secret monstars

[dyingmessage]

this secret needs keeping



By day, a normal, law-abiding citizen; by night, something fearful. We all know the stories. Getting attached is dangerous, they say, when staying alive depends on keeping a secret, on being able to sever connections at the drop of a hat, pull up roots and put them down in a foreign place. But even the inhuman among us crave connections, it seems. Why else would we all know the stories?

Someone here has a secret. Who will stumble upon it? Will they help keep it?

HOW TO PLAY:
- Comment with character. State your preferences - preferred scenarios or monsters, shipping permissions, and any pertinent information or premise ideas.
- Comment to others. Play whatever first comes to mind, mix and match prompts to build a scenario, or RNG it.
- Monster prompts are thematic categories because there are so goddamn many kinds of spooky things people can turn into in folklore that trying to amass a proper list of individual monsters would be a nightmare.
- Most scenario prompts can be tweaked to accommodate friends/family/ships or strangers/first meetings, and one human/one monster or two fellow monsters. Vagueness is intentional - go wild with the prompts.
- Have fun and play nice!

PROMPTS:

MONSTER - What are you?

1. A beast. A werewolf, kitsune, or other beastly, wild thing in human skin. Some turn involuntarily; some were beast before they ever were human, venturing into society to pick out easy meals. Tend to have especially monstrous mannerisms, and perhaps some options out in the wilderness to fall back on if they're found out - but who would ever want such a lonely life?

2. A bloodsucker. Or soulsucker, or flesh-eater: a vampire or other human-shaped thing that preys on people. The most frightening thing about these monsters is how well they blend into society, despite feeding on the people around them.

3. Fair folk. A member of a species that always has existed on the fringes of human knowledge. They may be less outright threatening than proper monsters, but their strange powers and ancient conflicts with humans make people nervous enough to do stupid things...

4. Dead. You're supposed to be dead, but something happened. As it turns out, ghosts are a little sturdier than fiction makes them out to be...but coming back comes with plenty of strings attached.

5. User of forbidden magic. You're perfectly human, actually, in terms of blood. But you have a power that just isn't popular - it might be something sinister, like calling on demons, or it might be out of favor for political reasons. Either way, you have a choice now - embrace who you are, or try never to think of it again? (Comics-style "mutants" fit here.)



SCENARIO - What's happening?

1. Monster hunter. Where there are creatures lurking in the crevices of human society, there are humans who take up the duty of finding and exterminating them for the greater good. Tonight was a bad night for you, getting into an confrontation like this. And it'll only get worse...

2. Human hunter. "Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly. (And for the sake of dramatic tension, the fly said yes.)

3. Whoops. You didn't intend to blow your cover like this. But when the choice was between keeping your nature under wraps or letting - that - happen, it was clear what you had to do. Now all that's left is to deal with the fallout. Maybe, just maybe, they'll accept you...

4. Standing with you. Secret? What secret?...Well, it's still a secret from everyone else, but having an ally makes keeping a secret so much easier. You have someone to back up your lies, and someone to rely on when the stress mounts. Like now. Now is a good time to rely on someone. Because it's been a bad time for you, and they're not like the others you've been having such problems with.

5. Bad end. A monster getting attached to a human? How did you think this was going to end? Not well! The answer is not well! Now look what you've done, there's blood all over the nice rug! How are you going to patch this one up, huh?

6. Welcome to the club. Young or newly-inducted monsters are notoriously bad at keeping themselves out of sight. That's why they need someone looking out for them. For the transmissable cases of monsterhood, the person who turned them is preferable, but there are always irresponsible sires leaving spots that need stepping into.

7. Find the tells. Nobody will be giving themselves away today. Not intentionally. No, it'll take a careful eye to unearth their true nature. A careful eye, and a cold heart, to suspect that their habits aren't just innocent eccentricities, but signs of a frightful monster lurking. To confront, or remain quiet...?

8. Caught. There's a good reason for all this secrecy, and you're smack dab in the middle of it. Found out, caught, captured, behind bars, awaiting your fate on an examinatio table or at the end of an executioner's blade. Will the next person to come through that door be your salvation, or just the face of further torment?

9. For their own good. Monsters can't get attached to humans! So it's for the best that you cut ties, avoid them, leave the city, the state, the country, no matter how much it hurts. Humans are very persistent when it comes to hanging onto relationships, though, so you'll have to try harder than that.