World Lore, Dice Rolls, Tables and Cypher System mechanics (Dropbox Folder)
I was starving. My stomach rumbled again and I thought about what might be good. A delicious burger, fries and a strawberry milkshake. Yeah, that would hit the spot. The compass pointed in a single direction. “Yes!” I shouted and looked smugly over at Nox. At least I got it to do what it’s supposed to.
Nox rolled his eyes and the little gnome — now named Gizmo popped back into the device with a little pop and crack leaving behind the soft sent of a musty room. “I’m hungry.” I said grabbing the starter bag by the handles and heading off in the direction the compass pointed.
Nox followed.
We passed a very strange gas station with glossy rune covered pillars and holographic displays. And the vehicles getting this mystical gas looked even stranger. Some had wheels, others hovered above the ground. Some even looked like they were powered by steam. It was all very surreal and I had to echo Nox’s earlier statement of where the fuck where we. This was definitely not home. And we were dead.
Nox walked in the same sort of slow motion walk as I did. We were both absorbing the strange new world in each other’s company. “So what did you do back home?” I asked trying to engage with the hot man who kissed me.
He smiled at me and I wished he wouldn’t do that. I looked around, not that anyone here would know who I was in my world, but old habits died hard.
“I was a dancer. Choreographer on a good day.”
“Oh. You do any music videos? Might have seen you.”
He shrugged. “A few. But did more theater type dancing.” He grinned as he asked, “What did you do?” There was a knowing tone to it, so maybe he did know who I was. That was a bummer and a good thing, but I wasn’t sure which I wanted.
“I was a rockstar.”
His big brown eyes went wider as if they could even do that. In shock? surprise?
“But…” he stammered. He stopped on the sidewalk and the other pedestrians behind us flowed around us like we just another thing in the street and not noticing we were staring at each other. “But I thought you were an actor. The guy who did that film…” He started snapping his fingers trying to remember the name of a movie I never was in.
“What?” I laughed. “That’s my dad. He was the actor. I ain’t ever been in a movie and I sure as fuck don’t want to be. That’s too much memorization and no creativity in it at all. I write my own shit!”
Nox shook his head in confusion. “But you look just like him.”
“I do. People say I’m the spittin image of him. I don’t see it.”
“When were you born?” Nox asked.
What was I missing? “98, why? When were you born?” I asked to be rude too.
“78”, Nox said with a frown.
“What?” I was the one now with wide eyes and a shocked expression. “When did you die? What year was it?”
“It was Tuesday, January 14, 2003.”
“I was fucking five! So you have no idea who I am. And you’ve been dead for twenty years. How the fuck is this possible!”
Nox laughed. “We get saved moments before we die and you are asking how we can be from two different times like it’s completely impossible.”
“Well ain’t it!”
He grinned and it disarmed my wrath. I mean I wasn’t angry at him. I wasn’t angry at all. “Obviously it’s not, unless we are dreaming.” He took a step closer and leaned in and whispered, “And I hope I’m not dreaming. I’d really like to kiss you again.”
He put his arm on mine and pulled me forward and we started walking with the flow of the pedestrian traffic again. My mind stayed with the words. But he didn’t elaborate or even give me a hint of what else he might be thinking. He was hot. And it had been a long time since I’d gotten down with a guy. Was something my publicist wasn’t good for my image. It might be alright to be into the same sex in theory, but it could still affect sales. And for her it was all about the sales and it was easier to go along with it than fight her on it.
Here… here was a different story. I didn’t have an entourage, a publicist or even any handlers. It was just me. Me and this hot old man… What the fuck!
Nox was looking at my hands and I pulled them away jerkily. “What?”
He pointed to the device in my hand. “I was just seeing what we we needed to go, but it’s spinning now.”
I looked down at the device and sighed. “Yeah I got distracted.”
He grinned widely and I bit back a groan. The grin dimmed a notch at my reaction and he turned to look at the sleek building that said Everlight Police Department. There weren’t any cop cars outside it. At least none that I recognized. Nothing that screamed police anyway. I wondered what that might look like in this unicorn vomit type city. I missed the dirty streets, the wailing sirens, all this frilly foofoo stuff was grating on my soul.
“I’ll back off.” He whispered and his hand dropped from my elbow.
My arm felt cooler now that I stood there alone without his warmth touching me. He still smiled, but he stood further from me, avoided making any physical contact as we walked. My concentration returned and we crossed another street into a district a bit less magical and much more serious.
The people were still fantastical, as were the buildings but the atmosphere changed from showy to less comical, I guess was the way to put it. There was still a hum in the air. Magic was everywhere in Everlight. But we were nowhere closer to my food order than we had been. And now I felt like there was a growing gap between me and the hot man who had kissed me for no other reason than he made a deal with a devil.
The Mind of Nox 