Stratus Res • 2018 rpg finalist

For two players

The two of you have found a moment of peace you have never known.
You rest in each others arms, eyes to the sky.
You hear the water, feel the sun, and smell the growth of new life all around.
You escaped your broken home together to get here, but this place too will be lost before long.

You take this time to tell a story.

Cut out a paper flower with six separate petals.
Begin with touch, whatever level you are comfortable with.
This will be sustained throughout your story.

Your story is about a past.
Not your past, but one much happier.
Free of choking smoke and ash.

Teller, begin the story however you like.

Listener, when the story strays too close to your true past, briefly embrace your partner more tightly.
Sit together in silence and decide for yourself what the true past was.
Then, Listener becomes Teller, picking up the story just before it was left off.

The past holds darkness; the future holds a white void of unknown.
When the story touches on the future, tear one petal off the flower.
When no petals remain, your story is over.