt packed down around the bottom shows it was buried that way. the lid is sealed shut by an uneven line of nails that look rusted. there are ribbons of cut up flowers ringing the box like a decoration.

or, no, not a box. a coffin buried wrong. you feel a shiver drag down your spine despite the heat. something in you tells you to leave, to run. but there’s another piece, the part that you hide away that feels strangely…at home. you move in closer to the edge, ignoring the dirt now lodged inside of your shoes. you swear you can hear the light scratching of something coming from inside the coffin. 

please reply detailing your character’s reaction. you are welcome to use/share what your character has seen to other muses on the site or keep it a secret at your own discretion. please tag it as: s1ep1:forest

[theantlergod]

@adoeration

either way, she has done as told. she has listened. she has abided. now, it is time to wait.

the antler god visits your dream once more. it’s the same field as last time, and the fireflies are alight in a  glow of vibrant red-orange, like the world is on fire. they blink and thrum with an energy that you can feel building inside of you, static through your limbs until you feel fuzzy with it. powerful. and there it is, the antler god wading out from the weeds and bigger than before. its antlers extend out like tree limbs and rows of birds perch and squawk among the sharp prongs. its bones creak and its jaw snaps as it speaks “i can see your ambition, and it’s deserving of a reward. continue to follow me and continue to be blessed.” it comes closer, and the fireflies’ light plays off the sun-bleached white of its bones. it creaks down into something like a crouch, a mangled shape that resembles an animal coiled and waiting to pounce. not a deer. “don’t disappoint me.” it says with a smile, and there’s a sharp snap of something like bone and your vision sparks white-hot behind your eyelids. you blink them open rapidly and find yourself awake in bed with stars still blurring your vision. your muse has a bout of good fortune for one in-character week. they might: find money on the floor, a bill may have been sent in error, if they were ill then they might get better, they suddenly get a raise. however, the good luck should only surround the character themselves and not be overreaching (for example, they aren’t going to win a fortune on a lottery ticket - if you have anything you’re unsure of, feel free to send a message to the main). you may incorporate this into any episode 1 threads if you wish.

[theantlergod]

@saintsons

Uiseong knows when he’s back into a corner. Hesitant, he uses the QR code. The risk of ignoring this was greater.

you take out your phone to capture the QR code and watch as a page slowly loads onto the screen. the webpage is blurry because centered in front of it is your average terms of service agreement. big blocky letters that show two options: I ACCEPT and I DECLINE. what you can make out behind it looks like it might be the information for tickets, though. either way, it's a little intriguing. all you have to do in order to unblur the page is press the accept button. you wonder if it's worth it. a strange feeling settles in your gut as you consider the webpage.

DO YOU... >press ACCEPT >press DECLINE please write a reply detailing your character's choice and reaction. please tag it with s1ep1:invasive.

[theantlergod]

@lostw0n

there's a sound mind in won's brain, telling him to decline, to shut the laptop down, to hide it away. but the rest of him leans in. curious, unable to stop his fingers from moving the cursor towards the wrong button: I ACCEPT.

you press the accept button and the page slowly starts to load in. the url looks strange, like it came from the very early days of the internet when web pages were basic and blocky in favor of the streamlined modernity of today. in the middle of the page you see a floating WELCOME that looks like it might’ve been made in paint. underneath it is a file, a random string of numbers with a play button next to it, like it might be an mp3 file. you're not exactly sure what this website is, or how you got here. did you click on a random link? was it purposefully sent to you, some strange phishing attempt? but they're not asking you to download the file, just play it. it can't do much to your laptop... 

DO YOU… >click the play button >exit out from the website

please write a reply detailing your character’s reaction and their choice and tag it as s1ep1:invasive.

[theantlergod]

@apatouria

“i hope this pleases you.”

the antler god visits you in your dreams once more. or, no-that’s not right. it’s easy to see right away that this is not a dream, but a nightmare. the forest grows around you like a cage, bears and foxes snarling from behind the branches, salivating so heavily it drips down their jaws as they snap their teeth. from the trees, the crows cackle. the antler god stands before you, larger than the last time you saw it. “you have disobeyed me. you have strayed from your purpose. but i will teach you that it’s easier to fall into step than to turn against me. the past isn’t something worth repeating. i will give you another chance, bring me your most valuable possession, what your family passed down to you, to the tree with eyes.” the antler god disappears, and the animals descend upon you, teeth first.

when you wake, you swear you can still feel their teeth sawing into your skin.

1.you muse has a bout of bad luck for one in-character week. they might: step in puddle, trip and skin their knee, get a demotion at their job, lose money, etc. 2.please reply with what your muse chooses to do regarding to the antler god’s second order. please tag it as s1ep1:flock

[theantlergod]

@willowhour

“i just want to see. it’ll only be a little while.” yurim doesn’t look back. a forest-mangled compass sits where her gut should be. she turns her heels and treads towards a familiar route. 

your body starts to relax, the same way it always does when you get this deep in the woods. if only your mind would do the same. it buzzes with the warnings your grandmother used to tell you, which you refuse to heed, even if if you’re not usually conscious for the transgressions. you are for this one though and that makes you feel worse. you’ve been walking for at least an hour when you start noticing the change in earth. the higher up you go, the more it morphs into that clay-red you buried your bed in. in your chest your heart beats inexplicably faster. DO YOU… >head home >continue on please choose your character's reaction and actions in your follow up reply.

[theantlergod]

@4ntemortem

“Well,” he sighs tiredly, motions her in the door. “Go get cleaned up.”  Jiyeon nods and goes upstairs. 

the antler god visits you in your dreams once more, it’s wearing a smile. it means to look reassuring, surely. it just hasn’t gotten used to its face yet. it doesn’t know the long shape of its own jaw. its sharp teeth saw together as it speaks. “you have proven yourself useful. you have proven yourself better than your ancestors of old. i keep my promises, i grant you a boon.” your muse has a bout of good fortune for one in-character week. they might: find money on the floor, a bill may have been sent in error, if they were ill then they might get better, they suddenly get a raise. however, the good luck should only surround the character themselves and not be overreaching (for example, they aren’t going to win a fortune on a lottery ticket - if you have anything you’re unsure of, feel free to send a message to the main). you may incorporate this into any episode 1 threads if you wish.

[theantlergod]

@saintsons

NAM UISEONG THROWS EVERYTHING OUT.

you collect all the letters and move to drop them all in the recycling. you take a deep breath and shake the memory from your head. these are unimportant, a joke. you need to focus on you, not this town. it’s never done anything to help you. to help anybody. you’re not sure how so many people can’t seem to understand that. so you move on with your life, or you mean to. but the next day, sitting in your mailbox, is a vibrant purple envelope with a picture of an eye. you open it and find another QR code. underneath is a typewritten message, but the longer the sentence continues, the more slanted the words become, like the printer forgot how to do its job properly halfway through. ‘last chance’ is set in ink, sloped down the page.

DO YOU… >follow your instincts and get rid of it >use the QR code please choose your character's reaction and actions in your follow up reply.