Oh My, Starry Eyed Surprise

[West]

This Statler & Waldorf requires... backstory!

When I first started the current time-traveling setting for Mage, a couple of people asked if they'd ever see their 'bad' Glimpses or 'bad' versions of characters. It was something I stewed on and decided to run with to make effects of time travel more personal. But, it was something I wanted to work into, and pushed back after people had adjusted to the setting/concept.

Eventually I latched onto the idea of using Star. Yumyumcrow told me it was a bit egocentric but I decided to stick with it so that I wasn't forcing alterations or narrations on someone else's PC. It also worked out nicely with an concept-phase idea I'd had about a previous Seer NPC that Star resembled.

First, I had to figure out how to introduce a younger version in an innocuous way. The entire 449 plot was created because I needed something circa 1997-2000 in Florida, so they could encounter a younger version of Star. So I researched... and researched... and finally dug up Andrew Cunanan.

And so we began.

All I needed was a nudge. A little bump in the timeline of an innocuous NPC I threw in with other, more important NPCs. What I got? PCs that cared. One in particular that cared too much.

Instead she held him tight, and spoke into his ear, uttering the words that she hoped would help him, somehow, find a better life. She knew he wouldn't hear them know, but he would remember them later. She would make sure of it. Her Will acting like a brand, she burned the words into his mind.

"Conflict will not break me. Conflict helps me learn. Conflict helps me grow. Always, I grow. And I will not be fooled by lies. I will ask questions. I will find the Truth. Because I have value. I have love. I have compassion. I will make the world better."

She wanted to give him more than just this. She wanted to help this child find safety, find love, find a better life. She wanted to do so much more, but she couldn't. She wasn't from this time, she couldn't stay in this time. She couldn't waste time. All she could do was try to give the child this message, and hope that he'd learn from it. Hope that it would nourish him, and help protect him.

And so months of planning, a page of notes, and a couple of weeks worth of scene-setting for future plot was wiped out in a beautiful, wonderful way. Probably doesn't mean that much to those that haven't followed Avis and Star, but pretty amazing for me at ground zero. Because a lot of these words? Are exactly who Star is.

It maybe even, years after the fact, give IC context to my OOC-for-the-lulz idea to see if Happy-Derpy and Angry-Impulsive could be a good fit.

Some games tell Stories through narration->reaction. This, however sideways it went planning/plot-wise, shows just how amazing true collaboration can be. When PCs can write the Story, with all their quirks and unexpected actions, sometimes they'll do something you never dreamed of and which is far, far better than what you had.